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Post by niko on Sept 22, 2014 10:59:41 GMT
Hello everyone, I wanted to create a thread where we can discuss some things that are somewhat obscure, or just not very well known if you aren't into indie game scene, but represent the growing diversity of videogames and/or just good. Anyhow, I'm gonna start with The Yawhg.  The Yawhg is a 1 to 4 players (number of players isn't crucial - you can even play all the four characters by yourself) adventure game by Emily Carroll and Damian Sommer, and it's about people who just go on about their everyday life. Except in six weeks some terrible disaster called The Yawhg comes. The Yawhg is a game of choices. You decide what your character(s) will do for the course of the next week: meditate in the garden? make alchemy potions? attend balls in the palace? help with cleaning in the hospital? Some of those choices might have outcomes that are quite unexpected at first time. The acoustic music (by Ryan Roth & Halina Heron) is beautiful, gradually intensifying as The Yawhg draws closer, and there's also really sweet art by Emily Carroll. All in all, mechanically it's simple - you make choices which affect some stats, which affect later choices, etc, but the writing and aesthetics are so strong that the underlying rules don't matter much - it's just a well-crafted bittersweet game about choices and fate that's also great to play with friends. (three stars) |
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Post by niko on Sept 22, 2014 11:02:20 GMT
(Please disregard that Sam Strange joke.)
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Post by Kav P on Sept 22, 2014 12:54:33 GMT
Whoa... You should totally provide links to where we might be able to purchase these games. This sounds pretty awesome!
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Post by niko on Sept 22, 2014 12:57:38 GMT
I've just thought about links! And maybe I also need to specify on which platform the game runs, too. (Goes editing the post.)
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Post by Kav P on Sept 22, 2014 13:59:40 GMT
Just a note, I'm wondering whether it's worth making a "games" section in the forum for focusing on discussions of games as opposed to film, music, etc. That way reviews can be separate threads and attract more relevant comments, even from people who read the review much later than when they were posted. Lemme know if you think that would work!That aside, I want to introduce an archaic and rare but BRILLIANT gem which is one of my favourite games of all time: Toonstruck (1996) This point-and-click game for the PC (DOS, even) was released right when 3D games started to pick up, so it was completely forgotten under a sea of the "new" generation of games. This is a shame, because it contained so many things that I love: Animation meets real life: If you've ever seen "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", "Space Jam" or even "Mary Poppins", that's basically what is in this game. The main protagonist is a real person in a cartoon world, interacting entirely with cartoons. I've always been fascinated with cartoon/real footage interaction so this was a big draw for 12-year old me. Production music: I have a confession: I'm an avid production music and sound effects collector in possession of several production music libraries which I may or may not ever actually use in a film project. This game was one of the first to use stock music from APM Music (think "Ren and Stimpy" or "Spongebob Squarepants"), and for that the music really adds to the classic cartoony feel. Point and click adventure: Ever play "Monkey Island"? Yeah. 'Nuff said. All-star cast of actors and voice actors: While being completely aware that I am revealing much nerdier things about myself than I intended, I will mention that many prominent voice actors lend their voices to the game. We're talking Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson), Tress MacNeille (Dot Warner, Babs Bunny, just about every female bit character in Futurama), Frank Welker (pretty much any human-made animal noise you've ever heard in cartoons, including Santa's Little Helper II and Nibbler), and Jim Cummings (Darkwing Duck, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Tasmanian Devil, EVERYTHING). There are great actors in here as well. Christopher Lloyd (Uncle Fester, the Professor in the Back to the Future films) plays the lead character and does an amazing job, while Tim Curry of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" fame also lends his voice to the game. Oh, cameo from deadpan hero Ben Stein as the protagonist's boss, too! ... Wow, I got a bit carried away there. I used to want to be a voice actor, so I used to make lists of my favourite voice actors... Aheh. Sheesh. >_>; A cartoonist main character: I wanted to be an animator (and voice actor) when I was a kid, so while this won't really mean anything to most people, I was seeing a game about someone in my dream profession. So much love. <3 The plot? Well, basically worn-out cartoonist Drew Blanc (Christopher Lloyd) gets sucked into a world of his own creation and is talked into saving the world of "Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun" (Tress MacNeille) and her happy, cuddly friends from the evil Count Nefarious (Tim Curry) and his minions, who are using a ray gun to turn all of the inhabitants into evil versions of themselves. Drew teams up with the reject character he always wanted to feature in his show, the sarcastic Fluxx Wildly (Dan Castellaneta), to find the pieces needed to repair a counter-ray to make everything and everyone cute again BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!1! 
I refuse to give away any more than that, but rest assured it is a unique and wonderful game. There was to be a sequel to it, but due to the lack of sales because of the new interest in 3D games, it was scrapped despite most of the game already been completed. As recently as this year talk of the sequel and/or a re-release of the game should enough fans express interest (petition here: www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_140186316013394). That may or may not be why I'm choosing to plug this game. :B Where can you acquire this fine game? Well, given that it's out of print, this game is really hard to find, but while waiting for the reboot you may or may not be able to find a torrent of the game with instructions on how to set it up somewhere online. But of course, I wouldn't know anything about that.  In closing, while I might be considerably more obsessed with this game than others may be for the reasons mentioned above, I still reckon it's a must-play for any fan of the point-and-click genre in its own right. Funny, charming and well-made, with an all-star cast. If you do play it, please let me know because so far I have NO one to discuss how awesome it is with! Edit: Yay! I found a place to play it in either English or German! You just need to download the file and then run it through ScummVM. So happy to finally be able to play it again!
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Post by niko on Sept 22, 2014 14:20:11 GMT
Wow, I've never played this one (and I've played a lot of DOS point and clicks at the time.) Looks really unique, I'm not really sure I'll get to play it soon. Also, apparently you can vote for it on Good Old Games, so maybe there's a chance they'll add it to their store: www.gog.com/wishlist/games/toonstruckEDIT: For people unfamiliar with GOG, it's a platform where you can buy DRM-free old and old-ish games that you can usually play without much trouble. They also sometimes give away games for free, so creating an account there might be useful even if you don't want to buy anything. |
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Post by mrnarse on Sept 22, 2014 21:34:27 GMT
Niko, the art style in the screen shot of The Yawhg that you posted reminded me a little bit of the game " Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble!". It's an indie game from a few years ago that's kind of an Adventure-RPG-puzzle-board game set in the 1920's. I've played it a little bit, and it was pretty fun.  Coincidentally, I just checked my email and it's part of a Humble Bundle Flash sale that's going on for the next couple of days. You can get it DRM-Free for as little as $0.01 (or $1 for a Steam key and a couple of more games.) Kav, Toonstruck looks great! Sierra and Lucasart's adventure games were my bread and butter on the PC while growing up in the 80's and 90's. |
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Post by niko on Sept 29, 2014 8:00:30 GMT
It's sometimes hard to find decent games for mobile devices, so here I present two games somebody might not know yet: rymdkapsel rymdkapsel is a meditative minimalistic space strategy. Quite solid gameplay and visual/audio aesthetic. It's the kind of a game you want to play in the evening with your headphones on. Out There
 In Out There you are an astronaut stranded very far from home. It's a game of survival and resource management, in which death usually comes from the lack of oxygen or fuel. See the galaxy, meet different alien species and learn their universal language, explore the mysterious space objects. Both games are one-time purchases (no microtransactions of any kind), available for Android, iOS, and Steam, but were made for touchscreen devices primarily. |
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Post by Kav P on Sept 29, 2014 12:58:19 GMT
Whoaaa, awesome. I am digging this thread. It... kind of makes me want to play board games.  |
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Post by niko on Sept 29, 2014 15:11:16 GMT
Um, my two posts got merged for some reason. Is there a way to un-merge them?
ED: Thanks!
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Post by mrnarse on Sept 30, 2014 9:05:34 GMT
I'll have to give rymdkapsel a try sometime. They were giving it out for free on the Vita last year. Here's one of my all-time favorite games. One that I go back and replay every year or two: Soul Blazer  Released in the early days of the SNES, Soul Blazer was developed by Quintet and published by Enix. You may know some of Quintet's more well known SNES classics like Actraiser, Illusion of Gaia, or Terranigma. Soul Blazer is actually the first in a spiritually tied trilogy along with Illusion of Gaia and Terraniga. Like those two games, Soul Blazer is an Action-RPG. In the game you are a warrior sent down to Earth by God himself, and you must free the souls of the planet that have been captured by the master of evil, Deathtoll (very much like in Actraiser, which shares some art and audio assets with Soul Blazer). Throughout the game you alternate between freeing souls from monster lairs in dungeons, and traveling back to the towns where you have freed the souls. The freed souls then help you with advancing further through the dungeons by opening up new passages or providing you with new items. It's not just human villages you go to either. There's also an animal village, an underwater village, a dwarf mountain, and a house filled with various animate and inanimate objects. At a time when Nintendo took out as much religious material from the games they released in the West as they could, Soul Blazer (and it's successors) stand out for having a very Japanese sense of spirituality. Reincarnation is also a big theme throughout. You free not only the souls of humans in the game, but animals, plant life, furniture, doors, dolls, and more. You can even go into people's dreams! The music is also pretty spectacular. Here's the whole soundtrack. Click on to the youtube page if you want to skip to specific tracks. The various dungeons are fun and you level up and collect new weapons, armor, and magic spells like in any typical Action-RPG. All-in-all it's a real blast, it's not overly long, and it's pretty deep for a video game from the early 90's. Needless to say, I love it lots. I'm unsure if it's on the Wii or Wii U virtual consoles, but if you can track down a copy or play it by some other means, I highly recommend it! |
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Post by niko on Sept 30, 2014 9:29:04 GMT
I haven't played SNES games a lot, but I loved Chrono Trigger. Soul Blazer looks interesting!
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Post by mrnarse on Sept 30, 2014 9:44:00 GMT
SNES was my golden era for gaming. So many classics. Every Square game was a classic. All the Nintendo-published stuff was classic too, of course. Mario, Zelda, Star Fox, DKC, Mario Kart. I could go on for hours. But yeah, Quintet and Enix made some awesome stuff too  |
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Post by Kav P on Sept 30, 2014 14:04:22 GMT
Wow, that game looks great! Hello emulator...
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Post by mrnarse on Oct 1, 2014 8:59:57 GMT
Wow, that game looks great! Hello emulator... If you want to play it in the original Japanese, it was titled Soul Blader there. I have the American SNES cart, but I like replaying my old favorites in Japanese An old hacked PSP makes a great portable SNES emulator. Plays PS1 games perfectly too. |
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daviller
Ensign Ellie
DaVillerStillerKiller
Posts: 38 
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Post by daviller on Oct 9, 2014 23:31:52 GMT
So the bayonetta 2 demo came out. I believe it the game will be good and I do look forward to it with high hopes and I... I think....
no I.....must...surpress...hype...can't
GNNNNAAAHHH FUCKYEAH GOLD STATUE SUCKER! WHO'S A BIG ASS DRAGON NOW HUH? WHO, WHO?
Im sorry, I didn't want anyone to witness this.
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Post by niko on Oct 16, 2014 14:52:38 GMT
 Seeing as how we dislike Gators, I think it's might be worth paying attention to games that Gators don't like or even consider "games". The primary example of those is HTML-based interactive fiction, usually made with a tool called Twine. With that said, here's With Those We Love Alive by Porpentine. |
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Post by dwaynedibbley on Oct 18, 2014 6:52:42 GMT
If we're plugging games that Gators don't consider games, then Imma plug the shit outta oeuvre of Christine Love. A lot of them are freeware games so you can play them right now. My favourite has to be "Digital: A Love Story", but "don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story" takes my "Best Title" prize. loveconquersallgam.es/ |
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Post by niko on Oct 18, 2014 13:08:25 GMT
Well, I've created this thread to be about some obscure and/or indie stuff, so you are spot on with Christine Love. Thanks.
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Luci
Ellie-in-training
Posts: 11
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Post by Luci on Oct 27, 2014 14:03:12 GMT
first review on Steam: "First things first. I must issue an apology to Gone Home, for it is not the most overrated game of 2013. That title belongs to The Yawhg." Well, that review just makes me want to play it... I really enjoyed "don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story." There's also Analogue: A Hate Story. Cara Ellison's 'dating sim' Sacrilege is pretty neat: www.unwinnable.com/2013/04/25/play-at-heartbreaking-with-cara-ellison/#.VE5NWPmsVI4Might be because I have a soft spot for animals, but Shelter emotionally wrecked me It's a beautiful little game though. store.steampowered.com/app/244710/ |
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Post by niko on Oct 28, 2014 0:14:15 GMT
Always good to see more mentions of Cara Ellison! And thank you for reminding me of Shelter, I was gonna buy, but totes forgot.
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Post by mrnarse on Oct 28, 2014 7:31:38 GMT
The Humble Weekly Bundle this week is pretty awesome. A whole bunch of games with actual educational value! The top tier includes the spiritual successor to the wonderful The Incredible Machine series from the 90's, and is designed by the same people! www.humblebundle.com/weekly |
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monoclemask
Ellie-in-training
Making friends and conquering hubris in a whimsical fantasy land.
Posts: 10
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Post by monoclemask on Oct 29, 2014 14:30:35 GMT
Are any of you familiar with the games of Osamu Sato? He made Eastern Mind, Chu-Teng (a game so rare that no working copies are thought to exist), and most famously LSD Dream Emulator for the Playstation. All of his games are super psychedelic and weird. Honestly, the games aren't fun or interesting from a game design perspective, but they're so weird that I would recommend checking them out. Except for Chu-Teng, good luck finding a way to play that one.
Here's the opening video for Eastern Mind:
I would love to play something like this on the Oculus Rift. Weird stuff like this, as well as horror games, have the most to gain through the added immersion.
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Post by niko on Oct 29, 2014 18:43:06 GMT
I've heard about LSD Dream Emulator, and I hope when OR finally takes off we'll start seeing really interesting games like this one:
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Luci
Ellie-in-training
Posts: 11
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Post by Luci on Nov 1, 2014 13:05:36 GMT
Man. That looks amazing!
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Luci
Ellie-in-training
Posts: 11
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Post by Luci on Nov 5, 2014 16:40:40 GMT
garg try again >.> |
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Luci
Ellie-in-training
Posts: 11
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Post by Luci on Nov 5, 2014 16:45:39 GMT
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Post by niko on Nov 5, 2014 16:59:57 GMT
Dammit, I love RPS. And those games, a few of which I haven't played yet. Except chess. Sorry, chess, I don't love you.
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