GRcade

Back at this after a bit of a pause and damn is it one hell of a fine game! Chapter 4 was a tiny bit annoying, but 5 is just amazing so far.

Bought this in the sale, will probably start it this weekend. Get ready for some grade-A Jezo posts.

Blasted through chapter 5 and into chapter 6 now, it's just so good! Beautiful little convo between Madeleine and Theo at the start of this chapter, the themes are so well handled and integrate into the gameplay in such wonderful ways.

Got the B-side for chapter 5 as well.

Looking forward to finally cracking on with Farewell, with some trepidation at the undertaking.

But I've finished Link's Awakening and Sayonara Hearts now so I'm running out of procrastination-before-the-plunge excuses.

Jezo wrote:Bought this in the sale, will probably start it this weekend. Get ready for some grade-A Jezo posts.

Just remember it's not a metroidvania

Jenuall wrote:Blasted through chapter 5 and into chapter 6 now, it's just so good! Beautiful little convo between Madeleine and Theo at the start of this chapter, the themes are so well handled and integrate into the gameplay in such wonderful ways.

Started this on Friday and played it for a while over the weekend. It's pretty good so far, the controls are mostly fluid and actually combine together to produce different results, so it feels good to pull certain things off. The overall mechanics are pretty solid. Think I'm on like chapter 5..? I'm mostly enjoying it, even though I'm not an inherent fan of 'just keep throwing yourself at it until you do it' style. I'm not one to always look ahead and strategise, I much prefer jumping in and figuring it out as I go. But with such quick and precise decision making in some areas, it leads to many, many attempts lol. I know you can boil most games down to that style of trial and error, but it seems very pretentious in this game. I don't like the whole "haha yeah, we know we made a hard game, check out your death count!!! XD". As far as complaints go tho, these are more personal and nitpicky, so I can't even say myself they're even worth reading kek. Tbh, I'm pretty tired so this might just be cranky rambling.

As for a real complaint, all I can think of off the top of my head is that a lot of strawberries are in side rooms which require you to make it through some kind of obstacle or puzzle-platforming, and then once you've got to the strawberry, you gotta make it back to the beginning of the obstacle to make it actually count. This is good. I love this. But I've found a few strawberries don't require you to make it back. So I accidentally die on the way back after getting a strawberry and it still counts. I feel like I just cheated the game lol. It invalidates the effort of making it back safely which is sometimes a challenge in itself and feels really good.

While the smaller room challenges are fun, I think I much prefer the bigger sections where the screen scrolls. I feel like the moveset is well equipped for large areas. That part at the end of the hotel where you're getting chased was sick even if stressful. That sort of dynamic element really makes the game feel better to me as a whole. So I hope there's more of that as the game continues. The story and characters are pretty intriguing too, so enjoying that. The B-Side levels are dick hard, but super fun, and overall, all the levels are pretty intricate and make clever use of new mechanics, etc.

Still a lot I don't understand tho, but I'm sure it'll come to light by the time I finish it. Looking forward to reading through the thread to see how everyone else found it.

Jezo wrote:As for a real complaint, all I can think of off the top of my head is that a lot of strawberries are in side rooms which require you to make it through some kind of obstacle or puzzle-platforming, and then once you've got to the strawberry, you gotta make it back to the beginning of the obstacle to make it actually count. This is good. I love this. But I've found a few strawberries don't require you to make it back. So I accidentally die on the way back after getting a strawberry and it still counts. I feel like I just cheated the game lol. It invalidates the effort of making it back safely which is sometimes a challenge in itself and feels really good.

The rule isn't 'make it back to the beginning' but just 'make it to some ground you can land on safely' - does that explain it?

deathofcows wrote:

Jezo wrote:As for a real complaint, all I can think of off the top of my head is that a lot of strawberries are in side rooms which require you to make it through some kind of obstacle or puzzle-platforming, and then once you've got to the strawberry, you gotta make it back to the beginning of the obstacle to make it actually count. This is good. I love this. But I've found a few strawberries don't require you to make it back. So I accidentally die on the way back after getting a strawberry and it still counts. I feel like I just cheated the game lol. It invalidates the effort of making it back safely which is sometimes a challenge in itself and feels really good.

The rule isn't 'make it back to the beginning' but just 'make it to some ground you can land on safely' - does that explain it?

Not always the case. Some strawberries require you to make it back out of the challenge safely, even if there is safe ground before then.

OldSoulCyborg wrote:

deathofcows wrote:

Jezo wrote:As for a real complaint, all I can think of off the top of my head is that a lot of strawberries are in side rooms which require you to make it through some kind of obstacle or puzzle-platforming, and then once you've got to the strawberry, you gotta make it back to the beginning of the obstacle to make it actually count. This is good. I love this. But I've found a few strawberries don't require you to make it back. So I accidentally die on the way back after getting a strawberry and it still counts. I feel like I just cheated the game lol. It invalidates the effort of making it back safely which is sometimes a challenge in itself and feels really good.

The rule isn't 'make it back to the beginning' but just 'make it to some ground you can land on safely' - does that explain it?

Not always the case. Some strawberries require you to make it back out of the challenge safely, even if there is safe ground before then.

OIC. Whoops!

P.S. Playing through Farewell - it's fantastic.

Jezo wrote:Started this on Friday ... It's pretty good so far

I think you'll like the C-sides if you prefer the larger screens.

HOLY strawberry float I CAN'T BELIEVE THERE'S A REFERENCE TO THE BEHIND THE SCENES THING FROM SUPER MARIO BROS 3

I thought it looked like something out of SMB3 and tried it on a whim and it worked this game is nuts.

In a way it's super ill-fitting to have that in the game, as it basically requires that specific knowledge from an unrelated game.

But on the other hand, it's really neat

I’m opting for the ‘super ill-fitting’ side of things. Had to read a walkthrough for that.

Yeah, I can see that. But on the other hand I made the connection and it made me feel real smart, so eh.

I actually had no idea what the reference was and stumbled across how to "solve" it by sheer luck as I just randomly tried various things including crouching and dashing...

OrangeRKN wrote:In a way it's super ill-fitting to have that in the game, as it basically requires that specific knowledge from an unrelated game.

But on the other hand, it's really neat

What did I tell you about quoting me

But yeah it's such an obscure reference. Crouching doesn't exactly do anything else in the game from what I've done thus far.

Dangerblade wrote:I actually had no idea what the reference was and stumbled across how to "solve" it by sheer luck as I just randomly tried various things including crouching and dashing...

I'm the same. Was a little obtuse but still pretty satisfying (/?relief) when I found it.

Also, finished Farewell, and then finished finished Farewell thanks to the (great) stepwise hints by OldSoulCyborg (Thanks!). I wouldn't have cottoned on otherwise.

I thought it was brilliant and outstandingly generous (It took me longer than many other Indie games whole, and took me more deaths I think than any other single Celeste level).

It also has a genuine cadence to it - with its various music tracks, different environments and discreet 'sections' that riff on all the new mechanics. It feels like a Journey unto itself, and - incredibly - even re-visits and re-riffs on the established Celeste mechanics in surprising (and stumping, and satisfying) ways.

The rigor with which the team have explored the possibilities of the game, and the bottomless depths and subtleties of its gamefeel, make the whole package feel even more complete and masterly than it did before.

A treat!

Is it worth going back to finish finish, like is there an extra cutscene or anything, or is it more on the level of doing the first level without jumping?

OrangeRKN wrote:Is it worth going back to finish finish, like is there an extra cutscene or anything, or is it more on the level of doing the first level without jumping?

There's no extra cutscene, but there is a whole extra challenge (akin I suppose to the last screen itself, but even more fun and satisfying I think) scored by different music and a little reward that made me with delight. It's not just a remix or variation on something you've already done.

Worth it, I reckon.

Avoiding any spoilers above for chapter 9 for now lol. Didn't think it'd actually be called wavedashing, but it is and it's sick. Still making my way through chapter 9, just paused for lunch. Progress wise I think I'm just missing 2 strawberries. One of them is the last one of the 5th (?) Section of chapter 7 (the one with the high tech platforms and red bubbles). Just can't find it anywhere. After chapter 9 tho I'll be on them C-sides.

Oh and I found this secret room above the lift in chapter 6. Had a bunch of characters in it but seemingly nothing else. Assuming they're references to other games?