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Pixel-Art in video games, not just some squares.

Oberstein

Oberstein

Member
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Naked Lunch

Naked Lunch

Member
Birdo said:
It's subjective, but I think the old Advance Wars is much more asthetically pleasing than the new.

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Thank you for this direct side by side look.
Advance Wars is probably in my top 10 favorite gaming franchises - and I refuse to play the Switch version.
That shit looks horrible. Just look at it! Generic no style garbage.
They even ruined the character portraits.

As for the topic - Metal Slug and Street Fighter III are the pinnacle of sprites in my eyes.
I prefer the look of those games over many 3d games released today.
All the new talk about lighting and ray tracing and all that crap - but the art and animation of Metal Slug and SFIII are still the best a videogame has ever looked to my eyes.
 
Con-Z-epT

Con-Z-epT

Member
Mercenary Kings is also a favorite of mine. I bought it because it reminded me of Metal Slug in a way.
It has its own identity with weapon crafting and a mission design approach where you replay levels who gradually open up.
You can get some wild combinations of weaponry here and i adore the charm of the game.

 
AeonGaidenRaiden

AeonGaidenRaiden

Member
Con-Z-epT said:
Oh it is a Hideo Kojima game. Cool.
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Yup and its a real fun P&C with some action elements but the OST and story are awesome plus there are characters here that later ended up in MGS titles. This was one of his first games. If I remember correctly, you can emulate the Playstation version of the game because thats the one the fans translated. I believe officially it never received an English version. If you liked Snatcher, you'll love this.

EDIT:

Damn based on wikipedia, the fan translation arrived 14 years later.
 
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Con-Z-epT

Con-Z-epT

Member
AeonGaidenRaiden said:
Yup and its a real fun P&C with some action elements but the OST and story are awesome plus there are characters here that later ended up in MGS titles. This was one of his first games. If I remember correctly, you can emulate the Playstation version of the game because thats the one the fans translated. I believe officially it never received an English version. If you liked Snatcher, you'll love this.

EDIT:

Damn based on wikipedia, the fan translation arrived 14 years later.
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Didn't even know Snatcher. Interesting to browse through the wiki.




Getting some cool vibes from the trailer.
 
Dave_at_Home

Dave_at_Home

Member
Bartski said:
Star Renegades - I'm in peace with being the only person on Neogaf who likes it. Challenging rogue-lite turn-based combat done right, hard as fuck perhaps bit too punishing for most.

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I'm no turn based RPG player, but I decided to give it a try since most RPG's are some anime bullshit or boring Tolkien stuff. It's a great game that's too punishing for my taste. I've dumped hours into it on "easy" and only managed to get to the third planet. My whole party was killed in the second fight. Tired of the slog, and quite frankly, board of it. Maybe I'll come back to it one day.
 
Con-Z-epT

Con-Z-epT

Member
Dave_at_Home said:
I'm no turn based RPG player, but I decided to give it a try since most RPG's are some anime bullshit or boring Tolkien stuff. It's a great game that's too punishing for my taste. I've dumped hours into it on "easy" and only managed to get to the third planet. My whole party was killed in the second fight. Tired of the slog, and quite frankly, board of it. Maybe I'll come back to it one day.
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I dropped it into my wishlist immediately after Bartski Bartski posted the trailer. Is it really that hard?

Looks to good to not play it but i have not gathered any information about it as of yet.
 
Bartski

Bartski

Member
Con-Z-epT said:
Is it really that hard?
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What stands out about it IMO is while there is a lot of RNG regarding planet layout, pickups, team members you can get on every run, very little depends on RNG in actual combat aside from mob configuration you encounter.
There is no accuracy as in no missed hits, it's all about making calculations and decisions navigating between attack power, shields, offensive moves vs defensive moves and fighting for the "initiative timeline" (whatever it's called) by planning MANY moves ahead. So by the end of my successful run - I remember playing the game with a calculator and taking notes on paper, I understand this sound a bit extreme and is not to everybody's liking...

Because yes it's extremely difficult. You really need to know the game inside out to make it through the last planet as even a tiniest mistake you make in a fight (and by that I mean not making the absolute most of the team abilities with perfect planning) and you're screwed.
Took me over 2 weeks of daily attempts, often multiple, to get to the end of a run which is when the game begins really.
It's also roguelike in the sense you loose almost all progress and all leveling up you start from scratch.

Got a very healthy /r/ community sharing strats and tips A subreddit for the Star Renegades community!
 
Con-Z-epT

Con-Z-epT

Member
Bartski said:
What stands out about it IMO is while there is a lot of RNG regarding planet layout, pickups, team members you can get on every run, very little depends on RNG in actual combat aside from mob configuration you encounter.
There is no accuracy as in no missed hits, it's all about making calculations and decisions navigating between attack power, shields, offensive moves vs defensive moves and fighting for the "initiative timeline" (whatever it's called) by planning MANY moves ahead. So by the end of my successful run - I remember playing the game with a calculator and taking notes on paper, I understand this sound a bit extreme and is not to everybody's liking...

Because yes it's extremely difficult. You really need to know the game inside out to make it through the last planet as even a tiniest mistake you make in a fight (and by that I mean not making the absolute most of the team abilities with perfect planning) and you're screwed.
Took me over 2 weeks of daily attempts, often multiple, to get to the end of a run which is when the game begins really.
It's also roguelike in the sense you loose almost all progress and all leveling up you start from scratch.

Got a very healthy /r/ community sharing strats and tips A subreddit for the Star Renegades community!
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Sounds addicting as hell! Now i want to play it even more. :messenger_grinning_smiling:

Too many games to little time.

Thanks for the insight!
 
Dave_at_Home

Dave_at_Home

Member
Bartski said:
What stands out about it IMO is while there is a lot of RNG regarding planet layout, pickups, team members you can get on every run, very little depends on RNG in actual combat aside from mob configuration you encounter.
There is no accuracy as in no missed hits, it's all about making calculations and decisions navigating between attack power, shields, offensive moves vs defensive moves and fighting for the "initiative timeline" (whatever it's called) by planning MANY moves ahead. So by the end of my successful run - I remember playing the game with a calculator and taking notes on paper, I understand this sound a bit extreme and is not to everybody's liking...

Because yes it's extremely difficult. You really need to know the game inside out to make it through the last planet as even a tiniest mistake you make in a fight (and by that I mean not making the absolute most of the team abilities with perfect planning) and you're screwed.
Took me over 2 weeks of daily attempts, often multiple, to get to the end of a run which is when the game begins really.
It's also roguelike in the sense you loose almost all progress and all leveling up you start from scratch.

Got a very healthy /r/ community sharing strats and tips A subreddit for the Star Renegades community!
Click to expand...
This game would be much easier if you could travel to the main hub whenever you want. Aborting a mission should do just that. Bring you back to the main hub to pick different classes and purchase stuff. Maybe you just lose your progress on whatever planet you're on. Oh well, whatever. I get why they went down that path. The game is actually very short, but to make up for it, extremely punishing. Forcing restart after restart. Still a great game overall. Don't see myself going back after knowing what I have to deal with starting on world 3.
 
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Con-Z-epT

Con-Z-epT

Member
Day of the Tentacle

I can't really remember anymore when i first played this game. I was in awe about the look and the atmosphere it conveyed to me as a kid.
It felt surreal at the time what you could do in a video game. Simon the Sorcerer came out at the same time i think and had a similar effect on me.
You can feel that the guys at Double Fine had a great time while they were creating the game. It is so highly creative and hilariously funny.

I think it was an PSX event where they announced the remaster and i got tears of joy.
Every one or two years i meet up with friends to play the game together with some beers.
Exceptional good childhood memories that have extended way beyond that.

A must play in my eyes!

 
GymWolf

GymWolf

Member
Never liked the pixel art in dead cells that much, especially the enemies.

Is this considered a form of pixel art?

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Holammer

Holammer

Member
GymWolf said:
Never liked the pixel art in dead cells that much, especially the enemies.

Is this considered a form of pixel art?

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Fine vector'ish art with rigged modular animation. I consider it an affront to pixel art. At least the animation part of it, frame based is much better.

Nothing new, Earnest Evans on the Megadrive used a similar technique and it was equally horrible.

 
Con-Z-epT

Con-Z-epT

Member
I was able to further investigate, to me, unknown games of the genre in my lunch break and would like to hear some of your thoughts about these games.

Sparklite
Iconoclasts
Children of Morta
Blazing Chrome
 
Con-Z-epT

Con-Z-epT

Member
I played through Blazing Chrome over the weekend. Really cool game that reminds of Contra.
Been trying the complete the game in Hardcore Mode but it is to tough for me.

They also implemented quite a lot of filters to give the picture different looks.

 
Con-Z-epT

Con-Z-epT

Member
Has anyone here tried to play through Dragon Quest XI in 2D?
I have yet to play the game and since it features the 2D mode in the definitive edition it is all the more tempting.

 
Con-Z-epT

Con-Z-epT

Member
I bought Blasphemous and Shakedown: Hawaii since both were offered at a discount.

I'm really diggin Blasphemous although i just started the game. Art style is top notch and the whole atmosphere is really distinct.
It also plays well and provides a reasonable challenge in terms of "git gud".

Huge thanks again to all of you who recommended me the game since i might have never played it, all though i knew about it.

Shakedown: Hawaii too puts a smile on my face since it reminds me of the older GTA titles. Never played Retro City Rampage and had this forever in my wishlist.
It is just utter nonsense trough and trough and is a blast to play.
 
Con-Z-epT

Con-Z-epT

Member
Fbh said:
2 pages and no Owlboy?



Game itself was a bit disappointing after the long way. But it looks soooo nice.
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Why do you think it was disappointing?

It is on my list of games i need to play and the reception seems to be positive overall.
 
godhandiscen

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Con-Z-epT said:
Narita Boy is already a classic to me although it just released this year. I had so much fun with that!
Looks and sounds crazy good. Controls are a bit floaty but i got used to it.

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I couldn’t get over the cringeness of the story, but the game was cool up until the point i stopped.
 
Bartski

Bartski

Member
Con-Z-epT said:
I'm really diggin Blasphemous although i just started the game. Art style is top notch and the whole atmosphere is really distinct.
It also plays well and provides a reasonable challenge in terms of "git gud".
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cool man, I think it comes with all the Stir of Dawn DLC inside, so it looks better than v.1 + optional but best bosses in the game. Have fun!
 
godhandiscen

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Con-Z-epT said:
The story sure was convoluted but i loved the game as a whole.

Where did you stopped?
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I only played the game for 2-3 hours. We’ll after the guy got the sword and I was able to actually experience most of the combat dynamics.

The game finally picked up for me then. I think my main problem with it was the awful amount of dialogue and cutscenes to get to that point.

I loved the aesthetic, but I wish the game had gotten to the fun part earlier.
 
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