Sotn and Super Metroid are definitely ones I have in mind when it comes to positive examples. Axiom Verge is pretty darn good, too.

Other decent ones include AM2R, Bladechimera, Guacamelee, the NES’s Blaster Master, and most of the Castlevania/Bloodstained ones.

Negative examples below:

Metroid Dread - I hated the stealth and the qte

Ender Lilies - bosses are meant to happen at exactly one difficulty

Gestalt Steam and Cinder - puzzley enemies that grind movement to a halt, bosses with immunity phases, the stun mechanic for bosses that meant more cycles if you didn’t gain enough meter or miss your shot, absolutely bonkers plot, artificial barriers to character power

Hollow Knight - this is a platformer first and a motroidvania second. No flow for me, thought I understand that so many people love it. Ori feels like this as well. An some point, both were just about not hitting spikes.

Wonder Labyrinth - the aiming

All the Shantae games. I really enjoy them except when there’s bottomless pits. And there’s always bottomless pits.

There were also a few that weren’t bad, just didn’t quite catch me: Vernal Edge, 9 Years of Shadows, Timespinner.

Flow. Don’t interrupt me. The rest of this just is about it in various aspects.

Make it feel good to move from the get go. Don’t make progression about getting rid of negative traits.

Combat as well. There’s a trend of making the player halt their progress to handle an enemy in a certain way (e.g. gotta wait for the telegraphed shield drop) and that makes backtracking and exploration tedious. It can be challenging going through the first time, but don’t interrupt me with the same thing over and over. Let me ignore the puzzle/timing element by being overpowered or at least let me bypass it with increased mobility.

I prefer bosses (and terrain) that can be overcome with skill or preparation. Like if you book it to them with minimal exploration they’re hard but not impossible, but if you explore everywhere you can and find everything it should be easier. Don’t artificially keep the player’s abilities capped to make things more difficult. Also, no invincibility phases, please.

I dislike items that only provide access like key cards. Every item that opens up more map should be useful in some other way.

If there’s a plot that is more complicated than can be explained in two sentences (Find the Metroid. Kill Dracula.), please make it good. Have non-cliche characters, plots that I can’t immediately poke holes in, plot that isn’t contained in logs that real people would never keep, and reasonable time frames for world changing events to occur. Those things all rip my suspension of disbelief to shreds. Don’t make me sit through world building info dumps. Let me skip scenes and tutorials in case it’s my second time through.

It’s not the start menu or the control panel I’m talking about, but things like being in bed with the IDF post October 2023.

I didn’t mean to set up a comparison or minimize anything, so I apologize. Notch is a total piece of shit. Companies that enable systems of oppression are shitty and I don’t want to see them enable your oppressors once the price is right.

I’m not sure Microsoft is any better when it comes to your Minecraft dollars…

I’ve seen lover’s lab. I know what kind of things NPCs will be forced to call the player.

But it would also be tempting to name a character Jugemu Jugemu Go-Kō-no-Surikire Kaijari-suigyo no Suigyō-matsu Unrai-matsu Fūrai-matsu Kū-Neru Tokoro ni Sumu Tokoro Yaburakōji no Burakōji Paipo Paipo Paipo no Shūringan Shūringan no Gūrindai Gūrindai no Ponpokopii no Ponpokonā no Chōkyūmei no Chōsuke.

I’d say don’t yuck someone’s yum but I tried league of legends years ago and it’s why I avoid any game that makes me interact with strangers.

P5 ditches the procedurally generated dungeons, so each main dungeon feels different. There’s still a procedurally generated one to do side quests in, though.

Are you sure they’re the last few hours? There’s like half a dozen final dungeons.

Final Fantasy 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 13

• Start off figuring out why meteors are falling and the wind has died
• Start off fighting a snail while using magic machines
• Start off as a terrorist
• Start off as an emo student
• Start off sneaking into a play
• Start off with blitzball
• Start heading down the hallway

My neighbor does not make dovetails, then.

And less annoying to your neighbor if you’re in a neighborhood. Plus how many tables can you actually fit in a house?

I go between flow and “burn it to the ground” with Foctorio.

Do you do DCSS with pictures or @?

Good. I need more time with Foctorio before more Terraria updates.

Good thing memes can’t be racist and dog whistles don’t exist /s. Not every instance of pepe is, and the ADL admits that (whether or not you agree with them), but the original creator has sued organizations for using it as a hate symbol. Sorry the world is more complex than you think it is.

I’ve seen people outright call for the extermination of minorities in forums. I think everybody can agree that’s pretty heinous. I don’t get to decide if that’s present or not except that I can report it. It’s not just things that can be misinterpreted, there’s a real problem.

“Add to your library” is my guess.

I believe in you!

All the durability of a foldable now with the screen size of a phone.

Not the best example, but here’s one of entering a location and a monster appears right next to you in a puff of smoke https://youtube.com/shorts/6tyJ_zw0OMA

This completely invalidates being careful or stealthy. I can’t feel paranoid if I know it’s not a mechanical counter to lurking enemies. I’m just going to run straight in because either way, enemies will suddenly appear so there’s no advantage to not just running straight in, and that doesn’t feel tense.

Tell me they fixed the monsters appearing out of nowhere and I’ll get as wet as Grimhaven Bay.

16 bit X9, please.

Requirements like that in the music industry are why there’s an excess of Christmas music albums. I like the idea that video game movies and other slush-level movies are the equivalent.

There are exceptions

Never realized that was the first FF to have the same sprites on exploration and battle. And the characterization in just the hit animations. Thanks for posting this.

Vampire survivors comes to mind.

Back boobs, side boobs, thigh boobs, tent boobs, beholder boobs, bulette boobs, Elder Boob.

If only there were other income streams for a video game company 🤔

Two to four.

Me, too. I carry earplugs and that helps a little in crowded places. Communicating with shower buddies is always tough, though. Especially when there’s a crowd.

Just as soon as we no longer need to drive.

4 made up functions that didn’t exist last time I asked in a programming question.

Remember that other sequel with puppets?

Or the one with the CGI chipmunks?

I hope this one fares better.

Yay, the Pkunk are back!

Lots of fond memories here. The music! And the personalities of all the aliens. Frungy, happy campers, the Spathi B.U.T.T.

Greys and blues like the civil war?

Jumping peppers!

Have you come across the word 過労死 in your studies yet?

Ok, then it’s not for you and you don’t really have to make a counter point.

GURPS has two letters that I think are the best: Generic and Universal. You can run anything in it and switch it up as much as you want. You could run campaigns similar to any of Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Sliders, Brisco County Jr, Walking Dead, Harry Potter, etc., and have the ability to do crossover episodes.

Gives off “Umm, actually” vibes. Metroidvania is a useful term.

Can only get you halfway there with Awful Games Done Quick

Edit: play at half speed to get the other condition met.