02-17-2024, 11:30 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-18-2024, 12:09 PM by Yawackhary.)
Probably the penultimate time of writing in this thread... (as I do not class VN as games but its own thing)
Firstly a bunch of racing games. GRID looked nice and controlled okay but was the case of last place all the time and the AI are really aggressive banging into your car. So easy to make someone a nemesis, even your own team mate. Horizon Chase kept disconnecting the game with an annoying popup and the one race that it let me play was the typical last place. Gear Club Unlimited the camera was too close and couldn't progress beyond the first 3 races. The sequel had a bad stuttering problem on the PS4... PS4 Pro to be exact. I was so bad at TT Isle of Man 2 that the game told me off. YOUR CONTRACT HAS BEEN TERMINATED. Well you try going beyond last place then... I do like the idea of the game and when you drive fast on the road, it is a sight to see especially on the PS4 version (sorry Switch...).
While Cruis'n Blast has the same issue as Gear Club Unlimited with the camera (that I don't recall seeing from the original arcade), surprisingly enough managed to get 1st place on the first batch of races. Probably down to the fact that the game is more or less on rails, the good old takedown system and the sneaky boost near the end of the race. It's also rather bright which is a good thing as Switch games for some reason end up being darker or too dark... Sounds like something that I'll play more in the future unless an issue pops up.
Then came CTR Re-ignited (unpatched so no microtransactions)... First race in the Adventure Mode and last all the time... Even getting to 7th throughout the race was hard. Might have to go back to Mario Kart 8 to see if that can still be played...
Lastly played Fast & Furious: Spy Racers. You would think a game based off a cartoon (at least I think it is from a cartoon, it's not from the mainline series) that I would make a bit of progress but nope. It's one where the track design has some tight places, some sharp corners and hard to turn around even with brake or drift. When you have to be 3rd and lucky to get to 7th place says a lot... Sometimes can get as close to 3rd if I'm lucky with a bit of boost (usually 4th/5th though) but quickly goes to 7th/8th due to the mentioned track design, other cars closing in as a bunch and the Mario Kart-esque powerups.
Just throwing this point out. I have noticed that many racing games, you have to be first or within the Top 3 to progress. It's a standard but it's no fun when you're at last place all the time and cannot progress. Fair enough if I could even get to like 4th because at least might get 3rd or higher next time but not last all the time... What's the point of playing a game apart from wasting precious time? Weirdly some of the modern Codemasters games seem to let you unlock the next stage to a certain point anyway.
For non-racing games, just a touch better. Managed to play the 3 Pinball Arcade games (Season 1, Season 2 and Stern; all physical versions) and can still enjoy them.
Star Wars Pinball is a different story. As a pinball game it's fine but they just had to add gimmicks to the game such as shmup stage and a reaction based lightsaber battle, the former only passed by the purest of luck and the latter couldn't do at all. If it wasn't for that, would have kept and played more.
Meaning at this point, there is a VERY LIMITED range of games that I can play. Even the likes of NFS Hot Pursuit/Rivals (cop mode as racer is no go), Burnout Paradise, Cruis'n Blast, F1 games and the selected Mario games (3D World, NSMBU, Wonder)... I don't know how far I can get to the point of no return. Discounting VN (as mentioned), it would just be over the double digits in terms of console games out of millions of games.* The last time it was like this was when I got my PS1 (my Mega Drive games when I had them depends whether the Mega 6 multi-cart is one game or six).
*-In terms of physical or digital releases on an actual console.
Last minute update: Can no longer play NFS Hot Pursuit (PS4) and Rivals due to the police sirens affecting my eyes with the flashes during the night time moments. Had to look away from the screen as it is worse in a tunnel, that alone is deadly in a Rapid Response or a Hot Pursuit when I ended up crashing into ongoing traffic. Got as far as I could on both games but still something like 1/6 at most.
Then have gone to the PC side because PC gaming (outside of sprite ripping) has been really neglected within the past 15 years. On the grounds of a bad experience playing GTA 3 around 22 years ago and the oldest one that could play the old Sega PC ports had long broken down. Have played a bit of what I got about six years or so ago, most were free and a few were on sale.
Played YS: The Oath in Felghana but literally couldn't get past the first boss in Tigray Quarry. It is the case of knowing exactly what to do as in attack when the shield is down but keep dying every time and this is on VERY EASY too. Uninstalled afterwards.
Then played DariusBurst. Couldn't defeat the first boss in CS mode and AC Mode was even worse due to the screen size and bullets swarming in where I'm lucky to survive beyond the first 20 seconds of the first stage. Obviously uninstalled. Just proves that STG is not designed for my skill. Neither are RPGs, Strategy, Simulator, Dancing, Fighting, Puzzles, QTE, Adventure, Beat em ups, FPS/TPS, Action, Sports, most games that have bosses (80% of gaming), majority of platformers and now racing games. Probably easier to say most of gaming at this point...
I did try to play Unreal and Psychonauts but wouldn't even count as playing. Unreal was really stuttery when it should run it in ease, yes a 25 year old game being stuttery, dark and could only see about 3 rooms of the game. Psychonauts, again too dark for me to see and the control scheme doesn't feel right to play. It gives me hand cramp and controlling with keyboard and mouse felt awkward. The mouse for the camera is fidgety and very easy for me to press the wrong direction button, it would also make it very easy to die as it would be clumbersome and just takes an enemy, a missed platform, an element or a bottomless pit if there is one to happen. How PC gamers play with WASD keyboard controls (and Spectrum gamers play with QAOP) especially when it comes to games that are 3D based that isn't a FPS, it must be like second nature. At least those and Mafia that couldn't even boot up were free.
Firstly a bunch of racing games. GRID looked nice and controlled okay but was the case of last place all the time and the AI are really aggressive banging into your car. So easy to make someone a nemesis, even your own team mate. Horizon Chase kept disconnecting the game with an annoying popup and the one race that it let me play was the typical last place. Gear Club Unlimited the camera was too close and couldn't progress beyond the first 3 races. The sequel had a bad stuttering problem on the PS4... PS4 Pro to be exact. I was so bad at TT Isle of Man 2 that the game told me off. YOUR CONTRACT HAS BEEN TERMINATED. Well you try going beyond last place then... I do like the idea of the game and when you drive fast on the road, it is a sight to see especially on the PS4 version (sorry Switch...).
While Cruis'n Blast has the same issue as Gear Club Unlimited with the camera (that I don't recall seeing from the original arcade), surprisingly enough managed to get 1st place on the first batch of races. Probably down to the fact that the game is more or less on rails, the good old takedown system and the sneaky boost near the end of the race. It's also rather bright which is a good thing as Switch games for some reason end up being darker or too dark... Sounds like something that I'll play more in the future unless an issue pops up.
Then came CTR Re-ignited (unpatched so no microtransactions)... First race in the Adventure Mode and last all the time... Even getting to 7th throughout the race was hard. Might have to go back to Mario Kart 8 to see if that can still be played...
Lastly played Fast & Furious: Spy Racers. You would think a game based off a cartoon (at least I think it is from a cartoon, it's not from the mainline series) that I would make a bit of progress but nope. It's one where the track design has some tight places, some sharp corners and hard to turn around even with brake or drift. When you have to be 3rd and lucky to get to 7th place says a lot... Sometimes can get as close to 3rd if I'm lucky with a bit of boost (usually 4th/5th though) but quickly goes to 7th/8th due to the mentioned track design, other cars closing in as a bunch and the Mario Kart-esque powerups.
Just throwing this point out. I have noticed that many racing games, you have to be first or within the Top 3 to progress. It's a standard but it's no fun when you're at last place all the time and cannot progress. Fair enough if I could even get to like 4th because at least might get 3rd or higher next time but not last all the time... What's the point of playing a game apart from wasting precious time? Weirdly some of the modern Codemasters games seem to let you unlock the next stage to a certain point anyway.
For non-racing games, just a touch better. Managed to play the 3 Pinball Arcade games (Season 1, Season 2 and Stern; all physical versions) and can still enjoy them.
Star Wars Pinball is a different story. As a pinball game it's fine but they just had to add gimmicks to the game such as shmup stage and a reaction based lightsaber battle, the former only passed by the purest of luck and the latter couldn't do at all. If it wasn't for that, would have kept and played more.
Meaning at this point, there is a VERY LIMITED range of games that I can play. Even the likes of NFS Hot Pursuit/Rivals (cop mode as racer is no go), Burnout Paradise, Cruis'n Blast, F1 games and the selected Mario games (3D World, NSMBU, Wonder)... I don't know how far I can get to the point of no return. Discounting VN (as mentioned), it would just be over the double digits in terms of console games out of millions of games.* The last time it was like this was when I got my PS1 (my Mega Drive games when I had them depends whether the Mega 6 multi-cart is one game or six).
*-In terms of physical or digital releases on an actual console.
Last minute update: Can no longer play NFS Hot Pursuit (PS4) and Rivals due to the police sirens affecting my eyes with the flashes during the night time moments. Had to look away from the screen as it is worse in a tunnel, that alone is deadly in a Rapid Response or a Hot Pursuit when I ended up crashing into ongoing traffic. Got as far as I could on both games but still something like 1/6 at most.
Then have gone to the PC side because PC gaming (outside of sprite ripping) has been really neglected within the past 15 years. On the grounds of a bad experience playing GTA 3 around 22 years ago and the oldest one that could play the old Sega PC ports had long broken down. Have played a bit of what I got about six years or so ago, most were free and a few were on sale.
Played YS: The Oath in Felghana but literally couldn't get past the first boss in Tigray Quarry. It is the case of knowing exactly what to do as in attack when the shield is down but keep dying every time and this is on VERY EASY too. Uninstalled afterwards.
Then played DariusBurst. Couldn't defeat the first boss in CS mode and AC Mode was even worse due to the screen size and bullets swarming in where I'm lucky to survive beyond the first 20 seconds of the first stage. Obviously uninstalled. Just proves that STG is not designed for my skill. Neither are RPGs, Strategy, Simulator, Dancing, Fighting, Puzzles, QTE, Adventure, Beat em ups, FPS/TPS, Action, Sports, most games that have bosses (80% of gaming), majority of platformers and now racing games. Probably easier to say most of gaming at this point...
I did try to play Unreal and Psychonauts but wouldn't even count as playing. Unreal was really stuttery when it should run it in ease, yes a 25 year old game being stuttery, dark and could only see about 3 rooms of the game. Psychonauts, again too dark for me to see and the control scheme doesn't feel right to play. It gives me hand cramp and controlling with keyboard and mouse felt awkward. The mouse for the camera is fidgety and very easy for me to press the wrong direction button, it would also make it very easy to die as it would be clumbersome and just takes an enemy, a missed platform, an element or a bottomless pit if there is one to happen. How PC gamers play with WASD keyboard controls (and Spectrum gamers play with QAOP) especially when it comes to games that are 3D based that isn't a FPS, it must be like second nature. At least those and Mafia that couldn't even boot up were free.