Game:

Alundra (1997)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 3:24:11

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0

Originally recorded: April 20, 2023 (Hey, it's 4/20!)
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Well, I didn't quite make up for the timesink that was my last session. But at least I didn't get stuck on any puzzles for over an hour, so I'll still call it an improvement. I also managed to beat two dungeons instead of one, which was also a nice improvement... though not quite as good as my first two sessions. If this ends up being the groove I settle into for the remainder of my playthrough, it'll be fine. I just hope Alundra doesn't end up eating up too much of May. I've still got two small games and a special project before moving onto my bonus line-up... and I'd like to get started with those bonus games by the end of June.

Kline's dream was another puzzle-centric dungeon... but one that was far more managable than the one from last time. Best of all, I felt relatively clever for actually figuring out the puzzles myself... you know, instead of basically just being forced to brute force my way through them. Honestly, brute forcing my way through puzzles is probably one of my biggest gripes about video games in general. Those slide puzzles where you have to rearrange an image are probably the most prominent example of what I'm talking about. I'm not very good at them, so I basically just have to keep rotating until everything ends up falling into place. On the other hand, ice block puzzles don't seem to bug me nearly as much. Don't ask me why.

The Reptile Lair, on the other hand, was a much more combat-focused affair. Honestly, the main issue there is that most of its tricks just involved swarming me with enemies that block any attacks unless they're attacking me. Well, that and actually getting lost in a particularly complex dungeon. The fact that the dungeon boss actually kept throwing an endless barrage of mooks at me didn't really help matters much either -- but considering how much of a pushover he was without them, I can understand the design, even if it gave me my only death of this stream.

Honestly, Working Designs' "balance adjustments" have never really bothered me all that much, but that's likely due to the fact that they didn't go quite as hardcore as the games that literally adjusted their difficulty as an "anti-rental" tactic in the later years of the 16-bit era. Killing those lizardmen in one less hit would've likely made things more manageable overall... but I doubt it would've been that much of a game changer in the grand scheme of things. Honestly, from what I've seen online, Working Designs apparently made one of the game's puzzles a bit easier too. I don't think I've reached it yet, but that is at least encouraging.

I was originally going to play another action-RPG -- is Alundra really an action-RPG? -- in my own time this month, but decided to shuffle around my plans because I didn't want Alundra to have to contend with a direct comparison to a game that I will likely love. Granted, I'd also like to avoid what I've termed as "genre poisoning": basically, if I expose myself to too much of a specific type of media (mostly movies and video games, because they're generally self-contained), I tend to suffer from a bit of burnout. Having an audience definitely helps to motivate me, but frankly, I think it's just better to break things up to keep myself from getting mentally fatigued. I guess it's the same mindset that causes me to avoid eating the same meal twice in a row. I'd just rather not get sick of something I enjoy, you know?

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