The map seemed super prone to that "Put a star five squares after the last one" thing (which only further exasperates how overpowered the fluffer item is), possibly because map itself felt so tiny.
There was a minigame interruption every five spaces complete with elaborate fanfare and rules explanations and *spinning the wheel*, and wheee, such fun! for the millionth time, but then there was literally nothing to spend these showering coins on except the single moving star and the two shops; shops which were usually either on the opposite fork from the star being chased or randomly turned into a Bowser shop. So the players just keep on accumulating hundreds of coins without having anything to do with them until some random event makes them all go away. They never really get spent; they just get taken away.
The game seemed pretty content to just take away the stars that the players spent so much effort acquiring with a hearty "fuck you", though. Those group Bowser minigames were on a whole other level in terms of difficulty, to the point that I can't see them as anything other than deliberately punitive. That kind attitude often leaves players (Drew) feeling like they have wasted their time.
I'm also curious what the game time spent staring at a player's inventory only to not use anything would total out to.
This episode is pretty much a pitch-perfect case study in why modern games usually try to provide clear feedback to the player about what they can interact with in the environment.
Vinny TRIED to open that box. He did! But the game's finicky-ass interface decided that right then was the perfect time to play cute and refused to cooperate without any indication anywhere as to what went wrong or if anything even had gone wrong. In a game defined by "pointless nick-knacks in drawers", what the fuck is the player supposed to think? Well, I can tell you what they invariably do think: "This must not be the right spot."
Cue an hour of confused stumbling back and forth searching for something they must have missed, when in fact what they needed to do is exactlywhat they tried to do the first time. It's maddening! Perhaps the most maddening thing in all of video games.
If the game simply had some way to distinguish that box from the dozens of other boxes in closets that you can't open or provided better visual clarity about whether the player is highlighting an object or included some kind of HUD element or fucking something, ANYTHING, this entire mess wouldn't have happened.
And, of course, the actual most maddening thing is the people who invariably come out of the woodwork and say "I didn't have a problem!" Good for you. You must be so proud.
@yummytreesap: Oh yeah, I think I remember now! It was a tiny-ass grid, and it's different from other castlevanias because it appears at the end of a level, rather than when you died. The finite continues could still be an annoyance, but it hopefully won't be a deal breaker if they can just re-enter the password.
The problem with Bloodlines, if I remember correctly, is that it has finite continues and no passwords. So unless Vinny is able to beat the entire game in one session on his first few continues, they are going to have to use save states, which they have been avoiding up until now.
Not a big deal, in my view, but maybe moreso for others.
I bought and downloaded the game after watching this stream, and while I can technically say I beat Gassy on my first try, I feel like I had already fought him vicariously through @vinny half a dozen times.
So thanks for that.
(Molotovs do, in fact, wreck his beast form. Three is enough, as long as you hit.)
Not a big fan of being able to get a quick lead and then run out the clock by deliberately making the level impossible. I'm not sure how else I would get around long stalemates other than a time limit, but said stalemates felt like part of the charm in the first place.
My only concern is that I was trying to follow along with the construction of the ship and there were a few cuts where I could see that the ship changed, but I was unclear on what the problem was or how it was fixed.
The error they were getting with the parachute is a good example. Was something attached upside-down? Was a part changed out? And something got attached to the side of the control pod that I didn't recognize. What was that thing?
Cutting out the downtime is fine, but I feel like there is a hole in my mental image of how those pieces were put together. Or if not a hole, then an outright misunderstanding.
This isn't actually a big deal, mind you. It's not like I was expecting an educational video here. Just something to maybe keep in mind while editing?
Life is long and Giant Bomb isn't going anywhere (hopefully). I can understand not wanting things to get lost in the shuffle, but there's no need to rush these things.
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