20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 20: A game that truly scared you

Red Barchetta

Red Barchetta

Talk less, smile more.
Hi. So I did something similar to this nearly two years ago and I honestly feel like reposting that version of this at some point very soon just to revisit it, but this one just popped up on my Twitter feed and it made me want to just revisit the whole concept. SO, completely ignore the "GET TO KNOW ME! 1 like = 1 answer" thing because we are absolutely not doing that. Instead, we're doing this as a "1 question a day" sort of thing, where you answer the challenge for that specific day! This is a neat thing that took off with the last one two years ago and I think it would be neat to redo this two years later and with some new people, so that's what we're going to do. I'll be updating the topic name daily with the new challenge when it is time to switch to a new one. These will probably go the full 24 hours or so, depending on when I get the opportunity to change them. Either way, I will definitely give you the full 24 hours. If you don't answer in that 24 hours, that's a-ok, just answer it whenever, even if you join in late! You're definitely encouraged to explain your answer, too. Anything to make it funner!

I'll be plopping my answer for this first one eventually when I can think of something, but here are the challenges:

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The first challenge: A game that had a lasting impression on you!
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - A game that had a lasting impression on you

The two Mario & Luigi games that have remakes, but the originals. Remakes are good, but they don't give a last impression if the original is played. If I had to chose one, Superstar Saga.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - A game that had a lasting impression on you

Super Mario Odyssey
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - A game that had a lasting impression on you

Hmm... This is a pretty tough question, but if I were to choose one, I would pick Insaniquarium Deluxe. It's basically about feeding fish and shooting aliens that threatens the fish, and while it sounds pretty silly, it's fun in practice. Did I mention that this game is the brainchild of the one who would eventually make Plants vs Zombies?

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The reason for the odd pick is due to how it reignited my passion for playing games, since it is not a very demanding game yet it is also very fun. It's also pretty much my gateway for smaller dev games and thus indies, because it is a testament that games can be fun even in a small package. I picked this game because I have previously played the PDA Insaniquarium, and when I found out that it has a Deluxe version of the PC, I didn't hesitate to play it. From there, I found out that there is a world of smaller-scale PC games.

I figured that since the others will eventually have Mario games as their picks, I would contribute something entirely different.

Thank you for reading.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - A game that had a lasting impression on you

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This is a tough pick. I went with Grand Theft Auto V and its fantastic, gigantic, overly detailed overworld that plays very well and has a crapton of mods to support it (Los Santos is my favorite video game setting, period) and I just love exploring the city while also having an accurate avatar of myself to represent as one of the many denizens. Even so, I could have went with Metro 2033 Redux for its desolate, dreary, yet beautiful atmosphere and its excellent world building and use of horror elements. I could have went with Left 4 Dead 2 for reintroducing me towards shooting things and simply just having a blast with it. I could have picked Garry's Mod for its equal freedom as Grand Theft Auto V but with an even bigger modding community. I could have went with Spore and its expansion pack Galactic Adventures as my first serious PC game and how my character is heavily based on that. I could have also went with pretty much any Mario game, particularly the spin-offs, which has been with me all my life and shaped me to be the Baby Luigi lover I am today and why I'm posting in this forum and why I'm into video games in general.

However, I just picked the one that has the freshest memory in my mind, and that's the game where I watched a sunset in a beach or simply driving around obeying traffic rules as I love strolling around in a great environment, free from any video game objectives, free from any obligations, free to do whatever I want.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - A game that had a lasting impression on you

Mario Party 5, as it wasn't just my first video game ever, but it also made me interested in the Mario series to begin with.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - A game that had a lasting impression on you

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (and honestly every other dr game but esp this one). the concepts introduced throughout the series REALLY got me thinking.

like man imagine waking up one day and realizing that the entire world, everyone you knew, and everything, was completely gone. you exit your house and cant even believe because the world is fucked up beyond belief and knowing that even if you do venture out that there's no end to it and no real point in leaving where you are at the moment. it's a truely fascinating and despair inducing thought. but even beyond that, the revelation that v3 was actually the 53rd season of danganronpa was..kind of scary. not in like a "oh gods wheres my teddy bear" kind of way but more of a "am i really morally correct" type of way. i mean thinking about the fact that you yourself were basically enjoying the torment of these (albeit virtual) characters is truely unsettling imo and it kind of makes me glad they ended the series then lol. and the last impression it left on me was the characters reaction to the end, in all of the games. throughout the series the whole theme of "yo is life really this fucked up if it is i cant handle it" plays repeatedly. in each case it ends with not a happy ending, or even neccessarily a bad one, but a "You know what, bad or good we can handle whatever is next" ending. which imo is a great philosphy that i had never really thought of applying to my life before because i've always simply tried avoiding bad situations rather than just rolling with them. applying that philosophy since then has actually been quite liberating and i'm glad something as simple as a visual novel was able to influence me in such a powerful and positive direction.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - A game that had a lasting impression on you

Paper Mario for the nintendo 64
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 2: Favorite female video game character

Day 2 is officially up! Your challenge for today: your favorite female video game character! Explanations and thoughts are obviously welcome.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 2: Favorite female video game character

Toadette(obviously, though I also like Peach, Daisy, Rosalina, Blaze, Cream, Amy Rose, Tikal, Sticks, Marine, Rouge, Coco, Nina, Lillie, and many others)
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 2: Favorite female video game character

Daisy.
The princess.

Unless of course, you wanna count Pink Yoshi as a female. In which case, PY takes the spot.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 2: Favorite female video game character

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Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 2: Favorite female video game character

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Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 2: Favorite female video game character

This is once again a tricky question, because there are female video game characters I like but there is at least a certain aspect that holds it back. My initial pick would be Daisy, but I have to hand it to an unconventional pick once again. I present you the main character and pretty much the pioneer of the Dash series: Flo!

(Left: Classic depiction; Right: Modern depiction)
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In the world of PC casual games, Flo stood out of the pack early on for not only being a very easily identifiable character, but also a recurring one. Not to mention: the first Diner Dash is a very good game that became famous for its simple but challenging gameplay. Of course, it helps a ton that Flo is a lady in charge (which translates to being a playable character that manages everything) so this is one character you can point to for positive female representation in video games. Although the Dash series have several spinoffs like Wedding Dash, Parking Dash or Fitness Dash that doesn't always have Flo herself, she has normally been the person to encourage whatever new playable character those games have. Cooking Dash is probably one spinoff that notably has Flo in charge though.

It probably is difficult to consider her a favourite because I don't play the Dash games any more, but Flo is pretty unique because she is of a more grounded and ordinary standing compared to many famous female video game characters that range from ones that are tough and handles tough situations (Samus/Lara Croft), ones that have magical powers (Zelda/Arle), ones that are thrust in fantastical settings with magical tools to handle the threats (Peach/Pokemon girl playable character) to being animals (Amy/Isabelle), and is still pretty a pretty capable person despite this.

(On the other hand, choosing a favourite male video game character is going to be easy as pie)

Thank you for reading.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 2: Favorite female video game character

Going back to day one, I'd peg it as a toss-up between Super Mario Sunshine and Pokémon FireRed for much the same reason A51 choose Mario Party 5.

Esna said:
Mario Party 5, as it wasn't just my first video game ever, but it also made me interested in the Mario series to begin with.
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They were my first and third videogames, respectively. The former set me off on a path of playing games for the rest of my life, Nintendo or otherwise, while the latter was my introduction to RPGs and set some of the standards for what I expected in terms of exploration and stumbling upon secrets in those titles.



For favourite female videogame character... that's a tough one. It's one of those questions where I'm reluctant to answer because there's so many options that I feel like I'm inevitably going to overlook my actual answers. You have Samus, Espurr from Super Mystery Dungeon, Tressa, Ophilia, and Odette from Octopath Traveler, Lovrina from Gale of Darkness, Melody Pianissima, Goombella, Bow, even Viridi, probably plenty from indie games because I'm awful at thinking up indie titles off the top of my head, you can add Touhou characters like Aya, Mystia, and Shion... I could keep going for a while, actually.

But, you know, it might be clichéd, but I think I'd have to go with Zelda. You know, I really appreciate how she's the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom and being a wise, competent ruler is basically her whole thing. At the same time, depending on the title, she shows herself to be everything from a capable fighter to a scholarly technophile. She's a Princess of many talents, I suppose, but at the heart of her character is her intelligence, the same intelligence which lets her put whatever skills or interests she happens to possess to the best use she can. I don't contest that she too falls victim to poor treatment in terms of her role in the games at times and that she's sometimes more developed in the fanworks, but, still, there's something that draws me to her character. She's the kind of character I want to point to as me niece gets into gaming, someone to show her that you can be smart and, if you're clever and put in the effort, you can take whatever you have to offer and do good with it.

Is there probably a better answer I could give? Yeah, but that's just what's resonating with me right now, y'know?
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 2: Favorite female video game character

I guess Zelda or Rosalina, considering they're cute and pretty.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 2: Favorite female video game character

If I was doing this question before mid-January this year, I would have picked Peach. But ever since buying her home game after seeing her official artwork in Super Smash Bros Ultimate as a spirit, listened to the 2 music tracks from that game in Ultimate and looking up the game trailer, I've really, really enjoyed Esna the water spirit from Ever Oasis as a character, and she's now my favorite female video game character overall to date.

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To put it short, Esna is a major NPC in Ever Oasis who helps you grow a new oasis shared between your player character and herself after an oasis belonging to your older brother got destroyed by the main villain of the game, named Chaos. As you build up your oasis, you gain more and more residents as you progress through the game, and Esna will provide her help along the way.

After I finished the game, I looked up to see if there was anything in particular the developers said when creating Esna and various other characters, and I did find these quotes from the director of the game in this article, which is 1 of 3 that he uploaded on that website.

I’ve always enjoyed exploring the relationship between spirits and the world – when I write stories, spirits are an essential element of them. Vistrahda, the setting of Ever Oasis, is a desert world, so you might wonder why we chose to make Esna a water spirit.

It’s precisely because Vistrahda is a desert world, in which water is a precious resource, that we made that choice. Also, compared to a small, faint light fairy, a water spirit has a more visible presence (even if only the hero can see her…)

Esna supports the hero and shares their outlook, their joys and their troubles – she’s like a second protagonist. She’s a partner who helps build up the oasis, celebrates the hero’s accomplishments as if they were her own, and provides praise and encouragement.

We were very committed to making Esna a sympathetic character. As players progress through the story, we want them to wonder, “What’s she thinking? What will she say next?” With this in mind, we revised Esna’s lines right up until the very end of development. I hope she’ll be a good partner not just for the hero, but for the player too!

Koichi Ishii, producer and director of Ever Oasis.
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To further emphasize Koichi's words on Esna being a sympathetic character, I'm gonna share these 3 screenshots of the game.

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Esna is everything I could ever want from a female character. She's heroic, beautiful, has a wonderful personality as well as a cute voice, and being a water spirit, exceptional magical powers. Just as much as you try to build up your oasis alongside her, so does your friendship between you and her throughout the game, and you get to clearly see her character development too as you play.

I'll conclude this by giving a shout-out to Super Smash Bros Ultimate for including Ever Oasis in its vast lineup of spirits meant to indicate "characters that left a mark in video game history", as the menu puts it when you highlight the full spirit list. I'm very hopeful that a sequel for this game on the Switch gets made (and if it does happen, I hope Esna gets to be playable!), seeing how the game got its own supply of LINE stickers, various comics on Play Nintendo's website and going back to Ultimate, 2 spirits and 2 music tracks. Given that this happened to an original Nintendo IP that was first released in the summer of 2017, that's something I find very notable, and I don't think very many recent games get that same kind of recognition.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 2: Favorite female video game character

It's pretty simple: Toadette. I like playing as her. Though female video game characters, I'm not really into all that much; it's much easier for me to name male video game characters that are my favorites than the girls.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 2: Favorite female video game character

this is an incredibly hard choice. there's a fuckton of good ones out there, Fire Emblem alone has a plethora of them. and even beyond that there's a fuckton of really good ones left: Virdi, Zelda, D. Va, Lara Croft, Samus Aran, Rosalina, Serena (Skyrim one not fe one), Yuri, Maki Harukawa, Midna, Amateratsu, Maya Fey and others i'm probs forgetting. quite honestly i don't have an ultimate preference for favorite overall.

so i guess i'll just go with whoever happens to be my phone wallpaper atm and that would be Peri from Fire Emblem: Fates. reasoning is that i just find her demeanor of not understanding the basic morality of "you know, killing people on a whim is bad" to be absolutely hilarious. everyone's reactions to it and attempts to teach her otherwise in her support conversations are totally priceless. it's also a bit...i dont want to say endearing but like, it's a really neat punchline when she applies her lack of uh, self control on the battlefield. plus i'm just a bit of a sucker for the whole yandere thing in general, idk how'd explain the appeal of yanderes (for me personally) better than i did to Pittoo on discord one time so i'll just post the logs here.

me said:
the reason i like yandere in general (and by extension Yuri) honestly also has its roots in depression etc
basically one of the symptoms of one of my problems is extreme paranoia/fear
i get freaked the fuck out really easily if i dont take the right meds/etc and
one of the ways i found to cope with fear is too just
embrace shit that supposed to be scary
yandere's are a really good outlet for that since they're basically just "scary thing that wants to hurt everything EXCEPT YOU"
so my embracement of said trope/horror shit in general has actually helped alot with my paranoia/depression and helps me feel better on a day to day basis
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Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 3: A game that's so bad but so good

Day 3 is a go! Today's challenge: A game that's so bad but so good! Explanations and thoughts aplenty.
 
Re: 20 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 3: A game that's so bad but so good

Hotel Mario, for the memes.
Hate to say it, but MK64. I remember having tons of fun with that as a kid, but now I realize that the CPU system and the controls have not aged well. At all.
Still like that version of Rainbow Road the most though.
 
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