[Will Hunt]

I've just remembered. They've remastered Advance Wars 1 and 2 for Switch and released that recently. I played these on my GBA as a kid and they're brilliant turn-based strat. £50 seems steep to me for something that I played to death 20 years ago but if you haven't played then they would probably be a good buy, especially if you're limited to games where coordination and speed aren't needed.

[slab_happy]

Made it to the third boss for the first time, and even into the second phase of that fight! And took much longer to die than I expected!

Good work. I guess that is the thing with these card battlers. Sometimes you randomly hit a really good combo of cards and just breeze through bosses and other times it is a slog. Keeping going. And hope you are enjoying it. :-)

Randomness aside, there's also the huge factors of me getting a grip on how the game works, and developing occasional glimmers of tactics.

Anyway, I just STARTED A NEW GAME!

(I figure I can say this without fear of spoiling anyone else as the significance will be lost on anyone who hasn't played.)

[JamieG]

Anyway, I just STARTED A NEW GAME!

Oh, excellent. Good work getting there. How you finding the story?

The mechanics do take some getting used to, especially if you haven’t played this style of game before.

[slab_happy]

I feel like I still don't know what the story proper is yet -- I've just excavated one layer, if that makes sense.

The mechanics do take some getting used to, especially if you haven’t played this style of game before.

Yeah, but on the other hand I've been finding out that I do enjoy some crunchy mechanics. Takes me a long time to wrap my brain around them, I get frustrated and have to be patient with myself (especially when it's a whole new genre, and at the moment almost all the genres are new to me), but I enjoy the process.

Also, if you like story games and the walking simulator style, I think you would really like Gone Home too. (this is also based on other comments you have made in other threads on here . . . . ) :-) Again the less you know going in, the better.

Quite a few people have recced that to me, so yeah, it's on the list!

Oh, in the "walking round a house finding things" genre, have I mentioned Anatomy by Kitty Horrorshow? Not on Steam but it is on Itch, I think. Extraordinary little art-horror game. Genuinely creepy.

[JamieG]

I feel like I still don't know what the story proper is yet -- I've just excavated one layer, if that makes sense.

The mechanics do take some getting used to, especially if you haven’t played this style of game before.

Yeah, but on the other hand I've been finding out that I do enjoy some crunchy mechanics. Takes me a long time to wrap my brain around them, I get frustrated and have to be patient with myself (especially when it's a whole new genre, and at the moment almost all the genres are new to me), but I enjoy the process.

Also, if you like story games and the walking simulator style, I think you would really like Gone Home too. (this is also based on other comments you have made in other threads on here . . . . ) :-) Again the less you know going in, the better.

Quite a few people have recced that to me, so yeah, it's on the list!

Oh, in the "walking round a house finding things" genre, have I mentioned Anatomy by Kitty Horrorshow? Not on Steam but it is on Itch, I think. Extraordinary little art-horror game. Genuinely creepy.

Yeah maybe ‘story’ is the wrong word. Experience?

I’ll check out Anatomy by Kitty Horrorshow. Sounds interesting. Thanks for the recommendation.

[slab_happy]

Important note: it's very short but you have to play it multiple times. It ... changes.

[slab_happy]

https://kittyhorrorshow.itch.io/anatomy

[slab_happy]

So, I'm in Act 3 of Inscryption, going "Okay, so there are 'waypoints' where your items recharge, and when you're killed you're dropped back at the last waypoint you reached and the enemies respawn -- you can't fool me, I've heard about this stuff, these are bonfires, aren't they?"

Given my lack of reflexes, this may be as close to a soulslike as I ever get.

[JamieG]

Haha. Yeah I guess that section is a little souls like. You’re cruising through it now! 

[slab_happy]

We do NSFW to hide spoilers, right?

Just nerding out about mechanics a bit, but for anyone else reading, I second JamieG's advice that it's really worth going into Inscryption knowing as little as possible.

NSFW  :

I'm fascinated by the shift in progress mechanics between the three acts and how it affects the experience so far.

So in Act I, you have the rogue-lite thing of being knocked all the way back to the very start every time you die, albeit getting to keep some things you've acquired or changed.

Then in Act II, you have the more conventional experience -- I don't know if there's a technical term for it -- where you don't lose progress when you lose a fight, but you have to keep trying it (or go off elsewhere and do other things to increase your power before trying it again) until you get through.

Then Act III is the quasi-soulslike where you lose all the progress you made since the last waypoint.

It feels like the interplay of tension/anxiety/achievement/frustration is really different in each act because of that, even with the card game mechanics staying fairly similar.

[JamieG]

No real spoilers in what I've said below, but it really is best to go in as blind as possible.

NSFW  :

The designer of the game Daniel Mullins seems to be really interested in deconstructing the mechanics of various games and exploring them. What works, what doesn't, how it changes the experience etc. He has made a couple other games which I haven't played but I believe are equally odd. Often not what they first appear to be. He also adds tons of secrets, hidden mechanics, ARGs into his games. Worth reading and watching some videos once you are done to see all the extra stuff in the game.

I personally enjoyed the mechanics of ACT1 the most, with ACT2 being a little bit of a slog and ACT3 being better again and probably the trickiest (but perhaps I just built a poor deck). I also got slightly stuck in ACT3 and had to look up a puzzle solution if I remember correctly.

[slab_happy]

Annnnnnnd FINISHED!!!  Although I can see a lot of time in Kaycee's Mod in my future ...

Damn, what a good game!

[Will Hunt]

I'm waiting for the Tears of the Kingdom chat to start.

[JamieG]

Annnnnnnd FINISHED!!!  Although I can see a lot of time in Kaycee's Mod in my future ...

Damn, what a good game!

Good work. It’s quite a rollercoaster at the end.

[JamieG]

I'm waiting for the Tears of the Kingdom chat to start.

I’ve got the game but had to send my controllers off to get fixed. Nightmare. 

[slab_happy]

No real spoilers in what I've said below, but it really is best to go in as blind as possible.

NSFW  :

The designer of the game Daniel Mullins seems to be really interested in deconstructing the mechanics of various games and exploring them. What works, what doesn't, how it changes the experience etc. He has made a couple other games which I haven't played but I believe are equally odd. Often not what they first appear to be. He also adds tons of secrets, hidden mechanics, ARGs into his games. Worth reading and watching some videos once you are done to see all the extra stuff in the game.

I personally enjoyed the mechanics of ACT1 the most, with ACT2 being a little bit of a slog and ACT3 being better again and probably the trickiest (but perhaps I just built a poor deck). I also got slightly stuck in ACT3 and had to look up a puzzle solution if I remember correctly.

NSFW  :

I've found that in this and other games, I struggle really badly with puzzles in a way I find actively stressful and un-enjoyable (as distinct from the many things I struggle badly with but enjoy).

Which I wouldn't necessarily have expected, since I enjoy things like crossword puzzles and jigsaw puzzles.

I think part of it may be that I have trouble interpreting the cues and making any guesses about what it is I'm supposed to be trying to do or where to start looking for answers; possibly with more gaming experience I'd be better at reading that.

But at any rate, I often hit a blank wall where I have no clue what to do and no means of making forwards progress in the game except repeatedly looking at the puzzle, trying things randomly, and hoping that at some point inspiration strikes.

So I've given myself permission to look up puzzle solutions when I've truly drawn a blank and am having no fun, and feel no shame about that.

But more puzzle-heavy games are not going to be for me, I think.

[slab_happy]

Annnnnnnd FINISHED!!!  Although I can see a lot of time in Kaycee's Mod in my future ...

Damn, what a good game!

Good work. It’s quite a rollercoaster at the end.

Spoilers:

NSFW  :

Yes, I found it surprisingly emotional at the end, playing final matches with the characters as the game deleted itself around us, and shaking their hands. The moment that really got to me was when the scales disappeared and Leshy and I kept on playing anyway, for as long as we could.

[Will Hunt]

I'm waiting for the Tears of the Kingdom chat to start.

I’ve got the game but had to send my controllers off to get fixed. Nightmare. 

 

It's good. I'm really enjoying it so far. I won't spoil anything.

[JamieG]

I'm waiting for the Tears of the Kingdom chat to start.

I’ve got the game but had to send my controllers off to get fixed. Nightmare. 

 

It's good. I'm really enjoying it so far. I won't spoil anything.

Yeah the reviews look really good. To be fair if it’s like breath of the wild it would be tricky to actually fully spoil since much of the joy of that game was just exploring. Rather than specific story moments or puzzle solutions. It just felt great be in that world and interact with it. Glad you’re having fun. Hopefully I’ll get my controllers back soon and get cracking.

[JamieG]

Annnnnnnd FINISHED!!!  Although I can see a lot of time in Kaycee's Mod in my future ...

Damn, what a good game!

Good work. It’s quite a rollercoaster at the end.

Spoilers:

NSFW  :

Yes, I found it surprisingly emotional at the end, playing final matches with the characters as the game deleted itself around us, and shaking their hands. The moment that really got to me was when the scales disappeared and Leshy and I kept on playing anyway, for as long as we could.

100% Definitely got me in the ‘feels’ more than I anticipated. 😅

[slab_happy]

I have unlocked the achievement "Rookie Mistake: make 10 misplays in a single Kaycee's Mod run."

[JamieG]

I have unlocked the achievement "Rookie Mistake: make 10 misplays in a single Kaycee's Mod run."

Haha. I didn’t play any of the Kaycee’s Mod. But I’d definitely be tempted back again in the future.

[slab_happy]

If you enjoyed the Act I gameplay the most, the "mod" seems to be very elegantly rebalanced to make it much harder to break the game in the way the base game enables you to:

https://inscryption.fandom.com/wiki/Kaycee%27s_Mod

[slab_happy]

I have unlocked the achievement "Rookie Mistake: make 10 misplays in a single Kaycee's Mod run."

P.S. https://www.reddit.com/r/inscryption/comments/rhla7e/does_the_misplay_stat_represent_the_amount_of/

That's evil, I'm impressed.

[JamieG]

Yeah, I think there is loads of stuff like that in Daniel Mullins' games. In-jokes, hidden references, piss-taking, just straight trolling, weird game-breaking mechanics, etc. It definitely made inscryption much more interesting to play and read about afterwards. Maybe I'll have to fire up Kaycee's mod tonight. You are tempting me back into it. Or check out one of his other games.

Although I am deep in the weeds with Immortality at the moment. I'm enjoying it, but not sure I would outright recommend it. But you can play it for free if you have Netflix and a capable smart phone. Overall I think Sam Barlow's earlier game Her Story is probably better. And feels more like a game too, rather than a weird interactive movie.