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Game Ramblings #68 – Kirby Star Allies

More Info from Nintendo

  • Genre: Platformer
  • Platform: Switch

TL;DR

  • Really low difficulty continues to be the weak point of the series
  • Solid amount of content, lots of hidden secrets, really good end boss sequence
  • AI characters are surprisingly competent as co-op replacement; combinations of powers are a compelling addition to the Kirby formula

It’s been kind of the standard fare for the Kirby series over the last 10 years or so that the games end up being really solid, have one neat twist to their mechanics to stay fresh, but end up being really too easy.  Planet Robobot gained a mech suit to do occasional wrecking of things.  Triple Deluxe brought in a lot of use of multiple planes of depth.  Epic Yarn had the obvious visual style and strong environmental manipulation.  By and large they have all been really good games that leaned on just being purely fun, rather than difficult.  Star Allies doesn’t change that at all, this time playing into a multiple character theme where you can recruit enemies to help you out, as well as combine their powers to solve puzzles.  It’s definitely an easy game, but it didn’t end up hampering the experience in a negative way.

This game is flat out gorgeous right form the start.

I know this is a weird place to start rambles, but holy hell this game is beautiful to a point that really caught me off guard.  While the Kirby series has always held its own pretty well, and in some cases had some unique visual treatments, I was not expecting this one to impress me so much.  That screenshot above is the spawning spot for the first level in the game, and it continues to impress throughout.  There’s a large variety in visual themes from deserts to forests to fields and later on right into space.  Each level is distinct from the other, so as a player I never grew bored of the areas I was going through.  For a game built around keeping relatively similar gameplay throughout, this was a huge help to not feeling burned out on the experience.

Combos are the new thing in the game, and they end up working out really well.

But enough about that, let’s talk about what this game brought to the series; combination powers and multi-character gameplay, and how they feed into each other.

This game is 100% a four-character experience, and it doesn’t matter if that’s AI or players controlling it.  Anyone can drop in and take over a party member, but the AI are competent on their own to help you out.  However, the great part of the whole system is that everyone but player 1 is controlling an enemy archetype.  Combined with Kirby’s continued ability to copy powers, this gives the party access to 4 core powers at once.  This is backed by the fact that AI attack when needed and use their powers to clear puzzles, allowing the player to focus on simply exploring and finding secrets in most cases, rather than finessing the AI into precise spots.

The good thing that comes out of this system is that you can also combine powers.  The screenshot above is one of them (rock power +ice power), and this combination mechanic is used in a ton of ways.  Weapon-based powers can all gain elements to do new things.  The ninja power can gain wind to throw air columns.  Swords can gain fire to burn everything it touches.  The rock gaining ice allows it to slide along killing enemies.  However, this is also backed by some clever environmental mechanics.  The ice power can freeze waterfalls.  The bug power allows you to throw characters through breakable walls.

The end result of all of this is that the game’s difficulty can be low without negatively impacting the game.  The challenge becomes the puzzle solving involved in using your party to find secrets in the environment, whether it be switches to open secret levels or puzzle pieces to collect for pictures.  It’s by far the most puzzle solving I’ve done in a Kirby game, and it makes for a really satisfying loop in trying to find all the little secrets in each level.

Classic bosses return, but that shouldn’t be a surprise at this point.

In no surprise though, this game also doesn’t steer away from some classic expectations of the series.  Standard bosses return, like the Whispy Woods tree or Kracko.  You still romp through Dream Land for a while.  The majority of the enemies that are there are still powers from past games.  However, it never feels dull.  It reuses what is expected of the series in new ways, either through new mechanics added to the bosses, or clever new uses for the absorbed powers.  It gives the right blend of nostalgia and new, which has been a hallmark of the series for a long time.

Admittedly though, I did mostly play this game as a sort of no-thought gap game.  I knew there were games coming out soon that I wanted to play (looking at you Ni no Kuni 2), so I didn’t want to play something long.  This was a quick hitter, easily finishable in 6-8 hours.  It’s also not difficult, so the level of frustration is low.  However, it’s just flat out fun.  It doesn’t take itself too seriously, once again brings some new mechanics into the series, but still plays enough of the old beats to be familiar.  While it’s hardly going to be a game of the year candidate, it’s pretty easy to recommend taking a look at this one at the very least.

Also, as mentioned in the Kirby: Planet Robobot ramblings, Nintendo has once again put in an updated little adorable Kirby icon for their website.  Nice touch.

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Game Ramblings #67 – Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology

More Info from Atlus

  • Genre: JRPG
  • Platform: 3DS
  • Original Released on: DS

TL;DR

  • Still one of the more interesting JRPG battle systems I’ve ever seen with a heavy emphasis on moving and grouping enemies for AoE attacks.
  • Good selection of new content for returning players that is well integrated into the mainline story for new players.
  • Doesn’t do anything to inherently fix the grind of the original game, but a new Friendly difficulty opens up some interesting potential for JRPGs to pull from.

Admittedly this is a game I shelved the first time around.  It’s not that it was bad; in fact its battle system alone makes this game at least worth checking out.  However, in the base difficulty this game is EXTREMELY grindy.  Fights are mechanically interesting, but can be slow.  Damage is large, so healing is often necessary.  Healing burns mana, so items are necessary.  Items cost money, so money is necessary.  Running out of money necessitates more fighting, so you’re stuck in a loop.  Generally speaking, it wasn’t even the bosses that were an inherent problem.  It was usually just getting to the point where taking out trash in a new chapter felt reasonable without being a huge risk.

So, does the remake solve that? Nope.  Does it do anything to really change the game mechanically?  Nope.  What it does so is add a new Friendly difficulty that is entirely too easy, but brings in some really interesting mechanics to eliminate the need to grind, and is something I hope to see more games explore in the future.

Combat is the core of any JRPG and this one is no different, cleverly mixing traditional turn-based mechanics with some tactical positioning systems.

Since this is a JRPG, I feel like I should start off with combat as it was and still is one of the strong points of this game.  Radiant Historia pretty cleverly mixes pretty standard JRPG mechanics with a very tactics-styled positioning system into a quick hitting system where the focus becomes trying to maximize stacking of enemies to allow for multiple hits in one attack.

While the core system has your standards (basic attacks, magic attacks, heals, buffs/debuffs, etc), the real core of the system is in repositioning attacks.  Pretty early on all the party characters gain attacks that can move enemies around the board.  Enemies that are repositioned into each other are then treated as single units for purposes of attack location, allowing for stacked enemies to all be damaged at one time.  This then combines with turn order manipulation, either via speed stat, skills to delay turns, etc to chain friendly attacks, and the real focus comes down to basically trying to stack all enemies at once into a single spot and unleashing hell.

As an example, in the screenshot above, I could use Fire Storm to move the whole back line forward, then use line attacks to kill all 4 enemies at once.  Alternatively, I could push the front guy back and do the same against the full back line.  Other bonuses come into play (front line takes more damage but also does more damage) to allow for more nuanced strategies over the course of a full fight, but the core is in smart positioning for maximizing damage output.

All of these things elevate what would be a typically standard battle system into something truly special, and even in the grindy areas of the game allow for a lot of fun, particularly with the on-the-go nature of the DS family, allowing for a few interesting battles in a few minutes if that’s all the time the player has.

The core of the game is about free wheeling through time, with events in one timeline causing ripple effects on the other.

On the story side, this game is entirely about manipulation of time.  The game takes place in a split timeline where you have unlimited attempts to set things right, so dying is really not a huge deterrent.  However, each timeline has its own problems to solve, and problems that can unblock progress in the other timeline.  In addition, there are distinct losing points (red nodes in the above) where the story progress effectively ends, forcing a restart at the nearest chapter.

Overall this works as a good way for the player to have freedom in their choices.  Hit a block in the story and can’t figure it out? Find a spot where a new side path can be completed elsewhere in the timeline, and you might be able to unblock things.  Difficulty spike means you need to level up a bit? Jump back to an earlier point in the timeline where battle grinding is more practical.  The freedom of choice to jump around like that is a thing that a lot of JRPGs don’t really give, and its an effective tool here when combined with the story background of jumping through time.

The Dunamis runs the set of side histories, adding new potential futures for the characters, as well as some additional back story to the world.

This is all maintained really well in the remake, and is padded by some additional new content both in the main timeline and in a new set of side stories labeled as possible histories.  For returning players, this is the bulk of the content that they’ll be coming back for.  While these aren’t story bits tied to the main line, they’re an interesting look at what could have been within the overall structure of the world.  In addition, the woman running the Dunamis also provides a path to learning more about the history of the world the game takes place in, opening a path for some more interesting lore.  However, this alone wouldn’t have been enough for me to come back for more grinding.  The addition of Friendly mode was the real thing that brought me back.

The entire idea behind Friendly mode is that it provides a path for the player to skip unimportant battles.  In the base game, if the player hits a unit on the field, they gain a preemptive strike to allow them to attack first in battle.  While this was helpful, it didn’t eliminate the need to spend resources while grinding.  Friendly mode takes this one gigantic step further.  In this mode, if the user strikes an enemy in the field, they automatically win the battle, gain XP, and gain all relevant resources that would have normally dropped.  The end result of this is that the only combat the player ever takes place in will be for boss battles and story-relevant battles, leaving the rest of the game to exist as a way to enjoy the story and figure out the time-based puzzles.

I’ve seen this mode described as the visual-novel version, and I think that’s about as close to accurate as I could come up with.  The game becomes significantly shorter in this mode, and the story comes at a much more rapid pace, so I found myself being significantly more involved in enjoying the story as it came at me, rather than having huge grinding delays between story segments.  It then felt even more important to be in battle, as it always felt like it served the story at that particular time, rather than being a consequence of needing to level up the party.

End of the day, I think this is something that more JRPGs should explore as a core feature going forward.  The reduction in grind meant the game flowed much quicker and I never lost the story.  If I WANTED to battle, I could also simply run into an enemy on the field and start battle, but it was a conscious choice.  The one real downfall of Friendly mode is that it was also combined with an extremely lowered difficulty.  Ideally, the Friendly mechanics would be combined with boss battles that are tied to the selected difficulty, leaving the challenge there where the player wants with the streamlined battle selection.  However, for a returning player simply wanting to see the story, I think the lowered difficulty ended up being pretty ideal for me in most areas.

I guess this is a pretty easy one for me.  This was a great game when it originally came out, and it’s a great game now.  The problems that existed are still there, so if you’re a new player be ready for some grinding.  If you’re a returning player, this is a <20 hour run with the addition of Friendly mode, allowing for the focus to be on enjoying the narrative.  However, I think there’s enough there for anyone to enjoy to generally recommend it, assuming of course you haven’t sold off your 3DS.

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Game Ramblings #66 – Axiom Verge

More Info from Thomas Happ Games

  • Genre: Metroidvania
  • Platform: Switch
  • Also Available On: PS4, Windows, macOS, Linux, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One

TL;DR

  • Solid core combat mechanics with a great range of weapons
  • Visuals nail the retro look without feeling unnecessarily simple
  • Traversal mechanics (or lack thereof) end up becoming a big problem as the game goes on

Axiom Verge is a bit of a tough one to crack.  From a visual and combat mechanics standpoint, this is obviously a Metroid-inspired game, and in a lot of ways ends up surpassing what was done in those days.  The variety of weapons in particular is a real high point.  However, the game starts to drag as it goes on due to a lack of some traversal and map features that I’d consider standard in the genre, leading less to artificial difficulty and more to artificial time padding.  While the game is ultimately pretty good, those things that were missing were pretty damaging to my overall feel for the game.

Visually the game often impresses, even more so when they manage to throw in some pixel explosions.

I generally don’t try to hide the fact that I enjoy  Metroidvania games, so chalk this one up to another game I should have played a long time ago.  Coming into this, the main thing that I’d seen in the past about it were the visuals, and we’ll start there.  This is very obviously patterned more after the 8-bit style of the original Metroid, though in practice it ends up falling somewhere between the NES and SNES in overall visual style.  However, the care put into the visuals of the game elevate it above a lot of other similarly retro-inspired games.

It’s often the little details that can be pulled off in modern hardware that end up being the most impressive.  Bosses explode into pixel bits, covering the entire screen.  Warping effects give obvious hints that things are going very wrong, as well as hints that this game isn’t exactly 8-bit.  Enemy animations are simple, but very fluid throughout.  Weapon firing across a wide range of weapons all have unique effects that very plainly tell the player how a weapon works and where it will be most effective.  Overall, the game just looks damn good, even if it doesn’t look modern.

On the weapon front, things also continue to impress.  Rather than Metroid’s slim selection, Axiom Verge comes with a wide range of weapons that can be selected from at any time.  These range from your simple orb weapons to lock-on lightning beams to bouncing orbs to flails.  This is combined with a default radial selection menu that can be hopped in and out of with great speed to allow the player to quickly and effectively switch their weapon to take advantage of their current enemy’s weakness.  This is in effect the best part of the game where combat is no longer just run and gun, but often has wildly changing tactics even on a room to room basis.

Bosses are the first spot where the game starts to show obvious points of faltering.

I’ll be the first to admit that in my head the problems I have with the game generally feel like “old man complains about missing features”.  That being said, I’ve moved on from games that came out 30 years ago.  Padding time via artificial difficulty or re-traversal doesn’t feel nostalgic, it feels old.  That’s where things started to fall apart for me in this game.

However, despite bosses being visually impressive in scale they also start to show the first sign of weakness in the game.  Generally speaking each boss has one mechanic to worry about, and they fairly universally involve some sort of jumping mechanic.  For example, the boss above involves hiding behind the purple walls that block shots, then peaking out and shooting the boss from range.  A later boss involved an annoying sequence of pseudo-random projectiles that had to be avoided via teleporting.  The long and short of it is that the bosses are visually cool, but ultimately pretty simple.  Despite the typical pattern recognition of the genre, these just don’t live up to your Ridley or Kraid fights.

Get used to seeing these environments, because you will keep traversing them for hours.

This weakness is then exacerbated by some of the choices made in traversal mechanics.  The singular main issue for me in this entire game is that there is no fast travel, and this causes a cascade of issues.  As your character’s power curve advances, it just becomes a time waste to fight enemies in areas you had been to.  You know their pattern, they die quicker, they pose no danger, but you have to run through or past them.

Generally speaking, the lack of objective markers wouldn’t be a problem in this genre, but the lack of fast travel made the end of the game a chore.  By the end, I was basically doing circles around the game world to find the one spot that I could enter with a new tool, getting another new tool, then finding the next one spot I could now enter.  If a spot I hadn’t been able to get to was still closed I moved on.  There wasn’t much fun here, it just became the pattern that had to be done.

The real final problem was an expectation of how the map worked based on other games.  Typical Metroidvanias at least give some notification if there is a hidden pickup in a general area, leaving it to the player to puzzle out how to find it.  In Axiom Verge there is simultaneously no indicators and in a lot of places, no real in-world clue that there are hidden things either.  I found a not insignificant amount of treasure in the late game by accidentally teleporting too far and ending up in a wall that looked in no way passable or breakable.  For a genre built around exploration, those two things combined to just make the loot pattern feel really awkward compared to the norm.

The bee’s unamused look didn’t get any better as I proceeded to take it out.

So I suppose the question becomes, is this worth playing?  I would say yes, with the caveat being that you probably want more patience for very old missing mechanics than I generally have.  From a core fundamentals standpoint, this is a perfectly solid Metroidvania title.  The variety of weapons does a lot to push the player to explore and find new combat situations, and honestly does a lot to allow me to ignore the very real problems the game has around traversal.  However, if some of the problems I listed above sound like deal breakers, I’m probably fairly close to in agreement with you that this one is skippable.  However, it may be worth a look even with the knowledge that it may just get shelved.