Platinum_Vice Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 14 hours ago, realm722 said: I personally enjoy listening to the "Friends Per Second" podcast while doing house chores I've only listened to a few FPS pods and enjoyed those few. It is better since dropping Jirard. I always found him to be disingenuous. Definitely interested in Another Crab's Treasure as well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post realm722 Posted May 11 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 11 Game: Olija (Action (Simple), 2D Platformer) Analysis: I bought Olija when it went on sale for $2.99 back in early February 2024. Do not let the art follow you. This game is pixel art through and through. Why Olija? As stated above, I'm not gonna lie, the game's featured art is a bit deceptive when it comes to what you're signing up for. It feels like the developers over at Skeleton Crew Studios WOULD have gone with this art style for the entire game if yanno, they could have afforded it, but alas the indie budget burden was too much to bare, and just as in the case of Ara Fell, when you boot up the game and see how the game actually looks you'll likely go: "oh... ok." Thankfully, I discovered this well before purchasing the game a year ago. Still, I randomly saw somebody talk it up somewhere as a wonderful, brief, digestible game to break up your experience between longer titles. Coming off the hinges of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, I couldn't think of a better time to bust it out of my backlog and give it a whirl. A Charming Lil' Game - If nothing else, I don't know how anybody could play Olija without at the very least respecting its efforts to get all the little things right. Listen, this is a little indie game that pulls off some of the smaller presentation elements better than far bigger-budget titles I've played in my day. Allow me to rip off a few examples. 1) I love the animations involving Faraday whenever you return back to Oakridge. These are random I believe but they add so much life. Sometimes he'll have his shirt off and have to put it back on before starting the day. Other times he'll be pondering out on the open water. Other times he'll be honing his combat skills. These don't seem like a big deal when writing them out here as examples but they add so much life to the game as you're playing it. I think of stuff like the jump twirl you can do in Transistor (I spent far too long trying to find an example of this via Let's Play footage on YouTube. I should just boot up Transistor and get a gif of it at this point) or the Moonlighter shop assistant's little animation putting on her apron before selling for the day. Are these things groundbreaking? No, but they add up little by little and players with appreciation for the finer things will love them. 2) This game pulls off storytelling sequences well. In other games, I'm probably checked out by this point and in autopilot mode. Not in Olija. Even without voice acting, the atmosphere and emotions portrayed through mere pixels on the screen is genuinely impressive. There's a bit of a love entanglement if the main art is any hint and I particularly loved the bits with the rose and a later bit involving going up and down a lengthy elevator nearing the climax of the game. 3) Good usage of the NPCs. I love the boatman. I appreciate the hat vendor. Shoutout to the chicks making soups in Oakview so I could always top off my health. The Complexity of the Combat - So, this is the rare game that pulls off the subtler elements quite well, what about the meat and potatoes? I can happily report that the combat is a decent time. Unfortunately, I think it's quite clear that the devs were limited in what was an originally ambitious goal. You see, Olija offers the player A LOT of weapon variety for a game of its size. You'll be adding ranged, melee, and in-between weapons picked up through different areas, fancy combos you can pull off where you can flick enemies in the air, a solid movement system, a fun dodge roll mechanic and... it's all for naught. Olija never actually challenges the player enough to warrant all of these additions. You will annihilate 90% of the enemies in this game just as I did by sticking with your basic ass Rapier gained from the first few minutes of the game all the way to the end by button-mashing triangle and watching Faraday go absolutely ham on the opposing enemies. It's a bit of a shame. I don't doubt the player could be pushed into a fun mix of all of the options at your disposal but it's a bit like the iconic: "it goes in the square hole" meme. If you never give me any actual incentive to switch up a method that's working... why would I stop? I think the devs over a SCS originally imagined a big bombastic game that's a solid 15-20 hours sorta like the original Axiom Verge. A proper bonafide story, tons of weapons, big sprawling areas with enemy and terrain variety and... rather than biting off more than they can chew, they narrowed their focus and released a respectable little title that you can't help but feel is bursting at the seams to be so much more. My Path to the 100% - Despite taking nearly a week to complete (blame the trains), you're looking at less than a handful of hours in order to obtain 100% completion. Unfortunately, I would advise being a bit cautious while going for the plat as the game has these areas called "dark doors" which upon entry, once you leave, you will not be able to return even after exiting. Some of these doors have collectibles necessary for trophies such as the music boxes or castaways. If you're worried about missing anything in an area, I highly recommend consulting their 3-hour 100% completion guide by The Welsh Hunter. He's fantastic about timestamps and also gives recommendations for some of the miscellaneous trophies and where to obtain them. I unlocked BlackSlash after button-mashing and dying a few times at the area he suggested. Aside from that, the path is quite straightforward and shouldn't pose too much of a challenge for the vast majority of players. I earned the 19.48% 100% completion in 6 days and 55 minutes. Would I recommend Olija? I am going to give this a light all-around recommendation. I think this is a solid game that deserves some more eyeballs. I'm a bit saddened to say that the studio has gone damn near silent on their website and social media feeds since it released. This is the precise sort of studio I'd LOVE to see what they could have done with their 2nd game knowing all of the ambition found in the fringes here and instead, it seems we've been robbed of that opportunity. While I don't think it's going to steal anybody's personal GOTY, if you're looking for a short-and-sweet title to pinch-hit between your humongous games, give Olija a shot. Panda Score: 6.92 / 10 Panda Difficulty: 2.7 /10 Spoiler Olija Game Notes May 3rd, 2024 * Good art, pixelated game, following https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQT4N2a6V3g * stylish game, just running thru button mashing * Fun movement with harpoon and rapier * Charismatic hat shop seller * Enjoying my first 30min with the game 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted May 12 Author Share Posted May 12 RealM722 Reviews the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar Diss Battle of 2024 Hello everybody. I know what you're probably thinking. This seems like an odd subject for me to cover. I've done fairly well keeping this thread strictly to video games with the odd tangent on movies. But I can't hold it inside of me anymore. I need a place to word vomit about this beef that isn't a mere brief snippet on Twitter or buried in the gallows of some Reddit thread beneath the favor and fury of stans for both sides. There's no better outlet for me than this thread where I am the chief of my own little fiefdom. Indulge me if you dare. MY BACKGROUND ON THESE TWO - I enjoy hip-hop. It'd be ridiculous to call me a gatekeeper or expert on it but I'm not coming into this beef with complete blindness when it comes to these two. I'll be perfectly honest, going into the beef, I don't care for Drake. You could even go as far to say as I slightly dislike him. I've never even listened to one of his full albums and Drake at his best for me is occasionally popping off everywhere on radio with a hit single or two before never really hearing from him again. There's a lot of reasons for that. I've heard some good things about his early discography but as happens to many artists once they obtain all of the fame and wealth they've ever wanted, I've heard his latest work (Views and on ward) has found itself increasingly vapid and empty. Again, I haven't listened to these albums. I'm making that clear. This is just what I've heard from some people with music opinions I trust. I used to be a huge Kanye West fan. Yanno, before he became... whatever he is now. Last year I decided to listen back through his whole discography. The College Dropout (2004) - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) is elite Kanye. Yeezus (2013) - The Life of Pablo (2018) is his version of Phoenix Shaq. Ye (2018) - Donda (2021) and now Vultures (2024) is... Celtics Shaq. It's gotten bad. I say all this to say, if one of my favorite artists ever can show this precipitous decline, I'm not faulting Drake for falling into the same pit. On the other hand, Kendrick Lamar is widely viewed as a more talented artist with less popularity than Drake. I think Kendrick's super dope. I'll also freely acknowledge I'm not really interested in listening back to A LOT of his music. I've never listened to Section.80 or Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City admittedly. I HAVE listened to To Pimp a Butterfly which has received critical and commercial acclaim. I'm uhh... not as much of a fan as it. As Bomani Jones put it, "it just feels a bit stern". I listened to DAMN (2017). I enjoyed it. Haven't played damn near any of those tracks back. I haven't listened to Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. So there you have it. On one end of the ring, you have Drake, who I have slight distaste for and yet can enjoy in small doses, along with Kendrick, an uber-talented musician who I can acknowledge is dope and yet I don't particularly enjoy actually listening to a lot of what he puts out. What can I say, Travis Scott is more my speed if you're giving me a selection between the three. THE BACKGROUND OF THE BEEF - I'm not going to make this exhaustive as there are an infinite number of YouTube videos and articles explaining the beef to a meticulous degree. I'm not interested in getting bogged down in the weeds here about the precise origin or every subliminal diss dropped by either one of them. Instead, let's take the TL;DR of the whole situation from around the last month or so. Kendrick Lamar collaborated with Future/Metro Boomin on "Like That". I find the song to be decent, catchy nonsense. Kendrick goes hard in the paint and says "f- the Big 3, it's just big me" dismissing the notion that him, Drake, and J. Cole are on the same level. That was the proverbial shot across the bow that got us all to this point where we are right here right now. Originally, J. Cole fired off a diss reply of his own called "7 Minute Drill" directly at Kendrick's head. Then he apologized and got clowned for it. I'm not a huge J. Cole fan either but I enjoyed KOD (2018) and some of the digs. Calling out some of Kendrick's albums for being overhyped. As it turns out, J. Cole's got a 3rd eye and correctly knew when to exit this beef before things yanno... went where they went. Unlike J. Cole, Drake did not decide to de-escalate matters. Which brings us to the first of our track-by-track breakdowns! 1st Song - Drake - "Push Ups" (Apr. 19, 2024) (3min, 53sec) (Reddit) This was the first proper direct shot taken by Drake/Kendrick at each other. Gotta say, Drake had some good ones in here. "How the f- you big steppin' with a size 7 mans on?" is a fantastic short joke. He clowns on Kendrick for collaborating with some white artists such as Taylor Swift on "Bad Blood" from damn near a decade ago. There's also the hilarious line: "Metro shut your ho-ass up and make some drugs n---" which is brilliant. Not even telling him to go make some beats. Just go and MANUALLY make some drums. Unfortunately, Drake loses the focus slightly as with multiple other rappers hating on him (mentions Rick Ross, Abel, etc..) he felt the need to dedicate some verses to the others. I understand the appeal of making it seem like it's 1 v. 20 but uhh... as this beef would later show, I think that was an err in judgment on Drake's behalf. All in all, this is a solid opening shot sent off by Drake that pulls Kendrick into the vortex and now makes it so he HAS to respond as there isn't the defense of subtlety for either to hide behind anymore. 2nd Song - Drake - "Taylor Made Freestyle" (Apr. 20, 2024) (3min, 51sec) (Reddit) Oh lord... okay, Drake, this was wack as f. This is poor taste on multiple levels. I understand the IDEA behind it but good lord... when I heard this for the first time it only reaffirmed my belief that Drake is wack and will forever be a sucker. This was Drake's even more direct attempt to want to catch smoke from Kendrick. Basically clowning on him at this point. Drake was, in sports terms, up 10-2 in the 1st quarter by sending off "Push Ups" and tried to extend the lead here and it only came off as goofy as hell. 2Pac's AI sounds atrocious. Using a Snoop Dogg AI when the man is still ALIVE almost feels worse. Drake then finally decides to, yanno, step up and actually talk on his own diss track 2min and 15sec in. He acts like Taylor Swift owns Kendrick and is preventing him from dropping. Calling Kendrick a "corporate industry puppet" when you're... Drake... is hilarious in its own right. Then he acts like Kendrick's trying to have this die down and Drake with his chest out is like: "NAH, YOU NOT GETTING AWAY WITH IT." Oh brother... this is quintessential "Top 10 Moments Before Disaster Strikes" sorta energy. He then ends the song lame as hell shouting out Taylor Swift. At this current point, I was officially Team Kendrick and wanted him to detonate on Drake. 3rd Song - Kendrick Lamar - "Euphoria" (Apr. 30, 2024) (6min, 23sec) (Reddit) After a little over 10 days, Kendrick responded with a haymaker against Drake. Drake, up until this point, was showboating in the 1st quarter. This is always a dangerous tactic. I think his experience in beefs against Meek Mill (which he won because Mill fell on his face) did not prepare him for this moment. Kendrick starts off the song with a hypnotically slow intro before slowly ramping up intensity. I think it's extremely obvious Kendrick loathes Drake as a human and everything he represents. I don't think that's an exaggeration. The fundamental core of it is found in how he mentions Drake is desperate to be "accepted". He never rocked with FUBU (black brand). He mentions that Drake will be lame forever and no amount of money or fame is changing who is, at heart, which Kendrick views to be a loser. He despises the fact a CANADIAN dude has "run" hip-hop for the last 15 years or so and mentions Pac turning in his grave. He's not the only one to feel this sentiment with the line "And notice, I said "we", it's not just me, I'm what the culture feelin'". He wraps up this bit by calling out Drake for not feeling "black enough" as seen in who he hangs with and doesn't even think he should "n---". As if that wasn't enough, he goes for the final haymakers from 4min, 30sec onwards with the Sexxy Redd lines and calling Drake a deadbeat father. WOOF. Combined with banger lines such as "don't tell no lies 'bout me, and I won't tell truths 'bout you". Plus, "F- all that pushin' P, let me see you Pusha-T". All in all, this was an elite response by Kendrick. The fundamental idea that needs to be understood and explains where this beef is ultimately headed is I don't believe Drake actually hates Kendrick, he wanted the spectacle of battling off against another elite peer in the game but ultimately if Kendrick wanted to after all this, they'd make up in the end. The issue is, I BELIEVE Kendrick ACTUALLY hates Drake and everything he entails. One is dissing to entertain the masses. The other is dissing to personally insult the other. It ain't a level playing field. If you wanna hear a great podcast on the beef up until this point, checkout Bomani & Roy Wood Jr. 4th Song - Kendrick Lamar - "6:16 in LA" (May 3rd, 2024) (3min, 42 sec) (Reddit) Drake started out swinging with two direct punches. It only made sense for Kendrick to do the same. Unfortunatly, I feel quite comfortable saying that just as in Drake's case, this 2nd one is far more of a dud than the 1st. It's not bad, it ain't in the same realm of terribleness as Taylor Made Freestyle, but Kendrick's voice from 0:59 - 1:07 is not good. The big major diss of the song is that it appears quite clearly that somebody inside Drake's camp, OVO, is a rat. He's feeding info to Kendrick. This is a hell of a way to sow paranoia amongst all those around you and given the way things played out, I don't actually think Kendrick is lying about this. The wildly patronizing line: "But let me tell you some games, 'cause I can see you're my lil' homie" knowing Kendrick is actually younger than Drake is quite funny. I think on the whole it's aight and there's a reason Kendrick used this song as a second follow-up rather than introducing with this. As of right now, I'd put the rankings on the songs as Euphoria >>> PushUps > 6:16 in LA >>> Taylor Made Freestyle. But woo nelly... what came next. Drake's masterpiece "Family Matters" will ultimately go down like Duncan's insane shot over Shaq... forgotten... due to what happened just moments later. 5th Song - Drake - "Family Matters" (May 3rd, 2024) (7min, 36sec) (Reddit) I am going to be perfectly honest. I did not listen to this until well after Kendrick's next two songs dropped. This is an incredibly important detail to mention. Less than an HOUR after Drake dropped his response to Kendrick getting some proper punches in, he dropped AGAIN which essentially stole all of Drake's thunder on what would have been an INCREDIBLE response. I cannot state enough how much this swung who won the beef in the eyes of the masses because I imagine I am far from the only one who didn't hear Family Matters in that incredibly narrow space of time where it was the latest diss out. Do you know why that's a damn shame? YO MAN, I DON'T EVEN LIKE DRAKE AND HE RAPPED HIS ASS OFF HERE. This is quite possibly the best I've ever heard Drake rap in my life. First, his diss is the only one with a proper music video. We'll give 'em a few points for that. Then you've got, "you the Black messiah wifing up a mixed queen, and hit vanilla cream to help out with yo self esteem" rolls off the tongue like honey. He then hits the next uppercut suggesting that one of Kendrick's kids is actually Dave Free. Followed by the WILDLY disrespectful act of telling Whitney, Kendrick's girl, to "shake that ass for Drake, now shake that ass for Free." Do I believe one of those kids is Dave Free? Hell nah. Still funny. Then Drake once again gets distracted with his beef amongst others. Again, another mistake. FOCUS ON KENDRICK. HE IS THE ONE COOKING YOU. WHY DO YOU CARE ABOUT THE WEEKND/RICK ROSS/ASAP ROCKY??? That being said, Drake goes hard as hell and the line: "Body after body and ya know Rick reading my Miranda Rights" is absolutely killer throwing us back to the days when 50 Cent exposed his history as a corrections officer. Then, if that wasn't enough, Drake comes up with a 3rd beat switch and OH MY GOD GUYS. THE SHOTS HE HITS WITH KENDRICK WITH. The sequence "We get it, we got it, the blacker the berry the sweeter the juice, we get that you like to put gin in your juice" is hypnotic. But then you have quite possibly the insult that had me laugh the hardest of the entire beef. "When you put your hands on your girl, is it self defense cuz she bigger than you?" Is that insanely appropriate? When I heard it did I laugh my ass off and let out a "GODDAMN"? Absolutely. Then to follow that up with: "your back is up against the curb" for yet another short joke... I honestly didn't know Drake had this in him. Your mileage on how funny you find these jokes likely correlates to how tall you are. I'm 6-feet, and seeing small dudes get heated over this will never not be funny(I'm sorry, Drake said it not me). As if that wasn't enough, he gets a few final zings in on Kendrick being separated from his girl and actually beating her. Is it true? I don't freaking know. All I know is I quite truthfully didn't know Drake had THIS caliber of rapping inside of him. He went to a level I didn't think he could go to. I found myself fascinated by it particularly because it was so quickly overshadowed and didn't receive the spotlight it deserved. 6th Song - Kendrick Lamar - "Meet the Grahams" (May 3rd, 2024) (6min, 32sec) (Reddit) Remember, this song dropped less than an hour after Drake dropped Family Matters. What does that mean? 1) Kendrick had the favor of the public for having a bullet in the chamber, pre-cooked to respond to whatever Drake responded with. 2) Oh my god Kendrick is actually insane and proves his actual, verifiable, HATRED for Drake on this. This is about as devastating a diss I've ever heard a rapper receive. Most likely because Kendrick harbors actual venom for Drake. You can't fake true hatred. Kendrick ain't faking. Let's just go through the absurdities. Telling Drake's child "I'm sorry that your man is your father" is a PSYCHOTIC way to start off a diss track. He offers to be this kid's mentor in the future. The line "You could be a bitch even if you got bitches" is brilliant. He raps to his daddy about raising a gambling addict, psychopath, and HORRIBLE F-'iNG PERSON. 2min, 10sec Kendrick just goes in raw "Your son's a sick man with sick thoughts, I think n--- like him should DIE". LMAO HELLO K. DOT??? "F- A RAP BATTLE, HE SHOULD DIE" MR. MORALE? YOU GOOD? He says OVO is full of predators. He tries to cut Drake off from all credibility by telling LeBron and Steph to "keep the family away". Trying to make Drake so toxic that you even begin to question anybody Drake hangs around. He then suggests Drake has another hidden child, this time an 11-year old daughter. Is it true? I don't freaking know. Kendrick then reveals on the last part that he had this response ready in case Drake ever talked about Whitney/his kids which is precisely where Drake went on Family Matters. Hence, it's not surprising that K. Dot had this in the chamber ready for whenever Drake crossed that line. It's a fantastic strategy by Kendrick and heavily pushed the cars in his favor in the eyes of the masses. Now, he went for the KO, and BOY did he ever get it. 7th Song - Kendrick Lamar - "Not Like Us" (May 4th, 2024) (4min, 33 sec) (Reddit) This will be the song that lasts for an eternity well after this beef has been filed into the archives of everyone's memory. The reason? It's Kendrick's catchiest beat with some unreal lyricism combined with the fact he goes for the throat on calling Drake a diddler. This is something people have speculated for years. You have the viral stage inccident with the 17-year old. The Millie Bobbi Brown texting when she was blowing up from Stranger Things. Let's be honest, do I actually believe Drake is a PDF file? No. I think he's just weird and wack with women like a lot of famous, rich, influential dudes and his ways of comporting himself are a dime a dozen. But phew, ain't nobody ever had this character called out so directly like the way K. Dot called him out! He stopped with the subtly of calling out Drake's weird taste in women or saying OVO has predators. You don't get much more direct than, "Say Drake, I heard you like 'em young", "Certified Loverboy, Certfied Pedophile", "tryna struck a chord and it's prolly A-minorrrrrrrrrrr" GODDAMN. This was Kendrick's actual response to Drake's "Dave Freeeeeeeeeeee" line on Family Matters. He then ascends to an ethereal level with how hard he goes from 2min, 16sec in. "AY DEVIL IS A LIE HE A 69 GOD, FREAKY ASS N--- NEED TO STAY THEY ASS INSIDE" has been repeating in my head for the last week on repeat. Then as if all those body punches weren't debilitating enough, Kendrick finishes up his final words from his end of the beef quite clearly pointing ut how Drake is "not like them", hence the title of the song. He views himself as a poser and a fraud who wants to be accepted and surrounds himself with people who have the credibility he lacks and Kendrick lists them all off. Combine that with the fact this song was a mega-hit given freaking sports teams are now using the catchy chorus as a way to show how they're superior to their opponent? Nah man, Kendrick won the beef with a poster of a dunk over Drake and it'll echo for years to come. 8th Song - Drake - "The Heart Part 6" (May 5th, 2024) (5min, 25sec) (Reddit) I dunno about y'all... but do you know what Drake sounds like here? A defeated man. His heart isn't in this beef anymore. He went hard in the MF'ING PAINT on Family Matters and rather than receiving the acclaim and praise that he would have justifiably earned, K. Dot made him hit the showers early by blowing him out with those back-to-back bombs. I'd be defeated too. How the hell do you respond to a dude calling you a PDF file with a funky beat? Ignore it? That ain't gonna work. Respond to it? Now people are posting the Danny Devito bit from It's Always Sunny. There was no winning card to be played. Props to Drake for going on his last legs rather than never responding (cough like he didn't after Pusha-T dropped Story of Adidon). All Drake had left to play at this point was 1) He fed Kendrick fake info and faked having a mole in OVO. Uh... aight. 2) He says he isn't a PDF file and says Kendrick got molested when he was a kid? Off of misinterpreting Mr. Morale? Yea, sorry Drake, this ain't working. 3) If he was a PDF file, he would have been arrested. Uhh... nah, Drake. Finally, we have the white flag waved. Talking about how this was some "good exercise". Nah, Drake. I feel for you buddy. You approached this as an exhibition against one of the game's best and dropped a solid intro jab and a HEATER with Family Matters and didn't get any praise for it while a man who actually gets your guts gets his name praised by the masses for destroying you. Couldn't be me. Here are Bomani Jones closing thoughts on the beef. I also enjoy this exchange between him and Dominique Foxworth. Diss Song Rankings: Not Like Us > Family Matters > Euphoria >> Meet the Grahams > Push Ups > 6:16 in LA > The Heart Part 6 >>> Taylor Made Freestyle Final Verdict: Kendrick Lamar wins in 8 Rounds via KO. The public has decided this. The key turning point being dropping "Meet the Grahams" before "Family Matters" was ever able to pick up steam and turn the tide back in Drake's favor. I have enjoyed this beef IMMENSLEY. It is the favorite of my lifetime. I know there's plenty of iconic ones (2Pac v. Biggie, Nas v. Jay-Z) but for me, it's going to be a LONG time before anything tops this. I've noticed others have been bogged down in a bunch of nonsense. Thinkpieces on what it means for Kendrick to be saying all these things about Drake and "colorism". I've seen the talk about the gun violence aftermath and people going to Drake's mansion. I've see the "who wins this beef will be decided by who can prove what we say". I've seen the "nobody's actually saying anything new this is wack" comments. I do not care for ANY of it. I am here for the music and the music was unmatched. There isn't anything else out there inspiring me to write this much about music of all things and probably won't be anything else for a long ass time. I've seen some people wish it kept continuing but the reality is, it's better for this end seemingly "too early" rather than "too late" and get dragged out to the point where both these dudes come off like they're milking it. Drake actually can recover from this. Go away from awhile, drop an album that you really put your soul into like when Kanye was hated by the world after the Taylor inccident and then went into the lab and dropped MBDTF. Kendrick will be king of the world for a while and he's earnt it. That's all from me, good night! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: RealM722 Reviews the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar Diss Battle of 2024 Mah man!! I am so happy somebody here wanted to talk about this. Count me in! On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: MY BACKGROUND ON THESE TWO - I enjoy hip-hop. It'd be ridiculous to call me a gatekeeper or expert on it but I'm not coming into this beef with complete blindness when it comes to these two. I'll be perfectly honest, going into the beef, I don't care for Drake. Neither do I, I never have. To me he's always been a corny ass fool who could write a good hook but little else, and seeing him in interviews just felt so cringe to me, like dude is clearly in love with himself and trying sooo hard to act harder than he actually is. "I'm... a dark n(ugget)." You are absolutely not. "Started from the bottom..." Bitch, you were on Degrassi, fuck are you talking about. Anyway! On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: I used to be a huge Kanye West fan. Yanno, before he became... whatever he is now. Last year I decided to listen back through his whole discography. The College Dropout (2004) - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) is elite Kanye. Yeezus (2013) - The Life of Pablo (2018) is his version of Phoenix Shaq. Ye (2018) - Donda (2021) and now Vultures (2024) is... Celtics Shaq. It's gotten bad. Nice shout! I liked Yeezus myself, but that's cuz I liked the industrial hip hop movement he was biting. Couldn't get into Pablo and beyond, and yeah... the less said about the rest, the better😂 Kids See Ghosts was dope tho! On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: On the other hand, Kendrick Lamar is widely viewed as a more talented artist with less popularity than Drake. I think Kendrick's super dope. I'll also freely acknowledge I'm not really interested in listening back to A LOT of his music. I've never listened to Section.80 or Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City admittedly. I HAVE listened to To Pimp a Butterfly which has received critical and commercial acclaim. I'm uhh... not as much of a fan as it. As Bomani Jones put it, "it just feels a bit stern". I listened to DAMN (2017). I enjoyed it. Haven't played damn near any of those tracks back. I haven't listened to Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. So there you have it. I like Kendrick, but I always felt he was maybe a touch overrated, gifted as he clearly is. Definitely one of those artists that if I'm being honest, I might respect more than I actually enjoy depending on what day you ask me, if that makes sense. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: What can I say, Travis Scott is more my speed if you're giving me a selection between the three. I like Travis Scott! Him and Denzel Curry. 100% feel you there, just loud, fun bops. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: Originally, J. Cole fired off a diss reply of his own called "7 Minute Drill" directly at Kendrick's head. Then he apologized and got clowned for it. I'm not a huge J. Cole fan either but I enjoyed KOD (2018) and some of the digs. Calling out some of Kendrick's albums for being overhyped. As it turns out, J. Cole's got a 3rd eye and correctly knew when to exit this beef before things yanno... went where they went. Unlike J. Cole, Drake did not decide to de-escalate matters. Which brings us to the first of our track-by-track breakdowns! Poor J. Cole. He's got some great stuff, but is ultimately the top of the mid tier. I thought the diss was very clearly lacking in heart, even before he renounced this track you could tell he just wasn't into it and was going through the motions, like he started with his own The Heart Part 6. I'm really glad that he bowed out. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: 1st Song - Drake - "Push Ups" (Apr. 19, 2024) (3min, 53sec) (Reddit) Credit where it's due, this was a lot better than I expected! I'm six foot also, so I too get the guilty pleasure of a good short joke. The swipes about collaborating with pop stars tho... I mean from someone like Drake, I just couldn't take that shit seriously! Agreed that he didn't need to be focusing on anybody else, cuz seriously who gives a fuck what Rick Ross has to say? I think Drake got caught up in trying to cosplay as Michael Corleone at the end of Godfather 1, acting like he's putting all his enemies away, and I respect the play for sure but it just didn't pay off. Overall though, some good lines and he had a great energy about him. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: 2nd Song - Drake - "Taylor Made Freestyle" (Apr. 20, 2024) (3min, 51sec) (Reddit) I didn't even listen to this one after I heard about the AI stuff, even Drake Stan's didn't have much to say about it. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: Drake was, in sports terms, up 10-2 in the 1st quarter by sending off "Push Ups" and tried to extend the lead here and it only came off as goofy as hell. YES. Again, I never listened to this one so my opinion isn't too valuable here, but I get the sense he was going for another Back to Back type situation here and got overly eager. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: 3rd Song - Kendrick Lamar - "Euphoria" (Apr. 30, 2024) (6min, 23sec) (Reddit) I have to admit, I had to listen to this one a few times. It's definitely not something that slaps you over the head immediately, and it unfortunately kinda plays into the mainstream vs. consciousness thing that people refer to when talking about these guys. It's solid af tho, I loved how boldly he was just like "I don't like you for our culture, and I don't like you as a human being." Talkin bout how he shouldn't be dropping N bombs, I was like daaaaaaammnn. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: "don't tell no lies 'bout me, and I won't tell truths 'bout you". Plus, "F- all that pushin' P, let me see you Pusha-T". Yeah, that shit was cold. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: I don't believe Drake actually hates Kendrick, he wanted the spectacle of battling off against another elite peer in the game but ultimately if Kendrick wanted to after all this, they'd make up in the end. The issue is, I BELIEVE Kendrick ACTUALLY hates Drake and everything he entails. One is dissing to entertain the masses. The other is dissing to personally insult the other. Poetry snaps all day for that one🫵🫵 On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: 4th Song - Kendrick Lamar - "6:16 in LA" (May 3rd, 2024) (3min, 42 sec) (Reddit) Agreed, this one is very early episode Breaking Bad, like it's more setting things up than anything else. I really wish I had more to say about it, but... yeah. Like it's a necessary piece, I like how it's like "dude, nobody likes you," a sentiment that would pick at most people for sure, but if things had ended here, it wouldn't have done Kendrick any favors. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: 5th Song - Drake - "Family Matters" (May 3rd, 2024) (7min, 36sec) (Reddit) I'm in the same boat, I was not among the lucky few to hear this one in chronological order. It's a good diss track, really good in fact. Drake's ghostwriters did a really good job here, with a huge thing in their favor being that not many people really listened to Mr. Morale - literally everything leveled at Kendrick was addressed by Kendrick himself on that album, where he outs himself as disrespecting his wife, needing to be an honest and better man, and all that. However... On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: "When you put your hands on your girl, is it self defense cuz she bigger than you?" That is spectacular, such a good bar. That's on par with that one he had on Meek, "Is that a world tour or your girl's tour... this ain't what she meant when she told you to open up more." On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: 6th Song - Kendrick Lamar - "Meet the Grahams" (May 3rd, 2024) (6min, 32sec) (Reddit) I don't know if you follow RDC, but the video they put out after this dropped had me dying: Just oof. It's soooo haunting, so dark and relentless. Taking him apart from five different angles (sure, one may be fictitious, who knows, but still) so expertly, just thinking about it I'm like gaaaahhh. I hope nobody ever hates me that much! Kendrick even said in Euphoria that he already knew exactly where Drake was gonna go, and he proved it here. Totally cut him off, serious chess move right there. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: 7th Song - Kendrick Lamar - "Not Like Us" (May 4th, 2024) (4min, 33 sec) (Reddit) And that's it, that's a mafuckin wrap! When people are bouncin in the club, shouting out along with lyrics calling someone a PDF file... I mean... anyone not as big as Drake would be done. And it's just such a good song, like a legit well-crafted pop song. That hook is so infectious, I can almost hear Kendrick's boys in the studio vibing the fuck out and excitedly repeating the hook back. It's so good. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: Let's be honest, do I actually believe Drake is a PDF file? No. I think he's just weird and wack with women like a lot of famous, rich, influential dudes and his ways of comporting himself are a dime a dozen. I definitely think he's weird, but yeah, that's a heavy ass thing to accuse somebody of. In fact I low key hate how it's become in vogue to accuse someone you dislike of being a groomer or pedo or whatever, like that's some fucked up shit to be throwing around without evidence. That being said... On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: "Certified Loverboy, Certfied Pedophile", Cot DAMN that cuts deep. Literally nobody heard that for the first time without wincing! On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: "tryna struck a chord and it's prolly A-minorrrrrrrrrrr" That right there is the legacy bar of this entire beef. Absolutely genius. I laughed like an idiot at that line, I almost had to stop the damn song! On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: Kendrick finishes up his final words from his end of the beef quite clearly pointing ut how Drake is "not like them", hence the title of the song. He views himself as a poser and a fraud who wants to be accepted and surrounds himself with people who have the credibility he lacks and Kendrick lists them all off. THANK YOU!! So many people just focus on the first verse, like that's the whole song, but I thought the third verse was pretty damming as well. Because that's been a thing for YEARS, Drake terrified of losing relevance and jumping on whatever song he can by whoever is getting big at the moment. I never connected the dots with Atlanta specifically tho, that shit was so slick. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: 8th Song - Drake - "The Heart Part 6" (May 5th, 2024) (5min, 25sec) (Reddit) I'd call this trash if it wasn't so... sad. And it's funny because when I saw the title, I thought "yoooo that's a pro ass move!" Kendrick prefaces every album release with a song called The Heart, and presumably was going to release a The Heart Part 6 himself at some point, but now can't unless he wants Drake to be the first thing people find when they look for it. Pretty smart. But then I actually listened to it... On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: I dunno about y'all... but do you know what Drake sounds like here? A defeated man. His heart isn't in this beef anymore. He went hard in the MF'ING PAINT on Family Matters and rather than receiving the acclaim and praise that he would have justifiably earned, K. Dot made him hit the showers early by blowing him out with those back-to-back bombs. Mmhmm. He thought for sure that Family Matters would seal the deal, that he'd win and could finally get that one trophy for his case that he never could, the respect of the hip hop heads. So when that got squandered, this was pretty much all he could do. And this one I actually do believe he wrote on his own, because it's so hasty, so poorly thought out. He was so lyrically nimble just one diss track ago, so confident and with ammo to spare, here he's grasping at straws and on the defensive. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: 1) He fed Kendrick fake info and faked having a mole in OVO. Uh... aight. Duuuuuude. That got such an "okay brooo" out of me. Like for real? That's what you got?? That's kid shit, man. "Nuh uh, nuh uh! I got YOU! I tricked you into telling everybody I'm an even BIGGER deadbeat dad than everybody thought, PLUS that I like young girls! Aw man. You're probably so embarrassed!" Bruddah. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: 2) He says he isn't a PDF file and says Kendrick got molested when he was a kid? Off of misinterpreting Mr. Morale? Yea, sorry Drake, this ain't working. Yyeeeaaaahhhh that was really icky. Not just because of how insensitive it is towards actual victims, or how he very clearly missed the point of the song he's referencing, but it's as though he was so desperate for anything to get the allegations off of him that he'd say anything. Including, of course: On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: 3) If he was a PDF file, he would have been arrested. Ugh. I'd also like to add that he tried to hijack the A Minor line with an utterly pathetic couplet, like he was gonna out-wordplay a pulitzer prize winning rapper. Like come on, bro. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: Talking about how this was some "good exercise". Nah, Drake. 🤣🤣🤣 On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: Diss Song Rankings: Not Like Us > Family Matters > Euphoria >> Meet the Grahams > Push Ups > 6:16 in LA > The Heart Part 6 >>> Taylor Made Freestyle I'd bump up Meet the Grahams past Euphoria, charitably behind Family Matters. Other than that though I'm in complete agreement! On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: Final Verdict: Kendrick Lamar wins in 8 Rounds via KO. Facts. On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: I have enjoyed this beef IMMENSLEY. It is the favorite of my lifetime. I know there's plenty of iconic ones (2Pac v. Biggie, Nas v. Jay-Z) but for me, it's going to be a LONG time before anything tops this. I've noticed others have been bogged down in a bunch of nonsense. Thinkpieces on what it means for Kendrick to be saying all these things about Drake and "colorism". Yeah, this was fantastic. I'm old enough to remember Pac & Biggie and Nas & Jay, and it's crazy to see something like this play out in modern times with such speedy output and such a succinct finish. Used to be we'd have to wait weeks to hear a response, now we get 'em in minutes! Sorry, I'll stop waving my cane around😂 On 5/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, realm722 said: Drake actually can recover from this. Go away from awhile, drop an album that you really put your soul into like when Kanye was hated by the world after the Taylor inccident and then went into the lab and dropped MBDTF. Oh yeah. He'll still top the charts with whatever he puts out next, he'll still be a fixture, that's never going away. But damn if it wasn't entertaining seeing that get shaken up! Dawg. Thank you so much for this post, I can't tell you how happy it made me to see something about this in the PSN sphere. I always love reading your shit, but this one hit different. Awesome work as always, homie! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 11 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Neither do I, I never have. To me he's always been a corny ass fool who could write a good hook but little else, and seeing him in interviews just felt so cringe to me, like dude is clearly in love with himself and trying sooo hard to act harder than he actually is. Yea... that's another thing. There are plenty of interviews and videos of Drake when he was just barely entering the fringes of stardom. He was a COMPLETELY different dude. Super meek, quite goofy, and while there's plenty of stuff you can clown on in his persona, I sure as hell prefer that sincerity over the "acting tough" act he has been obsessed with ever since going mainstream. 11 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: The swipes about collaborating with pop stars tho... I mean from someone like Drake, I just couldn't take that shit seriously! lmaooo honestly. You know if Taylor Swift wanted to collaborate with Drake that phone call isn't even getting to the 2nd ring. 12 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: That is spectacular, such a good bar. That's on par with that one he had on Meek, "Is that a world tour or your girl's tour... this ain't what she meant when she told you to open up more." LMAO. I honestly had forgotten about that one. 12 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I definitely think he's weird, but yeah, that's a heavy ass thing to accuse somebody of. In fact I low key hate how it's become in vogue to accuse someone you dislike of being a groomer or pedo or whatever, like that's some fucked up shit to be throwing around without evidence. That being said... Yup. This is only tangentially related but I know DiCaprio has gotten a lot of slack because of his "always breaking up with his girl before she turns 26" graphic. You then have people suggest that it's incredibly weird/creepy and listen man... I don't freaking know Leo. Maybe he is a total perv. But I'm not going to go around hurling accusations about people's personal lives when your evidence doesn't go much beyond: "yo the dude likes really hot chicks in their early 20's". 12 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: THANK YOU!! So many people just focus on the first verse, like that's the whole song, but I thought the third verse was pretty damming as well. Because that's been a thing for YEARS, Drake terrified of losing relevance and jumping on whatever song he can by whoever is getting big at the moment. I never connected the dots with Atlanta specifically tho, that shit was so slick. The PDF file lines are the eye candy that everybody jumps on and will be the lasting legacy. But if I had to guess, the lines that cut the deepest and probably hurt Drake the most personally were these lines about Atlanta. It's a masterstroke by Kendrick and if I'm Drake yea... I'm just going away on vacation and only reemerging when the next global/pop event happens and snatches everybody's attention and hyper fixation on that. 12 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Duuuuuude. That got such an "okay brooo" out of me. Like for real? That's what you got?? That's kid shit, man. "Nuh uh, nuh uh! I got YOU! I tricked you into telling everybody I'm an even BIGGER deadbeat dad than everybody thought, PLUS that I like young girls! Aw man. You're probably so embarrassed!" Bruddah This has already been pointed out adnauseum but if this were honestly the case... you're telling me Drake isn't recording the phone call when this happened. He's not using this audio of this alleged mole betraying him and one of Kendrick's guys saying: "aight bet" as part of his retaliation diss? OR hell, if it's via messages, how is that not plastered everywhere on the cover? It just doesn't add up. If it HAD been true, it's such an easy counter to expose that plainly with evidence rather than just mention it in song. 12 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I'd bump up Meet the Grahams past Euphoria, charitably behind Family Matters. Other than that though I'm in complete agreement! Damn Smev you're cold. I can't listen to Meet the Grahams that much because seeing a man so surgically pick apart an entire man's family with venom in his voice and hatred in his heart is a lil too much even for me 🤣 🤣 The way he says: "I think n--- like him should DIE" is tattooed in my memory. 12 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Dawg. Thank you so much for this post, I can't tell you how happy it made me to see something about this in the PSN sphere. I always love reading your shit, but this one hit different. Awesome work as always, homie! Nah thank you man. I expected the post to get fairly little response but it was awesome finally having somebody to bounce my thoughts off of lmao. I had reached a desperation level of not actually knowing anybody IRL who cared about this that on Sunday while hanging out with a few new friends (they've come from Venezuela recently and had tangentially heard the nuggets about the beef through social media) I explained the entire situation in meticulous detail and we had a fun time laughing about it. It's gonna be a loooong time before we get something similar to this given the stardom of these two so I'm happy I wrote down my thoughts for posterity 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 2 hours ago, realm722 said: Yea... that's another thing. There are plenty of interviews and videos of Drake when he was just barely entering the fringes of stardom. He was a COMPLETELY different dude. Super meek, quite goofy, and while there's plenty of stuff you can clown on in his persona, I sure as hell prefer that sincerity over the "acting tough" act he has been obsessed with ever since going mainstream. Haha for real! It's corny but not insufferable... I think that's why back in the day when Common dissed him I was like "c'mon man, leave the kid alone." Now I'm like "...yeah, get him." 🤣 2 hours ago, realm722 said: Yup. This is only tangentially related but I know DiCaprio has gotten a lot of slack because of his "always breaking up with his girl before she turns 26" graphic. You then have people suggest that it's incredibly weird/creepy and listen man... I don't freaking know Leo. Maybe he is a total perv. But I'm not going to go around hurling accusations about people's personal lives when your evidence doesn't go much beyond: "yo the dude likes really hot chicks in their early 20's". Exactly! Like sure, maybe he's a predator, but maybe he's also emotionally stunted and is trapped in a state of perpetual arrested development. Plus, early twenties is not like, well, you know! 2 hours ago, realm722 said: The PDF file lines are the eye candy that everybody jumps on and will be the lasting legacy. But if I had to guess, the lines that cut the deepest and probably hurt Drake the most personally were these lines about Atlanta. If I may flatter us both for a second, I think this is what the real heads are all talking about! 2 hours ago, realm722 said: This has already been pointed out adnauseum but if this were honestly the case... you're telling me Drake isn't recording the phone call when this happened. He's not using this audio of this alleged mole betraying him and one of Kendrick's guys saying: "aight bet" as part of his retaliation diss? OR hell, if it's via messages, how is that not plastered everywhere on the cover? It just doesn't add up. If it HAD been true, it's such an easy counter to expose that plainly with evidence rather than just mention it in song. For real tho! Dude posted on IG after Meet the Grahams like "lolwut? I ain't got no daughter" and it's like if you were really playing Kendrick, post some fucking receipts!! That would've gotten more ears on Family Matters and swung things over in a HUGE way. 2 hours ago, realm722 said: Damn Smev you're cold. I can't listen to Meet the Grahams that much because seeing a man so surgically pick apart an entire man's family with venom in his voice and hatred in his heart is a lil too much even for me 🤣 🤣 The way he says: "I think n--- like him should DIE" is tattooed in my memory. Hahaha it's true, and honestly I can't listen to it regularly either, it's so cutting even to a bystander like myself. But I do think it deserves absolute top marks! 2 hours ago, realm722 said: Nah thank you man. I expected the post to get fairly little response but it was awesome finally having somebody to bounce my thoughts off of lmao. I had reached a desperation level of not actually knowing anybody IRL who cared about this that on Sunday while hanging out with a few new friends (they've come from Venezuela recently and had tangentially heard the nuggets about the beef through social media) I explained the entire situation in meticulous detail and we had a fun time laughing about it. It's gonna be a loooong time before we get something similar to this given the stardom of these two so I'm happy I wrote down my thoughts for posterity Yes sir👊 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CelestialRequiem Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 Interesting to see this covered here. I've listened to Kendrick Lamar off and on since 2013 or so, with no real interest in Drake's music whatsoever. The accusations are pretty serious, though sort of unsurprising. Not exactly because of Drake's character, but because I think if they're true, shows that Drake is a symptom of a problem with characters who find themselves in the elite status of the world. Once you've hit that point, you're exposed to the fringes of the world -- those who are able to dodge culpability. What's so fascinating about this, is that Kendrick even sort of addresses this in Euphoria. And that the association of being deep in the entertainment industry is not something that he cares for, because it brings out humanity's worst vices and erodes the character who partakes. It's a void of sin, filled with myopic pleasures -- perverting you into a libertine. If it's all true, then I'm very interested to see who else is going to get the rug pulled from under them. Because Drake is likely just one of many who are so narcissistic and selfish, and he's just the face of the problem, but not inherently the virus. ... Next time I stop by, it'll be to talk about video games, I promise! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post realm722 Posted May 14 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 14 Game: Train Valley (Resource Management / Strategy) Analysis: I bought Train Valley when it was on sale for $5.99 back in late February 2024. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a surprise sleeper hit on our hands! Why Train Valley? I can't quite remember how Train Valley initially popped up on my radar but if I had to guess, it was some mix of the cutesy cartoonified train that was plastered as the game's icon whenever it went on sale along with the fact that the game developer, Flazm, is based out of Vilnius, Lithuania. That's a European country I haven't had the honor of playing a game from yet! While technically the developers of Graveyard Keeper (Lazy Bear Games) are NOW currently situated in the capital, when they released GK they were still in St. Petersburg, Russia. While I haven't found an explicit article which explains it it, I imagine they only moved after the war began against Ukraine and given some of their previous anti-Putin comments by the developers, it'd be safer for them to continue their careers in a country outside of Russia. Anyways, the motivations were simple. 1) I like the cute cartoon trains. 2) The game developer was based outta Lithuania. Those are as good a reason as any to try out a game. Do Not Be Scared By Lack of Polish - I'm not going to lie to you guys, when I first booted up the game, I was a little bit dismayed by its antique and rustic design. This game is not super polsihed. It jumps you straight to opening up a scrapbook allowing you to decide what levels to pick. Selecting the options button pulls up a pop-up menu that feels like it's barely being held together. I decided to brush off this initially... less than flattering first impression and jump into the first level. Imagine my shock when I realized the cartoon trains design wasn't actually what was presented in actual gameplay. The game isn't ugly, but it's not nearly as cutesy as the images used to sell the game would have you believe. Honestly, at this time, before even completing the first level, I debated closing the game for good before earning a trophy and punting on this as a failed endeavor before backshelving it like I've done with a few other games I tried, played 5min, kinda left totally put off, and have fallen into the gallows of my backlog. (RIP Zotrix, The Flame in the Flood, & One Step from Eden). Still, something held me back from completely punting on the project. Something Pleasant About a Train - This is only somewhat tangentially related to the game but I honestly think the thing that motivated me to give the game a 2nd attempt rather than dismissing it is the fact... guys... trains are freaking awesome. I say this with a fascination as somebody who has only ever known and lived an American way of life (with a few week excursion in South America). As I haven't grown up around them, they still hold a mystique in my eyes that perhaps those from European countries don't quite have as they're merely a cornerstone of every day life. I just think they're neat. There's something novel about this industrial vehicle that's only capable of chugging along a certain predetermined path and is kept together by hundreds of thousnads of parts working within perfect harmony. Murder on the Orient Express happens on a train. When I eventually have the privilege to go to Europe, I'd love to ride on one and get a greater appreciation for the full experience. For now, we'll settle for managing their movement patterns vicariously through this little Lithuanian video game. The Addicting Gameplay Loop - On my next play session, I came in with a fresh mindset and was able to quickly grasp the concepts needed to have success in the game. Quite frankly, I must have just been in a bad head space when I first attempted it as the controls are extremely simple once you get the hang of them. The most unituitive part is recognizing you need to be flipping between the various options in the top right via L1/R1 to deicde what you want to control. The game is designed for PC-play and the transfer to console was a bit cumbersome but once you get it, you'll have it down pat for the rest of your time with the game. Basically, you need to connect train stations to other train stations. This is accomplished by putting down rails. The game will continuously spawn trains for you to handle until the completion of a set amount of time in a level. You can adjust the time from x1, to x2, to x4. Most levels will take anywhere from 10 minutes up to 20 minutes if you're frequently pausing to make sure all your ducks are in a row. The trick is this. You will frequently need to manually chasnge the path of railways in order to ensure your train arrives at the correct destination. This isn't complicated when you only have 1-2 trains active. But eventually, in latter levels, you will be juggling 5-6 trains at a time between 8 different train stations with an unceasing amount of levers to flip back and forth to avoid crashes and trains arriving at wrong destinations. While doing this, you also have to manage your alloted budget. Each train spawns with $$$ overhead. It goes down continously until the train arrives at its destination. Thus, you can't lollygag forever waiting for the perfect, calm time to ship a train. Each train has a deadline. Get it done or else you'll go bankrupt and have to restart the level from the beginning. I hope I've properly been able to convey the back-and-forth shuffling you'll be doing all game while playing a round. It sounds like a lot, but once you get the hang of it, it's honestly super engaging. Different levels will also include unique twists such as certain trains arriving from a separate station altogether and you can't control when it emerges, thus needing to accomodate all other trains and rails for its arrival or else you'll have some blown up debris to deal with. The Diversity of the Challenges - Completing a level in Train Valley isn't the only thing that needs to be done. You'll also have the burden of obtaining 75 stamps which are gained through 3 unique challenges found in each level. Thankfully, you can earn these challenges one at a time on diffeent play sessions and don't need to do all 3 at once. Some of the most frequent challenges include, "Dispatch X extra trains" as you can spawn in extra trains if you find you're moving at an efficient pace and can earn more money this way. Another common challenge is "Avoid train crashes" OR "Avoid train arriving at a wrong station". This is something you need to be hyper vigilant about as casually slipping up in concentration for just a moment and forgetting to adjust the path of one rail can cost you the challenge for the level. Level 5 has some of the more brutal challenges such as: "Complete the level without pausing." I went through the whole game pausing a bunch and thus completing one without it was intimidating as hell. Thankfully, the game is generous enough where you don't have to play flawlessly to complete this. Even with a few accidents and crashes, as long as you stay above water and complete the level, you'll earn the stamp. All in all, I thought the game had a slight lack of variety with regard to the objectives but I recognize the gameplay loop only afforded so many variations. Miscellaneous Trophies and Path to Platinum - While completing the main game and earning 75 stamps will be what takes up the bulk of your time for the platinum, the game does offer some unique miscallenous trophies to handle. This Steam Achievement Guide should help with most of them. "Destroy buildings worth 300k and complete a level" I was able to complete while playing through the main game on level 5-6. Just do it right at the end right before the final train enters its station. "Juggler" I was able to get done on Level 1-2. Just line up a bunch of the trains. You start the level with 100k so as long as just 2-3 of those trains arrive at stations, it's hard for you to go bankrupt even if the majority of them explode. "Salesmen" is super easy to complete once you're at the end of a level with all 8 stations, just do it with the last train when you have a huge surplus of money. The final trophy I needed for the platinum was "Engineer" which requires you to build 10,000 tracks over your full time with the game. I knew that this was going to be a slightly annoying cumulative trophy as I earned 5k just a little before finishing everything I need for the stamps. Thankfully, I found a super quick method for this. Rather than forcing you to play out full levels over and over again, go into Level 1-2, build as many tracks as you can, go bankrupt playing on 4x speed, rinse and repeat. The game still logs these rails even when you fail the mission. With 100k money, you're able to build 90-95+ tracks a minute. Assuming 10 minutes gets you to 1k tracks, even if you're barely halfway to 10k, you'll get there in less than an hour of mindless grinding. I managed to do it in 35 minutes which suggests I had around 6,500 tracks placed pre-grinding. All in all, I earned the 13.40% rarity platinum in 1 week and 2 days. Would I recommend Train Valley? Absolutely. I don't know if I conveyed it in this review but I very much enjoyed my time with the game after figuring out the gameplay loop. There are 5 different "levels" to go through and 6 different challenges in each level. That's 30 in total. I never found myself getting bored and the repetition with variation and chaotic nature for those 12-15min bursts of each level always kept me entertained. I'll freely acknowledge this is a distinctly Realm722 Flavored Game™ as it taps into my enjoyment of knowing what I need to do, it's all about the execution of completing that task where you'll find much enjoyment. The developers have released a sequel, Train Valley 2, also available on PlayStation since Nov. 2023 yet it seems like its ballooned in scope with hundreds of levels as some dude from the Netherlands is the only one to have earned the plat after 4 months. Maybe I'll check it out down the line. All in all, well done by the Lithuanians and this is one of their best exports since Jonas Valančiūnas. Until next time! Panda Score: 7.57 / 10 Panda Difficulty: 3.33 / 10 Spoiler Train Valley May 3rd, 2024 * Wow this menu is ANTIQUE RUSTIC * Okay I gave it like a 20min trial run and was scared off but I came back and am now getting the hang of it * Got 6 stamps for 6/6 through the first two base missions, making sense of things * 9/9 now, enjoying the chaos of getting trains to right spots, how does game evolve on this mechanic over the levels? * Okay the Europe level kicked my butt the 1st try but then i got it with a 114,220 score! * Took care of Russia now, just breezing through the campaign, game is fun and chaotic with the constant micromanagement * Having quite a lot of fun with the game now done with Japan Level 4, gotten quite good at the management and some levels are tricky with the way certain parts are blocked off. Rounds take 12-15min and sometimes longer if you spend a long time paused panicking * Wrapped up Level 5 which gets crazy asking for “no pause”, airbombs, and hide speed traisn but this is a delightful game man. Finished the lengthy Level 5 final mission and now it’s time for clean-up and accumulation trophies * 35min of slapping down trains on 1-2, same way that I got juggler, 10k trains in no time 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post realm722 Posted May 17 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 17 Game: 9 Monkeys of Shaolin (Action (Complex), Beat 'Em Up) Analysis: I bought this game when it was on sale for $3.99 all the way back in early August 2022. At least I played it within 2 years of having purchased it! Why 9 Monkeys of Shaolin? As I purchased this game nearly 2 years ago, I have to imagine my mentality back then for purchasing the game was super simple "It's less than $5, it has a platinum with around a 30% completion rate, why the hell not?" was all the motivation I needed to pull the trigger for a purchase. As for why it stayed in backlog hell for as long as it did, I'm going to blame the trophy guide that while expertly done, has some big bold words in red and black about possible exploits and bugginess regarding certain trophies. I didn't read it all too in-depth but as the options between "playing a game that may have some trophy hassle vs. playing others that don't" are obviously slanted against 9MoS favor, you can easily see how it slid in my desire to play it for such a long time. I finally decided to get around to playing it NOW as it's a fairly brisk game (6 hours) and I want to incorporate some decent variety of games back into my bloodstream after being in the Rebirth wilderness for two months. Playing on Legendary Difficulty (Chapters 1-2) - To obtain the platinum, you need to complete a full playthrough with 0 deaths AND a full playthrough on the hardest difficulty. Rather than do an easy difficulty + deathless playthrough to make my life easier or explore any of the exploits, I just decided to do it legit. What helped is the incredible game feel you'll experience in your first moments of playing the game. I love how Wei Cheng (protagonist) controls. This is a beat 'em up, so you have a variety of attacks within your arsenal from a flying kick with the square button to a thrust with the o button to a... I honestly never used the triangle button attacks so I don't even remember what it's intended purpose was. Combine that with a phenomenal dodge and you've got a movement system that had me saying "damn, this feels sensational." I don't have much experience with beat 'em ups, but in comparison to Tunche, I loved how fast you were able to fly through levels and really dictate the pace of the game without needing to slow down between fights. My recommendation for players attempting to get through the game with both these caveats for the platinum is to play extremely defensively. I loved using kick attacks as you're able to fly around the level jumping back and forth between enemies while staying out of the range for their attacks. I was always hyper-vigilant of range attacks by enemies in order to parry and eliminate them as quickly as possible. The great thing about the game is even if you die, if you dashboard and close the application and continue playing, it won't count as a death so you don't even have to bother with Cloud save shenanigans. I did this a bunch on Chapter 2's Mount Longhu level which killed me far more times than I'd like to admit. With defensive play focused around mobility and getting in thrust damage between attack windows by the enemy, you can easily complete these first 2 chapters as legitly as I did. The game's combat is fun and crispy and will provide a proper challenge without feeling unbearable even for new players. Playing on Legendary Difficulty (Chapters 3-5) - I decided to browse the "Tips & Strategies" of the trophy guide and found the recommendation to upgrade "Seal of Attraction" to max as soon as possible. You only gain access to this technique upon reaching Chapter 3. When I got there, I decided to go back through and grind Level 1-1 of Chapter 1 in order to earn some upgrade points. This allowed me to hone my skills and even earn "Untouchable" (complete a level without taking damage) as legitimately as possible. After some minor grinding, I then proceeded and wow... this upgraded to max level completely breaks the game. Like, ALL challenge is essentially removed. You may run out of Qi every now and then and may be forced into dodging and landing an attack or two but the OP-ness of this movie is insane. The fact it stuns enemies makes it so you're just able to do obscene damage before the enemy can even recover and you will enter full phases of fights, wipe everybody in 5-10 seconds, and then continue pressing on to the next fight like an unstoppable god. You don't unlock the Jade Weapon Rod until late Chapter 4 but honestly, in the meantime, I just used the rod that heals you (its green) whenever you use Qi and it essentially totally eliminated any risk of dying while playing. At this point, you can fly through the game as there are less than 4-5 levels per chapter and they'll take a handful of minutes at most with this broken-ass L2+O move. I managed to stomp my ass all the way to the finale without dying a single time. An Unintentionally Hilarious Game - I've discussed before how sometimes video games can offer great moments of unintentional comedy. Shadow Tactics' repetitive NPC dialogue is one of the kings in this regard. 9 Monkeys of Shaolin may have given it a run for its money. Once an enemy attacker dies in the game, they turn into ragdoll physics. The game is 3D side-scroller and thus you can imagine my laughter when realizing that using the "Seal of Attraction" upon killing an enemy can send their rag doll corpse literally flying across the map and discovering 'their lifeless bodies upon parts of the map I hadn't even traversed yet. Sometimes they'll get stuck in wildly goofy positions. The final level of the entire game is particularly funny because the game sets up this dramatic sequence where the evil bad boss Fudu is monologing to you between stages of fights. I just imagined him getting pissed off because I was killing the enemies so quickly that bro barely got a 1-2 second breather in before having to immediately move on to the next sequence. I even managed to finish one of the fights before he finished his line read and he had to cut it off to skip to the next part of his diatribe. The Path to the Platinum - By taking care of the deathless and legendary trophies, you're really looking at a cupcake in every other regard for the platinum. You'll have to spend a bit of time grinding some levels to earn the additional upgrade points necessary to max out the remaining techniques but that should barely take you 15 minutes with the rate you're able to complete levels with the broken set-up. I enjoyed listening to some Northernlion Twitch streamer highlights where he destroys people with his movie knowledge. Aside from that, you have a handful of miscellaneous combat trophies which take not even a few minutes to complete. I can humorously admit that the final trophy I needed for the platinum was one called "Samsara" which requires the player to die 20 times while playing the game. What can I say, I'm built different. I ultimately earned the 26.74% rarity platinum in 2 days and 23 hours. Would I recommend 9 Monkeys of Shaolin? Absolutely. This is yet another damn solid indie game that I feel comfortable recommending on a broad basis. I didn't even touch on some of the finer elements aside from the combat. 1) The game's visuals are gorgeous. I loved the art style the developers selected and especially once you hit Chapter 4 and see some of those lush colorful landscapes, you'll gain a fuller appreciation for what they've created here. 2) The story is neat and concise. It's a decent proper story. You've got a fisherman who ends up becoming a monk after avenging his people from slaughter (your grandpa gets YEETED at the start of this game) and he along with a few companions set out to stop Samurai Jade Darth Vader Fudu from yanno, controlling all evil power or something. Is it new? Hell nah. Does the game selectively know when to drop story beats on the player without dragging the pace of the game down? 100%! They even have full voice acting which is properly done. I enjoyed how the game's main hub evolves when you have to go on a boat and how when you return... well... let's just say things aren't how you left them. It adds some life to the atmosphere. We've been on fire with the games post-Rebirth. No superstar surprises but tons of "damn that's a solid game" contenders. Panda Score: 7.38 / 10 Panda Difficulty: 3.8 / 10 (only a 4/10 thru the first 2 chapters, then the game is insanely easy with OP setup) Spoiler 9 Monkeys of Shaolin May 13th, 2024 * Finally giving this a shot, hope it’s short and sweet * lol our grandfather got REKT at the end of the prologue level * Got through the first level without dying, well done but gotta play really defensive * Took care of Wei Cheng (Sawmill, 6:04) 1482 points, 11 combo, 0 deaths, 29 kills, 9724 damage * Okay we beat the 1st boss Shikami not too tough at all died 1st time, restarted, beat him 2nd time * Okay Chapter 2’s Mount Longhu kicked my butt died there a fair amount. Ghosts at the end sucked. Finally, 1696 points, 50 kills * Okay Hannya managed to kill us twice but I got her the 3rd time, of course resetting to preserve deathless run * LMAO Wei Cheng hits ‘em with: “cool story, you still killed hundreds” * Bro says he does feel better because he was able to discard the hate * Got “Untouchable” on 1st level Mount Puto while grinding to max out Fury of Attraction before starting Chapter 3 levels * LMAO L2+O with a yellow tea drank is SO broken got a x35 combo to end a level spamming that * Okay 3rd boss Kashiki is pretty cool, spawns a bunch of dudes, L2+O is so broken and eliminated all challenge * LMAO chapter 4 Boss Okina we just rekt dude with the yellow tea and spamming this is hilarious * LMAO chapter 5 Fudo fight was hilarious. Killing enemies so fast I’m not even letting him breath between monologues. HILARIOUS. * Finished the base game! Ridiculously fun. Even if post-OP skillset all challenge became a joke. * Earned the plat taking care of the miscallenous trophies. Yet another good lil game in the books! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 15 minutes ago, realm722 said: Game: 9 Monkeys of Shaolin (Action (Complex), Beat 'Em Up) Panda Score: 7.38 / 10 Panda Difficulty: 3.8 / 10 (only a 4/10 thru the first 2 chapters, then the game is insanely easy with OP setup) Reveal hidden contents 9 Monkeys of Shaolin May 13th, 2024 * Finally giving this a shot, hope it’s short and sweet * lol our grandfather got REKT at the end of the prologue level * Got through the first level without dying, well done but gotta play really defensive * Took care of Wei Cheng (Sawmill, 6:04) 1482 points, 11 combo, 0 deaths, 29 kills, 9724 damage * Okay we beat the 1st boss Shikami not too tough at all died 1st time, restarted, beat him 2nd time * Okay Chapter 2’s Mount Longhu kicked my butt died there a fair amount. Ghosts at the end sucked. Finally, 1696 points, 50 kills * Okay Hannya managed to kill us twice but I got her the 3rd time, of course resetting to preserve deathless run * LMAO Wei Cheng hits ‘em with: “cool story, you still killed hundreds” * Bro says he does feel better because he was able to discard the hate * Got “Untouchable” on 1st level Mount Puto while grinding to max out Fury of Attraction before starting Chapter 3 levels * LMAO L2+O with a yellow tea drank is SO broken got a x35 combo to end a level spamming that * Okay 3rd boss Kashiki is pretty cool, spawns a bunch of dudes, L2+O is so broken and eliminated all challenge * LMAO chapter 4 Boss Okina we just rekt dude with the yellow tea and spamming this is hilarious * LMAO chapter 5 Fudo fight was hilarious. Killing enemies so fast I’m not even letting him breath between monologues. HILARIOUS. * Finished the base game! Ridiculously fun. Even if post-OP skillset all challenge became a joke. * Earned the plat taking care of the miscallenous trophies. Yet another good lil game in the books! This one's popped out at me a couple times, but never pulled the trigger on purchasing - reckon I might now, next time I see it in a sale, as it sounds good - nice work 👍 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 5 hours ago, realm722 said: Game: 9 Monkeys of Shaolin (Action (Complex), Beat 'Em Up) Same as the good Doctor, I've come so close so many times to picking this one up... looks like next time it's on sale that shit is MINES. Thanks, man! And good shit as always👊 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh1billion Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 On 2/21/2024 at 10:34 PM, realm722 said: Game: Emerald Shores (2D Platformer) Analysis: I bought this game when it was on sale for $1.24 back in late May 2022. They never did accuse me of rushing to get through my backlog. Why Emerald Shores? Listen, there's not a very complicated reason why Realm back in relatively early 2022 decided to pull the trigger on this. It was less than $2 and had a fairly reasonable platinum rate at <40%. That's about all I needed to buy games on sale back in the day. Why I waited until NOW to play it is a different story. Sitting at 248 platinums, without any purposeful design or machination on my end, I've stumbled into landing a pretty important milestone (250th platinum) for a pretty massive release around the corner in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. I have pre-ordered the physical copy of the game. I know, you shouldn't preorder anything in 2024. Especially when you don't know what the quality is for so many modern releases. Guess what? I'm not worried. This is FF7. Square Enix's baby. They're not going to botch this. Maybe older fans hate some of the alterations that may come with the story. I'm not worried about that. I'm not an older fan. I'm a new fan. Somebody who literally played the remake back in 2021 and fell so brutally in love with it that my gigantic review and essay permanently altered the way this thread would be run by myself going forward. In order to make that game be within striking distance of that milestone, I needed a filler game to bridge me over to 249 to be on its doorstep. Emerald Shores was that bridge. Before All Else, An Impressive Solo Project - I'm going to be perfectly honest with you all and say that I had written a completely different paragraph here before realizing a few things regarding this game. 1) Who made it? 2) Oh, they're not as far off as they appear. I mention these things because at first glance, this is a game that most people aren't going to write a very lengthy review on. I don't say that to be mean, I'm just being honest. The game has 4 user reviews on Steam. That made me curious. I did some digging, and realized this wasn't so much a small indie studio making it but.. the developer has an itch.io profile where you can check out his latest work. Then I actually went digging through the forums and discovered oh hey... the developer has an account on here. Hi @Josh1billion. Oh. Geez. Maybe that not-so-nice-stuff I said kind of comes off as REALLY dickish if you know the person who spent time on creating something may stumble upon reading it? Not that this guy would read this. We're in the real deep crevices on the internet here. But it made me realize hey... there are probably developers out there who read awful things written about their creations and it's not... cool. Listen, REGARDLESS of the quality of a game, the fact an individual can create anything that can get published on Steam & PlayStation 4 & Vita is pretty damn impressive. I could never imagine being asked to make a video game. Let alone making it, and then putting it out there in the world for people to enjoy and critique. So with that newfound realization, I figured I'd talk about some stuff I observed while playing the game, and maybe if the dev is bored, he can read what an odd fella thinks about it? Let's do that. A Curious 2D Platformer - Emerald Shores keeps things light on the story and thrusts most players into the meat and potatoes of the game, moving left to right. You choose levels like you're on an open-world map in a retro Mario game and have no attacks. You kill enemies by goomba-stomping them. This feels pretty decent. Most enemies won't pose too much of a threat unless you're playing very haphazardly. There are multiple special items and some secrets you can unlock throughout the levels such as different endpoles to unlock other side paths with different trophies and side quests. None of these are too long. The most exasperating thing I found was... the very odd way the double jump works in the game. You can pick up a green double-jump power-up that lasts as long as you don't die. Yet, it's a bit odd? If you hit a roof/ceiling, you can't double jump anymore. Before I realized this, it felt like the double jump was broken or working inconsistently. Once I accounted for it, it wasn't too tricky to adjust. The levels are appreciatively short so you can fly through them once you know what the hell you're doing. I found the boss fights to be fairly decent for the limited moveset given to the player character. Bounce on their heads 'til they die and stay out of the line of fire when they're angry. The game also has a bit of a meta-game element where you recover all of your health when you level-up. This gives you some incentive to decide when to hold off killing certain enemies / killing coins if you're low on health so you can finish it rather than being reset to the beginning in case you die. All in all, it's a decent little time that while I hit a few roadblocks here and there, I never actively disliked my time with it and figured with enough attempts, I'd get good enough to move onwards. How I Got the Platinum - As always, the legend @greenzsaber has a full platinum guide to earn it in just a hash over an hour. Of course, I was not good enough to earn it in that narrow timeframe. It took me quadruple that based on how I kept dying in certain parts and not being nearly as familiar with the game. Not to mention I missed the collectible helmet on the snow-sled portion in level 2-2. I've gotta say, this was pretty good trophy selection by the developer. There are no missables as you can replay levels. When you're going for your low-level 8 run, you can blast through many of them and have it done in less than 20 minutes. There are a few decent miscellaneous trophies in some levels such as collecting all the coins or avoiding ever being touched by lava. Oddly enough, I kinda liked that Farmtreprenaur mini-game dev. It was very simplistic but... you could build off that. It's a bit cookie-clicker lite but with a few more bells and whistles you could turn things strategic. I earned the 31.25% rarity platinum in 4 hours and 51 minutes. Would I recommend Emerald Shores? Perhaps. It depends on your tastes. There are worse 2D platformers out on the market. I liked the movement and how fast you can glide through levels once you know what you're doing. If you know the odd rules for double jump, you shouldn't have too much frustration figuring out to navigate things. Not to mention, the game kindly only saves after you complete a level so I loved that if I died with the power-up, all I had to do was close the application, open it back up, and I could try again with the green double-jump power still active. I don't know if the dev is still reading this, but if they are, lemme know if there are any more games are on the horizon. I see Super Blackout but it appears to be a Vita-only game. I enjoy supporting small creators and if you have any plans to bring more games to PlayStation main consoles, I'd love to check them out as long as the platinum isn't too difficult or long-lasting. Panda Score: 6.02 / 10 Panda Difficulty: 3.47 / 10 I just saw your ping here, and enjoyed reading your thoughts on the game. I'm glad you found some enjoyment with it. It's definitely a flawed game in a lot of ways - especially looking back on it now (I released it a bit over 5 years ago), there's a lot of I've learned since then about game design and a lot I'd do differently. Since you mentioned Cookie Clicker & the idle-like mechanics of the Farmtrepreneur minigame, you might like another game I made called Creature Card Idle. That one's free now and the general consensus is that it's a lot more fun than Emerald Shores, hahah. I have another game in the works for PS4 coming soon-ish called Eternal Exodus. Hope to hear your thoughts on that one someday; please ping me in here if you do wind up checking it out so I can pop in and read what you think. I think you'll like the trophy set in that one - while I haven't created the trophies yet, I know the set will have a lot of the same things you liked about the Emerald Shores trophies: a lack of missables, a generally easier-than-most-games platinum, a handful of amusing miscellaneous trophies, etc. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted May 20 Author Share Posted May 20 12 hours ago, Josh1billion said: I just saw your ping here, and enjoyed reading your thoughts on the game. I'm glad you found some enjoyment with it. It's definitely a flawed game in a lot of ways - especially looking back on it now (I released it a bit over 5 years ago), there's a lot of I've learned since then about game design and a lot I'd do differently. Since you mentioned Cookie Clicker & the idle-like mechanics of the Farmtrepreneur minigame, you might like another game I made called Creature Card Idle. That one's free now and the general consensus is that it's a lot more fun than Emerald Shores, hahah. I have another game in the works for PS4 coming soon-ish called Eternal Exodus. Hope to hear your thoughts on that one someday; please ping me in here if you do wind up checking it out so I can pop in and read what you think. I think you'll like the trophy set in that one - while I haven't created the trophies yet, I know the set will have a lot of the same things you liked about the Emerald Shores trophies: a lack of missables, a generally easier-than-most-games platinum, a handful of amusing miscellaneous trophies, etc. Super appreciative that you took some time out to read and reply man! I can promise you I'll 100% check out your next game when it comes out. I love seeing how a studio/developer grows and evolves with each latest release and I can already tell just based off of the visuals from the screenshots you have on your website that you've improved your art/design tenfold in the last half-decade or so. I also want to congratulate you for being dev on the "ground floor" so to speak when it comes to making a connection with your playerbase. A forum like this one is a great way to speak directly to players and starts to build that attachment between yourself and a fanbase. I know relatively little about the exact #'s it takes for indie games to "make it" but from what I've read by Chris Zukowski, it seems like one of the key factors for a game catching wind on Steam is if it has 1,000 reviews or so. I think that Creature Card Idle having 100+ is awesome(even as its free). I find it a bit interesting that your games seem (could be speaking from total ignorance) have done better on consoles than on PC (just based off raw game owners) as I think that's a bit atypical of most indies if I'm not mistaken. I think leaning into appealing to us trophy hunters has been helpful in that regard . I've added Eternal Exodus to my Steam Wishlist to make sure I don't miss it when it drops. Looking forward to it and have an awesome day man! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted Thursday at 05:34 PM Author Share Posted Thursday at 05:34 PM Game: Underhero (Action (Simple), 2D Platformer, Limited World) Analysis: I bought Underhero when it was on sale for $3.39 back in early July 2023. You can currently scope it up on sale for $2.54! Why Underhero? This is the rare case of a game I purchased nearly a year ago where I actually do in fact remember what prompted me to purchase it. Shoutout to @Darling Baphomet and their trophy checklist. They reviewed the game back in February 2021 and mentioned how the developers were inspired by Paper Mario: The Thousnand Year Door. While I may have had a Gamecube back then, I never got around to actually playing it then. What can I say, I was more of a Super Mario Sunshine and Toadstool Tour fan back then. I still hear Nintendo babies to this very dary sing TTYD and Luigi's Mansion praises so I figured if I can't play the original, at the very least I'd get some sample of it through this indie inspiration which received a fairly solid score from a personality on here I trust. I finally got around to it playing it now due to the fact my backlog is dwindling as I'm trying to finish some games I've had sitting around for ages before scouring the sales market for new releases. I Enjoyed the Story - Call the police. Realm liked the story in a video game!?! Yea, I did it. My one-sentence spoiler-free advertisement would be: "imagine a game where you played as the underling and tried to beat the big bad guy from the inside". Now let me reveal more. (SPOILERS AHEAD) You play as a masked defender of a guy called Stitches. Mr. Stitches is honestly pretty terrifying. Probably because stitches are unnerving. Just the idea of trying to sew... flesh back together. In an upset for the ages, you actually manage to KILL the hero with a chandelier before he kills you and your mates. Your boss is impressed since this never happens. Unfortunately, the reward in the corporate world for doing a good job is simply more work without the compensation to justify the additional load. He commissions you to return 3 medallions to the 3 world bosses before returning for your promotion. Classic big company dangling-the-prize-in-front-of-the-slaving-worker tactics. But, you've received some new instruction from an old companion of the hero who will serve as your guide and actually recommend instead of just going along with Stitches... what if you overthrew him instead? You go along with it. You go through all 3 worlds (chill green vegetation and then a hive area, a haunted mansion, and a tropical jungle) before finally confronting Stitches. The game is quite charming and the dialogue is well-written. I enjoyed the antics found in each area. From El Salerissmo's Spanish to the corporate headquarters found in Stitches castle where you have fellow companion mobs sharing apartment levels and getting the morning coffee before going out to work for the day. Stitches sometimes does speeches for his workers and of course he takes all the credit for defeating the hero without mentioning your name. Eventually, you discover some history about this world and how Stitches became Stitches and not everything it as it seems. I love Professor T. Burr. He serves as the #2 to Stitches as is like this game's Alphys from Undertale. A shark riding a segway is incredible character design. There's a great twist when it comes to your rival that I did not see coming. The culmination of the game involves taking down Stitches with the help of the baddies you defeated in the 3 worlds as well as all the mobs. After taking him down, you'll realize there's an EVEN BIGGER BADDIE who was a seemingly innocuous fun character throughout the game and then you have to kill him in a meta-fashion to wrap up the game. All in all, I'll remember the game most fondly for its' characters, story, dialogue, and general vibes. Combat (Starts Good, Ends Bad) - Underhero does not have real-time combat or turn-based combat. Instead, it has... timing combat. Essentially, if you walk up to an enemy, you'll switch to the combat screen. When there, you'll have the option to attack with a light, heavy, or ranged weapon OR decide to shield(limited durability) / dodge the enemy's oncoming attack by reading their movements before striking. The latter does not cost stamina, the former does. This is where the issue lies. As attacking costs stamina, you need to be a patient player and waiting for your stamina to recuperate or else you'll be depleted and be unable to dodge when the enemy attacks. I have discovered I am NOT patient enough for this combat system. This will not be noticeable in the first world where it's super easy to replenish stamina as you regain some back when correctly dodging an enemy attack. But the game's combat slows to a snail's pace during battles in the 2nd world. Here, you'll be fighting bats. You can ONLY attack them with your ranged weapon that does crappy damage. I should make it clear that it's not that the game is challenging. I died once the entire game and it was because of my laziness of not healing before proceeding to the next area and I was on like half health. Instead, this issue is much worse. I'm bored while fighting to the point I'm playing pointlessly aggressively trying to end fights as soon as possible thus dragging out fights even longer. Missing an attack in Underhero is agonizing because it's that much more time wasted you need to wait for your stamina to recover before attacking again. The game exasperates this with an enemy in the 3rd jungle world in a gorilla which literally incentivizes you to LET the enemy hit you and bring down his rage meter rather than attacking him in an endless onslaught. Fortunately, the final stretch of the game (navigating Mr. Stitches castle) you're actually incentivized to NOT fight the enemies. Rather, you can bribe them with gold you've collected in a matter of clicks. I started doing this by World 3 once I was sick of the combat and just wanted to blast through the game as fast as possible. I'd be fascinated to know whether the game designers made it possible for you to earn enough gold/XP naturally that by World 2, you can bribe every enemy and avoid any fights from World 1 onwards. It's almost like they knew this would be the preferred path for some players. The "I Get It" Button for Games - This is an original concept of mine. Tim Rogers has talked about it on has Twitch streams every now and then. In essence, it's the idea of developers baking into their games full-on options to skip past specific content. That sounds a bit harsh, but a primitive version of this has already made its appearance in major titles. Marvel's Spider-Man allowed you to skip those puzzles in Doc Ock's lab as Peter Parker. The Last of Us Remake allows you to full-on skip all the ladder puzzles if you so wish. The latter being a bit worse than the former as you miss out on some of the dialogue exchanges between Joel and Ellie. Tim Rogers theorizes that at some point... in the far-off future... we'll reach a point where video games will be able to play themselves if the player wishes for this to happen. It sounds ludicrous. But I actually don't think it's that insane of an idea. I sure would have appreciated having it in those fights against the bloody bats in the mansion instead of wasting 5-6 minutes of my life waiting for the stupid slingshot projectile to connect with the black pixels on my screen. The dangers are of course obvious. I mentioned how Ikenfell's combat fell to the wayside for me by being able to bypass all difficulty by the end. In that case, I found the combat to be decent but was able to opt out of a challenge. In this case, I wouldn't have been so much opting out of a challenge as much as I'd have been opting out of frustration. When Subversive Becomes Ordinary - (SPOILERS AHEAD) I want to talk about the story a bit more as that was my favorite part of the game. Something that kept... gnawing at me. While I enjoyed the game's vibes and direction, at the end, we have a meta twist. The Puzzleman, a character who appears and surprises you with funky music and questions about the game's story and lore to make sure you were you paying attention will appear and reveal himself to be the big baddie. Except, he's not "of this world", he's from outside. The game pretends like its glitching and such and you're able to walk "out of bounds" and actually flip the dimensions of the world creating a... I'm not even sure what you'd call it? It's what FEZ does. But less impressive since you're in a black/white void. You defeat him with the power of friendship and being rooted on by your pals because duh, that's how all evil is defeated. I couldn't help but feel like... eh... are we done with these meta narrative breaks? (SPOILERS) Undertale? Doki Doki Literature Club? Hell, Batman: Arkham Asylum did the screen glitching. I don't know. I think Undertale's the best I've never seen it accomplished. This game also has Mr. Stitches before the final fight congratulating you if you didn't kill any of the masked kids on your way to beating him but also chastizing you for killing all those co-workers in Worlds 1-3. I wonder... is there any possible way to earn enough coins through platforming where you get a different dialogue prompt and can avoid every fight with a minion by bribing them off? I doubt it. I still enjoyed the story. It's not surviving on its meta-narrative elements alone which is good. But this twist doesn't have the same weight it would have had say... back in 2015. As with multiverses in superhero films and indie games about depression, sometimes, something becomes frequent enough that it's not special anymore. That's when it's time to switch up the formula to something else. An Obnoxious Trophy List - Welp, this is something that Darling Baphomet commented on back on their post in Feb. 2021 and unfortunately the quality of trophy guides for Underhero hasn't gotten any better since then. This is a 10-hour+ game with missable trophies. That sucks. Some of the worst ones include the collectible music cassettes as there's no good YouTube video and instead you're relying on this text guide OR this Steam guide. Some of these are SUPER well hidden and thus I highly doubt a first-time player would find them on their own blindly. You have a weapon upgrade you can miss out on if you don't save the monkey when evacuating the volcano after the final boss in World 3. You need to avoid/bribe all the masked children on the final trip up to fight Mr. Stitches which is a missable right at the very end of the game. It's just obnoxious having these pop up at inopportune times when the player doesn't expect it even if they're being thorough. To make matters worse, there's no clean smooth guide on YouTube. There is this 12-hour 100% walkthrough. But man.. I'm sorry... this is an infuriating guide to follow. There are random cuts and jumps in gameplay when the guy misses a music cassette and while I appreciate that he pastes it in, it leaves you lost on how to get to where he actually is. He also gets lost multiple times for solid 5-7 minute stretches where the path forward is fairly obvious. You can 100% earn the platinum this way but... you'll probably lose a few hairs while doing so. I earned the 15.95% rarity platinum in 1 week and 2 days. Would I recommend Underhero? In most cases, no. This review came off far more negative than I intended. I've dunked on the game's combat, trophy list, and meta-narrative elements. I didn't dislike my time with it. It is one of the shockingly rare cases of a story I ENJOYED. The dialogue is quite witty. Some of my favorites include the traveling merchant not floating in beer in the hive because: "the weight of greed keeps me from floating". When one of your co-workers grows suspicious of your ways, you deflect by saying, "TAXES AM I RIGHT???" and they go "RIGHT!!!!!". I enjoyed a lot of the music found in the game which has over 50 unique songs. Hell, the game lowkey got legitimately scary towards the end when you fight the "thing" that has been corrupting Stitches mind and you have to avoid being spotted by it. I just wish all these delightful elements came packaged in a combat system I could actually chill with instead of one that grated me into ignoring it all together by the end. The developers, Paper Castle, are a small team that originally started in Venezuela and have since moved to Spain. They are currently working on a 90s anime RPG known as Wander Stars that currently has a demo out. I enjoyed the narrative and atmosphere of the game enough to 100% check out their latest game when it eventually releases in full for consoles. If they can sort the gameplay out, we could have something special here! Panda Score: 6.51 / 10 Panda Difficulty: 2.98 / 10 (stomach for patience and frustration more than difficulty) Spoiler Underhero Game Thoughts May 19th, 2024 * Saw a PSN Trophy Cabinet rate this game. It was cheap. Why not give it a shot? * 12-hour 100% platinum guide - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4AEWuilA8k * Playing from the perspective of an underling with 9.9k HP hero on the way * WOW! We managed to kill the hero by dropping a chandelier on them! * Some snake bro takes us to Mr. Stitches.. * So we have a basic mission. help from Elizabeth IV to go along with it, get strong, then turn on Mr. Stitches * I like this intro for a motivation of a story to be honest. Working from the inside. * Enjoying the gam on a 2nd day of playing, rhythm combat dodging/parrying/managing stamina. * Damn some butterflies got jacked up by goons now we gotta fight them * Okay that race against the Ant gang was pretty fun * BRO WE JUST KILLED THEIR BOSS. * I dislike combat vs butterflies. “So that happened”. * TAXES AM I RIGHT? RIGHT!!! - Lizard at a Bar * “The weight of greed keeps me from floating” lol peddler * I enjoyed the puzzle show right before the first major boss, charming game * Not enjoying the sequence in the manor in World 2 with the little flame and fighting ghosts… * Thank goodness for the teleporting you during the “make a ghost drinks” test * 4 hours, 7min into that vid and bro is being a dumbass going thru the mansion * Got 9pts from Boo, 8.5pts from boo mask, and 9.3pts from the bat for my ice skating * WOW! I got 10pts across the board for my Round 2 performance! Round 3 same 10pts all around! * Platforming in World 2 graves/outside is bad, combat is becoming a slog * That Grey kid fight freaking sucked respectfully speaking * Yea… combat is becoming a bit miserable. game ic charming. ghosts enjoying the fight. sand collisieum fights. * Do a bit on the “I Get It” button for combat… Never Alone review… Tim Rogers snippet * Oh lord this freaking Jungle level.. * Giving El Salerissmo the spiciest sauce… saving the monkey evacuating the volcano * Adorable the way the hero faceplants to go to bed * DNIM, SIH, NI, REPOLRETNI * Professor T Bur, rescuing the hero, discovering we’re a clone, pretty solid story * T. Bur is this game Alphys * Stitches clowns us for the conspiracy experienced points * Ayyyy we beat the Puzzleman for the platinum and level 550. Woo. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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