Cthaere's Profile
Send a PMJoined on: May 25, 2020
Bio:
I play fangames or stuff.
I try rating game compared to what they are trying to achieve rather than compared to fangames as a whole, and with knowledge of what you're getting into; If I rate a corridor needle game, I assume the person reading the review wants to play corridor needle, as if they don't they shouldn't bother playing it anyway. With that said, I tend to be very generous on needle ratings while being very skimpy on avoidances (although you likely won't see it as if I'd give it less than a 7 I just won't clear it instead).
with extremely rare exceptions, 9/10+ is reserved to games that have left deep emotional impact, while 10/10 is reserved for games I love unconditionally.
If I reviewed it and the review doesn't say otherwise, it's safe to assume I cleared it. I try adding my clears to df but I never really cared to keep track, so some might be missing.
don't expect diff ratings to be very accurate.
I've submitted:
237 Ratings!
158 Reviews!
9 Screenshots!
237 Games
158 Reviews
For: I Wanna XV Spike
XV spikes is a needle collab where every screen contains at most 15 spikes (or playerkillers in general). Each creator has found their own way to go about this challenge, and it has some very interesting screens. However, working with this restriction requires exceptional accuracy and attention to detail, which some screens miss, and there are definitely areas which could use a bit more polish.
The screens generally tend to go two ways: Long pathing-focused screens, trying to squeeze out as much content out of every spike as possible, and shorter maneuver-focused ones which maximize the effect of each spike and ensuring that each and every one is a deadly obstacle. While screens falling into the second category have been an absolute blast, screens in the first one are unfortunately quite rough around the edges in regards to the jumps you have to do; Overuse of fulljumps and vine needle which is annoying to pull off, unnecessarily long saves with choke segments close to the end, as well as long segments that are full of nothing. This only appears in a few of the screens, but those screens were unfun to play as a result.
There are a few more tidbits that are far less impactful on the experience yet were weird nontheless: Shign screen has a skip by doing a floor invert with a gravity flipper on the bottom of the screen; Huse screen features the only non-jtool+catharsis water element with a moving platform, which sticks out unfavorably to me. that platform also has weird snapping issues; water 1,2 and 3 have no indication at all, and it's practically guesswork as to which is which, especially since the visual style switches in the middle; While this is mostly me being nitpicky, they still made me raise my eyebrow, and I feel like those issues (and a few other, even smaller ones) should have been ironed out before release.
Overall I'd say this game is interesting, and very much worth the play, however I cannot say I'd like to replay it in its current state due to the downfalls, and I would also wait for a future patch and hope the experience is improved. At its core, this game has a lot of potential, and hopefully it could come to be realized.
For: I wanna rost the Car
For: I Wanna Be the Butterfly
Hub 1 top right portal is a great stage full of cycles which takes a turn into gimmicks and triggers near the end, and it's no surprise it's the one featured in nearly every medley. In contrast, the bottom left one is one of the worst experiences I've had in a fangame, featuring the most claustrophobic needle that exist in fangames while being assaulted by cherries. The stage before the hub choice was quite nice, featuring lowgrav and some tight platforming designed around it. Mario stage on the left hub was a poor experience, featuring extremely long saves with the difficult segments being a good distance into the save and always ending with a trap, but at least it ended with a pretty good boss. To contrast it, the Break the Targets stage was a nice break which required a bit of thinking ahead. On the right hub, the final screen of the grasslands area was a huge pain, although the area as a whole was still enjoyable.
I feel like you can't talk about butterfly without talking about the avoidance, which features a few interesting patterns as well as a healthy amount of rng thrown in. Before I do, though, I would like to mention a repeated problem throughout multiple stages: A 10+ seconds long unskippable cutscene that you are required to watch before every attempt. It is present in the chase at the final stage of the left hub, it is present in the target practice "boss", and it is most certainly present in the avoidance, which made that incredible fight a chore to grind at the beginning, and even though it remains one of my favorites I feel like that intro has diminished the experience somewhat.
Overall I would recommend this game, as long as you can slog through the bottom left portal of the first hub, as it does contain a multitude of great stages and one of the best vocaloid avoidances I've played.
For: I Wanna Take the L+
For: I wanna DO the JORNEY
For: I wanna be Time Characters
While the idea is very nice, the execution varies. Much of the time will be spent checking for hidden walls, mostly by way of suiciding and watching your blood particles, and you will be forever haunted by the feeling that you missed something - a mostly justified one, too. A few of the secrets are incredibly cryptic, and a couple of the collectibles are annoying and tedious (namely, an RNG dependent one which I somehow got within 30 seconds and one behind a full vspeed double jump diamond that I decided to savehack to get, as I was not interested in grinding that, and later on got legit). You could also get yourself stuck if you can't read Japanese and miss the fact that pressing W on any save will warp you back to the start of the area.
However, aside from the checking for secret aspect, the game is extremely fun. The stages all have a central gimmick (usually being apple cycles, but they still feel very different from each other), fun and chill platforming, and every so often you'll encounter a collectible hidden in an incredibly clever way, staring in awe at the level design crafted around it.
As for the bosses, the avoidance was an absolute blast, with a good amount of rng and with pattern that was interesting to dodge and rarely got instagibby. The final boss, however, had some problems. It's an infinite jump boss, where the boss itself rapid fires attacks while bouncing across the room, with a time restriction on how slow you can kill it (which is quite lenient admittedly, but it heavily depends on the bouncing). Unfortunately, some design decisions were less than ideal: It can instagib you at the first second with no way to react. It can give you bouncing angles where you can barely hit it, and where doing so becomes incredibly dangerous, as you have to keep a healthy distance from both the boss and all 4 walls to avoid instagibs. It can give you awful transitions which require to do dodges that are far harder than can be expected of you. It can spam the same attack that does not allow you to go past him while going towards you. Still, when it behaves nicely, it's a fun boss, but it's a shame you have to restart 60% of the time for a good bounce, and even then there's still a decent chance it'll decide to kill you.
I do recommend this game, as I had a lot of fun with it; However, I would not do so unconditionally. The spoiler box at the bottom contains a pastebin with the locations of most of the secrets; Use it after going through each area twice to round up the hidden ones, in case you get stuck. If you refuse to do so or accept any other help, I cannot recommend this game, as you will very likely get stuck. Even with this help, I would not recommend this to completionists who NEED to 100% the game, as some of the collectibles are godawful to get. Otherwise, this has been one of the best classical adventure games I've ever played, and you should definitely go play it.
Secret locations: https://pastebin.com/E0WMyYQr
For: I Wanna Be The Ultimate Super Guy
For: I Wanna Ice 9
For: I Wanna Take the L
For: Needle Hatena
Needle Hatena is a needle collab which achieves what every collab strives for: Variety. No two stages are quite alike, with many stages establishing their own unique niche as well as a few that are grounded in more traditional design. All of the stages are short enough and mostly easy enough to never drag on for too long, and overall the game feels like more than the sum of its parts. With that in mind, let's delve into the individual stages:
PrinceOfLight: A unique stage revolving around catharsis water, which uses lines for blocks and curved lines for spikes. Contains some interesting pathing and long catharsis water drops. Personally I enjoyed it quite a lot, and I wish it had at least another screen.
Shign: A modern approach to needle, with heavy use of water, platforms, vines and jump refreshers, which are used for both pathing and long sequences of jumps without touching the ground. One of my favorite stages, as I very much enjoy that style of needle. Hopefully we'll see more standalone needle games in this style.
Egg: A stage that focuses on interesting jumps and maneuvers that aren't too precise and are generally performed using intuition rather than exact frame inputs, with a sprinkle of catharsis water thrown in. Worth noting is that this stage has a very unique atmosphere, one which I sadly find impossible to describe but should definitely be experienced for oneself. One of the better stages in my opinion.
Lemon: A stage with very long saves but relatively easy jumps, which manages to avoid making generic corridor needle despite many parts being limited in height and verticality. Stationed inside a cave, with a spotlight gimmick (that doesn't really affect the platforming) and fitting music, this stage has one of the more cohesive atmospheres out there. Overall a very good stage.
JPEG: A stage with mostly generic needle, however it is also very much far off from your corner/diagonal/gate spam you see everywhere, and is still fairly enjoyable.
Kittygame: The easiest stage, and fairly short too. The needle isn't very special, but it's still good. A very chill stage, and I had a good time with it.
Chrisay: One of the more interesting takes I've seen on cycles, which contains every aspect of them you can want: The fast cycle, the learny cycles, and the search for a safespot to stand in and evaluate your next step. Another favorite of mine, although personally it was more fun to replay than play for the first time to figure out all of the cycles.
Artimax: An experimental stage, with a bizarre atmosphere and a central theme of conserving your double jump throughout a water level by using vines, with every surface you might want to stand on being covered with spikes. Unfortunately, while the concept is neat, the gameplay suffers a bit for it, as you have to hold down the shift key for extended periods of time and generally do maneuvers that deviate away from normal fangame gameplay where jump height is key. A very polarizing stage for sure, however one I'm glad is included, as it's definitely interesting.
Starzor: One of the more traditional stages, consisting of mostly corridor needle that tries to change the formula a bit. The changes definitely help freshen it out a bit, and coupled with Mario-themed visuals and a banger song elevate it from the relatively poor stage it might have been into a fairly fun experience, even if in my eyes it can't compete with some of the other stages.
Credits: Easy and short, with a small focus on slopes. Has a few generic jumps especially in the corridor section, but as short and easy as it is, I can't really complain. The slopes are definitely the best part though.
Prince 2: Similar to prince 1, except with no ground to rest on, only one save per screen, and a bunch of gravity flippers to compensate. It's also a bit more precise in places compared to prince 1. Due to the difficulty increase and longer saves, this acts as a "stronger" version of prince 1, and combined with the confusion and learniness inherent to gravity flipping this could be a somewhat controversial stage, although I enjoyed it a lot.
Kittygame 2: A mix of generic needle and not so generic needle, but this time it's actually not easy. Has some nonlinear pathing and a few fun drops. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of this one, but it's still decent, and also contains a surprise.
Egg 2: My absolute favorite stage, but also the hardest one, this stage revolves around hard trigger needle, and utilizes water 1 as well as a handful of vines. The triggers are all marked, and even the ones that can be real scamps feel like they contribute to the stage. The flow is consistently very good, which is important in this needle style, especially when the path abruptly changes due to a trigger. Has a vibrant and upbeat atmosphere which contrasts egg 1 which fits very well with the theme of the stage. Overall some of my favorite trigger needle, and I'd like to play more.
Starzor 2: Short and relatively simple, with a focus on vertical play (mostly drops) and a bit of gravity flipping, which is handled very well. Surprisingly very much enjoyable, despite the simplicity, and I'm curious how a few more screens of this would have turned out.
That about wraps it up. As a whole, I would definitely recommend this game, and I've had a very good experience with it even on the stages I didn't like as much. I feel like anyone can find a few stages they will enjoy and cherish, even if they may not like everything.
2 Games
Game | Difficulty | Average Rating | # of Ratings |
---|---|---|---|
I wanna Musiclock | 74.7 | 9.3 | 20 |
I wanna Xanadu | 60.7 | 7.7 | 8 |
32 Favorite Games
143 Cleared Games