Ori and the Blind Forest

[purbeast0]

I know this game isn't new or anything, but I had heard good things about it and saw it for $12 on Amazon a few weeks back so I picked it up.

I really started digging into it the past few weeks and have played it for like 90 minutes the past 2 nights, and this is one of the best games I've played this gen. I'm playing on X1X and the graphics and art style in this game is just incredible. Add top notch music and sound on top of that, as well as a game that is pretty damn challenging, you have what I think is one of the most refreshing and best games this gen.

I thought I'd put this out there in case other's didn't really know much about it. A sequel comes out next February as well and it will be a day 1 purchase for me.

 

[quikah]

Agreed, this game is amazing. The game is challenging but seems totally fair, not many cheap twitchy obstacles which I quickly grow frustrated with in this type of game (I gave up on Hollow Knight because of this which is a pretty similar game).

I am super hyped for the sequel. I played this on my PC a while back. Will probably play the sequel on my X1X.

 

[Oyeve]

Agreed. One of my fav games.

 

[purbeast0]

Agreed, this game is amazing. The game is challenging but seems totally fair, not many cheap twitchy obstacles which I quickly grow frustrated with in this type of game (I gave up on Hollow Knight because of this which is a pretty similar game).

I am super hyped for the sequel. I played this on my PC a while back. Will probably play the sequel on my X1X.

I still haven't finished Hollow Knight. That is definitely the comparison I thought when I started playing Ori. It felt a lot like it with a very unique art style and the incredible sound/music in both of them. And of course, the whole metroidvania thing.

Hollow Knight is definitely harder and less hand holding is going on in that game. I am basically stuck at a boss that I am having trouble beating, but I don't know if I'm supposed to face him right now or wait until I have more stuff unlocked. But I haven't played it since I was on a flight a few months ago.

 

[Aikouka]

I liked Ori and the Blind Forest quite a bit. I think if we were to draw some nerdy bar graph about what aspects of a Metroidvania this game focuses on, it would probably skew higher toward platforming than anything. That's not a bad thing, but it did stick out to me quite a bit when playing it.

The game can be quite punishing in its... I'm not really sure what to call them, so I'll just refer to them as "dungeons". Although, I think the important aspect is that it never really felt unfair. You do have to think quickly in the game to react, or play using the "keep trying and get a little further every time" method. I think there was only one part that I thought needed to be retuned a bit due to feeling like a bit too much BS. It was during the ice "dungeon" where you had to climb up with ice bits falling that would insta-kill you. I recall that the first one wasn't obvious and your chances of dying to it were quite high.

In regard to Hollow Knight, I know the game is well liked, but I do think Ori is a far better game overall. The biggest thing is that I never liked about Hollow Knight is how you're just dropped into the world and expected to just explore and do stuff without really any narrative pushing you along. Ori doesn't have the most front-ended story, but it does have all "the feels" right at the beginning!

 

[purbeast0]

I liked Ori and the Blind Forest quite a bit. I think if we were to draw some nerdy bar graph about what aspects of a Metroidvania this game focuses on, it would probably skew higher toward platforming than anything. That's not a bad thing, but it did stick out to me quite a bit when playing it.

The game can be quite punishing in its... I'm not really sure what to call them, so I'll just refer to them as "dungeons". Although, I think the important aspect is that it never really felt unfair. You do have to think quickly in the game to react, or play using the "keep trying and get a little further every time" method. I think there was only one part that I thought needed to be retuned a bit due to feeling like a bit too much BS. It was during the ice "dungeon" where you had to climb up with ice bits falling that would insta-kill you. I recall that the first one wasn't obvious and your chances of dying to it were quite high.

In regard to Hollow Knight, I know the game is well liked, but I do think Ori is a far better game overall. The biggest thing is that I never liked about Hollow Knight is how you're just dropped into the world and expected to just explore and do stuff without really any narrative pushing you along. Ori doesn't have the most front-ended story, but it does have all "the feels" right at the beginning!

Hollow Knight not hand holding you is a breath of fresh air in today's gaming world in my opinion.

 

[Aikouka]

Hollow Knight not hand holding you is a breath of fresh air in today's gaming world in my opinion.

I don't think "not providing an upfront narrative hook" is the same as "not hand holding".

 

[purbeast0]

I don't think "not providing an upfront narrative hook" is the same as "not hand holding".

They kind of go hand in hand because you really have no clue WTF to do or why you are doing it. It's just part of the style the game and it unfolds as you progress.

So far in Ori, there hasn't been one part where there isn't a blinking part of the map to go to.

Not saying one is necessarily better than the other though. And Ori is challenging enough that I'm okay with it doing that.

Another game that has no upfront story that is fantastic is Gris. It's just a linear "game" though so it's pretty obvious where you go though.

 

[purbeast0]

Just finished it.

This game is simply incredible. One of the best games of this generation in my opinion. The game is very challenging too which I really enjoyed, and the way they let you basically have save states really helps with a lot of the tough parts.

I'm sad that the game is over now

 

[digiram]

I got the game when it came it.. was amazing, but got stuck on some part and haven't gone back in a while. I need to go back to finish it.

Anyhow, I started playing SOTN again when it was free with XBL. The game feels so hard. I didn't remember it being this hard when I played it on PS1 decades ago. After playing a bit, I realize why it's so hard. I'm just too old, and don't have the patience anymore and western games have kind of dumbed down games for me. Most bosses in western developed games are bullet sponges. Bosses in SOTN, require timing and studying their moves, learning from mistakes. This is too much work for me now.. lol

 

[zinfamous]

Recent genre-similar games I have played are Salt & Sanctuary, Dead Cells, and currently Sundered.

I really like Salt & Sanctuary, with the starting class-like mechanic, but I stopped playing it for some reason. not sure why. I like Dead Cells a lot, but again stopped playing somewhat early on. I never quite crossed the early game hump where you get just past the frustrating difficulty and loss and manage to get comfortable with the game. ....I guess I felt the punishment on death was just a bit too severe, and me being impatient at the time. ...it's also possible I set difficulty to max, which might explain things, lol.

I really like Sundered, though. It has good balance of levels, skill progression, and actually a weird, well-developed story for this sort of game. It also gets into crazy bullet-spam japanese type games in some sequences where you just have to deal with massive hoards and crazy all-over-the-screen snipers....but not in a cheap obnoxious way.

I keep meaning to pick up Ori, but I never do for some reason.

 

[zinfamous]

I got the game when it came it.. was amazing, but got stuck on some part and haven't gone back in a while. I need to go back to finish it.

Anyhow, I started playing SOTN again when it was free with XBL. The game feels so hard. I didn't remember it being this hard when I played it on PS1 decades ago. After playing a bit, I realize why it's so hard. I'm just too old, and don't have the patience anymore and western games have kind of dumbed down games for me. Most bosses in western developed games are bullet sponges. Bosses in SOTN, require timing and studying their moves, learning from mistakes. This is too much work for me now.. lol

yeah, I don't recall SotN being all that hard, though I must have played through it half a dozen times (actually think I still have my PS1 copy and my backwards-compatible PS3...hmm...). It got to the point where I could do very quick runthroughs and after only a small bit of frustrated farming, especially to ghat Climhazzard or whatever sword that just mows things down, much of the game gets a bit too easy

 

[purbeast0]

Dead Cells is nothing like Ori...

 

[zinfamous]

Dead Cells is nothing like Ori...

It's in the same metroidvania genre, so it will continue to be compared with others as it has been. One of the things that sets dead cells apart, I guess, is that it leans heavier on the rogue elements, which definitely isn't a staple of metroidvania, but it also isn't absent from them, either.

Is that what you mean--nothing like it because none of the Rogue-like elements in Ori?

 

[purbeast0]

It's in the same metroidvania genre, so it will continue to be compared with others as it has been. One of the things that sets dead cells apart, I guess, is that it leans heavier on the rogue elements, which definitely isn't a staple of metroidvania, but it also isn't absent from them, either.

Is that what you mean--nothing like it because none of the Rogue-like elements in Ori?

Nothing like because it's not really metroidvania like.

I mean you start over at the beginning of the game every time you die with new random items. And you can beat the whole game in like 45 minutes. There is no "world" that you explore that is open from the beginning where you can't access certain parts until later in the game. Sure there are a few things you can't access until you have multiple play throughs, but that isn't how metroidvania games are.

It's in it's own type of genre imo.

 

[nakedfrog]

yeah, I don't recall SotN being all that hard, though I must have played through it half a dozen times (actually think I still have my PS1 copy and my backwards-compatible PS3...hmm...). It got to the point where I could do very quick runthroughs and after only a small bit of frustrated farming, especially to ghat Climhazzard or whatever sword that just mows things down, much of the game gets a bit too easy

Crissaegrim?

 

[quikah]

It is coming to the Switch
https://upi.com/6932355

 

[zinfamous]

Crissaegrim?

ah yes, that's it.