I guess I had more than enough time for E. Honda yesterday. Wow. He feels over-tuned in this game. Like "developer's favorite" over-tuned. He honestly has moves like Blanka's, but his just seem to work better. Being able to move forward or backwards while doing the hundred hand slap is huge. And his flying across the screen attack just seems unpunishable with how far back blocking sends him. In fairness, Blanka has the same thing there, but the two characters really weren't separated that far in this. Mind you, I like Blanka's normals better. But wow.

Guile, on the other hand... Fuck Guile. I don't know what's the deal with him in this one. His moves just didn't want to come out. And Blanka's my main, so I know charge characters. He also introduces the issue with context buttons. When I press a button, I want to *KNOW* what the move coming out is. Having two different moves on the same button that come out at seeming random is actively harmful to the player. No, I don't want a different attack based on the position of the enemy. If I want a different attack, that's what the joystick is for. I can modify my own buttons, I don't need the game to do it for me. Maybe he was hit with the nerf bat a few times after the previous game. But Guile was absolute torture to play as. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner reference links:
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Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/street-fighter-30th-anniversary-collection?partner=nametag&charity=8443

And today we've fully tilted. I'm not playing Street Fighter 2. I'm playing Simon Says. All I am allowed to do is sit in a corner, wait for the computer to do something, and respond do it. I have no agency in the game. There is no fun to be had. There is no learning the characters, getting a feel for how to play. It is like being stuck in the machine in Metropolis. I'm sorry to all the fans, but as a solo game, Street Fighter 2 is bad. Very, very bad. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner reference links:
General link:
https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=nametag&charity=8443
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/street-fighter-30th-anniversary-collection?partner=nametag&charity=8443

The fastest way to make me angry at a fighting game is to have it do moves that I am not trying to do. Beyond having it not doing the moves I want, to have a move I specifically DON'T want to have happen keep happening just boils my blood. And that was Chun-Li in a nutshell today. She has this move tied to medium kick that flips her backwards, away from the enemy. I hate it. It usually happens when I am trying to do a lightning kick. So the result of this move happening is I lose the chance for a lot of damage, even chip damage, and then get shunted out of range of more attacks. It's extremely frustrating. On top of that, I just don't like Chun-Li in this. The Spinning Bird Kick's startup is so slow anyone can react to it and smack you down. Her new fireball is OK, but the half-circle forward input didn't like to go off properly. And I don't know what the devs were smoking by having an air move that requires charging down, something that is literally impossible to do with a jump.

I also ran through with Ken and have no notes there as he really is just a slightly modified Ryu, though I had a better time with him. The more sweeping range of his Dragon Uppercut just works better, in my opinion, and that change alone makes me much more viable as a character. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

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Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection:
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The game finally pushed my past my limit. It had been a week of pure frustration and pain, and then getting a late in the rotation Guile who was perfectly countering anything I did meant I had had absolutely enough. This game shows nothing but contempt for its players. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner reference links:
General link:
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Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection:
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I knew today was going to be rough. Neither of the characters played today are very good. But what I was really not prepared for was how blatantly these characters peeled back the curtain.

Zangief is basically not finished. They didn't even try to balance him. Their answer to giving him a new move was give him the same move, but faster. On top of that, his move has what SHOULD be the easiest command to pull off. Simply hit all three punch (or kick) buttons at the same time. So why, then, does it not work half the time? Why when I press all three buttons does he simply throw a punch? How can the easiest command for any special move fail that frequently?

There's something in this game that doesn't work. Could be the game, could be the emulator that Capcom bundled with it. I don't know. What I do know is that trying to play this game is an exercise in frustration. Even when the move does work, I am quickly downed by any low attack. A tactic that does not work against the computer. The computer is immune to low attacks during the lariat - both versions. Again, for me, it only works half the time. The computer can respond to fireballs with it. The startup isn't fast enough for players to. There were cases where I did respond, hit the opponent... and was punched with a dragon punch to the face. A successful read, response, punish... and *I* end up taking even more damage.

Old, arcade fighting games are simply not meant to be played. There's no reason to. There's no path for a new player to get into the games. It becomes a punishing, unfun experience that is far more likely to drive someone away. Sure, back when nobody knew the secret moves, there was the mystique of the game. Information the game keeps hidden from you to make it harder to respond to the computer. But now? Players have been playing this game for decade. Trying to fight against people is worse than turning the AI to max. Other than the fact that it doesn't just auto-read an..

I needed to finish this. I couldn't leave it hanging at the last two characters. So in I dived again. This time, after a few days of rest. And it helped. That and getting Guile early, so I avoided the absolute cheapness he had.

There's got to be something in this game eating my inputs. I can't even enter my name without it dropping. I don't know if it's the controller, the game, or the emulator. But that has to be why my special moves don't always work. Even Zangief' "press three button" move kept failing, and there's no reason that should even be possible. So something's wrong.

Sagat is Sagat. He's Ken and Ryu with a little more variety and more glass cannon. He's not too bad to play as. Though the knee is useless, to the point where I didn't even bother today. It never worked right for me, the inputs either jumping or doing a low tiger fireball instead. Not a fan of that one. And I still have all kinds of problems with the uppercut input, though given above I'm blaming the game.

And Bison is the dessert for this run. It's not worth playing the other 11 fighters, but he at least lets me kick back and enjoy a bit. Psycho Crusher for days. It's counterable, it wouldn't win against a good player. And a few of the AI opponents had ways of dealing with it. But it carried me through most of his.

The arcade game is just not worth playing. The AI is too cheap, and people have been playing this so long that there's no room for entry for a new player. There's no way to practice, to get a feel for the game IN the game. Training mode doesn't cut it. It doesn't teach you how to respond to a match. And this is, unfortunately, the case for all the 90's arcade fighting games. I find no fun to be had, even though I desperately want to see the origins of the genre. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner reference links:
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Street Fighter 30th ..

Look, I want to play a fighting game, OK? I'm bad at them, especially the 90's arcade games where the AI is designed to beat you up in the parking lot and take your lunch money. But I want to play them. MK2 is just.... not accessible. Even the ROM hack I had for it that I thought fixed the AI didn't. In fact, ultimately it makes the game harder, by taking away the exploit you usually use. SNK games are almost as bad. And there's so many Street Fighter games to go through. Just look at this list! I'm only on the 4th version out of 12 in this set. So I need to step it up.

Though, I've never really played Hyper Fighting. In fact, I haven't played much Street Fighter II past Champion Edition. I know of them, I know of the updates to the characters - kinda - but Champion Edition was the one I spent the most time with. Here I am trying to go through with each character, see their endings, and get a feel for how they play - and how they've changed.

...And I had to turn it down to easy. Because, yes, I am bad at games. Even with Ryu, everyone knows Ryu, I ran head first into a wall and though I cracked it, looking at how long it took, this just wouldn't be worthwhile. So I'm down on easy. But I do still want to go through this with everyone. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner reference links:
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Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection:
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Six players. And, of course, with Doom being Doom, I'm the last one to finish. Long game, too long really. But fun. Though the length of the game had me rather tired at bits, so my gameplay suffered toward the end. And there was a bit of a streaming error for a moment as my OBS switched to the wrong scene. Nothing ever goes smoothly with Archipelago. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

https://www.twitch.tv/czardia (Final Fantasy Mystic Quest)
https://www.twitch.tv/zanth99 (Final Fantasy)
https://www.twitch.tv/thesensiblestreamer (Final Fantasy)
https://www.twitch.tv/schmidtty_games (Timespinner)
https://www.twitch.tv/cryomonoxide (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past)

So, all that running around and being lost yesterday as solved by simply going behind the booth. Sigh. Everything dropped into place after that, and - with the help of fragmented memories of playing this game almost fifteen years ago - I was able to not only finish the first chapter, but breeze through the second. We're on the dreamer's dream now.

This game is an absolute joy. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

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And there you have it. There were indeed four chapters, but the last really was as short as I remember. A finale more than a real chapter. It didn't take long to finish the rest of the title, and show off both endings.

I cannot give this game enough praise. It is the definition of a hidden gem, as far as I'm concerned. Criminally underrated and overlooked, it should be an absolute cult classic. I am so very, very happy to be able to play it agian and show it off. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

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I want to remind people who go looking at videos for answers, I do blind playthroughs. I don't HAVE the answers ahead of times. These are not walkthroughs, these are my experiences playing the game. Though, in this case, it's not for the first time, it's been a very long time and I do not remember everything.

Obsidian. A game I've been wanting to replay for years. This was one of the games I really wanted to highlight for the channel. Last year, ScummVM brought in compatability for this game, and it has since been brought back to purchase on Steam and Zoom. And once I found out, I had to slot it into the list.

Obsidian is a surreal Myst clone, focused on dreams. We're in this first, bureaucracy section. And I was able to breeze through the first parts of it. A bit of memory flooding back, and a bit of just quickly solving some puzzles. Some. I'm at a point right now where I'm faced with a puzzle that I don't really have any information on.

I absolutely love the creativity on display in this game. It is surreal in the best way. Now if I can just figure it out... -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner link:
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I do not know if I have ever hated a game as much as I hate this. And it's not even getting a spot on my "worst of" list because it is technically a competent game. But I hate it. I hate it with every fiber of my being. AM quote "Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you" levels of pure hatred. My body hurts after playing this. And it still threw a few last middle fingers at the end with having to mute the credits song, and then the final cut scene canceled instead of unmuting.

I'm done. I am so fucking done. I never want to think about this game ever again. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner reference links:
General link:
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F.3.A.R.:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/fear-3?partner=nametag&charity=8443
F.E.A.R. Collection:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/fear-complete-pack?partner=nametag&charity=8443

I knew this game was going to be bad. The entire series has been bad. But I didn't know this game was going to be this bad. They went even further with the absolute garbage design. You have a hard two gun limit. Not even two main weapons and a side arm, two weapons period. And the weapons have very limited ammo capacity. The shotgun has enough rounds for it, and enough rounds to fill it ONCE more. The other guns, you're lucky if they have three extra magazines. And enemies may not even drops guns, or maybe they're just disappearing after a while during the boss fight.

The boss fight. This is a cover system game. Regenerating health, the works. So you spend most of the game behind cover, popping out to shoot at things. With extremely inconsistent damage. Sometimes a single headshot can drop something. Others you can unload six rounds until their skull and they shrug it off. But the boss fight intentionally breaks the game's mechanics. Most of it has no cover. He constantly spawns in extra help. Who don't drop guns, so they use up your already dwindling resources. You have to focus on him, but you can't, because there's a ton of other enemies shooting at you. And there's almost no cover.

I hate this. I hate this more than I can describe. The only saving grace is that there appear to be only eight levels.

And why the FUCK does this have a score system, with power ups as you "level"? FPS games don't need that! -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner reference links:
General link:
https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=nametag&charity=8443
F.3.A.R.:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/fear-3?partner=nametag&charity=8443
F.E.A.R. Collection:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/fear-complete-pack?partner=nametag&charity=8443

I foolishly was starting to get into the game. And then the game through one of those boss fights at me. You know the kind. Where it's just a roll of the dice if you win or lose. The boss can pin you in and CAN deal damage whenever, wherever. Explosive rounds so it can splash you behind cover. It CAN have accuracy to hit you when you run to more cover, if it wants to. The only way you can win is if the game decides to NOT let it hit you long enough to heal. It wasn't fun. It's never fun.

Very long multi-part first level today, followed by a much shorter mech level next. A mech level that I didn't really get a high score on because I didn't get OUT of the mech to go secret hunting. I just want the pain to end. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner reference links:
General link:
https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=nametag&charity=8443
F.3.A.R.:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/fear-3?partner=nametag&charity=8443
F.E.A.R. Collection:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/fear-complete-pack?partner=nametag&charity=8443

I'll give the game a little bit of credit. This first level today wasn't that bad. It wasn't GOOD, but compared to the previous days, I actually found going through the store to be a little more fun. In parts, at least. There's still some absolutely terrible design where it genuinely appears that they developers didn't know what they wanted in the game. Everything contradicts itself. A cover shooter with no cover, wide open arena areas with side tunnels of long hallways and only one way in and out so you can hole up and shoot from there. This happens all over the place, they put in 'arenas' that appear to try to force one gameplay style and then break that gameplay style. On top of that, the levels are so long they feel completely disjointed. Beyond just having the gameplay, the enemies etc. change throughout into various sections, it feels like these levels could have been broken down into more distinct levels. The maps are painfully linear in a way that's just not fun to push forward to the next arena choke point. The next badly implemented set piece.

I want this pain to end. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner reference links:
General link:
https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=nametag&charity=8443
F.3.A.R.:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/fear-3?partner=nametag&charity=8443
F.E.A.R. Collection:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/fear-complete-pack?partner=nametag&charity=8443

Side quest day! I looked up where the cake was to feed the dog. From there, it was a matter of doing the rest of the hunter quests. Which, at this point in the game, they're rather easy and don't give much reward. But that's fine. I still liked seeing them. Fun diversions. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

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The game keeps throwing more steps before you, in between you and your goal. Reach the tower, there's a forest in the way, the trees can't be killed, you need the torch, but only Lutz can ask, and then it gets taken...

That's really how stories like this go, increasing the gameplay. It's fine. The dungeons are still pretty good. Large, but there were a few places to heal, and shortcuts to open so it's not one giant run without being able to save. That's great! Another huge improvement this game had over the previous ones. Though the boss still utterly destroys me when I got down there. I'll have to try it again tomorrow. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

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We're continuing, having to repeat the section we did yesterday. A little more juggling of macros and oh hey look we swap out a party member making those macros worthless! Sigh. I hope we get Raja back. He was great. Either way, new world, new problems, trees that don't die, weapons factories, a plague... So many places to poke in and try to figure out! -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

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There's another planet?! My how the mystery deepens. This game is retconning the series, yet in a way that is adding to it. Really pushing to be a finale of the story, and I'm loving it. Here we get a few trials in the form of towers. And they certainly are tougher. And, while I do complain about using resources and such... it's actually good design this way. You're SUPPOSED to use resources. That's why you have them. I'm just old fashioned and bull-headed about it. This place was a challenge, but a lot of fun. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

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I think I did a few things out of order here. The area I went to first was a fair bit harder than the tower. Oh well. I managed to beat it, even if I had to dive it several times. I'm used to that with jRPGs, having to repeatedly dive the same dungeon to chip away at the progress. Probably not necessary, but my stubborn self digs that. We also see a rather annoying side quest so far that i need to try to solve tomorrow.

As for the main story, it got a bit dark here. Though reading the dialog out... it's cheesy. Painfully so. But it is what it is. As for the gameplay, and presentation, I really do like the use of those manga panels (I don't have a better term for them) to convey the cut scenes. It works really well, and they've used it well in this. The earlier Phantasy Star games I didn't really see how they were such cult classics. This one, however, I get it. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner link:
https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=nametag&charity=8443

Alright. There was one other bonus area to check out. Smaller than I was expecting, but a nice reward. And we get to choose which character to take as the 5th slot. Though you can't equip the ring. Odd. After that, it's a quick trip to that final dungeon - with some very annoying visuals, and then a three part final boss. Three parts that's mostly bullet sponge. Sure, there were some big attacks at the end, but I had so much healing at that point it wasn't really a threat. Sure soaked a lot of damage though!

And with that, the saga ends. That was great! Genuinely. This is a game that I enjoyed so much, it retroactively makes the earlier games better. They're still the rough, experimental games, but seeing that seed they planted grow into this game made them worth playing! And these games are easily available today, for not a lot of money. Absolutely worth checking out! -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

New vehicles, new characters, new worlds! Now we're getting into the Phantasy Star I know. We swap androids with.. well, I don't know if it's just named the same, or if this is the same Wren from 3. He looks the same, and he's an android, so it could be. We also pick up an amazing healer. This has a feeling of a final party, the makeup is there. Though, we got absolutely bodied by the boss, before I could set up my buffs. I'll swap the order around in the macros (now that I know better how they work) and give it a try again. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner link:
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Well, the second attempt at that boss went much better. Mostly because I kept the Rika with enough TP for more healing. Even then, I ran out, and was going to use items but I killed the boss before that, so woot! I even found another side area... that was a bit lower level than me. Except for the boss going in, yikes. And I defeated the tower, ended the snow storm... any item I missed was buried in the tower, and we're off! To.. gather more items to face yet another big bad. But I honestly was expecting that. There's been a few hints that there's items I don't have yet, plus there are items i DO have that I don't know what to do with. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner link:
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Need for Speed II, Special Edition. In my opinion, it was really this game that started Need for Speed down the path it took. The first game was more of a showcase for the cars, done in conjunction with a magazine - Road and Track. And, it was fine for what it was. It more served as an advertisement for the magazine and the game, and had he beginnings of a neat little simulator. But this is the game where the developers decided to unleash, make it more arcade inspired, and just have fun with it. It still has those showcases, still gives you some specs and history of the cars, and a little video showing you the real thing in action. But the focus really was more on the racing.

Unfortunately, the game just doesn't hold up well. Honestly, even by '98 this game was showing its age. When Gran Turismo hit, this style of Need for Speed was almost obsoleted. This one also lacked the 'gimmicks', like the police. It was just straight racing with a limited number of very floaty vehicles on tracks that were somewhat pretty, but not great to drive. Way too much focus on elevation changes, especially around corners. It's a bit of a chore to drive.

This is the series' growing pains. I enjoyed this game when it came out, but when better games released, I moved on and never looked back. And that's my recommendation for this game. It's a novel piece of gaming history, but let it stay history. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner link:
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There are two major cardinal sins in FPS games. One this game doesn't have, regenerating health. But the other, worse one, is the high incoming hitscan damage. Being hitscan, the player can do absolutely nothing to react to it. It's entirely RNG based. Enemies either hit you, or they don't, based on a roll of the dice. If that damage is low, they can hit you more often, wear you down, but it's not an instant game ender. If that damage is HIGH, every single enemy becomes a dice roll of whether or not you game over. The game has to compensate by having fewer enemies, particularly fewer simultaneous enemies, and by having those enemies have very bad accuracy. Which pushes the game even further into the realm of RNG.

It is a fundamentally bad design to removes fun from the game, because the player has no agency. Everything is determined by the roll of a dice, nothing more. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag

Humble Bundle Partner link:
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