On 30/08/2011 10:54 AM, Invisible wrote:

> I don't know how big the game actually is, but I spent about 7 hours
> playing it yesterday and I don't /think/ I'm anywhere near the end yet
> (though I can't really tell).

OK, so apparently Steam records how long you've been playing. And it 
took me 12 hours to complete this game. I could actually have completed 
it faster, but I actually bothered playing and replaying some of the 
"challenges" over and over trying to get a good score.

It turns out, if you replay the same part of the game enough times, the 
narrator *does* begin becoming repetitive after a while. During normal 
gameplay, this never happens. It's almost like having a real human 
there. Only if you grind the same part of the game again and again do 
you start noticing it's a recording.

You know I said that Bastion has no jumping puzzles, and in fact you 
can't actually jump? Well, the last 20 minutes of the game is nothing 
*but* jumping puzzles! >_< Ever tried jumping at an angle of 60 degrees 
when the only movement controls are arrow keys? Hint: it's tricky.

The final level is actually like 6 normal-sized levels. Complete with 
transitions from one to the other. It's just that usually at the end of 
one level, you return to the hub, rearrange your inventory a bit, and 
then select the next level. In the final "level", you go through 6 
levels one after the other without a break.

This final level also has some pretty steep difficulty. Quite apart from 
the fact that the last 3 sublevels are basically endless jumping 
puzzles, there's a hitherto unseen level of close combat involved. To 
describe it as "challenging" would be an understatement.

The ending provides absolutely no sense of closure. You get given two 
options at the end of the final level. Once you complete the level, you 
get given two options back at the main hub. I picked an option, and I 
saw a freeze-frame painting and heard some lines of dialogue. Then the 
image faded to black, and the credits roll.

As best as I can tell, if I'd chosen the other way, exactly the same 
thing would have happened. (I haven't scientifically verified this yet.) 
I would probably have got a different painting, and a different set of 
lines. I doubt I would have got any more closure.

In short, a disappointing (but not disastrous) ending to a really cool game.

Before you start the final level, it actually warns you that there's no 
going back once you begin. Interestingly, after the credits finish 
rolling, you can return to the hub. (And from the canned dialogue lines, 
it appears that the game save is from just before the final level. In 
particular, I levelled up during the final mission, but going back in, 
I've done back down a level.)

I had assumed there was much more of the game remaining because I 
haven't completed more than a fraction of the optional stuff. You can 
earn money to upgrade weapons, and I never earned enough to upgrade more 
than a fraction of my arsenal. (Not that there's much point; once you 
have a really powerful weapon, why would you bother upgrading the weaker 
ones?) And if you earn enough "XP", you gain a level. The only effect 
this has is that you can activate more powerups at once. (Which you have 
to return to the hub to do.) You can activate any powerup at any time, 
it's just you can only use so many at once.

The highest possible level is level 10, and by the time I completed the 
game I had only reached level 5. Similarly, most of my weapons had been 
upgraded to level 2 or 3, out of a maximum of 7. There's still a 
stackload of "vigils" I haven't got yet, and a bunch of items I 
collected which I didn't have the cash to "repair" yet.

Still, I guess that's better than Assassin's Creed II. Initially I 
couldn't afford anything, but by about half way through the game, I had 
literally purchased every item that you can purchase. Even the useless 
ones. (There's an "achievement" for purchasing everything. Obviously I 
initially only purchased stuff worth having. But eventually I purchased 
everything, all at once, just for something to spend my money on.)

I guess having unfinished stuff gives me a reason to keep playing the game.

For example, Bastion has several "challenges". Basically you wake up in 
a room, and increasing numbers of enemies pop up out of the ground and 
attack you. You earn "XP" for killing them, and if you survive a whole 
wave you earn a crock-load of money. (It's unclear to me whether you get 
to keep all this stuff, or only if you survive all the way to the end.) 
You can also visit the shrine and activate "idols" to make the challenge 
mode harder. It makes the enemies faster or more health or whatever, and 
you get more XP when you kill them.

I found the easiest challenge, and then activated *all* the available 
idols. At the same time. (Interestingly, I'm short of two idols. No idea 
how you get those, given that I've searched every level...) I fired up 
the easy challenge. I lasted 12 seconds. Literally. Damn!

I've yet to complete either of the other two main challenges. (Mainly 
because I've yet to discover a way to kill Anklegators.) I've had a go 
at all of the "proving grounds". (There's one for each weapon, and since 
I've collected all the weapons, they're all open to me.) They range from 
quite easy to laughably difficult. Difficulty isn't directly related to 
how powerful the weapon is.

Completing the game also actives a "special new game option". I haven't 
tried it, but apparently it lets you do things like start a new game 
with level 10 skill, all weapons available, all upgrades unlocked, etc.

I quite like the way that for each weapon upgrade, you can choose 
between two options. You can make reloads faster, or you can increase 
clip capacity. You can increase damage or increase rate of fire. You can 
increase accuracy or increase spread. Things like that. (My personal 
favourite is the upgrades that make hits continue to deal damage for a 
short period afterwards...)

The thing with the distillery is interesting. You have a selection of 
"spirits" available, with names like "Stabsynthe", "Cinderbrick Stout", 
"Bastion Bourbon" and so on. When activated, each one gives you some 
advantage. (E.g., there's one that gives you +15% health. Another lets 
you carry more potions with you. Another makes stray coins magnetically 
attracted to you...) Each time you earn enough XP, the number of spirits 
you can activate at the same time goes up by one.

They could have just had a menu with a tickbox for "add 15% health" and 
so forth. But instead, they made it a "distillery", and they make you 
collect the various spirits before you can use them, and so on. It's a 
nice touch. (Although one that isn't /explained/ especially clearly.)

I wonder if there'll be a Bastion II? I'd buy it...

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