So I just finished Perfect Dark. I honestly had a good time with it once I switched to Agent difficulty. The levels became more straightforward, although some were still annoying to navigate. That's one of the issues with the game, sometimes you'll do a lot of wandering around just to find where to go next. Maybe I'm spoiled by modern games' waypoints but it was genuinely hard to know where to go in some cases.
Other than that, it was a really fun game. I like the objective-based missions and on Agent difficulty, the objectives weren't that hard to figure out. The shooting became a lot of fun once you turned on aim assist.
The story started out interesting but over time it became less serious and therefore less captivating to follow. I mean, aliens that speak as Yoda that also act as the narrative's comic relief really brings down the overall coolness of the game. Rare's sense of humor (as seen in games like Banjo-Kazooie, Conker etc.) doesn't really fit in a game like Perfect Dark, which is supposed to be a spiritual successor to James Bond.
Just like @Balta666 mentioned, the final boss was rather annoying. I honestly couldn't figure out how to bring it down and whenever you die, you had to restart the entire level. It's still crazy to me that there are no checkpoints in this game.
Overall though, I enjoyed my time with the game. Switching difficulty definitely helped a lot and it also made the game shorter by reducing the amount of objectives. It says on HowLongToBeat that it takes 8.5 hours to beat the story, but I'd say it took me 5 hours when factoring in that I started out on Special Agent. If you play on Agent from the start, it might take as little as 3 hours to finish the game. So it definitely doesn't overstay its welcome.
After finishing the game, I went to Wikipedia to read about it. Here are some interesting tidbits that I found related to the game:
The game takes place in 2023, which makes it very fitting that we're playing it now!
The protagonist's name Joanna Dark was inspired by the French hero Joan of Arc (french: Jeanne d'Arc), which is really cool!
Rare was interested in making another video game adaptation of another James Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies, but they were outbid by EA.
I was also shocked to find out that the game has a 97/100 on Metacritic. That's insane! The game is honestly more of a 7 or 8 out of 10 for me.
I have have finally beat the final boss. It took me a few tries as it is a little puzzly but the last time when I already knew what to do I manage to best it really quick (I feel it was under a minute).
I absolutely adore this game. It is my favourite single player campaign by a country mile and I feel the objectives nature of it is much better than a straight line of story focused narrativeof today's (I do like CoD 4's campaign though).
Also is way easier than Goldeneye's which is welcome.
@ralphdibny I think I'm Gona a chuck in a vote for Ori 2 as well
Reason being that I'm thinking of refreshing the vote list next month and I think that's one of the only games that's been on there for a few years still that I really Wana play
@AgentCooper no worries mate, hope you are well. Are you just announcing a sabbatical or did you Wana be taken off the tag list until you return? Just checking, to be sure!
@ralphdibny Most likely not. It'll probably be a different experience but I just don't feel like playing more of the game. I'd rather use that time to play Perfect Dark Zero, which I'll probably won't play anytime soon.
Ori 2 actually sounds quite nice right about now. It was a hot minute since we played the first game on Game Club and it's also been quite some time since I played a Metroidvania. Not to mention that I have another week off from work in the beginning of August, so I might participate in Game Club again.
Regardless, I'll throw in a vote for Ori 2 as well.
@LtSarge fair play, makes sense. I'm not really one to replay games myself unless they are really special and there's been a good amount of time between playthroughs
@Balta666 cheers, yours and Sarge's votes added. Well it's still early in the month and more votes may come in! I'm Gona refresh a fair amount of the list just to give people some ideas but I'll keep a few things on there that have been added recentishly
@Utena-mobile you don't need to rush. Everyone plays at their own pace and we allways change on the first day on the month but even if you do not finish the game in its month you can still talk about later too.
I absolutely love the HD graphics, the game looks amazing, it's like having the nostalgia of retro graphics without the headache of hardware limitations. I've thought this about other N64 remasters I've played like Turok and Star Wars Pod racer.
Music is excellent too. I will talk about nostalgia but it's more for the era considering I've never played this game before. I particularly like the bgm on the area 51 levels which is where I'm at now.
I like that that guy sounds like Sean Connery
Love the awkward English banter between Jo and everyone else.
I love how short the levels are too, like ten minutes a piece so far. So it feels like I am making a lot of progress in short game sessions.
I'm not amazingly fond of specifically worded objectives that in practice are incredibly vague due to lack of visual reference. I don't really know what's going on half the time. I'm just ploughing through and killing enemies and pressing A on walls until objectives tick themselves off. A lab coat just appeared in my inventory but I have now idea how I got it. Occasionally graphics make it difficult to discern objectives too, had no idea the equipment drop in the storm drains wasn't actually just part of the architecture. I've had to use a video guide to nudge me along in a couple of places.
I think seeing stuff in levels that have no function but are clearly something to do with the objectives on the harder difficulties is notable but not necessarily good or bad. Perhaps it adds a little confusion as to whether it's to do with an objective I've missed or whether it's totally irrelevant to my playthrough.
So up and down but nothing to egregious, mostly it's fine, not amazing but I really like the feels it's giving me.
I think I'm roughly a third of the way through and I'm thinking whether I would play it again. Part of me says yes, I think it's too easy on Agent (so far) and extra objectives would be nice, part of me says no because I'm not sure how much I care or how much additional objectives/difficulty would add to it.
I'll finish it at the very least, I could be sick of it by then anyway! I'll play Perfect Dark 0 and then I may return for a special agent playthrough, or at least have a go on it.
@ralphdibny Based on what you've said, I think it'd be best for you to stick with Agent difficulty just so you can get through this game once. It's a fun game but for some reason, it doesn't do a good job of getting you hooked. I feel like it's very easy to lose interest in this game.
I don't know if other people have already played Perfect Dark Zero, but I wouldn't mind voting for it at a later time. It'd be interesting to see how it fares compared to the original.
@LtSarge fair play but considering it's taken like 3 years to get Perfect Dark to the table, I dread to think how long itll be before Zero gets chosen 😂
I think I need an indefinite break from running this club. I've had a brilliant time being part of and also managing this part of the PX community but unfortunately it has become tainted for a few reasons outside of my control. I will admit, that this is probably more of a "me" problem but I just don't feel as amazing about it all as I used to.
That said, it's absolutely not the fault of anyone within this community. At all. You've all been brilliant and amazing contributors. I enjoy your (digital) company and I commend the respect that you give this club and other members within it.
I have been wracking my brain over the last week, trying to work out how I could transition this club into somebody else's administration. Short of a full reset and a new thread, I haven't come up with anything. Also, if I did decide to delete my Hookshot account in the future, unfortunately this thread would go with it as I am the topic creator.
Having been privately talked out of a full account deletion by a fellow forumite. I think I might just have to ask somebody to step in and take over for an indefinite period of time. And for that, I would ask either @themightyant or @agentcooper to take the reigns, if one of you could possibly oblige.
I think at this point, I would still like to contribute as a community member, just not as a manager because it has become more of an unpaid job than a fun hobby and that power balance has made me feel a bit uncomfortable. It's also made me feel uncomfortable about contributing more elsewhere in the community and giving up more of my time to it. So I'll still try and take part in the thread and play the games but just as a fan rather than an organiser.
While I am trialing this hands-off approach, I will still be around to change the thread title. However, there might come a time in future where I have to take a further step back and limit my access to Hookshot websites and I might ask @FraserG to change the thread title on my behalf (I believe that's within your power?). But for now, I will try taking a small step back and doing the title change myself but might ask Fraser to take over from me in future.
Obviously, if it goes as far as a full account deletion then I will do my best to preserve this thread - perhaps by having another user copy and paste it into a new thread. I'm not sure exactly but we can cross that bridge if it comes to it.
For now, I will keep doing the administration for this thread through to the beginning of August. I will update August's game and refresh the voting list at that point. I hope that after that, somebody (or some combination of people) that I've tagged will volunteer to take over the role from me.
That said, my head might clear up by then and I might decide that I need this responsibility more than I don't and I could change my mind. But this is just where I'm at right now.
Thanks all and happy gaming ✌️
Edit: if anyone has my gamer tag and wants to discuss this privately then feel free to shoot me a message.
@ralphdibny it is very fair. This is something not worth doing when it becomes a burden. I will let @themightyant speak first as he has done it in the past in a flawless manner but I am happy to do it also if needed.
I would say we will discuss how to work around an account deletion if we get to that point. Atm the hardest challenge is probably the maximum number of tags (but it can potentially be resolved with a double/triple post...)
Cheers mate
@Balta666 thanks Balta, you were next in line for me to ask. I only went with mightyant because he's done it before for a long while and agentcooper because he is currently doing the same thing over on push square so might be able to cover both in one hit. But as a contributor and somebody who has taken on some administration responsibilities for this thread in the past, you were definitely the next person I was going to ask if the others couldn't do it.
But yeah, thank you so much for your reply and for understanding. It means a lot!
@ralphdibny First off, as ever, a massive thank you for all you've done here. It has always been much appreciated.
Completely agree with what @Balta666 said, it's meant to be fun, if it becomes a burden it's not worth doing. I truly believe these things are meant to be passed on from time to time, just as members come and go, and you have done a long stint, don't let it stress you out. Be happy, and proud, of what you have achieved.
I am frankly flattered to be asked to take over, but I have to politely decline. Truth is I haven't been here on the Game Club much of late for a variety of reasons. Primarily a change to my work this year has left me with even less time to game, it's doubtful I can even play the monthly games right now. Plus I seemed to be spending more time commenting on games than actually playing them... i'm trying to fix that! All that and a few other IRL events mean i'm not in a good position to take over right now. I will of course try and pop-in and comment whenever I can and play if i'm able. It's a great community.
I know @Balta666 has done an excellent job in the past and my vote would go to him. Very safe pair of hands.
In terms of logistics I don't think a new thread is a problem at all and might make things easier to manage for the new administrator. Ideally it would be great if this one could stay and was linked to, but it's not the end of the world if not. It was always more about the journey we shared than the destination for me, not about having something in print 'forever', but that's probably subjective. Though I suspect Ant Dickens could help with that if it came to account deletion, he may be able to reassign the post to someone else. He also helped in the past raising your limit on tags, i'm sure he could do it for @Balta666.
More than anything @ralphdibny wishing you all the best, here and IRL, whatever you choose. If we can do anything to help, just ask.
I am genuinely sorry Balt for not tagging you in my initial post. Not really sure what I was thinking, maybe just that it would be easier for those to take it over for whatever reason. But I think you can do it, so if you want to then I'd be more than happy to hand it over to you.
If you still want to do it, then when I do the August post, I'll change some of the writing to say that people should tag you with their votes. It might be prudent for you to copy and paste the game list for August into a second post so you can keep a tally of the votes that will come in that month. That won't be an issue for September onwards because you will create the monthly posts from then on.
On the first of every month from September onwards, do your monthly post. I'm in the tag list so I should see it. Then I'll update the thread title and Post #1 with the new game. That's all the admin I am looking to do for the foreseeable future. I just need to take a step back.
I'm sorry I can't say if it will be a couple months or if it will be a couple years. I think I just need to relinquish some control and give myself time to re-evaluate myself and my purpose here, what I give to the community and what I get out of it. I'll let you know if anything changes with me and whether I am able to take back the reigns or if I need to remove myself entirely. I think I'm just going to see how it goes for now. If that's ok?
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