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4/26/2024 11:46:51 PM
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The short answer is I enjoyed it well enough. If you got it for free, it’s fun enough to give a try. Not as good as some other Roguelike platformers like Dead Cells or Have a Nice Death, though.
Long answer pending. I’m not home atm.
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I've established thus far that I'm crap at it but await your thorough response.
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Don't worry, that's how all Roguelikes are! :D The long answer: The game has a really good premise. You're a skeleton, and wearing the heads of other skeletons gives you that other skeleton's powers and abilities. It's sort of like a class. You get 2 heads at any one time, and can swap between them with the press of a button. Class swapping like this is a mechanic that I always like. Class abilities, iirc, are governed mostly by cooldowns. You cast an ability, and you have to wait X seconds before casting it again. This is also something I really love. So, on its surface, I thought I would really love Skul. However, the game faces a really blaring problem: It just doesn't [i]feel[/i] good to play. The game feel is awful. I can't actually put my finger on what exactly it is that feels awful about playing it, but it really does. I can't think of a single class where the basic attack feels satisfying to use. The games "swarms of super weak enemies" based combat is also one I'm not quite a fan of. When 90% of the enemies you fight are just cannon fodder, it puts you in this "hit it til it dies" mindset, so that when you do come up against an actual threat, like a boss, it feels like the game never really trained you how to fight anything that doesn't just get stunlocked to death. Whether you succeeded or lost felt like it depended a lot on just getting a lucky legendary skull drop. To some extent, randomness is always a factor in Roguelike games, but in any good Roguelike, good drops aren't required to win, they just make it easier. If I don't get a good drop in Cadence of Hyrule, One Step From Eden, or Have a Nice Death, things are going to be pretty tough, sure, but I still tend to feel like I'm able to make due. Not the case with Skul, though. I also really hate it when games, or any media for that matter, has this sort of "Be the villain!" thing going on, but it just turns out to be an aesthetic, and you're actually the good guy. It becomes obvious pretty early on that the kingdom where the "heroes" you're fighting hail from is corrupt and evil. But y'know, for all that it's still, like, fine. The classes are all pretty varied, and it's fun to try out their moves and figure out how to play them well and such. It's not a game I think I would ever recommend buying, but it can be fun to mess around with if you got it for free as you did.
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Since this is my first foray into roguelike games, I didn't have any high expectations of a triumphant victory on my inaugural attempt and needless to say, I wasn't overly surprised. There's really little to no information given beyond the basic controls of attack, jump, and dash; the various power-ups I saw do give descriptions but again, no manner of real context. I suppose it'll ultimately come down to trial and error to figure out which abilities I prefer and which to pass on. In the brief time that I played the game I did like it though, it had a nostalgic feeling of years long since passed playing original Nintendo side-scrollers. Which, I've discovered, I am quite rusty at; using a D-pad alone took a bit of a refresher run just to get back some of the muscle memory from my youth, lol.
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Yep, usually Roguelikes tend to just throw you in the deep end and tell you not to drown. They don't often offer a very in depth tutorial. The whole genre is about trial and error, getting better because of experience and knowledge instead of just getting bigger numbers. If you wind up enjoying it, I'd give Dead Cells and Have a Nice Death a try. Those two are my favorite Roguelike platformers. Platformers aside, I'd also recommend One Step From Eden as the best Roguelike, and Tunche isn't bad either. Hope you enjoy the game, though. It's a nice grab to get for free!
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If I'm being honest, I had forgotten all about this month's free games and only remembered when I got a notification from Playstation saying the time was almost up to claim either of them. I figured the worst-case scenario was that I didn't like it and was out the few minutes it took me to download it. Of course, it also brought to my attention the dozen or so other games in my library I've yet to play, as though I needed the reminder of what a slacker I am sometimes. 😂
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I haven’t had Xbox Gold for maybe about a year or two now, but back when I did have it I actually wound up not checking the free games anymore. They used to be good, but as soon as GamePass became a thing they all started to suck pretty hardcore.
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To be honest, not every PS Plus game is a winner but then I can't expect them to be since they are free after all. Since you're here though, I'd like your opinion on another game if you've played it. Have you ever tried a game called 'Nobody Saves the World?'
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Oh, Nobody Saves the World is really great. The premise of the game is that you're a form-shifter, and can take the form of various different creatures. There are a lot of different dudes you turn into; archers, knights, rats, horses, mermaids, necromancers, all sorts of stuff. You can rapidly switch between any of your forms to take advantage of enemy weaknesses and whatnot, which as I've previously mentioned is something I really love. The best part about Nobody Saves the World, though, is that the abilities you unlock with one class don't actually need to stay on that class. For example, the Slug transformation has a dash move that leaves behind a damaging slime trail. This needs to be unlocked on the Slug first, but once you've upgraded the Slug enough, you can move it to other classes at will, giving, for instance, the Mermaid the slimy dash instead. You can create tons of fun combos with all the different moves, and it's just so fun. The only complaint I remember having is that there wasn't much of a postgame, which is a bit of a shame, because with how fun customizing all your classes is, I would've loved some sort of endless arena thing*. It's been quite a while since I last played it, but I think my favorite classes were Archer, Mermaid, and Necromancer. To give an indication of how fun it is, when you mentioned it I decided to quit the game I was playing and boot it up really quick. :p *And when I did boot it up, I saw that I had a new quest for something called "The Impossible Dungeon", so it's actually possible there [i]is[/i] a postgame thing now.
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Nice! With a ringing endorsement like that once I finish watching 'Sherlock' I'll be sure to download that one as well!
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I actually went and took a look at the aforementioned Impossible Dungeon, and it seems to be exactly what I’d want out of a postgame challenge mode, so yeah, as far as I remember, no complaints about the game. Do be aware it’s been a hot minute since I originally played through it, though.
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I trust your recollection; besides, that's another of the free games I picked up so the "out the few minutes it took me to download it" rule still applies, lol.
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Edited by The First Aifos: 4/28/2024 2:24:46 AMAfter our conversation, I actually decided to pick up the DLC that I initially skipped out on, and beat two of the three tiers of the Impossible Dungeon, and yeah, it's just as good as I remember. One thing I really love is the leveling system. You don't gain an XP from enemies, but instead only gain XP from completing quests. There are two types of XP gauges: 1. Nobody XP, which just functions like regular XP. When it fills up, you get more stats. All quests will fill this gauge. 2. Form XP. This gauge only fills from completing challenges for your different forms/classes, and are used to increase any given form's rank. Higher ranks get new abilities and whatnot--new abilities which, of course, can then be given to any form. [spoiler]Although, you can purchase "infinite quests" that can be completed over and over again, which do unfortunately undermine the system just a little bit. I would recommend never purchasing them, and only using XP you get from completing regular quests. It's more fun that way![/spoiler] Most forms will have some basic ones, like "Hit enemies with this attack this many times", but they also tend to have slightly more complex quests that really help you learn the ins and outs of the form, and give you ideas for fun ability combos you can use. It's really great. My build that I had set up from when I last played the game also just wasn't cutting it in the Impossible Dungeon, so I had to reconfigure what moves I had and such, and it was really fun. I genuinely love this game. It's a shame that you have it on Playstation (and that I don't have online anyway), or I'd totally offer to play it with you whenever you got around to it. Part of me actually wants to start a new file and replay the game from scratch.
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I started 'Nobody' earlier today and although I've only completed the first dungeon so far (the Kings Tower or whatever it's called) I admit to finding it quite addictive. Actually, the best word I can think of to adequately describe it is "quirky." 🤔 Funny enough, I was wondering what system you had the game on because I noticed it has a co-op mode. Alas, Playstation and XBOX (I think that's what you're on) are oil and water, so it's not meant to be. 😞
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Oh, haha, yes, the game is very, erm, odd. Drinkbox (the devs) are also responsible for the Guacamelee games, which are equally odd. It's just kind of their thing. :p Here's a quick tip: When choosing what forms you want to level up, bear in mind that most of the ones on the right side of the tree are ranged based, while most of the ones on the left are melee. I don't know how early you can access the DLC (when I purchased it I accessed the content on my postgame file), but if the game seems fun enough, it's only $5, and both of the new forms you unlock from it are quite fun. When I was leveling them up earlier, I couldn't help but wish I'd had them earlier in the game. Once you get further in the game, I'd be curious to hear what kinds of builds you wind up making! I be there are combos you might find that I'll have never even thought of! But yeah, I do have a PS4, but I don't play it too often. I mostly just use it for fighting games and the occasional exclusive. I'd say I play Xbox and Switch about equally, depending on which games I'm playing at the time, but I do get games on Xbox first if possible, mostly just because I've got a big multi-TB hard drive for it, so that's where I've got Nobody Saves the World.
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Odd.....sure, I'll go with that description too. It's taking me a bit to acclimate to "quick-swapping" between various forms but I'm getting the hang of it. So far, I've gotten rat, knight, ranger, horse, and slug (WHAT?!?!?), and started working on leveling up the various skills; haven't use slug (again, WHAT?!?!?) yet but I'll be sure to try that out when I fire the game up next. Seriously though, slug? WHAT?!?!?
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There are only three games I've played that involve rapid swapping between forms, being CrossCode, Nobody Saves the World, and Harvestella. While CrossCode definitely did it the best, this is always a really fun mechanic. Out of the three, Nobody Saves the World is probably the trickiest to get the hang of, just because of how varied all the forms are, but that just makes it all the more satisfying. Haha, don't underestimate the Slug! I remember it being one of my favorite early-game classes. It had one of my favorite basic attacks, and my current main moveset actually uses one of the Slug's abilities. Though, as I mentioned earlier, Ranger is one of my top 3, which makes her my favorite early-game class for sure. To some extent that's just because she has my favorite running animation, though. >.>
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I definitely intend to try slug out since I noticed it has a light (?) attack which I have to assume will come into play with enemy shields. Thoughtful of the devs to toss in that little tutorial about those I thought, lol.
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Yep. Wards can by any of the four attribute types. It's possible they just ported the idea over from Guacamelee without giving it too much thought, but honestly Wards are a very brilliant piece of design in this kind of game. If they didn't exist, players would just equip whatever their favorite abilities are and go to town on the baddies without much thought. Wards are really great because they encourage the use of multiple different abilities. Like, I find myself always drifting towards magic abilities, but the existence of Sharp and Blunt Wards means I [i]can't[/u] just use magic. Like, I mentioned that Ranger is one of my favorites, but I have to wonder; if Sharp Wards didn't exist, would I use her or her abilities at all? Honestly, probably not. :p
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I unlocked Bodybuilder and Egg.............so sure, Slug. Why not? 🤷♂️🤣
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Haha, I was debating in my head on my last post whether Bodybuilder or Slug was the weirdest transformation. :p
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The quests are interesting, too. 'Unbridled Love?' 'Warm Up under a Giant Bird's Butt?' What in the................? 🤣
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I have no idea what you're talking about. All of these quests, and all the writing is perfectly normal. There is nothing strange about them. Nope, not at all! :p
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You know, you're absolutely right, perfectly normal...........*he posted with a 😉& and nudge* Oh, and one other I just remembered......aliens in disguise with a crashed UFO? One that, coincidentally, happens to be "bigger on the inside?" I want to know what's in those drink boxes because I'm betting it isn't 100% fruit juice. 🤔
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Is the UFO earlygame? For some reason I remember it being closer to the end. In any case, what’s in the drink boxes is actually a special blend of guacamole. It’s called “Guacamole: Super Turbo Championship Edition”. :p
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Yep, it's over near 'Damptonia' I think it's called, wherever the New L.O.W. is located. Guacamole; ugh. 🤢
