29th January 2024, 7:57 AM
Wait you HAVE played Metroidvanias before but are still confused by the concept of Symphony of the Night? Huh...
In any case, while our tastes may differ, I'm totally with you in the "I played a bunch of old games this year" camp. For one, Baldur's Gate finally "clicked" for me. It took me decades, but the story is actually engaging this time around, enough that I'm sticking around for more than just the first few locations. I may be able to figure out why it worked for me this time and not any previous time, but I can at least say modding the heck out of it helped.
I also played a lot of Doom, mainly crazy mods. Stuff that converts the game into completely different gameplay genres, like Sonic the Hedgehog or Silent Hill for example.
As mentioned, I did full playthroughs of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, reminding myself why those games aren't just good, they stand apart in their own subgenre.
Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 got full playthroughs. I'm preparing to tackle a DKC2 run with "BARRALAX" enabled (which eliminates all switch barrels and checkpoint barrels, but grants you both Kongs at the start of every level) as a hard mode challenge. I remember doing this in DKC3 for that coveted 105% and even managed to break Cranky's time record on that save, but never got around to doing so on DKC2. I recently got the rev1 cart, in which the bosses move a bit faster making them both more challenging and quicker to beat, so that was as good an excuse as any. I also intend to do full playthroughs of the full Donkey Kong Land trilogy. Oh, and I played DKC's Gameboy Color "demake", in which they even added a kind of "BARRALAX" mode and require completing it for a full 101%. Only challenge I've yet to finish on that one is getting the top score on Funky's Fishing minigame.
Alright, so having played the DKC GBC game, let me say one thing. I now know why certain mini-games come off as "annoying distractions" and others are enjoyable fun. It comes down to one thing, at least to me. Mini-games should be, at their core, utilizing the key gameplay you've been playing up until that point. Candy's new mini-games do this well. Each one uses the existing platforming mechanics. The Funky mini-game doesn't at all. Most of the mini-games in Banjo Kazooie also follow this rule, mainly using the existing platforming mechanics in unique ways. However, many of the mini-games in DK64 just do some completely new thing entirely outside DK's platforming mechanics. Heck, look at Ocarina of Time's mini-games. The vast majority of them use existing game mechanics to "create" some new mini-game experience. The target practice booths, the bombchu range, heck even the fishing game all at their core are building off the preexisting Zelda mechanics. (In fishing, you can stop wiggling and waggling the lure to walk around the pond to find a better position to fish from, for example.) Yes, I think I'm going to call it a rule.
In any case, while our tastes may differ, I'm totally with you in the "I played a bunch of old games this year" camp. For one, Baldur's Gate finally "clicked" for me. It took me decades, but the story is actually engaging this time around, enough that I'm sticking around for more than just the first few locations. I may be able to figure out why it worked for me this time and not any previous time, but I can at least say modding the heck out of it helped.
I also played a lot of Doom, mainly crazy mods. Stuff that converts the game into completely different gameplay genres, like Sonic the Hedgehog or Silent Hill for example.
As mentioned, I did full playthroughs of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, reminding myself why those games aren't just good, they stand apart in their own subgenre.
Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 got full playthroughs. I'm preparing to tackle a DKC2 run with "BARRALAX" enabled (which eliminates all switch barrels and checkpoint barrels, but grants you both Kongs at the start of every level) as a hard mode challenge. I remember doing this in DKC3 for that coveted 105% and even managed to break Cranky's time record on that save, but never got around to doing so on DKC2. I recently got the rev1 cart, in which the bosses move a bit faster making them both more challenging and quicker to beat, so that was as good an excuse as any. I also intend to do full playthroughs of the full Donkey Kong Land trilogy. Oh, and I played DKC's Gameboy Color "demake", in which they even added a kind of "BARRALAX" mode and require completing it for a full 101%. Only challenge I've yet to finish on that one is getting the top score on Funky's Fishing minigame.
Alright, so having played the DKC GBC game, let me say one thing. I now know why certain mini-games come off as "annoying distractions" and others are enjoyable fun. It comes down to one thing, at least to me. Mini-games should be, at their core, utilizing the key gameplay you've been playing up until that point. Candy's new mini-games do this well. Each one uses the existing platforming mechanics. The Funky mini-game doesn't at all. Most of the mini-games in Banjo Kazooie also follow this rule, mainly using the existing platforming mechanics in unique ways. However, many of the mini-games in DK64 just do some completely new thing entirely outside DK's platforming mechanics. Heck, look at Ocarina of Time's mini-games. The vast majority of them use existing game mechanics to "create" some new mini-game experience. The target practice booths, the bombchu range, heck even the fishing game all at their core are building off the preexisting Zelda mechanics. (In fishing, you can stop wiggling and waggling the lure to walk around the pond to find a better position to fish from, for example.) Yes, I think I'm going to call it a rule.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)