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Friendly note: I'll add you on Steam if you happen to win in order to gift you the game, so please accept the request!
Keeping up with last year's "tradition" (which means there's a 80% chance I'll drop it by next year), here are 3 unbundled games I played this year! And while last year it was hard to pick just three... this time I had to scroll down the library to find that last one... oh right, the best part! You get a whole wall of text of me rambling! What? It's my giveaway I can do whatever I want. Plus like. The important stuff is right at the top.
As a little bonus, each giveaway will also have a question for you! Yes, you! Post your answer in the comments and, if I happen to like it, you'll join my very cool whitelist. I dont make many giveaways there, but it's all been unbundled stuff so... yeah. If you write a bad answer, though... you'll get a disappoited nod from me! Preposterous!
Ok so, if you heard about this game at launch... yeah, it's NOT what you think. If you only like exploring open worlds and capturing critters, you'll have fun for like the first two hours. The game turns quickly into a base building/management game, slowing progression to a complete crawl... luckily you can change the in-game settings. Yeah I played with a 2.5x exp boost and I'm proud of it. I dont care I'm not catching 12 of every Pal just to get a slightly better heater. And dont get me started on the endgame grind. No, I'm not farming the same boss a trillion times for that 1% of getting a legendary weapon.
Jokes aside, it's fun. Seeing your base expand in both structures and in the number of legally-distinct creatures totally not being enslaved. The exploration is rewarding, there's multiplayer, the creatures look good. The game is definitely a little clunky, but it gets updated semi-regularly, so we'll see.
Question: what's your favourite legally-distinct video game character? I'm talking a character clearly meant to seem like someone else but just different enough to not end up in court.
Maybe not the characters themselves so much, but the game as a whole.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Giana_Sisters
And: yes, I am that old that I have played it when it came out. 🧓
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You know what, maybe the infamous Nintendo Lawyers are right sometimes...
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As a gamer I'm going to have to say No! ^^
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Can't blame you, especially if you're into game preservation...
Or like sailing the seven seas. Both work.
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While I did roam the high seas in the past, I have basically come clean by legally acquiring most of the games I've played in the past. And while it doesn't necessarily have to be in my own library, I am very much pro game preservation.
This feels like a good opportunity to remind people of this:
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/939lj/stop-killing-games-an-eu-petition-and-how-easy-it-is-for-you-to-save-games
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Same. We've all been broke teens who've done a bit of wave-riding.
SIgned that, had my whole family (who don't care about games lol) signing too. I doubt it will do anything but... it's at least worth that 2 minutes it takes. You never know, finger crossed...
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It's probably the best chance we got.
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Hm, not a video game rip-off, but a character rip-off. I loved the old Tekken games, and Law is just...so exactly Bruce Lee. We played so many hours of Tekken 1 and 2 in the arcade, and it was my friend's favorite character, so I have oddly fond memories of getting beaten up by him.
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It's somewhat justified by his full name being Marshall Law (which is still as funny as it is cheeky) so it could pass as a reference/nod? But yeah, that's the "Bruce Lee at home". Wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to get the real character in but couldn't get the license or something
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...and once Tekken had Law, Street Fighter added Fei Long!
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Heh, you reminded me how first Mortal Kombat ripped off most of their cast - Johnny Cage was Van Damme, Liu Kang was Bruce Lee, Kano was inspired by Terminator, Raiden and Shang Tsung came from Big Trouble in Little China.
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I'd have to go with "Herlock Sholmes", from DGS (Dai Gyakuten Saiban, or The Great Ace Attorney). It's even funnier for me since in japanese they had no trouble calling him Sherlock, but copyright forced them to localize him with a funny name.
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Ah, how to forget his famous sidekick Watt Johson... they must have thought that the Conan Doyle Estate's lawyers couldn't read japanese or something...
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Maurice Leblanc, creator of the famous gentleman thief character Arsène Lupin, used the name in 1908 when he published his book Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes. He was even named Holmlock Shears in a British translation.
Sherlock Holmes entered public domain in 2023 in the U.S..
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Yooka-Laylee is a modern-day version of Banjo-Kazooie. The just changed the animals but ... it was clear for me on the first screenshot. It was even made by some of the same people who worked on Banjo-Kazooie, so it has a lot of the same vibes. You’ve got the same kind of 3D platforming, collecting stuff, and quirky characters.
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Definitely. Especially the way the characters talk, just making noises instead of words. I get being inspired, but at least don't copy the emptyness of N64 game levels...
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I just started ICO ... an old PS1 title ... every room in the game is just soo empty xD ... not sure if I can finish it
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Did you continue to play ICO? It's one of the most beautiful games I've played. Don't be fooled by the empty levels. Just imagine what things could have happened before on them, as the story unfolds... And it's closely linked to another game that I love, Shadow of the Colossus. Team ICO games rocks!
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not yet but I want to give it another chance due to your good words. =)
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I'm glad to read this! Take your time, no need to rush. Play it in a relaxing moment. Even if it takes a long time to happen, come back here and tell me what you think, please. ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )
And if you haven't played Shadow of Colossus yet, do it next and you'll understand. By the way, they are originally for PS2 but the latter had an amazing PS4 remake. =D
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I have the old HD versions of Shadow of Colossus and ICO on the PS3. So after ICO, I'll play SoC!
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This comes immediately in mind
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Pfffff...
Okay, he gets a pass because, as an Italian, the accents in that game are hillarious.
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Sorry, did not mean to be rude!
That's just that when I played this game, this particular part was so awkward, I mean AC (at that time) was a serious game, we were talking about a family feud, and then. Uncle Mario appears and says this.....I could not believe my ears :D
But yeah I can understand that as an Italian, you find it clumsy !
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No no, don't worry! It's precisely because I'm Italian that I find it funny because it's so accurate, especially to older people here.
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maybe not that similar if you consider the games, but Alex Mercer had such strong hooded Assassin's vibes..
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To be honest when I first saw the advertisements I thought it was an AC spinoff set in the modern day... yeah I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.
Also, where did the series go? Both Prototype games were a LOT of fun. Although, better not expect anything from Activision...
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The studio went bankrupt just after releasing the second game on PC.
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I liked Paul Walker acting in Fast and Furious saga, and the standard Commander Shepard in Mass Effect looks very similar
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All of the important characters from the first Evoland ^^
Here's a little screenshot with two of their names XD
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Snake from MGS is Snake Plissken from Escape From New York :D
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Waluigi from the Mario universe of games (particularly Mario Party games). Made by Nintendo, but still, it is a riff on Luigi. ;)
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Not a football games fan (well, because I suk at them 😂😆) but the PES series are famously hilarious...Roberto Lactose or Ryan Greggs 😂😆
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Ive played '2x' or similar xp on EVERY survival game ive played. The only one i played multiplayer for awhile (Ark) me and my friends went into a similarly tweaked server. Other stuff also altered- like come on, i like the idea of survival but those games want me to eat-drink every 3 minutes or so? In some if you dont eat for awhile you die- and heck i literally did a 14 day fasting once.
So yeah, im with you, im also proud of it. I get the loop and the idea but come on... grind for grinds sake is just padding.
Favourite legally distinct character?
Favourite goes to Freedom Planets characters. I dont recall names but the game is charming, clearly a passionate work of love and an awesome game on top of it all
But the first legally distinct character that comes to my mind... goes to mighty number 9
Because... come on
Sure the artist worked on Mega Man as a character designer but when he got in the project Mega Man himself was already done and decided. He made Zero. So why Mighty aint more like Zero but so so much like the blue guy?
The games actual worth and the issues during development aside i never understood why he chose that. The project clearly was started on his names worth, the kickstarter as well, even on launch every outlet would mention it- he didnt really needed to make such a 'legally distinct' character. Why havent he like, idk, made the kind of character designs he personally wouldve liked back then but couldnt because mega man was already set? Or a callback to Zero, or idk, at least doing Mighty in another color perhaps?
I have no feelings toward the game or the character btw, aside from Keijis design choice. I havent played it... but i find the last image funny
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I mean, (to me at least) the characters from Freedom Planet feel more like callbacks, almost references, especially because Layla (I think?) isn't a blue hedgehog... but yeah, Mighty is inexcusable. Freedom Planet is "taking inspiration", Mighty n°9 is "we have MegaMan at home". Also I can't find it on youtube so Idk if it's a fever dream of mine or anything, but do you recall a trailer for Mighty making fun of anime fans or something? Like... "the villain is as lame as an anime fan on prom night" or something like that... that scene with the awful line delivery and the BAD explosion in the background is the first thing that comes to mind when I think Mighty.
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Maybe... my memory is foggy. It took quite awhile if im not mistaken from first announcement to release and since i was turned off from the whole idea from the get go i kept my distance. I had an open mind 'i will wait and see' but back then i didnt hold much hope for 2.5d (2d platformers in 3d), so the premise had already lost me at 'megaman at home' + 'megaman without charming 2d sprites'
...then the reviews came and i ended up never touching it
But i agree i also consider FP more of a callback and homage. It had no intention of ever being confused with a certain hedgehog, it feels like some passionate fan made their 'original characters inspired by it' that were kept in a drawer for quite some years and finally put into a game. Wich btw i think many sonic fans can relate.
But adding the gameplay, art style some of the animations i believe it does fall into 'legally distinct' at least for many- heck ive seen all sorts of such accusations even in cases way less aparent. Heck im a Team Fortress 2 fan(like huuuuge fanboy) and i never liked Overwatch, wich i see as inspired by only- but to this day you will find people calling Overwatch 'tf2 ripoff'. In overwatch theres a dwarf that puts up sentries, wich i do agree came up from tf2 as blizzard explored classes concepts including tf2 ones, but i dont think that alone counts.
But i think its unavoidable (to be called that) when the inspiration/homage is too obvious even when it comes from a good place.
Btw have you seen the recent Akimbot?
I tought if it was only me who made the association then i look at the reviews and i think every single one mentions the inspiration- but at least no hate from it, all positive, a similar scenario to Freedom Planet it seems
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...
DID YOU JUST BRING ME A RATCHET AND CLANK LIKE GAME IN 2024?
... you're lucky I can't whitelist you twice.
Jokes aside, thanks A LOT. I love 3D platformers with combat/action elements (definitely nostalgia from the PS2 era haha) and to be honest I haven't found many recent ones.
Yeah, I wasn't yet big into MegaMan (at the time I had only played Powered Up! and Battle Network, I think?) but the crowdfunding campaign lost me at the ridicolous number of goals (I think it had planned ports for every single console under the sun) and even a loghead like me could see that wasn't gonna happen. Or end well, at least.
As for the tf2/overwatch thing, it's sort of a inherent design problem. Like. Yeah, if I'm gonna have a dwarf in my hero shooter, I'll either make him a tank or have him set up sentries because generally in fiction dwarves are either heavy armored soldiers or masters of machinery. It's almost a psychological thing. Like, if you see a dwarf, you expect him to fill one of those two roles. Or, if you see an elf, you expect him to be an archer or a mage or whatever, certainly not a tank. (I haven't played either games so if this sounds completely out of my arse yeah I kinda am lol)
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I had the same reaction, one of the fastest wishlisted i made recently lol
The overwatch dwarf feels more like the other way around- theres no elves, no dwarfs but that one(he kinda feels out of place in that sense). It seems more like they wanted to add an engineer but wanted to make him different and someone tought of a dwarf. Heck if anything they were trying to lower that kind of comparison, probably someone tought a female engineer or idk a robot one people would drawn more comparisons perhaps? Idk
In any case i think that sort of cases are dumb anyway, i dont think just because a game had a character that could deploy an automatic sentry gun in a fps match now no other game cant or anything like that. I think that kind of fanboy defensiveness will never go away but i think it may decrease- it was intense on Overwatch launch but now we have how many hero shooters? Other day i was seeing videos on the upcoming Marvel Rivals and many people were saying how this or that hero were 'exactly' like this or that hero from Overwatch- but this time around ive seen way more people saying that as an positive instead, more like they already knew wich character they would play because they like that kit
But its the internet. And gamers. There will always be haters lol
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luv. ya.
so much!!1
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I was thinking way too much of this, but now I think I'll just go with the roster of Broforce. Rambro, Bro Hard, Brodell Walker, Brobocop, etc :)
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Not a character, but first Doom music - legend has it, Romero dropped his metal albums on Bobby Prince's lap and told him "you're a lawyer, so you know how much you can steal from them before they can sue us".
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There's a Super Mario Sunshine reference in Asterix and Obelisk XXL 2 that is pretty cool.
Here's a timestamped video.
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I can't think of any, I'm pretty sure you can ask any Yakuza fan about Hannya Man and his identity, and they wouldn't be able to answer (100% guaranteed!)
I'm pretty sure Goromi is Goro Majima in disguise, but I can't confirm that either!
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Smh... you got it backwards! Obviously, Goro is Goromi in disguise! It's actually a heartbreaking hidden tale about how this woman, disguised as a man, enters such a male-centered space as the Yakuza and turns it inside down, proving that skill and gender isn't correlated!
Like Mulan, but with actual violence.
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Haven't played myself, but I would say Spark from Spark the Electric Jester 3.
3D Sonic game, but actually good?
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Ohh nice! I should really check it out, it looks super fun. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
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My favorite legally-distinct video game character has to be Mario. He's clearly a rip-off of Jumpman. Just wait until the Nintendo lawyers get a hold of... themselves!
I wish I could say Donkey Kong, but clearly that neck-tie makes him completely different from King Kong -- so much more sophisticated! That, and DK's only scaling buildings before they are finished. King Kong is such a beast in comparison.
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Plus, DK only kidnaps princesses, not normal girls. That's because he's secretly only after their wealth! Poor King Kong just wanted... no idea what he wanted, actually...
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How about The Incredibles vs the Fantastic Four? They shuffled the powers a bit, but they're basically the same.
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Oh man, Illbleed had Cork Inda, a simultaneous bootleg Woody AND Indiana Jones, on a demented quest to rescue "Sexy Doll" from a giant demonic Sonic the Hedgehog. I still don't know how Sega let them get away with it, except perhaps that Pixar wasn't owned by Disney quite yet.
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Man, I totally blacked out that game! If I had to guess, Sega's QA team never made it that far due to the horrible "guess where the traps come from" gameplay...
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Palworld is a great time with friends cough and also boosted gains I aint got time for this grind shit I got stuff to do cough
Thanks for the giveaway. I have it so I'm not here about that. BUT
My favorite Legally Distinct is about the Ghost Face killer in Dead By Daylight. I hear the devs didn't get the license through the Scream movies. Instead, they got licensing rights or however you want to call it from the costume company that created the costume set that was used IN the movie. So rather than get Ghostface, they made Ghost Face. Who is definitely not the Ghostface killer from the popular Scream franchise.
Just reeeeeaaaaaallllllllyyyyy towing the line of copyright infringement. I love it.
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WAIT, REALLY?
You can't just do that. You can't just do that. It's like if I wanted to make a Spider-Man movie, only get the license for the costume, put a gray gradient on it, name it Spider Man (no hyphen, so it's legally distinct!) and profit off of it. YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT.
Now waiting for their next killer, the totally original Lady Dimitri Scu, a tall lady with a cream colored dress. (cream, not white, so it's legally distinct!)
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It's definitely possible if the costume itself was licensed to the films by the costume company as an original concept by the costume company. The character would be the intellectual property of the film company while the costume itself would remain the intellectual property of the costume company. Thereby, you could have a Ghost Face that has no personality/history relationship with the film character and be okay.
Otherwise, you could still potentially loophole it that way if 1: There's no existing or planned market presence (however, puportedly Supermassive is working on a Scream game, so that's likely not true) and 2: it's presented as a costume rather than a character (however that also doesn't seem to be the case) and 3: The costume company's contract with the film company still retains them some form of artistic display or marketing rights to the costume.
Google returns the following:
So yes, absolutely doable in this specific instance, just so long as they don't blatantly reference any events or personality traits established in the films, and make sure to keep the name correctly formatted. ^.^
So, sorry, no- probably not going to be getting any Chinese-ripoff-styled inclusion of any giant vampire ladies in Dead by Daylight. :P
Though I did make the mistake of googling if there were any existing concepts that might be used as a loophole for that and, well..
Look, I regretted it, and if you click on this lightly NSFW link you probably will too. :S
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I've been replaying Earth Defense Force 5 recently with some friends and I always make myself giggle whenever we have to fight a certain laser-breathing, giant reptile.
For some reason, I just can't stop myself from singing "Ohhhh noo! It's legally distinct, Atomic Lizard! WoOOOooOoo 🎶" to the tune of BLUE OYSTER CULT's iconic song
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