Board 8 > Jan. Game of the Month Club ft. Indiana Jones, Minishoot, and Blood Orange

(+) Yeah! (+)

Januarys Games:
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (PC/XSX)
Minishoot' Adventures (PC)
Blood Orange (PC)

January-March Games:
Disco Elysium (PC/XB1/PS4/Switch)
Monster Sanctuary (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 obviously 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 also have the option of supporting 1 game each month. Your only limitation is that you can't support your own nomination

Just-for-Fun Top 10 Standings
KCF - 199
ArkOfTurus - 122
gameking - 116
Mr Crispy - 111
Lolo Guru - 71
Cody - 70
Seanchan - 53
KnightOfNee - 35
ViolentAbacus - 35
Kenri - 29
MegamanX - 29

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

Additional noms this month
Cody - 1
Crispy - 1
MMX - 1
Sean - 1

Indiana Jones is on Game Pass for PC and Console

Minishoot' is on sale for $11.25 USD on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1634860/Minishoot_Adventures/

Blood Orange is a free game on Steam and Itch.io
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2655840/Blood_Orange_Definitive_Edition/
https://decenttreatment.itch.io/bloodorange

Disco is on PS+ Extra

Disco is on sale for $10 USD on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium__The_Final_Cut/

Disco is on sale for $12 USD on Xbox and Switch
https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/disco-elysium-the-final-cut/9ntrs771l8hl
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/disco-elysium-the-final-cut-switch/

Monster Sanctuary is on Game Pass for PC and Xbox

Monster Sanctuary is on sale for $4 USD on Switch
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/monster-sanctuary-switch

Monster Sanctuary is on sale for $5 USD on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/814370/Monster_Sanctuary/

Will be trying to play all 5 of these! Maybe I can get to 5th place by the end of the year!

Gonna retroactively claim Minishoot from late last month. I'm playing it on hard mode now.

I'm 2 major bosses into Minishoot. What a great game! You wander around, shoot things, avoid projectiles, get powerups. It's kind of mindless but in a way that super appeals to me.

Minishoot' Adventures beated!

Fantastic mix of Zelda and twin stick shooter. I know I was enjoying it because I actually bothered finishing the Arena and deleting my save file.

Blood Orange beated!

Uh...yep, that was a thing...

Oh, I happen to be playing Minishoot right now.

Oh I just beat Monster Sanctuary on like December 31st

I highly recommend it!

Also I have Minishoot on my wishlist and was eyeing it but now the sale is over whoops

It sounds like people should be checking in on one of B8's most illustrious projects more often!

I have started on The Great Circle, just the opening and the part at the university. Game looks and sounds great. Tremendous amount of detail to the environments and the way the soundtrack flows in and out is movie-esque.

Oh, Blood Orange is free and less than an hour. Well then. Perhaps I'll try to fit it in this month.

I started Minishoot' Adventures a couple of days ago, and it is everything that I hoped it would be. The movement and animation are very sleek and stylish, and I'm having a blast exploring the world. It's also very meaty with never a dull moment. I have played two sessions that I felt were very long because of everything that I experienced, but it turns out they were just around an hour each! My second session didn't even involve going into a dungeon, and while I have found the second one, I still haven't entered it.

I was worried about being able to mentally keep track of all the places that I couldn't explore yet or were clearly way underpowered, but I bought the item to let me know if I've completed an indoor location, and I saw someone that I rescued selling an item that will notify you if you are near a collectible, so I feel good about tackling that stuff as I go along.

One minor bit of advice for those who haven't started it and might during this month, if you see the bottom left of your screen making some noise and emitting a light, it means that a map piece is nearby. I kept looking at the map each time that happened, and I saw nothing of note. Later on I discovered by accident when the same thing was happening that it was a radar of sorts after destroying a nearby environmental object hiding the map piece while I was in combat lol.

I have also been playing Indiana Jones. I'm having a bit of an issue acclimating to inventory management, especially during a fight since they don't pause the action, and also stealth (unless there's a mob of people, I just go ahead and knock everyone out/beat them up), but other than that, I have been very immersed if overwhelmed by all the missions/side missions/mysteries. Thankfully, I looked it up and found out I can go back and do everything after beating the game, so I will hopefully break myself free from doing nearly everything and leaving some or most of it for post-game if I desire.

I'm still at the Vatican, but I'm not sure what my main task is right now to be honest. It might be getting pictures of the rest of the fountain inscriptions.

Yeah, by the time you get to the point of wanting to mop up any missing doodads, you'll have the items you need to help you out. I feel like I did a pretty decent job of finding things even without help.

You might or might not have noticed but enemies respawn when you die. They also respawn if you warp back to town.

KCF0107 posted...

I have also been playing Indiana Jones. I'm having a bit of an issue acclimating to inventory management, especially during a fight since they don't pause the action, and also stealth (unless there's a mob of people, I just go ahead and knock everyone out/beat them up), but other than that, I have been very immersed if overwhelmed by all the missions/side missions/mysteries. Thankfully, I looked it up and found out I can go back and do everything after beating the game, so I will hopefully break myself free from doing nearly everything and leaving some or most of it for post-game if I desire.

I'm still at the Vatican, but I'm not sure what my main task is right now to be honest. It might be getting pictures of the rest of the fountain inscriptions.

I'm also still in that location and just...wandering around doing "side" missions (that don't really feel like that) and getting collectibles. I'm surprised how large and somewhat labyrinthine it is but as you explore you do get shortcuts via opening up doors. That said I don't have a great mental map of the place so it's still a lot of looking at the in-game map for guidance. I probably should advance the main mission since there's at least one mystery that I can't do without an item I'd get from that main mission.

One more thing to add about Minishoot': I have mostly been funneling my crystals, or whatever they are called, into fire range and rate. Allowing myself to keep some distance really helps me out with some of the more intense combat scenarios.

KCF0107 posted...

One more thing to add about Minishoot': I have mostly been funneling my crystals, or whatever they are called, into fire range and rate. Allowing myself to keep some distance really helps me out with some of the more intense combat scenarios.

You can always refund and reapply the upgrades if need be. Fire range I think is hugely important, then power was next. I didn't upgrade a lot of the others beyond the first pip until much later in the game, especially since you can buy the gun upgrades from a ship in town and for another reason you might not have run across yet.

I finished Minishoot' Adventures last night.

Other than having a few frustrating periods of not being able to find something, it's been an excellent game. I have absolutely no idea how to warp back to town, though. (Yes, I have the item.)

azuarc posted...

I finished Minishoot' Adventures last night.

Other than having a few frustrating periods of not being able to find something, it's been an excellent game. I have absolutely no idea how to warp back to town, though. (Yes, I have the item.)

When you're outside you have to hold down X (or maybe one of the other face buttons). There's an icon in the bottom left corner of the display for it.

I don't have an icon. There's only the map in the corner.

ArkOfTurus has beaten Blood Orange

I got ending A, which after checking a guide seems like the best one? Apparently I'm very good at talking to dolphins. The game felt.... Bad to play for what little gameplay there was, and the writing didn't do anything for me. Worth a look, but not my thing.

I bought Minishoot' Adventures, but a sudden, intensifying pain in my wrist might mean I'm stuck with games I can play one-handed for a little while. I had fallen deep back into my Elden Ring randomizer bullshit anyway, so it probably would have taken me longer to get to Blood Orange if not for it.

I finally made it to the next area in The Great Circle!

I don't think I like the combat too much.

Nomination 1: Thank Goodness You're Here
Nomination 2: LEGO 2K Drive

I haven't made too much progress in this month's games.

I just made it to the second dungeon of Minishoot. I also made it to the second open area in Indiana Jones. I guess that I have to rethink my approach in the latter game because my just-go-ahead-and-beatup-Nazis/Fascists strategy might not work any longer because these guys can take a lot more punches now, dole out a lot more punches and damages, and they block all the time. I may have to carry a melee weapon with me at most times now.

I have instead been spending a lot of time with Monster Sanctuary. I have uncovered about a quarter of the map, and what I experienced at the beginning has gone virtually unchanged to where I am at now, so anyone should quickly realize if this game is for them or not. It doesn't have a lot of personality, but it moves at such a brisk pace, and I really enjoy collecting all these monsters and finding uses for them in platforming and puzzles. I do find it difficult to get a handle on what monsters are better and when to change up their equipment and to what.

I have kept my first two monsters in my main three, and I have settled on a third for awhile, but I have the feeling that monsters in later areas are supposed to be superior and should be swapping to them once I get them (you get them from hatching eggs that you acquire as a rare drop from battles). However, only monsters among your top six get experience (the rest are effectively just there to use for platforming/puzzles until you place them among the six), and the way that enemy scaling works makes it difficult to drum up the desire to play around with all the monsters you get.

The very first time that you step in a room with monsters, their levels in said room will be locked in for the rest of the game, and they are generated by the amount of rooms that you've uncovered. There are some areas that I've been to that already do or will have a wide range of enemy levels between all of its rooms because I have been forced either by plot or not having the right monster ability to push forward to run around to different areas without completing them to progress through the game.

KCF0107 posted...

The very first time that you step in a room with monsters, their levels in said room will be locked in for the rest of the game, and they are generated by the amount of rooms that you've uncovered. There are some areas that I've been to that already do or will have a wide range of enemy levels between all of its rooms because I have been forced either by plot or not having the right monster ability to push forward to run around to different areas without completing them to progress through the game.

Eventually you do get the option to have all monsters scale to your current level

Also, when you hatch an egg it will be close to your highest level monster regardless of what level the monster that dropped it was

KCF0107 posted...

I also made it to the second open area in Indiana Jones. I guess that I have to rethink my approach in the latter game because my just-go-ahead-and-beatup-Nazis/Fascists strategy might not work any longer because these guys can take a lot more punches now, dole out a lot more punches and damages, and they block all the time. I may have to carry a melee weapon with me at most times now.

I made it to the 3rd open area now. Well...I think it's an open area but I guess I haven't gotten quite far enough yet. I found the 2nd area to be not as interesting as the first, simply because it wasn't as tightly packed but some of that comes down to the nature of the space.

I'm assuming you've leveled up some of your fighting and weapon abilities, no? I didn't find the enemies in the second area to be much more difficult. Then again, I always play sneaky so my strategy is to avoid as much as possible and only sneak kill/knock down when necessary. I did run into one situation where I alerted a shit load of guards; thankfully it was in an area with a bunch of boxes I could run around and take them out 1 or 2 at a time.

I think the 2nd area also suffers from it being more obvious what the loop of the game is going to be. It's still fun but I don't know how many more areas beyond a 3rd that it still works without feeling rote. Clearly the best part of the game is the non-game parts. The atmosphere, characters, acting (voice and otherwise), music, sound cues...it so perfectly captures the essence of Indiana Jones.

Seanchan posted...

I'm assuming you've leveled up some of your fighting and weapon abilities, no?

Yeah, every book that I have found has had their ability unlocked. I want to say four are under the combat category.

Seanchan posted...

I made it to the 3rd open area now. Well...I think it's an open area but I guess I haven't gotten quite far enough yet.

It was not an open area. There's a couple of smaller and/or more linear levels, which is exactly what was needed.

Okay, NOW I've reached the 3rd open area!

Monthly Progress
Indy -
Minishoot' - Sean, az
Blood - Sean, Ark

Jan-March Progress
Disco -
Sanctuary -

Nominations
darkx - Sunshine Heavy
MMX - Thank Goodness, Lego 2K Drive

Supports

Hold on, at least put me down for Minishoot. I finished hard mode this month.

paperwarior posted...

Gonna retroactively claim Minishoot from late last month.

I have you down on the spreadsheet but not the progress report because of this post (as to make things simpler for everyone in terms of knowing how many nominations are available to them).

Alright, I didn't mean to really complain. I may think of some nominations if they come to mind.

I've reached what I assume is the last level of The Great Circle. At least it's got "last level" vibes.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle beated!

Man do those credits take a long time... I didn't really come close to collecting all the doodads and finishing all the side quests but I didn't feel compelled to go back to do much once I finished.

Overall I enjoyed it but it's not a GotY caliber of game for me. I'm undecided if it's better than either The New Order or The New Colossus. I think for all 3 you're there more for the story/characters/atmosphere than anything else.

I started on Monster Sanctuary.

I can't say it was really grabbing me right out of the gate. Then again, I was a little sleepy but maybe it was the game that caused the sleepiness?

I've done a dozen-ish battles and after seemingly every one there's another piece of equipment to put on, or a skill point to allocate, or an egg to hatch. It's slightly exhausting, especially when it really doesn't seem to matter very much this early on.

I did go into the setting to speed up the battles to 2x, and I'll probably just bop it up to 3x next time I play.

Oh, and I picked the Lion to start. I wasn't sure which to go with, so I went with the one with the most balanced stats, even though I really did want to pick the toad.

Beat Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Pretty solid and well-polished but I feel like my enjoyment of the game kinda peaked in the first open area.

JONA posted...

Pretty solid and well-polished but I feel like my enjoyment of the game kinda peaked in the first open area.

Yeah, I kind of agree with that sentiment. The Vatican is the most interesting and dense area, plus everything feels new and exciting. After that, the game kind of repeats itself. The other 2 open areas do have a different feel and setting but it's also like, "okay, time to collect more medicine, relics, artifacts, etc."

Busy month so far, may try and squeeze in Blood Orange but not likely before the drawing.

Nominate: Bugsnax and Haven

I can't say I'm really feeling Monster Sanctuary.

Again, so many monsters, equipment, items, upgrades, etc. and it kind of all just doesn't really seem to matter? Pick the equipment with more plusses, and use the attacks that the enemies are weak again. I've just been kind of plodding my way through with little resistance. I do like that they give you full info in battles though (which attacks are strong or weak, amount of damage, etc.) rather than obfuscating or making you need to memorize it.

I'm about 15% of the way via map completion, and based on the way it scrolls to the right...yeah, it's a long game.

Seanchan posted...

Again, so many monsters, equipment, items, upgrades, etc. and it kind of all just doesn't really seem to matter?

Just wait until the first Keeper Battle (minor spoilers maybe)

Some more updates

I'm through three dungeons of Minishoot, and I've also been clearing a ton of the progression items now that I presumably have all the navigational/exploration abilities after gaining surf. I had trouble finding my way to the area with the fourth dungeon also did a lot of work for what I thought was gaining access to that dungeon only to find out that it is probably for the endgame dungeon lol. I have an idea of where I need to go though after looking at my map and what icons I still have left.

I'm in Siam on Indiana Jones. I have been holding off on playing for a few days because I think that I have to deal with this giant serpent and am noping out for the time being. I do agree that as of this moment, The Vatican as a location, has been the best in the game. While the puzzles and adventuring have still been great, and I'm sort of warming up to the melee-centric combat on the condition that I'm not deal with mobs of people, as a stealth aficionado who has also played a large amount of non-stealth games that incorporate stealth elements, this is probably my least favorite part of the game. I think that it worked well in The Vatican, which is partially why I like that place the best, but that place was designed to favor that approach with all its tight, straight places with elevation options. Nothing has come remotely close, and with limited visibility options for the player (there's an okay strafing move), it doesn't seem worth the effort for something that only has intrinsic value.

As for Monster Sanctuary, I have hit two walls in different areas, so I think that I need to do a mini blow up of my team and figure out what to do. I do not know the names of any of the monsters, so you have to excuse my basic descriptions. I have my healing and debuffing slime and my multi-faceted (physical/magical, single/multi-enemy targeting) attack eagle, and I did have my all-offense sword cat(?). I have had the slime and eagle since the beginning (I chose the eagle since orange is my favorite color lol) because they work well for me, but I had a revolving door for the third monster, and I eventually settled on this cat.

However, when I have run into difficulties (especially against the main boss at the sun palace and some boss in the goblin woods, both of whom I have not defeated), he seems to die rather quickly. I'm guessing that he's the weak link, so I may try out someone that I haven't given much of a shot (I did like this robed monk and maybe I need a backup healer?). I also haven't been hatching from eggs as to not lock them into a starting level, but maybe I should start hatching and trying them out.

I also wonder if I have been using skill points poorly. I have mostly been focused on developing their abilties and enabling passives. I have completely ignored stat boosts, so perhaps even with relatively similar levels and have mostly +3 weapons and accessories on my main three, I'm still at a stat disadvantage. I have also not been using the items to increase levels or gain skill points. I'm probably doing everything wrong lol.

KCF0107 posted...

As for Monster Sanctuary, I have hit two walls in different areas, so I think that I need to do a mini blow up of my team and figure out what to do. I do not know the names of any of the monsters, so you have to excuse my basic descriptions. I have my healing and debuffing slime and my multi-faceted (physical/magical, single/multi-enemy targeting) attack eagle, and I did have my all-offense sword cat(?). I have had the slime and eagle since the beginning (I chose the eagle since orange is my favorite color lol) because they work well for me, but I had a revolving door for the third monster, and I eventually settled on this cat.

However, when I have run into difficulties (especially against the main boss at the sun palace and some boss in the goblin woods, both of whom I have not defeated), he seems to die rather quickly. I'm guessing that he's the weak link, so I may try out someone that I haven't given much of a shot (I did like this robed monk and maybe I need a backup healer?). I also haven't been hatching from eggs as to not lock them into a starting level, but maybe I should start hatching and trying them out.

I also wonder if I have been using skill points poorly. I have mostly been focused on developing their abilties and enabling passives. I have completely ignored stat boosts, so perhaps even with relatively similar levels and have mostly +3 weapons and accessories on my main three, I'm still at a stat disadvantage. I have also not been using the items to increase levels or gain skill points. I'm probably doing everything wrong lol.

Yes, another person who loves orange! The color choice of the true sophisticate.

Anyway, I was paying a bit more attention to the stats in Monster Sanctuary to understand are my monsters physical focused or attack focused. Once I figured that out I started min-maxing their gear and abilities in that direction. Not sure it's made a huge difference thus far.

I beat a couple more Champions, though I did actually lose to one of them first. The game is nice in that you just can redo the battle immediately without game over screens or any of that. And I also love that you start with full health for each fight; real nice QoL thing.

I wandered into the Sun Palace at one point and the first battle had enemies 5-6 levels above me, so I got out of there. First time I've seen normal enemies be of significantly higher level than myself.

My team has been the starting lion, the same slime, and that first bird you run across. I am also not convinced of its longer term success but all out attacking has worked pretty well thus far. In tougher battles I've been trying to take the first few turns to apply buffs, regeneration, etc. on my party and dots on the enemies. The dots (burn, poison) seem to be really key.

I've been hatching eggs for any new monsters I get just so I can get their navigation abilities. But I haven't used anyone but my starting team in combat. Perhaps I should be paying a bit more attention to that, but eh, if need be I'm sure you could grind a dozen battles and bring some people up pretty quick. Or use some of those level/skill items.

Managed to get back to Minishoot Adventures, but I wasn't feeling it. It was fine, but there wasn't much compelling me to play it. Playing this made me want to buy and play through Furi, which I blazed through in two sittings. Kind of ironic, since I'm pretty sure I had the exact same response when Furi came up in this topic series before. Maybe in a few years I'll want to revisit this, and will love it?

Nominate Ender Magnolia (it's leaving early access in a week), and Resident Evil 4 Remake

Nominate 428: Shibuya Scramble and Chaos;Head

due to the spike chunsoft sale.