{"id":403,"date":"2017-12-23T16:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-12-23T21:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=403"},"modified":"2018-01-13T21:41:48","modified_gmt":"2018-01-14T02:41:48","slug":"game-ramblings-61-oceanhorn-monster-of-uncharted-seas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=403","title":{"rendered":"Game Ramblings #61 &#8211; Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/oceanhorn.blogspot.com\/\">More Info from Cornfox &amp; Bros.<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong> Genre<\/strong>: Action\/Adventure<\/li>\n<li><strong>Platform<\/strong>: PS4 (previously on iOS)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Also Available On<\/strong>: Windows, macOS, Xbox One, Vita, Switch, iOS, Android<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>TL;DR<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Decent take on a mashup of ideas from\u00a0<em>Zelda\u00a0<\/em>entries\u00a0<em>A Link to the Past<\/em> and\u00a0<em>Wind Waker<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Much improved experience playing the console version<\/li>\n<li>Biggest weakness is in simplicity of the puzzles, though a end\/post-game island shows promise in a sequel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The biggest surprise to me in playing this is how much the actual flow of the game had improved over the original iOS release.\u00a0 I&#8217;d played it a few years back using one of those clamshell controllers for my phone, and while the game showed a lot of promise, it was extraordinarily easy to kind of lose track of what you were actually supposed to be doing.\u00a0 Patches since that initial release, as well as the release on other platforms have brought a much better game, complete with additional cutscenes, voice acting, and some new items to help things out.\u00a0 While it&#8217;s still a bit weak in the puzzle solving department, this ended up being a pretty solid take on the classic top-down style <em>Zelda<\/em> game.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_407\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-407\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_sword.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-407\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_sword-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_sword-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_sword-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_sword-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_sword.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-407\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">While the camera is spun 45 degrees, there&#8217;s no mistaking the viewpoint straight out of the top-down Zelda games.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Let&#8217;s get this out of the way; yes this is a direct take on the Zelda series.\u00a0 You go around to a series of dungeons, use a sword and shield as primary weapons, a handful of items as secondary helpers (including bombs, a bow, and a few helper magic spells), puzzle solve your way to a master key, fight a boss, and repeat.\u00a0 It takes place in a world where you have to sail around to small islands after a large apocalyptic event killed nearly everyone (hello\u00a0<em>Wind Waker<\/em>!), where you ultimately set forth the events that should help rejuvenate the world.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a direct take, but it does a solid job of taking it on.<\/p>\n<p>One of the big positive changes is that due to the inclusion of analog movement, you aren&#8217;t restricted to swings from a specific direction like the typical 2D <em>Zelda<\/em> games.\u00a0 This allows for a lot better fine-tuned control over attacking enemy weak points.\u00a0 The sword swings also have a small combo chain, rather than a single fixed swing and stab, giving a lot more potential in fighting in a more nuanced way.\u00a0 This is backed by some nice changes to secondary weapons.\u00a0 The bow and arrow is pretty solid on its own, with a bit of shot magnetizing to make things a bit more feasible at range.\u00a0 However, the inclusion of being able to shoot through flames to make fire arrows is a nice touch.\u00a0 On the bomb front, they basically work like\u00a0<em>Zelda<\/em> items in the environment, but when thrown at enemies they explode on contact, giving a lot more direct way to use them offensively, and not depending on timing as much.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_408\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-408\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_boss.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-408\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_boss-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_boss-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_boss-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_boss-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_boss.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-408\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">There&#8217;s a boss in every dungeon, each with its own set of mechanics to deal with.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, that mechanic change can be exploited, particularly on bosses.\u00a0 The bosses in the game all have their own mechanics to learn.\u00a0 The one above for example has tentacles that have to be killed out before the weak point is exposed.\u00a0 In another, the player has to use a reflective shield to deflect a laser into the boss&#8217; weak points.\u00a0 However, by the time I got into about the middle of the game, bombs were my weapon of choice at a boss.\u00a0 They have AoE damage to hit multiple targets, which is nice for taking out spawned adds.\u00a0 They also do significant damage on their own at range, so I didn&#8217;t generally have to get into a dangerous spot to throw them.\u00a0 Overall it made the difficulty of the bosses go way down, where I&#8217;d have preferred to see a little more use of clever mechanics to make specific items the preference, similar to <em>Zelda<\/em> series bosses.<\/p>\n<p>There were other areas where I also saw this sort of not quite to\u00a0<em>Zelda<\/em> level experience.\u00a0 The dungeons have the typical puzzle solving, but by and large they consisted of simple box maneuvering or one-time use of items (shoot a target, drop a box on a switch, etc), rather than more involved experiences.\u00a0 In general it made the actual puzzle solving pretty simple, which was a bit of a disappointment.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_409\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-409\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_whisperisland.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-409\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_whisperisland-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_whisperisland-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_whisperisland-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_whisperisland-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/oceanhorn_whisperisland.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-409\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Island of Whispers is the best puzzle-solving in the game, involving the collection of 10 cursed skulls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Island of Whispers is the one exception to the easy puzzles in place.\u00a0 This island came out in the 2.0 release of the phone SKU, and has been in the subsequent PC and console releases, and involves the collection of 10 cursed skulls across an entire island.\u00a0 Due to this, the entire island becomes the puzzle area, instead of a cramped dungeon.\u00a0 Some skulls are simply there to find if you&#8217;re paying attention.\u00a0 However, some require specific use of certain items, or chained use of multiple items.\u00a0 Some require manipulation of the environment in order to gain access to new areas.\u00a0 Basically, this one island shows a lot of potential for the sequel&#8217;s ability to grow in interesting directions, as well as the potential of the growth of team in tackling the ARPG genre.<\/p>\n<p>So is this going to stand up against the\u00a0<em>Zelda\u00a0<\/em>series? No, not really.\u00a0 While it is solid, there are some core things that bring it down a few notches.\u00a0 However, I would say it&#8217;s worth the $15 asking price to play it.\u00a0 It&#8217;s an entertaining experience with at the very least solid mechanics, has about 10 hours of content to run through, and at least brings this style of game to some platforms that are often missing out on\u00a0<em>Zelda<\/em>.\u00a0 While it&#8217;s not quite up to the level of the upper echelon, continued improvement by the team could bring us something really interesting when\u00a0<em>Oceanhorn 2<\/em> comes out some time here in the future.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" align=\"left\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This  fish is extraordinary frustrating.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uuOaOyu548\">https:\/\/t.co\/uuOaOyu548<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/R77b26JDdQ\">pic.twitter.com\/R77b26JDdQ<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Dan Weiss (@schenksmill) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/schenksmill\/status\/942845373122600966?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 18, 2017<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p>So I also want to have a bit of an aside here on a particular fish (and ignore my PS4 typing skills), because I&#8217;m a sucker for fishing in videogames.\u00a0 The fishing system in place here is one that is inherently RNG-focused, with an emphasis on player endurance to catch the fish.\u00a0 The fish will somewhat randomly move left or right, with the player pulling against it.\u00a0 After a period of pulling in the correct direction, the fish strength meter will go down.\u00a0 If you pull in the wrong direction, or the fish is dancing back and forth, the meter goes up.\u00a0 In general, this means that the way to catch a fish is to ride out the points where you can&#8217;t make gains (and usually have losses), while holding out for the moments of rest where you can chip away at the fish.<\/p>\n<p>Generally speaking this is a fun way to make use of an inherently RNG-based system.\u00a0 Skill can&#8217;t entirely stop the fish from fighting back, but it can stop things from running away from the player entirely.\u00a0 However, this all falls apart when the fish adds in an offensive mechanic that kills the player.\u00a0 Now instead of enduring for the big moments of gains, you&#8217;re rolling the dice that those moments of big gains will actually happen in time for the fish to get caught.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a weird change in mechanic that eliminates the skill factor and turns the entire system into an RNG mechanic.\u00a0 This is made worse by the fact that missing the fish LITERALLY MEANS YOU DIE, so you have to backtrack to the last checkpoint, heal up, do whatever is involved with that to get back to whole, and try again.\u00a0 It was a weird change that I only happened upon because I enjoy fishing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More Info from Cornfox &amp; Bros. Genre: Action\/Adventure Platform: PS4 (previously on iOS) Also Available On: Windows, macOS, Xbox One, Vita, Switch, iOS, Android TL;DR Decent take on a mashup of ideas from\u00a0Zelda\u00a0entries\u00a0A Link to the Past and\u00a0Wind Waker Much improved experience playing the console version Biggest weakness is in simplicity of the puzzles, though &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=403\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Game Ramblings #61 &#8211; Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,37,6],"tags":[18,35,141,29],"class_list":["post-403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action","category-adventure","category-ps4","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-oceanhorn","tag-ps4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":423,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions\/423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}