Bastion
<div class="IPBDescription">Indie RPG</div><center><object width="450" height="356"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/M_Sh-b1jtX0"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/M_Sh-b1jtX0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="356"></embed></object></center>
<a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/3839-Bastion-and-From-Dust" target="_blank">http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/vie...n-and-From-Dust</a>
Release in a couple of hours and for 13 bucks on Steam.
I bought it already and will tell you if it's any good soon.
<a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/3839-Bastion-and-From-Dust" target="_blank">http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/vie...n-and-From-Dust</a>
Release in a couple of hours and for 13 bucks on Steam.
I bought it already and will tell you if it's any good soon.
Comments
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<div align='center'><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyxaIEcfNGY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyxaIEcfNGY</a></div>
Story: Amazingly well told.
Combat: Really fast paced, if you want to you can increase the difficulty through the shrine ingame, which also grants you extra XP.
Weapons: You get a lot of them. Some seem to be similiar but once you get the upgrades they really shine. Also, all weapons are equally good.
Con: Weapon upgrading forces you to farm the blue crystals over and over in order to get to upgrade level 4 and 5 of a weapon. (there is a stage that grants you about 1000 crytals in 10 minutes and an upgrade to 4 costs 1500+ and 5 2000+.)
First bug I found: If you play this in the lowest resolution you can't click the locations in the skyway... simply up the res and you'll be fine.
Sweet game all around, definitely worth the purchase. Got the soundtrack too.
While it varies depending on your choices, the ending I got was pretty darn cool. My flatmate was watching and felt moved to remark on how dramatic it was.
I really liked Bastion overall though and I've even got some of it's soundtrack favourited on youtube, with the end tune being my favourite:
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I really like how the lyrics have a lot of meaning once you've got far enough in the game to know the history of its world and the characters who are singing :3
This is among the few games I've 100% completed. Loved it. My favorite tools when fully upgraded were the spear and the calamity cannon. spear has great range, dps, and is quick, and the cannon is awesome dps at any range (except close). Second favorite is the repeater - so/so dps but awesome homing.
I'd go so far as to say that I'd consider this game worth twice the asking price. Having played through, I'd gladly drop $30, whereas I was iffy on picking it up at $15.
Never saw the usefulness of the musket, myself... damage is too low and the reload time is too long. Just upgrading it to have a full level 5 set.
No, my usual loadout is either the War Machete or the Brusher's Pike, the Breaker's Bow, and a Squirt Lure. Machete for taking out mobs of squirts, bow for just about everything else. Given it can take out any Gasbag (including the big ones) in three shots at most, is easy to kite with, and when you go full drawspeed/damage and ignore-armor is a decimating weapon. Squirt Lure just is around to keep the larger mobs off, and almost never gets used except on boss fights.
Pike is a better all-rounder than the machete, but isn't as good for close-mob situations.. essentially a breaker's bow with a longer draw time and a better close-range effectiveness.
Been told that I need to play through with the Mortar; may just not have it upgraded enough, but seems slow by comparison to the bow, and only really good for a single advance shot. Sucks terribly against the quick/flash enemies toward the end. Cannon is in the same arena. It's nice damage and is impressive, but the self-damage and difficulty hitting a quick-moving single target puts it on my B-list.
A:
-Breaker's Bow
-War Machete
-Brusher's Pike
B:
-Pistols
-Calamity Cannon
C:
-Fang Repeater
-Carbine
-Cael Hammer
D:
-Mortar
-Musket
-Fire Bellows
Really, just talking to others who play and getting the 'wait, you use THAT? WHY?!' moments is part of the fun.
Now to play through on New Game+ mode, and finish upgrading my weapons. :) Why grind?
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...but I still prefer the pike - it may only hit 1 thing usually, but it's got pushback like the musket, about 10 times the damage, and it's armor piercing. When I need AoE, I roll away and use the calamity cannon. It's really easy to be cheap with the cannon, especially with its homing missiles. I kill half the enemies in one hit before they get on screen, which I guess it could be argued takes away half the fun.
May try again with the Mortar; even with the seeking upgrade, the cannon just does too much close-splash and charges for too long to use it on anything but turrets. And the pike's throw can suffice for that. Only supposition is that the Musket is useful for health-farming mobs of enemies. With how little damage it does, won't even reliably kill squirts with all the idols active.
Just bumped the musket to level 5; double shots might make it a little more worthwhile for panic-close situations. Really need to try it out more with the extra-spread. I've switched entirely to the pike from the machete as with the idols active, taking damage on a touch doesn't allow for in-close melee anywhere near as viably.
I think I'll get it if/when it comes on sale.
If you want to hold off on a great game just because it's "not indie enough" though, that's your choice to make, even if it IS cheaper than the AAA games you're talking about that you happily hand over 3 times as much money for :p
The selling points are:
1) The narrator. Seriously, that's why I bought the game.
2) The difficulty system. If you like a challenge, the temple system is really interesting.
3) The weapons are actually all worth while in my mind. Obviously everyone will have a preference (atm I'm really enjoying the musket and the spear).
I don't view the polish as a selling point, but really as something that I just can't play with out.
So true. It's awesome being able to fine-tune your difficulty instead of just having to pick "normal", "hard", or "insane".
If you want to hold off on a great game just because it's "not indie enough" though, that's your choice to make, even if it IS cheaper than the AAA games you're talking about that you happily hand over 3 times as much money for :p<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ya... Its just, there's nothing about it that excites me. The narration is interesting, but I'm not sure I'd categorize it as a physiological experiment in gaming. I guess you are right, that it's something that no other game really does in the same way, so to that regard my criticism is invalid. Still... For me, if an indie game can't sell something experimental, or something procedural, it's hard for me to get behind it.
I really doubt I'd hate the game if I'd play it, but I'm more looking for experiences that expand my mind, rather than fill my time. I can get good story telling from watching films.
I'd say the art style is a symptom of polish, and little else. But I'll agree, it's good. I'm really not won over by "the world building around you". That is little more than a graphical rendering trick.
Gives me someone to talk to while playing, even though it's a bit like talking to a wall.
The art style is great for what it is(hand painted).
Level design is ok I suppose, but what really sells it for me is the "floating island popup effect" that appears as you near the edge of the path(you'll understand if you watch a video).
I don't see myself playing the game in a year from now, but when I think back at it I will be glad I did play it.
It's one of those unique experiences you touch once then leave - but you are also left with a warm fuzzy feeling inside, as if you just did something good. Sort of...
Do you not play AAA games? Saying that it isn't indie enough (I get what you are saying, you expect indie games to be minecraft, Dorf Forts, Dust, and Braid) to play implies you only want to play indie games. And that is fine, Bastion isn't amazingly innovative. It's a combination of very solid dual stick shooter, level design and art, with a couple interesting things (narrator and difficulty settings).
However, if you are passing it over for not being indie enough because that is the category it 'should' fit into I think you are missing out. I mean, for under $20 I would say it's just as good a game, if not better than, most of the $60 AAA single player only games out there.
The only really innovative thing in the game is actually the Temple system as far as I care. As I'm a lazy sod and don't want to explain it <a href="http://g-wiki.net/wiki/Bastion:_Idols" target="_blank">Here is a link explaining the system</a>.
However, again, what sold me was the narrator. The reason I love System/BioShock is because there is some one regularly talking to you. Something about games like his draw me in much more than a game who's story is text driven, or cinematic driven. Probably because it means I never have to step out of the game to pay attention to the story, instead they are one and the same.
Saying that the narrator sold me does undercut the fact that it is a really solid dual stick with some really nice graphics, both of which could have wrecked the game if they were not there, but do not sell it by them selves.
Maybe that's the problem. Games have an xor relationship with price and innovation: They may be either expensive or innovative, but not both or neither. If only Bastion would cost more it'd be acceptable.
See, I beat the system, I don't buy games that cost more than $20, ergo, all my games can be innovative or not!
That said, if I pay less than $10 for a full game it better be DAMN innovative!