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.
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ElCochran90
For: I wanna Arcana of the Tarot
For: I wanna Arcana of the Tarot
Beaten on June 16th, 2022, live.
Review written while listening to the song "Universum" by Laur, from the album "The Angel's Message", which is, objectively, the most proper song to use to write about Arcana of the Tarot.
trap
/trap/
noun
noun: trap; plural noun: traps
1.
a device or enclosure designed to catch and retain animals, typically by allowing entry but not exit or by catching hold of a part of the body.
2.
a situation in which people lie in wait to make a surprise attack.
3.
a container or device used to collect a specified thing.
verb
a) prevent (someone) from escaping from a place.
b) have (something, typically a part of the body) held tightly by something so that it cannot move or be freed.
c) induce (someone), by means of trickery or deception, to do something they would not otherwise want to do
When Kayin envisioned I Wanna Be the Guy, the game evolved into an adventure comedy, one that was tough as nails. Upon closer inspection, it really was an exercise of frustration, one that experimented freely with the patience of the player, unrestrained, balls-to-the-wall deception while giving surprises save after save. The response of the player pretty much determined how much he/she was understanding the purpose of the game. Those that smashed their keyboards or screamed in anger are used to quick progress; those that laughed or gasped were open-mindedly accepting a new branch of adventure experimentation.
The reason why I bring the original to the table is because the adventure feeling made it more alive, and remains a favorite of mine after thousands of fangame renditions and derivatives. After 15 years, things have evolved to specific genres and can be pretty much classified, unless something new comes along and is tagged as "Special". The exploration was made in the style of a Metroidvania, and the endless references to original retro masterpieces, with some mixes of modernity, made it a classic.
This is an adventure trap game that works as a comedy. If you take it as such, this will prove to be an insanely creative experience. After Outbreak and Cloudburst, this is the perfect closure for the thematic gems that lilly created, and with marimario aboard, a maker with tons of year of experience, this wonder comes out. The difficulty curve is perfect, culminating in the most satisfying challenges, and the traps literally, I dare to say, reinvented the genre for fangames.
Now go back to the definitions of "trap" because I'm pretty sure you skimmed them. When used as a noun:
-In definition 1, the animal is The Kid
-In definition 2, the attacker is the maker
-In definition 3, the container is the entire game
When used as a verb:
-In definition a), it's the ominous premise of the game; you know that will happen countless times
-In definition b), don't worry; the entire body of the kid is ensured to explode because of the most inexplicable and unexpected things and phenomena
-In definition c), it's the spirit of trap fangames
This is one of the few fangames which I have that fully understands and simultaneously applies all of the concepts from above. A falling spike is something you can predict. What about a whole giant block? What about changes in dimensions? What about the design of the game trolling you a la Duck Amuck (1953)? Back in 2007, traps were designed to anticipate how the players would think. Once the player does a plan b), the game anticipates plan b). Arcana of the Tarot, pretty much like Outbreak and Cloudburst, anticipates plans c) and d) (and takes this even to a plan f). Every single betrayal is insane as hell, and funny as Neil Breen.
When you punish the progresses of your audiences with traps, there must be a reward: give them a memorable moment; give them inventive gimmicks, establish their rules and then twist them; play with the game's design; give them something to remember so that they will want to share it with friends so they can react with a "WTF".
Today, the YouTube video "I Wanna Be the Guy - Death By Cutscene" is 14 years old and has 200K views, 1.6 K likes and only 35 dislikes. The majority of the comments are very old, but are all positive, and people keep commenting on it. One that reads "This video really captures the feeling of the whole game in less than a minute..." posted 5 years ago is one of my favorites because that comes from a person that understands the game. This is the art of breaking the rules.
After many fun gimmicks that can be considered simple and others quite fun despite borrowed (such as the Super Mario 64 one), there is nothing that will be able to properly prepare you for the wacky shenanigans throughout that will twist the entire stages. Some might look and be described as ordinarily themed ("the cave stage", "the ice stage", "the factory stage"); however reinventing twists at every turn is what sells this as a trap game.
However, even if the core of the game is trap, it is also an adventure and there is a high emphasis on this. There is a journey to fulfill, and said journey requires variety. The journey has a specific theme: travelling through worlds activating tarot cards after beating stages and thematic bosses. Recreating original videogame tilesets is always allowed as long as you make a memorable tribute to said game. The makers here don't opt for that, and decide to create a world of their own.
When both envisionings are correctly applied, the high-sky production value is more than welcome, because it will add to the game instead of being distracting. Today, many players reinforce the idea that "production value does not equal enjoyment value". Here, the visuals work in favor of the visual design of the adventure spirit and the absolutely mental traps. The latter two factors are added and then multiplied by the production value, and the result is true bliss.
I have mentioned countless times before that the trap genre frustrates me, but it all comes down to the generic conventionalisms and effortless generic deaths that the majority of makers have encapsulated the genre in. This game, after offering a plethora of 100% unpredictable tricks under the hat, never saves a trap before hitting the next save, ergo, removing the desperation of doing an entire save all over again, unlike old-school Carnival. Other lilly trap games do the exact same correct decision.
This is where the final stage comes in: the peak of lilly's creativity and style along with marimario's adventure expertise. It can barely be described with words beyond "an enchanted forest that unleashes the most unexpected troll demons at midnight". It even goes to the extent of going meta and becoming self-aware, culminating in moments of truly freaking based grandiosity.
It is impossible not to mention the bosses, especially when one has gone through Outbreak and Cloudburst: they are masterfully done, and just like the aforementioned games, they save the best for last. Still, the rest of the stage bosses are done with passion and a unique style. They are not grindy, or troll avoidances. They give the correct visual cues to react and learn the expected attacks and reactions, and implement gimmicks fantastically.
The final boss is a masterpiece: two Touhou characters at the magnificent rhythm, harmony and dubstep madness mixture of Universum by Laur. As predictable as the theme of the boss is, the boss itself is not: five stages that escalate spectacularly in difficulty with extraordinary sound editing and visual effects without saturating the screen or creating visual obstacles for knowing where your character is. The boss, moreover, has wonderful small details that I greatly appreciate, because everything adds (some may go consciously unnoticed by many, but unconsciously they allow you to enjoy the final boss much more):
-Every attack is named and has its English translation for us mortals that weren't born on the East
-When you get to the top of the screen, all titles and legends are removed so you don't lose visibility of yourself, unlike the title cards of many medleys
-Attacks are not really hard by themselves because of you requiring to do an exhausting trial and error: they hint the blind spots, announce themselves coming as a next phase, have a correct and reactable timing, and are not confusing at all. The skills required to beat them are calculation and observation.
-This is my favorite aspect and is the most beautiful thing ever: the battle syncs extraordinarily with the song. I am not freaking kidding! How can you be such a programming genius in this sense?? It is not an avoidance!! Well... During your first successful casual playthroughs, you'll realize that by the time the song says "Seek out your enemy", you'll be watching the transition to Phase 3; by the time the dubstep kicks in, you'll be doing the most intense attacks of Phase 3 with the position-based purple energy balls; exactly when the transition towards Phase 4 ends, the piano kicks in, and the avoidance starts at the same time; finally, when phase 5 starts, the song is approaching to its end and the most intense part of Phase 5, which definitely is the most pulse-pounding and epic part, the chant of the song intensifies.
Needless to say, this is a strange hybrid with hyper-contemporary adventure set-pieces aimed to cause a reaction and leave a very satisfying feel of accomplishment at the end.
[1] Like
Review written while listening to the song "Universum" by Laur, from the album "The Angel's Message", which is, objectively, the most proper song to use to write about Arcana of the Tarot.
trap
/trap/
noun
noun: trap; plural noun: traps
1.
a device or enclosure designed to catch and retain animals, typically by allowing entry but not exit or by catching hold of a part of the body.
2.
a situation in which people lie in wait to make a surprise attack.
3.
a container or device used to collect a specified thing.
verb
a) prevent (someone) from escaping from a place.
b) have (something, typically a part of the body) held tightly by something so that it cannot move or be freed.
c) induce (someone), by means of trickery or deception, to do something they would not otherwise want to do
When Kayin envisioned I Wanna Be the Guy, the game evolved into an adventure comedy, one that was tough as nails. Upon closer inspection, it really was an exercise of frustration, one that experimented freely with the patience of the player, unrestrained, balls-to-the-wall deception while giving surprises save after save. The response of the player pretty much determined how much he/she was understanding the purpose of the game. Those that smashed their keyboards or screamed in anger are used to quick progress; those that laughed or gasped were open-mindedly accepting a new branch of adventure experimentation.
The reason why I bring the original to the table is because the adventure feeling made it more alive, and remains a favorite of mine after thousands of fangame renditions and derivatives. After 15 years, things have evolved to specific genres and can be pretty much classified, unless something new comes along and is tagged as "Special". The exploration was made in the style of a Metroidvania, and the endless references to original retro masterpieces, with some mixes of modernity, made it a classic.
This is an adventure trap game that works as a comedy. If you take it as such, this will prove to be an insanely creative experience. After Outbreak and Cloudburst, this is the perfect closure for the thematic gems that lilly created, and with marimario aboard, a maker with tons of year of experience, this wonder comes out. The difficulty curve is perfect, culminating in the most satisfying challenges, and the traps literally, I dare to say, reinvented the genre for fangames.
Now go back to the definitions of "trap" because I'm pretty sure you skimmed them. When used as a noun:
-In definition 1, the animal is The Kid
-In definition 2, the attacker is the maker
-In definition 3, the container is the entire game
When used as a verb:
-In definition a), it's the ominous premise of the game; you know that will happen countless times
-In definition b), don't worry; the entire body of the kid is ensured to explode because of the most inexplicable and unexpected things and phenomena
-In definition c), it's the spirit of trap fangames
This is one of the few fangames which I have that fully understands and simultaneously applies all of the concepts from above. A falling spike is something you can predict. What about a whole giant block? What about changes in dimensions? What about the design of the game trolling you a la Duck Amuck (1953)? Back in 2007, traps were designed to anticipate how the players would think. Once the player does a plan b), the game anticipates plan b). Arcana of the Tarot, pretty much like Outbreak and Cloudburst, anticipates plans c) and d) (and takes this even to a plan f). Every single betrayal is insane as hell, and funny as Neil Breen.
When you punish the progresses of your audiences with traps, there must be a reward: give them a memorable moment; give them inventive gimmicks, establish their rules and then twist them; play with the game's design; give them something to remember so that they will want to share it with friends so they can react with a "WTF".
Today, the YouTube video "I Wanna Be the Guy - Death By Cutscene" is 14 years old and has 200K views, 1.6 K likes and only 35 dislikes. The majority of the comments are very old, but are all positive, and people keep commenting on it. One that reads "This video really captures the feeling of the whole game in less than a minute..." posted 5 years ago is one of my favorites because that comes from a person that understands the game. This is the art of breaking the rules.
After many fun gimmicks that can be considered simple and others quite fun despite borrowed (such as the Super Mario 64 one), there is nothing that will be able to properly prepare you for the wacky shenanigans throughout that will twist the entire stages. Some might look and be described as ordinarily themed ("the cave stage", "the ice stage", "the factory stage"); however reinventing twists at every turn is what sells this as a trap game.
However, even if the core of the game is trap, it is also an adventure and there is a high emphasis on this. There is a journey to fulfill, and said journey requires variety. The journey has a specific theme: travelling through worlds activating tarot cards after beating stages and thematic bosses. Recreating original videogame tilesets is always allowed as long as you make a memorable tribute to said game. The makers here don't opt for that, and decide to create a world of their own.
When both envisionings are correctly applied, the high-sky production value is more than welcome, because it will add to the game instead of being distracting. Today, many players reinforce the idea that "production value does not equal enjoyment value". Here, the visuals work in favor of the visual design of the adventure spirit and the absolutely mental traps. The latter two factors are added and then multiplied by the production value, and the result is true bliss.
I have mentioned countless times before that the trap genre frustrates me, but it all comes down to the generic conventionalisms and effortless generic deaths that the majority of makers have encapsulated the genre in. This game, after offering a plethora of 100% unpredictable tricks under the hat, never saves a trap before hitting the next save, ergo, removing the desperation of doing an entire save all over again, unlike old-school Carnival. Other lilly trap games do the exact same correct decision.
This is where the final stage comes in: the peak of lilly's creativity and style along with marimario's adventure expertise. It can barely be described with words beyond "an enchanted forest that unleashes the most unexpected troll demons at midnight". It even goes to the extent of going meta and becoming self-aware, culminating in moments of truly freaking based grandiosity.
It is impossible not to mention the bosses, especially when one has gone through Outbreak and Cloudburst: they are masterfully done, and just like the aforementioned games, they save the best for last. Still, the rest of the stage bosses are done with passion and a unique style. They are not grindy, or troll avoidances. They give the correct visual cues to react and learn the expected attacks and reactions, and implement gimmicks fantastically.
The final boss is a masterpiece: two Touhou characters at the magnificent rhythm, harmony and dubstep madness mixture of Universum by Laur. As predictable as the theme of the boss is, the boss itself is not: five stages that escalate spectacularly in difficulty with extraordinary sound editing and visual effects without saturating the screen or creating visual obstacles for knowing where your character is. The boss, moreover, has wonderful small details that I greatly appreciate, because everything adds (some may go consciously unnoticed by many, but unconsciously they allow you to enjoy the final boss much more):
-Every attack is named and has its English translation for us mortals that weren't born on the East
-When you get to the top of the screen, all titles and legends are removed so you don't lose visibility of yourself, unlike the title cards of many medleys
-Attacks are not really hard by themselves because of you requiring to do an exhausting trial and error: they hint the blind spots, announce themselves coming as a next phase, have a correct and reactable timing, and are not confusing at all. The skills required to beat them are calculation and observation.
-This is my favorite aspect and is the most beautiful thing ever: the battle syncs extraordinarily with the song. I am not freaking kidding! How can you be such a programming genius in this sense?? It is not an avoidance!! Well... During your first successful casual playthroughs, you'll realize that by the time the song says "Seek out your enemy", you'll be watching the transition to Phase 3; by the time the dubstep kicks in, you'll be doing the most intense attacks of Phase 3 with the position-based purple energy balls; exactly when the transition towards Phase 4 ends, the piano kicks in, and the avoidance starts at the same time; finally, when phase 5 starts, the song is approaching to its end and the most intense part of Phase 5, which definitely is the most pulse-pounding and epic part, the chant of the song intensifies.
Needless to say, this is a strange hybrid with hyper-contemporary adventure set-pieces aimed to cause a reaction and leave a very satisfying feel of accomplishment at the end.
Rating: 8.4 84
Difficulty: 60 60
Jul 18, 2022
ElCochran90
For: I wanna have a good WiFi
For: I wanna have a good WiFi
fanyone improves on the 3 Traps 1 Room formula by implementing some Bigger P**** influence on how spontaneous and creative the traps can be. Trap games should aim at least for these standards; even if the game is too short for its own merit and had very interesting ideas that were not exploited to their fullest capacity (not enough Wi-Fi jokes, or the online Kids making more creative trollish shenanigans for adding variety to the traps), it's still gets a modest work done.
Bigger P**** is still the model followed in this dying genre full of generic traps, flying spikes and invisible blocks. This game also suffers from some of the aforementioned tropes, but then reinvents them in a way that becomes exciting to figure out how will the trap will behave to its fullest.
Fan of trap games that actually have the intention of exploring every single possibility of dying? Try this one out.
[0] Likes
Bigger P**** is still the model followed in this dying genre full of generic traps, flying spikes and invisible blocks. This game also suffers from some of the aforementioned tropes, but then reinvents them in a way that becomes exciting to figure out how will the trap will behave to its fullest.
Fan of trap games that actually have the intention of exploring every single possibility of dying? Try this one out.
Rating: 5.5 55
Difficulty: 40 40
Jun 14, 2022
ElCochran90
For: I wanna keep on dancing 2
For: I wanna keep on dancing 2
Relaxing after the trash I previously played, short, and chill, very forgettable, nothing special to look for in here rather than the cheap Uhuhu-like background (although not really).
Also, difficulty rating is because of the first jump in the first save of the 7th screen. I swear that was frame-perfect & pixel-perfect, and way tougher than the unnecessary plane & corners shortcuts I took for the lols.
[0] Likes
Also, difficulty rating is because of the first jump in the first save of the 7th screen. I swear that was frame-perfect & pixel-perfect, and way tougher than the unnecessary plane & corners shortcuts I took for the lols.
Rating: 3.1 31
Difficulty: 45 45
May 26, 2022
ElCochran90
For: I wanna be the 500
For: I wanna be the 500
Rating includes extra. Difficulty rating contemplates main game. Consider a difficulty rating of 45 for extra.
Xplayerlol summarizes all of the problems very well, so there is no need to emphasize it again... and yet I will, with my own style. It will be more complementary than anything.
-You have 500 seconds to clear the game; if you don't, you restart from scratch
-The game has traps scattered throughout
-Restart key (R) doesn't work with this gimmick; the game restarts for you
-Every time you die, it takes exactly 1.5 seconds for you to respawn at the last save, which accumulated, is a substantial loss for a """"speedrun"""" game
-The game has secrets, but they don't do anything except wasting your time (you would think they would be extra lives or maybe additional seconds to be awared to you later, but they are not)
-There is an unholy goddamned avoidance at the end modeled entirely from Go the Dotkid's final boss
-Every time you die, you have to restart the whole avoidance, so you have to learn the attacks
-Only you can't, because the game ends before you can
-The hardest attack is at the very end
-After the hardest attack, there's a troll attack
If you're sadistic enough to do extra:
-Finally you can play the game normally, again, from the very start. Yes, the game that you loved so much. You read that right. No timer! Only you're hallucinating the game's mere existence already; no new platforming whatsoever: the same vomit-inducing generic excrement with the same boring traps
-Now the secrets decide they work: unlock true clear
-The avoidance is now buffed
-If you miss a secret, this trash pulls off the Meet the Ruka stunt, but even worse(!): you have to beat the boss to be able to restart the game and collect the secrets you skipped and make bloody sure you collected them all before you face the boss for a (most probably) 3rd time
-At least if you wandered through the game, you already know the secrets
-Except you don't: now they have traps
-The third secret can fool you into taking a save that will make you restart the game because you shouldn't: I was certainly fooled (I know it's logical once you think about it, but your mind is thinking only one thing: finishing the freaking game)
-The clear screen is the most anti-climactic thing in existence; not even a tone to congratulate you
TTBB made a fair point in saying that a potential appeal for playing a game like this would be to begin speedrunning fangames. My opinion is that, platforming-wise, this is not even a game worth speedrunning... although it forces you, so you should stay the hell away from it.
This is a textbook example of how to completely ruin a gimmick and execute it in the worst way possible: poroniumu somehow managed to transform a 30-ish difficulty game in something harder because of bad decisions.
I hate this tone of green, and I now will have nightmares with it.
poroniumu, you certainly have your reputation. TAS 1 & 2? Jesus...
[1] Like
Xplayerlol summarizes all of the problems very well, so there is no need to emphasize it again... and yet I will, with my own style. It will be more complementary than anything.
-You have 500 seconds to clear the game; if you don't, you restart from scratch
-The game has traps scattered throughout
-Restart key (R) doesn't work with this gimmick; the game restarts for you
-Every time you die, it takes exactly 1.5 seconds for you to respawn at the last save, which accumulated, is a substantial loss for a """"speedrun"""" game
-The game has secrets, but they don't do anything except wasting your time (you would think they would be extra lives or maybe additional seconds to be awared to you later, but they are not)
-There is an unholy goddamned avoidance at the end modeled entirely from Go the Dotkid's final boss
-Every time you die, you have to restart the whole avoidance, so you have to learn the attacks
-Only you can't, because the game ends before you can
-The hardest attack is at the very end
-After the hardest attack, there's a troll attack
If you're sadistic enough to do extra:
-Finally you can play the game normally, again, from the very start. Yes, the game that you loved so much. You read that right. No timer! Only you're hallucinating the game's mere existence already; no new platforming whatsoever: the same vomit-inducing generic excrement with the same boring traps
-Now the secrets decide they work: unlock true clear
-The avoidance is now buffed
-If you miss a secret, this trash pulls off the Meet the Ruka stunt, but even worse(!): you have to beat the boss to be able to restart the game and collect the secrets you skipped and make bloody sure you collected them all before you face the boss for a (most probably) 3rd time
-At least if you wandered through the game, you already know the secrets
-Except you don't: now they have traps
-The third secret can fool you into taking a save that will make you restart the game because you shouldn't: I was certainly fooled (I know it's logical once you think about it, but your mind is thinking only one thing: finishing the freaking game)
-The clear screen is the most anti-climactic thing in existence; not even a tone to congratulate you
TTBB made a fair point in saying that a potential appeal for playing a game like this would be to begin speedrunning fangames. My opinion is that, platforming-wise, this is not even a game worth speedrunning... although it forces you, so you should stay the hell away from it.
This is a textbook example of how to completely ruin a gimmick and execute it in the worst way possible: poroniumu somehow managed to transform a 30-ish difficulty game in something harder because of bad decisions.
I hate this tone of green, and I now will have nightmares with it.
poroniumu, you certainly have your reputation. TAS 1 & 2? Jesus...
Rating: 0.4 4
Difficulty: 40 40
May 26, 2022
ElCochran90
For: I Wanna Graduate From DT
For: I Wanna Graduate From DT
Doruppi's most famous old-school product (?) is one that intrigues in some ways and falls short in many others: great music choices, but tedious platforming and traps way into the saves; experimental visual designs (no default tilesets!), but areas too short to be enjoyed; a vocaloid with fun visual design ideas and effects, but long waiting periods of nothingness that ruin the pace.
Instances of creativity and humor distinguish this as an Asian product, trust me; however, it looks more as an experiment to determine whether if something would function properly rather than planned and thought out. That is why there is no rhyme or reason; some stages will work better for you than others. Some ideas are funny by themselves, but not in execution.
For the curious ones, go ahead. It has nice videogame references and is quite funny. It personally lacked a lot for me.
[0] Likes
Instances of creativity and humor distinguish this as an Asian product, trust me; however, it looks more as an experiment to determine whether if something would function properly rather than planned and thought out. That is why there is no rhyme or reason; some stages will work better for you than others. Some ideas are funny by themselves, but not in execution.
For the curious ones, go ahead. It has nice videogame references and is quite funny. It personally lacked a lot for me.
Rating: 4.0 40
Difficulty: 40 40
May 25, 2022
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