Omensight (PC) (2018)

Overview: There's been a murder. Repeat the same day through different points of views and uncover new paths in order to solve the mystery and save the world.

---

20191228:
I continued looking for games to play from the Jingle Jam 2019 bundle. To help facilitate my choices, I sorted the list of games by retail value and picking from the higher retail values first. At $19.99, Omensight belongs in the top 10.

You are the Harbinger (center).

Setup: Controller. Balanced (Combat Difficulty, can be changed). True Detective (Narrative Difficulty, can be changed); eventually I changed it because I didn't think it was important.

Gameplay Log:
Act I - Culprit
Day1:Ludomir Day2:Draga [TookABreak] Day3:Ratika Day4:Ludomir(full*)
Act II - Cruelty
Day5:Draga(Omensight) Day6:Ratika(Omensight+OmensightIndrik) Day7:Ratika(skip2critical+DefeatIndrik) Day8:Draga(skip2critical)
Act III - Betrayal
Day9:Indrik

Steam Game Time: approximately 4.3 hours (total game time)

*I Was given the option to skip2critical, but decided to experience the full day.

---

20191229 Part 1:

Ratika transforms into "Deathless."

Gameplay Log:
Act III- Betrayal (Continued...)
Day10:Ratika(Omensight;Ratika questions why Fyodir was looking at the clock) Day11:Ludomir(Omensight;OmensightRatika) Day12:Ludomir(skip2critical;DefeatRatika) Day13:Ratika(skip2critical)
Act IV - Transgression
Day14:Ludomir(Omensight) [TookABreak] Day15:Indrik(Omensight;OmensightRatika)

Steam Game Time: 7.2 hours (total game time) / approximately 2.9 hours (total game time)

---

20191229 Part 2:

Gameplay Log:
Act IV - Transgression (Continued...)
Instead of playing Ludomir to (supposedly) end the game I play Ratika and Draga.
Day16:Draga(Omensight;OmensightIndrik) Day17:Draga(skip2critical;DefeatIndrik)
The fight against Draga was difficult. At first I was only using dodge+attack. Later I realized she still takes damage when blocking. So I would use three heavy attacks against her. Sometimes I would start the combo far away from her.

The Harbinger gets a vision. She is granted with "Omensight": she can show others the vision.

Day18:Ratika(Omensight) Day19:Ludomir(full*)
Defeated Voden.
(Untitled)
Day20:Act2Ludomir(Omensight;OmensightIndrik) Day21:Act2Ludomir(DefeatIndrik)
Day22:Act3Draga(Omensight)

*I was given the option to skip2critical, but decided to experience the full day. In hindsight, I should have just skipped to the critical moment.

Steam Game Time: 10.7 hours (total game time) /

---

20200101:
Today I decided to finish the game: getting all the memories (even though there's no accomplishment for it) and defeating Voden. With the various upgrades, the fight was reasonably easy.

Gameplay Log:
Looking for memories.
Day23:Act1Ludomir

Watch as the different characters move about the map. These movements change depending on the story.

Day24:Act1Ludomir
: "Enter the door to the right of the giant statue with Indrik’s memory. There is a stone block in the right wall that you can push in to find a hidden room."
: Left Day24 after getting the memory.
Day24:Act3Ludomir
: I was watching the speedrun and wondered how the runner defeated Ratika so quickly whereas I died. Then I realized while fighting her a second time that the key is to repeatedly dodge ("!") and attack.
: I realized after the fact where I was supposed to use Ludomir: "Crimson forest (w/ Ludomir), knock down the pillar with your partner skill. Right before you get on the giant bridge with multiple barricades." So I had to go back and replay it.
:: Note that one should spam the companion ability upon jumping down next to the pillar.
Day24:Act3Ludomir
: Oh crap. I just realized that I could have finished the level and then maybe the game would let me go to the critical moment. [It seems not]
Day25:Act1Ludomir
: Apparently leaving the day doesn't save the unlocked memory and so I had to play this one again.

Day26:Act2Draga
: "Yarbog's temple, after memory 1 of Vera you will soon come upon a purple seal. Grab the explosive barrel near that seal and throw it at the cracked wall on the left."
: Was able to do double flurry in the room with the Shark and the a pit.
Day27:Act2Draga
: Double-check the route of not going down to help soldiers. Already got the memory this way. Left day.
Day27:Act1Draga
: Checked this one: "Imperial prison (suppression), inside the room before the elevator that leads to ratika."
:: Already got it.
: Apparently it's this one: "Crimson forest (siege), at the very beginning of the invasion go backwards."
:: Ugh. So many times I went backwards in these levels not to find anything. But the way in this one goes backwards is probably not one that I expected.
Having collected the last memory, I decided to go back in time and fight Voden for good ending.

Steam Game Time: 14.3 hours (total game time)

---

20200102:
Today I try to collect the last few achievements.

Gameplay Log:
Day28:Act1Draga
: Left after end of first part.
Day28:Act1Ludomir
: Got the "Tactician" achievement.
: Didn't get the Explorer bonus...
Day29:Act1Draga
: Didn't get the Stylish bonus.
Day30:Act1Draga
Part 1
: Died and so restarted.
Day30:Act1Draga
Part 1
: 1st fight: First bomb, phantom dash (4)
: 2nd fight: companion (1), delay of fate (1),
: 3rd fight: companion (2), delay of fate (2), area of carnage, lethal flurry (2)
: Secret area fight: companion (1), delay of fate (1), phantom blast (1), sharpshooter
: 4th fight: trap, lethal slash (2), companion (2), delay of fate (2), phantom blast (1), attack chain x 10
: 5th fight: sharpshooter, phantom blast (1), phantom grasp (1), lethal slash (2), attack chain x 10

Part 2
: 1st fight: lethal flurry (2)
: 2nd fight: lethal flurry (1), phantom grasp (1)
: Aboard: phantom blast (1)
: 3rd fight: phantom grasp (2), lethal flurry (1)
: 4th fight (before front gates): phantom grasp (2), phantom blast (2), sharpshooter, one of the combos
: 5th fight (after the gates; short): phantom blast (1), lethal slash (1)
: 6th fight: phantom blast (1), lethal flurry (1), phantom grasp (1)
: Deathless: lethal slash (1)
: Got the "Most Valuable Player" achievement. See https://youtu.be/jGjacg-mwUQ
Day31:Act1Ratika
: Lol. I was trying to do "Masterful Denial" at a part in the game. But I interpreted "barrels" as the explosive ones. Apparently it is just the barrels with items. See https://youtu.be/sSkHNGX5aVk
: Jumped on Ratika
Day32:Act3Indrik(skip2critical;DefeatRatika)
: Jumped on Indrik (got the "Mario wannabe" achievement).
: Fight against Ratika was difficult. Died multiple times before defeating her.

Day33:Act4Ludomir
: Got the "Masterful Denial" achievement.
Closed the game.
Open the game.
Got the "Completionist" achievement.

Steam Game Time: 18.0 hours (total game time)

---

Game Mechanics:
Saving:
Supposedly each stage is composed of three phases and the game saves before each phase and after clearing a stage.

Basics:
Dodge: 'B'
Light Attack (L): 'X'
Heavy Attack (H): 'Y'

Purchase "Blessings" (i.e., upgrades).

Tips:
No need to walk up and collect the Amber (blue crystals); they will automatically come to the player character.
A jump attack (jump followed by attack) is powerful.
Ludomir can be used to break cracks in the wall. In some situations, Harbinger can also grab an explosive barrel and throw it at the wall.

Combos:
LLL: Light, Light, Stab (Knock enemy back)
LLH: Light, Light, Upkick
LHL: Light, Big Heavy, Downward strike.
LHH: Light, Big Heavy, Lift an enemy into the air.
HLL: Heavy, Light, Downward strike.
HLH: Heavy, Light, Lift an enemy into the air.
HHL: Heavy, Big Heavy, Upkick
HHH: Heavy, Big Heavy, Big downward strike (Knock enemy down and damage in cone)

Unlocked Abilities:
Phantom Blast (1): Hold 'X' (Later does AOE damage)
Delay of Fate: RB
Phantom Grasp: LB (Later has lifesteal)
Lethal Slash (2): Hold 'Y'
Phantom Dash: LT (Later does damage)
Lethal Flurry (3): Hold 'Y'

The Harbinger (right) and Voden (left).

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Amazing artwork
+ Great story (uncover the mystery slowly and plenty of twists)
+ Great music (e.g., "The Cage (Ratika's Song)")

Neutral:
~ Reasonable fighting system; could have been better
~ Jumping after dashing or dashing after jumping might have felt good; I suppose however it'd be harder to design the level to avoid players from producing glitches.
~ Some of the repetition to get 100% memories was annoying.
~ I find it odd that collecting 100% memories isn't a Steam achievement.

Cons:
- Not clear why the game wouldn't allow for saving at any time.
- From what I can tell there's a lack of shield break; intuitively the heavy attack should break shields but I feel as if enemies are able to repel a heavy attack
- The boss fights don't feel enjoyable [20200101: I could be fighting wrong]

- Placing checkpoints before a bunch of dialogue is annoying
- Loading times are annoying.
- Can't do hard skip* on cutscenes, some cutscenes cannot be skipped at all

*In many cutscenes, the player can press a button to quickly pass the dialogue. I consider that a soft skip. A hard skip would allow the player to end the entire dialogue altogether.

[20191229][20200102]

---

Summary:
At first I thought the premise of repeating the last day of the world would be too similar to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64) (2000). However, the game's story is unique and distinct from that of Majora's Mask. Furthermore, it's not as repetitive as one might initially think coming into the game. In fact, the developers were smart and made it so that players, whenever applicable, can skip to the critical part a level.

In any case, while the game's combat wasn't perfect, I would still recommend the game for it's story and artwork.

---

Omensight (PC) (2018)

Relevant Links:
Omensight Website
Omensight (Wikipedia.org)
Omensight (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Omensight (steamdb.info)
Omensight (Steam Store Page)

Dungeon Defenders II (PC) (2017)

Overview: Tower defense mixed with action. A free-to-play entry to the Dungeon Defenders series.

Hero Defense (PC) (2016)

Overview: Fight against the hordes and evils of Count Necrosis with a team of five heroes. The game is a blend between two genres: tower defense and action RPG.

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The first two heroes.

20191226:
Today I played this game because I recently acquired it in the Jingle Jam 2019 bundle.

Setup: Keyboard and mouse.

Steam Game Time: 5.2 hours (total game time) / approximately 0.5 hours idle

---

20191227 Part 1:
The game is fun enough that I want to play more today.

Steam Game Time: 9.7 hours (total game time) / 4.5 hours (session game time) / approximately 0.5 hours idle

One of the bosses, Alana Nightshade.

---

20191227 Part 2:
So I took a break from the game and now I'm back for a little more.

Gameplay Log:
300 Gems: 1 Legendary, 2 Epics, 1 Uncommon

Steam Game Time: 11.5 hours (total game time) / 1.8 hours (session game time)

---

Thoughts: (single-player)
Pros:
+ Slowly unlocks game mechanics making the overall game easy to learn.
+ Not a bad story.
+ Enjoyable music

The runes I had collected at one point.

Neutral:
~ Would be nice if multiple challenges can be tackled.
~ If you're not good then you can grind experience. I suppose that is classic element of RPGs. This can arguably take the challenge out of a level in contrast to a pure tower defense game where the element of winning is based purely on strategy. With that being said, perhaps the game reaches a plateau where a level can not be beat based on maxed out skills and runes alone.

Minor Con:
- I encountered a sound bug where I used one of the power-ups and then the game ended. But the sound continued.

Cons:
- UI feels buggy when it comes to power-ups.
- No in-game explanation of symbols; lack of hover/pop-up text
- Often feels one-dimensional: prioritize hero color to enemy color
- Management of the characters can occasionally feel cumbersome; for example, I'll accidentally move one character when I meant to move another.
- Obtaining the "Angry Mob" attack is done via grinding = anti-fun.

Our five heroes face off against Alana Nightshade and a wave of vampires.

[20191227]

---

Summary:
So I feel as if I've managed to reach perhaps somewhere between the early and middle stage of the game.* Having reached this point, I have begun to lose interest in it. Partially this is my fault, because the main progression in the game is forward and I've been going back and playing some of the levels on higher difficulties.

More to the point, the game's blend of genres seeks to achieve something new which is enjoyable, but I feel it takes away from the fun of the tower defense genre. As such, I would say my experience with Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten was superior. Note that Defender's Quest also implemented an XP system, but characters had to be placed and removed. Whereas in Hero Defense, there are at most five characters which freely move about the map.

The town has been saved but needs to be rebuilt.

At the end of the day, I would not recommend buying the game because it has enough problems to outweigh the potential fun it might provide. With that being said, if you already acquired the game, then I think it is fun enough to try out and see if it's worth the bugs.

*There is a Steam Achievement for killing 50,000 creeps and after about nine hours of play I've killed 4,895 creeps.

---

20240113:
Today I tried to resume the game. My first feeling was that I was not a fan of the UI. My second feeling was that the game felt boring. Granted I was not able to fully refamiliarize myself with the game, but I think even the fundamentals of a game should feel engaging and this game lacked such an appeal. In particular, the naive strategy seemed to be stick most of the heroes right up front and move them when an enemy slips through.

Interestingly, when running through my mind of similar games, I thought of Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten, a game which turns out I already mentioned in this blog post - in the "Summary" section above. What I remember clearly about Defender's Quest is that there was a lot of strategy involved.

Rating: 2.0 out of 5

Steam Game Time: 11.8 hours (cumulative game time) / 20 minutes (session game time)

---

---

Hero Defense (PC) (2016)

Relevant Links:
Hero Defense (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Hero Defense (steamdb.info)
Hero Defense (Steam Store Page)

1 Screen Platformer (PC) (2019)

Overview: Simple platformer.

Blacksmith (PC) (2018)

Overview: Be a blacksmith.

Stephen's Sausage Roll (PC) (2016)

Reason for Playing: On my custom "Recommended by Filter" list. Small game on my Zenbook.

---

Overview: A puzzle game where the player pushes around sausages until they're grilled to perfection.

One of the earlier levels.

---

20191111:
I actually had no idea what this game was about when I chose to play it but I suppose the name sounded interesting. It was one in about 50 games on my "Recommended by Filter" list which was installed on my Zenbook.

Setup: Xbox controller.

Game Mechanics: Immediately the game is difficult, because it first expects players to figure out how to initiate a level. Then it players to figure out the point of the game. For those who are stuck, I'll provide the answer to both here. Begin a level: Orient your player and pitchfork over the ghostly image of yourself. Goal of the game: Cook every sausage in the level evenly. A sausage is two spaces wide and had two sides. Thus the sausage can be thought of having four faces and each face must encounter a grill exactly once in order to successfully complete a level.

One of the harder levels.

When I stopped playing my save slot said I had collected 11 sausages. Apparently there are 16 levels and 32 sausages in the first world (according to Stack Exchange reply, the remaining worlds contain the following number of levels & sausages: 10 & 23, 13 & 43, 6 & 12, 11 & 29, and 28 & 76; for a total of 215 sausages).

Steam Game Time: 39 minutes (total game time)

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Difficult in a good way
+ Wonderful puzzle design

One of the earlier levels.

Neutral:
~ Forces players to think for themselves; I normally look for a game to supply a tutorial, but in the case of Stephen's Sausage Roll, the lack of any tutorial seems appropriate

Minor Con:
- Low-end graphics

[20191111]

---

Summary:
While I have yet to truly dive into the game (39 minutes versus what I hear can potentially be around 40 hours of game time), it has already proven itself to be a challenging and satisfying puzzle game. In other words, when a puzzle is difficult enough that solving it gives a sense of satisfaction, that is a mark of good puzzle design. In contrast, some puzzle games have difficult puzzles but don't feel satisfying when they are solved.

Oh no, the fork got detached!

I would currently highly recommend this game to anyone who seeks a challenging puzzle game. I may update my recommendation after I put more time into the game.

[20191111]

---

20191111 Part 2:
I decided to play some more. When I stopped playing my save slot said I had collected 44 sausages.

Gameplay Log:
98 minutes = ~48 minutes (complete world 1) + ~50 minutes (world 2)
Total World 1 Time: ~87 minutes (for 16 levels and 32 sausages)

Another hard level.

Steam Game Time: 2.5 hours (total game time) / 1.85 hours (session game time)
Estimated Actual Game Time: 1 hr 38 minutes (session game time)

---

20191112:
Gameplay Log:
Session 1: 17 minutes (world 2)
Session 2: 3 minutes (world 2)
Session 3: 57 minutes = 45 minutes (complete world 2) + 12 minutes (complete "Cold Jag" of world 3)
Total World 2 Time: ~115 minutes (for 10 levels and 23 sausages)

Steam Game Time: 3.8 hours (total game time) / 1.3 hours (session game time)

---

20191113:
This game is addicting. When I stopped playing my save slot said I had collected 101 sausages.

Save Selection (Ketchup, Mustard, and Barbecue)

Gameplay Log:
Session 1: Here in World 3 and it feels as if the puzzle difficulty is increasing.
Session 1: 1.2 hours (world 3)
Session 2: 8 minutes (world 3)
Session 3: 125 minutes = 116 minutes (complete world 3) + 9 minutes (complete "Toad's Folly" of world 4)
Total World 3 Time: ~208 minutes (for 13 levels and 43 sausages)

Steam Game Time: 5.0 hours (total game time) / 1.2 hours (session 1 game time)
Steam Game Time: 7.2 hours (total game time) / 2.2 hours (session 2 & 3 game time)

---

20240225:
Today I tried to resume the game. Luckily the game seems to use Steam cloud and my old save game was available. I tried various levels within world 4 but they were all very difficult and I didn't manage to solve a single one. Though as I wrote the previous sentence, I had a thought I want to try out.

Gameplay Log:
Session 1: Felt frustrated after trying a few levels.
Session 2: Wanted to try something out in "Gator Paddock" but I forgot what this was.
Session 2: Despite my original reason to return not working, I continued playing and had an "ah ha" moment. I realized that the protruding block above the grill could be used to remove a sausage on top of my head, and that more essentially a sausage on top of my head could be spun into the correct orientation. The latter realization being the bigger "ah ha" because I recognized this would be useful in solving another puzzle I had tried ["Sludge Coast"]
Remark: the save file had 101 sausages collected
Session 2: So from my solution to "Gator Paddock" in hand, I went to "Sludge Coast." The solution wasn't free from the "ah ha" moment, but the "ah ha" moment was an essential component to the solution.
Session 2: "Foul Fen" completed. The "ah ha" moment came into play. As an aside, partway into the puzzle I had my doubts and wanted to know how to release my forklift (because I remember having done so before). As such, I read on how to do it, and it was clear that this level didn't need it - though I may have spoiled part of the game to come.
Session 2: Tried replaying "Wretch's Retreat," which I recall was the first level I played during Session 1. While I'm sure it makes use of the earlier "ah ha" moment in some way, I wasn't quite sure how.

Steam Game Time: 8.3 hours (cumulative game time) / 1.1 hours (session 1 game time)
Steam Game Time: 9.1 hours (cumulative game time) / 0.8 hours (session 2 game time)

---

20240226:
Played some more. Unlocked a world sausage (110 sausages). Stuck at next level (three sausages).

Steam Game Time: 10.1 hours (cumulative game time) / 1.0 hours (session game time)

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ The difficulty of the game is it's strength; designed in a way that feels rewarding and smart (although sometimes frustrating)

Neutral:
~ Something about the game's low end graphics allow one to focus on the gameplay... or perhaps the focus on the gameplay makes the graphics inconsequential

Rating: 4.0 out of 5

---

Stephen's Sausage Roll (PC) (2016)

Relevant Links:
Stephen's Sausage Roll (Wikipedia.org)
Stephen's Sausage Roll (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Stephen's Sausage Roll (steamdb.info)
Stephen's Sausage Roll (Steam Store Page)
29.99 29.99 5.99

---

Tip/"Mathematics" for World 1:
The sausage will roll along one direction and shift along the orthogonal direction. Shifts preserve the faces of the sausage which are facing the ground. Rolls switch the faces which point to the sky and the faces which point to the ground. As a result, there needs to be at least two grills to cook a sausage and those two grills must have different parities.

One of the earlier levels.

For example, a vertically-oriented sausage will require a grill on "1" and a grill on "2":
12121212
12121212
12121212
12121212
12121212

While a horizontally-oriented sausage would require a grill on "1" and a grill on "2" as follows:
11111111
22222222
11111111
22222222
11111111

A weaker statement is that a single grill cannot cook both sides of a single sausage.

Overworld.

[20191111]

---

Tip/"Mathematics" for World 2:
In World 2 the player must often utilize picking up a sausage. This can be used to alter the fixed parity discussed above for World 1. Thus a part of the problem solving procedure is to determine if the grills provided require a parity change and if so how can that parity change occur.

[20191112]

Dynamite Jack (PC) (2012)

Reason for Playing: On my custom "Recommended by Filter" list. Small game on my Zenbook.

KAMUI (PC) (1999)

Overview: Vertical shooter and part of the ALLTYNEX trilogy. It is the first to be released and the third in the story.

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20191109:
Today I played KAMUI for the first time and initially I didn't understand it. After playing it for a while, I didn't feel any good at it but at least I came to understand the game mechanics.

Lightning Attack

Setup: Controller - my settings must be wrong because it seems to be acting like a mouse and if I push the controller too far it'll exit the window. I later played again and somehow fixed it.

Some Game Mechanics: I don't understand how to generate Shield but the player has a shield that takes damage first. If the player takes damage with no shield, the the player will lose a life. As for attacking, the player has a standard shot and a beam which is fired when pressing the alternate fire while holding the standard shot. The player also has a multi-target lightning strike which is used when only the alternate fire button is pressed. This lightning strike can be used to take out or deal damage to enemies which are not otherwise cannot be targeted. Finally, using the beam seems to destroy incoming fire (hence can be used as a brief invincibility.

Steam Game Time: 30 minutes (total game time)

---

20191110:
I tried to press ALT+ENTER to make the game fullscreen but it didn't work.

Basic Attack

In any case, I played the entire campaign today (normal) and managed to get relatively far on one credit (I don't remember how far though).

Setup: I switched from controller Settings 1 to Settings 2 which allowed me to have the Lightning Attack and Standard Attack along the vertical alignment of my thumb.

Some More Game Mechanics: As I played today, I got better at using the Lightning Attack on enemies in the background.* I also got better at switching between using the Lightning Attack and using the Beam Attack. Finally, I previously didn't understand how the Shield is replenished, but realized today that there are Shield drops which will replenish the shield when picked up.

Steam Game Time: 64 minutes (total game time)

Beam Attack

*Actually, it didn't immediately occur to me that even enemies flying in from the background are targetable. In particular, the enemies flying in at the very beginning of the first level can be destroyed with the lightning attack.

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Great Soundtrack
+ Unlimited continues

Neutral:
~ Initially difficult without Instruction on Attacks
~ Old, yet modern feel
~ Power-up travels just quickly down the screen and can be hard to grab when not anticipated.
~ I suppose like any shooter, success at KAMUI requires practice and memorization

Combat Result

Con:
- No ability to fullscreen. Despite the low resolution, I think I should be able to play fullscreen

---

Summary:
While my first impressions of the game were negative, I grew to enjoy what the game had to offer with respect to gameplay. I was, however, disappointed by the lack of ability to enlarge/scale the window.

---

KAMUI (PC) (1999)

Relevant Links:
KAMUI (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
KAMUI (Steam Store Page)

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (PC) (2012)

Overview: Multiplayer first-person shooter. It is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series.

---

20190929:
Played with my cousin. We initially played versus bots. We later played against each other.

Steam Game Time: 79 minutes (total game time)

---

20190930:
Played with my cousin again. We had fun playing 1v1. We were closely skilled.

Steam Game Time: 111 minutes (total game time)

---

20191001:
Played with my cousin again.

Steam Game Time: 2.2 hours (total game time)

---

Thoughts:
None at this time.

---

Summary:
None at this time.

---

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (PC) (2012)

Relevant Links:
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Wikipedia.org)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (steamdb.info)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Steam Store Page)
14.99 0 0

Apotheon (PC) (2015)

Overview: The Greek Gods have essentially abandoned mankind. It's up to you to gain back their favors and save the people of the world.

---

20190915:

Setup: Keyboard and mouse. Increased resolution. Later tried using a controller.

Gameplay Log:
: Game bugged transition from after talking to Hera
: After the tutorial area, I was given the option to change the difficulty and I increased the difficulty.
: After playing a while, I remapped the throw key from middle mouse button to R, because my middle mouse button was difficult to trigger. Although easier than pressing my mouse wheel, using the R key came with its own difficulties. Perhaps I should try remapping it to the shift key.
: Died at River Styx. Decided to stop playing. (62 minutes total game time)
: After taking a break, resumed playing. Switching to controller.
: The switch to controller had a small learning curve, but ultimately I felt more comfortable with it. With that being said, perhaps keyboard and mouse is still better (especially for the bow and arrow).

Steam Game Time: 2.4 hours

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Captured the theme well
+ Teaches basic mechanics at a steady place.

Neutral:
~ I wasn't happy with the inventory system. Perhaps being able to equip and choose weapon priority would have been more my style. As such, this point is neutral because it could just be a system I'm not accustomed to.

Minor Cons:
- The game bugged out during a transition (after Hera) but apparently the developers are aware of this because some sort of debugging screen appears.
- The game allowed me to jump into the River Styx and it wasn't apparent if this was intended or not. I died. Frustrating; perhaps the game had bugged prior to that because I didn't see any interaction pop up with anybody on the boat.

Con:
- Controls feel clunky; normally keyboard and mouse is the solid choice, but in this case I couldn't tell if the controller felt better.

---

Summary:
The game had its moments but overall it was not rocky experience which at times either felt unnecessarily difficult or unsatisfying - especially where the combat is concerned. In general, there's a balance between difficulty and fun. Unfortunately for Apotheon, it did not find the correct balance.

---

Apotheon (PC) (2015)

Relevant Links:
Apotheon (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Apotheon (steamdb.info)
Apotheon (Steam Store Page)

Hand of Fate (PC) (2015)

Overview: A fantasy, action roleplaying game whose basic gameplay mechanics use cards to craft the experience.

---

20190907:
Continuing to make my way through my Humble Bundle purchases, today I arrived at the Humble Down Under Bundle and I had trouble choosing which game to play. Among the games, Hacknet and Satellite Reign looked fun but not games I felt like getting into. In contrast, gameplay for Hand of Fate seemed relatively casual.

The "dungeon master" shuffles the cards.

Setup: Xbox controller

Steam Game Time: 2.1 hours

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20190908 AM Hours:
My son woke up at night and so I stayed up to monitor him while he was on the pillow. I played some more Hand of Fate.

Gameplay Log:
I realized you can try and follow the cards. It's like the shell game, except with loss of information.

The player character (right) deals the finishing blow.

Steam Game Time: 5.0 hours (total game time)

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20190908:

Gameplay Log:
After defeating the Queen of Skulls, I went to the Jack of Skulls and then the Queen of Dust to complete several tokens.

Steam Game Time: 7.6 hours (total game time)

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Areas are composed of cards with various layouts. Each area in a level has an entrance and an exit - except for the last area with the boss.

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Great graphics - both during fights and at the table
+ Love the theme; especially how cards come to life and stack onto the player
+ Reasonable rate of difficulty increase
+ Good dialogue and lore
+ Reasonable learning curve
+ Sound effects
+ Rumble effect; it's been a while since I've played a game with rumble feedback

One of the bosses, the Queen of Skulls.

Minor Cons:
- Essentially linear gameplay; perhaps the game provides some choices here and there, and perhaps most choices are initially limited as a way to teach the player how to play
- I think it would be more fair and fun to shuffle the cards like the shell game. The shuffle can be fast, but at least give an edge to a player who has the skill to follow the cards.
- Sometimes the audio tracks repeat or he makes a quip about taking too long when I'm actively reading dialog; the quip should only play if the player truly idles.

Cons:
- Equipment is a little confusing
- The game doesn't describe what happens when the player runs out of food; running out of food results in losing 9 health per move
- Combat is initially cool (due to counter attacks) but becomes repetitive and loses it's appeal

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Certain events involve "Chance." To an extent, the player can partially follow the cards and increase their chances at picking an optimal outcome.

Summary:
The combat felt like it would imitate combat from Batman: Arkham Asylum or Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Instead, it is unfortunately simple. When applicable, the player can attack, counter attack, stun, roll, or use an artifact. As a result, I would recommend players considering Hand of Fate to think of the combat as secondary to the game's deck and role-playing elements.

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20240201 Snapshot:
Steam Game Time: 7.6 hours (cumulative game time) / 7h 33m (Playnite)
Last Played: 20190908

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Hand of Fate (PC) (2015)

Relevant Links:
Hand of Fate (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Hand of Fate (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Hand of Fate (Steam Store Page)

Mad Games Tycoon (PC) (2016)

Overview: A resource management game where you manage a game development studio. Develop games, produce games, and even make game consoles.

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Starting off simple.

20190904:
To break even on my purchase of the Humble Strategy Simulator Bundle, today I decided to play Mad Games Tycoon.

Steam Game Time: 7.8 hours (total game time)

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20190905:
The game is addicting and today I continued to play it.

Steam Game Time: 13.2 hours (total game time) / 5.4 hours (session game time)

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20190906:
The game remained addicting and this morning I read several guides prior to playing.

90 percent rating!

However, I eventually decided I had enough with the game.

Gameplay Log:
I decided to organize my employees using the group feature as follows (with even numbers training to be in the odd numbers): #1: 100 in all four game attributes (gd, programming, sfx, gfx), #3: 100 in both game design and programming, #5: 100 in graphics only, #7: 100 in music only, #9: 100 in office work, #11: everybody else

Steam Game Time: 20.0 hours (total game time) / 6.8 hours (session game time)

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Thoughts:
Pro:
+ Many aspects of game development simulated in the game

Neutral:
~ References to actual games and game systems
~ Tutorial suffices for getting up and running

Getting things done!

Cons:
- Difficult in a bad way. I used guides to help play the game reasonably well. Without guides, one could easily spend hundreds of hours trying to figure out how to make good games. I suppose one "solution" is to only ever publish a specific type of game (e.g., adventure games) and become proficient at it; however, the game does not say anything about this.
- The game doesn't explain much about itself
- Terminology and game mechanics lack transparency

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Summary:
I played HunieCam Studio (HCS), a resource management game like Mad Games Tycoon (MGT), about a week ago. While it was a shorter, simpler game, HCS surprisingly did several things well in the genre compared to MGT. For example, HCS explicitly informs the player of the fan base breakdown. In contrast, MGT only gives a total fan count. It's possible that MGT only cares about the total fan count, but I came across a guide which expressed doubt in this mechanic. That is, it's possible that the fan count does break down into different genres.

In any case, I had some fun with MGT, but my own experience was too dependent on guides. Perhaps I could have had fun without using guides, but I couldn't see that being the case for me without spending my valuable time. As such, I would recommend the game to those who enjoy putting many hours into strategy games. I would give some tips for a reasonable experience:

1) Skim some guides in order to understand some game mechanics, but don't refer to them while playing: Guide 1, Guide 2
2) Many guides list the perfect settings for each genre and their ideal markets. Instead, stick with one genre and perfect it organically. Note that finding the perfect settings for a genre can be done in at most 11 iterations of the genre, but likely faster by listening to feedback and smart changes in the settings. Determine what is perfect by running a report on the game.
3) Start off playing Easy. Leaves more room for experimenting and error.
4) Spending time early game doing development contracts and production contracts is a great way to earn income and sustain the business.
5) One focus on getting better ratings is getting a star in each aspect of the game (gameplay, graphics, sound, and technology). Earn a star by exceeding a threshold which increases based on the current year. According to a guide, this formula is number of years since 1979 times the difficulty (easy is 35, normal is 55, hard is 65, and legendary is 70). For example, if it's June of 1980 on normal difficulty, the threshold to exceed is 82.5=1.5*55.
6) There are some interesting ways to conserve space. For example, four desks can fit into a 4 by 4 room.

The awards!!!

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Mad Games Tycoon (PC) (2016)

Relevant Links:
Mad Games Tycoon (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Mad Games Tycoon (Steam Store Page)

LostWinds (PC) (2016)

Overview: A casual platformer where the player uses wind (mouse on PC) as an integral part of the platforming and puzzle-solving.

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Use wind to reach higher ground.

20190902:
Looking to break even on my purchase of the Yogscast Jingle Jam 2017 bundle, today I decided to play LostWinds. While I was having fun with the game, I reached a point where the game unexpectedly crashed.

Setup: Keyboard and mouse.

Steam Game Time: 38 minutes

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20190903:
Despite the game crashing yesterday, I loaded it up again today and thankfully there was a save point not too far from where the game crash. Essentially no progress was lost.

Late game ability to soar up into the air.

Gameplay Log:
Trying to find the second chest and was stuck. Didn't seem like it was located in the Old Mines as was told.
I looked up a walkthrough and apparently I missed soil where a seed was supposed to be planted. With that being said, the area in question was not named "Old Mines."
Tip: the glorbs that spawn from a pool, they can be destroyed by using fire on the pool and then pulling out the black stick
I realized the above tip during the final fight against Magmok. Prior to that, I didn't know that those pool glorbs could be destroyed. It made the boss fight frustrating. But I figured since it was the end of the game, I would try to figure it out on my own. Somehow I figured it out.

Steam Game Time: 3.1 hours

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Use wind to guide fire.

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Soothing music and great sound
+ Game mechanic is unique (e.g., use of wind to jump)
+ Game ensures player knows how to use new abilities; at least most of the time
+ Nice art

Neutral:
~ Limited map
~ Alt-tabbing does not sit well with the game
~ What's Toku's incentive to help Enril?

"Defeated" Magmok.

Minor Con:
- Game crashed on me
- Some of the achievements didn't register.
- The main menu is non-traditional and difficult to use

Con:
- Controls sometimes feel difficult to use; lack finesse; that is, the controls feel clunky
- Not the best puzzle mechanics; sometimes repetitive
- Some areas where the game requires the player to repeat puzzles (upon returning to the area); in most areas the game remembers the area state when the player has left
- A boss fight at the end of the game which was uncharacteristic of the game.

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Toku sleeps until Enril the wind spirit wakes him.

Summary:
Although the game had it's flaws, it was short and good enough that I was able to finish it. While I don't think the game is good enough to outright recommend, I would recommend it to those who own it.

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LostWinds (PC) (2016)

Relevant Links:
LostWinds (Wikipedia.org)
LostWinds (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
LostWinds (Steam Store Page)

Beholder (PC) (2016)

Overview: Your job is to spy on your tenants and report them to the government. However, you have a choice in the matter. What will you decide to do?

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20190829:

Install hidden security cameras in order to spy on the occupants.

Steam Game Time: 71 minutes

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Great theme
+ Atmospheric
+ Tough choices

Neutral:
~ This type of game benefits from playing multiple times to understand and play

Look through the keyholes.

Cons:
- I'm not fond of navigating around the apartment.
- As a new player, hovering to find objects which hold items is annoying.

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Summary:
I can see this game being fun for some people, but some of the early game was a mixture of being too slow and too stressful for me. In the past I must have enjoyed and/or desired playing games which required players to make difficult choices, but now I greatly appreciate simple games.

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Beholder (PC) (2016)

Relevant Links:
Beholder (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Beholder (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Beholder (Steam Store Page)