ROSS'S GAME DUNGEON: BLACK FUTURE '88

[Ross Scott]

New Game Dungeon!  I originally thought the follow-up episode would be next, but this one managed to shove its way to the front.  I am probably moving soon and won't have internet for about a week, so there will be a bit of a blackout from me, but considering my normal self, it probably won't be noticeably.  Giant side video coming next after my move!

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[BTGBullseye]

As long as it explains the curses, it can't be bad can it?

[That_Guy_Why]

Oh wow this is weird. I don't know if this is like, a generic design or not, but the icons for the curses seem to be lifted directly from Tales of Maj'Eyal. Specifically the Precise Strikes and Evasion skills from that game. The icons were updated in 2017 according to ToME's wiki, and 88 came out in 88 2018. There might be other icons lifted from ToME too, I don't recognize the spider icon at a glance but it seems right up ToME's alley.

 

 

[Misagh]

Hmm anybody got a YouTube url to the title music? It's been credited by Paul Muzea but i can't seem to find it.

[ekket]

Personally, I prefer your videos with more “food for thought” (see: SPIDERBOT, the apocalypse in Trackmania²) or just something cool to show/look into (like an American roadtrip or time-travelling composers). Save for a few segments, this episode was pretty devoid of either of those things, doing little prior research into the game. That, along with the commentary complaining about the poor game design resembling a reaction video, made this feel more like a Let's Play and not the bewildering tour show I’m accustomed to seeing from you.

Actually, this sort of game would be way better for streaming, like you did with The Lecarde Chronicles. Alternatively, I’m thinking that some new format could prove beneficial for this. I know a lot of people (incl. myself) didn't like Moon Gaming, but I think that a shorter and more scripted variant of that could be a winner for something like this game.

 

EDIT: I was probably being too harsh with the criticism in this post, I admit. I at least hope that I am being helpful with pointing out what I myself really love about the videos. On the whole, I think this episode was good for tiding people over, but that the game didn’t have enough material for the standard ’Game Dungeon’ treatment, hence why I think experimenting with it a bit more would be good. I’d love to see what you could do with that!

On 4/7/2020 at 7:37 AM, Misagh said:

Hmm anybody got a YouTube url to the title music? It's been credited by Paul Muzea but i can't seem to find it.

To my knowledge, it's custom-made for the series, so what you hear is what you get.

Edited April 8, 2020 by ekket
Clarifying my thoughts (see edit history)

[kerdios]

This game reminds me of "enter the gungeon" with the useless , sometimes detrimental, random guns dropping everywhere and all the curse stuff going on and the guns synergizing with one another.
I see several things joining this to make it the shit show it is:

1) random procedural world creation - instead of actually putting thought in to the layout and the design the devs just cough out with an always shifting world that has no ryme nor reason to it.

2) anti spoiler culture- people constantly complaining about spoilers makes the devs not want to put any documentation because it might be considered spoilers and because "players" want to find out everything on their own.

3) hardcore gamer culture - bullet hell, bullet hell, bullet hell! Nowadays if it's not a bullet hell it's too easy.

4) TBD

[RocketDude]

I dunno, I don't really care for indie roguelikes/roguelites like this game, but I feel like you didn't give this game a fair shake, Ross. While it probably could have tutorialized things better, you could have still experimented around. But then, I suppose the constant death countdown would discourage wasting time by testing the mechanics.

[BTGBullseye]

5 hours ago, kerdios said:

3) hardcore gamer culture - bullet hell, bullet hell, bullet hell! Nowadays if it's not a bullet hell it's too easy.

I've always hated bullet hell games with a passion... If you have to move in a specific pattern to not die, there is no game, that's a button pushing challenge. A game gives you choices in your approach to winning.

[kerdios]

4 hours ago, BTGBullseye said:

I've always hated bullet hell games with a passion... If you have to move in a specific pattern to not die, there is no game, that's a button pushing challenge. A game gives you choices in your approach to winning.

But in hardcore culture, bullet hell has random patterns you need to dodge on the fly because there is no way of avoiding getting hit (because no thought was really put into it as much as just hodgepoging things), they are geared towards short playthroughs with prestige mechanics giving you infinitesimal ability to survive longer

[BTGBullseye]

10 minutes ago, kerdios said:

But in hardcore culture, bullet hell has random patterns you need to dodge on the fly because there is no way of avoiding getting hit (because no thought was really put into it as much as just hodgepoging things), they are geared towards short playthroughs with prestige mechanics giving you infinitesimal ability to survive longer

Even with a randomization of the pattern, it's still just a button pushing challenge. You push exclusively this button and hold it for exactly this long, or you die... That's not a game.

[ScumCoder]

Ladies and gentlemen, I think I found a perfect channel trailer for Ross.

 

 

For some reason I could not find the author (Black Yoshi) on this website, I was sure he is registered. Maybe he just has a different screen name.

[NightNord]

Looks like dead cells, in everything, including non-ending. That's yet another of those 2d souls games that keep copying overall look of the design, but not the essence of it.

 

[Kaiosama TLJ]

I've been away from the forums for a very long time, so I have a LOT to catch on.

 

Honestly, this episode was pretty weak in my opinion. Game Dungeon is at it's best when Ross is covering at least one of the following: 1 - a VERY obscure game (seriously, sometimes I don't even know where he finds some of the stuff he covered, and I have seen many obscure shit myself); 2 - a game with a story worthy of commentary; 3 - a game with that either tries to define it's own genre or tries to bring a new spin to an already existing one; 4 - a game that's bad in a very special way. (like The Chosen: Well of Souls)

 

At first glance, one could say it fits on number 3, but to me this game is a attempt to cash in on Dead Cells, so it's not that original. The only thing it has going for is the aesthetic, but everything else falls flat. I think over-reliance on RNG to fake replay value is one of the biggest sins this games has.