Metroidvania General - An overcrowded genre with recycled themes and muddled mechanics.

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Oliver Onions said:
Dawn of Sorrow is held back by one major element: the dumbass stylus gimmick. The number of times I would have to replay the final section of a boss because I fumbled getting the stylus ready or because it didn't read my inputs for the glyph was infuriating, and the handful of other ways it is used adds nothing but hassle to the experience.

Switching from Ayami Kojima's iconic art to the most generic anime shit imaginable was also a massive fumble.
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The Definitive Edition hack is a must for DoS: it switches the portraits for ones either sourced from other Castlevanias or redrawn to be consistent with Kojima's artstyle, and gets rid of the stupid fucking glyph drawing bullshit.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4373/
 
Blasphemous is absolutely amazing, probably one of my favourite MVs, but it has a few caveats thtat make it annoying to new players, especially if you go in blind.

There are a couple of sidequests that you can easily get locked out of without knowing, which only really matter for 100% nerds like me, there are needlessly punishing instant death pits, (but only in a handful of sections of the game,) and some of the bosses are brutal difficulty spikes until you realise certain builds can kill them almost instantly.

My advice is give it a go, but if you find yourself getting frustrated do some googling before you abandon it, because it's very much a game where difficulty hinges entirely on your loadout.
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Thanks friend, i bought it yesterday and played like a Junkie, Blasphemous is amazing, i love the Pixel-Art. I'll keep your Tips in mind if i get stuck but until now i haven't had many Problems with the Difficulty or anything you mentionend - but that will probably change. But this one is worth the occasional Bullshit for sure.

not a metroidvania, but try child of light then.
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Looks fun, i'll keep an eye out!
 
CEO of Gay said:
Reimar Games, I thought i recognized that name. Same guy who did Iji, in which a nod to this is an easter egg. Iji was fun, so this is worth checking out.

What do you guys think of A Robot Named Fight! ?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=2c8cPsmKdqo
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A Robot Named Fight is pretty much that best you are going to get out of the whole roguelike Metroidvania (way better then then the attempt with Chasm). After a few rounds you will start to see how the weapon/movement key-lock system works (ie to get past low walls you use a morph ball/slide/turn into robot drone/etc) but it works really well for what its trying to do.

Dude spent a ton of time expanding the game and even made it open source after finishing working on it so it is def worth a shot to take. I think people were turned off with my The Thing style meat monster enemies (or at least I was at first) but try it out. I had a great time with it.
 
Two game that I think people should check out:

Astalon: Tears of the Earth: One of the best Metroidvania I have ever played, especially if you are some one that likes the exploration part of the genre. Everything about the world, gameplay, map, and characters just blend together in a seamless way that not only made me wanted to explore the castle more but also gave me a massive sense of enjoyment every time I found something/unlocked a new ability for the characters.
Some of the biggest draws for me were:
- Every time you die you start back at the start of the castle.....meaning finding a new elevator (quick travel) and campsite (saving) is a massive relief/rewarding experience.
- Every time you die you have the chance to upgrade a character...but any upgrade you find for health/attack upgrades ALL you characters. Most of them are locked behind keys so I was always on the look out to find more.
- Each of the three character (with 2 hidden ones) play differently with different roles in combat... and each has their own ability unlocks wether it be for movement/combat/puzzle solving/etc.

Aquaria - A early game of Derrek Yu (Spelunky ) and Alec Holowka (Night in the Woods, suicide by Zoe Quinn) during the learn times of Metroidvania in the 2007. You play as a humanoid mermaid like creature that has gain awareness exploring the depths of the ocean sort of like a metroidvania Ecco the Dolphin (with no air meter). The world is drawn in this beautiful paper art style (characters "flip" when they turn around) and is bright, cheerfull and hauting at the same time. Its a little rough with combat can be a bit spammy with clicks and directions on where to go next can be hard to come but still worth it a go.
 
Back me up! said:
A Robot Named Fight is pretty much that best you are going to get out of the whole roguelike Metroidvania (way better then then the attempt with Chasm). After a few rounds you will start to see how the weapon/movement key-lock system works (ie to get past low walls you use a morph ball/slide/turn into robot drone/etc) but it works really well for what its trying to do.

Dude spent a ton of time expanding the game and even made it open source after finishing working on it so it is def worth a shot to take. I think people were turned off with my The Thing style meat monster enemies (or at least I was at first) but try it out. I had a great time with it.
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I think it would have been good had it not been a Roguelike. I also didn't like the cheap sound effects.
 
One of my personal favorite metroidvania games that's a little lesser known is Aliens Infestation on Nintendo DS.
alien3.jpg
Great metroidvania gameplay and great graphics. It has a bit of roguelike elements when a character dies they stay dead the whole game but you have a squad of 4 characters in total so you can switch to another character, if they all 4 die then GAME OVER. One of the best Alien games I ever played (maybe my favorite) the only thing that sucks about it is the fact that it's a Nintendo DS game.
 
BullfrogBill said:
One of my personal favorite metroidvania games that's a little lesser known is Aliens Infestation on Nintendo DS.
View attachment 6375526
Great metroidvania gameplay and great graphics. It has a bit of roguelike elements when a character dies they stay dead the whole game but you have a squad of 4 characters in total so you can switch to another character, if they all 4 die then GAME OVER. One of the best Alien games I ever played (maybe my favorite) the only thing that sucks about it is the fact that it's a Nintendo DS game.
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I like it but the only (and biggest) flaw of that game is that if you find some one new marine (and want to use them) with a full party you gotta kill some one off instead of switching them out at a later time. Felt like a pretty big oversight.
 
I decided to try out some of these games I keep racking up from the Free Games thread and ended up playing a couple of these.

I gave Ori like an hour or two before I decided it wasn't my bag. It's Super Metroid + Ocarina of Time with a twee maudlin indie vibe to it, exactly all of my stereotypes of what indie platformers are like, but I believe (cmiiw) the creator has been outed as a bit of a chud, so consider looking into it, if it might be your thing.

I played Blasphemous after that, and it's Symphony of the Night + Dark Souls. tbh that doesn't sound like a winning combo in my book and I believe iframe dodges and spongey enemies are two of the more prominent cancers killing 2D games, but even so I had quite a bit of fun in a short amount of time. Helps that they drop you into a boss fight right after the intro, whereas in Ori I felt like I never made it out of the tutorial.
 
BullfrogBill said:
One of my personal favorite metroidvania games that's a little lesser known is Aliens Infestation on Nintendo DS.
View attachment 6375526
Great metroidvania gameplay and great graphics. It has a bit of roguelike elements when a character dies they stay dead the whole game but you have a squad of 4 characters in total so you can switch to another character, if they all 4 die then GAME OVER. One of the best Alien games I ever played (maybe my favorite) the only thing that sucks about it is the fact that it's a Nintendo DS game.
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You can also recruit survivors as replacements, so it's not like it's impossible or anything either.

I love that game. Which wish it got a port or remaster.
 
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BullfrogBill said:
One of my personal favorite metroidvania games that's a little lesser known is Aliens Infestation on Nintendo DS.
View attachment 6375526
Great metroidvania gameplay and great graphics. It has a bit of roguelike elements when a character dies they stay dead the whole game but you have a squad of 4 characters in total so you can switch to another character, if they all 4 die then GAME OVER. One of the best Alien games I ever played (maybe my favorite) the only thing that sucks about it is the fact that it's a Nintendo DS game.
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I played this for a minute a million years ago and dropped. Then I replayed it just now and remembered why I dropped it: it's way too hand-holdy. It's beyond Metroid Fusion levels of hand-holding and that game is considered Baby's First Metroid. I'm sure it opens up more the more you put into it but half the fun of a Metroidvania is exploring and the joy of figuring shit out for yourself.
 
I've never been the biggest fan of this genre, though a few are great, but if I think SotN and Super Metroid are overrated then you can imagine what I think of slop like Salt & Sanctuary.

Steam World Dig might be my favorite because it was short, btw, not in spite of it. These things drag sometimes, SotN didn't need the upside down castle. A lot of these pretty anime games make me want to play them just because of the good art and music though.
 
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BrunoMattei said:
I played this for a minute a million years ago and dropped. Then I replayed it just now and remembered why I dropped it: it's way too hand-holdy. It's beyond Metroid Fusion levels of hand-holding and that game is considered Baby's First Metroid. I'm sure it opens up more the more you put into it but half the fun of a Metroidvania is exploring and the joy of figuring shit out for yourself.
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I know exactly what you mean and it's very annoying in the early game with the constant dialogue boxes that appear. But if I remember correctly, you'd be right that it gets better the more you put into it because you start to get less of it the farther into the game you go.
 
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