LogFAQs > #933452810

#1





Years of release: 2014-2015 (PC early access), 2015 (PC), 2016 (PS4/Vita/iOS), 2017 (XB1), 2018 (Switch), 2017 (Amplified DLC)
Beaten?: haha

Hi, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Paratroopa and I am mostly known for playing Crypt of the NecroDancer. My name, or at least my online handle, is listed in the credits of this game as a beta tester. I wound up in this situation by making the best impulse purchase I've ever made in my entire life.

Most of the games on my list I either heard of because of their general prestige, or otherwise through word of mouth from someone I know. Breath of the Wild is a goddamn Zelda game, for instance. Dels has the impressive distinction of having being the one to introduce me to my #3, #4, #5, AND #6 games on this list (good job Dels). FTL and Darkest Dungeon were known to me because they had a lot of good press among indie games. The list goes on. Every game was either recommended or at least suggested by a friend, or had come out to rave reviews that couldn't be ignored.

There is one game on this list. One. ONLY ONE. That I purchased completely on a whim because I saw it on the Steam store, with no recommendations from any friends, without having heard a single peep of hype from anywhere on the internet, only having seen the store page and the trailer. It's this one. It's Crypt of the NecroDancer.

I bought it in early December 2014, because Steam recommended it to me (good job Steam), and it was a little bit on sale because it was in early access, and I was like, hey, why not, I'll take a chance. It's a roguelike, love those, and it's a rhythm game, love those too, seems like a good concept, game looks fun, let's give it a chance, maybe it'll be good. I then basically fell down a randomly-generated rabbit hole for the next six months.

Crypt of the NecroDancer is, indeed, a rhythm roguelike. You're in a dungeon, you can move in four directions on the grid, and every step you take has to be on the beat of the music. Going in a direction attacks an enemy if one is in your range, otherwise you move. Enemies will try to attack you immediately after you move. Weapons, armor, and various items increase your capabilities. The dungeons are randomized every time, split into themed zones, each with their own unique set of enemies. You have only one life, and if you die, you have to start over. That's about all there is to it! The rhythm element is a brilliant addition, as not only is it fun to tap along to the beat of the song, but it also forces the pace of the game, requiring you to make a decision every beat of the music of what you want to do. The game didn't originally start as a rhythm game, but rather as just a game where you had a time limit to move - but the designer, Ryan Clark, eventually realized it played a lot like a rhythm game so that became his concept. And now here we are.

According to my achievement stats, I beat zone 1 on 12/3/14, and zone 3 on 12/10/14 - there were only three zones at the time. I beat All Zones mode for the first time ten days later, on 12/20/14. I'm kind of surprised it took even that long, despite the fact that the first all zones clear is a pretty big accomplishment - I remember playing this game a lot the first time I picked it up. I was instantly hooked. The gameplay mechanics are fun and addictive - every time I died, starting over with a new dungeon to see what I could do this time was never disheartening and always exciting. I wanted to keep on going, unlocking every item and just figuring out how everything worked. Victories were always rewarding, and deaths always felt fair and never like a frustrating setback.

Pretty soon Dels and I started playing daily challenges, in which you play a seeded dungeon every day and compete with every other player to try to set the highest score on a single attempt. We got pretty good at it, and I know we both set some pretty good scores back in those days. For a while doing the daily challenge was kind of a ritual that we'd do. I was interested in challenging myself further, though, so I went looking at Speedrunslive to see if anyone was racing this - they were. Two racers named Rat and DJC. I watched them play for a while and really wasn't sure that I would be able to compete, but they were enthusiastic about inviting me in and told me to get involved in CONDOR, or the Crypt of the Necrodancer Online Racing... league. I did.

I sucked, at first, but this was yet another leap of faith that would pay dividends. Racing this game is extremely fun; playing this game fast really amplifies the difficulty of every little choice you have to make, forcing you to forgo more items and take bigger risks as you wander into increasingly crowded rooms, spending as little time fighting as you get to the exit. We used to do these unseeded, but now we do them seeded; both players play the same random dungeon, and each player competes to complete it the fastest. This has greatly improved racing and made it really interesting to see how different players approach the same seed. And while there are some items that are better, stronger, or faster than others, it never feels like a run of this game is "good" or "bad," merely "different" - you're not pulling the slot machine every time hoping for the one magical run, but rather, every run simply offers different options and challenges. So, I got more into speedrunning this game as well as scorerunning.

I continued to play through the early access period in early 2015. This was back at a time when early access was still kind of a dirty word - I think it still is, but at the time 'early access' really felt synanimous with unfinished games and doomed projects that never seemed like they would ever see the light of day. Necrodancer changed my mind on this. I'm so glad I got to see this game develop during early access - every week brought new changes, added items and content, and it was always exciting to see a new patch come out that would add new stuff to the game. I only wish I had gotten into it earlier! The early access phase didn't take too long, and the devs pushed content out on a tight schedule and had a very clear deadline in mind for when they wanted to release the full game. And, impressively, Ryan Clark really listened to players' input on what should be changed in the game - a ton of player suggestions got directly implemented into the game, almost always for the better. The community in early access was really dedicated to playing and mastering the game and coming up with suggestions to make it better, and I think the interaction between players and devs here really improved the game.<cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:933452810] in Para's top... [t:78297413]...</cite> <quote>#1 Years of release: 2014-2015 (PC early access), 2015 (PC), 2016 (PS4/Vita/iOS), 2017 (XB1), 2018 (Switch), 2017 (Amplified DLC) Beaten?: haha Hi, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Paratroopa and I am mostly known for playing Crypt of the NecroDancer. My name, or at least my online handle, is listed in the credits of this game as a beta tester. I wound up in this situation by making the best impulse purchase I've ever made in my entire life. Most of the games on my list I either heard of because of their general prestige, or otherwise through word of mouth from someone I know. Breath of the Wild is a goddamn Zelda game, for instance. Dels has the impressive distinction of having being the one to introduce me to my #3, #4, #5, AND #6 games on this list (good job Dels). FTL and Darkest Dungeon were known to me because they had a lot of good press among indie games. The list goes on. Every game was either recommended or at least suggested by a friend, or had come out to rave reviews that couldn't be ignored. There is one game on this list. One. ONLY ONE. That I purchased completely on a whim because I saw it on the Steam store, with no recommendations from any friends, without having heard a single peep of hype from anywhere on the internet, only having seen the store page and the trailer. It's this one. It's Crypt of the NecroDancer. I bought it in early December 2014, because Steam recommended it to me (good job Steam), and it was a little bit on sale because it was in early access, and I was like, hey, why not, I'll take a chance. It's a roguelike, love those, and it's a rhythm game, love those too, seems like a good concept, game looks fun, let's give it a chance, maybe it'll be good. I then basically fell down a randomly-generated rabbit hole for the next six months. Crypt of the NecroDancer is, indeed, a rhythm roguelike. You're in a dungeon, you can move in four directions on the grid, and every step you take has to be on the beat of the music. Going in a direction attacks an enemy if one is in your range, otherwise you move. Enemies will try to attack you immediately after you move. Weapons, armor, and various items increase your capabilities. The dungeons are randomized every time, split into themed zones, each with their own unique set of enemies. You have only one life, and if you die, you have to start over. That's about all there is to it! The rhythm element is a brilliant addition, as not only is it fun to tap along to the beat of the song, but it also forces the pace of the game, requiring you to make a decision every beat of the music of what you want to do. The game didn't originally start as a rhythm game, but rather as just a game where you had a time limit to move - but the designer, Ryan Clark, eventually realized it played a lot like a rhythm game so that became his concept. And now here we are. According to my achievement stats, I beat zone 1 on 12/3/14, and zone 3 on 12/10/14 - there were only three zones at the time. I beat All Zones mode for the first time ten days later, on 12/20/14. I'm kind of surprised it took even that long, despite the fact that the first all zones clear is a pretty big accomplishment - I remember playing this game a lot the first time I picked it up. I was instantly hooked. The gameplay mechanics are fun and addictive - every time I died, starting over with a new dungeon to see what I could do this time was never disheartening and always exciting. I wanted to keep on going, unlocking every item and just figuring out how everything worked. Victories were always rewarding, and deaths always felt fair and never like a frustrating setback. Pretty soon Dels and I started playing daily challenges, in which you play a seeded dungeon every day and compete with every other player to try to set the highest score on a single attempt. We got pretty good at it, and I know we both set some pretty good scores back in those days. For a while doing the daily challenge was kind of a ritual that we'd do. I was interested in challenging myself further, though, so I went looking at Speedrunslive to see if anyone was racing this - they were. Two racers named Rat and DJC. I watched them play for a while and really wasn't sure that I would be able to compete, but they were enthusiastic about inviting me in and told me to get involved in CONDOR, or the Crypt of the Necrodancer Online Racing... league. I did. I sucked, at first, but this was yet another leap of faith that would pay dividends. Racing this game is extremely fun; playing this game fast really amplifies the difficulty of every little choice you have to make, forcing you to forgo more items and take bigger risks as you wander into increasingly crowded rooms, spending as little time fighting as you get to the exit. We used to do these unseeded, but now we do them seeded; both players play the same random dungeon, and each player competes to complete it the fastest. This has greatly improved racing and made it really interesting to see how different players approach the same seed. And while there are some items that are better, stronger, or faster than others, it never feels like a run of this game is "good" or "bad," merely "different" - you're not pulling the slot machine every time hoping for the one magical run, but rather, every run simply offers different options and challenges. So, I got more into speedrunning this game as well as scorerunning. I continued to play through the early access period in early 2015. This was back at a time when early access was still kind of a dirty word - I think it still is, but at the time 'early access' really felt synanimous with unfinished games and doomed projects that never seemed like they would ever see the light of day. Necrodancer changed my mind on this. I'm so glad I got to see this game develop during early access - every week brought new changes, added items and content, and it was always exciting to see a new patch come out that would add new stuff to the game. I only wish I had gotten into it earlier! The early access phase didn't take too long, and the devs pushed content out on a tight schedule and had a very clear deadline in mind for when they wanted to release the full game. And, impressively, Ryan Clark really listened to players' input on what should be changed in the game - a ton of player suggestions got directly implemented into the game, almost always for the better. The community in early access was really dedicated to playing and mastering the game and coming up with suggestions to make it better, and I think the interaction between players and devs here really improved the game.</quote>

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