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This game got a free update!
You can now play an Octavo story mode as...Octavo! He gets a new final boss, new opening and ending scenes, and some characters have different lines of dialogue. Otherwise it's the same quest.
The only weapon Octavo can use is the Golden Lute, which has a wide range of attack ahead of him and moves him forward when attacking. (It's the same as the Golden Lute used by Melody in the original Necrodancer.) His special abilities are a spell that shoots a spread of fireballs ahead him, and an ability that lets him move while ignoring the beat, for hasty escapes or other fast movement. I never really used it...felt wrong to ignore the beat in a rhythm game, hah.
Honestly Octavo's Ode is a step down from the standard story, as you can't switch characters and he's limited to a single weapon. But it's worth a shot if you've been meaning to replay the game.
The other new feature is Dungeons Mode, which basically skips the overworld and has you going through the floors of all the dungeons one after the other. This feels a LOT like the original Necrodancer, as the dungeon floors have added hidden shops and item pickups. And if you turn off permadeath mode, you can continue from the floor you died on with all your health and weapon and item pickups (though the floor layout changes when you die).
I like it a lot! As interesting as the main game's Zelda/Necrodancer fusion overworld experiment was, I think it wears out its welcome on subsequent playthroughs even with the randomization, so a dungeons-only structure with random items like the original game is a great way to replay it. |
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This game got a paid update!
Six bucks gets you Shadow Link, Shadow Zelda, Impa, Frederick (the operatic shopkeeper), and Aria (Cadence's grandma).
As far as I can tell, Shadow Link and Shadow Zelda play exactly like their non-shadowy counterparts, except Shadow Link's spin attack pulls in nearby enemies, and Shadow Zelda's Nayru's Love lasts an extra beat. Ho hum.
Impa is...fine. She can only use spears, but she can hold them out in front of her for directional control the way Link can with his two-hander swords. Her stamina attack is a three-space spear charge, not one of the more interesting abilities. And she has some kind of auto-teleport dodge whenever she gets hit with some stamina, but I still don't understand how or when it works.
Assuming Aria is the same as in the original CotN, she dies in one hit, dies if she misses a beat, and her only weapon is the dagger. (I am assuming because I'm scared to even pass over her name in the character select.)
Frederick is the most different, and the most fun. He starts with 100 rupees, loses one every eight beats, and dies if he runs out of rupees. He can't buy items, but he can sell any passive gear (torches, rings, boots, etc.) at the shop. His special abilities are an opera blast that confuses all surrounding enemies, and he can throw rupees as piercing projectiles. And, when he dies, he gets a second chance as a ghost, where any hit will kill him and he loses access to his special abilities, but returns to life if he picks up a rupee.
All in all this first DLC pack is not particularly worthwhile unless you're in the mood for more Cadence and the current roster isn't enough for you. The new characters are fun, but for $5.99 they don't add that much to the experience. The real DLC experience seems to be Skull Kid's story. I spied a new enemy in the trailer, and it's $10, so that's probably going to have a nice pack of content that feels substantially new. |
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