My post from yesterday detailed my yearning to continue a consistent regiment of writing, my desire to play more video games, and my lusting of perverse enjoyment combining the two. Characters from Scooby-Doo were involved as well, in all of their memetastic glory.
Let’s hope these are the only dogs Shaggy has ever tried to deep throat
I ended up entitling yesterday’s post Rhythm and Flow, which ended up fitting in with the theme of the article quite well, though I think the title was intended for a write up on my time with Crypt of the Necrodancer, in all of it’s rhythmic glory. I know I’m super late to the party on this, as the game came out almost a decade ago, which comes of as a shocking realization that I have that kind of a backlog issue, but it’s been known to happen.
A picture of my unattended gaming backlog
I had downloaded the title absolutely forever ago, though not upon it’s initial release. Don’t get me wrong, what the game was touted for was absolutely checking all my boxes, as I always enjoyed indie darlings, rogue-likes, and rhythm gaming for the better part of my gaming life. However, the game fell off my radar due to any number of reasons, and only popped back on it when I heard they were releasing a Zelda themed version of the title in the form of Cadence of Hyrule, which came out on the Switch. In a blind fury, I ended up downloading Crypt first, missing the ever important memo that Cadence of Hyrule was in fact a stand alone title, and not an expansion add-on.
I do the worst fucking research
Which, I guess came as such a colossal disappointment for me at the time, I bowed my head in shame and turned away, not even trying out the base game the Zelda themed one was based on…*and* even a game I had just proclaimed enough interest in I had just downloaded it. I don’t know what my logic was at the moment, leaving me guessing at what kind of a rough time I was having back in mid 2019………
Ah, never mind. I just double checked what else I was playing around then, and I was in the midst of beating Sekiro.
Not days filled with puppies and rainbows from what I recall
Definitely a bizarre set of circumstances, especially in my total dismissal of playing a game I was so excited to try after finally acquiring it, but I’m reminded of old habits dying hard, looking over at a still unopened copy of a special edition of Fallout 3 I got at launch and continue to wonder what the actual hell is wrong with me sometimes. Fast forward years later, and seemingly out of nowhere, the itch to challenge myself makes itself known, and the power of the dance floor of the tortured and the damned beckons for me to enter the cursed realm of music madness once again.
Err…not *that* cursed
I say “again” in reference to my long standing graces with rhythm gaming in general, not yet the untarnished Necrodancer of which I speak. I have a slight history with the genre in some regard, as I was cutting my teeth on novelties like PaRappa The Rapper and Gitaroo Man even before I started ripping up dance pads with DDR in the arcades. All of that eventually led to enjoying Singstar, ultimately leading down a long and winding road involving a legendary run with the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, and even a real life stint as a karaoke host, but I digress.
What I looked like towards the end of my run with Guitar Hero
and Rock Band
Returning to my point, and after a long dormancy, I was finally ready to try my hand at Necrodancer, to give myself what I felt had been an inordinately damning and calcifying slumber.
At that moment, I had Big Malcolm energy, for sure
You might be thinking: but Pash, how could you compare your time with Necrodancer to the captialistic hellscape of Jurassic Park? People died on that tour! Yes, and I died inside…a hellish number of times, in my endless attempts at beating this god damn game. I had heard stories of Necrodancers mad difficulty levels, so I had not gone in completely unaware of the titles bastardly reputation, but I was use to punishing experiences and the nightmares that both rogue-likes and rhythm games were known for.
Pain is an old friend
So imagine my surprise when Necrodancer just utterly stomps the ever living shit out of my hopes and dreams as easy as it would be to tear me apart like wet bread. Based on all of the metrics involved, there is no reason to foolishly think the game will be anything less than grueling, but the games charming nature and cute visuals do emanate a deceptively disarming atmosphere in helping you to drop your guard. Even as I play now, with a load of experience under my belt, I always joke to myself the difference between a great run and a failed one is about three seconds.
Pictured: The three seconds following my proclamation “wow,
what a great run this is turning out to be.”
And of course, to add insult to injury, since the game is randomized every time, memorizing layouts doesn’t work, only retaining strategies for enemies does. So, feeling like a Mario player who has just died to the first Goomba, I knew I was going to have to swallow my pride, dust myself off, and try again. The irony of all of this is I seemingly enjoy putting myself through the ringer for tough video games, but then curse their name all the while I am doing it. It leaves me scratching my head; do I enjoy loss? Am I somehow addicted to it? Is that why I see it everywhere I go?
So much loss really steams my hams
The more I ponder the reality, the more I settle on the idea it must be true, given the circumstances, and the patterns I’ve exhibited over my many decades of gaming. To that point, while it did take me five entire months, over a hundred hours, and likely scores of deaths more than that to accomplish, I did indeed finally best the Necrodancer, in all of his fiendish fuckery. Though predictably, and inspite of of my hard fought accomplishment, I still wanted more, as it didn’t sit right with me I had only beaten the core content of the experience doing single zone mode runs, and not all four in one go.
Just straight up Ledckying my in-game leaderboards
Luckily, at that point, I had mounds of experience on my side, and felt as if I was finally able to perform a precise, meticulous operation, this time with a scalpel in hand and not a chainsaw. Though, I did concoct the thought perhaps I should download this game again on a platform with trophies attached to it this time, as I have poured far too many hours into this ball-bustingly excruciating experience to not claim and show off some fake internet points, dammit.
Seen here: an example of Sony’s trophy system working in real time
And in a big stroke of luck, likely compounded by my hours of turmoil with Necrodancer, I downloaded and in a single session beat an all zones mode my first night. Here I thought I was to face another litany of weeks involving failed attempts and near wins galore, with failures of spectacular fashion to follow suit. But no…one night, done and dusted. I think the most peculiar thing about my time with Necrodancer is not whether I think the game is a well made one, mind you, but whether or not I truly like it. Granted, though I do not feel as if the game is an immaculate hybrid, as I don’t reach the same flow state as I do with other purely focused rhythm games, nor do I feel the same adrenaline pumping tension that comes with purely focused rogue-likes, I feel as if the Necrodancer still stands as a polished milestone paying solid tribute to the games that have paved the way for it.
How then, in my right mind and in the name of sanity, am I not able to discern whether the hell I actually enjoyed all of this or not?
*record scratch*
~Pashford
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