COMPLETE: Thanatos Insignia
Dec. 17th, 2017 03:03 pmIt turns out that giving me a gameblogging awards category for abandoned games I should revisit is dangerous, because then it gets me in the mood to revisit them. Thanatos Insignia (spoilers) won the "Extra Life" award last night, after I'd written it off earlier in the year. In its victory writeup, as I was explaining why this game beat out Chromatron for the honor, I said:
"I want to say that Chromatron is the better game, especially since it's a real game whereas TI was a quickie 24-hour MegaZeux game jam contest entry. But this isn't about which is the better game. This is about which one I'm more likely to try again.
"The problem with Chromatron's impossibility is that would still be just as impossible even if I go back. TI was something I'd merely gotten tired of, and game fatigue can wear off over time. Furthermore, TI is shorter, easier (probably), and more likely to sneak in as an "I have an hour to kill and want a quick point to score for a COMPLETE entry" romp."
I wasn't expecting the prophecy to come true the very next day, but sneak in it did. What can I say? It was on my mind after the awards post, and it's more prudent to take the one hour or so to knock it out while I'm tempted, before that urge fades again. If I hadn't heeded the random whim to do it today, then when?
You can pretty much reread my ABANDONED entry for it for the general synopsis of what kind of game this is; it's still that. I did it on Hard so I wouldn't feel like I left any unfinished business this time, which does introduce a few changes. Save Crystals are now a rare collectible item, so saving your game is more of a strategic decision done sparingly. (Then again, I'd forgotten you could even save at all when I lost last time, so no huge loss there.) Hard mode also changes the slow gradual health regeneration into nothing at all for a certain amount of seconds after you just took a hit, but near-instantaneous after that. (So, when it's safe, basically.) That plus the near-bullet hell levels of projectiles turns Hard Mode into TAKING COVER BEHIND THINGS SIMULATOR 2012.
I took a very cautious approach, where I'd just keep firing blindly ahead as I slowly entered new areas--your bullets home in on things, and you can flee back to safety if they start shooting at you too much in return. All in all, I think maybe 25% of the combat in this game was against enemies I actually saw on screen. Seemed to work out well enough.
I downloaded the Deluxe Pack and there's a Thanatos Insignia 2 included, which I may do sometime, but for now, there you have it. Look what this category did to me,
xyzzysqrl. This is all your fault.
"I want to say that Chromatron is the better game, especially since it's a real game whereas TI was a quickie 24-hour MegaZeux game jam contest entry. But this isn't about which is the better game. This is about which one I'm more likely to try again.
"The problem with Chromatron's impossibility is that would still be just as impossible even if I go back. TI was something I'd merely gotten tired of, and game fatigue can wear off over time. Furthermore, TI is shorter, easier (probably), and more likely to sneak in as an "I have an hour to kill and want a quick point to score for a COMPLETE entry" romp."
I wasn't expecting the prophecy to come true the very next day, but sneak in it did. What can I say? It was on my mind after the awards post, and it's more prudent to take the one hour or so to knock it out while I'm tempted, before that urge fades again. If I hadn't heeded the random whim to do it today, then when?
You can pretty much reread my ABANDONED entry for it for the general synopsis of what kind of game this is; it's still that. I did it on Hard so I wouldn't feel like I left any unfinished business this time, which does introduce a few changes. Save Crystals are now a rare collectible item, so saving your game is more of a strategic decision done sparingly. (Then again, I'd forgotten you could even save at all when I lost last time, so no huge loss there.) Hard mode also changes the slow gradual health regeneration into nothing at all for a certain amount of seconds after you just took a hit, but near-instantaneous after that. (So, when it's safe, basically.) That plus the near-bullet hell levels of projectiles turns Hard Mode into TAKING COVER BEHIND THINGS SIMULATOR 2012.
I took a very cautious approach, where I'd just keep firing blindly ahead as I slowly entered new areas--your bullets home in on things, and you can flee back to safety if they start shooting at you too much in return. All in all, I think maybe 25% of the combat in this game was against enemies I actually saw on screen. Seemed to work out well enough.
I downloaded the Deluxe Pack and there's a Thanatos Insignia 2 included, which I may do sometime, but for now, there you have it. Look what this category did to me,
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