Board 8 > July Game of the Month Club ft. Paperball, DOOM 64, Tunic, and Maneater

(+) Yeah! (+)

Julys Games:
Paperball (PC/Switch)
DOOM 64 (PC/XB1/PS4/Switch/Stadia/N64)
Tunic (PC/XB1)
Maneater (PC/XB1/PS4/Switch)

What is Game of the Month Club?
Game of the Month is a community project open to all B8ers where users share, discover, play and/or discuss a select few games every month. The games featured each month are chosen by YOU the users (and Lady Luck)

The Basics
- Each month will usually feature three games that were chosen via a random drawing from a pool of games that users nominated
- For each game you beat, you get a cool point on our just-for-fun standings as well as a nomination for next month's randomized drawing
- In order to receive the point and nomination, you must beat said game within the calendar month
- If you beat one of the current month's games in the previous month, you can apply for a "recently beaten waiver," but you will only receive a point and no nomination should you do so
- Drawing for next month's games is usually on the 25th
- If you periodically keep us posted on your progress and/or talk about different aspects of the games, then everyone will think you are super awesome!

Nomination Rules
- You get one nomination automatically each month
- You receive additional nominations each month for every featured game that you beat
- Each game you nominate has to be unique from all other nominations and cannot include a game that has already been selected for GotM
- Each game must be a standalone game that can be acquired and played on its own (aka cannot be DLC/expansion that requires the base game)
- Nominations only carry over if you beat a featured game after the drawing for next month's games but before the end of the month
- You have 9 supports you can use throughout the year. Your only limitations are that you can't support your own nomination, and you can only use one support per game per month

Just-for-Fun Top 20 Standings
KCF - 148
gameking - 116
ArkOfTurus - 89
Mr Crispy - 85
Lolo Guru - 70
Cody - 52
KnightOfNee - 35
MegamanX - 28
Wickle - 24
Arti - 23
scarletspeed - 23
ViolentAbacus - 20
darkx - 18
FakeAccount - 16
Fenny - 16
GreatPaul - 16
MZero - 15
Suprak the Stud - 14
tazzyboy - 14
Robazoid - 13

Spreadsheet with history
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X8E8oqzES42W4S82j7WTfNnzNa8c3uXdSE1rnqYG7WM/edit?usp=sharing

Additional noms this month
Ark - 1
Crispy - 1

Paperball is on sale for $3 USD for PC via Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1198510/Paperball/

Paperball Deluxe (includes all DLC) is on sale for $4.50 USD for Switch
https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/paperball-deluxe-switch/

DOOM 64 is on sale for $1.25 USD or PC via Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1148590/DOOM_64/

DOOM 64 is on sale for $2.50 USD for Switch
https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/doom-64-switch/

DOOM 64 is on Game Pass for console, PC, and cloud gaming

Tunic is on sale for $27 USD for PC via Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/553420/TUNIC/

Tunic is on Game Pass for console, PC, and cloud gaming

Maneater is on sale for $20 USD for PC via Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/629820/Maneater/

Maneater is on sale for $20 USD for PS4/5
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0115-CUSA14519_00-MANEATER00000001

Maneater is on sale for $20 USD for Switch
https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/maneater-switch/

Maneater is on Game Pass for console, PC, and cloud gaming

Ended up buying Tunic and Paperball, so I guess I'll end up playing them (although I'm not entirely sure I'll end up finishing Paperball.)

I played a little bit of Paperball just to get a handle on how things were set up to know when I would be beating the main game since I bought the Deluxe edition on Switch. There are a lot more modes than I expected to where there can be multiple interpretations of what is beating this game, but things are sectioned off within each mode to where I can determine what is and is not DLC.

Finished the novice levels in Paperball

8:26
32 fallouts
11 Gold (1 platinum), 8 silver, 1 bronze

Oh how much worse these figures will be in the next set

I've also finished Novice on Paperball. I started on Intermediate and I had to stop on the stage Skeleton for the moment.

I'm using an XBox One controller paired to my laptop and the combo of underpowered CPU/GPU and very touchy controls makes this very difficult. I feel like a really need to just nudge the stick; any more than that and I'm completely out of control.

We'll see if I'm able to get through this one. I think there's a level skip once you die enough...

I'm gonna score finally again, I'm playing maneater this month

I downloaded DOOM 64. Was gonna start it, but my eye was bothering me after being outside all day.

Seanchan posted...

I've also finished Novice on Paperball. I started on Intermediate and I had to stop on the stage Skeleton for the moment.

I'm about halfway through intermediate and Skeleton has been responsible for the most fallouts thus far, and it was the last section of the stage where when going downhill, I nicked something to launch my ball into the unknown.

I also started Maneater and am up to Dead Horse Lake. I thought I could take on alligators, but I was dead wrong, and I tried each time that I leveled up lol. One thing that I didn't like was how I kept killing catfish for one of the quests but it didn't count because it had to be catfish from a particular area for no discernible reason.

Also started Maneater

Sharks rule

Wrapped up Intermediate

22:48
43 fallouts
8 gold, 17 silver, 5 bronze

I honestly fared much better than I thought I would, but here comes expert...

I kept dying on the very first stage of Expert, so I have put Paperball on the backburner while I go through more of Maneater.

While I enjoyed exploring and picking on smaller creatures, especially humans, fights against the aggressive animals was getting frustrating for different reasons. Alligators were just too agile and tanky while barracudas were too small to accurately target. While I don't think that I will ever love taking on alligators and the like, once I finally reached adulthood and in general leveled up myself and skills, fighting was a lot more fun. I still need to take on the apex back at the bayou in order to go past Golden Shores. That creature is several levels higher than me (I think it was level 20 when I fled when I am 16), so I went back to the lake to do some side stuff there to hopefully gain a few levels.

I loved Golden Shores, but so far it is the most egregious example of me wishing that the detailed map extended to the cave/pipe systems.

I'm now up to Prosperity Sands in Maneater in addition to being a level 24 Elder. I've found it difficult how to best customize my shark through all of this, but I have settled on one with the mouth/teeth that has increased damage to boats and a bio-electric fin that gives me a shock attribute evade. I've pretty much kept the same organs all throughout (radar, increased health, and increased speed). I should probably look to change my body, but nothing has really jumped out as a must-swap for my tiger that has 25% extra materials.

I passed by the gulf on my way to the sands, and I am terrified and excited at duking it out with orcas and sperm whales in the future.

I'm playing Dragon Quest 11 S Definitive Edition....

I feel like I'm going to need to put it on break to finish Doom 64 and Maneater this month because yeah..

hm. Wasn't as far in Doom as I thought.

Well, I just finished up with stage 10 last night.

Nominate Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Yakuza 2 (Kiwami)

KCF has beaten Maneater

This has been compared to Jaws Unleashed, which I never played, but I am sort of interested in it with how fun this was. The game is at its best when you are an unstoppable beast wrecking havoc whenever and wherever, which was mostly revisiting areas post-game and also the middle areas as they first came up (Golden Shores, Sapphire Bay, Prosperity Sands). Chris Parnell was an excellent choice to narrate the game and its hilarious, unapologetically savage commentary on humanity.

This game could have been more though. In the last fight, I ended up using my bioelectric body to shock the missiles into stopping and then grabbed them with my mouth and tailwhiped them back to the ship. Why couldn't missions be more imaginative or have multiple approaches like that? They pretty much used the same formula each region.

I will go ahead and nominate Manifold Garden and The Mummy Demastered

Finished Intermediate on Paperball. Turns out playing this on an underpowered laptop is a bad idea. I'm back on my desktop and beat Skeleton first try. The rest of Intermediate wasn't too bad once I had a better framerate and more responsive controls.

Expert really fucks with you right out of the gate. But I've persevered and gotten up to level 21, though with one skip along the way (I think it was level 10).

What's considered "done" for Paperball? Finishing Expert? Finishing Champion? I'll definitely pick away at this one some more this month but I really do need to start on Tunic in the next few days.

There are plenty of modes that I think can be used to count as beaten, but if you are playing arcade mode like me, it is my opinion that you should clear all the base game stages, which I think is through Champion.

I've started on Tunic!

Stage 13 done in doom.

I think I missed the first key, but I got the second.

Doom 64 is tough as nails cripes, hell barons everywhere even in the first couple levels

I finally beat Neon White, so now that will be my backburner game. Time to dive more into Doom 64!

Tunic's kind of pretty open. I've no idea if I'm going to the "right" place. I'm just wandering around collecting treasure chests. I got a key and I probably should have gone back to use it but I just continued forward instead. Feels like I'm missing some items at the moment; definitely a shield and probably some sort of hookshot as well. I've done a few upgrades but now I've got more materials than money; didn't help that the game let me upgrade a stat that I can't use yet.

Tunic is pretty much an open-exploration, linear progression kind of game. You can access a lot from the start but you won't be able to get far.

Got the bfg9000

Gotta love opening a door and there's a baron of hell right behind it in your face

Basically the original jump scares

I tend to use bigger guns on them but overall I still love the trusty super shotgun

FakeAccount3000 posted...

I still love the trusty super shotgun

I pretty much exclusively use the super shotgun

ViolentAbacus posted...

I pretty much exclusively use the super shotgun

Except when I pull out the rockets or the bfg this is the same for me

Tbh the changun just doesn't have the staying power or satisfying click click of the boomstick.

Just finished stage 22 and at this point I'd almost be disappointed if there weren't barons of hell and spider robot things waiting to ambush me right in front of the exit ha ha..

Tunic update: I got the whip, which makes combat easier and really starts to open up the navigation. Then I finally went back to open up the Old House and, hey, there's the shield! Also found a room with 12 empty pedestals. Yet another of a multitude of "things to come back to". The game kind of reminds me a bit of Hob with the perspective, lack of dialogue, and general gameplay.

Holy crap the Mother Demon. Makes me wish I had the secret weapon powered up, I had to make do with the bfg and man that was hard. Especially painful was the first time I killed her it was a double ko so I still had to manage it again...

But at least Doom 64 beaten

Nominate: King's Quest (2015) and Sir Lovelot

PC issues have kinda stopped me from playing anything this month, unfortunately.

Nominate Sifu and Into the Breach

Tunic update (spoilers):

Two nights ago I got the Lantern, beat the Garden Boss, and rang the West Bell. Progress! Then I was like "okay, now what". The Quarry area seemed too hard, even after I found the staff.

Today...today was crazy. I went back to the "Sealed Forever" door because that's what the manual indicates and I guess I've got to collect the 3 colored orbs now?

Went back to the Quarry again and slowly (and frustratingly because it's basically 1 hit death...) made my way through part of the area. Found the gun. Found the manual page about holding A and OMG THAAAAAT'S WHAT I HAD TO DO WITH THOSE PILLARS?!? Also tried praying/kneeling on the yellow squares and WARP ZONE!!!

Went Under the Ziggurat and "whoa this sure took a left turn..." Got to a boss guarding...something and he was kicking my ass so I used the conveniently placed warp to go back to the Overworld. Now I've got to go back to all the previous areas and activate all those pillars to get the juice flowing. And look for any more yellow warp points.

Tunic update (spoilers):

Got to another boss (4 legged Shield something or other)...also couldn't beat it. Looking back now, I should have just switched my potions to giving MP and just used the staff to hit him from a distance. Trying to find the opening to hit with the sword was being very annoying.

Tried praying/kneeling at the Hero's Grave and got transported to another area. Couldn't do anything there that I could see. Maybe I have to completely power up a particular stat first?

Prayed at the obelisks in the Atoll (or whatever the southern beach area) is called and got the transport to the sky/library. Three whole manual pages! And that's where I stopped.

I'm also missing the warp for the Western Garden but I haven't been back there since my revelation about holding A. There's also an area in the Quarry I haven't been able to explore which seems like it has a...candle for me to collect?

Muskellunge are crazy little bastards
Gotta love em

Monthly Progress
Paper -
DOOM - Fake
Tunic -
Maneater - KCF

Nominations
Ark - Sifu, Into the Breach
Crispy - Klonoa Door, Yakuza 2
Fake - King's Quest '15, Sir Lovelot
KCF - Manifold Garden, Mummy Demastered

Supports

Drawing will be on Monday

I finally got back to Paperball. I've cleared 10 stages on Expert (aka 20% of them), and I have nearly as many fallouts as I did in Novice and Intermediate combined. I wonder how many hundreds of fallouts I will end up with this batch, and if I will have a stage where I fail to medal.

Tunic update (spoilers):

Beat the bosses for the Red and Green gems. Scavenger Boss still kicking my ass though. Apparently I need to use the shotgun more.

The warp in the Western Garden doesn't seem reachable at the moment. Nor can I seem to go any further in the swamp/graveyard area.

I think I just have to get that last gem and see if using that back at the temple maybe that gives me some protection from the Quarry area's HP suck.

Tunic update (spoilers):

Got the Blue Gem. The key to beating the Scavenger wasn't the shotgun, it was the TNT explosives. THOSE were taking off nice big chunks of life.

Got turned into a ghost. Is it possible to actually beat that boss first try? Maybe but I sure as shit ain't good enough.

The game thankfully cuts off most of the overworld and funnels you to the graveyard. Started exploring there but didn't have a ton of time tonight.

Tunic update (spoilers):

Got the zap dash, which is awesome! Recovered all 6 powers from the Hero's Graves, with a little help from the internet for one of them. Learned about Holy Cross and opened up a few of those doors. Found Secret Treasure #11. Went to bed and woke back in the normal world.

At this point, I guess I could try to beat the Sword Lady again for an ending. There's another ending if I get some Fairies or something but not really sure what's going on with that.

I know there's a Golden Door I couldn't open. The big door in the Mountain Top near the Quarry as well. And another door near the Old House's secret treasure room. There's a bunch more Holy Cross doors out there. I'm missing 3 manual pages as well.

Feels like I'm getting close to the end but I'm not quite there yet.

Maneater beaten

Full bone shark build ftw, who cares about electric boat generators just bone shark everything

Nominate Cthulhu Saves The World (or saves Christmas if Saves the World has been done but I don't see it)

Nominate: Detroit: Become Human

Haven't had time to start anything yet this month, hoping to have more time next week.

OK I lied, I started Paperball today. Beat Novice and Intermediate, got a little way into Expert before needing a break. Fun game, Expert is a big step up in difficulty.

Tunic Beated!

Tried to beat the sword lady again. Took her down only OH NO SECOND LIFEBAR! Decided I wasn't going to try that again for a bit.

Did some useless exploring. Got some internet hints that there's actual logic to the Holy Cross "codes". With that understanding, I was able to open the Old House door and some of the other mysteries that had eluded me. I looked up most of the fairies though because I just didn't care to hunt those down. I DID do the Mountain Door puzzle almost entirely on my own, other than needing some help with Manual Page 9.

Went back to face sword lady again, only, now there's no fight?!? And my only option after credits is NG+? Okay, well, so long and thanks for all the fish Tunic.

Overall, I'd say it was a fun game with some neat mechanics, though some of the puzzles/secrets were a little too obscure for their own good. Worth playing if you're into these types of games but I wouldn't call it an all-time classic or anything like that.

Nearly finished with Expert in Paperball. Couple stages left. Had to use skip 2-3 more times, as some of the stages are fucking ridiculous. Of course, then you'll have 3-4 "easy" stages in a row.

Sometimes it feels like my best shot is my initial go. If I don't get it in one, it'll end up taking me 3 dozen attempts.

Paperball Beated?

Finished the last few stages in Expert. I think there was another skip in there... Stage 50 was kind of neat.

Champion #1 had me stumped for a while until I realized what to do, where I promptly lucked into the hidden exit to warp to #4. Which is good because Champion is pretty fucking tough. Of the ten stages, I think I beat 4, warped past 2, and skipped 4. I did beat #10 though!

I'm satisfied I've passed the criteria for finishing the game.

Monthly Progress
Paper - Sean
DOOM - Fake
Tunic - Sean
Maneater - KCF, Fake

Nominations
Ark - Sifu, Into the Breach
Cody - Detroit Human
Crispy - Klonoa Door, Yakuza 2
Fake - King's Quest '15, Sir Lovelot, Cthulu Saves World
KCF - Manifold Garden, Mummy Demastered

Supports

Drawing tomorrow, except for those on west coast

Nominate:
The Pathless
Monument Valley 2
Westerado: Double Barreled

I just started on AC: Origins, so a trio of smaller games.

Last call for noms, changes, and supports