I create in-depth game reviews and retrospectives, with a focus on how the story is crafted and delivered. Exploring narrative techniques, character development, and storytelling within games, my content dives into what makes each game's world and plot unique. All that mixed with my bad taste in humor.
When you reach the falling hut! Maybe you had to use a rope bow/ at least You should have a spell that grabs items to get armour, chest open and so on! Some secret places need this hand spell. I played this game in 2007. And it was fun combat! My favorite card for this game was ATI RADEON 3850 512 AGP and MS Vista for os. I used many more ATI:9600PRO, x200m, X1950XTX, and NVIDIA cards: fx5200, 6600 golden sample, 7200go, GT 8400,GTS 250, GTX460, GTX 960 and GTX 1050Ti. My favorite monitor for this game was PHILIPS CRT monitor 107E. ATI Cards are better for mini details. In Vista, it looked sharper and a little darker compared to Windows XP. I used demo EXE on the original game. It made little visual difference. I did play the DMMM demo first. Yesterday I played a demo from Steam and It was different., I liked the original icon of the skull logo on a white screen. It did have the same menu bugs. However, the visual quality can be different in WINDOWS 10. because it emulates DX9.0c. Windows 10 doesn't support adaptive anti-aliasing, a wide range of minimap details, CRT resolutions, and maybe more things that affect the gaming experience. At least for me, Windows Vista was visual artwork but the performance was a little garbage! Before playing a game I watch DMMM cut scene game trailer which it reveals the story plot and skill classes. Perfect hype for this game! Many people are amazed to play as dark messiah! This game has many flaws... And I still love it. Maybe we can get good mods that fix bugs and add more. I remember this game had an early patch too. That patch took away little visual things. It was possible to shrink the resolution screen before the patch. but later on, it was more filled with bugs. The game without a patch was sometimes too broken. My favorite spell is FIREBALL and I like how you can break stuff. Oil vases were my personal favourite for the first time. I explored a lot of secrets and did not like how many skills I needed in the beginning dedicated to unlocking secret places and items. My favourite enemies are the black guard and vampires. Orcs were not so fun to fight. Spiders were the nightmare in this game. I did die a lot of times thanks to spiders. Ghouls are annoying too. I think spiders are needed for this game because it creates a challenge that you need to overcome in order to appreciate combat mechanics. I think this game should have to grab spell scrolls in the inventory for secret areas or at least for choice. investing for Grab Magic for only using it for items is kind of waste. I know you can grab items and throw them or grab enemies from long distance but it is not fun as sword, daggers, ice, fireball or kick. When I first watched intros and then played the demo... It was pure combat with magic!
Mate, don’t take me wrong, but I’ll only address the parts that don’t seem AI-generated. I think the falling hut loot could be reached using magic; I tried the rope bow and had the same result. The combat style involving the ability to grab enemies sounds really cool, so it might be worth another playthrough.
Glad you liked the video. I wish I could say the same, but I only played this one in recent years. It would have blown my mind if I had played it as a kid, but despite that, still a great game.
I love NMH2 Desperate Struggle as much as the other games in the kill the past series the hate seems to have died down on the game nowadays most people love it especially with its soundtrack that just kicks total ass
Thankfully, it seems to have ended among the community. However, I think it will artificially return the second this series gets more notoriety from people outside the community, similar to what happened with Berserk. I know these two are very different series both in media and general concept, but both of them have some non-politically correct themes (especially the first two games). Despite Berserk being way more controversial, both series might be treated as if they were the same thing.
Honestly, going after achievements isn't really my thing, but I know some people who won't even touch a game if there's an issue with acquiring them. Thanks for sharing this!
@@brbcaster i can understand that and honestly for me as someone who didn't play the first game at the time the second game was entry point to this series which was really awesome and badass
The UAA in 2 was established in an official capacity by Jasper and Pizza Batt for the purpose of killing Travis. TSA reveals that the first game's fights were livestreamed and became a sensation that we can infer Pizza Batt capitialized on when it took over Santa Destroy with its urban redevelopment plan. That's why Sylvia resorts to peep shows afterwards, there's no more UAA now that its sole benefactor is dead. I do think the writing is all over the place in this series with plenty of issues but funnily enough the existence of the UAA is not one of them. NMH1 - An elaborate con devised by Sylvia. NMH2 - Televised revival by Pizza Batt to get revenge on Travis NMH3 - Exists in name only and is organized by Damon and Utopinia in order to combat the alien invasion.
I did not mention the justification they gave in TSA because I wanted to present the series with only the information we have in the first 2 games, kind of to simulate the experience most people had when the games were first released. I probably missed the information about the UAA they gave in the second game. You know in which segment it is? I mean there is that scene before number 50 at the restaurant, but if this is the scene, it's kind of careless of them to be subtle about the one theme they should absolutely not be subtle, taking in consideration how important the UAA is to the plot.
@@brbcasterSorry for the late reply I never got notified. The actual justification in game (being NMH2) is super thin, basically only being the restaurant scene, a line about Santa Destroy undergoing a massive redevelopment project (which I infer was by Pizza Batt), and a line from the jack of all trades guy mentioning that the assassination matches are being televised. Since the game's events stem from Jasper and Skelter Helter's revenge plot, the logical conclusion is that Jasper masterminded every facet of it, including the invention of this new UAA. But tbf, I think Suda just really wanted the UAA to still be a thing in the sequel since it's an effective framing device, and he wasn't too bothered by how he was gonna justify it being real this time. So it could be the case that I'm only writing for the game with these conclusions and it is indeed a total retcon. I 100% agree they needed to be more clear on the UAA among other things, I think this series' larger than life characters and themes tend to be a smokescreen for the generally poor writing. But at the very least it isn't much of a stretch to explain the UAA since all the necessary information is there to put it together, regardless if it was originally intended or not.
No problem! I agree. As I mentioned in the video, it’s not something that ruins the enjoyment of the game, I only pointed it out for the sake of analysis. For now, I’m trying to figure out how to talk about TSA story, but I’ll definitely include this correction in the next video. Thanks!
@@Giornio.b I think it's a great game, but for a different reason of this one. The first impression might seem a bit weird at first due to its different style, but it quickly becomes very enjoyable thanks to the story. It's also where the series truly embraces its identity. Most importantly, it's a tribute to many of Suda's other famous games.
@@brbcaster I finished it today and it was great, the dlc was excruciatingly hard to me tho took me around 5 hours for it alone, the story was amazing to me and I loved how it was basically a sequel to silver case as I also love those. Those bullet enemy’s tho…
@@Giornio.b I think it's my top 2 in the series, I got to a point in the DLC that I almost decided to rush it. I never played Silver Case myself but I basically watched the whole game in the background while playing Kenshi. Yeah, I don't remember the exact name of the enemy right now, I think they looked a lot like a Travis, at the end of the main story the game throws 2 of them at you and it's basically stun lock hell.
Growing up with the series, I didn't think too much of NMH2's story, other than some lingering thoughts of conflicting motives here and there, It really felt like a soft reboot on Travis's character because he has to relearn the lesson he just experience from the first game, and the message NMH2 was trying to deliver...ehh, I guess it didn't really stick. Other than he that, the character interactions, cutscenes, and humor were top notch. The soundtrack is still fire. Ashame the creator didn't get to make that Pure White Lover into an actual anime. Or someone from the studio wanted to do that, last I read about years ago. After watching this video I came to realize I haven't yet played NMH3; gonna have to do research to see if it holds up well on the Nintendo Switch.
I just discovered he tried to do the anime into a real thing, I think he should try to do it again. I've played NMH3 on the PC so I can't really help on that matter, but from the reveals that I have seen about it, the feelings were kind of mixed.
I think NMH2's story would benefit from better _context._ As it is, the story jumps through hoops to justify having Travis taking on a series of colorful characters. I ask, _why?_ Just do it, Suda, no one would bat an eye! Instead, Travis is saddled with a shallow revenge plot and a distracting framing device. They want a revenge story? Here it is: Travis is at home, enjoying some finely crafted *_Moe_* when all his support cast from NMH1 come flying through his window in finely diced, juicy pieces. He rumages through the mess and finds a note from Jasper taking credit for the deaths and goading Travis to come find him. Rightly miffed, Travis finds his pants and heads off for Pizza Tower where he _does a Die Hard!_ The game can then use the floors as themed stages, with an assassin guarding the elevator leading up to the next floor. The game can basically follow the same flow as the original, but now without the messy plot spackle. Side missions, Bathrooms, and stores can either be on the floors or in the elevator (imagine a really big elevator!) With the plot centered around climbing up a tower, there's no need for the UAA, you have a logical reason why Travis can't head directly towards Jasper, and you can have some entertaing set pieces, like riding up the side of the buliding on the bike while being chased by Death Parade, and Letz Shake falling though several floors because he's too heavy, allowing Travis skip several fights easy.
Interesting rewriting. A comically large tower would be something believable in the NMH world. It would remove the UAA plot whole, it would force Travis to do all the ranks without the UAA rules, it also gives room for jokes AND would allow Suda to keep his self-reference. I think this motivation would work, the player is bound to like one of the characters that would be killed, instead of killing the one character no one cared or even remembered, but I think there is no way Suda would kill Sylvia, Henry or Shinobu.
@@brbcaster That's the best part, the player will be led to believe Silvia, Shinobu, and Henry are dead only for them to appear later to rescue/pester/challenge Travis. This gives room for new characters to develop while giving the returning ones a chance to shine. This could even allow for a New Game + where you can play as other characters.
@@Armedus I was going to say this would thin the budget, however, I think this idea would be possible, not only because they probably would have some extra cash after cutting the city exploration and keeping the 8-bit mini-game style. They also could use the time they dumped into those unreasonably big dungeons to do this.
Mark my words, the real Henry Cooldown will return in _No More Heroes Forever: Family Wars!_ In all seriousness, wouldn't put it past Suda to pull a major bait-and-switch. After all, didn't "Henry" say he changed after watching Thor? And who is in Thor? _Loki,_ the shape-shifting prince of deception. We're being set up for another rug pull. Just got to wait another decade to find out. Maybe. Hmm....😑
You know... something like this really would be in character for Suda, but seeing how things are going, NMH3 might be the last game of the franchise because of legal problems (Judging by the few things I've seen about it).
@@misterhimura036 Agree. It's pretty shallow and feels like a half-hearted attempt to remake the first. I'm okay with it but it barely moves the needle. I sincerely hope it's not the last entry for the series.
2 details about Jasper Batt Jr I find interesting is that his motivation stems from the Assassination Gigs in NMH and there's 3 of them. And, he's the mascot given his age, appearance and the forms in his fight.😶
Naomi has gone full business mindset on this one. She even stops offending Travis every time we go there and just says: "You look prettier when you have money " .
Despite its problems i grew up playing this and the first maybe because i was teenager but nmh2 was cool and i can acknowledge its flaws but i dont think it stops me from enjoying it for what it is nmh was a master piece but nmh2 is just fun and goofy and can be campy but i still enjoy it a lot
UAA is canonically now a real thing, yes, it was established for real after the success of UAA shitshow of the first game. I do not remember where exactly this was said, but yeah. Anyway, still my favorite one gameplay wise, even if it's weakest narratively, but at least I never hated Jasper Batt Jr. nor the "copeouts", but I am sad that we only got a single fight as Henry. Man, what happened to Henry from TSA on..............................
Yeah, I really don't know where they were going with Henry on the following games, on TSA the guy is unreasonable and on NHM3 he is basically another character, I also don't understand the new look, maybe they have gone too far with the Vergil reference on that one
@@DianaTaffie Wow, I just looked into it, I had no idea he did all that, on one interview apparently he even admits it . He also voiced Raiden from the MGS series.
@@brbcaster Yeah, very sad news those were, and considering the severity of it, it really feels like this might've affected Henry's character due to TSA and 3 being very personal to Suda and very meta, especially TSA.
Don't forget to like! This one took way more time than I was expecting, depending on it's performance, this might be my last video using the retrospective style.
@@DianaTaffie I'm still finishing 3, it's good but, the whole middle age, lives alone in a horríble motel room Travis, really don't fit the tone of the game. So, for now I think my rank for the series would be like this: 1, TSA, 3 and 2
@@brbcaster Undertsandable and pretty close to mine, although I adore and understand the Middle Aged Travis stuff, especially since both TSA and 3 are very personal games to Suda and very much about him and his gaming. As a whole, the most solid in my eyes is still 1, great both narratively and gameplay wise, especially after comparing my thoughts to Eleventh Heaven Critical Suplex by James Howell (very recommended watch); the best purely narratively is TSA, all of it narrative part is just perfection due to how personal it is, but COD DO I HATE ITS GAMEPLAY SO MUCH IT'S PAINFUL; 2 might still be the most fun one to play moment to moment OUTSIDE of Bosses, as Bosses are still the best in 1, but every other gameplay part is top notch in 2, and even Bosses can still be fun, and I personally enjoy Batt Jr. myself; 3 is a great followup to TSA and plays definitely better than it, but it misses so much of what I loved in gameplay from 1 and 2, it repeats way too much in missions as well, and I never felt as interested in its bosses outside of main antagonists as in all of the previous games ones, but it's still the second most solid one. So, yeah, my own ranking is anything but linera, lul.
@@smergthedargon8974 I don't think it's something to be ignored, in fact, a friend of mine used AI gen as basis for this character, then he added his own vision to it. It's just a tool.
@@brbcaster Not yet, I'm doing a New Game + run to get every Steam achievement, it's just a shame that the PC port has a few bugs to prevent true 100% completion.
Here's some tips for your voice mastering: 1. Normalize your audio recording to 0dB. It's REALLY quiet right now. This will prep it for processing: 2. Use some EQ on your voice to dampen the lows around 140Hz. -5dB low shelf sounded good. 3. Add a 4dB boost around 3.5k with a pretty wide band, maybe from 1k-8k, so a Q of 0.5) 4. Add a de-esser at around 4k and up, with reductions peaking at around 4dB. 5. Add a compressor at -11dB with a ratio of 3:1and gain of 2dB. To me, this sounds MUCH clearer. Other than that, I think your mic and setup sound pretty good.
@@brbcaster The great thing about voice recordings is that you can build a chain, save it, and load it with each new video. No need to tweak settings anymore once it's built. :)
Don't forget to like! This one is my first try with the retrospective format, boy it does take a while to make. Even though I liked making this one, I will only do another in this longer format if the video does well.
I remember playing this game a lot on my Tablet in college. It was a unique and entertaining Dungeon Crawler RPG that didn’t have many boss fights, but it required me to complete each quest in order to get the MacGuffin. A shame that it was removed from the App Store years later, but I do hope that Darkstone will get a remake sometime in 2025, 2026 or 2027.
"Complete each quest in order to get the MacGuffin" should be in the description of the game. Yeah, I hope the people who have the rights to it don't just sit on this IP.
People are retarded if they think Diablo 1 is better than Diablo 4. Ive played every game in the series m, extensively. D1 is definitely the worst game. I'd rather play Immortal, and I love D1. Eapecially now. Season 4 of D4 is phenomenal, and the game, like D3, will only continue to get better. D4 has gotten better in less time than D3 did.
Some feedback, when you use that robot character from some game, I don't think it works very well. You don't do anything with it, like ssethtzeentach does with the black guy, it's just there.
Definitely have a lot of nostalgia for this game. Played it as a kid and played through it again about 2 years go. It has it's warts but it is especially fun to play coop with a friend. At the time a full 3d Diablo clone was pretty novel and you tell the developers put a lot of love into it.