General Games Discussion

Firenze wrote: OW + Persona got me tied down for a while. Possibility I check out Prey if reviews are lit but I imagine Persona will take me a month

Right...

Wait, how are you playing Persona 5 in 2016?

I played the demo, Bioshock vibes are massively apparent. I might start again though because i got lost

Although i'm thinking about saving some money for once and not buying any games for a while.

We'll see how long that lasts

Yeah, I don't think I'll get any new games anytime soon, either. I seem to have lost most of my past interest in FPS games, and I think it's time for a break from games in general. If anything, I might pick up the Kingdom Hearts collection thing. I haven't played any of the Kingdom Hearts games, and they're supposedly great. Don't think I'll be buying any new games over the next few months, unless there's something I absolutely shouldn't miss out on.

I'll choose between Prey and Nier when I get more time in like 3 weeks. Almost done with Kingdom Hearts 1.

Got me all nostalgic now listening to KH's GOAT songs

Btw did Telltale invest in a new engine yet lol?

They say they did lol, but I'll believe that when I see it.

#12

Game: Beyond Oasis
Year: 1995.
Genre: Action Adventure.
Publisher: Sega.
Developer: Ancient.



First things first, I am changing my rating system to better rate different genres according to their own rules. It will still be from 50 quality points, but every title will start from 25 and earn/lose points according to criteria important to the titles and genres themselves.

In many ways, Beyond Oasis is a typical example of the games released at the end of the 16bit generation. It manages to squeeze every ounce of the system's technical capabilities, as well as learn from all the past games in the genre, and yet is still ignored.

If it was released a year or two earlier, Beyond Oasis would have been hailed as a masterpiece. However, it was released when the SNES was dominating the market, and Sega released the Saturn for over a year, as well as the doomed 32X Genesis expansion.

"He will lead Oasis to ruin if you don't stop them"

As you can guess from the name of the game, the story is set in a desert kingdom surrounding an oasis. You wouldn't guess that the protagonist name is Ali given the blond hair though. In this desert kingdom, Ali finds the Gold Armlet, a magical item that will allow him to stand up to the evil threatening the oasis.

In a clear sign of the trend toward more elaborate narratives in the coming generations, Beyond Oasis is significantly more story-driven than other similar games on the Genesis. It is not a thrilling story by any means, but it adds a driving factor to the player.

One thing that annoyed me is how Ali is constantly being called "Gold Armlet", as if the object he is wearing is somehow a name. As such, his evil counterpart is called Silver Armlet, which is just a stupid name.

There is a Story: +2

"The power of the Gold Armlet are now yours to lose"

Using a top-down perspective, like the 2D Legend of Zelda games, Beyond Oasis is surprisingly mobile. Ali can dash, jump, and crawl like he would do if this was a Side-Scrolling game. He attacks with various combos, depending on how you push the attack button. For instance, quick taps will give off a short and fast stabbing attack that does little damage. But quick taps with specific rhythm will give off an effective combo.

Other than his trusty dagger, there is a small amount of destructible weapons that can be found. Even though the durability of these weapons mean that you will mostly depend on the unbreakable dagger, they are frequently found so that you will probably use them in a lot of the game's harder encounters.

Due to both the availability of a lot of health restoration items, as well as Ali's magical powers (which I will talk about later), the game is rarely if ever difficult.

Battles can be very hectic, with lot of soldiers, giants, and imps running around. However, if you keep your distance well, you can slash and kick your way around easily out of any trouble. If not, you can simply use a lot of the thrown around health restoration items for an instant recovery.

Even bosses, who are actually fun to fight against, and look formidable most of the time, are not that much of a challenge. In fact, if you want to add any degree of difficulty, you should probably abstain from using some types of items.

Fun Action Gameplay: +4
Fast Movement: +3
Easy: -3

"Show me your power, Gold Armlet"

To help in his fight against evil, Gold Armlet (See how stupid that sounds) must recruit four elemental spirits to help him. Each of these spirits can be summoned as a companion, and will allow Ali to use a variety of useful abilities both to solve puzzles and fight enemies.

The main conceit of summoning these allies is something I never saw before. You cannot simply summon any of them at will, but must summon them through a corresponding elemental object. For example, to summon Efreet (the fire elemental), you must use an open flame. If there isn't any nearby, you must backtrack to find one (especially if you actually need him to solve a puzzle).

It is never as annoying as it could be, and is mainly used as another layer of puzzle solving.

Speaking of puzzles, they are one of the obstacles in the game's levels along with mild platforming challenges and enemies. They are rarely memorable ,but they are a welcome distraction. Especially in the game's dungeon's, which are fun and well paced.

The same cannot be said of the game's more "open" areas, which scroll poorly, and are barren of any interesting objects.

Good Dungeons: +3
Nice Variety of Elemental Powers: +3
Barren Open Areas: -2

"I appear from the void to become your shadow"

Naturally, coming at the end of the Genesis's lifecycle, Beyond Oasis had the entire library of the console to learn from. This is showcased in its technical achievement, which allow for smooth gameplay, great graphics and animation, and even some nice looking pixel built "scenes".

Starting with the game's graphics, while the playground is not anything special, both the sprites and the background is absolutely stellar. Especially the sprites, which are large, detailed, and animate well.

Take the giants for example. They look physically imposing, and the walk around with a sense of weight thanks to the detail in their design and animation. Having several of them on screen, you would imagine an earlier Genesis game would have some noticeable frame drops.

Of course, Ali perfectly showcase the game's technical abilities. Comparing him to any protagonist in a Top Down action adventure game, he moves with more fluidity and style than any of them. The animations employed here are responsible for making the quick action gameplay possible.

A similar level of care and ambition went on to compose the music of the game, which aims to be both unique and atmospheric. Unfortunately, it succeeds, but at the cost of being boring to listen to, and a poor compliment to the colorful graphics we see on screen..

Obviously, Yuzo Koshiro (a very good composer) had an ambitious composition on his mind, but neither the Genesis nor the game could have made that ambition a reality.

Great Graphics: +5
Poor Soundtrack: -2

In Conclusion:

As with many late games in both the SNES and Genesis life cycle, Beyond Oasis could have been an instant classic if released earlier. Yet, we wonder if it was possible for any development team to get as much of the Genesis in an earlier period.

Unfortunately, because it was released so late, this is one game that was unfairly ignored by the masses, even if appreciated by those who luckily played it at the time.

Final: 38/50

"Tips"
1- Items in dungeons reset if you exit and enter.
2- There are orbs that increase your magic points scattered around the world.
3- When you defeat a lot of enemies, you sometimes get a big heart piece that increases your health.
4- Try and always keep some health items ready.
5- If you have the water elemental out, you can restore your health.
6- You recover magic points if you don't have an elemental summoned.

"Next Game"

Finally, I am getting into the Genesis groove. Frankly, most of the game's I have played out of the top 20 were a semi-waste of my time. It is games like Beyond Oasis that I look for when doing these reviews. Little unknown gems that are really fun to play,

Next game on the list, at #10, is not a little known gem. Contra: Hard Corps is one of the best know games on the series's history, and one that might convince me to enjoy brutal shooters.

Stay Tuned

"story rich"



Instead of Nier they recommend South Park

Speaking of, Part 3 of Nier finally gets things going, up until now Nier threw what I expected of it at me.

Nothing wrong with that tbh.

The story of Cartman and the lads is rich imo

Isn't it basically all story?

I haven't played it but apparently it's one big South Park episode with turn based combat lol.

Probably not that outrageous to call it story rich then

Bellabong wrote:

Speaking of, Part 3 of Nier finally gets things going, up until now Nier threw what I expected of it at me.

They should've just scrapped part two completely, and somehow included the additional elements from it in part 1.

Imo making 1-2 less predictable and generic, I mean come on, the stoic and enthusiastic trope for your protagonists and then having the stoic one become emotional for a death that's reversed 5 seconds later?

I get the double playthrough, you get attached to both, it's just you're having to play through a pretty generic story. Not saying it's bad but it's not a story I'd write on this forum about.

The base story is pretty bad, to be honest lol. I was eager to finish the second play-through and not ever having to pick up the game again, but then all of a sudden, the game transitioned over to an increasingly more original and interesting environment. I never thought the game was going to have a happy ending, but I didn't expect so much tragedy either But yeah, I thought the story was really good, by the time I was -completely done- with the game. It's just a shame that the first two play-throughs are relatively mediocre and repetitive.

rincon wrote:I'll choose between Prey and Nier when I get more time in like 3 weeks. Almost done with Kingdom Hearts 1.

Get Nier for sure, the guy behind it is one of the best minds in the industry, first Nier blew my mind. Prey will probably be alright as is Dishonored.

http://kotaku.com/darksiders-iii-apparently-leaked-via-amazon-1794830059

Darksiders 3 trailer



Edit: RG ffs

Never played any darksiders games but they are always hyped

Me neither but heard they are basically Zelda games but more adult stuff

Anime Souls

Looks garbage tbh

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/what-remains-of-edith-finch

no idea what this is but it sounds good and is getting great reviews, will check it out when it's free on PS+ in a year imo

Isn't it a walking sim? that's what i expect it to be going off the name lol.

Sounds like another 'everybody has gone to the rapture'

IGN have a hands on with Darksiders 3.

Similar to the way Zelda expanded on its own core concepts in Breath of the Wild, if a puzzle exists in Darksiders 3, it should make sense in an environment rather than being a trap some unseen character inexplicably laid out for the player for no logical reason. Don’t expect any gated combat, and enemies (some of which existed in previous games, some of which are brand new) should feel a lot more like they belong in the world natively, rather than just popping up inconveniently to fight you.

Yes, there’ll still be collectibles creatively scattered throughout the world, but no out-of-place chests, and, ultimately, every inch of the world should feel more contextualized if all goes according to Gunfire’s plan.

That same ideology seems to echo throughout each level, in a world that is supposed to be fully connected and realized, without any hard loads. If you take an elevator down to a different environment, the one you came from really is the height of that elevator away from you. It’s supposed to be a physically, logically connected open-world, and in part because of that, it’ll also have a whole lot of ‘swiss cheese game design’ - basically, the idea that you should be able to see glimpses of environments you’ve already been to, or ones you’ve yet to go to as you traverse, like through the holes in swiss cheese.

Based on the tiny chunk that I played, it made me want to explore everything so much more than I would have otherwise, because you can always see the next thing, just out of reach. Fury should be a fun character to explore all that with - we’ll talk about her a lot more in our Hero Feature later this month, but the short of it is that she’s fast, agile and feels a little like post-apocalyptic-Catwoman-meets-God-of-War, but with much cooler hair.

If you haven’t played a Darksiders game, it should be easy for new players to pick up without any story confusion (though you can also grab both previous games as part of THQ Nordic’s ‘Fury’s Collection’ on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One).
One particular area, called Haven, is entirely shaped by the gorgeous, enormous tree that sits perched and glowing in the middle. It’s a relatively safe area, and the roots that tendril their way through the city slowly get thicker towards the center, which presents it’s own creative navigation tool.

It’s also just pretty overall, though it still maintains that unique, classic Darksiders art style, and with an immediately noticeable increase in verticality versus previous games. Darksiders 3 is the first in the series to run on Unreal rather than an internally built engine, and subtleties like water, lava and lighting particularly had noticeably improved. I didn’t get to explore the world anywhere near as much as I’d have liked, but did get to see what looked like a series of skyscrapers floating on clouds in the sky, a damp-looking, swampy area, and a fiery hollow - each of which seemed to exist exactly where it should in terms of verticality, with the hollow being far below the rest.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2017/05/04/darksiders-3-first-hands-on-preview-a-ign-first

Honestly it sounds great.