wongojack

Of course they are. WOW continues the format started by Diablo of having a PC based RPG that focuses more on action and less on stats and managing details. This created a broader appeal for Diablo than other RPGs and then that was further revised into the MMO format. Found this in less than 10 seconds: How WoW has been influenced by Diablo (blizzardwatch.com) Edit - I see the reaction, and I realize my response above is a bit too much of an overreaction. I should have said something like - I don't really know how much the gameplay and other elements are related, but there are definitely opinions you can find online that suggest the games are similar.

I also thought that HZD most reminded me of the Tomb Raider reboot series, but it borrows from a lot of other games, and I've seen many other comparisons online. I really liked it and thought that even though it was borrowing, it borrowed some really good things and put them together nicely. I may have liked it slightly less however if I had played it back-to-back with a similar game. My advice for HZD would be to get yourself to the capital city (I forget what it is called) and THEN make choices about where you want to spend time. You can rush through the main story if you really want to, but I think most people get kinda caught up in the various hunting challenges. The DLC is also quite large and very good. If you own it, there is a point in the story where it makes sense for Aloy (and you as a player) to naturally go there.

Just trying to give you some feedback. My first response was a question as I didn't understand what was making you so angry. Now I understand that you just don't use the word "infuriated" the same as me.

I'm familiar with EverQuest, but I think of WOW as achieving something outside of the game itself. It was popular in a way that other video games could never be. I guess I'm taking a leap, but I think publishers have been trying to get that same segment of casual players hooked on their multiplayer games ever since. "What will be the next WOW?" was a relevant question for years until something like Fortnight came along. Diablo is definitely a similar game, and it also emphasized its multiplayer community for years. There would never be a WOW without Diablo.

I thought about Halo. It is certainly worth a consideration. It brought FPS games to the console after all and made them a mainstream thing in a lot of ways.

I think you could make a case for the Diablo series. I guess it really started in the last century, but the evolution into World of Warcraft (which did happen in the 21st) kinda kicked off the whole MMORPG genre. And this is coming from someone who really hasn't played Diablo or MMORPGs at all. The influence though is ever present, as I credit the series for the evolution toward "free to play" games.

Perhaps this is more on topic for you. I watch a lot of the Youtube channel "Abroad in Japan." Chris has lived in Japan as a teacher and Youtuber for many years. He has explained that as a teacher, he observed that Japanese students are often very good at memorizing English words but lack a lot of confidence when actually trying to speak English. This sort of comes out of a cultural quality where failure is to be avoided and being wrong is simply seen as being very bad. So, they tend to know a lot of individual words or phrases but don't have a lot of practical ability to speak English. Because of this, English gets used in strange ways all over Japan as others in this thread have stated. It is recognized and sometimes even new meaning is given to a foreign or English word and then reused without understanding of the word origin etc. One example I heard recently was the word "Viking" is sometimes used for a buffet. This is because saying the Swedish word "smorgasbord" was waaay too hard, so they swapped in another word that was vaguely Scandanavian and went with it. Anyway, the Japanese tend to use and adopt foreign and English words quite regularly, so seeing them in brief use in a title seems to fit right in with how they interact with foreign languages. At least in a public or marketing sense. But D00d, your original post reads like this to me "I get extremely angry when foreign things aren't translated for me into MY LANGUAGE." If someone is reading what you wrote like I did, they would think you were being very entitled and wanting everything in the world translated for you.

Infuriating means extremely angry. I don't really know what we're talking about here. Yeah, it's too bad that everything isn't translated into XYZ language. I don't get "extremely angry" over that type of thing, but you do your thing.

You used the word "infuriating" which is similar to furious. Quite a few degrees above "bent out of shape." And it is (still) not clear what you meant.

Are you infuriated that there is no English translation? Or is it more that you are sort of fooled into thinking the game is in English. I mean, don't get too bent out of shape if things aren't in your native language. Pretty much everyone who grows up speaking another language has it worse.

The modern and NES versions are currently on sale on GOG for 1.99 each. https://www.gog.com/en/games?developers=elden-pixels

For @T-Pac and the recent discussion here. I escaped my adolescence and childhood without ever playing SMB 3, SMW, or ANY Pokemon game. I was just kind of too old for all of those. I actually also never played SMB 2 but did have a traumatic experience trying to trade for it at school where it was stolen from me. I borrowed it and then lost it! Boy was that guy I had traded with mad. I never even tried to play it after that and kinda fell out of playing the NES altogether. At least for a while I've since gone back and made an effort to play all of those except Super Mario World (the revelation of which kinda kicked off this whole thread).

The river stage was ok, the guys always come at you in the same pattern, so it is pretty easy to get through it. Actually, I think I got through it on my first try just sort of spamming attack. You can climb all the way up to the top "log" and then smash that garlic dude in the face before he even begins attacking you. The real trick for me was that horse stage - had to remember to use the invisibility/cyclone power thingy.

This is pretty cool. I had no idea this "publication" existed. I will likely use the archive. I do get confused with all the "Retro" magazines and such. Retro Gamer Magazine, Old School Retro Gamer Magazine, and of course the infamous magazine simply known as Retro that was run by that dude who tried to fool us all with the chameleon. I have a hard time remembering which ones I've backed on kickstarter etc.

What is the gameplay like?

I also recently played this as part of a high score club. I didn't use any save states and looked nothing up. I think I made it to the castle walls a few times and enjoyed my time with the game. I will probably go back to it at some point. I hear that finding the scrolls is basically impossible without a guide.

I recently beat Ghostbusters for both the SMS and the new Ultimate Edition homebrew for the Intellivision. Ghostbusters UE for the Intellivision is a masterwork of taking a truly classic property, putting (almost) everything that could have been in it back then into a new game and releasing it as a homebrew. The game will use Intellivoice and the ECS (if you have them) to play voice overs and enhanced music. It has more scenes from the movie, more music from the movie and adds more challenge than the classic versions did by making a few smart updates to the item selection and the debt system. They did stick to the early release endgame and omitted the stair climbing and vertical shooting level found in the NES and the SMS version, but the game is more streamlined and possibly better for it. I appreciated that it ended up actually being kind of hard to catch the ghosts in this version. Even with multiple strategies, I still miss a few here and there which adds to the replayability and challenge of what was such an impressive gaming sequence when the title released on the C64 all those years ago. On the other hand, what this version really does is show you the shortcomings of the original game. Once you've gotten used to the ups and downs of ghost extermination (and know how to use bait to stop a Marshmallow attack) you'll find a game on default settings remarkably easy. I mention that bit about the bait because when I played this game as a kid, I never knew I could reach over and press 'B' to stop the marshmallow man. It wasn't until years later that I finally read the manual and finished the C64 version of the game. As a huge Ghostbusters fan who has massive nostalgia for the original game, I am very happy with this. I'm working to win with all of the cars which is proving to be a satisfying challenge because when you continue from a previous game, you must always finish with more money than you started. So, if you buy the sports car, you've got to catch enough ghosts to pay it back before the city's PKE level reaches the critical state. I give Ghostbusters UE a 4 out 5. Without nostalgia, I might drop it down to a 3 due to the somewhat simple game loop and lack of true difficulty options, but I am still excited to keep playing it, and the little touches added make me smile whenever I catch a few ghosts. Ghostbusters for the SMS is a game that I've been meaning to really sit down and play for years. I got my vintage hardware out and even discovered that I'd acquired 2 physical copies of the game - overprepared. The game makes some interesting choices in the beginning section, giving you more options to purchase equipment some of which I believe is unique to this version. You are also given the chance to upgrade your equipment by stopping at a store on the map during gameplay. This is really cool and opens up some differences in the game, but as I played with this equipment, I discovered that it just made the game easier. It is an easy game to begin with and there are no difficulty options or post game difficulty increases, so carrying over money from a previous game makes me feel like the Monopoly man who just buys his way to victory. In the actual ghost catching sequences, the "streams" of the ghostbusters' proton packs are now pointed straight up, which means there's no way to cross the streams. It also means that it is pretty hard for the ghosts to actually escape you once you've gotten them between your laser throwing ghost cowboys. Conservative shootin Tex. Catching them in a trap rarely fails and the $$ just piles up faster than you can say I feel so funky. Which reminds me that while the music is excellent there is no speech in this version. That doesn't seem like a big deal, but as a fan of the old C64 version, I really missed the occasional computer voice encouraging me onward. The 2 sections added to the game see you climbing a staircase while shooting at/avoiding ghosts and then shooting vertically towards Gozer (misspelled in the manual and the game as Gorza). The staircase is remarkably difficult and the shooting sequence after it a little easier than expected. Since the ghostbusters didn't actually shoot lasers at Gozer to defeat him/her to end the movie, this definitely feels like an add-on. However, it does give the player a nice variety of gameplay and makes ending the game feel like more of an accomplishment than the versions released for less powerful platforms. I was pleased with this version of Ghostbusters and appreciated the extra levels at the end to give me some variety and a challenging ending to overcome. However, I spent most of my time playing as a hyper-efficient ghost catching team who could essentially upgrade my abilities at will. Extra money just made the longest section of the game borderline boring. I still enjoyed my time with the game, but I give it a somewhat disappointed 3 out of 5. In a direct comparison of both of these games, the SMS certainly has more variety and all the advantages of its hardware, but if I'm going back in for more, I'd rather play the Intellivision version.

Holy cow - I just went back and read this. I have a pretty clear memory of this since I played it in the last year. I also did not pick up the stick right away (I clicked and he didn't pick it up), but I couldn't even save her from that first guy, so after she died a few times, I eventually stood on the right pixel and pushed the right button to pick up the flaming stick. Get The STICK!!! Later there are piles of sticks that give you the chance to pick up a new one. You definitely need that stick to light lanterns and stuff. If you were trying to play on super hard mode, you'd likely have several places where you'd actively have to DROP the stick to ram the bad guys instead. It would make the somewhat pointless fighting segments completely intolerable IMO.

I remember playing this bitd. I may even still have my copy or perhaps it was a rental. Anyway, I got scared off by the early difficulty, but the oddball humor/story/presentation was definitely memorable. I generally have more patience now for this type of game. Maybe I'll go back to it.

I've got about 300 minutes in Control (a game I actually mentioned on page 1). It is a quality game and about what I was expecting. The 3rd person gameplay is kind of refreshing in that the aiming is pretty loose and auto-aim is turned off by default. Also - it seems you can use your powers effectively enough to make the gunplay secondary if you like. It has been a while since I played Quantum Break, but I suspect the gameplay borrows most from that other Remedy game. Story is predictably difficult to follow while simultaneously engaging. Difficulty - pretty easy although I have died a few times here and there in combat especially right at the beginning. @Reed Rothchild - Of the 3 Tomb Raider reboot games, I think I liked "Rise" the best. They struck a nice balance with the open world and the linear story. Finding the tombs always felt like a real discovery to me. Although, it had the least memorable story IMO. Felt pretty uninspired in that department. Still remember it being quite a good game.

I can't decide yet. It is kind of foundational in terms of references etc. However, the last few times I've watched it, I haven't laughed much.

If you happened to purchase the "Bundle for Ukraine" a couple years ago on itch.io, you got Baba is You included. Those itch.io bundles are a bit hard to navigate, but it is there. The author also offers several "Baba" puzzle games for free in his itch collection: Hempuli - itch.io There is also a Return of the Obra Dinn demo available for free on itch.io: Return of the Obra Dinn by dukope (itch.io)

AI-ripides, is that you?

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Tell me this (in spoiler tags if you have to). Is there a required vs not required set of puzzles in the game? Is there some sort of "main track" and a way to discern when you are on it?