Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (DS)

 

So, when will we save the planet?

Played through the third game in the series again. A bit later after the original games, and the reason being that there is no pull to play through this. At the time it has been 15 years and still no sign of an eventual continuation from the cliffhanger ending they left us in. On the other hand I have reconsidered my hate for Tyrell, so I actually find him rather agreeable somewhere like a quarter to half of the game length. Still a POS in the beginning since he needs to be to start the plot. 

Overall the plot works out for me, the graphics are a bit dated and I actually believe the 3d hampers it. Like many other games, it's the need for rotating 3d cameras and such instead of a quick action taking place. Which reflects that every attack takes a bit longer than in the GBA games. Interestingly it also gives them a bit more heft as you almost feel the heaviness of the weapons as our heroes swing them on the enemies. 

No, the worst part with this game is still the points of no return. Even with a guide at my side I still missed a djinn in one of the areas I couldn't go back to. And this reflect something that the game isn't as polished as the first games. You get mind read super late in the game which took away one of the most intriguing method of puzzle solving or finding information to progress or just lore of the world. And then by locking out several areas you diminish the workload even more. And that is what it feels like. Less passion in the game. They did put in the effort to show how for example Kraden's group could traverse the first temple, like they did in The Lost Age with Piers looking for his control gem for his ship. But there you could use your own psynergy to follow that path, here it gets locked behind the Point of No Return. It shrinks the world.

A fun thing is that I actually did the game for the first time as intended after leaving Belinsk on the ship, almost. You're supposed to go to Warrior hill to get the third eye, and from their to Izumo to use it in order to get Himi and then head toward Tonfon in order to get the Echo Gem to look for the Umbra Gear map. I usually find the map and the people carrying it before going to Tonfon and then wondering what the Echo Gem is doing in the item store. A pity that due to constantly creating points of no return I'm more inclined to go off the beaten path pushing me away from the narrative cause who knows what the game will lock out for you.

And the last part with the game was that since I forgot one djinn and realised it after doing everything you can do before fighting the final boss I switched file to the one where I had grinded to level 99 and gotten everything. Here I changed djinn around since the guide didn't have a class list and due to the very different structure of finding djinn meaning the carefully chosen class might be hampered due to the djinn you find since at times you will have a lot of a single element. 

At the end of things, it's a working game but their is a lot of missed potential and it just doesn't hit the highs of the older game. Not even the music compare really. It sounds like it should, but there is only two tracks from this game that really stand out and that is the Apollo Ascent and one of the outside dungeons track with the bells and bass. But there is no song like Elemental Stars that just sucks you in the mystery of the world. So it becomes a disappointment. 

So in a remake after they have to make it before going through the next part the only thing I would like is getting rid of the Point of No Return and why in the world is Crossbone Island set behind finishing the game? That is just irritating. 

A DnD Tale: Tomb of Annihilation - The King has left the building (Part 4)

It's good to be the king.

Well, another dive into the epic tale of our heroes trying to get to the Tomb of Annhiliation. We played for 2 hour and pretty much just fought some dinos in an amphitheater. They headed north from the last session and found this amphitheater which they saw on the map they had so they investigated and found this nest in the middle with some shining golden trinkets inside. They went in and found some treasures when they realise that they are surrounded by a pack of deinonychus which I learnt today was the real inspiration for the velociraptors in the Jurassic Park-series. The name was just cooler so Crichton went with that. What followed was something like 10 minutes discussing if they could tame them and ride around with them, but they abandoned that when they asked how intelligent they where and the got what, a 3 in Int? Which is kinda scary that they though the beast to dumb to tame. But they still complain that the campaign drags even though they are the one that derails the narrative all the time. They jumped into the nest for some protection as the dinos circled around them and then the King of feathers appeared. He walked into the arena, misty stepped up to them and spewed out a cloud of wasps. 

From here it went a bit out of hand. Immeral shadow stepped up on the back of the king, hit it with his spear, but failed to lodge it into its head in order for Destinova to use it as a conduit for a lightning bolt, but is able to stun it with a stunning strike (my fault since I forgot the legendary resistance it had) The battle with the king goes on for 3 more rounds until Immeral succeed putting it in and then Destinova frying the brain of the dinosaur. They hit the other dinos with the only problem being Freya who, while attacking a swarm of wasps that the king had spewed out rolls two 1's in a row for her multiattack, pretty much putting her on deaths door with 2 HP remaining. Then she gets knocked out by another deinonychus (I so wish it had been the wasps, it would have been so fun).

The other's clean up the rest and then goes back to camp to heal and look through the bounty. Some gold and a magic helm of telepathy. So 2 and a half hour amounted to just one battle and nothing more for this time. I think I need to speed up things, maybe say that the team left at camp scouted out some of the shrines so that they know where to go, look forward to the shrine with the froghemoth at the entrance. I got a tip reding how to handle the king of feathers to resurrect him as a zombie so I spent some time putting that into my excel arc I use to make the battles easier. Might start put in the roaming zombie T-rex scaring them at night and spewing zombies at them.

Link's Awakening (Game & Watch: Legend of Zelda)

 

I hate nightmares that repeats!

Had some craving for some Zelda before Echoes of Wisdom is released 1-2 month from when I write this. And why not try out the Gameboy version which I haven't played before. And it make this post goes around rather fast since the story is the same and gameplay as  well, well maybe not for the Switch remake since they fixed a lot of the problems with the game from a modern standpoint.

I gotta say, it feels rather weird to go back to a version with lacks the color dungeon or even something in the area where you either get Dampés dungeon creation or the Photographer Mouse in the DX version. And once again I'm reminded that the photographer mouse actually enhanced the relationship with Link and Marin with the mountain climbing and watching from the plateau near the beach as he took pictures of them. 

At least I found all heart pieces, some are really well hidden I must say cause I have found them from time to time, but I can never remember them. At the same time the game also wants you to take it slow, especially when you have the BowWow or the flying rooster. The BowWow actually tells you about buried seashells and at the end I realized I missed a staircase beyond some holes you need to fly too. Which when I look it up I write all the time playing this game, a pity I never learn.

The final difference I noticed is that Marin flies around with wings at the The End screen which was a bit cute. Probably like the DX and onward ending screen better. Now, would I ever play it again? No, the 3DS screen or using my original DX copy on the Retron-5 is bigger and has the color additions makes the games better, and the Switch is the best way to play it when you can't stand the constant switching of items (plus extra health things). 

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow (Switch)

 

Do you read Sutter Cane?

Got this game during the summer sale of 2024 after playing the demo that takes you through the first day pretty much. It's another horror point and click game like the Last Door. And since I finally finished the Lovecraft collection I have some more references to take from... that and I watched John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness for the first time just before playing the game. Maybe it pulled me to get it as well. Kinda funny that the fiction town of Hobb's End from the movie takes it name from the archaic english word Hobb that apparently means devil or something like that. So with that I knew there was something bad in the end of the barrow.

Did I ever tell you my favourite colour is purple?

Story is that you play as Thomasina Bateman who have been invited to Bewley by a man named Leonard Shoulder to help in the excavation of Hob's Barrow. As she arrives Leonard is nowhere to be found so she has to walk around the village and get the clues to find the barrow and entering it, all while some townspeople gives her a hard time. Turns out that Thomasina's father was involved in the excavation of the barrow 25 years ago, but that attempt ended in tragedy as her father ended in a coma which her mother explained away as a horsing accident. Another of the excavator hang himself after losing his hand. And her father seemed to be investigating the barrow in order to trap an ancient spirit that apparently caused famine in the countryside. 

You have nightmares, creepy music and I believe rotoscoped animation of people and animals that always give a creepy vibe. Not to hard, the only time I checked up on a puzzle was when I was in the barrow and couldn't get a door open even though I knew the answer and tried to enter a code, but I must have put in the wrong input since it didn't get through until I had the picture just in front of me on the computer (and I took a picture on my phone from the game and that didn't work). There was one puzzle that began feeling silly as I played when I needed workers for the excavation and the only one that had them was the local lord so I needed milk for the maid of the manor, but since I couldn't get it directly from a goat, I needed to heal an old man and the only way was finding two ingredients and both had their own distinct quest to get them before getting the damn milk. A bit convoluted I might say. Lucky the fast-travel system worked really well when I got where everything was.

Overall a great atmospheric story worth a playthrough. I though it was gonna be more violent than it was, especially when they slap an 18+ rating on it and the trailer really shines the spotlight on an incident that really don't amount to much. But great voice acting, although the in between narration from Thomasina is noticeable much higher in sound than the rest of the game and it puts me out of it at times. Great to play during Halloween.