4847 replies to this topic

[nicklegends]

Working on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze right now.

 

Wow!  It's not perfect, but it does so many things well that I can't help but love it.  The level design is creative and really keeps you on your toes.  I can't think of a game that's asked more of a player's skill, but I appreciate the high expectations.  Retro put significantly more effort into the bosses this time around such that they feel like full-on levels.  The music, composed chiefly by Dave Wise, is absolutely fantastic, blending atmosphere with diverse instrumentation and strong melodies... forming perhaps one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time.  The backgrounds are full of life and the enemy design is wacky without being over-the-top or distracting.  Combining the right music, setting, and flow, certain levels just seem to be "special" for lack of a better term—a really magical feat to behold.  In general, I really feel like Retro managed to harness the "on your own" feeling of the original series and ran away with it, producing a product that well surpasses Donkey Kong Country Returns and perhaps even the original Donkey Kong Country (though nothing will beat DKC2 in my mind for nostalgic reasons).

 

But like I said, the game isn't perfect.  The bonus rooms get stale right off the bat.  The controls can feel slightly unresponsive at times, especially with the "grab" motion and the chore of swimming.  It's frustrating how the game places a number of KONG letters at places where they become irretrievable if you miss an opportunity to grab them at first, forcing you to take your own life if you want a chance to 100% the level.  (The puzzle pieces don't bother me as much because they retain themselves between lives.)  Disappointingly, many of these issues were present in Donkey Kong Country Returns as well; Retro seemed to stay with a formula rather than rethink their conventions.

 

But I feel bad picking nits.  I think DKC:TF is a wonderful, challenging platformer that I would say exceeds Super Mario 3D World in its attention to detail, music, and general design.  I'm certainly having way more fun with it than my last game, Xenoblade Chronicles X, which seemed to emphasize quantity over quality.  I recommend Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze to anybody who wants an old-school challenge in a game adorned with beautiful visuals and music.

[Lejes]

Tropical Freeze is about half the reason I got Returns. I've heard good things!

[ywkls]

Tropical Freeze is about half the reason I got Returns. I've heard good things!

 

I was tempted to get Tropical Freeze because I enjoyed 99% of Donkey Kong Country Returns. The part that I didn't like?

 

The unnecessarily long, incredibly difficult final boss fight where you're expected to survive the whole thing with two characters and one life. When I replayed through the game, I got to this point; died a few thousand times and said, "Yeah, that's not happening again." I don't really know how I beat it to start with.

 

Currently playing- Xenoblade Chronicles X, Tales of Zestiria, Ys: Memories of Celceta.

 

Also.... this is my 900th post.

[Anthus]

Been playing Pokemon Go a lot on my days off with my friends. Already to level 9 and have caught 35 Pokemon.

[Nicholas Steel]

My issues with Donkey Kong Country Returns:

 

1) Motion controls, why are they in this game!?

2) Rocket and Minecart levels where the players both share the same vehicle. Basically one player does everything because it is a mess to try and get both players to play well without distracting each other. This is primarily an issue because you have a shared health pool during these gameplay elements. This was not an issue in the SNES games because the players didn't both play simultaneously and as such there is no shared health pool.

3) The bonus levels are drastically inferior to the SNES games, severely lacking in diversity & challenge variety and get boring extremely fast. They are so boring that it feels like a punishment having to seek them out to 100% a level/world.

 

My issues with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (From the little that I've played so far)

 

1) While it is nice to have the option to not use Motion Controls, I am disappointed that I cannot have the classic PAL SNES Donkey Kong Country control scheme.

2) Rocket and Minecart levels where the players both share the same vehicle is also an issue in this game.

3) The bonus levels are drastically inferior to the SNES games, severely lacking in diversity & challenge variety and get boring extremely fast. They are so boring that it feels like a punishment having to seek them out to 100% a level/world.

4) I hate the directional swimming mechanic, get rid of that please. Directional swimming makes it hard to judge your character's collision box making it hard to tell how close you can get to an enemy and it simply makes it a lot harder to get anywhere/avoid stuff when swimming.

 

Both the Wii and Wii U games have great level design, visuals, audio and atmosphere.

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 20 July 2016 - 09:54 AM.

[Anthus]

Yeah, the control scheme options in tropical freeze are infuriating. Why can't I have have the Classic control scheme, or at least be able to customize the controls. The two control schemes offered are both unintuitive and awkward, and made me have a hard time enjoying the otherwise OK game. I don't understand how hard it is to copy a control scheme that works from 20 years ago, instead of making some dumb new forced configuration. You don't know better for me, Retro!

[HylianGlaceon]

Tried out Pokemon Go as some friends were trying it out. Frequent crashing, servers down for 6+ hours. Real fun stuff. Getting to the point of uninstalling it because Niantic doesn't seem to know what they're doing.

 

Beyond that, I also rented TPHD since I own the Wolf Link Amiibo and not the game, but wanted to see if I can load a 20 Heart Wolf on there for BotW someday. Now we know how much I don't like remakes, but TPHD just seems really underwhelming while playing it. The graphical improvements honestly look awkward at times and they kind of take away from the game being so dark. Like Link's Tunic just seems kinda weirdly textured in this game being so smooth. There are some things that do look nicer of course too.

 

I also can't seem to turn Epona like at all without moving the analog stick into neutral, I.e letting go of up and pulling hard left or right. It wasn't that way in the Gamecube version that's for sure. I thought it might be the Gamepad, but I can turn Hylian and Wolf Link just fine. Steering her is like steering a wet cardboard box on a frozen lake. I've been trying to rotate the camera to turn her now which doesn't always work sadly, but it works better than the analog stick.

 

They also botched the Bow by altering its angle it hits at to being similar to Wind Waker (it used to hit at the tip of the arrow, now it's like 2 feet higher) and flipping the controls you use to aim (Down used to move it Up and Up used to move it Down) plus Motion Controls you can't seem to turn off.

 

I expected to be disappointed, but I didn't expect the Gamecube version to be superior to this one. Maybe it plays a lot better with the Pro Controller, but I don't have one so I can't test it.

[Shosci]

There are four games I am currently playing that I have the most fun switching between now and again.

 

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

My first MMO and one of my first Final Fantasy games. It was a little daunting starting an MMO, but I had my Uncle help me understand some game mechanics. Even then, the game does teach you certain things about battling, side quests, interface, and servers. Even though I haven't played much Final Fantasy games, there are a lot of call backs in terms of the soundtrack. There are plenty of things to do in the game that it can last you for years when playing. If you don't mind spending $10/month for the subscription and are interested in playing an MMO, this might be a good one to start with. It also has cross-play between PS3, PS4, and PC.

 

Inside

A sequel to that indie game back in 2011 'Limbo'. I loved that game because of its atmosphere and puzzle-platforming. However, Inside just takes both aspects and designs beyond that, to the point where it feels like a proper sequel. It has been really cleaver of a game, but also very subtle regarding its lore. Definitely one of my favorite games for 2016.

 

The Culling

Basically the Hunger Games, but good. An Online Multiplayer game where all you have to do is survive. While the game only sports one map, it is a huge map to traverse through. I especially like the scoreboard in the sky and the commentator spectating the matches. There is more to the Culling though. You can craft standard materials to create stronger items. You can interact with the environment and earn experience that the game calls 'F.U.N.C'. There are the usual perks and team matchmaking. And you can practice battling against bots. While I am not a fan of Mouse/Keyboard controls, this was a very rare moment where the Steam controller was actually handy for this kind of game. 

 

Pokemon GO

Of course, this had to be mentioned. I was hooked on this game before it took over the world. I love having to explore outside for Pokemon and training them up. I love that fact that I can see nearly everyone playing outside as well. It just brings me back to how we all wanted Pokemon to be in real life and this was the closest it would ever get so far. It's especially nice to even go outside after playing the many games I already mentioned, since it does encourage you you to play on the go. Servers might be wonky at times, but I never had it break the app or experience for me. It's such a great game to include for Pokemon's 20th Anniversary as well. 

[The Satellite]

I also can't seem to turn Epona like at all without moving the analog stick into neutral, I.e letting go of up and pulling hard left or right. It wasn't that way in the Gamecube version that's for sure. I thought it might be the Gamepad, but I can turn Hylian and Wolf Link just fine. Steering her is like steering a wet cardboard box on a frozen lake. I've been trying to rotate the camera to turn her now which doesn't always work sadly, but it works better than the analog stick.

I've heard this before, so it's definitely a conscious decision by the developers, but I don't get why they would change Epona's controls. They were great in the original.

[Dawnlight]

I've been playing a lot of Overwatch (PS4). It's now becoming my favorite online MP game. The true Call of Duty killer.

[HylianGlaceon]

I've heard this before, so it's definitely a conscious decision by the developers, but I don't get why they would change Epona's controls. They were great in the original.

Yep, now the Canoe even has better controls than Epona. Can't wait to get the option to just turn into the Wolf form at will. Either I can roll across the field as Hylian Link or hope Epona doesn't randomly get stuck on a wall and waste 15 seconds just to turn the right direction.The Escort mission was hell with these controls too. It didn't help I could only lock on to the Bulbins for the first 4 bombs or so. Never had that happen before on the GCN version.

 

It also seems the giant bird flight controls are the same and they flipped some other controls randomly. Either change all of them or leave them alone ugh. Just got to Lakebed Temple earlier and stopped there for now.

[Nicholas Steel]

No option to invert the camera controls for everything or nothing? Not a game I'm interested in, it's worse that it randomly flips some axis sometimes and not other times. It's like Darksiders 1 where you can invert the X and Y axis for the camera but only 1 Axis is inverted when you pick up an object and try to aim where to toss it (Thankfully not an issue in the second game).

[HylianGlaceon]

No option to invert the camera controls for everything or nothing? Not a game I'm interested in, it's worse that it randomly flips some axis sometimes and not other times. It's like Darksiders 1 where you can invert the X and Y axis for the camera but only 1 Axis is inverted when you pick up an object and try to aim where to toss it (Thankfully not an issue in the second game).

As far as I know there isn't. I'll have to double check, but the original didn't either. I'll probably need to replay the original with functional Epona controls after this to see if all of the little tweaks they did really are different or if I'm not remembering correctly. I'm having problems with the camera and some other small things too.

 

I also found out that ZR functions as the A button from time to time. I was trying to Shield Bash those Shadow Beasts so they would cluster better and triggered a Helm Splitter without even touching the A button. Before that I also got hit while trying to Shield Bash a Lizalfos since I did a Jump Attack instead of that. I'm only playing on Normal, but still ugh. Definitely seeing the Gamecube version as superior as everything they improved they seemed to have messed up something else to make up for it. As nice as faster climbing and quick transformations are, I'd rather have a functional Epona and no ZR = A honestly.

 

I'm sure Darknuts will also be fun with this control scheme. Just got to Snowpeak in the playthrough.

[KingPridenia]

Playing The Guardian Legend again, but this time, I used a password generator to make the game MUCH, MUCH harder. I only begin with 1 bar of life instead of 8. More or less, welcome to me dying. A lot. I also made one so I could freely explore the entire map at the start, also with only 1 bar of life to start to see if I could get everything out of the areas without touching a corridor.

[Lejes]

I managed to beat DKC Returns. The bosses in that game are so, so bad. I didn't match ywkl's several thousand attempts, but I did burn about 30 lives on that thing. The controls in general are terrible. The boss has all these twitch reaction attacks for a character that has an extremely hard time moving at all. I feel like realistic physics/momentum is an idea Retro must have had in some staff meeting, and nobody there had enough experience in 2D platformers to immediately shoot it down. It should not take a full second to turn around on the ground. SNES DKC had such tight controls, and Returns was a huge downgrade. And since I haven't reiterated it enough: the Wiimote is the worst controller I've ever used. I think the d-pad is already wearing out. This was a single playthrough, of a single game. None of the other Wii games I've played used the d-pad all that much. And it's already making uncomfortable creaking noises. I'm wondering if I should ever bother trying to unlock the Golden Temple.