Tag: ideal game | A Banana Peeled

Tag Archives: ideal game

Comparing two disparate games, part three

Posted on July 12, 2025 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

I’m back to muse more about Paradise Mascot Agency (Kaizen Game Works) and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive). In the last post, I was focused on the stories of each game and how I felt about them.

Oh, by the way, I bought a Pinky plushie. I was so enamored by her, I wanted to see if there was a plushie of her. I didn’t expect to find one, but much to my surprise, I saw this. I also bought the fun-in-the-sun accessory pack, so I can dress her up for the summer.

The story in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is almost universally critically acclaimed. I have heard people call it a masterpiece and gush about how evocative it is. I can understand why people thinkt it’s terrific, but it left me cold. By the end of the second act, I was privately calling it hot trash. The third act did nothing to change my mind. In fact, it made me just dislike the story even more.

It’s not something I talk about much because I don’t want to yuck other people’s yum, nor do I want to get into it. I’m comfortable with my opinion, but it’s not somethnig I feel the need to defend. If other people were moved by it, more power to them. It just felt very pompous and overblown to me, not to mention needlessly convoluted and not as smart as it thought it was.

I have been thinking why I am more forgiving of the story in Promise Mascot Agency, and it comes down to why I don’t like movies because they’re not realistic, and yet, I love musicals–which are anything but.

When Moulin Rouge came out, I loved the soundtrack. LOVED it. I saw the movie, and recommended it to my bestie, K. She just could not get over how I, someone who griped about the slightest non-realistic thing in a movie could be so enthusiastic about musicals. I told her it was because they weren’t trying to be realistic so I didn’t have to pretend they were or try to make them realistic in my brain. Plus, the showtunes were always bangers.

The story in Promise Mascot Agency is charming and quirky. The characters are seriously flawed in a way they aren’t in Clair Obscur: Expediiton 33. In the latter, the characters in the party are all noble to a certain extent. Some have questionable motives, yes, but overall, they are definitely the Heroes of the story. And the villains are similarly drawn. The fact that all the voice actors are stellar really papered over the problems with the characters.

Shifting into automatic during a game

Posted on July 8, 2025 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

I have a problem with games, and I think it’s half me and half games. Yes, that’s games in general. I’ve been writing about how I love indie games that shoot for the stars while ultimately falling flat, but they’re frustrating to play at times.

Today, I played more Promise Mascot Agency (Kaizen Game Works) after skipping yesterday. I just didn’t have it in me yesterday to play. And as I was playing today, I was thinking about how I had reach that point in the game where I was overcome with a sense of tedium because I was doing what’s known in gaming as grinding. Also known as farming. Or more particularly in this case, trying to do all the side quests, but also getting enough money to do all the things I need to do with said money.

I’ve realized that there is always a point in any game where I’m just grinding or farming or whatever. At least in any game where I have to level up/buy anything/pay off debts. At the same time that I’m playing Promise Mascot Agency, I’m also playing Dark Souls Remastered in order to get Big Hat Logan’s big hat.

By the way. I found out something unpleasant while doing my current OG DS playthrough.Quick backstory: I always play as some kind of pyro in this game. I also rarely play the second half as it’s…I’m just going to say it–shitty. The team was rushed to put out the game, so the second half definitely does not have the same care as does the first half. Plus, the boss runs are painful. And the bosses are, ah, uninspired, shall we say.

Anyway, I went to do Seath, who I’ve never had much trouble with as a pyro. He melts in fire, and it usually takes a minute or two. This time, howeve,r I noticed something really odd. Even after breaking Seath’s crystal, I was not doing any damage with him with some of my pyros. Not reduced damage, but NO damage. I had never seen this before. I knew that Seath was not immune to fire, so I had no idea what was going on. I also only had 16 health, which meant Seath could kill me in two angry swipes of his tail.

I was flummoxed. I had fought him a dozen times and NEVER saw that. I looked it up, and the best anyone could guess was that because Seath was highly resistant to fire (!), you had to have a highly-leveled pyro glove in order to do damage. Except, I could do damage–just not to his front. So maybe wonky hit boxes? Straight in his face–no damage. To the side and fairly close-up, damage. I think my pyro glove was +6 or +7 at this point, when I usually have it fully upgraded. That’s +15 regular levels and +5 ascension levels if you get to +10 with the original levels to unlock the secret pyromancy teacher.