Delicious FruitElCochran90's Profile
Send a PMJoined on: Aug 25, 2018
Bio:
About time I updated this bio.
Name: Edgar Cochran
Country: Mexico
Currently living in: Mexico City
-God's servant and one of his blessed sons (John 1:12; John 3:16).
-Lover of the entire animal and plant creation.
-Film lover and reviewer for Letterboxd.com (https://letterboxd.com/elcochran90).
-Adjunct professor and personal tutor of Statistical Inference, Business Forecasting, Marketing Research and Portfolio Theory.
Fangaming experience began in August 2018, so only modest achievements here. However, I'll describe some relevant FAQs here made to me during my stay here since 2018:
Q: Are videogames art?
A: Yes
Q: Are fangames videogames?
A: Yes
Q: Why are your reviews long and unconventional?
A: I am a film reviewer; in a way, I sort of unconsciously dragged my style of film reviewing to the world of fangames. I often involve personal experiences in my writing. Expect that structure; I'm not planning to change it.
Q: How are you rating games? Do you compare fangames as normal games that your ratings are lower than all other people ratings or are you just a critical person?
A: My ratings are not lower than people's ratings all of the time regarding fangames, but they are most of the time. However, this is not my intention. I am rating them as normal games, as in, I don't have a different spectrum for rating "normal", "official" games than fangames. They are in the same scale, because they are all videogames. I don't like to think myself as a critical person; ratings are just subjective numbers. However, I have realized that I rate games more harshly than I rate films/short films, which I do more often.
Q: What are your favorite fangames?
A: I have not played enough fangames to make a comprehensive and representative list, but this can be answered by going to my Favorites list. Anything getting 6.7 or higher will be considered immediately as a favorite.
I've submitted:
378 Ratings!
378 Reviews!
790 Screenshots!
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378 Games
378 Reviews
ElCochran90
For: I Wanna Defeat The Eater Of Dreams
For: I Wanna Defeat The Eater Of Dreams
An easy good rating from me since I am naturally inclined to like non-linear, dreamlike and surreal experiences, especially since the atmosphere is so well constructed and the soundtrack kicks butt all the way to the East. Exceptional visuals and sounds, nightmarish when it needs to. Please do mind that you require all items to advance into the story, and some of them are hidden.
Going "with ideas on the run" sometimes brings better results than planning them ahead. I do recommend it. Now bring me a longer, full-scaled experience!
[2] Likes
Going "with ideas on the run" sometimes brings better results than planning them ahead. I do recommend it. Now bring me a longer, full-scaled experience!
Rating: 6.0 60
Difficulty: 35 35
Aug 16, 2020
ElCochran90
For: I wanna meet the Ruka 2nd
For: I wanna meet the Ruka 2nd
Atrocious and cheap platforming, less cryptic secrets (they are not secrets anymore; they're just there) and it doesn't punish you with the d*ck move of having to play through the entire game if you didn't get the required secrets.
Avoidance is quite harder but less unfun than the previous atrocity. However, it does punish you with the d*ck move of having to play through the entire avoidance again because of a stupid, cheap final attack.
Please avoid.
[2] Likes
Avoidance is quite harder but less unfun than the previous atrocity. However, it does punish you with the d*ck move of having to play through the entire avoidance again because of a stupid, cheap final attack.
Please avoid.
Rating: 0.9 9
Difficulty: 60 60
Aug 15, 2020
ElCochran90
For: I wanna meet the Ruka
For: I wanna meet the Ruka
Luka deserves something better than cancer.
P.S. The avoidance is worse than Clear the Easy Miku 1, and probably the most repetitive and uncreative thing ever.
[0] Likes
P.S. The avoidance is worse than Clear the Easy Miku 1, and probably the most repetitive and uncreative thing ever.
Rating: 0.5 5
Difficulty: 55 55
Aug 10, 2020
ElCochran90
For: I wanna be the Crimson
For: I wanna be the Crimson
Rating includes extra. Difficulty rating also includes extra because it is the true complete game. Consider a difficulty rating of 70 without extra.
Excellent review by Kale to begin with, one of my favorites of the entire site. Even though it is written as a meme review, many things ring true to me and I gladly back them up.
Carnival is divisive by nature and it all comes down to his main components of inspiration and recurrent adventure themes, mainly:
✓Appreciation towards (and inspiration from) I Wanna Be The Guy, I Wanna Be The Love Trap and I Wanna Be The Fangame!
✖Traps (tons of them, tons and tons of them)
✓Straight platforming; almost zero use of gimmicks to create a more classic, old-school experience
✓Stories involving epic battles between angelical and diabolical forces
✖Generic visual designs
½ Good looking bosses and awful-looking bosses drawn on Microsoft Paint by the little cousin of the family and colored by the cousin's even younger sister
✓Influential concepts
This combination can work for many in different degrees. That is why this game having almost an average rating of 7.0 with ratings of all dimensions (1.9, 2.3, 3.5, 3.6, 4.0, 4.2, 5.5, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 9.0 and 10.0), resulting in an absurd standard deviation, comes as no surprise. It's easy to see why one would think the game doesn't care about the platforming, the designs or the bosses, and it is also easy to see why someone would say the exact opposite. Just stating the obvious here: opinions are subjective; however, Carnival is a perfect example of this and I think the legendary Crimson embodies that notion.
One must first buy the idea that this is an adventure game, one that does have variety, variety of the old-school type, and known platforming. That's where the level design comes in: it is straightforward, challenging, with some questionable jumps here and there (let's add an upward plane in an underwater level high up enough so that that you cannot set it up from the ground), but mostly fun and even nostalgic of the three aforementioned games.
However, these games are trap-based. That's their essence, but this game abuses the player's trust in that regard. The amount of traps in the game is horribly absurd, completely criticizable and sort of pointless. There are so many traps that actually some add INTEERSTING (yes, interesting) challenge to the platforming. A seemingly harmless jump becomes an interesting one, such as a well-timed diagonal (like the big drop in the black and white segment where a spike flies up towards you in a narrow corridor); however, this comes as trial and error. Traps are a fantastic detriment to the game, so big it hurts.
Secrets are mandatory to get the full experience of this game, and 3 were great, two were ok and three were just plain bad. Particularly amusing is the Mother 2 secret where you have to go through five screens of reasonable platforming to get it, and then backtrack through all five. They are fun to play through; my issue has not been consistency in particular so it wasn't as difficult as, say, the gravity flip stage (which is my favorite secret because of the level design alone), stage which, by the way, is definitely a tribute to the Castle stage of Fangame!
Now, being released in 2011, this is one of the classics, and yes, a comment says "had its days of glory"; the game itself causes all kinds of reactions today based on the ratings I mentioned alone. What about its influence? It's gigantic. Few fangames have accomplished this: an unofficial sequel that spawned its own needle franchise (like Dawn of the Dead having an alternate Italian chain of sequels with Fulci's Zombi aka Zombie 2), a final boss that was featured/replicated in countless fangames, and the final stage, a miraculous and notorious instance of successful level design and a trademark visual design (again, endlessly replicated) which constitutes an interesting take on what hell is for The Kid: just pure crimson needle, traps, corners, planes, danger and an atmospheric, monochromatic score.
The true game shines with the extra, but it is not only because of the fantastic, ominous final stage (which I insist it looks beautiful and is scary too, sort of claustrophobic) or the final boss, which has a godawful visual design and yet a fascinating mechanic of action and reaction where your skills combined with your reactions and your PATIENCE determine the final outcome.
No, it also shines because, before that, there is a medley section. Love Trap is discussed to have the first Miku avoidance (and the avoidance aspect in general), and Kamilia 1 is credited with being the first medley. However, do the predecessors get any mention?? I can't recall a fangame creator prior to Carnival that did this, and it is so innovative. Yes, it's his own games, but why should that matter? It's a trip down memory lane, but this time buffed and with more traps! Here you're supposed to be a tougher fangamer than back when you played Heaven Trap, Nervous and Picture. Here, you're in a well-developed, though dialogue-less adventure of cleansing, a Kid's journey to find purity and freedom from his personal demons and even face his mortal version of himself face to face!
Are you in the side of old-school, straightforward, down-to-earth platforming? You will probably find the visual designs, the location of the secrets and the endless traps (tons of them at the very last spot of the save) as handicaps. That is my case. Getting beyond that, we have a valuable, unique and unforgettable crimson experience that offers one of the most rewarding feelings when beating the final boss and watching the ending. You may call yourself the Boshy now, but calling yourself the Crimson is a more brutal honor.
I dig Carnival.
The hell with that bat boss though what on Earth was he thinking.....
[3] Likes
Excellent review by Kale to begin with, one of my favorites of the entire site. Even though it is written as a meme review, many things ring true to me and I gladly back them up.
Carnival is divisive by nature and it all comes down to his main components of inspiration and recurrent adventure themes, mainly:
✓Appreciation towards (and inspiration from) I Wanna Be The Guy, I Wanna Be The Love Trap and I Wanna Be The Fangame!
✖Traps (tons of them, tons and tons of them)
✓Straight platforming; almost zero use of gimmicks to create a more classic, old-school experience
✓Stories involving epic battles between angelical and diabolical forces
✖Generic visual designs
½ Good looking bosses and awful-looking bosses drawn on Microsoft Paint by the little cousin of the family and colored by the cousin's even younger sister
✓Influential concepts
This combination can work for many in different degrees. That is why this game having almost an average rating of 7.0 with ratings of all dimensions (1.9, 2.3, 3.5, 3.6, 4.0, 4.2, 5.5, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 9.0 and 10.0), resulting in an absurd standard deviation, comes as no surprise. It's easy to see why one would think the game doesn't care about the platforming, the designs or the bosses, and it is also easy to see why someone would say the exact opposite. Just stating the obvious here: opinions are subjective; however, Carnival is a perfect example of this and I think the legendary Crimson embodies that notion.
One must first buy the idea that this is an adventure game, one that does have variety, variety of the old-school type, and known platforming. That's where the level design comes in: it is straightforward, challenging, with some questionable jumps here and there (let's add an upward plane in an underwater level high up enough so that that you cannot set it up from the ground), but mostly fun and even nostalgic of the three aforementioned games.
However, these games are trap-based. That's their essence, but this game abuses the player's trust in that regard. The amount of traps in the game is horribly absurd, completely criticizable and sort of pointless. There are so many traps that actually some add INTEERSTING (yes, interesting) challenge to the platforming. A seemingly harmless jump becomes an interesting one, such as a well-timed diagonal (like the big drop in the black and white segment where a spike flies up towards you in a narrow corridor); however, this comes as trial and error. Traps are a fantastic detriment to the game, so big it hurts.
Secrets are mandatory to get the full experience of this game, and 3 were great, two were ok and three were just plain bad. Particularly amusing is the Mother 2 secret where you have to go through five screens of reasonable platforming to get it, and then backtrack through all five. They are fun to play through; my issue has not been consistency in particular so it wasn't as difficult as, say, the gravity flip stage (which is my favorite secret because of the level design alone), stage which, by the way, is definitely a tribute to the Castle stage of Fangame!
Now, being released in 2011, this is one of the classics, and yes, a comment says "had its days of glory"; the game itself causes all kinds of reactions today based on the ratings I mentioned alone. What about its influence? It's gigantic. Few fangames have accomplished this: an unofficial sequel that spawned its own needle franchise (like Dawn of the Dead having an alternate Italian chain of sequels with Fulci's Zombi aka Zombie 2), a final boss that was featured/replicated in countless fangames, and the final stage, a miraculous and notorious instance of successful level design and a trademark visual design (again, endlessly replicated) which constitutes an interesting take on what hell is for The Kid: just pure crimson needle, traps, corners, planes, danger and an atmospheric, monochromatic score.
The true game shines with the extra, but it is not only because of the fantastic, ominous final stage (which I insist it looks beautiful and is scary too, sort of claustrophobic) or the final boss, which has a godawful visual design and yet a fascinating mechanic of action and reaction where your skills combined with your reactions and your PATIENCE determine the final outcome.
No, it also shines because, before that, there is a medley section. Love Trap is discussed to have the first Miku avoidance (and the avoidance aspect in general), and Kamilia 1 is credited with being the first medley. However, do the predecessors get any mention?? I can't recall a fangame creator prior to Carnival that did this, and it is so innovative. Yes, it's his own games, but why should that matter? It's a trip down memory lane, but this time buffed and with more traps! Here you're supposed to be a tougher fangamer than back when you played Heaven Trap, Nervous and Picture. Here, you're in a well-developed, though dialogue-less adventure of cleansing, a Kid's journey to find purity and freedom from his personal demons and even face his mortal version of himself face to face!
Are you in the side of old-school, straightforward, down-to-earth platforming? You will probably find the visual designs, the location of the secrets and the endless traps (tons of them at the very last spot of the save) as handicaps. That is my case. Getting beyond that, we have a valuable, unique and unforgettable crimson experience that offers one of the most rewarding feelings when beating the final boss and watching the ending. You may call yourself the Boshy now, but calling yourself the Crimson is a more brutal honor.
I dig Carnival.
The hell with that bat boss though what on Earth was he thinking.....
Rating: 6.5 65
Difficulty: 80 80
Aug 8, 2020
ElCochran90
For: I wanna be the Justice
For: I wanna be the Justice
BEFORE YOU PROCEED, REFER TO shign (shign#4549) AND GET AN ENGLISH MODE OF THIS GAME BECAUSE THE STORY DEVELOPMENT IS THE BEST I HAVE EVER SEEN IN A FANGAME.
Against my expectations, Justice surpassed my old-school beloved Heaventrap 1.
Is Carnival now building a multiverse? Because that is awesome, especially when this multiverse of characters interrelates several great stories between good and evil, which is a constant in his main adventure games: godly and diabolical forces exerting their influence on Earth while the kid must struggle against forces of hell or die trying. Either that or find cleansing, as in Crimson. The change of perspectives of good vs evil and evil vs good in Heaventrap 1 and 2 is also quite fascinating.
However, the most important thing to notice is that this is his game richest in story, which adds a lot to the rating. The game itself is odd and seems like it would have been made in a 2-year span (not sure, so don't quote me on that): 2012 was the first half of the game, and before May of 2013, we have the rest: impressive bosses, great platforming, challenging needle and creative designs mostly during the second half. The rest was a tad generic.
Also, this proves to me that I find adventure fangames easier on average compared to people than needle games compared to people: this fangame is as hard as the brutal Chill Needle 2 overall except in the bosses department, because CN2's bosses were trivial. Also, this was easier than Neon 3 significantly. I understand the community's bias in underrating famous fangame makers in difficulty to give them more reach and popularity (they deserve it), but it is very misleading.
Drawbacks? Yes, as no fangame, or game in general is perfect (except Heart Goes On). This is a trap-based game, and expect traps all over the place. I came prepared, since I know Carnival rather well, but expect frustration and definitely some traps right at the last moment. SOme are facepalm stuff rather than inventive or funny: disappearing blocks, invisible blocks, flying spikes and questionable triggers. As an adventure fangame, riddling it with traps can become a distraction. The right balance was found in the blind races of past Fangame Marathons. However, they do not predominate so pervasively, so that is a redeeming factor. Also, there are 100% platforming stages free of traps, and that is when one could enjoy the game at its fullest. Also:
-Reviewer: Platforming is tough as this is not a needle game
-Final segments: I'm gonna ruin this user's review
Second half is interesting and, oddly, shifts the difficulty curve upside down. The 6th stage with the dragon boss was very tough, including said boss which had freaking limb respawns and that is so freaking cheap and intolerable, and the next stage is quite benign and straightforward in comparison, including its cherry cannon avoidance which I first tried(!). Last needle stage is most interesting and particularly legendary is the conveyor screens even more than the white section of the stage because controlling your character becomes a challenge: definitely the most difficult platforming of the game (and hey, zero traps and fun to play!).
About the final boss, Sieg, that's one memorable challenge for the ages. The boss has three phases, the first one being unnecessarily prolonged and straightforward for repeating it after you die in subsequent phases, the second one is a matter of patience but the RNG little cherry fiesta can block you unfairly a few times, and the third part is quite free, especially once you learn that the attacks the boss chooses are always in the same order and are not RNG dependent, and two attacks are pattern. It's not as challenging as a Solgryn fight in the original Boshy, but it gets boring quite fast if you have to go through the first phase several times. A middle save after the first phase would be MUCH appreciated and improve enjoyment a lot.
So, we have a varied production value, great bosses (especially during the second part), a cool final boss that gets ruined by how it punishes the player if the player dies, ok platforming followed by good platforming, a very cheap 6th boss followed by a free avoidance in an easier stage... it's quite the mess, but a worthy mess, where a bunch of ideas where thrown in with no rhyme or reason.
The story is probably the most intricate, detailed and beautiful of any fangame I have ever seen. Even the fantastic Reach the Moon since of story simplicity. Who cares, right? As long as the adventure is amazing, but here, the story elevates the fangame to a different quality level and that is appreciated.
It is a recommended adventure with a great sense of reward. Give it a try and live a Dragon-Quest like non-RPG adventure experience rich in story despite the inconsistent mess it is.
[3] Likes
Against my expectations, Justice surpassed my old-school beloved Heaventrap 1.
Is Carnival now building a multiverse? Because that is awesome, especially when this multiverse of characters interrelates several great stories between good and evil, which is a constant in his main adventure games: godly and diabolical forces exerting their influence on Earth while the kid must struggle against forces of hell or die trying. Either that or find cleansing, as in Crimson. The change of perspectives of good vs evil and evil vs good in Heaventrap 1 and 2 is also quite fascinating.
However, the most important thing to notice is that this is his game richest in story, which adds a lot to the rating. The game itself is odd and seems like it would have been made in a 2-year span (not sure, so don't quote me on that): 2012 was the first half of the game, and before May of 2013, we have the rest: impressive bosses, great platforming, challenging needle and creative designs mostly during the second half. The rest was a tad generic.
Also, this proves to me that I find adventure fangames easier on average compared to people than needle games compared to people: this fangame is as hard as the brutal Chill Needle 2 overall except in the bosses department, because CN2's bosses were trivial. Also, this was easier than Neon 3 significantly. I understand the community's bias in underrating famous fangame makers in difficulty to give them more reach and popularity (they deserve it), but it is very misleading.
Drawbacks? Yes, as no fangame, or game in general is perfect (except Heart Goes On). This is a trap-based game, and expect traps all over the place. I came prepared, since I know Carnival rather well, but expect frustration and definitely some traps right at the last moment. SOme are facepalm stuff rather than inventive or funny: disappearing blocks, invisible blocks, flying spikes and questionable triggers. As an adventure fangame, riddling it with traps can become a distraction. The right balance was found in the blind races of past Fangame Marathons. However, they do not predominate so pervasively, so that is a redeeming factor. Also, there are 100% platforming stages free of traps, and that is when one could enjoy the game at its fullest. Also:
-Reviewer: Platforming is tough as this is not a needle game
-Final segments: I'm gonna ruin this user's review
Second half is interesting and, oddly, shifts the difficulty curve upside down. The 6th stage with the dragon boss was very tough, including said boss which had freaking limb respawns and that is so freaking cheap and intolerable, and the next stage is quite benign and straightforward in comparison, including its cherry cannon avoidance which I first tried(!). Last needle stage is most interesting and particularly legendary is the conveyor screens even more than the white section of the stage because controlling your character becomes a challenge: definitely the most difficult platforming of the game (and hey, zero traps and fun to play!).
About the final boss, Sieg, that's one memorable challenge for the ages. The boss has three phases, the first one being unnecessarily prolonged and straightforward for repeating it after you die in subsequent phases, the second one is a matter of patience but the RNG little cherry fiesta can block you unfairly a few times, and the third part is quite free, especially once you learn that the attacks the boss chooses are always in the same order and are not RNG dependent, and two attacks are pattern. It's not as challenging as a Solgryn fight in the original Boshy, but it gets boring quite fast if you have to go through the first phase several times. A middle save after the first phase would be MUCH appreciated and improve enjoyment a lot.
So, we have a varied production value, great bosses (especially during the second part), a cool final boss that gets ruined by how it punishes the player if the player dies, ok platforming followed by good platforming, a very cheap 6th boss followed by a free avoidance in an easier stage... it's quite the mess, but a worthy mess, where a bunch of ideas where thrown in with no rhyme or reason.
The story is probably the most intricate, detailed and beautiful of any fangame I have ever seen. Even the fantastic Reach the Moon since of story simplicity. Who cares, right? As long as the adventure is amazing, but here, the story elevates the fangame to a different quality level and that is appreciated.
It is a recommended adventure with a great sense of reward. Give it a try and live a Dragon-Quest like non-RPG adventure experience rich in story despite the inconsistent mess it is.
Rating: 6.1 61
Difficulty: 75 75
Aug 1, 2020
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