Comments 510

Re: Poll: So, What Did You Think Of The Switch 2 Reveal?

wollywoo

Eh, nothing surprising. I don’t care about Mario Kart and the Metroid Prime 4 teaser a while back didn’t do much for me so I probably won’t grab this at launch unless there’s something else really exciting announced. I had to grab Switch 1 at launch due to BOTW but I don’t see anything of that caliber coming yet.

I’m so happy though that they went with Switch 2 instead of something bizarre like, I don’t know, Switch Z or Nintendo Gilgamesh or whatever else they were thinking of.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (11th January)

wollywoo

The Switch hasn't had as much that's interesting to me lately, other than Echoes of Wisdom which I thought was great. I've been catching up on older PS5 titles with PS Plus. I tried GTA5 but it just made me feel a little gross and then bored, like GTA usually does for me. I played Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, which I loved. The story was presented well but pretty childish other than a couple nice character moments with Rivet. I kinda wish they had more Pixar-level storytelling, which it seems like they are going for, but the villains are a little too silly and Saturday-morning-cartoon to take seriously. I mean I get that it's sorta a kid's game / comedy and should not be taken TOO seriously but they could have done more. But anyway, GREAT game overall, I played it a second time on the hardest setting.

Oh yeah and I played Humanity. Fun puzzle game if a little finicky. What precisely it's trying to say about humanity, I don't know, other than that we are dumb sheep and need a godlike dog to lead us.

Re: Random: Zelda Echoes Of Wisdom Was Suda51's Video Game Highlight Of 2024

wollywoo

This game seems to have received a somewhat mixed reception but I loved it! Really unique and fresh take on Zelda.
I agree the combat could be better. I wish they had given Zelda a unique weapon she could use any time instead of Link's sword. Just make it a tad weaker so it would be rewarding to use echoes in combat too. But that's a minor blemish on an overall great game.

Re: Best Of 2024: "I Avoided Almost All The Existing Tropes" - Peeling Back The Layers Of Animal Well

wollywoo

Great interview. I like it when the conversation can flow pretty naturally and not just feel like a q&a.

Fun game! I rolled the credits but I didn't feel compelled to dive further than that. I think more games should have these kind of deep mysteries, though, "breaking the pattern" of the game you're in. Would love it if the next Zelda had some crazy secrets that aren't signposted at all.

Re: Talking Point: Is It Time For HD-2D To Take A Break?

wollywoo

I played Triangle Strategy and Octopath II and loved them both. I like the art style a lot but it could use a bit of a change up. Maybe something similar but with a more detailed, hand-drawn look. The real draw for me though is the music. Octopath II has one of my favorite OSTs of all time.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (28th September)

wollywoo

Echoes of Wisdom obviously. Played 5 hours or so and loving it so far! I love exploring this world so much. Great way to help me regain my sanity from a ***** week at work. It's such a great blend of old and new ideas. Like being wrapped in a blanket and brought a warm drink by an old friend you haven't seen in a long time.

While waiting for it to release I got the Zelda bug and pulled out Tears of the Kingdom. I never got all the shrines or finished the Depths so there is a decent amount to do. I'm also really really to get NSO to do one more playthrough of Majora's Mask.

I'm also still getting through God of War: Ragnarok on PS5 and enjoying that one a lot. I'm closing in on the end of it but I want to savor it more, so I'm doing as much side stuff as I can aside from the overly tedious collectathon parts.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (21st September)

wollywoo

Combing through the PS5 library. Finished FFVII Remake + Rebirth, tried Alan Wake 2 and didn't enjoy it, now in God of War: Ragnarok which I'm appreciating a lot more. It's repetitive and I'm not a big fan of the maze-like world design, but it's still consistently enjoyable and the story is extremely well done and compelling. I'm nearing the end after 50 hours but savoring my time with the side content. I don't think I'm going to go for every damn chest and raven, but I'd like to finish the Muspelheim challenges before facing off against Odin.

Weirdly, the gameplay loop reminds is quite similar to FFVII. Both worlds seem designed a central story, with the the rest of the world being a maze-like theme park filled with somewhat formulaic optional challenges. They both have a very guided feel, with a lot of invisible walls and unpassable areas. There's a ton of ground in this game that no human can step foot on -like it's trying to mask that the actual playable space is quite corridor-esque. There are a lot of treasures that you can see but can't quite get to unless you go a very convoluted route around, despite their clearly being a pretty easy way over if you just climb on a bit of level geometry you're not allowed to. Kratos can only land his boat at very fixed locations, leading to some annoying puzzles where you can't grab that thing that's just... right... there! I can't help but compare them to Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom where every element was interactive and there were no boundaries to be seen except for the very border of the world map. I much prefer that kind of level design. Even something like Half-Life 2, while being incredibly linear, never had any boundaries to what the player could do other than those forced by the actual level geometry.

Anyway, I don't know why I felt compelled to make that rant. Other than those complaints, I'm loving God of War: Ragnarok.

Can't wait for Echoes of Wisdom next week!!

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (17th August)

wollywoo

I've been wanting something to play on my shiny new PS5 to see its full glory since finishing the excellent FFVII: Remake / Rebirth. I picked up Alan Wake 2. It's... not really holding my interest. The story is interesting. But the gameplay is a lot of wandering around in the dark with all the "puzzles" consisting of searching everywhere for little circle icons to interact with. In the dark everything looks the same, so everything is a damn maze and I hate mazes. I get it, it's a horror game, but I wish someone would just turn the lights on and tell me where to go. It doesn't feel like I'm investigating murders or exploring a netherworld so much as it feels like I'm checking off a bunch of boxes until the next fight or cut scene. And it always takes me so looong to figure out where those check boxes are. So, not sure I will continue.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (27th July)

wollywoo

Not much to speak of on Switch lately. It's been a good year for 1997 remakes. I finally beat FFVII: Rebirth after 122 hours. Great game, highly recommended! It's full of general Final Fantasy weirdness and a plot that doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense, but I sure enjoyed it. Huge improvement in every way over FFVII Remake. The combat is excellent and challenging.

I also played the Riven remake. Excellent as well, and absolutely beautiful. Shame it's not getting more attention. The changes are pretty substantial and the puzzles are much improved over the original. I'm now inspired to play Obduction and/or Myst III: Exile and I'm reading the first Myst book, which is also pretty good so far.

Re: Review: Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64) - Perhaps Not Perfect, But Still A Remarkable Achievement

wollywoo

Loved Perfect Dark on N64, but I don't feel a strong desire to return to it. I don't think it has aged that well, and anyway I'd rather play the Xbox version.

Regarding PD vs GoldenEye... it's a toss-up for me. PD's missions are great for the first half of the game but it kinda ***** the bed for the second half when all the hallways start looking the same (especially you, submarine mission) and the alien enemies aren't very interesting. But the first 6 or so missions are classic. If you only play on Agent you don't really appreciate it - playing on the hardest difficulty, their design starts to shine through. GoldenEye is a little more consistent and stays pretty fun throughout.

Perfect Dark's multiplayer though... that's the best split-screen couch co-op of its era.

Re: Gallery: The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Is A Glorious Mix Of Old And New

wollywoo

The new wand mechanic seems really fun. I hope it doesn't have the framerate issues from Link's Awakening. And - I would love it if Hyrule Castle an explorable town area and not taken over by evil something or other this time. After all, you're Princess Zelda, you should be able to walk in and say hi to all your subjects. Speaking of which, I kind of hope she is not a silent protagonist.

Re: Round Up: Every Switch Announcement At Ubisoft Forward (June 2024)

wollywoo

Lost Crown was great but I finished it and I don't have any special desire to go back.

Biomorph looks like a neat Metroidvania with a unique art style. I dig it. But I'm kinda Metroivania-d out at the moment.

Sands of Time - this is a head scratcher for me. It was a pretty good game back in 2003 but I haven't thought about it once since then and I haven't seen a lot of people clamoring for it. It doesn't have the cultural cache of something like FF7 where you need to announce the remake two years in advance. I'd be more interested if it was a new (3D) game in the series.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (8th June)

wollywoo

I've some for reason become obsessed with Final Fantasy lately, playing through FFVII Rebirth and (gasp) FF8 on Switch, after finishing FF7 on Switch. I had never played FF8 back in the 90's because everybody said it was bad. I'm only an hour or two in it but I'm enjoying it so far. And Rebirth is, well, awesome.e=

Re: Review: Octopath Traveler II - A Confident Follow-Up And One Of Switch's Finest RPGs

wollywoo

I beat this game a year ago but lately I find myself thinking about it so much! Just because I started listening to the ASTOUNDINGLY good soundtrack on repeat and it's making me almost want to re-play it, or maybe play OT1 which I never got to. Just hearing the music wraps me in a warm, comforting blanket of JRPG bliss. It's not without flaws (the disjointed stories and slightly jarring tone shift for the final end boss) but it's a damn good time.

Re: Review: Braid: Anniversary Edition (Switch) - Exquisite Commentary Elevates This Indie All-Timer

wollywoo

Braid is one of my favorite games of all time. I've already played through it at least three times so I don't have a big urge to pick it up again, but if you haven't, you should definitely pick it up. I don't have any particular opinion on the story except that it's somewhat intriguing (especially the mindblowing ending) and that I have no idea what it's actually about.

Re: Soapbox: Are We Ready For A 3D Super Mario Maker?

wollywoo

It's an interesting proposition. It has a ton of potential. But it takes a lot more skill to make a 3d game. If a random 7-yr-old makes a 2D Mario level, it's probably going to be decently fun. If a random 7-yr-old makes a 3D Mario level... I don't know, man. It's probably going to be pretty boring, or else completely chaotic. But I'd definitely be interested in what could be made by the more skilled makers.

Re: Best Pikmin Games

wollywoo

I played these all through to 100% recently. Tough to decide between 1 and 4 for my favorite. Pikmin 1 is basically a perfect game for what it is, very short but all fun and no bloat, and the limited timing adds an incentive to be efficient which is fun. Pikmin 4 is the best modern evolution of the series, mostly very easy but with some serious challenge later on in the Dandori battles. Pikmin 2 is the worst with 50% or more of the game in endless caves. Pikmin 3 is on par with the other three but I'm not as big of a fan of the level design, with areas being divided into discrete zones. So for me it is 1/4 (Tied) > 3 > 2.