Camacho

A super challenging piece used in Belmont's Revenge.

I do remember enjoying Dracula's castle more than the rest of the game due to there being way more enemies and less wide open space.

The utter blandness of the level design in those two is truly baffling. They clearly played DMC before making both of them, and yet they still botched the execution.

The DLC in Dragon's Dogma 2 that people are bitching about is even less worthwhile than the bitching about DLC in DMC5. You get plenty of Ferrystones and enough Portcrystals already. And if you fast travel everywhere, you're missing 90% of the fun in the game. On a different topic, the D-pad on my RG350 croaked, and I haven't been able to find a replacement membrane. So I bought a Retroid Pocket 2S after seeing lots of praise for it. One of the things that always gets brought up is the superior/more user friendly OS. So far, I'd say it's massively more flexible, but it has also been a hell of a lot more annoying to get things running as intended- didn't have that problem at all with the RG350. On the upside, it's way more powerful, so I can run N64 games, and allegedly some GC games (haven't tried GC yet). Fired up F Zero X for the first time in quite a while- man, what a great game.

I finished my first run of DD2 yesterday, here are my thoughts: -Exploration is excellent. It was already fun in the original, and it's greatly improved here. As I said in an earlier post, I found it to be full of very memorable experiences. The world feels way more alive, and way more hostile. And a hell of a lot larger. -Combat was also great, as expected. The number of skills you can equip at one was sort of reduced to 4 (well, increased vs the warrior class in DD). LB varies based on your class, and acts as another skill in some cases (i.e. healing as a mage). They also added some variety with the weak/heavy attacks, with those sort of acting as additional skills. As discussed above, you can change your skill loadout at any campfire, which is a big improvement. Would still very much have preferred being able to equip more at once, or just change the 4 on the pause screen. I only played as a thief, archer, magick archer, and warfarer (using those same weapons) on this run. Warfarer is the way to go one unlocked. as you can equip anything, and you level up all unlocked classes (albeit at a much slower rate). The thief skills in particular were really fun. -The story was pretty crap. I liked the final twists to the otherwise bland as hell story of the original, this one doesn't do that as well. But there is still a really cool world twist at the last part of the game. Without spoiling it, I'll just say that you haven't finished the game until you have no option to continue other than new game or NG+. But really, if you 're looking for a good story, you're barking up the wrong tree. They did do a better job with several characters, though. - Like the original, you hit a point where you feel way too overpowered. But it did seem to hit that point a little faster, which was a letdown. I hope they add a hard mode and change the way stats work so that you don't become so godlike, but without making it a 1 hit kill fest either. I recall reading something or watching a video that broke down the problems with how stats break the game in the original- someone at Capcom should watch that. Or just minimize/eliminate stats impact altogether and balance it like an action game, where more skills are where the bulk of your progression is made. Regardless, it did stay really fun- the only time is got a bit stale was with the huge number of skeletons in the endgame. -Enemy variety was a letdown. Expected to see more types, seems like we actually ended up with less vs Dark Arisen. -There are some odd QOL regressions, like not being able to change equipment straight from your inventory. Not a huge deal, but baffling to see that undone. -Pawn AI is very much improved vs the original. -Endgame, while really cool, doesn't let you linger and grind like it did in the original. Can't help but think they hit time and/or budget constraints. Overall, despite my complaints, I loved the game, and hope so see it polished up more. I'll definitely be playing again (as other classes), and I'll definitely buy any future expansions. It deserves the praise it's getting in reviews, for sure.

The reduced number of skills you can simultaneously equip was a disappointment. Being able to change them up at campfires (which are all over the place) made up for it a bit though. Definitely something I'd like to see changed in an update or DLC. RB + Dpad offers item shortcuts, I'd gladly give up one of those for a skills page toggle.

It's also the driver in things like getting rid of blind auditions for orchestras, lowering standards for admissions in medical schools if the applicant ticks the right boxes, wasting huge amounts of time in STEM fields lecturing about racism, not firing (and promoting) shitty workers, and perpetually groveling/pandering to the worst kind of attention seeking people (like the "deergasm" twitch mod or your average Kotaku writer).

I've always hated the "second loop" concept in shmups. Having to do 2 near perfect runs in one session is brutal, and takes quite a while. Too high stakes for me. I didn't feel that World Ignition was lacking content- you had novice, arcade, and unlimited difficulties, boost mode, time attack mode, and a very robust training mode. Of course, another mode was welcome, but I certainly didn't think it was slim on content before. One thing I would have liked as an addition was a single stage mode that kept score records per stage. Even bolting it onto practice mode where you had "stock" settings locked in for scored stages would have been great. Honestly, I think the Jamestown model (stage select, increasing difficulties unlocked, no credit feeding to plow through) is the ideal layout for shmups (and other arcade style games) today. I suspect it would keep more people playing for longer, as the goal would feel way more attainable than a true 1CC start to finish run (saying this as someone who has north of 70 hours in the game between GOG and both versions on Steam that hasn't finished a 1CC on Arcade normal mode).

It's on sale on steam and gog for like $2 pretty regularly. Should run on any pc that works these days.

Crimzon Clover is so fucking good, definitely my favorite shmup. No second loop nonesense, straightforward (but deep) mechanics, no annoying loli crap or cringey story to get in the way either. I do wish there was a difficulty step in between Novice and Arcade though, the jump is pretty steep.

Vgmf:

Dragon's Dogma 2 is really good. I broke into a gated area early, and it's been pure chaos. Large enemies all over the place, sometimes stopping chasing you only to stomp some mooks and fight each other. Had to ferrystone out the first time- went down some steep cliffs after barely surviving the mooks, only to get my ass kicked by a dragon waiting at the bottom. Ran away from the dragon with one pawn alive, only to get chased by more mob enemies and another large enemy. Usually, in these kind of games, they'll stop chasing you- sure as hell didn't seem to be the case here, as I ended up with a huge group running after me that only kept growing. Eventually got dragged to death by some red wolves. Went back in a second time from a different entry and a little more prepared, but it's still been hell from the jump. Very memorable experiences all over so far.

The best part of HZD's gameplay was the way you could target weak points and blow up/rip parts off of enemies. Human combat was terribly lame. The story gets interesting later.

One of the best things about HZD was the story that you unravel, and this is coming from someone who generally doesn't care about story in games. The "present day" characters were very uninteresting, but the backstory of the HZD world was abnormally great.

Been playing DD2 a ton this weekend. Performance is less than stellar (playing on pc), but I'm having a blast with it nonetheless.

It took like 15 minutes to compile the shaders the first time I launched it, no crashes though.

I'm sure I've said as much before, but while I'm glad I made the switch to PC gaming in 2015, I am also regularly reminded that a large percentage of PC gamers (or at least the sort that populate forums and reviews on Steam) are the worst.

Entertaining Dragon's Dogma 2 review: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/dragons-dogma-2-review/

Taking a quick glance on my lunch, I'm unfamiliar with most of those. I'll look further into them later. On the surface most of those look super low budget. Games like that don't take the kind of resources the new Contra did, even if they're great. Like I said before, it will be on sale soon enough. Also, Blaster Master being on that list makes me wonder how many on that list are really run and gun games.

I realize value and quality are subjective, but I do think it's a bit unrealistic to have expected this game to cost what a box of cat littler does these days. There were a lot of people working on it for probably at least a year or so- those people have to be paid, and labor costs aren't what they were 17 years ago when C4 was released (I think DS games were $30 at the time?). As for "far superior" games in the genre that cost half as much, what games are you talking about? Cuphead is the only one that comes to mind that doesn't feel like a low budget game, and it was released in 2017, with a very small team who started work several years before the huge inflation we've had since covid. Blazing Chrome is the only other really good recent one I can think of, and it definitely doesn't have the meat or polish to it that C4 does- you can tell it's a lower budget indie retro game. I'm absolutely not shitting on it, but having a good bit of time in both, I wouldn't put it on C4's level. Super Cyborg is another one that comes up a lot- anyone who puts it on the level of the greats in the genre either hasn't played it, or is plain delusional- it feels like what it is, a super low budget passion project that looks like a glorified flash game.

More updates on Contra: OG after 12 hours in the game. I have done multiple arcade mode runs with different settings and all but one of the challenges (have 1 more character to unlock before I can do it). -As expected, the game is fucking hard if you want it to be. 1 hit kill mode alone obviously makes things way more tough. Doing it with no perks activated makes it truly old school Contra tough. I haven't done Hard mode with 1 hit kills yet, hard with the lifebar is already pretty challenging. You still get unlimited continues on hard, but there are fewer checkpoints- just one per stage, generally after the sub-boss. There's a higher difficulty you can buy that I read is 1 hit kill only, 2 lives, no continues. I'll be passing on that one. -My biggest criticism this far in is that the screen sometimes gets too busy with effects and explosions, making it easy to lose projectiles and hazards in the chaos. The level 2 crush weapon in particular is just way too visually obstructing. Of course, it's also the most powerful weapon, so you'll want to use it a lot despite the problem it causes. I'd like to see it patched in a way to reduce this effect, but I doubt that will happen. There are also a few bosses that have too much shit going once acid or fire lingers and creates obstacles as you're already dodging a ton of other stuff. Ironically, the best way around those is the same weapon I complained about, which can eat most projectiles. -The 3d graphics actually add something to the gameplay with camera zooms and pans. Some of the bosses wouldn't work well with a locked playfield- glad to see this addition. -The challenges don't seem as brutal as they were in C4, although there is an optional "par time" to meet that does make them tougher. I am disappointed to see that not all of the bosses/minibosses are in challenge missions- this would be a welcome add on, as practicing them in C4 with strict limits was fun and helpful. Still very glad to have this mode in the game. -The additional characters all have something that makes them play different, such as a hover, grappling hook, no double jump, triple jump, no dash, projectile counters (like Hard Corps: Uprising), melee attacks, and alternate versions of weapons and overloads. These are cool additions that actually add some flavor to replays rather than just being skins like they were in C4. 3 characters from Hard Corps can be unlocked, and their playstyles vary the most. -The one complaint I have about the perk shop is that some of the unlocks are really expensive, a bit too much so, IMO. You do get way more credits for 1 hit kill mode, higher difficulty settings, and most of all, stages completed consecutively without continuing. I'd have liked to see things a little "cheaper" so there wasn't as much grinding involved. 12 hours in and I'm just short of that last character, and there are bunch of other perks to go, a couple of which are even more expensive. I suppose it's still a good thing to have for the sake of encouraging replays and rewarding skilled play, even if it could use a little rebalancing. -As expected, being able to use alternate soundtracks alleviated my complaint about the new soundtrack. There's a good selection, and hopefully they'll add more (like C3, Rebirth, and SS). -All of the stages but one are well paced. the second hoverbike level drags a bit- other than that, they're good. There's definitely a big difficulty spike at a certain point. -I haven't played co-op, as my wife is uninterested in games, and I vary rarely have the chance to play games with friends anymore. I'm sure 4 player co-op would have been a blast in my teens or early 20's. In conclusion, if you're a Contra fan and know what you're getting with the series, it's a great game. It certainly has a lot of C4 DNA, which is a very good thing. Lots of people are complaining about the price- I don't think those complaints are warranted if you're a fan of the genre. There's a lot to sink your teeth into, and it's very well tuned. Not perfect, but really good, and it shows that way more work went into this than the fan games whiners are pointing out. If $40 is too much, get it on sale. I paid $28, and I'm sure we'll see it for $20 within a few months or so. Who knows when or if we'll get another game like this after the mediocre reviews and kids expecting a 10 hour campaign in a Contra game.

Might be time to reconsider who the worst human beings on the planet are when people who call themselves the good guys "REE REE REE" all the way home over any reasonable dissent from their opinions of the last 5 minutes. These are largely the same people who will say "antifa just means anti-fascist", "voter ID laws are racist" (while then demanding vax passes), and other obvious nonsense without pause. Unfortunately, those people seem to make up the majority of games journalism and the online nerdosphere in general.

I paid, $28, and am fine with that. Like everything else, it will be on sale soon enough.

Did a quick run through story mode on Operation Galuga last night, normal difficulty with the lifebar. Here are my first thoughts, I'll follow up as I sink my teeth into it. -The story, as expected, was stupid in a 1989 children's cartoon kind of way. Don't know who they're trying to appeal to with it. Fortunately, I don't think there will be a reason to play that mode again, barring maybe the stage select function (don't know if arcade mode has stage select- I hope it does) -The orchestral music is boring. As posted earlier, there are a bunch of other OST options that you can unlock for arcade and challenge modes. Several unlocked based on other games I have in my steam library- classic contra, CV, and Konami arcade classics. C4's sountrack also unlocked, and there's more to unlock with points. Needless to say, I'll be using those and ignoring the new OST moving forward. -The game was way too easy with the conditions I used. Completing it that way was like "beating" the original with the 30 lives code- more practice and seeing the game than really beating it. The challenge of having to memorize and execute is a big part of what makes a good Contra game, and I suspect casual plays on normal/lifebar are driving a lot of the mid reviews. Doing a single playthrough like that is like credit feeding through a shmup then bitching about it being too short or too simple- that's not how to enjoy this genre. I see the need to have way more accessibility options, but I do think it would have been better to have the default mode tuned more tough, then let people turn it down as needed. All that said, I can tell that doing more legit Contra runs with 1 hit kills is going to be massively challenging, and the perk options will be anice way to take the edge off without totally neutering the challenge. There's a hell of a lot going on in most of the game, even on normal. -It looks like there's a metric ton of unlockables, which is cool. I am looking forward to arcade mode runs with tougher settings and the challenge mode, which I really loved in C4. -The game's art style is pretty generic. Inoffensive, but generic, nonetheless. Nothing looked as cool as C4. -The stages are pretty long by Contra standards. -I like the new movement options and 360° aiming. Feels odd to say I prefer playing a Contra game with an analog stick, but there it is. There's also and 8 way aim mode you can toggle if you want to keep it more old school. Overall, I think there's going to be a lot to enjoy for players who enjoy a challenge and are willing to dig in.

In case anyone else is getting Contra on Steam, Green Man Gaming has it for $28 right now. https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/contra-operation-galuga-pc/