General Games Discussion

Of course, why?

futbol wrote:

futbol wrote:I will tell you the truth when I've played all.

So now I've finished Witcher 1 and 2. Of course the entire combat system ("click - wait- click - wait"), not needing a fireplace to rest, items with weight system instead of "1 piece of 10 different sorts of leaves = you're full" etc. etc. etc. is much better. Much more modern game of course.

Story-wise however, part 2 was much weaker than part 1. No contest. Game felt very very short and like a stop gap or prelude to Witcher 3. The one character you have any affiliation with gets abducted the entire game, the other main character of the game is poisoned and sleeping throughout only to wake up for a battle and then disappear again. 3rd chapter you spend 70 % of the time with the weird "Secret of Loc Muinne" riddle with characters that are so meaningless that they get killed during the riddle. You find some powerful armour only for the game to end 20 minutes later. One powerful silver sword requires a Dragon item in Philippa's home yet literally the only enemy left after that is the dragon itself.

In Witcher 1 you had so many great side characters that were meaningful like Alvin, Adda, Berengar, Kalkstein, Shani, Vincent, Thaler. Even unimportant characters had great stories and quests like the 2 sisters in that village towards the end and the wedding ceremony.

In Witcher 2 you have Iorweth and that's about it.

So other than better graphics and mechanics, story-wise Witcher 2 was weak IMO. Maybe story is the wrong word as the story is actually good of course but half of it is told to you by the last person you speak to in the game in endless dialogs. You don't really "play thorugh the story" which makes it weak.

Did you choose Iorveth or Vernon Roche's path? The paths are actually quite different (until the end) and makes the game worth replaying.

Iorveth, I made a save game before the decision so I might play Roche as well since the game isn't that long anyway.

#38

Game: The Legend of Oasis.
Year: 1996 in NA and Japan.
Genre: Action Adventure.
Publisher: Sega.
Developer: Ancient.



First things first, I am changing my rating system to a simpler 10 point system. Games that get above a 7 I fully recommend, and those that get below that are mostly a waste of time. That leaves the score of 7 to depend on your taste

The Legend of Oasis or The Story of Thor 2 as it is known in Europe, is a prequel to a little known but much respected Genesis Action Adventure game, Beyond Oasis, which was especially lauded for its clear and crisp sprite work and animation in a previous era.

Immediately after the release of that game, this prequel was planned to be released for the ill-fated 32X add-on to the Genesis. However, those plans were shelved and production moved to the Saturn. Most probably, this is the reason that the game retained the original vision of being a simple upgrade to its wonderful predecessor instead of becoming a bastardized early 3D abomination.

For better or worse, The Legend of Oasis is a simple follow up to a 16bit Genesis game.

"Young warrior, who inherit my will... A dark, evil shadow is about to appear, somewhere in Oasis"

If you played the first game, you would recognize the world of Oasis as one borne out of the fight between two God-like beings, each wearing a special armlet. In that game, the golden armlet of the good God found its way to the fated hand of the hero just in time to save the kingdom of Oasis from turmoil.

The prequel doesn't do anything different, except the fact that the kingdom of Oasis was not yet established, and the story expanded just a little with more characters and scope.

As Leon, the fated "King of Spirits", you must protect your village by acquiring the power of the six spirits (expanded fro the four in the first game) and defeat the evil Agito. NPCs provide some coloring by changing dialogue as the story progresses, and there is some basic dramatic build-up regarding a mentor character and a girl who may or may not be the embodiment of evil.

Similar to the first game, there is a lack of character building in the world itself. No other villages that you visit or interesting NPCs that you interact with. This makes it more an Action game than an Action Adventure in some regards.

When compared to some of its peers, like the Dark Savior for instance, it lacks a certain depth to its story and world-building that would have served to elaborate an otherwise very basic story.

"You are a young and inexperienced 'King of Spirits", protector of this world. So you must discover your powers to overcome all obstacles"

At least one area where you don't need much elaboration is in directions. Clearly, Leon must travel around the game's top-down world to find the Spirits, and it is almost always clear where you need to go.

Nominally an open-world, the power of each Spirit is needed to access previously inaccessible areas, not unlike a Zelda game. Traversing the game world is the bulk of the gameplay, especially inside the dungeon areas which are filled with both enemies and puzzles to solve.

One thing that is both enjoyable and confusing is that there is no hard boundary between the dungeons and the overworld, as everything is connected to each other in an organic matter. Hell, one dungeon in the clouds do not have bottomless pits, but instead, you fall down to the overworld below whenever you mess-up (this may sound nightmarish, but there are portals that your progressively unlock throughout that dungeon so that falls don't become insanely punishing).

This encompasses the entire feedback loop for the game. Going into dungeons to retrieve Spirits, which you can then use to access other dungeons to retrieve other Spirits. It's a basic, but very satisfying gameplay loop, with a few annoyances.

First, the fact that there is no overworld map to work with, and as such must struggle to remember where everything is, which is a special pain when you need to go back for a previously inaccessible power-up.

Second, the fact that much of the open world may feel like padding since you ultimately go into a linear path of progression. This latter point is especially noticeable since the world does not have the characterization of other Action Adventure titles.

"Leon, you must destroy the evil by all means. Only you can defend Oasis from Agito's will"

With the basic gameplay loop established, let us talk about the mechanics of the game.

Leon is a surprisingly mobile hero who can run fast and jump long distances. Even in combat, he is able to do some basic combos as well as more complicated special moves. This basic combat and movement options are quite serviceable, but they are not the differentiators for The Legend of Oasis.

The entire gameplay structure hinges on the Spirits that you eventually control. They and their method of utilization is easily the most unique thing about the game.

These Spirits are useful in combat, but their main use is in solving the game's many environmental puzzles. These puzzles are usually simple. For example, freeze water fountains to create ice steps, or turn on some fire lamps. For the first puzzle, you will need the water spirit, and for the second one, you will need the fire spirit. As you can see, these are pretty easy puzzles.

However, the extra element that the game adds is that invoking the correct spirit can sometimes be its own puzzle. You see, summoning a spirit is not a simple matter of pressing a button. No, you must invoke the spirit from its own element. For example, you must have a fire source nearby to invoke the fire spirit, or a darkness source to invoke the shadow spirit.

As such, the game's puzzles have two elements. One if the actual solution of the puzzle itself, and the other being the solution of how to invoke the correct spirit. The best puzzles are where you need the power of multiple spirits to solve a single puzzle, which makes the latter dungeons particularly devious.

Using these spirits in both traversing the game's world and in combat is fun, especially against some really cool boss battles. Even when minor annoyances creep up, such as dismissing Spirits by mistake and having to backtrack to a suitable elemental source to summon them again, the game's relative speed makes sure little time is wasted.

"You look torn Spirit King. Though I have been looking forward to seeing you squirm"

One of the residual aspects of being originally developed for the Genesis 32X is that there was no illusion of it ever being made with polygonal 3D graphics. Instead, this was the natural evolution of the crisp 2D graphics and animations of Beyond Oasis. At the time, this was considered backward's thinking, and the game even suffered critically for not having cutting edge graphics.

Now that we all know better, it is clear that The Legend of Oasis's beautifully drawn sprites have survived the test of time and still look good today. There is no doubt that is a graphically beautiful game, with lush environments and a clear artistically consistent style that permeates all through the environment and creature designs.

Sure, the design may not appeal to everyone, with its 90's cartoon aesthetics, but it cannot be said that it is not well executed or ugly.

Carrying on with the same musical style as Beyond Oasis which I criticized previously, the game's soundtrack is a mixture of ambient sound effects and a background orchestral arrangement that reminds me of the epic movies of the 50s and 60s.

In concept, this may sound nice, and Yuzo Koshiro is not an unknown composer (he is also the producer of the game). However, in practice, this leads to a soundtrack with many similar tunes and a difficulty in asserting itself over the various actions on-screen.

Like with the first game, but with a better sound chip, the orchestral arrangements of the land of Oasis fail to implant themselves in my memory.

In Conclusion:

Clearly, the most obvious thing to say about this game is that if you liked Beyond Oasis, then you will like this game.

However, it goes beyond fans of the original game, as this is a really good Action Adventure with some unique elements that help make it stand out, even if it does not quite reach the heights of some of its best peers.

It lacks some world-building elements, and some may be lukewarm on the music just as I was. Certainly, the game may even lack a certain thrust that keeps propelling you forward. Still, you can appreciate the purity of its gameplay and the beauty of its 2D graphics.

Final: 8/10

Pros:

• Great Graphics and Animations
  
• Solid Gameplay
  
• Unique Way of Utilizing Power-Ups
  

Cons:

• Easy to Get Lost Without a Map
  
• Forgettable Music
  

"Tips"
1- Search around for power-ups to your spirits and scrolls.
2- Each weapon has some special combos that are very useful.
3- Spirits super attack (holding down the A button) are also very useful.
4- Personally, the water spirit is the one I use most when facing bosses.
5- If you need a certain spirit to solve a puzzle or get a power-up item, the means to summon them will be nearby.
6- For example, if you need the Shadow spirit, then one way to summon him is by freezing a water fountain source (so that it becomes a "dark" crystal).
7- Bombs are a way to easily summon the fire spirit.
8- Bombing water puddles allow you to summon the wind spirit from the resulting steam.
9- If you see a dark crustal by itself in a room or something, then it is likely that you should summon the Shadow spirit and use his special ability to see hidden things.

"Next Game"

It's great to have another game I enjoyed in this list. The Legend of Oasis is the kind of game I do these lists for, unknown games that are really fun to play and experience.

Next on the list is another report of the games from 40 to 31 in the Retro Sanctuary list. Originally, I was going to play and review Metal Slug. However, it was only released in Japan and never ported west on the Saturn.

Stay Tuned

futbol wrote:Of course, why?

There were a couple of decisions you'd make in the original that would have a tangible outcome in the sequel. Namely killing or removing Adda's curse.

There's also a save game editor for both Witcher 1 and 2 which could modify the file had you made the "wrong" decision in these games.

danyjr wrote:

futbol wrote:Of course, why?

There were a couple of decisions you'd make in the original that would have a tangible outcome in the sequel. Namely killing or removing Adda's curse.

There's also a save game editor for both Witcher 1 and 2 which could modify the file had you made the "wrong" decision in these games.

What outcome? Adda was a non story in Witcher 2, she was just mentioned in the intro afaik and that was that (I did not kill her btw in Witcher).

Any good sales on Steam? Only bought ME 1&2, but don't see much else.

Thimmy wrote:

Ah, that's a shame. The people who've played the game seem to be really divided. I've read everything from "poor Yakuza re-skin" and "worst game they ever made" to "best game of the last decade" and "I couldn't have asked for more" But I'll take your word for it. I never seem to run out of things to play on Playstation Now, anyway. Tell me what you think about Bloodstained, once you're done with it

Ok so if you do not like plat-formers, this game is not for you. If you hate Castlevania, this game is definitely not for you. If you like to look at a pretty game, this game is so much not for you, you might actually file a lawsuit or something.

With that being said, it's a solid title. Though the only thing missing from it being a Castlevania title is the Castlevania title itself and Konami. Map back tracking (finished on 99.4%), killing hundreds of the same enemy to farm specific shards/souls and items/materials, stupid bosses, decent voice acting and just good, old fashion, plat-forming fun.

But I would say: the graphics has no excuse to be this bad. Hollow Knight and Celeste looks way better than this and were priced cheaper. Alas, great game but only play it if you like platformers and/or Castlevania.

I see, thanks for the summary. I’m okay with platformers, and I’ve played one or two of the Castlevanias, but I’m not particularly interested in the genre. I was much more of a fan when I was younger. I think I’ll stick with my PS Now library for now

Detroit Become Human is free on PS+

Weren't they suppose to give PES 2019 for free?

Yes, something happened and it got replaced

No particularly idea why.

I'd be pissed off at Sony if I'd bought Detroit last month

Last month? What about the People who bought it this month?

any way to hustle free PS+ to get this?

Dunno, closest thing would be to see if you can get PS+ 1 month somewhere.

But that depends on how much you Value Detroit and replaying Heavy Rain as that comes with it tbh.

So finally finished the main storyline in Celeste. It was great. I know there is much more I could do, but I'm not a masochist, so I think I'll just leave it at that.

If I were looking for another game, like celeste, that I could just pick up for 15 mins and then drop, what would you recommend?

Bloodborne

BarrileteCosmico wrote:So finally finished the main storyline in Celeste. It was great. I know there is much more I could do, but I'm not a masochist, so I think I'll just leave it at that.

If I were looking for another game, like celeste, that I could just pick up for 15 mins and then drop, what would you recommend?

It's not exactly the same, but there's another, critically acclaimed, indie platformer called Rain World. You might like it. It's a gorgeous looking game that focuses more on survival than platforming, compared to Celeste.

Switch Lite, releases September. Think I'll buy one. Kinda ugly though, also even though it's $199, bet it's £199.

actually, it's a fairly shit deal considering the regular Switch I've seen on sale for like £240. Dunno why on earth you would buy this version.

The Switch that doesn't even switch...

I agree, unless it's gonna be a fair bit cheaper than the original Switch I'm not sure why anyone would buy one.

It's being made for casuals and kids who mums and dads will undoubtedly buy in droves over Christmas.

We're not the target audience.

Wouldn't they already have bought one though?