Topic: Pure Xbox Game Club - On Indefinite Hiatus

I am doing a good job with 1 level a night. So I did freezeezy peaks last night. Flying sections, specifically for the snow men were atrocious, but I ultimately managed. It's been an ok ride halfway through. I'll continue on and finish this one up.

@NintendoByNature Haha yeah the swimming is appalling. Making slow progress myself, i'm struggling to hit the right gear with it and in danger of ruining my cherished memories of the n64 days. Should be finished before the end of the month though.

@Bundersvessel same. I just finished the gobi level last night which was the desert theme. Some elements of the game can be fun, no doubt. But, more than anything, most of the jiggies feel like a chore trying to get. I do hate saying that considering I love the N64 and platformers/collectathons from it. I'm thinking a handful of days and I'll put this game to rest. I'm not totally down on it to avoid Banjo Tooie though. I'd like to see where the series goes after this.

@NintendoByNature @Bundersvessel I have not getting the mojo to continue it (but there is still plenty of time in the month so let's see if FF XIV grab softens a bit ).

I like banjo tooie as well although many felt it a bit too long and convoluted ( you have to go back at a later date, pretty much in every level, for completion)

@NintendoByNature @Balta666 I’m definitely coloured intrigued by Banjo Tooie as I’d fully moved on to PS and Dreamcast by the time it released. If I can put my nostalgic hang ups to bed I should be able to power through BK by months end

@Bundersvessel same. Since i didn't really jive with the game during the rental phase, I never felt the need to play tooie

Oh boy. BK is starting to really grate on me lol. At this point, I'm just counting down the minutes until I roll the credits. Normally I'd just drop the game, but im at the cargo ship level and should be near the tail end, maybe a handful of hours? It just doesn't make sense to add puzzle pieces in one part, then go to a complete different section to get into said level. For a game that requires precise input at times, it's incredibly slippery and floaty. I've died so many times over silly things. Depth perception is really a problem as well. Sorry guys and gals, I know it's beloved by many, but man, I'm starting to wonder how. Or, maybe it's a me problem lol.

Edit: to make matters even worse, for some reason the game closed out and I just went to fire it back up. Went from 9 lives down to 3 and put me at the start of the game. Thankfully, no real progress was lost but still. That's frustrating.

@NintendoByNature that thing about the lives could be something of old school Nintendo as it is the same in super Mario 64 in which if you start from title screen you always start with 3 lives regardless of how many you had when turning off (I was actually surprised quick resume works with the game as it is fairly uncommon in 360 games)

@NintendoByNature I’m starting to realise some things should just be left as a happy memory since returning to these types of things often reveals it was actually a bit naff.

@Balta666 hmm I don't recall that in mario 64, but you're probably right. I just thought it was a bit silly I never closed the application and it restarted itself. Out of curiosity, how much progress do you lose when you run out of lives? Do you go back to square 1 with no levels unlocked and no jiggies, or do you just start at the beginning with all of your progress still in tact?

@NintendoByNature I think at most you loose the progress on the level but most likely not even that

In SM64 is just that. You go back to outside the castle

@Bundersvessel totally get what you mean. I often feel that way returning to some NES, genesis, and snes games. Games I adored as a kid don't feel quite right when playing in today's day and age.

Most n64 games still hold up imo. Every n64 that I own and I'll play every few years, never feel dated to me. I don't even know if it's that BK feels dated though. It feels like most games of that time, but some gameplay mechanics and decisions have me scratching my head. Only a handful of hours left thankfully. I will still try Tooie at some point though. I own rare replay afterall.

@Balta666 that's good to know. Hopefully it doesn't come to that point to test it.

Alrighty, final update for the month for Banjo. I've officially shelved it and I'll never look back. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way, but it might be the most overrated game I've ever played. And I've been playing games for nearly 35 years!

Nothing about the game is something I would consider "fun." Controls are sloppy, combat is frustrating, platforming feels impossible at times, and it's way too convulated and cryptic for my liking.

However, some good- I do like the writing, and I love the characters. The source material is there, and there's some good ideas with this duo, but it fell completely flat for me, and early on unfortunately.

The final straw that broke the camels back was gruntys furnace fun. I'm guessing it's mandatory, and there's no way around it( based on what I've read), and I tried for nearly 2 hours, and close to 15 lives. I could not get near the finish line. The questions were out of left field, cheap, and those insta death squares were obnoxious. Half the questions were something I'd never know and had no right answer, but would get them wrong.

The fact that the game throws this at you this late in the ball game, and the shear length of this mini game, is absurd. I can't say it ruined the game for me, as I was already going to give it a 5/10, maybe 6/10 if the ending was decent, but it solidified my opinion on the game, that's for sure.

I just didn't like it, and I'm sorry for sounding so negative lol. I've been on PX and part of the game club since January of 23. I've never had a negative post this bad, so my apologies. Here's to may, folks. I'll make a vote here in the coming days. Hope you guys and gals enjoy the two games 💚

@NintendoByNature absolutely fair, all opinions are welcome here either positive or negative.

P.s: that puzzle game in the last level is something I believe even the hardcore lovers of the game would not defend (also I believe all answers are given to you by talking to the sister, I was taking photos of it as I went along)

@NintendoByNature You made it further than I did! I played Banjo a while back when I still subbed to GP, but bounced off it pretty quickly. I think a big part of it for me was that I don't have any nostalgia for the N64 having never owned one (I don't like Mario 64 either) - I went from PS1 to Dreamcast. To be fair, I don't think many of those early 3D games have aged particularly well either on PS or N64, and even stuff I'd previously played and enjoyed back in the day, does nothing for me going back to it now.

@NintendoByNature Definitely a fair appraisal mate, I can only echo pretty much everything you said. Nostalgia hasn’t helped with this one whereas I actually enjoyed returning to SM64. Can’t win them all.

@Balta666 @Bundersvessel @dmcc0 glad no one was upset that I absolutely blasted a beloved title 😂. It just wasn't my thing unfortunately.

Re: the answers. How would anyone know or remember some of those ya know? If not for a 10 second timer, it would've been much more manageable.

Oh well, I'll try to finish up diablo 4 by the time we start a new month.

@NintendoByNature I played Banjo for the first time on XBO via rare replay and while I enjoyed it a lot more than you a lot of it had aged then, that I imagine has only gotten worse in the decade since. There are no wrong answers.

Besides you lasted longer than I did on Crash Bandicoot a game I will never understand where the love comes from. We all like different things.

@NintendoByNature

Nice to see a like-minded perspective on this absolutely dreadful game. I ripped it apart on Push Square a couple of years ago.

To summarize: the moveset is bloated; movement is clunky; the game is full of absolutely infuriating level design choices; the way it tracks its collectibles in the N64 version is deeply unfair, especially since there are some you can't collect on your first go through a level; the trivia level is pure tedium at absolute best; the final boss is possibly the worst I've ever encountered in a video game; and the sound design makes me want to rip my hair out.

Like, seriously, it's like they wanted to deafen the player. What an absolute joy it is to play as Kazooie without the sound muted...