Animation Revelation Forum

Other Entertainment => Vidja Games => Topic started by: Foggle on February 28, 2014, 02:18:41 AM

Title: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 28, 2014, 02:18:41 AM
Because Talon demanded it. EDIT: He also sucks.

Also, here's Nel's most recent post in the thread, so he doesn't feel like I'm cutting him off. ;)

Quote from: Nel_Annette on February 28, 2014, 12:44:32 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on February 25, 2014, 12:22:06 PM
How many hours does the final boss take to beat? You must inform us on that.

I've heard horror stories about bullshit healing, but I'm not there yet. The final dungeon is dragging like crazy.

I got my Tales Of Symphonia Chronicles copy in the mail yesterday, so I popped that into the PS3. Nostalgia boner abound. And the first thing it did was see that I had Graces and Xillia data, and gave me costume sets from Abyss, Vesperia, Xillia, and Xillia 2 right off the bat. I'm going to have all the characters dressed up as characters from games that came out after Symphonia. Awesome! I also got the Collector's Edition, so much swag was had. Artbook, optional steelbook case, four mini-figurines, four-disc soundtrack, and a little 100+ page novel. Totally worth it. I only played enough to get those costumes though. I still want to finish Xillia before a give the Symphonia games another proper go.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 28, 2014, 03:02:22 AM
I demand tradition!...talon should get insulted in the OP. :thinkin:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 28, 2014, 03:29:45 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on February 28, 2014, 03:02:22 AM
I demand tradition!...talon should get insulted in the OP. :thinkin:
Done. :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 28, 2014, 03:53:49 AM
 :D Acceptable.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on February 28, 2014, 07:14:13 AM
Awwww, Foggle. *hugs*
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Grave on February 28, 2014, 09:30:26 AM
I have another 360 on the way along with Halo 4 and Tomb Raider (it was a bundle from Amazon). With that I also ended up getting Halo 3 and some Halo bundle that has both Combat Evolved and Reach together ($30 price tag). I missed playing it so I'm kinda overdue, not to mention that there's not a lot of games on the ps3 that're good for anger (other than the Musou games). Anyway, I also ended up getting the Mass Effect trilogy as well (I'm gonna probably trade the ps3 version in somewhere). For me it's too weird to play a ME game on a ps3. The controller just don't feel right at all, and it screws with my reaction timing. It'd be different if this were a hack n slash game or a fighting game (just barely). Shooting with the R2 button alone is wishy-washy.

As for what I'm playing now. SSF4:AE2012 and Batman: Arkham Origins. Any criticism I have of SSF4 you can probably take it with a grain of salt at this point because you probably already know I'll be back to the game eventually (I swear I feel like I'm married when it comes to this game).

Batman on the other hand, I forgot where I left off. I just remember liking the fight against Deathstroke.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 28, 2014, 11:10:13 PM
I beat File R-01 of MGRR on Very Hard mode, which incidentally isn't that hard so far. That said, I hear that Revengeance mode is a ridiculous jump in difficulty, so that'll certainly be something to look forward to (or not).

Overall, the game has grown on me over time in the same way that NG2 did, and just like that game I feel like if Platinum weren't so rushed in development, they could've made it one of the best games in the genre. That's really why I actually hope this game gets a sequel, and that Platinum really gets the time to balance it out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 01, 2014, 03:00:37 AM
 :D Just noticed how clever the title is.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 01, 2014, 07:12:33 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 01, 2014, 03:00:37 AM
:D Just noticed how clever the title is.
It's a Max Payne reference. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 01, 2014, 11:16:36 AM
At least for me it was an afterthought. And I won't make a post in a year or so claiming that I will one day get back at Foggle. :P

As for me, I'm not playing anything currently. I mentioned that I'm doing this for animated shows, but I think I will also make a list for games I need to beat. Once I have a list to look at, I feel like I might be more likely to get started on them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 01, 2014, 11:53:30 AM
Avaitor, not Foggle made the last thread, dumbass
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Grave on March 01, 2014, 09:18:21 PM
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
It's been too long. I'm taking my time with it just to look at the updated graphics because I know once I reach the flood I'm not going to be able to take in the scenery. Not far into the game at all. Second mission, just got the warhammer (hog?). Not much to really say from there.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 01, 2014, 11:33:13 PM
One of these days I really do need to go back and finish my run of the game on Legendary. I had last left off on Two Betrayals, and I was about three quarters of the way through that mission.

I also just beat Vanquish, today. It's a game that's best played in short bursts, but it was definitely fun, minus a few really cheap encounters. The weapons were all great, but the enemy design was a bit weak, which prevented the game from being as memorable and repayable as something like RE4, but the great mechanics do make it worth playing through again.

I also beat File R-02 of MGRR on Very Hard mode. It can kind of get really cheap at times when enemies stun-lock you and kill you quickly due to the massive damage that they can inflict on you on this difficulty setting, but overall there weren't too many fights of that nature. Having to fight 2 GRADs at once during the boss fight was brutal, though. Which is to say that I got it on my first. Try, but had to use up all of my healing items to do so, and even the. I just barely made it out of that fight alive.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 02, 2014, 12:19:10 AM
I am stuck on the final giant battle of M&L:DT. As I said before, I love this game to bits, but these battles are utter bullshit. The stylus and motion controls hardly ever work the right way and a single attack from the boss can take down a third of your health. And given that he gets multiple attacks in a turn...

:anger:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 03, 2014, 08:10:54 PM
This Saturday, I'm going to be livestreaming Banjo-Tooie from 7am CST to... whenever I feel like stopping. Or if I beat the game. I did this with the first one in November, and it was an extremely fun, if somewhat painful experience. Join me, Homura, Dalek, Insomniac, Micki, Eclectic Dude, and probably some other AR folks for intelligent conversation and bad jokes while I collect jiggies and music notes until my eyes bleed and fingers break!

http://livestream.com/foggle <-- The link, for later.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on March 03, 2014, 10:12:24 PM
I will be watching earlier in the day, then come back later at night after my job to see if you'll be struggling. Still, good luck with Canary Mary stages!

As for me, I was playing Animal Crossing New Leaf since today was Festivale, Animal Crossing's equivalent to Mardi Gras. I hunted down various number of feathers to give to Pave, only to take me like 4-5 hours to get every item. I don't understand why Pave doesn't cycle through the items in his set. At least Jack during Halloween did that before he decided to give you dupes of his items. Still, it was a pretty fun event.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 03, 2014, 10:22:55 PM
Quote from: Daxdiv on March 03, 2014, 10:12:24 PM
I will be watching earlier in the day, then come back later at night after my job to see if you'll be struggling. Still, good luck with Canary Mary stages!

As for me, I was playing Animal Crossing New Leaf since today was Festivale, Animal Crossing's equivalent to Mardi Gras. I hunted down various number of feathers to give to Pave, only to take me like 4-5 hours to get every item. I don't understand why Pave doesn't cycle through the items in his set. At least Jack during Halloween did that before he decided to give you dupes of his items. Still, it was a pretty fun event.

I had to work, so I gave up about two hours into that shit. I never even got one item, so I might time travel to get this one done later in the week. Still, I think it's less tedious than doing a perfect Thanksgiving run.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 05, 2014, 01:31:20 PM
Banjo-Tooie stream on Saturday is being delayed 'til 9am. Sorry folks!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 05, 2014, 03:10:03 PM
Don't you dislike those games outside nostalgia, Foggle?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 05, 2014, 03:39:14 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 05, 2014, 03:10:03 PM
Don't you dislike those games outside nostalgia, Foggle?
I actually ended up liking Banjo-Kazooie again (Rusty Bucket Bay aside) because of the fun I had with everyone in the previous stream. I expect the same thing will happen with BT. If not, everyone can just laugh at my suffering for 12+ hours.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 05, 2014, 03:49:44 PM
Wouldn't that mean you enjoyed the company of everyone, rather than liking the game? :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 05, 2014, 03:53:54 PM
What equipment do you use to stream your gameplay online? Like, is there any specific cable? I'm just curious.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 05, 2014, 04:33:43 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 05, 2014, 03:49:44 PM
Wouldn't that mean you enjoyed the company of everyone, rather than liking the game? :P
Yes, but the game was fun too. I just can't handle collectathons alone, I think.

Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 05, 2014, 03:53:54 PM
What equipment do you use to stream your gameplay online? Like, is there any specific cable? I'm just curious.
I'm just using an emulator on PC. :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 05, 2014, 05:09:56 PM
Banjo Kazooie has aged extremely well despite Clanker's Cavern being terrible (I actually think Rusty Bucket Bay is awesome) and no fun.

I'm surprised you chose to stream that over something like the Jak games, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 05, 2014, 05:35:05 PM
I probably should have figured that out. :sweat:

I just want to know if there is a cheap and easy way to stream XBOX360 games. Video capture cards (even SD ones) are too expensive, and I know absolutely nothing about editing software.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 05, 2014, 05:56:10 PM
I played Spelunky around 1 again after not touching it for like over a month. I died the first time trying to steal a climbing glove from a Shopkeeper because I didn't have enough money after I got the jetpack. After that, I got to the 2nd area. I was listening to the ost on youtube and saw a theme was called egg so I that made me want to try something for once. I ended up getting to the Worm level for the first time. I thought I was dead at first. I ended up dying trying to get my boomerang back. I'll try again today.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 05, 2014, 09:47:17 PM
Mario And Luigi: Dream Team is beaten. Like I said before, second-best game in the series, lots of callbacks, great soundtrack, damn fine pacing, and I actually liked that little plot twist at the end. But I do really dislike the mandatory minigames and the giant Luigi battles. Though I love all the emphasis on Luigi this game does. His moment before the final giant battle is subtle, but completely badass, and is actually great character development.

And yes, that final boss battle is painful. I'd need to replay the previous three to compare, but this just might be the hardest final boss in the M&L series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 05, 2014, 10:04:45 PM
 :srs:

Oh man, what is with Alpha Dream and their final battles? One of my favorite parts of BIS was that the final boss was not a marathon unlike the first two games. I've still never beaten the first game because of that final boss.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 05, 2014, 10:17:59 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on March 05, 2014, 05:09:56 PM
Banjo Kazooie has aged extremely well despite Clanker's Cavern being terrible (I actually think Rusty Bucket Bay is awesome) and no fun.
I dislike both levels, but Clanker's Cavern is easy at least. The level design of Rusty Bucket Bay is very nice, but the absurd difficulty combined with how far the notes are spread out and losing them if you die makes it a pain.

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on March 05, 2014, 05:09:56 PM
I'm surprised you chose to stream that over something like the Jak games, though.
I've never gotten a PS2 emulator to work properly. Also, nostalgia.

Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 05, 2014, 05:35:05 PM
I probably should have figured that out. :sweat:

I just want to know if there is a cheap and easy way to stream XBOX360 games. Video capture cards (even SD ones) are too expensive, and I know absolutely nothing about editing software.
I think you can get a video capture cable instead of a card, but the video quality will be pretty terrible.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 05, 2014, 10:19:47 PM
To be perfectly honest with you, after about six attempts, I finally just did the easy mode and killed him with two Star Rockets. I got other games to play.  :lol: But that really was a massive difficulty spike, even for a final boss. Bullshit healing, mass amounts of enemies on screen in the foreground AND the background getting to attack, attacks that are extremely hard to dodge, and the boss himself has three separate parts with HP (the arms).

I even grinded to Rainbow Rank, got an extra gear slot (so I had two extra on both brothers), bought all the shit from the Rainbow Rank shop at the beach, and I still got ganked by that battle.

I do wish the M&L series would take a cue from PM and have an aftergame though. If I have the potential to max at level 100, then give me some extra dungeons and bosses and stuff. I finally get the rainbow thing, a bunch of cool new items, and all that's left is the final boss. Meh.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 05, 2014, 10:55:02 PM
If I have enough time to play this weekend, then I plan to bear MGRR on Very Hard mode and then move onto completing the VR missions and the Blade Wolf DLC before tackling the game on Revengeance difficulty.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 06, 2014, 04:06:45 PM
Any opinions on Guacamelee? They just announced a Super Turbo Championship Edition for about every system out there but I have somehow managed to miss hearing about it.

The basic gameplay looks like a Metroidvania beat em up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 06, 2014, 05:38:23 PM
Has anyone played the new Strider game yet? Is it worth downloading? I tried the demo and liked it, but it was also pretty short, so it may not be enough to go off of, though the game has gotten some pretty good reception, it seems.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on March 06, 2014, 06:40:00 PM
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 06, 2014, 05:38:23 PM
Has anyone played the new Strider game yet? Is it worth downloading? I tried the demo and liked it, but it was also pretty short, so it may not be enough to go off of, though the game has gotten some pretty good reception, it seems.

Seconding this because the Strider demo also gave me a really good feeling about the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 06, 2014, 07:07:06 PM
Didn't even know about this game's existence. Will be checking out the demo.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Grave on March 07, 2014, 09:52:04 PM
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
It's been about a week since I last played and I think I left off on getting on a ship with Captain Keyes flying everyone out (I want to say the 4th mission or something like that). One thing I didn't know until I played Reach was that the needle gun could be so effective against the hunters. I always thought that needle gun was weak, but next to the shotgun it's one of my favorite guns in the series.

SSF4: AE2012
Back at this game and still stuck in my character crisis. Ryu, Ken, Evil Ryu, Yun and Yang are who I'm debating between at the moment. My goodness, I've had this game for at least 2 years and I still haven't been able to settle with 1 character to really learn how to play the game with. I got the general basics of the game and some simple bread and butter combos, but that's about as far as I get and then I flop to another character, especially when it comes to watching tournaments of Japanese players playing characters who I like at a high level making them look so fun to the point where I want to learn that same character. I know the solution, but it's gonna be hard since when I'm on the computer I'm always watching videos leaving myself with little to no time to try it out in training mode. Anyway I may settle on Ryu and Yun for the time being.

GGXXAC+R
The update finally hit PS3 and I finally got my copy. Tinkering between Sol, Order Sol, and Johnny.

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike
Always playing this game these days. Ken and Dudley all the way. May eventually add Yun, Yang and Makoto to the mix too.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 08, 2014, 01:24:21 AM
Quote from: Grave on March 07, 2014, 09:52:04 PM
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
It's been about a week since I last played and I think I left off on getting on a ship with Captain Keyes flying everyone out (I want to say the 4th mission or something like that). One thing I didn't know until I played Reach was that the needle gun could be so effective against the hunters. I always thought that needle gun was weak, but next to the shotgun it's one of my favorite guns in the series.

Well, part of that may be because the Needler is severely nerfed in every Halo game past the 2nd one (since it was too OP in multiplayer), and because the Hunters are ridiculously OP in Reach. I really miss how you could basically just one-shot them with the pistol in Combat Evolved. That was always so much fun to do.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 08, 2014, 02:18:58 AM
Yep, the pistol was great in Halo 1. Probably my second favorite pistol (1st place goes to ol' Duke.)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 08, 2014, 08:53:51 AM
Sleep-deprived all day Banjo-Tooie marathon is about to begin.

http://livestream.com/foggle
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 08, 2014, 01:23:07 PM
Hmm, I see that y'all are still at it but then again pre-2000 something games do take longer than 3 hours to beat. :>
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 08, 2014, 02:26:30 PM
So, I've officially concluded that my XBOX360 hates DLC. When I tried to download the Halo 4 multiplayer last year, it didn't work. When I downloaded the Blade Wolf DLC last night, it got stuck on a loading screen, and the same problem happened again after deleting it and re-downloading it. And finally today when I tested it on the DmC Bloody Palace mode DLC, it ended up crashing my game whenever I try to start it, and sending me back to the title screen.

Aside from occasionally getting lucky, like with the Jetstream Sam DLC working fine, this problem seems to be pretty frequent. Mind you that this hasn't extended to affecting. Any of my XBLA games, but anything that's classified as an add-on other than costumes or weapons seems to have this problem of just flat-out not working for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 08, 2014, 02:45:35 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 08, 2014, 01:23:07 PM
Hmm, I see that y'all are still at it but then again pre-2000 something games do take longer than 3 hours to beat. :>
:lol:

Stopping the stream for a bit. I only slept 90 minutes last night so I was getting really cranky. It'll be back on in about an hour.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 08, 2014, 03:02:21 PM
It's back on now!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 08, 2014, 03:33:26 PM
I love Samurai Champloo.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 08, 2014, 06:24:09 PM
I can't do anymore. I'm so tired... time to pass out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 08, 2014, 11:25:30 PM
Finally getting back to Tales Of Xillia, and I'm warming up to it. Environments are beautiful, combat feels more fluid than it did in previous games, and I actually quite like the shop expansion system. The hexagon/grid/whatever system for upgrading isn't really to my liking, but hopefully I'll figure it out. I still need to see if the title system works like it did in Graces as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 09, 2014, 08:49:59 AM
Okay, now that I'm awake...

Jolly Roger's Lagoon aside (I hate swimming levels), Banjo-Tooie holds up amazingly well for me. I still like it far more than Kazooie, which I already ended up rekindling my love for last year. I was afraid to try BT again out of fear of ruining my nostalgia since I'd begun growing an aversion to collectathons and everyone else here seems to hate it, but I'd say it's still one of my all-time favorites. It can be somewhat tedious at times, certainly, but it still has excellent gameplay, humor, level design, and music IMO. Really, the only pre-Microsoft Rareware games to not hold up for me at this point are DK64 and Conker's BFD.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2014, 12:36:55 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 09, 2014, 08:49:59 AM
Okay, now that I'm awake...

Jolly Roger's Lagoon aside (I hate swimming levels), Banjo-Tooie holds up amazingly well for me. I still like it far more than Kazooie, which I already ended up rekindling my love for last year. I was afraid to try BT again out of fear of ruining my nostalgia since I'd begun growing an aversion to collectathons and everyone else here seems to hate it, but I'd say it's still one of my all-time favorites. It can be somewhat tedious at times, certainly, but it still has excellent gameplay, humor, level design, and music IMO. Really, the only pre-Microsoft Rareware games to not hold up for me at this point are DK64 and Conker's BFD.

I've actually heard that Conker holds up the best of their N64 platformers. I haven't played it yet, though.

Also, isn't Jolly Roger's Lagoon the name of the water level in Super Mario 64?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 09, 2014, 01:16:37 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2014, 12:36:55 PM
I've actually heard that Conker holds up the best of their N64 platformers. I haven't played it yet, though.
People may say that, probably because it isn't a collectathon and they're remembering wrong (god knows I did), but it actually feels a lot more dated than the Banjo games and perhaps even DK64 to me.

- The pacing is tedious. If you do something in BFD, you're probably going to do it at least 3 times in a row with no differences.
- The N64 can't keep up with the game's graphics, causing the frame rate to drop below 30 FPS fairly often.
- It's extremely difficult in a bad way - the challenge arises almost entirely from flawed design choices, a shit camera, and cumbersome controls.
- It's definitely quite funny at times, but a lot of the humor isn't that great. Banjo-Tooie does immature sex comedy much better and is actually witty, while the film references are mostly just recreations of actual scenes from them.
- Even with the ludicrous amount of padding, frustrating difficulty spikes, and unskippable cutscenes, it still ends up being only about 8 hours long.

The music, voice acting, and core level design all hold up exceptionally well, but it's very much a game best remembered for the adventure it took you on when you were 10 years old than one you'd want to actually revisit (or experience for the first time) today. I'm convinced that most of its fans haven't played it recently, and have painted a better picture in their mind of what the game was like than how it really is (I'm one of them). Copies still go for $60+ because it sold horribly, so I'd avoid the game entirely if I were you. I would suggest to just try playing a ROM, but you can't, because it either won't work properly or will crash about an hour in.

This is all just my opinion though, and I seem to be one of the only people who feels this way. By all means, ignore me and try it for yourself if you can find a copy for a reasonable price. Also, for all its faults, the Xbox version really isn't that bad. It's actually better in some ways (the shooting controls, oh god the shooting controls).

QuoteAlso, isn't Jolly Roger's Lagoon the name of the water level in Super Mario 64?
You're thinking of Jolly Roger Bay. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2014, 01:26:27 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 09, 2014, 01:16:37 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2014, 12:36:55 PM
I've actually heard that Conker holds up the best of their N64 platformers. I haven't played it yet, though.
People may say that, probably because it isn't a collectathon and they're remembering wrong (god knows I did), but it actually feels a lot more dated than the Banjo games and perhaps even DK64 to me.

- The pacing is tedious. If you do something in BFD, you're probably going to do it at least 3 times in a row with no differences.
- The N64 can't keep up with the game's graphics, causing the frame rate to drop below 30 FPS fairly often.
- It's extremely difficult in a bad way - the challenge arises almost entirely from flawed design choices, a shit camera, and cumbersome controls.
- It's definitely quite funny at times, but a lot of the humor isn't that great. Banjo-Tooie does immature sex comedy much better and is actually witty, while the film references are mostly just recreations of actual scenes from them.
- Even with the ludicrous amount of padding, frustrating difficulty spikes, and unskippable cutscenes, it still ends up being only about 8 hours long.

The music, voice acting, and core level design all hold up exceptionally well, but it's very much a game best remembered for the adventure it took you on when you were 10 years old than one you'd want to actually revisit (or experience for the first time) today. I'm convinced that most of its fans haven't played it recently, and have painted a better picture in their mind of what the game was like than how it really is (I'm one of them). Copies still go for $60+ because it sold horribly, so I'd avoid the game entirely if I were you. I would suggest to just try playing a ROM, but you can't, because it either won't work properly or will crash about an hour in.

This is all just my opinion though, and I seem to be one of the only people who feels this way. By all means, ignore me and try it for yourself if you can find a copy for a reasonable price. Also, for all its faults, the Xbox version really isn't that bad. It's actually better in some ways (the shooting controls, oh god the shooting controls).

QuoteAlso, isn't Jolly Roger's Lagoon the name of the water level in Super Mario 64?
You're thinking of Jolly Roger Bay. ;)

I probably won't end up getting to it. The only way I'd see myself doing it is through a ROM. My N64 has been buried in my basement for years now, so I probably won't be digging it out anytime soon. Is it the type of game that's best known for its humor than for gameplay?

Also, Jolly Roger Bay one of the best songs in Super Mario 64. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx6nOkdeNKs
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 09, 2014, 01:50:34 PM
So, I'm the type of guy who hates to leave things unfinished, even if I don't like a game at all (which is why I still trudged through games like Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect). So I decided that before I could continue on with replaying games like MGRR, Vanquish, and so forth, I at least had to finish the other 3 games that I got close to the end on but took a hiatus from. As for Gears of War: Judgement, I actually do enjoy the game well enough. It's just that I happened to be playing it at the same time as Vanquish, and naturally the latter stole my attention away from it. As for Bishock: Inifinte, I'll get back to that last.

Currently I got back into playing Darksiders II since I'm near the end. Good god is it easy to see why I quit in the first place. The Swarm is such a annying an unfun enemy to fight, and that whole section on Earth pretty much neglects everything that was good about the game and attempts to make the game a TPS despite it never having done anything with that play style before this point. It's downright obnoxious since you will basically end up killing a bunch of enemies charging at your, walk literally just a few feet forward, and then have to do the same damn thing all over again throughout the entire dungeon. There are no interesting puzzles to solve, nor any decent platforming sections. It's literally just one giant enemy gauntlet from start to finish, and it's also the most linear dungeon in the entire game. The funny thing, though, is that once you're done with it, you go back to the normal level design that you were used to from the game, and there's no indication of that section's play-style ever coming back (and good lord I hope it doesn't). It really baffles me how the developers could keep something so obnoxious in there. Really if they had just cut that section from the game, it would've been so much better for it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 09, 2014, 02:08:05 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2014, 01:26:27 PM
I probably won't end up getting to it. The only way I'd see myself doing it is through a ROM. My N64 has been buried in my basement for years now, so I probably won't be digging it out anytime soon. Is it the type of game that's best known for its humor than for gameplay?
It's known for both, and really, the concept of the gameplay and its multiplayer mode are phenomenal. I think, back in the day, its terrible shooter controls and infuriating camera were fine, but after playing newer 3D platformers like Super Mario Galaxy (and especially ones with shooting like Ratchet & Clank), it's really hard to go back. Pacing aside, BFD is actually a very good game, it's just extremely dated. I hate using that term, but it's the truth. The platforming doesn't hold up as well as Super Mario 64 and the shooting doesn't hold up as well as Doom. The amount of variety is incredible, and the better jokes and voice acting are still hilarious, but it's frankly just not much fun to play once you've had a taste of the newer games it's inspired.

In fact, while the censored cursing is incredibly stupid, I'd honestly say the Xbox remake is superior to the original, because the gameplay itself is much more fun and less frustrating. It's a bit on the easy side by comparison, but that's because Bad Fur Day was never actually a hard game, it just didn't play or function well enough to accommodate its various challenges (humorously, the segment they removed from the remake was actually one of the easiest in the original release).

QuoteAlso, Jolly Roger Bay one of the best songs in Super Mario 64. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx6nOkdeNKs
Hell yeah. :thumbup:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 09, 2014, 02:28:31 PM
I never got to play the original N64 Bad Fury Day, but I did go through Live & Reloaded. I don't think the gameplay itself is awful, but it just isn't that fun when you play after the expiration date.

And wow, I haven't played Tooie in so long. Kazooie holds up for me fine, but I remember BT being more involved with mini-games, and I loved all of them. I still want to try it out again sometime soon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 09, 2014, 02:33:34 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on March 09, 2014, 02:28:31 PM
I never got to play the original N64 Bad Fury Day, but I did go through Live & Reloaded. I don't think the gameplay itself is awful, but it just isn't that fun when you play after the expiration date.
Bingo. It's still good, but it isn't as timeless as Rareware's other games.

Quote from: Avaitor on March 09, 2014, 02:28:31 PM
And wow, I haven't played Tooie in so long. Kazooie holds up for me fine, but I remember BT being more involved with mini-games, and I loved all of them. I still want to try it out again sometime soon.
I suggest trying it again, especially if you still have an N64 or own a 360 (it crashes a lot on an emulator). It's still very fun, creative, and funny. There aren't quite as many mini-games as I'd grown to believe, and most of them are actually fun to boot! I can see why this was my favorite game as a kid.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 09, 2014, 02:51:01 PM
I still need to play the XBLA versions of BK and BT. Perhaps I'll do so after I get around to Strider, which currently has my interest peaked.

I also might see if I can find a copy of the original MGS and give that game a try (as it should work on my brother's PS2, despite it being a PS1 game). To this day I haven't played any of that game aside from the little it of it that I tried as a kid (and I can't even remember that anymore). But of course I still want to play the classic RE games as well. Damn. come to think of it there are just way too many classics that I'm interested in right now, and the sad thing is that I just don't have the time or money for most of them, so despite still talking about getting into them right now, I'll still probably only just be talking about them for a long while to come. It's one of the reasons why I appreciate it when publishers can release GOOD ports in the form of HD collections. It saves me a lot of trouble. I may have ended up picking up the MGS HD Collection if it at least had MGS 1 in it as well. And just why the hell can't Capcom release an RE HD Collection? Sure, the critics would say that the games haven't aged well because of tank controls, but fuck them, I still guarantee that the games would sell pretty well anyways, or at least turn in Capcom a decent profit for how relatively cheap (I assume) it would be to just up-res a game to feature HD graphics and port it to the HD consoles, rather than create a brand new game from scratch that everyone will probably hate.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2014, 02:59:34 PM
Rare's worst mini-game of all time.

(http://www.flyingomelette.com/reviews/n64/screens/glitchroom1.jpg) (http://justanothervideogameblogblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/dk64-beaver-bother.jpg)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 09, 2014, 03:22:59 PM
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 09, 2014, 02:51:01 PM
I still need to play the XBLA versions of BK and BT. Perhaps I'll do so after I get around to Strider, which currently has my interest peaked.
I think you'll like them! I know not everyone here enjoys BT, but I do think it holds up surprisingly well.

QuoteI also might see if I can find a copy of the original MGS and give that game a try (as it should work on my brother's PS2, despite it being a PS1 game). To this day I haven't played any of that game aside from the little it of it that I tried as a kid (and I can't even remember that anymore). But of course I still want to play the classic RE games as well. Damn. come to think of it there are just way too many classics that I'm interested in right now, and the sad thing is that I just don't have the time or money for most of them, so despite still talking about getting into them right now, I'll still probably only just be talking about them for a long while to come. It's one of the reasons why I appreciate it when publishers can release GOOD ports in the form of HD collections. It saves me a lot of trouble. I may have ended up picking up the MGS HD Collection if it at least had MGS 1 in it as well. And just why the hell can't Capcom release an RE HD Collection? Sure, the critics would say that the games haven't aged well because of tank controls, but fuck them, I still guarantee that the games would sell pretty well anyways, or at least turn in Capcom a decent profit for how relatively cheap (I assume) it would be to just up-res a game to feature HD graphics and port it to the HD consoles, rather than create a brand new game from scratch that everyone will probably hate.
MGS1 is still a very good game, but goddamn did I forget how many cutscenes it has. They're good cutscenes... but wow, I totally forgot that even the original has so many. If you do end up getting the HD collection, be sure to play Metal Gear 1 and 2. MG2 is probably my third favorite game in the series after MGS3 and MGR.

That said, I'd probably recommend the Ratchet & Clanks and God Hand over any other PS2 game. ;)

Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2014, 02:59:34 PM
Rare's worst mini-game of all time.

(http://www.flyingomelette.com/reviews/n64/screens/glitchroom1.jpg) (http://justanothervideogameblogblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/dk64-beaver-bother.jpg)
:anger: :anger: :anger: :anger: :anger: :anger:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 09, 2014, 03:35:35 PM
Shit! And I forgot about those as well. At this rate I'll never get around to any of the classics from the PS1 era. :P

But, really, it's very telling about modern gaming that I'm starting to look so much into retro stuff. I'm really trying to appreciate modern games, guys, I swear! It's just that....something about the vast majority of them is just not doing it for me. That said, there are a lot of games from this gen that I missed out on that I still need to try, including a bunch of Wii exclusive titles. I also need to try other games that I've wanted to give a shot for a long time but still haven't gotten around to, like Max Payne 3 and Bulletstorm, among other things.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Grave on March 09, 2014, 03:39:44 PM
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 09, 2014, 02:51:01 PM
I also might see if I can find a copy of the original MGS and give that game a try (as it should work on my brother's PS2, despite it being a PS1 game). To this day I haven't played any of that game aside from the little it of it that I tried as a kid (and I can't even remember that anymore). But of course I still want to play the classic RE games as well. Damn. come to think of it there are just way too many classics that I'm interested in right now, and the sad thing is that I just don't have the time or money for most of them, so despite still talking about getting into them right now, I'll still probably only just be talking about them for a long while to come. It's one of the reasons why I appreciate it when publishers can release GOOD ports in the form of HD collections. It saves me a lot of trouble. I may have ended up picking up the MGS HD Collection if it at least had MGS 1 in it as well. And just why the hell can't Capcom release an RE HD Collection? Sure, the critics would say that the games haven't aged well because of tank controls, but fuck them, I still guarantee that the games would sell pretty well anyways, or at least turn in Capcom a decent profit for how relatively cheap (I assume) it would be to just up-res a game to feature HD graphics and port it to the HD consoles, rather than create a brand new game from scratch that everyone will probably hate.

The benefits of owning a PS3 :).

I don't know. As great as I think the MGS series is I don't think I'd recommend it to you considering you don't exactly care for how slow it can be. Granted cut-scenes can be skipped, but on it's highest difficulty it forces you to play stealthily (I think. Gameovers if you're spotted or something like that).

At least you are willing to go back and give games a shot. Unfortunately, I'm not and I still have a load of games I've yet to touch.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2014, 03:41:44 PM
Beaver Bother still so much of my time as a child. I honestly don't remember if I ever beat it. Part of me thinks that, even when I was young, I might have subconsciously known that DK64 isn't a very good game. The mini-games are grating, and I get sick of every level in the game within an hour. Not a game I'd like to go back to.

Quote from: Foggle on March 09, 2014, 03:22:59 PM
MGS1 is still a very good game, but goddamn did I forget how many cutscenes it has. They're good cutscenes... but wow, I totally forgot that even the original has so many. If you do end up getting the HD collection, be sure to play Metal Gear 1 and 2. MG2 is probably my third favorite game in the series after MGS3 and MGR.

I don't think are bad, though. Well, the writing in the cutscenes from the last 10 minutes of the game do show their age a bit. But for the rest of the game, they are fine. They aren't even half as bad as they are in MGS2. It's just... in particular, the last 40 minutes of cutscenes from MGS2 is just shockingly bad.

Quote from: Grave on March 09, 2014, 03:39:44 PM
As great as I think the MGS series is I don't think I'd recommend it to you considering you don't exactly care for how slow it can be. Granted cut-scenes can be skipped, but on it's highest difficulty it forces you to play stealthily (I think. Gameovers if you're spotted or something like that).

MGS1 is easily the most fast paced game in the series, I think.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 09, 2014, 03:44:40 PM
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 09, 2014, 03:35:35 PM
Shit! And I forgot about those as well. At this rate I'll never get around to any of the classics from the PS1 era. :P

But, really, it's very telling about modern gaming that I'm starting to look so much into retro stuff. I'm really trying to appreciate modern games, guys, I swear! It's just that....something about the vast majority of them is just not doing it for me. That said, there are a lot of games from this gen that I missed out on that I still need to try, including a bunch of Wii exclusive titles. I also need to try other games that I've wanted to give a shot for a long time but still haven't gotten around to, like Max Payne 3 and Bulletstorm, among other things.
I think the last gen had a lot of classics... F.E.A.R., Nier, anything by Platinum, the Souls games, Ratchet & Clank Future, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Mario Galaxy 1&2, No More Heroes 1&2, the Yakuza games, Borderlands 1&2, Fallout: New Vegas, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Dishonored, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, and quite a few others... but yeah, it wasn't really one of the best. If you like old games, I do recommend checking out GOG (http://gog.com) sometime. Those retro PC games don't need a particularly fancy computer to run, don't cost very much (especially during sales), and are generally excellent.

Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2014, 03:41:44 PM
I don't think are bad, though. Well, the writing in the cutscenes from the last 10 minutes of the game do show their age a bit. But for the rest of the game, they are fine. They aren't even half as bad as they are in MGS2. It's just... in particular, the last 40 minutes of cutscenes from MGS2 is just shockingly bad.
Yeah, aside from the final area, the cutscenes are very good, especially for when MGS was made.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2014, 03:51:06 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 09, 2014, 03:44:40 PM

Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2014, 03:41:44 PM
I don't think are bad, though. Well, the writing in the cutscenes from the last 10 minutes of the game do show their age a bit. But for the rest of the game, they are fine. They aren't even half as bad as they are in MGS2. It's just... in particular, the last 40 minutes of cutscenes from MGS2 is just shockingly bad.
Yeah, aside from the final area, the cutscenes are very good, especially for when MGS was made.

"When MGS was made"? You think the dialogue from this game is superior to great lines like "Radio... What's going on with that radio?" and "You were almost a Jill sandwhich!"?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on March 11, 2014, 08:13:17 PM
Madworld's been an awesome game so far (Mad Castle levels aside) and easily satisfies my chainsaw fetish. I like how arcade-y the game is too.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 12, 2014, 06:44:44 PM
http://www.complex.com/video-games/2014/03/opinion-10-amazing-video-games-from-the-90s-that-have-not-aged-well/

Thoughts on these choices? Also...

QuoteDonkey Kong 64 was never a good game. But there was a time when you were too young to know the difference

Man, that is unbelievably accurate to my childhood with this game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 12, 2014, 06:50:08 PM
That comment on dying on the same level 500 times is a load of bull-shit. I replayed Sonic Adventure last year and I only ever died a handful of times, most of which were my own fault. Honestly, most of the hate for that game is unfounded compared to many of the other 3D Sonic games, and once again, that's not just nostalgia talking as I did replay the game recently and while it doesn't hold up gracefully, it's still a fun game and is far from the broken mess that its painted out to be, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 12, 2014, 06:51:56 PM
Sonic Adventure is the easiest 3D Sonic game by far. I can see getting lost sometimes in the hubs because of vague hints, but the levels themselves are well designed and rather straightforward.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 12, 2014, 06:55:39 PM
I think I agree with all of them except for Crazy Taxi, that one is still fun.  Tony Hawk's and Crash Bandicoot's sequels were so much better than the first games, some of them I never cared for like DK64 and Final Fantasy, and Red and Blue are so hard to play anymore, as are Gold and Silver.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 12, 2014, 06:56:54 PM
And Pokemon Red & Blue are at #1 on the list, really? There are tons of games that have aged worse than those, and the fact that the writer thinks that every new generation of Pokemon games is better than the last is absurd. Gold and Silver are infinitely better than Ruby and Sapphire, which IMO were really lazy games in terms of design, and the quests and battles just felt so boring to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 12, 2014, 06:58:02 PM
I do agree with DK64 and Crash Bandicoot being on the list. I honestly don't think they were ever that good... Then again, wouldn't that fact disqualify them from the list?

Also, I feel I am in the shrinking group that thinks GoldenEye has stood the test of time.

Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 12, 2014, 06:59:19 PM
Quote from: Comeau on March 12, 2014, 06:55:39 PMRed and Blue are so hard to play anymore, as are Gold and Silver.

Oddly enough, those are some of the only JRPGs that I can tolerate. Obviously I'm not a fan of the genre, though, so that's probably no surprise.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 12, 2014, 07:01:47 PM
I just prefer the remakes to the originals.  Same with Gold and Silver.

Running Shoes was one of the best additions to the series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 12, 2014, 07:03:28 PM
I love Red and Blue, as well as Gold and Silver. Ruby and Sapphire is where my interest faded, so I guess that speaks what I think of their "Each generation is better than the last" claim.

I'm sure the remakes of the first two generations are great. But since I never owned them, the originals are all I've got and can refer to.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 12, 2014, 07:03:34 PM
Well, yeah, the remakes are better, but I still think that the originals are fun games minus the grinding. At the very least I could easily think of more than 10 games that have aged worse than those ones (and that were considered to be good for their time).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 12, 2014, 07:04:17 PM
GoldenEye's campaign design holds up well. Mutiplayer? Eh, without bots it loses a lot that Perfect Dark has.

Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 12, 2014, 06:59:19 PM
Quote from: Comeau on March 12, 2014, 06:55:39 PMRed and Blue are so hard to play anymore, as are Gold and Silver.

Oddly enough, those are some of the only JRPGs that I can tolerate. Obviously I'm not a fan of the genre, though, so that's probably no surprise.
If you get your hands on a DS or 3DS I recommend the Gold/Silver remakes. I usually have problems keeping up with Pokemon these days, but Gold/Silver holds well on a base level and the remakes really help them further.

Crash 1 is a massively unbalanced platformer. But it is not a bad game in any shape, in fact I would say it trounces all the post Crash 3-platformers with ease, but the difficulty is poorly handled.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 12, 2014, 07:05:06 PM
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 12, 2014, 07:03:34 PMAt the very least I could easily think of more than 10 games that have aged worse than those ones (and that were considered to be good for their time).
I don't disagree with you on this, it does seem they only put those there to generate interest and controversy.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 12, 2014, 07:08:15 PM
Crash, to me, just feels like they took a 2D platformer and copy-and-pasted it into a 3D environment. I'd be more forgiving if it came out before Mario 64, but it didn't, so...

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on March 12, 2014, 07:04:17 PM
GoldenEye's campaign design holds up well. Mutiplayer? Eh, without bots it loses a lot that Perfect Dark has.

I can still play it with friends and have a great time... Though part of that is admittedly because we get a kick out of the way the character animations and models look (watching someone moving around and attacking while crouched is hilarious).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 12, 2014, 07:11:29 PM
Crash 1 was being made at the same time as Mario 64 so it's strange to hold that against them. They made Crash 2 specifically as a response to Mario 64 and in the process made a much better game.

I would still take all three PS1 Crash games over Mario 64, as unpopular as that opinion is.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 12, 2014, 07:15:21 PM
Pokemon's just one of those things where the interface has gotten so much better with each generation that even Gen 4 feels a bit archaic at this point. I still love HeartGold/SoulSilver the most, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 12, 2014, 07:21:48 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on March 12, 2014, 07:11:29 PM
Crash 1 was being made at the same time as Mario 64 so it's strange to hold that against them.

I didn't consider that. I take it back, then. But it's still a mediocre game outclassed by Mario 64. :blush:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 12, 2014, 07:28:33 PM
As for Goldeneye, I was never a huge fan of it, but I did appreciate how it incorporated various objectives into its gameplay rather than just trying to be yet another DOOM-clone (though, DOOM is a WAY better game than Goldeneye, IMO). That said, TimeSplitters 2 and Future Perfect did that gameplay style a lot better than Goldeneye (I can't comment on Perfect Dark since it's been far too long since I last played it).

As for me, one game that I used to love as a kid that just completely crushed my nostalgia on a replay is Spyro (the first game, I never actually played any of the sequels). I remember it being a huge open platformer with tons of fun exploration....and yes, it was a pretty big game for its time, but the actual gameplay feels ridiculously slow and tedious to me today, personally, and the levels look really bland in design now that I can see past the graphics (which for the time I thought were pretty good, obviously).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 12, 2014, 08:05:05 PM
I'll never not love Spyro. I don't care what you say. :thinkin:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 12, 2014, 08:33:49 PM
Shame that 2 and 3 weren't on the same level as the first Spyro.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 13, 2014, 11:29:25 AM
Playing Dark Souls 2. While I enjoyed the first one, it didn't really click with me as well as it could have (though that might be due to the PC port being lousy). This sequel, on the other hand, is just exceptional. A couple of bosses have been frustrating for me, sure, but it's definitely one of the most rewarding games I've ever played. The level design is far and away some of this gen's best, with lots of excellent exploration and a great feeling of non-linear discovery. It actually reminds me of (a good) N64-era 3D platformer in that regard; it brings back amazing memories of playing the Banjo games as a kid.

Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 12, 2014, 06:44:44 PM
http://www.complex.com/video-games/2014/03/opinion-10-amazing-video-games-from-the-90s-that-have-not-aged-well/

Thoughts on these choices? Also...
So edgy. While none of those games have aged 100% gracefully, that list looks like it's trolling for hits more than anything. All of those titles are absolutely still playable by today's standards, they're just somewhat clunky now. You want an amazing game from the 90's that really hasn't aged well? I dare you to try playing the original System Shock. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 01:11:10 PM
Yeah, I tried to play System Shock a few months ago...I got like literally two steps before I gave up. Seriously...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 01:18:15 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 13, 2014, 11:29:25 AM
All of those titles are absolutely still playable by today's standards

Except DK64. :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 13, 2014, 01:37:59 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 01:18:15 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 13, 2014, 11:29:25 AM
All of those titles are absolutely still playable by today's standards

Except DK64. :P
It's playable. It's just not very fun.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 01:53:51 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on March 13, 2014, 01:37:59 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 01:18:15 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 13, 2014, 11:29:25 AM
All of those titles are absolutely still playable by today's standards

Except DK64. :P
It's playable. It's just not very fun.

How many games have actually aged so badly that they are "unplayable"?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 13, 2014, 01:58:46 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 01:53:51 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on March 13, 2014, 01:37:59 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 01:18:15 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 13, 2014, 11:29:25 AM
All of those titles are absolutely still playable by today's standards

Except DK64. :P
It's playable. It's just not very fun.

How many games have actually aged so badly that they are "unplayable"?
According to modern gamers, anything older than an Xbox 360.

I honestly don't find many games "unplayable", just usually too dated to fully get all intended enjoyment out of. That's why I wish all N64 games could get remakes to lose the blur, get a sturdy framerate, and drop the fog.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 02:10:19 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on March 13, 2014, 01:58:46 PMAccording to modern gamers, anything older than an Xbox 360.

I honestly don't find many games "unplayable", just usually too dated to fully get all intended enjoyment out of. That's why I wish all N64 games could get remakes to lose the blur, get a sturdy framerate, and drop the fog.

To me, there are very few games that are truly hurt by being "dated", unless the gameplay has actually been ravaged over time. To be, age just makes the games a bit harder to get into. Not necessarily worse.

Also, I don't see DK64 getting remade, considering all the Rare stuff in it. That game will probably just fade away.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 13, 2014, 02:46:29 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 01:11:10 PM
Yeah, I tried to play System Shock a few months ago...I got like literally two steps before I gave up. Seriously...
I think I made it into the second room and killed an enemy before I gave up. Journalists should be required to play that game for at least an hour before being able to write articles about games being "dated" or "unplayable."

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on March 13, 2014, 01:58:46 PM
I honestly don't find many games "unplayable", just usually too dated to fully get all intended enjoyment out of. That's why I wish all N64 games could get remakes to lose the blur, get a sturdy framerate, and drop the fog.
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 02:10:19 PM
To me, there are very few games that are truly hurt by being "dated", unless the gameplay has actually been ravaged over time. To be, age just makes the games a bit harder to get into. Not necessarily worse.
These. Some of the best games of all time are horribly clunky by today's standards. It's not exactly difficult to have fun with them despite their control issues and engine limitations.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 02:59:26 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 13, 2014, 02:46:29 PMSome of the best games of all time are horribly clunky by today's standards. It's not exactly difficult to have fun with them despite their control issues and engine limitations.

Super Mario 64 is undeniably dated. Doesn't stop it from being fun, still.

In other news, I hear Nintendo is already thinking about their next console. Is this true? Does anyone know anything about it?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 03:02:14 PM
How's it dated?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 03:06:44 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 03:02:14 PM
How's it dated?

Mario 64? The controls are slippery, early 3D models, certain parts of the game are an awkward blend of 3D and 2D, even some of the sound effects are dated.

Then there's Bowser's character design. Even when I played the game as a kid, I knew that looked bad.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 13, 2014, 03:19:04 PM
I hate it when people claim that games like DMC1 (and even 3 & 4 on occasion), Ninja Gaiden Black, and Resident Evil 4 are outdated. With the first 2 it m as only relates to the camera and difficulty. For the former, they aren't perfect, but are also hardly that bad. I rarely get screwed by the camera in either game. Secondly the difficulty is fair, so people just complain because the game doesn't automatically raise their self-esteem.

One of the worst examples involves the DMC series. Adam Sessler did a sort of topic discussion on it after the release of the new game last year. The 2 guys he invited to talk about it were both non-fans of the series. One even admitted that he only went back to the first game, played a few levels, and then decided that the whole series was dated. He didn't even touch the sequels. Adam Sessler said he was surprised at the back-lash toward the reboot since he didn't even know that the series was popular (and he's supposed to be a game journalist, of all things), and claimed that the series never had a good iteration. The whole video was about half an hour of these 3 guys claiming that the fans were immature (as a broad generalization), trashing the older games giving criticisms that weren't even fair (they could have brought on at least onecreasonable fan to defend the classic series), and some that were flat-out untrue and made it clear that they barely touched any of the games. Adam Sessler even claimed that the combat in the reboot was better because it was easier to attain a high style rank, and he wasnt good enough to do those on the older games....no, serously, that was his reasoning. Honestly, I know people on this board seem to respect him, but I just don't get it. Never did. He always came off as just as obnoxious and self-indulgent as most other game journalists, to me.

And with RE4, the main complaint is not being able to move and shoot at the same time. This so misses the point of this game that it just baffles me. The game is first of all designed around that mechanic, so its still perfectly playable. Secondly, its meant to cause tension. I guess modern gamers dont like feeling anything from their games other than instant gratification.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 03:57:11 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 03:06:44 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 03:02:14 PM
How's it dated?

Mario 64? The controls are slippery, early 3D models, certain parts of the game are an awkward blend of 3D and 2D, even some of the sound effects are dated.

Then there's Bowser's character design. Even when I played the game as a kid, I knew that looked bad.
Graphics? Really? I thought AR was smarter than that...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 04:00:19 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 03:57:11 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 03:06:44 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 03:02:14 PM
How's it dated?

Mario 64? The controls are slippery, early 3D models, certain parts of the game are an awkward blend of 3D and 2D, even some of the sound effects are dated.

Then there's Bowser's character design. Even when I played the game as a kid, I knew that looked bad.
Graphics? Really? I thought AR was smarter than that...

Not sure what you're getting at.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 04:03:31 PM
Damn, Sessler really said that? :unimpressed:

Everyone knows that I embraced RE finally getting the ability to run 'n gun but to complain about the games that were made around that just doesn't make sense.

talon, graphics rarely effect gameplay for me. I think the only case in which they would is if I was playing a 3D fighter with bad graphics in a series that's usually 2D like Street Fighter or KOF.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 04:05:40 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 04:03:31 PM
talon, graphics rarely effect gameplay for me. I think the only case in which they would is if I was playing a 3D fighter with bad graphics in a series that's usually 2D like Street Fighter or KOF.

Regardless, the graphics are dated, making it one of the dated aspects of SM64. That's what I was referring to.

Also, to bump this question...

Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 13, 2014, 02:59:26 PM

I hear Nintendo is already thinking about their next console. Is this true? Does anyone know anything about it?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 04:09:05 PM
I wonder how one analog stick 3D games would hold up for me now. I did play Ocarina Of Time for the very first time and Super Mario 64 about 2 years ago so I think I can stomach them. There's a bunch of Dreamcast and N64 games I want to try/play again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 13, 2014, 05:14:44 PM
All companies are thinking of their next consoles. Seven years is not a lot of time to plan out how to design a console, especially with things getting more and more complicated.

My problem with Mario 64 is that a lot of the level design just isn't very good to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 13, 2014, 05:40:14 PM
That's how I feel about Crash 1.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on March 14, 2014, 01:05:37 AM
I'd put Sonic Adventure 2 on this list before 1. I still enjoy the original wayyyyy more than the sequel.

Also, it kills me to see Pokemon at #1. Call me an old frog or what you will, but sometimes the bells and whistles of this series are a bit much anymore. I kinda miss the days before EV's and Natures and all that noise; it was a hell of a lot easier raising a strong team without having to worry about it's nature dropping all of it's key stats like a led balloon. But whatever, I'm partial to retro gaming anyway so sue me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 14, 2014, 01:26:08 AM
Quote from: Kiddington on March 14, 2014, 01:05:37 AM
I'd put Sonic Adventure 2 on this list before 1. I still enjoy the original wayyyyy more than the sequel.

Also, it kills me to see Pokemon at #1. Call me an old frog or what you will, but sometimes the bells and whistles of this series are a bit much anymore. I kinda miss the days before EV's and Natures and all that noise; it was a hell of a lot easier raising a strong team without having to worry about it's nature dropping all of it's key stats like a led balloon. But whatever, I'm partial to retro gaming anyway so sue me.
They really did that? :srs:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on March 14, 2014, 01:38:43 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 14, 2014, 01:26:08 AM
Quote from: Kiddington on March 14, 2014, 01:05:37 AM
I'd put Sonic Adventure 2 on this list before 1. I still enjoy the original wayyyyy more than the sequel.

Also, it kills me to see Pokemon at #1. Call me an old frog or what you will, but sometimes the bells and whistles of this series are a bit much anymore. I kinda miss the days before EV's and Natures and all that noise; it was a hell of a lot easier raising a strong team without having to worry about it's nature dropping all of it's key stats like a led balloon. But whatever, I'm partial to retro gaming anyway so sue me.
They really did that? :srs:

http://www.serebii.net/games/natures.shtml

All but 5 natures raise one stat, but lower another. It's great if you have a Pokemon that doesn't need the lowered stat, but more often than not it's just a pain in the ass.

For example, an Adamant nature (raises Attack, lowers Sp. Attack) is great on Donphan; it already has a high Attack stat, actually uses that high Attack with physical moves, and Sp. Attack is the stat that's lowered, which it doesn't use at all. A Modest nature, on the other hand, would be terrible on the same Pokemon; it lowers Attack and raises Sp. Attack, which the exact opposite of what Donphan would utilize.

I'm just not a patient man, and level grinding already takes up enough of my time as far as I'm concerned. Catching 50 different Donphan's and sorting through their natures to see which one fits it best just isn't appealing to me, nor is spending hours trying to breed one up (egg hatching already takes long enough as it is). This is why I generally prefer the older system, but whatever.

Good lord, I am such a nerd.  >_<
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 14, 2014, 02:23:24 AM
 :D Thanks.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 14, 2014, 02:29:16 AM
There's this really weird part of Xillia where you can get into an area of really hard monsters you shouldn't be able to beat yet. Yet if you set the game to easy, you can just get by and get a fuckton of exp. And then you get better at it, and better at it, and...

I just grinded 30 levels and fucked up the next boss in the story. I even set the difficulty back to where I had it. They probably shouldn't have let the player be able to do that. XD
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 14, 2014, 07:30:06 PM
So, I got back to playing Darksiders 2, and the dungeon I'm currently on is basically portal-mini (the achievement for getting the portal power-up even flat out references the portal games). Anyways, while the puzzles here are nowhere close to the scenarios that Valve can come up with, they are suitable for an action/adventure game like this. Overall, the game is back to actually being fun again, but by this point I feel like my character is so OP compared to most enemies that I no longer hold any interest in looting, and instead would rather just get through the rest of the game. As it stands, though, it really was just that Earth section which was downright abysmal. It still baffles me that they put that in there.

I also went back to playing MGRR on Very Hard mode, despite saying that I wouldn't. The game definitely gets a lot harder on this difficulty with File R-04, but I managed to get through it alright. I even S-ranked the double boss fight with those bots before Sundowner, which isn't anything that special, necessarily, but it was nice to do it on this difficulty in only a single try.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 15, 2014, 12:07:38 PM
So, have any of you guys tackled MGRR on Revengeance difficulty? Because, I'm about to. Wish me luck! Because, you know, I'll probably need it....
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 15, 2014, 12:59:58 PM
Well, the fact that most enemies on this difficulty can one-shot you really highlights just how frustrating it can be to miss a parry because Raiden decided to do an attack animation instead, but on the other hand pulling off perfect parries on this difficulty is GODLY. In the first fight of File R-01, I killed every single enemy in a single hit with a well-timed perfect parry on my first try (and when I say one hit, I don't mean one hit each, I literally mean that I killed all 4 enemies in a single parry attack). Naturally I S-ranked the fight as well. Now, if that doesn't make you feel like a bad-ass, then I don't know what will.

And that's how you should do harder difficulty settings. Make one of the most skill-based techniques in the game both the riskiest and yet also potentially most rewarding abilities to use if you're good at pulling it off.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 15, 2014, 08:05:19 PM
I played about half-way through File R-01 on Revengeance difficulty. It's here that the rocket launcher enemies can be kind of bull-shit since they do a shit-ton of damage even if they're off-screen, and the rockets actually home-in on you. That said, I can put up with the difficulty, but I do have to bring up yet another comparison to NG2, in that it also had a flaw like that which so many Platinum fans were quick to bring up when explaining why the game sucked (this hatred for other hack n' slash game was a thing around the time Bayonetta was coming out, since The more snobby Platinum fans wanted to basically make sure everyone knew how Bayonetta was "rescuing" action games since games like DMC and God Hand, and NG was one of their prime targets), and the off-screen projectiles was one of the reasons, even if many of them were still avoidable with skill. Well, I didn't notice anyone complaining about it in this game, even though it is an issue on the higher difficulty settings.

Needless to say, I'm still enjoying the game itself. I just hate how some of the snobs of this genre are so biased with clear double-standards.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 15, 2014, 11:34:41 PM
So, I tried deleting an re-downloading it AGAIN, and yup, the Blade Wolf DlC for MGRR will just flat-out not run on my XBOX360. It's frankly quite ridiculous, IMO. Good thing I downloaded it for free.

At any rate, it's reasons like this that I'm so hesitant to try the Vergil's Downfall DLC for DmC, since I actually have to pay money for that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Grave on March 16, 2014, 02:59:41 PM
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 15, 2014, 08:05:19 PM
I played about half-way through File R-01 on Revengeance difficulty. It's here that the rocket launcher enemies can be kind of bull-shit since they do a shit-ton of damage even if they're off-screen, and the rockets actually home-in on you. That said, I can put up with the difficulty, but I do have to bring up yet another comparison to NG2, in that it also had a flaw like that which so many Platinum fans were quick to bring up when explaining why the game sucked (this hatred for other hack n' slash game was a thing around the time Bayonetta was coming out, since The more snobby Platinum fans wanted to basically make sure everyone knew how Bayonetta was "rescuing" action games since games like DMC and God Hand, and NG was one of their prime targets), and the off-screen projectiles was one of the reasons, even if many of them were still avoidable with skill. Well, I didn't notice anyone complaining about it in this game, even though it is an issue on the higher difficulty settings.

Needless to say, I'm still enjoying the game itself. I just hate how some of the snobs of this genre are so biased with clear double-standards.

Where the heck are you even going to see this stuff?  Please don't say you're reading the comments section of wherever.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 16, 2014, 03:38:36 PM
This was way back in 2009-2010 back when I went on a lot of video game boars, and at the time even posted in the GS and IGN boards (which thankfully I've wised up and no longer do). At that time I was seeing a lot of Platinum fans hate on the NG games for no good reason.

In other news, I just about half-way through The Black Stone in Darksiders II, which I believe is the final dungeon in the game. Looking at my total play-time. I've clocked in nearly 30 hours, and will more than likely pass that mark by the time I complete this game. All-in-all, it was a pretty entertaining game, and with side-quests it lasts a really long time compared to most action/adventure games these days, but I can't say if be interested in replaying it after this playthrough is done.

I also just downloaded Bajo-Kazooie via XBLA today, because I wanted some good 3D platforming. As someone who has absolutely no nostalgic attachment to these games whatsoever, I think this one holds up just fine, so far. The camera hasn't given me any problems, the controls are smooth and responsive, and while I'm sure the collecting may get archaic later on in the game, for now it's just fun to explore all of the environments. I'd say I'm having decent fun right now, and this game made me realize just how few good 3D plat formers I've been exposed to this gen, which really reminds me that I need to get a Wii, one of these days.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 16, 2014, 06:18:08 PM
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 16, 2014, 03:38:36 PM
I also just downloaded Bajo-Kazooie via XBLA today, because I wanted some good 3D platforming. As someone who has absolutely no nostalgic attachment to these games whatsoever, I think this one holds up just fine, so far. The camera hasn't given me any problems, the controls are smooth and responsive, and while I'm sure the collecting may get archaic later on in the game, for now it's just fun to explore all of the environments. I'd say I'm having decent fun right now, and this game made me realize just how few good 3D plat formers I've been exposed to this gen, which really reminds me that I need to get a Wii, one of these days.
The XBLA version fortunately saves your collected notes when you die or quit the level. That was really the only thing holding the N64 version back IMO. Personally, I like Tooie more than the first one, but I don't think anyone here agrees with me. :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 16, 2014, 06:36:32 PM
From what I hear, when they made Banjo, they were kind of experimenting in preparation to make Donkey Kong 64. If that's true, I find it funny that Banjo ended up being better. :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 16, 2014, 07:07:03 PM
My one minor little gripe is that the XBLA version of the game never actually explains how the save feature works. I hear that in the original N64 version, you had a save and quit feature, whereas in the XBLA version the game automatically saves when you quit, which is fine, but since it doesn't explain that I ran around like an idiot for quite a while trying to find a save point or something of that nature after I collected all of the Jiggies in Mumbo's Mountain.

The other thing I don't like is that after you quit the game and start it back up, you lose all of the extra lives that you collected. It just seems inconsistent since the game saves all of your other items for you.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Grave on March 17, 2014, 11:14:14 AM
GGXXAC+R
Finally got around to trying out Johnny. My goodness this guy is hard to use on a regular DS controller. Mist Cancelling probably wouldn't be very hard, but it definitely sucks. Definitely gonna make the switch to a fight stick.

May end up getting Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 4 and 6 to finish off what I have left in my PSN wallet. (not much on there to get either)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 17, 2014, 04:23:09 PM
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 16, 2014, 07:07:03 PM
My one minor little gripe is that the XBLA version of the game never actually explains how the save feature works. I hear that in the original N64 version, you had a save and quit feature, whereas in the XBLA version the game automatically saves when you quit, which is fine, but since it doesn't explain that I ran around like an idiot for quite a while trying to find a save point or something of that nature after I collected all of the Jiggies in Mumbo's Mountain.

The other thing I don't like is that after you quit the game and start it back up, you lose all of the extra lives that you collected. It just seems inconsistent since the game saves all of your other items for you.
Don't give up in Clanker's Cavern whatever you do. You'll probably hate it with the force of 1000 suns, but continue on anyway. The rest of the game is killer.

Super Mario Galaxy, of all things, does the same thing with lives as Banjo Kazooie. It really makes collecting lives pointless that way especially after you had a great run collecting a ton.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 19, 2014, 11:34:09 PM
By the way, I have to say that Star Fox has to be the most unfortunate Nintendo franchise. I honestly think it only has one good game now. And that, obviously, is Star Fox 64.

The original Star Fox is a classic that I can no longer stomach. It's one of the few games for me where its age just kills it.

Star Fox Adventures isn't bad but give me a real Zelda over it any day.

Star Fox Assault, on the other hand, is indeed bad.

Unfortunately, I imagine Star Fox just isn't a series that sells, so Nintendo doesn't seem to have much interest in continuing it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 19, 2014, 11:35:54 PM
It would need a AAA team behind it and plenty of marketing, which I can't see Nintendo doing, unfortunately.

Platinum or Treasure could make a killer Star Fox if need be, though. At the very least, an e-shop title would be preferable to nothing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 19, 2014, 11:41:03 PM
I'd love to see Platinum get a shot at handling a Nintendo exclusive IP. Sure, it would be vastly different than what we're used to because of PG's very distinct style, but some could see that as a breath of fresh air and an interesting detour from the usual stuff we're used to, so I fail to see how that's a bad thing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 20, 2014, 04:36:35 PM
I've collected all 10 jiggies from Treasure Trove as well. I'm now moving on to Clanker's Cavern.  I forget, was this supposed to be the notoriously bad level from this game, or is that Rusty Bucket Bay?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 20, 2014, 05:25:16 PM
I'm playing Pokemon Battle Trozei. I better be careful or else it will suck me in. The game can be pretty addictive.

Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 20, 2014, 04:36:35 PM
I've collected all 10 jiggies from Treasure Trove as well. I'm now moving on to Clanker's Cavern.  I forget, was this supposed to be the notoriously bad level from this game, or is that Rusty Bucket Bay?
Clanker's Cavern is the one. You might actually enjoy Rusty Bucket Bay since it's pretty hard.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 20, 2014, 05:46:38 PM
Rusty Bucket Bay is horrible in the N64 version. Losing all your music notes when you die to bullshit traps and enemy placement is so tedious. It's a good level overall, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on March 22, 2014, 01:04:48 PM
I never really hated Clanker's Cavern as much as most people. I dunno, must be that music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6CTvfvhyCk). While we're on the subject, Click Clock Wood is awesome though. Such a cool level.

Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 19, 2014, 11:34:09 PM
By the way, I have to say that Star Fox has to be the most unfortunate Nintendo franchise. I honestly think it only has one good game now. And that, obviously, is Star Fox 64.

The original Star Fox is a classic that I can no longer stomach. It's one of the few games for me where its age just kills it.

Star Fox Adventures isn't bad but give me a real Zelda over it any day.

Star Fox Assault, on the other hand, is indeed bad.

Unfortunately, I imagine Star Fox just isn't a series that sells, so Nintendo doesn't seem to have much interest in continuing it.

You forgot Command.  :awesome:

Assault should've been far better than it was. My problem wasn't with the fact that they took Fox out of the Arwing, I actually kinda like that they tried to do something different with the series and mix things up a bit. It's just the execution was so sloppy.........the game looked nice, but that was about it. It was such a slog otherwise.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 22, 2014, 04:47:38 PM
I got 8/10 jiggies in Clanker's Cavern. I can't for the life of me find the last 2 of them, though. As for the level itself, maybe it's because people hype it up to be insanely bad, but honestly it wasn't anywhere near THAT bad. Tedious, yes, and those underwater controls and camera are an absolute bitch, but the level itself is not hard. It can just get frustrating to get some objectives done underwater since when you screw up (which is all too easy) you have to come all of the way back up for air and them dive down again, and rinse and repeat the process until you get it done perfectly. It's not really all that fun, but it's also far from the worst that I ever seen of a platformer before.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 22, 2014, 09:24:21 PM
Yeah, I don't find Clanker's Cavern to be bad at all. I think the color scheme makes it look like one of "those" levels, but it's not bad. I do genuinely hate Rusty Bucket Bay though. That damn engine room.  :oo:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: King Hippo on March 22, 2014, 10:31:29 PM
You young'uns are all a bunch of wimps.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 23, 2014, 10:41:56 AM
I've currently played through 5 worlds in Banjo-Kazooie, and putting some obvious frustrations aside (most notably the camera), I think the game is a lot of fun. It brings me back to a time where adventure games wee more about enjoying the adventure and giving you some breathing room to have fun and explore. People who bash this game for being a collect-a-thon are completely missing the point, IMO. The game is fun not because of collecting stuff, but because of the adventure you have in doing so. You get to perform all kinds of creative tasks and mini-games, some better designed than others, but most of them quite fun. And the game doesn't force you to collect every single piece, though. The completionist in me insists that I do (which is why I have 10/10 pieces from the first 4 worlds and 9/10 from Freezey Peak, so far).

And for the record, the same app,IRS for any good 2D platformer. Games like Yoshi's Island or any DKC game aren't great because they are straightforward point A to point B linear games. They are great because its incredibly fun to get from point A to point B. it's about the adventure, not the destination, just like how BK is not really about the collecting.

Anyways, I can't wait to play more of this game, but I probably won't get a chance until next weekend.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Grave on March 23, 2014, 06:54:05 PM
Borderlands 2
Just finished a little session with my sister and her husband. Better than the 1st, but still don't really entice me much. It does enough to keep me going, and my family are the ones to keep me entertained, but as far as content goes, yeah... Maybe I'm a bit salty because I saw a skin I wanted but couldn't get it unless I go to the PSN store, but then again, outside of Halo I'm just about done with FPS. I'm going to try Ghost Recon next, and hopefully it'll get me interested in the genre again.

SSF4:AE2012
Major character crisis brewing. Even came to the point of adding charge characters now and I hate them, but they're definitely a lot easier to play on stick than on a regular controller. Main culprits are Guile and Balrog (along with everyone else I've mentioned in the past. That's nearly half of the roster)

GGXXAC+R
3rd Strike
SFxT
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 23, 2014, 07:31:59 PM
I've pretty much been done with Halo since Halo 4, which just flat-out didn't impress me in the slightest, and easily has some of the weakest replay value for the campaign mode in the entire series. Also, no, I never even tried the multiplayer because the damn thing would never run on my X360 for no apparent reason. Nice job making it playable only as a download, 343i. :humhumhum:

Halo: Combat Evolved and Reach are basically the only 2 games in the series that stand out to me at all. The rest are mostly good FPS games, but also have a fair deal of problems that hold them back from being great.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 24, 2014, 03:20:20 PM
I thought the engine room in Rusty Bucket Bay was a great challenge. Especially in the 360 version since it saves everything you collect when you die. That extra wiggle room makes a big difference.

Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 23, 2014, 10:41:56 AM
I've currently played through 5 worlds in Banjo-Kazooie, and putting some obvious frustrations aside (most notably the camera), I think the game is a lot of fun. It brings me back to a time where adventure games wee more about enjoying the adventure and giving you some breathing room to have fun and explore. People who bash this game for being a collect-a-thon are completely missing the point, IMO. The game is fun not because of collecting stuff, but because of the adventure you have in doing so. You get to perform all kinds of creative tasks and mini-games, some better designed than others, but most of them quite fun. And the game doesn't force you to collect every single piece, though. The completionist in me insists that I do (which is why I have 10/10 pieces from the first 4 worlds and 9/10 from Freezey Peak, so far).

And for the record, the same app,IRS for any good 2D platformer. Games like Yoshi's Island or any DKC game aren't great because they are straightforward point A to point B linear games. They are great because its incredibly fun to get from point A to point B. it's about the adventure, not the destination, just like how BK is not really about the collecting.

Anyways, I can't wait to play more of this game, but I probably won't get a chance until next weekend.
This shouldn't really be a spoiler, but you can't get that last piece in Freezeezy Peak yet. I think it's the only one you can't get in the first run of a level.

Part of my fun with Banjo Kazooie is how fun everything is to do and almost always involves platforming. If you thought Clanker's Cavern was okay, then I can't imagine you hating the rest. Unless you find Rusty Bucket Bay too hard, and I doubt you of all people would.  :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 24, 2014, 05:27:25 PM
Well, difficulty for me depends on the genre. I'm generally pretty OK with hack n' slash games and shooters, whereas I downright suck at fighting and racing games, and am probably below average at platformers despite growing up with them, to the point where I found the classic Sonic games moderately challenging when most fans of the genre consider the to be incredibly easy.

As for BK, non of the levels have been that hard so far, but certain mini-games to collect jiggies have been a nightmare (fuck the yumblies/grumblies game with Mr. Vile).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 24, 2014, 07:43:38 PM
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on March 24, 2014, 05:27:25 PM
Well, difficulty for me depends on the genre. I'm generally pretty OK with hack n' slash games and shooters, whereas I downright suck at fighting and racing games, and am probably below average at platformers despite growing up with them, to the point where I found the classic Sonic games moderately challenging when most fans of the genre consider the to be incredibly easy.
This is pretty much me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 24, 2014, 08:31:50 PM
Been playing Pure Chess on the Wii U and Pokemon Trozei on the 3DS.

Yep, not very exciting I'm afraid.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 25, 2014, 03:11:22 AM
I maxed out character levels on my second Tales Of Xillia playthrough, beat the only bonus boss I haven't fought yet, saw a few subquests I didn't know existed, maxed out some of my shop levels, and got a crap ton of trophies. There are more things I could do for trophies, but I'm putting the game away now. Overall I like the game, but I feel like it has the weakest cast of all the Tales games I've played. Looking forward to Xillia 2 though.

Next for my PS3: Batman: Arkham Asylum.

I think I'll add more to the collection with my next paycheck. I found a ton of games on Amazon for under $15, and I can easily get the free shipping. Goning to build this PS3 library up strong.  :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: King Hippo on March 26, 2014, 12:10:09 AM
Just got Tales of Symphonia Chronicles.

The game is worth playing again for the soundtrack alone.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: No-Personality on March 26, 2014, 11:00:25 AM
Shadowgate. On NES.

I got all the way to the Death figure on the raft, jumped into the water just for a "fun" death bit, then instead of clicking Restore on my emulator... I pressed Save. So, now I have to start all over again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 28, 2014, 09:04:22 PM
I played through a bit more of MGRR on Revengeance difficulty. I have to admit that I probably died a lot more times than I needed to since I was so hell-bent on trying to perfect-parry enemies rather than trying to fight them normally. This mode really gives you tons of incentive to play that way, though. I'm currently half-way through File R-02, and I'm probably going to be playing this game in shorter bursts due to my current work-load.

As for Banjo-Kazooie, I managed to get to the desert level (I can't recall the name of it, ATM), and so far this is probably my least favorite. It's not bad or anything. The actual mini-games and other tasks to collect Jiggies are quite fun. My problem has to do with navigating the level itself. It just feels like a chore, what with more than half of it being those hills that you can only scale with Kazooie, and about a third being those annoying quick-sand areas, with very little sold ground left to go on. Even Clanker's Cavern wasn't this annoying just to get through, IMO. That said, as I just mentioned, actually retrieving the Jiggies and most of the other collectibles is still as fun as ever.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 29, 2014, 03:37:14 PM
I got half-way through File R-03 on Revengeance difficulty. This game can be pretty unpredictable since either everything can go your way or everything can work against you. So far, most of this level has been going my way, minus a few BS deaths, so I've been kicking tons of enemy ass relatively quickly.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on March 29, 2014, 10:25:59 PM
Been going back to Earthbound recently. Currently in Winters playing as Jeff, and I do kind of like how Jeff gets to level up at his own pace compared to how when I got Paula, it felt like I had to babysit her to be useful until she got a wide array of PSI powers.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Grave on March 29, 2014, 11:22:40 PM
Borderlands 2
Played a longer session with my brother-in-law and my sister today. I'm beginning to understand the game a little more, but it's definitely not a game I'd play by myself. Also regretting not picking Zero either. Axton just comes off as boring. FPS feel very awkward on the PS3.

SSF4:AE2012
Still going through a heavy character crisis. Decided to hit up training mode as Yang for a little bit. His combos are a lot easier than I expected, but at the same time I'm actually FADCing more consistently as well. Still, FADCing from a quarter-circle forward/backward motion feels more awkward than from a shoryuken motion (Z). But man, Yang, doing some of his punish combos, the damage really sucks. I understand that he's not a hard-hitting character to begin with, but my goodness it's kinda hard to believe a Heavy Punch into his HP Mantis Slashes seems like it should do more damage. Anyway, he's still fun, and got me thinking about making him my main as well.

3rd Strike
Originally I was gonna make Dudley my main, but I'm thinking about making him my secondary while I main Yang here as well. Granted I should probably use Ken to teach me the basics, but Yang is also a basic character, but trickier, and I just like to hit buttons.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 29, 2014, 11:33:23 PM
Beat all stages in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. What a marvelous game! Perhaps the best 2D platformer I have played, with some of the greatest music, most lovable graphics, and coolest set pieces ever. :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2014, 01:26:16 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 29, 2014, 11:33:23 PM
Beat all stages in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. What a marvelous game! Perhaps the best 2D platformer I have played, with some of the greatest music, most lovable graphics, and coolest set pieces ever. :joy:
:thumbup:

I still have to get everything in world 6, but otherwise I agree. Fantastic game. It's gonna take a lot for a game to top it this year.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 03, 2014, 01:29:05 PM
I played Strider demo on April Fool's Day. They have Strider's movement down perfectly. :thumbup:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 04, 2014, 07:30:40 PM
I beat File R-03 on Revengeance difficulty. This difficulty can definitely be infuriating at times, and some deaths are downright cheap since enemies can one-shot you from off-screen, but as fa as hardest difficulties go, it's not so bad. It's at least nowhere close to as hard as NG's Master Ninja mode or DMC's a DMD mode, so I should probably make it through the rest of the game in one piece.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Grave on April 04, 2014, 09:45:29 PM
SSF4:AE2012
Same tired story, but this time I've been using the twins (Yang and Yun). I'm leaning towards making one the main and the other the secondary. How long that'll last, I'm hoping for quite some time, especially since I plan to get Ultra SF4.

GGXXAC+R
Tried out Order Sol. Very high probability of him being my main. Gonna try out Slayer next.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 06, 2014, 02:37:51 PM
I got up to File R-07 of MGRR on Revengeance difficulty. Once I finish this playthrough I'll probably be done with the game, as I don't intend to go through the frustration of trying to S-rank every single fight in the game just for the sake of an achievement, and I don't really dig the VR missions. Overall, though, it's been a pretty solid game. I've clocked in nearly 35 hours with it over the course of (soon to be) 6 complete playthroughs (as well as one playthrough of the Jetstream Sam DLC).

I'd tackle the Blade Wolf DLC as well, but as I've stated previously, my XBOX360 just flat out refuses to run it, so there goes that.

As for Banjo Kazooie, I got past Mad Monster Mansion and found all of the collectibles there. I played a bit of Rusty Bucket Bay, and died immediately in the engine room because I didn't even know that the platforms could rotate like that (thanks for not actually putting in a little cutscene or something to give me fair warning, Rare). So, yeah, this one's going to be a bit harder tahn the others.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 11, 2014, 08:42:45 PM
I just beat Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on Revengeance difficulty. It's a pretty great, if somewhat unbalanced game, though I think I'm pretty much done with it for now. I may go back to collect that last data storage unit just for the hell of it, but overall I've accomplished what I wanted to with this game. I personally don't feel like going for an S-Rank run on Revengeance difficulty because of how frustratingly unbalanced the game can be (and how strict those ranks are), but I'm content with just making it through the game on its hardest available difficulty setting.

Now to get back to DMC3 and complete it on DMD mode.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on April 14, 2014, 12:38:16 AM
Had a great moment in Xenoblade where I was fighting an enemy I clearly was not leveled enough for, and was fighting it on a bridge over a river of liquid death. Right before I was about to die, I managed to use the Monado's buster attack to finally knock it off the bridge, and watched with glee as the river dragged it away, it's hit points rapidly chipping off. Suddenly I get a bunch of experience. Now that's an exciting moment in a video game, none of that scripted shit.  :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 18, 2014, 09:43:15 PM
I finally got to go back and continue playing DMC3 on DMD mode.  I just beat Mission 16 and it was hell. It really shows me just how much easier of a game MGRR is, not to mention this series' reboot title, DmC. I already hated the boss fight with Lady, but naturally it was a nightmare on this difficulty with her stupid grenades always hitting you from off-screen and doing a shit-ton of damage. As determined as I am to finally complete this difficulty, I just don't find it fun anymore. I still love the game itself, but I wouldn't recommend anyone to play this game on anything above Very Hard difficulty unless you're really just a hardcore fan of these types of action games and need to push yourself as far as you can go.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on April 19, 2014, 04:06:26 AM
Why is there such an inane shortage of Fire-types in virtually every Pokemon game anymore? Christ, I'm playing Pearl right now and there are literally only two options, and one of which (Chimchar) I can't even get now because I didn't take that as my starter (and I'm way too far ahead to start over at this point). My only other choice? Ponyta/Rapidash.  :wth:

So far I like Platinum a lot better, so I'm thinking of just jumping back and finally finishing that file I started years ago instead. Pearl is just...........I dunno. The Pokedex is way too limited (half of the Sinnoh Dex, like Magmortar and Rhyperior I can't even get until AFTER the Elite 4, which is completely idiotic), the version exclusives totally suck compared to Diamond..........like it's a good game otherwise, I like it wayyyyy better than any of the Gen 3 games sans the remakes, but the amount of available Pokemon is just way too low. Like I've never had this hard of a time deciding on a final team.

So anyway yeah, if I haven't mentioned it already I'm basically getting caught up on the one series I'm more ridiculously behind than anything at this point. I have Y and I really wanna play it, but I need to majorly get caught up here first. Hoping by the end of the year I'll be through Gens 4 and 5, but we'll see I guess.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: LumRanmaYasha on April 19, 2014, 11:53:25 AM

Quote from: Kiddington on April 19, 2014, 04:06:26 AM
Why is there such an inane shortage of Fire-types in virtually every Pokemon game anymore?

Only Diamond and Pearl have that problem, because for some reason they only bothered to include two evolutionary lines for fire-types (including Chimchar's line). The other games past them have a much better variety of fire-types to choose from during the game. The Generation 5 games introduced the most fire-types of any generation to date, actually.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on April 19, 2014, 12:50:13 PM
Quote from: Cartoon X on April 19, 2014, 11:53:25 AM

Quote from: Kiddington on April 19, 2014, 04:06:26 AM
Why is there such an inane shortage of Fire-types in virtually every Pokemon game anymore?

Only Diamond and Pearl have that problem, because for some reason they only bothered to include two evolutionary lines for fire-types (including Chimchar's line). The other games past them have a much better variety of fire-types to choose from during the game. The Generation 5 games introduced the most fire-types of any generation to date, actually.

Ah, well that's encouraging. Yeah I haven't gotten to that point yet; I'll probably start with Black once I finish Pearl/Platinum, whichever really, then White 2 (or vice-versa, White and Black 2). Then I can start Y.

One thing I'll say about Gen 4 though, these are by far my favorite starters in the series. I love all three families; like usually the Water-type starter I could go either way on, but Empoleon is awesome (and Water/Steel is a pretty sweet combo). I think I like the Gen 4 starters even more than the original group.

Next time though, I really need to pick Chimchar. I should've researched these games more, and just how sadly they lack good Fire-types; in Pearl I went with Turtwig and Platinum I chose Piplup. Live and learn I guess.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 21, 2014, 08:20:06 PM
I didn't know where else to post this, but I only just came to realize something interesting:

The guy who directed all of the DMC sequels (obviously not counting the Ninja Theory reboot) and Dragon's Dogma is the same guy who directed Power Stone 2 and Capcom Vs SNK 2 (and maybe another fighting game, but I can't remember right now). Bit of a mixed bag, isn't he? As for PS2, it's easily his most unique game from what I can see of his directing credits, and IMO it's probably the 2nd best from what I've played of his work. Looking at his fighting game repertoire, it makes more sense how he was able to incorporate a really deep and complex combat system into DMC3 and 4 with his knowledge of fighting game mechanics in the CVSNK games that he worked on. Of course, DMC2 was shit, but maybe that could be attributed to Capcom's interference from above, combined with the directer and his team's lack of experience making third person action/adventure games of this nature at the time. Then they made it up with DMC3, which was awesome, and kind of got lazy with DMC4, which was an adequate sequel but also very uninspired and kind of forgettable at times, if I were to be honest. It also felt more tedious than it needed to be. I haven't played Dragon's Dogma, but the general consensus seems to be that it's a very flawed RPG that may or may not be worth playing if you are able to appreciate its few strengths well enough to look past its numerous weaknesses (namely that it seems to excel at combat and boss fights, and seems to suck at almost everything else, compared to most RPGs). Once again, the flaws with that game may be due to the director and the dev team's relative inexperience with the genre.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on April 21, 2014, 08:52:36 PM
I was thinking about getting Dragon's Dogma until I learned it didn't have a proper multiplayer mode. Still nice to hear that its combat is excellent, most RPG's have rather boring combat, imo.

Itsuno's also the director for both Rival Schools games and the first Street Fighter Alpha (all of  which I'm interested in playing). So he must really be experienced in combat mechanics.

QuoteThen they made it up with DMC3, which was awesome, and kind of got lazy with DMC4, which was a adequate sequel but also very uninspired and kind of forgettable at times, if I were to be honest. It also felt more tedious than it needed to be.

I think the PC version helped improve DMC4's reception a little, with the addition of Turbo Mode, an extra difficulty level, and all of the crazy mods I've seen. I'd like to try out that version some day, but I'm not sure if my laptop will be able to play it properly.

Speaking of DMC and Rival Schools, Itsuno's really interested in making a DMC5 and Rival Schools 3, among other ideas he has (http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/10/21/dragons-dogma-director-wants-to-make-a-sequel-on-ps4-also-rival-schools-3-and-devil-may-cry-5/). This guy really knows his audience, and I hope Capcom utilizes the ideas he has. If they were to make a DMC5 and Rival School 3, and a Dragon's Dogma with proper co-op and whatnot for the PS4, then I would definitely be on board.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 21, 2014, 08:57:39 PM
I thought the director of Dragon's Dogma did Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter? Now there's an underrated game. But then, most of Capcom's good stuff gets buried rather quickly while generic stuff like Lost Planet somehow continues on.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 21, 2014, 09:04:51 PM
The proper thing to say would be that I want Rival Schools 3, first, since that series has been dormant for so long. However....I haven't played any of the older games, so I'd be lying if I said that would be my most anticipated (I'll eventually get to those games someday, though). Naturally, I'm a huge DMC fan, so I'd like to see a DMC5 the most, but that's only from the games that he mentioned he might work on in the future. In all honesty, more than anything else, I'd LOVE to see a Power Stone 3, but that game series is even more forgotten than Rival Schools, these days, and the poor performance of the PSP port both critically and sales-wise ended up probably being the series' death-sentence, as far as Capcom goes.

As for Dragon's Dogma, I was interested in trying it ONLY because it was made by the team that made DMC3 (and now apparently PS2, as well). However, what scared me off wasn't the unrefined co-op (I prefer single-player, anyways). It was the fact that I naturally don't care for RPGs, for the most part, and to find out that this game had even more of the tedious stuff about RPGs that usually tend to drive me away, I figured that even a great combat system wouldn't be enough to make up for it.

Seriously, though, I'm still waiting for my RPG hack n' slash hybrid. If they were to make an RPG that had a combat system flat-out on par with Ninja Gaiden, DMC, or Bayonetta, it'd automatically make it worth the investment that I usually don't care to partake in for most RPGs. At the end of the day, my main problem with RPGs is that I don't have fun playing most of them because the main thing you're supposed to do, which is killing monsters and enemies and whatnot to progress through the story, is flat-out boring and tedious in most cases. Get rid of that problem, and at least keep the story decent without letting it get too self-indulgent (a la FFXIII), and you'd basically have what I'd consider the perfect RPG that could appeal to even me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 21, 2014, 09:12:43 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 21, 2014, 08:57:39 PMI thought the director of Dragon's Dogma did Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter? Now there's an underrated game. But then, most of Capcom's good stuff gets buried rather quickly while generic stuff like Lost Planet somehow continues on.

It still baffles me that somehow we got not 2, but 3 Lost Planet games. I mean, OK, I can understand after the first game got lukewarm reception from critics and moderate sales, it was worth trying for a sequel to see if it could compete with the likes of big names such as Gears of War and Uncharted in the TPS genre. But then the 2nd game felt flat on its ass in terms of both critical reception and sales, so the series should have ended there, but Capcom saw fit to not only give the series a 3rd chance, but to also outsource it to a completely unproven Western developer, Spark Unlimited (who have recently gone on to make the abysmal Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z). They are willing to pour all of that time, money, and resources into something that people clearly don't want and never even asked for, yet for some reason it's too much for them to do something that people would absolutely love. Something say like....making Mega Man X 9 with SNES style graphics in the same vein that they did MM9 and 10 a few years ago. It would probably be pretty cheap to make and inevitably give them a decent return on the digital market if released multiplatform for both the Wii and 3DS's virtual consoles, along with XBLA and PSN. But, no, this is Capcom. It's run by businessmen who have probably never even picked up a video game controller in their lives, much less an actual video game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 21, 2014, 09:28:45 PM
Dragon's Dogma is an excellent game. The combat is fun as hell, and the world is really enjoyable to explore and play around in. I played through it twice (a rare feat from me for a 40+ hour game) and had an absolute blast both times with two wildly different builds. There is no multiplayer at all, btw, though you can upload your pawn for other players to use. There's also a huge raid boss that people fight one at a time and then everyone who beats it within an hour of its server death gets tons of stuff. These are cool gimmicks, but nothing more. I highly recommend the game to anyone who likes a good action RPG.

Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on April 21, 2014, 09:04:51 PM
Seriously, though, I'm still waiting for my RPG hack n' slash hybrid. If they were to make an RPG that had a combat system flat-out on par with Ninja Gaiden, DMC, or Bayonetta, it'd automatically make it worth the investment that I usually don't care to partake in for most RPGs.
It's definitely not going to be on par with any of those titles due to lack of budget, but Drakengard 3 looks a lot like a more RPG-ish and story-driven version of DMC.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 21, 2014, 09:34:19 PM
Links to videos of good DMC4 mods, please. ;D

DMC5 would be my most anticipated game in the ever, of course. I'm glad to see that a good director for the games is still around.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 21, 2014, 09:35:23 PM
Well, due to your recommendation, the fact that I was already kind of interested in this game for the combat and boss fights, and because I can find it for really cheap now, I'll probably hit it up sometime after I finally get around to Bayonetta.

I'll also look into Drakengard 3 if I get the chance.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 21, 2014, 09:44:18 PM
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on April 21, 2014, 09:35:23 PM
Well, due to your recommendation, the fact that I was already kind of interested in this game for the combat and boss fights, and because I can find it for really cheap now, I'll probably hit it up sometime after I finally get around to Bayonetta.
Get Dark Arisen if you can. It contains both the original game and the expansion pack, plus all the patches and such.

Let me try to explain the awesomeness of the gameplay. On my second run, I played as a Magic Archer. My attacks included arrows that bounced off walls for extended periods of time, homing arrows that spawned more homing arrows upon hitting enemies, and the ability to light myself on fire and run around setting everyone aflame.

QuoteI'll also look into Drakengard 3 if I get the chance.
From what I've heard/seen, the ground combat looks to be somewhere between the original Devil May Cry and DmC in terms of quality, while the aerial combat seems like a slightly lesser Star Fox 64. Nothing groundbreaking by any means, but should be tons of fun if you're into weird low budget Japanese niche games like Suda51's output. Plus, it's got a story penned by the two best writers in the gaming industry (Yoko Taro and Sawako Natori) and one of the finest soundtracks ever composed for a video game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on April 29, 2014, 02:48:42 AM
Went through all of the Mechonis Core event in Xenoblade. That whole sequence was awesome. I don't think I've yelled "holy shit" that much at a game in a long, long time.

Spoiler
Zanza
[close]
is an evil motherfucker.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on May 07, 2014, 08:47:25 PM
Has anyone tried the new Kirby game yet? I was gonna pick it up earlier but the closest Walmart was all out and I really didn't feel like going out of the way for it. I did kinda want some opinions though, just 'cause.

..........oh yeah, speaking of 3DS, finally broke into Fire Emblem: Awakening today after having sat on it for months. Definitely liking it so far!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 07, 2014, 08:58:46 PM
I probably won't be able to get it for awhile. Right now gaming-wise my budget is allotted to Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros. 3DS for the summer.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on May 07, 2014, 09:06:47 PM
Yeah, I want Kirby Triple Deluxe and Mario Golf but I've spent waaaay too much money already.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on May 08, 2014, 02:52:22 PM
Been playing Kirby Triple Deluxe. I like it more than Yoshi's New Island, if that's anything to go by. Do like some of the new abilities, like Beetle, Bell and Archer. Circus is the more "I have no idea what I'm doing" ability. Hypernova is pretty neat concept. I've only been playing the main story and I'm having fun by collecting the key chains and the Star Coins.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 08, 2014, 03:14:32 PM
For those wondering about the first three Game Boy Mega Man games that are now out on the 3DS VC, I only have a few things to say.

The first is to skip them since Mega Man 1, 2, and 3, NES are on there and the second is to wait for Mega Man IV and V for actually being far more original and worth your time. The third is that there's no consistency in anything -the physics vary between all three games (why is climbing ladders faster in II than in III?) and the level design goes between mediocre, cheesy, and just plain boring.

Either buy the NES games or wait for IV and V instead.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 08, 2014, 03:45:28 PM
Dust is free for Xbox Gold members and Saint's Row The Third will be free later this month. I can't wait. MS has done a decent job on the free games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 10, 2014, 12:45:32 PM
I never played it, so I have a question about this game that will assist in deciding if I will ever play it.

How relevant is Portable Ops to the main Metal Gear storyline? Does it push the overarching plot in any way (the way Peace Walker apparently does), or is it just a side story that doesn't really affect anything?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 10, 2014, 01:37:40 PM
You're still trying to follow MGS' story? You poor bastard...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 11, 2014, 11:19:36 AM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on May 10, 2014, 12:45:32 PM
I never played it, so I have a question about this game that will assist in deciding if I will ever play it.

How relevant is Portable Ops to the main Metal Gear storyline? Does it push the overarching plot in any way (the way Peace Walker apparently does), or is it just a side story that doesn't really affect anything?

Hey Foggle, you're the resident expert on Metal Gear of this site. what do you think? :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 11, 2014, 01:56:39 PM
It's been a long time since I last played Portable Ops, but I don't really remember it adding anything meaningful to the overall Metal Gear storyline. Also, I believe I read somewhere that it's actually been retroactively removed from the canon due to Kojima's lack of involvement with it.

It's a pretty fun game, though. One of the PSP's best IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 11, 2014, 02:11:11 PM
Quote from: Foggle on May 11, 2014, 01:56:39 PM
It's been a long time since I last played Portable Ops, but I don't really remember it adding anything meaningful to the overall Metal Gear storyline. Also, I believe I read somewhere that it's actually been retroactively removed from the canon due to Kojima's lack of involvement with it.

That's interesting. I also just noticed that it's not included among the "main games" in the series on Wikipedia, and wasn't packed into the Legacy Collection.

Quote from: Foggle on May 11, 2014, 01:56:39 PMIt's a pretty fun game, though. One of the PSP's best IMO.

That's the thing, though. I'm sure it's good, but I need more than one reason to get a PSP.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 15, 2014, 03:37:49 PM
Got a 3DS?

Download Mega Man IV Game Boy right now. Excellent game. Blows Mega Man 4 NES out of the water.

I also think it's better than 5 and 6, but it does MM4 better than 4 does.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 15, 2014, 06:32:19 PM
I took a break from DMC3 because fighting Arkham on DMD mode is beyond frustrating to the point where I've just decided to spam items on him, but first I'll have to farm a massive quantity of red orbs in Bloody Palace mode in order to afford such items.

In the meantime, I decided to try my hand at DMC1 again for the first time in a long while, it shows just how simple in design this game is that I was just able to jump back in like that and managed (on Hard mode, no less) a and could still waste enemies without too much trouble. Of course, this is still new game + and I'm still in the early levels, so the game will get hard again soon enough, but overall it's definitely a lot tamer than having to deal with DMC3 on DMD mode. One thing that I love about this game over any other DMC game is that Dante feels so powerful in this one. Since it's not as focused on combos, enemies go down a lot quicker, but to balance things out they also deal far more damage to Dante himself. I kind of miss that in the sequels and reboot in which it really feels like each single attack only amounts to chip damage, at best, forcing you to chain together longer combos to maximize your damage output.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 15, 2014, 07:31:46 PM
Ugh, I just took a lunch break while trying to beat Gill. I'll get back at it soon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 15, 2014, 11:00:11 PM
I beat Gill for the 2nd time ever. The last time I faced him, I got into a really good rhythm and it wasn't that hard to win. It still took me about 20 Game Overs to do though. :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 15, 2014, 11:24:47 PM
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is on Xbox Live for $4.94 (That's not a typo). I'm not sure how long the sell is nor do I know if you need Gold for it (forgot to check). I might get it myself.

Edit: You do need Gold and the deal is until the 19th.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 16, 2014, 01:08:07 PM
Saint's Row The Third is now free if you have Xbox Live Gold.

I played Beyond Good & Evil again for like the first time in months. Went on land with the hovercraft for the first time. That looter's side mission is fun even though it's pretty hard. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that's it's the 2nd one and I missed the first. I'll try again today.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on May 20, 2014, 12:30:03 AM
Nintendo sent out random download codes for Tomodachi Life: Move-In Version for Platinum members, (especially people that registered Animal Crossing New Leaf,) and guess who got one? I played what I could and Tomodachi Life was just as charming as the Nintendo Direct video lead on. I was able to import a few Miis, do 5 tasks to make my Miis happy, see a mini rock and roll concert and look at the beach. I think Tomodachi Life is a Day 1 purchase for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 20, 2014, 02:59:26 PM
Around 1 A.M., I finally started a game of Hitman Absolution. The basic mechanics seem decent and the AI seems pretty good. It was an alright introductory stage. This game seems to be very influenced by Splinter Cell. Blood Money did not have the "enemy's looking in your direction" arrow and from what I played from the demo, there was no tag enemies and then slomo kill them with headshots which has to be straight out of Conviction. That was always a bittersweet move. I love watching that shit but of course it's watching and not playing and I use it as a crutch way too many times because it encourages me to not feel like sneaking around guy and/or taking them out one by one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 29, 2014, 09:54:55 PM
So I'm playing Drakengard 3, and while this game is a big step down from Nier in most aspects, I absolutely love the humor in it. This might be the funniest game I've ever played - even beating out Portal 2!

Imagine a dark medieval fantasy story played as a straight farce. The plot itself is deathly serious, but it's barely even noticeable behind all the sarcastic banter, sex jokes, self-deprecating humor, fourth wall annihilation, slapstick, and loving parodies of video game cliches. It works incredibly well. Very little of the comedy comes across as forced, and I've found myself laughing frequently at the great dialogue and silly situations. The gameplay itself is okay. I like it, but I have a high tolerance for low budget wonkiness. It really feels like Square Enix gave this project as little funding as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if Drakengard 3 was made for cheaper than most Kickstarter-financed indie games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 30, 2014, 02:08:59 AM
Played some more Hitman Absolution hours ago/last night. I always suck at following radars which is why I end up running straight into guards. :>
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 30, 2014, 07:16:21 PM
Mario Kart 8 is tons of fun. Thankfully the items are significantly less intrusive than MKWii.

Shame the new Rainbow Road is such a bland course, though. The retro one is way better.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on May 30, 2014, 09:07:57 PM
It's barely even a Rainbow Road in this one. I think a separate space station track on its own would have been better.

And, well... this newest Rainbow Road has the worst music out of all of them. Every Rainbow Road has built on the previous song and added a little something. This one seems to not do that at all and just falls flat.

Excellent game regardless. I played some with a friend today and hope to pick up my own copy tomorrow.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 30, 2014, 09:17:40 PM
On the plus side, the Bowser's Castle in this game is the first one I've thought was more than boring since Double Dash.

Actually, I think every course in the game is great... EXCEPT the new Rainbow Road. Water Park, Sweet Sweet Canyon, Toad Harbor, Shy Guy Falls, Dolphin Shoals, Electrodome, Mount Wario, Cloudtop Cruise, Bone-Dry Dunes, and Bowser's Castle are all especially some of the best courses ever in a Mario Kart game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on May 30, 2014, 09:24:47 PM
Honestly, my favorite Bowser's Castle was the DS one with the spinny cylinders. Which one was Double Dash's? All I can imagine is the Wii's.  :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 30, 2014, 09:50:22 PM
One thing I wish they didn't bring back: losing your item when hit by lightning. That was the one feature that always made lightning annoying more than inconvenient.

Quote from: Nel_Annette on May 30, 2014, 09:24:47 PM
Honestly, my favorite Bowser's Castle was the DS one with the spinny cylinders. Which one was Double Dash's? All I can imagine is the Wii's.  :sweat:
Double Dash has the spiral staircase into the spinning spire and that long pathway with all the giant bullet bills. I barely remember the Wii one, honestly. But then, I haven't played MKWii in so long. Item spam got to be too much.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on May 30, 2014, 10:14:24 PM
64 and Wii had the best Bowser's Castles, imo.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 30, 2014, 10:19:34 PM
I loved the Rainbow Road themes from Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, and Double Dash.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 02, 2014, 12:21:58 PM
I finally got around to starting Dust: An Elysian Tail. I don't know why I wanted so long to play the game. I've had it downloaded for at least a month. Anyway, I was enjoying the mechanics pre-first enemies and was thrown off when I did face them. The game automatically has your attacks lock on to the nearest enemy so that through off the timing I've been practically. Not a game breaker but kind of annoying.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 04, 2014, 09:27:58 PM
After playing 8 a bunch, I have to say it's probably one of the best games in the franchise. The tracks are all top notch, the retro-tracks are well chosen, and battle mode rules are old school. Also the items are fairly well balanced as a whole for the first time since Double Dash or possibly Super Mario Kart.

I do wish the Super Horn was a three use item, that Lightning didn't make you lose items, and that battle mode had arenas (and an option to turn off ghosts), but as a whole I think my complaints are minor.

Nintendo's on the right track with this series, I think.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 05, 2014, 01:13:11 AM
I beat Drakengard 3 a couple days ago. No idea how... the final boss fight is probably one of the hardest and least fair since the NES days. Hideo Kojima's trolling truly has nothing on Yoko Taro's.

Was it a good game? I, uh, don't really know. It was usually fun, but it was also pretty poorly put together. And yet, I loved every minute of it. It's kind of like Deadly Premonition in that regard (hell, it was made by the same company) - technically very bad, but paradoxically excellent underneath its many significant flaws. This is definitely one of my favorite games this gen for the fantastic writing and voice acting alone, but I can't really recommend it to anyone who isn't already familiar with the director's previous work. I think it's a game that deserves to be played by as many people as possible, but it's really bizarre and thus will probably only be enjoyed by weirdos like me.

Here's a basic story summary in case you're interested: Zero is a goddess with one arm and a flower growing out of her right eyeball. She's on a mission to brutally murder her 5 sisters, who are similarly named One, Two, Three, Four, and Five. One is cold and intelligent, Two is happy-go-lucky in love, Three is basically a Nazi doctor, Four is an uptight jerk hiding beneath a facade of righteousness, and Five is a greedy nymphomaniac/rapist. Zero travels with her dragon Mikhail, a newborn baby whose favorite pastimes include pissing himself and rolling around in the mud. His favorite food is rotten meat, he detests violence (except against wyverns), and he considers Zero to be his best friend in the whole world (even though she seemingly hates him). Each of Zero's sisters is accompanied by a disciple - a sex slave who can summon demons to fight for them. After Zero kills her sisters, their disciples join her, and they fuck a lot. These disciples include a sadist who gets off on murder and torture, an extreme masochist, an old man with an insatiable sexual appetite, and a narcissist who doubles as a compulsive liar. There are four story branches/endings, each one weirder and darker than the last; however, the game almost never takes itself seriously, and much of the dialogue is comprised of hilarious jokes and banter. In essence, it's a screwball comedy with a dark medieval fantasy story hiding beneath its very prominent sense of humor. Despite all this, it has many story connections to the first two Drakengard games and Nier, and features some of the vastest and most well-written lore in gaming history. The humor is also surprisingly smart and witty.

I have no idea how this game got greenlit, let alone released by a major publisher like Square Enix, but I'm so thankful it was. In terms of writing and characters, it's as original and unique as video games come, and I can't wait to see more stories taking place in this fantastic universe in the future. I just hope the next one actually has something resembling a real budget.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 05, 2014, 01:17:50 AM
I've been playing more of Dust and I've only gotten a little farther in the first area due to neglect. Then I turned the game off when I realized I ripped myself off at the first merchant. :D Anyway, the game is kind of like a mix of Castlevania Symphony Of The Night and Devil May Cry with a much lighter look.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 10, 2014, 11:54:54 PM
I'm starting to get somewhere in Beyond Good & Evil.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on June 11, 2014, 04:39:48 AM
Thanks to all the overtime I've been getting at work lately, I found some extra space in my budget to work in Triple Deluxe. A couple worlds in so far...........yeah, it's fun as heck. My only complaint at this point is pretty much the same as everyone else; most of the levels and bosses are very easy, but honestly who cares. I'm still having a blast with the new abilities, and the graphics are downright gorgeous.

Buy it. You'll thank me later.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 13, 2014, 01:03:28 AM
A few hours ago, I beat the Factory level on Beyond Good & Evil. I was liking the stealth at first but then it got on my nerves. The guards' filed of vision is way too big and you have no clue when they can actually see you at times. Also, the boss was hilariously easy. I guess I'll buy some stuff when I start again.

Also, I got my butt kicked on Spelunky again. Those worm levels are pretty hard.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on June 17, 2014, 12:40:20 PM
Guys, seriously; buy Triple Deluxe. Just..........just buy it.

Most non-Smash/MK8 fun you'll have this year.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 19, 2014, 06:33:01 PM
Remember when I said that I'd quit DMC3 after I cleared DMD mode? Well, I lied. I've been going back to the game to clear off the last 3 achievements which I still haven't gotten. But, that's the sign of a great game, isn't it? One that you keep coming back to no matter what because it's fun to replay.

Of the achievements remaining, I still have clear Heaven or Hell mode (which is ridiculously easy), clear Bloody Palace mode (which isn't THAT hard since my current record is around 5,800 floors, and I only died at that point on purpose because I just wanted to collect my money at that point), and S-rank every mission in the game (which could be somewhat difficult, since the requirements are pretty strict, even on easy mode).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 20, 2014, 05:36:39 PM
I finally bought Bayonetta. This isn't the first time that I played it, but it's certainly the first proper playthrough that I'll get to do for it. I just love how robust the combat is. There's no shortage of ways to take down your foes. It really does kind of put Platinum's later hack n' slash effort, MGRR, to shame (even though that game is great in its own right). That said, I do find the over-done visual flare of the game a bit distracting at times (it makes it hard to tell what's going on in crucial situations). As far as combat in action games go, NG2 is still my personal favorite just from how simple yet fun it is (and it is nuanced, even if not as robust as DMC or Bayonetta), but Bayonetta easily takes my second place spot alongside Dante's combat from DMC4 (they are pretty much a tie for me).

I also picked up NG3: RE from the bargain bin for just $5....I'm probably going to regret giving it the time of day, but at this point it was cheap enough for me to pick it up and play it just for the sake of playing a Ninja Gaiden game. I absolutely hated the demo of both NG3 vanilla and this game, so I'm not expecting much. This will probably be like playing DMC2 all over again (well, OK, it's not as bad as that game, but it's still a turd).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 20, 2014, 05:51:10 PM
I got a bit farther in Dust. I shouldn't neglect the game so much though. I got used to the auto lockon, I think. And I recently (hell, I believe yesterday), got to being able to travel the world on go on quests.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 20, 2014, 10:32:24 PM
I'm about half way through Day 2 of NG3: RE. You know what my biggest problem with the game so far is? The game is flat out less responsive and controls worse than the first 2 NG games. The first 2 games had near flawless and unrivaled controls in terms of both responsiveness and precision. How Team Ninja managed to fuck up such core mechanics that they had already mastered is beyond me, but somehow they did it, and the sad thing is that this was their second attempt at this game, which was meant to be an apology letter of sorts to the fans who hated NG3 vanilla, and they couldn't even fix the thing that mattered the most. That's just truly sad. It's not so terrible that it makes the game unplayable, but to a huge fan such as myself who has played these games on Master Ninja level difficulty, it is very noticeable and very hard to ignore.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 21, 2014, 10:22:09 PM
I'm up to chapter 8 in Bayonetta. As usual, Platinum is great with combat, but horrendous when it comes to scripted platforming and QTE sequences. I've seriously died more times from those than to losing to enemies in combat (and I only ever used a single healing item so far).

Meanwhile I'm on Day 3 of NG3: RE, including going through the Ayane exclusive chapter. First off, how is it that she's perfectly responsive, but Ryu, the main fucking character of the franchise, is still off in this version of the game?

Putting that aside, the game just feels to monotonous. I'm so sick of fighting these same soldiers already. I love how the first 2 games had such a huge variety of distinct enemies that they threw at you. This game feels like it's just variations of the same 3-5 enemies.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on June 22, 2014, 12:13:50 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 21, 2014, 10:22:09 PM
I'm up to chapter 8 in Bayonetta. As usual, Platinum is great with combat, but horrendous when it comes to scripted platforming and QTE sequences. I've seriously died more times from those than to losing to enemies in combat (and I only ever used a single healing item so far).

I hear ya. The QTE's were the worst part of the game and are bullshit with how unfair they are. Fortunately the rest of the games difficulty is fair and hard in the good kind of way.

QuoteMeanwhile I'm on Day 3 of NG3: RE, including going through the Ayane exclusive chapter. First off, how is it that she's perfectly responsive, but Ryu, the main fucking character of the franchise, is still off in this version of the game?

Putting that aside, the game just feels to monotonous. I'm so sick of fighting these same soldiers already. I love how the first 2 games had such a huge variety of distinct enemies that they threw at you. This game feels like it's just variations of the same 3-5 enemies.

The difficulty is still bullshit too. I honestly don't see why everyone is saying RE "fixed" NG3, it's still the same terrible game, just ever so slightly more playable.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 22, 2014, 12:22:49 AM
I don't remember the QTEs being hard at all.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 22, 2014, 12:53:35 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on June 22, 2014, 12:22:49 AM
I don't remember the QTEs being hard at all.

They aren't hard. Just stupid. Missing one button input causes you to suffer instant death. It's really annoying in a hack n' slash game when you are doing good with the actual combat, but then have your score deducted because of a botched QTE sequence.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 22, 2014, 12:58:01 AM
You mean the platforming ones? I heard that if you do the transforms/summons/whatever-the-hell-they-are-called wrong, the monster eats you but I've never gotten any of those wrong. I just died from doing a QTE jump or two wrong a few times.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 22, 2014, 01:04:00 AM
Quote from: Rynnec on June 22, 2014, 12:13:50 AMThe difficulty is still bullshit too. I honestly don't see why everyone is saying RE "fixed" NG3, it's still the same terrible game, just ever so slightly more playable.

It didn't fix anything. It just took mechanics straight from the first 2 games and thoughtlessly spliced them into this game. Casual NG fans think that makes it a good NG game. Hardcore fans will tell you that it's just a mess, and that Ultimate Ninja is a test of endurance and luck more than skill.

Hayashi seems to think that people liked NG being more difficult just for the sake of difficulty. In reality, people liked how they felt when they overcame difficult situations by learning how to effectively use the game's mechanics against balanced enemies. This game's difficulty flat-out relies on cheap bull-shit enemies and projectile spam. Hayashi has no idea how to properly balance a game. I know that NG2 was rushed and had balance issues of its own, but Itagaki still showed more than competent design by giving you lots of moves with extended I-frames and very short recovery animations. He also ensured that the controls were insanely responsive. Somehow, Hayashi saw fit to undo all of that. He REALLY shouldn't be allowed to direct this series, anymore, if his track record with it is anything to go by.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 22, 2014, 01:08:07 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on June 22, 2014, 12:58:01 AM
You mean the platforming ones? I heard that if you do the transforms/summons/whatever-the-hell-they-are-called wrong, the monster eats you but I've never gotten any of those wrong. I just died from doing a QTE jump or two wrong a few times.

I'm talking about the jumps. If you just miss a single button-prompt, you die and have to redo the whole sequence. That's something I could get over, but there are several cases where I did a fight without taking any damage (a requirement for a Pure Platinum medal), and then I died on a QTE sequence, essentially destroying both my score and the money bonus that I would've gotten from it, which is kind of a big deal since shit is expensive in this game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 23, 2014, 06:50:51 PM
My god....that dinosaur boss fight in Ninja Gaiden 3....worst....boss fight....ever....

This just proved to me that Hayashi doesn't understand a single goddamn thing about how to balance a game. Before the game felt less responsive than previous games to me, but I couldn't tell how much of the damage I took was my own fault and how much of it could be blamed on the game just having shitty response to my inputs. Well, this boss fight just confirmed how royally Team Ninja fucked up without Itagaki around. First off, there are several times where I clearly put a direct input for a slide and the game just didn't pick up on it, and I got hit for no good reason at all. Then there were the numerous times where I had to wait a whole second after a combo to be able to do an evade (in Ninja Gaiden, a single second of time is like an eternity in the heat of battle). This ensured that I could only use short combos and only manage mere chip damage to the boss each time I got to attack. That in an of itself was bad enough, but this also had to be one of THOSE boss fights like Sanctus from DMC4 (and if you don't know what I mean, look up a video of the final boss fight on DMD mode). Basically, during the second half of the fight, the dinosaur turns all of its body except for its head into metal, basically making only its head vulnerable to attacks, meaning that you can only hit it whenever it decides to stumble and stay on the fucking ground long enough for you to hit it. Mind you, it's not like you can control when it falls, or if it even stays down when it does. No, that would be actual good design for a game. Instead you have to just wait it out, and it can take forever before you get an opportunity to hit it, and even if you do, you'll easily botch it if you aren't standing in exactly the right spot to capitalize on it. And, even in those cases you can end up literally missing strikes because of horrid hit detections. So, basically, this boss fight is only difficult because of terrible design, not because it's a legitimate challenge.

Fuck this game and fuck Hayashi. I need to play some more Bayonetta to wash the taste of bad hack n' slash gameplay down.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 24, 2014, 08:48:01 PM
For as much as I love about Bayonetta, I fucking hate the Alfheims. They are gimmicky and completely unfun. I'm probably going to just skip them for the rest of the game. The rewards you get for completing them really aren't worth the aggravation.

As far as optional challenges in action games go, I still say that NGB's fiend challenges are much better than the Alfheim's in Bayonetta or the Secret Missions in DMC games. At least their are no gimmicks with those. It's just straight up combat challenges, doing what the game does best, which is the way that it should be.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 26, 2014, 12:02:01 PM
Playing Shovel Knight.

If you have a gaming PC, 3DS, or Wii U, you really need to get this. It's excellent.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 26, 2014, 04:31:24 PM
I saw Screw Attack play it live. It looked like Duck Tales meets Megaman. Of course that means you want to marry the game. :>
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 26, 2014, 05:09:44 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on June 26, 2014, 04:31:24 PM
I saw Screw Attack play it live. It looked like Duck Tales meets Megaman. Of course that means you want to marry the game. :>
The pogoing is similar, but it's more like Mega Man meets Castlevania. Only with a lot of secrets and a lot to do, if you're a platformer fan, there's no way you won't think it's awesome.

And yes, it's the best indie game I've ever played.  8-)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 26, 2014, 05:45:59 PM
That's high praise!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 26, 2014, 06:20:01 PM
It's made by Ex-WayForward staff, including staff from Contra 4, A Boy & His Blob, and Double Dragon Neon, so quality was always expected from me. But, yeah, it's pretty great. I don't have any complaints.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 26, 2014, 07:49:19 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on June 26, 2014, 12:02:01 PM
Playing Shovel Knight.

If you have a gaming PC, 3DS, or Wii U, you really need to get this. It's excellent.
It does look pretty great! I'll be sure to pick it up soon.

Right now I'm playing Wolfenstein: The New Order, and it's excellent. It has detailed level design (with multiple paths and secrets!), awesome guns, fun stealth, cool music, and smart storytelling. I'd definitely recommend it to fans of the previous games or Half-Life!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 26, 2014, 08:31:09 PM
I'll pick it up when it comes down in price.

Meanwhile I'm almost done with my first proper playthrough of Bayonetta. I just decided to stop torturing myself by skipping all of the remaining Alfheims. The game is much more fun without that frustration.

I also love how this game does the boss fight chapters, since the bosses have plenty of different phases and are actually fun to fight. Certain other games could learn a thing or two from this (I'm looking at you, DMC4 Mission 18).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 27, 2014, 09:43:46 PM
I think that the second fight with Jeanne is my favorite boss fight in Bayonetta. Don't get me wrong, the third fight is cool, but there's something about having the boss fight interrupted after every life-bar just for the sake of cool action sequences and cut-scenes that doesn't sit well with me. As awesome as it looks, I'm still not the one controlling the action in those instances, and I can't help but just want to get back to the fight right away. I feel that the second fight is good about going light on the cinematic stuff and is a straightforward, no bullshit affair.

The rest of the boss fights in Bayonetta are fun enough, though they do tend to rely on repetitive and predictable patterns (at least on Normal difficulty), so I'm not as wowed by them. That said, I should point out that NGB and DMC1 are perhaps the only hack n' slash games where I really like most of the boss fights. Every other action game ranges from being mixed to crap, in that regard.

Putting that aside, the rest of the game is great. Aside from a few enemy types that I don't care for, this is probably the most polished hack n' slash game that I've played. Aside from the QTE segments, there isn't a single part of this game that I hate. Even NGB (which I admittedly still like more than this game on the whole) has some sections that I just flat-out don't like or find frustrating, as does every DMC game, but Bayonetta so far is the only game of this sort that is generally free of the bullshit that your almost guaranteed to find in fast-paced action games.

I believe that the only thing that holds it back from being my absolute favorite in the genre is that, while excellently done, I don't really find the enemies of this game quite as interesting as the AI and mechanical design of the enemies from NGB or the DMC games (particularly the first one, which was ironically also done by Kamiya, so clearly he knows how to do interesting enemy and boss design).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 03, 2014, 10:59:18 AM
So, I have some money to spend and I was looking at Amazon to see the prices of some PS2 games that I wanted to try. Most of them are available for pretty cheap, as expected, but why the hell is Yakuza 2 so expensive? I understand that it's long out of print, but so is every other PS2 game, including the first game, so it kind of baffles me.

Anyways, I'm thinking of hitting up God Hand (which is also kind of expensive), and some R&C games, which are actually pretty cheap.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 03, 2014, 11:31:51 AM
Yakuza 2 and God Hand had very small print runs in the US (especially Yakuza 2), so they're pretty expensive now. God Hand was only like $20 for a new copy just a few years ago, though.

While I do recommend you play Yakuza 1 as the story and music are excellent, the English dub can be extremely cheesy and the gameplay hasn't aged that well (also, load times, load times everywhere). Try to pick up a copy of Y2 whenever you can - that's when the series really takes off.

I think they were still printing copies of the original R&C games for PS2 even after the PS3 launched, so it makes sense that new copies are still cheap. Like with Yakuza 1, I wholeheartedly recommend you play the first game, but keep in mind that its shooting controls can be really clunky compared to the sequels due to the lack of strafing. Since you enjoy older 3D platformers like Sonic Adventure and Mario 64, I personally think you'll still love it, however. Just keep in mind that some series fans (such as Spark) don't really care for the original R&C.

While the PS2 has what is by far my favorite video game library ever, sadly many of the best titles for it are long out of print and/or hard to find outside of the internet. :(
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 03, 2014, 11:47:47 AM
Yeah, I was planning to start with the first game in each series, anyway. I can't wait to get back to R&C: Up Your Arsenal. I played that so much with my friend, back in the day, and it was insanely fun. Sadly, I'll never have an opportunity to play the multiplayer in that game with anyone again. It was so goddamn addicting, I tell you. When my friend bought over his PS2 whenever he came over (or when I came over to his house), that alone comprised roughly 70% or what we spent our time playing.

I also might hit up both God of War games for the PS2 of I can find them for $5 or less, just because even as biased as I am with that series, they are still the only major hack n' slash titles that I've never fully played. So, if they are cheap, I don't see why not just going through them (they certainly can't be worse than any incarnation of NG3, and I managed to cave in for that piece of shit, so these will probably seem like gold in comparison).

I'm also thinking about Resident Evil but I've decided to hold off on that until I get a Wii and play REmake first. I might hit up Fatal Frame 2, though, as far as horror games go. But I'm assuming it'll be another expensive one, so that might not be for a while. Right now I have $50 to spend on a cluster of relatively cheap games, or just a single expensive one, so naturally I want more bag for my buck.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 03, 2014, 12:27:53 PM
Knowing your taste, and going by Amazon used prices, I'd say that for $50 you should get:

Ratchet & Clank 1-3
Shinobi (maybe swap with The Red Star if you already have this or don't feel like playing it again)
God of War 2 (personally, I think this one is the best in the series)
Jak & Daxter (I love Jak 2 and parts of 3, myself, but the first one is the only one I can really recommend)
Viewtiful Joe
Onimusha 3: Demon Siege

Also, while Fatal Frame 2 is the best one, I think 1 and 3 are almost as good (especially 3) and usually a lot cheaper. And I only recommend picking up Yakuza if you can get the second one as well.

Hope that helps! :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 03, 2014, 12:56:54 PM
Thanks for the recommendations. Is Onimusha 3 the one where they got rid of the tank controls? I have fond memories of the first 2 games, but I'm scared to go back to them and find that they haven't aged well, because tank controls should never be mixed with hack n' slash style gameplay.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 03, 2014, 05:29:55 PM
I'd also suggest Contra: Shattered Soldier, Klonoa 2, Ratchet Deadlocked (I like it more than 1), Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, Sly Cooper & The Thievius Raccoonus, and Neo Contra if you're feeling feisty.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 03, 2014, 06:09:41 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 03, 2014, 12:56:54 PM
Thanks for the recommendations. Is Onimusha 3 the one where they got rid of the tank controls? I have fond memories of the first 2 games, but I'm scared to go back to them and find that they haven't aged well, because tank controls should never be mixed with hack n' slash style gameplay.
It's been a long time since I've played it, myself (still need to pick up my own copy), but if I remember correctly, it plays just like the original Devil May Cry. Maybe consider grabbing one of Spark's suggestions instead, if you're unsure.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 06, 2014, 10:57:40 PM
Having a blast with Kirby Triple Deluxe. The equivalent to Whispy Woods in this game actually subverted my expectations by being more challenging than I'd expect the first boss of a Kirby game to be. After I do this one, I think I'm going to give Return To Dream Land another shot. I only made it to world 3 in that one before I got bored.

But yeah, Triple Deluxe? You should play it. It's super fun, and the level design can be really clever with background/foreground stuff.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 07, 2014, 12:30:54 AM
I remember Onimusha 3 not having a jump button.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 10, 2014, 04:20:17 PM
I'm up to Day 8 of NG3: RE. My god I hate the boss fights in this game. I mean I fucking despise them. These are Arkham levels of shit, each and every single one of them. I seriously had the urge to seek out and strangle Hayashi himself for putting this filth into a Ninja Gaiden game. Any semblance of challenge comes from straight up cheap bull-shit, due to unresponsive controls and horrendous design. And unlike in previous games, you are forced into these fights with without a health refill of any kind, and of course since this game lacks an inventory of any kind, you can't carry healing items to help you through the bulk-whit, so you are flat-out relying on luck to win the day each time.

At any rate, I re-visited the NG community which helped me get through NG2 on Master Ninja mode. They gave me some useful tips to deal with the regular enemies, so those are mostly a cake-walk at this point. After I clear this game, I may try some of the Ninja Trials, but overall I never plan to touch the story mode again. It's fucking abysmal, and Yosuke Hayashi should be ashamed of himself and quit game design as a career. He clearly doesn't understand a thing about what made Ninja Gaiden a great series in the first place.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 11, 2014, 12:07:55 AM
World 5 of Kirby Triple Deluxe. The volcano-themed world. Now the difficulty is starting to go up (for a Kirby game). I'm actually starting to have trouble collecting the star gem thingies in one sweep of a level.

And while Kirby games on the GBA and DS had levels with floating water (the space levels, methinks), because this one is in 3D, these block-of-water-in-midair sections are reminding me more of Super Mario Galaxy 2.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 14, 2014, 02:23:03 PM
Anyone know a good site for downloading video game videos on your phone.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 17, 2014, 08:23:25 PM
So, the only somewhat slightly redeeming thing about NG3 is the Ninja Trials mode. These contain waves of enemies and get rid of all of the gimmicky bull-shit from the story mode. Some of the more challenging ones that I haven't gotten too yet seem to have boss fights, but the reassuring thing is that they are recycled bosses from NG2 and NGB, along with the one kind of decent boss from this game being featured in them, and as far as I can tell, none of the other horrid ones from this game are included (or at least I hope so). I'll be dabbling in this mode from time to time to get my money's worth out of the game.

It's funny because, in theory this game has a ton of replay value and is crammed with content that puts most other hack n' slash games to shame. The problem so that the base gameplay is so flawed at worst, and mediocre at best, that it's all for naught in the end.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on July 17, 2014, 09:32:58 PM
Are any of the other Ayane levels any good? The one I played was the only time I remember having anything approaching fun in Razor's Edge.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 17, 2014, 09:53:08 PM
All the female characters are more fun to play as than Ryu because they actually have responsive controls. For some reason that's the one thing Hayashi absolutely had to fix that he flat out ignored. I can't tell you how many times I had to take unfair hits because Ryu wouldn't fucking evade when I made the input telling him to after I finished a combo.

The problem with Ayane and Kasumi, though, is that while being faster than Ryu, their attacks are also weaker, so you're better off using SOB maneuvers when enemies start giving you too hard of a time, which have been turned from a random mechanic to a grab counter in this game (which to this game's credit is actually a pretty cool mechanic once you get the hang of using it).

The story mode in this game is horse-shit, though, so it's only real value comes from this mode which was specifically meant to make up for an already beyond saving campaign. It doesn't compare to NGB or NG2, but it's entertaining enough so far to hold my interest, for the time being.

Still, you'd be better off just getting NGS2, which has far tighter controls and has 2 of the 3 playable female characters from this game (and they can be used in mission mode in that game as well). It may have taken out some of the coolest things from NG2, but it's still a far above average hack n' slash game by normal standards (and to be fair, NG2 could be more aggravating for new players at first). It also cuts out the projectile spam from NG2, which is among the few changes that most fans (including myself), actually approve of. It was really cheap and a big issue on the harder difficulties of NG2, though this game's MN mode replaces it with OHK grabs, which are equally as bad.

Oh, and NG2 still has my favorite combat in the series, and NGS2 is actually easier to free-form on, so I think you'd still enjoy it a lot. I just hear that Warrior mode is incredibly easy, so you might not encounter any challenge until Mentor difficulty.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 17, 2014, 09:57:18 PM
Oh, and it's also worth mentioning that you can use Ayane and the other female characters on any chapter of the game using Chapter Challenge mode once you complete the game (but only on the difficulty that you complete it on). That's the only circumstance in which I may return to the story mode, as one of the other playable characters.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on July 19, 2014, 12:21:52 PM
What do you guys think of the Twisted Metal franchise?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 19, 2014, 12:34:07 PM
I want to get into the series. I was a Vigilante 8 fanboy back in the day and just played 4 and a bit of one or two of the previous Twisted Metals. I wish vehicular arena combat would make a comeback. I've been thinking that since last gen.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on July 19, 2014, 01:08:16 PM
Also, just to be clear, I'm talking about the main games, not counting Twisted Metal 3 and 4 which are just bad.

The original Twisted Metal was pretty good, at least for its time. But the thing is that 2 really improved on it so vastly, basically making every single element much better to the point where there is almost no point in playing the original nowadays. 2 essentially rendered it obsolete.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 19, 2014, 01:46:36 PM
I haven't played a TM game since the PS1 days, so I really don't have much of an opinion on it. I remember enjoying it, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on July 19, 2014, 01:56:04 PM
It has a biker Grim Reaper, so that makes it awesome by default.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on July 19, 2014, 08:20:23 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 19, 2014, 01:46:36 PM
I haven't played a TM game since the PS1 days, so I really don't have much of an opinion on it. I remember enjoying it, though.

"PS1 days" covers most of them. :D

Quote from: Rynnec on July 19, 2014, 01:56:04 PM
It has a biker Grim Reaper, so that makes it awesome by default.

Mr. Grimm and Darkside were my favorites. Removing Darkside was certainly one of the few things I liked less about 2. His special was bad, but he more than made up for that by being so big and so able to take damage. As far as I was concerned, his true special was simply ramming into enemies at full speed to send them flying.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 21, 2014, 04:13:37 PM
Twisted Metal 2's soundtrack is one of my favorites (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLFok2t605k) on the PS1. I wouldn't mind most rock soundtracks if they were as well done as that one.

It's one of Sony's best series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on July 21, 2014, 10:35:07 PM
One of my favorite improvements in 2 was the levels. From what I remember, literally every level was very well designed and unique. A lot of the levels in the first Twisted Metal were smaller and kind of blended together.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: LumRanmaYasha on July 24, 2014, 11:45:05 PM
So, me and Vlord have been playing JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle recently, and while it's pretty fun one thing keeps bothering me...why the fuck is Shigekiyo in this game, over, say, Trish, Abbacchio, Foo Fighters, Weather Report, Diego Brando, etc.? I mean, I don't dislike the character or anything (though he's pretty terrible to play as), but he only appears in about two volumes in Part 4, and there are just SO many characters, way more important characters from other parts of the series, that deserve to be in this game more than him. Parts 7 and 8 in particular should have gotten another rep rather than including him, even if he is a DLC character.

I guess he must still be one of Araki's favorites or something.  :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 27, 2014, 04:44:10 PM
I just beat Halo Anniversary on Legendary difficulty. It's amazing how easy it was for me to get back into the game on the hardest difficulty after a 2 year hiatus. If this were a game like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry, I'd get my ass kicked if I was that out of practice. Anyways, the last 2 levels were significantly easier than Two Betrayals thanks to there being no Rocket Launcher Flood to deal with. In addition to getting the Living Legend Achievement, I also got the This Side Up achievement for making it through the entire driving segment of the end of the game without flipping over my Warthog once, which surprised me because I hadn't even realized how perfect my run went, and I almost always flip the damn thing over thanks to this game's horrid vehicle physics. It would have been a cool segment if the damn thing wasn't as easy to turn over as a pancake, but instead it's one of the most frustrating segments of the game, especially on Legendary where you only have 5 minutes instead of 6 to get to the end (on my actual successful attempt, I reached the end with 27 seconds to spare).

I've also played a bit more of NG3RE. Admittedly, Ninja Trials and the playable female characters are this game's only saving grace. I'd still prefer Ryu to any of them, but only if it were the NG2 or NGB/S versions of Ryu. In this game he feels so much less responsive to play with, which really infuriates me on the boss fights. At any rate, Ninja Trials is just waves of enemies without any of the gimmicky bull-shit from the story mode (including the annoying boss fights, which in this mode are mostly from previous games). Kasumi and Ayane in particular are more fun to play with since they are both much faster than Ryu, and while their attacks are weak, they have a higher dismemberment rate which means that you can get the enemies into OT status quicker and finish them off fast if you know what moves to use. Don't mistake I for me liking this game, but I'm just saying that this mode is the only better than mediocre thing about this game, though I'll no doubt grow tired of this as well, eventually.

As for Bayonetta, I really want to go back to it and beat the final 2 chapters on Hard mode.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 27, 2014, 10:24:06 PM
I just beat Bayonetta on Hard mode. I'll be tackling NSIC mode next, though I'm also going to increase my studying time each day until I take my board exams, so I probably won't be playing the game that often.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 28, 2014, 09:19:22 PM
I'm up to Chapter 3 of Bayonetta on NSIC mode. It's basically just Hard mode without Witch Time, and to be honest I'm not a fan of that being the game's hardest difficulty. I just don't agree with ever taking a mechanic away from the player, especially one as useful and as fun as Witch Time. It's actually not really that much harder, anyways; or at least not so far. There is an accessory you can equip called The Evil Harvest Rosary which disables Witch Time and instead replaces it with a devastating attack whenever you execute a successful last-second dodge. It's incredibly powerful and will hit multiple enemies and even blow them back or stagger them, making it particularly useful in the middle of a crowd. Since Witch Time is automatically disabled on this mode, anyways, there's really nothing to lose from equipping it, and it really makes the difficulty of this mode far more manageable (and it's not that hard to begin with if you get halfway decent with using the dodge offset technique). If you have that and the Moon of Mahaa-Kalaa equipped, which itself can block or even counter enemy attacks (if timed correctly), you are pretty much set. Of course, I'm sure that there will be some tough spots where the lack of Witch Time will be really detrimental to making it through the fight, but for the most part it just seems that the main difficulty is just in trying to score well on this mode (if you're into that sort of thing, which I'm not, as the numerous Stone Awards that I have are a testament to). Of course, I have gotten some Pure Platinum medals on the fights that I'm good at, and even just got one on the Chapter 2 boss fight with that annoying QTE sequence, which made me feel awesome.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 01, 2014, 04:53:36 PM
I'm up to Chapter 11 of Bayonetta on NSIC mode. While it still may be premature of me to say, I do honestly think that this is the easiest of the hardest difficulty modes that I've played in any hack n' slash game yet. This isn't a bad thing by any means, so don't mistake me, but I feel that if you can beat the game on Hard, you can do it on this mode as well without much more effort. While I still prefer the former difficulty because WT is a fun mechanic, it's also not an essential one, so outside of a few fights where it's particularly beneficial for powerful combos, most of the game is still very manageable as long as you are decent at dodging and parrying.

And for the record, even though NG and DMC have harder modes, I'm not a fan of those modes at all. In NG2, Master Ninja is ridiculous in how tedious it feels, and that's the portion where I feel that the unbalanced and cheap elements of this game come into play, whereas on any other difficulty I feel that the difficulty is mostly based on skill rather than luck. I much prefer that game's Mentor mode (which is also harder than Bayonetta, but Bayonetta is a better game, overall). That said I think NGB's Master Ninja mode is very fair and challenging, but I just slightly prefer Very Hard mode because it has my favorite enemy set-up. With DMC3, I feel that DMD mode is also ridiculously tedious because of how much health the enemies and bosses have. Even if you know what you are doing, and have a full life-bar, you can unleash dozens of hits on an enemy or boss and still have them standing, whereas you yourself can easily go down in just 4 or 5 strikes (unless you are using items, which is definitely had to do on this difficulty). Compared to that, Bayonetta at least still feels fun.

Overall, though, I think that Revengeance is the best of the hardest difficulty settings that I've ever played. It has it's own share of BS and unbalanced moments, but it's still mostly skill, and the fact that perfect parrying is a guaranteed one-hit-kill on most normal enemies (whereas it's not worth much on any other difficulty), and can take out more than half of a boss's health with just one stroke, makes it really rewarding to get decent at using that mechanic.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 04, 2014, 08:44:26 PM
I'm up to chapter 15 of Bayonetta on NSIC mode. Chapter 14 was the only really hard chapter for me on that mode, and only because of that stupid rocket shooter segment. I don't anticipate having too much trouble from the rest of the game, but it don't want to be too presumptuous. Still, the only part that might give me some trouble from the lack of WT is the final boss. Other than that, I think that the rest of the game will be a breeze, for the most part. I'm not sure if I'm going to replay the game that much after I complete this difficulty, but if I do then Hard mode is definitely going to be my go-to difficulty setting on this game, since I just prefer the game with WT.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 04, 2014, 09:40:24 PM
i beat battleblock theater yesterday and hitman absolution a few days ago. now i am giving beyond good & evil more time. earlier i got past a pretty sad part in the game. i also tried to beat metal slug 3 and started another ultra-violence doom 2 file yesterday.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 06, 2014, 04:57:35 PM
i beat beyond good & evil about an hour. the last boss had an annoying pattern gimmick. i got to him last night/early this morning but gave up. overall, this game was decent but i wouldnt call it one of the greatest underrated 3d games, especially after all those terrible stealth sequences.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on August 07, 2014, 03:02:23 AM
So...........I finally bought Yoshi's New Island, since none of y'all had the guts to do it yourselves. To be honest though, I only did it because this was pretty much one of the few 3DS games featured in Best Buy's "buy one get one free" deal from last month that I didn't already own. I ended up getting Mario Golf for free as part of the deal, but that's beside the point.

Anyway...........yeah, it's dull. I mean seriously, this game is fucking dull, probably even moreso than I was initially expecting. I can appreciate all the retro callbacks to the original, and the art-style is cute and really quite charming, but the levels thus far (I'm only up to World 2, I'm finding it very hard to get into) are incredibly uninspired. The transformations are underwhelming, and while I know Mario games are not much on story anyway, the plotline here is particularly ridiculous (and not at all canon to how the original Yoshi's Island ended, but I mean that's a minor nitpick at best). The biggest offense though, and lest I not forget; the music is absolute garbage. That I think is probably the biggest killer for me, and why I'm finding it so hard to play for more than 10 given minutes at a time; every song is just an assault on the ears. I could probably live with the unspectacular gameplay if the music was catchy, or at least mildly pleasant, but instead it's just atrociously bad.

All in all this is actually a step down from DS, and that really speaks volumes to how disappointing it is. So much wasted potential here, because it could've been great; the blueprint is there, and like I said, I do like the art-style a lot. Man, I just really REALLY hope they get Yarn Yoshi right; it's hard to believe the original is STILL the only game in the series worth owning.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 07, 2014, 01:06:32 PM
I can't believe Nintendo keeps handing this series to this team. They cannot make a game as good as the original Yoshi's Island, we know this. Stop giving them the series!

Here's hoping Wooly World is the Yoshi game we've been waiting for. Not being made by Artoon/Azerest and their tone-deaf composer should be a step up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on August 07, 2014, 04:53:43 PM
Yoshi used to have the best music in the entire franchise. How'd we from this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-jva3PUKZw) to this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txnnGJSmDq8)?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 07, 2014, 05:07:00 PM
Quote from: Rynnec on August 07, 2014, 04:53:43 PM
Yoshi used to have the best music in the entire franchise. How'd we from this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-jva3PUKZw) to this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txnnGJSmDq8)?

Probably because Miayamoto, along with Nintendo's best development teams, stopped giving a shit about anyone not named Mario or Link.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 07, 2014, 05:27:48 PM
Quote from: Rynnec on August 07, 2014, 04:53:43 PM
Yoshi used to have the best music in the entire franchise. How'd we from this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-jva3PUKZw) to this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txnnGJSmDq8)?
Hopefully since Good Feel is doing it we'll get music at least on par with this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3_5JN1Gfg4) and this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BAQ_6cuPP0). Composers with variety.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 07, 2014, 05:33:32 PM
but nintendo cares about all of their properties!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 07, 2014, 05:39:05 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on August 07, 2014, 05:33:32 PM
but nintendo cares about all of their properties!
How's the new Jet Moto?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 07, 2014, 06:06:47 PM
it's right next to my copy of the new advance wars.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 07, 2014, 07:17:34 PM
On that shelf with the new Colony Wars, Motor Toon Grand Prix, Lemmings, Arc The Lad, Jumping Flash, Wipeout, PaRappa the Rapper, Tomba, Wild Arms, Alundra, Cool Boarders, Legend of Legaia, MediEvil, Ape Escape, Omega Boost, Syphon Filter, Vib Ribbon, Jak & Daxter, and Dark Cloud games, I'm sure.

Nintendo just can't compete with their lack of F-Zero and StarTropics games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 07, 2014, 08:46:31 PM
I'm up to the Epilogue chapter of Bayonetta on NSIC mode. I can see Jubileus being a bitch on this difficulty, but I'm still sure that I can handle her without too much trouble. The Lumen Sage was a pushover, even on this mode, and is only died to him once just because I failed a stupid QTE sequence. Overall I can conclude that this is probably the easiest "hardest" difficulty mode that I've played in a hack n' slash game, and like others it's not my preferred mode to play on, but it was still a pretty fun time.

It's a shame that I won't get to play Bayonetta 2 for quite a long time, but I'm certainly not going to whine about it being a Wii-U exclusive like some people are. It's good on Nintendo for securing exclusivity to what will easily be one of the best game of the year (certainly the best action game of the entire year).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 07, 2014, 09:11:34 PM
their lack of f-zero is fine since miyamoto doesn't like the series and it is not similar to other nintendo games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on August 07, 2014, 11:54:16 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on August 07, 2014, 01:06:32 PM
I can't believe Nintendo keeps handing this series to this team. They cannot make a game as good as the original Yoshi's Island, we know this. Stop giving them the series!

Here's hoping Wooly World is the Yoshi game we've been waiting for. Not being made by Artoon/Azerest and their tone-deaf composer should be a step up.

I'm not even expecting anything remotely close to the quality of the original Yoshi's Island. That's pretty hard to duplicate.

I simply want a nice platformer that's fun to just sit down and play. This...........this is not fun. Like I dunno, the gameplay, while admittedly being a bit on the clunky side, is certainly still manageable and not all that bad, but the music is just so fucking awful I can't do it. Like I tried playing it again today, the music really is that bad. I may not ever finish it for that reason alone.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 08, 2014, 12:48:20 AM
The dilemma with the Yoshi games really reminds me of what's so wrong with the Ninja Gaiden series right now. These developers have a single masterpiece of a game to take inspiration from. It's the perfect template to work off of, and it's what fans want more of, even if it's not necessarily the most original sequel. Instead they do a bunch of things with each new game that are either good on paper but executed poorly, or more often than not aren't good ideas to begin with, and stuff that nobody asked for or wanted. The level design and music in both series also get progressively more lazy, and the games begin to feel more and more distant than what made the originals so great (or in the case of The 3D NG games, NGB being the one that's the perfect template).

Both of these series really need an adrenaline shot or something to get the momentum going in the right direction. I'm tired of seeing series with so much potential being dragged through the mud.

On another note, I finally finished Bayonetta on NSIC mode. I actually beat the boss without dying, but then I failed 5 times on that fucking stupid ass section where you have to dodge the planets and still got a stone award. Fuck you and your need to add in completely pointless sections that don't have anything to do with the main gameplay style, Kamiya.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: RacattackForce on August 08, 2014, 09:45:55 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 08, 2014, 12:48:20 AM
Both of these series really need an adrenaline shot or something to get the momentum going in the right direction. I'm tired of seeing series with so much potential being dragged through the mud.
That's why I'm kinda hyped for Yoshi's Wolly World, as the gameplay there seems to be an actual advancement on the gameplay ideas of Yoshi's Island and, to an extent, Yoshi's Story.

As for what I'm currently playing? Jumping between Metroid Prime Trilogy, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, and 3D Classics: Kid Icarus.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 12, 2014, 11:17:13 PM
today i beat meikyu at 4:44 p.m.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on August 14, 2014, 11:17:55 AM
Just turned on Pokemon X for the first time in months, and the first Pokemon I encounter in the wild? A shiny Foongus. Repeat Ball'd that sucker.  :huh:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 14, 2014, 11:59:44 AM
that wording doe.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on August 14, 2014, 01:13:57 PM
MGS5 is coming to PC.

Looks like I might not need to get a PlayStation 4, after all.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 14, 2014, 04:25:36 PM
I'm still not seeing much reason outside of a handful of games to not go PC/Wii U. Whatever I'd miss is really peanuts compared to the money I'd save.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 15, 2014, 12:34:37 AM
I want a PS4 for Ratchet & Clank. That series will always be a system seller for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 15, 2014, 06:58:55 PM
good man.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 15, 2014, 08:00:40 PM
and ubusuna, the director of ikaruga, radiant silvergun and gradius v, is working on a ps4 only arcade shooter with m2, the studio behind gradius, contra and castlevania rebirth.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 17, 2014, 09:15:13 PM
5:01 p.m. today, i beat herocore. once i got past a certain boss, the last two bosses took only about two tries to beat. then i tried hero forever mode. this is probably my favorite black and white game since link's awakening. the bosses were great, like they said and so was the music.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 18, 2014, 08:10:52 PM
I just beat DMC3 on Heaven or Hell mode, which made me wonder just what the point of this mode was, anyways. I mean, it's an interesting concept with you all enemies as well as yourself being susceptible to death in just one hit, but they probably should have only applied that to melee attacks to at least provide some form of challenge. As it is, you can spam Ebony and Ivory throughout the entire game, and it basically becomes an utter joke. Still, it was an easy achievement to get and literally took under an hour to complete, so it certainly wasn't a waste of time. Now I only have 2 achievement left to get in this game. One is to complete Bloody Palace mode, and the other is to attain an S-Rank on all missions in the game (which can be done on any difficulty setting). I've cleared over half of BP mode before; and at that, I could've gotten higher than 5,700 floors, but chose to let myself die since my goal at that time was just getting a ton of red orbs to purchase a bunch of healing items for the Arkham and Vergil fights on DMD mode. Compared to that, the S-Rank run may be a bit tougher, but I may attempt it anyways.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 18, 2014, 08:22:13 PM
So, it basically became Contra?  ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 18, 2014, 08:35:35 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on August 18, 2014, 08:22:13 PMSo, it basically became Contra?  ;)

Well, in Contra you don't have an auto-aim function, so the game is actually challenging. This game has enemies that usually use melee attacks over ranged ones (with the exception being bosses, who have a good variety of both), and you automatically shoot the nearest enemy no matter what, so naturally it's much easier. Like I said, it's an interesting concept, just not executed well. It could have been more challenging if they threw in more enemies like The Fallen, which utterly suck on any other mode, but are kind of fun on this mode since you have to take out their shield before you can kill them, and then once you do they die in one hit like every other enemy.

The only times I died on this mode were with the obstacles in certain platforming sections, like the rotating blades and such.

Now, Hell and Hell mode, which was implemented first in DMC4, is a whole different story. It basically sets enemies and bosses to Son of Sparda difficulty with full health, whereas you still die in one hit. God bless the players who have managed to clear that mode.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on August 18, 2014, 10:37:04 PM
How did we ever play Pokemon games before the VS Seeker was a thing?

I'm playing Crystal right now (found my old copy and replaced the battery - looks like I've got 7 more years of saves!  :happytime:), and while basking in the nostalgia is fun, the level grinding in these older games is an insufferable, mind-numbing task if there ever was one. You can't get any EXP off of wild encounters (the best thing I can find early-game is Bellsprout, and they only give you like 60 or so a piece, whereas even the worst trainer battles are upwards of 200+ each), and it just feels like those said trainer battles are way too few and far between in this game. I dunno, I mean I like the old games in their own way, it's what I grew up with and all, but I've definitely gotten spoiled with the bells and whistles from the newer installments.

One other thing too; the lack of running shoes is killer. I don't have the bike yet, so moving around just feels painstakingly slow at this point.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 19, 2014, 08:58:47 PM
So, I decided to try DMC3 on Easy mode for S-ranks, and I managed to get an S for the first 3'missions on my first try for each, so I've decided that this run is pretty doable after all, just for the sake of the achievement. After that the only thing left will be BP mode, which should be a piece of cake if I use Super Dante to grind my way through it. After that I'll have every achievement for DMC3, and I'll probably just focus on my Vergil playthrough from there.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 19, 2014, 10:39:44 PM
I just got an SS-rank on Mission 4 and an S-rank on missions 5 and 6, with my first attempt on each, so yeah, this run is totally doable.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on August 19, 2014, 10:56:36 PM
Started the first Borderlands yesterday and I got the collector's edition of Tales Of Xillia 2 today. There was a bit of a problem with everyone's download codes for the alternate costumes not working earlier but now it's sorted out.

Even cooler is that when I entered the code, not only did the alternate costumes unlock in Xillia 2 but in the first game as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 19, 2014, 11:50:01 PM
started rondo of blood, got a 2nd character and to the 3rd level. this game is hard. not as hard as bloodlines. i started it again today and still could not get past stage 2.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on August 19, 2014, 11:57:33 PM
Probably my second favorite Castlevania, after SotN.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 20, 2014, 12:12:05 AM
how richter controls is kind of a pain though. i see what spark means when he said few castlevanias have good jumping.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 28, 2014, 03:24:00 PM
I can't download Azure Striker Gunvolt until tomorrow, but at least I have MMX3 to keep my company until then (same team and all) which leaves me without a doubt. Inti-Creates is one of the best action platformer devs out there. How they don't get more work is beyond me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 29, 2014, 09:38:02 PM
about a week or so ago, i started playing golden sun again after not touching the game for over 2 years. man, i forgot almost all the characters. lol i was on colosso and years ago, i gave the game a break because i couldn't beat the last guy and get all the items. i settled for getting most of them and won this time. today i got up to a certain 2 headed boss fight. the boss wasn't hard but took forever to kill. wish well and a handful of items was all i really needed to survive.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 29, 2014, 11:50:34 PM
Azure Striker Gunvolt is great.

Inti Creates is back! It's not Mega Man Zero, but something totally new and a fresh spin on the action platformer.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 30, 2014, 10:44:19 AM
on that note, i also recently restarted mega man zero
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 31, 2014, 07:56:09 PM
1:36 a.m., i beat golden sun. i should have known it would end there based off of what i heard. anyway, afterwards i got 22 wins in battle mode and then did what i always do after i beat an rpg - i looked up secrets. so i found out about crossbones island and i got there with an earlier file. after i get around to beating that part, i'll start 2.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 01, 2014, 09:06:06 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on August 30, 2014, 10:44:19 AM
on that note, i also recently restarted mega man zero
I think that might have been my most played Mega Man game after the original X came out. It was so fresh and new, and so good, that I just kept going back for more.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 01, 2014, 09:36:45 PM
it's still extremely hard to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on September 02, 2014, 12:20:11 PM
Man, I found a couple of older Nintendo Power magazines at a thrift store today, including their strategy guide for Ninja Gaiden II (! for Ek!).

They obviously knew what was up, since they were around $8-10 each, so I had to pass. Damn, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: RacattackForce on September 03, 2014, 10:35:06 PM
Downloaded Resident Evil: Revelations for 3DS the other day due to the Capcom sale, so having some fun with that. Close to 100% on Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, and I also have Bravely Default and Earthbound, both of which will probably become "weekend games" for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 04, 2014, 02:50:46 AM
Played and beat Metal Slug 3 tonight on Xbox Live. I think that's the first game that I played in its entirety online. On the desert stage, we went to a path a didn't even know about (with all the snails and bugs). And the last stage was as awesome as ever. Hopefully we can go through Metal Slug XX's Hard Mode tomorrow. I took too long and we were supposed to do it tonight.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on September 04, 2014, 03:14:50 AM
Beat Tales Of Xillia 2 tonight. I'd put it on the same level as the first game, but not for the same reason. While Xillia had its flaws, Xillia 2 does some things better, but has a whole new set of its own problems that holds it back a bit as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 04, 2014, 04:21:52 AM
And we just beat Metal Slug XX. That was pretty fun. The difference in color between XX and 3 is really apparent when you play them back to back. Also, someone can play as Leona even if you don't download her yourself? I was like "What the hell" when he picked her.

Anyway, Metal Slug XX is good, I just wish it had the earlier games' transformations and monsters.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 11, 2014, 03:41:39 PM
i just beat metal slug 1 for the first time in about 10 years. i see how far the series has come now. there were no transformations, monsters, extra metal slugs or paths that i am aware of. basically a kind of crazy military themed shoot em up with a few big, zany hi-tech machines. definitely still good though. also, now i can safely put xx ahead of it. i thought this would be the one with levels clearly better than some of 3's but apparently that's all in 2, which i'll be playing next and haven't beat since around the last time i beat 1 (thanks, good era of gametap!)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 11, 2014, 06:17:22 PM
i beat metal slug 2 about an hour ago. it was fun but it honestly made me appreciate xx and 3 more. my metal slug list:

4. metal slug
3. metal slug 2
2. metal slug xx
1. metal slug 3
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 16, 2014, 05:08:27 PM
While I was here at my cousin's house where my dad and older brother have been staying as hour house is being renovated, I have played most of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Gears of War: Judgement. With Black Ops, the restricted nature of the gameplay and constant cinematic scripting of events caused me to get bored of it, so I didn't end up playing the last 2 levels. With Gears of War: Judgement I had previously played pretty far into the game but then stopped when I loaned the game to my brother, which he still has so I decided to pop it into his XBOX360 and play the game from scratch on Hardcore difficulty. I caught up to where I was before and also played past that point. The game is pretty fun, as most Gears games are, though some of the difficulty can slo be BS just like in other Gears games. That said, this one is by far the easiest in the entire series. There were so many situations which I found myself stick in the middle of where I was sure that I'd be dead if it were the same situation in any other Gears game, but in this one I got out of a lot of situations like that without too much trouble. To be fair, some of that actually has to do with good design. Unlike Epic, PCF decided that it's a good idea to make AI of your companions a lot sharper and more useful, and the enemy AI doesn't just prioritize you, but also attacks your opponents as well. I'm grateful for this, personally, as despite making the game easier, it also makes it a lot more fun. Also, this really reminds me that I need to try. Bulletstorm, which was also made by PCF.

Anyways, the funny thing is that once again I am not going to be able to finish this game on this playthrough (or at least not anytime soon). I have to go back to my Aunt's house tonight, and while my brother does come to help her out with work every weekend, I still probably wouldn't go back to playing this game that much once I'm hack there since I have to prioritize studying with finding a job.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 16, 2014, 07:00:56 PM
Bulletstorm is good, but Painkiller is way better! The Xbox version should work on the 360 if you ever want to try it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 16, 2014, 08:08:05 PM
I'll check that out as well.

The funny thing about Judgement is that it's not nearly as cinematic as the other Gears games, but in that regard it's the one that's the most purely driven by gameplay, whereas they clearly didn't try to force a bloated and badly-written story down your throat like the other games made by Epic. Personally, I love that. It cuts out the bull-shit in favor of pure gameplay and replayability, and as I said, it's easier than other Gears games, but that largely has to do with good design choices that makes the difficulty feel a lot mor balanced (though still not perfect).

Surely enough, this was also the lowest scored game by critics, in that it still received positive reviews, but was not nearly as highly praised as the other games in the series. I even remember Adam Sessler saying that he was disappointed in the game because it was "clearly designed more with replay value in mind over the story and set-pieces" (loose quote, there). It's funny, because when I saw that review, my first thought was: How is that a bad thing? I guess it just goes to show where my interest lie compared to critics, and that I personally identify with PCF's game design philosophy more than Epic's. And that isn't to say that Epic is a bad developer, because they're not, and I still like the other Gears games (in fact I'd still probably rank 3 as my personal favorite, even though I don't love that game by any means), but if I were ever to play another Gears game, I would prefer it to be made by PCF.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 18, 2014, 09:32:26 PM
I replayed a bunch of NG2 after I finished doing some job searching today. The game is still a lot of fun. I just wish that Team Ninja could actually comprehend WHY people like myself liked it so much, and bring the series back to its roots, or at least incorporate the elements. Of this and the first game that worked best, while evolving the other elements of the series to make for something new and interesting.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 19, 2014, 08:12:22 PM
I've been playing through all the Ratchet & Clank games again (I pretty much have to do this every year, it's like an addiction), and I think I've finally realized why Tools of Destruction feels somewhat unsatisfying to me. It's not that the overall game is worse or less consistent than the others, it's just that all of the weakest levels are shoved in at the end rather than sprinkled throughout. Which isn't to say that any of the levels are actually *awful* - though I would argue that Fastoon 2 and the Tachyon boss fight are the closest any of the 8 main games ever come to being legitimately bad - it's just that the pacing suddenly gets thrown off near the end.

The problem is, ToD peaks at the beginning of its third act with Viceron and Jasindu, both of which are among the best stages in the entire series. Since everything up to that point is fairly consistent and about on the same level of general quality as the PS2 games, when the game stumbles near the end, it's really noticeable. Ublik Passage through the final battle just come across as boring in comparison to the fantastic boss fight with the Kerchu Guardian. Suddenly the platforming and puzzles are almost entirely stripped away and you're left with a competent TPS taking place in a couple of large battlefields and various corridors. It just doesn't feel like Ratchet & Clank anymore, especially when you return to Fastoon for the last level.

So basically, my opinion is that the majority of ToD is every bit as good as the other 7 games (though Deadlocked and Into The Nexus definitely have some similar low points, as well), it's just that it ends on a very bad note compared to what came before and after. This makes it feel less satisfying and kind of disappointing when contrasted with the rest of the series, despite the majority of the game being excellent.

Any thoughts on this, Spark?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 19, 2014, 08:39:59 PM
R&C....One day I will marathon this series, I just keep getting swamped with stresses to deal with to the point where I just stick with replaying games that's I already have rather than focusing on building up a PS2 library.

Speaking of replaying games, I decided to start replaying the Gears of War games on a whim. I've played each one at least twice (except for Judgement, which I still never even finished because I don't have it with me), but I haven't actually replayed any of them since the year that I originally played each one.

Playing Gears 1 is really jarring since, while the series never changed that much from entry to entry, I never noticed how much has cumulatively changed after 3 more games in the series. Going back to the first game feels so jarring in that regard, when there are a bunch of handy little touches that I can no longer rely on.

Also, despite being a huge influence on the modern TPS genre, I have to admit that one area where these games never really caved in on (except for Judgement), is with the difficulty. Playing the game on Hardcore (nevermind Insane) leads to a lot of deaths until you firmly grasp a good strategy for each situation. That said, I don't like how the enemy AI on this game is stupidly aggressive. If you don't take them out quick, they will try to rush you, and since they are more bullet-spongy on this game than in the later iterations, that strategy can actually work against you since they take more shots than you do to kill. It's difficult, but more in a frustrating way than a fun one, so I definitely find the sequels and prequel to mostly be improvements.

Also, while the graphics never drastically changed between games, I do have to admit his ugly the color-scheme, or lack thereof, looks in this game now that I'm used to 3 and Judgement which were much more colorful games. Overall, though, it's still a fun game, despite my complaints. However, while I used to love the first game, now that the whole "wow" factor of it is a thing of the past, I do have to say that its a solid TPS, but not a great one. It has aged well, but I wouldn't say that it holds up to the likes of the best games in the genre, like Max Payne, Alan Wake, Resident Evil 4, and Vanquish. That said, I still have a bunch of the game left to replay, but I've gone through Act I, which is enough to reassess the game with.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 19, 2014, 09:34:00 PM
Quote from: Foggle on September 19, 2014, 08:12:22 PMI've been playing through all the Ratchet & Clank games again (I pretty much have to do this every year, it's like an addiction), and I think I've finally realized why Tools of Destruction feels somewhat unsatisfying to me. It's not that the overall game is worse or less consistent than the others, it's just that all of the weakest levels are shoved in at the end rather than sprinkled throughout. Which isn't to say that any of the levels are actually *awful* - though I would argue that Fastoon 2 and the Tachyon boss fight are the closest any of the 8 main games ever come to being legitimately bad - it's just that the pacing suddenly gets thrown off near the end.
I don't even dislike ToD, but it definitely has the worst pacing of all the R&C games. Basically, you get into a groove at the beginning of the game, then the pace breaks off randomly after soaring through level after level when you crash land and have to find the parts. It happens every now and then in the game which never happens in any of the others. You get breathers, but they're never boring breathers. In ToD, I find myself getting bored quite a bit at points. Even the first game never really got boring despite my issues with some of it. Not to mention, the exploration in the game is barely there-- I actually think it might have as much exploration as Deadlocked.

Quote from: Foggle on September 19, 2014, 08:12:22 PMThe problem is, ToD peaks at the beginning of its third act with Viceron and Jasindu, both of which are among the best stages in the entire series. Since everything up to that point is fairly consistent and about on the same level of general quality as the PS2 games, when the game stumbles near the end, it's really noticeable. Ublik Passage through the final battle just come across as boring in comparison to the fantastic boss fight with the Kerchu Guardian. Suddenly the platforming and puzzles are almost entirely stripped away and you're left with a competent TPS taking place in a couple of large battlefields and various corridors. It just doesn't feel like Ratchet & Clank anymore, especially when you return to Fastoon for the last level.
The end game is easily the worst in the series. The tilt controls in the game are already forced and awful, but having to rely on them to do the most damage in the final boss is aggravating. I also have to admit, collecting the parts wasn't that great the first time I played it. Going back there a second time was certainly not welcome.

That said, the prison break is one of the series best levels.

Quote from: Foggle on September 19, 2014, 08:12:22 PMSo basically, my opinion is that the majority of ToD is every bit as good as the other 7 games (though Deadlocked and Into The Nexus definitely have some similar low points, as well), it's just that it ends on a very bad note compared to what came before and after. This makes it feel less satisfying and kind of disappointing when contrasted with the rest of the series, despite the majority of the game being excellent.
My issue with ToD is that it somehow doesn't feel very complete. The story's oddly detached manner sort of plays into it in how it basically functions for you to get to the end of a level, meet someone to tell you to go somewhere else, then you go there. As opposed to any of the other games where you have options right off the bat to go whatever way you want. Another issue is the Leviathan Souls is a concept that doesn't really matter. Finally, the game is much too easy even for a first run.

It's clear that Insomniac wasn't quite sure where to go with the series with this game, though they didn't drop the ball. The core gameplay (outside of the worst arenas and weapons in the series) is as fun as it ever was, and there are quite a few good levels. I would never recommend a fan skip the game, but I wouldn't tell them to play it first.

Again, not a bad game. But my clear least favorite.

Quote from: Foggle on September 19, 2014, 08:12:22 PMAny thoughts on this, Spark?
You reminded me that I have a copy of the last game still to go through. I think what I'm gonna do is go through it after replaying the other PS3 games. Since I've replayed the PS2 games a bunch of times, I think I'll give these ones another run before capping it off with the last one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 20, 2014, 01:36:26 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on September 19, 2014, 09:34:00 PM
I don't even dislike ToD, but it definitely has the worst pacing of all the R&C games. Basically, you get into a groove at the beginning of the game, then the pace breaks off randomly after soaring through level after level when you crash land and have to find the parts. It happens every now and then in the game which never happens in any of the others. You get breathers, but they're never boring breathers. In ToD, I find myself getting bored quite a bit at points. Even the first game never really got boring despite my issues with some of it. Not to mention, the exploration in the game is barely there-- I actually think it might have as much exploration as Deadlocked.
Yeah, the pacing is really wonky. At first TOD seems like it's going to be way more fast-paced than the PS2 games, then suddenly it grinds to a halt for a few levels before picking up again. It does this once per act, and the biggest sin in that regard is how the final levels are actually among the slowest in the entire game! Thankfully, they were able to keep up the momentum all throughout QFB and ACIT while also bringing back exploration in the latter.

The only levels with meaningful secondary paths like the PS2 games seem to be Mukow, Ardolis, and Jasindu... and I never even found that last one until my most recent playthrough. A couple of the other planets do have side routes as well, but they're very short and only get you gold bolts.

The first R&C is a much slower game overall, but it never gets boring because it's almost always focused on having long gauntlets of platforming and puzzles rather than shooty bits and mini-games. I think Insomniac was actually trying to go back to that style for certain levels during the Future trilogy, and I believe they greatly succeeded with it in QFB and ACIT.

QuoteThe end game is easily the worst in the series. The tilt controls in the game are already forced and awful, but having to rely on them to do the most damage in the final boss is aggravating. I also have to admit, collecting the parts wasn't that great the first time I played it. Going back there a second time was certainly not welcome.

That said, the prison break is one of the series best levels.
...I honestly didn't know the tilt controls did anything during the final boss. I turned them off immediately upon noticing they existed. That must be why he could soak up so many of my hits compared to the YouTube videos I watched. :whuh:

I actually like the first Fastoon bit, but it does feel too enclosed for an R&C level. That problem is especially hammered home during the return visit at the end of the game. The prison break is amazing, as is the planet right after that where you fight the boss upside down after riding the grind rail he's constantly destroying parts of. If only the final battle could have been that cool/fun...

QuoteMy issue with ToD is that it somehow doesn't feel very complete. The story's oddly detached manner sort of plays into it in how it basically functions for you to get to the end of a level, meet someone to tell you to go somewhere else, then you go there. As opposed to any of the other games where you have options right off the bat to go whatever way you want. Another issue is the Leviathan Souls is a concept that doesn't really matter. Finally, the game is much too easy even for a first run.

It's clear that Insomniac wasn't quite sure where to go with the series with this game, though they didn't drop the ball. The core gameplay (outside of the worst arenas and weapons in the series) is as fun as it ever was, and there are quite a few good levels. I would never recommend a fan skip the game, but I wouldn't tell them to play it first.

Again, not a bad game. But my clear least favorite.
The story's just weird. It's not as funny as the other games nor is it as interesting as ACIT. It also has quite a few plot holes. I loved Crack In Time's plot, but I would gladly trade that kind of storytelling for levels more like the ones in the original trilogy. I will say that I found hunting for Leviathan Souls on Sargasso to at least be more thrilling than the ice crystals in GC, the sewer crystals in UYA, and the gargathon horns in ITN. The former of those made me want to break my controller, while the latter two just ended up being boring after half an hour. (As a side note, that's my main issue with ITN: the only reason it even runs longer than QFB is because you spend an entire third of the game on Thram collecting those stupid horns.)

I agree that it feels like they didn't know what to do with the game. Sometimes it seems like they're just going for Up Your Arsenal in HD, sometimes it seems like they wanted a platformer that was faster paced and more cinematic, and other times it seems like they just dropped a bunch of enemies into a couple box rooms/corridors and called it a day. Then again, maybe it was just rushed. It has a lot more glitches than any other game in the series (HD ports notwithstanding) - there's that weird installation bug where on some PS3s it will only install if you install something else on the machine first (wtf), and it's the only game to have ever actually crashed my PS3. Which it's done twice. It also has the worst damage balancing in the whole series; you will almost always die in three hits no matter how much health/armor you have, and yet it still somehow manages to be easier than the other games. Except for the final boss, which just sucks.

I think TOD has some of the absolute best levels in the entire series, but it's also the least consistent overall installment, so it will always remain near the bottom of my list. Ironically, it feels more like a first attempt to me than the original Ratchet & Clank did. I know you aren't a big fan of that one, but I think R&C1 was probably the most polished and mechanically solid 3D platformer to date when it was released.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 22, 2014, 05:03:16 PM
I spent some time this weekend playing it (I never went through Challenge mode before) so I had a fresh experience. There are still a few issues with it.

Quote from: Foggle on September 20, 2014, 01:36:26 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on September 19, 2014, 09:34:00 PM
I don't even dislike ToD, but it definitely has the worst pacing of all the R&C games. Basically, you get into a groove at the beginning of the game, then the pace breaks off randomly after soaring through level after level when you crash land and have to find the parts. It happens every now and then in the game which never happens in any of the others. You get breathers, but they're never boring breathers. In ToD, I find myself getting bored quite a bit at points. Even the first game never really got boring despite my issues with some of it. Not to mention, the exploration in the game is barely there-- I actually think it might have as much exploration as Deadlocked.
Yeah, the pacing is really wonky. At first TOD seems like it's going to be way more fast-paced than the PS2 games, then suddenly it grinds to a halt for a few levels before picking up again. It does this once per act, and the biggest sin in that regard is how the final levels are actually among the slowest in the entire game! Thankfully, they were able to keep up the momentum all throughout QFB and ACIT while also bringing back exploration in the latter.

The only levels with meaningful secondary paths like the PS2 games seem to be Mukow, Ardolis, and Jasindu... and I never even found that last one until my most recent playthrough. A couple of the other planets do have side routes as well, but they're very short and only get you gold bolts.

The first R&C is a much slower game overall, but it never gets boring because it's almost always focused on having long gauntlets of platforming and puzzles rather than shooty bits and mini-games. I think Insomniac was actually trying to go back to that style for certain levels during the Future trilogy, and I believe they greatly succeeded with it in QFB and ACIT.
Replaying it, I have to say my biggest problems are that the bosses (in the arena, too) take so long to defeat unless you upgrade your weapons. And then they're done in seconds. It isn't balanced at all. The other is that the weapons are fairly weak, even fully upgraded. Other than the Judicator, which for some reason levels everything, and the flamethrower, which stun-locks some enemies. Even the Groovitron feels weak compared to ACiT. Mr. Zurkon isn't even worth using.

Also, I hate that tilting puzzle. Hate it. Such a waste of time and a way to cram in more tilting stuff.

Some of the side paths, what little there are, are fairly clever. It's just a shame they only appear to give you gold bolts. Gold bolts don't really do much in ToD.

Quote
QuoteThe end game is easily the worst in the series. The tilt controls in the game are already forced and awful, but having to rely on them to do the most damage in the final boss is aggravating. I also have to admit, collecting the parts wasn't that great the first time I played it. Going back there a second time was certainly not welcome.

That said, the prison break is one of the series best levels.
...I honestly didn't know the tilt controls did anything during the final boss. I turned them off immediately upon noticing they existed. That must be why he could soak up so many of my hits compared to the YouTube videos I watched. :whuh:

I actually like the first Fastoon bit, but it does feel too enclosed for an R&C level. That problem is especially hammered home during the return visit at the end of the game. The prison break is amazing, as is the planet right after that where you fight the boss upside down after riding the grind rail he's constantly destroying parts of. If only the final battle could have been that cool/fun...
Yeah, this is right where my file currently is. Maybe I'll finish it off this weekend and go straight into QFB, but I'm really not looking forward to finishing the last bit. Especially since in Challenge mode you take crazy damage even with the top armor, and your weapons are still really weak.

Quote
QuoteMy issue with ToD is that it somehow doesn't feel very complete. The story's oddly detached manner sort of plays into it in how it basically functions for you to get to the end of a level, meet someone to tell you to go somewhere else, then you go there. As opposed to any of the other games where you have options right off the bat to go whatever way you want. Another issue is the Leviathan Souls is a concept that doesn't really matter. Finally, the game is much too easy even for a first run.

It's clear that Insomniac wasn't quite sure where to go with the series with this game, though they didn't drop the ball. The core gameplay (outside of the worst arenas and weapons in the series) is as fun as it ever was, and there are quite a few good levels. I would never recommend a fan skip the game, but I wouldn't tell them to play it first.

Again, not a bad game. But my clear least favorite.
The story's just weird. It's not as funny as the other games nor is it as interesting as ACIT. It also has quite a few plot holes. I loved Crack In Time's plot, but I would gladly trade that kind of storytelling for levels more like the ones in the original trilogy. I will say that I found hunting for Leviathan Souls on Sargasso to at least be more thrilling than the ice crystals in GC, the sewer crystals in UYA, and the gargathon horns in ITN. The former of those made me want to break my controller, while the latter two just ended up being boring after half an hour. (As a side note, that's my main issue with ITN: the only reason it even runs longer than QFB is because you spend an entire third of the game on Thram collecting those stupid horns.)

I agree that it feels like they didn't know what to do with the game. Sometimes it seems like they're just going for Up Your Arsenal in HD, sometimes it seems like they wanted a platformer that was faster paced and more cinematic, and other times it seems like they just dropped a bunch of enemies into a couple box rooms/corridors and called it a day. Then again, maybe it was just rushed. It has a lot more glitches than any other game in the series (HD ports notwithstanding) - there's that weird installation bug where on some PS3s it will only install if you install something else on the machine first (wtf), and it's the only game to have ever actually crashed my PS3. Which it's done twice. It also has the worst damage balancing in the whole series; you will almost always die in three hits no matter how much health/armor you have, and yet it still somehow manages to be easier than the other games. Except for the final boss, which just sucks.

I think TOD has some of the absolute best levels in the entire series, but it's also the least consistent overall installment, so it will always remain near the bottom of my list. Ironically, it feels more like a first attempt to me than the original Ratchet & Clank did. I know you aren't a big fan of that one, but I think R&C1 was probably the most polished and mechanically solid 3D platformer to date when it was released.
I knew it wasn't just me! So frustrating. I wouldn't have bought the armor if I wasn't swimming in bolts. Since, you know, the game just throws them at you.

It's also really easy despite the checkpointing being horrendous. I once had the camera turn on me in a narrow hallway which lead me to die from an enemy running into me in a single hit. Another time the camera was pointing upward while I was making a jump which masked the fact that there was no floor. Both times I went back over five minutes in the level. Not cool when you have so many chances to die in one hit, since that's the only real challenge here.

The game really is glitchy. Some animations jerk, things don't always look good when collapsing, and enemies can get stuck in walls.

I suppose this is where I admit I like the crystal hunts in the PS2 game (when my weapons are upgraded enough) since its entirely optional and a nice break for when I want to do something else. Leviathan Souls just get you... more bolts to buy weak armor and useless weapons. Yay.

I've had fun replaying it, but I'm probably not going to to back through it in a long time. Not when I could be playing the other games instead.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 22, 2014, 07:48:31 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on September 22, 2014, 05:03:16 PM
Replaying it, I have to say my biggest problems are that the bosses (in the arena, too) take so long to defeat unless you upgrade your weapons. And then they're done in seconds. It isn't balanced at all. The other is that the weapons are fairly weak, even fully upgraded. Other than the Judicator, which for some reason levels everything, and the flamethrower, which stun-locks some enemies. Even the Groovitron feels weak compared to ACiT. Mr. Zurkon isn't even worth using.

Also, I hate that tilting puzzle. Hate it. Such a waste of time and a way to cram in more tilting stuff.

Some of the side paths, what little there are, are fairly clever. It's just a shame they only appear to give you gold bolts. Gold bolts don't really do much in ToD.
I have a theory that the bosses actually scale in HP to the amount of weapons you own in a misguided attempt to get you to use them all. I say this because in my first two fresh playthroughs I only bought the weapons I specifically wanted, whereas on my most recent run I purchased almost every single one. Between my second and third playthrough, Captain Slag and Tachyon suddenly gained so much health that I literally had to use all the ammo from like 10 different guns, including the fully upgraded Alpha Cannon, Judicator, and Doom Blades. While the final fight always sucked, I don't recall it running for nearly that long in the past, and I remember only needing like 3 fully loaded weapons for Slag in the past. I never really use the Grooviton in either game except for laughs, though it can help out in a pinch when you're low on ammo and nanotech. Yeah, Mr. Zurkon is pretty awful compared to the later games (and the Synthenoids from GC!).

The tilting puzzles don't bother me that much. Did you remember to turn the sixaxis controls off? It's awful if you have to tilt the controller, but otherwise it's just a slightly less fun version of the hacking puzzles from the PS2 era.

Only the ones I mentioned in my previous post give you anything aside from gold bolts. And even then, they're all optional.

QuoteI knew it wasn't just me! So frustrating. I wouldn't have bought the armor if I wasn't swimming in bolts. Since, you know, the game just throws them at you.

It's also really easy despite the checkpointing being horrendous. I once had the camera turn on me in a narrow hallway which lead me to die from an enemy running into me in a single hit. Another time the camera was pointing upward while I was making a jump which masked the fact that there was no floor. Both times I went back over five minutes in the level. Not cool when you have so many chances to die in one hit, since that's the only real challenge here.

The game really is glitchy. Some animations jerk, things don't always look good when collapsing, and enemies can get stuck in walls.

I suppose this is where I admit I like the crystal hunts in the PS2 game (when my weapons are upgraded enough) since its entirely optional and a nice break for when I want to do something else. Leviathan Souls just get you... more bolts to buy weak armor and useless weapons. Yay.
I'm honestly scared to not buy the armor. Unless it literally does nothing, I assume everything just one hits you if you don't grab the upgrades as soon as they pop up. I have no idea why they changed the damage system from GC/UYA/DL, the one in those games was perfect! TOD just makes most of the enemies slow and inaccurate to curb their ability to stomp you instantly. Definite downgrade in AI from the PS2 titles. Thankfully, they returned to their senses in QFB.

I've always thought the camera was fine ever since the original R&C, but that's another thing that got randomly messed up in TOD. I had that exact same problem with not being able to see a couple of jumps because it was automatically facing upward.

The weirdest glitch is the one where you get in a turret and suddenly it just turns all the way around so you're facing away from the enemies. Had that happen like four times in a row. But to be fair, enemies can get stuck in walls in the PS2 games as well.

I love hunting the desert crystals! I always collect all of them. But those goddamn snow beasts will prevent me from ever 100%ing the ice crystal collection again...

QuoteI've had fun replaying it, but I'm probably not going to to back through it in a long time. Not when I could be playing the other games instead.
I feel the same way. While I think TOD's best surpasses anything from DL and ITN, those games are much more consistent and less annoying to play. They don't exactly feel like Ratchet & Clank to me (the lack of platforming in Deadlocked and the headache-inducing 30FPS gameplay of Into The Nexus hurt them in my book), but they're still more compulsively playable than Tools of Destruction. I will never understand why so many people consider it to be the best in the series, unless it was the first one they played.

For me: ACIT > GC > UYA > R&C > QFB > DL > ITN > TOD > SM > SAC > A4O > FFA
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 22, 2014, 08:33:19 PM
I'm about half-way through Act III on my replay of Gears of War on Hardcore difficulty. Man, I really forgot how many gimmick sections that the first game has. On the one hand, it actually helps make it feel less repetitive than the later games in the franchise. On the other hand, a lot of it just isn't any fun to play. Seriously, who the hell actually thought that fighting exploding wretches was a fun gameplay idea? On their own they are a nuisance. However mixing them in with regular enemy battles is a nightmare because you absolutely have to deal with that before you can fight anything else, which means that you'll have to do a lot of maneuvering while out of cover, and the game's controls just done support that level of versatility.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 22, 2014, 09:28:52 PM
Quote from: Foggle on September 22, 2014, 07:48:31 PMI have a theory that the bosses actually scale in HP to the amount of weapons you own in a misguided attempt to get you to use them all. I say this because in my first two fresh playthroughs I only bought the weapons I specifically wanted, whereas on my most recent run I purchased almost every single one. Between my second and third playthrough, Captain Slag and Tachyon suddenly gained so much health that I literally had to use all the ammo from like 10 different guns, including the fully upgraded Alpha Cannon, Judicator, and Doom Blades. While the final fight always sucked, I don't recall it running for nearly that long in the past, and I remember only needing like 3 fully loaded weapons for Slag in the past. I never really use the Grooviton in either game except for laughs, though it can help out in a pinch when you're low on ammo and nanotech. Yeah, Mr. Zurkon is pretty awful compared to the later games (and the Synthenoids from GC!).

The tilting puzzles don't bother me that much. Did you remember to turn the sixaxis controls off? It's awful if you have to tilt the controller, but otherwise it's just a slightly less fun version of the hacking puzzles from the PS2 era.

Only the ones I mentioned in my previous post give you anything aside from gold bolts. And even then, they're all optional.
I didn't turn them off because I never checked the options. I figured since it was an early PS3 game they never included the feature. I guess I should have known better from Insomniac.

I used the Groovitron in places where there are so many enemies the action gets choppy, and in that one arena challenge where it barely does anything to help. It barely lasts ten seconds, less if you hit them.

Quote from: Foggle on September 22, 2014, 07:48:31 PMI'm honestly scared to not buy the armor. Unless it literally does nothing, I assume everything just one hits you if you don't grab the upgrades as soon as they pop up. I have no idea why they changed the damage system from GC/UYA/DL, the one in those games was perfect! TOD just makes most of the enemies slow and inaccurate to curb their ability to stomp you instantly. Definite downgrade in AI from the PS2 titles. Thankfully, they returned to their senses in QFB.

I've always thought the camera was fine ever since the original R&C, but that's another thing that got randomly messed up in TOD. I had that exact same problem with not being able to see a couple of jumps because it was automatically facing upward.

The weirdest glitch is the one where you get in a turret and suddenly it just turns all the way around so you're facing away from the enemies. Had that happen like four times in a row. But to be fair, enemies can get stuck in walls in the PS2 games as well.

I love hunting the desert crystals! I always collect all of them. But those goddamn snow beasts will prevent me from ever 100%ing the ice crystal collection again...
That turret glitch is why I stopped using them. Turrets are remarkably weak and I don't want to risk a quick death by being tapped twice lightly before I even get a shot off.

The snow beasts are really awful in the early game. I never bother with them until I have high level weapons and armor. It's not worth it otherwise. I just enjoy wandering around finding things in my spare time since the core gameplay is so fun.

Quote from: Foggle on September 22, 2014, 07:48:31 PMI feel the same way. While I think TOD's best surpasses anything from DL and ITN, those games are much more consistent and less annoying to play. They don't exactly feel like Ratchet & Clank to me (the lack of platforming in Deadlocked and the headache-inducing 30FPS gameplay of Into The Nexus hurt them in my book), but they're still more compulsively playable than Tools of Destruction. I will never understand why so many people consider it to be the best in the series, unless it was the first one they played.

For me: ACIT > GC > UYA > R&C > QFB > DL > ITN > TOD > SM > SAC > A4O > FFA
It's a good game, but when I can play ACiT, UYA, or GC instead, it isn't really a contest. All in all, it's a pretty strong series and definitely one that deserves to be better known outside of the odd franchise decisions since ACiT pulled down its visibility. Whoever is in charge of the franchise has strange ideas.

I don't think I'll be playing the spin-offs, since they don't really interest me, but I am hoping ITN is worth my time. Despite 30fps (still don't get that decision), I could use just that bit extra R&C.

My ratings: ACiT > UYA > GC > QFB > DL > R&C > TOD

One of my dream games would be for Nintendo X Insomniac on a new platformer IP. Maybe fantasy based (since they're obviously never doing Spyro again) and with the ACiT team. ACiT is one of the best games of the generation, that team deserves more work. Much more work. A lot more work. More budget than the Resistance/FUSE team, is what I'm saying.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 22, 2014, 11:33:14 PM
So I beat it. Several things for Fastoon.

One, the cannons at the level get destroyed with one shot from the Judicator. You can hit all of them from the center of the stage except one that you can still snipe out from the bridge. No idea what Insomniac was thinking there.

Two, every battle in the stage is right by a weapon seller, which also refills your health. This means you will never really die despite the tediousness of the areas. Again, no idea what they were thinking here.

Three, those floating enemies. Why Insomniac. WHY.

Four, the final boss is easy to kill because he suffers from Incinerator weakness like everything else in the game. In the last form, I simply threw out a Golden Groovitron before he fired the rockets and they never came out. So I stun locked him in that and the Incinerator and he was done in two minutes. It makes an awful boss hilariously pathetic.

So, the weapon tier would be:

Overpowered Tier
Incinerator
The Judicator
Net Cannon / Shredder Claw combo
Golden Groovitron

Effective Tier
Fusion Bomb
Alpha Cannon
Lightning Ravager (Loses points for not working on electrified enemies)
Toxic Swarmers (Weaker than the turrets from any other game)

Eh Tier
Tempest Launcher
Nitro Reaper

Don't Even Buy Tier
Raptor Launcher
Magma Combuster
Plasma Stalkers
Doom Blades
Every gadget except the Golden Groovitron
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 23, 2014, 01:48:41 AM
I believe the Crack In Time team divided shortly after the release of that game. Half of them went on to make the sister studio that developed A4O, FFA, and ITN, while the rest stayed at the original Burbank location. I believe the latter group is the one behind Sunset Overdrive. Both are working together again on the PS4 R&C re-imagining, for the first time since ACIT!

Nexus is a very good game, but it has some problems that the other installments don't. The drop in framerate is a lot more noticeable than I thought it would be (and it feels like it actually goes below 20 FPS at times), the new control scheme can make things really difficult if you're used to the PS2 era "strafe with L2 and hold O to fire auto-aimed shots" style of play, and there's way too much filler. The only reason ITN even lasts longer than QFB is because you'll spend around 2 hours hunting for Gargathon horns on Thram - which gets boring after 30 minutes - and the arena, which isn't as good as in the PS2 games or ACIT. The three main planets are all excellent and lengthy, however; were the side content reduced and the price lowered accordingly, I'd probably like it a little more than Quest For Booty.

I would love to see Insomniac team up with Nintendo to make the greatest 3D platformer of all time, but I don't think they're too keen on working together, so I doubt that'll ever happen. :(

I had no idea the Incinerator was so good. I never use the flamethrower weapons except in the original R&C because they don't really appeal to me outside of specific situations.

Doom Blades are pretty awesome, actually. They proved to be one of my most effective weapons all the way up to the end of the game.

Raptor Launcher is fucking awful. Easily the worst weapon in the whole game. It's underpowered from the moment it becomes available to buy!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 23, 2014, 11:27:30 AM
Every time I used Doom Blades I'd run out of ammo long before a took even a quarter of a bosses life, and they don't make enemies flinch at all. I just didn't bother using them when I had weapons that would.

All in all, it was fun, so I'm looking forward to playing QFB again. I remember really liking it. It could have been a tad longer, but it's hard to complain for bite-sized gaming.

That said, I just realized I got a code for QFB with my copy of ITN. Does anybody want it?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 23, 2014, 01:27:24 PM
QFB stumbles slightly at times, but it's the best in the entire series for pure platforming aside from ACIT and R&C1. Can't believe I didn't like it on my first playthrough.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 23, 2014, 03:25:35 PM
I just started a new file since there's no Challenge mode for the game. The opening is nice since even though they give you the weakest weapons from ToD, they're way better than they were in that game. Then you do what is probably my favorite part of the game. Setting up the wind turbines. Lot of fun platforming there.

So far so good.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 23, 2014, 05:52:20 PM
Beat it. I forgot just how short it was. Could have used another island, I think.

Still, other than the parts that were basically "defend the area from pirates" it was quite fun. Off to ACiT and then finally ITN.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 23, 2014, 05:59:59 PM
The final section of Act III from Gears of War is HORRENDOUS! Good. God, I forgot how terrible this shit was. It's hard for the sake of being hard, and ridiculously cheap. You have to take on a bunch of Theron Guards, with at least 4 of them wielding Torque Bows, and they have insanely dead-on accuracy, and if you're playing in Hardcore or Insane, it's always a one-hit-kill. Your squad-mates are useless and just get themselves downed in a matter of seconds, and all you can do is be insanely cautious and slowly attempt to lure out enemies one at a time, and pray that you don't get stuck with a explosive shot from some cheap angle. Fuck you Epic Games! Learn to play test your shit.

Anyways, other than that, I got through most of Act 4, and that's been tough, but not nearly as and as that particular section that I just overcame.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 23, 2014, 07:17:06 PM
I think I remember that bit from Gears of War. Drove me and my friend up the wall years ago. :whuh:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 23, 2014, 07:21:38 PM
I also had to help my father through that. It wasn't fun.

I just played some ACiT to compare fresh and wow, everything is such an improvement. I was only planning on playing a bit and ended up playing through the first planet. Such an excellent game. Will be putting it off until this weekend, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 23, 2014, 07:29:18 PM
Quote from: Foggle on September 23, 2014, 07:17:06 PMI think I remember that bit from Gears of War. Drove me and my friend up the wall years ago. :whuh:

At least you had a friend to play through it with. When you have a friend, they can revive you if you get downed, so it's not always instant death. Doing it solo was ridiculous, and just made me realize that if they did indeed play test this game, then it was developed with co-op in mind, because there's no way you can call sections like this "fair" in any sense of the word when playing it on single-player.

It's one thing that makes me respect Bungie all the more in regard to the design of the Halo games. There's some cheap bull-shit in that as well, but nothing nearly as bad as these sorts of sections, and you can clear the game solo on Legendary based on good strategy rather than luck. Bungie clearly tests their single-player just as well as their multiplayer for balance issues and does a good job of making it feel as fair as possible. It's just too bad that they had to go with an MP/co-op only design with Destiny, which ensures that I'll probably never play it. On that note, I have 2 friends who are both Halo fans to moderate degrees and who each own the game (both for the PS4), and just like how mixed the reviews are for that game, one friend loves it despite its faults and the other told me it's atrocious. Go figure. I'm not really that interested, regardless. I just wish that 343i didn't suck so bad at making Halo games (IMO).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 23, 2014, 07:48:42 PM
I did try playing the first two Gears games single-player a few times, but I always gave up at certain points because they just got too frustrating for me.

I'm honestly surprised at how polarizing the reviews were for Destiny. I figured it was bound to be excellent given Bungie's pedigree, or it would have at least attained high scores through bribery. I enjoyed what I played of Halo 4 (mostly just the first level), but it definitely seemed to be going in a different direction from the earlier games, and not a good one at that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 23, 2014, 08:12:11 PM
What I hate about about Halo 4 is that it actually tries TOO hard to be a Bungie Halo game. I actually would've been fine with it going completely in a new direction, and would probably prefer that. However, 343i were insistent on trying to keep it the same, which made the game feel really odd. The parts that did feel more like traditional Halo just didn't feel as well executed as in the best games of the series, and the parts that were actually new design choices just felt that much more out of place given what they were going for. It just felt like pseudo-Halo. That, and I honestly think that I may hate the Promethean Knights more than The Flood. That new enemy type, while intriguing in concept, is downright cheap. At least The Flood can't teleport right in front if you from sniping distance and instant kill you with a melee attack. What genius at 343i in the enemy AI programming department thought that was a good idea?

At any rate, the game isn't really bad. Just really underwhelming, IMO.

As for Destiny, based on what I've heard, it seems like a lot of the bad reception has to do with Activision's apparent meddling with the design. Now, mind you, there is no clear cut proof for any of this, but aside from being a bit too grind-heavy, the most major complaint seems to be a serious lack of content, and in that regard, earlier previews made it seem like Bungie had a lot more planned for the game upon initial release, but fan speculation seems to be that Activision forced them to cut out a lot of that content and repackage it as DLC expansions. It wouldn't be too hard to believe given that company's reputation, but basically people are saying that something smells way too corporate about most of the major gameplay faults with Destiny.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 03, 2014, 11:34:54 PM
I'm replaying Vanquish, and wow. This really is the most intense *-person shooter ever made. It's even better than I remember it! The encounter design is brilliant, and the core gameplay mechanics are the best around. I love how it actively teaches you to become good at managing boost, slow-mo, weapons, and melee over the course of the campaign; I was really rusty at first, but now I'm pulling off amazing stunts like a pro (note: I'm not particularly good at the game). I actually prefer using the three default weapons over any other, as I find them to be more satisfying to fight tough enemies with than the BFGs and such.

I'm about to reach the end of Act 3, and man, that Mikami pacing really shows. The last three missions have been nearly perfect - exhilarating to a fault. I love that part with the enemy robots dancing to disco music, as well. :lol: One of the top 10, if not top 5, of last gen, easy. Might even be my favorite Platinum game now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 03, 2014, 11:46:23 PM
Move the game. I just hate those mini-boss enemies that take too long to kill (you know the ones; where they are spider tanks at first and then turn into giant mechs with those OHK laser beams), and the final boss fight is kind of bull-shitty, though at least they give you a checkpoint in-between when you manage to kill one of the bogeys. Other than that, it's the best TPS of last gen, although I honestly like Alan Wake just as much, albeit for different reasons.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 04, 2014, 12:31:22 AM
If they're the ones I'm thinking of, I actually like those transforming spider tanks, though I can see how they'd be insanely annoying on Hard difficulty (or, ugh, God Hard). I don't even remember the final boss fight, so I hope it's not too frustrating! :shit:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2014, 12:48:11 AM
I just don't like anything that takes too long to kill, especially when you have to fight more than one at a time, and as usual, I'm not a fan of OHK attacks.

I actually haven't even played the game on God Hard difficulty, but I'll get to it after I replay the rest of the Gears games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 04, 2014, 12:56:32 AM
OHKs are lame, but the ones in Vanquish are insanely telegraphed and easy to dodge. Also, I don't really think they take that long to kill; they're boss battles for a reason. The fact that there are four of them in the game is a bit excessive, though.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2014, 12:48:11 AM
I actually haven't even played the game on God Hard difficulty, but I'll get to it after I replay the rest of the Gears games.
It's supposedly one of the hardest difficulties of all time. Even people who can breeze through the entire game on Hard can apparently spend up to 3 hours on a single mission in God Hard. Most attacks one hit you, btw. Not really my idea of fun.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2014, 01:10:31 AM
Quote from: Foggle on October 04, 2014, 12:56:32 AM
OHKs are lame, but the ones in Vanquish are insanely telegraphed and easy to dodge. Also, I don't really think they take that long to kill; they're boss battles for a reason. The fact that there are four of them in the game is a bit excessive, though.

The hit detection on them is really questionable, though. I've gotten killed by them several times when I was only remotely close to the beams but not touching them, and sometimes they go through geometry. If you are going to have OHK attacks in a game, they better be damn refined, otherwise it's going to lead to some BS moments.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2014, 12:48:11 AMIt's supposedly one of the hardest difficulties of all time. Even people who can breeze through the entire game on Hard can apparently spend up to 3 hours on a single mission in God Hard. Most attacks one hit you, btw. Not really my idea of fun.

Well, I heard that it's certain fights on that game which are ridiculously hard, rather than the whole difficulty itself. One youtuber, Bick Benedict, did a walkthrough of the game on God Hard, but stopped at the final boss fight which he said he just couldn't do. Still, going by what I saw in his guide, no normal attacks were OHKs, but he did go into overheat status from accumulated damage quickly.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 04, 2014, 09:16:25 PM
Beat Vanquish. I actually didn't have any problems with the final boss fight once I figured out a good strategy (the one right before that was harder IMO). Overall, I had tons of fun playing it again, and I plan to play the challenge maps and give Hard mode another try fairly soon.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2014, 01:10:31 AM
The hit detection on them is really questionable, though. I've gotten killed by them several times when I was only remotely close to the beams but not touching them, and sometimes they go through geometry. If you are going to have OHK attacks in a game, they better be damn refined, otherwise it's going to lead to some BS moments.
Hm, that's true. I didn't have any issues with that on this playthrough, but I definitely recall being killed by OHKs that didn't even touch me the first time I played the game.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2014, 12:48:11 AMWell, I heard that it's certain fights on that game which are ridiculously hard, rather than the whole difficulty itself. One youtuber, Bick Benedict, did a walkthrough of the game on God Hard, but stopped at the final boss fight which he said he just couldn't do. Still, going by what I saw in his guide, no normal attacks were OHKs, but he did go into overheat status from accumulated damage quickly.
Still sounds crazy. I don't think I could do it. :blush:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2014, 10:05:26 PM
I'll get back to that game eventually, as I said, but in general I found it to be more challenging than Bayonetta or Revengeance, possibly because it just is, or maybe because I've always been naturally better at hack n' slash games than TPS games.

Also, you should totally try playing MGRR on Revengeance difficulty, Foggle. I'm dead serious. It's the most exciting difficulty in the game once you just practice enough to get decent with perfect parries. Unlike any other difficulty, the damage on those MULTIPLIES only on Revengeance difficulty, and a single PP can take out about 70% of any boss's health, allowing you to go as far as skipping phases of the fight. Most other enemies will be killed in one hit by that attack from any weapon, no matter how strong or weak it is. It's also not nearly as hard as it may initially seem. It's all a matter of just getting used to the timings of enemy attacks. It gets really hard in certain sections, but for the most part it's a ton of fun, IMO.

Comparatively, Bayonetta's hardest difficulty takes away Witch Time, which I never liked because that was the most fun aspect of the game. It didn't even make the game harder, just less fun. That game is best on Hard mode, for that reason.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 04, 2014, 10:20:05 PM
It's a bit hard to compare difficulties between Vanquish and Bayonetta/MGRR since they're from different genres, but I do agree that Vanquish is the toughest of the three - which might also be why I like it the most. As bad as I am at video games, I usually seem to go for the harder ones. :il_hahaha:

I have been meaning to try out the harder difficulties in MGRR. Think I'll give those a go soon too.

Yeah, Witch Time is awesome. Taking that away ruins a lot of the fun of Bayonetta IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 05, 2014, 06:08:04 PM
I finished Gears of War 1 on Hardcore difficulty. That was literally one of the most frustrating things that I've done in a game for a long, long time. There was a turret section toward the end that literally completely relied on you getting lucky in order to survive. The funny thing is that I don't even think that it was meant to be a hard section. It was meant to be a co-op section, as evidenced by the fact that there are 2 turrets, one on each side of the train, and you only have a limited range to aim with each one, so if you're playing by yourself, there are some enemies that you can't hit, forcing you to leave your turret and deal with them separately before they take you out from a blind angle. This time, your AI partner doesn't even attempt to help since they weren't programmed to use turrets. That's just bad game design, Epic, and I'm pretty sure I have an idea where Capcom got many of their bad forced co-op idea from for the Resident Evil games.

Anyways, the final boss fight with General RAAM which was difficult even on Casual difficulty, and which I expected to be an absolute nightmare....was still really hard, but not quite as bad as expected. This is simply because, to my surprise, the fight was actually fair. There was a clear strategy that worked, and it took me several tries, but when I nailed down the strategy, I was able to take him out quite smoothly and efficiently. If only more difficult fights in this game could've been designed like that. Anyways, the game is not nearly as bad as I'm making it out to be, but now that the nostalgia goggles are off (and it's so strange to think of how this last gen game is already old enough to be thought of as "nostalgic"), I can see how flawed the first game really was. I'm praying that the sequels aren't as bad when it comes to the cheap difficulty. As for this game, it's still a good game, but I don't ever plan on playing it again. I've quite literally had my fill of it for life.

Anyways, I'm debating in whether to just go straight to Gears 2 next, or go back and finish Judgement first, which I just got back from my brother.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 12, 2014, 06:13:16 PM
I started Mother 3 last Saturday. So far this game is pretty good. Itoi still has his touch. Also, the music is the game is godly. A few days ago I literally just stood outside of the Factory just to listen to that tune. So cool.

Anyway, I am at the Chimera Lab. I just entered it and I'm right past the part where they put on the masks that were in the locker.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 12, 2014, 09:58:40 PM
Ok, so within the hour, I broke my golden rule of never checking online to see how to advance in a game and googled how to find the bell in Blighttown for Dark Souls. Luckily, nothing was spoiled since the guy was purposely vague. Now I'll start playing DS again soon. I stopped for about a week after I killed the dragon on the bridge after dying trying over a dozen times and probably literally playing for hours and using hundreds of arrows to kill it while I repeatedly ran or rolled down the stairs to avoid his flame breath..only to find out that he was just guarding a tiny shortcut and nothing that would help me get further in the story. That was my breaking point.

I wonder how absurd it was that I went all the way through the pitch black Catacombs for no real reason..and got lost on the way back after I hit a certain dead end. Overall that was like a fucking week. Hopefully I can laugh at myself later. :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 12, 2014, 10:01:44 PM
I've played Dark Souls a few times. Feel free to ask me if you need some spoiler-free help!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 12, 2014, 10:06:47 PM
Will do! Thanks. ;D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 13, 2014, 03:36:22 PM
I bought Mortal Kombat for 5.99 with the 6 bucks MS gave me because they said I may have had a mishap with Xbox Videos. I think it was because of the trouble I had downloading an episode of Avatar. But here's the deal; it was free and I never bought anything on there so basically I probably got free money for downloading a free episode of one of my favorite shows. Awesome.

Anyway, I see what the hype about Mortal Kombat's story mode is about. I've never played a Story Mode where you get to play as multiple characters in a fighting game. Also, Cage cracks me up. I got up to the part before you played as Scorpion then went to sleep since it was early in the morning when I started.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 13, 2014, 03:59:32 PM
I've been playing Castlevania: Circle of the Moon on the VC. It's usually been hard for me to get into the Metroidvania titles in the series outside of SOTN, but this one I've always liked. It reminds me the most of old school Castlevania meets the Metroidvania style.

Actually playing a character with a whip certainly helps, too.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 13, 2014, 04:11:03 PM
Richter is in SOTN, jackass. :thinkin:

Anyway, I love how they gave a Vampire Killer wielder stats and equipment. That's an awesome merge. I was playing Circle Of The Moon up until about two weeks ago when I just could not figure out where to go. It was one of the games I got stumped on (others include Dark Souls and Golden Sun 2) and I just caved and started Mother 3 even though I wanted to save that for later.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 13, 2014, 04:28:10 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on October 13, 2014, 04:11:03 PM
Richter is in SOTN, jackass. :thinkin:
I said "outside of SOTN" where Richter is more of a bonus.

Quote from: gunswordfist on October 13, 2014, 04:11:03 PMAnyway, I love how they gave a Vampire Killer wielder stats and equipment. That's an awesome merge. I was playing Circle Of The Moon up until about two weeks ago when I just could not figure out where to go. It was one of the games I got stumped on (others include Dark Souls and Golden Sun 2) and I just caved and started Mother 3 even though I wanted to save that for later.
That's sort of why I like this one. You're just thrown into the center of Dracula's Castle without any equipment or clue of where to go so you just wander around seeing what you can do. It feels less about killing Dracula and more about finding your companions and then finding a way out.

Since you're not a Belmont or a super-powered being like other Metroidvanias, you feel very weak and out of place. It's something I really dig about this one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 13, 2014, 04:32:12 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 13, 2014, 03:59:32 PM
Actually playing a character with a whip certainly helps, too.

Anyway, Richter may not have any real cutscenes in his story mode but he's the best whip user I've ever played as and my 2nd favorite character in the series to use. Alucard is first, of course. Graves comes in a close 3rd. I love the way he moves. It's refreshing after suffering through how stiff Richter is in Rondo Of Blood.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 13, 2014, 04:47:50 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on October 13, 2014, 04:32:12 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 13, 2014, 03:59:32 PM
Actually playing a character with a whip certainly helps, too.
Compared to OTHER Metroidvanias. It's not exactly common in Metroidvanias to play as a character with a whip outside of SOTN and COTM despite it being the supposed weapon of choice in the series.

Simon in Super Castlevania IV is probably my favorite to play as. 8 way attacks rule.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 13, 2014, 05:07:46 PM
Oh, I thought you meant that you preferred to play as a guy with a whip over Alucard.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 13, 2014, 05:09:34 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on October 13, 2014, 05:07:46 PM
Oh, I thought you meant that you preferred to play as a guy with a whip over Alucard.
Alucard was fun to play as. I don't even have a problem with all the new systems they implemented in other GBA and DS Castlevanias, I just like my whip users. It's what gives Castlevania such a different feel to other similar games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 13, 2014, 05:14:00 PM
I do them too but it has a lot to do with how loose Alucard moves compared to many of the others and not just the fact that he uses swords and shields and whatnot.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 14, 2014, 05:27:03 PM
So, I'm close to done with completing Gears of War 2 on Hardcore difficulty. After that I'll replay Gears 3, and then finally get around to finishing Judgement, which will be the last time that I play any game in this series for a long time. After that I think I'll go back to complete my DMC3 S-Rank run (on Easy mode, naturally, since the achievement allows for any difficulty), and then clear all 10,000 floors in Bloody Palace mode to earn that game's final achievement.

Once that's fine, I'll either try to tackle Vanquish on Hard mode, or attempt to go for an all S-rank run of MGRR in Revengeance difficulty, which I'm really not sure if I want to go through, although since the game has some very lenient checkpointing, I've heard that it's surprisingly a lot more manageable than it seems to do. The game is also incredibly short, so it shouldn't be that aggravating to go through the whole thing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 14, 2014, 08:27:24 PM
Played more Mortal Kombat early this morning. I'm getting my ass kicked a lot but the story mode still has my full attention.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 14, 2014, 08:33:59 PM
The Evil Within is the real deal. I'm a little over 2 hours into it and it's so good. SO GOOD

1. It doesn't play like Resident Evil, classic or modern. It feels like a real *survival* horror game, because you can't just gun down or melee the enemies left and right. Gameplay is a careful blend of stealth, ammo conservation, item collection, and trap avoidance/usage.

2. It's actually scary, and not in the haunted house skeleton pops out kind of way. At one point, I was trying to figure out how to make ammo for my crossbow, and had hidden myself off in the corner. However, I didn't realize that using the inventory screen fails to pause your game, so I breathed a sigh of relief when I closed the menu and found myself still safe. But when I turned around, there was an enemy lumbering silently toward me, terrifying perpetual grin plastered on his face. He was literally just a couple of feet away from me when I was done fiddling with my inventory. That entire moment was unscripted and terrifying. Also, every stealth sequence is completely nerve-wracking.

3. Normal mode is tough. I haven't died too many times, but I've come close repeatedly. Aiming is purposefully difficult and enemies are fast and relentless. You go down in only a few hits.

4. You can level up your character like in RE4. There are crimson heads like in REmake.

5. PS3 port gives off a terrible first impression with lots of screen tearing, graphical pop in, glitchy animations, etc. The first level is very scripted and Id Tech 5 on last gen hardware just can't keep up. However, after that, it's just fine. Haven't noticed any issues with tearing or frame rate drops since I hit chapter 3 - which is where the game really gets going, anyway.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 14, 2014, 09:38:06 PM
That's good to know! I can't wait to play it! ;D

Although, like I said, been if I get it for my birthday, I won't really be able to play it until Christmas. :(

Anyways, I managed to beat my Gears of War 2 playthrough. Compared to the first game, this one was MUCH more manageable and had far fewer cheap deaths. It still had some balance issues, but there was no single part that literally took me dozens of tries because of incompetent ally AI (they still aren't perfect, but at least they are actually somewhat useful in this game) or ridiculously overpowered enemies with unfair advantages. There was one particular section that was horrendously broken, and a massive oversight on the developer's part. In Act 5, there's a turret section where you have to destroy 6 Reavers in a limited amount of time. On co-op, it's fine because your partner can help you out. On single player, though, your AI partner doesn't use turrets, so you'll repeatedly lose that part because it's nearly impossible to kill moving Reavers since they fly way too fast and your turret's aiming speed is abysmal. You literally can only rely on luck, since in rare cases, a bunch of Reavers will land on the ground where you can easily take them out, and that's literally the only way to do this section by yourself. It's incredibly frustrating and flat-out bad game design. How the fuck did this shit not get cut out after play testing?

Anyways, I'll be moving onto Gears 3 soon, which is easily the best of the bunch, overall, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 14, 2014, 09:40:05 PM
I'm scared to play the game now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 15, 2014, 12:16:47 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on October 14, 2014, 09:40:05 PM
I'm scared to play the game now.
Don't worry about it, it's only scary some of the time (like Resident Evil).

Anyway, got a bit further. Stealth's fallen by the wayside now in favor of more action. Hopefully they continue to strike a good balance between the two throughout. Easily the best new game I've played this year so far.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 15, 2014, 12:58:01 AM
I saw this coming. I said scared not too scared. :>
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 15, 2014, 11:10:16 PM
I finished Act 1 of Gears of War 3 on Hardcore difficulty. This is definitely the most refined game in the series. Your AI squad mates are finally useful to you, and this is also the easiest of the first 3 games on this particular difficulty since you have a chance to get revived if you get downed, rather than just suffering instant death from everything. To be fair, though, even Gears 2 didn't have that many excruciatingly frustrating moments. It really is Gears 1 that was maddeningly hard due to how unbalanced certain enemy encounters were.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 15, 2014, 11:41:14 PM
I've been playing more Mortal Kombat. I'm pretty sure this is the 2nd funniest game I remember playing. I literally spit out some of the water I was drinking while listening to Jax and/or Cage.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 16, 2014, 12:56:21 AM
I got lost in the sewer in COTM then realized I wasn't supposed to be there yet. No wonder I was getting demolished.

This game is a lot of fun. It's a real shame Igarashi no longer works at Konami. But then, nobody from the golden years works there anymore.

EDIT: Kojima aside, because I know someone is going to bring him up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 16, 2014, 01:18:53 AM
I just played chapters 6 and 7 in The Evil Within. There is absolutely no contest now: GOTY. #6 plays almost exactly like a more intense and tactical version of a Resident Evil 4 level, while #7 houses an absolutely amazing boss battle. An interesting thing about chapter 7 is that it's basically the best level from Resident Evil 6 except about a million times better. Between that and the chapter 5 boss - which is very reminiscent of the first boss from RE5 if it was actually challenging and creepy, - I'm getting the impression that TEW is Mikami's way of taking post-RE4 Capcom to school. I'm loving it.

It certainly could become bad later on, but so far this game really is proving to be the second coming of Resident Evil 4.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 15, 2014, 11:10:16 PM
I finished Act 1 of Gears of War 3 on Hardcore difficulty. This is definitely the most refined game in the series. Your AI squad mates are finally useful to you, and this is also the easiest of the first 3 games on this particular difficulty since you have a chance to get revived if you get downed, rather than just suffering instant death from everything. To be fair, though, even Gears 2 didn't have that many excruciatingly frustrating moments. It really is Gears 1 that was maddeningly hard due to how unbalanced certain enemy encounters were.
Would you recommend Gears 3 to someone who only mildly liked the first two?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 16, 2014, 01:24:46 AM
Perhaps if you could find it for real cheap, I guess. I don't think that you'd like it that much more, to be honest. I simply appreciate how Epic managed to iron out most of the bullshit from the first 2 games on the harder difficulty settings. That said, it's not a substantially better game. Just a much more refined one. As someone who casually enjoys this series, it's worth a playthrough or two, IMO, but it's not necessarily a great game, either.

As for The Evil Within, gamers truly shock me. People have already managed to beat it on AKUMU difficulty, where everything kills you in one hit. TS17 is already almost done playing through it and recording his footage for his guide, and the insane thing is that by no means is this difficulty a breeze for anyone. The people who have done it confirm that it's as fucking tough as it sounds, yet they've still managed to get it done this fast, all the same. Some gamers are something else, I tell you.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 16, 2014, 01:34:06 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 16, 2014, 01:24:46 AM
As for The Evil Within, gamers truly shock me. People have already managed to beat it on AKUMU difficulty, where everything kills you in one hit. TS17 is already almost done playing through it and recording his footage for his guide, and the insane thing is that by no means is this difficulty a breeze for anyone. The people who have done it confirm that it's as fucking tough as it sounds, yet they've still managed to get it done this fast, all the same. Some gamers are something else, I tell you.
Holy shit what!?!? The game just came out two days ago and is by no means short! I'm not even halfway through yet and I've been playing for over 7 hours.

Survival difficulty is fairly tough at times, but never frustrating. I've died quite a bit, and have had to replay 5-10 minutes worth of game on occasion, but it's just constantly fun. The balancing and challenge in this game are both perfect on the Normal setting IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on October 16, 2014, 01:39:03 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 16, 2014, 12:56:21 AM
I got lost in the sewer in COTM then realized I wasn't supposed to be there yet. No wonder I was getting demolished.

This game is a lot of fun. It's a real shame Igarashi no longer works at Konami. But then, nobody from the golden years works there anymore.

EDIT: Kojima aside, because I know someone is going to bring him up.

Well that explains why we haven't got a game from the old timeline in years.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 16, 2014, 01:51:04 AM
Quote from: Rynnec on October 16, 2014, 01:39:03 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 16, 2014, 12:56:21 AM
I got lost in the sewer in COTM then realized I wasn't supposed to be there yet. No wonder I was getting demolished.

This game is a lot of fun. It's a real shame Igarashi no longer works at Konami. But then, nobody from the golden years works there anymore.

EDIT: Kojima aside, because I know someone is going to bring him up.

Well that explains why we haven't got a game from the old timeline in years.
He split last year to go indie like Inafune did. So we might get Castlevania inspired games, but Castlevania seems to be dead at Konami. Nobody's heard word one since the LoS games fell flat on their face. Just another Konami series buried with Contra, Silent Hill, and Goemon.

On the plus side, the portable game brought Simon back to the forefront, so he's still recognized as the face of the series. *Hint hint Sakurai*

Also, since they seem to be dumping the games on the VC, it's a lot easier for me to catch up with the games I missed.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 16, 2014, 03:30:12 AM
Damn, I assumed he left in the 90s or something. lol Shows how much I pay attention to anything.

Also, it sounds like you are farther on COTM than I am. Didn't even know the game had a sewers.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 16, 2014, 05:57:50 PM
I made it to the Observatory and this track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1gz-NhoikY) started. Never gets old hearing that one.

I think I might be near the end. I'm level 40 and there aren't too many places left to go on the map.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 01:28:40 AM
Goddamn chapter 10 of The Evil Within is absolutely amazing but also insanely difficult. I can see why they won't let you play on Hard mode from the get-go; Normal is really kicking my ass now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 17, 2014, 02:29:35 AM
Quote from: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 01:28:40 AM
Goddamn chapter 10 of The Evil Within is absolutely amazing but also insanely difficult. I can see why they won't let you play on Hard mode from the get-go; Normal is really kicking my ass now.
Some of the comments of this game contrasted with your impressions make me think someone isn't quite right.

(http://confoundedinterest.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/post-33707-nothing-to-see-here-gif-please-bezm.gif?w=585)

I wonder whose opinion I trust more?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 02:40:21 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 17, 2014, 02:29:35 AM
Some of the comments of this game contrasted with your impressions make me think someone isn't quite right.
Who's saying what now?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 12:51:48 PM
Speaking of The Evil Within, TS17 has just started uploading his AKUMU difficulty walkthrough, which so far is also a NO UPGRADE run (though he claims that he may change that since it's insanely hard even by his standards). To put things into perspective, he completed a NO DAMAGE run of Resident Evil 4 on Professional difficulty, and according to him, AKUMU difficulty is even harder than that. That just blows my mind. :o

Also, he confirmed that there are actually no crimson heads in the game, so don't waste your matches on dead enemies, because they aren't getting back up (this doesn't count for the enemies that are just playing dead, of course). That's something that I'll need to keep in mind when I finally get around to playing the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 01:01:06 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 12:51:48 PM
Also, he confirmed that there are actually no crimson heads in the game, so don't waste your matches on dead enemies, because they aren't getting back up (this doesn't count for the enemies that are just playing dead, of course). That's something that I'll need to keep in mind when I finally get around to playing the game.
Yeah, that's probably right. The game just features a similar concept to crimson heads, not crimson heads themselves.

Anyway, the only time you don't want to burn an enemy's body is if you blow up their head or stealth kill them. They will always get back up within 10-60 seconds otherwise.

Honestly, I can't even imagine playing this game on Akumu difficulty after reading what it entails. I don't even think I could handle Nightmare, judging from how hard Survival is getting. Chapter 10 is brutal.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 02:26:25 PM
Yeah, another thing that he mentioned was in regard to stealth. He said that on Survivor difficulty, it's actually quite easy to stealth kill most normal enemies once you understand how it works and how to predict their behaviors. However, on AKUMU difficulty, their awareness dramatically shoots up, and it's almost impossible to sneak up in them without them noticing you. You either have to try and outrun them or avoid them completely by finding your way around without even getting close to them. You CAN fight enemies, of course, but it's not advised unless you absolutely have to.

Also, here is just how ridiculous AKUMU difficulty is: http://youtu.be/QGb4K8m3PD0

You can get killed....by SPARKS! :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 02:48:27 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 02:26:25 PM
He said that on Survivor difficulty, it's actually quite easy to stealth kill most normal enemies once you understand how it works and how to predict their behaviors.
I understand that this guy is probably much better at the game than me, but this is just plain not true in my experience. Stealth is basically nonexistent after chapter 3 outside of a few specific points, and frankly, I don't see how it can even be possible for much of the game. For the most part, enemies will immediately notice you just like in RE4. However, you can get "stealth" kills by staggering enemies with bottles, which is invaluable and even necessary once you hit chapter 10.

QuoteAlso, here is just how ridiculous AKUMU difficulty is: http://youtu.be/QGb4K8m3PD0

You can get killed....by SPARKS! :D
:whuh:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 03:07:04 PM
Quote from: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 02:48:27 PM
I understand that this guy is probably much better at the game than me, but this is just plain not true in my experience. Stealth is basically nonexistent after chapter 3 outside of a few specific points, and frankly, I don't see how it can even be possible for much of the game. For the most part, enemies will immediately notice you just like in RE4. However, you can get "stealth" kills by staggering enemies with bottles, which is invaluable and even necessary once you hit chapter 10.

From what I've read and heard people say, it's completely possible for all normal enemies to stealth kill all of them on Survivor difficulty. I've avoided watching too many videos because I don't want to spoil the game for myself, but I did watch some videos from TS17 and TGD, and while  tS17 hasn't uploaded past chapter 2 yet, TGD used stealth kills a lot on chapter 3 (I though he was only playing on survivor difficulty). Basically you have to understand how the enemy AI behaves. On chapter 2, I saw TS17 use a strategy of running away from the enemies until they stopped chasing him, and then ran back up and stealth killed them from behind. He cleared out an entire room using mostly just this and the bottle throwing strategy. In fact, here's the video: http://youtu.be/qRWuSxjjY-4

It's worth mentioning, though, that he said there was a learning curve to stealth killing enemies on this game. He even said it took him a few hours to understand how to do it properly, and it's far from fool proof as he can still get caught on numerous occasions because of their increased detection on AKUMU difficulty.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 03:43:55 PM
I'm not talking about chapters 1-3. Chapters 1-3 are almost entirely stealth-focused and practically a different game from what comes after them. I'm saying that stealth is nearly impossible after chapter 3 except for certain situations.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 03:48:15 PM
Well, I wouldn't know since I specifically won't watch any videos after chapter 3 so as not to spoil the whole game for myself, but TS17 claimed that on Survivor difficulty you can stealth kill a bunch of enemies without much trouble once you understand how to do it. He's never been wrong about any gameplay tips as far as I know, so maybe there is a way to do it that's just not easy to figure out on a first playthrough. Keep in mind, this is the guy who taught me that it's possible to kill an El Gigante in RE4 with just 2 grenades (on Professional difficulty, no less), which utterly blew my mind, so if I've learned anything from him, it's that very little is impossible when it comes to video games, if you understand how the mechanics work.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 03:57:57 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 03:48:15 PM
it's possible to kill an El Gigante in RE4 with just 2 grenades
:zonk:

I'm not saying it's *impossible* to stealth kill a lot of normal enemies in the game, but there are quite a few sections where stealth is completely unfeasible, and I don't really think it would be much fun, anyway.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 04:06:54 PM
Well, I don't think he was saying that you could stealth your way through every encounter in the game. I think he meant it as there being a lot of situations throughout the game where stealth killing would be really useful if you understood how to use stealth to your advantage. Of course there would still be plenty of situations where you can't it wouldn't want to use it.

Also: http://youtu.be/c7LlDi3EMUw (skip to 12:20)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 04:23:56 PM
Honestly, I think I have a pretty good grasp on the stealth in TEW, and I've only been able to use it a couple of times since the end of chapter 3. The majority of the game after that point doesn't really seem to give you that option, and is clearly more balanced for action.

Awesome video! I probably won't ever use that strategy unless I need to, though; fighting El Gigante like normal is just too much fun. :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 04:28:28 PM
Well, I'll find out when I play it for myself, anyways. I'm just saying that there's often more than one way to play a game, even when you are pretty sure that there's no other way to do something. I've learned that countless times through my playthroughs of many other games on their harder difficulty settings.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 04:34:36 PM
There are definitely tons of gameplay options available to you in TEW - there's at least 2 or 3 ways to go about every scenario! I just think the stealth stops being viable after the first part of the game. I've been reading a lot of other people's comments on the game as I'm playing, and it honestly seems like almost everyone agrees that stealth post-chapter 3 is rarely feasible.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 04:49:03 PM
Did those people also do no upgrade runs?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 17, 2014, 05:31:26 PM
Shao Kahn is kicking my ass on Mortal Kombat.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 17, 2014, 05:33:34 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on October 17, 2014, 05:31:26 PM
Shao Kahn is kicking my ass on Mortal Kombat.
Use cheesy moves like teleports or lots of projectiles and uppercuts. He was made to be cheesed as a nod to old arcade bosses.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 17, 2014, 05:37:14 PM
He hasn't teleport on me but yeah, I was thinking they made him this freaky cheap on purpose. A true MK Walker...er runner.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 05:38:18 PM
There are plenty of good ways to make nods to old arcade games. Designing a boss that you have to use cheap tactics to beat is not one of the better ways of doing it. And also, it seems like a TON of fighting games like to pay homage to old arcade bosses considering how many of them have broken final boss fights. There's hard, and then there's just plain cheap.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 17, 2014, 06:00:49 PM
It actually makes him really easy.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 06:21:02 PM
I'd still prefer a legitimately challenging boss that could be overcome with actual skill. :>
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on October 17, 2014, 06:54:07 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 05:38:18 PM
There are plenty of good ways to make nods to old arcade games. Designing a boss that you have to use cheap tactics to beat is not one the better ways of doing it. And also, it seems like a TON of fighting games like to pay homage to old arcade bosses considering how many of them have broken final boss fights. There's hard, and then there's just plain cheap.

This is exactly why I hate fighting game final bosses.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 17, 2014, 06:56:09 PM
Join the club, we have tshirts.

DOA..2, I believe, (the first one on Xbox) is probably my least favorite. They had the nerve to change the fucking camera angle.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 07:16:32 PM
That was DOA3, actually. DOA2's boss actually followed normal gameplay rules, and is one of the few fighting game bosses that isn't overly cheap. DOA4's boss is actually even worse than 3, though.  The boss in 3 can at least be dealt with if you understand how to kill him fast, but DOA4's boss straight up has an unfair advantage by flat-out breaking the rules of the game by teleporting out of your attacks or even countering them MID-FUCKING-COMBO! That's right, you can't count on stun frames for shit. The boss will just do whatever it wants whenever it feels like it. It's the epitome of cheap design, and essentially requires you to just be lucky enough to win.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 07:22:20 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 04:49:03 PM
Did those people also do no upgrade runs?
I don't know? The game literally came out four days ago. Most people haven't even beaten it on Casual or Survival yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 07:28:31 PM
Alright, well I only mentioned it because the guy I was talking about basically did a no upgrade run of the game on his first playthrough, so (as he claims), he didn't have a ton of ammo that he could hold for each gun and thus didn't have the resources to "action movie" his way through many situations. That doesn't mean he used stealth on everything, either, but what he p basically meant is that there are plenty of stealth-possible segments throughout the game, and that it wasn't that hard to do stealth in those sections once you understood the enemy AI, but it is hard on AKUMU difficulty because they are much more aware of your presence than on Survivor.

Also, in case you're wondering why anyone would do that, it's because his channel relies on doing incredibly difficult walkthroughs of games, which is what people (including myself) subscribe to his channel for, so he makes money off of the views that he gets, hence why he has to be masochistic and get the guides out as quickly as possible. He actually commented that he can't wait to go back to the game after finishing AKUMU difficulty and play normally with upgrades so that he can just enjoy the game for what it is.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 07:44:04 PM
Damn. I, personally, would have done a normal run first, though if he still enjoyed it anyway, it's all good. I will say that I've never really had much more ammo at any point in time than can be held in your initial, un-upgraded stock, but of course that's made up for with damage upgrades and such. I'm only incredulous because, well, there only seems to be one or two moments per level where the enemies don't immediately notice you one way or another. Of course, perhaps he just means that he used stealth during all of these sequences - which would honestly be pretty damn hard even on Survival, I've tried myself - and I'm just misunderstanding what he means.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 08:19:27 PM
Looking back at the video where he said it, I recall him saying something along the lines of "the stealth on Survivor mode is actually pretty simple once you understand it, but the detection just isn't the same on AKUMU, so you literally can't stealth kill most enemies on this difficulty," which I may have misinterpreted as him using stealth throughout the whole game, when he actually just meant stealth in general for the sections that actually allow it. Either way, the bottom line is that, however much you may or may not be able to use it on survivor difficulty, you DEFINITELY won't be able to use it on AKUMU difficulty outside of the first few chapters and certain scripted events that might allow or require for it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 08:35:21 PM
Ah, that makes sense. I will definitely be trying Akumu eventually just to see how horrifyingly difficult it is, but probably not unless I can play it with someone else in the room to keep me sane.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 08:45:55 PM
At least you can use upgrades. :>
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 11:17:41 PM
Wow The Evil Within just got kind of bad... first there's a boss with tons of health and a one hit move that can activate without actually touching you, then you literally fight waves of enemies with assault rifles. This is some straight up RE5 shit and ungodly difficult. I actually yelled at the TV multiple times from frustration. I pray the game goes back to the way it was soon...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 11:24:53 PM
Was that chapter 14 by any chance? Because I remember TS17 saying that there was a boss fight that he was dreading in his guide from that chapter where the boss had way too much health (and keep in mind, he had no upgrades, to boot), and there were these little bug things that kept attacking him and eating away at his health while he was trying to fight the boss (which of course is just insta-death on AKUMU difficulty).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 11:28:54 PM
Nah, it was chapter 10. The boss itself isn't too hard once you figure out a strategy, it just happens to have a completely broken OHK move that ruined any sense of enjoyment I could have gotten from it.

I think maybe I just wasn't in a gaming mood today, though. Looking back on it, the level I'm stuck on with the gun enemies isn't actually that terrible, I've just been feeling bad all day and needed to vent. Should probably restart the entire chapter tomorrow once I feel better and give it a fair shake.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 11:42:49 PM
Well, even good games can have bad chapters. Like, I love NG2, but Heart of Darkness is and always will be a horrendous level. It's the same with The Library in Halo. It doesn't make it a bad game, but it's still a shitty level that I tend to skip on all of my replays.

As for boss fights, playing Gears of War on Hardcore or higher has gotten me used to bullshit. General RAAM was hard enough, but the Queen on Gears 3 is a fucking nightmare, and I'm not looking forward to fighting her on my replay. And while I haven't beaten it yet, I hear that Karn on Judgement is pretty goddamn infuriating since the fight has multiple phases and no checkpoints.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 17, 2014, 11:47:17 PM
I think it's a little bit of both. This is definitely the worst level in the game so far, but it's not really bad or particularly hard, I'm just sleep deprived and have a headache.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 11:42:49 PM
Heart of Darkness
:shit:

QuoteI hear that Karn on Judgement is pretty goddamn infuriating since the fight has multiple phases and no checkpoints.
I hate that, especially when each phase goes on for the length of a normal boss fight.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 17, 2014, 11:53:10 PM
Yeah, it's supposedly a good 15-20 minutes of fighting to take him down, so that's a long way to send you back if you fail. That said, it's supposedly more of a problem on. Insane difficulty, which I'm not playing on. At least on Hardcore in this game you get downed and have a chance to have one of your squad mates revive you, which to the AI's credit they usually put high priority on.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 20, 2014, 04:28:13 PM
Today, I used some Birthday money that I got from my cousin early (since he just happened to be visiting town and had to leave a few days before my actual birthday), and bought 3 games: Anarchy Reigns, Bulletstorm, and Max Payne 3, all for under $20 (including tax). And this is why I never buy games full priced anymore. Who cares if I'm playing these games "late" instead of when they're the new hot thing? I don't. All I know is that I saved $160 by buying them now compared to if I bought each of them when they were brand new. I'd say that's a great deal.

I could've bought The Evil Within, but like I said, I'll wait until after my exams are done to play it. Since it's a longer game, I don't really have time for it right now. I could play it in shorter bursts, but the problem that I've experienced with such games is that they aren't meant to be played in such sparse intervals. Just like with RE4, I need a time when I can afford to spend several hours at a time to sink into the game, whereas the games that I've got are all seemingly much more well-suited to being played in shorter intervals.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 20, 2014, 04:39:51 PM
I'll be eager to hear your opinions on all three. But especially MP3 since you're so big on the first two.

I've been trying to play Smash online but haven't been getting much outside of heavy lag. I got destroyed by RSW in a match as he was Rosalina and simply too good. You pair that with lag and you might as well just put the controller/3DS down. I got two matches that weren't so bad, but it seems random when I get them.

Still beats Brawl's online by a mile.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 20, 2014, 04:40:47 PM
Just warning you, Max Payne 3 is also quite long and has unskippable cutscenes that can run up to 20 minutes in length at times. Also, Anarchy Reigns' single-player campaign is not particularly good IMO. Not saying you won't like the story mode, but the multiplayer was really the only Platinum-quality part of the game. The bot match mode (MP simulator) is very fun, but it becomes a bit too easy after a few hours of practice. Still, it's probably worth playing if bought for cheap.

I probably would have suggested Nier over any of those games, but it's even longer and more engrossing than The Evil Within, so that might have been a bad choice right now as well. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 20, 2014, 05:08:34 PM
Yeah, I had actually considered that one, to be honest, but decided against buying it for the reason that you mentioned. I just can't do long games right now, or I'd I did, my experience would be ruined by having to play so little at a time that I barely felt like I was making any progress in them.

As for AR, I mostly got it based on what TS17 said. He's a huge fan of Platinum but only got into this game a few months ago because he heard that the single player was bad and because he doesn't really play multiplayer games because his "Internet connection is shit," or so he claims. That said, he claimed that he liked the single player better than what people gave it credit for, despite its faults. Either way, I got the game for less than $10, so I can't say that I'll feel ripped off if I don't end up liking it. I just hope that The Legend of Korra game that comes out soon is better, since it's by the same director of AR, and largely seems to follow its gameplay style with its combat.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 20, 2014, 07:01:23 PM
I played a little bit of Bulletstorm and Anarchy Reigns.

As for Bulletstorm, I was surprised by how far the prologue lasted. You guys all know that I'm not a fan of overly cinematic and scripted gameplay, so it was a but too long for me. Once I got to chapter 1, though, the game got a lot more interesting and allowed me to just have fun experimenting with its mechanics. I'd say that my only gripe with the game is that the enemy AI is practically non-existant, but that's not the type of game this is, anyways, and I wasn't expecting interesting enemies, but just interesting combat, which I've gotten so far, though hopefully the other weapons and upgrades can diversify it some more as the game progresses so that it doesn't become too repetitive.

With AR, I haven't touched the campaign mode or multiplayer yet. I just completed the tutorial. Mechanically, I really like the design of the combat. It seems very deep and nuanced, and since it's a Platinum made title, the controls are naturally super responsive, so just playing the game feels like a lot of fun. That said, I have yet to see how this will all play out against actual opponents to fight, whether they be human or AI-controlled. The quality of the actual gameplay pretty much hinges on that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 20, 2014, 08:22:57 PM
And I beat Circle of the Moon. That final boss was really tough even at level 52, but I finally made it through. Excellent game all the way through.

Next I suppose I'll play the follow-up GBA Castlevania.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 20, 2014, 09:08:03 PM
Would you say that COTM is better than SOTN? I was thinking of trying it, sometime, myself.

As for Anarchy Reigns, I played through a Free Mission and the first story mission. Something about this game's overworld structure where you have to find missions, and just the general feel of the game, really gives me the vibe of a classic Dreamcast game. It's like if you took Mad World and combined it with JGR or JSRF. It goes without saying that I find that to be a good thing. Honestly I like what I've played so far, but I suppose the game may get tedious and/or frustrating later on, if all of the complaints that I've heard about it are true.

One thing that I definitely don't like about the game are the button mashing QTEs. You guys already know that I can't stand QTEs in most games, and I ESPECIALLY hate ones that force you to mash buttons. Like usual, Platinum does that really fucking annoying gameplay mechanic that they seem to love but everyone else hates, where when your character gets stunned, you have to break your controller apart mashing on buttons to get out of it. They really need to stop doing that (seriously, DMC4's answer to this problem really should be used in more games; it's fucking brilliant). However, what's even worse is when you clash with an opponent when you're both in your DT states (I know that it's called something else, but I forgot what it was, and it's basically just this game's version of DT, anyways), and the game forces a QTE button mashing mini game on you. Either this whole goddamn thing is based on luck or inhumanly fast button mashing is required, because no matter what, I always seem to lose at it except for the couple of times I managed to get it to work to make it past the tutorial (which was hell to do). It just really takes me out of an otherwise excellent combat system. That said, so far this was a minor gripe rather than a major flaw of the game, so it doesn't bother me too much yet.

Anyways, I should mention that I picked Jack over Leo for this playthrough, if only because he's voiced by Steve Blum (making it 2 games which I'm currently playing where he voices the main character, with the other being Bulletstorm).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 20, 2014, 09:29:34 PM
My Poke'marathon is complete. Four games. I'm burned out. Back to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring Of Fates after months away from it. Relearning these awkward controls.

Also, pretty sure I gonked my 3DS thanks to Smash. The controls stick gets stuck and struggles to move around like there's gum in it. It won't stay in the center anymore and it's messing with any game I play. Ugh.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 20, 2014, 10:13:08 PM
I was just playing online with Rynnec in Smash and got kicked. Shame. I enjoyed getting stomped so much, too.  :P

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 20, 2014, 09:08:03 PM
Would you say that COTM is better than SOTN? I was thinking of trying it, sometime, myself.
Better than SOTN? I don't know if I can go that far. SOTN aside, it's the best Metroidvania in the series I've played.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 20, 2014, 10:27:11 PM
Yeah, SOTN is a classic, so it's hard to top, but I've heard some people say that COTM is their favorite Metroidvania, so I was just curious.

Oh, and speaking of AR again, I had to mention that one other really minor complaint that I have (kind one that's really not a flaw, but rather a personal preference), is how the block button is mapped to the right trigger, which also works for evades. I feel like. Ninja Gaiden pretty much cemented the left trigger as the standard block button in third person action/adventure games that choose to use them, as well as for evades. It's especially jarring since this game uses the light and heavy attack sort of combat structure that Ninja Gaiden basically made popular, so it just throws me off. I'm going to see if there's a way to change the controls, though, as it would feel much more natural for me to have the special attack remapped to the right trigger and the block/evade mapped to the left.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 20, 2014, 11:51:34 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 20, 2014, 10:27:11 PMYeah, SOTN is a classic, so it's hard to top, but I've heard some people say that COTM is their favorite Metroidvania, so I was just curious.
Off all the Metroidvanias I've played, COTM feels the closest of a mesh between the open castle style and classic Castlevania's focus on the whip and sub-weapons with a pretty good (not overly hard, just tough enough) difficulty. It feels like a healthy middleground even if it leans closer to the Metroidvania style.

I see this as being the best pick-up-and-play Metroidvania of the bunch. Though I will be playing through the others, so who knows what my opinion will become?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 21, 2014, 12:24:38 AM
I don't mind the button mashing parts in Platinum's games since they usually seem to be in there as references to the pummel moves from God Hand. Chalk it up to nostalgia I guess.

I do hate being forced to mash buttons to recover from being stunned though, in any game. It never really felt too problematic to me in P*'s other titles, but it's especially bad in AR.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 20, 2014, 09:08:03 PM
Honestly I like what I've played so far, but I suppose the game may get tedious and/or frustrating later on, if all of the complaints that I've heard about it are true.
It's not really so much that AR's campaign mode is bad, it's more that it's incredibly lackluster compared to Platinum's other games and the multiplayer mode - IMO anyway. Some of the missions were good, but I just never found myself having much fun with it, and many parts were either boring or straight up tedious. Also, the story, dialogue, and cutscenes were all generally awful, even by P* standards. That said, the BS is worth forcing yourself through if only for the amazing soundtrack and great boss fights.

Seriously though, play some of the multiplayer simulator mode. That's where the real fun is if you can't play online.

QuoteEither this whole goddamn thing is based on luck or inhumanly fast button mashing is required, because no matter what, I always seem to lose at it except for the couple of times I managed to get it to work to make it past the tutorial
You just have to be really fast. If you think the bots cheat when it comes to this mini-game, you should try playing online...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 21, 2014, 12:38:22 AM
I started Harmony of Dissonance. I've never played this one before, so here are some opening impressions.

This game is ugly. The sprites miss the simplistic effectiveness of COTM and move really chunky-like. The character sprites also miss the classic Castlevania design and look really muddy. The main character is a Belmont with a whip, yet he looks and plays like Alucard from SOTN, which wouldn't be so bad, if I was not supposed to be playing as the grandson of SIMON BELMONT, and therefore expecting to play a character who, you know, plays like Trevor, Simon, or Richter, or even Nathan Graves from the previous game. Yet he plays and looks like the son of Dracula who is not even human nor uses a whip. This is more than a bit jarring.

The game also seems to be trying VERY hard to be like SOTN. The presentation, the way saving works, the menus, the character animation. It's clear what it's trying to be like.

As it is right now, I'm not very impressed. I'll keep playing, because it probably gets better as it goes, but the first impression has been quite disappointing.

The music is not very good, either.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on October 21, 2014, 12:47:17 AM
I thought the AR's story was actually good (or at least the main Jack/Leo/Maximillian conflict), even if it lacked a lot of Madworld's humour.

And Spark, if Harmony ends up being too boring, I'd suggest skipping to Aria. The Chronicles of Sorrow games are very unique in that Soma is neither a whip-user or sword-wielder, but has a variety of weapons to use at his disposal.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 21, 2014, 12:51:24 AM
Quote from: Rynnec on October 21, 2014, 12:47:17 AMAnd Spark, if Harmony ends up being too boring, I'd suggest skipping to Aria. The Chronicles of Sorrow games are very unique in that Soma is neither a whip-user or sword-wielder, but has a variety of weapons to use at his disposal.
I've heard a lot of favorable opinions about the Sorrow games, so I'll definitely try that one. Which ones do you like the best, if I might ask?

I just discovered that Juste has Alucard's backstep move, too.

What the?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on October 21, 2014, 01:08:13 AM
My Metroidvania rankings would probably go:

Aria
Portrait of Ruin
Dawn of Sorrow/Circle of the Moon

They're all really good though, though I have yet to play Order of Ecclessia.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 21, 2014, 01:11:01 AM
OOE was the one I heard a lot of good praise for. It apparently had a lot in common with Simon's Quest except with an actual way to know what you're supposed to do. It was near impossible to find here so I never got to play it.

I take it you never played HOD? So far I'm just not feeling it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on October 21, 2014, 01:24:42 AM
Never got around to buying a used copy of it. Haven't heard anything about its reception either, be it good or bad.

One thing that I should note, however, is when Konami re-released the GBA Castlevania's in a pack, Harmony of Dissonance wasn't included. Take that as you will.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 21, 2014, 01:43:04 AM
One thing I like about it is that when you beat a boss, they drop an orb like the classic Castlevania games to give you your prize. That's something that would have fit COTM. Otherwise, not much to report on yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 21, 2014, 12:33:11 PM
Watched some footage of the Korra game. Man, if you hadn't told me this was made by Platinum beforehand, I wouldn't have even known. It looks like generic licensed fodder from the PS2 era. ...Still better than the Young Justice game, though.

Hopefully it gets better in the later levels, but seeing something like this come out of my favorite game development studio is a bit disheartening. Then again, most of their top staff were probably busy working on Bayonetta 2 and Scalebound.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 01:09:15 PM
You do realize that it's a download only game, not a fully-priced retail game, right?

It doesn't have as big of a budget as their usual games (not that those even have very big budgets to begin with), and is meant to be a smaller game that's only a couple of hours long and isn't as content heavy as a full-priced game.

I wouldn't say that it looks generic. I mean, can you tell me a game that looks just like it? The closest that I can think of is Anarchy Reigns, which as I said, was from the same director, so it's no surprise. As for the general look of the game, it doesn't look as grandiose and well-designed as Platinum's usual output, but part of that is because they have to stay faithful to the look of the series rather than going for their own look.

Anyways, I'm not expecting their usual quality from this title, obviously, but for what it is, it was never supposed to be. As a low-priced XBLA and PSN game, though, it can still be fun.

At any rate, I'm going by the notion that Platinum has never put out a single bad game since their inception. Anarchy Reigns is generally considered to be their weakest game, and even that game is just considered to be mediocre at worst.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 21, 2014, 02:15:39 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 01:09:15 PM
You do realize that it's a download only game, not a fully-priced retail game, right?
This isn't really an excuse. There are a lot of amazing cheap download-only games: Mighty Switch Force, Mega Man 9, Hotline Miami, Mark of the Ninja, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Rochard, Super Meat Boy, Cave Story (this one was even free on PC), Shadow Complex, Noitu Love 2, Shank, Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty (in America), the list goes on.

QuoteIt doesn't have as big of a budget as their usual games (not that those even have very big budgets to begin with), and is meant to be a smaller game that's only a couple of hours long and isn't as content heavy as a full-priced game.

I wouldn't say that it looks generic. I mean, can you tell me a game that looks just like it? The closest that I can think of is Anarchy Reigns, which as I said, was from the same director, so it's no surprise. As for the general look of the game, it doesn't look as grandiose and well-designed as Platinum's usual output, but part of that is because they have to stay faithful to the look of the series rather than going for their own look.
It looks like pretty much any other licensed beat 'em up out there, such as the Young Justice game (though that one makes Korra look like God Hand), the non-fighter Naruto games, that one PS2 Batman game, etc. The gameplay I watched was about 20 minutes of sloppy fight mechanics, linear brown corridors, and the exact same enemy copy-pasted tens of times. Like I said, maybe it gets better later on, but the combat looks about as interesting as stomping generic mooks in Anarchy Reigns, which got old to me after five minutes unless I was testing out combos on them for MP.

QuoteAt any rate, I'm going by the notion that Platinum has never put out a single bad game since their inception. Anarchy Reigns is generally considered to be their weakest game, and even that game is just considered to be mediocre at worst.
They have not, but that doesn't mean they're incapable. Anarchy Reigns at least has something it excels at (multiplayer), even if the campaign is mediocre by most accounts.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 02:43:02 PM
Quote from: Foggle on October 21, 2014, 02:15:39 PMThis isn't really an excuse. There are a lot of amazing cheap download-only games: Mighty Switch Force, Mega Man 9, Hotline Miami, Mark of the Ninja, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Rochard, Super Meat Boy, Cave Story (this one was even free on PC), Shadow Complex, Noitu Love 2, Shank, Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty (in America), the list goes on.

I didn't mean it was an excuse. I was referring to the production values of the game since you were commenting on how it didn't look like a Platinum made game. None of those games that you mentioned had big production values either.

QuoteIt looks like pretty much any other licensed beat 'em up out there, such as the Young Justice game (though that one makes Korra look like God Hand)

How? How do they look similar? I just looked up some of Young Justice's gameplay and they look nothing alike. It's like you're saying things just for the sake of arguing. How does anything look like this game's bending mechanics? Give me specific examples.

Quotethe non-fighter Naruto games, that one PS2 Batman game, etc.

Seriously, dude? Have you actually played or even watched any gameplay videos. Mechanically, those games look nothing alike. This game doesn't even involve any physical combat. It's all bending powers. You're just saying it looks exactly the same as those for the sake of arguing. For the record I've even played some of those PS2/XBOX Batman games. Saying that those look the same is like saying that Ninja Gaiden looks like Devil May Cry. Even if they are on the same general level of quality, they most certainly don't look similar at all unless you have absolutely no experience with melee-style combat games at all.

QuoteThe gameplay I watched was about 20 minutes of sloppy fight mechanics

How can you say they are sloppy when you haven't actually played the game for yourself? Going by that logic, Anarchy Reigns looks just as messy, but the actual mechanics are solid. It's a bit premature to say that the mechanics itself will be sloppy when you haven't even tried a demo or anything. Going by looks is one thing, but you can't actually knock something that you haven't even tried yet when it comes to how the gameplay is (as in responsive controls and actually understanding how the combat system even works).

Quotelinear brown corridors

I agree that the environments look boring, but honestly....I feel that way about most Platinum games, so it doesn't bother me as much. Hell, even God Hand had extremely linear and boxy corridors. It seems kind of hypocritical to knock this game for it.

Quoteand the exact same enemy copy-pasted tens of times.

Based on 10+ minutes of footage? Yeah, because that speaks for the entire game. Granted that, maybe it might not be that many enemies, but once again, it wouldn't be the first Platinum game that is guilty of this. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance barely had any enemy variety outside of its boss fights, either.

QuoteLike I said, maybe it gets better later on, but the combat looks about as interesting as stomping generic mooks in Anarchy Reigns, which got old to me after five minutes unless I was testing out combos on them for MP.

Once again, looks are completely different from actually playing a game. I'm not doubting that this will be far inferior to the usual Platinum quality, myself, but that's more based on how they were constrained to a much shorter development time with this game and how they have to make this one more casual to cater to fans of the series who aren't hardcore gamers. That doesn't mean that I think that they will be bad mechanics. Metal Gear Rising also had much simpler and more shallow mechanics than Bayonetta in order to be simplistic enough for MGS fans who wanted to play it but weren't that into hack n' slash games. That said, it still had plenty of nuance for people who knew where to find it. Once again, can you name me a single Platinum Games title that has had completely lackluster mechanics? The stuff you are complaining about just based on looks applies to other PG titles as well. For instance, TW101 looks like an absolute mess if you don't understand what's actually happening on screen. It doesn't mean that the game is mechanically bad. It's just a game that's meant to be played more than to be watched. It's the same with AR and MGRR. With AR I'm still experiencing it, but with MGRR, I honestly found that the combat looked like utter shit before I actually played it and learned the mechanics.

QuoteThey have not, but that doesn't mean they're incapable. Anarchy Reigns at least has something it excels at (multiplayer), even if the campaign is mediocre by most accounts.

Sure they are perfectly capable of putting out a bad game, any developer is. I'm simply stating that their track record proves that, even in the worst case scenarios, they know what they are doing, so I can always trust them to at least make a game that's mechanically sound and has some level of nuance for people who want more out of a game than just button mashing.

Will Korra be shit? Perhaps. But I find it incredibly premature to just say that an entire game will be garbage based on only 10-15 minutes of gameplay footage released for it, especially when you haven't even touched a demo or anything and tried actually playing it and seeing how it controls. If this game does turn out to be bad, it'd most likely be due to time constraints, but even MGRR had time constraints and Platinum still managed to work a decent game out of it.

And for the record, it wouldn't be the first time that you were wrong about a Platinum Game. I still remember when you said that Bayonetta looked like shit. :>
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 21, 2014, 02:58:46 PM
Looks like we must have seen different parts of the game. There were no bending powers involved the portion of the game I watched; I guess it was from before you unlock them, since I don't like watching mid-late game content in fear of spoilers. It was all intensely boring physical combat with minimal encounter or level design. It absolutely looked just like the games I mentioned.

Also, God Hand may not have great level design, but it has interesting environments at times, great pacing, and excellent encounter design. Throwing the same enemy at you five times over and over in copy-pasted corridors is not good encounter design. It is exactly like every other licensed beat 'em up ever.

The game might get better. Sounds like you think it does. I will definitely be buying it to support Platinum, so we'll see. Just saying that what I saw of the game looked like generic fodder.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 02:43:02 PM
I didn't mean it was an excuse. I was referring to the production values of the game since you were commenting on how it didn't look like a Platinum made game. None of those games that you mentioned had big production values either.
But I wasn't talking about production values. I was talking about fun.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 02:43:02 PM
And for the record, it wouldn't be the first time that you were wrong about a Platinum Game. I still remember when you said that Bayonetta looked like shit. :>
I said it looked sexist. I was wrong. I also said the combat was hard to follow in the demo before I played the full game and got used to it. Most people seem to agree with this.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 03:20:52 PM
Quote from: Foggle on October 21, 2014, 02:58:46 PMLooks like we must have seen different parts of the game. There were no bending powers involved the portion of the game I watched; I guess it was from before you unlock them, since I don't like watching mid-late game content in fear of spoilers. It was all intensely boring physical combat with minimal encounter or level design. It absolutely looked just like the games I mentioned.

Can you link me to these videos? And when you say physical combat, do you mean like actual punches and kicks connecting to human flesh? I mean, the game, like the show, features martial arts moves, but stuff like air, flames, lighting, water, earth, metal, and so on would be manipulated by those movements. In this case, the game features the martial-arts style moves but also has the bending powers coincide with them, so when Korra does a certain punch or kick, something like air or fire will spurt out and attack the enemy. I literally haven't seen anything else when it comes to the combat, so I'm not sure where you just saw raw martial-arts style combat in any of the gameplay footage. That actually is impossible since Nickelodeon has a strict policy of not allowing any "physical" violence on the show, being that it's aimed at kids, even though it mostly appeals to an older demographic of teens and adults.

QuoteAlso, God Hand may not have great level design, but it has interesting environments at times, great pacing, and excellent encounter design.

Gee, I didn't see that in the 10-minutes of gameplay that I watched. Perhaps it comes later on in the game....seewhatIdidthere :sly:

QuoteThrowing the same enemy at you five times over and over in copy-pasted corridors is not good encounter design. It is exactly like every other licensed beat 'em up ever.

Once again, based on 10-minutes of gameplay footage. And furthermore, no, that doesn't make it exactly like every other beat 'em 'up out there if the mechanics are completely different.

QuoteThe game might get better. Sounds like you think it does.

Actually, you were missing my point. I was skeptical of the game as well. I just don't presume to think of it as a piece of shit before actually playing it, and not even based on reviews, because both have proven to be deceptive in the past. I'm saying that I trust Platinum enough as a developer to give the game a chance, which is the entire point that I've been trying to make. I also made the very fair point that many, many great games look like shit until you actually play them. Anarchy Reigns, various Suda games, Deadly Premonition, God Hand (which I honestly thought looked like a generic beat 'em up until you vouched for it and told me it was great), and the list keeps going on.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 02:43:02 PMBut I wasn't talking about production values. I was talking about fun.

More than half of those games that you mentioned don't look like fun to me just based on looks alone. I honestly thought that Hotline Miami looked like a shoddy Freeware game until TS17 did a guide for it and said it was good.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 02:43:02 PMI said it looked sexist. I was wrong.

You specifically said that Bayonetta looked stupid.

QuoteI also said the combat was hard to follow in the demo before I played the full game and got used to it. Most people seem to agree with this.

It's kind of funny how you mention this yet don't acknowledge that it goes with my point of how looks don't always mean bad gameplay mechanics. In fact, to give you a specific example:

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance looked like a button masher with frequent annoying QTEs that came on at random before I actually played it. There is absolutely no what that you could know that most of the QTEs were things that you could physically set up and control for yourself, at will, by understanding how the mechanics worked, unless you played the game and learned how to do that. You also wouldn't understand the parry system without playing it. By just watching it, I thought it was a generic blocking feature, and didn't think much of it. I never expected that it would actually be something more skillful and one of the more fun aspects of the game's combat system. Certain things that don't look impressive or even look really stupid at first glance will look completely different once you understand how to actually use those mechanics, and the ones that require skill will even be satisfying to see once you master them. The bottom line is that I can't judge a game until I play it.

And I'm not making Korra out to be some sleeper hit or something, so get that notion out of your head. I simply think that it's silly to say that it's so "disheartening" to see this product come out of Platinum when you haven't even tried it. And even then, it honestly doesn't do a Platinum Games title enough justice to just play a demo. I really didn't like the Bayonetta demo, and I had so many problems with MGRR on my first playthrough, and it wasn't until my 2nd time through it that I really started to truly begin to understand and appreciate its design. So for that reason, I won't say that Korra is shit until I actually play enough of it to judge whether or not that's really true.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 21, 2014, 03:42:35 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 03:20:52 PM
Can you link me to these videos?
It was a stream.

QuoteAnd when you say physical combat, do you mean like actual punches and kicks connecting to human flesh?
Yes.

QuoteI mean, the game, like the show, features martial arts moves, but stuff like air, flames, lighting, water, earth, metal, and so on would be manipulated by those movements. In this case, the game features the martial-arts style moves but also has the bending powers coincide with them, so when Korra does a certain punch or kick, something like air or fire will spurt out and attack the enemy. I literally haven't seen anything else when it comes to the combat, so I'm not sure where you just saw raw martial-arts style combat in any of the gameplay footage. That actually is impossible since Nickelodeon has a strict policy of not allowing any "physical" violence on the show, being that it's aimed at kids, even though it mostly appeals to an older demographic of teens and adults.
It's the beginning of the game and they aren't unlocked yet I'm guessing. Unless the bending powers are completely meaningless and have no visual or audio cues, but from what I've heard that's not true.

QuoteGee, I didn't see that in the 10-minutes of gameplay that I watched. Perhaps it comes later on in the game....seewhatIdidthere :sly:
Except the literal first level of God Hand has like three-four different enemy types, a semi-open environment, real encounter design, and multiple combat options open to the player. All of this can be seen in videos, even ones made by bad players.

QuoteOnce again, based on 10-minutes of gameplay footage. And furthermore, no, that doesn't make it exactly like every other beat 'em 'up out there if the mechanics are completely different.
It was 20 minutes.

QuoteI also made the very fair point that many, many great games look like shit until you actually play them. Anarchy Reigns, various Suda games, Deadly Premonition, God Hand (which I honestly thought looked like a generic beat 'em up until you vouched for it and told me it was great), and the list keeps going on.
I actually thought all of those games looked good just from early gameplay by inexperienced players except for DP. I don't have high standards for games.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 02:43:02 PMMore than half of those games that you mentioned don't look like fun to me just based on looks alone. I honestly thought that Hotline Miami looked like a shoddy Freeware game until TS17 did a guide for it and said it was good.
And all of them looked fun to me immediately.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 02:43:02 PM
You specifically said that Bayonetta looks stupid.
Stupid because I thought it looked sexist and over the top in a bad way.

I don't know what to tell you, man. Bayonetta 1 aside, I've been able to tell that I would enjoy every single Clover/Platinum game so far just by watching footage of their first levels or playing demos. Korra didn't do that for me. And shit, dude, I even thought Drakengard 3 looked fun from gameplay videos. That title is the definition of lazy game design in all categories. I have some of the lowest standards for games imaginable. It's actually very rare that a game looks boring to me. I'm sorry for not watching more than 20 minutes of footage, but quite frankly, it rarely takes more than that for me to know if I'll like something or not; especially something from Platinum. Five minutes of Wonderful 101 gameplay changed me from a detractor into a fan, and my problems with Bayonetta were more aesthetic than anything else. I think every Clover/Platinum game to date has been immediately excellent from the first level all the way to the end (except for AR, where it was clear that the meat of the game was in the MP), so I assumed that Korra would be the same. Sounds like it isn't.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 05:08:02 PM
Quote from: Foggle on October 21, 2014, 03:42:35 PMExcept the literal first level of God Hand has like three-four different enemy types, a semi-open environment, real encounter design, and multiple combat options open to the player. All of this can be seen in videos, even ones made by bad players.

The first level is boxy as hell, has enemies that don't look like they behave any different other than just looking different, and as for multiple combat options, Korra has 4 different bending styles in all of the videos that I've seen.

QuoteI actually thought all of those games looked good just from early gameplay by inexperienced players except for DP. I don't have high standards for games.

Eh, I just thought that they looked uninteresting to watch, and I couldn't get a grasp for how well they would have actually played based on looking at them.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 02:43:02 PMAnd all of them looked fun to me immediately.

Some of those games didn't look fun to me at all. Perhaps I should have just decide not to ever try them based on that impression alone.

QuoteI don't know what to tell you, man. Bayonetta 1 aside, I've been able to tell that I would enjoy every single Clover/Platinum game so far just by watching footage of their first levels or playing demos. Korra didn't do that for me. And shit, dude, I even thought Drakengard 3 looked fun from gameplay videos. That title is the definition of lazy game design in all categories. I have some of the lowest standards for games imaginable. It's actually very rare that a game looks boring to me. I'm sorry for not watching more than 20 minutes of footage, but quite frankly, it rarely takes more than that for me to know if I'll like something or not; especially something from Platinum. Five minutes of Wonderful 101 gameplay changed me from a detractor into a fan, and my problems with Bayonetta were more aesthetic than anything else. I think every Clover/Platinum game to date has been immediately excellent from the first level all the way to the end (except for AR, where it was clear that the meat of the game was in the MP), so I assumed that Korra would be the same. Sounds like it isn't.

I wasn't impressed by most of those games at first glance, and I wasn't impressed by Korra either, but since I don't judge things based on just looks, it didn't really phase me since I figured that I'd try the game out for myself. But, whatever, you don't have to play the game, but you also don't have to be so "disheartened" by it, either. It's not like your favorite developer pulled a Team Ninja and went from excellent action game developers to the biggest joke in the industry through repeated fails. Don't complain to me about that until you get a Ninja Gaiden 3 equivalent with Bayonetta, and then have the company outsource their most iconic series to a terrible third party Western developer to give it a Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z equivalent. This not one of Platinum's bigger and more hyped up releases, anyways, and at least they have Bayonetta 2 to their name this month as well, if Korra turns out to be garbage. All I was saying was that I figured I'd give the game a try since it was from that developer. I acknowledged that it could be shit, but you always seem to forget that point and associate it with me defending the game, when all I'm pointing out is that I don't want to prejudge a game from a proven developer like Platinum just based on looks alone. I never actually said that it would or wouldn't be a piece of shit, but that I wouldn't make that call until I had enough time with the game to judge it.

At any rate, I'm done arguing about this. If you've already decided that the game is a flaming pile, than just avoid it. No need to force yourself to play a game that you know for sure that you won't like just to support a company that quite frankly doesn't even get that much support with its better games, as it is. As for me, I think I'll at least try a demo or something, and listen to the opinions of a few gamers who's opinions I trust. If all of that points to it being shit, then I just won't buy the full product. If it's at least decent, I'll give it a shot, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 21, 2014, 06:50:20 PM
i have gotten very far on mother 3. i am on the floor of the 7th magypsy.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 21, 2014, 08:04:36 PM
Dude, I don't even know why my opinion offended you so much. I didn't even say the game looked shitty, I said it looked like "generic licensed fodder," but "better than the Young Justice game." All that means is I thought what I watched looked like a mediocre video game based on a cartoon.

I also said "hopefully it gets better in the later levels," meaning that I was still willing to give it a chance, either by playing the game (which I'm going to) or watching more footage in the future. These are my initial impressions. Lots of people make forum posts about games after only playing/watching the first level or a demo of a game.

I also said it was "a bit disheartening," which is far from calling it the equivalent of Ninja Gaiden 3. I am a little disappointed that something which doesn't immediately grab my attention and appears to have such lazy early game design was made by favorite developer. That's it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 09:18:36 PM
I don't thing that it's lazy as much as it is rushed. Anyways, I anticipate that critics will most certainly rip it to shreds, but like I said, I'll just see what PG fans and maybe even Korra fans think of it. It'll probably be far inferior to PG's usual products, but it still might be worth experiencing in the same way that something a game like Genji is worth a playthrough.

Also, I wasn't offended by anything. I was just a bit frustrated that you seemed to be mistaking what I was trying to say in that one post I responded to, where you made it seem like I was vouching for the game, which I wasn't. I don't know if it's really good or mediocre or crap. I just meant that I still wanted to try it despite what it looked like from just watching. I don't know how I can be anymore clear than that.

Anyways, like I said, I'm not going to bother arguing about this, anymore.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 21, 2014, 09:22:09 PM
All Platinum games look stupid.

I thought that was part of their image? Stupid fun.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 09:28:23 PM
I just played through the first 2 chapters of Max Payne 3 today. It's still too early in the game for me to really judge it, but for what it's worth, I like it so far. While I miss the comic boom style cutscenes, Rockstar's script seems to have a good understanding of how to ham of Max's dialogue to just the right amount, without completely undermining the serious and more dramatic elements of the game's story. It's nowhere near as interesting as a story from Remedy, IMO, but for what it is, I'd say that it's far better than what you'd get out of most action games.

I also like how the game feels like a modern Max Payne game. It has all of the staples of the older game, but just adapted for modern gamers to enjoy as well. You have to take cover, so you can't play it exactly like the old games, but it's not a Gears of War clone by any stretch, either, as you have to move around and use the environment to your advantage just like in the old games.

The enemy AI is also impressive since I wasn't really expecting much in this regard. They effectively use cover, sometimes try to flank you, and in many cases will move around to better vantage points while you are stuck hiding from them in order to reload your weapon or just take cover from their fire.

About the only thing that I don't like so far is that annoying double-vision effect that comes up throughout most of the cutscenes. I know that it's supposed to represent Max's drunken state of mind, but it's just really gimmicky and is more distracting than anything else. That said,it's just a minor gripe, and the gameplay has been solid and fun so far, with just the right amount of challenge.

Out of the 3 games that I got, this one definitely gives off the best first impressions. I don't think that I'll end up liking it as much as the first 2 games, but as the third part of the trilogy, it's still a good game up to this point, and seems to be a worthy enough entry in the series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 09:30:39 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 21, 2014, 09:22:09 PMAll Platinum games look stupid.

I thought that was part of their image? Stupid fun.

Pretty much. They are a video game developer who just love making video games. Trying to be logical or impressive just goes out the window with them. They just try to make games that are fun.

Granted that, when it comes to the stupid part, that would probably apply well enough to their default difficulty settings, but they do have a respectable level of depth and nuance to their games on the harder difficulty settings.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 21, 2014, 11:13:12 PM
I figured out why HOD is so boring and COTM is so good.

HOD was Iga's first Castlevania as a team leader, basically this is the team that made all the portable Castlevanias. This was their first proper effort, and, boy, does it show. COTM was made by Konami's A-Team portable division who made things like Operation C, Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, Castlevania: Belmont's Revenge, and so on. It was also originally meant to be a Game Boy Color game. Basically, this team had a lot of experience with Konami's properties and their portable games were usually top shelf.

I couldn't figure out why they were so different before, but now I see why that is.

I just beat my fourth or fifth boss in HOD, and, wow, are they brain dead easy. Also, most of the rooms are just so boring with almost nothing to do. I'm glad they improved in later games, because this game is really not doing it for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on October 21, 2014, 11:42:53 PM
Doesn't the music also sound GBC-quality? That's one of the complaints reviewers noted the most when the game first came out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 22, 2014, 12:45:05 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 21, 2014, 09:18:36 PM
I don't thing that it's lazy as much as it is rushed. Anyways, I anticipate that critics will most certainly rip it to shreds, but like I said, I'll just see what PG fans and maybe even Korra fans think of it. It'll probably be far inferior to PG's usual products, but it still might be worth experiencing in the same way that something a game like Genji is worth a playthrough.
Yeah, rushed is probably a better description. They might not have even had an entire year to make it.

QuoteAlso, I wasn't offended by anything. I was just a bit frustrated that you seemed to be mistaking what I was trying to say in that one post I responded to, where you made it seem like I was vouching for the game, which I wasn't. I don't know if it's really good or mediocre or crap. I just meant that I still wanted to try it despite what it looked like from just watching. I don't know how I can be anymore clear than that.
My response may have come across as flippant, but I didn't mean for it to. I did think you were vouching for the game, and I was actually happy that (I perceived) you were, since it would mean that someone whose opinion I trust actually thought it became better after unlocking the bending powers.

QuoteAnyways, like I said, I'm not going to bother arguing about this, anymore.
I'm not sure if it even qualifies as an argument. Looking back, it seems more like we just have different expectations and standards for specific games, so that clashed a bit.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 22, 2014, 12:51:34 AM
Quote from: Rynnec on October 21, 2014, 11:42:53 PM
Doesn't the music also sound GBC-quality? That's one of the complaints reviewers noted the most when the game first came out.
Listening to HOD, track-quality aside, COTM sounds more 8-bit and HOD sounds much more sophisticated.

Obviously it doesn't matter so much now (Classic Castlevania thrives on chiptunes), but at the time when you heard what the GBA soundchip was capable of, it didn't sound very impressive.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 22, 2014, 01:57:35 AM
i beat mother 3 within this hour. uh...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 22, 2014, 06:17:38 PM
I just lost a ton of progress because for some reason they don't put any save points after bosses and an enemy stun-locked me to death because there is no frame of invincibility after being hit. Which means if an enemy pins you against a wall for any reason, you're dead. Oh yeah, and after beating that easy boss (everything in this game is easy, except when it cheeses you), I didn't get any sort of reward except to continue exploring this very boring castle. Hooray.

Why do people like this game? I simply don't see how COTM could be considered inferior to this.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 23, 2014, 07:25:40 PM
i started little samson yesterday. the game is hard but i've been trying to advance anyway because the game has a creative cast. little samson himself is like mega man with ducking, a faster rate of fire and wall climbing. he can even hang from ceilings and throw his rocks. the dragon is kind of like this game's version of tails but with fireball breath and lesser flying capabilities. anyway, years ago i only got past the initial stages twice but they were much easier this time around. the 2nd boss, not so much. i hate his 2nd form.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 23, 2014, 11:57:38 PM
beat mortal kombat tonight. that's 2 of the funniest games beaten in 2 days in a row.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 24, 2014, 04:10:57 PM
i beat the arcade ladder on mortal kombat today with kung lao. having a projectile using teleporter is the key to beating shao kahn. lao's ground hat is good at stopping shao's projectile animation.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 24, 2014, 05:47:16 PM
Beat HoD, the good ending.

Yeah, it pretty much stays the same the whole way through. It's a fairly dull game that's pretty easy, other than the lack of invincibility after hits, and the dual castle concept doesn't make the game feel any bigger. The good ending is pretty vague to get, too, since it's the only way to actually fight Dracula, and yet after all that, it's kind of a cheesy boss that is easily bested with Cross+Bolt combination and healing items. Since the game throws money at you, I entered the final boss with 50 potions and 50 large potions and still had $20,000 to spare.

Despite everyone saying this is a bigger game than COTM, well, it's not. For a comparison, I beat COTM at level 53 with 10 and a half hours of play. I beat HoD at level 47 with barely 8 hours of play.

Anyway, I'm done and will probably never pick it up again.

Up next: Aria of Sorrow.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 24, 2014, 06:06:44 PM
so you can fight dracula in that game? i remember the story saying there were 2 draculas and i ended up fighting neither.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 25, 2014, 02:15:02 AM
I'm nearing the end of The Evil Within now. Chapter 11 actually ended up being very good when I gave it another try, and the second half of the level was fantastic. For anyone who's wondering, I wouldn't worry too much about the game devolving into RE5/6 with a bunch of gun-toting enemies - you'll only be getting into firefights for about 30-45 minutes total out of the game's 15-16 hour run time. It almost feels like a giant piss-take on what Capcom did to Resident Evil, in a way.

The first half of chapter 12 was probably the only bad part of the entire game so far; thankfully, it only lasted maybe 10-15 minutes, and the second half of the level was pretty fun. Chapters 13 and 14 were fantastic. I honestly didn't have much trouble with the chapter 14 boss. It was a great fight IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 25, 2014, 02:37:45 AM
I've been playing Ring Of Fates in short, half-hour bursts. Can't take too much of this game at once. Not a good sign.

It also dawned on me that last year, I was miffed because Sonic Lost World and Assassin's Creed IV were coming out the same day. I blew about $100 that day. This year? There's two Sonic games. There's two Assassin's Creed games. All four come out the same day.  Frick, I am so glad I have barely any interest in any of them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 25, 2014, 05:25:40 PM
So, seeing as how Foggle and I were bickering about it the other day, I just thought that I'd talk a little about its reception.

Now, I haven't played it yet, but the general consensus from critics is that it's a piece of shit (as I predicted they would say), but actual fans of character action games seem to think that they are blowing it out of proportion and that it's a better game than what they are giving it credit for.

One commentator that I frequently listen to is TheSeraphim17, who regularly does guides for games on their hardest difficulty settings, and sometimes even no damage runs, which he has done for games like Bayonetta (with a Pure Platinum ranking on every stage on Hard mode), Resident Evil 4 (on Professional difficulty), and The Evil Within (on AKUMU difficulty with no upgrades or keys). What that essentially means is that, if nothing else, he knows his shit whenever he talks about games. He recently started his guide for The Legend of Korra (http://youtu.be/bu5ADIxNXN0), which according to him is not up to Platinum's usual standards, but he also claims that a lot of the criticisms of this game by critics are flat-out untrue, and that for what it is, it's a fun character action games with nuanced combat mechanics that make sense once you understand how the game works. His taste in gaming usually lines up a lot with mine, which is probably why I listen to him so much, so I'll probably give this game a try. I will. Nay that, he is a MASSIVE fan of Platinum, so his opinion can be a bit biased in favor of them, but when he says something like the combat is good and that the mechanics are solid, he has a reliability where I know he's not bull-shitting, considering that he understands the importance of those better than most gamers that you'll ever find uploading videos on YouTube. Another commentator that I listened to, Bick Benedict, also surprisingly liked the game, and in his case he's not a big fan of Platinum (he likes Bayonetta and Vanquish, but none of their other stuff). So considering that he's much less biased, that's the opinions of 2 people who I trust far more than any critics, so based on that, it seems like this game isn't necessarily a huge blemish on Platinum's great track record as most critics would have you believe (and quite frankly, it wouldn't be the first time that they bashed a game made by this development team). The general consensus is that it's no Bayonetta 2, but it's not supposed to be since it's made to be more accessible to general audiences. For what it is, it's a fun action game in the same way that a good but shallow beat-em-up is. It may not be as deep and intricate as their other games, but as a game in and of itself, it's competently designed and has nuance in there for those who care to practice with and get more skilled at it. That seems to be the general consensus among PG fans, anyways, and I just happen to believe them in this case.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 25, 2014, 07:18:00 PM
I read some comments from people who've beaten the game and it seems like the consensus is that Korra is kind of crap for the first hour or so, but once you unlock all your different bending powers it opens up a lot and becomes really fun. Unfortunately, that's a good fourth of the game that isn't considered to be so hot, but you can of course replay the first parts in NG+ with all the powers unlocked. So, sounds good to me, if a little below par for Platinum.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 25, 2014, 07:39:51 PM
Even then, you have to consider how bad this game would've been if it was handled by literally any other third party developer than Platinum. Basically, the consensus from actual gamers and not crappy journalists is that, at worst, it's a mediocre but perfectly functional character action game that is below PG's usual standards, but it isn't by any means a bad or broken game, which is what reviewers would have you believe (and which I've heard numerous people say is flat-out untrue). Also consider that the game was clearly made in under a year, and had an obviously low budget to work with.

Now consider what would happen if Activision just handed it off to any other studio. At best it'd maybe be semi-functional and completely uninspired, but most likely it'd just be a broken piece of garbage that had absolutely no semblance of fun to it whatsoever. Even with everything stacked against them, and even though the game clearly has flaws and lacks their regular level of polish, it's still amazing that PG was able to put out a respectable product with what little they had to work with. It's downright criminal that neither Nick or Activision are even doing the slightest thing to help promote the game. It's almost as if they just want it to fail.

Also, among other things that I've heard, a lot of people who've actually spent time with the game seem to agree that it is most certainly not a button-masher. As TS17 said, you can get away with mashing in the early stages, but after the first few levels you're going to get your ass kicked unless you know what you're doing, like in all PG games. Also, by seeing his gameplay along with his commentary and how he explains the combat mechanics, it's clear proof that the game's fighting system is actually very competently designed and has a legitimate logic to it.

I think what he said at the end of his chapter 2 video makes sense: the game is by no means a great action game along the likes of Bayonetta or PG's usual titles, and it has flaws, but it's also by no means a 3/10, which indicates a broken and completely unplayable game with absolutely no merit of fun to it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 25, 2014, 10:02:16 PM
why did they lock bending? that's just stupid.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 25, 2014, 10:48:34 PM
They just made it something that you unlock as the game progresses. It's not stupid, it's what every action game ever does. In DMC and Ninja Gaiden, you start out with only one set of weapons and limited techniques, and end up unlocking the rest throughout the story as you attain them. The bending styles are basically the same thing for Korra.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on October 25, 2014, 10:54:17 PM
Still kind of odd since Korra starts out the series with all of the Bending styles minus one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 25, 2014, 10:59:29 PM
Story-wise, she somehow loses her bending powers early on in this game. I should mention that Platinum didn't write the story for this, but they just had to comply with it for the gameplay, so that part can't be blamed on them. That said, aside from the first 2 levels being lackluster in terms of combat (which is a non-issue with NG+), you get your bending powers shortly after that and unlock them throughout the rest of the game. It's like normal video game progression.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 25, 2014, 11:15:55 PM
Anyways, I'm up to Chapter VI on Max Payne 3, and I'm starting to get the hang of this game, which plays very differently than the first 2 in terms of the action and strategies. In some ways it's good, but in others it doesn't feel as tightly paced as the first 2 games, partly because this game seems to love throwing tons of enemies at you, and forcing you to clear out every room while effectively using cover and bullet-time. While it is challenging and can be fun, it makes the game feel like an awfully slow-burn at times since you realize that you are spending a ton of time on just a single room, whereas I almost always felt like the action had a smoother pacing to it in the Remedy games.

The worst offender of this was with Chapter III, where I often died just from how overcrowded the rooms would get with enemies. It's the only chapter that I just found to be downright tedious and frustrating, so far. The rest of the game, though, despite my issues with it, has been pretty solid, and I've still been having fun for the most part.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 25, 2014, 11:31:49 PM
Also, so far, my favorite chapter has been Chapter IV, and the reason for that should be obvious. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 25, 2014, 11:35:30 PM
I love the first New Jersey level in Max Payne 3. Probably the best part of the game for me; Rockstar really nailed the atmosphere and humor of the Remedy games in that one. I agree with you about the gameplay feeling different and the pacing feeling slow. MP3 is great overall, but I just can't see myself replaying it over and over like I do with the first two.

I beat The Evil Within. I thought the last level was fantastic. I can see people getting annoyed at the final boss for being completely different gameplay-wise from everything that leads up to it, but it felt like a really epic battle from, say, House of the Dead, so I enjoyed it a lot. Even if you dislike the final fight, chapter 15 itself is tons of fun IMO. Some excellent arena design, a nice Silent Hill 2 reference, and a completely unique stealth sequence made it feel really satisfying to play. It somehow manages to be both the most cinematic and the most video gamey level in all of TEW. The ending is ambiguous and weird, but the story actually makes sense when you think about it, including the odd lack of emotion Sebastian exhibits throughout the entirety of the game. I wouldn't say it was well-written, but it was certainly entertaining.

My final clear time was around 16 hours and 40 minutes, and my death count was 69. Overall, I thought The Evil Within was an excellent game with some of the best encounter design, variety, and pacing since Resident Evil 4, though I do feel like it was a bit weaker than RE4 and REmake. The engine jank can really drag the experience down at times, and a couple of scenarios can be frustrating due to sparse checkpoints and one hit kills, but this is easily my favorite game of 2014 so far. It's clearly made for the type of person who misses what gaming was like during the PS2 generation, both for good and for bad. It's punishing, creative, intense, unpolished, but most importantly, fun.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 25, 2014, 11:40:21 PM
Glad to hear that it's good. Now go beat it on AKUMU difficulty. :sly:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 25, 2014, 11:41:16 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 25, 2014, 11:40:21 PM
Glad to hear that it's good. Now go beat it on AKUMU difficulty. :sly:
I will certainly try Akumu difficulty, but there's no way I'm actually going to beat it. :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 26, 2014, 12:07:54 AM
I'm not really good at Max Payne, but I really liked MP3. Just listening to Max talk is like music to my ears.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 26, 2014, 12:14:37 AM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on October 26, 2014, 12:07:54 AM
I'm not really good at Max Payne, but I really liked MP3. Just listening to Max talk is like music to my ears.
Yeah, his voice actor is the best.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 26, 2014, 12:19:03 AM
I'm so glad that Rockstar kept James McCaffrey as his voice actor. They almost didn't use him, but I'm glad that they went back on that decision. To me, he is the one and only voice that I will ever be able to acknowledge as Max Payne. I could literally just listen to him monologue for hours on end. He can make the most boring lines ever sound like they're straight out of a cool noir.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 26, 2014, 12:19:31 AM
One thing I also enjoy about the game is that they don't translate any of the language. I felt just as out of place as Max does.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 26, 2014, 12:30:24 AM
McCaffrey was also literally the only good (4-second) part of this (http://youtu.be/B4yK6LBCbSQ) piece of shit.

And yeah, it was good that they didn't translate the foreign dialogue to make us feel as out of place as Max did. I just wish that they didn't try to make us feel as drunk as he did, too. Seriously, that double-vision effect is so fucking annoying.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 26, 2014, 04:59:11 AM
i personally think he sounds like ray liotta in mp3.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 27, 2014, 03:22:08 AM
Watching some videos of Sunset Overdrive and wow this game just looks amazing. It's like if you made Saints Row more colorful and turned it into a platformer. Probably the most appealing current gen console exclusive I've seen aside from Bayonetta 2 and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Hopefully I can find some way to play it, but none of my friends have an Xbone and I definitely can't afford one, so it may have to wait a few years.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Speedy on October 27, 2014, 10:47:46 AM
Just finished Super Mario 64 DS with all 150 stars.  Whew.

Starting on Yoshi's New Island.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 27, 2014, 11:19:28 AM
Sunset Overdrive looks like JSRF with TPS mechanics integrated in with the platforming. That is of course a truly awesome combination, and it's one of the few games that I really want which is exclusive to the XBOXONE. To Microsoft's credit, they have at least 2 more games coming out that I really want to play, which are Scalebound and Quantum Break, from 2 of my favorite video game developers of all time.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 27, 2014, 12:32:52 PM
Quantum Break definitely looks awesome as well, and I'm sure Scalebound will be amazing. This time next year, I think all three consoles are going to be mighty appealing for me...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 28, 2014, 12:24:32 AM
Here's a good review of Korra where the reviewer actually seems to know what he's talking about: http://youtu.be/zAJoO9dmpP8
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 28, 2014, 10:53:37 PM
I'm replaying Donkey Kong 64 (going for 100%... yes, really) for the first time in nearly a decade, and honestly, I'm digging it so far. It does feel like an inferior Banjo-Kazooie at times, the five character gimmick isn't particularly interesting, and some of the mini-games are just awful, but I'm still having a lot of fun 76 golden bananas in.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 28, 2014, 11:17:27 PM
From what I've seen of the game, I never got why it was so hated even among Rare fans who liked the Banjo games. I mean, it can't be that it's a collect-a-thon that turns people off if they like those other games, so it would then have to be the gameplay, which from what I've seen of the game, looks perfectly fine outside of some frustrating mini-games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 28, 2014, 11:20:56 PM
You'd have to collect everything to understand why it's not so well liked. The game becomes the definition of tedious.

Quote from: Foggle on October 28, 2014, 10:53:37 PM
I'm replaying Donkey Kong 64 (going for 100%... yes, really) for the first time in nearly a decade, and honestly, I'm digging it so far. It does feel like an inferior Banjo-Kazooie at times, the five character gimmick isn't particularly interesting, and some of the mini-games are just awful, but I'm still having a lot of fun 76 golden bananas in.
:gonk:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 28, 2014, 11:22:50 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 28, 2014, 11:17:27 PM
From what I've seen of the game, I never got why it was so hated even among Rare fans who liked the Banjo games. I mean, it can't be that it's a collect-a-thon that turns people off if they like those other games, so it would then have to be the gameplay, which from what I've seen of the game, looks perfectly fine outside of some frustrating mini-games.
It definitely feels less polished than Banjo (apparently it was rushed?), but it's still fun to play. I don't find the character swapping to be that tedious since I just play through the entire level as one Kong before switching to the next one. It does feel a bit "less" to me than BK and BT in terms of level design, variety, and humor, but it's still a pretty good game so far if you ignore Beaver Bother.

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 28, 2014, 11:20:56 PM
You'd have to collect everything to understand why it's not so well liked. The game becomes the definition of tedious.
So far I haven't had any problems with tedium, but I'm only really playing DK64 while talking to my friends, so that might explain it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 28, 2014, 11:28:16 PM
i can't get past the first team in kof '94. in other news, i started up golden sun: tla again. got somewhere in it this time.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 28, 2014, 11:32:51 PM
My Pokemon adventures continue. I got a code in my email for the Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby demo today, so I'm messing around with that. I also decided to pre-order the bundle. I wouldn't mind Nintendo doing something like this for all future Pokemon releases, since I usually end up buying all the versions anyway.

(http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--jOJfTwI2--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/dcqgro7wl2l3zfg0zphz.jpg)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 29, 2014, 08:45:53 PM
Looks like The Evil Within is selling surprisingly well! Around 350,000 units sold in the US, 500,000 units sold in the UK (thus becoming #1 in terms of sales), and 130,000 units sold in Japan. Include digital sales on Steam and that's over a million copies! Seems Tango has nothing to worry about, and we'll probably be seeing more great AAA games from them in the future. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 29, 2014, 09:00:31 PM
awesome! this is the kind of triple a game that should succeed.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 30, 2014, 03:59:36 PM
I was hoping the DKC and DKL games would be out on the VC by now, but since they're not I've been playing a bunch of Smash 3DS instead.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Speedy on October 31, 2014, 09:21:37 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 30, 2014, 03:59:36 PM
I was hoping the DKC and DKL games would be out on the VC by now, but since they're not I've been playing a bunch of Smash 3DS instead.
I still don't understand what's so hard about NOA and NOE staying in sync when it comes to Wii U VC releases.  Why should one region get a game while the other has to wait for an unspecified amount of time?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 31, 2014, 07:37:06 PM
yesterday i tried beating quelagg on dark souls a few times and failed again. then i saw what appeared to be some object on the ground right before the white mist that leads to the quelagg fight. it was a summon sign. first time using one of those. i barely won that battle. it felt good to finally advance in the game. i rang the bell and went down. i got up to some lava tenticle thing and attacked. when it counter attacked, i immediately used a homeward bone so i wouldn't lose all the souls i acquired up to that point. lol and that's where i am at.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 31, 2014, 08:40:40 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on October 31, 2014, 07:37:06 PM
yesterday i tried beating quelagg on dark souls a few times and failed again. then i saw what appeared to be some object on the ground right before the white mist that leads to the quelagg fight. it was a summon sign. first time using one of those. i barely won that battle. it felt good to finally advance in the game. i rang the bell and went down. i got up to some lava tenticle thing and attacked. when it counter attacked, i immediately used a homeward bone so i wouldn't lose all the souls i acquired up to that point. lol and that's where i am at.
Only read this if you want help finding out where to go next
Don't go to the lava area next! I believe you're supposed to do that part last. Now that you've rung both bells, I would suggest heading to Sen's Fortress. You can get there from a path across from the bonfire near the first blacksmith in the game (the one by the church). At the end of it should be a gate that opened after ringing the second bell.
[close]
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 31, 2014, 10:27:32 PM
i stopped at don't go to the lava level. trust me, i was just checking the place out and planned on leaving even before i saw the monster in question. i've been wondering if that one gate with the 'mmm' guy next to it could ever be opened and now i am going to go see what's on the other side of it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 31, 2014, 10:35:03 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on October 31, 2014, 10:27:32 PM
i stopped at don't go to the lava level. trust me, i was just checking the place out and planned on leaving even before i saw the monster in question. i've been wondering if that one gate with the 'mmm' guy next to it could ever be opened and now i am going to go see what's on the other side of it.
:)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 02, 2014, 01:03:59 PM
yesterday i played dr. mario and tetris, super bomberman 2, shadow of the ninja, little samson, double dragon nes, metroid 1 and the legend of zelda. i haven't played the later 3 nes games in some years. especially double dragon, which i have played like once before. i have never beaten any of the games i listed.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 03, 2014, 10:39:27 PM
i also played more of circle of the moon on saturday. i feel stupid for not being able to figure out where to go without a guide, despite it being obvious. today i tried to get farther but got whooped again.  too many poison enemies. i also played more golden sun 2 and got a bit farther. lastly, i got to anor lando on dark souls. yes! now i got to figure out how to get farther by myself.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 05, 2014, 02:29:02 PM
i went all the way back to ceaseless discharge because i thought i missed something. i ended up stealing the gear there and then using a homeward bone to run. i went back to anor londo and finally found out where to go. that was borderline classic tomb raider secret area discovering to me. lol did they really expect people to find something so unclear.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 05, 2014, 09:53:18 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on November 05, 2014, 02:29:02 PM
i went all the way back to ceaseless discharge because i thought i missed something. i ended up stealing the gear there and then using a homeward bone to run. i went back to anor londo and finally found out where to go. that was borderline classic tomb raider secret area discovering to me. lol did they really expect people to find something so unclear.
If you mean the entrance to the large building
Spoiler
up the wall and through the window,
[close]
yeah. I had a lot of trouble with that one, too. :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 06, 2014, 02:01:51 AM
i actually found it surprisingly fast (the 2nd time i came down there, i believe, and after i dropped down and checked the perimeter of the building with the "elevator") i guess all my years of gaming paid off. i am glad i found it because since monday, gwydolin has been kicking my ass. i finally found another blacksmith, killed the firekeeper's murderer and got up to dragonslayer and whatshisname. hopefully after i finally beat them, i'll have enough to upgrade all the stuff i bought.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 08, 2014, 08:17:37 PM
i beat mother 3 and did the ending right so now i am watching the credits for the first time.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 09, 2014, 04:26:47 AM
I just beat The Last of Us. Overall, it was a pretty good game, with fun stealth/survival action gameplay reminiscent of The Evil Within (though I enjoyed the latter far more). The characters were fantastic and the ending was one of the best I've seen in the medium, but the story itself wasn't particularly special. It's a well-paced experience in spite of its relatively long run time, but the first three hours or so consist of an extremely slow "cinematic" slog that almost made me quit playing before it truly got going. Because of this, TLOU doesn't really contain much replay value for me, even though the Pittsburgh and Lakeside Resort levels are among the action-adventure genre's finest offerings.

So yeah, I liked it a lot. It wasn't the be-all end-all a lot of people have painted it as, but it's certainly worthy of the less over the top praise it's gotten, for sure.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 09, 2014, 10:19:51 AM
It looks better than Uncharted, at least, since from what I've heard, there are more actual options to you during gameplay, and it's not as fixated on having you play in only the way the developers intended, rather than figuring situations out for yourself. If I had a PS3, I'd probably give it a try.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 09, 2014, 08:16:24 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 09, 2014, 10:19:51 AM
It looks better than Uncharted, at least, since from what I've heard, there are more actual options to you during gameplay, and it's not as fixated on having you play in only the way the developers intended, rather than figuring situations out for yourself. If I had a PS3, I'd probably give it a try.
It basically plays the same as The Evil Within, only with better/more stealth and worse/less shooting. There are a lot of similarities between the two in terms of mechanics, actually, though the kinds of environments and enemy types/setups are completely different. I'd say there are deceptively few "automated" parts in TLOU - the first three hours are almost a glorified interactive cutscene outside of the scattered sneaky/shooty bits, but once you get past those early moments, it rarely ever delves into such territory again. Unfortunately, this makes the beginning portion of the game somewhat painful to endure even on your first playthrough, and has effectively killed any sense of replay value I could have gotten from TLOU. This is truly a shame, as certain levels later on are so good that I can almost see why it got 10/10 reviews across the board.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 11, 2014, 02:08:07 PM
i finally beat gwyndolin. i still had trouble dodging her soul arrows but for our last fight, she decided to use regular arrows. by that point, i could sometimes tell when she would fire arrows even before she rose. i just walked slightly out of the way of all or most of the arrow. then i did the jumping vertical slash and the 360 degree slash until i won. i also beat street fighter 3 with yun for the first time. it was also the first time i beat gill two rounds in a row. i believe i also halted his resurrection for the 2nd time ever (in round 2). me spamming dive kick really helped, lol, along with me mixing it up with combos. yun's ending was...uh uh...also, interesting contrast between his and ken's arcade mode. i thought urien was everyone's penultimate boss. i fought akuma (then just fought ryu instead since yun fighting akuma is suicide for me) and then hugo and yang before gill.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 11, 2014, 04:54:10 PM
and i beat dragon slayer and executioner earlier. it was easier after a couple of levels and using my brain.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 11, 2014, 11:28:11 PM
So I never got to finish playing through the Steam release of RE4 due to some weird crashing bug like five other people had. Now that I've gone back, suddenly the difficulty appears to have been nerfed beyond belief. Enemies are dying in one hit from the handgun and literally every baddie/box/barrel is dropping ammo, health, or money. I checked the save screen and it definitely hasn't switched me to Easy mode. What the hell is going on? Did Capcom randomly decide to completely ruin the game's challenge in a patch? Guess it's back to the PS3 version for me.

I really hope they don't pull something like this with the REmake HD port...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 12, 2014, 12:01:49 AM
Perhaps you should play it on Professional mode?

I'm not sure how they could make it too much easier, anyways. The XBOX360 version was already pretty easy on Normal, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 12, 2014, 12:57:14 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 12, 2014, 12:01:49 AM
Perhaps you should play it on Professional mode?
You can't play on Professional until you beat Normal. I was never able to finish the PC version because of a weird bug.

QuoteI'm not sure how they could make it too much easier, anyways. The XBOX360 version was already pretty easy on Normal, IMO.
I still don't agree with this. I think Normal mode in RE4 is one of the most perfect difficulty settings of all time. It's neither too hard nor too easy. It epitomizes "just right," for me.

Maybe the 360 version is easier than the others as well, I dunno, but enemies should not be dying in one or two hits on Normal, and item drops are supposed to be a lot sparser.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 12, 2014, 01:37:09 AM
It wasn't that they died in one or two hits on the X360 version, but rather that they were mostly super slow, and I always found a good spot to shoot them from. Also, I quickly discovered that shooting enemies in the legs was way more effective than head shots, since you could let them group together, knock more than one of them down with a spin kick, and then knife them to death before they could even get back up. It saved me a ton of ammo. Though, even before I discovered that (which was about halfway through the game), I was honestly never hurting that much for ammo.

In terms of item usage, I am naturally in the habit of avoiding them completely outside of health upgrades, if I can. I'll cave and use items sometimes, but if I screw up and don't feel like using an item, I just tend to restart and do that section over instead.

Also, this game is surprisingly lenient with checkpointing, IMO, so the relatively few times that I did die to actual enemies, I wasn't punished too severely for it. Other than that, I honestly had more deaths from context-sensitive moments where I either didn't react fast enough or couldn't figure out what to do in time.

As for the different versions, the HD ports were the same for the X360 and PS3, so the difficulty between those 2 should be the same. From what I've heard, they are somewhat easier than the GC and PS2 versions of the game, but the Wii version is generally considered to be the easiest version of the game due to the aiming mechanic with the Wii-mote.

I don't know. In terms of difficulty, I'm sure that Professional mode could give me a run for my money, but I didn't find Normal to be that bad. Certainly not Gears of War 1 (on Hardcore, which is that game's normal mode), Max Payne (without quick saves), or Vanquish levels of difficulty. Especially with Gears 1, which is excruciatingly hard on later levels due to how many enemies can easily one-shot you.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 12, 2014, 01:50:23 AM
I'm not saying the game is hard, I'm just saying I don't think it's particularly easy, either. It can be difficult for me to avoid enemy attacks sometimes, and I'm not very good at aiming, so I find RE4 to be a great experience on the default setting. I'm sure if I had played Gears single-player on Hardcore or Max Payne using a gamepad and without quick saves, I'd find the the standard difficulty to be easy, too. ;) I don't die too often on Normal anymore, but at least I can find enjoyment and feel challenged while playing the console versions. Whatever they did to the Steam release has made the game so easy that I can't even have fun attempting a personal challenge run.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 12, 2014, 01:56:48 AM
Well, with Max Payne, to be clear I do use quick saves, but I make a conscious effort not to spam them. I try to only use them where I think a checkpoint should be, like before or after a cutscene, or before a big firefight. That said, on my first run through the game I basically spammed them, which made it too easy, but I was a kid back then and absolutely sucked at games.

Perhaps calling RE4 easy isn't exactly correct, but it's more that I hardly die in actual combat on that game, whereas in the other games that I mentioned I've died countless infuriating deaths, but I also like RE4 more than those other games (except for Max Payne, which is my personal favorite TPS) because it's so well designed and just feels fun. Vanquish is fun too, but I won't deny that some sections are just more frustrating than fun, which is a problem that I just never had with RE4 on Normal mode.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 12, 2014, 11:07:22 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 12, 2014, 01:56:48 AM
Well, with Max Payne, to be clear I do use quick saves, but I make a conscious effort not to spam them. I try to only use them where I think a checkpoint should be, like before or after a cutscene, or before a big firefight.
Ah! That's what I do too. Except in the last three levels, where I've pretty much always had to save scum due to a massive difficulty spike. Thankfully, for my next playthrough, I've discovered why this is from somebody on the Steam forums; apparently, Max Payne has an adaptive difficulty system, and the better you do at the game, the harder it gets (this also works in the other direction, too). If you manage to beat large stretches of the game without dying, it becomes harder over time, effectively raising the difficulty slider up one notch after a set number of levels. If you can manage to get to the last part of Max Payne without dying, it basically turns into the highest non-timed difficulty setting. However, this system is bugged. When you die, if you choose to press F9 to quick load instead of clicking to reload your most recent save, it will never register as you having died at all across the course of your entire playthrough, and well, guess what I do. :lol: Since I'm not very good at Max Payne, I always keep getting killed and immediately quick loading after, so I've been effectively playing the last few levels on the hardest difficulty setting since my first playthrough.

QuotePerhaps calling RE4 easy isn't exactly correct, but it's more that I hardly die in actual combat on that game, whereas in the other games that I mentioned I've died countless infuriating deaths, but I also like RE4 more than those other games (except for Max Payne, which is my personal favorite TPS) because it's so well designed and just feels fun. Vanquish is fun too, but I won't deny that some sections are just more frustrating than fun, which is a problem that I just never had with RE4 on Normal mode.
That's why I think RE4's Normal mode is perfect! At least for me, it has a few tough parts and can still feel be a challenge, but overall, as long as you're actively attempting to do well, you'll always feel like you're making progress and not dying obnoxious cheap deaths. So it's not exactly easy per se, as it doesn't practically play itself or anything like that, but it generally makes you feel like a badass while still putting you in tense situations. It truly is one of the most "normal" difficulty settings ever. ;) I think Vanquish is mostly the same way, though a couple of the enemy types can be pretty frustrating at times. And The Evil Within, despite being much harder, still feels really fun and is almost never irritating due to well-balanced design.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on November 12, 2014, 12:03:05 PM
I hope they fix that. I was hoping to get RE4 on PC someday.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 12, 2014, 01:19:53 PM
i don't know what i did back then but when i started doom 1 and 2 a few years, i only used quick saves at the start of stages. the only exceptions were sometimes during hard stages or special parts like right before secret level exits.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 13, 2014, 10:56:12 PM
It's been a couple of weeks, but I finally got some more time to play and went back to Max Payne 3 where I last left off. I'm now on chapter 11 in the game's third and presumably final act. I'm honestly not too keen on the police enemy type, since most of them wear helmets, making skilled headshots considerably less effective. Also, I should mention how the animation-heavy nature of this game, while cool to look at, can be a serious hindrance at times. Sometimes it needlessly slows down Max's movements, causing me to take unecessary damage, and other times it causes me to lose those scenarios where you have a chance to kill the guy that last shot you before you die, so that you can revive yourself, and I've failed that sequence numerous times because Max literally took too long to aim his gun at the target due to the slow animation, even though I had my reticle right over the enemy. In other cases an enemy ends up falling down and I just kind of assume that he's dead because I'm literally too busy fighting a dozen other guys to confirm the kill, and then that other guy gets back up and takes me out when I'm not looking his way. When enemies fall down, it should only be when they are dead. And in general, I feel that enemies on this game have way too much health. I understand that it rewards skilled headshots, but so did the original games, and even then they still didn't require that many body shots to put a normal enemy down.

None of these are too major, but they are noticeable problems that obviously the different play styles of the first 2 games never had. Still, the game itself is fun, and I've gotten a lot better at it since back when I first started it and was getting my ass kicked at every encounter.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 14, 2014, 02:45:53 PM
this week on dark souls i got the lordvessel, became a princess' guard, killed the hydra, went to duke's archives, found the crystal ember, got killed by scaleless and thrown in prison multiple times and found some secret areas and mmm guy's daughter and got repeatedly owned by the tomb of the giants boss. luckily i went back to new londo ruins yesterday and figured out what to do there. after i got the seal key and drained new londo, i got massacred by the dragons. i came back pissed and with my dragonslayer bow and over 40 dragonslayer arrows. they all died and i recovered. i went on to lose over 30000 souls anyway though. i found the very large ember along the way. anyway, i traversed the white light there and went down the stairs. i ended up falling down the edge on purpose and dying. since i had nothing to lose and wanted my souls back, i went back, looked around and decided to fall down again but this time with the ring equipped. i thought i would die again but i noticed i was falling for too long then the game said i made it to the abyss. then i saw a health bar for the four kings. sheesh, when they said four kings, i didn't think they meant i had to fight them at the same time. i spent most of the time running around in darkness and died.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 16, 2014, 07:52:05 PM
i killed one of the four kings twice. i need to come better prepared. i did give andre the very large ember and leveled up my heavy crossbow.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 21, 2014, 02:31:56 PM
yes! around 1:25 pm today, i finally beat the four kings. i had to get the door twice when i was at the abyss so i turned off my game and restarted twice in front of the white light already recovered. i was hit by a ghost the last time i went down and i already used some of my healing stuff. i decided to go fight the four kings anyway. i ran out of (heavy) bolts but most of their health was gone so i two handed my sword and started swinging and to my surprise i didn't lose despite being surrounded by 3 of them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 21, 2014, 05:19:42 PM
aaanndd i beat nito about 30 minutes ago.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 23, 2014, 03:34:35 PM
I've done it. 101% completion in Donkey Kong 64. All golden bananas, small multi-colored bananas, battle crowns, fairies, blueprints, and (as far as I can tell) coins collected. After almost 15 years, what my six-year-old self thought impossible has finally been achieved. My opinions are mixed.

There's a good game buried somewhere deep within Donkey Kong 64, but the longer it drags on, the more you realize just how... lacking it is compared to the Banjo titles. It definitely isn't bad by any means, but it certainly becomes terrible at times. DK64 is proof that a game can actually have *too much* content.

While I was having fun at first (and at various other times throughout the later levels as well), on the whole, DK64 somehow manages to feel both lazy and overstuffed at the same time. In a good collecathon - like Banjo-Kazooie or Jak & Daxter - you generally spend most of your time exploring a level looking for new platforms to jump on, puzzles to solve, or unique mini-games to play that will earn you a reward necessary for further progression in the story. Along the way, you also pick up currency-like items to buy things, such as new moves that will enable you to do more main challenges. Unfortunately, Donkey Kong 64 fails to present the player with a healthy variety of things to do, and boredom sets in before too long.

One of the biggest problems with this game is the presence of five playable characters. There is literally no reason that Donkey Kong and perhaps Diddy Kong could not have done everything themselves, as I believe Banjo-Tooie has even more character techniques than this game... all of which are easily handled by a single character (two if you're feeling pedantic). You basically have to play each level five times, and collect 500 small multi-colored bananas in the process. This is complete overkill. 100 notes per level already felt like a lot in Banjo-Kazooie, but 100 bananas per character per level is just ridiculous. It forces you to backtrack through nearly the entire world every single time you finish it as one Kong, lest you consistently head to a tag barrel every two minutes (which is no fun at all). The worst banana collection is done via popping balloons; beginning with Fungi Forest, there is at least one per level that is almost impossible to see without either hardcore pixel hunting or utilizing a walkthrough.

But collecting all the small multi-colored bananas is more boring than awful; it mostly just amounts to busywork that should have been toned down before release. What's really annoying about DK64 is the godawful mini-games. There are, what? 10? maybe 12? of them, and you will play them all at least three times each. Not a single one of them is entertaining. They all utterly lack challenge, but many are still difficult due to broken mechanics. The music is the same every time, and it is grating. You will hear "Welcome to bonus stage!" over and over and eventually wish your ears could just stop working for three second intervals. Beaver Bother and Minecart Mayhem are among the least enjoyable and most poorly-designed things I've ever done in a video game. Each mini-game is oppressively timed, too, requiring the player to become perfect at performing menial tasks that could never hope to pass for fun gameplay.

The core platforming is usually enjoyable, but in the second half of the game, most of the normal challenges start to end in mini-games instead of properly rewarding you with golden bananas, causing the player to experience frustration rather than satisfaction at a job well done. And the ones that don't end in mini-games are usually dreadful in their own right, like irritating races that feel unfair and timed combat scenarios where the camera, frame rate, and knockback effect are more dangerous than the actual enemies. The game also a propensity for making the player do everything at least twice, including completing the original Donkey Kong arcade game, which is included for some reason, and cruelly made more difficult than usual. Hey, they had to reach 200 "different" challenges somehow!

The worlds themselves are actually pretty well-designed, especially Creepy Castle. They're fun to explore the first (and second, and maybe even third) time around, and the background music/sound effects are as infectious as you'd expect from a Rareware game. However, they all feel a bit samey in terms of feel. DK64 trades the cartoonish whimsy of B-K and lighthearted strangeness of B-T for an odd, somewhat dark mood. Every level after the second one is characterized by dismal colors and bleak atmosphere, with barren environments often bereft of anything resembling joy. (Even the first two levels have their moments of - for lack of a better word - creepiness, including the terrifying "GET OUT" sniper dude who made me and my friends shit ourselves in elementary school.) Unlike other collectathons, the world of Donkey Kong 64 doesn't feel particularly inviting, and isn't really one most people would want to explore. The lack of humorous dialogue and likable characters also makes it feel very lonely compared to other entries in the genre. All of this adds up to create an experience that's strangely oppressive and unhappy for a game ostensibly aimed at children.

The boss fights are generally exciting, if a bit too easy, but the final battle against King K. Rool is one of the worst I've ever experienced. He has five forms, and you have three minutes to beat each one. If you die, you have to restart the entire fight and watch all the unskippable cutscenes again. His first form changes near the end and tricks you into thinking you're supposed to do one thing when you're really supposed to do another, while his fourth one is prone to obscuring the camera in such a way that you may need a walkthrough just to figure out what to do. But the real shit show occurs during his third form. Every aspect of it is frustrating and borderline broken, and it's nearly impossible to beat without getting at least somewhat lucky. I haven't gotten this legitimately angry at a video game boss in years.

Overall, Donkey Kong 64 feels like a poor man's Banjo-Kazooie. The early levels are promising enough, and the core gameplay mechanics are fine, but the endless recycled content, frustrating mini-games, lacking presentation, and pointless character switching take what could have been a nice "Banjo 1.5" and run it into the ground by the halfway point. Even the grindiest RPGs rarely manage to wear out their welcome before the credits roll, but Donkey Kong 64 would have legitimately benefited from being about half as long. That said, it isn't really a bad game, just one marred by silly design choices in an ill-advised effort to extend its total playtime. Rareware really should have known better, and it's obvious that they learned their lesson by the time Banjo-Tooie released.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 23, 2014, 03:44:45 PM
Good god! You have both my congratulations and my sympathies for accomplishing that feat, my good sir.

Now 101% The Evil Within, which includes beating it on AKUMU difficulty. :devil:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on November 23, 2014, 03:51:38 PM
Mine too... though maybe a bit more sympathies from me... just kidding. :P

Honestly, I never even tried to complete that game. I just got the bare minimum amount of junk needed and then beat the final boss and shelved it. I feel like, for every level in the game, I always got sick of it and be so ready to move onto the next level, which I proceeded to play and got sick of before long. It's a cycle with no exceptions.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on November 23, 2014, 04:07:31 PM
Wow, that's an excellent write-up, Foggle! While I mostly agree with you, I did not have the same patience that you did for the game at all. All that backtracking and the lack of fun in the mini-games, no thank you.

But there is some competence in the game, and fun to be found initially. It just drags when you add in all the other characters, especially when the only real goal is for them to collect shit.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on November 23, 2014, 04:17:55 PM
It feels like they could have made five decent games out of it, but instead made one overly long bore.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 23, 2014, 04:25:44 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 23, 2014, 03:44:45 PM
Now 101% The Evil Within, which includes beating it on AKUMU difficulty. :devil:
Oh god... I think I might actually try once I eventually get the next gen version. We'll see. :D

Quote from: talonmalon333 on November 23, 2014, 03:51:38 PM
Honestly, I never even tried to complete that game. I just got the bare minimum amount of junk needed and then beat the final boss and shelved it. I feel like, for every level in the game, I always got sick of it and be so ready to move onto the next level, which I proceeded to play and got sick of before long. It's a cycle with no exceptions.
Quote from: Avaitor on November 23, 2014, 04:07:31 PM
Wow, that's an excellent write-up, Foggle! While I mostly agree with you, I did not have the same patience that you did for the game at all. All that backtracking and the lack of fun in the mini-games, no thank you.

But there is some competence in the game, and fun to be found initially. It just drags when you add in all the other characters, especially when the only real goal is for them to collect shit.
Yeah, it's not a bad game by any means, and the first couple of worlds are actually a lot of fun. The later levels have their moments as well, but the sheer amount of mini-games it starts throwing your way after you've unlocked all the characters makes the incessant item collection feel even draggier than it normally would. Really, I only decided to 101% this game because:
A) I never got the chance to as a kid, and I wanted to prove it could be done.
B) I've recently been revisiting and 100%ing my other favorite collectathons from when I was a kid, so I figured why not?

Quote from: talonmalon333 on November 23, 2014, 04:17:55 PM
It feels like they could have made five decent games out of it, but instead made one overly long bore.
Yeah. There really should have been no more than two playable characters.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on November 23, 2014, 04:32:54 PM
Quote from: Foggle on November 23, 2014, 04:25:44 PM
Yeah. There really should have been no more than two playable characters.

But then we wouldn't have the DK Rap, which is the best part of the game. :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 23, 2014, 09:49:38 PM
i was going to fight ceaseless discharge but got lost and found the mmm guy. what he said about the swamp made me want to explore it even more. i usually just run through the place due to the annoying poison. i found and climbed up some big branch into a big tree and...got one item. this made me think of that god of war secret i heard about with the empty room and two big statues. there's no way a giant tree just has one item. long story short, after awhile i made it to ash lake.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 24, 2014, 10:06:44 AM
And now I'm playing the SNES remake of Megami Tensei 2. (That's right, just Megami Tensei, no Shin here!) For 1990, the depth displayed in this game's storytelling and gameplay mechanics is almost unthinkable. Of course, neither really compares to what came later in the series, but the combat system holds up better than nearly any other turn-based RPG from the same time period, and while the dialogue is simple and kind of cheesy, the writing is surprisingly complex and mature. That said, this isn't the original NES version, but I'm pretty sure the remake doesn't really change anything outside of making the graphics not incomprehensible.

I also tried the original Megami Tensei, but that one's basically just a convoluted dungeon crawler with no plot, so I stopped after a couple hours. It was kind of fun, though.

Quote from: talonmalon333 on November 23, 2014, 04:32:54 PM
Quote from: Foggle on November 23, 2014, 04:25:44 PM
Yeah. There really should have been no more than two playable characters.

But then we wouldn't have the DK Rap, which is the best part of the game. :P
True... but what if it wasn't? What if DK64 was actually a worthwhile followup to Banjo-Kazooie and/or Donkey Kong Country? I think that would have been worth losing the DK Rap over. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 24, 2014, 02:05:33 PM
also yesterday, i played streets of rage remake for the first time in probably over 2 years. i first tried to beat the sor1 route as rudra to get the secret ending. i was getting used to playing as her and getting reacquainted to the game so i didn't fair as well. just got to the ship. also, i didn't know i had it on hard mode. i probably was trying to beat hard mode back then since i beat normal so many times. after that, i picked my main, adam and played the route that starts with sor3' 1st level. i didn't get my level saved right so i ended up messing up that playthrough. i i also bought beta max and volleyball. next time i'll solo as adam and plan on beating normal on each route and then hard and then mania.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on November 24, 2014, 02:24:36 PM
Quote from: Foggle on November 24, 2014, 10:06:44 AM
True... but what if it wasn't? What if DK64 was actually a worthwhile followup to Banjo-Kazooie and/or Donkey Kong Country? I think that would have been worth losing the DK Rap over. ;)

I don't know. I actually like the other Kongs. I think they could have made it work having five Kongs, but only having to do things one time instead of five. They could have made each Kong be playable in different ways (as they did), and just built a single experience that requires the combination of all five of them, as opposed to making you play through the levels one time for each Kong.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 24, 2014, 02:32:34 PM
i prefer it when games have multiple characters that you aren't forced to use.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 24, 2014, 02:45:59 PM
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition has one of the best optional extra playable characters of all time.

I also like playing as Jetstream Sam in his MGRR DLC episode, but Platinum Games missed a huge opportunity by not allowing him to be playable in the main game.

I've never been too keen on the extra playable characters in Ninja Gaiden games since they never feel as satisfying to play with as Ryu, with the exception of Razor's Edge, in which they all feel way better to play as than Ryu, but that's just a testament to what a piece of shit NG3 is, since in terms of controls, that's the worst that Ryu has ever been in any Ninja Gaiden game. Once I beat the main story for him, I literally just exclusively switched to using Kasumi for the remainder of my time playing that game before I got tired of it, which didn't take very long at all.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 25, 2014, 11:52:10 PM
i stopped ceaseless discharge.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 26, 2014, 02:09:09 PM
also yesterday, i killed the hydra at ash lake, joined the dragon covenant and got all the way up to red of chaos.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 29, 2014, 09:41:04 PM
i am enjoying playing duke nukem on come get some mode. it has the right amount of enemies for me. i started playing because i heard that the captured women say "kill me", drinking from broken toilets and hydrants and assault troopers can revive. also, i just found the peep show rooms in level 2. basically i havent been paying attention. lol
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 30, 2014, 02:28:59 PM
i started secret of mana early this morning.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 02, 2014, 05:01:29 PM
So, the Telltale Game of Thrones game just released today. I've been watching videos of it on YouTube, and the story seems pretty decent so far, but not quite on the level of quality of the show or the novels. Still, it has me intrigues to keep watching more, and the good thing about point and click adventures is that you can just enjoy them as a story and don't actually need to "play" them, as they are essentially made to be watched, at heart, or at least the Telltale ones are.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 03, 2014, 01:32:18 AM
mon. night or tues. early morning i finally beat red of chaos. i leveled up enough (97) to be able to take off havel's ring and use the ring of favor or whatever along with the steel protection ring. i believe that's when i got my hp over 1000. i used the sunlight maggot to find the covetous silver ring afterwards. yeah, i could have really used that earlier. i also got that four kings guard to see some light, got thanked by the fire keeper, found the fire keeper soul in anor londo and found someone dead.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 05, 2014, 02:19:51 PM
i got the chaos fire ember and joined the cat covenant. good to change covenants after giving the stone dragon about 2 dozen dragon scales and still staying at just +1 path of the dragon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 06, 2014, 09:29:31 PM
i think i am going to break.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 08, 2014, 05:57:22 PM
i finally beat scaleless! after i scoured the earth, found 4 different merchants i missed, among other things, i did it!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 10, 2014, 06:44:21 PM
i beat dark souls, got the to link the fire ending and the first thing i fought, got killed by and killed in lordron was the giant dragon in valley of drakes. awesome.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on December 14, 2014, 03:46:53 AM
Pokemon Alpha Sapphire. Somehow, being on the internet as much as I am, I didn't have the new version of Mauville spoiled for me. It caught me by genuine surprise, and I really like what they've done.

Though I'm guessing now that the Hoenn games' place in the timeline has been retconned? Not that the timeline of Pokemon has ever mattered but I have noticed some references to Kalos and some humorous throwaway lines about things being "different than they were ten years ago".

I also love the trainer portraits when battles start. The basically just recreated the old sprite designs and poses in Sugimori art styles, and I find those portraits fantastic. As for the main characters, gym leaders, and evil teams, I still find a lot of the redesigns a bit over the top and ridiculous compared to the originals.

Though Lisia can be as fabulous as she wants to be.  ;D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 18, 2014, 03:39:50 PM
I decided to take another stab at Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Huge step up from the original in every conceivable way. It's almost crazy thinking about how much of the Metal Gear gameplay was set into place with this game. It plays exactly like Metal Gear Solid, but in 8-bit and with the 2D restrictions. Whereas Metal Gear has aged badly, Metal Gear 2 is still a shining 8-bit classic.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 18, 2014, 03:42:17 PM
i need to check that out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 18, 2014, 08:19:30 PM
Campbell: Look in the software manual for the tap code instructions.

*Looks into the Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence manual. Sees nothing.*

Nice going with your ports, Konami.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on December 18, 2014, 09:10:59 PM
Wow, I forgot how hard Hard Mode was in Zero 1. I'm scraping by with B ranks.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on December 18, 2014, 09:51:32 PM
More Alpha Sapphire. The Eon Flute is the greatest thing ever and something like this should be included in every game here on out. There's a lot to say about the game, both good and bad, but overall, I'm enjoying it. Anyway, I'm playing the Delta episode and Zinnia, annoying bitch that she is, just dropped a bomb that Black and White had already hinted at.

Spoiler
All the games are canon. Each version is canon. They're all in different alternate universes. AS/OR takes place at the same point in time as the originals did (so yeah, the Hoenn games and the Kanto games with Red are still the earliest ones chronologically, then Johto/Sinnoh, then Unova and Kalos), but AS/OR are taking place in a universe where the war 3000 years ago happened and Mega Evolution exists. Generations 1-5 basically take place in universes where the war never happened and Mega Evolution never existed.

There are two versions of Unova, one in which technology thrived and one where old traditional ways prevailed. But people in Black City know about the alternate Unova's White Forest and vice versa.

The differences for AS/OR Hoenn are basically which team had the advantage of Zinnia helping them awaken the primal Pokemon. Otherwise, they're both evil. In the original games, one team is evil while the other is good, and in the Emerald universe, both are evil, but Zinnia has no part in it at all (and Maxie realizes that what both teams are doing is wrong first and it ultimately becomes a race to stop Archie).

In AS/OR, Zinnia stops the Mossdeep Space Center from warping the oncoming meteor into another dimension because it will warp into a R/S/E universe and destroy that Hoenn. She basically says as much.

So little differences, big differences, it's all canon. Red and Leaf are champions, Brendan and May are Norman's kid or Birch's depending on the universe, both Steven and Wallace are the Hoenn champion, and there is a version of Kalos without Mega Evolution or an ancient weapon that inspired Lysandre to create Team Flare in the first place.

My mind is blown.  :unimpressed:
[close]
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on December 18, 2014, 11:22:12 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on December 18, 2014, 03:39:50 PM
I decided to take another stab at Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Huge step up from the original in every conceivable way. It's almost crazy thinking about how much of the Metal Gear gameplay was set into place with this game. It plays exactly like Metal Gear Solid, but in 8-bit and with the 2D restrictions. Whereas Metal Gear has aged badly, Metal Gear 2 is still a shining 8-bit classic.
I don't think Metal Gear (MSX) has aged badly at all, but Metal Gear 2 sure is amazing. Probably my second favorite game in the series after MGS3.

Quote from: talonmalon333 on December 18, 2014, 08:19:30 PM
Campbell: Look in the software manual for the tap code instructions.

*Looks into the Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence manual. Sees nothing.*

Nice going with your ports, Konami.
I believe the tap codes actually were in the PS2 Subsistence manual, but yeah, Konami removed them from the HD collection's manual for some reason. It's almost as if they don't want to acknowledge the inclusion of Metal Gear 1 & 2 in the collection, considering they aren't mentioned anywhere on the box and you don't get any trophies for playing them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 19, 2014, 12:49:47 AM
Quote from: Foggle on December 18, 2014, 11:22:12 PM
I don't think Metal Gear (MSX) has aged badly at all, but Metal Gear 2 sure is amazing. Probably my second favorite game in the series after MGS3.

Metal Gear is still a good game, but it feels a bit too primitive now, I think. The gameplay isn't yet developed, and the enemy AI isn't much. It makes the stealth feel very archaic, with little substance beyond "Hide behind this wall". There were also some times where I had to look online to figure out what to do.

Metal Gear 2, on the other hand, could be converted into an 8-bit remake of Metal Gear Solid with some tweaking in the level design.

Quote from: Foggle on December 18, 2014, 11:22:12 PM
I believe the tap codes actually were in the PS2 Subsistence manual, but yeah, Konami removed them from the HD collection's manual for some reason. It's almost as if they don't want to acknowledge the inclusion of Metal Gear 1 & 2 in the collection, considering they aren't mentioned anywhere on the box and you don't get any trophies for playing them.

I think the tap codes were included in early Subsistence manuals. I got my copy a few years after its release. I looked all over the manual and couldn't find anything. In fact, it barely talks about the MSX games at all in the manuals. Seems like they lost the desire to acknowledge those games even before the HD collection. :P

By the way, I got up to that helicopter boss and took a break from the game for a day. I'm not sure if my bullets are even hiding that thing, and its missiles kill me quickly.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 19, 2014, 01:12:21 PM
Okay, so I was wrong about that helicopter part. I found what I needed to beat it by crossing the swamp. I guess I missed this before because, well, I already tried crossing the swamp previously.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 22, 2014, 08:10:56 PM
I beat Metal Gear 2 tonight. It did have some frustrating backtracking, as well as some typical "What do I do now?" 8-bit game moments, but overall I am very pleased. So now I've beaten the MSX games. Both are good. I may even return to Metal Gear 2, someday. I probably won't be going back to the first game, though.

I suppose I could play the NES Metal Gear games now. But I don't think I'll do that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 24, 2014, 11:43:55 AM
By the way, I have a question, Foggle.

Spoiler

Why did MGS3 explain how Big Boss lost his eye if MG2 already did that? We learn that he lost one of his eyes before the events of Metal Gear 2 (as well as other body parts), but we then learn that he also lost an eye during the events of MGS3. So, did he just lose it twice?
[close]
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on December 24, 2014, 12:36:29 PM
Nanomachines.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on December 24, 2014, 12:48:36 PM
Oh, I forgot to mention, I found a copy of Hyrule Warriors (UNOPENED, mind you) at GoodWill for $20. I still don't have a Wii-U, but I think I need to go back and get that for when I do.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 24, 2014, 02:24:10 PM
Quote from: Foggle on December 24, 2014, 12:36:29 PM
Nanomachines.

:oo:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on December 24, 2014, 02:33:44 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on December 24, 2014, 02:24:10 PM
Quote from: Foggle on December 24, 2014, 12:36:29 PM
Nanomachines.

:oo:
Kojima.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 24, 2014, 03:11:36 PM
True but MGS3 is one of the few games in the series with a good story, so it's weird that it made this goof.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on December 24, 2014, 04:02:58 PM
 :lol: I honestly don't know. Maybe he had a fake eye and fake limbs in MG1?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 27, 2014, 02:02:58 PM
Spark, how come you don't like MGS2, aside from the story and Kojima's style?

Unless those are the reasons why you dislike it, which is fine. I'm just wondering if there are other reasons.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on December 27, 2014, 02:49:01 PM
I know you aren't asking me, but the only thing I don't like about MGS2 is the storytelling. I actually think the story itself is very interesting - in concept - but the writing and directing are just completely abysmal IMO. The cutscenes are so long and numerous as to be painful. The gameplay is pretty damn good to this day, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 27, 2014, 04:07:19 PM
yes he is. mgs2 has some of the most fun stealth gameplay out there.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 27, 2014, 07:24:01 PM
Personally, I think the MGS2 story is just too convoluted and silly. MGS1 and 3 felt so much more simplistic and character-driven in terms of plot. I was just on the Wikipedia page for 2, looking at the summary to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything, and this passage sums up how I feel about the game's story. It refers to the end, just before Raiden fights Solidus:

QuoteRaiden is contacted by another AI, introducing itself as a representative of the Patriots, who reveals that the true purpose of the simulation was to see how well they could simulate and control human behavior in order to prevent society from dumbing down due to trivial information drowning valuable knowledge and inconvenient truths.

It's just a big "... what?" moment. And keep in mind the game gives this explanation in addition to the "the simulation was to create a warrior equal to Snake" idea, all while the game is throwing at you all sorts of other concepts. And there's no end to it because, as Foggle said, the cutscenes that this all takes place in are way too long (and without the ability to pause cutscenes). The final cutscene is, what, 40+ minutes? And on top of all that, you have to listen to Raiden's incessant whining, plus Rose trying to outdo his whining with her nagging. Seriously, Rose, the dude is trying to survive a mission and you're complaining about his room? :lol:

I also don't really like the characters, really. Aside from Rose and Raiden, I don't care for Fatman. I hated Vamp. I can suspend my disbelief for all the silliness Metal Gear throws at me. But seeing him running across water just made me wonder what I was even playing anymore. Also, he comes back from the dead. Then there's Fortune, or whatever her name is. The "She really is Lady Luck" moment at the end of the game was just cringe worthy. Again, I'll suspend my disbelief, but that's just too much.

So yeah, the story is my main problem. It's has problems, too, though. The Big Shell is a boring level and is a serious downgrade from Shadow Moses. And you spent nearly the whole game just backtracking all around it. I also don't care for the boss battles. Though admittedly, I didn't care for those in MGS1, either.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 27, 2014, 07:38:50 PM
MGS2 and MGRR are the only 2 Metal Gear games that I've played in full, and ironically both star Raiden. Not surprisingly, he's a lot more entertaining in the latter game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on December 27, 2014, 09:45:30 PM
Been playing Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker since I got it for Christmas. Pretty fun game all around, really like the puzzle solving atmosphere. The replayability does come from trying to complete the other goals in the maps and the hidden puzzles as well, which does help a bit since the game is pretty short. No wonder it cost like $40. Also, do kind of like how you can explore some of the worlds from Super Mario 3D World as Captain Toad himself.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on December 28, 2014, 08:08:33 PM
So since November I've been replaying all of the Assassin's Creed games in release order, seeing how they've held up after my initial opinions. After I beat AC3 about two days back, I finally got a chance to play Liberation for the first time (the HD port was part of the "Americas Collection" pack I bought for PS3). I gotta say, Revelations isn't my least favorite game anymore. Liberation is a snoozefest. The plot is boring, its pacing is terrible, New Orleans is uninteresting, the bayou is a nightmare to navigate, the acting is horrendous, the rewards for doing the little side content there is is never worth it, and (thankfully) the game is so short that you can blow right through it in two days like I just did. I get that it was a Vita game, but sheesh. Thankfully, AC4:BF is next on my agenda, and I love that game. And after that I'll finally play Rogue. And maybe Unity once I get a PS4, since by now it's been patched to hell and back and Arno should have his entire face by now, rather than just eyes, hair and teeth.  :gonk:

One thing I do appreciate that they did was allow you to replace Aveline's silly little hat with the traditional assassin hood if you wished. I did that and dyed everything white, because it's AC, damn it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on December 29, 2014, 12:22:33 PM
I made the mistake of being invested in MGS1's story when MGS2 first came out. That should be pretty self-explanatory.

Needless to say, it's not a bad game at all. But that was pretty much when I lost interest.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 29, 2014, 12:30:33 PM
It did seem to kind of change the perception of the series forever. People look at Metal Gear as the franchise with "a convoluted, nonsensical story" or "a cheesy, over the top style" or "cutscenes that take way too long". When did all three of those start? Metal Gear Solid 2.

(MGS1 did have long cutscenes as well, but 2 is where they nearly propelled into infinity in terms of length.)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 29, 2014, 01:28:41 PM
Too bad that was the first MGS game that I ever tried. To be fair, I'm not much of a fan of stealth, anyways, but perhaps I would have taken more of a liking to the series if I had started out with another game. As for MGS2, the gameplay itself wasn't bad, but I couldn't stand being constantly interrupted by long-winded dialogue-segments that quite frankly made no sense to me and did nothing to get me invested in the characters, and to be honest, it seemed to have too many "gimmick" sections for my liking (like having to listen for a metallic heartbeat or thst underwater section, to name just a couple). Normally I'm all for variety, but when a game throws too much at you and doesn't really give you enough time to get acclimated to one single recurring type of gameplay style, it tends to feel more frantic than fun, IMO. I just never really got that sense of learning all of the basic mechanics, and then combining them in advanced ways later on to get through tougher parts of the game. Granted that there was some of that, but not nearly enough, for my liking.

Believe it or not, though, there was a part of the game that I actually really liked and was even temporarily addicted to. The VR Missons. Much like Mission Mode from NGB, this mode smartly created pocket-sized sections of gameplay that just focused on core things like stealth or target practice, and in that simplistic yet challenging score-based approach, it was actually really fun, IMO. Ironically, my opinions. Are reverse when it comes to the other Raiden-centric MGS game. The main story mode in that is mostly excellent, at least in terms of gameplay, but the VR Missions are infuriating and poorly designed, IMO. Needless to say, though, I still largely prefer that game for the very reason that it's main gameplay focus is far more appealing to me.

One of these days I'll try MGS3 from the MGS HD Collection, although I'm not quite sure why that collection can't include the first MGS. I would assume that it must be some BS legal issue or something of that nature, but with what I'm not sure, because it certainly can't be with Sony if even the PS3 version lacks the first game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on December 29, 2014, 01:36:47 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on December 29, 2014, 12:30:33 PM
It did seem to kind of change the perception of the series forever. People look at Metal Gear as the franchise with "a convoluted, nonsensical story" or "a cheesy, over the top style" or "cutscenes that take way too long". When did all three of those start? Metal Gear Solid 2.

(MGS1 did have long cutscenes as well, but 2 is where they nearly propelled into infinity in terms of length.)
I think you can just compare the Twin Snakes remake with MGS1 and you can see a lot of the difference between the early series (MG1, MG2, MGS1, and Ghost Babel which was a throwback to it) and where the series went with MGS2. I prefer the more grounded approach of the early series. Fans and Kojima disagree. Oh well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on December 29, 2014, 01:43:07 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 29, 2014, 01:28:41 PM
Too bad that was the first MGS game that I ever tried. To be fair, I'm not much of a fan of stealth, anyways, but perhaps I would have taken more of a liking to the series if I had started out with another game. As for MGS2, the gameplay itself wasn't bad, but I couldn't stand being constantly interrupted by long-winded dialogue-segments that quite frankly made no sense to me and did nothing to get me invested in the characters, and to be honest, it seemed to have too many "gimmick" sections for my liking (like having to listen for a metallic heartbeat or thst underwater section, to name just a couple). Normally I'm all for variety, but when a game throws too much at you and doesn't really give you enough time to get acclimated to one single recurring type of gameplay style, it tends to feel more frantic than fun, IMO. I just never really got that sense of learning all of the basic mechanics, and then combining them in advanced ways later on to get through tougher parts of the game. Granted that there was some of that, but not nearly enough, for my liking.

Believe it or not, though, there was a part of the game that I actually really liked and was even temporarily addicted to. The VR Missons. Much like Mission Mode from NGB, this mode smartly created pocket-sized sections of gameplay that just focused on core things like stealth or target practice, and in that simplistic yet challenging score-based approach, it was actually really fun, IMO. Ironically, my opinions. Are reverse when it comes to the other Raiden-centric MGS game. The main story mode in that is mostly excellent, at least in terms of gameplay, but the VR Missions are infuriating and poorly designed, IMO. Needless to say, though, I still largely prefer that game for the very reason that it's main gameplay focus is far more appealing to me.

One of these days I'll try MGS3 from the MGS HD Collection, although I'm not quite sure why that collection can't include the first MGS. I would assume that it must be some BS legal issue or something of that nature, but with what I'm not sure, because it certainly can't be with Sony if even the PS3 version lacks the first game.
There was a full PS1 game based on the VR missions called, oddly enough, Metal Gear Solid: The VR Missions. I'm not sure if PSN has that or the original MGS, but if you ever get your hands on a Sony system with PSN or a way of playing the discs, I highly recommend playing them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 29, 2014, 03:07:33 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 29, 2014, 01:28:41 PM
Too bad that was the first MGS game that I ever tried. To be fair, I'm not much of a fan of stealth, anyways, but perhaps I would have taken more of a liking to the series if I had started out with another game. As for MGS2, the gameplay itself wasn't bad, but I couldn't stand being constantly interrupted by long-winded dialogue-segments that quite frankly made no sense to me and did nothing to get me invested in the characters, and to be honest, it seemed to have too many "gimmick" sections for my liking (like having to listen for a metallic heartbeat or thst underwater section, to name just a couple). Normally I'm all for variety, but when a game throws too much at you and doesn't really give you enough time to get acclimated to one single recurring type of gameplay style, it tends to feel more frantic than fun, IMO. I just never really got that sense of learning all of the basic mechanics, and then combining them in advanced ways later on to get through tougher parts of the game. Granted that there was some of that, but not nearly enough, for my liking.

I was a fan of the gameplay overall. However, I agree with hating the water level that you mentioned. I couldn't stand that part of the game. :wth:

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on December 29, 2014, 01:36:47 PM
I think you can just compare the Twin Snakes remake with MGS1 and you can see a lot of the difference between the early series (MG1, MG2, MGS1, and Ghost Babel which was a throwback to it) and where the series went with MGS2. I prefer the more grounded approach of the early series. Fans and Kojima disagree. Oh well.

MGS3 is my favorite in the series for many reasons, but I do kind of prefer the tone of MGS1. It had its elements that required suspension of disbelief (Psycho Mantis, etc.), but for the most part it was pretty grounded and based around technology. Watching the Pain in MGS3 crawling around trees and shooting out webs was maybe a bit too ridiculous, though admittedly by that point I was kind of used to that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 29, 2014, 03:42:19 PM
Speaking of MGS3, isn't it technically a prequel? Admittedly I know next to nothing about MGS's story-line, but isn't the game set during the 60's or 70's in MGS's fictional timeline?

What's with numbered sequels actually being prequels to previous games, anyways?

DMC does the same thing. Devil May Cry 3 should actually be Devil May Cry 0, and DMC4 takes place in between the 1st and 2nd games.

In the old school Ninja Gaiden series, NG3 takes place in between the 1st and 2nd game as well.

WTF, Japan?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 29, 2014, 03:44:37 PM
i was thinking the same about mgs and dmc. mgs 5 is a prequel as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on December 29, 2014, 03:49:45 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 29, 2014, 03:42:19 PM
Speaking of MGS3, isn't it technically a prequel? Admittedly I know next to nothing about MGS's story-line, but isn't the game set during the 60's or 70's in MGS's fictional timeline?

What's with numbered sequels actually being prequels to previous games, anyways?

DMC does the same thing. Devil May Cry 3 should actually be Devil May Cry 0, and DMC4 takes place in between the 1st and 2nd games.

In the old school Ninja Gaiden series, NG3 takes place in between the 1st and 2nd game as well.

WTF, Japan?

Yeah, MGS3 is a prequel. There's also 5, which is a prequel to 4... but also a sequel to 3... and the non-numbered Peace Walker which is also a sequel to 3.

That's why I like Resident Evil 0's name. There's no confusion in the fact. It's 0, the prequel to 1... though Resident Evil did already mess up its numbers by having RE3 be half prequel, half sequel to RE2.

But anyway, MGS3 being a prequel is a very nice thing, and it allowed the game to take place before all the convoluted plot in previous games. Might be one of the reasons it has the best story in the series alongside MGS1.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on December 29, 2014, 09:49:46 PM
Was able to stop my PC from burning the house down after five minutes of playing modern games, so now I can use my favorite platform again for the first time in over a year! Hooray! :joy: :joy:

Now I'm playing The Evil Within for a second time, and WOW the graphics and performance are so much better than in the PS3 version. I also think I'm actually loving it even more on my second playthrough.

After much deliberation, I think I really would pick TEW as my GOTY. Will have to try Akumu once I get to my third run!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 30, 2014, 03:29:56 PM
i failed to beat on the 4th route (sor1) with adamon normal on sorr yesterday. i am no good without a human or ai partner. i'll try again as sor1 blaze.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 01, 2015, 02:05:47 PM
Been observing my brother replay MGS1. While the script is still very strong as a whole, I do think there are parts that don't hold up especially well. Some lines just feel a bit forced.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 01, 2015, 08:00:10 PM
i have been enjoying hard mode on duke nukem 3d. now to check online to see where the first secret level portal is.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 02, 2015, 11:16:04 AM
launch facility was underwhelming. i forgot how big the abyss was.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 02, 2015, 04:57:23 PM
i beat battlelord within this hour, making him the first boss i fought and beat this year. i forgot how fast he was. how quickly he moves is kind of scary.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 04, 2015, 01:08:26 AM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 01, 2015, 02:05:47 PM
Been observing my brother replay MGS1. While the script is still very strong as a whole, I do think there are parts that don't hold up especially well. Some lines just feel a bit forced.

Now he's replaying MGS2. The Snake part at the beginning of the game is still great. And then...

Liquid's arm
Raiden
The Big Shell
Campbell talking non-stop
Vamp

All within the first hour of the Big Shell section.

:wth:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 04, 2015, 01:47:50 AM
i didn't mind the wackiness due to it being my 1st mgs. i also didn't mind raiden. it was something about the structure of the game that felt underwhelming to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 06, 2015, 04:02:41 PM
(http://lparchive.org/Metal-Gear-Solid-2-(Screenshot)/Update%2025/mgs2_36_9f7.jpg)

(http://lparchive.org/Metal-Gear-Solid-2-(Screenshot)/Update%206/mgs2.5_138_98a.jpg)

(http://artisticexpression.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/metal-gear-ray-mgs2-vita.jpg)

I would have posted a picture of Vamp running on water, but couldn't find one. I just don't understand how nobody in the development team laughed at this stuff.

And Rose just gave her speech about Raiden's room. Why, Kojima?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on January 06, 2015, 06:28:19 PM
Club Nintendo question: If I'm 180 coins from platinum status, and I spend 700 on those Smash Bros. posters, does that suddenly take me further away from platinum status, or is your status just how many coins you've earned in total, including the ones you've spent?

Oh, and Captain Toad came in the mail today, which is why I have the coins necessary for the posters, so I'm playing that.

EDIT: Nevermind, they don't subtract, so YAAAAAAY!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 06, 2015, 11:20:05 PM
Finally gotten around to playing Saints Row 4. Don't know why it took me so long, since I loved 2 & 3, but this one might just be my favorite. It's crazy how much the superpowers and always-on radio improve the game. With all the data clusters to find using your super jump and super speed, it actually feels more like a collectathon platformer than a GTA-esque sandbox shooter. The humor is really sharp, too, like the second game's was. Big improvement over 3 in a lot of ways.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 07, 2015, 07:59:46 PM
He finished his playthrough of MGS2, and I'm reminded that Ray is my favorite boss fight in the game (still not on par with some of the boss fights in 3, though).

But I have to say about MGS2 (and this goes double for MGS1), that I wish they didn't feel the need to make mini-games out of the final boss fights. In MGS1, we had a clunky fist fight and a clunky car chase. In MGS2, it's a clunky sword fight. None of these mechanics are relevant to the core gameplay. They feel like the products of other genres, and none of them feel as fine tuned as they would in those genres. MGS3's final boss fight is phenomenal, and one of the many reasons is that it allows you to utilize every ability you have gained in your journey, in order to succeed.

Ironically, the best mini-game final boss fight in the series was in the 8 bit Metal Gear 2.

But another thing I have to say about MGS2 is that the story had potential. I feel like the individual plot themes in this game are actually really cool. The problem is that, all together, it's too much to swallow. Perhaps this can be blamed on the presentation, in that the game deals with this information in extremely long winded cutscenes.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 07, 2015, 08:48:03 PM
mgs3 has the best boss fights in the genre, plus the greatest motorcycle sequence in video game history.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 07, 2015, 09:28:46 PM
Bionic Commando Elite Forces was released on the VC and I picked it up. I've never played it before, but man is it good. Only problem is I'm stuck at a boss fight with a guy in a rocket pack because he takes way too many hits and has missiles that keep seeking me out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 08, 2015, 05:30:28 PM
Hey Foggle, I remember a few months ago/a year ago/I forget how long ago, you said that the cost of upgrading PCs for future gaming is going to get so high that you might just abandon it, or something like that. Have there been any changes, or do you stand by that claim?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 08, 2015, 07:11:32 PM
Mmm, that was just me overreacting to how stupidly high the system requirements are for some games now. A lot of titles seem to "require" an i7 recently, which would be incredibly dumb, as - last time I checked - one of those processors costs about as much as a PS4 by itself. My processor is nowhere near the level of an i7, and yet, now that I have my new low/mid-range video card, my PC can once again run pretty much any game I throw at it on medium-high settings... including the ones where my computer *supposedly* isn't up to snuff.

What I'm trying to say is, the minimum requirements for PC games have been inflated a lot as of late. My system is by no means top of the line, and as far as gaming computers go, it's probably not even in the top 75%; however, I can run practically any game I want at my native resolution with graphics and frame rate roughly equivalent to current-gen consoles despite not meeting the minimum requirements on quite a few of them.

By the time video games actually require the bullshit minimum requirements publishers are telling us right now, I suspect that hardware will be cheap enough to afford. So, no, I've decided not to give up on PC gaming. :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 08, 2015, 07:29:05 PM
Glad to hear. I'm planning on sticking with it, too.

What I'm wondering is if I'll ever get another Sony console.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 08, 2015, 07:37:51 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 08, 2015, 07:29:05 PM
What I'm wondering is if I'll ever get another Sony console.
I need dat Ratchet & Clank, Yakuza, Bloodborne, etc., so I certainly will! ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 08, 2015, 07:42:46 PM
Metal Gear is a concern for me. However, being that 5 won't be a Sony exclusive in the way that 4 was, I think I'm in alright shape with that series.

EDIT:

Another question, Foggle. I know you're not the biggest Code Veronica fan. However, have you played the HD port? If so, how is it?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 08, 2015, 10:11:50 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 08, 2015, 07:42:46 PM
Another question, Foggle. I know you're not the biggest Code Veronica fan. However, have you played the HD port? If so, how is it?
I have only played the PS2 version.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on January 10, 2015, 10:54:20 PM
I beat Assassin's Creed Rogue this morning. As I have no PS4, and no immediate desire to play a disaster like Unity, that means... my marathon is done. I'm free. I'm fucking free. Now I can focus my attention solely on beating Captain Toad for now.

I also dicked around with some Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMIX afterward. I played through the tutorial, did some Destiny Island stuff, but I don't know if I really want to play the first game right now. Just not in a Kingdom Hearts mood.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on January 12, 2015, 12:18:20 PM
So here's a rundown of every Wii U game I've played up to this point:

Captain Toad -- Love it; it's cute as hell, and an absolute blast to play. I don't see this as something that'll have a ton of replay value in the future, but for the here and now I'm really enjoying it.

Game and Wario -- Ehhhh, strangely not as enjoyable as past installments to the series. And the weirdly off-putting "Gamer" mini-game.....I can do without.

Mario Kart 8 -- By far the most fun I've had with a Mario Kart since Double Dash; everything just looks so gorgeous, the roster is at its best ever, the Zelda DLC is pretty cool (hopefully the Animal Crossing stuff is just as good), the MKTV stuff is way too much fun.....it's everything that a kart racer should be and more. Right up there with Smash as my fav thus far.

Super Mario 3D World -- Really good in what little I've played; they took everything great about 3D Land and amplified it by 10. Although.....strangely enough the soundtrack isn't really doing it for me so far, and I tend to give most VG soundtracks the benefit of the doubt. I honestly thought the music in Land was way better for some reason. The gameplay is leagues better though, and in the end isn't that all we really care about anyway?

Super Smash Bros. -- Okay, what can't I say about this? Game of 2014 by far; beautiful to look at, the roster is at its closest peak ever (aside from the glaring omissions, which I've already ranted at length about.....but you can't have everything), the soundtrack is wonderful, the stages are leaps and bounds ahead of Brawl (don't care what any of you guys say, Great Cave Offensive is awesome).....I can't say enough good things about it. And it utterly and completely blows the 3DS version out of the water; it's a good laugh to go back and read articles from September/October last year and watch everyone calling it "virtually the same game". Pssh.

My biggest hope for Smash is that Nintendo really expands on the DLC; we're already getting Mewtwo, now just find a way to make Ice Climbers work (who even cares about the 3DS version at this point, if that truly was the sticking point to them not making the cut), add in a couple of other little toys like new stages and what all, and I'm good. But I suppose even if they don't, it's hard to complain; it's a pretty damn good game on its own.

Right now I have a ton of stuff to work through still; New Super Mario U (and Luigi), Tropical Freeze, Pikmin 3, Ducktales.....I just haven't had any time off to break into everything just yet. All in all I love it so far though; I've had more fun with the Wii U than I've had with a new console in quite some time.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 12, 2015, 12:32:10 PM
You've got a lot of good stuff ahead of you.

I just restarted Thieves in Time. I've only played the prologue, but it holds up. Certainly the best Sly game by far.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 12, 2015, 12:42:54 PM
I still need to play Sly 4. I can tell from the demo alone that it's the best in the series.

I'm only about halfway through the main story in Saints Row 4, but I've already completed all the side content (still need to find a couple more collectables, though). This game is so fucking fun. It's easily become my favorite title of 2013, and may just be all-time top 10 material for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 12, 2015, 03:28:10 PM
i enjoyed the demo as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 12, 2015, 04:02:32 PM
I'm in the planning process of boosting my gaming area. My television is dying down, and typically I have to play around with the cords for the volume and screen to work. But even that doesn't totally work. The screen tends to flicker a lot, and usually you can hear a light (sometimes heavy) fuzz. I'd like to get a flat screen HD television with some good sound. It probably can't be too big since my gaming area isn't especially big (the TV is between a door and a game shelf). I also intend on shrinking down my gaming station by unplugging as many consoles as I can. Currently my room is home to my PS2, NES, SNES, and Wii, with the PS3 currently situated in my living room for use watching Blu-Rays. I would like to unplug and retire the NES and SNES (as neither works especially well anymore, and they are just taking up room collecting dust) and relocate the PS3 to my room. I can also tell that my PS2 is dying down, so I will likely retire that as well, eventually.

A part of this plan is that I will probably sell a good number of games. This doesn't affect me too much, because I can play most of those games in ports on my more functional consoles (at the very least, most of the games that I could possibly want to replay someday are playable in newer ports). Even with a console as good as the SNES, it's old enough that its strongest games have been ported at least once. The main sacrifice will be losing my PS2, as it has its handful of games that haven't been ported. But like I said, I don't plan on losing that console yet, so I'll figure out that issue when I get there. And besides, doing the math, I could get well over $700 on used games. In a time where I need money, and in a time where I'd like to buy a new TV and labtop, those are very appealing numbers. And I have to confess, I'd even really want to sell my copy of EarthBound. I mean, yeah, it's a collector's item. But you know, that's the reason why I want to sell it. I have no personal attachment to it (I'll be getting a Wii U someday, so if I ever want to play this game I could just get it on VC for, what, $10?), as I don't collect valuable games for the sake of having them. The only reason I won't sell it is because my brother wouldn't want to.

So yeah, there is basically $700-$800 laying in my house doing nothing, sitting there for broken consoles that remain largely for nostalgia. Factor in EarthBound and that number could easily go beyond $1,000.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on January 14, 2015, 12:25:19 AM
Beat Captain Toad. A few of those last levels had me swearing my head off, but they aren't overly hard. I think I was over-thinking them in my head. And I love that ending. A nice little link to SM3DW. I might come back to it for the extra objectives eventually, but as I said earlier, this game is best served in short sessions, and I'm a bit burned out on it already. One thing I do wish was different about Book 3 was that
Spoiler
both CT and Toadette would be playable during that final level, and take turns taking out Wingo. Book one was Captain Toad rescuing Toadette. Book two was Toadette rescuing Captain Toad. Book three starts with Toadette getting captured, but she escapes partway through and you alternate between the two as they try to find each other. And then right at the penultimate level she gets captured again and the entire final level is just Captain Toad basically redoing the first Wingo fight.
[close]

Also, guess who got Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut in the mail today?  ;D I don't think I have as high an opinion of it as you guys, but I do appreciate the game in a "so bad it's good" kind of way, and the TBF Let's Play of it back in 2013 convinced me that it was worth owning; I was just waiting for the price to go down. And you can tell Swery was putting love into making the game, even if it did end up a charming hodgepodge.

There's also a bunch of anime weaboo bullshit games on the way. I've no idea why, but I suddenly had the urge to buy a bunch of NIS and Gust games and see how those actually are beyond the pretty anime game covers.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 14, 2015, 12:48:39 AM
on duke, I am at the level with the 2nd secret exit.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 14, 2015, 07:33:36 PM
Has anyone played MGS5: Ground Zeroes? If so, how is it and how does it compare with the rest of the series?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 14, 2015, 07:47:16 PM
I'm not going to play it until Phantom Pain comes out (I'm absolutely convinced that it will be included with the full release, somehow), but the general consensus seems to be:

1) The gameplay is excellent.
2) The production values are excellent (on next-gen and PC).
3) The story is handled well but disturbing and potentially offensive.
4) It's about an hour long and worth no more than $5-10.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: RacattackForce on January 15, 2015, 09:51:36 AM
Beat both The Swapper and Shantae: Risky's Revenge in the past few days. The former was a great puzzle game that made me think about the very nature of what makes one human, while the later was just some good platforming fun. The Swapper is currently free via Playstation Plus, so if you've got a Sony console, pick it up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 15, 2015, 01:28:40 PM
i played classic ninja gaiden yesterday. i got up to level 3 and stopped myself at 5 continues. i hate using infinite continues to try and beat old school platformers like this. on another note, i love the cutscenes. it's one of the only platformers where i actually pay attention to the story.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 15, 2015, 01:30:53 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on January 15, 2015, 01:28:40 PMi hate using infinite continues to try and beat old school platformers like this.

Why?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 15, 2015, 02:38:16 PM
Infinite continues is a legitimate way to play the game since the developers put it in there intentionally.

If it was something added in to make the game easier when the default mode did not allow it, then I would be a bit apprehensive about using it. An example of this is with Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition, in which I just had to at least beat the game once on Normal in Yellow Orb mode instead of the much easier Gold Orb mode, which gave me unlimited checkpoint continues (which I did have to use for DMD mode).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 15, 2015, 02:39:20 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 15, 2015, 02:38:16 PM
Infinite continues is a legitimate way to play the game since the developers put it in there intentionally.

Agreed.

If anything, I don't like limited continues.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 15, 2015, 03:04:56 PM
i have always preferred finite continues in non-world map/arcade style platformers because using infinite lives...well, feels like cheating to me. challenging myself like that is part of the fun for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 15, 2015, 03:09:22 PM
I think the typical way that unlimited continues are implemented is fair. Limited continues often just feels like tedious punishment to extent playtime. I just don't see any good reason for a game to make you do the entire game all over again if you run out of continues at the final level.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 15, 2015, 03:31:25 PM
The game still starts you at the beginning of the level if you run out of lives, rather than at the last checkpoint. That's punishment enough, IMO, since the game is balls hard enough as it is. The infinite continues only allow you to practice and get better at each level. They don't beat the game for you, so I don't really see it as cheating in the case of the classic Ninja Gaiden games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 15, 2015, 03:46:50 PM
i am just glad it starts me at the last sub-level.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 15, 2015, 05:18:51 PM
Some people reset their games after getting hit once in old NES games. Some people just like the challenge. Personally, I never do those kinds of challenges. If I want more challenge I just put up the difficulty or try a harder game.

Though I've also done a buster only run of every Mega Man game. So, what do I know?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 15, 2015, 06:23:56 PM
I've got early access demo codes for Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate. Does anyone want one?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 15, 2015, 06:25:17 PM
i feel bad for you. i still need to do a no auto-fire run.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 16, 2015, 09:15:16 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on January 15, 2015, 06:23:56 PM
I've got early access demo codes for Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate. Does anyone want one?
I'm not a big fan of MH, but my friend really loves the series. I'm sure that code would make him super happy!


I'm basically done with Saints Row 4 now. Got a few more things from the Christmas DLC pack to do and then I've 100%ed the game aside from achievements I'll probably never get. Overall, it was amazing, and has become one of my favorite games of all time.

Oh, and speaking of that Christmas DLC...

Spoiler
(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7dJEc9CcAAso-o.png:large)
[close]
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 16, 2015, 06:43:25 PM
The Boss' dialogue at the end of MGS3 is much better [than it already was] having completed MG2.

Spoiler

There is nothing more for me to give you. All that's left for you to take is my life, by your own hand. One must die and one must live. No victory, no defeat. The survivor will carry on the fight. It is our destiny... The one who survives will inherit the title of Boss. And the one who inherits the title of Boss will face an existence of endless battle.
- The Boss, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater


It doesn't matter who wins here. Our fight will continue. The loser will be liberated from the battlefield, and the survivor will live out the rest of his days as a soldier.
- Big Boss, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake


[close]
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 17, 2015, 03:12:45 PM
You guys know the cases that really old PS1 games came in? The longer ones?

These ones...

Spoiler
(http://static.gamesradar.com/images/mb/GamesRadar/us/Features/2010/06/Reboots/twistedmetal005--article_image.jpg)
[close]

Instead of the newer ones...

Spoiler
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61T3PRP64PL.jpg)
[close]

Do you guys know when Sony dropped those big cases? I always thought they were nice looking.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on January 17, 2015, 03:41:05 PM
The cardboard boxes or the jewel cases(which were similar to Sega CD games)?  I only have a few of the cardboard longboxes, stuff like Destruction Derby and A-Train, but I think they were discontinued after the first year or so.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 17, 2015, 03:46:18 PM
Looks like Crash Bandicoot, which came out about a year after the PS1, used the newer case. So yeah, it probably was dropped within the first year.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on January 17, 2015, 03:50:07 PM
http://www.game-rave.com/psx/playstation_perfect_guide/long_box/index.htm

Here's a list of all the longboxes and their variations/rereleases.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 18, 2015, 01:44:15 AM
So I want to finally get back and beat the final boss of Castlevania III in the near future. However, I have since lost my password for the final level. Should I just try to reclaim the password from online?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 19, 2015, 01:01:10 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 18, 2015, 01:44:15 AM
So I want to finally get back and beat the final boss of Castlevania III in the near future. However, I have since lost my password for the final level. Should I just try to reclaim the password from online?
I would. There's no reason not to.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on January 20, 2015, 07:20:33 AM
Club Nintendo is dying.  :( Spend'em while you got'em (even though the prizes have been pretty crap for a while now).

http://club2.nintendo.com/program-notice/
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 20, 2015, 08:44:58 AM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on January 20, 2015, 07:20:33 AM
Club Nintendo is dying.  :( Spend'em while you got'em (even though the prizes have been pretty crap for a while now).

http://club2.nintendo.com/program-notice/
:'(
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 20, 2015, 12:29:21 PM
I'll wait for those last surprises to go up in February, but I've got a lot of coins to spend.

I'm hoping the next program uses aspects of the Digital Deluxe Program as well as the prize system from early Club Nintendo. CN became awful in the last two years.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 20, 2015, 06:42:12 PM
Officially in the planning stages of getting a good HD TV for my gaming area. Afterward, I'll save up for a Blu-Ray player for my living room, that way the PS3 can be relocated to my bedroom and be used be used for games again, rather than just movies.

How good do Wii games look on an HD TV?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 20, 2015, 06:44:45 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 20, 2015, 06:42:12 PMHow good do Wii games look on an HD TV?
Bad.

Unless you play them through the Wii U, they look pretty awful on a HDTV.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on January 20, 2015, 06:52:43 PM
They don't look too bad using composite, but yeah I still prefer to play Wii games on CRT.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 20, 2015, 07:00:35 PM
I use my Wii with the composite yellow, white, and red cords.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on January 20, 2015, 07:06:04 PM
Those sound like the standard A/V cables.  For the best picture you can get out of your Wii, you want something like these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16868992004&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-General+Game+Console+Accessories-_-N82E16868992004&gclid=COrqvKTyo8MCFZSPfgodNiQAIA&gclsrc=aw.ds

Although I think if you aren't all that interested in playing GameCube games, it might be in your best interest to just invest in a Wii U.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 20, 2015, 07:13:45 PM
i started playing golden sun 2 again on friday and finally got past air rock. i know i fought every random battle on purpose but it taking me over 4 hours and 40 minutes to beat air rock's dungeon is ridiculous. then i went back to the garou village. i actually didn't know i had to go to air rock first. anyway, i came to garou to fight werewolves...and got sappy dialogue instead.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 20, 2015, 07:25:17 PM
Quote from: Comeau on January 20, 2015, 07:06:04 PM
Those sound like the standard A/V cables.  For the best picture you can get out of your Wii, you want something like these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16868992004&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-General+Game+Console+Accessories-_-N82E16868992004&gclid=COrqvKTyo8MCFZSPfgodNiQAIA&gclsrc=aw.ds

Although I think if you aren't all that interested in playing GameCube games, it might be in your best interest to just invest in a Wii U.

Thanks. I'll definitely consider getting those, once we get that new TV, since I do still play GC games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on January 20, 2015, 07:36:32 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on January 20, 2015, 12:29:21 PM
I'll wait for those last surprises to go up in February, but I've got a lot of coins to spend.

I'm hoping the next program uses aspects of the Digital Deluxe Program as well as the prize system from early Club Nintendo. CN became awful in the last two years.

That's my plan as well. I'm gonna wait to see what CN is offering in February and see what I can spend my coins on. That and curious about the next program they have in stores.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 21, 2015, 08:13:41 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on January 20, 2015, 06:44:45 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 20, 2015, 06:42:12 PMHow good do Wii games look on an HD TV?
Bad.

Unless you play them through the Wii U, they look pretty awful on a HDTV.
The Wii looks just fine on an HDTV if you use Component cables. You can buy some for around $5.

Hell, even the PS2 ain't bad on an HDTV if you've got S-Video.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 21, 2015, 09:04:35 AM
Fun Fact: I've hooked up my N64 and played Ocarina of Time on an HDTV. Even with the expanded ratio for widescreen, the game looked just fine, and the textures were even a little clearer than they appeared on any SDTV.  That said, this was a bulky older model Sony HDTV (we're talking about 2005, here), so it's likely that it was built with SD video in mind, since this was still before last-gen consoles came out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on January 21, 2015, 09:35:23 AM
Was it a flat panel TV or a CRT HDTV?  If it was flat panel, you might have been using S-video, which would make it look alright.  Or it may have been a plasma display, which would look better than a LCD TV. 

N64, and really anything from that generation, are notorious for looking awful on LCD TVs(8 and 16 bit games for the most part look fine, however the input lag is another issue).  There is a bit of a movement towards using an upscaler to play them on HDTV's, but I haven't messed with any of those to know how well they work.  If you have the space I advocate getting a CRT, since they are dirt cheap/in many cases free; I have a 19" JVC that I got for free that I use for my retro gaming needs and it works great, but I've also got the room for it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 21, 2015, 10:36:15 AM
I'm not familiar with all of the technical details, but it definitely wasn't an SD flat-panel TV. It was a 55" widescreen Sony HDTV, and it even had the HD AV cable pin ports that you would only see with HDTVs. I don't know if it qualifies as having LCD or not, but the picture quality in general isn't nearly as sharp as you see on more current model HDTVs.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 21, 2015, 11:01:05 AM
I only own an LCD TV, and I have no problems playing my N64 and Dreamcast on it via Composite A/V cables. They look fine once I crank up the brightness, and I don't really notice any input lag.

Then again, I'm also the kind of person who doesn't notice/care about widescreen stretching on 4:3 games (except Max Payne 1 & 2... those look awful when stretched), so maybe I'm not the best person to listen to.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 21, 2015, 04:51:32 PM
Got an HD TV and it's all set up!

It's 32 inch (that's about the biggest I can fit in my room, and it was on sale).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 21, 2015, 06:28:23 PM
Been replaying Shadow Wars on the 3DS at a higher difficulty. I'm still likely to believe this is the best launch game for the system.

Shame they never made a sequel.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 21, 2015, 08:02:59 PM
Interestingly, PS1 games looked fine on my PS2. But on the PS3 they looked atrocious. Fortunately the system gives you the ability to smooth PS1 games out, which I think actually removes some of the textures, but it looks fine now.

N64 games look fine on my Wii (with composite cords), as did Wii games. I might need to pick up speakers. When I tried Super Mario Galaxy, it looked good, but the Good Egg Galaxy theme seemed held back.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 21, 2015, 08:24:52 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 21, 2015, 08:02:59 PM
Interestingly, PS1 games looked fine on my PS2. But on the PS3 they looked atrocious. Fortunately the system gives you the ability to smooth PS1 games out, which I think actually removes some of the textures, but it looks fine now.
Is your PS2 an older one? This could be because the fat PS2 actually has a PS1 chip built into it, while later models and PS3s only emulate PS1 games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 21, 2015, 08:41:12 PM
Quote from: Foggle on January 21, 2015, 08:24:52 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 21, 2015, 08:02:59 PM
Interestingly, PS1 games looked fine on my PS2. But on the PS3 they looked atrocious. Fortunately the system gives you the ability to smooth PS1 games out, which I think actually removes some of the textures, but it looks fine now.
Is your PS2 an older one? This could be because the fat PS2 actually has a PS1 chip built into it, while later models and PS3s only emulate PS1 games.

I've actually got a slim PS2.

I should say that it wasn't entirely true when I claimed it looks "fine". I could definitely notice some graphical blemishes. It was just much more obvious on PS3.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on January 23, 2015, 06:48:07 PM
I played HuniePop and I regret nothing! It's basically Bejeweled with VN elements. Kind of wished they did more with the VN aspects, but I did hear the developer and the writer had a bit of a falling out, so I'm guessing why that aspect is lacking a little bit, aka, why we don't have routes and stuff. I'm sure I would have played it more for that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 29, 2015, 05:40:34 PM
Code Name STEAM demo is up on the eshop. Currently downloading.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 29, 2015, 08:13:23 PM
on golden sun the lost age, i beat the champa a few days and...i cannot figure out how to fix the ship. (don't tell me, i'll do it the hard way.) so i went back to madra, i think and they were attacked so i went back up the continent expecting to see the guys who robbed them. i was at least half thinking about trying to figure out how to get the psyenergy to move ropes and went to the temple i gave up on early on. ...i feel stupid for giving up on the first floor. i oneshotted most of the enemies and the bosses did 1 or 2 hp damage...it was so obvious that i should have been here earlier. they shouldn't have made this seem like an unimportant side mission though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 29, 2015, 09:33:48 PM
The Code Name S.T.E.A.M. demo is so good. If you have a 3DS, you've just got to try it. It has stealth, tactics, Silver Age goodness, and John Henry lobbing Bear Grenades.

It's like they made this game specifically for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 30, 2015, 02:28:22 PM
So how exactly does moving Virtual Console games from your Wii onto a Wii U work? Like, does it cost any money? And how does the controller support work?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 03:28:34 PM
You use a free file transfer program that can be downloaded from the Wii/Wii U eShop, then copy your files to and from a flash drive.

All Wii controllers work with the Wii U, but GameCube controller support requires both a separate adapter and some homebrew software. You can also use homebrew to enable GameCube game support.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 30, 2015, 03:42:56 PM
Quote from: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 03:28:34 PM
You use a free file transfer program that can be downloaded from the Wii/Wii U eShop, then copy your files to and from a flash drive.

All Wii controllers work with the Wii U, but GameCube controller support requires both a separate adapter and some homebrew software. You can also use homebrew to enable GameCube game support.

How about the Wii U Pro Controller. Does that work?

Nintendo really should set up GameCube games for the Wii U VC. But from the sound of things, they aren't going to do that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 03:51:18 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 30, 2015, 03:42:56 PM
How about the Wii U Pro Controller. Does that work?
No. You can only use Wii controllers to play Wii games. (And the GameCube controller with homebrew/adapter.)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 30, 2015, 03:53:29 PM
Quote from: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 03:51:18 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 30, 2015, 03:42:56 PM
How about the Wii U Pro Controller. Does that work?
No. You can only use Wii controllers to play Wii games. (And the GameCube controller with homebrew/adapter.)

I'm just talking about Virtual Console games. Once you download them from the Wii to Wii U, can you not use any of the Wii U controllers? I figured you'd at least be able to play off-screen VC games on the tablet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 04:01:22 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 30, 2015, 03:53:29 PM
I'm just talking about Virtual Console games. Once you download them from the Wii to Wii U, can you not use any of the Wii U controllers? I figured you'd at least be able to play off-screen VC games on the tablet.
Wii VC games are still Wii VC games, and are accessed through a separate Wii Menu on your Wii U. Wii U controllers can only be used to play VC games purchased from the Wii U eShop. It's a bit confusing, I know.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 30, 2015, 04:02:48 PM
Quote from: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 04:01:22 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 30, 2015, 03:53:29 PM
I'm just talking about Virtual Console games. Once you download them from the Wii to Wii U, can you not use any of the Wii U controllers? I figured you'd at least be able to play off-screen VC games on the tablet.
Wii VC games are still Wii VC games, and are accessed through a separate Wii Menu on your Wii U. Wii U controllers can only be used to play VC games purchased from the Wii U eShop. It's a bit confusing, I know.

That's weird. Is there any way to "upgrade" them to full on Wii U Virtual Console games?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 04:17:06 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 30, 2015, 04:02:48 PM
That's weird. Is there any way to "upgrade" them to full on Wii U Virtual Console games?
I don't think so. But if there is, please let me know, because I'd like to do that!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 30, 2015, 04:27:26 PM
Quote from: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 04:17:06 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 30, 2015, 04:02:48 PM
That's weird. Is there any way to "upgrade" them to full on Wii U Virtual Console games?
I don't think so. But if there is, please let me know, because I'd like to do that!
There is, but only if the game has been re-released on the Wii U eshop. Typically it costs a dollar to upgrade VC games for Gamepad support, Miiverse, custom controls, and save states.

I was ducking this for a while by spending coins in Club Nintendo to get download codes for the Wii, then paying a dollar to upgrade them to the Wii U.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 30, 2015, 04:50:55 PM
On golden sun 2, i used tremor to get the large bread, gave it to that little kid and gained access to the alwhatsitsname cave, all without a guide.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 06:39:58 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on January 30, 2015, 04:27:26 PM
There is, but only if the game has been re-released on the Wii U eshop. Typically it costs a dollar to upgrade VC games for Gamepad support, Miiverse, custom controls, and save states.
For real? Wait, is that why I was able to buy Super Metroid Wii U for $1.50 yesterday? I never knew this was possible!

Speaking of which, where the heck is Zero Mission Wii U in the west? I NEED IT
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 30, 2015, 07:09:01 PM
Quote from: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 06:39:58 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on January 30, 2015, 04:27:26 PM
There is, but only if the game has been re-released on the Wii U eshop. Typically it costs a dollar to upgrade VC games for Gamepad support, Miiverse, custom controls, and save states.
For real? Wait, is that why I was able to buy Super Metroid Wii U for $1.50 yesterday? I never knew this was possible!
Yes, that's exactly why. If you bought Wii VC games you get them discounted on the Wii U eshop.

But they have to have been released officially on the Wii U eshop. Which is why I've been waiting for more classic games to get released.

Quote from: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 06:39:58 PMSpeaking of which, where the heck is Zero Mission Wii U in the west? I NEED IT
No idea why it's taking so long, but it should hopefully be out sooner or later. Most of the obvious first party GBA games are out already.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 07:12:14 PM
Awww nooooo, I just wasted some of my Club Nintendo coins on the 3DS version of Zelda. I totally misread the labeling; wanted it for the Wii U! :(

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on January 30, 2015, 07:09:01 PM
No idea why it's taking so long, but it should hopefully be out sooner or later. Most of the obvious first party GBA games are out already.
It's especially weird in the case of Zero Mission, since I believe every other 2D Metroid was released on the NA VC first, while Prime Trilogy isn't even available in Japan!

Speaking of which, I also wish we could get the DKC trilogy on Wii U. I have the first one for the original Wii, but I sadly missed out on grabbing 2 and 3.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 07:31:07 PM
wait mario advance 1-3 are on the wii u eshop

but not 4

mario advance 2 is literally mario world

which was already on the eshop

why

pls give me my all stars smb 3 nintendo

Spoiler
Sorry for not using capitalization or punctuation.
[close]
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on January 30, 2015, 08:20:12 PM
Yeah, I remember bitching about that back in 2013 when I bought my Wii U, and realized that the old Wii VC games couldn't be accessed from the Wii U VC. I mean, yeah, I can go into Wii mode, but it's still annoying. I like to have everything uniform and in one spot.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 30, 2015, 08:34:22 PM
SMA4 will come. Considering how long they dragged out releasing 3 for the 3DS, they'll probably do it here, too.

I hope they put the GBA versions on the DKC games on there. I want GBA DKC3 on my Wii U.

Quote from: Nel_Annette on January 30, 2015, 08:20:12 PM
Yeah, I remember bitching about that back in 2013 when I bought my Wii U, and realized that the old Wii VC games couldn't be accessed from the Wii U VC. I mean, yeah, I can go into Wii mode, but it's still annoying. I like to have everything uniform and in one spot.
Well, all I can say is that hopefully the put more Wii VC games on the Wii U shop so I can get them on my Gamepad.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 08:54:30 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on January 30, 2015, 08:34:22 PM
SMA4 will come. Considering how long they dragged out releasing 3 for the 3DS, they'll probably do it here, too.

I hope they put the GBA versions on the DKC games on there. I want GBA DKC3 on my Wii U.
Kind of bizarre how they put SMA3 on there instead of the original Yoshi's Island. Not that I'm complaining; just a bit odd.

Once they get SMA4 and Zero Mission on there, I think I'll be more or less sated when it comes to GBA games (not that I would mind having more!). DKC3GBA would be nice as well, but they seriously need to get on with re-releasing 1-3 SNES in NA already.

Also, Talon, here's that GameCube-games-on-Wii-U thing: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=927094
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 30, 2015, 09:04:22 PM
Quote from: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 08:54:30 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on January 30, 2015, 08:34:22 PM
SMA4 will come. Considering how long they dragged out releasing 3 for the 3DS, they'll probably do it here, too.

I hope they put the GBA versions on the DKC games on there. I want GBA DKC3 on my Wii U.
Kind of bizarre how they put SMA3 on there instead of the original Yoshi's Island. Not that I'm complaining; just a bit odd.
It must have something to do with the Super FX chip. NONE of the SNES games that used it have ever been released on the VC.

Which is a shame because I would like to pay the SNES version of YI on the Gamepad.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 09:08:12 PM
What are the differences between YI and SMA3, anyway? It's been so long since I played the GBA version that I can't recall.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 30, 2015, 09:37:35 PM
Quote from: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 09:08:12 PM
What are the differences between YI and SMA3, anyway? It's been so long since I played the GBA version that I can't recall.
The GBA version has bonus stages. The SNES version has better quality sound, graphics, and controls (four face buttons).

That's pretty much it. The bonus stages are really "play once and then never again" stages, so it's really a toss up which version you'd prefer.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 30, 2015, 09:44:04 PM
Aw, too bad we can't get the original then. Still, slightly inferior Yoshi's Island is better than no Yoshi's Island. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 31, 2015, 12:57:39 AM
Wasn't DKC already released on Wii U?

Also, I prefer the SNES versions of Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island over the GBA versions.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 31, 2015, 01:14:48 AM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 31, 2015, 12:57:39 AM
Wasn't DKC already released on Wii U?
In Japan and Europe, but not North America. It used to be on the NA Wii VC a long time ago, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on January 31, 2015, 01:17:06 AM
I still don't know why they took them off VC.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 02, 2015, 12:10:12 AM
Now that I finally have a video card that won't burn my house down, I've decided to go back and finish Wolfenstein: The New Order. I restarted from the beginning, though, since it's been nearly 8 months since I last played.

This game is amazing. Absolutely wonderful gameplay, pacing, and storytelling. It's filled with creative ideas, and is basically a third Chronicles of Riddick title in terms of structure - one with vastly improved shooting mechanics, to boot. Seriously, TNO probably has the most satisfying guns in any FPS aside from the original F.E.A.R. And you can dual-wield all of them. Yes, even the automatic shotgun. Yes, even the sniper rifle. It's glorious.

Quote from: talonmalon333 on January 31, 2015, 01:17:06 AM
I still don't know why they took them off VC.
There are a fair number of games that were removed from the VC for unknown reasons. Hell, in the case of Super Turrican 2, not even Nintendo knows why it was removed!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 02, 2015, 11:28:24 PM
Been replaying the Code Name STEAM demo. Overstrike and Lion Launcher are probably THE most invaluable tools. I got through one map only getting hit twice by getting the drop on alien scum.

This game is going to be great if it's anything like the demo.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 03, 2015, 01:02:16 AM
I should check that out.

Finally beat New Order. What a final level! Probably the best FPS campaign overall in half a decade (though Shadow Warrior comes close). Highly recommended for fans of the series or genre. :thumbup:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 03, 2015, 10:12:09 AM
did the doom 4 team make new order?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 03, 2015, 10:21:04 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on February 03, 2015, 10:12:09 AM
did the doom 4 team make new order?
It's by a new company called MachineGames, which is made up mostly of staff from Starbreeze Studios, who developed The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay and The Darkness.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 03, 2015, 11:07:48 AM
oh, i know starbreeze very well. now i want to play this game now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on February 04, 2015, 03:27:40 PM
When did the rating in games turn from white to black?

For example, look at the "E" rating in this OoT cartridge.

(https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR0_DkBRYMz2QxugsoepZgAsc6WkQZsOvYGeRQmk5TBYJdlli8q7A)

For this cartridge, however, it's black, which is how games are in general now.

(http://940ee6dce6677fa01d25-0f55c9129972ac85d6b1f4e703468e6b.r99.cf2.rackcdn.com/products/pictures/199593.jpg)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on February 04, 2015, 03:38:18 PM
Not sure, but note that the second cartridge is a reissue, it's a Player's Choice.  Which means it probably came out in 2000-2001.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 04, 2015, 03:42:19 PM
ESRB went through some changes in the late 90s. I'm pretty sure that is circa-2000 around the time of Perfect Dark.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 04, 2015, 03:58:37 PM
did perfect dark have something to do with it?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 04, 2015, 04:29:02 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on February 04, 2015, 03:58:37 PM
did perfect dark have something to do with it?
No, it was just one of the first games I remember having it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 04, 2015, 04:36:09 PM
ok. that reminds me, when i saw the perfect dark commercial as i kid, i thought the game would be rated nc-17 or something. lol
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 04, 2015, 08:30:49 PM
My friend loaned me a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles, but I'm not really digging it that much. I mean, the writing, music, and world design are all fantastic, but I just can't get into the gameplay at all. It reminds me of an MMO. :( And the side quests really suck.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 04, 2015, 08:34:13 PM
Quote from: Foggle on February 04, 2015, 08:30:49 PM
My friend loaned me a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles, but I'm not really digging it that much. I mean, the writing, music, and world design are all fantastic, but I just can't get into the gameplay at all. It reminds me of an MMO. :( And the side quests really suck.
Yeah, it's not really my thing either. Have you tried The Last Story or Pandora's Tower? They seem more your style of game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 04, 2015, 08:41:03 PM
I had pretty much the exact opposite problem with The Last Story. I liked the gameplay a lot, but the story, characters, and voice acting really turned me off. This came as a big surprise to me, as I was a huge fan of Lost Odyssey.

I have, however, loved what I've played of Pandora's Tower, and am thinking of picking up a copy for myself soon!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 04, 2015, 08:44:15 PM
Quote from: Foggle on February 04, 2015, 08:41:03 PMI had pretty much the exact opposite problem with The Last Story. I liked the gameplay a lot, but the story, characters, and voice acting really turned me off. This came as a big surprise to me, as I was a huge fan of Lost Odyssey.
That's the same problem I had with Blue Dragon. Classic JRPG in every way, but outside of the battle system, dungeons, and music (other than the horrendous boss theme, UGH) I just couldn't get into it.

Quote from: Foggle on February 04, 2015, 08:41:03 PMI have, however, loved what I've played of Pandora's Tower, and am thinking of picking up a copy for myself soon!
Be wary, this one might also be heading to the eshop soon like Return to Dreamland as Europe is getting it in the near future. Just an FYI.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 04, 2015, 08:48:01 PM
Thanks! It's still pretty cheap, though, so I'll probably just go for the disc version.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 04, 2015, 09:04:21 PM
i want to play blue dragon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 04, 2015, 09:05:15 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on February 04, 2015, 09:04:21 PM
i want to play blue dragon.
You'd enjoy it.

Other than that Boss Battle theme. Sitting through a long boss battle while that is playing is migraine-inducing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 04, 2015, 09:11:16 PM
lmao. the game has a world map, right?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 04, 2015, 09:26:01 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on February 04, 2015, 09:11:16 PM
lmao. the game has a world map, right?
If I remember correctly, it does. It's pretty old school JRPG.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on February 04, 2015, 10:08:58 PM
I can understand Foggle. Xenoblade took me a while to get into. I hate MMOs and hate the gameplay for the most part, but the interface is made really conveniently, the areas become a joy to explore, and the plot gets really fucking good. And then really fucking mediocre at those last three areas, but the ride was fun. It's a bumpy start but the experience gets really rewarding. Sidequests are mostly filler but a good chunk of them expand the world in a really interesting way.

I quit The Last Story after about five hours though. That gameplay was not up my alley at all, and the characters and story were absolutely abysmal.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 04, 2015, 10:13:12 PM
Hmm... Maybe I'll push through it, then. I really like the characters so far and I can feel a spirit of adventure that's lacking in most similar games. If the story really becomes excellent even for others who feel the same way about the gameplay, I shall try to press onward! :e_hail:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on February 04, 2015, 10:14:25 PM
I was excited when I heard about the 3DS port of Xenoblade, until I heard it was exclusive to some "new" version of the 3DS. I hope they don't start leaving out the original 3DS on a daily basis now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on February 04, 2015, 10:17:52 PM
You don't lose anything when you die, so you can just keep leveling up until you beat the bosses. I'm watching the chuggaconroy LP on Xenoblade and he knows so much about the gameplay that I realized I made it through the entire game with barely any understanding of the battle system, just by leveling up doing sidequests and exploring. I just am not interested in that kind of battle interface. But the areas are an absolute blast to explore. When you get experience from simply exploring the map, and doing the sidequests that offer EXP rewards, it cuts down massively on grinding and is really nice.

Essentially, you can tank the entire game like I did if the story and areas interest you enough.

And failing that, you can watch an LP.  :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 04, 2015, 10:20:48 PM
My attention span isn't good enough to watch LPs, unfortunately. Despite how much I love Nier, and how shit the original Drakengard's gameplay is, I was only truly able to enjoy the story by buying a copy and playing it myself.

I'll get back to Xenoblade tonight, I think!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on February 04, 2015, 10:25:06 PM
At least try to get to Satorl Marsh before you drop the game, trust me. I was playing along because the plains (which you know from Smash Bros.) are big and fun to explore, and the plot starts getting intriguing when the main villain of that "arc" shows up. But when I got to Satorl Marsh, which is after that, and I saw the area at night, all I kept thinking was "Oh my god, this is one of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen in an RPG, with some of the most beautiful music, and if the rest of the game offers something like this area, I need to keep playing." I was on the fence on Xenoblade until then, but entering the marsh hooked me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 04, 2015, 10:27:53 PM
My favorite thing about Xenoblade so far is the theme that plays in the Colony 9 field during daytime. IT'S SO GOOD
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on February 04, 2015, 10:33:14 PM
Oh, it has such a great soundtrack. So many tracks that are just pure gold.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 04, 2015, 11:51:53 PM
good, all jrpgs need world maps.

i don't care for mmos and the stylus myself.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on February 05, 2015, 12:25:43 AM
Got a few games in the mail yesterday. Finally bought the South Park RPG since it was half-price, and the God Of War Saga. I've never touched the series, but $20 for five games seemed like a great deal.

In Club Nintendo news, the new prizes are up, and... arrrgh. I want that second set of Smash Bros. posters. I got the first set in the mail a week or two back, and they're better than I thought they'd be. Quality, glossy paper, and quite large. I want to frame them, and now I really want to add those other three posters to my collection. I get paid tomorrow; I might ignore my PS3 "to get" list and start ordering some newer Wii U/3DS games to build my coins back up as rapidly as possible.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 05, 2015, 12:31:11 AM
i've only played some of a psp game for god of war. that does sounds like a great deal.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 07, 2015, 11:03:50 PM
a day or two ago, i finally got piers in my party on golden sun 2. those puddles aren't going to freeze themselves, buddy!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 10, 2015, 08:18:09 PM
I've been replaying Double Dragon Neon.

I know the humor might not be for everybody being very Parodius, but as an actual beat em up, this is definitely top notch. I really should replay it more often.

That soundtrack is something else, too. One of the best classic game remixes ever on top of some catchy new 80s-style arcade beat em up tracks.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on February 11, 2015, 05:19:26 PM
Started playing Hyrule Warriors, man this game is fun.

Still have Bayonetta 2 to get to as well, and I guess Second Son eventually.  Damn it backlog.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 12, 2015, 04:09:01 PM
Fantasy Zone is on my 3DS.

I am currently happy.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 17, 2015, 08:31:03 PM
finally figured out where to go in gabomba statue in golden sun the lost age. auto jump parts tend to leave me stumped like how it took me a week or so to find the auto jump spot that leads to the path to hyrule castle in ocarina of time when i played it a few years ago. lol

i also figured out where to go in the sea god place and got a piece of trident.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on February 21, 2015, 11:48:53 AM
Do any of you guys know when Sony started the "Greatest Hits" line for the PS1? I've been trying to find a list of when games became Greatest Hits but haven't had any luck.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on February 21, 2015, 02:05:08 PM
Wikipedia says 1997.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatest_Hits_%28PlayStation_range%29
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on February 21, 2015, 02:10:49 PM
Earlier than I expected. Do you know of a list of game's release dates as Greatest Hits?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on February 24, 2015, 07:22:37 PM
I'm about 2/3 of the way through the South Park game. Just fought a boss battle featuring... a lot... of human anatomy flinging around... some of it being a hazard within the fight. Holy crap, that was distracting and awkward. I was almost laughing too hard to focus on the boss.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 28, 2015, 12:52:37 AM
you fought deathevn?

on the 24th, in golden sun the lost age for the first time, one of my party members got ko'd...and then everybody so i received my first and so far only loss in the game. i suspected that serpent would be invincible.

then on the 27th, jenna got ko'd by watery grave.

even though the dungeons are way too long, it feels so good figuring out where to go and what to do all on my own. no guide here...well except where i pester those curse breaking priests and they give me a clue. lol oh and i've found possibly ever djinn i could so far, except for one fire one, according to the status menu. and i am just past the part where you can leave the eastern sea and went back to treasure isle.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 03, 2015, 03:32:56 PM
In Golden Sun The Lost Age, I was stomped on what to do. I left and returned to Jupiter Tower because I had no clue where to go or what to do and half the stuff there wasn't turned on. Right before I went to sleep last night after continuing to fail miserably, I throw a bit of a hissyfit...and what I did in the game during it was exactly what I had to do.  :D Squidward would be proud.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on March 06, 2015, 02:36:16 AM
The amiibo usage in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is ridiculously cheap, specifically from Kirby's figure. I'm glad this is the one we can actually all get (although I do have Meta Knight too, so whatevs), even if it does break open the game way more than it probably should.

What an obnoxiously adorable game by the way. I love it to death so far.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 07, 2015, 11:44:29 PM
I had to come back home for the night, and since i don't have much to do here, I decided to finally go touch my VC copy of Majora's Mask... and holy shit, I still love this game. I have to head back to Orlando early tomorrow, but I'm not sleeping until I finish the first dungeon.

At least I'm coming back in a couple of days, so I might get to finish it then.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 08, 2015, 12:18:24 AM
I'm still of the opinion that MM is almost as good as, if not better than, OoT.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 08, 2015, 04:24:06 AM
My parents are going to Florida for a week and my brother and I have to bring them to the airport at 5:45 AM today. I got home fairly late tonight and thus decided to basically pull an all nighter. In that time I played Kirby Squeak Squad for the first time wondering if I could beat it. I made it about halfway. As is usual for Kirby, solid fun.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 08, 2015, 09:08:29 AM
I actually had to stop a little earlier then I was planning to last night. I was in the part of the first dungeon where it gets really dark and you need a Deku stick to light up the flameless torches to go through, but my last stick died out on me before I could. I had already defeated all the enemies in there, so I had no choice but to call it quits.

I'll go back to it when I come back home. And I'll write a little more about the game after work and after I finish the outline for a certain post I'll be making soon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2015, 02:31:28 PM
So I realized that, for using my SNES on my HDTV, I can use the AV cords for my GameCube and attach them to the SNES. However, I'm still not getting any picture. Spark, you're the expect on retro gaming here, so I'll assume you have a working SNES. If that's the case, what did you do to make yours work?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 09, 2015, 03:05:39 PM
I use a CRTV.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2015, 03:08:32 PM
Geez, you're so old.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 09, 2015, 03:10:54 PM
I'm pretty sure any console should display on any TV. It might look awful, but I've never heard of one straight up not working before. Are you sure there isn't a problem with your system, cable, ports, game, etc?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 09, 2015, 03:25:46 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2015, 03:08:32 PM
Geez, you're so old.
I need to sig this. :worship:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 09, 2015, 06:37:19 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 09, 2015, 03:10:54 PM
I'm pretty sure any console should display on any TV. It might look awful, but I've never heard of one straight up not working before. Are you sure there isn't a problem with your system, cable, ports, game, etc?

I'm able to get the SNES working on my old TV in my room. But that's the thing... there are two TVs currently in my room. And the old one is in a bad place that takes up a lot of room. I'd like to get my old consoles to operate on my HD TV so I get rid of that old one. I did consider just leaving my old consoles boxed and getting their games on Virtual Console, but I'm not willing to buy these games again when I have the exact same games in their original cartridges.

The SNES works on my old TV using an old fashioned adapter. But that doesn't work on my new TV for some reason. So I tried to instead use the composite cable from my GameCube, but it doesn't work. And just to make sure it isn't a problem with the cords, I got my old GameCube to work fine using it. And I don't think it's a problem with the games because I tried more than one, and neither got me any luck.

I'm trying to think of other possible ways to overcome this. The GCN cables that I used came when I bought that console a long time ago (it looks like this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/GameCube_AV_Cable.png). I was wondering if maybe that cable just doesn't work for the SNES and if I should get a new one. If you or anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 09, 2015, 08:08:43 PM
I use a CRT too, a 19".  But if you are trying to play it on a flat panel you can simply use the A/V cables that come with either it or the N64.  Your flat panel does have the red/yellow/white jacks on the back right?

However, depending on the type of TV and the game you are trying to play, you will experience varying degrees of lag.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 09, 2015, 08:13:20 PM
Just saw the pic of the cable you are trying to use, and that should work, don't know why it wouldn't.

For SNES you can also try the old RF adapters(I personally only use this for my Japanese Famicom, since I have no other option there), you just won't get quite as good as a picture.

http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-NES-RF-Adapter-Pc/dp/B00475ABRQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425949931&sr=8-1&keywords=nes+rf+adapter
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 09, 2015, 08:34:32 PM
Just tried it with my flat panel, running Street Fighter Alpha 2.  Also played a tiny bit of SMW(due to the lag I got frustrated after only a couple jumps) and Wayne's World.

(http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/ae164/SNES_Chalmers/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsjlebzcsf.jpg)
(http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/ae164/SNES_Chalmers/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsgdfsbwmj.jpg)

Bonus: A picture of my normal, albeit messy, retro setup.
(http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/ae164/SNES_Chalmers/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps7736d7a9.jpg)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 09, 2015, 09:22:47 PM
I can't stand button lag. The #1 reason I keep my CRT screen around.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 09, 2015, 09:31:08 PM
That collection is beautiful, Comeau.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 09, 2015, 10:53:02 PM
Does button lag happen on newer non-HD consoles like the N64 and DC? I've never experienced any on my LCD.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 09, 2015, 10:57:29 PM
It's hard to get straight answers on the button lag issue for TVs.

For instance, PS2 classics on the PS3 apparently have button lag on HDTVs, but not on ones like my CRT. But of course, because it's not a HDTV, the picture is not as good as it could be. Balancing them out, it makes more sense to stick with my CRT screen for my PS3.

If someone could tell me the ideal TV for gaming, it would be doing me a great favor.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 09, 2015, 11:04:28 PM
I guess my PS2 and other non-HD consoles must just have button lag so miniscule that I don't notice it. Perhaps because my LCD isn't particularly new or fancy?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 09, 2015, 11:06:04 PM
I don't think LCDs have the issue. It's specifically a HD issue.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 09, 2015, 11:11:06 PM
My TV is HD but it only goes up to 1080i. Maybe that's why...?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 09, 2015, 11:23:06 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 09, 2015, 11:11:06 PM
My TV is HD but it only goes up to 1080i. Maybe that's why...?
This is why it's confusing.  :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 10, 2015, 08:21:53 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 09, 2015, 09:31:08 PM
That collection is beautiful, Comeau.
yeah, but sometimes I think I have too much stuff.  Usually solve that by getting more though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 10, 2015, 08:56:43 AM
Give your too much stuff to me.  :blush:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 10, 2015, 11:48:22 AM
Thanks for the help.

I figured I'd add this info into the situation. For my old television, these are the two cords I use, which work on that TV.
http://atariace.com/images/atariace.com/nintendo/images/nes_rf_adapter.jpg
http://thumbs1.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mZxV4KEtuXuIRB6OloJ6qfg.jpg

For some reason, however, those do not work on my HD TV. I'd like to get the SNES to work there with as little lag and picture ruining as possible.

I'm going to go back and try to sort this out some more today (or tomorrow, if I don't get the chance today). If I still have no luck, I might take pictures of the setup to show you guys.

Quote from: Comeau on March 09, 2015, 08:13:20 PM
For SNES you can also try the old RF adapters(I personally only use this for my Japanese Famicom, since I have no other option there), you just won't get quite as good as a picture.

Would that picture be any worse than on one of those old TVs the SNES was made for?

Quote from: Comeau on March 09, 2015, 08:08:43 PM
I use a CRT too, a 19".  But if you are trying to play it on a flat panel you can simply use the A/V cables that come with either it or the N64.  Your flat panel does have the red/yellow/white jacks on the back right?

However, depending on the type of TV and the game you are trying to play, you will experience varying degrees of lag.

Yes. Specifically, I use one of those little composite cable boxes for all of my newer consoles. It looks like this but is bigger. http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/1790192869_1/3-in-1-font-b-Composite-b-font-RCA-AV-Audio-Video-Selector-font-b-Switch.jpg
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on March 10, 2015, 02:39:09 PM
Quote from: Comeau on March 10, 2015, 08:21:53 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 09, 2015, 09:31:08 PM
That collection is beautiful, Comeau.
yeah, but sometimes I think I have too much stuff.  Usually solve that by getting more though.

At least you're not collecting amiibos.  :humhumhum:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 10, 2015, 06:08:05 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 10, 2015, 11:48:22 AM


Quote from: Comeau on March 09, 2015, 08:13:20 PM
For SNES you can also try the old RF adapters(I personally only use this for my Japanese Famicom, since I have no other option there), you just won't get quite as good as a picture.

Would that picture be any worse than on one of those old TVs the SNES was made for?

Quote from: Comeau on March 09, 2015, 08:08:43 PM
I use a CRT too, a 19".  But if you are trying to play it on a flat panel you can simply use the A/V cables that come with either it or the N64.  Your flat panel does have the red/yellow/white jacks on the back right?

However, depending on the type of TV and the game you are trying to play, you will experience varying degrees of lag.

Yes. Specifically, I use one of those little composite cable boxes for all of my newer consoles. It looks like this but is bigger. http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/1790192869_1/3-in-1-font-b-Composite-b-font-RCA-AV-Audio-Video-Selector-font-b-Switch.jpg
Not familiar with these boxes tbh, you don't have any jacks that go directly into the TV?  Do you have a simple red/white/yellow hookup(aka A/V), or the one with more colors like green and blue(composite)?  How does this box connect to the TV, via A/V cables?

The RF adapter doesn't work on the HDTV, even when plugged into the coax in jack?  I'm honestly confused, because I've never come across a TV set that I wasn't at least able to use an RF adapter, even the really really old knob turner TV's that weren't cable ready could be made to play with an RF adapter via a cheap Radio Shack splitter.  But just about every TV from the mid 80s on has the coax cable in jack that the RF box should connect to and work on.

Also yeah, the RF connection is always a worse picture(sometimes marginally, sometimes significantly) than an A/V connection.  Not sure how bad input lag is using RF though, pretty sure it's still present.  I'm at work tonight, but tomorrow when I get home I guess I'll have to try it out(though I think I've done it before and didn't care for it).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 10, 2015, 06:41:20 PM
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/916396-super-nintendo/68897490

Found this, specifically:
QuoteA lot of HDTVs are designed, by default, to not allow a signal lower than 480p to pass through specific connections. The SNES out puts to 240i. My Samsung, for example, can't take the signal over HDMI through my TV Tuner, so I have to split it at the composite level.

What you could try doing, if you're willing to spend the money, is get a composite/component/s-video-to-HDMI upgrading converter. They sell them on Amazon from around $25-$50, depending on the vendor. They won't make the image look much better, but a lot of them can be manually set to output at 720p or 1080p.

I don't know though, I've never ran across this issue.  My room mate has a 4K TV(mine's not even a Smart TV), maybe I can try some experimenting with that one to see if the SNES works or not.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 11, 2015, 11:48:46 AM
I'm almost done with the second dungeon of Majora's Mask, except that I can't find the boss here. The walkthroughs I've found give me contradicting information, on top of it. Does anyone here remember where it's located?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 11, 2015, 11:58:20 AM
Success! Got my SNES to work on the HD TV.

I have a feeling the problem all this time was that my SNES is a bit old. I tried some of my games on the old TV (probably should have done that sooner) and it took multiple tries. But once I was sure one of the games was able to work on that TV, I switched to the HD TV and it worked fine. Though I did switch from the GameCube composite cords to my old N64 ones, so maybe that was actually the trick.

However, I just realized that my NES and Genesis don't work with those cords, so I'll need something for those.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 11, 2015, 02:22:49 PM
That's good to hear!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 11, 2015, 02:26:45 PM
I wonder what gave away the fact that your SNES is a bit old.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 11, 2015, 02:47:09 PM
Thanks for the help, again!

Quote from: gunswordfist on March 11, 2015, 02:26:45 PM
I wonder what gave away the fact that your SNES is a bit old.

Probably the fact that it's a SNES and is therefore over twenty years old.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 11, 2015, 02:53:13 PM
My SNES is older than your SNES.

Also mine can beat yours up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 11, 2015, 02:53:53 PM
And it only took you that amount of time to realize it is old. :P

But seriously, good job on getting it hooked up right. My Sega Saturn works...but I have no games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 11, 2015, 04:02:27 PM
Ideally, I would like to get an HDMI converter, because that would allow me to also play NES and Genesis games on my HD TV. Also, right now, my SNES games look a bit pixilated on the new TV, so it would hopefully solve that problem as well. If any of you guys know of any good HDMI converters, that would be appreciated.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 12, 2015, 10:08:11 PM
Got 3D Classics: OutRun today on my 3DS.

If you've got a 3DS, you need to play this. I don't care what you think of racing games, OutRun is not like any of them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 13, 2015, 03:05:17 PM
I was just about to get into the third dungeon in MM, but I decided to leave it there, as I have work tonight. But before I left, I picked up Zoda's Revenge and Gunstar Heroes on the VC (thanks to Spark for the former), and got a copy of Sonic Gems Collection.

I'll have a lot to go through the next time I go home!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 13, 2015, 03:17:51 PM
Gunstar Heroes is top 10 for me. :thumbup:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 13, 2015, 03:36:56 PM
You're welcome. You should have a fun time with both of them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 20, 2015, 07:15:50 PM
There's a flash sale on the US PSN right now. You can get a bunch of great games - including Klonoa, Dino Crisis 1 & 2, Katamari Damacy, and Tokyo Jungle - for about 90 cents each. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 20, 2015, 07:20:18 PM
Now that's a deal!

EDIT: Mega Man X4, X5, and the full Tales of Monkey Island are there as well! Sweet!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 20, 2015, 07:32:52 PM
Thank you, Foggle. Because of this sale I got:

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+
Klonoa (Can never turn down a classic for less than a dollar)
Tokyo Jungle
Tales of Monkey Island (All episodes)
Galaga Legions DX
Mega Man X5

For 5 bucks.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 20, 2015, 11:58:22 PM
If I had a PS3 or 4, I'd definitely hit this up!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 21, 2015, 12:02:36 AM
I got all the ones I mentioned along with Galaga Legions and Zeno Clash 2. Mega Man X4 & X5 and Pac-Man Championship Edition tempted me, but I didn't really feel comfortable spending more than $7 at the moment.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 21, 2015, 12:03:54 AM
Is this deal for everything on PSN?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 21, 2015, 12:05:37 AM
It's about 30-40 different games. Most of them are for PS3, a couple are for PSP/Vita.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 21, 2015, 12:09:57 AM
Is there anywhere I can see a full list?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 21, 2015, 12:10:46 AM
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2015/03/20/flash-sale-now-live-deals-under-1/
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 21, 2015, 12:37:07 AM
There's a lot of really good stuff in there. I even went back to get Fighting Force. For less than a buck I couldn't turn down the nostalgia.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 21, 2015, 01:33:13 AM
Quote from: Foggle on March 21, 2015, 12:02:36 AM
I got all the ones I mentioned along with Galaga Legions and Zeno Clash 2. Mega Man X4 & X5 and Pac-Man Championship Edition tempted me, but I didn't really feel comfortable spending more than $7 at the moment.
If I may be so bold.

I'm not sure how much you know about Monkey Island, but if you haven't played it, the deal for the 5 episodes for less than a buck is an incredible deal. I do think you'd get a good kick out of it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 21, 2015, 01:36:36 AM
Curse of Monkey Island for PC also comes highly recommended
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 21, 2015, 01:37:42 AM
I've played a little of the old Monkey Islands and liked them! I actually got all five episodes of Tales for free about four years ago on Steam from some weird Talk Like A Pirate Day deal. I want to play through the original games first, and I keep forgetting to, but I will get around to them and Tales eventually. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 21, 2015, 01:42:08 AM
It's truly a great and funny series. Though I'm not sure if Curse has been re-released yet. By all accounts it totally should have been if not.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 21, 2015, 01:44:21 AM
Secret and 2 both got remasters, but I don't think Curse ever did. :( I should skip Escape, right?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 21, 2015, 01:53:58 AM
I've never played it. Probably won't ever. Nothing I've heard about it makes me want to give it a go.

Just pick a day and sit down with the first game and play that bugger all the way through. It's a blast. Especially if you have no idea what you're getting into.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 23, 2015, 11:31:41 PM
Quick question to you Platinum fans. Did The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 come with Club Nintendo codes? I'm trying to rack up some points before June and was thinking those might be good to pick up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 23, 2015, 11:32:34 PM
They did indeed!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 23, 2015, 11:33:28 PM
Then I stroke my beard in contemplation and may very well pick those up come next paycheck. Thanks.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 23, 2015, 11:46:23 PM
What's even better is that they both still give 60 coins!

I must warn you, though, you will not be able to earn Club Nintendo coins after the end of the month. Redemption is not extending until June for Americans.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 23, 2015, 11:53:54 PM
Ah, what? That's bullshit! I thought we all had until June! Well then, shit. I bought Hyrule Warriors and that fucking Mario Tennis game for nothing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 24, 2015, 12:01:35 AM
Sorry man. :( It threw me off too. http://club2.nintendo.com/program-notice/

You can use your coins to acquire rewards through June, but you can only earn coins until the end of March.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 24, 2015, 12:22:04 AM
Awwwwww. My plan was to go h.a.m. on a Nintendo binge from now until June. Looks like that's kaput. I really wanted that second set of Smash posters to go with my first. Ah well. At least I wanted Hyrule Warriors. Mario Tennis Open will just kind of... be there, I guess.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 24, 2015, 01:50:36 AM
In unrelated news, one of the weird perks of having joint accounts is having a father who uses PSN+ for his PS4 which allows me to get some games for free like a second copy of DuckTales Remastered for my PS3 which I promptly platinumed.

Yeah, it's still a great game.

The PS3 version appears to stutter a bit during the Mines boss for some reason, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on March 24, 2015, 07:09:15 AM
Quote from: Foggle on March 24, 2015, 12:01:35 AM
Sorry man. :( It threw me off too. http://club2.nintendo.com/program-notice/

You can use your coins to acquire rewards through June, but you can only earn coins until the end of March.

On a related note, I think today is like the last day you can register games on Club Nintendo to maximize your coin count. Since next week is the 31st, I believe today is the last day you can register games and guarantee yourself a Post Play Survey to net yourself +10 coins a week later.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 24, 2015, 01:26:51 PM
Coincidentally, I just got home, and the games arrived. I'll just do the surveys and see if I can salvage any prizes with the meager amount I'll have.

EDIT: Hyrule Warriors didn't even come with a Club Nintendo code. Bummer. I am literally just 30 coins from Platinum status.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 24, 2015, 01:40:43 PM
If you don't own it, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge usually goes for around $10 and gives 60 coins. I used it to hit Platinum status cheaply. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 24, 2015, 01:44:59 PM
I won't let you drag me into your Ninja Gaiden world, Foggle.  :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 24, 2015, 01:48:31 PM
It's a terrible game, but I have a feeling that the Platinum gifts will be exclusive and worth at least 10 bucks...

Please play Ninja Gaiden 1 & 2 if you have not, though. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 24, 2015, 02:21:49 PM
Unfortunately, neither of which got ported to the Wii-U. Instead it got NG3RE, and the actual good ones got ported to the PS Vita which couldn't even run them consistently well after having the frame rate reduced to 30 FPS. Also, keep in mind that this was opted not only over a Wii-U port, but a PC port as well, which fans have been begging to have for years (just look up the online petitions for it). But instead what we got was the worst numbered NG game ported to the Wii-U, the worst NG game of all time being the only one to get a PC port, and the best NG games being butchered and ported to a handheld that nobody owns....because Hayashi. Thank you for your sensible decisions with the franchise.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 24, 2015, 02:32:59 PM
All I want is a cleaned up remaster of the Xbox 360 Ninja Gaiden 2 for all three current gen consoles and PC. :( Too bad if they ever ported it again, it'd probably be Sigma 2...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 24, 2015, 02:41:48 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 24, 2015, 02:32:59 PMif they ever ported it again, it'd probably be Sigma 2...

(http://img.mundogamers.com/galerias/ps3/ninja-gaiden-sigma-2/ninja-gaiden-sigma-2-1252607489_thumb660x366.jpg)

YOU'RE WELCOME!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 24, 2015, 03:15:57 PM
I kept hoping like with the whole Bayonetta situation, Ninja Team would have ported 1 and 2 to the eshop when Razor's Edge came out. But no such luck there.

It's a shame that Tecmo and Nintendo seem to be buddy-buddy but they still haven't ported over the first two games yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 24, 2015, 03:29:38 PM
Funny thing about buying all of the Hyrule Warriors DLC in one go (I got the Hero of Hyrule pack and then the four costume sets), I just sat through five straight minutes of "*ZELDA JINGLE* YOU UNLOCKED THIS THING!" screens upon starting the game. I'm just sitting here thinking "get on with it already!".  :lol:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 24, 2015, 03:32:18 PM
A similar thing happened when I played Saints Row 4. I got the Game of the Century Edition on Steam and beating the prologue caused 20+ "you unlocked this!" popups to activate in a row. :lol:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 24, 2015, 03:41:03 PM
Oh god, with the amount of DLC Saints Row usually has now, yeah, that must have been bad. I had a bit of a bug when I bought SR3's dlc where that would happen for each dlc pack every time I turned the game on. Got really annoying after a while.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 24, 2015, 07:22:17 PM
So I may or may not impulse buy a 3DS tomorrow. What would be the top 5 DS games to consider getting, for someone who hasn't had a handheld console since the original GBA?

And how about 3DS? Keep in mind that I'm playing Majora's Mask on my Wii, I'd prefer to wait for a Wii-U for new Smash, and for personal reasons, I won't touch Animal Crossing on a handheld.

Edit: And Spark, feel free to consider a top 5 list for handheld VC titles that I may have missed. You don't even need to bring up the Oracles, btw. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 24, 2015, 07:27:31 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on March 24, 2015, 07:22:17 PM
So I may or may not impulse buy a 3DS tomorrow. What would be the top 5 DS games to consider getting, for someone who hasn't had a handheld console since the original GBA?

And how about 3DS? Keep in mind that I'm playing Majora's Mask on my Wii, I'd prefer to wait for a Wii-U for new Smash, and for personal reasons, I won't touch Animal Crossing on a handheld.

Edit: And Spark, feel free to consider a top 5 list for handheld VC titles that I may have missed. You don't even need to bring up the Oracles, btw. ;)

A Link Between Worlds is fantastic.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 24, 2015, 07:39:26 PM
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is really good.  Also would suggest Pokemon of course, probably HeartGold/SoulSilver(although these can be hard to find cheap) or X/Y/Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire.  Mario Kart 7 maybe?  Mario 3D Land?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 24, 2015, 08:50:40 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on March 24, 2015, 07:22:17 PM
So I may or may not impulse buy a 3DS tomorrow. What would be the top 5 DS games to consider getting, for someone who hasn't had a handheld console since the original GBA?

And how about 3DS? Keep in mind that I'm playing Majora's Mask on my Wii, I'd prefer to wait for a Wii-U for new Smash, and for personal reasons, I won't touch Animal Crossing on a handheld.

Edit: And Spark, feel free to consider a top 5 list for handheld VC titles that I may have missed. You don't even need to bring up the Oracles, btw. ;)
You know I just love making lists of good games, don't you?

Okay. Here are a few games I'm pretty sure you'd get a real kick out of.

Nintendo DS

Contra 4 (includes portable NES Contra and Super C, so the value is off the scale)
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
Sonic Rush
Space Invaders Extreme 2
Hotel Dusk: Room 215


Nintendo 3DS

Kid Icarus Uprising
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Kirby Triple Deluxe
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure


Virtual Console 3DS

Mega Man V (Game Boy)
Mole Mania
Wario Land II
Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear)
Shinobi (Game Gear)


e-shop Originals

Steel Empire
3D OutRun
3D Fantasy Zone
Mutant Mudds (or Xeodrifter if you want a bite-sized Metroidvania)
Shovel Knight


That should keep you busy for a while.  ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 24, 2015, 08:54:49 PM
I do have Sonic for the Game Gear thanks to Gems Collection, but alright, definitely keeping an eye out for the rest! I've been wanting to try out Hotel Dusk and A Link Between Worlds for a while.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 24, 2015, 09:01:40 PM
I think I'll be planning another go through of ALBW sometime soon. It's been enough time that the puzzles should be fresh for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 24, 2015, 09:04:40 PM
If you like nifty collections, there's the Sonic Classic Collection (StH 1,2,3, & Knuckles, plus the lock-on versions), and the Mega Man Zero Collection. Kirby Super Star Deluxe, Squeak Squad, the Chrono Trigger rerelease with the bonus stuff, Hotel Dusk like someone mentioned, Trace Memory if you can find it. The Sonic Rush games are pretty good. Animal Cro-- nevermind that one.

I personally love the Etrian Odyssey and Dragon Quest games, though they're not everyone's cup of tea.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 24, 2015, 09:50:14 PM
The problem with Animal Crossing is that I get SO into it, that I'm afraid if I had a portable version, I'd never interact in public. At least at home, that's my own business on my own time.

But thanks, guys! ALBW is my #1 priority now, but I do also want to get OOT and Star Fox 64 3D as well, along with a lot of the other titles you guys are naming off.

What Dragon Quest games are available for the DSes, Nel? I like what I've played of the older ones, so I'd be down.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 24, 2015, 09:53:37 PM
Rocket Slime for the DS!

Super fun and underrated game. I'm still sore we never got the 3DS game released here.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 24, 2015, 10:05:29 PM
Zenithia trilogy, bro: Dragon Quest 4,5, and 6. DQ9 is on DS exclusively, but the online component is gone now, unfortunately. Still a fun time, though. All valid choices. I consider DQ5 to be the best, though. That one actually tugs at the heartstrings a bit.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 25, 2015, 09:50:34 AM
So this GameStop is pretty sketchy. They said that they wouldn't get their Zelda 3DS' until around 11-1 today, and then they later told us that they're not getting them at all until around that time tomorrow, but they did offer the people waiting in line today, myself included, that we can order them around 3 today, and that they will ship to us for free.

I'll try to make it then, but there's one thing that really rubs me the wrong way- this place is only getting 3 of these, even though the official announcements state that each GameStop is getting exactly 4. Not cool, man. We were talking about pulling baby boomer tactics to be sure that myself and the 3 first people in line were going to go home with them, but obviously that will be harder to do now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 25, 2015, 12:20:19 PM
I'm sure an employee's friend got what they wanted. Sorry to hear that, man.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 25, 2015, 02:39:12 PM
Eh, well I went back and they still have a 3DS or two to sell... except they only have the bundles, which despite having a lot of good stuff (besides the exclusive model, you get a physical copy of Majora's Mask 3DS, an e-guide for it, a download of Link Between Worlds, and I think he mentioned Steam... does the 3DS have Steam for it?), but it costs more than my paycheck, or a Wii-U.

Ah well, it just wasn't meant to be.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on March 25, 2015, 04:36:58 PM
Maybe he was talking about that new 3DS game, Code Name S.T.E.A.M.! It's pretty decent game all things considering. Hard at points, but it did come from the same developers as Fire Emblem.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 25, 2015, 04:42:59 PM
I wish I had some spare change to pick that game up. I still want to play the full thing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 26, 2015, 05:10:47 PM
Replaying Spyro the Dragon for the first time in ages.

Aside from the controls and camera not being perfect, the game holds up very well. It's also pretty tough. I assumed I'd breeze through it but that hasn't been the case.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 26, 2015, 05:26:16 PM
The camera too? It doesn't have dual analog support? I expect to consider the controls to be a bit outdated and like the rest of the game myself too.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 28, 2015, 03:23:04 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 26, 2015, 05:26:16 PM
The camera too? It doesn't have dual analog support? I expect to consider the controls to be a bit outdated and like the rest of the game myself too.

It does have analog support, but the camera is controlled by the L2 and R2 buttons, and it's not very good.

Anyway, just beat it. Great game. I still have some levels to complete though to get to the true final level. Spyro was great at replay value and at encouraging collecting everything. I'll do that and then hopefully move onto replaying Spyro 2.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 28, 2015, 05:23:01 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 28, 2015, 03:23:04 PM
It does have analog support, but the camera is controlled by the L2 and R2 buttons, and it's not very good.
:wth: Sounds like it needs a good remake.

True final level? I don't think I ever even heard about that so I'm guessing I missed it, lol
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 28, 2015, 07:36:53 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on March 28, 2015, 05:23:01 PM:wth: Sounds like it needs a good remake.

I wouldn't say it needs a remake. The game holds up extremely well thanks to the level design. It just suffers a few flaws that other early 3D platformers do, even the renowned Super Mario 64.

Quote from: gunswordfist on March 28, 2015, 05:23:01 PMTrue final level? I don't think I ever even heard about that so I'm guessing I missed it, lol

You never found Gnasty's Loot? Very fun reward for 100%.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 28, 2015, 08:16:23 PM
I'm sure I haven't. It's been at least 15 years so idk lol
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2015, 03:31:47 PM
So I recently played through the first stage of the first Syphon Filter game for the first time in near two decades.

Is it weird to say that I found it really fun? I mean, there were issues. Lack of checkpoints when instant death is very possible, it's sometimes very hard to tell what to do if you miss the first explanation of the objective, and some paths in dark areas are hard to see. Those were all gripes. But there was a lot to do and it took me a lot of time to explore the level, and I could carry more than two weapons as well as find ammo for them all. The plot is silly and fun in an old school cheesy blockbuster way,but since I'm one of like five people that find cheese awesome in an un-ironic way, it didn't bother me.

I should play more older shooters.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 30, 2015, 03:48:53 PM
I haven't played that game in ages. I liked it as a kid, but I have no idea if it still holds up or not.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 30, 2015, 03:54:01 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2015, 03:31:47 PM
The plot is silly and fun in an old school cheesy blockbuster way,but since I'm one of like five people that find cheese awesome in an un-ironic way, it didn't bother me.
I do too. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 30, 2015, 03:58:16 PM
I have a question about future consoles (wasn't sure where to post this).

So, you know how you can buy games digitally on home consoles now? Not just referring to classics like through Virtual Console. I'm talking about how you can buy modern games. The question I have is, will those digital games be able to be transferred to future consoles? Let's say I get a Wii U and purchase a digital copy of, say, Mario Galaxy 2 off of eShop. Then, years later, I get the next Nintendo console. Will I be able to transfer that copy of SMG2 over to the new console, and then the console after that?

Unless this is a question that we simply can't answer yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 30, 2015, 04:08:53 PM
Not answerable, unfortunately; it all depends on potentially compatible hardware and a manufacturer's priorities. For instance, PS3 download titles do not work on the PS4, but Wii download titles do work on the Wii U.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 30, 2015, 04:11:08 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 30, 2015, 04:08:53 PM
Not answerable, unfortunately; it all depends on potentially compatible hardware and a manufacturer's priorities. For instance, PS3 download titles do not work on the PS4, but Wii download titles do work on the Wii U.

Well that's a shame. Any word on handheld consoles? Or is that also a mystery?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2015, 04:11:43 PM
I only ever played the demo for the first Syphon Filter game back in the day, but I enjoyed it. I remember later games have problem with instant death headshots, though.

Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 30, 2015, 03:58:16 PM
I have a question about future consoles (wasn't sure where to post this).

So, you know how you can buy games digitally on home consoles now? Not just referring to classics like through Virtual Console. I'm talking about how you can buy modern games. The question I have is, will those digital games be able to be transferred to future consoles? Let's say I get a Wii U and purchase a digital copy of, say, Mario Galaxy 2 off of eShop. Then, years later, I get the next Nintendo console. Will I be able to transfer that copy of SMG2 over to the new console, and then the console after that?

Unless this is a question that we simply can't answer yet.
Everything you buy on the Wii transfers to the Wii U. Sony had it with the Vita but not the PS4. Microsoft has no BC whatsoever in the XBone, all your 360 stuff stays locked to where it is.

Judging by this, I saw BC is pretty much dead outside of Nintendo come next generation.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2015, 04:13:06 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 30, 2015, 04:11:08 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 30, 2015, 04:08:53 PM
Not answerable, unfortunately; it all depends on potentially compatible hardware and a manufacturer's priorities. For instance, PS3 download titles do not work on the PS4, but Wii download titles do work on the Wii U.

Well that's a shame. Any word on handheld consoles? Or is that also a mystery?
Vita can play PSP games and PS1 classics and the 3DS can play DSi games and old DS games.

Since Sony will probably not make a new handheld after this, I have no idea where the future will be.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 30, 2015, 04:13:33 PM
I hope at least Nintendo keeps it up since I actually intend on buying their future consoles, unlike Sony and Microsoft.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 30, 2015, 04:16:00 PM
Oh yeah, the PS4 doesn't have BC, but I think they have a program that lets you stream PS3 games to it or something. Not a fan of that, but it's better than nothing I guess.

Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 30, 2015, 04:11:08 PM
Well that's a shame. Any word on handheld consoles? Or is that also a mystery?
About the same.

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2015, 04:11:43 PM
Judging by this, I saw BC is pretty much dead outside of Nintendo come next generation.
I honestly don't even trust Nintendo to have it after this gen.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2015, 04:20:37 PM
It's why I'm keeping my PS3 hooked up. I can play the most games with it, so it'll probably be my go-to Sony box from here on out.

My Wii U has all my old VC and new VC games on it with the only issue being that some companies *COUGH*SEGA*COUGH* won't re-release their games on the system or add new console support.

It's a shame how far we've come from PS2 and Wii BC in such a short time.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 30, 2015, 04:27:35 PM
I have like 8 consoles hooked up. It's a mess. :lol:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 30, 2015, 04:31:53 PM
Ah, Syphon Filter. I used to play the hell out of it and/or its sequels. Mostly multiplayer. I've never beat single player. It's still beyond me why Sony hasn't revived the series. It could be pretty much their own Splinter Cell series and would attract a lot of modern fans. It just makes no sense.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2015, 04:41:20 PM
I heard the PS2 SF games were not very good, but I never got around to them.

Quote from: Foggle on March 30, 2015, 04:27:35 PM
I have like 8 consoles hooked up. It's a mess. :lol:
I own an NES, SNES, Genesis, Saturn, PS1, N64, Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, Wii, PS3, 360, and now a Wii U. I almost picked up a Master System before I remembered I would have nowhere to put it. It's just not feasible for me to have them all hooked up when I have no room for them all.

That's partially why BC is so important to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 30, 2015, 04:45:04 PM
Didn't even know there were PS2 games. I just heard about it being on PSP.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 30, 2015, 04:50:40 PM
Nintendo should do for the original Wii (I wouldn't expect this from the Wii U at all) what Sony recently did. Make VC games available for like 70 cents. But unlike Sony, Nintendo should do it for all of their VC Wii games. Even if just for a day. I'd go crazy and go through my entire list of games for the old consoles, and then repurchase them on VC (at least, the ones that are available which amounts to most of my collection). Then I would just retire those consoles for good. But I know that won't be happening and I really don't expect it to. The cheap side of me does wish there was an easier way to get VC games, though.

I also hate the idea of throwing away $10 dollars anytime I need to buy Wii points. Nintendo sure is impractical sometimes.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2015, 04:54:19 PM
Nintendo has sales on the Wii U. On the Wii, the way the shop is set up, they can't, apparently.

I would simply wait for them to have a bigger library of VC games before those get put on sale more. It would be nice if SNK, Konami/Hudson, and Sega would jump aboard again, too.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 30, 2015, 04:55:52 PM
Thankfully, the Wii U doesn't use a points system anymore.

That PSN flash sale was unprecedented. Never seen something like that on a console before. A Nintendo version would be sick.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2015, 05:08:50 PM
I do wonder how successful it was.

If it got Klonoa a ton of sales then that alone makes it a rousing success.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on March 30, 2015, 06:13:59 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2015, 04:41:20 PM

Quote from: Foggle on March 30, 2015, 04:27:35 PM
I have like 8 consoles hooked up. It's a mess. :lol:
I own an NES, SNES, Genesis, Saturn, PS1, N64, Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, Wii, PS3, 360, and now a Wii U. I almost picked up a Master System before I remembered I would have nowhere to put it. It's just not feasible for me to have them all hooked up when I have no room for them all.

That's partially why BC is so important to me.
I have all of those, with the exception of a Wii(sold both of mine off recently) and PS3(replaced it with a PS4), plus a few others(Famicom, Super Famicom, JVC X'Eye, Atari 2600) spread across two TV's.  Even then it is a little too much.

I had a Master System, traded a top loader NES for it, but I sold it to another friend a year or two back.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 30, 2015, 06:36:08 PM
I have a NES, SNES, N64, GC, Wii, PS2, PS3, and Genesis hooked up. So we're both at eight, Foggle. I'd like to store away most of those, but like I said before, I don't feel like buying digital copies of games I already own unless they can be gotten cheap.

Quote from: Foggle on March 30, 2015, 04:55:52 PM
Thankfully, the Wii U doesn't use a points system anymore.

How is purchasing now?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 30, 2015, 07:02:26 PM
Real money, like PSN. Does XBL still use banana points?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 30, 2015, 07:02:55 PM
With real dollars. Eventually both MS and Nintendo learned that points were more annoying to deal with than just having actual currency.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 03, 2015, 03:33:26 PM
If I was to get a used 3DS and/or Wii-U, there isn't anything preventing me from using the VC, right?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 03, 2015, 04:02:58 PM
Nope. And if the person forgot to format their hard drive, you might even get some free games out of it!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 03, 2015, 04:05:25 PM
That's just perfect, then!

I'm thinking of putting a 3DS at this pawn shop on layaway, but I'd just buy one new if I can't use the VC. That's my deal-breaker.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 03, 2015, 04:10:25 PM
You can certainly use the VC.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 03, 2015, 10:47:21 PM
A friend of mine is willing to sell me his 3DS (original, not XL) for $80, $20 less than this pawn store was offering their cheapest one for. The next time I get to see him, I'll give him half of the asking price upfront, with the other half to come later.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 03, 2015, 10:52:36 PM
Good deal. Does he have any VC games on there or stuff?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 04, 2015, 01:16:32 AM
Not on this one, no. But he has one or two more, which is why he's willing to part with it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 05, 2015, 06:27:26 PM
Is Snake Eater 3D worth picking up?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on April 05, 2015, 06:52:54 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on April 05, 2015, 06:27:26 PM
Is Snake Eater 3D worth picking up?

I haven't heard many good things about that port, mainly due to fact that the 3DS doesn't accommodate for the game's controls well at all (unless you have the Circle Pad Pro). If you have a PS3, I'd highly recommend getting it there instead.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 05, 2015, 07:19:13 PM
It's also available via the MGS HD Collection for the PS3 and X360, which should be pretty cheap and easy to find, now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on April 05, 2015, 07:24:31 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 05, 2015, 07:19:13 PM
It's also available via the MGS HD Collection for the PS3 and X360, which should be pretty cheap and easy to find, now.

Yep. That's actually the version I meant. Three five games in one!

Though there's also the MGS Legacy Collection exclusive to PS3 which has Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, MGS, MGS2, MGS3, MGS4, and Peace Walker. But it's a bit pricey. I'd imagine it's cheaper to just get the MGS HD Collection and own MGS1 and 4 individually.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 05, 2015, 07:26:35 PM
I guess, but I have no real desire to get a PS3 or 360 right now. We'll see, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on April 05, 2015, 07:41:10 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on April 05, 2015, 07:26:35 PM
I guess, but I have no real desire to get a PS3 or 360 right now. We'll see, though.

Do you have a PS2? If so, MGS3: Subsistence is a better choice as well. Even beyond the controls, the PS2 version looks better and has more additional content (namely, the MSX Metal Gear games which previously were never released in America, at least not in their original forms). If you get that just make sure you get MGS3 Subsistence (http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080521162003/metalgear/images/f/f1/Subcover.jpg) and not  the original Snake Eater (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Mgs3box.jpg) version, which lacks the 3D controllable camera that was added into Subsistence (Kojima stubbornly chose not to add a 3D camera into 3 until this re-release). Overall, I highly recommend MGS3 no matter what. It's by far my favorite in the series, an opinion I find that most agree with. Though maybe you're already familiar with the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 05, 2015, 08:34:55 PM
Nah, the only Playstation I ever had was the first. I have played a decent chunk of 3 ages ago, and it's a hell of an experience. I was just wondering if it was worth trying it out on the 3DS for when I finally get it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on April 05, 2015, 08:55:10 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on April 05, 2015, 08:34:55 PM
Nah, the only Playstation I ever had was the first. I have played a decent chunk of 3 ages ago, and it's a hell of an experience. I was just wondering if it was worth trying it out on the 3DS for when I finally get it.

In that case, the 3DS version is fine as long as you get the Circle Pad Pro. They aren't expensive at all, and without one, you can't really control the camera, which is the same problem that MGS Portable Ops apparently had and was criticized for. The Circle Pad Pro fixes the only big flaw in the 3DS port. But one way or another, MGS3 is a must-play. Especially because, if I remember correctly, you're a fan of MGS1. In terms of story it has a simplicity more akin to 1, avoiding the craziness of 2 and stupidity of 4. And gameplay-wise it has a lot to offer.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 05, 2015, 11:29:06 PM
MGS3's story is pretty crazy, but in a good way.

Can't say I've heard much positive about the 3DS version, but if you don't plan on getting a PS2/3 or 360, it's probably alright. You won't get MG1 and 2 with it, though. :(
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 06, 2015, 12:34:05 PM
So for my Club Nintendo reward I picked Yoshi's New Island. I guess I'll see how well this stacks up to the original game soon enough.

I just can't believe they can't get a new sound guy. The music in the post YI games are so bad.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 06, 2015, 12:38:59 PM
I, uh, got Metroid Fusion. I guess Razor's Edge really wasn't worth buying, huh? :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 06, 2015, 12:42:52 PM
A free platformer is a free platformer.

If NG1 or 2 was there I would have jumped at it, but Razor's Edge? Maybe if they downloaded it directly to my Wii U for no cost to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 06, 2015, 12:48:49 PM
In the end I spent $11 for a reward worth $8. Not exactly a free platformer at that point. :shit:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 06, 2015, 12:52:32 PM
Ouch.  :gonk:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 06, 2015, 01:21:34 PM
*in Eddy's condescending voice* Economical!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on April 06, 2015, 02:10:27 PM
Quote from: Foggle on April 05, 2015, 11:29:06 PM
MGS3's story is pretty crazy, but in a good way.

I'd say the same for MGS2, at least to a certain extent.

I was just referring to the fact that some prefer the simplicity of MGS1's character-driven story, and 3 is more along the lines of that. I don't think it's that crazy.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 06, 2015, 10:41:27 PM
Spark, what are the top TG16 games to get from the VC?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 06, 2015, 10:54:49 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on April 06, 2015, 10:41:27 PM
Spark, what are the top TG16 games to get from the VC?
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
Bomberman '94
Ys Book I & II
Lords of Thunder
Dragon's Curse
Monster Lair
Dynastic Hero
Neutopia
Neutopia II
Air Zonk
Bonk's Adventure
Bonk's Revenge
Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure
Splatterhouse
Chew Man Fu
New Adventure Island
Ninja Spirit
R-Type
Blazing Lazers
Bloody Wolf

There are also a lot of shooters I haven't played that are really good. Also, I don't know if they are all still on the e-shop or have been removed since I bought them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 06, 2015, 11:13:53 PM
Wow, thanks! I'll double check when I get the chance.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 07, 2015, 04:24:08 PM
I recorded some thrilling footage of an endgame Final Fantasy Type-0 boss fight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU2ZPHcN9GQ
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 07, 2015, 04:30:17 PM
 :il_hahaha:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on April 07, 2015, 06:16:06 PM
I've been trying to play Final Fantasy VIII with the intention of finally finishing it now. But honestly, I feel like it's just one of those games where I have to force myself to play it. Is there any point where it becomes... interesting? The gameplay just does nothing for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 07, 2015, 06:17:48 PM
If you don't like it at the beginning, the chances of you liking it later are practically nil.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on April 07, 2015, 06:21:03 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 07, 2015, 06:17:48 PM
If you don't like it at the beginning, the chances of you liking it later are practically nil.

I forget the farthest I've gotten. But what I do remember is that Squall is an annoying character and the gameplay stays mediocre.

Honestly, I feel like the Junction system in VIII is, instead of being deep, is just complicated. And I don't consider that a good thing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 08, 2015, 03:18:31 PM
Avaitor, if you're interested, I can give you a list of Neo Geo games you'd probably enjoy from the VC:

Sengoku 3
The King of Fighters '98
Metal Slug X
Metal Slug 3
Shock Troopers
The Last Blade 2
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
Ninja Commando
Spin Master
Magical Drop III
Top Hunter
Baseball Stars 2
Blue's Journey
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 08, 2015, 04:20:02 PM
Aww yeah, thanks Spark!

I'm also looking for the Metal Slug collection. The next chance I can find it, it's mine!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 08, 2015, 04:24:32 PM
Be wary that the collection has no classic controller support. If that bothers you.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 08, 2015, 04:49:47 PM
Get the Metal Slug games from the eShop instead if you can. Waggling to throw grenades is horrible, and I believe the Wii version of the Anthology is censored.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 08, 2015, 06:47:53 PM
Quote from: Foggle on April 08, 2015, 04:49:47 PM
Get the Metal Slug games from the eShop instead if you can. Waggling to throw grenades is horrible, and I believe the Wii version of the Anthology is censored.
:whuh: :whuh: :whuh: :whuh: :whuh:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 08, 2015, 06:51:37 PM
It's missing the flash on hits.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 08, 2015, 09:00:30 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 08, 2015, 06:51:37 PM
It's missing the flash on hits.
Oh. Hmm, alright then.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 09, 2015, 10:07:53 PM
Got all the way up to the third world in Maximo. I always manage to forget about how hard this game really is until I get back to it.

But the secret ticket is to simply replay level 1 over and over to get armor, money, and lives, if you run low on any, which softens the blow. Some of those enemy patterns still screw me up even though I should know them by now. It's not like they're all too complicated.  :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 09, 2015, 11:00:14 PM
Replaying level 1 over and over is how I get enough lives to beat the harder stages in the original Donkey Kong Country!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on April 10, 2015, 10:28:21 PM
Oh man, Tropical Freeze is sooooo good. I've had the game since Christmas, and now I'm seriously kicking myself for not diving into it sooner. Dixie and Cranky are welcome additions, and that soundtrack.....good lord that soundtrack (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pz2npT05jQ).

Love that you can configure the display solely for the gamepad as well, ala Smash 4. At the moment my Wii U isn't hooked up to an HDTV, so the display looks a lot better through those means.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 10, 2015, 10:31:02 PM
Best game of 2014.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 13, 2015, 08:10:31 PM
The soundtrack to Yoshi's New Island is bad.

Real bad. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuJfuJtE7Lo&list=RDtxnnGJSmDq8&index=23)

Thankfully, Woolly World should have the best Yoshi soundtrack since the original Yoshi's Island, but man, they could do so much better than this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsphCdhmt7Q&index=29&list=RDtxnnGJSmDq8).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 13, 2015, 08:42:25 PM
lmao, I thought you said not bad at all at first. :blush:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 13, 2015, 09:29:18 PM
The devil is real... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAtd6NBvVA0)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 13, 2015, 09:30:15 PM
 :lol:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 13, 2015, 10:05:37 PM
Quote from: Foggle on April 13, 2015, 09:29:18 PM
The devil is real... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAtd6NBvVA0)
I almost posted that too. Best comment: "My God. This song is the Resident Evil: Director's Cut Basement theme of Nintendo music."

You know, I detested Yoshi's Island DS's soundtrack, but at least it had decent tracks like Wildlands. This game has like three passable tracks and a pile of crap.

Please Good Feel, save Yoshi from the mediocrity!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on April 16, 2015, 09:39:09 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 13, 2015, 08:10:31 PM
The soundtrack to Yoshi's New Island is bad.

Real bad. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuJfuJtE7Lo&list=RDtxnnGJSmDq8&index=23)

Thankfully, Woolly World should have the best Yoshi soundtrack since the original Yoshi's Island, but man, they could do so much better than this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsphCdhmt7Q&index=29&list=RDtxnnGJSmDq8).

And even up to this point, I still don't know what's worse; the kazoo-laden torture score, or just the overall painstaking slog of a gameplay experience. It's just so bad; like, I dig the art style, visually it's a pretty nice looking game.....but man, what an absolute fucking pile of crap otherwise. This thing makes Yoshi's Story look like a damn arthouse masterpiece.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 16, 2015, 10:10:57 PM
The game is so boring. Uninspired is probably the best word to describe it. It's just so tired.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on April 16, 2015, 10:11:37 PM
What do you guys think a 3D Yoshi game would be like?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 16, 2015, 10:18:17 PM
(http://gamingmemoirs.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Super-Mario-64-DS-Bob-Omb-Battlefield.jpg)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 16, 2015, 10:20:02 PM
I would make him play like Yoshi in SMG2. So fun to use.

Unfortunately it would probably play like that screenshot above. Boring.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on April 16, 2015, 10:21:54 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 16, 2015, 10:10:57 PM
The game is so boring. Uninspired is probably the best word to describe it. It's just so tired.

"Uninspired" is putting it mildly. I know Mario games aren't usually much for story, but the plot was seriously the exact same thing as the original Yoshi's Island.....only the stork delivered the babies to the wrong parents after that all went down, and then is ambushed by Kamek a second time.

I mean, come on. Say what you will about DS, at least they kinda tried on that one, with the addition of new baby characters. This didn't even have that much going for it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 16, 2015, 10:29:33 PM
Quote from: Kiddington on April 16, 2015, 10:21:54 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 16, 2015, 10:10:57 PM
The game is so boring. Uninspired is probably the best word to describe it. It's just so tired.

"Uninspired" is putting it mildly. I know Mario games aren't usually much for story, but the plot was seriously the exact same thing as the original Yoshi's Island.....only the stork delivered the babies to the wrong parents after that all went down, and then is ambushed by Kamek a second time.

I mean, come on. Say what you will about DS, at least they kinda tried on that one, with the addition of new baby characters. This didn't even have that much going for it.
Technically with this game it would be a third time.

The thing is, I don't think there's anything about the game that is outright bad. There just wasn't really any effort put into it. But it is a competently made game with solid level design.

The little quirks do annoy, though. Checkpoints don't save your stars (Why?), some of the coins and flowers are in invisible places (infuriating for 100%), enemies sometimes re-spawn just off screen to hit you during a blind jump (Why?), the bosses are lame and Kamek replaces fortress bosses (Why?), and the game looks identical in every way to the first two games. It's also slowly paced. Really slow.

Without question, the worst issue is the music and the slow speed of the game. Just like DS, it is clear that Artoon does not get what exactly made the first game a classic. Nintendo needs to stop hiring them to make Yoshi games.

I still think it's better than Yoshi Story, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on April 16, 2015, 10:45:05 PM
The pace is absolutely what kills it for me. Gameplay-wise, it probably would be fine if it wasn't such an absolute slog just to finish a level.

I have no desire to play this again, so who knows if I'd ever change my tune. Probably not. It's bad.

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 16, 2015, 10:29:33 PM
I still think it's better than Yoshi Story, though.

Hmm.....
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 16, 2015, 11:48:03 PM
Also forgot that Yoshi's feet are so distracting. Why are they so stupidly large? He doesn't even has any legs.  :whuh:

Anyway, I made it to world 4 in Maximo. I believe this as far as I've ever made it in the game before. It's really tough and there's still one world to go.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 17, 2015, 01:41:32 AM
Are you sure he has no legs? that's a serious accussssation?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 20, 2015, 04:50:39 PM
Just finished the level "Down the Gullet" in Maximo. Man, it was tough. Lots of platforming, tough enemies, and secrets. It was the first level that I didn't get at least an 80% level completion rate. I only got 58%.

And this is only world 4. I still have one more world to go.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on April 20, 2015, 04:56:42 PM
Still slowly making my way through FFVIII.

Quote from: gunswordfist on April 17, 2015, 01:41:32 AM
Are you sure he has no legs? that's a serious accussssation?

What, is he gonna be in trouble if he's wrong?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 20, 2015, 04:59:08 PM
Yoshi eats him if he's wrong.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 20, 2015, 09:34:17 PM
I made it to world 5 in Maximo. I've officially never made it this far.

And yes, the game is still really hard.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 20, 2015, 10:16:06 PM
Wait, you never beat the game? Why the fuck did you say it was one of your favorite PS2 games?! :srs:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 20, 2015, 10:29:30 PM
Uh, why do I have to have beaten a game to say it was one of my favorites?  ???

I believe I even said I never beat it in either that post or the one after it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 20, 2015, 10:32:52 PM
You said something like it was your favorite Capcom and/or action/adventure PS2 game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 20, 2015, 10:37:28 PM
It's one of my favorite 3D platformers. Playing further into the game hasn't changed that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 20, 2015, 10:44:14 PM
Ok.  :thinkin:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 21, 2015, 09:18:11 PM
I actually beat Maximo. Man was that tough.

And yes, it still ranks on my list of 3D platformers. My opinion only improved as the game got harder. It was classic arcade game difficulty in 3D only without the extra dose of cheese and the level design never dipped (only got better) up to the very end of the game.

Excellent game, one of the best on the PS2. Shame it's so unknown.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on April 22, 2015, 10:42:31 PM
MK8 DLC drops tomorrow. 200cc, Animal Crossing stuff.....jfc, the hype.

I still haven't gotten all the cups in 150cc yet though, so it looks I've got some homework tonight.  >_<
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 22, 2015, 10:45:10 PM
They're also adding bots into online thankfully. It was annoying playing a game with friends and having so many empty spaces.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 22, 2015, 10:47:56 PM
Wait, MKX was botless? :srs:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 22, 2015, 10:48:44 PM
So I picked up the Resistance Collection for cheap since I never played any of them and I heard R3 was fantastic. Also, Insomniac. Gotta' play all their games eventually.

Almost done with the first one. This game has the worst checkpoint placement I've ever seen. It's a fairly challenging game even on Normal; not preposterously so, but hard enough to kill you once every 10-20 minutes. The problem is, the checkpoints are spread so thin that sometimes you'll play for 10 minutes, reach the final set of generic mooks, and then get killed by them because you have no health left. This means you have to again slog through the same 10 minutes of fairly difficult content you've already beaten. In one level, you have to fight three challenging bosses in a row, the last of which can easily one/two shot you even behind cover. You're also constantly swarmed by normal enemies. If you die on the third boss, you're back to square one. This took me an entire hour to beat. Not fun.

The regular enemies are rather spongey, but they're also extremely accurate and can kill you in just a few hits. The health system is unique/interesting, but not exactly good, and would have largely benefited from being less "innovative." The last few levels (which I'm currently on) LOVE spamming this one enemy type that can shoot you through walls. These units also have the most health of all the non-boss enemies. Now, yes, you can also use the shoot-through-walls gun yourself, but they are far more efficient with it than you could ever hope to be.

That said, it's an alright game, especially for a launch title. The first 1/4 of it is boring and kind of generic, but the next 1/2 is excellent, filled with some of the most intense giant battles I've ever experienced in an FPS, as well as some great levels that evoke Halo 1 and Half-Life 2. Unfortunately, the last 1/4 of the game is simply too frustrating to be fun. If there were more checkpoints or a quick save system, I'd like this game a lot more. Of if, you know, they removed the fucking enemies that can shoot you through fucking walls.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 22, 2015, 11:05:30 PM
Yeah, my dad played through that game and I helped him a bit. Standard gen shooter only since this was before the corridor/Modern Warfare aping it had a bit more ambition than most. And yes, the checkpoints were pretty bad.

I don't remember 2 being very good, but it's been a while.

Quote from: gunswordfist on April 22, 2015, 10:47:56 PM
Wait, MKX was botless? :srs:
Only in online with friends which has THANKFULLY been fixed.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 22, 2015, 11:07:01 PM
 :frown: I was half joking about saying MKX. Jeez, what the fuck were they thinking?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 22, 2015, 11:26:24 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 22, 2015, 11:05:30 PM
Yeah, my dad played through that game and I helped him a bit. Standard gen shooter only since this was before the corridor/Modern Warfare aping it had a bit more ambition than most. And yes, the checkpoints were pretty bad.

I don't remember 2 being very good, but it's been a while.
The middle part of the game is legitimately great, but the rest is either boring or frustrating. I'm only playing 1 and 2 because the collection was the same price as R3 by itself, so I figured, why not? It's decent, but almost certainly my least favorite Insomniac game aside from A4O and FFA. Yes, I like it less than Fuse (which is actually pretty good, if generic). At least that game has amusing dialogue and an actual color palette.

I heard 2 is basically a CoD clone. If nothing else, that means it'll be easier and have better checkpoints...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 22, 2015, 11:49:01 PM
Okay, I don't know if I can beat this game. I'm on the second to last level now, and every enemy just tears through my health like tissue paper. I swear I'm dying in four hits to normal enemies, all of whom shoot extremely fast. Fuck this.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 22, 2015, 11:52:55 PM
And you still suck at console shooters.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 22, 2015, 11:57:02 PM
Well it's not like he can rely on incredibly inventive tactics like waiting behind a rock for three seconds to regain all his health again in this game. He has to deal with cheap enemy design and find a way around it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 22, 2015, 11:59:24 PM
Regenerative health rocks. :bleh:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 23, 2015, 12:13:36 AM
So, of course, immediately after I go online to bitch about it, I beat the level easily without dying. Thanks internet!

Quote from: gunswordfist on April 22, 2015, 11:52:55 PM
And you still suck at console shooters.
Yes! And this one even has aim assist! (To be fair, though, I beat the final boss of Vanquish on my first try, which I hear is supposedly super difficult.)

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 22, 2015, 11:57:02 PM
Well it's not like he can rely on incredibly inventive tactics like waiting behind a rock for three seconds to regain all his health again in this game. He has to deal with cheap enemy design and find a way around it.
This game's health system is weird. It has four blocks, and each one regenerates on its own. If you lose a block, you have to use a health kit to get it back. I would have preferred either one or the other, because this is effectively the worst of both worlds rather than the best.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 23, 2015, 12:23:42 AM
Quote from: Foggle on April 23, 2015, 12:13:36 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 22, 2015, 11:57:02 PM
Well it's not like he can rely on incredibly inventive tactics like waiting behind a rock for three seconds to regain all his health again in this game. He has to deal with cheap enemy design and find a way around it.
This game's health system is weird. It has four blocks, and each one regenerates on its own. If you lose a block, you have to use a health kit to get it back. I would have preferred either one or the other, because this is effectively the worst of both worlds rather than the best.
Oh yes, I know of several games that have used it, I think they were all games from last gen, too. Never really understood the point. Either go all out and be DOOM with health or don't bother.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 23, 2015, 12:25:39 AM
Congrats on beating that level!

That health system sounds just like Butcher Bay's. I honestly thought that health system was decent. also, I think BulletStorm's was like that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 23, 2015, 01:08:50 AM
Thank you. :) Yeah, Butcher Bay's was like that too. IMO it worked really well in that game since it was more stealth and melee-focused (not as easy to get instantly destroyed by gun-toting enemies) and because the healing machines could take you all the way back to full HP. It's not as good in an arcade shooter where there's but a single type of health pickup which gives you only one block back. Resistance would have greatly benefited from either going old-school with more HP and more traditional health kits or by following the trend of fully regenerating health.

Anyway, I beat the game! It was alright overall. I'm glad I played it since the middle portion was surprisingly excellent, but I'll probably never touch it again unless someone wants to play split-screen co-op with me. The last level wasn't too bad since it actually had good checkpoint placement for once. Unfortunately, the final boss was a *riveting* instance of "shoot the stationary glowing things." Lame. Hopefully I'll enjoy the sequels more.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 23, 2015, 01:13:33 AM
I haven't played Resistance, but I've had my share of frustrating difficulty in a shooter with the first Gears of War on Hardcore difficulty. It was especially bad since almost everything was an insta-kill in the later acts of that game.

In terms of Vanquish's final boss, people usually refer to God Hard mode when they call him (them?) super difficult. I remember one of the walkthrough channels that I follow (where they play games on their hardest difficulty settings), just flat-out not being able to do it and giving up on finishing that guide (which he never did for anything else).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 23, 2015, 01:17:39 AM
Oh, and on the subject of health systems, I always liked how the first Halo and Reach both used a recharging shield and health packs.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 23, 2015, 01:20:59 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 23, 2015, 01:13:33 AM
I haven't played Resistance, but I've had my share of frustrating difficulty in a shooter with the first Gears of War on Hardcore difficulty. It was especially bad since almost everything was an insta-kill in the later acts of that game.
To be fair, I'm not very good. I rarely ever play modern FPS that aren't intended as throwbacks to "the good old days," and I haven't played a console FPS in 3 years or so, so it's probably more that I wasn't used to the health system/movement speed/aiming/general tactics than anything. In all honesty, I probably should have played on easy mode, but it hurts my pride to do so. :lol: The checkpoints are seriously terrible, though.

QuoteIn terms of Vanquish's final boss, people usually refer to God Hard mode when they call him (them?) super difficult. I remember one of the walkthrough channels that I follow (where they play games on their hardest difficulty settings), just flat-out not being able to do it and giving up on finishing that guide (which he never did for anything else).
I figured. That shit must be horrifying on God Hard.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 23, 2015, 01:17:39 AM
Oh, and on the subject of health systems, I always liked how the first Halo and Reach both used a recharging shield and health packs.
That's the best health system. More games should use it. (Or they should let you carry health kits around, like in F.E.A.R.)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 23, 2015, 01:32:25 AM
I didn't know Reach had it as well. That's also probably my favorite.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 23, 2015, 01:31:44 PM
As far as FPS games go, I'm good with either recharging health that is accompanied by a health bar underneath (Halo/Reach), or where you have to replenish it via health kits, but only if they are plentifully scattered through levels. I also like the recharge station concept which is applied in the Half-Life and Jedi Knight games. And of course, being able to carry health kits like in F.E.A.R. or BioShock is great (or in the case of Max Payne, where painkillers are basically health packs, though that's a TPS).

While on the subject of health, I firmly believe that Ninja Gaiden 2 has the best health system in the entire hack n' slash genre. It's amazing how badly NG3 managed to take an already perfected concept and fuck it up so badly. It's worth mentioning that NGB also has a good health system, wherein if you are low on health, killing enemies without using UTs will greatly increase your chances of getting health drops from them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 23, 2015, 01:41:31 PM
The healing system in Resistance is weird; it's like they couldn't decide whether they wanted to do medkits or regenerating health. Some levels have enough pickups to keep things moving at a fun and brisk pace, while others have almost none and seem to expect you to rely upon the extremely limited regeneration. Since the checkpoints are so far apart, these stages absolutely murder the pacing of the game, as you'll be forced to hide behind cover after being hit by just one or two bullets (fired at a fast pace with pinpoint accuracy). Thankfully, Resistance 2 goes all in on regenerating health, and R3 is medkits only.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 23, 2015, 01:48:19 PM
Do the first two Max Paynes have Max heal a little bit after he loses a large amount of health? I forget which ones had that. Anyway, that and the press of a button painkillers makes that my favorite health system out of any TPS.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 23, 2015, 01:50:36 PM
Pretty sure he regenerates up to about 25% HP if you don't have any painkillers.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 23, 2015, 03:12:57 PM
I love that.

Also, the thing I hate the most about regenerative health is when big red veins take up the screen when you are really low on health. That pretty much guarantees that you're about to die because you can't see (or barely hear, in most cases) anything. It's even worse when the game has no health bar at all.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 23, 2015, 03:17:35 PM
Quote from: Foggle on April 23, 2015, 01:41:31 PMR3 is medkits only.
IIRC this was a big part of the appeal. It affected the game design positively in all the right ways.

I'm honestly interested in your impressions of 2, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 23, 2015, 03:32:18 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on April 23, 2015, 03:12:57 PM
Also, the thing I hate the most about regenerative health is when big red veins take up the screen when you are really low on health. That pretty much guarantees that you're about to die because you can't see (or barely hear, in most cases) anything. It's even worse when the game has no health bar at all.
Agreed. It's so awful.

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 23, 2015, 03:17:35 PM
IIRC this was a big part of the appeal. It affected the game design positively in all the right ways.

I'm honestly interested in your impressions of 2, though.
R1 would have been a lot better if they went completely old-school with the health system, for sure. Regen health, even the weird partial system they had, just didn't suit the game at all.

I doubt I'll like 2 much as it seems to contain most of the elements I hate about modern shooters, but at least I won't be immediately biased against it like the hardcore R1 fans were.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 23, 2015, 03:34:20 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on April 23, 2015, 03:12:57 PMI love that.

Also, the thing I hate the most about regenerative health is when big red veins take up the screen when you are really low on health. That pretty much guarantees that you're about to die because you can't see (or barely hear, in most cases) anything. It's even worse when the game has no health bar at all.

Yes, I despise the "red veins of doom" that clog up the screen and obstruct your vision when you are low on health. What's even worse is that this has spread beyond just FPS games. Why do I need a reminder that my health is low in a fucking hack n' slash game where I have a very easy to see and clear health bar? This feature is somehow present in NG3, and even in actual good games made by Platinum for crying out loud. I don't need the screen to flash red when I'm low on health in Bayonetta and MGRR. And I don't believe that even modern gamers are THAT inattentive to their character's health if it's actually displayed on the screen for them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 23, 2015, 03:38:23 PM
Jeez, NG3. :whuh: Also, I forget if it has red veins of doom, but doesn't Ground Zeroes have regenerative health? Stealth games should never ever ever have that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 24, 2015, 01:41:07 AM
So, uh, Resistance 2. You know, I had some major problems with the first game, but it was still a remarkably solid Halo clone with fantastic core gameplay and a few expertly crafted large battles. This one is just... bad.

First, the positives. This game actually has competent checkpoint placement and normal enemies that aren't bullet sponges. The graphics are also extremely impressive for 2008, and load times are practically nonexistent.

But holy shit, I never expected Insomniac of all developers to go after that CoD money. This is literally just a Call of Duty game with aliens, and not even a good one at that. Between the incredibly slow movement speed, "follow this guy!" objective markers, cinematic "gameplay," two weapon limit, and instant deaths because you walked into the wrong part of the map, I haven't had such little fun with an FPS in a long time. To top it all off, there's no sense of pacing, the big open battlefield levels (the best part of R1) are gone, the story is even less interesting than last time, and the characters have no likable traits. IG fucked up bad with this one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 24, 2015, 10:29:35 AM
That sounds..pretty horrible. I remember being excited about that game. I wanted to see what it's multiplayer was like as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 24, 2015, 11:35:33 AM
If I remember correctly, it was also rushed. There's a part where you're in the sky, right? Be sure to look down toward the ground and pay attention to the graphics. It's very lazy stuff.

Resistance 2 definitely killed the series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 24, 2015, 12:41:08 PM
smh
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 24, 2015, 09:26:19 PM
The third level begins with one of those stupid fucking CoD stages where you have to run from cover to cover avoiding enemy fire that you can't suppress. I've died countless times because I went in the wrong direction or because enemies ran up and melee'd me while I was waiting for my screen to not be black and white anymore.

I can't believe these are the same people who made Ratchet & Clank.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 24, 2015, 09:28:22 PM
Quote from: Foggle on April 24, 2015, 09:26:19 PM
The third level begins with one of those stupid fucking CoD stages where you have to run from cover to cover avoiding enemy fire that you can't suppress. I've died countless times because I went in the wrong direction or because enemies ran up and melee'd me while I was waiting for my screen to not be black and white anymore.

I can't believe these are the same people who made Ratchet & Clank.
Yeah, they were really chasing the COD dragon with that game. Here's hoping you get through it quick to get to 3.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 24, 2015, 09:29:01 PM
Good luck, my friend. :'(
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 24, 2015, 09:33:37 PM
I am honestly moments away from just shoving this game in the closet and skipping to 3 at this point. It's not like the stories or gameplay even have anything to do with each other.

But, I bought the collection with the intention of playing through all of them, so I'll keep trying. I may need to consult YouTube for this part, though; good lord.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 24, 2015, 09:39:44 PM
I forgot the..no wait, I remember now. Shining in the Darkness for Genesis made me give up pretty fast. I almost never quit games I own but good lord, robotic 16 bit first person dungeons are not fun at all.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 24, 2015, 09:43:09 PM
It really is amazing the reviews that game had when it came out. I think it might even have the highest metacritic ranking of the 3, or it did a while ago. But I mean it's a completely unremarkable and unoriginal attempt at an FPS in a sea of them. It's like they gave up trying to top the first game (which shouldn't have been too hard) and decided to be like everyone else.

Which is amazing because Insomniac has never been known as a studio that does what everyone else does.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 24, 2015, 09:50:43 PM
2 has the highest MC rating and 3 has the lowest I believe. Just goes to show how worthless sites like that really are.

I think Insomniac learned very quickly from R2 to never try following the crowd again. They're much better at doing their own thing, and - questionable quality of a few releases aside - they've thankfully never made something like this since.

Anyway, apparently you actually could shoot the hidden snipers; I just wasn't close enough to them the other times I tried, I guess. Made that part extremely easy instead of trial and error like I thought it was, so that's good. But now there are invisible enemies (and I mean completely invisible until you're a couple feet away) who one-shot you...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 24, 2015, 10:06:49 PM
Oh boy the shoot-through-walls enemies are back! And they have just as much health as last time! Thankfully, they can no longer track you for entire minutes behind cover, so I guess that's something.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 24, 2015, 10:40:36 PM
There's a part where you have to fend off enemies from behind cover while someone opens a door for you. I dared move five steps to the left and got insta-killed by a single bullet because the game didn't like that. "Stay behind cover!" one of my soldier friends yelled as I died.

What a good game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 24, 2015, 10:43:20 PM
The future of level design.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 24, 2015, 11:01:33 PM
It gets better. After I died, I found out you can just hide in the corner and let your invincible AI partners kill all the enemies for you.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 24, 2015, 11:04:36 PM
I love invincible friends.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 24, 2015, 11:07:58 PM
Quote from: Foggle on April 24, 2015, 11:01:33 PM
It gets better. After I died, I found out you can just hide in the corner and let your invincible AI partners kill all the enemies for you.
So it even plays itself.

And fans of these games usually mock on-rail shooters. Amazing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 24, 2015, 11:12:55 PM
I remember back when I was playing CoD Black Ops, I ended up "failing the mission" for not sticking close to my comrades on a set course, since I just wanted to go at my own pace and explore the environment. That's basically a perfect representation of CoD games. Either play it exactly one way, or don't play it at all. I don't think that I need to say which option I chose.

For the record, most sites ranked this as the best FPS of 2010, which is the same year that Halo: Reach came out, and while I'm sure that they factored in the multiplayer, many also called the campaign mode one of the best yet in the CoD series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 24, 2015, 11:33:20 PM
I got to a boss fight where you're expected to use old-school circle strafe tactics to win, but your character's movement speed is so slow that it's impossible to do it properly and not take damage. Thankfully, your health regens fast enough to make it merely tedious rather than hard.

Quote from: gunswordfist on April 24, 2015, 11:04:36 PM
I love invincible friends.
In Resident Evil 2, there's a part where Ada briefly follows you. If you maneuver your character right, you can get behind her, and she'll kill all the enemies for you since she's invincible and has infinite ammo. :lol: That's probably the only time I've ever enjoyed that kind of thing in a game.

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 24, 2015, 11:07:58 PM
So it even plays itself.
To be fair, this game only plays itself 5% of the time, which is a lot less often than the typical CoD campaign does. Still, everything else about it is also terrible, so...

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 24, 2015, 11:12:55 PM
I remember back when I was playing CoD Black Ops, I ended up "failing the mission" for not sticking close to my comrades on a set course, since I just wanted to go at my own pace and explore the environment. That's basically a perfect representation of CoD games. Either play it exactly one way, or don't play it at all. I don't think that I need to say which option I chose.
That stuff's just the worst. For all its faults, Resistance 1 never had anything like that, and I don't think IG will ever make a game with such stupidity again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 24, 2015, 11:41:47 PM
I do like the system that Gears of War uses, where your allies can get "downed" but not killed. You can then either choose to risk going out of cover to revive them, or try to finish the fight yourself, but you don't have to worry about them dying on you since they'll automatically be revived after the fight concludes (except for Gears 2, where they can actually bleed out if you don't get to them in time, which is stupid).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 25, 2015, 01:04:05 AM
One of my AI partners just killed me by shooting the car next to me until it exploded.

This game, man.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 25, 2015, 01:10:35 AM
 :lol:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 26, 2015, 12:52:14 AM
I am on the last level and words cannot express how much I hate this fucking game. The entire second half of it is filled with square rooms and long corridors where you just sit in one spot for 5 minutes until it decides to stop spawning enemies or the boss' absurdly large amount of health finally depletes. Also, some parts are genuinely composed of trial and error & can only be beaten on your first try by sheer luck, the checkpoints have gone back to being stupidly far apart like in R1, and certain enemies can kill you before you even have time to react due to their high damage output. I haven't forced myself through a game I've had such little fun with in years. The third one better be worth it...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on April 26, 2015, 01:21:08 AM
And so the credits roll on Etrian Mystery Dungeon. I like playing Mystery Dungeon games in my downtime between other games, and this one was... okay. A lot of the HUD and other things from the mainline Etrian Odyssey titles made it over, so it really felt like just an EO game from a different perspective with a few gimmicks. Same composer, same character art, same abilities, same tiered dungeon floors/branches, same enemies. But overall the whole thing was underwhelming. I just prefer the usual way the games play instead of this MD setup.

Plot's never been a big deal in the EO series, but the EO1 remake from last year went out of its way to start world-building with its story mode and there are a few things in this game that mention the events of EO 1-4, cementing this into the canon. But then something happens at the end of the game after the final boss that brings a "that only raises further questions" moment. Eh.

Of course, in true EO tradition, just because the credits roll, doesn't mean it's over. The 8th and 9th dungeons opened up, bringing in a new plot twist and meaning there's a bit more to do before I return the game to my shelf.

Then I have no clue what I'll play. I've been splurging on a myriad of PS3 titles but I do have my eyes on Bravely Default. Still haven't taken it out of the box, and I got it four months ago. Etrian Odyssey 2's story-focused remake comes out in August; I'm looking forward to that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 26, 2015, 06:14:01 PM
Yesterday, I played a current gen system for the first time in Xbox One with GTA V and was smiling like an idiot. That is all.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 26, 2015, 11:21:23 PM
Finally beat Resistance 2, and not a moment too soon. Good riddance.

Resistance 3 is fantastic so far. The guns are a LOT more fun to use than in the previous games, and so far they've brought back some of the best ones, along with including the amazing deployable gun turret alt fire from R1. There's a weapon upgrade system that works exactly like Ratchet & Clank (and the weapon wheel is now called the quick select, heh), the new control scheme is much better, the enemies are neither bullet sponges nor tissue paper, the shoot-through-walls guys are no longer cheap (plus their gun is easier to use), you don't die nearly as fast, and the change from regenerating health to medkits has greatly increased the speed and fun of the combat. Also, the first five minutes alone are more engaging than the entirety of the previous installments' story.

So yeah, brilliant game. Too bad R2 and that Vita trash killed the series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 26, 2015, 11:41:33 PM
Would you say that R2 is as bad as a sequel like DMC2 or NG3? Just curious.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 27, 2015, 12:10:00 AM
Hmm... Well, I enjoyed it about as much as DMC2 and what I've played of NG3 (as in, not at all), and it does miss the point of the series as much as those games do, but DMC1 and NG 1 & 2 are some of the best games of all time, whereas R1 is only decent, so maybe not.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 27, 2015, 12:52:17 AM
Quote from: Foggle on April 27, 2015, 12:10:00 AM
Hmm... Well, I enjoyed it about as much as DMC2 and what I've played of NG3 (as in, not at all),
:D :D :D :D :D :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 01, 2015, 09:22:46 PM
I beat Resistance 3! It was really good overall. It's one of those rare games that legitimately gets better the farther into it you go. Excellent pacing reminiscent of Half-Life, fantastic combat scenarios, satisfying gunplay, good level design, interesting storyline. Some of the later levels actually manage to recapture the intense feeling present in the best moments of Resistance 1, the shoot-through-walls gun is FINALLY fun to use (and it's amazing, at that), the level of difficulty & checkpoint placement are a lot more fair, and one of the trophies is called Up Your Arsenal. It's probably my second favorite console-only FPS after The Darkness. Fans of Half-Life 2 and Ratchet & Clank should definitely play this one!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 01, 2015, 09:26:17 PM
Wow. Now that's a turnaround from Resistance 2.

Shame the series died when they finally figured it out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 01, 2015, 09:33:31 PM
It didn't sell particularly well, which is understandable since it wasn't advertised much and the second one was so bad. Considering how good Sunset Overdrive looks (and Overstrike looked), I think this is the point where the Resistance team really "got" it. I mean, I like Deadlocked and R1 enough, but this is the first non-platformer they made that truly felt on par with Ratchet & Clank and Spyro to me. Then again, Sunset Overdrive is also a platformer, isn't it...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 01, 2015, 10:25:33 PM
Makes me want to play The Darkness again. I thought it was alright but not one of my favorites. A lot of people seem to like it more than I do.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 01, 2015, 10:27:24 PM
The problem with The Darkness is that it's ridiculously difficult for no reason. The Easy mode is somewhere between Normal and Hard difficulty for most games. I just love the inventive gameplay and amazing writing. The Darkness 2 is way more fun, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 01, 2015, 10:37:36 PM
My favorite console-exclusive FPS is still probably TimeSplitters 2, which is still nearly unmatched in terms of the large variety of single-player content that it has on offer (for an arcade-style FPS, that is).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 01, 2015, 11:08:18 PM
I don't remember it being too hard but then again I'm used to just retrying a million times in any hard game.

I think it's TimeSplitters 2 for me as well. I like Perfect Dark's multiplayer mode more but I pretty much hate its single player.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 01, 2015, 11:18:49 PM
Future Perfect is so underrated.

Shame Crytek bought and killed Free Radical like they did. A new Timesplitters would have been killer.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 01, 2015, 11:25:41 PM
I like both games, myself. I just spent more time playing 2, for whatever reason.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 01, 2015, 11:38:38 PM
I've never played Future Perfect or the first one. Just 2. Love it to death.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 07, 2015, 09:23:50 PM
So FFVIII continues to do absolutely nothing for me after over 20 hours of playtime. Instead of dedicating another 30-40 painful hours to it, I'm just going to drop this game and move onto Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

However, before doing that, today I decided to take another crack at the original Ninja Gaiden for NES. I do still think the game is just too cheap later on (particularly everything in the final level). But I do think it's fun for a while. I'll never beat it, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 07, 2015, 09:30:23 PM
You should play this really cool game called Resistance 2, it's way better than Final Fantasy 8. :sly:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 07, 2015, 09:31:30 PM
I just beat Kirby's Epic Yarn getting all gold medals and treasures. Fun game, but not as good as Shake It. But it does continue to get me excited for Woolly World as every issue I have with Epic Yarn is not in Shake It or the upcoming game. The soundtrack is killer in all their games, however. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZZahUFVnYU&list=PL30967AD6BAD7BD7F&index=47)

Good Feel is such a criminally underrated developer.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 07, 2015, 09:34:02 PM
Well, now you will be learning the age-old art of what us Ninja Masters refer to as "holding down the fucking block button," "spamming UTs," and "i-frames." :humhumhum:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 07, 2015, 09:38:16 PM
Quote from: Foggle on May 07, 2015, 09:30:23 PM
You should play this really cool game called Resistance 2, it's way better than Final Fantasy 8. :sly:

You're high praise of that game convinced me to save it for a special occasion.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 07, 2015, 09:38:35 PM
Good. Now let us see how Lord Talon fares against Murai and the horse guy. :light:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 07, 2015, 09:39:15 PM
Guys, let's just accept the facts. I'm going to be bad at first. :happytime:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 07, 2015, 09:46:43 PM
You'll never get to learn counterattack.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 07, 2015, 09:48:09 PM
Alright let's not get carried away. I'll learn some skills eventually. :thinkin:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 07, 2015, 09:49:42 PM
If you get stuck, try pressing square to perform a light attack.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 07, 2015, 09:50:07 PM
Tell your grandchildren I said "Hi." when you do.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 07, 2015, 09:50:50 PM
Oh geez, I don't know who to trust anymore.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 07, 2015, 09:53:42 PM
Use the bow on the horseguy.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 07, 2015, 09:54:26 PM
Double back to search for more items before that battle.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 07, 2015, 09:55:42 PM
The bow on the horse riders is the newbie strategy. There's a much easier way to fight that enemy type.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 07, 2015, 09:58:19 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 07, 2015, 09:55:42 PM
The bow on the horse riders is the newbie strategy. There's a much easier way to fight that enemy type.
Why would you tell him that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 07, 2015, 09:59:41 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 07, 2015, 09:55:42 PM
The bow on the horse riders is the newbie strategy. There's a much easier way to fight that enemy type.
Ninja Dog difficulty!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 07, 2015, 10:01:08 PM
At this point, I don't even know if you guys are trolling me, or if you're being serious, or both. :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 07, 2015, 10:09:35 PM
You miss much of the best enemies on Ninja Dog mode.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 07, 2015, 10:12:23 PM
Also, Ayane makes you her bitch.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 08, 2015, 11:05:47 PM
Just played the Splatoon beta. The servers held really well!

As for the game, it's a pretty fun shooter with a fun paint mechanic. I only got to play two arenas but the were fairly inventive with a lot of neat nooks and crannies to hide in and scope out for extra paint points. On the negative side, when you get stuck with a team that either does nothing for the whole match or plays it like a death match it can become frustrating, but that's not much of a fault of the game. I can't wait to play the final version.

Oh, and the music is killer.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on May 08, 2015, 11:40:06 PM
Played the Splatoon Global Test Fire for the full hour as well. All in all, pretty enjoyable experience. Mostly used the roller and had a good laugh whenever an opposing player also used it and we killed each other. Also used the Splattergun and the Jr counterpart, skipped the sniper rifle since I suck at sniping in other FPS games, what makes you think I'll play it here? All in all, they were pretty balanced from what I saw.

The stages were fine and won most of my games. The games I lost, not sure if it was because everyone was treating it like Team Deathmatch or anything, but I still had fun.

Also, noticed a lot of Japanese players during my playthrough. I noticed no lag at all, have no idea if I played with someone from Europe or not, but if I did, the lag didn't exist at all. Pretty good if you ask me.

All in all, will try to play it again tomorrow at 3 PM.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 08, 2015, 11:45:47 PM
There were quite a few Japanese players, I noticed. The impressive part was how strong the connection was. I had a shaky connection once and wasn't even kicked from the game.

In the full game, I'm definitely going to add more range to the Splattershot. It's a great weapon, but slightly short of what I want it to be.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on May 09, 2015, 04:10:59 PM
I will say that after playing the demo a 2nd time, I don't think the Roller is as powerful as people make it out to be. I used the Splattershot JR and ended up taking down people that wanted to roll me down. That and using the shield at the most appropriate times was such a laugh for me. Roller is good for map coverage, since I do feel more like completing the goal of covering the map with it rather than the splatter of the other guns. Did try the Charger, wasn't a huge fan of it.


I think I might end up maining the Splattershot Jr. or the Roller though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 16, 2015, 12:56:45 AM
Finally continuing my Metal Gear series playthrough after MGS2 ruined games with extended cutscenes for me for a good four months.

MGS3 is still great, but I wish it wasn't so front-loaded with long-winded cutscenes. There's maybe 10 minutes of playtime in the first 2 hours of the game. Thankfully, once you meet Eva, it becomes an excellent gameplay-first experience, but that prologue is a bit torturous in terms of pacing. If I wanted to watch a movie, I'd watch a movie.

Still, this is easily the best entry in the series since MG2 for the MSX.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 16, 2015, 01:22:30 AM
The worst part is when the game shows the whole conversation between Lyndon B. Johnson and Nikita Khrushchev. They could have just had Major Zero tell Snake the needed info in 15 seconds. We didn't need to see the entire conversation.

But overall, it's still Kojima's masterpiece. And it blows MG2 clear out of the water. :blush:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 16, 2015, 02:04:02 AM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on May 16, 2015, 01:22:30 AM
The worst part is when the game shows the whole conversation between Lyndon B. Johnson and Nikita Khrushchev. They could have just had Major Zero tell Snake the needed info in 15 seconds. We didn't need to see the entire conversation.
Oh god. Yeah. Despite the questionable pacing and my desire to get on with the sneaking, the rest of the prologue stuff was either interesting, cool, or funny. But that bit was just wretched.

QuoteBut overall, it's still Kojima's masterpiece. And it blows MG2 clear out of the water. :blush:
I'm not sure I'd say it blows MG2 out of the water (that one's my second favorite in the series and probably my favorite 8-bit game ever), but it's certainly Kojima's best work to date. C'mon, September...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 17, 2015, 02:08:58 PM
Speaking of extended cutscenes, am I the only one who doesn't mind MGS4's cutscenes as much as MGS2's? At least 4 gives you a pause option during them, and shows some variety in the scenes. In 2 you're just stuck watching people talk to each other for huge stretches of time and have no ability to pause.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 17, 2015, 02:31:55 PM
MGS4's cutscenes are way too long and kind of stupid, but they're also a lot more interesting and generally better written/acted than 2's.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 17, 2015, 05:22:40 PM
MGS4 has the benefit of that final cutscene that takes place at the very end of the game, which is arguably the best one in the entire series. :P

MGS2's cutscenes are much shorter but they usually just consist of characters either standing still and explaining plot to each other, or doing the same thing only through codec.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 17, 2015, 07:16:14 PM
I much prefer MGS4's long strings of cutscenes with equally long sequences of gameplay between them over that shit from the Raiden part of MGS2 where you play the game for 2 minutes or less and then watch 5+ minutes of cutscenes. Pure torture.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 18, 2015, 01:22:13 AM
MGS2's cutscenes are also really sterile. Like I said, just people spouting exposition.

Do you really think MGS2 is better than MGS1?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 18, 2015, 01:31:30 AM
I think the gameplay is. I don't particularly care for either of them, though.

My opinion: VR Missions > MGS2 (Tanker) > MGS1 > Twin Snakes > MGS2 (Plant)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 18, 2015, 11:47:46 AM
Quote from: Foggle on May 18, 2015, 01:31:30 AM
I don't particularly care for either of them, though.


But you're a fan of the original MSX Metal Gear. :thinkin:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 18, 2015, 02:51:24 PM
The MSX Metal Gear is still fun and creative to this day, and absolutely amazing for its time. MGS1 is equally impressive for its time, but it really is more of a movie than a game - and not a very exciting movie at that (except for a couple parts). It suffers from the exact same problem the Plant portion of MGS2 does; there's a 5-10 minute cutscene for every 1-5 minutes of gameplay. I just don't have the patience for that kind of thing anymore. When I play a game, I want to play a game. MG1 may be dated, but I have a lot more fun with it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 18, 2015, 03:08:12 PM
Quote from: Foggle on May 18, 2015, 02:51:24 PMthere's a 5-10 minute cutscene for every 1-5 minutes of gameplay

That only happens, like, two or three times in the whole game. :P

I feel like MGS1 just had really strong level design, great bosses, solid stealth gameplay, and an engaging story. Plus one of the best soundtracks in the series, and voice acting that holds up moderately well. Then you have things like the whole Psycho Mantis battle, and having to look at the back of the case to see a codec number. These two are fun little things only Kojima thinks of. People say his creations are more movie than game, but he has too much fun designing these things that I can't consider them anything but pure game, at least for most of the titles in the series.

The original Metal Gear is mostly a game I appreciate for historical reasons. I respect it, but I don't think it's that good anymore. The level design is standard and backtrack heavy, and the enemy AI is so primitive. Plus the game has plenty of cryptic moments a lot of games from the era suffered. I don't think MG2 is as good as you do, but I do think it significantly tops the original in literally every way.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 18, 2015, 03:25:40 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on May 18, 2015, 03:08:12 PM
That only happens, like, two or three times in the whole game. :P
No, this happens constantly from the beginning. You spend the majority of the game walking between rooms where a lengthy cutscene plays as soon as you enter the next room. There is also very little stealth in it overall. Most of the gameplay stems from the (excellent) boss fights... which are also surrounded by long cutscenes.

I used to think that the first game wasn't as much of a movie as its sequel. All I can say is, after playing it again, my memory was deceiving me. Don't believe me, just watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpG9XIfFkE0

Do note that I also count codec conversations as cutscenes.

QuoteI feel like MGS1 just had really strong level design, great bosses, solid stealth gameplay, and an engaging story. Plus one of the best soundtracks in the series, and voice acting that holds up moderately well. Then you have things like the whole Psycho Mantis battle, and having to look at the back of the case to see a codec number. These two are fun little things only Kojima thinks of. People say his creations are more movie than game, but he has too much fun designing these things that I can't consider them anything but pure game, at least for most of the titles in the series.
Here's the thing: I completely agree with everything you say in this paragraph. But MGS1 really doesn't have much gameplay at all, and some of its set pieces were already done before in MG2.

QuoteThe original Metal Gear is mostly a game I appreciate for historical reasons. I respect it, but I don't think it's that good anymore. The level design is standard and backtrack heavy, and the enemy AI is so primitive. Plus the game has plenty of cryptic moments a lot of games from the era suffered. I don't think MG2 is as good as you do, but I do think it significantly tops the original in literally every way.
I don't think the original Metal Gear is a masterpiece or anything; the AI is terrible and a couple of areas all but require a walkthrough to pass. But I still think it's very fun.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 18, 2015, 03:38:29 PM
Quote from: Foggle on May 18, 2015, 03:25:40 PM
No, this happens constantly from the beginning. You spend the majority of the game walking between rooms where a lengthy cutscene plays as soon as you enter the next room. There is also very little stealth in it overall. Most of the gameplay stems from the (excellent) boss fights... which are also surrounded by long cutscenes.

I used to think that the first game wasn't as much of a movie as its sequel. All I can say is, after playing it again, my memory was deceiving me. Don't believe me, just watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpG9XIfFkE0

Do note that I also count codec conversations as cutscenes.

It's not like you're doing nothing but walking between rooms. In those rooms you are avoiding guards and cameras. The stealth gameplay isn't as deep as the sequels but it doesn't really need to be. MGS2 is more movie for how long the cutscenes are and how indulgent they are.

Quote from: Foggle on May 18, 2015, 03:25:40 PMHere's the thing: I completely agree with everything you say in this paragraph. But MGS1 really doesn't have much gameplay at all, and some of its set pieces were already done before in MG2.

I agree that it's a bit weird how some of the set pieces are taken directly from MG2. But at the same time, I can understand it as MG2 didn't get released outside Japan initially (at least I don't think it did, I know it at least didn't get released over here), and it wasn't even that popular in Japan. So I get why they brought back those set pieces.

Also, I would put the Raiden portion of MGS2 over MGS1's GameCube remake. :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 18, 2015, 03:50:31 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on May 18, 2015, 03:38:29 PM
It's not like you're doing nothing but walking between rooms. In those rooms you are avoiding guards and cameras. The stealth gameplay isn't as deep as the sequels but it doesn't really need to be. MGS2 is more movie for how long the cutscenes are and how indulgent they are.
Well, yeah, you have to avoid cameras and guards most of the time, but there are quite a few parts in the second half where literally all you do is walk around. I don't mean to disparage what gameplay is there, I just don't think there's enough of it. The pacing makes it fail to hold my attention like MG2 and MGS3 do.

I also think the ratio of gameplay to cutscene time is what mostly impacts the feeling of it being a movie. But it's certainly far superior to MGS2 in that regard.

QuoteAlso, I would put the Raiden portion of MGS2 over MGS1's GameCube remake. :P
At the end of the day, it's still MGS1, even if it's a bastardized version. The bomb defusal/Fatman fight and swimming sections are worse than anything in TTS IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 18, 2015, 04:07:34 PM
Quote from: Foggle on May 18, 2015, 03:50:31 PM
Well, yeah, you have to avoid cameras and guards most of the time, but there are quite a few parts in the second half where literally all you do is walk around. I don't mean to disparage what gameplay is there, I just don't think there's enough of it. The pacing makes it fail to hold my attention like MG2 and MGS3 do.

I also think the ratio of gameplay to cutscene time is what mostly impacts the feeling of it being a movie. But it's certainly far superior to MGS2 in that regard.

Those part where you walk a few steps and then trigger a cutscene, I mostly remember in the last few hours of the game in that room with the elevator (forget where exactly it is but I think it's in front of that giant freezer room). But at the very least, the story developments in those parts are good as that's when some of the twists and character development moments take place. It's not like MGS2 where the conversations are devoid of life and are just exposition.

Quote from: Foggle on May 18, 2015, 03:50:31 PM
At the end of the day, it's still MGS1, even if it's a bastardized version. The bomb defusal/Fatman fight and swimming sections are worse than anything in TTS IMO.

Fair enough. Those two parts of MGS2 are dreadful. :srs:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 18, 2015, 08:38:17 PM
The writing is definitely better in the first game (as is the acting, surprisingly enough), but I still found myself greatly preferring the gameplay over the story (as I always have with Metal Gear).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 06:23:15 PM
So I started playing the original Paper Mario on the VC again and I still have to stick with my original opinion.

It's not a flawless classic.

The battle system is far too basic, there isn't really much to do on the maps (the first chapter has an absurd amount of dialogue for a chapter that not much happens in at all), the partner characters are fairly interchangeable personality-wise outside of about three of them, the story is standard and doesn't really do much, and the game is unquestionably one of the easiest RPGs ever.

On the other hand, the game itself has easily aged the best of any N64 game, the humor is funny, the bosses are incredible, the Peach segments are very clever, and some chapters on their own are easily up there with the best of all the Mario RPG series like the "Invincible" Tubba Blubba, Trials in the Toy Box, Hot, Hot Times in Lavalava Island, and Dark Days in Flower Fields. There is a lot of great stuff in the game.

I still like the game and always will, but I do think it gets a lot of passes for things other RPGs get slammed for. That and its sequel was so far beyond it in every way that it is hard going back to it sometimes. But it is still a great game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 20, 2015, 09:26:10 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 06:23:15 PM
So I started playing the original Paper Mario on the VC again and I still have to stick with my original opinion.

It's not a flawless classic.

The battle system is far too basic, there isn't really much to do on the maps, the partner characters are fairly interchangeable personality-wise outside of about three of them, the story is standard and doesn't really do much, and the game is unquestionably one of the easiest RPGs ever.

I still like the game and always will, but I do think it gets a lot of passes for things other RPGs get slammed for. That and its sequel was so far beyond it in every way that it is hard going back to it sometimes.

Sounds like you're talking about its SNES predecessor. :awesome:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 09:30:04 PM
No, I'm talking about the N64 game, actually. SMRPG gets spit on from kids who grew up on the N64 all the time, it's not overrated at all.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 20, 2015, 09:42:54 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 09:30:04 PM
No, I'm talking about the N64 game, actually. SMRPG gets spit on from kids who grew up on the N64 all the time, it's not overrated at all.

I grew up on the SNES. And aside from personal nostalgia, I don't see what's so special about it, to be honest. I feel like it's an average Final Fantasy game with a Mario coat of paint. Those points you mentioned can really be applied to it. :P

EDIT:

Well, aside from the partners. They are less interchangeable and are mostly just underdeveloped. The ones that were created for this game, I mean.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 09:53:34 PM
The difference would be that SMRPG invented almost everything in Paper Mario since its original name was SMRPG2 and was designed to be a sequel. Action commands, the seven stars, hammers and jumps as the main attacks, and silent pantomime Mario. Paper Mario didn't pioneer any of that. I would argue that the story for SMRPG was also inventive considering it was not only the first time Bowser was not the main villain, it was also the first time he was on your side, and it was the first game to introduce game exclusive party members.

Whether you like one or the other better is one thing, but I find most people who rabidly love the first Paper Mario and treat it as a classic don't give SMRPG any credit for what it did.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 20, 2015, 09:58:10 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 09:53:34 PM
The difference would be that SMRPG invented almost everything in Paper Mario whose original name was SMRPG2. Action commands, the seven stars, hammers and jumps as the main attacks, and silent pantomime Mario. Paper Mario didn't pioneer any of that. I would argue that the story for SMRPG was also inventive considering it was not only the first time Bowser was not the main villain, it was also the first time he was on your side, and it was the first game to introduce game exclusive party members.

Whether you like one or the other better is one thing, but I find most people who rabidly love the first Paper Mario and treat it as a classic don't give SMRPG any credit for what it did.

True, the action commands in particular were a great idea. However, they were far more expanded in the N64 game. It didn't pioneer those things but I do think it expanded them. It also made you feel more connected to the world by having more control in it, like being able to use your hammer for things outside battle and jump smash things. It felt like a more unique RPG, whereas the original felt more like a beginner's Final Fantasy. And sure, having new villains is fine, but aside from some cool designs, were any of them memorable in any way?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 10:18:15 PM
Well, personally, I thought Mack, Croco, Belome, Bowyer, Punchinello, Booster, the living cake, Johnny the Shark, Valentina and Dodo, the Axem Rangers, and Smithy were all pretty memorable. I think every Mario RPG except Partners in Time excel in enemy designs, though. Again, I don't think SMRPG gets enough credit for what it does and the standards it sets.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 20, 2015, 11:13:30 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 09:53:34 PM
Whether you like one or the other better is one thing, but I find most people who rabidly love the first Paper Mario and treat it as a classic don't give SMRPG any credit for what it did.
Paper Mario was one of my favorite games as a kid (still is to this day) and I love SMRPG... I actually like them both more than TTYD (which is also great).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 11:18:28 PM
Quote from: Foggle on May 20, 2015, 11:13:30 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 09:53:34 PM
Whether you like one or the other better is one thing, but I find most people who rabidly love the first Paper Mario and treat it as a classic don't give SMRPG any credit for what it did.
Paper Mario was one of my favorite games as a kid (still is to this day) and I love SMRPG... I actually like them both more than TTYD (which is also great).
Now that's an opinion I don't see too often! My personal favorite is Bowser's Inside Story, though I'm not sure if talon thinks it's the best game ever or the worst this week.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 20, 2015, 11:24:47 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 11:18:28 PM
Now that's an opinion I don't see too often! My personal favorite is Bowser's Inside Story, though I'm not sure if talon thinks it's the best game ever or the worst this week.
Yeah, it's pretty uncommon. :lol: I will admit that the main reason I prefer PM64 over TTYD is probably due to nostalgia. They're both just lovely. SMRPG is great as well, especially the silly/cute way in which the story is presented.

Sadly, I've yet to play any of the M&L games. I have Dream Team, but I want to play them in release order. I might get Superstar Saga on the eShop soon though!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 20, 2015, 11:33:41 PM
Superstar Saga is great. I believe members of the original SMRPG team (including the composer!) formed AlphaDream and you can definitely feel the similarities between the two. Most consider this the best game in the series. It's my second favorite.

Partners In Time is entirely skippable.  The battle system is overly convoluted, the enemies are boring, it's not as funny, and the game is just flat. Big disappointment.

Bowser's Inside Story, some annoying mini-games aside, is my personal favorite Mario RPG. Incredibly funny story, the BEST villain in the entire RPG line, creative level design, playable Bowser is a riot, stellar music, and an ending that feels like the end of the series. Really want to play this again soon.

I haven't played Dream Team or even bought it yet. Dunno why, but I'll probably get around to it eventually. BIS just felt so much like a final chapter that I guess it hasn't dawned on me that it's not one yet.

The Mario & Luigi series is great, though I do wish AlphaDream could get a chance on something new next. Speaking of, I wonder if what they were working on will be at E3? Should be interesting to see.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 20, 2015, 11:59:33 PM
I might skip PIT, but it's pretty cheap on the eShop, so I'll probably still give it a try if I like SS.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 21, 2015, 12:04:08 AM
Oh, one downside to Dream Team is that Fawful is not in it.

(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/e/ee/MLBiS_-_Fawful_Statue_Screenshot.png)
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/5/5f/MLSS-Fawfuls_Personality.png)
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/a/aa/FawfulsearchDarkStar.png/200px-FawfulsearchDarkStar.png)
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/5/51/DarkFawful.gif)

How they could make a Mario & Luigi game and not have Fawful is beyond me. Part of the problem with PiT was that he was only a cameo and not a main character like SS and BIS.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 21, 2015, 12:06:37 AM
That's fawful.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 21, 2015, 12:10:19 AM
Sort of like a Paper Mario without RPG elements.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 21, 2015, 12:14:35 AM
How is Super Paper Mario, anyway? I'm kind of curious about that one (but I have no interest in Sticker Star).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 21, 2015, 12:21:43 AM
It's a good game, as is Sticker Star. But they're pretty much nothing like the first two games.

SPM's biggest problem is that it might be the easiest game ever made with a HP bar. Your chances of ever being challenged are overwhelmingly low, especially if you're any good at platformers. That said, the story is really good, the gameplay is unique, and it is quite enjoyable to play through. I'd say give it a shot if you haven't played it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 21, 2015, 12:24:25 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on May 21, 2015, 12:21:43 AM
It's a good game, as is Sticker Star. But they're pretty much nothing like the first two games.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on SS, then! I've almost never seen anyone talk positively about it.

QuoteSPM's biggest problem is that it might be the easiest game ever made with a HP bar. Your chances of ever being challenged are overwhelmingly low, especially if you're any good at platformers. That said, the story is really good, the gameplay is unique, and it is quite enjoyable to play through. I'd say give it a shot if you haven't played it.
Sometimes I like a good story with easy gameplay (as long as it isn't outright boring), so I might pick it up!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 21, 2015, 12:32:12 AM
Sticker Star is a flawed game. The sticker system is not balanced well and makes the game harder than it should be, the story is the worst out of all four games, and the lack of any point to random battles is just dumb, but I have to say I still enjoyed playing it. The music is brilliant, the art style is the best of any Paper Mario, the humor remains great, the world map and focus on puzzles was a great move, and the usage of the stickers (especially special stickers) is really cool.

So, I liked it. Didn't love it, but I can see why Paper Mario and RPG fans would hate it. It isn't really like any of the other games in the series.

All that said, I would never recommend it to anyone. It's far too convoluted a game to be able to know if anyone would like it. I don't think it's some sort of Superman 64 level disaster, however.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on May 21, 2015, 02:27:55 AM
I have no real nostalgia for TYYD, but I do prefer it to Paper Mario, even though I still love that as well. I still have yet to finish the final fight in TYYD, though. Damn mid-fight unskippable dialogue scene.

Those are the only RPG/Paper Mario games that I've played, though. But I have been wanting to get SMRPG on the VC, and I still hope to find SPM for $10 or less.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 21, 2015, 10:00:47 AM
The only Mario RPG games I'm particularly a fan of are the first two Paper Mario games, with TTYD being my favorite. This is an opinion that has been constant since I played them.

I also like Super Paper Mario, though it's not really an RPG. The gameplay is pretty adequate. But the story, writing, characters, and humor are top notch. It's enjoyable for a single playthrough.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 22, 2015, 01:39:27 AM
Trying to play MGS: Portable Ops now, and wow... this game has aged terribly. Between the awkward controls, horrible frame rate, generic level design, slooooow gameplay, and stupid inventory system, Kojima's lack of involvement is noticeable. It's a decent attempt at putting a full 3D stealth game on the PSP, and the story is somewhat interesting, but that's it.

Think I'm just going to skip this one. Can't believe I used to love it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 22, 2015, 10:12:06 AM
I bet that game would be better if they released it in one of the HD collections, though if the level design actually isn't so great, not much can be done to save that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 22, 2015, 01:32:26 PM
Yeah, it's not really that bad of a game... the level designs are rudimentary and the inventory system is puzzling, but the biggest problems (controls and frame rate) could have easily been fixed with an HD (or even PS2) port. I don't think Kojima likes the game very much, though, which is why it remains exclusive to the PSP. Unfortunately, I just don't have the patience for a game where you must consistently replay five molasses-slow minutes when you get spotted by enemies you can't even see due to the camera being mapped to the fucking D-pad. The third-person mode was an excellent addition to Subsistence, but if there was any Metal Gear which would have actually benefited from the old-school camera angles, it's this one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 22, 2015, 01:35:02 PM
PSP's downfall was not having two analog sticks. It makes no sense.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 22, 2015, 01:46:27 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on May 22, 2015, 01:35:02 PM
PSP's downfall was not having two analog sticks. It makes no sense.
For sure. It has a pretty excellent selection of 2D games (mostly JRPGs) and 3D games where you don't really need two analog sticks (like Valkyria Chronicles 2 & 3), but they were pushing console-style experiences for the first few years the PSP was out, and I think that's what killed it outside of Japan. I mean, getting to play MGS and Ratchet & Clank on the go was amazing at the time, but the games just don't hold up in hindsight. The most infuriating thing about Portable Ops, though, is that most of the Metal Gear games released up until that point only used one analog stick to begin with... and yet they still decided to go with that D-pad shit. :zonk:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 22, 2015, 01:51:07 PM
That sounds horrible. :D And I'm surprised to hear that PSP did better in Japan. I just assumed US liked it more due to its games seeming to appeal to American audiences more (shooters, God Of War, etc.)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 22, 2015, 02:00:40 PM
Developers really need to learn that portable games can't be developed with the same mentality as console games. The Metal Gear games seemed to understand that to a certain extent by not allowing cutscenes long enough to drain entire batteries, as well as having shorter missions. But Portable Ops really should have been developed with the overhead camera.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 22, 2015, 02:12:29 PM
PSP seemed like a lowrent PS1 to me so I was never really interested. Back then, portable devices should have just been mostly 2D powerhouses with clever exceptions.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 22, 2015, 03:07:14 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on May 22, 2015, 01:51:07 PM
And I'm surprised to hear that PSP did better in Japan. I just assumed US liked it more due to its games seeming to appeal to American audiences more (shooters, God Of War, etc.)
The majority of its games are actually JRPGs and anime stuff. They just didn't get any press outside of Japan.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 22, 2015, 03:08:21 PM
OK, now that makes sense.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 23, 2015, 10:28:06 PM
Decided to continue with Portable Ops. After that amazing trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-c1a5c55-8) dropped two years ago, I made the decision to play every canon Metal Gear in release order leading up to Phantom Pain's release. I mustn't let my resolve falter!

I don't understand a lot of the design decisions in this game. MG gameplay is always moderately free-form with lots of cool gadgets and weapons to use, but this one lets you hold... four. Also, while the stamina meter requiring you to eat was cool in MGS3, it completely sucks in the wildlife-less PO, as it basically necessitates ration grinding. And having to slowly drag KO'd enemies back to your truck for recruitment is so boring. There's apparently a way to speed things up, but I can't figure it out. Of course, these problems are only compounded by the mediocre level design and torturous camera controls. argh
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on May 24, 2015, 01:32:49 AM
Decided to pop in one of the anime weeaboo "buy this Compile Heart game because pretty anime girls on cover" games I bought, Fairy Fencer F. Dear god. Liam from Super Best Friends was right. Compile Heart games are shlock. The characters are overly annoying. The character portraits used in cutscenes are creepy. They slightly move to simulate breathing, but it's just so slight that you question if you're on drugs. The towns and world map are basically portraits with locations you select from a list. The battle system is needlessly complicated.

And the worst part. The framerate. I wanted to turn the game off about halfway through the first dungeon. You finally get the chance to explore the beautiful field they just showed you a picture of (which is not a field once you're actually in it, but a series of paths and "rooms" between large hills that fence you in), and the game runs at a whopping ten frames per second. This game is exclusive to PS3! They only had one system they had to work with, and they can't even get a game with this little going on to 30 fps?! Are you shitting me?

I'm going to probably try and force my way through it, but it's baaaad, man. It's really bad. This really is a case where the only good thing about a game is its character designs. And another Compile Heart game just showed up in the mailbox today, so... yaaaaaay.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that this is one of the games I mentioned in the other thread a week back that has really stupid costume and extra party member dlc. For this shit. Ha!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 24, 2015, 12:17:45 PM
Sounds exactly like my experience with Hyperdimension Neptunia... Godspeed, man.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on May 24, 2015, 02:29:57 PM
I couldn't even bring myself to put any Neptunia games in the cart when I was buying all these things. They all look like lolis in skimpy clothes. Did that game run like shit too? Does Compile Heart not understand how framerate works?

EDIT: I was going through my closet and found a magazine Nintendo Power sent me years ago containing nothing but posters. Like, 20 posters with a picture on each side. And they're still in really good condition! Here's a small taste.

(http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww234/NelStoneXI/poster3_zpsgdpwac3z.png)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 24, 2015, 03:29:35 PM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on May 24, 2015, 02:29:57 PM
I couldn't even bring myself to put any Neptunia games in the cart when I was buying all these things. They all look like lolis in skimpy clothes. Did that game run like shit too? Does Compile Heart not understand how framerate works?
Yes, that's exactly what it is. Do not play it.

The one I tried was the PC port of a Vita game. The system requirements were ridiculous, the graphics looked like something from the PS2's later years, fullscreen mode didn't work, and it ran at about 24 FPS... with drops.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on May 24, 2015, 04:27:37 PM
That's just depressing. What a miserable company. If anything, I should just buy the artbooks. Those are nice.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 24, 2015, 09:11:54 PM
I just played the Jack The Reaper demo. It's a linear platformer game starring a character with Kirby like power stealing. It's not perfect but it is pretty addictive. I think I got to its That One Level so I'm gave it a break for now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 26, 2015, 01:29:05 PM
This Humble Bundle is for the eShop if anyone is interested. (https://www.humblebundle.com/)

That's a pretty good line up of games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 26, 2015, 03:54:58 PM
So I took advantage of the deal, which means I have games left over that I already own. Does anyone want a copy of Guacamelee!, Mighty Switch Force!, OlliOlli Wii U, or Steamworld Dig 3DS or Wii U? I can testify that they're all great games well worthy of purchase.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on May 26, 2015, 10:26:22 PM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on May 24, 2015, 02:29:57 PM
EDIT: I was going through my closet and found a magazine Nintendo Power sent me years ago containing nothing but posters. Like, 20 posters with a picture on each side. And they're still in really good condition! Here's a small taste.

Hey, I still have that Minish Cap poster!  :awesome:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 26, 2015, 11:04:26 PM
Well, I beat Portable Ops. If the dictionary needed picture accompaniment for the word "mediocre," the box art for this game would do quite nicely. Ignoring the excellent music and heinous control scheme, there is nothing particularly good or bad about this game - it just exists. The level design is serviceable. The mechanics function properly. The story neither violates canon nor adds anything to it. The game isn't fun, but it's not painful to play either. It's whatever; neither worthwhile nor execrable.

I then decided to go back and replay/finish Ghost Babel (AKA Metal Gear Solid for Game Boy Color), the first handheld MGS game. It's a gem. It can be a little obtuse at times (much like MG 1 & 2), but the gameplay, level design, and story are all among the series' finest. I greatly prefer it to its PS1 counterpart. Highly recommended!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 27, 2015, 11:44:39 AM
A few days ago I unlocked the abilities to combine attack abilities in Jack the Reapers a la Gunstar Heroes except this game has more. I love it. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 27, 2015, 06:41:22 PM
Quote from: Foggle on January 27, 2015, 02:16:27 PM

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
Metal Gear 2
Metal Gear Rising
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Metal Gear Solid 4
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions
Metal Gear Solid 2
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear (MSX)
Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Metal Gear (NES)
Snake's Revenge

Sounds like this list of favorites is way out of date. :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 27, 2015, 06:46:19 PM
Portable OPs over Solid and Ghost Babel. Yow.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 27, 2015, 06:47:59 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on May 27, 2015, 06:46:19 PM
Portable OPs over Solid and Ghost Babel. Yow.

Also MGS1 and MGS2 drop fifty light years, and maybe even 4 drops a bit (might be wrong there, though).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 27, 2015, 07:40:39 PM
In my defense, I hadn't played Portable Ops since 2008, and I loved it back then. I also thought MGS1 was the second best game in the series at that time, and while I liked Ghost Babel, I hadn't really grown to appreciate 2D Metal Gear yet. My opinions are reshaping constantly as I revisit the franchise.

Here's my current list, but I'm purposefully leaving off MGS4, Peace Walker, and Rising, because I haven't gotten to them yet on my full series run:

Metal Gear Solid 3
Metal Gear 2
Ghost Babel
Metal Gear (MSX)
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 2
Portable Ops
The Twin Snakes
Metal Gear (NES)
Snake's Revenge

I did not finish either of the NES games, but I don't really think I need to to know that they're the worst in the series (and I actually got pretty close to beating the MG1 port). Also, I'm including the VR Missions expansion pack as part of MGS1 now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 27, 2015, 07:45:08 PM
When you get back to Rising make sure to play it on Revengeance mode. :sly:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 27, 2015, 09:18:35 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 27, 2015, 07:45:08 PM
When you get back to Rising make sure to play it on Revengeance mode. :sly:
I had to replace the hard drive in my PS3 last year, so I can't. :'( But it's a short game, so I could replay it right away on Revengeance difficulty once I finish it again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 27, 2015, 10:18:14 PM
Actually, you can unlock it right away if you use the classic Konami code on the start-up screen, so there are no excuses. :humhumhum:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 27, 2015, 10:20:45 PM
He can stream the whole thing for EK to critique!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 27, 2015, 10:36:45 PM
Happy 12900 posts!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 27, 2015, 10:41:52 PM
Nah, I can't critique shit. I only beat the game on Revengeance, which doesn't even count for an achievement. In order for it to count, you have to S-rank every mission in the game (which means getting an S-rank on every single fight in the game including the optional ones) on Revengeance difficulty, which I just never really felt like trying since that means mostly doing a no-damage run to get the health bonuses. I may try it someday, but it requires a lot of retries, and hence a lot of patience.

Though, as for streaming, I would eventually like to make gameplay videos of my own if I could ever get the right video capture equipment and actually learn how to edit videos.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 28, 2015, 12:04:30 PM
Are you going to watch MGS4 next, Foggle?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 28, 2015, 01:47:14 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on May 28, 2015, 12:04:30 PM
Are you going to watch MGS4 next, Foggle?
Yup!

Also, I tried to play Snake's Revenge again last night, and god, what a load of badly-designed shit. Just not fun or entertaining at all.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 28, 2015, 01:48:29 PM
"Well, that was fun - in a fuckin' terrible, sick, not-at-all-fun way."
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 29, 2015, 01:24:19 AM
I ended up playing two hours of Splatoon. How did that happen?  :SHOCK:

I'm up to level 5, got a Splattershot with a decent special, and a boost in ink capacity and recovery from some decent clothes. I'm good to go.

Oh, I also beat the first world of the single player. Cool stuff. A lot of inspiration from Galaxy in there, which I certainly will not complain about.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 29, 2015, 10:32:05 PM
So, who is the most useless partner in Paper Mario? Is it Parakarry or Watt?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 29, 2015, 10:39:14 PM
I'd say Watt has to be the most useful after Goombario. That ability to bypass enemy's defenses and charge Mario's power is great, especially in the second half of the game.

Kooper is probably the most useless. His attack power is pretty low, and he doesn't have any special abilities beyond just doing damage if I remember correctly,
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 29, 2015, 11:10:17 PM
Kooper is pretty bad, true. Koops in TTYD is probably the best partner in that game, but Kooper in PM64 is only good early on when you have a line of foes and no quake hammer or items that can hit multiple foes. I don't even remember the last time I used him.

Good call on Watt, I forgot about that. Still not a fan of Parakarry, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 29, 2015, 11:38:28 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on May 29, 2015, 11:10:17 PM
Kooper is pretty bad, true. Koops in TTYD is probably the best partner in that game, but Kooper in PM64 is only good early on when you have a line of foes and no quake hammer or items that can hit multiple foes. I don't even remember the last time I used him.

Good call on Watt, I forgot about that. Still not a fan of Parakarry, though.

If I remember correctly, he does have some use in the Shiver region because of his fire attack. But he's really not that good. As for Parakarry, his main attack is basically the same as Bombette's in terms of FP and damage. In other words, he's strong but not incredibly necessary because Bombette does what he does and she joins the team first. I think my favorites were always Goombario, Bombette, and Watt. Sushie can also be pretty useful.

Koops is great, both in terms of combat and just as a character. However, I'd call Goombella the best in that game. She gets Multi Bonk and Tattle. Plus, she gets that ability that allows her to sacrifice a turn to give Mario a second turn, which I love because Mario is better than any of the team members. I could do what I did for the first game, and list my favorites from the sequel, but then I realized I would end up naming almost every partner in the game. But if I were to pick an overall favorite, I guess my favorite in both games is the goomba you start with. I think a part of it is that I love Tattle.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 29, 2015, 11:55:03 PM
How would you rank the partners in both games in terms of usefulness? I find myself always sticking with a certain pocket of partners in both games and only using others when called for it on the map.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 30, 2015, 12:09:41 AM
I'd probably go...

1. Goombario
2. Watt
3. Bombette
4. Sushie
5. Bow
6. Lackilester
7. Parakarry
8. Kooper

1. Goombella
2. Yoshi
3. Koops
4. Vivian
5. Admiral Bomberry
6. Ms. Meowz
7. Flurrie

TTYD was really tough to rank. I used those top five a lot. Meowz was a fun character but I didn't use her quite as much in battle. Never cared for Flurrie as a character or as a fighter. TTYD had vastly superior partners overall but I think she was my least favorite across both games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 30, 2015, 12:17:37 AM
It's funny, too, because in PM64, my favorite characters are Goombario, Bow, and Lakilester, yet they're very situational to use for the most part but in TTYD they're all pretty useful and all pretty cool (except Flurrie, no idea what IS was thinking with her) and balanced on top of it. But my favorite to use was always Koops because of his abilities like the shield and his breakdancing moves.

I kind of hope if the next game is 64/TTYD style they'll really go out there with new and returning characters for party members. For instance, General Guy returning, only this time as a party member. That would be so awesome.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 02, 2015, 03:11:36 PM
I suppose I'll ask again.

Does anyone want a free copy of:

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition Wii U
OlliOlli Wii U
SteamWorld Dig Wii U
BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien Wii U
Mighty Switch Force! 3DS
SteamWorld Dig 3DS
Gunman Clive 3DS

They're all good and all well worth your time.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 02, 2015, 04:13:29 PM
I'd gladly take SteamWorld Dig Wii U and Gunman Clive off yer hands. :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 02, 2015, 04:18:42 PM
Sent!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 02, 2015, 04:30:45 PM
Thank you. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 03, 2015, 03:32:39 PM
I just just beat the demo for Jack The Reaper. It's a pretty fun indie game that plays like Kirby and Gunstar Heroes or at least that's the best simple description I can come up with. I can't wait until the entire free game comes up. The demo was longer the most indie games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: LumRanmaYasha on June 04, 2015, 03:52:30 PM
Welp, with all the crossover promotion and art it was inevitable. A Squid Girl costume DLC is coming to Splatoon. (http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2015/06/04-1/splatoon-to-feature-squid-girl-outfit-dlc) Likely will remain exclusive for japanese players, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 04, 2015, 04:45:44 PM
It kind of can't be because online players see each other's costumes from every part of the world and can buy them from Spike if they want. Nintendo probably worked through the overseas issues since it will appear in every version regardless of license.

My question is where is my Squidward costume?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on June 06, 2015, 02:09:42 PM
I found FF VIII at GoodWill for only $6 today, and almost bought it for the novelty- until I saw that it only had the first 2 discs.

Part of me thinks that I should go back, anyway.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 06, 2015, 04:28:39 PM
TAKE IT BACK. Don not get ripped off. I'll lose sleep if you do. I swear.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 06, 2015, 09:41:48 PM
Guys. Guys. I've never touched a Metal Gear Solid title in my life. Just noticed this PS3 compilation called The Legacy Collection. Seems like it has almost every game in the franchise barring MGS5. $25. Good deal? Should I go for it? Anything negative that would ruin it for me? It looks as though if I ever wanted to check out the series, this would be a fantastic option.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 07, 2015, 12:05:48 AM
Foggle or talon should know.  :) Also, play MGS2 first, if you get it and then the rest in order.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 07, 2015, 12:39:15 AM
I've only heard good things about it. And it seems like a really easy way to each game, all of which being solid if not fantastic. I've never heard of any glitches or issues with it, so unless Foggle can correct me, I'd definitely say go for it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 07, 2015, 12:53:19 AM
Right on, then. Next paycheck, I'm ordering it.  :thumbup:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 07, 2015, 12:55:30 AM
I'm pretty sure it's just a double pack of the HD Collection and the re-released MGS4 with a download code for MGS1 included (which hopefully hasn't expired yet), so it shouldn't have any issues.

I personally suggest playing through the series in release order. Try Metal Gear 1 on the HD Collection disc first (playable from the menu of MGS3); if you don't like it, skip to MG2, and if you don't like that, skip to MGS1 (etc). :)

Quote from: Nel_Annette on June 06, 2015, 09:41:48 PM
Seems like it has almost every game in the franchise barring MGS5.
It doesn't have Portable Ops, Rising, or any of the non-canon games either. I urge you to try Rising and Ghost Babel at some point if you find yourself liking the series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 07, 2015, 01:22:40 AM
And if you find the series just isn't working for you, I'd at least recommend anyone play MGS3. It's pretty much the best game in the series and nails the stealth gameplay. Plus, it works very well as a stand alone story. Anyone could potentially enjoy that game without ever touching the rest of the series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 07, 2015, 02:19:42 AM
It would appear that Rising is less than $9 on Amazon. THAT WILL GO INTO THE CART AS WELL!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 08, 2015, 11:27:37 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on June 07, 2015, 12:05:48 AM
Also, play MGS2 first
Do you also tell people who have never played a Mario game before to start with Sunshine, or someone interested in Ratchet to play All 4 One first?  :P

Start at the beginning and work your way forward.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 08, 2015, 12:11:43 PM
Sunshine is amazing aside from the unfair difficulty level though. :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 08, 2015, 12:40:43 PM
Who the hell has never played a Mario game? ???
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 09, 2015, 10:54:06 PM
Found my PSP. So now this is happening after a day of Hyrule Warriors.

(https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/v/t1.0-9/11412224_10152920862406299_2279592086075240412_n.jpg?oh=729c1aece59593f4acf179606f1e8504&oe=55EE4815)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 09, 2015, 11:08:20 PM
I got a working 360 today and I started Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions. Now I can really appreciate Spider-Man Noir. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 10, 2015, 01:46:45 AM
Is Sunshine really that hard? I mostly remember it just being boring and repetitive.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 10, 2015, 01:48:37 AM
It's very monotonous. But usually people refer to the poorly implemented blue coins when talking about difficulty.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 10, 2015, 01:50:17 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on June 10, 2015, 01:48:37 AM
It's very monotonous. But usually people refer to the poorly implemented blue coins when talking about difficulty.

Right. I remember now. That was bad but I don't think it was the game's main problem. It was just boring as a whole. Certainly a far cry from amazing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 10, 2015, 03:02:30 AM
Some of the levels are fucking rage-worthy. That watermelon...

Quote from: talonmalon333 on June 10, 2015, 01:50:17 AM
Right. I remember now. That was bad but I don't think it was the game's main problem. It was just boring as a whole. Certainly a far cry from amazing.
It's no more boring than Mario 64. Which also isn't boring.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 10, 2015, 10:33:44 AM
Well Super Mario 64 is just fine.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 10, 2015, 10:38:45 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on June 10, 2015, 10:33:44 AM
Well Super Mario 64 is just fine.

Yeah. 64 had a lot of care put into it, with plenty of varied and creative levels. Sunshine is just a bunch of cities and regular locations with little real platforming. And there are only, like, five levels in the whole game so you're constantly revisiting them. Then there's the fact that the game's idea of good gameplay is having you clean the cities with water. That's what this game finds to be fun, something people don't even like doing in real life. :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 10, 2015, 11:12:43 AM
Sunshine had wonderful atmosphere, if anything. It keeps the tropical island motif going for almost all of the game, barring those weird other-worldly non-Fludd sections. And Fludd was fun as hell to use. And I think I'm the only person in the world who actually liked hunting the blue coins.

I enjoy Sunshine more than the Galaxy games, at any rate.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 10, 2015, 12:10:55 PM
There are two sorts of 3D Mario fans. One seem to think Super Mario 64 and Sunshine are brilliant games and the Galaxy games are letdowns, and the other love the Galaxy games and just aren't fans of the older 3D Mario games. I'm in the latter camp who also likes Super Mario 3D World far more than SM64, and is probably the only one in the world who thinks so.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 10, 2015, 12:16:33 PM
I've met maybe five people who like Sunshine. I'd say the two camps are the people that call the Galaxy games the best, and the shrinking group of people who call 64 the best. But most seem to call Sunshine a disappointment.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 10, 2015, 12:18:21 PM
I actually think the 3D games (barring 3D Land) got progressively better, but I like all of them. I haven't played 3D World yet, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 10, 2015, 12:26:31 PM
Did you once say you weren't a huge fan of Galaxy, Foggle (at least, not as much as most including Spark and I)?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 10, 2015, 12:28:19 PM
I don't like how you control the game (give me a good old-fashioned gamepad any day), but I like the game. And I love Galaxy 2.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 10, 2015, 12:29:39 PM
I personally think it's one of those games where the controller basically disappears into the game, as it should.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on June 13, 2015, 09:27:05 PM
Well I love 64 and abhor Sunshine; what camp does that put me in?  :awesome:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 13, 2015, 11:29:24 PM
The "most people" camp.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 14, 2015, 04:17:08 PM
I feel like most people say...

1. Galaxy 2
2. Galaxy
3. 64
4. Sunshine
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 14, 2015, 04:26:19 PM
Well, I was just referring to Sunshine and 64.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 14, 2015, 04:29:11 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on June 14, 2015, 04:26:19 PM
Well, I was just referring to Sunshine and 64.

I know. I was just throwing it in there. I think most seem to love 64 and the Galaxy games, while reception for Sunshine seems to range from merely liking to downright hating, with only a few in there loving it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 14, 2015, 04:39:13 PM
To be honest, I think Super Mario 64 feels a bit sterile in comparison to later 3D platformers. It lacks the personality and tight controls of many games that came afterward. And the soundtrack is pretty bland/annoying aside from a few standout tunes.

Of course, most people would disagree and tell me to commit suicide for saying that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 14, 2015, 04:52:03 PM
I don't agree that it has no personality, but I do kind of get what you mean about it being somewhat sterile in terms of the level design. Still, that's only a result of other games improving on the mechanics that it help set up, which is bound to happen over the years. I mean, Super Mario Bros. 3 makes the original look so basic in comparison that it's almost easy to forget what an achievement it was for its time. However, later Super Mario games wouldn't be nearly as good if they didn't have such solid fundamentals to build off of in the first place.

The same is true for Super Mario 64, in regard to 3D platformers.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 14, 2015, 05:04:14 PM
Quote from: Foggle on June 14, 2015, 04:39:13 PM
To be honest, I think Super Mario 64 feels a bit sterile in comparison to later 3D platformers. It lacks the personality and tight controls of many games that came afterward. And the soundtrack is pretty bland/annoying aside from a few standout tunes.

It's a little hard to go back to after playing Galaxy. But I do think it's full of charm and has a lot of variety and solid levels. I'm also a fan of the music. The castle, save file, Bowser level, wing cap, and water level themes are all classics to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 14, 2015, 06:03:37 PM
Oh, I don't think it has no personality at all. I just don't think it's as charming as its sequels and subsequent efforts like Banjo (which is understandable, being the genre's progenitor and all). But it's got some still-unique ideas, sliding physics that remain unmatched to this day, and a very nice sense of progression between worlds. The camera and movement controls do feel kind of wonky to me at times, but that's also to be expected from a pioneering game.

I still like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Bros. a lot, by virtue of both nostalgia and timeless design. But yeah, I'd never take them over SMB3 or SMG2.

Really, I only bring this up because I regularly see people who shit on Galaxy and various non-Mario platformers, claiming that SM64 has yet to be surpassed. Which boggles my mind, frankly.

Quote from: talonmalon333 on June 14, 2015, 05:04:14 PM
I'm also a fan of the music. The castle, save file, Bowser level, wing cap, and water level themes are all classics to me.
I looooove the themes from the Bowser and water levels, but many of the songs fall flat to me - which is a surprise coming from someone as talented as Koji Kondo.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 15, 2015, 10:44:49 AM
Quote from: Foggle on June 14, 2015, 06:03:37 PM
Really, I only bring this up because I regularly see people who shit on Galaxy and various non-Mario platformers, claiming that SM64 has yet to be surpassed. Which boggles my mind, frankly.

I do think that crowd of people is shrinking. 64 was such a big and groundbreaking game that people were blown away by it. However, now that so much time has passed, many have come to realize that it's not the best in the series. Similar to Final Fantasy VII, which was even more worshiped than Mario 64 in the old days, but has since slipped down behind FFVI for many fans. There are still plenty who prefer Mario 64 to the others, and for some it's probably nostalgia. But I do get the feeling that most would agree that the best games are SMB3, SMW, SMG, and SMG2, and I would never disagree with them there.

Quote from: Foggle on June 14, 2015, 06:03:37 PM
I looooove the themes from the Bowser and water levels, but many of the songs fall flat to me - which is a surprise coming from someone as talented as Koji Kondo.

Would you be able to name some of those songs, or at least, the levels some of them play in?

I do think Bowser's boss songs are kind of weak, both his normal boss theme and his final boss theme. Both songs have cool intros but seem to go nowhere afterward, mostly his final boss theme.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 15, 2015, 12:48:31 PM
You guys like the water levels in Super Mario 64? Yick.

But again, SM64 has never been a game that has held my attention even back when it came out. It was clearly not a game made for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 15, 2015, 12:55:15 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on June 15, 2015, 12:48:31 PM
You guys like the water levels in Super Mario 64? Yick.
God no! I just love the music in them.

Quote from: talonmalon333 on June 15, 2015, 10:44:49 AM
Would you be able to name some of those songs, or at least, the levels some of them play in?
Almost all of them. Bob-Omb Battlefield and Whomp's Fortress are a good place to start.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 15, 2015, 12:59:17 PM
Quote from: Foggle on June 15, 2015, 12:55:15 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on June 15, 2015, 10:44:49 AM
Would you be able to name some of those songs, or at least, the levels some of them play in?
Almost all of them. Bob-Omb Battlefield and Whomp's Fortress are a good place to start.
The best theme in SM64 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3l3xpkAkvA)

There are a few really good tunes in the game, but that's still my favorite one. Was so excited when they brought it back to Galaxy 2.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 15, 2015, 03:14:20 PM
Meh, it's all opinion.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 15, 2015, 04:35:51 PM
Quote from: Foggle on June 15, 2015, 12:55:15 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on June 15, 2015, 12:48:31 PM
You guys like the water levels in Super Mario 64? Yick.
God no! I just love the music in them.

Agreed.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on June 16, 2015, 08:46:18 PM
So yeah, the Wii-U is still my top console priority, but the recent Rare collection and 360 backwards compatibility has made the X-Box One my next choice. I'm trying to think of the 360 games I'll want to catch up on when I get it, and these come to mind so far-

Ninja Gaiden II (I'm still looking for Black, EK, but for some reason, I can find every other highly-ranked X-Box game for a decent price around here BUT this one. Occasionally I'll find the original NG, and even that is usually a little more than I'm willing to spend)
The Orange Box
Mass Effect 1-3
Halo Reach

Anything else you guys think I should add?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 16, 2015, 08:54:53 PM
Ninja Gaiden II is great, but still very flawed. I'd recommend starting out on Acolyte difficulty for that game,  which is more of a "normal" mode than an "easy" one.

Have you played any Platinum games? Bayonetta, Vanquish, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance are must plays if you haven't tried them.

Also, there's the DMC HD collection which contains two excellent games (just ignore DMC2). Devil May Cry 4 is also good, but you're better off getting the Special Edition releasing next week if you plan to get an XBONE and don't mind the fact that it's only available as a digital download in North America.

Alan Wake is a great game, especially if you're a fan of Remedy's previous work, Max Payne 1 & 2, though the DLC isn't as strong, IMO.

Sonic Generations is a must play if you're a Sonic fan.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on June 16, 2015, 08:58:24 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 16, 2015, 08:54:53 PM
Have you played any Platinum games? Bayonetta, Vanquish, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance are must plays if you haven't tried them.
I'm more familiar with Clover's work, having played Okami and the first Viewtiful Joe. But I do own MadWorld for the Wii, which like a lot of great games, I'm still sleeping on.

Thanks for the recs though, EK! I actually have been meaning to get to all of these, but I forgot about them for some reason. But I think I might get Bayonetta on the Wii-U. There's a pack with both games, right?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 16, 2015, 08:59:48 PM
Left 4 Dead 2 if you enjoy co-op.

Bionic Commando ReArmed and its sequel, Shadow Complex, Double Dragon Neon, and Hard Corps Uprising from XBLA are essentials. Also, the XBLA versions of the Banjo games and Perfect Dark are better than the originals.

Quote from: Avaitor on June 16, 2015, 08:58:24 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 16, 2015, 08:54:53 PM
Have you played any Platinum games? Bayonetta, Vanquish, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance are must plays if you haven't tried them.
I'm more familiar with Clover's work, having played Okami and the first Viewtiful Joe. But I do own MadWorld for the Wii, which like a lot of great games, I'm still sleeping on.

Thanks for the recs though, EK! I actually have been meaning to get to all of these, but I forgot about them for some reason. But I think I might get Bayonetta on the Wii-U. There's a pack with both games, right?
Bayonetta 2 comes with 1, yes.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 16, 2015, 09:00:38 PM
Yeah, Bayonetta 2 comes with the first game, and the Wii-U version of the first game is a superior port to the XBOX360 and PS3 versions, so that's the definitive version to go with.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on June 16, 2015, 09:08:51 PM
Oh yeah, I really enjoyed what I played of the first L4D with my ex's little brother, so I'd be glad to add that to the list.

Thanks, you guys! I'm finding a lot of great stuff to add. But I'm still planning on getting to the Wii-U first, either before or after a 3DS, but definitely before new Star Fox. And I know what I'm getting when I do- Smash and Wonderful 101.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 16, 2015, 09:10:48 PM
I still need to get The Orange Box. I've never played Half-Life 2.

Bulletstorm, The Darkness and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon are all good (the latter is only a few hours long though). The Darkness 2 and Riddick Assault On Dark Atena (which comes with Butcher Bay) sounds good but I've only played demoes.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 16, 2015, 09:13:21 PM
The only thing I have to add that no one else has mentioned is Nier!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 16, 2015, 09:13:39 PM
I also think the Wii U version of Deus Ex and Rayman Legends are the best console versions, so you might want to look out for those.

EDIT: Oh, and since we were talking about it in the other thread, Transformers: War For Cybertron for the 360 is great.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 17, 2015, 12:24:17 AM
Just started a new game in Bowser's Inside Story. So far, so great. Really a shame that this series isn't better known.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 18, 2015, 12:14:51 PM
Ah, War For Cybertron. Is Fall Of Cybertron good as well? I forget if you already told me, lol

I beat Oniken's demo yesterday. It's like 2D Ninja Gaiden meets Contra and I'm really yearning to play some more Ninja Gaiden-likes. Also, the boss music is still stuck in my head.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 18, 2015, 12:45:34 PM
I only got around to playing the first one.

BIS news, I have just had Bowser run on the treadmill to lose weight. I forgot how great this game was, it easily has the best story in any Mario RPG. Fawful and Midbus are awesome, too. Shame they didn't appear in Dream Team but I hope there's a chance for their appearance in Paper Jam.

On the other hand, that carrot minigame is the worst one in the game. Thankfully I looked up the trick to watch the top of the screen when it flashes and beat it in record time. The rest of the game is great aside from that blemish, from what I remember.

EDIT: Also, that soundtrack. Some of Yoko Shinomura's best work. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyMNlDk7m8U&index=13&list=PLkiL1b6D1fS98G70Eer8ApxoejJQK4ao2) Shame none of this made it into Smash Bros.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 18, 2015, 12:52:24 PM
Yoko Shimomura is very talented. Her music in Xenoblade is by far my favorite thing about the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 18, 2015, 07:18:58 PM
Spark, isn't Fawful kind of... dead by the end of BIS? I think he dies after his final battle anyway.

Don't get me wrong, though, I'd love to see him come back.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 18, 2015, 07:49:26 PM
He is.

But this is a Mario RPG. They could think of all kinds of ridiculous reasons to bring him back.  ;)

Actually, I find Fawful one of the important links of the M&L games since he was in all three of the original games. That they didn't have so much of a cameo in DT was a disappointment. Even if he just comes back as an reformed character or non-plot important NPC, I wouldn't care. I just feel like he is an integral part of the series.

Heck, even if they don't bring him back for PJ, they could have Paper Fawful show up instead. I would settle on that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 18, 2015, 07:59:38 PM
I do like how it pretty much confirms that Paper Mario is its own universe. Continuity doesn't matter much in this franchise but I like things like that.

I should play PiT and BIS again. I know I hated PiT like everyone else, but it's been a decade since it came out now. And I remember my overall experience with BIS being negative, but now that I know what I'm getting into, I'd like to give it another go.

Superstar Saga and Dream Team are still 9/10 games, as far as I'm concerned.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 18, 2015, 08:19:34 PM
I'm actually planning on a SS replay after this. Hopefully I'll finally be able to beat the final boss.

Still haven't even bought Dream Team yet, mostly chased off by mixed reception. I'll probably play it after Paper Jam. I just hope it doesn't have the same issues I had when I went into PiT after playing BIS and just feeling not as good in any way.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 18, 2015, 08:23:57 PM
There was mixed reception for Dream Team? I could get some criticism against the Giant battles and the mandatory minigames, but for the most part it's fantastic, and has really great pacing. I really do put it up there with the first game, and I went into it with some seriously low expectations.

And it gives Luigi some of the most badass character development he's ever gotten.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 18, 2015, 08:26:52 PM
I heard horror stories about tutorials and gyroscopes, but that just might be the vocal side of the fanbase being nitpicky again.

The Luigi stuff does look cool, though.  8-)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 18, 2015, 08:35:37 PM
I think I remember some tutorials being stupidly intrusive but I honestly can't remember any specific examples, just my feelings of annoyance. The gyroscope, though, yeah. You want to go into Giant battles with your 3DS in the position you're going to keep it in all battle, because whenever a boss goes into some attack you need to tilt the 3DS to dodge, if you are suddenly holding the 3DS in a different position it'll wonk out and royally fuck you over. The Giant battles are easily the least well-thought out part of the game. The last Giant battle, however flawed it may be, is the coolest battle in the entire Mario franchise if you play it well. In my opinion, of course, but I honestly think visually it's the greatest boss fight in all of Super Mario Bros.

And while Fawful doesn't appear (sad), supporting characters return from SS, PiT and BIS, so Dream Team is almost a celebration of the first three games. I really did love it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 18, 2015, 09:39:09 PM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on June 18, 2015, 07:59:38 PM
I do like how it pretty much confirms that Paper Mario is its own universe. Continuity doesn't matter much in this franchise but I like things like that.

Where was that said? I actually like having it in the main universe. It even ties into it in many ways, too.

My favorite Mario story is a toss up between Thousand-Year Door and Super Paper Mario. Super Paper Mario probably takes the edge for its better ending, main characters, and overall writing. But that battle arena chapter in Thousand-Year Door is alone by far my favorite Mario story.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 18, 2015, 09:42:14 PM
Luigi knocks over a storybook containing the Paper Mario universe.

If you really want to, you can just consider them adventures Mario already went on but presented in the paper style.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on June 18, 2015, 09:43:15 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on June 18, 2015, 09:42:14 PM
If you really want to, you can just consider them adventures Mario already went on but presented in the paper style.

That's what I'll do. :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 22, 2015, 01:36:05 PM
Think I'm done with Fairy Fencer F. It's just... trash. Unplayable trash. Popped in the copy of GTA4 I bought. Dear god, these graphics have not aged well at all. The city's so murky, everything's hard to see, the combat system and "realistic" physics are so archaic compared to GTA5. How the hell did I beat this seven years ago?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 22, 2015, 02:59:51 PM
You were probably wowed by the "Oscar-worthy" writing.

In other news, I'm nearing the end of BIS. Only a few hours to go until the end. My opinion has not changed, it's still the best game in the series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 22, 2015, 03:13:18 PM
The mechanics in GTA really are quite bad. It's impossible to go back to any of the previous games once a new one is out - for me, anyway.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 22, 2015, 03:52:25 PM
Hence why I don't like GTA. Those games are about scope more than good gameplay, IMO. The selling point is a sandbox game where you can do almost anything and go almost anywhere at any time. The drawback is that none of the stuff that you actually end up doing is well designed in the slightest. It can be fun to mess around for a few hours, but actually attempting to complete the story missions feels like a chore. Seriously, try to go back and play some of those older games' actual missions. They are outrageously hard and frustrating in the worst ways possible: from bad controls, bad AI, and really wonky vehicle physics. Yet each of these games were critically acclaimed when they came out.

I was really into the whole GTA craze way back when GTA III and Vice City were still pretty new, but neither of those games have aged well at all, and neither has San Andreas or GTA IV, and I can guarantee you that V will probably seem boring by the time the next GTA game comes out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 22, 2015, 04:09:51 PM
Quote from: Foggle on June 22, 2015, 03:13:18 PM
The mechanics in GTA really are quite bad. It's impossible to go back to any of the previous games once a new one is out - for me, anyway.

I think that's about it. I remember after 4 came out, I found the PS2 titles to be absolutely horrible to try and play. GTA4's story is indeed jarring with how you'll have things like the television shows and radio commercials still be the zany, over-the-top satire they always are, but the story and Niko's whole deal is just played completely seriously. It clashes.

GTA5 is still awesome though. Plenty of activities, great characters, fun (if terribly paced) story, a better map, and a pretty fun online mode.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 22, 2015, 08:22:23 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 22, 2015, 03:52:25 PM
Hence why I don't like GTA. Those games are about scope more than good gameplay, IMO. The selling point is a sandbox game where you can do almost anything and go almost anywhere at any time. The drawback is that none of the stuff that you actually end up doing is well designed in the slightest. It can be fun to mess around for a few hours, but actually attempting to complete the story missions feels like a chore. Seriously, try to go back and play some of those older games' actual missions. They are outrageously hard and frustrating in the worst ways possible: from bad controls, bad AI, and really wonky vehicle physics. Yet each of these games were critically acclaimed when they came out.

I was really into the whole GTA craze way back when GTA III and Vice City were still pretty new, but neither of those games have aged well at all, and neither has San Andreas or GTA IV, and I can guarantee you that V will probably seem boring by the time the next GTA game comes out.
It's strange how even Saints Row 1 somehow holds up better than any GTA.

I really hate throwing around the term "unplayable," especially as a fan of Yoko Taro and Suda51 games, but I'm not sure how else to describe my experience with Vice City last year. It was the antithesis of fun and good design. The controls were some of the worst I've experienced.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 22, 2015, 08:32:55 PM
A lot of it at the time was the revolutionary feel of running around a wide open world where you could do whatever you want. I cracked out on GTA III, but by Vice City the magic had worn off and I just saw the game for what it was. Bad shooting, poor driving, and nothing fun to do.

It also doesn't help that the game journalists continually overlook every fault these games have as if they are unquestionable masterpieces. I mean, I can't speak for GTA V, but the rest have LOTS of faults that no other company would ever get away with having in a game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 22, 2015, 09:46:48 PM
That's just it. The critics only look at how much is in each game as opposed to whether any of it actually amounts to a good game. I'll give GTA III credit for being revolutionary for its time and helping to greatly expand the scope of Sandbox games, but every GTA game since then has just been bigger for the sake of being bigger. By the time that I got around to San Andreas, my rose-tinted glasses had come off, and the game just looked ugly, and was accompanied by equally unfun gameplay, and going back to III and Vice City didn't help either.

To be fair, I think that other game developers learned from Rock Star's mistakes, like with Saints Row and Just Cause, where the sandbox gameplay is there but still focused on certain gameplay themes, as opposed to just having a lot of stuff in the game for no other reason than to say that it's big.

And while on the subject, this is also my problem with the first Assassin's Creed and Batman: Arkham City. Critics gushed over both of those games as well, but neither were much fun once you realized that they were one or two-trick ponies in terms of actual gameplay mechanics, and making them take place in much bigger environments only highlighted the tedium of it all, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 22, 2015, 10:07:14 PM
Speaking of which, Just Cause 2 was another one I binge-bought. I remember seeing videos of it looking fun as hell years ago and with the third game coming in December, perhaps I'll just shelve GTA4 for a little bit and hop into that.

I'm just finding myself in a place right now where I'd rather play games I'm familiar with rather than start a new game/franchise, so I'm kind of having to force myself into new territories (which did not go well with Borderlands and really didn't go well with Infamous). My PS4 finally ships tomorrow and I have this massive stack of PS3 games I have bought over the past year and a half.  :lol:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 22, 2015, 10:20:43 PM
I can certainly relate. There are many times when I just get so addicted to one or two games and don't even want to touch anything else until I'm burned out on the ones that I'm currently obsessed with. This happened with DMC3 and MGRR for me, last year.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 22, 2015, 10:26:54 PM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on June 22, 2015, 10:07:14 PM
Speaking of which, Just Cause 2 was another one I binge-bought. I remember seeing videos of it looking fun as hell years ago and with the third game coming in December, perhaps I'll just shelve GTA4 for a little bit and hop into that.
Love Just Cause 2. It'd easily be my favorite open world game if not for Saints Row 4. JC3 looks amazing.

QuoteI'm just finding myself in a place right now where I'd rather play games I'm familiar with rather than start a new game/franchise, so I'm kind of having to force myself into new territories (which did not go well with Borderlands and really didn't go well with Infamous). My PS4 finally ships tomorrow and I have this massive stack of PS3 games I have bought over the past year and a half.  :lol:
I get the same feeling on occasion. I think it's normal to sometimes want to play games for comfort rather than challenge or discovery. It's also why people listen to the same albums and watch the same movies over and over. :)

Borderlands 1 is a pretty flaccid single-player experience. I mean, I personally like it, but there isn't much story, and the mechanics aren't nearly as refined as in the sequels, so I can see why most don't.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 22, 2015, 10:39:30 PM
I never got more than an hour into Borderlands. It's embarrassing, honestly. I'm miserable at first person shooters. I kept missing and running out of bullets. One of the few genres I'd rather use a mouse and keyboard for.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 22, 2015, 10:46:40 PM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on June 22, 2015, 10:39:30 PM
I never got more than an hour into Borderlands. It's embarrassing, honestly. I'm miserable at first person shooters. I kept missing and running out of bullets. One of the few genres I'd rather use a mouse and keyboard for.
You and me both! I can play third-person shooters with a controller decently well, but for some reason I can only handle FPS if I have a mouse and keyboard. Not really sure why.

That said, the first Borderlands is one of those weird games with a reverse learning curve. Running out of ammo and fighting enemies with way too much health is a common occurrence for the first 5-10 hours, but the rest of it is a breeze. So you were probably doing better than you thought!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 22, 2015, 11:20:09 PM
I want to pick it up again someday, if it does get easier like that. It does seem like my kind of humor, but that beginning. Ugh. I'm pretty good with third person shooters myself. With first person games, though, since I can't see the immediate area to the sides and behind my character, then I really need the mouse for quick, precise turning.

If I could make some kind of franken-controller (frankontroller?) with the mouse on one end of the wire and the Wii nunchuck on the other end, that would be godly.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 24, 2015, 06:53:57 PM
Beat Bowser's Inside Story.

After watching the ending, I think they could find an out to bring Fawful back, but whatever. What matters is the game. The battle system, the writing, and the story are all incredible fun. It still holds up great and it's still my favorite Mario RPG.

I'm definitely hyped for Paper Jam again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 25, 2015, 01:02:11 AM
Amazon finally charged me for the PS4 about an hour ago, and the good news is pay day is tomorrow so my bank account will just go right back to where it was in the morning. Good on me for not buying anything unnecessary of the past few weeks.  :lol

Now I play the waiting game...

(and you can bet your ass GTA4 is going straight to the shelf once that thing arrives.)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 26, 2015, 09:55:10 PM
So, from what I'm reading, it sounds like Arkham Knight is basically Arkham City but with a worse story, more DLC, and a bizarre focus on driving the Batmobile.

What I loved about Arkham Asylum was the level design and writing, and I wasn't too big on AC, so I guess I should probably skip AK. :(
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 26, 2015, 10:16:40 PM
The reason that AA worked was because it wasn't trying to be big. It was just a good Batman game made by diehard Batman fans, and you could tell that a lot of love and attention to detail that went into it. The environment was just the right size to make the level design feel sharper, the game's length was perfect for its very simplistic mechanics so that they never got too stale before the end of the game, and the story was entertaining for what it was without trying to tackle more than it could properly handle.

In comes AC, which people praised up the butt-hole, but I couldn't help feeling anything above a "well this is OK, I guess'" throughout my entire experience with the game, and eventually I realized that it was because it tried so hard to be big that it basically exposed just how monotonous it really was. The mechanics got boring quickly, the city was so big that it actually became a chore to explore, the level design was far less intricate than before, and the story was just a convoluted mess. The side-quests and boss fights were terrible, as well. The fact that critics praised this game really showed me that it only took impressive scope more than genuine substance to impress them.

As for AK, I just don't care about it. If fans enjoy it, then great, but personally I'd much rather play DMC4SE, a much older but still infinitely more enjoyable game, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 26, 2015, 10:53:13 PM
Quote from: Foggle on June 26, 2015, 09:55:10 PMArkham Knight is basically Arkham City but with a worse story, more DLC, and a bizarre focus on driving the Batmobile.

That's exactly what my friends were telling me today, and a few reviews from people I watch on YouTube were echoing that. I've been hearing that the boss fights are horrid, the ending is pretty much an unsatisfying non-ending (they didn't specify what), and that whenever they tried to explore or do a mission on foot, they'd instantly be stopped in their tracks because they needed the Batmobile to move on. A shame, really.

Admittedly, I don't care that much about the game, I just wanted the Batman PS4, so it's not too much of a letdown for me.

And on a side note, I did just order the MGS Legacy Collection and the Rising game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 26, 2015, 10:57:25 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 26, 2015, 10:16:40 PM
The reason that AA worked was because it wasn't trying to be big. It was just a good Batman game made by diehard Batman fans, and you could tell that a lot of love and attention to detail that went into it. The environment was just the right size to make the level design feel sharper, the game's length was perfect for its very simplistic mechanics so that they never got too stale before the end of the game, and the story was entertaining for what it was without trying to tackle more than it could properly handle.
A big reason I loved AA was that it featured the Joker at his absolute funniest. The writing and voice acting were both so brilliant in that game. Overall, it just felt like a wonderful tribute to TAS.

Quote from: Nel_Annette on June 26, 2015, 10:53:13 PM
Admittedly, I don't care that much about the game, I just wanted the Batman PS4
Understandable, that thing is amazing!

I hope you enjoy MGS! Even with the microtransactions, 5 is looking like a masterpiece to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 26, 2015, 11:46:08 PM
Hoping to get Ground Zeroes after these come in. Then I'll probably cool it with this binge-buying thing I've been doing all year. I've got a lot of pre-orders waiting in the next six months (where the hell is the Woolly World bundle, Nintendo?) and another semester at school coming up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 02, 2015, 12:06:03 PM
Finally. This is my day now.

(https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10426604_10152974023671299_4322968638777519813_n.jpg?oh=bdcb89624582e7ce02d1c3976555597a&oe=561B50AE)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 02, 2015, 12:06:33 PM
 :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 02, 2015, 12:30:32 PM
Oh my god, it let's me redownload Spelunky for free? So much better than what Nintendo's doing with redownloads on the eShop.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 04, 2015, 01:09:46 AM
Having a hard time getting into Twilight Princess right now. I think my analog stick might be somewhat messed up, as the movement controls feel really bad to me. To be fair, I have had this controller for, what, 13 years now? Always something, I guess. I've also been unnaturally tired lately, so I'm not really in the mood for a game that starts off slowly. I've decided to play Metal Gear Solid 4 instead, and hopefully return to TP afterwards.

This game definitely gets off to an amazing start. The first 2.5 hours sport excellent gameplay and surprisingly engaging cutscenes. Of course, I know that the story goes way downhill later on, and that the stealth almost ceases to exist after a certain point, but I'm loving it so far.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on July 04, 2015, 01:46:58 AM
Quote from: Foggle on July 04, 2015, 01:09:46 AMI'm not really in the mood for a game that starts off slowly. I've decided to play Metal Gear Solid 4 instead, and hopefully return to TP afterwards.

:bleh:

I actually think the beginning of MGS4 feels the least like a stealth game. Very heavy on running around shooting things and not a lot of cover for stealth.

Also, you say the story goes downhill, but the best part of it by far is the final hour or so of the whole game. :thinkin:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 04, 2015, 01:58:55 AM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on July 04, 2015, 01:46:58 AM
I actually think the beginning of MGS4 feels the least like a stealth game. Very heavy on running around shooting things and not a lot of cover for stealth.
??? It's incredibly stealth-based. I mean, I guess you can run and gun, but the level layouts are complex and clearly geared around sneaking, and Otacon even tells you not to engage the enemies in combat. I've been having tons of fun avoiding detection in the middle of a warzone. It's designed exceptionally well, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 04, 2015, 02:47:52 AM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on July 04, 2015, 01:46:58 AM
Quote from: Foggle on July 04, 2015, 01:09:46 AMI'm not really in the mood for a game that starts off slowly. I've decided to play Metal Gear Solid 4 instead, and hopefully return to TP afterwards.

:bleh:

I actually think the beginning of MGS4 feels the least like a stealth game. Very heavy on running around shooting things and not a lot of cover for stealth.

Also, you say the story goes downhill, but the best part of it by far is the final hour or so of the whole game. :thinkin:
When did you become this fucking stupid?

I played Spelunky again for the first time since like last year. The game still whooped my ass. I barely got to World 2.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on July 04, 2015, 08:45:03 PM
Quote from: Foggle on July 04, 2015, 01:58:55 AM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on July 04, 2015, 01:46:58 AM
I actually think the beginning of MGS4 feels the least like a stealth game. Very heavy on running around shooting things and not a lot of cover for stealth.
??? It's incredibly stealth-based. I mean, I guess you can run and gun, but the level layouts are complex and clearly geared around sneaking, and Otacon even tells you not to engage the enemies in combat. I've been having tons of fun avoiding detection in the middle of a warzone. It's designed exceptionally well, IMO.

I just remember, when I played that section of the game, thinking about how wide and open the area was and how much more difficult it was to hide and avoid having the enemies spot you.

I suppose it could have been that I just wasn't as good at the game at the time. I've only played MGS4 once (MGS3 is so much better).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 04, 2015, 09:53:10 PM
Today I descended into Hell. A bullet point list of my thoughts.

-Well, let's download every patch for Assassin's Creed: Unity. Uuuuugh.
-That took six hours?! That took six hours!!!
-Yep, they sure are delightfully British... for French folk.
-Did that man just freeze mid-animation? His frozen body is still hovering down the street! God that's creepy!
-When do I get the costu-- oh, wait, that was actually quick.
-Why did you take out whistling?!
-Why did you take out hiding in the bushes?!
-Did... did one of the pedestrians just walk through the brick wall of a building?
-Oh, this cover system seems cool.
-This cover system is crap! Arno, move! Stop sitting there! I'm pressing buttons and you won't move! The bad guy's coming around the corner, move your ass! No, don't swap cover! You're not hiding anymore; he's looking right at you!
-Holy fuck the combat got convoluted! You get killed pretty damn fast! ...Which I guess is more realistic but I do miss my babby-mode chain kills.
-Wow, I can actually customize everything about my costume. This is actually a really cool new feature and should be in every AC from now on.
-Two guards hit me and I fell through the world.
-Oh my god, they have Shaun back for the databases. Fantastic!
-Why are there four different currency systems?! And buying stats and equipment and upgrades and skills are each tied to a different currency? Fuck, that's confusing.
-What are Hack Points? What are Creed Points? I'll just click on "Get More" and-- you are not asking me for my credit card information. Seriously? Hell no. Fuck off, Ubisoft.
-Why can't I do half the missions on the map? Let me just read what this says... Co-op? No. What about these other missions... phone app?! Auuuugh. Come on! How the hell would anyone ever have enough time to 100% this convoluted shit!?
-Okay... okay... fuck all the side stuff... let's just do the first real assassination. "There are at minimum, 12 ways to do this mission." Sounds promising. How you gonna fuck this one up, Ubi?
-Oh my god, this is actually awesome. I've got a wide area around Notre Dame to work with, I've literally counted about 15 different ways I can get into the cathedral and kill this guy. I think... I'll at least try stealth. I steal the keys... climb to the top of the cathedral to unlock some doors, sneak my way down stairs to the second floor. The guy's on the ground floor... I see where all the guards are, I can clearly map out where all the escape routes are... Okay, yeah, I've got complete confidence in my plan. Let's kill this prick.
-Holy crap, it worked! And I escaped without a single confrontation! Easily one of the most satisfying assassinations I've ever done in the series. The game didn't restrict me; it gave me a myriad of options and let me do it my way.
-Every main assassination in each game should have been like this. Especially from now on.


So... yeah, there are actually quite a number of new things introduced in Unity that I hope they carry over to the next games. Unfortunately, though, even with six hours/gigs of patches, Unity is still a broken, buggy mountain of shit that shamelessly uses microtransactions and relies too heavily on things like phone apps and co-op. Still, if the rest of the assassinations are as open-ended as this, maybe I can salvage a bit of enjoyment out of this mess.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 04, 2015, 10:07:55 PM
 :D I've always loved your Assassin's Creed posts. Sounds like EA has still continued to make the series a load of mess with some good gameplay underneath.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 05, 2015, 12:01:01 AM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on July 04, 2015, 08:45:03 PM
I just remember, when I played that section of the game, thinking about how wide and open the area was and how much more difficult it was to hide and avoid having the enemies spot you.

I suppose it could have been that I just wasn't as good at the game at the time. I've only played MGS4 once (MGS3 is so much better).
I'm honestly finding MGS4 much easier than 3. I think it's because the controls are smoother. Also, the wide open environments seem to have more cover in this one than they did in the previous game; thus, hiding from the enemies is actually easier IMO. 3 is definitely the better game overall, but the core gameplay in 4 is still excellent.

Quote from: Nel_Annette on July 04, 2015, 09:53:10 PM
-Well, let's download every patch for Assassin's Creed: Unity. Uuuuugh.
-That took six hours?! That took six hours!!!
Whoa. Do you have a slow connection, or does it have like 50GB of patches? That sounds horrifying.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 05, 2015, 12:45:19 AM
It was only six gigabytes. But my internet has been reeeaaally bad all week. Hell, last night both the internet and the cable just went completely out for hours. I have no idea what's up with Time Warner Cable lately.

EDIT: And even after all that patching, it's done fuck all to keep the citizens of Paris from walking through walls, corpse-hovering, and teleporting all over the map. At least no one's shown up looking like this yet.

(http://hothardware.com/newsimages/Item31696/NoFace_Woman.jpg)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on July 06, 2015, 03:16:44 PM
Quote from: Foggle on July 05, 2015, 12:01:01 AM
I'm honestly finding MGS4 much easier than 3. I think it's because the controls are smoother. Also, the wide open environments seem to have more cover in this one than they did in the previous game; thus, hiding from the enemies is actually easier IMO. 3 is definitely the better game overall, but the core gameplay in 4 is still excellent.

I think the main thing that makes 4 easier is the camouflage. In 3 you had to strategize to pick the best clothes to wear for your environments, but in 4 your suit just automatically changes to blend in with whatever environment you're in. Especially once you get the matching mask, your camouflage percentage never needs to drop below 90%, it seems like.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 07, 2015, 12:20:23 AM
I'm about halfway through Unity. Had two hilarious hiccups happen during the main story. A main character has been killed. When I found the body, a copy of his torso was floating above him. I was genuinely confused. I walk downstairs, as I need to investigate the manor for clues. I walk through the character's office... and he's sitting at his desk, doing paperwork. Obviously, the game has main NPCs going about their business at the Assassin HQ, and I think the game was just doing that, but it seems like the developers forgot to stop putting this character in the world after he dies in the story. So he's dead... but he'll be in his office if you need him.

Sequences in this game (think of them as "chapters" that each focus on a target) are much shorter than in previous games. Previous installments could have between 3-8 missions per sequence, with between 8-15 sequences depending on the game. Unity has 12 sequence, but I'm on 8 now and so far, each sequence has had 2-3 missions. That's fucking quick, so I'm guessing unless you're trying to clear off the map of the sheer mountain of sidequests covering it, Unity's one of the shortest games in the series.

Seriously, though, the map. At the start of the game, you can barely see the map of Paris because it is completely covered in sidequest markers, chest markers and points-of-interest markers.

Main assassination missions haven't been as strong as that first one, but they're still pretty good. They actually remind me of Dishonored in a way. I can still go about  the missions any way I please, but the game will point out things like "hey, these dude's might help you if you rescue them over here", "some idiot guard left a map of the place over here", "you can use this to smoke the target out of the building if you want" and so on.

The DLC becomes available after Sequence 4. The DLC is basically Sequence 13, taking place after the final boss, and spoils a shit-ton of the game. So it's kind of stupid that they lock it off just to have it unlock one-third of the way into the game.

On a side note, MGS: The Legacy Collection and MGR: Revengeance showed up today along with the PS4 version of GTA5. I tried to use the voucher to download Metal Gear Solid (the only game in the collection that isn't on a disc; it has to be downloaded) and the PlayStation Store doesn't seem to be working for my PS3. Bummer. Will try again in the morning.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on July 07, 2015, 02:53:01 PM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on July 07, 2015, 12:20:23 AM
On a side note, MGS: The Legacy Collection and MGR: Revengeance showed up today along with the PS4 version of GTA5. I tried to use the voucher to download Metal Gear Solid (the only game in the collection that isn't on a disc; it has to be downloaded) and the PlayStation Store doesn't seem to be working for my PS3. Bummer. Will try again in the morning.

In the meantime, I recommend playing the 8-bit Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 games. Even if you manage to get the Store to work, I might still recommend playing those games first. This is one of those franchises where it makes sense to play it in release order, though you can't go wrong starting with Metal Gear Solid.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 07, 2015, 03:05:52 PM
I recommend trying Metal Gear first. If you don't like it, skip to Metal Gear 2. If you don't like that, skip to Metal Gear Solid. And if you also don't like that, skip to Metal Gear Solid 3. Those are the four best entry points into the series IMO.

(And even if you don't like any of them, play Metal Gear Rising and The Phantom Pain anyway. ;))
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 07, 2015, 03:08:26 PM
Metal Gear Rising is a different beast altogether. It's really a Platinum game rather than a Kojima game. Personally I love it, though admittedly I'm not a huge MG fan. Hardcore fans despise it though because it's not a stealth game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 07, 2015, 03:15:35 PM
I absolutely love the stealth genre and about half of the Metal Gear games, but Rising is still one of the series' best IMO. Don't listen to the annoying fanboys who hate it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 07, 2015, 03:19:13 PM
And don't get pissed if you don't get the mechanics at first. I didn't really understand how to pull off perfect parries and exploit i-frames in the game until my third playthrough (though, to be fair, it's a short game).

The Jetstream Sam DLC is also pretty good, but I can't speak for the Blade Wolf gameplay since I could never get that DLC to run.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 07, 2015, 03:26:38 PM
The mechanics may seem really difficult to learn/understand at first, but parries and such are actually pretty easy to pull off, even for someone with awful timing like me. Actually, something similar could be said for almost every Metal Gear game...

The PS3 version also has the VR Missions DLC, which is worth playing as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 07, 2015, 04:51:42 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 07, 2015, 03:08:26 PM
Metal Gear Rising is a different beast altogether. It's really a Platinum game rather than a Kojima game. Personally I love it, though admittedly I'm not a huge MG fan. Hardcore fans despise it though because it's not a stealth game.
lmao, they still hate on it? I remember how stupid they looked when they flipped out on PG developing the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 07, 2015, 05:44:07 PM
Ubisoft and I need to have a little fucking discussion. They put the little "fast-travel" icon for the DLC right next to the HQ. I try to fast travel to the HQ and accidentally click the other icon. I'm suddenly forced into the DLC (which, as mentioned, takes place after the main game and is quite spoilerific) and the gam,e plays the first cutscene and forces you into the first mission, with no option to quit out and no option to go back to Paris. Why, Ubisoft? Why would you make that a fast travel icon! Why would you make the DLC (which, turns out, is labeled Sequence 13 like it's a continuation of the main story) available so early. Now I'm stuck doing this shit.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 08, 2015, 10:17:02 PM
Made a preorder for something on GameStop's site, as I was under the impression that it was GS exclusive. Turns out it's on Amazon's site and with free shipping I can save money. Try to cancel preorder on GS... there's no cancel button. How the fuck do I cancel this? HOW THE FUCK DO I CANCEL THIS AUGH
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 08, 2015, 10:19:16 PM
How's this? (http://www.gamestop.com/gs/help/Change_Order.aspx)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 08, 2015, 10:30:03 PM
Thhat's what I was using.  Turn's out I had to make an account, find a "orders I made as a guest" option while logged in, and only then did it give me a cancel option. The site doesn't let you cancel if you're just a guest. It's stupid.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 13, 2015, 03:12:44 PM
I impulse bought a copy of Ocarina at a pawn shop today. I'm going home in a day or two, so I might go through it when I do.

It's been too long.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 13, 2015, 05:23:15 PM
....I thought you might you bought an actually ocarina for a second.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 13, 2015, 05:54:28 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on July 13, 2015, 05:23:15 PM
....I thought you might you bought an actually ocarina for a second.
Heh, but I always wanted one of those ocarinas they used to show in Nintendo Power. It never happened, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 13, 2015, 05:58:17 PM
Maybe you'll get lucky the next time you go to the pawn shop. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on July 25, 2015, 10:38:41 PM
Splatoon is an okay game, but I feel like I'm never gonna have as much fun with it as seemingly everyone else. And yeah, I am playing it online. That might be part of the problem I'm having it with it though; I know 2p is its bread and butter, but the 1p mode is.....really kinda lame. And I just don't know if I care that much about online shooters at this point.

That's not really a knock against it mind you, I can see the quality is there. Just goes to show that Ninty definitely still has what it takes to churn out new quality IP's, and any preconceived notions of their demise are exactly that. /fanboy
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 27, 2015, 01:16:19 PM
I'm kind of surprised you don't like the single player mode. I thought it was great. Especially the boss fights.

But yeah, if you don't like online shooters, then this really isn't going to do much for you. It's inventive and different, but it still is a 4v4 game about blasting your opponents and taking territory.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 29, 2015, 12:08:10 AM
Been spending some time here and there over the past few weeks going through NSMB2 for the star coins. I blazed through it when I bought it, but I'm enjoying it more in incredibly short bursts. Then, out of curiosity, I went back to the first game, and was surprised by how much I remembered the level designs. I even forgot that each world had a boss that wasn't a Koopaling. Still enjoyable.

And now I'm back into NSMBU, which I had apparently quit after World 2. Slowly making my way through. Game is much more challenging than the portable titles. I kind of want to go back to the Wii game too. Haven't touched that in six years at this point.

So I remember being really negative towards these games, but I'm much warmer towards them than I was, even if I think the aesthetic has worn thin. I still want new 2D Mario games, but they need to break the formula up a bit. New worlds (like one that's a modern city) and maybe give the Koopalings a rest for a game or too. I remember absolutely fanboying when they were brought back for NSMBWii, buuuut I'm over it at this point.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 29, 2015, 12:35:10 AM
With Super Mario Maker I think it's a hint that the NSMB series is done. U didn't light the charts on fire (despite being the best game in the sub-series) and it pushed the formula as far as it can go. You should totally give Wii another chance, as it's an A+ platformer in every way.

As for NSMB2, it's all about coin rush. I got more enjoyment out of that than I thought I would, going well past the one million goal and even getting the DLC levels for it. The score attack formula for coin rush is addictive, but the base game isn't all too impressive. But I still liked it better than DS.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 29, 2015, 12:52:54 AM
Maybe I worded it wrong, I loved NSMBWii. It was 2 and U that made me just kind of say "okay, now you're milking it".

Completely forgot about Mario Maker too. Yeah, I suppose unless they have some extremely new ideas, this Mario series is done with that coming out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 29, 2015, 01:55:50 PM
Oh, I was just assuming with Wii since a lot of people dump on that game for some reason. Return of the Koopalings aside, the level design is incredibly tight and inventive. Personally I think the console NSMB games are two of the best Mario games ever.

Also, the music gets kind of a bum rap. Sure "bahs" and whatnot: but listen to what it sounds like without them (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UAWZZoRr9g). That's some classy platformer music.

But I'm satisfied if they finally decide to move on from the NSMB style. They've gone as far as they can with it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on July 29, 2015, 03:05:05 PM
Isn't Super Mario Maker basically a level maker and a full on 2D Mario platformer?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 29, 2015, 03:29:51 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on July 29, 2015, 03:05:05 PM
Isn't Super Mario Maker basically a level maker and a full on 2D Mario platformer?
Yes, it includes 100 pre-made levels as well as online sharing and a full level editor.

It also has the NSMBU skin and physics which means any level you can make in the editor could be made in a future NSMB game thereby cutting down reasons for fans to purchase it. I think that's a hint that they won't be doing them anymore.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on July 31, 2015, 10:04:28 AM
So is U the best in the series then? Didn't seem like people were all too crazy about it from what I remember. I have it sitting here (along with Super Luigi U), but I haven't even touched it myself yet. Just so busy anymore.

I played NSMB2 about a couple years ago; yeah coin rush is fun, but the rest of the game was pretty underwhelming. What surprised me the most was seeing them reuse so much of the music from Wii though; not that I'm complaining (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bShP6uH5tis) but it did come across as kinda lazy, especially given the 3-year gap between games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 31, 2015, 11:44:00 AM
Wii > U > 1 > 2 IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 31, 2015, 12:08:41 PM
U > Wii >>> 2 >1

A lot of people didn't get U a shot because they were burnt out on the NSMB formula, but anyone who gave it a chance knows it's a great game. For instance, it has the best Ghost Houses in the entire series, but you never hear anyone mention them. The level design is so good and the Luigi U DLC adds a cherry on top of the deliciousness of the package.

It's one of the best 2D Mario games, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 31, 2015, 02:52:22 PM
It's definitely a hell of a lot more challenging. I actually had to put the game down yesterday because I was getting so flustered trying to get Star Coins and some secret exits. Oddly enough, I played Luigi's DLC loooong before I ever got around to the main game. I think I'd like it more if it didn't have the time limit gimmick in pretty much every stage.

I'd say my ranking is the same as Foggle's right now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 03, 2015, 12:13:09 AM
Dammit, tonight, after not playing the game for months, I decided to open up Golden Sun The Lost Age again and for some reason, it loaded a save state, thus sending me backwards in the game. Good news is I think it was only a few weeks of progress (hey, it could be worse) so there's that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on August 04, 2015, 03:45:44 PM
Do any of you have a preference between owning games physically or digitally?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 04, 2015, 03:47:15 PM
Physical, always. Though I don't mind digital for PC games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 04, 2015, 03:48:31 PM
I prefer physical, but settle with digital if I have to.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 04, 2015, 04:27:22 PM
I of course prefer owning a physical copy of a game. About a 3rd of the games I have are digital though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on August 04, 2015, 07:41:59 PM
It seems like my opinion's the same- physical if possible, digital if it's the only option.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on August 04, 2015, 09:56:19 PM
Increasingly, I do think it's becoming easier and more convenient to just have things digitally, on one hand.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 04, 2015, 10:14:59 PM
For non-licensed retro games it is. Same with smaller download games like those on XBLA, PSN, and the e-shop.

For big boxed games, I tend to prefer physical copies. I think Splatoon is the only recent big game I've got via download since it's a multiplayer game and therefore much more convenient for me than fumbling with a disc every time I want to play a random match or two.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on August 10, 2015, 10:33:25 PM
Right now I'd say I still prefer physical copies, although as I've come to the point in life where I'm trying to de-clutter as much as possible, I think I might slowly start moving towards digital. I mean I love my collection, and I've been building it up for years, but I'm just so busy anymore that I feel like it's almost becoming a burden to manage at this point. There's definitely a convenience factor with just being able to pick up and play something and not have to bumble around with reorganization and everything else.

I know it's definitely getting to be that way with how I handle movies anyway. Netflix is missing a lot of stuff (King of the Hill being a prime example) so it's definitely not the be-all end-all, but I'm finding that with a lot of newer releases of shows and such, I'll just stick to streaming rather than pony up for the $40 box set. But that's a different subject entirely, sooooo..... :humhumhum:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on August 10, 2015, 10:53:04 PM
Losing interest in collecting Star Coins in the NSMB games at this point, and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse showed up in the mail today, so I think I'll give that a go tomorrow. I honestly really don't like Canvas Curse, but the aesthetic of this game looks so attractive that I really want to give the gameplay another shot.

Would also like to start Arkham Asylum tomorrow. I have all four games and they've just been collecting dust.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 10, 2015, 10:59:39 PM
I love Arkham Asylum! I didn't particularly care for City, and I never played the other 2 (3) games, but AA is so good. :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on August 11, 2015, 12:33:57 AM
I really have been meaning to get into it. But I'm so bad at starting new games. I bought the Asylum/City GOTY Editions duel-pack that was a GameStop exclusive during their 2013 Black Friday sale and it's just been... sitting there. But I keep telling myself "Don't you want to hear Mark Hamill as the Joker again?" and I'm a bit sick of playing the same things over and over.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on August 15, 2015, 12:17:29 AM
Sorry, I accidentally posted this in the Capcom thread. Reposting here.

Alright, so Kirby's a no-go. I love the claymation art style. I adore it. But my fear of having my eyes stuck to the tablet screen to see what I was doing have so far seemed to be founded. There's all this beauty on my big screen television and I have to stare at that low resolution thing. And a decade later, I still just plain dislike the Canvas Curse gameplay style. Just not my thing. Kirby isn't even cursed into a ball form in this one. He just starts rolling around for shits and giggles in the beginning cutscene and never stops. If they do a regular Kirby game with this art style, I'll be all over it, but for now, I'll probably slowly make my way through this only when I'm super bored.

Aaaaaand I finally bit the bullet and bought two Amiibo. Pac-Man and the Super Mario series Bowser. They had a Smash Bros. series Bowser but he was painted cross-eyed. I have a shelf of little game character statues and these will fit right in. I don't even care about the game functionality. So my current stance on Amiibo is to just buy whatever I see at the store for the retail price. I sure as hell am not going to go crazy paying out the ass for these things.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on August 20, 2015, 02:24:12 AM
Finished my first playthrough of No More Heroes 2. It's a great game that's definitely worth playing, but I wouldn't say it's a definite improvement over NMH1. The combat is fun and I like the new weapons and mechanics, but some of the enemies were a chore to fight, and most of the bosses weren't as memorable as its predecessors, in fact, the game doesn't pick up until the Rank 7 fight. There's also the problem of how the other playable characters were implemented. That being said, the bosses from Rank 7 on are some of the greatest bosses ever...except for the final boss. This game is just begging for the Heroes Paradise treatment.

Also, because it bears repeating: Jasper Batt Jr. sucks.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on August 22, 2015, 04:26:25 PM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on August 15, 2015, 12:17:29 AM
I sure as hell am not going to go crazy paying out the ass for these things.

I think we may finally be getting to the point where that's no longer an issue (well, except for anything Fire Emblem related; their figures haven't been re-released in mass quantities as far as I know, and still go upwards of $50 on Amazon). A lot of the recent pre-orders were up for days/weeks at a time (as opposed to selling out within milliseconds), and it looks like a lot of the new figures are getting pretty good production runs this time around.

.....figures too, since I've basically lost all interest in collecting these things. I think once I did a count and realized I had hit 40, that was it. I probably will finish off the Smash Bros. series at some point or another for the hell of it, but as far as Animal Crossing and stuff like that is concerned.....eh, no thanks.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on August 24, 2015, 10:24:12 PM
Two random things I thought of-

1- People who donated to the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter should have been able to obtain free downloads of the first 2.
2- I'd kill for a Snow White fighting game like the one Mickey played in "Runaway Brain".
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 24, 2015, 11:17:22 PM
I know what I'm googling right now. ;D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 27, 2015, 01:25:44 AM
Okay, finally beat MGS4. My opinion must be split into 5 parts - one for each segment of the game.

Act 1 - Amazing. Fantastic gameplay, brilliant level design, and surprisingly engaging storytelling. Some of the best content in any Metal Gear.
Act 2 - Great. Up to and including the Laughing Octopus battle, the gameplay and level design were just as excellent as in Act 1. The writing and story pacing took a nosedive, however.
Act 3 - Good. I actually really liked the oft-maligned tailing mission, and I generally haven't cared for that sort of thing in any other games. The motorcycle part was kind of lame at first, but it got pretty good once the Ravens showed up. I didn't care for the boss fight at all, though, and the plot went completely off the deep end upon meeting Eva.
Act 4 - Bad. The nostalgia-fest was enjoyable at first, but there was little substance to this level outside of that. The Crying Wolf fight paled in comparison to MGS3's The End battle, the stealth bits were infrequent and horrible, the writing was embarrassing, and the Suicide Geckos part was just tedious. Piloting Rex was quite enjoyable, though.
Act 5 - Boring. The stealth segment at the beginning was excellent outside of the bullshit button-mashing at the end (basically rendering ghosting impossible without untold levels of patience), and the boss fights were decent enough (hearing Snake Eater again got me pumped as hell), but the literal 3 hours of terrible cutscenes almost put me to sleep multiple times.

Overall, a pretty decent game that unfortunately front-loaded most of its best material into the first half. If the whole game was like Acts 1 and 2, it'd be my favorite Metal Gear, and if the whole game was like Acts 4 and 5, it'd be my least favorite. Instead, it stands somewhere right in the middle of my series rankings. Definitely worth playing (way more than Portable Ops, Twin Snakes, and the NES games, at the very least), but I can't say I ever see myself going back to it outside of the first few areas, either.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on August 27, 2015, 11:23:29 AM
I really liked Acts 4 and 5. Going back to Shadoq Moses was just awesome enough. And the ending of the game was wonderful. I'm surprised you call it terrible.

I also liked the final boss fight. And the microwave scene was cinematic without being indulgent.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 27, 2015, 11:56:10 AM
The microwave scene... :'(

I actually liked to really liked the last 2 Acts. The first two Acts were of course the greatest but I really liked Shadow Moses and not just for nostalgia since I've only played 1's demo and the only problem I had with Act 5 was it's impossible to pass the first area without stelth (Thanks for nothing, Gecko.) But maybe I'm holding that against it a bit too much since I went in guns blazing because my brother, who owned the game, was leaving soon...so I spent like 3 hours going in guns blazing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 27, 2015, 01:28:39 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on August 27, 2015, 11:23:29 AM
I really liked Acts 4 and 5. Going back to Shadoq Moses was just awesome enough.
Going back to Shadow Moses was what was good about it, as well as driving Rex. The actual gameplay and story outside of that? Not a fan.

QuoteAnd the ending of the game was wonderful. I'm surprised you call it terrible.
Spoiler
The scenes with Ocelot were quite good, and the part where Snake "kills himself" was heartbreaking. If the game had ended there (and Kojima supposedly wanted it to), I would have agreed with you 100%. Unfortunately, it was ruined by Big Boss somehow being alive and showing up to deliver 30 straight minutes of exposition and retcons. And the wedding scene was just embarrassing; I can't believe people actually showed that to Roger Ebert to try and convince him that video games are art.
[close]

QuoteI also liked the final boss fight. And the microwave scene was cinematic without being indulgent.
The final boss was one of the game's highlights. The microwave scene was neat, but I don't really like button-mashing bits because I always feel like I'm going to break my controller. :lol:

Quote from: gunswordfist on August 27, 2015, 11:56:10 AM
I actually liked to really liked the last 2 Acts. The first two Acts were of course the greatest but I really liked Shadow Moses and not just for nostalgia since I've only played 1's demo
I mean, I can see someone enjoying it, but the gameplay in Act 4 just didn't do anything for me. :(

Quoteand the only problem I had with Act 5 was it's impossible to pass the first area without stelth (Thanks for nothing, Gecko.) But maybe I'm holding that against it a bit too much since I went in guns blazing because my brother, who owned the game, was leaving soon...so I spent like 3 hours going in guns blazing.
It's a pretty well-designed level to be sure, but yeah, the sealed door and Gecko at the end make full stealth nearly impossible. I got spotted about 30 seconds away from the door, and somehow made it through without fighting anyone moments before I got annihilated. :lol:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on August 27, 2015, 01:49:36 PM
Quote from: Foggle on August 27, 2015, 01:28:39 PM
Spoiler
The scenes with Ocelot were quite good, and the part where Snake "kills himself" was heartbreaking. If the game had ended there (and Kojima supposedly wanted it to), I would have agreed with you 100%. Unfortunately, it was ruined by Big Boss somehow being alive and showing up to deliver 30 straight minutes of exposition and retcons. And the wedding scene was just embarrassing; I can't believe people actually showed that to Roger Ebert to try and convince him that video games are art.
[close]

Spoiler
I would have been disappointed if the game ended with Snake killing himself. Just seems a bit grim dark without accomplishing anything. I like that Snake's ending had some hope to it, as after everything that happened in his life, that's what he deserved. While Big Boss being alive can be called a bit contrived, I honestly don't think there was a way that the story of Solid Snake could have ended without having one last scene with Big Boss. They are basically father and son, and I thought it was great to let them make amends before Big Boss died, and to really hear Big Boss' thoughts on everything that happened. I especially like that it took place at the grave of The Boss, as the three of them are the most important and best characters in the series, and I love his final salute to her. Best single story moment in the series. Ultimately, I thought this whole section made the ending.

When you get down to it, the central character of the Metal Gear franchise is Big Boss. And considering how much he has been developed in MGS3 onward, it would be just a shame if they left his death what it was in Metal Gear 2, where he was basically little more than a bad guy.
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Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 27, 2015, 04:33:45 PM
Spoiler
Giving Big Boss more development and ending the series with him is the reason why we have Peace Walker and MGS5, though. I just think him still being alive at the end of 4 both makes no sense and cheapens the entire series' story. That, and the amount of exposition he spouted kind of ruined any emotional involvement I had in the scene.

The game didn't necessarily need to end with Snake killing himself, but I personally would have found that a lot more emotionally resonant. I've also heard that Kojima actually wanted to end it like that but had to change it at Konami's request.
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Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on August 27, 2015, 09:38:05 PM
Quote from: Foggle on August 27, 2015, 04:33:45 PM
Spoiler
Giving Big Boss more development and ending the series with him is the reason why we have Peace Walker and MGS5, though. I just think him still being alive at the end of 4 both makes no sense and cheapens the entire series' story. That, and the amount of exposition he spouted kind of ruined any emotional involvement I had in the scene.

The game didn't necessarily need to end with Snake killing himself, but I personally would have found that a lot more emotionally resonant. I've also heard that Kojima actually wanted to end it like that but had to change it at Konami's request.
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Spoiler
How does it cheapen the series' story? I mean, his life isn't actually all that important in MGS1 and 2. It's his actions and legacy that are. As for ending the story, I'm sure MGSV will do a good job bridging the prequel games with the original Metal Gear. But the ending of the entire story will always be MGS4. And for the conclusion to that, I just think it was really meaningful to have the father and son reunite and come to understand each other, before each can truly rest in peace. And again, I just really like when he looks back on everything, particularly his time with The Boss, and finally comes to truly realize what she fought for.

As for the exposition, I kind of forget a lot of it. I mostly just remember the character drama with Solid Snake, Big Boss, and The Boss. I always considered those three to be the heart of the Metal Gear storyline, and I like that it all ended with the three of them (well, in the case of The Boss, she wasn't literally there, but you know). Big Boss wasn't an especially interesting character in the 8-bit games. So I happily accept a final appearance of him as a sendoff, even if it required a retcon (and admittedly, I don't really remember much how they explained his return).

There wasn't a need for Snake to die. Like Big Boss said, he was largely responsible for the new world, so he deserved to see what it has to offer in the little time he has left. He had something to live for, despite what he previously thought. Him killing himself would be too hopeless, I think.
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Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 27, 2015, 10:17:02 PM
Spoiler
The events of Metal Gear Solid 1 wouldn't have even happened without Big Boss' death - it was a major motivation for Liquid, Ocelot, and the rest of the villains. And I hate sequels that pull the "you thought I was dead but I really wasn't!" card, especially ones written 18 years after a character's death was established. Metal Gear 2 gets off the hook for bringing Big Boss back because the post-credits scene of MG1 reveals that he'd never actually died in the first place.

The character drama was good, but the scene largely consisted of Big Boss explaining why Zero was the main villain of the entire series and how Ocelot wasn't actually possessed by Liquid because he brainwashed himself into thinking he was to fool the Patriots or some other nonsense.
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Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 27, 2015, 10:35:24 PM
Quote from: Foggle on August 27, 2015, 10:17:02 PM
Spoiler
but the scene largely consisted of Big Boss explaining why Zero was the main villain of the entire series and how Ocelot wasn't actually possessed by Liquid because he brainwashed himself into thinking he was to fool the Patriots or some other nonsense.
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This is, like, the exact same thing that happened at the end of Naruto.

You wish I was kidding.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 27, 2015, 11:42:48 PM
 :lol:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on August 27, 2015, 11:49:54 PM
Metal Gear Solid 6: Guns of Boruto
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 28, 2015, 10:50:07 AM
 :D

I was too lazy to read through the last 3 or so posts about you guys talking about the ending but you both have good points. Some parts did drag on and I personally overall liked it and it had me going through a lot of emotions. I also liked the reveal of
Spoiler
Big Boss
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even if said character did go on too long. Overall, that part still gets to me thinking about it since I just saw it about a month ago.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on August 28, 2015, 02:06:23 PM
Quote from: Foggle on August 27, 2015, 10:17:02 PM
Spoiler
The events of Metal Gear Solid 1 wouldn't have even happened without Big Boss' death - it was a major motivation for Liquid, Ocelot, and the rest of the villains. And I hate sequels that pull the "you thought I was dead but I really wasn't!" card, especially ones written 18 years after a character's death was established. Metal Gear 2 gets off the hook for bringing Big Boss back because the post-credits scene of MG1 reveals that he'd never actually died in the first place.
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Spoiler
Well, everyone did think he was dead. Zero covered that up. But fair enough, I do get your dislike of sequels pulling that "not really dead" card. I just think that Big Boss dying as a somewhat stock villain in an 8-bit game would have "retroactively" become an incredible disappointment considering that, in MGS3 alone, he was a better and more developed character than Solid Snake ever was. I remember when I played MGS4 thinking that not only did Big Boss have to appear, but I wanted him to. Questionable exposition aside, I thought the final scene between Snake and Big Boss was the best story moment in the game. Not as good as MGS3's ending (now that was emotional), but still one of the best story parts of the series.
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Quote from: Foggle on August 27, 2015, 10:17:02 PM
Spoiler
The character drama was good, but the scene largely consisted of Big Boss explaining why Zero was the main villain of the entire series and how Ocelot wasn't actually possessed by Liquid because he brainwashed himself into thinking he was to fool the Patriots or some other nonsense.
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Spoiler

Like I said at some point earlier, I thought the character drama was the redeeming element of the game's story. But I also actually liked the reveal of the MGS3 cast as the Patriots as a dagger in the heart reveal, if that makes sense. As for Ocelot not actually being possessed by Liquid, I do think that was stupid... but honestly, I liked it much more than Liquid actually possessing him. I can suspend my disbelief to certain extents, but I can't accept someone's arm being able to possess someone else like that. Plus, I'm fine with it having been Ocelot all along because, let's be honest, Ocelot is much cooler than Liquid. Liquid is far too hammy a villain.

... Though I still have no idea what Ocelot's reason for doing that was. Again, I think Kojima just wanted to damage control for MGS2 with that explanation, but unfortunately MGS2 was too stupid to make sense of.
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Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 28, 2015, 05:49:16 PM
Quote from: Homura Akemi on August 28, 2015, 05:33:25 PM
Quantic Dream is dead now.
They already died halfway through Indigo Prophecy. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on August 30, 2015, 03:46:54 PM
I started Ninja Gaiden Black yesterday. So far I'm getting into the groove of the game. I'm up to Chapter 2's boss today. I'll probably get my ass whipped less if I get less wreckless.

Also earlier, I got up to the Russian levels in Alien Hominid HD. Dear God is that stage music glorious. 1-2 of the game also made me glad that I purchased it. What a wonderful change of pace that was.

And I still suck at Fatal Fury Special. Buying the game changed nothing lol
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 30, 2015, 03:58:58 PM
Just stand in a corner of one end of the arena (either side, it doesn't matter) and press and hold "Y" to charge an ET/UT. Release the attack whenever the boss is in range. If one if the mages try to attack you before then, just release the attack on them instead, which will usually kill them, causing them to drop essence which you can use to do an insta-charge ET/UT on the boss.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on August 31, 2015, 03:51:50 PM
By the way, Foggle, I meant to ask this when we were talking the other day...

Spoiler
What didn't you like about the wedding scenes?
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Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 31, 2015, 04:02:38 PM
Spoiler
Well, aside from the fact that the joke character who literally shits his pants in every game gets married to Meryl, it was just cringe-worthy in general.
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Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on August 31, 2015, 04:08:09 PM
Quote from: Foggle on August 31, 2015, 04:02:38 PM
Spoiler
Well, aside from the fact that the joke character who literally shits his pants in every game gets married to Meryl, it was just cringe-worthy in general.
[close]

Spoiler
Oh yeah, that character was bad. Like, when the defining trait of your character is that he gets sick all the time, something's not right, especially when the game approaches its end and he starts to get established as some dashing hero. The important part is Meryl, who was great as usual. But yeah, I'm not defending that character.

I liked the scenes at the end with Raiden and Rose, though.
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Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 01, 2015, 02:56:39 PM
The scenes with Raiden were pretty good, yeah.

Peace Walker is done! Though I wish I'd had time to play through Metal Gear Rising again as well, I'm now ready for whenever Amazon decides to deliver my copy of MGS5. :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 01, 2015, 04:46:28 PM
Metal Gear Rising takes like, 4 hours to beat. YOU HAVE TIME! STOP MAKING EXCUSES!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on September 01, 2015, 06:37:13 PM
Quote from: Foggle on September 01, 2015, 02:56:39 PM

Peace Walker is done!

Do you like it less than you used to? :sly:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 01, 2015, 07:10:46 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 01, 2015, 04:46:28 PM
Metal Gear Rising takes like, 4 hours to beat. YOU HAVE TIME! STOP MAKING EXCUSES!
MGS5 is here. I've been waiting for it for 2 and a half years and thus have no time for any other games until it is done. ;) I will play MGR afterward.

Quote from: talonmalon333 on September 01, 2015, 06:37:13 PM
Do you like it less than you used to? :sly:
A little. It's a good game; fun design and mechanics with an alright storyline that doesn't overpower the gameplay. The grind to unlock the true ending is horrific (and I skipped it by downloading a save :P), as are the final battle against the titular Peace Walker and the torture mini-game, but it still ranks about in the middle in my list of favorite Metal Gear titles.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on September 01, 2015, 09:34:59 PM
So, what Metal Gear games don't you like less now than before replaying? And how much less do you like the series than you used to? :sly:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 01, 2015, 09:44:34 PM
Just played Ground Zeroes for the first time. (I've been waiting until TPP launched so I could experience all of MGS5 together as a single game.) That gameplay was just... wow. Literally the best stealth ever. Now it's time for the real game to begin...

Quote from: talonmalon333 on September 01, 2015, 09:34:59 PM
So, what Metal Gear games don't you like less now than before replaying? And how much less do you like the series than you used to? :sly:
I like the MSX games and Ghost Babel a lot more than I used to. MGS 2, 3, and 4 are about the same as they always were to me, and I can't really see my opinion of Rising decreasing. Really, the only ones I like less are MGS, MG (NES), Portable Ops, and Peace Walker - the latter only slightly.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on September 01, 2015, 09:58:29 PM
Quote from: Foggle on September 01, 2015, 02:56:39 PM
whenever Amazon decides to deliver my copy of MGS5. :joy:

So probably the 8th.  :P

(Based on my experiences. I ordered it off Amazon too.)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on September 02, 2015, 03:47:13 PM
You seemed to think a lot less of MGS4 when talking about it the other day. :P

And I can't wait to play MGSV.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 02, 2015, 04:18:57 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on September 02, 2015, 03:47:13 PM
You seemed to think a lot less of MGS4 when talking about it the other day. :P
Still love the first half of it, probably even more than I did before.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 02, 2015, 11:32:37 PM
Just played a crazy two-hour mission where I chased a jeep across the desert on a horse, infiltrated a heavily-guarded tomb, and fought a supernatural-themed boss. That was level 6 of 50 (52 with the prologue and GZ), and the game says I'm 4% done...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 04, 2015, 04:51:52 AM
I got up to Chapter 5 of Ninja Gaiden Black. I would have gotten further but a few days ago I died from a grab neck slash attack from a guard when I was not too far from Han's Bar and had to start all the way over at the beginning of Tairon due to not finding another save statue. So I just gave up for the rest of that day.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 04, 2015, 11:11:18 AM
There are at leas like 3 or 4 save statues throughout the city.

Also, there's a Windmill Shuriken and a healing statue (which has unlimited use) in the alley to the left of Han's Bar (when you're facing the outside of the building), if you haven't found those yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 04, 2015, 12:55:24 PM
Well, they must be hidden or something. lol I definitely found that Xbox though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 04, 2015, 01:16:28 PM
The Windmill Shuriken is literally located right next to the XBOX healing statue, so there's no way that you could miss one of them if you found the other.

On another note, you can also unlock the original NG arcade game in this version of the game, though what's odd is that once you unlock it, you can select it from the main menu. In the original version of NG, you could unlock the SNES trilogy ports of the NES games by collecting all 50 Golden Scarabs in the game, which Muramasa would give you a SNES cart in exchange for....that you inserted into the arcade machine in Han's Bar to play. I always thought that it should be the other way around.

Anyways, they removed the SNES games in this version because it turns out that Nintendo decided to be an uptight ass-hole and whine that Tecmo couldn't use the Nintendo versions of those games since they were partly owned by Nintendo.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 04, 2015, 01:49:36 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 04, 2015, 01:16:28 PM
The Windmill Shuriken is literally located right next to the XBOX healing statue, so there's no way that you could miss one of them if you found the other.
I know, silly. I meant I found both.

Ah sweet! I didn't know I could play the original at all. Sucks that Nintendo won't let me play 2 though. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks they are jerks about this.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 04, 2015, 03:46:00 PM
Just to be clear, I meant the original arcade game. Not the first NES game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 04, 2015, 04:17:15 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP5KzBJ42r4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP5KzBJ42r4)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on September 04, 2015, 08:35:56 PM
So now with Etrian Odyssey IV, Etrian Odyssey Untold, Etrian Odyssey Untold 2, and Etrian Mystery Dungeon under my belt, I finally cracked open the still brand new copy of Etrian Odyssey III I bought five years ago. There's no easy mode to save my ass this time.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 05, 2015, 05:28:32 PM
Is there a Metal Slug thread? Anyway, I beat Metal Slug XX again a day or two ago. Such a fun game. Once I think about it, it could have been my favorite in the series if it had more paths, transformations, monsters outside of plants, more Slugs and boss types besides giant machines/robots. I actually do like it more than 2 (well, at least 2 played on my laptop), so it's my current second favorite in the series. I still need to play X, 5 and 6, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on September 26, 2015, 11:47:14 AM
The new Animal Crossing. The new interfaces for designing your character and decorating homes needs to be in the next game. These are way too convenient to go back to the push/pull stuff.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 04, 2015, 08:46:21 PM
After approximately 60 hours of gameplay, I have beaten Metal Gear Solid 5 with 49% completion. It was extremely fun, and definitely my favorite game from the Metal Gear franchise. However, in the end, it failed to live up to the hype, and did not supplant Deus Ex, Hitman: Blood Money, or Thief 2 in my list of favorite stealth games.

The Good
+ The best stealth gameplay and mechanics in history
+ Open world is amazingly fun to mess around in
+ Ground Zeroes is one of the best levels in anything ever
+ Mother Base management and soldier collecting are weirdly engaging
+ Probably the coolest tutorial sequence ever
+ Level design is generally great
+ More options in moment-to-moment gameplay than anything else I can think of
+ Awesome horror atmosphere at times

The Bad
- The game is unfinished, and egregiously so; this isn't like Wind Waker where a few dungeons were replaced by the divisive Triforce Hunt due to budgetary reasons... about 1/4 of MGS5 is straight up missing, including the ending and final boss fight
- Chapter 2 has some of the worst pacing I've ever experienced in a video game, if not the worst
- Ground Zeroes is better than anything in the main game
- Horrendous, borderline nonexistent story; by far the series' worst after MGS4
- The last level is a replay of the tutorial with minimal differences
- There are very few indoor areas, and only one or two base infiltrations live up to the game's full potential
- I did not feel ashamed of my words and deeds
- Microtransactions

Such A Lust For Revenge
! WHOOOOOOOOO!?

Overall, it was a great game that could have truly been extraordinary - even perfect - had it spent a couple more years in the oven.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2015, 09:05:48 PM
So, Ninja Gaiden 2 all over again.

When will big companies learn not to mess with talented developers?

Let's at least hope that Kojima's next game (presumably from an independent company) doesn't get stuck in development hell.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2015, 09:07:42 PM
Also, your point about the story being nearly non-existent sounds like a positive mark, to me. :sly:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 04, 2015, 09:16:31 PM
Much like Ninja Gaiden 2, I have no qualms considering MGS5 to be one of my favorite games of all time, and it's fairly easy to only pay attention to its good points most of the time... but yeah, neither of them turned out nearly as good as they should have.

Konami really fucked up by rushing this game to release and cancelling Silent Hills. Even if they weren't leaving the console industry for good, I doubt people would even want to touch any new releases from them in the foreseeable future.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2015, 09:07:42 PM
Also, your point about the story being nearly non-existent sounds like a positive mark, to me. :sly:
Oh, I agree that less is better when it comes to Metal Gear storytelling, but what is there is simply terrible. Also, there was a point early on where I hadn't seen a single cutscene in about 12 hours, which made me feel like the game was lacking direction and took away from my incentive to play for a good while. I mean, I don't really need a story to enjoy a single-player game, but I do need a sense of purpose, even if that's just some hazy goal like "save the princess" or something. There are large stretches of MGS5 where you're doing things just to do them, especially in Chapter 2, and that gets old after a while.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on October 04, 2015, 09:27:13 PM
Quote from: Foggle on October 04, 2015, 08:46:21 PM
- Horrendous, borderline nonexistent story; by far the series' worst after MGS4

I thought MGS2 had your least favorite story.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 04, 2015, 09:35:07 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on October 04, 2015, 09:27:13 PM
I thought MGS2 had your least favorite story.
MGS2's story has some pretty good ideas, so even though it's definitely the hardest to sit through, I like it more than 4's.

Is that all you got from my post? :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2015, 09:53:56 PM
Now let's just hope that MGS5 doesn't get the Sigma 2 treatment, in which Konami attempts to "improve" the game by removing a lot of what was great about it in the first place and replacing that with lackluster features and making it easier to the point of absurdity.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 04, 2015, 11:26:55 PM
So, MGS2 is still overall better at indoors gameplay? (or at least more satisfying since there's more of it..if that makes sense)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 05, 2015, 03:22:24 AM
I believe there's only one instance of true indoor gameplay in MGS5 period. So, yeah, definitely. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 05, 2015, 03:38:25 AM
The only good news here is I don't have to edit out MGS2 for best indoor gaming in the series. :-\  :unimpressed:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 05, 2015, 03:53:53 AM
Yeah, I love indoor stealth. The lack of it was probably my biggest gripe with the game.

Despite my issues and disappointments, I'm addicted to the free roam, and I'd still consider MGS5 a 9-9.5/10. This is easily the most fun open world game out there; it's like a proper Mercenaries sequel. Just wish I had PS+ so I could play online...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on October 05, 2015, 09:37:58 AM
Quote from: Foggle on October 04, 2015, 09:35:07 PM
Is that all you got from my post? :P

I can't say much about a game I haven't played. I'm sure you have good points about MGSV, but how much can I really comment on them at this point?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 05, 2015, 01:07:44 PM
Foggle only responds to psychics.

I need to play Mercenaries 1. I wonder if it's on Xbox Originals.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 05, 2015, 10:00:14 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on October 05, 2015, 01:07:44 PM
I need to play Mercenaries 1. I wonder if it's on Xbox Originals.
I'm not sure how well it holds up, but that was easily one of my favorite PS2 games back then. There are definitely some shades of its brilliance in MGS5.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 09, 2015, 11:14:24 PM
-I go to Best Buy to get an Olimar Amiibo.
-Best Buy employee asks me if I like Amiibo. I tell him I pick up any if they're retail price.
-Guy pulls box out of his cart. Tells me it's a box of Amiibo that the store forgot to stock months ago.
-Guy starts stocking a bunch of rare, expensive-as-hell-online Amiibo. My jaw drops and I end up leaving with Olimar, Marth, Dark Pit, Little Mac, Cap. Falcon, Fox, Greninja, and Lucario.

I showed up to that store exactly at the right time to scoop up that shit for retail price. Holy crap.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on October 10, 2015, 02:38:14 AM
These Toys R Us and Best Buy restocks have been quite the blessing really. A whole bunch of rare amiibo getting more space. I still can't believe I saw a Shulk at TRU and Best Buy and Dark Pit, Greninja and Lucario at Best Buy as well. That and seeing Little Mac, Marth, Fox, & Captain Falcon everywhere else.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 10, 2015, 02:48:04 AM
Employee I talked to probably didn't realize that that box was part of a restock, not something they'd forgotten. It's awesome either way. These things are meant for kids mostly, so seeing the hard-to-find ones suddenly become accessible is great to see. Freaking kids shouldn't have to deal with online scalpers, limited preordering bullshit and waiting in lines at four in the morning just for a toy.

Now I gotta look for Shulk.  :unimpressed: That's one of the ones I wanted to begin with.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on October 15, 2015, 10:55:12 AM
Is Nintendo writing off the Wii U as a failure and moving on? From what I hear, they are planning to unveil the next console next year.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 15, 2015, 11:55:36 AM
The popular rumor is that the NX will be their next consoles, but I dunno. Reports about what the NX is say could be anything. Plus whenever Nintendo reveals a new console there's a year wait before it comes out so, yo know, people can actually make games for it.

I'm still putting bets on Nintendo's next system launching in 2017. That would be pretty standard for a console generation, and it would be enough to milk the most out of the Wii U with Zelda Wii U, Retro's game, and the next Mario game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 15, 2015, 12:50:22 PM
That's not standard, based off of last gen, though. I wonder how it's all going to end up like.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 15, 2015, 01:11:52 PM
A shame they feel the need to put out another new console already. The Wii U is a great system that deserved better marketing and a name that wouldn't confuse parents.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 15, 2015, 01:54:31 PM
The problem is that I don't see Nintendo being able to do anything to attract anyone new. Third parties haven't given them a serious look since the SNES. Nothing they do is going to make these companies release games for them.

Quote from: gunswordfist on October 15, 2015, 12:50:22 PM
That's not standard, based off of last gen, though. I wonder how it's all going to end up like.
Last gen HAD to go longer. MS and Sony took that long to make any profit off the HD mess. Both companies lost a lot of money in the first four years of the gen. If they would have bailed out at five, their video game divisions probably would have been shuttered.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 15, 2015, 03:51:47 PM
That makes sense.

I hope this is another longer gen because I'm not going to get either console until years from now. :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 16, 2015, 11:40:16 AM
The copy of Woolly World I preordered two E3s ago for that discount price just came in today. That was unexpected. I forgot it was out today.

Time to give this a go.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 16, 2015, 01:22:16 PM
I have no idea what's going on with my pre-order. I didn't get it in the mail today, and I can't log in to GameStop's site either to see what's up with it...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 16, 2015, 03:16:27 PM
That's odd. Do you usually get the games on their release day, or do they only ship then? Amazon always ships preorders early so that they get to their destination on release day. And sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised like when I got Arrow season 3 a week early.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 16, 2015, 03:28:48 PM
Turns out I set it for in-store pickup, so I just need to drive up and get it. :sweat: I only ordered from GameStop so I could get the Amiibo bundle; I usually buy games from Amazon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 16, 2015, 04:50:16 PM
Well, I beat World 1. That secret level was all kinds of tough. It was the first time I've outright died in a Yoshi game in a long time.

Anyway, after only one world, short of the level design getting really bad (which has yet to happen in a Good Feel game) not only is this better than Epic Yarn, but it might be Good Feel's best game. It's certainly the best Yoshi game since Yoshi's Island by a fair amount, wiping out the bad taste from New Island being the game I've wanted in the series since the SNES original.

Also, that soundtrack is another great turn from Good Feel. Yoshi's been due for a soundtrack this good for a long time. Just as he's been due a game this good since the SNES.

I hope this is the game that finally gives Good Feel the respect they deserve. They've all but been ignored by platformer fans despite all three of their games being excellent.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 16, 2015, 07:08:25 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 16, 2015, 04:50:16 PM
Well, I beat World 1. That secret level was all kinds of tough. It was the first time I've outright died in a Yoshi game in a long time.
I love the super hard secret levels in Retro's Donkey Kong games, so this is good news. :)

QuoteAlso, that soundtrack is another great turn from Good Feel. Yoshi's been due for a soundtrack this good for a long time. Just as he's been due a game this good since the SNES.
What, you didn't like New Island's beautiful OST? :lol:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 16, 2015, 07:18:07 PM
Quote from: Foggle on October 16, 2015, 07:08:25 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 16, 2015, 04:50:16 PM
Well, I beat World 1. That secret level was all kinds of tough. It was the first time I've outright died in a Yoshi game in a long time.
I love the super hard secret levels in Retro's Donkey Kong games, so this is good news. :)
I can't say much for the other secret levels, but that one was brutal.

Quote from: Foggle on October 16, 2015, 07:08:25 PM
QuoteAlso, that soundtrack is another great turn from Good Feel. Yoshi's been due for a soundtrack this good for a long time. Just as he's been due a game this good since the SNES.
What, you didn't like New Island's beautiful OST? :lol:
This (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsphCdhmt7Q) compared to this (https://youtu.be/cx7twcSmEMc?list=PLkRSD11r9mB_HbAxcCdYs7kMQOTzrDokj) in just the underground themes.

Yeah, not much competition there.  ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 16, 2015, 08:14:31 PM
Visited Best Buy and Target. Managed to snag a Pink Yarn Yoshi Amiibo (and Shulk was in stock!) but Blue was sold out at both stores. Best Buy had a few of the Amiibo bundles for Wooly World, but my order went through online so I gotta wait.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on October 17, 2015, 11:17:47 AM
Mostly beat the first world in Yoshi's Wooly World and I am impressed with this game. Pretty good controls and game play. The only thing I'm gonna have to get used to is probably trying to use one of my Yarn Yoshi in co-op. Maybe I'll save that for later after beating the game, so that way I'm less distracted. Other than that, the amiibo support is pretty good. I kinda like going around a level playing with a Ness skin or a Little Mac skin or even Duck Hunt skin.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 19, 2015, 08:45:48 AM
Yes, I used the Sonic game for one level and you can almost mistake Yoshi for Sonic, especially when running. The costumes are pretty well done.

I'm only two worlds down, but I'm really digging this. Best Yoshi game in yeeeaaars.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 19, 2015, 07:07:51 PM
Picked up my Woolly World at GameStop today. They had a PS4 kiosk with a playable demo of the new Ratchet & Clank game. I only got to play it for a couple of minutes, but I can already tell it's going to be great. The graphics really are that good, and while it may run at 30fps, it's got to be the smoothest 30 I've felt since Vanquish - much better than Into The Nexus. The controls are really tight and fluid, the weapons and crate physics feel more akin to the PS2 titles than the Future saga, and, though the default control scheme is the same as ITN, I noticed that you can actually use the O button to fire again (hopefully the full version lets you have auto-lock-on again). I was really impressed! :joy: :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 21, 2015, 12:19:29 AM
I just beat my steam copy of Metal Slug X. I've played 2 but not X before. It was pretty much as fun as I remembered 2 being when I played it years ago. All of the levels were solid. This just might be my favorite Metal Slug. The perfect Metal Slug would be levels as good as X/2's + final mission as perfect as 3's + all of XX's features.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 21, 2015, 12:22:18 AM
X is way better than 2 since it removes the unbearable slowdown. It's also my favorite Metal Slug. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 21, 2015, 01:04:22 AM
Good choice. I used to have to play 2 with some super super bad slowdown.

I just got down trying Blood for the first time. It froze on my first try and I said fuck it and restarted my computer while doing nothing different and then it worked. :wth: I'm going to have to get used to playing it for a built in laptop mouse...or just borrow a mouse. I got nowhere.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 21, 2015, 01:06:35 AM
Make sure to save often! There are no checkpoints or auto-saves in Blood, but you can quick-save at any time. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 21, 2015, 01:08:47 AM
I found out the hard way when I had to go back to the first cutscene! lol
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 21, 2015, 11:57:39 AM
I bear Oniken's first level early this morning. I liked the demo version of the level more. It had a 2nd floor and was a bit more open. It kind of had a Rondo Of Blood feel to it. Also, the boss music was a lot better.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 21, 2015, 06:14:19 PM
I got further on Blood. Now I need to figure out where the hell am I supposed to go.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 21, 2015, 11:03:27 PM
On Oniken I beat level 3 without losing a life after the level gave me trouble on my other tries. Level 4 is a kind of tricky boss gauntlet. I'm liking the game. It reminds me of NES Ninja Gaiden mixed in with hi-tech Fist Of The Northstar style.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Lord Dalek on October 22, 2015, 12:06:39 AM
The game where I bang my head against the wall repeatedly trying to get Star Wars Jedi Knight II Jedi Academy to work.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 22, 2015, 12:11:40 AM
Ugh, level 4 of Oniken is pretty hard.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 22, 2015, 01:54:03 PM
Fatal Frame 5 is out today!! :joy: :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 22, 2015, 02:28:04 PM
I got to the 2nd level of Blood. I'm starting to get hang of this, kind of sort of maybe not really.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 22, 2015, 03:07:22 PM
What problems are you having? Old FPS games take a while to get used to for sure.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 22, 2015, 03:45:35 PM
It's just the fact that I am playing on a laptop's built in mouse pad, or whatever it's called. Blood is actually playing well beyond that. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 22, 2015, 03:59:47 PM
Level 3-S.

Good Feel, why do you hate me so much?

I mean, I beat and 100%'d it, but man was that brutal.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 22, 2015, 08:07:21 PM
Got my Wooly World bundle this morning. Blue Yarn Yoshi's in the mail, so soon I'll have all three. Liking the game so far. Mainly using the jet black Game & Watch Yoshi and the Sonic Yoshi. Was never the biggest fan of the Yoshi games, but this one's just oozing with charm like Kirby's Epic Yarn before it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 23, 2015, 03:35:49 AM
I just beat Metal Slug X for the 2nd time, first time ever online. Ah, it was so worth the purchase. Also, I saw a few new things like you can throw stones and stay fat in between stages. Lastly, that Independence Day ending always throws me off.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 27, 2015, 12:01:01 PM
Welp, AC Syndicate is fantastic, I think. It's like all the best parts of Rogue and Unity were carried over and they revamped that terrible cover system (the "sneak mode" is an improvement in every way) and brought back the whistle mechanic. Taking back territory reminds me of Saints Row and I like that. The grappling hook has basically made it so I don't want to climb anything ever again. The two main leads are way more like-able than Arno ever was. I like all the continuity nods and that the map isn't outright swamped in shit to collect like Unity was.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 27, 2015, 01:29:37 PM
Whistle?  :SHOCK: you're giving me good Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow flashbacks.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 02, 2015, 11:38:29 PM
English Tomba 2 is apparently coming to PSN this week, and I believe all owners of the Japanese version get it for free. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 02, 2015, 11:59:36 PM
Yah-tah! Will convince my baby brother to get it.

I've been playing Jack The Reaper. It's been kind of intense, mostly in a good way. Lovin'' it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on November 08, 2015, 06:24:43 AM
Been playing Yo-Kai Watch! It's pretty fun game all things considering. Sure the combat does play itself mostly, but that just for auto-attacks. You do kinda need to configure the Yo-Kai, work on their Soultimate attacks, make sure they're purified, heal them, maybe target a specific Yo-Kai or part of their body and also see if you can recruit the enemy Yo-Kai if applicable. So there is stuff you need to do in combat instead of just letting your 3DS just sit there. The dialogue is pretty snazzy. I don't think I've encountered an internet meme, only a Government bail-out joke for some reason.

Been a little sidetrack with doing side quests, trying to get better ranked Yo-Kai and just enjoying walking around Springdale. Really, my only complaint is how random it feels like to recruit Yo-Kai. It is giving me flashbacks to playing Dragon Quest VIII when I bothered to do the Morrie's Monster Arena side quest and how it would feel sometimes to fight a monster and not have them join my team.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 08, 2015, 06:03:29 PM
Is it like Pokemon?

Finally beat Mission 5 of Oniken yesterday. Man is this game hard.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 16, 2015, 03:01:20 AM
I've gotten up to level 4 or so of Mark Of The Ninja..then the license expired. It was a pretty fun game and it's probably the most stealth stealth game I've ever played.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on November 17, 2015, 10:51:02 AM
Been on a few things lately.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate - Beat it. Fantastic game. Kind of a weak story, but characters make up for it. Miles better than Unity in every regard. Probably won't be getting the DLC mission packs. I've had my fill. The murder mysteries are the best part of the game though, and I think that's PS4 exclusive.

Chibi-Robo: Zip Lash - Bland. Bland bland bland. It's not a bad game, but there's nothing really here except a harmless platform. I had a level interrupted because I fed some of the food items I picked up to a talking plane and it went on for five minutes in vivid detail describing it. I mean, what the hell is that. What in the world is happening in this game? Played three levels, put it down. Probably won't pick it up again. I really did just buy it for the Amiibo.

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer - Done with this one, I finished building all the town facilities, and then got the end credits. Without that, it's just building houses for the other villagers, which gets old really fast. Love the changes they made to setting furniture around and customization, but this game almost just feels like a demo for the next real AC game.

Sonic Lost World (3DS) - First levels good. The horror stories are true, though; this game falls apart at level two and never recovers. It just gets worse and worse, relying solely on Wisp powers and other one-off gimmicks for the majority of levels and requiring you to deal with those same obstacle courses about five times in a row to complete the level.

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal - Passable. Controls are taking getting used to, and the levels are waaay too big and open for a 2D game, but I can enjoy it in short bursts.

Yoshi's Woolly World - Another game I enjoy in short bursts. Great-looking game. I love the creative ways they implement the yarn gimmicks. I just can't take more than one or two levels at a time. Still on World 2 for crying out loud.

The Legend Of Zelda: TriForce Heroes - Really odd one, with this Hytopia/fashion-focused story. No one I know bought this, so I tried it solo. Bad time. This game is clearly only enjoyable with co-op.

Dragon Quest Heroes - Dropped it completely when AC:S came out. Need to pick it back up. It's a pretty game, but I preferred Hyrule Warriors and almost everything about the game story and gameplay just fizzles out after a while.

The Legend Of Legacy is currently sitting in my 3DS and I'm probably going to try that one when I get a chance.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 18, 2015, 05:45:04 PM
YAH-TAH!!! I finally beat Oniken. That break from the game helped. I got the last part of the final boss for the first time and whooped it. Then I played the bonus level. It turns the game into a shoot em up, you rescue hostages and get items from them and there's new bosses and enemies in the level. I got pretty far but a suped up ship took my final life. Then I tried Hardcore mode. I'm guess it's supposed to be a one life, no continues mode.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on November 21, 2015, 01:36:43 AM
Picked up Triforce Heroes; it's....okay, and to be fair I actually like it more than I was initially expecting, but I've just never been a fan of gimmicky Zelda (it's not Phantom Hourglass, but it's up there). The series needs to imitate less of this and more of A Link Between Worlds.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on November 21, 2015, 01:54:34 AM
My friend and I tried a round of AC: amiibo Festival. Boring. Boring boring boring. I need to try out the other game modes but Mario Party this is not. And this is coming from a guy who loves AC.

Events happen on the board, but they're nothing really noteworthy. My friend and I had to keep tapping the amiibo on the one gamepad, which gets annoying quick. It doesn't really seem like there's anything noteworthy to unlock. You have to play a round in whatever month is currently is in order to unlock the freaking Start menu where you can choose the months for boards and game modes.

This and Chibi-Robo really make it seem like Ninty are saying "we'll try to make sure that really bad games come bundled with an amiibo so people will buy them anyway." It's kind of annoying. Especially since Amazon just announced that they're selling the Chibi-Robo amiibo by itself with the traditional packaging after everyone bought the stupid bundle.

Really hoping they make a Disney Infinity-style game that utilizes all these things down the line.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on November 21, 2015, 02:03:30 AM
I didn't even buy Amiibo Festival for the figures because at this point, I'm done here (well that, and it looks fucking terrible for $60 but whatever). I'm determined to finish off the Smash line, I even snagged Falco today for what it's worth, but nothing short of Waluigi is going to get me to collect any more of these things.

It's not even the availability factor at this point, I'm just burned out. There's too many, and they're pretty expensive considering the overall lack of functionality besides just sitting on my desk looking pretty. My budget right now simply doesn't call for it.

Quote from: Nel_Annette on November 21, 2015, 01:54:34 AM
Really hoping they make a Disney Infinity-style game that utilizes all these things down the line.

This, absolutely. I remember when they first announced amiibos, I was hoping something of this nature would be in the not too distant pipeline, because as a guy who's not really into figure collecting that much (though I admit, I did get sucked in pretty good this time) I kinda want more out of my $13-$20 toy than something that just sits around.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on November 21, 2015, 02:56:54 AM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on November 21, 2015, 01:54:34 AM
My friend and I tried a round of AC: amiibo Festival. Boring. Boring boring boring. I need to try out the other game modes but Mario Party this is not. And this is coming from a guy who loves AC.

Events happen on the board, but they're nothing really noteworthy. My friend and I had to keep tapping the amiibo on the one gamepad, which gets annoying quick. It doesn't really seem like there's anything noteworthy to unlock. You have to play a round in whatever month is currently is in order to unlock the freaking Start menu where you can choose the months for boards and game modes.

Yeah, the only positive I can think of as far as AC:AF is concerned is that the figures and cards it comes with are pretty nice. Other than that, yeah the game play is a little lacking. I do kinda have having to scan the amiibo every time I roll the die since that did annoy me with Mario Party 10 as well.

QuoteThis and Chibi-Robo really make it seem like Ninty are saying "we'll try to make sure that really bad games come bundled with an amiibo so people will buy them anyway." It's kind of annoying. Especially since Amazon just announced that they're selling the Chibi-Robo amiibo by itself with the traditional packaging after everyone bought the stupid bundle.

Whomever came up with that wheel gimmick deserves to be fired from cannon into space. Shame that this game will probably be the end of Chibi-Robo. Zip-Lash is pretty average platformer to be honest. Doesn't do much to innovate, but doesn't suck that much.

QuoteReally hoping they make a Disney Infinity-style game that utilizes all these things down the line.

I'll settle for a Skylanders kinda game myself as well. I will admit that the core game play of Skylanders is pretty well done. Not gonna lie about that in all honesty, it is a fun game. The starter packs do come with everything to get you started and to beat the game. Really, to get the most out of it, you really only need like 1 Skylander of each element and as far as Superchargers is concerned one vehicle of each type (Air, and Water is what you need to get if you bought the Wii U/XBONE/360/PS3/4 versions since they do come with a car, only the Wii and 3DS version come with an Air vehicle in Bowser's plane). The part they make sure to maximize their profits each year are mostly whatever the gimmick of the year is (Giants/The Giants, Swap-Force/The figures you can swap the base and top with, Trap Team/the crystals you use to capture the bad guys Pokémon style, Superchargers/the vehicles and maybe the Supercharged version of the Skylanders to get the best combo of vehicles.) Really, if you just remove the toy gimmick from Skylanders, you actually do end up finding yourself playing a neat little platformer that is not only good for children, but something adults can play as well.

But I can kinda imagine a game where I can have Mario, Fox, Tom Nook and Ganondorf fighting for a common goal in a neat little platformer/RPG. Would include the 3rd party characters, but that would require more effort. Almost even included Pokémon before I realized how shafted they were in amiibo support, Thanks TPC for being that protective of them. Really thinking about it, the closet thing we have to that is Code Name STEAM and their usage of the Fire Emblem cast by having them as guest fighters and I want to say Super Mario Maker since scanning in the Mario and Yoshi variants (Gold/Silver and all the yarns) do lead to different results.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 25, 2015, 09:48:37 PM
Whoa, after a little bit over a month, I'm completely finished with Oniken. That game is not forgiving and most enemies are a pain in the ass.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on November 25, 2015, 10:17:15 PM
I kind of feel like downloading the original Paper Mario from the VC and playing it all the way through right now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 26, 2015, 01:11:36 AM
(https://media.giphy.com/media/wi8Ez1mwRcKGI/giphy.gif)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 27, 2015, 02:32:59 PM
Where should I start on the Ys games available on Steam?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 27, 2015, 03:31:07 PM
Ys 1 if you're okay with the super old-school "bump 'n run" gameplay, Oath in Felghana if you prefer the more typical modern Ys experience, or Origin if you want to play the games in chronological order.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on November 27, 2015, 04:56:28 PM
Felghana will hook you right in. IMO, one of the best games ever.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 27, 2015, 05:40:50 PM
Quote from: Foggle on November 27, 2015, 03:31:07 PM
Ys 1 if you're okay with the super old-school "bump 'n run" gameplay, Oath in Felghana if you prefer the more typical modern Ys experience, or Origin if you want to play the games in chronological order.
No thank you, I don't one night stand video games. :> That tells me to not get Ys 1. I didn't like the "Come here and run into thee sword!" gameplay of the only Ys I've ever played. Based off of what you two said, sounds like I'll consider purchasing Ys Origin and then Oath in Felghana. :) ;D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 27, 2015, 06:10:07 PM
Also, I just might get a Thief game off of there.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 02, 2015, 06:42:38 PM
(http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy180/gunswordfist/Picture2_1.png)

Yesterday morning, I beat Noitu Love 2. I was stuck on the water level until early that morning and then once I passed that, I jetted past all the levels until the last boss started whooping my ass. Either I suck at mouse games or NL2's just isn't for me. It was kind of painful trying to use the cursor on some parts. I still had some fun though an some of the bosses were pretty creative. Also, this boss music is in-cred-ible! Especially this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eN1hZ3UNxw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eN1hZ3UNxw)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 02, 2015, 11:38:48 PM
I downloaded and started my copy of Freedom Planet today. Pretty nice voice acting cutscenes to start the game. The game looks a bit Flash-y but beyond that, it has a decent Genesis feel to it. I started with Carol and just got past level 1. I'm still getting used to the gameplay but so it's a pretty good Sonic-like.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 07, 2015, 09:51:05 PM
I am on Level 9 of Freedom Planet as Carol. The game has some rough edges but it's pretty fun. Having to fight a fucking intergalactic spaceship on foot was about as hard as it sounds at first but I finally got past level 8. I'm guessing Carol is supposed to be the Knuckles of the team and (unlike 2D Knuckles) is one of the slower members. There's at least 2 other playable characters and I'm interested in seeing how different they play and if they have any/all different levels once I finally beat Carol's Story Mode.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on December 25, 2015, 01:17:40 PM
What should I play when I get the chance- Paper Mario, A Link to the Past, or Chrono Trigger?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on December 25, 2015, 03:10:38 PM
A Link to the Past. It's the shortest, but also my favorite of the three.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rosalinas Spare Wand on December 25, 2015, 09:18:17 PM
Got Splatoon for Christmas and about 3 tutorial levels in I still suck balls.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on January 01, 2016, 06:45:19 PM
I went with ALTTP after all, and started it up a couple of hours ago. At first, I was laughing about how weak the AI  for the guards are for the game. There have been a couple of moments where I could literally just walk by them without a fight.

But I won't lie, I spent about an hour just traveling through the village For whatever doesn't hold up about this game, the world-building sure does. And the story is off to a good start, as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 06, 2016, 03:20:16 PM
I finished Freedom Planet (Carol) on New Year's Eve. If you remotely like 2D Sonic games, then get this title.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on January 14, 2016, 09:53:32 PM
I played a little bit of Xenoverse about a week about. It's a pretty fun game.

Today I played Castle Crashers online with my brother. Now that was entertainment!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on January 25, 2016, 12:05:43 PM
I played a bit of Paper Jam so far. This game manages to highlight my exact problem with Partners In Time's battle system and successfully worked out the kinks. Paper Mario's addition adds enough complexity to make battles feel different from every other entry while not being a convoluted mess of figuring out the right combinations like Partners In Time was. I heard this is the hardest Mario RPG by far and so far I'm definitely seeing how it can go that way.

The writing has been very clever so far though I haven't really gotten into the story yet, it is typical Mario RPG goodness. Music is typically great of the series and everything feels like Mario & Luigi at it's best. So far so good. Oh, and it's nice being able to play as Paper Mario in a proper RPG. It's been about 12 years. He's been due this.

Glad I pre-ordered this with amazon's E3 deal. Not playing Dream Team, a lot of this is new to me, though in a good way. So far I'd say if you're unsure about trying the Mario & Luigi games, this would be the one to start with.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on January 25, 2016, 04:59:35 PM
Great to hear. I loved Dream Team and I'm glad the M&L series seems to finally be back on its feet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 08, 2016, 01:28:13 PM
I got to play some J-Stars recently with a friend of mine. We played through the Road to Victory mode him as Kenshin and me as Yusuke. The game is a lot fun if a bit repetitive and J-Adventure was incredibly boring due to the lack of characters to play as. A bit more polishing like more variety in moves and more characters and objects on screen and it could be as good as Power Stone.

Still, there was a lot of fun to be had beating up Sasuke with the Spirit Shotgun and smashing his head through buildings. The fact that it plays the charging sound effect from the anime when I'm sprinting toward my surrounded ally to fire a Spirit Gun in my enemies' faces sure was satisfying. Shame I could only use his Dark Tournament attire, though.

There's a good base for a better game in here. I hope they are eventually able to make it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 08, 2016, 01:54:17 PM
I tried a demo of J-Stars before. The game felt really messy to me. The camera was all-over the place, the combat system seems to encourage spamming attacks over utilizing strategy and timing, and it's actually hard to appreciate all of the character animations and (admittedly great) fan-service and Easter Eggs in the stage backgrounds due to way too much happening on screen at any given time. I suppose I could see it as a fun novelty, but nothing that I'd personally want to revisit after a day of playing it.

To me, there are three fighting game templates that would likely be a better fit for a Shonen Jump All-Stars-type game. The first would be to have it set with fixed camera angles where all players are on screen at once, like in Power Stone, with optional moving stages just like in the sequel. This would still keep the game feeling casual-player friendly, but also a lot more coherent in terms of gameplay. The second would be a Super Smash Bros. style fighting game, which has been done before on the Nintendo DS, where it's a 2D fighting game with up to four playable characters at one time. If handled by a good developer, it could be a lot of fun. The third option would be a 3-on-3 Marvel Vs. Capcom format (King of Fighters also has 3v3, but lacks tag-ins, so MvC would be preferred), which would personally be my ideal set-up for a WSJ fighting game, but that format may turn off some more casual gamers.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on February 08, 2016, 09:20:19 PM
Considering how wildly popular UMvC3 is, a WSJ game styled after it would arguably draw in the biggest crowd.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 08, 2016, 09:26:27 PM
Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom is the best evidence of something similar working. I have to imagine it was proposed at one point, but probably turned down. Jump is probably too expensive for them.

I wonder if they tried a proposal for Shonen Sunday or Weekly Shonen if they would have an easier time.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 08, 2016, 10:13:28 PM
It's probably not that Jump is too expensive for them (if they could make a deal with Marvel, they could do it with Jump), but rather that unlike with Marvel, it'd be hard to distribute the game outside of Japan, and they make most of their profits from worldwide sales, as opposed to just Japan alone. You see, Marvel was pretty good about setting up their own branches in foreign countries with most if not all of their properties distributed by the company itself. On the other hand, WSJ doesn't really have any foreign divisions to my knowledge, or at least doesn't license all of its properties to a single distributor per country. The result is a huge jumble of different WSJ properties licensed under numerous different foreign companies in almost every major country, and thus it'd be a nightmare to get their games releaed outside of Japan and certain other countries since the licensing dilemma would make it a nightmare. It's a miracle that we even somehow managed to get J-Stars officially localized in North America, and that's after at least two previously failed attempts to get English releases of the DS Jump crossover games released over here.

With Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, most characters were from older series for which no active companies currently held any license to, and even if they did, the game was too niche for them to bother fighting over getting a cut of the profit from its release. That's why it was able to reach our shores without so much as a hitch.

So, in other words, the most likely reason that we'll probably never get an MvC style WSJ crossover game made by big fighting game developer is because of lots of boring technical legal, business, and marketing issues.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 08, 2016, 10:32:29 PM
Well, if they can do it for J-Stars, I guess there's a chance they can do it for future games. I do know it was a lot of work just to get this one out. Hopefully next time it's for a game more worth the effort.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 09, 2016, 02:58:57 PM
Oh, the one positive thing that I will say about J-Stars is that it has a really great, well-balanced character roster. There's a good mix of modern hit series and iconic classics being represented among the list. Sure, there are a few crappy choices here and there like Medaka Kurokami or Madara Uchiha, and personally I find it strange to feature supporting One Piece characters like Akainu and Boa Hancock over main protagonists like Zoro and Nami, but on the whole I find a good majority of the roster appealing. That's not an easy thing to do with such a huge pool of characters to pick from. It's just all the more of a shame that these characters aren't better supported by a much more well-designed combat system and better refined gameplay mechanics.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 09, 2016, 06:03:12 PM
The roster is great considering it was compiled in 2012. Playing as Yusuke, Hiei, Kenshin, Jonathan and Joseph, Gintoki, and Killua, was a pretty fun treat. The One Piece choices are flat out bizarre, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 09, 2016, 07:07:01 PM
For the series that were lucky enough to get three representative characters in, the general theme seemed to be featuring two popular main characters and the most popular villain from that series. Thus we got Goku, Vegeta, and Freeza from Dragon Ball, as one example. Another one is Yusuke, Hiei, and Younger Toguro from Yu Yu Hakusho, which may not be my preferred choices (I'd personally have taken Kurama and Sensui for the latter two spots, myself), but it still makes sense. One Piece had four characters, but only one of them is a main character; and the villain they chose, Akainu, while certainly a big deal seeing as how he was behind a lot of major events in the series and also

Spoiler
killed off Luffy's brother, Ace,
[close]

still seems a bit baffling seeing as how he's neither the most popular nor the most important character of the One Piece Rogues Gallery. Sir Crocodile easily takes the title of the former, and I've always seen Blackbeard as a better fit for the latter. Boa Hancock in place of Nami or even Robin is more baffling, though. She's only prominently featured in two arcs of One Piece and has barely made any appearances since then. Nami is one of the original three Straw Hat Crew members, so you'd think that she'd get top billing in the roster for this series. Ace on the whole just seems strange as well considering how many other characters they had to pick from who are both more popular and more prominently featured in One Piece's story than he is.

The only real rationale that I can possibly see for those choices is that all three characters are major players in the Whitebeard War Saga, which itself is arguably the most popular and beloved story-line of One Piece among most fans (including myself).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 29, 2016, 12:16:27 AM
I was playing Street Fighter V for hours on end with my older brother. It was so awkward playing with a PS4 controller instead of a fightpad, especially with a standard d-pad as opposed to a floating one, but I sort of got used to it.

Anyways, the gameplay itself is amazing. It may even be better than SF4, which I already love, and it's probably one of the most accessible fighting games to newcomers that I've ever seen. That's why the fact that it's incomplete hurts so much more. I want to recommend it to as many people as possible, but just can't unless they don't mind a game where a majority of the content comes from its online multiplayer component.

It also made Vega, a character whom I found nearly impossible to use in SF4, into one of my favorite characters to play as in this game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 29, 2016, 01:04:27 AM
Sounds like how Foggle described MGSV. Good thing it'll be at least a year until I get SFV.

I played some of Freedom Planet again for the first time in a long time. I'm still trying to get the hang of playing as Lilac. I think Carol plays so much better.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 08, 2016, 04:46:14 PM
In the fashion of me being years behind on my gaming, and seeing as how I'm into fighting games at the moment, I bought Street Fighter X Tekken for cheap.

I love how the combat system is exactly like Street Fighter IV, and how the game infuses the more serious and "playing it cool" tone of Tekken with Street Fighter IV's more comic/cartoony art-style along with its general sense of humor. It also has one of the more inventive uses of the tag-team mechanic that I've seen in a crossover fighting game.

I may not get much multi-player action out of it these days, but I do love the Trials and Missions modes in these games, which offer up a sufficient and interesting set of challenges. Arcade Mode could be better, though. It ranges from ridiculously easy to absurdly cheap, depending on the difficulty that you select.

On a related note, I'm wondering how Tekken X Street Fighter will incorporate Street Fighter's more over-the-top style of fighting, since what I've played of the Tekken games feels considerably more grounded, just in the sense that the fights don't seem to encourage moving around the stage as much.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 08, 2016, 06:59:00 PM
Assuming Tekken X Street Fighter ever comes out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 08, 2016, 07:51:35 PM
Katsuhiro Harada said as recently as last year that the game is still in development. He also warned people way back when SFXT was announced that TXSF wouldn't be coming out for a long time (most likely because he was focusing on other Tekken-related projects first).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 08, 2016, 08:19:49 PM
Bamco also commented on the game's status just yesterday, I believe.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 14, 2016, 11:56:40 PM
Tried out my free copies of Tales Of The Orient and Gunstar Heroes yesterday. They work well. :thumbup:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 20, 2016, 12:18:53 AM
Played some Salt and Sanctuary at my friend's house tonight. Awesome game! It's a really great mashup of Metroidvania and Dark Souls - well worth a look for anyone who owns a PS4. Thank god for developers who still make games with local co-op. :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on April 22, 2016, 01:18:30 AM
-Gave up on the second-to-last boss of Legend Of Legacy. Tried to push through. I hate the leveling system in the game and for an RPG, there's surprisingly little story. Most of the story you're going to get is in the first hour of the game. After that the characters barely speak to each other, there's virtually no exploring their motives for being on the island besides the character select at the start of the game and their ending cutscenes, and there's very few cutscenes that drive the plot forward. It's just mindless exploring of map after map after map, and while I appreciate that the game doesn't hold your hand at all, it's a bit much to the point that it's directionless. One area I unlocked by accidentally buying a map for it from the shop, and several areas I only found because I stepped in a very specific spot of an area and the character suddenly acknowledged they could see another area in the distance.

-Taking a break from Super Mario Maker. I'm ideally bankrupt and just kind of burnt out.

-Went back to Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD for the first time in nearly two years and didn't even get out of Destiny Islands before putting it down. I couldn't find two items for the raft and... eh. I'm so damn sure all the PS3 remakes are going to be rereleased for PS4 alongside that 2.8 Prologue thing that I don't really want to bother right now.

-Went back to Tales Of Symphonia (PS3) for the first time in nearly two years (I'm seeing a pattern here). Made some progress. I played the hell out of the game back in 2003 and now the battle system is so archaic that it's a bit hard to push through. Game still has a soft spot in my heart, but school's keeping me too busy for a console RPG right now. That and I just mostly want to play things that don't require my ears. I listen to music while I game usually.

-Titty Warriors. Alright, alright, Senran Kagura or whatever. It's surprisingly a fun beat'em up from what I've played, it's just a shame that there's so much emphasis on their gross blob boobs. The character designs would actually be pretty good if there wasn't so much focus on that. Turned off the annoying "waifu having an orgasm every time they get hit or attack" voices and was also surprised by the relatively good soundtrack. Fun game, but there's plenty that do it better without the fanservice. No need to ever go back to it.

-Hyrule Warriors Legends. The most pointless game ever. The Wii U version does everything better. The loading times on Legends can be atrocious. I actually went back to the Wii U game just to play with the new characters. Wish the new Linkle and Windwaker stories were available for Wii U as well, but alas, those missions are the only leg up Legends has.

-I bought a discounted Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster copy for PS4 today.

-I also broke and bought a PS4 copy of Dark Souls III today. Was going to wait for some kind of GOTY version down the road (like Scholar of the First Sin was to DS2), but eh.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 22, 2016, 08:02:25 PM
I honestly can't enjoy Kingdom Hearts 1. I liked the second one a lot, but the first game just isn't fun. It has some of the absolute worst level design I've ever seen - no hyperbole. Every world is comprised of about 5-10 rooms that loop around into each other with no rhyme or reason. Deep Jungle is probably the most poorly-designed stage I've ever played in a high-budget game, consisting entirely of visiting each room repeatedly until a cutscene triggers, which then requires you to visit each room again until the next cutscene triggers, which then requires you to visit each room again until the next cutscene triggers, etc. Also, every boss except Ursula (whose fights are a special kind of terrible) can be defeated by using your party members as meat shields and walking behind the enemy. The combat in general is literally just mashing X and dodge rolling/healing occasionally. I give it credit for being fairly innovative for its time, but man, it's aged worse than most PS1 and N64 games IMO.

It took me a year, but I finally played through Bloodborne. As someone who beat the first three Souls titles multiple times, the first part of the game really kicked my ass until I learned how to properly play, but it's an absolutely phenomenal title, especially with the Old Hunters DLC. Any fan of action RPGs, character action games, or the Cthulhu mythos should definitely check it out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 29, 2016, 10:42:28 AM
Has anyone played Star Fox Zero yet?

The reception has not been great.  :-\
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 29, 2016, 11:14:04 AM
If you can get used to the controls, it's great. If you can't, then it'll be the same situation as Wonderful 101.

That's what I hear anyway. Haven't had the chance to get it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 29, 2016, 01:10:55 PM
I'll be playing it soon! I hear the controls are confusing, but apparently the underlying game itself is actually quite good if you can learn them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 16, 2016, 05:16:25 PM
I went into my local Game Stop looking for Nier. They didn't have it. So instead I used my gift card to buy the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection just because. I'll probably try MGS3, remember that I suck at stealth games, and never touch it again. :>
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 16, 2016, 07:00:36 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 16, 2016, 05:16:25 PM
I went into my local Game Stop looking for Nier. They didn't have it.
:'( They did do a reprint recently, so someday... hopefully...

I actually recommend trying the MSX Metal Gear games (accessible from the main MGS3 menu in the HD Collection). They're pretty rudimentary by today's standards, and the second one especially can be a little hard to get into, but I find them to be very fun. While some of the design choices are questionable, they're classic titles with gameplay and design that hold up remarkably well.

Also, MGS3 is extremely good, but it's front-loaded with somewhere between 2-3 hours of cutscenes that might turn you off. However, once you get into the meat of the game, it's simply fantastic.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 16, 2016, 08:33:59 PM
I've played and beaten MGS2 before. I can handle long-winded cutscenes, my good sir. :thinkin:

I played a bit of the game so far, but an hour was cutscenes/codec chats and about ten minutes was gameplay. So far, I still suck at stealth, but it's also surprisingly easy to run away from enemies on Normal difficulty.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 16, 2016, 09:01:07 PM
Beat Axiom Verge's final boss for the 5th time this week and got another ending finally. Flawed but addictive game. If you really like Metroidvania then you should give it a try.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on May 16, 2016, 10:15:45 PM
Saw a used copy of Nier at GameStop last year and almost picked it up. That was just before the sequel was announced and its Amazon price skyrocketed. Kind of regret not getting that now. Wonder if it's still there.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 16, 2016, 10:40:16 PM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on May 16, 2016, 10:15:45 PM
Saw a used copy of Nier at GameStop last year and almost picked it up. That was just before the sequel was announced and its Amazon price skyrocketed. Kind of regret not getting that now. Wonder if it's still there.
It should be cheap again now! I got my friend a copy of the game for his birthday last month and it was only $20 new on Amazon. :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on May 17, 2016, 12:52:13 AM
Quote from: Foggle on May 16, 2016, 10:40:16 PM
It should be cheap again now! I got my friend a copy of the game for his birthday last month and it was only $20 new on Amazon. :D

Well, shit, then that's definitely back on my radar. Once I saw that price going up after the sequel announcement I figured I had missed the boat to get the thing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Peanutbutter on May 17, 2016, 01:12:14 AM
I rented Mad Max, and egad did I get ambushed! This game is AMAZING. The combat is awesome, similar to the Batman Arkham games but unique enough to stand on its own. Its so intense that I really feel like I actually hit a marauder's face when the controller vibrates. There's tons of different things to do in the game too. Finding mine fields, looting camps and hideouts of bandits, stunt jumps, harpooning guideposts, blowing up cars by plowing into them. This game is a real blast.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 17, 2016, 04:25:40 PM
Started Chains Of Olympus. Readjusted to its controls again. It was one of the only PSP games I have ever played.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 17, 2016, 05:44:53 PM
After over 2 hours (most of which were cutscenes) I finally reached the main opening title sequence of the game. Yep, this is definitely Metal Gear Solid.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 18, 2016, 02:00:32 PM
Damn, I started Geometry Wars 3 on Vita today and it has bosses and upgrades. That pleasantly caught me off guard. After 2 being kind of lackluster, this was great to see.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 19, 2016, 05:45:45 PM
I am about to play Borderlands 2 on Vita. Still can't believe that I own this!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 19, 2016, 05:55:07 PM
I've been playing a bunch of EDF. Specifically Insect Armageddon.

Man, these games are such simple fun.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on May 24, 2016, 12:50:40 AM
Got Gungrave Overdose on Amazon for cheap, which I've been playing while concurrently watching the anime. It's a really solid arcade-style TPS with excellent combat and a great cast of characters,  but unfortunately it has a few problems that really hold it back. The lock on is incredibly finnicky and unreliable, the camera can work against you half the time, and some of the bosses are the most poorly designed I've ever experienced. The story is fun, and while it's not exactly what I'd call well-written (especially compared to the anime) its cast is cool, likable, and interesting enough to make up for its shortcomings, it also really hinges on you having either played the first game or watched the anime to get any real emotional attachment to the returning characters. It's for that reason that I'm holding off on finishing the game until I've watched all the anime.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 24, 2016, 02:04:04 AM
Overwatch is out! :swoon:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 29, 2016, 09:37:12 PM
I've gotten past The Pain boss fight and up to the warehouse section of MGS3 so far. As far as stealth goes, my strategy just boils down to landing headshots with the Mk-22 on any opposition within my direct path, and just ignoring anyone else too far away to notice me. I also remember the grenade trick which my friend showed me over a decade ago, so that comes in handy when I want to move quickly without making noise.

I feel like an idiot for not realizing that you had to equip new weapons from the backpack menu. I don't really understand the point of it, but I had to make it through the Ocelot fight with limited ammo because I didn't yet realize that I could use other guns for the fight. Consequently, The Pain boss fight felt like a joke in comparison.

As for the cure system, I do think it's kind of neat even if it is rather contrived, but I'm not a fan of the stamina meter. It just feels tacked on and is a nuisance without really adding anything of value to the gameplay.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on June 12, 2016, 09:37:28 PM
Within pretty much just today and yesterday, I've put in about 10 hours on Muramusa : Rebirth. I am loving this game and it is making me love my Vita more.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 20, 2016, 07:38:24 PM
I started playing Dark Souls. I can't really say much yet since I've only played as far as Firelink Shrine, meaning that I only got through the tutorial stage and haven't actually encountered any of the game's challenging content yet. That said, this is definitely the sort of game that will either float or sink for me based entirely on how much I like the mechanics.

I'm also still working my way through Metal Gear on the MSX. I've made it up to the part where I beat the Machinegun Kid boss fight and acquired the parachute. Admittedly, I had to use a guide at one part in the game so far, and that was for the maze section with the guard dogs all over the room. I never would have figured out to use the plastic explosives on weak points on the wall (or rather I probably wouldn't have thought to check for weak spots on the wall) on my own. That's almost as cruel as the original Zelda expecting you to know exactly which trees to blow up in an area full of them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 20, 2016, 07:55:37 PM
Yeah, that was the part I was talking about needing a guide for!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 20, 2016, 08:09:47 PM
Quote from: Foggle on June 20, 2016, 07:55:37 PMYeah, that was the part I was talking about needing a guide for!

Well it looks like this is a case of great minds....not having any clue what the fuck to do with cryptic puzzles. :>
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 20, 2016, 10:40:49 PM
I also played up until Firelink Shrine. That was about a month ago. Just don't have time for a game that doesn't actually pause right now. XD

The controls for DS are weird to me. It feels like the square/triangle/circle/x buttons and the trigger buttons should be switched. I'm used to running using triggers.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 20, 2016, 11:25:21 PM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on June 20, 2016, 10:40:49 PMI also played up until Firelink Shrine. That was about a month ago. Just don't have time for a game that doesn't actually pause right now. XD

That bugs the hell out of me as well. I'm fine with games that don't let you access menus while a game is paused and force you to do it in real time (such as Dead Space, for example). However, outright lacking a pause function entirely is just stupid. And nobody tell me that it's to make the game more difficult. Plenty of the hardest games of all time have a pause function. It's one of the most basic things that you can have in a single player game that doesn't absolutely require online access (even if that is a component of the game). This is just obnoxious design. What if I get a phone call or need to go to the bathroom in the middle of a fight?

QuoteThe controls for DS are weird to me. It feels like the square/triangle/circle/x buttons and the trigger buttons should be switched. I'm used to running using triggers.

I agree 100%! I've played a shit-ton of character action games in my life, and literally the hardest thing about this game for me at this point is getting used to its control scheme. You have no idea how many times I've mistakenly used an Estus Flask when I meant to attack an enemy. Using the shoulder buttons to attack in a melee-combat focused game is something that I haven't experienced since Jedi Knight II, but even that game was at least a hybrid FPS to explain that particular control-scheme.

Of course, that isn't to say that the controls themselves are bad. They feel responsive and mostly precise. It's just that I find the layout to be so bizarre right now. It'd be nice if the game gave you the option of customizing your control scheme to what your prefer like a lot of other games do, but I suppose that it's not so bad that I can't adjust.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on June 21, 2016, 12:07:54 AM
We're in complete agreement. I'm putting the game on hold until I live on my own or something. There's constantly shit I have to do that makes me pause a game, and I just can't do an unpausable one at the time. My character will die any time I have an important phone call. It's inevitable.

I really wish there was a way to remap controls. I'm so used to the Zelda setup (and stuff like Saints Row) with the run and roll button being the triggers that it my natural reaction was making me do extremely stupid things in an already hard game. Not the game's fault, but still. I want to like the game (I damn well better, I have Demon's Souls, DS2 and DS3 sitting on the shelf too.), it's just an odd duck to me for now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 21, 2016, 12:35:27 AM
Quote from: Nel_Annette on June 21, 2016, 12:07:54 AMWe're in complete agreement. I'm putting the game on hold until I live on my own or something. There's constantly shit I have to do that makes me pause a game, and I just can't do an unpausable one at the time. My character will die any time I have an important phone call. It's inevitable.

Tell me about it. I'm currently living with 5 relatives, and can't seem to get more than 5 minutes of silence at a time before I need to help someone with something (which, to be fair, my Dad is working all day, my cousin is recovering from a leg injury, and my aunt is pretty old and has back problems). While I don't mind being of use, it makes playing a game without a pause function unreasonably frustrating.

QuoteI really wish there was a way to remap controls. I'm so used to the Zelda setup (and stuff like Saints Row) with the run and roll button being the triggers that it my natural reaction was making me do extremely stupid things in an already hard game. Not the game's fault, but still. I want to like the game (I damn well better, I have Demon's Souls, DS2 and DS3 sitting on the shelf too.), it's just an odd duck to me for now.

In addition to Zelda, I'm a huge fan of hack n' slash series' like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, and Bayonetta, so using face buttons for quick and heavy attacks and shoulder buttons to dodge or move faster just feels so much more natural to me. I understand that this game isn't a hack n' slash and not designed to work like one, but it has just been so deeply ingrained in my mind that melee combat has to work like that.

I will say that mapping the block/parry function to a shoulder button does actually feel appropriate to me, since it's similar to other games that I've played.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 21, 2016, 12:50:03 PM
Every game should have a pause function, full stop. Yes, I know DS has online capabilities, but if you're playing offline, you should definitely be able to pause, and it's stupid that you can't. Fair warning: Nioh also doesn't have a pause button.
About the controls, I thought they were weird at first too, but I've grown to find them very intuitive and comfortable... though I often end up wasting a healing item or two when I haven't played in a while. :il_hahaha:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 21, 2016, 12:56:08 PM
Nioh still has a Beta version coming out for people to give feedback on before the full game officially releases. Make sure to tell them to add in a pause function for offline play in the surveys. We still have a chance to fix this, damnit! :D

The controls themselves in DS aren't bad. It's just awkward so far. But, if I could get used to the controls in RE4 and MGS2 and 3, then I'm sure that I'll be just fine with DS after some practice.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 24, 2016, 10:06:54 PM
So, I completed the Undead Burg area on my first try. That's to say that starting from the Bonfire in that area and working my way to the final boss fight, I managed to clear the whole area and all enemies in one run. The funny thing is that I ended up using all five of my Estus Flasks on the regular fights before even reaching the boss. Then I used a Gold Resin to buff my weapon and pretty much managed to waste the boss. I did take one hit during the fight, and it brought me down to a sliver of health, but I never got hit after that because I learned how to time my i-frames to avoid getting hit. I suppose that most new players would instinctively try to roll away from the boss, then come back in to score a quick hit before the boss could attack again and prolong the fight by running away and then charging back in. However, I've played way too much Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, and Bayonetta over the years so I know how to exploit i-frames. I basically just rolled toward the boss every time that it swung and the attack completely whiffed every time, giving me time to score a clear hit on him with each successful dodge. So, essentially the boss fight was the easiest part of the area, IMO.

That's not to say that the game itself is easy, but I do believe that it helps to know some of the basic technical concepts of melee combat present in almost all of Japanese game design.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 30, 2016, 09:57:34 PM
I finally found the real Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar in Metal Gear. Then he said that he wants me to rescue his daughter first, and he won't talk until then. I was just thinking of how if this same scene were in a Metal Gear Soild game, the good doctor would go on a 20-minute monologue about philosophy, then ask me to recuse his daughter or he won't talk, then would immediately proceed that by talking out 10 more minutes worth of exposition about where to find his daughter followed by some more philosophy. What I'm trying to say is that it's kind of refreshing to see Kojima limited by technology and focusing more making an actual video game. ;)

I got to Undead Parish in Dark Souls. I haven't completed that area yet, but I did find the shortcut back to Firelink Shrine. You want to know what the toughest enemies were that I came across between Undead Burg and Undead Parish, though? Not the Boar (which I simply just skipped trying to fight for now), not the Undead Knights, and not the giant knight mini-boss thing from the altar room. It was the fucking rats. The little fuckers kept on poisoning me almost every time that I had to play through that area.

Anyways, I managed to reinforce my Estus Flask using a Firekeeper's Soul, and I also found an Undead Asylum key, though I currently have no idea how to even get back there yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 08, 2016, 12:51:29 PM
So, a friend of mine recently convinced me to give the Splinter Cell series a shot, or at least the original trilogy for now (he likes Double Agent and Black List, but Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory are his absolute favorites). The only exposure that I've ever had to the series so far was with the first level of the original, the first level of Chaos Theory, and the demo for Conviction. As you can probably tell, I utterly suck at stealth games and was even worse back when the older games released, so I couldn't make it past the beginning of either and just gave up at the time. As for Conviction, while the developers clearly made it easier, it felt very watered down and I didn't want to play a Splinter Cell game that shunned many of the elements that made the series appealing to its fans in the first place. It's not that I wanted an easy experience, but rather wanted to understand how to play the games for what they were in the first place.

My friend told me that I should probably start with Pandora Tomorrow and then go onto Chaos Theory, and then come back to the original if I'm interested since while it's a good game, it hasn't aged the most gracefully in his view. He also advised me to stay away from the HD collection since those are apparently pretty bad ports with numerous technical problems. So, it looks like I'll have to hunt down the original XBOX versions of those games.

Speaking of Tom Clancy games, I've recently had a strange itch to revisit the Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter games. Both of those games were among my favorite TPSs from last gen, but I haven't played them in a while. I suppose that after I complete Dark Souls, I'll tackle the Splinter Cell games, and then after that if I still feel like it, I'll revisit the GRAW titles.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 08, 2016, 04:20:52 PM
Finally got away from Ultra Street Fighter 4 only to go to Street Fighter 5. I know I sorta kinda dissed the game in the Fighting Game thread, but when you get a lot of testosterone in one place throwing out challenges I'm not gonna back down. I won't lie. Definitely had a blast (especially when you have wacky friends and family), but I had a lot of fun when I was using Ken and Karin. They are no Dudley, but both of them have different parts of him where I can dabble between the 2 characters. I never got a chance to use Necalli, but I do plan to try him out. Dude hits like a tank (more Dudley lol). So I'll be jumping back and forth between SF3 and SF5 (until I get the urge/challenge to play USF4)

I've also been playing Dragon Ball Xenoverse. Oh man where do I begin with this one? It's fun, but infuriating. The randomness of the game is probably the biggest drawback, but it also feels very rewarding when you finally get said item/skill. The grinding (and you will be doing tons of it) is something I don't mind because you're actually fighting instead of pressing 1 button and waiting on your turn again. I do hate that the A.I. on your team can range from too aggressive to straight dumb in a blink of an eye. Yesterday I was doing the PQ- Power Teams and each fight was 2 vs 3, but somehow managed to turn into 2 vs 1 because my team is just watching me get beatdown by both Gohan and Piccolo. It gets even worse when you fight Goku and Gohan on a later PQ because all they do is spam Super Kamehameha's and you don't have time to charge ki or attack (not to mention doing it the first time you are alone). Why do I continue to torture myself with this average/good game is a question I can't answer. I do want a character with Vegito's clothes though. I'm also looking forward to Xenoverse 2.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 08, 2016, 07:21:30 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 08, 2016, 12:51:29 PM
He also advised me to stay away from the HD collection since those are apparently pretty bad ports with numerous technical problems.
Aw, really? I was looking into replacing my PC versions with that collection since they really struggle on modern hardware. SC1 is particularly bad, as my computer's speed apparently causes enemies to not actually take damage when I shoot them half the time (wtf!?). Pandora Tomorrow, meanwhile, has a completely broken lighting engine on newer video cards, so the game looks simply awful. It's so bad that they haven't even released it on Steam. Chaos Theory is mostly fine, but still fairly wonky compared to the console versions in terms of performance and controls.

Anyway, Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory, and Blacklist are definitely the best ones IMO. The first game is still really good, but it suffers from poor/bizarre design at times, while Double Agent and Conviction are alright, but nothing special. Speaking of which, if you ever decide to play Double Agent, check out the PS2/original Xbox version. The Xbox 360/PC version is a completely different game and nowhere near as good (with the PC port being one of the worst ports of all time).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 08, 2016, 07:25:21 PM
Wow, it looks like the PC versions of most of these games got shafted pretty bad. Which is odd considering that Tom Clancy games were mainly designed for the PC in the first place way back in the late 90's when titles like Rainbow Six hit the tactical shooter scene.

If you have a working XBOX360, though, then it's worth noting that the original XBOX versions of these games should be completely backwards compatible with that console.

Quote from: Foggle on July 08, 2016, 07:21:30 PMAw, really?

Well, it IS Ubisoft that we're talking about here, so I'm not all that surprised. :sly:

I should probably do more research on it anyways, but a YouTuber that I frequently follow (TheSeraphim17) did a guide for one of these games a few years ago, and I also remember him complaining about the HD port having an inexplicably choppy frame-rate and numerous graphical problems that were never contained in the original release. So, it looks like there may be some unfortunate truth to that statement.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 08, 2016, 07:56:15 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 08, 2016, 07:25:21 PM
If you have a working XBOX360, though, then it's worth noting that the original XBOX versions of these games should be completely backwards compatible with that console.
That's a relief! The PS2 ports were always a little wonky too. Xbox is definitely the best way to play the first 4 games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 08, 2016, 08:01:34 PM
What, completely different? I thought the PS2/Xbox version just had an extra spy vs spy mode
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 08, 2016, 08:05:10 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on July 08, 2016, 08:01:34 PM
What, completely different? I thought the PS2/Xbox version just had an extra spy vs spy mode
The Xbox 360/PC version of DA is a completely different game from the PS2/Xbox version, with the latter generally being considered far superior.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 08, 2016, 08:09:09 PM
So it looks like that makes SEVEN Splinter Cell games that I'll eventually have to play now.

Well, hopefully the original XBOX version of Double Agent isn't too hard to find. I've found that with other early Generation Seven games that were released for both G6 and G7 consoles, the G6 versions are either too hard to find or are inexplicably much more expensive than the G7 versions. Hopefully I won't have that problem hunting down the XBOX version of Double Agent when the time comes for me to get around to that game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 09, 2016, 08:19:14 AM
Hey EK, guess which game I finally found a copy of?

I'll say this- I brought my X-Box over from home so I can finally go through it here.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 09, 2016, 09:26:08 AM
Quote from: Avaitor on July 09, 2016, 08:19:14 AMHey EK, guess which game I finally found a copy of?

I'll say this- I brought my X-Box over from home so I can finally go through it here.

Does it by any chance rhyme with Ninja Raiden's Sack? :shakeshakeshake: :shakeshakeshake: :shakeshakeshake:

I'll say the same thing that I said to Talon before he up and disappeared from the forums: the game is not as tough as people make it out to be. It just has a steeper learning curve than the average game. Just have fun with it! :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 09, 2016, 10:12:06 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 09, 2016, 09:26:08 AM
I'll say the same thing that I said to Talon before he up and disappeared from the forums: the game is not as tough as people make it out to be. It just has a steeper learning curve than the average game. Just have fun with it! :joy:
Oh no, what if the game is cursed? Maybe that's why he disappeared! And Avaitor will be next...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 09, 2016, 10:51:54 AM
Can I have his stuff then?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 09, 2016, 10:12:43 PM
Quote from: Foggle on July 09, 2016, 10:12:06 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 09, 2016, 09:26:08 AM
I'll say the same thing that I said to Talon before he up and disappeared from the forums: the game is not as tough as people make it out to be. It just has a steeper learning curve than the average game. Just have fun with it! :joy:
Oh no, what if the game is cursed? Maybe that's why he disappeared! And Avaitor will be next...

That's Sigma that you're thinking of. Had Talon gone for the superior XBOX version, he'd still be with us. Clearly Avaitor is much smarter. :sly:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 09, 2016, 10:33:55 PM
It looks like there's something up with the controller that I brought, since part of the port is missing. :sweat:

So I'll have to hold off on playing NGB until I can find my other controller or the port the next time I go home, which is luckily going to be in a few days. I'm also going to look harder for my copy of Halo: CE, since I really want to play it again. I also brought my copies of Jade Empire and Prince of Persia: TSOT. I thought about KOTOR or San Andreas, but I might save those for when I have more time.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 10, 2016, 01:31:05 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 09, 2016, 10:12:43 PM
That's Sigma that you're thinking of. Had Talon gone for the superior XBOX version, he'd still be with us. Clearly Avaitor is much smarter. :sly:
Speaking of which, I finally picked up a disc copy of Black a couple weeks ago, so now I can play the superior version again without using up the majority of my 360's HDD on a single game!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 10, 2016, 02:09:07 AM
Quote from: Foggle on July 10, 2016, 01:31:05 AMSpeaking of which, I finally picked up a disc copy of Black a couple weeks ago, so now I can play the superior version again without using up the majority of my 360's HDD on a single game!

Sweet! Now you just need to beat the game on Master Ninja mode! :humhumhum:

Quote from: Avaitor on July 09, 2016, 10:33:55 PMIt looks like there's something up with the controller that I brought, since part of the port is missing. :sweat:

So I'll have to hold off on playing NGB until I can find my other controller or the port the next time I go home, which is luckily going to be in a few days. I'm also going to look harder for my copy of Halo: CE, since I really want to play it again. I also brought my copies of Jade Empire and Prince of Persia: TSOT. I thought about KOTOR or San Andreas, but I might save those for when I have more time

As far as Halo: Combat Evolved goes, you could always get the PC version. Any half-way decent, relatively modern PC should be able to run it at 60 FPS with ease, and I know that it can run on at least any OS up to Windows 8 very smoothly, though I'll have to do some research to see if it's compatible with Windows 10, which is relatively new.

The other reason to get the PC version is for the ability to download the free SPV3 mod, which is a completely remixed version of the campaign mode with weapons, enemies, and vehicles from every game in the series up to Reach incorporated into it. It looks freaking amazing and is the main reason that I now want to own the PC version of the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 10, 2016, 05:04:58 PM
Beat Dragonball Xenoverse. My frustration with this game is at an all time high at the moment. I was trying to farm for skills and while I do like this method of farming it becomes rage inducing when you go through so much to get that A-Z rank and end it with an ultimate finish only to get nothing in return. I'm was aiming to get Android 17's ultimate attack and to get nothing or 17/18's clothes is BS for all that hard work. So I just said screw it and just finished the game. I'll get back to finishing up the parallel quests some day, but for now I need to back away from that game and cool off.

I'll probably start an Uncharted run some time this week. (Oh dear God. One storm to another)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 11, 2016, 09:07:10 PM
Looks like you can get a used Wii or 360 at GameStop right now for $30, or a used PS3 for $60. http://dealnews.com/Used-Microsoft-Xbox-360-or-Nintendo-Wii-for-30-after-rebate-pickup-at-Game-Stop/1729014.html

Pretty good deals for people who missed out on any of last gen's systems.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 11, 2016, 09:50:30 PM
HOLY SHIT! I totally need to hit that up as soon as I can! :o
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 12, 2016, 12:46:45 AM
Hmm, if NGB is backwards compatible for the 360, I may consider doing that.

What are some of the best games for the 360?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 12, 2016, 01:07:11 AM
Quote from: Avaitor on July 12, 2016, 12:46:45 AMHmm, if NGB is backwards compatible for the 360, I may consider doing that.

Yes it is. The only thing to keep in mind is that based on what I've heard, there may be some minor technical glitches when playing it on the 360 and some slightly longer load times. I've heard other people report that before, but nobody ever mentioned anything game-breaking when playing it B/C on the 360, so you should be good playing it there, especially since you have the disc version. I actually downloaded the XBL version a few years ago, but that kept freezing up on me at odd times, and I've heard that when using the disc version of the game, you shouldn't encounter those problems, so you're pretty much good to go. :thumbup:

QuoteWhat are some of the best games for the 360?

Well, IMO (the ones that I strongly recommend are in bold):

Halo: Reach
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
Halo 3 (Not as good as CE or Reach, IMO, but at only $5 at Gamestop you still get good value out of it)
Halo 3: ODST (same deal)
Alan Wake
Ninja Gaiden II (not as good as NGB, but still great stuff overall)
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
Devil May Cry HD Collection
Devil May Cry 4
Bayonetta
Vanquish
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Transformers: Devastation (I've only played a bit of it, but I loved what I played of it, and the general reception is fantastic)
Shadow Complex
Ultra Street Fighter IV
King of Fighters XIII
Mega Man 9
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 1 & 2
South Park: The Stick of Truth (though, if you're not really a fan of South Park, then you probably won't get much out of it)
Dark Souls (Still working my way through the game, but it's really good stuff so far)
F.E.A.R. (Unless you have a good enough PC to play that version of the game)
The Orange Box (Same deal as with F.E.A.R.)
BioShock 1 & 2 (Once again, same as above)

And if you want to play some ports of classic games, there's:
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Street Fighter III: Third Strike
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Banjoe Kazooie & Tooie
Streets of Rage Trilogy
Jet Set Radio & Future
Various Sonic games and Sega collection
Contra (Classic)

And way too many others to list.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 12, 2016, 01:22:59 AM
Oh damn, the DMC collection is on 360! I forgot about that.

Okay, if this deal is still good over the weekend, I'm doing this.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 12, 2016, 01:40:35 AM
Ninja Gaiden Black works flawlessly on the 360. I've never played it on the original hardware so maybe there's something minor I've missed, but I've noticed none of the issues that often afflict BC games (bad framerate, long load times, crashes, textures not loading, etc.) in NGB.

E-K's list of games hits most of the bases, but I'd also like to add:

Nier
Lost Odyssey
Catherine
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (comes with both the original game and DLC content)
Saints Row 2 & 4 (1 & 3 aren't great, IMO, but the even-numbered ones are some of my all-time favorites)
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (mostly for the Escape From Butcher Bay remake)
The Darkness 1 & 2
The Witcher 2
Mass Effect 2 (or get that trilogy collection if it's cheap)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut
Dishonored
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 12, 2016, 01:49:32 AM
Quote from: Foggle on July 12, 2016, 01:40:35 AMDragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (comes with both the original game and DLC content)

For some reason I thought that this re-release was PC only.

QuoteThe Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (mostly for the Escape From Butcher Bay remake)

I was actually looking for this game the other day. I may get to it after I wirk my way through the Splinter Cell series and before tackling the Hitman HD Trilogy.

QuoteThe Darkness 1 & 2

I've been meaning to get around to these games as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 12, 2016, 01:53:28 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 12, 2016, 01:49:32 AM
For some reason I thought that this re-release was PC only.
Nope! They just released the PC port of it a few months ago, but DD:DA has been out on consoles for a good 3-4 years now!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 12, 2016, 10:19:07 AM
Blood Dragon (the Far Cry 3 spin-off)
Condemned
Sonic Generations
Sonic & Sega Racing Transformed
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 12, 2016, 11:49:37 AM
I forget, Avaitor, but have you already played Max Payne 1 & 2? I recall you saying that you played those at one point. If you have, then Max Payne 3 is also on the XBOX360 and worth checking out, however I wouldn't say that it's as good of a game as the first two are, but it's certainly worth playing through. That said, I much prefer Remedy's game from that generation, Alan Wake, which is personally one of my favorite games from last gen.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 12, 2016, 12:49:42 PM
Yeah, I've played them. I actually thought about bringing them over here with me.

I was considering both of those games, but yeah, Alan Wake is of higher interest to me. But as long as I can find either for decent prices, I am down.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 12, 2016, 12:52:39 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on July 12, 2016, 10:19:07 AM
Sonic & Sega Racing Transformed
Get this. It's the greatest racing game of all time IMO. I've enjoyed me some Mario Kart, Wipeout, and various other titles over the years, but Transformed is simply perfect. I spent over 60 hours completing every level on the hardest difficulty setting, which I NEVER do.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 12, 2016, 01:22:14 PM
SASRT is yet another one of those titles on my huge backlog of games that I eventually need to get around to, and probably won't for at least another year or two. I did enjoy what I played of the first game, and the sequel looks even better (and the reviews from both critics and fans alike seem to support this notion). It looks like excellent stuff, and maybe if I had friends who would have played it with me locally I would have gotten it on release. That said, the single-player content seems like it's much better than in most modern racing games, so I do think that I'd enjoy the game either way. Still, there are just too many other great games that I need to get around to as well, so this one will have to wait for quite some time, but I definitely will play it eventually.

Quote from: link=topic=1142.msg105074#msg105074 date=1468345782Yeah, I've played them. I actually thought about bringing them over here with me.

I was considering both of those games, but yeah, Alan Wake is of higher interest to me. But as long as I can find either for decent prices, I am down.

Both of these should be really cheap, now. I actually bought MP3 two years ago for $12, and it may very well be even cheaper now. Alan Wake should easily be available for $10 or less as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 12, 2016, 01:42:25 PM
I loved the stages in Transformed (Starlight Carnival in glorious HD), but I remember never even unlocking any characters because a lot of those races were fucking hard if you wanted to get a decent amount of points.

The remix they do of Sky Sanctuary/Back In Time is godly.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 12, 2016, 01:45:13 PM
Transformed really shines in multiplayer, but I played single-player most of the time and still had a blast. No other racing game's mechanics even compare for me - they all just feel clunky, floaty, or generally unenjoyable to me now. This even includes titles people usually consider better, like Mario Kart 8.

Quote from: Nel_Annette on July 12, 2016, 01:42:25 PM
I loved the stages in Transformed (Starlight Carnival in glorious HD), but I remember never even unlocking any characters because a lot of those races were fucking hard if you wanted to get a decent amount of points.
Yeah, it's brutally difficult, and since I'm bad at racing games, my willingness to beat it on Expert should really say something about how good it is. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 12, 2016, 01:52:32 PM
It's really my only gripe with the game. I just wish they kept the miles system from the first game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 12, 2016, 06:27:48 PM
Okay, so if all goes well, I'm getting a 360 this weekend.

Is anyone else thinking of picking a console up?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 12, 2016, 07:31:14 PM
Unfortunately, this is really bad timing for me since I have something coming up and just don't have the time or money to spend (even at such a cheap price) on anything extraneous until at least a couple of weeks from now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on July 12, 2016, 11:26:54 PM
Been playing waaaaay too much of the same old same old. Spelunky, Minecraft, Hyrule Warriors. Need something new. Thinking of starting Bravely Default next. On the PS3 front, I kind of want to retry Just Cause 2, but I wasn't really enjoying it before.

On PS4 I've been playing the newest Lego Star Wars game, and while I enjoy the first three, I haven't really liked this one. Glitchy as hell. Erased my save data for no reason once. Annoying as hell.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 13, 2016, 10:05:37 PM
I have family over, and they surprised me with $100. I used that to help pay off my 360!

Now keep in mind that right now, you have to pay $50, and you'll get a $20 Visa card rebate after you fill something in online. I'll use that to help buy a game or two, like the DMC Collection, which aught my eye for only $15.

And I also got the $5 insurance. I didn't forget about the red rings of death.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 13, 2016, 10:18:50 PM
Cool!

That reminds me of another suggestion: Renegade OPs.

For the Jackal fan in all of us.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 13, 2016, 10:21:29 PM
Is it an older model or a slim edition? Either way, as long as your X360 was manufactured after 2007, then you should be good. My first console broke down on me, but I got a free replacement in 2008 thanks to the warranty, and it has never given me any problems since. Well, actually it occasionally will not run certain DLC (like the Blade Wolf campaign in MGRR), but issues like that are pretty rare and a very minor issue in the grand scheme of things.

And yes, DMC HD Collection should be one of the first games that you get. Just know to skip the second game since it's garbage, but 1 and 3 are great, and Dante's Awakening alone is worth the full price of the game, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 14, 2016, 02:43:29 PM
Guess what game I picked up for $5 at a pawn shop? I'll just say that it's the perfect compliment for when I finish NGB.

I also got Bioshock Infinite for $6, so I'm doing well so far.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 14, 2016, 03:02:51 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on July 14, 2016, 02:43:29 PMGuess what game I picked up for $5 at a pawn shop? I'll just say that it's the perfect compliment for when I finish NGB.

I should warn you that Ninja Blade isn't that great of a game, Avaitor. :sly:

Spoiler
I wonder if anyone even remembers that game's existence.
[close]

Also, I haven't thought about this before, but if you own a Nintendo DS and can find a cheap copy of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword online, that's worth playing as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 14, 2016, 10:44:47 PM
I hear the 3D Splatterhouse is good and comes with at least one classic game
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 14, 2016, 10:46:45 PM
I liked the 3D Splatterhouse game. Even though it had such a messy development history, the game turned out pretty good for it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 14, 2016, 11:03:21 PM
Gotta read into that.
Foggle forgot to mention Wolfenstein?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on July 14, 2016, 11:05:52 PM
It's soundtrack is pretty godly too, especially if your a metalhead.

I've been trying to find a copy of Splatterhouse 3D myself, but none of the Gamestops in my town have them, and the only way you can buy it for an affordable price on Amazon is if you get it used.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 15, 2016, 12:08:04 AM
Welp, it looks like my next purchase is a hard drive.

I guess I'll watch a movie instead, lol. I've been in the mood to rewatch The Conversation, anyway.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 15, 2016, 12:16:36 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on July 14, 2016, 11:03:21 PM
Foggle forgot to mention Wolfenstein?
The 2009 game? It's a really underrated title IMO - actually quite excellent. Speaking of which, Singularity (by the same studio) is another great FPS for the Xbox 360 most people probably haven't played. And that X-Men Origins: Wolverine game they made was pretty good too.

If you mean New Order, the reason I didn't recommend that one (or The Evil Within, for that matter) is because Bethesda's last gen ports are kind of bad. They aren't awful - I mean, I played the PS3 version of TEW and still loved it - but since Avaitor is low on funds to begin with, he should probably just wait until he gets a $50 PS4 five years from now to check them out. ;)

Oh yeah, you should also try to find a copy of Hitman: Blood Money. One of my all-time favorite games - can't believe I forgot to mention it before! There's a collection out that also includes Hitman 2 and Contracts, but be warned that those games are punishingly difficult and super janky. You should play them in reverse release order if you choose to go that route, as Blood Money is the only one with a competent tutorial and tight mechanics.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 15, 2016, 03:04:11 PM
I picked up a 60 GB hard drive for just under $30 at GameStop. I might be able to do better if I looked hard enough, but I wanted something ASAP, and checking Best Buy and WalMart for comparison makes it look like I picked the right place.

In the next few days, I'll check more pawn shops for games. GameStop has some decent prices, but I think that I'd rather go looking a little more. I don't want to spend more than $10 per game right now, with some exceptions, like the DMC Collection, which I'd gladly pay $15 for.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 15, 2016, 03:26:13 PM
Seems like a pretty good deal to me, especially since I've been stuck with my measly old 12 GB hard drive since day one.

Also, I should mention that at least half of the appeal of games like Ninja Gaiden Black and Devil May Cry (the good ones in the series) are in their replay value. That's not to say that your first playthrough shouldn't be a challenging, rewarding, and overall fun experience, but rather that the true worth of these games is only apparent upon revisiting their harder difficulties or partaking in their extra content and truly mastering what they have to offer.

With NGB, after you beat the game on Normal, you unlock Hard Mode as well as Mission Mode. Beating the game on Hard unlocks Very Hard, and beating it on Very Hard unlocks Master Ninja. What's great about these higher difficulty settings is that individually in and of themselves, they aren't a tremendous jump from the previous difficulty. If you can beat Normal than Hard isn't really that much tougher. If you can beat Hard than Very Hard isn't totally out of your range, and honestly Master Ninja feels very similar to Very Hard in difficulty just with rearranged enemy sets. And that's another thing, each new difficulty will not only rearrange the enemies that you fight in various areas throughout the game, but will also introduce brand new enemies and mini-bosses that weren't featured in previous difficulties, in addition to changing the locations of certain weapons and items, raising the prices of upgrades and items at Muramasa's shops, and even changing the contents of what you find in chests. Rather than simply just giving enemies more health and making you take more damange from your attacks, the game goes above and beyond to make each new difficulty compelling to play through, and essentially feeling like a new game from what you previously just played. And Mission mode gives you bite-sized chunks of combat that take a few minutes each, and with 50 minutes to play through and 4 difficulties to conquer for each one, you could spend hours on end just trying to master that mode alone. Of course, if that sounds too daunting you don't have to go through all of that, but it's still fun just to try and see how far you can go. That said, it is worth beating the game on at least Hard mode, which unlocks the original Ninja Gaiden arcade game. You really do get your money's worth with this title.

Comparatively, while DMC 1 and 3's harder difficulty settings don't change quite as much, they do still rearrange enough stuff to keep each new challenge interesting, and the richly deep combat system as well as the ability to play through the game as Vergil in DMC3 (who has a vastly different combat system from Dante) gives these games just as much replay value to them. If you play these games once and then put them on the shelf then I still believe that you'll have a good time, but I do recommend coming back to them if you feel up to it, because the experience only evolves on subsequent playthroughs.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 15, 2016, 04:30:02 PM
I forgot to mention Sleeping Dogs. Damn good.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 15, 2016, 04:44:12 PM
Don't forget DuckTales Remastered!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 18, 2016, 01:38:41 PM
I did some pawn shop hunting today, and from most to least expensive, I got

Alan Wake
halo Reach
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed
Mass Effect 2

Do you need to play ME 1 to get into 2?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 18, 2016, 01:44:43 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on July 18, 2016, 01:38:41 PMI did some pawn shop hunting today, and from most to least expensive, I got

Alan Wake
halo Reach
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed
Mass Effect 2

Great choices! :joy:

Whenever you get around to Reach, I recommend starting on Heroic difficulty, since Normal really doesn't do the game any justice and severely dumbs down the enemy AI.

QuoteDo you need to play ME 1 to get into 2?

To be honest, I haven't played anything more than the demo for ME2, though I did play and beat ME1 (which, personally I wasn't a fan of, but I am in the minority on that, so don't take my opinion to heart). That said, I do know for sure that ME2 does expand on the story set-up in the first game, so it'd probably help to have played it in order to follow the plot of the second game. I also know that ME2 allows you to import the character that you created from the first game into its story mode so that you can continue the story with the specific character that you created. To do this you just have to have beat ME1 and have save data of completing the game which the ME2 disc can pick up and read.

Of course, neither of these things are an absolute necessity to play ME2 since it is designed to stand on its own from a gameplay perspective, but I do imagine that it would help better flesh out the experience. I'm sure that Foggle would be able to go into much more detail about this, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 18, 2016, 01:55:04 PM
I wanted to get the ME trilogy, but it's like $40 for the set, and you can easily find the games for less than $10 each. I heard that 2 was the best, so I got it first, but I think that I'll try to find the first before I start playing.

And I'll keep that in mind for Reach!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 18, 2016, 03:25:47 PM
Mass Effect 2 is definitely better if you play ME1 first, mostly because some of the default decisions the game makes for you are... stupid. Importing a clear file from the original is the best way to experience the game. The story itself is honestly pretty standalone, though. As for the first game, I do quite like it, but it's very dated. The gameplay isn't particularly enthralling and a lot of the cutscenes come across as robotic and overly expository. I see it mostly as necessary buildup to ME2, which is one of my favorite games of all time. Also, if you end up enjoying the game, I highly recommend the Overlord and Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC packs. Mass Effect 3 is pretty good, too, but the ending is notoriously awful, and some of the writing is definitely either rushed or lazy. I still haven't played any of the DLCs for it even though they're supposedly great. Just can't muster up the energy to care sadly.

Oh yeah, the best way to experience Sonic Racing is to get three friends over and play through the campaign in split-screen on the hardest difficulty. If even one of you wins the challenge, it counts, and the hilarious rage it induces makes for an excellent party game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 28, 2016, 04:11:47 PM
Mass Effect 2 is also one of my favorites of all time (but I'm just a fan of the series in general) and as much as a chore ME1 can be I do recommend playing it to import a character.

USF4
Mainly been in training mode as Evil Ryu mainly because I've been talking about it so much as of late lol. 1 of the reasons I like Dudley so much (other than being a gentleman and hitting like a truck) is because he has resets and counterhit setups for days. Well Evil Ryu similar (outside of the gentleman), but I think Evil Ryu's is a bit dirtier because they're harder to see and he's hitting low for the reset but then you can't tell if he's gonna crossup or cross under.

I've also been watching a lot of Ryu gameplay (Sekiganryu and Daigo, mainly. A little bit of Wa Solid as well). Seeing high level Ryu gameplay is a treat because then you get to see some clean Street Fighter.


Edit:

Moving on from Street Fighter for a bit.

Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator
Johnny, nuff said. Nah, I'm having fun learning this guy even though mist canceling takes a bit of time to get down. I'm looking at other top level Johnny players and I'm always impressed with the character because of all the swag. Dudley's the classy king and Johnny's the sway/style king. From the combo's all the way down to his colors, he just oozes swag. I know he just got nerfed and people are still saying he's good, and even if he wasn't I don't think I was gonna switch to another character (although I can probably identify with Sol more) because of how fun Johnny is to play.

Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition
I've had this game for a long time now, but I'm now finally getting around to playing it. If you care at all about rankings then I advise not to use Dark Knight Nero/Dante/Vergil. (I was getting no higher than a C but the board would be something like SAA or AAB) They are too good, and if you're looking for a challenge do not bother playing human. I only started on Human because it's been so long since I've played DMC4 and forgot how to play, but when it all came back to me the stages became a breeze. I also like to feel dominant as well, haha. Not sure how long I'll be playing this though. A lot of games don't hold my interest too long before I move back to playing just fighting games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on August 10, 2016, 01:08:19 PM
So I haven't really talked about any of the games I've bought... because I haven't had the chance to play them yet. My controller can not, will not work. I can't tell if it's battery won't charge, it can't connect, or what. But I've even gotten a new controller, and I'm still having the same issue.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 10, 2016, 01:35:05 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on August 10, 2016, 01:08:19 PMSo I haven't really talked about any of the games I've bought... because I haven't had the chance to play them yet. My controller can not, will not work. I can't tell if it's battery won't charge, it can't connect, or what. But I've even gotten a new controller, and I'm still having the same issue.

Maybe the port is faulty or has gone bad. That once happened on the original XBOX that I owned (and I mean the first one, not the 360).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on August 21, 2016, 01:02:42 AM
Bravely Default - Still taking it slow. The Final Fantasy curse still plagues me, as I'm losing interest quick.

Xenoblade Chronicles X - Beautiful game. Fun to explore these big areas. Story pales in comparison to the first game, and the music, while good when there's no one singing, doesn't really compare either. Hate the forced multiplayer. I just lost three hours of gameplay because I was disconnected from the server, and instead of just putting me in offline mode like it did the last two times, it rebooted the whole damn thing. Autosave would have been a nice feature. Probably not going to touch this for a few days because of that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on August 26, 2016, 02:24:05 PM
Planet Robobot is worth a few hours if you haven't given it a shot yet. It's pretty standard Kirby fare, and was built on the Triple Deluxe engine so it plays almost identically to that -- IMO, not a bad thing. Some nice new copy abilities (Jet Kirby is back!  :swoon:), the mech-suits are a fun replacement for the invincibility seed from TD, and the somewhat-darker-than usual storyline is a nice change of pace for these games.

Nothing earth-shattering, but it's fun. Actually, I don't think I've actively found fault in any Kirby game since Amazing Mirror. It's a series built off of such a simplistic formula, but one they really don't have to deviate from to make work.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 27, 2016, 10:21:31 AM
Mass Effect 2
Since it was last brought up I've been playing it as of late. It's as good as I once remember, but this time I've died a lot more times this time around. My reaction timing is really off. I think I died about 3 times just on recruiting Garrus alone (mainly when you are shutting/locking the doors). I know it's on my end because I never recalled having a tough time at such an early stage of the game, at least on the 360 version. Not that I'm complaining about it, but it just felt weird having to struggle so early when my struggles usually come around the time you get to Horizon. Speaking of which, recruiting Tali and her loyalty mission. I never felt so scared in Mass Effect until playing through Tali's loyalty mission because of my squad being Garrus (He doesn't have Overload at the moment) and Tali. I knew I screwed up the moment Garrus died in the first fire fight within the first minute. Anyway, I made it through it, but that was a lesson learned lol. I am playing this on the PS3 and while it's good it's very janky. I had to do a hard reset a couple of times because the game freezing.

I plan to get through this series again before the next Mass Effect release.

I'm also playing USF4, 3rd Strike and GG:XrdR. I am getting more and more back to playing USF4 and 3rd Strike heavily again so other games may end up on the back burner yet again. Once I upgrade my internet I'll start playing online again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 11, 2016, 09:55:05 PM
I got to play some Overwatch for the first time.

It's easy to see why it's so popular. The game is really tight. My best characters were McCree and Hanzo, which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows how I play these games. Wait for the moment, and strike hard!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 12, 2016, 01:22:02 AM
McCree is my boy. I love everything about his character and play-style. I pretty much main him, Tracer, Roadhog, and Zenyatta at this point, with a little Junkrat, D. Va, and Pharah thrown in there for good measure.

Truly a great game. Probably the only multiplayer FPS that's ever held my attention for this long.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 25, 2016, 06:53:04 AM
Went back to playing Warriors Orochi 3: Ultimate. Been under a lot of stress as of late (work related) and haven't really found a good means to release some of it. Don't seem to be working as much as I'd like (or used to) but I am having fun with it. Trying to find a 3rd member for my team of Ryu Hayabusa and Zhou Tai, but at the same time I don't want to burn myself out on them 2 either so I switch to Zhao Yun and Xu Shu (I think?) from time to time. I'm also still unlocking characters at the moment as well.

I also have The Witcher 3 coming soon. I've always been curious about the game but never really cared to get into it until now. I figured since there was a GotY release of it why not. Even now I'm kinda regretting it, but at the same time I do want to give it a chance.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Pharass on October 19, 2016, 03:08:02 PM
Been dividing my time between two independent adventure-games:Kentucky Route Zero and Dropsy and find both immensely enjoyable (for different reasons). Dropsy in particular, reminds me of one of the classic LucasArts adventures from the genre's golden age.
I just hope the current clown-problem doesn't have a negative impact on the game's sales.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 31, 2016, 03:50:14 PM
So I bought Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 last Tuesday, and officially beat the game last night around 10:00. Fun game no doubt. It becomes even better when you got other people involved.

Right off the bat I noticed that you level up extremely fast. When I first started the game trying to get used to everything (not much to get used to since the controls are fairly the same), by the time I called it a night my character was already at level 18. The next day I played my brother-in-law for a bit and by the time we finished playing I was at level 22 and then I called it a night at level 30. Thursday rolls around and I'm eager to get Super Saiyan and by the time I got SSJ I was already at level 50. Long story short, I got to level 80 yesterday (capping point). My character in Xenoverse 1 still haven't reached 80 and I've had that game for a year now I believe and here in XV2 I already topped at 80.

Some people are saying that the control feels better, and believe it or not, I feel like XV1 felt better. To me it feels like XV2 feels a bit too loose to the point where the buttons feel unresponsive while XV1, the controls feels tight.

There are some bugs that need to be weeded out as well. I completed one rift quest but it keeps on repeating. Speaking of bugs, when playing online for some reason some combos that you hit offline tend to drop when you're online. I lost a lot of games because of that too.

A lot of these PQ's (parallel quest) are very easy, on some of these PQ's you get some Time Patrollers that show up and my goodness there's a spike in difficulty when they pop up. PQ#4 is a very easy mission because of who you're fighting (and I believe they are at lvl 10) and then at some point you'd can choose to fight some time patrollers and they are at lvl 80 (WTF!!!!!!). When I found that out, it's like really...? I was already using up my healing items on a very easy quest because of that battle.

Money this time seems to be scarce now. In XV1 I got up to about 2,000,000,000 zeni, while here in XV2 I can barely crack 100,000 zeni. Trying to save up for outfits and halve of these outfits (the stats) are not to my liking. I'm going for a heavy striker and ki blast character but the stats for clothes are still iffy and I'm not liking it. On top of that you still cannot change the color on some outfits (I want to change Vegito's clothes to all black dammit)

Overall the game is fun though. Nothing great, but it's a fun game. I'm not a completionist by at all, but there are somethings I want to see.

I'll be going back to Street Fighter soon enough.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on November 03, 2016, 10:56:09 PM
Anyone messing with AC: New Leaf's update? Sold my town to start a better one, imported my HHD info, using some of my AC Amiibo finally.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 24, 2016, 05:53:28 PM
Finally got fatigued off of Xenoverse 2. I can only handle fetching Dragon Balls so many times only to get nothing for the effort. There are way too many "retrieve the Dragon Balls" missions this time around not to mention that is all you're going to be doing in one of the time rifts.

A lot's changed since my last post and majority of it is for the worse. The customizing is good, but the options are limited. You can't change colors on any of the story line outfits (isn't that why most people want to customize in the first place). Maybe it's just me but I want to change Vegito's outfit to white and red or something, but Dimps missed out on that.

I'm very iffy on the controls because the buttons tend to be unresponsive at bad moments. Snap vanishing to be exact. To counter snap vanishing you do back attacks (and to counter that you do like a little dash/shimmy). The CPU don't use shimmy but I do and when I go for a back attack at times it don't come out or it takes too long to come out. Tedious stuff.

Expert missions is BS.

I don't know, it's a good game to watch, and while it's decent enough to play it can get tedious because of what feels like clunky controls. It might be just me and I don't know the control scheme to well. I'd give it a C+/B-.

EDIT:

Street Fighter 5
Right now I'm going through a character crisis, but I think Necalli is good enough at the moment for me to consider him as my main for the time being. He's definitely a fun character and for quite some time I avoided using him because of his one charge move, but turned out it didn't hamper me at all. He simple enough for me to understand, and deals out damage fairly quickly. I just wish his character wasn't that of something like a wild animal.

I also tried using Urien and while he feels strong, without a fight stick I cannot play as him. He's a true charge character and I tried some of his combos and I cannot get the timing down for nothing. It's cool though because I'm still gonna use Karin and probably try out Ibuki.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on November 25, 2016, 12:26:45 PM
Ended up getting a PS4 on Black Friday. Got Uncharted 4 & Ratchet & Clank, along with Uncharted Collection, God of War III Remastered, Shovel Knight & Dragon Quest Heroes. Only played Ratchet & Clank so far and it plays just as well as it always has. I always find it funny that it says that recording has been suspended whenever it reaches movie's cutscenes.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 25, 2016, 01:39:48 PM
Cool! I want to play the new Ratchet myself.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 02, 2016, 08:17:25 PM
I have Final Fantasy 15 but I've yet to start it. Not sure if I'm ever gonna get to it because of the amount of time I've been putting into Street Fighter 5. Speaking of which.

Street Fighter 5
Despite the crappy launch and how bare the game is, the game, and some of the cast is growing onto me. Chun Li for instance, the only time I've ever played as her was in Street Fighter 2 to get past Guile. Never bothered with her in 3rd Strike or USF4 because I didn't find her interesting. And while I don't even find her character to be that great here, but I'm an aesthetics kind of guy and when it comes to the females in this game, good God, Capcom outdid themselves with the design.

Anyway, so far, I've tried out Chun Li, Ken, Karin, Necalli, Urien, Ryu and Nash.

Chun Li (BAE 2) - I'm currently going through her trials as we speak. Her last trial is getting me, but I'm confident that I can pull it off. I heard people say she's boring to watch, and for the most part I do agree with this, but with her, I'd say she's like baseball. Boring to watch on tv, but better when you go to an actual game. She's boring to watch but fun to play (that can be said for the game itself)

Ken - I actually find him to be more difficult to play than Chun Li and this is because of his "Run". It's like a FADC, but the way he starts his combos is mostly <MP, HP (his typical target combo in all the games) and right now it's taking quite a bit of time to "FADC", < instead of > since in USF4 I always dash forward (giving a little bit away lol). Other than that he's fun and flashy.

Karin (BAE) - Something about this rich uppity girl gets in my head, and again aesthetic appeal, yeah.... (I would try Laura in this regard but it almost seems as if Capcom made her to be slutty). Aesthetics set aside, she is hard to use. I thought because of her tenko (dash uppercut) she'd be the female version of Dudley (she actually is considering her frame trap and reset potential), but man, one of her trial combos goes from tenko to shoulder which is quarter circle forward + K~P, quarter cirlce forward K, v(down)P and as simple as that look to do it is frickin hard, but despite all that she's also fun as hell to play and I hear she's one of the more rewarding characters in the game once you get your execution and fundamentals down. Current main even though my execution is trash as her.

Necalli - The only character whose trials I've actually completed. The guy is a "beast". Damage galore. Not sure if I want to main him, although, he is a pocket character in case my brother-in-law pisses me off with his Ryu.

Urien - Aesthetically appealing to the T. That stylish suit is so good. It kind of irked me when people were asking for naked Urien. Grown ass men asking for a naked man... This kind of stuff is what sets me off about the FGC (this childish mentality they have). Anyway, I cannot play this guy at all. Too much of a charge character for me which is a shame because the impact of his blows reminds me of Dudley.

Ryu and Nash - Now here are the characters that I find boring. The only thing that got me excited about Ryu is his halloween costume. I'm a sucker for anything samurai and when Capcom gave him that outfit I had to try him out. In terms of gameplay, I cannot shoryuken from a crouching position to save my life. Nash is a dashy guy, but he just too boring for me to even put time in.

I'm getting ready to try Juri and Ibuki out. I'm finally having fun despite all the negative talk (And Capcom digging their own grave). Also, I guess one could call me a Capcom shill because I'd put there games above the rest (at least in terms of Street Fighter), but that's mainly because the games are relatively simple but difficult at the same time. When it comes to other times like BB, GG, while I'll buy the games (to support the devs) and try them out I don't stick with them because it's too much on my brain (too many mechanics for me to grasp but the freedom is so good though)

tl;dr: Street Fighter 5 is actually fun lol.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on December 02, 2016, 08:51:19 PM
I'm really enjoying Final Fantasy 15 so far. It's a nice, easy-going game with a fun cast of characters, beautiful soundtrack, and cheesy sense of humor. The story is enjoyable and easy to follow, even without watching the godawful prequel film (ignore anyone who tells you it's necessary; it's not, and is dreadfully boring). The open world isn't a slog to explore and there are little details, hidden dungeons, and easter eggs everywhere. Basically, imagine Final Fantasy 13... now imagine the exact opposite of that. It feels like a game from ten years ago, but I mean that in a good way (mostly), and probably represents the direction fans of 6, 7, 9, and 12 assumed the series would go in during the PS3 era.

As a side note, the pre-order bonus, A King's Tale, was a simple but fun 16-bit brawler with surprisingly great music. If it ever gets released on PSN/XBL for $5 or so, I highly recommend it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on December 04, 2016, 02:01:40 AM
Got God of War collection for $10 last week, popped the disc in, and played through the entire first game.

Long story short; it hasn't aged all that well. Between the unpolished combat and tedious puzzles, I really can't remember having any fun with the game at all. Ignoring all that, the final stretch of the game is just one long string of bullshit, starting with a blatant filler level that allegedly wasn't even play tested, and then a final boss filled with gimmicky bullshit, including a section where you have to face a horde of enemies while protecting an NPC with almost no way to heal yourself, and then a final final section where you lose all your weapons and are forced to use a weapon you literally just got that has way too much startup delay between its moves all against a boss that's both hyper aggressive and has attacks that come out instantly.

With all these flaws, I'm amazed that the series got off the ground to begin with. I wouldn't recommend it even as a casual game. Fortunately the sequel is already an enormous improvement, you're better off just starting with II and skipping the first game entirely.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 04, 2016, 03:36:05 PM
Quote from: Rynnec on December 04, 2016, 02:01:40 AM
Got God of War collection for $10 last week, popped the disc in, and played through the entire first game.

Long story short; it hasn't aged all that well. Between the unpolished combat and tedious puzzles, I really can't remember having any fun with the game at all. Ignoring all that, the final stretch of the game is just one long string of bullshit, starting with a blatant filler level that allegedly wasn't even play tested, and then a final boss filled with gimmicky bullshit, including a section where you have to face a horde of enemies while protecting an NPC with almost no way to heal yourself, and then a final final section where you lose all your weapons and are forced to use a weapon you literally just got that has way too much startup delay between its moves all against a boss that's both hyper aggressive and has attacks that come out instantly.

With all these flaws, I'm amazed that the series got off the ground to begin with. I wouldn't recommend it even as a casual game. Fortunately the sequel is already an enormous improvement, you're better off just starting with II and skipping the first game entirely.

Sorry. I know and feel your pain with that one long stretch. I could've literally tossed that game out my window if I were the one that bought it. I think what got that game off the ground was the "story" if you're into the greek mythology. I called it a knockoff version of DMC, but even then the only thing I can remember liking about the series is that you didn't have to worry about the camera angles (and how visceral it was)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on December 06, 2016, 11:37:47 PM
Been playing Let It Die over the past few days, and wow, this is probably Grasshopper's best work since No More Heroes. It succeeds as a free-to-play game without ever truly pushing the microtransactions, though I will probably be purchasing the VIP Pass because I love the game and want to support the developers as much as possible. It's basically a Japanese console-style action RPG interpretation of a roguelike with an amazing Akira Yamaoka soundtrack (plus licensed songs from 100+ underground bands!), classic Suda51 charm, cartoon graphics, and an asynchronous multiplayer mode similar to MGS5's. Anyone with a PS4 should definitely try it out; it's free, after all!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on December 12, 2016, 07:13:27 PM
Quote from: Mustang on December 04, 2016, 03:36:05 PM
Sorry. I know and feel your pain with that one long stretch. I could've literally tossed that game out my window if I were the one that bought it. I think what got that game off the ground was the "story" if you're into the greek mythology. I called it a knockoff version of DMC, but even then the only thing I can remember liking about the series is that you didn't have to worry about the camera angles (and how visceral it was)

The story was surprisingly decent for what it is. It felt close to the Greek Myths in terms of tone and scale, and even Kratos' assholishness had a reason behind it, it's the sequels where they start to go overboard and turn it into a typical adolescent power fantasy in the form of a bad fanfic. If there's anything else I can give GoW credit for, it's the visceral brutality of its combat, something I'm sad the reboot seems to be lacking (but I'll get to that later).

Finished Megaman Zero 1 to get the bad taste of GoW out of my mouth. It was challenging, but nowhere near as hard as people make it out to me. The only real problem I had was the level grinding system for the weapons and cyber elves..

Putting God of War II aside for now since my (rental) copy of Central Fiction came in. No dub aside it feels great to be playing BB again, all the new characters feel really fun to play and I'm willing to go through the challenge modes for a change. Trying to learn Nine and Azrael right now, and if all goes well, I may finally play at a decent level with a character other than Ragna for once. Might not be tackling online though, since I'm pretty bad at competitive play. :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on December 12, 2016, 08:24:57 PM
The MMZ series was overrated in difficulty complaints. The problem was that the game doesn't give you a margin for error on higher difficulties, and getting 100% takes way too much time. 2 and 3 are better balanced difficulty-wise, but they're still not anything as nightmare inducing as, say, X6.

The only exception is MMZ4 which has some outright cheap difficulty. Especially Craft.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 17, 2016, 09:09:11 AM
Alright people. For the most part I don't particularly care much for Nintendo, with all the attention everyone is spending with my niece, I'm seeing how my nephew is responding to it, and I know for a fact that he is bored being cooped in the house all day (It goes much deeper than that, but that's more personal) so I'm gonna spend more time with him playing games. The only Nintendo console here currently is the Wii. I may get a WiiU just to spend time with him, but at the moment I'm gonna get games for the Wii. What games would you recommend for a 3 year old?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 17, 2016, 10:14:07 AM
A PS4.




No seriously, Rayman Legends.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on December 17, 2016, 11:04:21 AM
Quote from: Mustang on December 17, 2016, 09:09:11 AM
Alright people. For the most part I don't particularly care much for Nintendo, with all the attention everyone is spending with my niece, I'm seeing how my nephew is responding to it, and I know for a fact that he is bored being cooped in the house all day (It goes much deeper than that, but that's more personal) so I'm gonna spend more time with him playing games. The only Nintendo console here currently is the Wii. I may get a WiiU just to spend time with him, but at the moment I'm gonna get games for the Wii. What games would you recommend for a 3 year old?
A 3-year-old? Kirby's Epic Yarn would be a great choice - it's very relaxing, simple, and cute. New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Donkey Kong Country Returns might also be good choices, provided you play them co-op with him, as they can get pretty tough in single-player. I would like to suggest Sonic Colors or either of the Super Mario Galaxy games, but they might be a little too complicated for someone that young.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 17, 2016, 12:49:10 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on December 17, 2016, 10:14:07 AM
A PS4.




No seriously, Rayman Legends.

If it were my choice I'd teach him how to play Street Fighter 3, but his parents don't want him playing fighting games yet. Will check out Rayman though.

Foggle, I've been told he's smarter than I thought so I'll try him out on Galaxy and Sonic as well. This looks like a good start, thanks fellas. I will be playing these with him as well (Perhaps I'll get over my dislike for Nintendo in the process... I am interested in the Switch)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 21, 2016, 10:16:29 AM
I played a few hours of Shantae: Risky's Revenge early this morning. I am starting to really get into this game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on December 21, 2016, 11:02:19 PM
Played the Nier Automata demo. My body was not fucking ready for Platinum Yoko Taro. Holy shit it was awesome. If this is the first level of the game, I can't even imagine what the rest is going to be like. Third-person bullet hell hack 'n slash, side-scrolling platforming, top-down shooting, huge boss fights, and a Star Fox-style flight segment - all in under 45 minutes...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 24, 2016, 12:22:38 PM
Final Fantasy 15
While I wouldn't call it my favorite Final Fantasy (that's between 4 and 8) it's definitely a fun one. I've yet to delve into the story. Hell, I'm only at the part where I first started fishing, and even then I doubled back to the town beforehand and just did my first night time hunt. The combat is certainly no Devil May Cry, and from what I'm seeing you can go in swinging till your heart's content, but I like the warp-strikes. If anything, Ascension can be a bit daunting (no problem for me) because there are so many options and it turns into "where do I start". Can't speak much about the 4 characters yet. The Regalia on the other hand, that's sum luxury car. Turned mine white.

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike
Pretty much done with Street Fighter 5. I just hate how Capcom are handling it which is unfortunate because at it's core it's so fun. It reminds me of SF3. I'm trying to remain patient for the characters but my patience ran out (especially if they won't release them all in one go). I might come back to it if there's a character for me, but I'm gonna put that on the back burner. Which brings me to USF4. Also gonna put this on the back burner for a while. This game is dead (might still have a small scene on X360). Anyway, I've never tried Makoto before so I'm gonna give her a try. I find her to be the scariest character in USF4, and she's considered top tier in 3rd Strike so, yeah.

Yugioh - Legacy of the Duelist
This one is more of a guilty pleasure. Believe it or not, but Yugioh was what got me into message boards and anime (with a bit of help from Rurouni Kenshin and DBZ). Anyway, if Konami did this game the same way they the Tag Force series I think it would've been better, not to mention a longer story considering you're going through all the generations of Yugioh. I do like that the banlist is up-to-date, but you can also play with no restrictions. I only play campaign. The meta is too wild for me to attempt online and I haven't kept up with the cards since 2006... I'm trying to play this Synchron deck, but man there are way too many combos to remember. I've always been used to First turn kill decks, but almost every deck seems like it can kill on first turn so I'm fine with the campaign lol.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on December 25, 2016, 11:43:27 PM
I'm finally playing Doom 4 and it's so good! :D Not a fan of their in-house games like Fallout 4 (please deliver us from evil again, Obsidian), but Bethesda's been on a real winning streak with their publishing choices these days - they haven't put out a bad game since Dishonored in my book.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 29, 2016, 04:47:13 PM
Street Fighter 5
Ok I lied. This is definitely the same trend I had with USF4(SSF4AE2012 at the time). I can't even go a full week without SF5. I blame Karin lol. When it comes to finding a suitable replacement for Dudley/Cody no one in the cast really compares (in my personality nor theirs). When it comes to looks (we've been down this road far too many times) Karin stands out above everyone else and then when I actually tried playing her she's just pure fun. That aside, I tried going to Guilty Gear Xrd and I do love watching it and I love the idea of having all that freedom, but for me, deep down it's just not Street Fighter (that realization when you come to an agreement with yourself that you're a Capcom shill). The joy of shimmying and crush countering is bliss. Then there's the brain excuse as well. I lack the brains to deal with all the mechanics that ASW's games like to give you. Simplify it and give me Roman Cancels and I'm good. Not saying I'm giving up on GG (almost sounds like it), just saying it's no SF (that's good though).

BUT DAMMIT I WILL HAVE AND PLAY TEKKEN 7 OVER STREET FIGHTER 5 (unless Capcom adds a character that I actually like)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 24, 2017, 01:43:23 AM
I'm playing Resident Evil 7 and this game is a revelation. Capcom finally figured out what made the old games good. It's fun, cheesy, scary, and full of interlocking rooms, tense firefights against enemies reminiscent of RE4's Regenerators, and ridiculous boss fights.

Spoiler
There is a part where you sword fight the redneck cannibal guy with chainsaws and he says "groovy." This makes it GOAT material in my book.
[close]
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on January 24, 2017, 02:58:34 AM
Welp, that's a purchase for me then.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 25, 2017, 10:47:31 PM
I beat the game in two sessions of 5-6 hours each. It was actually a struggle to go to bed at 3am after the first one. That should tell you something about its quality. :D

Overall, I'd say it's my third favorite Resident Evil game; this is actually extremely high praise, as I consider REmake and RE4 to be literally perfect. The first hour is a little slow and perhaps not "gamey" enough (though it does have its moments), but everything after that ranges from great to fantastic. It's an excellent blend of classic RE with elements of more modern horror games like Dead Space and Outlast, developed by many of the staff who worked on Haunting Ground. The story is surprisingly engaging and funny, smartly ignoring the convoluted post-RE4 canon while establishing multiple plot threads to be used in future installments. It also manages to be damn scary at times, with many intense moments and some well-placed jump scares. I give it a very enthusiastic recommendation. (And pick up The Evil Within while you're at it... I know you still haven't!)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 04, 2017, 04:10:02 PM
So, I've always been a bit stingy with money, but I had been saving up for a PS4 for a while. I planned to pick one up this summer, but then said fuck it and just bought one today, since I had already had enough money stashed aside for it since Christmas.

Now to just be stingy until I decide to actually fork in some cash to play some actual games on it. :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 04, 2017, 10:26:29 PM
That's great! Games I'd recommend for you:

The Evil Within - This is basically a direct sequel to Resident Evil 4. It's got some problems/aspects you might not appreciate and it can be fairly clunky at times but I was blown away by it and still stand by my opinion that it's a fantastic game.

Transformers Devastation - It's Metal Gear Rising with Transformers.

Bloodborne - It's not quite a character action game, but it's a lot faster and deeper than most action RPGs. You might want to have a guide handy if you want to find some of the more interesting weapons, but it's a masterpiece of game, narrative, and atmosphere design IMO. The DLC pack is also essential, featuring two insanely good boss fights and one of the game's most interesting locations.

Resident Evil 7 - It's basically classic RE with modern controls and production values. I know you've always been interested in the original games but don't particularly enjoy tank controls, and this is probably Capcom's first truly great game since Dragon's Dogma, so I highly recommend it if you're ever in the mood for a horror title. Speaking of which...

Resident Evil Origins Collection - Includes REmake with a simpler (non-tank) control scheme. You gotta' get it.

Ratchet & Clank - One of the most fun games on any system and an excellent introductory entry into the series. I suggest playing on Hard difficulty, which I think is almost perfectly balanced, as Medium might be a little too easy for you.

Doom - Just an all-around excellent single-player FPS. Shit multiplayer, though.

Wolfenstein: The New Order - Though the gameplay mechanics and loop are not quite as satisfying as those of the new Doom, the Half-Life 2-inspired campaign packs a lot of variety and a great story into its relatively lengthy run time. The Old Blood is also worth checking out, but it's a lot weaker than the main game, and a lot of people I know don't seem to enjoy it much, so use caution.

Yakuza 0 - The absolute best jumping-on point for the long-running series. It's not a particularly challenging game, but the fights are fun anyway, and everything else about it is just sublime.

Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition - Turbo Mode really makes a difference. I could never go back after playing it in DMC3, and I can't go back after playing it in 4 either.

Nier Automata - It's not out yet, but you know I gotta' pimp this one. ;) Check out the free demo on the PS Store!

And here are some other great games that I'm not sure would appeal to you personally, but I'll go ahead and recommend anyway:

Overwatch - If you're looking for a team/class-based multiplayer FPS, this is probably the best one I've ever played. The PS4 community is a bit shit, though, with lots of little kids who have no idea what they're doing and cheaters who use third-party peripherals to play with keyboard/mouse.

Saints Row 4 Re-Elected - One of last gen's hidden gems, the PS4 port is pretty bad but the gameplay and writing are absolutely excellent. Just a bundle of fun, even for people who don't normally enjoy GTA-style open-world games (even my girlfriend loves it!), and it's even better in co-op.

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered - One of the PS3's best exclusives remastered on the PS4 to make the watercolor-painted graphics even more beautiful. Easily my favorite SRPG of all time.

Hitman: The Complete First Season - The first Hitman game to truly be intuitive, this is one of the greatest stealth titles in existence. Be forewarned that it does feature online DRM (requiring you to log on once per play session to acquire gear unlocks), even on console. However, it's absolutely worth playing regardless, because these unlocks aren't really necessary to get tens of hours of enjoyment out of it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on February 05, 2017, 12:09:01 AM
I'll second Bloodborne, Transformers, DOOM, and DMC and add:

Strider - Fantastic revival of a classic series that combines fast-paced 2D action with Metroidvania-style gameplay

Odin Sphere- Reworks the combat system of the original into something far more fast-paced, satisfying and character-action based.

God Eater Resurrection and Rage Burst- Not sure how interested you are in Monster Hunter-style games, but GE is more action-oriiented, if a little repetitive.

Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator - the quintessential anime fighter. Has an excellent tutorial mode that goes the extra mile into letting even casual players learn the games deeper mechanics.

Nioh - I shouldn't even need to explain by now. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 05, 2017, 01:11:35 AM
You guys really think that you need to recommend a DMC remastered edition to me? As if that isn't one of the first things that I would get. :sly:

Foggle: I actually never said that I had a problem with tank controls. That was Spark. I've been wanting to play the old-school RE games for a while now. I'm holding off on RE7 for that reason, so that I can experience some of the classics first. Most of the other games that you listed have been on my radar for a while. I'm most interested in getting into the Yakuza series, but I'd like to start from scratch. I hear that the first game is rough and hasn't aged the best but is worth experiencing for the story (minus the notoriously bad English dub), but everything from 2 onwards is excellent (at least as far as the main series goes). What are your thoughts on it?

Rynnec: I've actually already played Strider a couple of years ago on the XBOX360, which I still have. But yes, it is a great game, and it's due for a replay by me one of these days. And I love what I've played of GGXR with my brother. I'll eventually be getting that as well as SFV so that I can play them on,ime with my older brother (he mainly plays Street Fighter, but he does dabble in GG and KOFXIV as well). I'd definitely like to give those other games that you listed a try.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on February 05, 2017, 01:36:01 AM
I'd stay away from SFV unless you're a hardcore/pro player honestly. The game virtually has nothing in the way of content and has a shit ton of update issues. Not to mention you have to shell out money for a season pass.

I would recommend Mortal Kombat XL, however.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 05, 2017, 03:19:12 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 05, 2017, 01:11:35 AM
You guys really think that you need to recommend a DMC remastered edition to me? As if that isn't one of the first things that I would get. :sly:
I figured it was already on your radar, that's why I put it near the bottom. :D

QuoteFoggle: I actually never Saudi had a problem with tank controls. That was Spark. I've been wanting to play the old-school RE games for a while now. I'm holding off on RE7 for that reason, so that I can experience some of the classics first.
Oh, okay! I actually recommend playing REmake with the tank controls, then, as that's the way it was intended and it honestly feels better to me that way (maybe out of habit?). Even though they come bundled together, I wouldn't bother with RE0 until you've at least played RE2 and 3 (and maybe Code Veronica), since it's extremely tedious and not particularly good IMO.

QuoteI'm most interested in getting into the Yakuza series, but I'd like to start from scratch. I hear that the first game is rough and hasn't aged the best but is worth experiencing for the story (minus the notoriously bad English dub), but everything from 2 onwards is excellent (at least as far as the main series goes. What are your thoughts on it?
Yakuza Kiwami (a remake of the original game) is releasing in English sometime this summer, so you won't have to bother with the clunky, dubbed PS2 version. Yakuza 0 is actually the best one to start with, as Kiwami features new story content following up certain plot threads from 0, meaning it pulls double duty as a sequel AND remake somehow. Yakuza 0 isn't one of those prequels that spoils later games, and I believe it's intended by Sega to be the first one played by newcomers at this point, so go ahead and pick it up!

Unfortunately, Yakuza 2 is extremely expensive to get a hold of these days, but I have a feeling Sega will release it as a PS2 Classic on PS4 after Kiwami comes out here. Then you'll just need a PS3 to catch up on parts 3-5. ;) Really, if you end up enjoying Yakuza 0 and Ratchet & Clank, I'd highly recommend picking up a cheap PS3 eventually just to play the rest of those (main) series. There's so many good games between them that they alone could make the purchase worthwhile.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 05, 2017, 03:26:26 AM
Quote from: Rynnec on February 05, 2017, 01:36:01 AM
I'd stay away from SFV unless you're a hardcore/pro player honestly. The game virtually has nothing in the way of content and has a shit ton of update issues. Not to mention you have to shell out money for a season pass.

I've actually played quite a bit of SFV with my brother already back when I was home in New Jersey. The game's single-player content is pitiful, but the multiplayer was incredibly fun, especially when playing it offline and not having to deal with any lag. That said I have heard troubling things about the updates nerfing a lot of characters and making the game less fun to play. I may have to take that into consideration since I haven't touched the game since last summer.

QuoteI would recommend Mortal Kombat XL, however.

I already tried this one too. The thing about MK is that, while I've always appreciated its story-mode and huge wealth of content, I simply can't get into its combat system. It has always been like that since the old-school classics. I suppose you could say that I have the exact opposite problem with this series than what I have with Street Fighter. In this case, I like just about everything in the main games except the actual fighting. I mean, yes it's technical and skill-based and is designed to appeal to both casuals as well as the tournament crowd, but the way that movement and general mechanics work in these games just comes off feeling a bit too clunky to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 05, 2017, 03:35:54 AM
Yakuza 0 does sound like a good starting point, in that case. This video also convinced me to give it a shot: http://youtu.be/CU-z4Csf1Tc
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 05, 2017, 03:44:18 AM
Yes! The first main beat 'em up stage is ridiculously awesome. I was actually cheering at points during it. :il_hahaha: The build-up is great, too. After two slow (but enjoyable) hours of character development and plot establishment, the excellent combat scenario you're rewarded with feels so great. It's like a well-placed action scene in a movie that's just so much better because of what was leading up to it. Yakuza 2 and 5 also do this sort of build-up very well IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 05, 2017, 06:20:30 AM
I'd also recommend staying away from Street Fighter 5. I mean, it should be cheap now, but you have a Season Pass and a Character Pass (only Akuma available right now) to get if you want to keep up with everyone as well. From a casual perspective, this game is done (unless Capcom is actually going to add everything that should've been there to begin with and fix simple issues that should've never been there). If you still get SF5 anyway, give me a holler (I haven't touch it since my last post here) I'd probably hold out on getting Guilty Gear as well, at least until Rev2.

I haven't been playing anything as of late. Laziness, tiredness and just waiting for that one game (Mass Effect Andromeda) although I did buy Gravity Rush 2. Thinking about buying Tales of Berseria. Even though I got 2 days to wait, my interest in Nioh is starting to wane a bit.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 05, 2017, 01:16:53 PM
I totally get losing interest in other games because you're too excited for one particular upcoming title. I'm so pumped for Nier Automata that I'm finding it difficult to focus on Yakuza 0 despite how fantastic it is.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 05, 2017, 08:19:57 PM
I heartily recommend Double Dragon IV. I played a bunch of it today with a friend. It plays like NES Double Dragon II only with a front face kick and more moves. The game is also at a good length and the tower mode is pretty crazy difficult.

There are a lot of people dumping on this, but it's actually really well done. It feels like an NES game the way Mega Man 9 and 10 did only without the slowdown and with slightly higher res. It's also really hard: if you play co-op the enemy count doubles. Just be sure to put the music on retro. The new tracks aren't anything special, but they sound less bland on the retro setting. Some people are saying it feels like a fan game, but I don't see it. It's almost an exact carbon copy of NES DDII in everything except the amount of moves you can do and the enemies on screen.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 05, 2017, 08:34:06 PM
Feeling like a fan game shouldn't even be an insult to be honest. There are some damn good fan games out there, and it's not like they'd have been able to get the original development team back to work on a new Double Dragon in 2017 anyway. People can be so picky.

In other news, your post just now helped me discover this existed, and it looks like I'll have to check it out! :D I also need to play that recent River City Ransom sequel...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 05, 2017, 08:40:24 PM
Halo SPV3 is a fan game and it's considered to be one of the best Halo games out there, official or otherwise. Saying that something feels like a fan game is not detractor in my eyes.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 05, 2017, 09:10:44 PM
I don't know, it's a weird insult. But if you played and enjoy DDII for the NES, I can't imagine not liking this.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 06, 2017, 02:59:17 PM
Seeing as how Streets Of Rage Remake is possibly my favorite game ever...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Pharass on February 07, 2017, 12:52:45 PM
Can I vent for a bit?

One of the games I've been playing recently is Freedom Planet, which I picked up when it was for sale on Gog. Its a pretty good game, so far; nice graphics and good gameplay, strongly inspired by the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games. However, it does have what I consider to be a rather huge flaw, at least for a modern game.
Said flaw being the save-function, or rather the lack of one.

I do not understand why some modern games decide to do this. Its 2017 and I should be able to save my game whenever I wish. At the very least, it would be nice if the game gave me an option to save before a boss-fight, so that I could turn the game off, should I grow tired off it,  without having to replay the entire level again. That's not too much to ask, is it?

Sigh, maybe emulators have made me soft. Or, maybe its because I don't play these type of games that often, at least not these days.

I've also been trying to play Fire Emblem Heroes. "Trying" being the key-word here, because the game keeps kicking me back to the desktop. At first, I thought that it could be because I hadn't updated my Ipad for some time, so I did. Guess what? It still keeps quitting on me.
Most frustrating.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 07, 2017, 08:20:38 PM
I think every game should give the player the ability to save and quit whenever they want to. Maybe they could have the game delete the file once it was loaded to prevent save-scumming or something, but it would make gaming so much more convenient for many people.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 07, 2017, 08:27:59 PM
Picked up Nioh today. I won't really get a chance to play it until the weekend though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 07, 2017, 10:31:43 PM
Heh, I have been stalled on a Hard run of Freedom Planet for awhile. Funny enough, it has good checkpoints...but starts you at the beginning of the level with saves.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 11, 2017, 11:23:38 AM
I literally spent the my entire evening later night playing Nioh until two in the morning.

Where the fuck has this Team Ninja been for the past decade? This game may be Dark Souls in concept, but it's completely old-school Team Ninja in execution, and it's excellence personified. Words cannot describe how happy I am to see this development team go back to the roots of their game designing philosophy and actually turn out a great product once again in the first time in forever.

And yes, while it owes a ton to Dark Souls, and while it can't come close to matching the level design or bosses of those games, it excels in many areas of its own, namely with its combat and customization options, which I'll post about in detail at some point later on.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 11, 2017, 06:30:54 PM
Nioh sold out at Amazon the day it was released or a day after. I need to start taking advantage of pre-ordering, but can't get around to doing so (bills, student loans, etc.) I've been hearing nothing but positive feedback about Nioh and the only thing I can say is that Team Ninja should've abandoned Ninja Gaiden after Itagaki left. That was his game (Konami is in the same boat) and without him behind it you're asking for failure.

Installing Gravity Rush 2, Batman Arkham City and Knight. Lots of stressful days in the past couple of weeks at work and needing to release. At times like this I need Shenmue.... SHIT, "goes to order Yakuza 0"
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 14, 2017, 08:23:17 PM
So I recently played through A Link Between Worlds (finally) and lord have mercy that game was wonderful. I loved everything about it, though there were one or two moments I found a little tedious. Damn near perfect game. Excellent level design, beautiful music (the Lorule overworld theme!!!), best 2D Zelda gameplay ever, charming graphics and animations, fun story and dialogue; what a gem. Think I'm gonna' have to play some more of these while I wait for Nier Automata. :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 14, 2017, 08:35:54 PM
Yeah, it's one of my favorite games in the series and the reason I'm excited for Breath of the Wild. The non-linearity really gives it the kick in the pants to make it so much different from the other games. Also, that Dark World remix is gorgeous and one of my favorite Zelda tracks. I would say it's probably the best 2D Zelda game overall.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 14, 2017, 08:50:05 PM
It's definitely up there for me, probably my favorite game on the 3DS. You know a game is good when it can actually keep me glued to a handheld system for hours at a time. Really top notch stuff, and definitely made me a lot more excited for BotW as well. I'm playing through LttP right now and I think I'll go for another run of Link's Awakening, Minish Cap, or the Oracle games afterward depending on how much time I have left before Nier releases. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 14, 2017, 08:57:36 PM
Also, I was playing Deux Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut for the Wii U. My friend lent me his copy and it doesn't work 90% of the time, so I had to stop after a good chunk of gameplay.

I wish it was easier for me to play these games, because they're a lot of fun. Great level design, a lot of things to do and places to go, and the game is just fun. Also can't get enough of Adam Jensen's voice actor: "I never asked for this." He has the best delivery. Wish I could play it more, but I really enjoyed what I played.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 14, 2017, 09:03:22 PM
Glad you like it! That game is really great, and the Wii U version is the best way to play it unless you can somehow acquire copies of the non-Director's Cut and DLC packs for PC. The new one's good too despite the myriad of BS imposed on the team by Square Enix - need to get around to finishing it, actually. I also love Jensen's voice actor, and Sarif's as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 14, 2017, 09:11:11 PM
I almost wish there was a Director's Cut version for the Switch so I could pick that up. What I've played of the series has been great, but getting them together on the PC is a lot of work for me.

But yeah I like the gameplay variety Human Revolution offers. The different ways to approach situations and the aesthetics are top notch. With so many AAA games going for less and less it's nice to see a series that hasn't forgotten its roots.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Pharass on February 15, 2017, 11:25:51 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 07, 2017, 08:27:59 PM
Picked up Nioh today. I won't really get a chance to play it until the weekend though.

I recognize the title, is it the game based on an unused Kurosawa movie-script, or am I thinking of another game?

Currently, I'm eagerly waiting for Night In the Woods (http://nightinthewoods.com) to come out. It looks just like my kind of game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 15, 2017, 12:31:53 PM
Yes, that's the same game that you're thinking of, though story-wise it clearly resembles nothing of Kurosawa's work, but to be fair it's not a game that one would really play for the story.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 20, 2017, 11:35:54 PM
Damn, people weren't lying when they said how long this game was. I've been playing for 15+ hours collectively and I'm only just now starting on the second island. Granted, I'm a very slow player and like to dick around with different armor builds a lot, so that easily eats up at least half of my play-time. But still, from what I can tell I'm not even a quarter of the way through the game, yet.

I do think that I may have over-leveled a bit. Not because I've gone out of my way to grind, but because I don't hesitate to spend Amrita whenever I have enough to level up, so I never have to deal with losing all of my Amrita upon consecutive deaths. I'm currently level 42, and I'm well above the recommended levels for the missions that I'm currently taking on, and that's not actually what I want, so I'm considering letting it go for a while until I start matching up to the recommendations in order to keep my experience a bit more challenging. I've been watching some of TS17's videos, and he's much further in the game than I am, and is only at level 68 with a Ninja build taking on level 100+ missions. And this is a blind play-through, so it's on the spot and without any prior practice or experience, unlike his normal walkthroughs. At this stage most enemies can one-shot him, but it's impressive how well he's still able to play despite all of this. He hasn't died nearly as much as I expected.

Anyways, I'm loving this game so far. I've only played part of Dark Souls, but I love the action RPG formula that it set-up, and Nioh manages to borrow a lot from it while adding in much of its own flavor. In particular, it has arguably the best  real-time combat system that I've ever seen from any RPG that I've ever played. You can really tell that this is from a team with a lot of experience in the character action genre. About my only gripe is that the enemy variety is a bit lacking for a game of this length. To be fair, though, there are some new ones introduced every couple of levels to keep things fresh. As for the level design, while I'm disappointed that it's not one big interconnected world like in Dark Souls, I've come to love and appreciate it in its own way. They are sectioned off into missions, but the levels themselves can be tackled in a non-linear fashion with multiple branching paths and lots of secrets and surprises (both good and bad) to find waiting around every corner. What I like, though, is that essentially the levels feel like if you combined DOOM's labrynth-style dungeons with a hack-and-slash action game, plus the shortcuts from Dark Souls for good measure. It's a very interesting set-up that feels rather unique to this genre.

One thing that I do want to somewhat bitch about is the Tachibana Muneshige boss fight. Now, to be fair this fight is optional, but of course I'm not going to skip a boss fight (plus, that Paired Raikiri Guardian Spirits reward is just too good to pass-up). It took me so many tries, despite being well-above the recommended level, not because the boss was unbeatable, but because on-top of having ridiculous stamina, his ability to not have to adhere to rules that you and other enemies have to is flat-out unfair. Even with all of that stamina, he can chain combos on you with almost no set-up time, and if he hits you just once or twice it could easily break your guard and leave you vulnerable to be punished. And he might as well have just one-shotted me since it only ever takes him a single hit to stagger you, and at that point you'll be lucky if you ever manage to recover and dodge out of the way before he can finish you off with the rest of his combo. And as if that wasn't bad enough, his attacks have ridiculous range considering that he's only using a Katana, and with questionable hit-boxes to boot, so there are many times when you would swear you successfully dodged only to have three-quarters of your health-bar depleted and your character basically out of stamina and ready to be finished off. It took a while, but my strategy of using the Spear to poke him for some quick damage from a good distance whenever he was in recovery frames after an attack worked to slowly whittle away his health, while I waited for him to run out of stamina in order to knock him down and use an execution grapple on him for big damage. Occasionally when he messed up big-time, I would use the leg-sweep attack to knock him off of his feet and get a free opportunity to perform an execution. It took a lot of patience and perseverance, but it finally worked. Still, I just don't like boss fights like that. They are certainly hard, but not in a fun way.

That aside, this game is absolutely amazing so far. It's Team Ninja's best game since Ninja Gaiden Black (yes, I like it even more than NG2, and I'm a fan of that game), and I highly recommend it to anyone with a PS4 who likes a good action game with RPG elements. It's easily going to remain as one of the best games of the year.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on February 22, 2017, 07:28:25 PM
I got all 120 stars in Super Mario 64.

Whoever believes this game is flawless hasn't played it since they were 10.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 22, 2017, 09:11:24 PM
Playing Nier Automata now. I couldn't wait for the miraculous dream-come-true Platinum Games sequel to my all-time favorite game so I gave in and bought the Japanese digital version, which comes with full English VA and text. Anyway, it's as amazing as I was hoping for - excellent, ridiculous gameplay, beautiful music, and one freaking weird story. It's missing the wonderfully written, likable characters from the original Nier so far, but then again, I'm only 4 hours in, so this might change at some point. It's the darkest and most serious entry in the series since Drakengard 1 (as well as the most bizarre), but it's still got some great humor at points. One scene involving robot "sex" made me laugh extremely hard, and, as it turns out, there aren't just four main endings (A-D as in previous titles), but also 22 joke endings (E-Z). There's a trophy tied to it, and most of them are missable/hard to find, so that's sure to piss achievement hunters off. Classic Yoko Taro trolling! The demo from a few months ago takes place about 10 minutes into the game, and the sequence leading up to it is fantastic.
Spoiler
It's a bullet hell shoot 'em up sequence that runs through every major camera style of the genre (top-down, dual stick, horizontal, and 3D) all within the span of around 5 minutes. And yes, there are other levels like it later in the game.
[close]

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on February 22, 2017, 07:28:25 PM
I got all 120 stars in Super Mario 64.

Whoever believes this game is flawless hasn't played it since they were 10.
I've noticed that with a lot of sacred cow games. Don't really like commenting on it as much anymore, though, since I don't want to stir the pot. :sweat: Good perseverance! I 101%'d Donkey Kong 64 about a year ago and that was just... oh god. Never again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on February 23, 2017, 12:58:19 AM
I didn't know it was out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 23, 2017, 01:08:22 AM
It is in Japan. March 7th in the US.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 23, 2017, 08:50:04 PM
I do want to play Nier: Automata, but I don't know anything about the previous games like the first Nier or the Drakengard series. Is it alright to just watch a compilation of the story content on YouTube before coming into Automata, or should I actually go back to the old titles? From what I hear, though, some of the older Drakengard games have pretty "meh" gameplay and can feel like a slog to play through. The first Nier seems to be liked well enough, though. Maybe I'll hunt down a copy of that for my XBOX360 if it's fairly affordable online.

It'll be a while before I get to anything else, though. Nioh is eating up most of my free-time, and it doesn't look like I'll be done with it anytime soon given how long this game is. Most sources say that it takes an average of something between 60-80 hours to clear on your first run through. Then again, there is a speed-runner who recently just nailed a world record and beat the game from scratch in under two hours, so it is possible to play it at any pace it seems. That said, I'm definitely in no rush to clear it. I'm enjoying my experience so far, though some levels aren't my cup of tea. Most recently I cleared a mining area mission with lots of poison pits and death traps, and I really wasn't a fan of it at all. That said, thankfully not every level is like this....so far, anyways. I'm hoping that these features don't become too overly-prevalent the further along I get as I continue to make progress.

But seriously, though, some tedious bits aside, this is honestly one of the best gaming experiences that I've had in years.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 24, 2017, 03:41:20 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 23, 2017, 08:50:04 PM
I do want to play Nier: Automata, but I don't know anything about the previous games like the first Nier or the Drakengard series. Is it alright to just watch a compilation of the story content on YouTube before coming into Automata, or should I actually go back to the old titles? From what I hear, though, some of the older Drakengard games have pretty "meh" gameplay and can feel like a slog to play through. The first Nier seems to be liked well enough, though. Maybe I'll hunt down a copy of that for my XBOX360 if it's fairly affordable online.
Each successive game is more enjoyable if you've played the previous one just because of references and lore implications, but they're all pretty standalone to be honest. At this point I would recommend playing Nier Automata first, and then if you like its style of gameplay & storytelling, check out the original Nier afterward. Nier 1's gameplay is much clunkier (very PS2-esque), but it's still very fun and creative IMO, and I like its story/characters a lot more as of right now. If you end up liking that too, then MAYBE check out Drakengard 1 & 3, and make sure to have a walkthrough at the ready for the former. The first one is an art game and isn't much fun to play at all, really only enjoyable for the weird-ass story and bizarre presentation. The third one is a medieval fantasy sex comedy held together by duct tape from the developers of Deadly Premonition... you'll already know if you want to play it based on that description, I feel. Don't bother with Drakengard 2, it's shit and non-canon due to not being written/directed by Yoko Taro.

I'm glad to hear Nioh is so good. I really want to get it sometime soon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on February 25, 2017, 12:25:27 AM
I finally decided to hook up my 360 again, and I started to play the first DMC. At first, it didn't seem as hard as I was expecting, given its reputation. Then I hit the first boss.

I'm pausing for tonight, so I don't stay up all night and get more aggravated. But it is a good game so far. I'm liking the combat a lot, even though I'm using my blade a lot more. I'll use the guns to phase, but I mainly slash thus far.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 25, 2017, 12:39:43 AM
Awesome! DMC1 is actually pretty short, so you could probably clear it in about 4-6 hours on your first playthrough. The game really isn't too bad once you understand enemy patterns and weaknesses. In particular, the Shadows are an enemy type that may seem tough at first until you realize how you're actually supposed to fight them (their namesake is a clue to how they behave in combat, *hint*hint*).

After that, I recommend skipping DMC2 (there is no need to play it for story, as it doesn't connect back to any of the other games, and the gameplay is atrocious), and going straight to DMC3, the best game in the franchise by far. If you enjoy DMC3, then 4 would also be worth your time as it's much in the same vain.

In general, though, it's imporant to note that the first DMC, while a definitive classic in my book, is very different in both feel and overall gameplay style from all of the sequels. DMC has a reputation for being a game series with over-the-top action and crazy-stylish combos, but what a lot of people don't realize is that it's DMC3 that first really started that whole trend. The first DMC has combos and such, but it's not so focused on going crazy with weapon switching and juggling enemies, so trying to approach it that way will be a quick way to get yourself killed. It really is better to approach situations with a lot more caution and reservation than you might expect for a game of this nature, and have a good grasp on enemy attack patterns and how to exploit them for max damage, especially when it comes to the bosses.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on February 25, 2017, 09:36:02 AM
I was thinking of skipping 2, based on what I've read, and yeah, I think I'll at least put it on hold for now and go to 3 when I'm done with the first. Thank you. And additionally, thanks for that tip.

I got the trilogy for $2 a while ago. I can't find 4 for as good of a price right now, but if I keep on enjoying the games as I am right now, I wouldn't mind paying a little more. I'll let you know how I feel if I get to play more tonight.

Also, I didn't get a wireless adapter to connect to X-Box Live, so I can't update the console to play original X-Box games. I'm thinking of just bringing my original console back from home at this point, considering how much of a burden it's been getting to play Ninja Gaiden. I've additionally been wanting to go through Vice City again, so I would get use out of it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 26, 2017, 01:24:11 AM
Watching TS17's blind playthrough of Nier: Automota and how he struggled to make it past the first stage is one of the funniest things that I've seen in a while: http://youtu.be/nMf6kzOuwIM

Fair warning that he talks a lot of smack about the game during the first hour or so because of being booted to the main menu and being forced to play from scratch each time, but he also goes on to say that he will say all sorts of things during the heat of the moment when he's under pressure. So he initially seems to have this odd sort of love/hate-relationship with Nier, but either way, it's just really funny to listen to his commentary.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 26, 2017, 03:44:38 PM
Been working like crazy lately (7 days a week at the moment).

Mini rant incoming

Went back to playing Street Fighter x Tekken. It's crazy to think about the amount of heat this game got for the DLC stuff (rightfully so), but at least the game was complete, not to mention that the game is good/fun. Fast forward to today, Capcom throw in $250,000 and these same fans that murdered x Tekken are the same folks shilling hard for Street Fighter 5 and it's mind boggling. I've said it before, at its core, Street Fighter 5's game play is top notch, but they removed what was fun in season 1. The neutral game (I swear I'm growing so tired of hearing/reading about this) is what they're supposed to be focusing on but give me back the setups, high/low mixups, left/right mixups and vortex for that matter.

Anyway, as said, I went back to playing SFxT and this was how I wanted SF4 to turn out. 1-frame links were there, but they weren't needed (Except for probably Kazuya ). I suppose I could've done away with the tagging because it made the combos too long for me. I like stylish combos over long winded ones, but looking at it now I don't mind it here in xT because the most you're getting is 4-5 hits. And then there's the character roster. I know for certain I said that it's better to have a roster size of about 20-25 characters, but you tend to rethink things when you come across an incomplete game with great gameplay but boring characters.

Jin, Hwaorang, Dudley (of course), Steve, Ryu and Kazuya are the ones I'm playing. Jin/Dudley, Jin/Kazuya, and Jin/Hwaorang will be my go to teams.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 27, 2017, 01:51:36 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 26, 2017, 01:24:11 AM
Watching TS17's blind playthrough of Nier: Automota and how he struggled to make it past the first stage is one of the funniest things that I've seen in a while: http://youtu.be/nMf6kzOuwIM

Fair warning that he talks a lot of smack about the game during the first hour or so because of being booted to the main menu and being forced to play from scratch each time, but he also goes on to say that he will say all sorts of things during the heat of the moment when he's under pressure. So he initially seems to have this odd sort of love/hate-relationship with Nier, but either way, it's just really funny to listen to his commentary.
Automata is really brutal on Hard difficulty, especially at the beginning. Unfortunately, Normal is also a little too easy unless you purposefully gimp yourself by not equipping the more OP chips. The game is still very fun regardless, but I do think they could have done a bit better with the balancing. Since there are no difficulty trophies, I'd wager the best way to play is to start on Normal mode and then switch to Hard once the game starts losing its challenge - that way it scales more like a proper character action game and less like an RPG.

Anyway, I'm pretty much finished with it now; I've still got a few side quests left to do as well as the superbosses, but that's about it. Don't take that as me implying it's short, as I dedicated a large portion of each day since Wednesday to playing it, to the point where I'm now sleep-deprived from staying up way too late every night. :il_hahaha:

In the end, it's not really a "normal" Platinum game or action RPG at all. The hack 'n slash combat is extremely well-developed and all the elements of a proper role-playing title are there, but while the original Nier had a penchant for throwing bullet hell sequences at you, this one is a bona fide 3D danmaku - the first of its kind that I'm aware of. Its difficulty level probably even rivals Cave shooters on the OHKO Very Hard setting. Even on Normal, the true final boss is basically impossible unless... well, I won't spoil it, but it's one of the finest moments in gaming history in terms of both absurdity and beauty. Not even exaggerating. You won't guess what it is, and it's utterly brilliant. Second best game ending of all time after its predecessor IMO.

As for the story, I found it both engaging and somewhat disappointing. The actual plot is - in a word - bizarre, while the themes and morals driving it are wonderfully conveyed. Unfortunately, the characters don't have as much dialogue or development as those of the first game. It's intentional, but I can't help feeling let down by this, as no one writes party banter like Yoko Taro and his team. There's still plenty of humor and memorable NPCs, but I never really felt a connection with the protagonists. Again, it's intentional, but it left me feeling a little hollow.

Also, now that I've beaten it, I would highly recommend playing the original Nier before this one unless you're okay with having the majority of its plot spoiled for you. The connections are only sly references at first, but by the end of the game it develops into what can more or less be considered a direct sequel, answering some of the questions left standing at the end of its predecessor and further developing the Drakenier universe into something even more twisted and perverse. You don't need to play Drakengard 1 or 3, though, as they're only vaguely alluded to in Automata.

Overall, I haven't enjoyed a game this much in a long time (and considering how much I loved RE7, that's really saying something). It's got a little bit of everything I love about the medium - tight melee combat, intense dodge-heavy shooting, platforming, exploration - with a lot of humor, a unique story, and a beautiful soundtrack. I'm not sure I prefer it over the original, as that one was a real lightning-in-a bottle experience that I don't think can ever be truly recreated, but it comes damn close.

Oh, and I'm sure it goes without saying, but it's not anywhere near finished the first time the credits roll. If you haven't seen Ending E, you haven't really played the game! ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Pharass on February 27, 2017, 01:23:51 PM
Finished Night In the Woods yesterday. Great game, it definitely lived up to my expectations; its been awhile since I was this absorbed in a game.
The only real complaint I have (and its a minor one) regards the rather large amount of loading screens.

Some random observations:

On my next play-through, I shall try to do better at the band-practice rhythm-game, I kind of sucked at that.
There were times when I got the feeling that no matter what dialogue-prompt I picked, it would end up with Mae (the main character) screwing things up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on February 28, 2017, 01:09:52 PM
So apparently I can't save? I need to invest in a memory card and.or a wireless adapter so I can log into Live.

I'm so over this damn system. Every time I think I solve one problem, a new one comes, and I'm tired of all the investments. I'm just going to bring my original X-Box from home and forget about the 360.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 01, 2017, 08:45:25 PM
Nier Automata is selling really well in Japan! It almost hit 200,000 copies sold in its first week, which is about 3 times the amount the original did on launch. This makes it Platinum's second most successful game in their home country (after MGR), and it's even outselling Resident Evil 7 over there. This is great news, and means that a Nier Remaster and Nier 3 will very likely happen!

Quote from: Avaitor on February 28, 2017, 01:09:52 PM
So apparently I can't save? I need to invest in a memory card and.or a wireless adapter so I can log into Live.

I'm so over this damn system. Every time I think I solve one problem, a new one comes, and I'm tired of all the investments. I'm just going to bring my original X-Box from home and forget about the 360.
Huh, I thought the Xbox 360 had a built-in hard drive. ??? My launch console does...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 01, 2017, 09:34:34 PM
Glad to hear that Nier is doing so well in its home country. With the increasing amount of AAA Japanese games being made more to cater to an international audience, it's always refreshing to see a relatively big-budget title that doesn't give a fuck and just caters to its own fanbase, regardless of whether it has broad appeal or not. That's not a knock against games like RE7 or various other modern Japanese IPs, to be clear. I just appreciate that there are still a few games out there that aren't afraid of whether they would alienate a mainstream audience in favor of the director and developers bringing forth their own artistic vision of what they want the game to truly be and feel like.

I've been playing more of Nioh, each chance I get. I really can't stress enough how much I love this game's combat system. At any rate, I don't by any means think that the game is perfect, and I have my pet peeves with it as well as one or two major issues which hold it back from being as great as something like NGB, but I absolutely can't stand the backlash against this game. It happens with any game that gets a lot of buzz and good critical reception, and I'm all for making fair criticisms, but I see a lot of obnoxious comments that show how little of an understanding some people have of the game's mechanics, with people either bashing it for being too similar to Dark Souls (which it may be in regard to its general formula, but not at all in terms of actual gameplay mechanics) or not being enough like Souls game, which completely misses the point of this game being its own thing as a different developer's take on this unique sub-genre of challenging action RPGs.

One thing that I love about Team Ninja's design in this game is how they approach enemy and boss design. Mind you, it doesn't all work. There are some enemy types and bosses that I absolutely can't stand (fuck that goddamn Umi-Bozu fight), but the vast majority of them are both challenging and fun to fight, but as an added bonus Team Ninja really gives some of these enemy types s lot of interestinf personslity. For example, there are these wall demons that act like mini-bosses if you attack them and can unlock secret rooms or alternate pathways through levels if you defeat them. However, you can also completely avoid fighting them and get them to submit in one of two ways. One way is that you can find an alternate path that leads behind some of them. Now, their backs blend in completely with whichever wall they are a part of and you can easily overlook it, but observing carefully reveals a scroll attached to their backside, and upon removing it, they completely crumble. However even when facing them from the front, you can get them to peacefully leave if you select s proper specific gesture to use in front of them. You only get two tries, so it can seem like a bit of a crap-shoot and real luck-of-the-draw type scenario, but observant players will notice that almost all of them have Revenant graves lying near their location, and upon reading that Revenant's cause of death, it will actually give you a clue as to what gesture is the correct one to use in front of them. Those are two really interesting alternate ways to deal with a unique and interesting enemy type, and without having to resort to any sort of fighting.

Another interesting aspect of this game though is how Team Ninja designs almost all bosses with clear weaknesses. While some bosses can be a bit too much like attack sponges when fought normally, many have Mega-Man style weaknesses to one of the various different kinds of Guardian Spirits which you can acquire and equip throughout the game. But what I especially like is scenarios like this: remember that optional Tachibana Muneshige fight that I was talking about a while back? Well, you can fight him the normal way, like this (http://youtu.be/s9lXkvBJNJs), and prevail through use of good timing, spacing, and management of your stamina. However, you can also defeat him like this (http://youtu.be/ThqtQgMH9CQ) (@ 10:54). Fucking brilliant. Team Ninja really rewards you for taking risks, experimenting, and thinking outside of the box in certain instances, and that's just damn good game design. Where the hell has this development team been the last decade? Because they certainly can't be the same team thst churned out half-assed drek like Metroid: Other M or Ninja Gaide 3/Razor's Edge. This seems like the next logical game that the Team Ninja that made games like NGB, DS, 2, and DOAU would make.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 01, 2017, 11:22:19 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 01, 2017, 08:45:25 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on February 28, 2017, 01:09:52 PM
So apparently I can't save? I need to invest in a memory card and.or a wireless adapter so I can log into Live.

I'm so over this damn system. Every time I think I solve one problem, a new one comes, and I'm tired of all the investments. I'm just going to bring my original X-Box from home and forget about the 360.
Huh, I thought the Xbox 360 had a built-in hard drive. ??? My launch console does...
I don't know what the fuck is going on, but I think there might be a problem with this particular 360.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 01, 2017, 11:54:51 PM
Out of curiosity, how old is your 360? The first one that I got died on me after just over a year, but the one that I got to replace it in 2008 has ran smoothly for me to this very day.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 02, 2017, 01:05:00 AM
I'm not sure I would consider Nier Automata to be big budget. I mean, it's certainly got more money invested in it than the previous games (especially Drakengard 3, which feels like it cost about as much as a happy meal), but it still feels like a low-to-mid budget game. Unless you mean that it has a relatively high budget in comparison to other niche Japanese titles, in which case, yeah, I'd definitely agree. There are a fair few bugs, but it's bursting with content, and it's got that nice Platinum polish to it. Someone on Reddit described it as the best PS2 game of the decade (paraphrasing), and I think that's spot on. It really feels like a high-tier sixth generation game in a lot of ways. I feel the same way about the original Nier, but some might find that opinion a bit contentious. :il_hahaha:

As for Nioh, I'm surprised to discover that Hayashi was one of the game's directors. Maybe he's finally figured out how to make a satisfying combat system!?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: VLordGTZ on March 02, 2017, 01:55:55 AM
Quote from: Avaitor on March 01, 2017, 11:22:19 PM
Quote from: Foggle on March 01, 2017, 08:45:25 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on February 28, 2017, 01:09:52 PM
So apparently I can't save? I need to invest in a memory card and.or a wireless adapter so I can log into Live.

I'm so over this damn system. Every time I think I solve one problem, a new one comes, and I'm tired of all the investments. I'm just going to bring my original X-Box from home and forget about the 360.
Huh, I thought the Xbox 360 had a built-in hard drive. ??? My launch console does...
I don't know what the fuck is going on, but I think there might be a problem with this particular 360.

There were two different models of the 360 at launch: 360 Pro and 360 Core.  The Pro came with an an internal hard drive while the Core did not have a hard drive and required memory cards for save data.  The one that you have is probably the Core model, Avaitor.  Honestly, most 360s prior to the Elite model are pretty bad due to a combination of low storage and a high chance of breaking down.  Ideally, you want either an Elite, S, or E model.  I bought a 360 S about 6 years ago, and it's continued to run perfectly.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 02, 2017, 07:43:42 AM
Quote from: Foggle on March 02, 2017, 01:05:00 AMI'm not sure I would consider Nier Automata to be big budget. I mean, it's certainly got more money invested in it than the previous games (especially Drakengard 3, which feels like it cost about as much as a happy meal), but it still feels like a low-to-mid budget game. Unless you mean that it has a relatively high budget in comparison to other niche Japanese titles, in which case, yeah, I'd definitely agree. There are a fair few bugs, but it's bursting with content, and it's got that nice Platinum polish to it. Someone on Reddit described it as the best PS2 game of the decade (paraphrasing), and I think that's spot on. It really feels like a high-tier sixth generation game in a lot of ways. I feel the same way about the original Nier, but some might find that opinion a bit contentious. :il_hahaha:

To be fair, I did specifically say "relatively" big budget. As in, it's clearly not an indie game, and had a good chunk of money from video game studio producers for funding. It's not a mega franchise blockbuster like Call of Duty or something, but it still had some sort of budget to work with.

QuoteAs for Nioh, I'm surprised to discover that Hayashi was one of the game's directors. Maybe he's finally figured out how to make a satisfying combat system!?

He co-directed the game with the same guy who he co-directed NG3 with. Though, from what I hear he was more involved as a producer for this game than as a director, and he's probably better suited to being a producer.

I don't think that he doesn't understand what makes a good combat system, since he also worked on the original Ninja Gaiden for the XBOX. I believe that KoeiTecmo in general just took a terrible approach with NG3, trying to water it down to being something completely void of any fun, all in order to cater to a mainstream audience who don't care about these sorts of games either way.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 03, 2017, 12:18:23 PM
Got my Switch! I'm updating everything.

If you want to know anything about Zelda, Bomberman, or Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, let me know!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 03, 2017, 03:17:05 PM
I probably won't get a Switch until August-ish (maybe), but I do want to hear thoughts about Zelda. I haven't listened to Easy Allies yet, but I saw IGN gave it a 10. But I'd rather hear/read genuine thoughts about the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 03, 2017, 06:06:22 PM
Sure thing.

The comparisons to the original Legend of Zelda are the most apt. It's really the only game in the series close in style to this one. I thought Wind Waker understood the adventure aspect of the old games better than any of the 3D games, but this game definitely beats it in that area.

I started up the game, woke up in a cave, met the old man, and then went off exploring. That was it. No tutorial sections, no 45 minutes of story sequences, and no hand-holding. I'm still on the plateau, but it doesn't feel very limiting at all. I'm just wandering around finding treasure, beating enemies, gathering food, and doing things at my own pace. The game is also really hard. You can die in a hit or two of you're not careful. Being stealthy, picking off enemies with arrows, and making sure you aren't surrounded is paramount for survival. You have to explore and be aware of your surroundings at all time in order to survive. Because you will die. A lot.

I'm not very far in at all, but so far I'm having a lot of fun. I'm very picky when it comes to 3D Zelda, and this lives up to what I hoped for. As far as I can tell, it deserves the great reception it's getting. This certainly isn't a Skyward Sword situation.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 04, 2017, 12:02:28 AM
I'm started playing River City Ransom Underground. I haven't gotten anywhere yet but so far is pretty decent. Definitely not too hipster. I would have bought Double Dragon IV (as well?) but it doesn't have online co-op while I think this has freaking up to 4 players online.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on March 04, 2017, 02:14:23 AM
I'm mostly just exploring the world in Breath of the Wild. Mostly stocking up on the clubs to fight people. Still a pretty fun game all together, even though I'm probably nowhere near progressing the story.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: VLordGTZ on March 04, 2017, 03:52:25 PM
I got my Switch and copy of Breath of the Wild, yesterday.  I haven't made much progress in the game yet especially since it took me a while to find a torch and peppers, so that I could get to the 4th shrine.  Overall though, I'm enjoying the game a lot, and I'm looking forward to playing more of it when I have the time.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 05, 2017, 08:13:47 PM
I'd recommend getting a horse as soon as you are able to. It makes traveling more dangerous areas less hazardous to your health.

Also, scan your amiibo. I heard there's a chance at getting some rare gear or classic costumes. I scanned my Toon Link amiibo and got a ton of delicious fish. Still no Wind Waker tunic, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 05, 2017, 08:31:37 PM
Also, Super Bomberman R is well worth it if you've got the time. I had quite a lot of fun with the story mode, especially with a friend. Bomberman is back!

Really dug the Puyo Puyo Tetris demo, too. Really can't wait to play the full version of that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 06, 2017, 10:23:46 PM
I think I have a Core 360, and I'm thinking of selling it off at this point. Between the console and the games, I should break even for my initial purchase. I don't really have as much time to play games as I'd like, anyway.

I'll try the 360 again at some other point, but right now my top priority will be saving up for a Switch and bringing my original X-Box over from home.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 06, 2017, 11:20:02 PM
Excellent video explaining just one of many great aspects of Nioh's combat system: http://youtu.be/dXea0FNvk3c
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 09, 2017, 03:57:36 PM
Blaster Master Zero is great. If you've got a Switch or a 3DS you really should pick it up. Inti is back, baby.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: VLordGTZ on March 09, 2017, 06:43:58 PM
Good to hear!  I'm planning to pick it up when the pro controller support update comes out next week.  I've made a ton of progress in Breath of the Wild over the past few days.  Currently, I have completed 49 shrines, have 14 hearts, traveled to every tower/region on the map, and got the master sword.  The funny thing is that I STILL haven't even touched the main dungeons.  I love how much freedom this game gives you, and it's easily the most invested I've been in a video game in years.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 09, 2017, 08:24:58 PM
I haven't gotten nearly that far. I've mostly just been exploring, experimenting with random food, and going into shrines.

Oh, I also picked up Shock Troopers on the Switch. If you like arcade games, it is one of the best. The non-linear level progression makes replayability endless, too. One of the best games ever put on the Neo Geo. No doubt.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on March 09, 2017, 08:38:17 PM
I wasn't really sure I'd be too interested in the new Zelda until I watched Dunkey's video about it. Goddamn, this game looks like MGS5 but with way better AI and level/world design. So much hilarious stupid shit you can do that actually works; Nintendo thought of everything. I need it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 11, 2017, 02:07:28 PM
O.O That good?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 12, 2017, 08:25:29 PM
It is easily the best 3D Zelda.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 20, 2017, 09:49:35 PM
I've been playing through "The Iga Escape" mission in Nioh. This is by far one of the best designed levels that I've played in any game in a long time. It may very well go down as one of my all-time favorites.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 24, 2017, 11:03:30 AM
I beat Blaster Master Zero. It took me about 7 total hours, basically longer than a COD game. If you like platformers you should pick it up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on March 24, 2017, 10:37:26 PM
Splatoon 2 test fire is awesome!

EDIT: My message got cut off. It's basically the original with new moves. People seem to be kicked a lot less now which probably means dedicated servers for this. Hope Nintendo really goes all out promoting it. It's pretty great!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on March 30, 2017, 04:46:47 PM
I finally got around to playing my free Steam copy of Renegade Ops. I played as Armand. Hard game or my aim just sucks. I got the helicopter, which was a surprise to me, then fly around like a mad man and the game crashed during the boss
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on April 02, 2017, 03:14:49 AM
I just beat the first level of Renegade Ops. Okay, I am impressed.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: VLordGTZ on April 02, 2017, 10:39:33 PM
So I've been making some steady progress in Zelda: Breath of the Wild over the past month.  I currently have 26 hearts, a 2 & 1/5th ring stamina gauge, and I've completed 116 shrines.  I was going to do the last 4 shrines, but then I realized that they require me to get near/complete the main dungeons, so I think I'll FINALLY do the main dungeons.  Honestly, this is probably my favorite Zelda game now.

I also picked up Nier Automata, though I haven't had much time to play it outside of the first area.  I'll probably start focusing on it more once my college workload lightens.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dreamer2 on April 02, 2017, 11:45:58 PM
Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5. That's been eating up all my video game time since last week. I'm making my way through Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and I'm loving it. Lots of great memories of playing this stuff. I'll be moving on to the next game soon. Lots to play in this collection.

If you've ever had an interest in KH, this is a great collection.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 03, 2017, 02:35:48 PM
I got Persona 5 on the way tomorrow. To be honest I completely forgot about the game. I know folks have been talking about it constantly but I was on a media blackout for this game as well.

I know of the Persona series, but I have very little experience with them. The only MegaTen game I have ever experienced was Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne and I didn't even finish that because of my conscience (being a christian and whatnot and playing a game where you can team up with Lucifer just don't mesh well with me, lol. Don't judge me.  :sweat: ) Also, I haven't played a JRPG since Tales of Vesperia (yeah, I've played a bit of FFXV, but it don't feel like your traditional JRPG) and that game burned me out completely when it came to the genre (especially playing it right after Abyss). The long drawn out dungeons were just a turnoff to the point where I even when I found an opportunity to actually get into Persona 3&4 I just couldn't because I saw a lot of the dungeons were so long and at that time (this was also my transition to Mass Effect) I was like, yeah, I'm done. But I'm hoping the dungeons in P5 won't feel so tiring.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 03, 2017, 09:04:50 PM
I'm still opening towers and completing shrines in BOTW. I'm thinking of going to a dungeon next, but I haven't decided which one to do next. Also finally got my Smash Bros Toon Link amiibo to give me Link's cap so now he actually looks like he should.

This game is something else.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 03, 2017, 09:13:11 PM
I've heard that the game can actually be pretty challenging by 3D Zelda standards, similar to the original NES classic and Zelda II in which you would experience quite a few deaths before clearing a particular area or dungeon. Is that true?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 04, 2017, 01:49:02 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 03, 2017, 09:13:11 PM
I've heard that the game can actually be pretty challenging by 3D Zelda standards, similar to the original NES classic and Zelda II in which you would experience quite a few deaths before clearing a particular area or dungeon. Is that true?
You die all the time. It's unquestionably the hardest game in the series since the NES. It's a bit easier since I started getting better weapons, armor, hearts, and stamina, but I still die quite a bit. You have to be on guard at every moment, use the right weapons, and know when to parry and dodge to get through every single encounter.

And to think there are people eager for Hard Mode and three heart runs. Masochists.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on April 04, 2017, 03:09:15 AM
Got Dear Esther off my backlog in an hour. Pretty graphics (especially the caves), but yeah, otherwise, it was a miserable slog.

With Breath of the Wild out of the way, I'm back to Bravely Default and Tearaway.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 05, 2017, 04:58:53 PM
I'm currently switching between four games right now:

Nioh- I still really want to play Zelda BOTW, but it'll be a while before I can afford a Switch. Until then, Nioh is my favorite game of the year so far, and arguably one of the best games of the decade. If your only exposure to this game was one of the early days, ignore those experiences (especially the Alpha demo); the finished product is completely different, and far superior. I'm currently at the final region and almost done with the main story. However hearing how much better the game gets on NG+ and my eagerness to always jump back in for more, I won't be putting this game down anytime soon.

Nier: Automata- If Nioh is a character action game with RPG elements, than Nier is an RPG with character action game and shoot-em-up/bullet hell elements. Not a bad combination at a, but I just couldn't help but make the comparison between the two and witch aspects each chooses to emphasize over the other. To be honest I haven't made much headway in the game as of yet. I've only cleared the first few missions of 2B's campaign, but I generally love the art-design, combat, and world-building. It'll be a while before I can play enough to truly get a feel for the game, though. My only gripe so far is that the hit-detection on melee attacks from enemies can be really off at times. It's not such a big deal on its own, but as a game made by Platinum, it is a bit disappointing since  they are ususally pretty good about getting that sort of stuff right. That said, it's not too bad on Normal, but I can see why TS17 was getting so frustrated on his Very Hard mode run since basically every attack one-shots you and when you get hit by something that didn't even look like it was close to you, it can be pretty infuriating. Regardless, I'm only playing on Normal for now so it doesn't bother me too much.

God of War 3 Remastered- I know, right. What is EK doing playing one of these? Well, I borrowed it from my brother, and I'm no longer the elitist snob that I was a few years b, so I don't outright hate any games from this genre that aren't made in Japan. That said, playing a few hours of this game pretty much confirms everything that I've ever thought about God of War as a series. It's a fun time-waster....and that's pretty much it. The combat is varied enough to keep things fresh for a couple of hours, but far too shallow and over-exploitable to entice experimentation. And the puzzles are about as basic as they come. If you take away the admittedly impressive production values, this is an all around mediocre game with average uninspired combat and a really dumb story. And I don't really have a problem with it selling so well and lots of people enjoying it. I just don't get why it got so much critical acclaim for something so obviously "just OK."

The Last of Us Remastered- I got this one for free thanks to a special deal. Basically, take everything that I just said about God of War, except apply it to a stealth game, and change the complaint about the story from being dumb to being pandering tripe that thinks it's smart by copying great films without actually understanding what makes them work. This is not Children of Men, even if the writers think that it is. On its own, it's fine. Maybe even above average, and certainly a lot more interesting to me than the movie-simulators that are the Uncharted games. But, it's easily the most overrated thing to come out this decade by far. Calling it a great game is one thing. I may not agree with that assessment, but at least I could understand having that sort of regard for it. Calling it a masterpiece, on the other hand, is outright ludicrous, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 05, 2017, 08:03:33 PM
Play DOOM 4 when you get the chance. I think you'll really like it.

As for stealth I've heard good things about the new Styx: Shards of Darkness game. I've been getting into the genre since playing bits of the original Deus Ex last year and I've found that I really dig them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 05, 2017, 08:17:01 PM
DOOM 4 has been high on my priority list for a while, now. I'll probably get around to it after clearing Nier: Automata.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 06, 2017, 02:25:40 PM
I'm so close to the end of BOTW I can feel it.

... But I still keep wandering off and exploring instead.  :sweat:

This game is something else.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 06, 2017, 03:44:56 PM
So, as someone who's not ultra big into RPGs, one thing that I absolutely love about Nioh is how leveling can be helpful, but never actually requires you to grind if you are a skilled player. Knowing how to evade enemy attacks, effectively time parries into execution combos, and most importantly how to exploit enemy and boss weaknesses goes a long way. I'm currently level 98 and am taking on level 120+ missions without much issue. Additionally, there are plenty of people who cleared the game at under level 50, and right now TS17 has been doing a level 1 run with just fists (only using weapons for certain gimmick sections where it's mandatory) and has already cleared most of the game that way. My point being that this puts the grind-heavy nature of most other RPGs to shame, and is just a flat-out testament to good game design.

Of course it's only fair to mention that this logic applies to Souls games as well, which is why this sub-genre of RPGs is right up my alley.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 07, 2017, 11:51:02 PM
E-K, you might want to lay off Nier Automata for a bit. Apparently the most recent patch has broken some key aspects of the game. How does shit like this even happen...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 08, 2017, 12:36:04 AM
You know the funny thing? It installed automatically while I was playing Nioh tonight. I didn't even get a message asking me if I wanted to install it or not. I thought that was mandatory. Anyways, I'll try and find a way to uninstall it later.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 08, 2017, 10:53:50 AM
I'm not sure if there's a way to disable automatic updates, but it's a pain. :-\ I'm sure they'll release another patch before too long fixing everything, at least. Platinum and SE are pretty good about that sort of thing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 09, 2017, 02:47:53 AM
I played some more Nier: Automata today. I didn't notice any problems from my end, but maybe I just haven't come across any yet.

I'm up to the mission in the Forest Zone in 2B's campaign. While I'm still relatively early on in my playthrough, especially considering that I have two other campaigns to go through to reach the main endings, I do feel like I should be able to unlock some of those locked chests/doors by now. Am I supposed to learn how to hack later or did I just miss that feature along the way?

Some other thoughts I have on the game:

-This may have one of my favorite soundtracks from any piece of media ever.

-I do love the general feel of combat, but feel that the people likening it to Bayonetta or Devil May Cry are being rather misleading. It does a great job of mixing hack n' slash gameplay elements with shoot-em-up mechanics, and that in itself is a winning combination, but it's melee combat on its own is a lot simpler than games of those nature. I don't mean that as a criticism, as clearly it's not meant to be those games. I just get a tad nitpicky whenever I hear others bring up that comparison without understanding the level of nuance or complexity that separates the combat systems of those other games to this one.

-I'm not typically a fan of existential crisis character-driven stories, especially ones with a more tell don't show approach and too much obvious symbolism, but something about Nier's offbeat presentation, mixed in with its unique sense of humor and general weirdness makes the story a lot more palettable and enjoyable than I would normally find it.

-The art design is great on its own, and the graphics are quite pretty, but the intricate and specific use of color are the real star hear. I genuinely wish that more games would take note of how to properly utilize color filtering. Nier intentionally limits the amount of colors that it displays on screen at any given time, but it does so with the intention of creating scenery with stark contrasts in its aesthetics compared to the backgrounds. Thus the limited colors that are there really pop. It goes to show that simply adding lots of color for the sake of it doesn't automatically make a game look good, whereas the opposite extreme of filtering out too much color can look really ugly if handled in a lazy manner, unlike how this game meaningfully utilizes it in its scenery.

Overall, I'm really enjoying this game so far. Admittedly I'm still spending more time with Nioh because that may just be my favorite game of this decade, but it says a lot that this is the only other game that I have right now that can hold my attention outside of my current obsession.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 09, 2017, 12:00:50 PM
I think the bad patch affects text in the hacking mini-game and menus, but not everyone experiences these issues, so if your menus are fine, you should be in the clear for now. It also makes some of the environmental collision detection worse for some reason, and renders one of the shops unusable (it's not an important one, though).

You get the ability to hack those chests in playthrough 2 (which is very necessary, as is playthrough 3, as they both continue/expand on the story and gameplay). There are a few hackable doors, but one of them is opened as part of a side quest and three are locked forever for some reason... they're either there to troll players or will be used to access DLC eventually.

Glad to hear you're liking the game so much! ;D Sounds like you'd also enjoy the original, probably. I really should pick up Nioh soon, myself.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 09, 2017, 03:18:47 PM
From a gameplay standpoint I think that my only real criticism of Nier: Automata (at least so far) is that the hit detection can be rather wonky. Clearly Platinum was aware of this which is why the i-frames on the dodge animation are extremely lenient, and it's not too big of a deal to get hit when you shouldn't have on Normal, but I do see why certain gamers like TS17 and others were complaining about playing the game on harder difficulty settings since everything pretty much one-shots you on Very Hard regardless of how high your level is, and most bosses are attack sponges unless you are high level and regularly utilize attack up buffs. Keep in mind that these are people who regularly do no damage runs of combat-oriented games, and essentially did the same for this game, but various deaths just ended up feeling unfair due to poor hit detection. Since this isn't one of those games that I really see myself playing on harder difficulties if only because I'm more than content with playing it until I unlock all of the main endings, it's not a bother for me, but I do think that it was worth mentioning since it is something that I've seen come up with higher-level players and veteran fans of Platinum Games.

Anyways, I just finished the mission with the castle in the Forest Zone. I do love this game's use of perspective changes, and how this level was a tribute to old-school 2D-style action platforming games, though melee combat always tends to feel a tad awkward in these sections, which is why I play them more like a Contra-style shoot-em-up.

I'm also liking how the combat dynamic between weapons changes depending on which weapons you have equipped. Rather than just switching between weapons on the fly, the weapon set that you have active will vary the combos that you can chain between any two different weapons depending on which combination you have between spears, small swords, and large swords. It's an interesting little system that's fun to experiment around with.

One thing that I've been wondering, though, is if there's any way to upgrade your plug-in-chip slot space. I've seen other gamers with more space on YouTube, even when playing as 2B, so I know that it shouldn't just be restricted to other playthroughs, but as of now I have no way of upgrading the space available to me, so I've had to make do with unequipping a few nonessential HUD and text-based chips (I clearly don't need one for fishing since it's pretty obvious which spots I can fish in, and I can just pause the game to see if I can save or not) in order to make room for just two extra ones in one of my sets.

I should mention that one thing that I really like about this game is that it really knows how to re-use assets the right way. What I mean is that while familiar enemies and bosses will come up a lot, and while you will be playing through the same areas as different characters, the games seems to do a really good job of having different encounters ready for you on subsequent visits to the same locations. Nioh sort of does the same thing with its sub-missions, though it's a bit different because that game completely remixes the level design while still utilizing the same assets of the main-mission levels that you fought in. And while I love that, there is something really endearing about going back to the exact same area that you were in but seeing what crazy new things the game can throw at you in that environment.

By the way, Foggle, have you seen the Skill Up review (on YouTube) for this game? It does quite a great job of analyzing what makes it work so well and goes into a lot of depth as to why it's one of the most important games to come out in a long time, even if most people don't realize it. It says a lot when the reviewer himself admits that he's not a fan of either hack n' slash or shoot-em-up games, but finds that Nier: Automata works for him in its combination of those elements.

Easy Allies (the best/only good game journalists in existence today) also did a really good review of this game (and Nioh, for that matter). While I have seen plenty of reviewers praise the shit out of these games, only these reviewers seem to be able to completely comprehend, and more importantly convey in words, why Nier: Automata works so well both mechanically and as an overall narrative. And Easy Allies also gave Nioh the same treatment to my delight, being the only professional reviewers to actually tackle why the game's mechanics are so brilliant on a more nuanced level than just other reviewers saying that "it has deep combat so it's good." Yes, it does have that, but so do a number of other games. What still allows Nioh to stand out on its own, though, is how it offers such a wide myriad of options to more skill-based players as well as less adept players who aren't particularly great with complex combos or timing. It has a way for everyone to progress. It just requires you to think through situations and be observant. Nobody else mentioned that besides EA, being among the few journalists who actually understand video game mechanics and how to explain them to people in an easy way to understand.

Anwyays, I mean to play Breath of the Wild at some point before the year ends if I can manage to save up for a Nintendo Switch, and I'm sure I'll love it, so counting that along with Nioh and Nier: Automata, I think that I can already say for certain what the three best games of not just this year, but this console generation (so far), and arguably even this decade are for me....well, unless Devil May Cry 5 comes out....and then again Team Ninja did say that Nioh was their gateway into the next Ninja Gaiden game, and considering how they managed to completely touch back with their roots and craft one of the most masterful action games of all time with Nioh, I'd say that all of a sudden my hope and desire for a great new Ninja Gaiden game is higher than it has been in ages. So, there's still a lot of room left for great games in this console generation and decade. However, Nier: Automata and Nioh (and presumably Breath of the Wild) will remain in high regard for me regardless.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 09, 2017, 08:46:16 PM
Started Persona 5.

Not nearly as addicting as people made it out to be. I popped it in and while time managed to fly, I could've stopped at any moment. That said, the way the game is presented is awesome. From what I've played so far my gripe is I'm still on the first "dungeon" and my goodness this is going on forever, and this was what made me stop playing JRPGs to begin with. To make matters worst, trying to keep up with SP is bothersome. I've used up what little items I've had to replenish SP, but can't get my hands on anymore items so when my party SP is down I have to leave entirely and go back the next day. I don't particularly care for that type of management. Then again, I suppose I'm not used to this either. Luckily the presentation is top notch. Even though I'm going through battle after battle, I'm not getting bored or fatigued (yet), and hopefully I won't because I can certainly see myself sinking a lot of time into this game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 10, 2017, 02:49:13 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 09, 2017, 03:18:47 PM
By the way, Foggle, have you seen the Skill Up review (on YouTube) for this game? It does quite a great job of analyzing what makes it work so well and goes into a lot of depth as to why it's one of the most important games to come out in a long time, even if most people don't realize it. It says a lot when the reviewer himself admits that he's not a fan of either hack n' slash or shoot-em-up games, but finds that Nier: Automata works for him in its combination of those elements.

Easy Allies (the best/only good game journalists in existence today) also did a really good review of this game (and Nioh, for that matter). While I have seen plenty of reviewers praise the shit out of these games, only these reviewers seem to be able to completely comprehend, and more importantly convey in words, why Nier: Automata works so well both mechanically and as an overall narrative. And Easy Allies also gave Nioh the same treatment to my delight, being the only professional reviewers to actually tackle why the game's mechanics are so brilliant on a more nuanced level than just other reviewers saying that "it has deep combat so it's good." Yes, it does have that, but so do a number of other games. What still allows Nioh to stand out on its own, though, is how it offers such a wide myriad of options to more skill-based players as well as less adept players who aren't particularly great with complex combos or timing. It has a way for everyone to progress. It just requires you to think through situations and be observant. Nobody else mentioned that besides EA, being among the few journalists who actually understand video game mechanics and how to explain them to people in an easy way to understand.
I haven't seen either of those reviews but I'll be sure to check them out! I love Yoko Taro and his games so much that I get a bizarre sense of pleasure out of seeing praise for them, especially intelligent praise. :il_hahaha: I've heard great things about Easy Allies in the past, but I don't pay much attention to gaming journalists or YouTubers much at the moment, so I haven't really looked into them yet. Sounds like they make some quality content.

Quote from: Mustang on April 09, 2017, 08:46:16 PM
Started Persona 5.

Not nearly as addicting as people made it out to be. I popped it in and while time managed to fly, I could've stopped at any moment. That said, the way the game is presented is awesome. From what I've played so far my gripe is I'm still on the first "dungeon" and my goodness this is going on forever, and this was what made me stop playing JRPGs to begin with. To make matters worst, trying to keep up with SP is bothersome. I've used up what little items I've had to replenish SP, but can't get my hands on anymore items so when my party SP is down I have to leave entirely and go back the next day. I don't particularly care for that type of management. Then again, I suppose I'm not used to this either. Luckily the presentation is top notch. Even though I'm going through battle after battle, I'm not getting bored or fatigued (yet), and hopefully I won't because I can certainly see myself sinking a lot of time into this game.
Yeah, uh, I haven't really been able to get into the game yet myself, and I've been waiting for it since 2008. I mean, I should love it, since it's got an excellent sense of style, great art design, and funky music, plus I'm a huge fan of Persona 2, 3, Catherine, and SMT in general, but... it just isn't grabbing me. I'm not sure if it's the extremely long prologue, poor localization, awful movement controls, or a general lack of patience for turn-based JRPGs at the moment, but it isn't making me care.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 10, 2017, 09:18:11 PM
Easy Allies is actually the same core team that made up Game Trailers before they were bought out by IGN and the site was shut down. Before that point, GT was literally the only big gaming site that was worth its salt. I have read articles and watched videos about why modern game journalism is the way that it is, but basically the commercialization of this industry and general density of new releases each year compared to the 80's and 90's caused the model of game reviews to become incredibly skewed to the point that it's at today. Since all of the major sites have deadlines to get reviews out by the time of the game's official release, or even before it, reviewers are forced to binge entire games within the span of a single week, or sometimes even less, which is not a way that a lot of regular people actually play games. Thus, reviewers don't typically replay games, and whenever it comes to deep and complex games that are meant to experiment around with and be replayed over and over to truly appreciate the value of their systems, they tend to have to come up with a review within a shorter amount of time than is allowed for that sort of play-style. So that's where you have shallow games like Uncharted, Batman Arkham, or God of War get heaps of praise by critics since those games succeed at crafting an engaging and exciting experience....for a single playthrough. Spending more time with them really does reveal how hollow they are past a surface level, though. Meanwhile certain other games may not get the attention to detail needed in order to truly ascertain their worth. God Hand and the original Nier are perfect examples of games that, while maybe not perfect by any stretch, were far better than what a lot of reviewers were willing to give them credit for since they just rushed through single playthroughs, got frustrated with combat or other mechanics, and didn't really understand how the games were meant to be played or what they were trying to accomplish through their gameplay or narratives, and thus you'd get middling to bad reviews that showed little to know understanding of the material being analyzed.

That said, GT was almost always the exception to the rule. Clearly their staff were big fans of a lot of the classics, both renowned and obscure, and in particular I love how you could tell that they actually understood how mechanics in character action games worked. In their reviews for almost any Platinum game, a company that they were clearly huge fans of even back then, they were among the only few who seemed to have clearly replayed the games on harder difficulty settings and could actually explain how some of the more advanced mechanics work. That's why you didn't get reviews for Vanquish or Metal Gear Rising coming from them that labeled the game as short, standard, or uninspired as a shooter or hack n' slash game, respectively, since they had been the few to truly praise the depth and nuance that those games had to offer, and didn't harp on either of them for having non-pretentious stories that made some casuals think that they were experiencing smart and sophisticated stories. I also love how they didn't cave into peer pressure either. When all of the big gaming sites and publications were shitting all over RE6, there was a general impression that you absolutely had to hate it otherwise you had no credibility. But they were the only big gaming publication who seemed to give it a fair enough shake, and whether you agreed with their assessment or not it was refreshing to see them actually review its gameplay mechanics and assess how well they worked or didn't work in terms of what the game design was trying to accomplish with its gameplay. Essentially, they reviewed video games as video games, not as glorified interactive movies or bad-ass simulators that catered to the lowest common denominator.

So, needless to say, I'm glad to see that they stuck together and returned as Easy Allies, and I'm glad to see them give the same quality of reviews to the games that they choose to tackle, most of which are the kinds that seem to suit my taste in the first place. As I said, these are the only game journalists that I actually bother to listen to.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 10, 2017, 10:48:09 PM
Oh, I loved Game Trailers! That guy they used for all the video reviews had such an iconic voice. ;D I remember their review of RE6 being pretty accurate. The game has absolutely heinous level design and quick-time events, but the core mechanics are shockingly complex and great. It's definitely fun for one full playthrough, especially in co-op.

Personally, I think Arkham Asylum holds up for multiple playthroughs. The pacing & writing are really good and the gameplay switches up enough to not get stale, at least IMO. I could never see myself playing City again and have no interest in Origins or Knight, though. I tried returning to God of War when the HD Collection came out and couldn't get into it at all. I found the gameplay very boring and Kratos has got to be the least likable video game protagonist in history. I played GoW3 a couple years later and thought it was even worse. Every battle & set-piece lasts too damn long with the mashiest gameplay ever and Kratos' edginess is ratcheted up to sickening levels. A thoroughly unpleasant game. Vanquish is just like... damn. I mean, it's got problems, but the core gameplay is heaven on earth. It could be two hours long and I'd still love it to pieces & play it over and over. Reviewers not giving that one a fair shake is downright criminal.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 10, 2017, 11:45:57 PM
They were also among the few big review sites to praise The Evil Within rather than harp on it for not being as scary as people expected. Once again, they reviewed it as a game first.

Asylum was a good game. It was short and to the point, and that's why it worked. Personally, I played it on Normal and then replayed it once on Hard, and I didn't quite feel that the second playthrough had anything new to offer, but I'd overall give the game credit for knowing just how long to be, and not overstaying its welcome. It had tight level design with more cramped spaces that were fun to navigate, and it didn't deviate too much from what it did best.

City, on the other hand, took the bigger is better approach, putting you in a wide open area with lots of collectibles and a lot more fights. Consequently, the level design was considerably more lazy and boring, the collectibles felt obnoxious, the side-missions were disappointingly underdeveloped, and the gameplay felt painfully shallow when forced to repeat it so much against more content than the game's mechanics really called for. In that regard it has the reverse problem as a game like Devil May Cry 4, but the result being that at least DMC4 enticed me to play through it multiple times to discover all of the facets of Dante's combat system; as well as Nero's, which is comparatively more shallow but still with more nuance to it than most people initially realize. Arkham City already had me bored of it by the halfway point, personally.

Vanquish is the closest equivalent that the TPS genre has to a deep, technical combat system in the same vein as what Devil May Cry or Bayonetta have as hack n' slash games. This was a game with a unique combat system that encouraged you to keep moving and creatively use your bullet-time (such as throwing a grenade, slowing down time, and shooting it to detonate it in front of an enemy's face). The problem is that most critics didn't play it like a crazy stylish action game. They played it like Gears of War, which it clearly wasn't. Since the game didn't hold your hand, a lot of people didn't experiment with its mechanics and thus never got a feel for how it was actually intended to be played.

As for God of War, I played about halfway through the remaster for GoW3, and how this game got so much praise is beyond me. Like I said, I have no problems with people enjoying these games as fun button-mashers and not taking the story or Kratos as a character too seriously. It's not my cup of tea, but it's also mostly inoffensive as far as I'm concerned. The problem I have is when pretentious critics like Adam Sessler (among others, but I've always had a bit of a bone to pick with that guy in particular) hail it as "the best in the genre" while fully admitting that it did nothing to evolve its gameplay as a series since the first game, while also lambasting games like Devil May Cry for having "hair-brained" stories (despite clearly being written as the most intentionally tongue-cheek pieces of media in the genre) and criticizing its combat system because he "could never get a good style ranking" in them (paraphrasing here, but he legit claimed this when badmouthing the series). This is also, mind you, the guy who claimed that Capcom was racially insensitive for having predominantly African enemies in Resident Evil 5, despite it clearly being a part of that game's story that an outbreak happened in Africa and this being made by a Japanese studio that I'm just going to take a wild guess probably isn't made up of very many white supremacists....also fuck Spanish people, by that logic, since he never complained about Resident Evil 4's race problem....but, you know, that was a legitimate concern on his part wasn't just some cheap ploy on his part to cater to the ever-growing PC/SJW crowd.

Sorry to go off on a tangent there, but I only mentioned Adam Sessler because I consider him to be the shining example and perfect representation of everything wrong with "professional" game reviewers at their absolute worst. But, yeah, God of War, the pinnacle of high-budget mediocrity in the medium. I do have some respect for the series' creator, though, as he seems to be rather chill and un-pompous about the success of this series, and has even gone on record admitting that the DMC series has a better combat system than any GOW game, so at least he's not clueless as to what his games really are, and I'm personally fine with that.

That said, while we're on the subject, I'm actually kind of happy to see the new God of War game get so much backlash, especially from a portion of its own fan-base. It gives me some faith in the gaming community when people can see how much they are being pathetically pandered to in a way that doesn't even suit the franchise that the game belongs to in the first place. TGBS made a great video about it: https://youtu.be/tY6vIDCK7iQ
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 11, 2017, 01:23:40 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 10, 2017, 11:45:57 PMThey were also among the few big review sites to praise The Evil Within rather than harp on it for not being as scary as people expected. Once again, they reviewed it as a game first.
Excellent. I will still defend that game on my deathbed. It's got some glaring flaws, but it's one of the most intense, memorable, and unique games I've played. A lot of people criticized TEW for having similar gameplay to The Last of Us, but having played both almost back to back, Evil Within at worst took those mechanics and made them far deeper and more fun. While I found TLOU frustrating and at times plodding on Normal difficulty, TEW's Survival mode was an exceptional test of skill that rarely annoyed me despite my 100+ deaths. Definition of a flawed masterpiece in my book.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 10, 2017, 11:45:57 PM
City, on the other hand, took the bigger is better approach, putting you in a wide open area with lots of collectibles and a lot more fights. Consequently, the level design was considerably more lazy and boring, the collectibles felt obnoxious, the side-missions were disappointingly underdeveloped, and the gameplay felt painfully shallow when forced to repeat it so much against more content than the game's mechanics really called for. In that regard it has the reverse problem as a game like Devil May Cry 4, but the result being that at least DMC4 enticed me to play through it multiple times to discover all of the facets of Dante's combat system; as well as Nero's, which is comparatively more shallow but still with more nuance to it than most people initially realize. Arkham City already had me bored of it by the halfway point, personally.
Yeah, I really struggled to get through AC. I basically just ignored all the side quests after a certain point because they were so bland. The level design and writing were a huge step down from Asylum and I think the main story is actually shorter than AA.

QuoteAs for God of War, I played about halfway through the remaster for GoW3, and how this game got so much praise is beyond me. Like I said, I have no problems with people enjoying these games as fun button-mashers and not taking the story or Kratos as a character too seriously. It's not my cup of tea, but it's also mostly inoffensive as far as I'm concerned. The problem I have is when pretentious critics like Adam Sessler (among others, but I've always had a bit of a bone to pick with that guy in particular) hail it as "the best in the genre" while fully admitting that it did nothing to evolve its gameplay as a series since the first game, while also lambasting games like Devil May Cry for having "hair-brained" stories (despite clearly being written as the most intentionally tongue-cheek pieces of media in the genre) and criticizing its combat system because he "could never get a good style ranking" in them (paraphrasing here, but he legit claimed this when badmouthing the series).
The most annoying thing about this is that I would easily take Devil May Cry's stories over God of War's any day. Dante, even at his most boring (DMC2) and immature (DMC4) is still miles more charismatic than Kratos. He's a lovable character with a great design and that alone makes him fun to play. Same with Vergil, Trish, Lady, Nero, even Lucia - they're all fantastic.

QuoteThis is also, mind you, the guy who claimed that Capcom was racially insensitive for having predominantly African enemies in Resident Evil 5, despite it clearly being a part of that game's story that an outbreak happened in Africa and this being made by a Japanese studio that I'm just going to take a wild guess probably isn't made up of very many white supremacists....also fuck Spanish people, by that logic, since he never complained about Resident Evil 4's race problem....but, you know, that was a legitimate concern on his part wasn't just some cheap ploy on his part to cater to the ever-growing PC/SJW crowd.
Really the only racially-insensitive part of RE5 is that bit in the swamp where the dudes are running around with grass skirts throwing spears, and I doubt the Capcom developers understood why that imagery could be considered offensive. (Which doesn't make it okay, but it does make it understandable. It's not particularly malicious anyway.) The rest of the game is literally just RE4 in Africa. Eyebrow-raising at most. I don't remember anyone who actually knew anything about the games buying into that controversy back then, but it sure was successful clickbait.

QuoteSorry to go off on a tangent there, but I only mentioned Adam Sessler because I consider him to be the shining example and perfect representation of everything wrong with "professional" game reviewers at their absolute worst. But, yeah, God of War, the pinnacle of high-budget mediocrity in the medium. I do have some respect for the series' creator, though, as he seems to be rather chill and un-pompous about the success of this series, and has even gone on record admitting that the DMC series has a better combat system than any GOW game, so at least he's not clueless as to what his games really are, and I'm personally fine with that.
David Jaffe is an interesting guy. He really gives no fucks and most of his games are at least interesting if not great. Unfortunately I find Drawn To Death's art style repugnant, but I respect the unique look they're going for.

QuoteThat said, while we're on the subject, I'm actually kind of happy to see the new God of War game get so much backlash, especially from a portion of its own fan-base. It gives me some faith in the gaming community when people can see how much they are being pathetically pandered to in a way that doesn't even suit the franchise that the game belongs to in the first place. TGBS made a great video about it: https://youtu.be/tY6vIDCK7iQ
I remember seeing the footage for that at E3 and being utterly bewildered. It bares almost no resemblance to God of War as we know it, so they might as well have just made it a new IP.

Gaming Brit also recently uploaded a feature-length video about the Ratchet & Clank remake vs. the original. A lot of people might find it rather nitpicky, but his criticisms of the story, overall style, and current trajectory of the series are spot on. Aside from the lazy reusing of PS3-era weapons yet again, I highly disagree with him about the gameplay being underwhelming and too easy, as I find it to be around the same level of difficulty on Hard mode as the PS2 game, and I think it has some of the most satisfying shooting in any TPS, but his other points really echo my own thoughts on it.

The PS2 games were just brilliant from a narrative perspective - the stories were never overbearing and the cutscenes were usually quite short, but the humor frequently landed and it was jam-packed with sociopolitical satire. Also, even though Ratchet is way too much of an asshole in the original game, he's the only video game mascot character I can think of who actually has an arc, and his developing friendship with Clank was great. Plus, the scene with Clank's mom still gets me a bit teary even to this day. The PS4 game doesn't have any of that, and it's probably due to being a movie tie-in, but geez. Ratchet and Clank barely have any dialogue with each other at all, the story is way more generic and loses all of its satirical elements, there's no real character or relationship development... I mean, I know it's a series of kids' games and I probably care way too much about this, but Up Your Arsenal and A Crack In Time genuinely have some of my favorite video game writing, and the fucked up capitalist dystopia that captivated me as a kid is all but gone now. To say nothing of how much better the classic OSTs were.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Insomniac on April 11, 2017, 09:14:52 PM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9LLR74UAAA9IKW.jpg)

I watched a little of a Persona 5 LP before it was taken down, and the dialogue made perfect sense. I don't know what he's talking about.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 12, 2017, 01:25:24 AM
The translation is kind of poor to be honest. There's only one line I can think of that legitimately doesn't make sense, but it's full of awkward grammar and the English VA suffers because many lines don't sound like something an actual human would say. Still, Burch is an idiot, and his personal localization would probably be far worse.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 12, 2017, 09:20:29 PM
Quote from: Foggle on April 11, 2017, 01:23:40 AMExcellent. I will still defend that game on my deathbed. It's got some glaring flaws, but it's one of the most intense, memorable, and unique games I've played. A lot of people criticized TEW for having similar gameplay to The Last of Us, but having played both almost back to back, Evil Within at worst took those mechanics and made them far deeper and more fun. While I found TLOU frustrating and at times plodding on Normal difficulty, TEW's Survival mode was an exceptional test of skill that rarely annoyed me despite my 100+ deaths. Definition of a flawed masterpiece in my book.

The funny thing is that I'm actually currently playing The Last of Us Remastered, and it's pretty hilarious how poorly designed the enemy AI is, and how now so called "professional" game journalists ever managed to notice or point it out. Good video game YouTubers like Hyper Bit Hero and Atrophy of Soul did really good videos explaining all of the holes in TLOU's gameplay mechanics, and while being completely fair and not bashing the game for the sake of bashing it. Both of them concluded that it was a good game but nowhere near the masterpiece that it was being made out to be. It's sad how many people just blindly flamed HBH on that video without any real backing for their points. I saw people refuting his points saying that he was crazy and the enemy design was perfect, despite the fact that he literally had tons of footage as solid evidence proving otherwise. For those who don't know, TLOU's so-called "smart" enemy AI is really only programmed to naturally gravitate towards your location once you get in proximity to them. If you move into a building that they are not currently occupying, then all of a sudden guys will start moving in their as well because the enemy AI technically knows exactly where you are, but can't attack you until you directly move into an enemy's programmed field of vision. That in itself is not actual smart design in the same way that a game like F.E.A.R. has dynamic enemy AI that is programmed to react in various different ways depending on what you do and how you move around the environment. That said, this would be fine on its own if it didn't lead to the enemies being super exploitable in some areas, whereas they can be frustratingly unfair in others. I've had times where I throw bottles or bricks in areas pretty close to certain enemies and they don't react to it in the slightest because the game's shoddy programming didn't register that as making a sound that the AI would notice. It's really weird and unrefined in that way. Additionally, there are sections that are set up to make it seem like you could stealth the whole way through without coming in contact with any enemies, but in reality you have to physically take everyone out either by stealth kills or alerting them into a straight-on firefight. That literally kills the whole point of having a stealth section in the first place if you aren't even given the option to get through it without killing.

The Last of Us is a decent game, overall. Despite my distaste for movie games, I do find some genuinely good qualities about it, and as I said, it's miles better than any Uncharted game which are some of the most trite, overly-scripted drivel that I've ever experienced, but these are nowhere near the perfect games that gaming media has made it out to be, and people with an actual grasp on how gameplay mechanics actually work can at least see its apparent flaws. It just drives me up the wall that every single thing that this game doesn't get right just gets swept under the rug by so many people, yet other games that get a lot right get harped on for smaller issues than this game has. It just really rubs me the wrong way.

QuoteYeah, I really struggled to get through AC. I basically just ignored all the side quests after a certain point because they were so bland. The level design and writing were a huge step down from Asylum and I think the main story is actually shorter than AA.

The side quests in AC are among the laziest pieces of game design that I have ever seen. It literally just reuses familiar locations and enemies, and hardly if ever actually remixes anything to a substantial degree. All you do is even simpler versions of stuff that you have already done in the main missions of the game, and you don't even get any unique boss fights out of the whole endeavor. I remember that I was looking forward to fighting people like Zsasz, Deadshot, and Bane at the end of their respective side quests, but nope, all we got were uninspired stealth encounters (or in Bane's case just a lame cut-scene) and they were all dealt with. I remember how Darksiders 2 had its own completely separate dungeons with their own bosses for its big side-quests. Additionally, playing a game like Nioh shows the right way to recycle content without actually making it feel recycled. The sub-missions completely remix the main mission levels, literally changing up the geography of the locations that you visit, having you fight completely different sets of enemies and only really reusing the general aesthetics of the level that you've been through before. Additionally, having actual combat depth doesn't make it feel like a chore to keep on fighting through similar areas as it is. Arkham games don't even have that, so it baffles me how the Arkham City developers thought that they could get away with such lazy design....but jokes on me, I guess, because they totally did. Once again, people just seemed to eat this crap up, and it really just baffles me how such a mediocre action game gets praised as such a masterpiece of the genre. It deserves it even less than something like TLOU, which at least had a fully fleshed out story to go through and some interesting mechanics beyond a base level.

QuoteThe most annoying thing about this is that I would easily take Devil May Cry's stories over God of War's any day. Dante, even at his most boring (DMC2) and immature (DMC4) is still miles more charismatic than Kratos. He's a lovable character with a great design and that alone makes him fun to play. Same with Vergil, Trish, Lady, Nero, even Lucia - they're all fantastic.

Devil May Cry's characters are what make the stories so enjoyable for me. The stories themselves are pretty generic, uninspired, action-game fluff. But the dynamic between Dante in Vergile in DMC3, or setting up Nero with a soap-opera of a story only for Dante to come in half-way into the game and completely make light of the serious tone are stuff that make these games so entertaining and full of personality. Too bad a lot of people seemed to just want ass-hole main characters with shallow combat that made them feel like a bad-ass, because that's what we got with DmC (which for what it's worth, I still prefer to any God of War game).

QuoteGaming Brit also recently uploaded a feature-length video about the Ratchet & Clank remake vs. the original. A lot of people might find it rather nitpicky, but his criticisms of the story, overall style, and current trajectory of the series are spot on. Aside from the lazy reusing of PS3-era weapons yet again, I highly disagree with him about the gameplay being underwhelming and too easy, as I find it to be around the same level of difficulty on Hard mode as the PS2 game, and I think it has some of the most satisfying shooting in any TPS, but his other points really echo my own thoughts on it.

The part that got to me the most from that review: "How does a script written by professional Hollywood writers have less heart, charm, and character than one written by some game devs over a decade ago?" [Paraphrased]. I think that actually says it all. Games like the new Ratchet and Clank are filtered through a mundane "by the books" writing process that is nothing more than going by what some high-up executives want put in the game based on what they think their target demographic wants to see. When a game is written by game devs who actually know the kind of game that they want to make and the tone and general message that they want to go for with their story, even with the most sloppily told narratives you'll still get something with a lot more wit and entertainment value that actually fits the medium that it's based in (once again, this is what made the classic Devil May Cry stories so enjoyable).

Interestingly enough, I was considering getting this game since I wanted to opportunity to get into Ratchet and Clank and a remake of the original seemed to be the best way to go. After seeing TGBS's review, I can say that it'll be worth it for me to wait until I can seek out and play the original game first. I can still come back to this one eventually, but I'm more interested in seeing the developer's original vision before it got processed through big-budget, greedy, corporate, money-grubbing hands.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 12, 2017, 09:30:10 PM
I still say the gameplay in the remake of R&C is better than the original. Story-wise, I don't think either are particularly good but I don't play these games for their stories so it doesn't matter to me. I do think it's a good introduction to the series and really the only R&C experience you can get this gen.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on April 12, 2017, 10:56:48 PM
Tried playing Parappa the Rapper Remastered on the PS4 and yikes does this game suffer from a bit of lag, which is what you don't want in a rhythm game. My timing is off thanks to this that I keep failing the Chicken level. Note, I played this game as a kid on the PS1 and I remembered not sucking hard on that level. Also played a bit of Overwatch Uprising maps. Not a bad event Blizzard put out for everyone.

As for the Ratchet & Clank 2016, Yeah the game play was solid but the story does lack a charm that the original games had. That was probably the only thing I didn't like was how Ratchet & Clank didn't play off each other. Even I remember when in RC2 even when they toned down Ratchet's jerkass tendencies, him and Clank still delivered on the bantz, here I barely remembered them talking to each other other than in the game play.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 13, 2017, 12:55:52 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 12, 2017, 09:20:29 PM
TLOU's so-called "smart" enemy AI is really only programmed to naturally gravitate towards your location once you get in proximity to them. If you move into a building that they are not currently occupying, then all of a sudden guys will start moving in their as well because the enemy AI technically knows exactly where you are, but can't attack you until you directly move into an enemy's programmed field of vision. That in itself is not actual smart design in the same way that a game like F.E.A.R. has dynamic enemy AI that is programmed to react in various different ways depending on what you do and how you move around the environment. That said, this would be fine on its own if it didn't lead to the enemies being super exploitable in some areas, whereas they can be frustratingly unfair in others. I've had times where I throw bottles or bricks in areas pretty close to certain enemies and they don't react to it in the slightest because the game's shoddy programming didn't register that as making a sound that the AI would notice. It's really weird and unrefined in that way. Additionally, there are sections that are set up to make it seem like you could stealth the whole way through without coming in contact with any enemies, but in reality you have to physically take everyone out either by stealth kills or alerting them into a straight-on firefight. That literally kills the whole point of having a stealth section in the first place if you aren't even given the option to get through it without killing.
This is like... I mean, I'm not the best at games or anything. I don't pretend to be particularly skilled - my hand-eye coordination and anxiety issues mean I'll never be in the upper echelon of players capable of beating Dante Must Die in DMC3 or entering the Top 500 in Overwatch's ranked mode. But there was something about TLOU's gameplay that just felt wrong to me. The stealth seemed totally busted while the constant one-hit kills and poor shooting mechanics turned the entire first half of the game into an exercise in frustration for me. Meanwhile, TEW, which features almost exactly the same mechanics, I found incredibly fluid & (mostly) well-designed. I probably died over 100 times in both, but only one felt fair to me, and it was the one most reviewers criticized for being "too hard."

To say nothing of TLOU's literal hours of forced walking segments. Lord have mercy, I don't think I've ever been so annoyed at a game not letting me play it. It basically has no replay value because the first 2-3 hours are little more than an interactive cutscene, which is tiresome even on the first playthrough.

QuoteThe side quests in AC are among the laziest pieces of game design that I have ever seen. It literally just reuses familiar locations and enemies, and hardly if ever actually remixes anything to a substantial degree. All you do is even simpler versions of stuff that you have already done in the main missions of the game, and you don't even get any unique boss fights out of the whole endeavor. I remember that I was looking forward to fighting people like Zsasz, Deadshot, and Bane at the end of their respective side quests, but nope, all we got were uninspired stealth encounters (or in Bane's case just a lame cut-scene) and they were all dealt with.
Glad I just gave up, then. Wasn't there supposed to be something special with the Riddler if you somehow had to patience to collect all 5000 of his trophies?

QuoteDevil May Cry's characters are what make the stories so enjoyable for me. The stories themselves are pretty generic, uninspired, action-game fluff. But the dynamic between Dante in Vergile in DMC3, or setting up Nero with a soap-opera of a story only for Dante to come in half-way into the game and completely make light of the serious tone are stuff that make these games so entertaining and full of personality. Too bad a lot of people seemed to just want ass-hole main characters with shallow combat that made them feel like a bad-ass, because that's what we got with DmC (which for what it's worth, I still prefer to any God of War game).
I played the demo of DmC and I thought the gameplay was okay. I think I liked it more than GoW as well. The writing and music were among the worst I've ever encountered in a game, but at its core it seems like a fun little diversion. Would've been way better with the real Dante and Vergil, though...

QuoteThe part that got to me the most from that review: "How does a script written by professional Hollywood writers have less heart, charm, and character than one written by some game devs over a decade ago?" [Paraphrased]. I think that actually says it all. Games like the new Ratchet and Clank are filtered through a mundane "by the books" writing process that is nothing more than going by what some high-up executives want put in the game based on what they think their target demographic wants to see. When a game is written by game devs who actually know the kind of game that they want to make and the tone and general message that they want to go for with their story, even with the most sloppily told narratives you'll still get something with a lot more wit and entertainment value that actually fits the medium that it's based in (once again, this is what made the classic Devil May Cry stories so enjoyable).
Right! For instance, the original Resident Evil, written by random game developers and hastily translated into English - awful story, just terrible, but it's so lovable and fun. It was stupid, but I genuinely cared about what was going on and thought it complemented the gameplay well. Then we have Resident Evil: Revelations, written by an actual screenwriter behind several fantastic episodes of Cowboy Bebop (among other things) - insufferable, horrendously bad writing. The story and dialogue are so bad that they actively make the entire experience worse. And finally we have Resident Evil 7, written by someone experienced with writing video game narratives - the plot is still kind of stupid, but it's legitimately one of the funniest and creepiest games I've ever played, beautifully serving the gameplay by making the story scenes feel like rewards for progression. Somehow the industry still hasn't learned that video game writing is its own unique art form and requires a certain finesse that can't be obtained by copy-pasting movie-style narrative formats and directing into arduous cutscenes & forced walking sequences. Obsidian's writers understand this. Yoko Taro and his co-writers understand this. But I'm not sure anyone else in the mainstream space does, and even very few indies do.

QuoteInterestingly enough, I was considering getting this game since I wanted to opportunity to get into Ratchet and Clank and a remake of the original seemed to be the best way to go. After seeing TGBS's review, I can say that it'll be worth it for me to wait until I can seek out and play the original game first. I can still come back to this one eventually, but I'm more interested in seeing the developer's original vision before it got processed through big-budget, greedy, corporate, money-grubbing hands.
I would still highly recommend playing the new game as it's a lot of fun and has some of the most beautiful graphics I've ever seen, but if you want to take a chance on the original Ratchet & Clank, I'd say go for it! :) Keep in mind that the shooting controls have not aged gracefully by any means, so you may end up hating it, but it's my most beloved childhood game (along with its sequel) and the main series will probably always be my favorite in all of gaming.

Since Sony is re-releasing the Jak & Daxter games on PS4 despite a PS3 HD Collection existing, someday you might actually get the chance to play the original R&C trilogy without picking up a PS2 or PS3! I'm holding out hope for them to announce perfect ports of the classics and maybe even remasters of the Future saga at E3. That would make my gaming year even more than Nier Automata and Yooka-Laylee already have!

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 12, 2017, 09:30:10 PM
I still say the gameplay in the remake of R&C is better than the original. Story-wise, I don't think either are particularly good but I don't play these games for their stories so it doesn't matter to me. I do think it's a good introduction to the series and really the only R&C experience you can get this gen.
The shooting and Clank gameplay are miles better in the remake, but I think the original has better platforming due to its camera placement and jump height/physics. Also, the PS2 version has way more levels, with some of the best ones not making the cut. The story of the original game isn't great, but the world and characters are a lot more developed and there aren't any cringy meme jokes. Plus there's a nice element of social satire that I never really noticed as a kid. Overall, I'd say both are strong packages with some noticeable flaws keeping them from being as great as GC, UYA, and ACIT, but because I can tolerate the extremely clunky/outdated shooting mechanics (and have nostalgia) I definitely prefer the original.

Quote from: Daxdiv on April 12, 2017, 10:56:48 PM
Also played a bit of Overwatch Uprising maps. Not a bad event Blizzard put out for everyone.
I still need to check that out. Most of my friends have grown tired of Overwatch and I don't like solo queue so a dedicated PVE mode going forward would make me very happy. Helps that it includes my two favorite characters (Torbjorn and Tracer).

QuoteAs for the Ratchet & Clank 2016, Yeah the game play was solid but the story does lack a charm that the original games had.
To be honest, I feel like that's been a problem since the PS3 days - it was only exasperated by the rushed nature of this script and its ties to the film. Only Quest For Booty and A Crack In Time really live up to the PS2 games in terms of charm/writing IMO. Nothing against the guy, as he seems like a cool person and came up with an excellent script for ACIT, but I'm kind of glad the writer behind everything beginning with ToD has stepped away from the series now. I'd like to see more goofy one-off adventures filled with adult jokes and cartoon antics like the PS2 games in the future.

QuoteThat was probably the only thing I didn't like was how Ratchet & Clank didn't play off each other. Even I remember when in RC2 even when they toned down Ratchet's jerkass tendencies, him and Clank still delivered on the bantz, here I barely remembered them talking to each other other than in the game play.
Both Into The Nexus and the remake seem weirdly against having Ratchet and Clank speak to each other except when absolutely necessary. It really takes something away from it being a series of buddy games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 14, 2017, 04:43:46 PM
Speaking of bad enemy design in The Last of Us, man was that sniper segment atrocious. Firstly, there seemed to be no definitive space of time for him to take to reload, so even if I dashed for the next spot of cover the instant after he fired a shot, he could literally fire on my exact position a second later. And furthermore, he could hit me through smoke bombs, or even at angles which should have blocked his line of sight completely (I know because once I took that same position, I couldn't target any of those spots around the corners of houses or different structures).

On its own that would be bad design but still manageable, but when you combine it with the fact that you are also trying to stealth your way past multiple enemies and the fact that the sniper always knows your position at any given time, it makes for a chaotic and messy encounter, and not in a good way.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 15, 2017, 11:10:36 PM
Some Updates:

Nioh- I'm on the "final" main mission of the game, in that it's technically the last mission but I already know that there is actually one more after the credits. Anyways, I'm up to that traditional action-game boss gauntlet in which you take on most of the main non-gimmick boss fights that you previously encountered in the game, classic Capcom-style, and you can really tell how well designed a game's bosses are depending on how you feel about fighting them again. In general, I have gotten so much better with the mechanics (while still barely scratching the surface of the depth that this game has to offer in that department) that I don't have much of a problem with any of these bosses anymore despite some of them giving me a really tough time on my initial encounters with them. At any rate, even though I'm close to clearing this game, I am in no way planning on putting it down anytime soon. From what I've heard, the experience only improves with New Game +, and with the Dragon of the North DLC right around the corner, there's still plenty more content for me to indulge in. I also haven't even tried my hand at any Twilight Mission yet, so I really need to get on that. In general, though, it's pretty safe for me to say that Team Ninja really managed to redeem themselves with this title, after the general mediocrity and garbage that they mostly put out over the past decade or so after Itagaki's departure. This is easily my favorite game of the year, this console generation, and probably even this decade, so far.

The Last of Us Remastered- I'm roughly about three-quarters of the way through this game, and I think it's safe to say that my general thoughts on it based on the little of it that I had played of the PS3 version were pretty justified. It's one of those glorified "movie-simulators" that knows how to present itself in a way that gets game critics and people who generally don't know much about movies to think that it's telling some kind of award-worthy story, while it has gameplay just varied enough to keep less seasoned players from getting bored, despite the fact that it's formula is so clear and predictable to anyone who's actually paying attention that the encounters can start to get rather monotonous about halfway into the game. To me, it's an adequate game with admittedly good production values. The thing is, the latter always ages over time, whereas the former only becomes more apparent over time. In reality, this is a pretty bare-bones experience that certainly isn't a bad game by any means (that is, when it actually decides to be a game rather than a walking-simulator), but is a really shallow package overall, once you look past the surface. I'll definitely be finishing the game, but I have no desire to replay it on harder difficulties after I'm done with it, and I'm not so sure that I'll be all that eager to play TLOU2 whenever that comes out.

As for Nier: Automata, I'll post about that in its own thread.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 16, 2017, 08:27:55 PM
If you want to play a good Naughty Dog game, the Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter trilogies will be releasing on the PS4 later this year. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 16, 2017, 08:44:24 PM
Naughty Dog had a big staff turnover during the making of Jak II and it shows in subsequent games. They haven't made a single game post-Jak 3 that I would be willing to to play more than once.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 16, 2017, 08:48:56 PM
I didn't know that. Probably explains why Jak 2 has the highest highs and lowest lows of all their PS1/2 games (IMO of course).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 16, 2017, 08:56:54 PM
Yeah, that's part of why the tone shift is so sharp in Jak II from the original but the level design and execution still feels like Naughty Dog games do. Even though I like 3, it has a real different feel outside of a handful of really good levels. After that game, I just don't really care for Naughty Dog's games. IMO, the games ND made after the Jak series have no character of their own. It partly explains why their idea of a fourth Jak game was so stupid. The people there now just have no idea why people liked the series in the first place.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 16, 2017, 10:13:48 PM
I actually grew up playing the first three Crash Badicoot games on the PS1, and look forward to revisiting them with the upcoming remasters. Jak and Daxter is on my radar as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: VLordGTZ on April 17, 2017, 04:50:37 PM
After a good 90 hours of gameplay and completing all the shrines and dungeons in the game, I finally beat Zelda BotW.  It's safe to say this is my favorite Zelda game now.  There's so much to do, and unlike other open-world games I've played, I never felt overwhelmed or exhausted while playing it.  If this is the standard for 3D Zelda moving forward, I will be completely satisfied. 

I also started playing Blaster Master Zero.  I've only gotten through the first area, but it's pretty fun so far.  I'm not very familiar with the Blaster Master series overall, but this game is definitely leaving a good impression.  I decided to pick up Shovel Knight Treasure Trove for my Switch as well, so I'll probably start on that once I finish with this game.

I haven't been able to make much progress in Nier Automata lately, but I plan to shift focus to it once my college semester is over in a few weeks.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 17, 2017, 09:07:43 PM
So, FYI, if any of you guys are going to play Nioh at any point in time, don't quit the game when the end credits start rolling. Not just because there is a ton of after-game content (like, an insane amount of content), but because the main story actually has one more mission after the credits. I found Yamato no Orochi to be a really cool looking final boss (it's basically the Japanese version of Hydra), but surprisingly easy relative to a lot of other bosses in the game. However, the real final boss of the game, Hundred Eyes, was quite challenging. I took me about seven or eight tries to beat him, which isn't out of the ordinary for a Team Ninja game, but to be honest I bitched out and spammed my Guardian Spirit (basically this game's version of Devil Trigger) in his final phase to kill him, which I don't exactly feel great about, but I'll eventually redo that fight once I get better at the game. All of his attacks are incredibly deadly, and he becomes insanely aggressive on the third phase of that fight, so you really can't approach him without being ready to dodge away at a moment's notice.

Anyways, now that I've beaten the main story, I can say with certainty that this game made my PS4 purchase worth it. That said, it doesn't hurt to have a shit-ton of other great games on the console as well. :joy:

I'll be giving Nioh it's own thread soon enough, but suffice it to say that with all of the people I've seen praising both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Nier: Automata as modern masterpieces, I absolutely feel that Nioh deserves to be right there among them with that level of praise (and to be fair, it hasn't exactly done poorly with reviews or sales in any regard), and I'm saying that as someone who went into this game with a lot of skepticism given Team Ninja's dubious track record since Itagaki's departure nearly a decade ago.

While this game definitely takes a massive amount of Influence from Dark Souls, it really is to that game what Ninja Gaiden is to Devil May Cry, in that it's a brilliant, different take from a very different developer on the same general concept and formula of the Souls games. The general backbone is clearly that of Demons Souls or Dark Souls or Bloodborne, but the full product is an amalgamation of lots of other games as well, including the truly great stuff from Team Ninja's own roots. I highly recommend this title to anyone who finds any interest or appeal in its subject matter or gameplay style. It's not as good as it looks. It's quite frankly better.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 18, 2017, 08:47:32 PM
Question: If I were ever to get into the massive beast that is the Persona franchise, where would be best for me to start? You'd think that would be pretty self-explanatory, but interestingly enough, hardly anyone I know ever mentions the original, and two of my friends from college said that they first started the series with Persona 2 and absolutely loved it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 18, 2017, 09:02:36 PM
The Persona 2 duology (Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment) is the crown jewel of the series as far as I'm concerned. Best story, best characters, best dungeons (until 5), great music, good battle system, cool artwork. Persona 1 has aged worse than most PS1 games to the point where I'd go so far as to call the original version unplayable. The PSP remake plays better but it's still an average dungeon crawler and they ditched the PS1 original's amazing soundtrack for some reason. Persona 3 is extremely engaging and unique but I guarantee you will hate the battle system. It's total shit unless you play the PSP port, which is unfortunately gimped in quite a few other ways, making it only really worthwhile if you'd rather play as the female protagonist. Persona 4, Q, and Arena I couldn't get into. The writing and characters just didn't resonate with me at all. Persona 5 has just about everything I love to see in a video game (funky soundtrack, beautiful artwork, cool and stylish combat, elements of other genres sprinkled in), but I'm also having trouble getting into it for some reason.

My advice: play the Persona 2 games, then, if you like them, pick up either Persona 5 or something from one of the other SMT franchises, like Digital Devil Saga or Nocturne. If you like Persona 5, you may want to check out Persona 3 and 4, but check YouTube first to make sure you'd be into them. Oh, and play Catherine as well. It might actually be my favorite game from the Persona Team! That said, if you're looking to get into a long-running JRPG franchise, I hear a certain prequel about Japanese gangsters is pretty sweet... ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 19, 2017, 12:31:44 AM
What's the difference in the battle system between 3 FES and the PSP one?

I'd say just start with 5. If you like it then work back.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 20, 2017, 02:33:59 PM
Persona 5 is my 1st game in the series and while I've been thinking about going back to play the older games I don't think I will. I like how the dungeons are in Persona 5, but they just go on for far too long, and I don't feel like going through that anymore, especially if the older games dungeons are bland. That aside, I'm currently on my 5th palace. I have Ann maxed and I think everyone else have either 6-8 stars. I'm in the month of September with all my stats at 3. If I were to try to describe the story, I'd say think Death Note with a blend of Scooby Doo (probably a bad comparison). As for the characters, I like everyone except Ryuji. As the story progress my hate for him gets stronger. I just can't stand that boy at all. I also had a hatred for Morgana, but he/she's growing onto me. Had to take a break because the palaces do cause fatigue. There was also a long stretch of doing nothing. I don't know if I liked how long that went on either. It's a great game, but I think it's overrated as well, but it's flashiness is what I think is winning people over.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 20, 2017, 04:26:03 PM
Persona 5 has, by far, the longest dungeons in the series. Too long. The ones in Persona 2 are much more manageable while still being well-designed, and the ones in P3 and 4 feel like afterthoughts, but at least they don't go on forever.

Quote from: Mustang on April 20, 2017, 02:33:59 PMIf I were to try to describe the story, I'd say think Death Note with a blend of Scooby Doo (probably a bad comparison).
That's almost the exact plot of Persona 4 to be honest. :il_hahaha:

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on April 19, 2017, 12:31:44 AM
What's the difference in the battle system between 3 FES and the PSP one?
In Persona 3 Portable you can control your party members during battle. In the original version/FES you... can't. Meaning you have to rely on the brain-dead AI (along with some vague party strategies) to do the right thing every turn, which they frequently won't. Oh, and did I mention that the game has enemies with instant death spells (including full party wipes), a mechanic where if the main character dies it's Game Over, and an hour-long final boss? It's exactly as fun as it sounds. I adore the game's style, music, and characters but I don't think I can ever replay it because of this.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Peanutbutter on April 20, 2017, 07:30:54 PM
Currently enjoying Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. Its a WayForward game, and its tremendous so far. I'm only halfway into the mermaid stage, but egad is every background and stage music fantastic! I can't wait to finish this and Yakuza 0 so I can try out Neir: Auromata. Like I've said elseware, 2017 is killing it in the video games department so far!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 21, 2017, 01:09:50 AM
Some more free stuff will be added to Super Bomberman R in a future update:

(http://gonintendo.com/system/file_uploads/uploads/000/025/376/medium/tumblr_ooqv1uAAKM1s2z1y6o3_1280.jpg)
(http://gonintendo.com/system/file_uploads/uploads/000/025/377/medium/tumblr_ooqv1uAAKM1s2z1y6o1_1280.jpg)
(http://gonintendo.com/system/file_uploads/uploads/000/025/378/medium/tumblr_ooqv1uAAKM1s2z1y6o2_1280.jpg)

Good stuff. Now throw in Higgins Bomber, Bonk Bomber, and Goemon Bomber.

Also, the update that just went out increased the framerate from locked 30fps to locked 60fps, gave single player a camera control option, and added four new battle maps.

Really gotta hand to the Bomberman team here. They've been making all the right moves.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 21, 2017, 06:03:54 PM
Also, I just beat the Dragon's Trap (or Curse, depending on your system of choice) remake. Still a classic. I enjoyed the new graphics and sound effects, but the new music didn't do anything for me. Glad I had the choice to keep the old soundtrack.

If you've never played the game before, it's a pretty good way to give the Wonder Boy in Monster World series a shot.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 21, 2017, 08:06:13 PM
Stumbled upon my 1st roadblock in Persona 5. Currently in the 6th palace and I haven't seen a single game over screen until now. Keep running into some demon that keeps striking the MC with Fear and then proceeds to cast Ghastly/Ghostly Encounter (I think that's the name) wiping me out completely. Very frustrating, especially since I'm trying to get through this one part without having to use my items. I don't think I even have an item to cure that fear status. Even more messed up, my party line-up, I don't think anyone else have the ability to cure that status effect. Gotta go back to the real world and prepare and here I thought I was doing so good up until this point. Even had a couple characters at level 50 and now I gotta do the shit again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 21, 2017, 08:27:04 PM
Just beat the main campaign in The Last of Us. I had so much ammo stocked up that I just mowed down all of the enemies in the final area of the game rather than trying to stealth my way through it like you're clearly meant to do. It's funny trying to fight them that way since this AI clearly wasn't designed that well for actual Gears of War style shoot-outs, so they mostly just stayed around one cover spot which allowed me to snipe them with the hunting rifle from a relatively safe distance. I could have used stealth to get through that section of course, but I just wanted to kind of finish up the game at that point, since by now I was really feeling the repetition of it all.

Overall, yeah, production values aside (which are going to feel dated in another few years, anyways) this game was over-hyped beyond belief. It's a mechanically shallow game with a boring and lifeless soundtrack that tells a predictable and done to death story. On its own the game is alright with some interesting concepts that it tries to tackle with its gameplay, but the end result feels pretty hollow, IMO.

Am I being too harsh on this game? Maybe, but I'm only really judging it by the same standards that I judge any other game by. I never really found myself that invested in the story-line that people seem to praise so much, and the gameplay is an amalgamation of different elements that have each been done better in other titles. To be clear, I don't think of this as a bad game by any means. Just an average to slightly above average stealth/shooter hybrid with some light puzzle solving and adventure elements. As I said, I enjoy this more than the Uncharted games, at least, since over here there is at least a good bit of player choice and open environments to allow you the freedom to tackle the encounters in a multitude of ways that you choose. I just find that the actual mechanics of the game feel pretty bland once you realize that you've already discovered most if not all of its nuance long before you even reach the halfway point in the story.

I'll still play the DLC just because I have it, but I don't expect to be jumping on board for The Last of Us 2 unless it somehow makes some drastic improvements to the enemy AI and decides to give you an option to skip the walking sections, which considering how up their own asses Naughty Dog are these days, I don't think is likely to happen.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 21, 2017, 09:32:16 PM
I don't think you're being too harsh. I think most reviewers treat movie games with kid gloves the same way most anime reviewers treat moe. It's all about how polished it looks on the surface without any mention that what's under the hood is not anything fantastic at all. Yet it gets perfect scores regardless. It's probably not to the extent of Guerrilla Games (the Killzone trilogy's hype was way over the top) but it feels like since Uncharted 2 that most reviewers ignore the problems in Naughty Dog's games in a way they never did beforehand.

Not to say I hate movie games. I quite enjoyed playing through Titanfall 2. But are these games really worth full price for such a one and done experience? Personally, I don't think so.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Peanutbutter on April 21, 2017, 10:13:23 PM
Its the story that makes or breaks movie games. I don't see how Last of Us' plot was "done to death". Unless noting how many dystopias we've seen in games which have been done since way back in the 16-bit era, I thought Last of Us handled its setting well while breaking a number of clichés. Plus, the ending is fantastic and not usually how things go right at the end.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 21, 2017, 11:06:02 PM
Aside from the fact that the general plot outline takes a lot from Children of Men, it's full of cliches from dystopian cinema (taking bits and pieces from different sources of inspiration such as titles ranging from A Boy and His Dog to Day of the Dead), which to be fair this game was clearly trying to emulate, but unlike those stories it doesn't really convey a clear and concise message of the story's theme, which is supposed to be about there always being something to fight for, yet the game half-assedly only starts playing on that theme towards the end, rather than constantly evoking its message throughout portions of the story. Joel and Ellie's relationship itself isn't even gradually built up over time as you would expect. Their attitudes towards each other only drastically alter off-screen during time-skips, rather than subtly developing over time. But my biggest issue with the story are the clearly manipulative moments that try and get you to feel whatever the developers want you to feel. Joel's daughter dying in the first 20 minutes falls flat because you not only see it coming, but you barely know the character. Likewise, there are a pair of characters introduced into the story for the sole purpose of being killed off to generate drama, while ultimately serving no major purpose to the story.

Really, though, what gets me about the presentation of the story is that it's heavily reliant on using cutscenes and forced walking segments (which as Foggle stated, really hurts its replay value) in order to convey its plot, which I find to be conceptually lazy for a game that's main focus is its narrative, as opposed to other narrative-driven games that tell their stories in a unique way that only games can as opposed to other mediums, such as BioShock, Nier, Max Payne, PT, Deadly Premonition, or some of Suda 51's earlier games.

Of course, none of this is to say that it's wrong if you or others enjoy it. It's great that so many people get enjoyment out of something. I just personally can't acknowledge it as a masterpiece, or anything really above average based on the reasons stated above. To me, personally, The Last of Us is a movie game that just isn't a very good movie and barely even a good a game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Peanutbutter on April 22, 2017, 10:01:12 PM
Well that's fine that you don't find it perfect, no one is asking you too. I do think you're wrong about Joel and Elle's relationship not being shown gradually improving onscreen, and its clear that the events we see DO leave it an impact on them so it just isn't accurate to say that those moments are manipulative.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 22, 2017, 11:45:42 PM
My points aren't wrong simply because I interpreted them a different way than you or others may have. The manipulative moments that I'm referring to are, from my perspective, manipulative in the sense of how they are executed. Whenever we see a moment meant to get some kind of emotional response, it seems like the only way that the writing seems to know how to do that is by trying to make that given moment seem like a big deal and plays it up in every possible way, to the point where it feels overdone. There's hardly any sense of subtlety in any of these scenes.

But at any rate, I'm not too interested in having a debate over the merits or lack thereof regarding TLOU's story-telling. If you enjoyed it then that's great. Essentially, it's just not my kind of game. On its own, I have no issues with its popularity with many other gamers. My main issue stems from how many future single-player games seem to want to ape aspects of this game that I don't find to be particularly enjoyable or interesting, namely the forced walking segments and over-reliance on scripted set-pieces, along with generally shallow mechanics.

To be fair, though, big budget AAA games have been moving in a direction that I largely can't stand since long before this game came out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 23, 2017, 12:43:45 AM
I think TLOU's ending is pretty good; I wasn't particularly impressed by the rest of the story, but I really liked the conclusion of it. I agree that the beginning of the game felt very manipulative. I mean, it was definitely an important part of the story and Joel's overall characterization, but we didn't get to know his daughter or him long enough before her death for me to really care about her, and the execution came across as a bit over the top. I'm not trying to sound like a tough guy or anything, I've been moved by video game stories before, including fucking Ratchet & Clank of all things, but having a character we barely know die at the beginning of a story to set up another character we don't know's main arc doesn't suddenly become a tearjerker just because it's a kid. What happens is sad, absolutely, but it's the emotional equivalent of a horror game startling you by having a ghost jump at the screen with a loud scream, at least IMO.

As far as forced walking scenes go, the only one I've particularly liked was the one at the beginning of Nier Automata's second playthrough. It's only about three minutes long and does wonders for both the world-building & 9S' characterization while also managing to evoke an emotional response via its (albeit limited) gameplay instead of what amounts to a glorified cutscene
Spoiler
(e.g. tripping over the pipe and spilling the oil, which causes the younger brother to become further distressed and is accompanied by a heartbreaking animation).
[close]
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 23, 2017, 08:50:30 PM
The ending was interesting, I'll definitely give it that. Sacrificing all of humanity's future (at least potentially) to save one person is a definite moral dilemma, but one that can certainly be understood on an emotional level. But as you said, the stuff leading up to that point simply wasn't strong enough to make me feel the weight of those final moments.

Anyways, the post-game content is Nioh is insane, and the first DLC hasn't even come out yet! There are a bunch of challenge missions pairing up two bosses together at once, and I just completed one of them. It was as insanely difficult as it sounds. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to tackle the rest of these, so I just went ahead and jumped to Way of the Strong difficulty for now.

Anyways, now that I've beaten it, Nioh has gone from being my primary game to my secondary game. It's something that I'm still playing and still interested in, but there are just so many good games out right now and I really need to give them all a try. So Nioh will be that game that I always fall back on, but for now I'm putting most of my free-time into Nier: Automata. After I beat that I'm going to pick up Bloodborne.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 25, 2017, 06:06:57 PM
Talk about frustrating, good God, I'm basically at the end of Persona 5, trying to avoid battles in Mementos so I can reserve what little SP recovery items I have only to be chased hit the corner of a wall to get stuck and attacked. I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but I started getting fatigued as well because Mementos is too damn long. That said I am restarting my game because I messed up big time, or rather my time was divided poorly. I have no stats that got to 5, so obviously I'm missing S-links. Not sure if I want to try to attain all in one playthrough though. I would think there's so much replay value because of S-links alone.

Considering this is my first Persona game, I'd like to think I had some decent Persona's. I only had 1 that was 47, but the rest of them I had were 55+. A lot of them weren't used though. Speaking of Persona's, turns out I ended up getting rid of some important abilities. Considering this is a MegaTen game I completely forgot buffs and debuffs are too important in this series. A lot of the battles were a struggle because I kept getting debuffed and then the one who helps you out (I guess the character that helps the entire party?) to me was practically useless because I wasn't getting the proper aid that I needed, but again, that's probably on me.

Overall, it's a great game, and like I said, I'm starting over (which I have no problem doing because the game is so good and I want to go at it with a different approach, otherwise I'd be done with it), however, I'll probably take it a bit slower to get some Ultra Street Fighter 4 in. It's been quite some time since I've played and some of my folks want to start it up again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 01, 2017, 09:19:42 PM
I beat The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC. For what it's worth, despite being the type of story over gameplay experience that I'm personally not a fan of, I do feel that the actual story here was handled better than in the main game, being a short vignette and all. Granted, I still had plenty of problems with it, but the major one being that they were trying to draw a parallel between Ellie trying to save Joel's life and her time in the past with her friend. Either that or they were trying to display how much she had grown since then in her resolve. Either way, it fell flat and didn't work well for whatever they were trying to go for. The two stories just felt completely disjointed from each other.

The little gameplay that was here did feel a bit more survival-esque than the main game, mainly because you didn't have as many materials to work with and had to actually conserve some supplies. They also added in an interesting little twist in which you could pit infected against human hunters. It's a concept that I actually would have liked to see further explored in the main game.

That said, ultimately, it's still not really my type of game. It's fine for what it is, but I hope that it doesn't negatively influenced too many single-player titles that will end up taking the wrong lessons from it in the same way that many have taken from the Uncharted games. It's just not something that I particularly want to see more of in gaming.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 01, 2017, 10:51:47 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 01, 2017, 09:19:42 PM
That said, ultimately, it's still not really my type of game. It's fine for what it is, but I hope that it doesn't negatively influenced too many single-player titles that will end up taking the wrong lessons from it in the same way that many have taken from the Uncharted games. It's just not something that I particularly want to see more of in gaming.

Huh? Coming from a person that's a fan of the Uncharted series what other games have taken "wrong" lessons from Uncharted? I only ask because I'm not aware of other games like and succeeding outside of Last of Us and Tomb Raider that's like Uncharted.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 01, 2017, 11:03:19 PM
I'm referring to stuff like overly-scripted set-piece moments, forced context-sensitive moments, a general restriction on being able to play segments the way that you want; for example, you are actively punished for trying to use stealth on a section that the developers don't intend for you to use it on, even if you technically do it right, enemies will automatically shoot you down before you trigger the next checkpoint.

This kind of mentality has gone into a lot of games that it has no business in, such as Ninja Gaiden of all things, which lead to the atrocious third game in the series.

Likewise, The Last of Us is already being copied by games that gave no business aping that style of gameplay, such as with the new God of War which is clearly trying to cater to that crowd.

Other developers are just trying to copy and paste aspects of those games that are popular, yet don't really consider whether it fits the style of gameplay that their titles should really be focusing on.

You're correct in saying that not a lot of games have been successful in copying aspects of Uncharted and The Last of Us, but that's my point in saying that they take the "wrong" lessons from those games. They take aspects of those games that work for people who are fans of that sort of gameplay style, but only for the sake of trying to grab attention rather than thinking of how it works in the context of their games, or if it's even any fun.

Stuff like this is how we end up with crap like The Order: 1886, which is a glorified walking simulator at best. Clearly the developers saw the cinematic flair of games like Uncharted and The Last of Us, made a game that was 90% just that, and turned the other 10% into a shallow imitation of Gears of War.

I don't have a problem with Naughty Dog's games on their own, but I'm not liking how many other games are sacrificing interesting mechanics in favor of trying to look more like a movie in the way that those games do.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 01, 2017, 11:13:33 PM
I liked Left Behind more than the original game, though that could be because I played LB at 60fps on the PS4 and TLOU at around 22fps on the PS3... The shooting mechanics feel way better in the remaster; they're so squishy and unsatisfying on PS3.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 01, 2017, 11:03:19 PM
Overly-scripted set-piece moments, forced context-sensitive moments, a general restriction on being able to play segments the way that you want; for example, you are actively punished for trying to use stealth on a section that the developers don't intend for you to use it on, even if you technically do it right, enemies will automatically shoot you down before you trigger the next checkpoint.
I do think Call of Duty is also partially responsible for this. A lot of the games after CoD 4 (World At War in particular) practically have a fetish for killing you unless you play EXACTLY how the developers want you to.

QuoteThis kind of mentality has gone into a lot of games that it has no business in, such as Ninja Gaiden of all things, which lead to the atrocious third game in the series.

Likewise, The Last of Us is already being copied by games that gave no business aping that style of gameplay, such as with the new God of War which is clearly trying to cater to that crowd.

Other developers are just trying to copy and paste aspects of those games that are popular, yet don't really consider whether it fits the style of gameplay that their titles should really be focusing on.
Even some really good games like Vanquish are plagued with the horror that is "five minutes of forced walking between gameplay segments." It's fucking torturous on replays.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 01, 2017, 11:25:16 PM
Quote from: Foggle on May 01, 2017, 11:13:33 PMI do think Call of Duty is also partially responsible for this. A lot of the games after CoD 4 (World At War in particular) practically have a fetish for killing you unless you play EXACTLY how the developers want you to.

I actually find that CoD 4 works decently enough because despite being heavily-scripted, it isn't absolutely obsessed with trying to seem like a movie the entire way through. Thus the general shooting segments have an arcade-like quality that let you just have fun and enjoy yourself with your own play-style. Meanwhile, I still remember how I failed a mission in Black Ops with a message telling me that I got too far from my squad mates. Nevermind the fact that we weren't in combat and I was just trying to explore the area for any dropped weapons. Nope, I didn't strictly follow my squad at the pace that the game wanted me to go at, so I was punished for not adhering to the script. The game was actively working against my very gameplay sensibilities, and it left me absolutely confounded.

QuoteEven some really good games like Vanquish are plagued with the horror that is "five minutes of forced walking between gameplay segments." It's fucking torturous on replays.

That, the general use of QTEs, and the fact that you have to basically ruin your analogue stick to get out of a grab move are among the few pet peeves that I have with Platinum's game design philosophy. I do like how MGRR at least lets you skip most of the dialogue.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 01, 2017, 11:31:41 PM
Yeah, I think CoD 1, 2, and 4 do an excellent job of blending the classic FPS gameplay with modern scripted set-piece cinematic moments. I still wouldn't call them favorites of mine by any means, but they got the formula just right IMO. Unfortunately, World At War, Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops 1, and Modern Warfare 3 embody everything I hate about the genre.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 01, 2017, 11:25:16 PMThat, the general use of QTEs, and the fact that you have to basically ruin your analogue stick to get out of a grab move are among the few pet peeves that I have with Platinum's game design philosophy. I do like how MGRR at least lets you skip most of the dialogue.
Oh shit, I just realized that Nier Automata doesn't have any QTEs or shitty grab moves! Thank you based Yoko. :el_hail:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 01, 2017, 11:37:07 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 01, 2017, 11:03:19 PM
I don't have a problem with Naughty Dog's games on their own, but I'm not liking how many other games are sacrificing interesting mechanics in favor of trying to look more like a movie in the way that those games do.

It's all good. I get what you're saying. I'm just so far behind on pretty much everything that I thought there might've been some games to come out that're like Uncharted that I wasn't aware of.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 01, 2017, 11:44:45 PM
Well, you certainly aren't the only one far behind the curve. I'm still trying to catch up to games from last gen while barely even making a dent in this year's output. :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 02, 2017, 02:24:01 PM
Last gen, wow, so many great titles that I missed due to Street Fighter 4, but I made sure to play the ones that I needed to play when I was bitching about SF4 lol (The Metal Gears, Devil May Cries, Ninja Gaidens, Uncharteds, etc). This gen it's been big hit after big hit, but at the same time I must admit that outside of Persona 5 I haven't actually had the motivation to play a lot of these games. I think it's something like Foggle stated with Persona 5 (That was you, right?). For me, those titles are Ni-oh and Nier (Can probably add Gravity Rush 2 to that as well). I own both games, but the motivation to play these games aren't there and I was so hype for these titles. I almost want to say these big hitters are coming out (came out) far too quickly especially since I want to take my time (heh) to enjoy a lot of these games, especially since I've been in a bit of a slump with games. I also have to admit that I've been losing a bit of interest in games a tad bit in general.

That being said, Persona 5 scratched that itch that I was missing. Don't know what it was that I thought was missing, but I'm having a blast with this game. I'm getting the hang of it a bit more and while I'm not so much customizing the characters, it's the Persona's themselves that I'm customizing and I like that. I like that a lot. I just might go back and buy the older games just for that aspect alone.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 02, 2017, 02:51:26 PM
Yeah, that was me, and I totally get it. I'm having trouble getting into Persona 5 and that might be because it launched so close to Yooka-Laylee and Prey, two games which interest me infinitely more. :(
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 02, 2017, 03:16:10 PM
I didn't know Prey was out and assumed Persona would interest you more than it. This turns my world upside down.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 02, 2017, 03:28:04 PM
I totally understand the feeling. For me it's Nioh that has been devouring most of my time, and games that I would otherwise be really interested in (like RE7, Horizon, Tekken 7, or some upcoming releases) aren't even on the top of my priority list right now.

That said, if Itsuno announces Devil May Cry 5 this year like some people are speculating, then that will pretty much trump any other piece of media that I'm currently invested in, video games or otherwise.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 06, 2017, 02:25:17 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on May 02, 2017, 03:16:10 PM
I didn't know Prey was out and assumed Persona would interest you more than it. This turns my world upside down.
I was actually more excited for Persona 5 than Prey for the longest time, but I just can't get into turn-based games (or really long ones) right now.

Anyway, Prey is amazing. Like jaw-droppingly good. I had pretty high expectations for this game given the pedigree and leaked design document but it is fucking sublime. It's full of original ideas, grants the player even more freedom than most games in the same genre (e.g. Deus Ex, Dishonored), and has unparalleled atmosphere/storytelling. Every weapon feels great to use, including a gun which shoot globs of a hardening substance that freezes enemies & lets you climb up any wall, grenades that grind enemies into crafting materials via a black hole, and a foam dart crossbow that has a surprising amount of uses for puzzle-solving & stealth. The level design is stellar both from a gameplay and a narrative standpoint - the Metroidvania-style space station is super fun to explore and every single room is lovingly-crafted to feel organic & lived-in. The aliens & corrupted robots are creepy as hell and the story is really engrossing. The music is by the Doom 4 guy and it's just as awesome. (I haven't even gotten the power that lets you turn into a coffee cup and roll around yet!) Forget being better than the BioShock games, this might even be better than System Shock 2!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 07, 2017, 03:57:05 PM
Quote from: Foggle on May 06, 2017, 02:25:17 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on May 02, 2017, 03:16:10 PM
I didn't know Prey was out and assumed Persona would interest you more than it. This turns my world upside down.
I was actually more excited for Persona 5 than Prey for the longest time, but I just can't get into turn-based games (or really long ones) right now.

Anyway, Prey is amazing. Like jaw-droppingly good. I had pretty high expectations for this game given the pedigree and leaked design document but it is fucking sublime. It's full of original ideas, grants the player even more freedom than most games in the same genre (e.g. Deus Ex, Dishonored), and has unparalleled atmosphere/storytelling. Every weapon feels great to use, including a gun which shoot globs of a hardening substance that freezes enemies & lets you climb up any wall, grenades that grind enemies into crafting materials via a black hole, and a foam dart crossbow that has a surprising amount of uses for puzzle-solving & stealth. The level design is stellar both from a gameplay and a narrative standpoint - the Metroidvania-style space station is super fun to explore and every single room is lovingly-crafted to feel organic & lived-in. The aliens & corrupted robots are creepy as hell and the story is really engrossing. The music is by the Doom 4 guy and it's just as awesome. (I haven't even gotten the power that lets you turn into a coffee cup and roll around yet!) Forget being better than the BioShock games, this might even be better than System Shock 2!
:o :o :o Wut?! I might have to upgrade my PC.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 11, 2017, 12:36:57 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on May 07, 2017, 03:57:05 PM
:o :o :o Wut?! I might have to upgrade my PC.
Missed this post! Anyway, I beat the game last night, and it's the real deal all the way through. The ending is... disappointing, but unfortunately that seems to be the way it always goes with this genre (it was better than BioShock's, Dishonored's, and any Deus Ex's - plus less corny than System Shock 2's - endings, at least). Everything else is wonderful. I got around 28 hours out of the game, losing sleep each night until it was finished, and I loved every minute. Probably going to play it again soon. All in all, I think I really did like it more than System Shock 2, which is quite a feat. If it wasn't for Nier Automata, Prey would absolutely be my favorite game of the year so far. Definitely pick it up if my previous post made it sound cool to you. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on May 11, 2017, 11:36:30 AM
Still playing a lot of Blazing Star on my Switch. The portability and High Score mode keep me coming back. The game is just a fantastic shmup. Really hope Pulstar arrives sooner than later.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on May 11, 2017, 08:14:20 PM
Quote from: Foggle on May 11, 2017, 12:36:57 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on May 07, 2017, 03:57:05 PM
:o :o :o Wut?! I might have to upgrade my PC.
Missed this post! Anyway, I beat the game last night, and it's the real deal all the way through. The ending is... disappointing, but unfortunately that seems to be the way it always goes with this genre (it was better than BioShock's, Dishonored's, and any Deus Ex's - plus less corny than System Shock 2's - endings, at least). Everything else is wonderful. I got around 28 hours out of the game, losing sleep each night until it was finished, and I loved every minute. Probably going to play it again soon. All in all, I think I really did like it more than System Shock 2, which is quite a feat. If it wasn't for Nier Automata, Prey would absolutely be my favorite game of the year so far. Definitely pick it up if my previous post made it sound cool to you. :)
:o Cool! And I've beaten none of those games even though I own 2.  :D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 13, 2017, 09:27:02 PM
As for Game of the Year, so far, I'd probably say that my clear first pick would be Nioh with Nier: Automata coming in at second, but then again, those are the only two games from this year that I've actually had the time to play so far (and I still haven't even finished one of them and have the DLC for the other waiting for me). :>

Overall, though, my lifestyle just doesn't let me take on too many things at once, so I have to be really selective about the types of games that I play. In that regard, you can pretty much see why I'm not much of an RPG guy. While I do still definitely want to play Bloodborne and will eventually make my way through the rest of the Souls games, and while I unabashedly love Nioh, and enjoy the hell out of Nier: Automata, I am a bit worried that action games in general may take the ARPG route instead given how much more popular this genre is becoming lately. On the one hand, I do enjoy games of this nature and if it allows developers to create interesting combat systems like in classic character action games while appealing to a broader market without having to dumb down the actual gameplay, then I'm all for it, but that also means that I will inevitably have to miss out on a lot of these games in the future due to time constraints.

The thing is, as much as I really do enjoy some of these games, my favorite genre still remains to be specifically the character action breed that melds nuanced hack n' slash style gameplay with a shorter but infinitely more replayable mission-based structure. Rather than leveling up your character or worrying too much about what kind of stats you have in your build, the upgrading is strictly limited to broadening your character's move-set and abilities, and emphasis is put more on mastery of the game's mechanics as opposed to making your in-game character grow stronger.

While I love Nioh and Nier: Automata, one thing that will prevent them from ever surpassing the likes of Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, or Bayonetta for me, personally, is how the RPG elements sort of hurt their replay value. In Nioh's case it is absolutely possible to take on the main game at just level one, but leveling up even further and then wanting to go back and play an earlier stage is hampered by the fact that you'll have to de-level your character if you want to actually take it on with some level of challenge. While the game does have harder difficulty settings, the same general logic applies there as well. On the other hand, Nier: Automata seems to go by trying to scale enemies to be around where your level is (which, I believe, kind of defeats the purpose of even having a leveling system in the first place), but where I believe this backfires a bit is that it ultimately limits combat whenever you want to fight certain enemies from an earlier area and you are too over-leveled to the point in which you will automatically kill them in just a couple of hits.

Ultimately, the point that I'm trying to make is that this genre of ARPG's has its own share of weaknesses, the biggest of which being that it feels like I have to commit to spending hours at a time in any of them in order to make any worthwhile progress. For just one or two games every now and then like the two that I'm currently playing, that's not such a big deal. But if all character action games move in that direction, then it'll be really disappointing for me since my favorite experiences in all of gaming come from the best games in that very genre. I can pick up a game like Devil May Cry 3 and play any given mission on any difficulty of my choosing and not have to worry about anything but the action and the game's combat mechanics. I don't generally use items (which aren't needed if you are good enough to not get hit most of the time), and my upgrades don't make it so that I kill enemies too fast, as it's the difficulty setting which determines their health. That's a game where I can sit down and play for 30-minutes and have a memorable experience, whereas with the games that I'm currently playing I can't play on most weeknights as I can't afford to stay up late, and thus the time in which I have to play them is rather limited.

The much, much shorter version of what I'm trying to say is that, basically:

Make Devil May Cry 5 already, Itsuno. :devil:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 13, 2017, 10:00:51 PM
Automata actually doesn't scale enemies to your level, which makes it extremely easy if you do all the side quests as you play through the main story. I think by the end of the game I was at least 5 levels higher than they expected me to be. I kind of wish they didn't bother having RPG mechanics to that extent, to be honest. The original Nier and the Drakengard games have "level ups," but - much like Ratchet & Clank - they don't do anything except make your health bar slightly longer and randomly restore your HP during battle, so the fighting is always balanced properly like a real action game. The heavier RPG elements of Automata don't play to Platinum's strengths as a development studio and it really shows with Normal being too easy and Hard being too difficult. I like the core fighting and shooting enough to want to try doing my next playthrough on Hard, but I hope the next Yoko Taro game goes back to the simplified RPG format of the first Nier and maybe only has one well-balanced difficulty setting (with an auto-mode for newcomers or folks who just want to see the story).

I've played through four of this year's games so far: Nier Automata, Prey, Resident Evil 7, and Yooka-Laylee (and I'd rank them in that order). I'll be getting back to Yakuza 0 soon and after that I've got my sights set on Nioh. I'm also thinking of finally using that PSTV I got for $20 to play Caligula and I'm marginally interested in Gravity Rush 2. I'll get around to Breath Of The Wild and Persona 5 eventually but neither really jumps out at me so I might wait until I buy a Switch for the former and the inevitable re-release for the latter.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 19, 2017, 03:38:56 PM
Tried to finish Persona 5. Fatigue hit me hard. You can tell when you're near the end or at the end, but goodness gracious these dungeons just goes on forever, and it reminded me why I stopped playing JRPG's in the first place. As great as this game is the dungeons are filled with excessive padding and it's to the point where I don't even care anymore. Here I wanted to start a New Game + once I finished this run, but that's definitely out of the question now. Perhaps I'll come to see how it ends within a month or 2, but right now, I'm done.

Onward to Ultra Street Fighter 4 and Street Fighter 3.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 27, 2017, 12:41:26 AM
I've been playing a lot of DMC4SE recently. It's funny, because despite all of my issues with this game, it still never ceases to amaze me how much the combat mechanics alone make up for all of the shortcomings. There are definitely things that hold the game back from true greatness for me (mainly the fact that it's still basically not fucking finished after all of these years), but the actual thing that you play DMC games for in the first place is so good that it puts the combat in most other action games not named Ninja Gaiden or Bayonetta to absolute shame.

That said, every now and then the game's sins rear their ugly head, and most of this comes in the form of Dante's missions. It's so aggravating too, because even if you're basically forced to repeat Nero's missions but in reverse, I'd still be fine with that if that's all that they were, since Dante's combat is so fundamentally different from Nero's that it pretty much feels like a different game anyways. That said, some genius in the design team felt the need to shoehorn gimmicks into most of these stages, such as a countdown timer until an explosion is triggered or poisonous gas slowly draining your health throughout the course of the mission. These are horrible ideas that actually work against the focus of combat and really take away a lot from an otherwise really fun playable character with an insane amount of depth and nuance to his arsenal.

By far, though, the worst is mission 14 with those grabboid type demons that emerge from the ground at regular intervals and try to swallow up Dante while you're in the middle of combat. It's not that bad on the lower difficulty settings, but on Son of Sparda or above it becomes beyond infuriating, especially when you're trying to focus on fighting tougher enemies like a Blitz, which appears at the same time that you are fighting the Assaults. That's a full-fledged combat scenario in and of itself that will take a lot of focus for an ordinary player such as myself to overcome. To add a mechanics in there that will punish you by instantly transporting you to another room if you fail, in which you have to compete a sub-fight, and then resetting the whole encounter only for the same process to repeat until you finally clear the room without getting caught. It sucks all of the fun out of any fight when you have to worry about being caught at any given moment that you're on the ground, and while you could argue that this challenge is meant to encourage getting better at staying in the air, it's not like an average player will be able to master jump-canceling within the span of a single level. In all honesty, if they took out the penalty for you being caught and replaced it with just being damaged each time Dante got grabbed then I could at least tolerate the level. But, as it stands, it's a tedious affair and really forces you to try and cheese the whole thing by playing in the most boring and safe way possible. It's really the worst of the gimmicks that this game has to offer, and I'd argue that it's by far the worst levle in any of the good DMC games. Hell, as a gimmick I'd even unabashedly say that it's worse than anything in DmC, and that's saying something considering how loaded that game is with pointelss gimmicks.

Putting that aside, I have been enjoying my playthroughs with the other characters so far. Vergil is an awesome character but I'm saving the best for last, so I've only cleared the first few missions with him so far. Meanwhile I'm on my Lady/Trish run and so far I'm most of the way through Lady's initial playthrough. She's certainly an interesting character with a unique focus on ranged-weapons that makes here stand out from any other playable DMC character in the series' history. That said, while her combat mechanics in and of themselves are quite interesting and could almost make for a great character to play as in their own full-length game, they don't mesh all that well with the enemies of DMC4, which are also interesting in and of themselves, but clearly they were really designed for Nero, and every other character (including Dante) kind of had to have their mechanics designed around fighting these enemies, except none of them suit those enemy types quite as well as Nero does, even if they are still fun to play by themselves. I will be getting to Trish soon, but as it stands, Lady is a fun deviation, however I don't see myself ever really coming back to playing as her past this initial playthrough.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 10, 2017, 03:58:35 PM
I lied. Not only did I finish Persona 5, I'm currently doing a NG+ run as well. I couldn't actually follow through with just not finishing a game and the end is right there. Hell, where I decided to stop playing to the actual end took roughly 7 hours to complete. That's just unnecessary. Anyway, there are some Persona's I want, and won't feel like a complete badass until I get them.

Spoiler
MC 2nd Persona
Yoshizune
Cu Chululain
Michael
Cybelle
Metatron
[close]

I think once I get those I'd feel like I can let the game rest a little bit. I think by the time I finished the game everyone was at lvl 77. My stats were maxed (still maxed). Confidants were maxed except for 3. Personally don't care for strongest weapons, accessories, etc. Anyway, great game despite the longevity.

As for Ultra Street Fighter 4. I've been spending time in training mode as Evil Ryu. Cr.MP, CL.St.HP, Axe Kick, Cr.MP/Cr.LP, L.Tatsu, Shoryuken is truly insane. I think I've only connected maybe twice. I'd say it's about as hard as trying to pull off Dudley's CR.HP, St.HK, EX MGB, if not harder since you have to make sure you're in range as well. I can only imagine trying to go for a reset after the L.Tatsu into another damaging combo. The Daigo's and Sakonoko's truly have my utmost respect for grinding and doing even harder combos.

Ryu on the other, I've been trying to find some stylish combos to practice but haven't been able to find any, but I don't find him boring anymore, thank goodness.

Edit:

So I finally tried out Injustice 2. I don't regret it, but at the same time it's not for me. The controls are very weird. Motions like v > or <> just feels awkward. In a sense I guess you can say it's the same as doing a quarter circle forward motion, but when I see something like that my mindset automatically thinks of trying to do exactly what I see.

For a person that's seeking extra content in fighting games this would be a goldmine for them. The multiverse provides plenty of things for a single player run and the story gives you a chance to play as quite a few people. As for me, my feathers starts getting ruffled when I see limitations being put on me to make things challenging. That's the type of stuff I don't need. That said, the gameplay from what I've seen and experienced isn't deep, at least not as deep as Street Fighter or Guilty Gear, but for being a relatively simple fighter, I think once one get past that hurdle of the controls I think they'd have fun with it.

I don't need to talk about animations do I? Stiff as hell.

Personally, I just need a tutorial, trial, training and online function (and they need to be very deep and robust) and I'm good to go. But Street Fighter 5 is already like that. My problem with SF5 is that Capcom is focusing on the tournament side of things and isn't really doing anything to make what little those modes do to be robust. Then again, I probably spoiled myself with Guilty Gear Xrd a bit much, but I do feel that any fighting game going forward need to take a page from Xrd. That ish is deep. (Not to mention that I don't really care for any of the characters in SF5 nor do I care for Capcom dumbing down the game)

Oh and a bit of customizing or a color editor can go a long way too.

Anyway, Injustice 2 will not become a main fighting game for me by any stretch of the means. It'll be more of a fun get together with friends.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on June 10, 2017, 10:43:14 PM
Does Injustice 2 have the option to change the inputs to more traditional FG motions? I distinctly remember that being a thing in the first game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 11, 2017, 07:42:20 AM
It probably does. I just haven't explored it yet. I played with the default setup assuming that it was the only way you can play the game. Stupid me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 13, 2017, 11:29:47 PM
I recently finished Route C of Nier: Automata. I think I'm going to hold off on endings D and E for some time since I kind of want to clear more side-quests and such before I finally cap off this game, but I'll be taking a break from it for now. Overall, though, it's a very interesting title, and one that I'm very glad to have played, but in all honesty I have some mixed feelings about it that I will possibly elaborate on in the future.

I picked up Transformers: Devastation and Bloodborne a while ago, though I'm not terribly far in either. Transformers is a lot of fun albeit very simplistic for a Platinum developed beat-em-up game, but man are these environments the most bland, lazy things that I have seen in quite some time. I mean, I know that this game was clearly made on a tight budget, but even other low-budget PG games like MadWorld and Anarchy Reigns have more interesting looking environments than this. Still, the game is fun for what it is, and I especially would have loved it as a kid.

I can't really say much about Bloodborne yet, except that while the graphics and art style look gorgeous, after over a hundred hours of playing Nioh, this game feels jarring to play running at only 30 FPS; though, obviously I will get used to it. But it's also jarring to go from Nioh to this because of the lack of a "Ki-Pulse" type of mechanic. It just feels so wierd to have to wait for my stamina to recharge normally after months of always using timed button presses to speed up its refill speed. For such a small addition to the Souls formula, ki-pulsing really is pretty game-changing in how important it feels to the flow of combat. It's sort of like going from Sonic 2 or 3 back to Sonic 1 and feeling that something is missing without the spin-dash.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dreamer2 on June 14, 2017, 12:28:36 AM
I like reading through your posts on games, even when I haven't played them yet, so I'll be interested in what you have to say about Bloodborne, because it's a game I've been thinking about picking up after I finish my run through the Kingdom Hearts stuff, which probably won't be for a little while.

Your posts on Nioh are probably the main reason why it's on my radar.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 14, 2017, 01:30:14 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 13, 2017, 11:29:47 PMI recently finished Route C of Nier: Automata. I think I'm going to hold off on endings D and E for some time since I kind of want to clear more side-quests and such before I finally cap off this game, but I'll be taking a break from it for now. Overall, though, it's a very interesting title, and one that I'm very glad to have played, but in all honesty I have some mixed feelings about it that I will possibly elaborate on in the future.
It won't take long to get the other two endings (maybe 30 minutes?) and I really advise doing them soon because they make the game so much more meaningful and cap it off beautifully. Also, there's a certain story-important side quest you can't do until you're level 99, so you wouldn't be able to completely finish the game until later anyway (if you wanted to, that is).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 14, 2017, 07:47:08 AM
I'm aware that I can just replay the last mission in order to get the final two endings, but after that point I feel like I won't be motivated to come back to the game for the side stuff.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 16, 2017, 02:51:20 PM
Tried to go back and play Xenoverse just to get the Dragon Ball juices flowing (mainly for the characters from Super alone), but man since the announcement of DBF I do not care at all for the Xenoverse games anymore, which is a bit sad because, to me, they are just mindless fun. Nothing deep or anything. Just an interesting RPG-ish take on grinding.

Popped the disc in and suddenly remembered the random factor that's plagued in the game and I turned it back off. That RNG really killed a lot of my interest.

Anyway, I'll probably end up starting either another Mass Effect run, Uncharted run, or Metal Gear Solid run (finally start MGS5) along with a side of Guilty Gear Rev2.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 16, 2017, 03:58:45 PM
That's my thing with the Xenoverse games (and most anime games in general); the games just feel so shallow and awkward to play. If I hadn't been spoiled by more technical Capcom or SNK fighters, I would probably love the brawler type systems of most DB games, but they mostly just end up feeling so empty to me.

Needless to say, DBFZ is the DB game that's right up my alley.

As for what I've been playing, I've made it past the Cleric Beast boss in Bloodborne (the only bods that I've fought do far). I know that this boss is technically optional, but it seemed like the developers intended for you to fight it early on, so I did. So, for me, the main difficulty of this fight didn't really come from the boss itself, but rather the narrow arena that you're forced to fight it in. While this was clearly intentional, I'm personally not a fan of how easy it us to get snagged in corners on this game. Otherwise the fight was pretty fair, but it wasn't really the fun kind of difficult, IMO. I hope it's not a regular thing to have bosses come up in such unfavorable locations for fighting, because the game is a lot of fun otherwise when you don't constantly have to worry about dodging into a wall or piece of geometry by accident.

While I obviously much prefer the combat in Nioh, two things that I will definitely give this and the Souls games over it is the general level design and more varied enemy dispersement. On the former point, I think that while the art design and general aesthetic of Nioh looks gorgeous, the thought and care put into the world-building of the Souls/Borne franchise goes several steps beyond that with how all of it flows together and what every enemy and NPC's place is in it. But beyond that, I like the shades of old-school Zelda design in which you can explore and get to later areas early on and pick up way more useful weapons and items than you're meant to get at that stage of you are daring enough to go down unsafe paths. In regard to the latter point, while most of Nioh's enemies and bosses are masterfully designed from a mechanical standpoint, they start coming at you in very predictable waves, and become less and less intimidating over time, which works well from a character action game standpoint, but once again makes the world of the game seem more disconnected, whereas the enemies in Souls and Bloodborne vary a lot more to suit their respective environments, and on top of having interesting designs, they tend to be very well integrated into the worlds of those games, feeling like just as natural a part of the areas they inhabit as any if the aesthetic architecture or scenery. FromSoftware really put a lot of thought into the narrative design of these games in terms of how the world's which you explore shape the story that you experience with interesting and detailed visual design over expository dialogue or cutscenes. It quite frankly puts most big budget AAA movie games to shame in the story department, IMO.

So yeah, I love Nioh in regard to its amazing gameplay mechanics, whereas find the appeal of the Souls/Borne games to be less in the actual combat specifically, but rather more in everything that surrounds and compliments the combat encounters.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 19, 2017, 03:53:06 PM
I've been playing a bit more of Transformers Devastation. Very entertaining stuff, though like many other people have pointed out, it does feel like Bayonetta-lite. Like, it literally feels like they recycled a bunch of mechanics from Bayonetta and simplified them for a more casual audience. Not necessarily a bad thing in the context of the kind of game that they were making, but you can tell how rushed and underfunded the development was in order for them to come out with something that reuses so many of their assets from previous games that they've worked on.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 23, 2017, 08:53:49 PM
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 - Man, I think the last time I played this game I was still in my old home, and I want to say that was about 4 years ago. This game feels foreign to me now. I've only tried out Nova, Spencer and Hawkeye. I also tried to wave dash (I think that's the term) backwards and while I never was good at it I was at least able to pull it off roughly 2 times without feeling like I'm just mashing buttons. Now I'm just hammering away. It's going to be hell for me when DBFz is released.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 23, 2017, 10:19:07 PM
Just defeated the Blood Starved Beast in Bloodborne. This was a pretty simple boss fight once you got the pattern down. I wore Father Gascoigne's Hunter uniform in order to drastically raise my resistance to poison, which helped to make that aspect of the fight less overbearing and cumbersome. That said, I didn't like how in the last phase of the fight you ended up becoming poisoned just by being near the boss. The only way around that is to get some distance and spam molotovs for the remainder of the fight, but I didn't have that many left so I just had to finish the fight normally.

Overall I'm loving the game so far, and I'm sure that I'll continue to love it, but the boss fights are definitely the one weakness, IMO. They aren't bad in and of themselves, but rather they give you pretty crappy environments to fight them in. You fight the Cleric Beast on a narrow bridge with wagons and other obstacles in the way, whereas the boss itself is a large creature that takes up most of the width of the bridge and uses large sweeping attacks. Yes, I know how to utilize i-frames to phase through attacks when I dodge, but it doesn't help when I inevitably get snagged in a corner or on some piece of geometry. Father Gascoigne was even worse with all of the tombstones in the way (though I'm ok with the trees since you could use those for cover from his gun). The fact that enemy attacks can clip through geometry doesn't help either. The BSB fight was better in that you generally had more open space to fight it in, but even then you had to stay in the center of the space between the pillars, and it could be annoying waiting for the boss to approach you where you stood if it was behind one of those pillars (and trying to go to fight it in an enclosed space would lead to the same problems as with the previous two fights). I'm sure some people would defend this by saying that this was an intentional way of increasing the challenge, which it is, but I'm saying that it's not a good way of doing it. Games like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Nioh, and so on have boss fights take place in more open arenas giving you more space to maneuver, yet still could design interesting and challenging boss fight encounters where all you had to worry about and focus on was the boss itself. With Bloodborne I feel as though the enclosed environments can be more distracting than anything else when it comes to these encounters. On the one hand it's more challenging, but unlike the rest if the gane it's also less fun.

And again, I do love the game overall so far, but this one issue makes me dread the boss fights, and not in the good way.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 24, 2017, 12:07:47 PM
I absolutely hate the early bosses in Bloodborne and it's easily one of my favorite games of all time. Blood Starved Beast & Vicar Amelia can fuck off into space forever; meanwhile, Cleric Beast - though easy - is quite badly designed, and Father Gascoigne is way too hard for how early in the game you fight him. Thankfully, some of the later bosses are amazing. Martyr Logarius & Shadows of Yharnam are fantastic and I personally loved the gimmicks of Micolash & Witches of Hemwick. The DLC bosses Ludwig, Orphan of Kos, and Lady Maria are IMO the best in the game and even the entire Souls franchise.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 24, 2017, 02:31:33 PM
I actually found the BSB to be the easiest boss so far because the arena had more room for me to maneuver and using the fire paper did tons of damage to it; which reminds me of the Umi-Bozu from Nioh that's also extremely weak to fire (easily the worst boss fight of that game, though). I actually don't mind having tough bosses early on. For example, bosses like Murai and Cerberus gave me a lot of trouble on my first time through NGB and DMC3, respectively, but they felt more finely tuned to really test you to see if you had the basics down. Shitty arena aside, I actually like the first phase of the Gascoigne fight. It's kind of cool since he's another Hunter with very similar abilities to your character (sort of like this game's version of Dante vs. Vergil). However his second phase has him go in a frenzy, constantly charging you down in his beast form and barely leaving you any opening to attack. I can't tell you how many times I died due to getting stuck in one place and unable to dodge away because some random piece of geometry was in my way.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on June 29, 2017, 09:46:00 PM
Mighty Gunvolt Burst is really good. This absolutely blows Mighty No. 9 away and offers definitive proof that Inticreates should have been given full reign of the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 01, 2017, 03:43:50 PM
So I just got past the Hemwick village area, and it was probably one of the easier areas to clear in this game. I think I died all of one time throughout the whole thing, and that was due to a failed parry on one of the giant axe-wielding beasts towards the end. Fighting it normally was a lot easier to do.

The boss fight itself was the only one that I've beaten on my first try so far. The Witches themselves were mostly very passive and easy to wail on, whereas the creatures that they summoned were incredibly slow and easy to maneuver around. Overall, though, it was a neat little section of the game that I enjoyed quite a bit, especially with the atmosphere and theme of Witches as your primary enemies (Witches have always personally creeped me out more than ghosts or other kinds of monsters).

On a side note, I actually stumbled across the Vicar Amelia boss fight before coming here, but ended up skipping it since I got the feeling that I wasn't at a high enough level to properly take her on yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 01, 2017, 10:50:10 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 24, 2017, 02:31:33 PM
I actually found the BSB to be the easiest boss so far because the arena had more room for me to maneuver and using the fire paper did tons of damage to it; which reminds me of the Umi-Bozu from Nioh that's also extremely weak to fire (easily the worst boss fight of that game, though). I actually don't mind having tough bosses early on. For example, bosses like Murai and Cerberus gave me a lot of trouble on my first time through NGB and DMC3, respectively, but they felt more finely tuned to really test you to see if you had the basics down. Shitty arena aside, I actually like the first phase of the Gascoigne fight. It's kind of cool since he's another Hunter with very similar abilities to your character (sort of like this game's version of Dante vs. Vergil). However his second phase has him go in a frenzy, constantly charging you down in his beast form and barely leaving you any opening to attack. I can't tell you how many times I died due to getting stuck in one place and unable to dodge away because some random piece of geometry was in my way.
Hm, I meant to respond to this but never did! Personally, I found BSB to be the hardest non-Chalice boss in the game by far, aside from maybe Laurence (the DLC's optional boss). Took me something like 2 hours to beat him. Don't remember how I finally did it but goddamn was it intense. Rest of the bosses after that except Amelia and Ebrietas weren't much trouble for me at all.

I love the first 2/3 of the Father Gascoigne fight, but when he turns into a werewolf it just becomes unfair IMO. Even after finishing the rest of the game I still have trouble beating his wolf form without cheese. Bloodborne's true equivalent of Vergil would be the Lady Maria fight in the DLC. It's so good. Murai is an excellent roadblock boss, but I'm not a huge fan of Cerberus, which I think might honestly be one of the hardest bosses in DMC3. Granted, I do play exclusively on Turbo Mode, so it might not be so bad normally. :D Either way, I think Murai and Cerberus are a lot better-designed than Gasco is.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 02, 2017, 12:42:36 AM
Cerberus is one of the toughest bosses in DMC3, I agree; ESPECIALLY on DMD mode where I had to use the gun/switch-cancel strategy with Spiral to cheese him, since I couldn't find a way to beat him normally, but in my defense, enemies and bosses have a ridiculous amount of health on that mode and it takes forever to kill them, which is why I prefer Very Hard as my go-to difficulty for the game. However, Cerberus being ridiculously tough for a first boss is kind of the point, as it forces you to learn the ins and outs of the game. On that end, I don't have a problem with Gascoigne being so tough that early on. My problem with him is the shitty arena that you're forced to fight him in, and as you already said, his final form is cheap. After beating him I checked out a bunch of YouTube tip videos on how to fight him, and even looked up TS17's No Healing Walkthrough of the game. The fact that none of them had a legitimate way to defeat him in his beast form other than cheesing him with Oil and Molotovs or using the Tiny Music Box strategy to do critical damage to him with a backstab and then mashing the attack button while hoping for the best to finish up the fight are basically signs of a poorly designed boss.

Though, since we're comparing boss fights between these games, Gascoigne at least isn't nearly as bad as Arkham in DMC3's second-to-last mission. I'll take his shitty arena, questionable hit detection, and annoying final phase over either phase of the Arkham fight any day (though the second phase is especially worse).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 03, 2017, 01:09:30 AM
So we might be getting some more Wii-U games ported to the Switch (https://nintendonow.co.uk/2017/06/27/reggie-switch-will-be-getting-wii-u-titles/).

Score! It seems like this is the future, after all- restoring last gen games rather than allowing backwards compatibility. If enough of the Wii-U games I've been meaning to check make it to the Switch, I may just skip the Wii-U.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: VLordGTZ on July 18, 2017, 05:21:24 PM
So guess who got Splatoon 2 early?

My local Target for some reason started selling download codes for the game today.  At first, I thought it was just a pre-load, but it's letting me actually play the game.  I guess I got really lucky.  :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 18, 2017, 08:00:47 PM
Replayed the beginning of SOTN to try out my brand new Xbox 360 power cord. So far so good! Now off to more Odallus right now since I am on my Metroidvania kick.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: VLordGTZ on July 18, 2017, 11:55:06 PM
Quote from: VLordGTZ on July 18, 2017, 05:21:24 PM
So guess who got Splatoon 2 early?

My local Target for some reason started selling download codes for the game today.  At first, I thought it was just a pre-load, but it's letting me actually play the game.  I guess I got really lucky.  :sweat:

So after playing Splatoon 2 for a good 6 or so hours, I am LOVING this game!  I never played much of the original Splatoon, but this is a ton of fun!

On a side note, I was lucky enough to play with GameXplain's Andre Segers (https://twitter.com/VLordGTZ/status/887527454272876550) and Derrick Bitner (https://twitter.com/BitnerdGX/status/887509129480335360) online, which was really cool!  ;D
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 23, 2017, 01:43:28 AM
Tekken 7

Good God am I out of my element here. Movement in general is gonna be a pain considering that I plan on maining Kazuya and Jin, so apparently I need to learn wave dashing and back dash cancelling. I thought wave dashing in Street Fighter x Tekken was hard. That's child's play compared to actually doing it here in Tekken. I hear people actually succeed on a DS4 controller, but for me I'm certainly gonna need to invest in an arcade stick. My thumb got one helluva workout trying to attempt both.

Lot's of fun to be had learning how to actually play.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 28, 2017, 09:07:44 PM
I'm enjoying Splatoon 2 quite a bit. It helps that the start up time isn't so long, but man, Salmon Run. I join a friend's game who is lower rank than and I don't get any experience if I win. But if I lose then I lose experience. Hate that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: VLordGTZ on July 28, 2017, 09:51:32 PM
I haven't been playing that much of Splatoon 2 the past few days, but I have managed to get up to level 16.  Weapon wise, I've mainly been sticking to the Aerospray and Carbon Roller, both of which I'm liking a lot.  I haven't tried out Salmon Run yet, but it looks fun.  I'll probs give it a shot when I'm less busy next week.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 28, 2017, 10:10:14 PM
I didn't even know it was out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 28, 2017, 11:22:42 PM
I've been playing through the entire Wolfenstein series (well, the FPS ones) to prepare for The New Colossus. Shamefully, until now, the only one I'd actually beaten was The New Order.

The original Wolfenstein 3D holds up surprisingly well, especially if played using the ECWolf source port. Good arcade fun, rather charming in its simplicity, with quite a few great level designs. Hitler boss fight is super fun to this day. Wasn't as big on the Nocturnal Missions, unfortunately. Episode 5 was pretty good, better than Episode 2 I'd say, but Episodes 4 and especially 6 were just frustrating and tedious. Ridiculously long hallways with enemies hidden behind corners every couple yards is not good level design. :devil:

Spear of Destiny was pretty good for the most part. Did some neat things with the formula, though nothing too revolutionary. That said, the last few levels were total bullshit and ensure that I'll probably never replay it. I still have PTSD from that one stage with 50 mutants and no significant health or ammo drops anywhere. Good lord. Also, the FormGen mission packs - Return To Danger and Ultimate Challenge - are fucking terrible. Ugly new textures, awful new sounds, and offensively bad level design. The amount of stages that require you to navigate mazes of esoteric push walls nearly drove me mad. Don't know how or why I forced myself to beat them.

Return To Castle Wolfenstein has some issues with balancing and several oddly-designed levels but overall I'd say it's still a damn fine game. Though certainly not revolutionary like Wolf3D, it functions as a nice time capsule for the state of the FPS genre in the early 00's. That's the era of gaming I grew up with so I'm probably predisposed to enjoy that kind of design - not sure how much someone younger than me would enjoy it. For that reason, I'd say it's just shy of being a classic. At first, I tried playing the PS2 port since it features some exclusive levels at the beginning of the game, but oh man does that version have bad controls and frame rate. The new levels are also really poorly designed and not worth experiencing.

Currently playing the Raven Software Wolfenstein game. It's alright, probably the weakest thing I've played from them (certainly not a patch on Jedi Outcast, Singularity, or Heretic). This one also feels like a time capsule, but I've never been a huge fan of late 00's/early 10's FPS design so it falls kind of flat for me. The level themes are interesting but there are way too many corridors for my taste. The superpowers you get are neat but they've been done better in countless other games. Regenerating health sucks just as much as it ever has. I played all the previous games on the Bring 'Em On difficulty setting, but this one just isn't fun that way because you die in like 5 hits and have to spend the whole game looking at blood splatters while hiding behind chest high walls. Don't Hurt Me is way too easy but I'd rather just get this one out of the way and have a bit of fun slaughtering Nazis than put up with that shit.

I also tried the demo for a fan-made game/mod running on the Doom 2 engine called Wolfendoom: Blade of Agony and it was seriously awesome. Some parts run at like 10 FPS but it's truly amazing, probably my second favorite Wolfenstein title after TNO. Check it out: http://boa.realm667.com/
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 28, 2017, 11:52:13 PM
Return is still the only game in the series I've never properly played. But I do agree that the Raven game was not up to snuff. I really can't play regenerating health FPSes anymore since they all require the same way to play that makes them tedious. The old games were fun except for some badly designed episodes. The old DOOM games were much better in that respect, though they did have some level packs that had some cheesy levels, too.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 29, 2017, 12:20:05 AM
Hmm, I think I've played maybe one full version of Wolfenstein and haven't beaten anything outside of 3D's initial demo stage.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 29, 2017, 12:35:45 AM
Return is cool! Worth playing on PC or Xbox for sure if you're into FPS from that era. I'd avoid the PS2 port, though, since it feels way too stiff and poorly-optimized. I like it and Wolf3D about the same, Doom 1 a little more, Spear of Destiny and Doom 2 a little less. All great games. I also played a bit of the original Quake recently and it might actually be my favorite Id Software title. The gunplay is ridiculously satisfying, level design is fantastic, and there's lots of creativity in its presentation. Doom 64 is also an underrated gem.

The Raven game isn't bad by any means but it just doesn't measure up to the rest of the franchise or the studio's other work. It was in development hell for a long time and I have a sinking feeling that Activision hounded them to CoD it up (like what almost happened to Doom 4). It has enough interesting elements and good ideas to be worth a playthrough, but I can see why it didn't set the world on fire like the previous games did. Bless Machine Games for breathing life back into this classic series.

Quote from: gunswordfist on July 29, 2017, 12:20:05 AM
Hmm, I think I've played maybe one full version of Wolfenstein and haven't beaten anything outside of 3D's initial demo stage.
You can get Wolfenstein 3D and Return for around $5 total on Steam during sales so they're almost certainly worth checking out if you're interested. Definitely play The New Order as well; it's the best single-player FPS of the current generation along with Doom 4 IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 29, 2017, 01:46:46 AM
I just wanted to pop in to say that the Tonfas in Nioh, which are a new weapon type included in the Defiant Honor DLC, are so fucking Ninja Gaiden it's insane. Hell, the second half of the first new main mission is a huge fucking homage to the Hayabusa Village levels from the first two Ninja Gaiden games, complete with Ninja Dogs that toss Kunai at you with their mouths (but at least they aren't ass-holes who spam the Flying Swallow on you).

The problem is that I'm way too underpowered to take on this DLC with my current build. While I stand by the notion that you don't need to put too much emphasis on leveling up, clearly Team Ninja expects that people have played a lot of the post-game content and gathered better gear (which does matter, and a lot more than your character's base level). The only problem is that it's really hard to get any gear at a higher level than 150 since it's very expensive to upgrade past that point and requires you to play through a lot of the game on higher difficulty settings to get the necessary gold and materials to Soul Match your weapons to a higher level. My best weapon so far is a Katana with an 872 damage rating and a +17 Fire buff, which is terrific....for the main game on the base difficulty setting, but is woefully inept at dealing decent damage to any of the DLC enemies, for which I need to be doing at least 1,200 damage or more to have a normal challenge. That's what made the previous DLC, Dragon of the North, so brutally hard for me. In fact, in that DLC alone I was one or two-shot by most enemies and almost all bosses could one-shot me with most of their basic attacks since my Defense stat was pretty low as well for this stage of the game.

The Maria boss fight from the first DLC was easily the hardest in the game up to that point, and people with level 200 builds had problems with her, so naturally she was a fucking nightmare for me at my garbage level 127 build. It ended up taking me well over 50 attempts to beat her, and in general it's one of the hardest boss encounters that I've experienced in years. In this case, in order to win the fight, I had to use buffs on myself, debuffs on her, and equip the Daiba-Washi Guardian Spirit so that I could use the unique spell it casts with the use of a Guardian Spirit Talisman: a whirlwind that causes an instant knockdown on all human enemies, which is super useful on bosses such as this. In most cases I can just use the parry strategy to score instant knockdowns, but this boss was unique in that she wore light armor and thus never stayed down long enough for me to have sufficient time to charge up a Sign of the Cross Attack, which deals out massive damage to knocked down enemies, even with my normal damage being such crap. Even then, I had little room for error and limited talismans to use, and she kept dodging many of my spells which is why I still died so many times with that strategy. I really don't want to go through that same struggle again, as it goes past the point of being fun and just becomes tedious. So I think that it's finally time for me to get back into the game and level up a bit more and get some more powerful gear before taking on this new DLC properly.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dreamer2 on July 29, 2017, 12:37:18 PM
Speaking of Nioh, I recently started playing it and I can say without a doubt that I hate it. All I seem to do is die over and over again. I like to have fun when I play video games and there is no fun to be had. Even if a game is difficult and I die a lot, an interesting story can keep me going, but since I really can't get to the story that's not happening here.

I was really excited to play it, but the more I try and then die, the less I care. I'm very close to just quitting, which is too bad.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 29, 2017, 01:10:14 PM
I can certainly understand that viewpoint, but Nioh is definitely not a game that's for everyone. What this game specializes in is its mechanical depth and nuance combined with giving the player a wide array of options from its varied move-sets, stat bonuses for weapons and armor (which can be tweaked to a pretty insane degree with the Blacksmith system), leveling system, items, Ninjutsu, and magic. The game is specifically meant to punish button-mashing and mindless play, whereas it rewards ingenuity, skillful use of the stance system and Ki-pulsing against enemies, and in general has a great flow and rhythm to combat which feels amazing when all of the individual pieces click together. The catch is that it actually requires the player to learn the system via experimentation of its mechanics. It doesn't just get by with a few gimmicks that are handed to the player in a contrived tutorial and then send them on their merry way for a straightforward adventure with little real resistance. Learning to get better at the game is the whole point of what makes it (and other games like it) so good.

I also don't find Nioh to be that hard outside of the DLC. And mind you, I'm not saying this to make myself sound like some incredibly skilled gamer (trust me, I'm not), or to make you or others who find it difficult lacking in skill. I just simply have more experience with games having deep and intricate combat systems, and they are honestly some of my favorite games ever (when referring to games like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and so on). In all honesty, compared to some of those games Nioh is actually one of the easier that I've experienced. Most of my deaths came from early on when I was learning the game, but as I progressed I got further along my deaths became far more spaced out and relatively infrequent, with me even clearing various boss fights with ease on my first attempt, which to me is a testament to the strengths of the game design that once I understood the fighting system, it rarely ever failed me and I was able to properly take on most foes without too much hassle. The DLC did a lot to change this, mind you, and I have mixed feelings about that, but I'm specifically only referring to the main game here.

That said, if these aren't the kinds of things that appeal to you, then yes, Nioh will have very little value as its not much of a story-driven game (Team Ninja games in general are not known for intricate stories), and it certainly isn't interested in being a hand-holding experience to guide the player along like is the mentality of most modern games (though, once again, that's something that I personally love about Nioh as I hate a lot of modern AAA games and what they have devolved into).

For a point of comparison, though, two combat-heavy games that I have been playing recently are Kingdom Hearts and God of War III Remastered. To be quite frank, I absolutely detest both of them. And don't get me wrong, I can see the appeal they have to their respective fanbases, but these are the complete antithesis of good game design in my eyes. With Kingdom Hearts, it probably would have been better with Square Enix's traditional turn-based combat system. However clearly the developers over there had no idea how to properly make a competent hack n' slash style game, which is why the combat basically revolves around button-mashing. Certain abilities like the dodge-roll, block, and counter maneuvers managed to fool me into thinking that the game would have some semblance of competent fighting, but I soon learned to my dismay that there is no concept of basic fundamentals such as i-frames, buffering, or even combos other than basic combo extensions. To be fair, this isn't a pure action-game, but even something like Dark Souls which doesn't have combos either still gets the fundamentals of how combat is supposed to work in a game with real-time action in its combat system. Trying to play Kingdom Hearts is a real slog, and to be fair, this is game intended for kids and I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more when I was at its intended age. After having played so many better designed games, though, it's borderline unplayable for me.

But God of War III....now that game has less excuses. While it does seem to grasp certain fundamentals better than something like Kingdom Hearts, the combat is so stiff, slow, and clunky, on top of being incredibly shallow and boring that I was already getting tired of it within the first few minutes. Disappointingly, three of the four main weapons are just clones of one another with slight variations in their move-sets, and the gauntlets are much slower weapons which makes them a lot less interesting for me to use. Once again, had I played this when I was younger or not been spoiled by games with better combat systems, I may have enjoyed this as some mindless fun, but knowing that there is better stuff out there just makes me want to play those games more rather than focus on the overly dumbed-down combat of this one.

That's why stuff like Nioh appeals to me so much more. what it lacks in spectacle and easy accessibility, it more than makes up for in terms of its insane gameplay depth and technical brilliance in how its core mechanics work. As I've said before, I can totally get and respect that it's definitely not for you or other gamers who don't like this sort of stuff, but for me it's one of the few modern big-budget games that can even hold my interest these days, especially in a genre that has been sadly been dying out over the years due to more watered-down games that are about the experience over having good game design, first and foremost.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 29, 2017, 01:44:18 PM
Oh god, you're playing the original Kingdom Hearts? That game is so fucking bad. Genuinely painful to play. Horrendous level design, platforming, and combat. I don't even see how it could be considered good for its time or enjoyed by children. Easily one of the 10 worst games I've finished. The sequel is quite good, though, provided you can handle the long cutscenes and are willing to learn the complexities of the combat system (unlike the first one, it's actually well-designed as an action game).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dreamer2 on July 29, 2017, 01:50:32 PM
Its funny that you mentioned Kingdom Hearts, because for a big portion of this year, I was consistently playing KH and some of the other games in the franchise.

First off, I did play the game as a kid, so there is some nostalgia there.

But, playing it this year was fantastic. It was a lot of fun and I loved almost everything about it. It was everything I wanted out of a video game. Although I do agree with the post above that KHII is better, but I don't find the first KH to be bad at all.

Another game I played a little bit of not too along ago was Assassin's Creed: Syndicate which is also a game I thoroughly enjoyed.

So, I guess I gravitate more towards KH and things like it than something like Nioh. That being said, I want to play Nioh and continue on, but I feel like I'm stuck and it just seems way too early for that to happen, which has me concerned that its just gonna keep happening even if I am able to continue on.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 29, 2017, 01:53:54 PM
Quote from: Foggle on July 29, 2017, 01:44:18 PM
Oh god, you're playing the original Kingdom Hearts? That game is so fucking bad. Genuinely painful to play. Horrendous level design, platforming, and combat. I don't even see how it could be considered good for its time or enjoyed by children. Easily one of the 10 worst games I've finished. The sequel is quite good, though, provided you can handle the long cutscenes and are willing to learn the complexities of the combat system (unlike the first one, it's actually well-designed as an action game).

That's actually the whole reason that I bought the collection. I'm slogging through the first game for story purposes only, but I've heard legitimately good things about the second game, including from people like TS17 who knows good technical combat and while KH2 is no masterpiece, it is definitely well-designed from a technical standpoint according to him (and he knows what he's talking about when it comes to that kind of stuff). It's just really hard for me to make my way through this game, and not because it's challenging. I wouldn't go so far as to call it one of the worst games I've ever played (I've played far worse stuff), and I do think that I would have enjoyed it as a kid in the same way that I enjoyed the Sonic Adventure games growing up, but as I've said, I've been spoiled by much better designed games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 29, 2017, 02:01:22 PM
Quote from: Dreamer2 on July 29, 2017, 01:50:32 PM
Its funny that you mentioned Kingdom Hearts, because for a big portion of this year, I was consistently playing KH and some of the other games in the franchise.

First off, I did play the game as a kid, so there is some nostalgia there.

But, playing it this year was fantastic. It was a lot of fun and I loved almost everything about it. It was everything I wanted out of a video game. Although I do agree with the post above that KHII is better, but I don't find the first KH to be bad at all.

And there's nothing wrong with that. I hope my post didn't come off as an attack on you or anything, because I just happened to mention Kingdom Hearts as an example by chance. I didn't actually know that you were a fan. I might have been a little less harsh if I did since I'm one of those people who doesn't like to offend others, even if I'm being a little less honest about my opinion. :P


QuoteSo, I guess I gravitate more towards KH and things like it than something like Nioh. That being said, I want to play Nioh and continue on, but I feel like I'm stuck and it just seems way too early for that to happen, which has me concerned that its just gonna keep happening even if I am able to continue on.

I also feel that, in retrospect, my first response shouldn't have been about why Nioh appeals to me so much (as I've already gone on at length about that), but to inquire how exactly you were playing it. Now, it's entirely possible that this really just isn't your type of game, and if so, then that's fine. However if you are genuinely interested in getting better at the game in order to have more fun with the experience, I'm definitely willing to help out with any kind of tips or advice in any way that I can. It's perfectly normal and reasonable to have trouble with the early game, especially if you haven't played a lot of games like this one since it doesn't go out of its way to explain its core mechanics or strategies, but once you grasp those, you'll find that it's not nearly as hard as you initially found it to be.

Just out of curiosity, could you answer a few questions for me:

What is your weapon of preference so far? (Depending on which weapons you typically use, strategies may differ)

How do you approach fights in general? Do you typically just rush in or do you survey the surrounding environment and try to lure enemies into an area that is more advantageous to you? (Don't forget that you have the stones, and their sole purpose is to make enemies come to you, which is especially useful to for breaking away an enemy from a large group and taking out enemies piece by piece that way).

How are you managing your stamina? Do you regularly use Ki-pulses to recover stamina faster? Are you monitoring the stamina of your enemies? (Stamina management is incredibly important in this game, as is getting your enemies to deplete their stamina as well, as it can really trivialize some normally tough encounters; sometimes it's actually better to let enemies attack and evade away until their stamina is low, then when you strike them it will leave them temporarily stunned allowing you to score an easy execution move on them).

These three questions are just regarding the basics of combat, but once you have those down a lot of the early sections will be a lot easier to deal with.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dreamer2 on July 29, 2017, 02:26:39 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 29, 2017, 02:01:22 PM

And there's nothing wrong with that. I hope my post didn't come off as an attack on you or anything, because I just happened to mention Kingdom Hearts as an example by chance. I didn't actually know that you were a fan. I might have been a little less harsh if I did since I'm one of those people who doesn't like to offend others, even if I'm being a little less honest about my opinion. :P

Oh no, it's all good, I didn't take it as an attack or anything like that. And I can completely understand why someone wouldn't enjoy KH all that much. Hopefully you'll enjoy 2 or any of the other games in the collection if you play them. I'd be interested in your opinion on Chain of Memories if you choose to play it. The combat system in that one was a surprise because of how they did it.

QuoteJust out of curiosity, could you answer a few questions for me:

What is your weapon of preference so far? (Depending on which weapons you typically use, strategies may differ)

I was using the Sochu-Den Dual Uchigatana, but I've kind of switched to the Black Steel Axe right now. I'm assuming the change to attack grades are important, I'm just not sure what they mean. It might be something really simple to understand, but I'm just not sure.

QuoteHow do you approach fights in general? Do you typically just rush in or do you survey the surrounding environment and try to lure enemies into an area that is more advantageous to you? (Don't forget that you have the stones, and their sole purpose is to make enemies come to you, which is especially useful to for breaking away an enemy from a large group and taking out enemies piece by piece that way).

At first I was just rushing in, but I learned that was a horrible idea. I now try to be cautious and patient and I'm doing pretty well in one on one fights, but if there's two or more it becomes a problem. The stones are great, but sometimes a random guy pops out that I didn't see and I become overwhelmed.

QuoteHow are you managing your stamina? Do you regularly use Ki-pulses to recover stamina faster? Are you monitoring the stamina of your enemies? (Stamina management is incredibly important in this game, as is getting your enemies to deplete their stamina as well, as it can really trivialize some normally tough encounters; sometimes it's actually better to let enemies attack and evade away until their stamina is low, then when you strike them it will leave them temporarily stunned allowing you to score an easy execution move on them).

These three questions are just regarding the basics of combat, but once you have those down a lot of the early sections will be a lot easier to deal with.

Once again at first I wasn't, but then I started noticing I couldn't do anything because I had drained my stamina. But, now I'm trying to use the Ki-pulses but sometimes I just forget. I'm getting better at it though.

I think my biggest problem is I can't seem to handle more than one enemy at a time. I feel like I'm a little better than I was a couple of days ago, but its still a struggle.

But, I really do want to play it, because I feel like there's a game I can really enjoy in here somewhere, but every time I get close to that point I die. :(
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 29, 2017, 03:21:45 PM
Another thought just occurred to me. If you tell me the specific mission and area that you're stuck on, I can give you more specific and helpful advice on how to overcome it.

Quote from: Dreamer2 on July 29, 2017, 02:26:39 PMOh no, it's all good, I didn't take it as an attack or anything like that. And I can completely understand why someone wouldn't enjoy KH all that much. Hopefully you'll enjoy 2 or any of the other games in the collection if you play them. I'd be interested in your opinion on Chain of Memories if you choose to play it. The combat system in that one was a surprise because of how they did it.

I am genuinely looking forward to KHII, if only because quite a few people that I trust seem to have a better opinion of it than the first game in terms of its gameplay mechanics. Story is another matter entirely as I've seen very mixed opinions on that aspect of it, but if the gameplay is fun then I honestly don't really need much of a story to give me the incentive to keep playing.

QuoteI was using the Sochu-Den Dual Uchigatana, but I've kind of switched to the Black Steel Axe right now. I'm assuming the change to attack grades are important, I'm just not sure what they mean. It might be something really simple to understand, but I'm just not sure.

So with the dual swords (regardless of which specific ones you are using, as they all have the same move-set) are an interesting weapon in that they are relatively weak when it comes to normal attacks but have some incredibly powerful uses when you unlock some of their better moves. Now, early on in the game you probably won't have any of those useful attacks unlocked, so if you do ever use them with just their base skills, I recommend keeping them in high stance as even then they are still faster than most other weapons at mid-stance and do some decent damage that way. Also, with either the dual swords or single katana, Sign of the Cross is an excellent early move to unlock as it is incredibly powerful (especially in the early game) and does a ton of damage. Also, I'm not sure how far you are yet, but if you have already started fighting Oni, particularly the big horned guys, you definitely want to be in high stance as overhead attacks have a high chance of damaging their horns which does critical damage, completely depletes their Ki, and scores you a free knockdown which will allow you to perform an execution move on them, which even if it doesn't kill them does massive damage.

I'll be honest, out of all of the weapons in the game I have used the Axe the least, so I don't have the best tips to give you on how to use it, but generally since it's a slower and more powerful weapon, I'd advise you to use good spacing with it as you need to have a good distance on an enemy in order for your attack to land before their's does. Alternatively, if you are confident in your dodging ability you can wait for an enemy to attack, dodge at the last second, and then attack with your axe when they are completely vulnerable. With the axe, mid-stance would probably be your best bet for most normal encounters, though as I've said, I haven't gotten much use out of the axe since I'm not really one for slow weapons, even if they do a lot more damage.

For the record, I used the katana and kusari-gama the most when I was initially playing. The katana is pretty well-balanced but doesn't have as many really advantageous moves as the dual swords, whereas the kusari-gama has a move that you can unlock early on which allows you to pull enemies toward you from a distance while also temporarily stunning them and allowing you to combo them. Doing this in high-stance can be very powerful and easy to abuse, so I would also recommend trying that out on the human enemies if they are giving you any difficulty.

QuoteAt first I was just rushing in, but I learned that was a horrible idea. I now try to be cautious and patient and I'm doing pretty well in one on one fights, but if there's two or more it becomes a problem. The stones are great, but sometimes a random guy pops out that I didn't see and I become overwhelmed.

Being weary of your surroundings is one of the biggest aspects of playing this game. While it does have surprises for you, once you learn from being tricked one or two times, the game doesn't really throw many curve-balls your way, so you will gradually learn to spot traps and ambushes over time well before you engage in them. A good strategy other than the stones is to use your bow or gun from a distance and headshot enemies from a distance. Say there are two guys standing in a group, you can instantly kill one of them with a headshot, leaving only one guy to rush you and get his ass kicked, though bare in mind that enemies with helmets cannot be headshot with one blow and the first hit only knocks off their helmet. Incidentally, if you alert too many enemies at once, you can always run away to a clear area and they will stop following you after a certain point and reset to their original positions. It's very useful if you find yourself in an ambush and need to retreat in order to come back and gain a better position in the fight. In general, this game puts equal emphasis on strategically using your head in how to approach combat scenarios as it does on the actual combat itself.

QuoteOnce again at first I wasn't, but then I started noticing I couldn't do anything because I had drained my stamina. But, now I'm trying to use the Ki-pulses but sometimes I just forget. I'm getting better at it though.

Alright, word of advice, if you have any Samurai Skill points that you haven't used, absolutely make sure to get the upgrade abilities that allow you to Ki-pulse by dodging for each stance. Absolutely essential skills that, quite frankly, I believe should have been there from the beginning. The timing is the same as with a normal Ki-pulse, but the difference is that instead of pressing R1 you can press X to dodge at the same time as you would Ki-pulse, and not only will that dodge not drain any of your Ki, but it will also double as a Ki-pulse in and of itself and regain your stamina faster. It takes a bit of practice but makes stamina management so much easier once you get the hang of it (and it's really not as hard as you think to get the timing down). Each of them cost 1 Samurai Skill point and they apply to any weapon. Highly recommended.

QuoteI think my biggest problem is I can't seem to handle more than one enemy at a time. I feel like I'm a little better than I was a couple of days ago, but its still a struggle.

You can definitely find a way to boil down multiple fights to one on one affairs. It takes a little bit of strategic thinking and careful planning, as well as a knowledge of how to use your surrounding environment to your advantage, but it's definitely doable. That's how I got past most of the early game before I got better at taking on multiple enemies. If you do find yourself facing up against multiple enemies that you can't figure out how to separate, you can always bust out your Living Weapon power-up to clear those areas specifically before moving onto the next one in which you may be able to split up enemies. Conversely, you could also skip fights entirely by running past enemies, but I don't really recommend that because if you keep doing that for the entire game then you'll never get the Amrita needed to level up, and you won't get the loot drops that give you better gear to work with.

As I once said in a previous post, a big part of the appeal of games like this to me is learning how to easily handle situations that at one time seemed impossible to you. I think it feels really good to get better at a game like this and then take care of most situations like they are no big deal. And it also does get a bit easier when you learn more useful magic spells like Sloth (which temporarily de-buffs the speed of enemies and slows them to a crawl) or gain access to the Guardian Spirit or Moment talisman and find different spells that you can use depending on which specific Guardian Spirit you have equipped (there are a total of 22 that you can collect in the main game and several more included in the DLC). However early on in the game your options are more limited because the game wants you to get down the fundamentals first.

Also, pro-tip: Your stance will affect your dodging. If you are in high stance, your dodge takes the form of a roll that is slower and has less i-frames. In mid-stance you can dash once but then your second subsequent dodge will be a slow roll like in high-stance, and in low-stance you can do a quick dash at any time that takes up far less stamina than in mid or high-stance. In other words, you can attack in mid or high stance and then switch to low stance quickly just to dodge away before the enemy retaliates, and then switch again to mid or high-stance when you're ready to attack.

QuoteBut, I really do want to play it, because I feel like there's a game I can really enjoy in here somewhere, but every time I get close to that point I die. :(

Well, so long as you are willing to try I am happy to help out in any way that I can. I really do feel that once you get to the point where combat clicks for you, than Nioh is arguably one of the most entertaining games of the year. If for some reason you don't get to that point and quit before you really learn the mechanics of the game, then at least you gave it a sufficient try, so that's fine too.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 29, 2017, 05:13:21 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 29, 2017, 01:10:14 PM
I can certainly understand that viewpoint, but Nioh is definitely not a game that's for everyone. What this game specializes in is its mechanical depth and nuance combined with giving the player a wide array of options from its varied move-sets, stat bonuses for weapons and armor (which can be tweaked to a pretty insane degree with the Blacksmith system), leveling system, items, Ninjutsu, and magic. The game is specifically meant to punish button-mashing and mindless play, whereas it rewards ingenuity, skillful use of the stance system and Ki-pulsing against enemies, and in general has a great flow and rhythm to combat which feels amazing when all of the individual pieces click together. The catch is that it actually requires the player to learn the system via experimentation of its mechanics. It doesn't just get by with a few gimmicks that are handed to the player in a contrived tutorial and then send them on their merry way for a straightforward adventure with little real resistance. Learning to get better at the game is the whole point of what makes it (and other games like it) so good.

I do seem to recall making the comparison of this and Souls to a fighting game and this pretty much nailed it. Considering that I'm currently playing (and having a blast) Tekken 7 I might have to give this a shot. Whatever this Blacksmith system is has gotten me interested (despite hating stamina)

As stated, I'm having a blast just learning how to actually play Tekken 7. That joy / hype that I once had when the game was first announced to the joy I once had back in my younger days of playing Tekken 3 has been rekindled. Kazuya hit hard as hell and it feels very satisfying. Jin is probably the most stylish character in the game (aesthetically). Hwoarang and Steve has swag for days. Trying to choose who the main will be has been hard, but I think I've settled on Kazuya. The hard and satisfying hits won me over (Heihachi and Devil Jin apparently are better characters, but whatever)

I'm aware of CherryBerryMango, Aris, King Jae, Level Up Your Game, and TheMainManSWE when it comes to streamers, but in terms of learning my characters I'm only aware of TheMainManSWE and CherryBerryMango for Mishima's but when it comes to Steve and Hwoarang I cannot find anyone.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dreamer2 on July 29, 2017, 09:38:16 PM
Thanks for all the great advice Ensatsu! I'll definitely come to you if I have any questions.

As for where I am, this is gonna make me sound terrible, but I guess to be fair I am pretty bad right now, but I'm on mission level 5, investigating the fishing village. So yeah super early. I was just dying so much, but I finally felt like I accomplished something. I got the key to residence and opened those doors. I was pretty excited about the whole thing. Kind of a silly thing to get excited about, but I don't care.

I'm getting better at the combat system and the Ki pulses, so things are progressing a little. I still die a bunch, but sometimes now it's just because of my own mistakes or me not healing myself, so an attack that probably wouldn't have killed me normally does.

One thing I'm trying to work on is giving myself room in some of these fights. There's this one big yokai that rushes at me and I try to back up and give myself room, but I run into a wall or something and before I know it he's already killed me. But, that's a general video game thing and less specific to Nioh.

Also, I've been using the axe and it's been working pretty well. I actually mostly use it in high stance and it seems to do a lot of damage. I'll probably try some of the other weapons I have soon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 31, 2017, 05:15:46 PM
I am at the last boss in Odallus. Definitely my favorite non-Metroid or Castlevania Metroidvania.
I'm happy that I didn't listen to Spark and bought something else for my Xbox 360 besides Double Dragon Neon..because now I have it on my PC and it's great! I beat the first 3 levels this morning (the demo levels, ironically) and it is so much more fun. The enemies no sell getting attacked a lot less.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on July 31, 2017, 05:47:12 PM
Double Dragon Neon is a gem. It's a ton of fun to just pick up and play. That soundtrack is incredible, too.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 31, 2017, 05:56:06 PM
Yes that soundtrack is.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 31, 2017, 10:07:20 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on July 31, 2017, 05:15:46 PM
I am at the last boss in Odallus. Definitely my favorite non-Metroid or Castlevania Metroidvania.
Glad you're liking it! The final boss pissed me off a bit but I thought it was a really fantastic game. Love that they used a Twin Peaks reference as a hint for one of the puzzles. :il_hahaha:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on July 31, 2017, 10:17:13 PM
Heh, I didn't even know you played it. I'll probably end up beating it tomorrow (and apparently I need to watch Twin Peaks since everyone keeps talking about it)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dreamer2 on August 02, 2017, 01:20:33 AM
I continued my Nioh run. I hadn't played since Saturday and I actually accomplished stuff! :shakeshakeshake:

I beat the isle of demons mission and beat the first sub mission. I was pretty excited. I'm getting better at the combat system and even though I still die a bunch, I'm actually having fun, and that's what's important.

I thought about trying a twilight mission, but I decided against it. I'm pretty sure I would just get frustrated very quickly.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 02, 2017, 09:43:44 PM
Well, sorry I took so long to respond to you. I have been a bit busy lately.

Quote from: Dreamer2 on July 29, 2017, 09:38:16 PMThanks for all the great advice Ensatsu! I'll definitely come to you if I have any questions.

As for where I am, this is gonna make me sound terrible, but I guess to be fair I am pretty bad right now, but I'm on mission level 5, investigating the fishing village. So yeah super early. I was just dying so much, but I finally felt like I accomplished something. I got the key to residence and opened those doors. I was pretty excited about the whole thing. Kind of a silly thing to get excited about, but I don't care.

No problem, I'm glad to help anytime! And there's nothing to be ashamed about. Everyone has different skill levels with different kinds of games. For example, I absolutely suck at stealth games. I can't beat games like Splinter Cell or Hitman to save my life, even on the easier difficulty settings, and even games like Metal Gear Solid, which on its default difficulty is generally considered to be fairly easy compared to the previously mentioned games, give me quite a challenge on Normal. Nioh's gameplay is essentially an amalgamation of action RPGs like Dark Souls and Bloodborne combined with the combat sensibilities of character action games like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry. If you aren't too experienced with both or even one of those types of games, it may be a bit harder to get into Nioh until you can really get a feeling for it and start to nail down a certain rhythm to combat and general movement. On top of that, it's a very complex game in a number of other ways, from the way stats work to how to properly scale your character build based on your specific play-style. This game definitely has a steep learning curve.

QuoteI'm getting better at the combat system and the Ki pulses, so things are progressing a little. I still die a bunch, but sometimes now it's just because of my own mistakes or me not healing myself, so an attack that probably wouldn't have killed me normally does.

One thing I'm trying to work on is giving myself room in some of these fights. There's this one big yokai that rushes at me and I try to back up and give myself room, but I run into a wall or something and before I know it he's already killed me. But, that's a general video game thing and less specific to Nioh.

That sounds about right. Keep in mind that a good rule of thumb with these sorts of games is that proper spacing goes a long way. Using a weapon with decent range allows you to attack from enough of a distance where you can more easily react to enemy attacks and either block or evade them while also being relatively safe from more devastating attacks like grabs (some of which can potentially one shot you depending on your current level).

Also keep in mind though that more advanced combats like i-frames, while taking some practice to get used to, are very essential to getting better at playing an action game of this nature. Essentially you get i-frames from certain animations, most notably from dodging, but only during certain frames of that animation. It's just something that you have to get a feel for, but essentially dashing through an attack can get you around an enemy and ready to attack without you taking damage. It's a concept that can be somewhat hard to grasp at first since most people's gut reaction in a video game is to dodge away from something. However Japanese games in particular tend to put a lot of emphasis on dodging "into" attacks, in the sense that correctly timing a proper evasive maneuver will have your character phase through the attack as if it was a successful dodge (even if it technically connects with your character during those frames of animation that they are invincible), while also leaving your opponent open to a devastating close-range during their recovery animation.

QuoteAlso, I've been using the axe and it's been working pretty well. I actually mostly use it in high stance and it seems to do a lot of damage. I'll probably try some of the other weapons I have soon.

As I've mentioned before, high stance is great for damage, but make sure to switch to either mid or low stance for evading. Not only does evading in high stance take up more stamina/Ki, but it also defaults to a slow roll animation, which has less i-frames and is easier for you to get caught in an attack with. Doing a dash (which can only be done in either mid or high-stance) takes of less stamina/Ki and on top of being faster as an animation typically has more i-frames to work with. You'll much more successfully be able to dodge most attacks that way, and on top of that you can easily switch back to high stance when you're ready to attack.

QuoteI beat the isle of demons mission and beat the first sub mission. I was pretty excited. I'm getting better at the combat system and even though I still die a bunch, I'm actually having fun, and that's what's important.

Good job on that! Also, be sure to keep checking the dojo to see if you've unlocked new missions. If you have, absolutely go and complete those ASAP. They will unlock more upgrades in your skill tree for you to buy, and some of those can be incredibly useful for later, tougher fights in the game. In particular I encourage experimenting with the Onmyo mage skills, some of which can have incredibly good uses when properly applied to specific combat scenarios. For example, Sloth is a really good one, if a bit overpowered. While I wouldn't encourage overusing it as it can rob a lot of challenge out of the game if overly exploited, it is a good tool to study enemy attack patterns by temporarily slowing enemies down and getting a better idea of how they move and attack, and how best to evade and counter them.

QuoteI thought about trying a twilight mission, but I decided against it. I'm pretty sure I would just get frustrated very quickly.

Yeah, I wouldn't really recommend those except for maybe the really low level ones if you're just interested in getting the trophy (which you only need to complete one twilight mission to receive). They are merely just the levels that you've already played, except with a lot of bull-shit thrown into them to make them more challenging in a really tedious kind of way. I'm personally not a fan of those.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 05, 2017, 05:27:00 PM
I finally went back into playing Kingdom Hearts and Bloodborne after having taken a break from both for over a month.

I just cleared Neverland in Kingdom Hearts. A friend of mine told me that I'm currently about 75% done with the main story-line stuff if that's where I'm at, so I should be nearing the final portions of the game. I really hope that's true because I honestly just want to get this game over with so that I can move onto the better stuff in the collection. Playing this kind of reminds me of how I felt playing through Devil May Cry 2 when I had the DMC HD Collection. The completionist in me would refuse to move on without playing all of the games in chronological order, yet all of my better senses told me to just quit it and move on. Despite being arguably the most boring experience in gaming that I've ever partaken in, I still stuck through the whole thing. To be fair, Kingdom Hearts isn't nearly as bad as games like Devil May Cry 2 or Ninja Gaiden 3, so if I could make it through those dung-heaps, I can make it through this, but it really does feel like a chore to play and I'm really hoping that the second game has a substantial improvement over this one's combat system.

As for Bloodborne, taking a break from a game like this is a bit more problematic because when you get rusty, you can really feel it by making constant sloppy mistakes that you otherwise wouldn't when you're back in the zone. Despite this I managed to beat Vicar Amelia on my second try, albeit....sort of by accident. You see, I accidentally ended up summoning a fellow Hunter to help me (one of the in-game NPCs, since I was playing offline), and I didn't realize until later how to send them away. I figured that I could just lose her but she ended up warping straight to my location once I entered the boss room, and then ended up being way more useful in the fight than I had counted on, and I was able to take out Vicar Amelia with ease. Unfortunately, what's done is done and I can't redo that boss fight without restarting the whole game, and while I may very well end up replaying this game in the future, it does bother me that I ended up cheesing my way through a boss fight, even if it was unintentional. Still, the fight itself didn't look too different from the Blood Starved Beast or Cleric Beat boss fights, so I am confident that in a few normal tries I would have bee able to get her pattern down and take her out myself without too much hassle, since despite having a lot of range and distance on her attacks, they were pretty slow and well telegraphed so as to be easily avoidable so long as I didn't get overzealous with my attacks.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on August 05, 2017, 06:17:39 PM
I think Neverland's the last Disney world there is in the first game, so besides one more Disney character showing up you pretty much are at the part where the story goes into full overdrive. Two worlds left and you're on to greener pastures (unless you're doing Chain of Memories before KH2, in which case, enjoy that slog). But once you get to 2, the combat really does get much, much better (as does that damn camera).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 05, 2017, 10:57:06 PM
The completionist in me kind of has to go through the games in chronological order of release. So I think that I'll have to at least try Chain of Memories, though if it's yet another boring slog then I may finally just say fuck it and move onto KH2 just for the sake of getting to something that's more fun for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on August 06, 2017, 02:44:36 AM
I honestly think they should have made it another movie type thing like they did with Days and Coded. It sucks that CoM is integral to 2's plot because good god, the Disney worlds in CoM are just hollow, diet versions of their KH1 incarnations, which is the main reason it's such a chore. Combine that with the terrible card gimmick (my opinion; some people like it and I can respect that) and a freaking second campaign and it is just the worst to me.

Speaking of which, I'm really glad they relegated Coded down to a movie form. Story-wise, it's the most unnecessary game in the franchise (maybe the mobile one beats it). I can't connect with a Sora and Riku who are just digital copies of the real ones, the gimmicks are misery, and you go through all that story just to find out the mystery you were chasing after was something that you, as a player playing the games in release order, already freaking know. I felt like hours of my time had been utterly wasted on that dreck. Since the real Mickey goes into those digital worlds, he should have been the playable character. That would have at least been something.

While Days is also a bit of a slog, I did think the boss battles were cool and being able to play as every organization member was great. Kind of bummed we lost those things in the collections.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dreamer2 on August 14, 2017, 10:32:34 PM
Thanks once again for all the great advice Ensatsu. Now, I'm sorry I didn't really respond, just been busy and haven't been playing as much. I'm gonna play tomorrow, so I'll probably come back with lots of questions and lots of tears. ;D

One thing to note, the sub mission, Invitation from the Warrior of the West was annoyingly difficult. Even by using the rock, it was still super hard. I could barely dodge his attacks without the rock, but using the rock just made it take so long. I finally beat him, but the frustration was building up so much. But, it did feel really good when I beat him.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 14, 2017, 10:51:08 PM
For what it's worth, I died a lot to that boss as well, until I learned how effective the parry mechanics were in this game, then I trounced him....unfortunately Team Ninja realized how broken the parry was and ended up severely nerfing it in subsequent patches and updates. :imnothappy:

The parry for the Dual Swords is still useful though since it scores you an instant knockdown against human opponents, allowing you time to follow it up with a Sign of the Cross and then a finishing blow. It does really good damage but you'll need the advanced parry fir the Dual Swords as the initial one you unlock takes too long to perform and leaves you far too vulnerable. You'll also need Sign of the Cross level 2 which allows you to charge up the attack much faster as enemies don't stay down as long as they used to after the system updates. However, if you are playing offline and on an un-updated version of the game, then none of this should affect you and using a Katana and its level 2 Sign of the Cross (which takes longer to charge but is ridiculously powerful) should let you curb-stomp most human bosses in the game (as well as Revnants).

That said, I found a new easy strategy to take human bosses down with, but to do it you need to complete a mission to allow you to buy higher level magic spells, and you'll also need to unlock the Daiba-Washi Guardian Spirit if you didn't already choose it as your starter at the beginning of the game.

Also, if you thought that boss fight was hard, you'd be shocked at some of the post game challenges. One of them has you fight both that boss and another one you encounter later in the game at the same time. Now that nearly drive me insane. :sly:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 16, 2017, 04:45:33 PM
I was watching this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RVvm7OD2t8 and despite hating stamina, with a little bit of help from the fgc (its toxicity and childish-ness and I'm just tired of it all) it has sealed the deal on me getting into DS3 (might actually buy both 2&3).

While it's nothing like Sephiroth other than the sword, it does give me ideas that I'd want to go for, and I'm curious about Nioh's customization in this regard. Is it as deep as DS3?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 17, 2017, 11:10:46 AM
I'm not sure I would recommend starting with DS3. Having played all 5 Souls games (including Bloodborne), it was easily my least favorite, and IMO it was also the hardest. I got frustrated by the normal enemy encounters a lot and - despite beating the other 4 multiple times - eventually gave up on it because I was bored to tears by the level design. The Scholar version of Dark Souls 2 is equally obnoxious. Due to people thinking the original release was "too easy," they decided to add like three extra enemies to every encounter and make them run up from behind you constantly, have you fight the same recurring boss a billion fucking times, and just generally destroy the balancing in favor of making it "hard." If you have a PS3 (or Xbox 360, or PC), I would highly recommend starting with either Demon's Souls or the original Dark Souls, as both are far better designed, less frustrating, and more intelligent about explaining the mechanics for new players.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 17, 2017, 03:10:35 PM
Really? Kinda shocked to see that since I've seen so much praise for DS3. So let me ask you then. Just from a customization standpoint, how deep are Demon Souls and Dark Souls 1? How creative can one get?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 17, 2017, 03:46:10 PM
I've only played DS1 and about half of Bloodborne (which I'm still playing, but I've been far too swamped with work and had to force mysekf to take a break from gaming over the past few weeks). Nioh's customization is actually pretty extensive compared to that. In general you get a lot more weapon and armor drops in Nioh, and you can customize the passive buffs that any piece of your gear has.

Granted, this all uses a Blacksmith system that was honestly rather complicated and kind of convoluted for me to learn at first, but once I got the hang of it I was able to acquire gear that best suited my playstyle.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 17, 2017, 06:16:59 PM
Quote from: Mustang on August 17, 2017, 03:10:35 PM
Really? Kinda shocked to see that since I've seen so much praise for DS3.
Well, it's only my opinion of course. ;) A lot of people seem to play these games specifically for the challenging fights or multiplayer while I'm more into exploring the well-designed levels and soaking in their creative horror elements. The first two games and Bloodborne lean more heavily toward what I love about the series while DS2 (especially Scholar) and 3 went with more of a quantity-over-quality approach to levels and enemy encounters IMO. Just couldn't get invested in Scholar or DS3 like I did with DeS, DS1 & 2, and BB.

Anyway, in terms of cosmetic variety (like clothing options and variations on weapon types), I'd say DS3 probably has the most, although it might actually be DS2 since that game is unnaturally large. However, in terms of actual build variety, I'd say DeS and DS1 offer way more customization. In DS2 you are basically forced to pump a ton of points into ADP if you want to be able to dodge attacks, which precludes a lack of options early-game, and in DS3 heavy weapons & magic attacks are all but useless (the former because the poise mechanic is broken, the latter because it's just too weak to be worthwhile until New Game+). DeS is very robust in terms of letting you play how you want, and DS1 is similar though slightly more restricted (that said, magic is broken as hell in both games and can easily be used for cheesing). Bloodborne has the least amount of build variety and cosmetic options of any Souls title, but every single weapon is unique and interesting - with the Old Hunters DLC adding a lot of great ones - and the clothing choices that do exist are significantly cooler than anything in the other games (provided you like the Gothic Victorian horror style).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 17, 2017, 06:33:13 PM
For the record I actually prefer Bloodborne's approach to armor and weapon sets. I like variety, but don't want to spend so much time on deciding specs and customization. I actually feel that Nioh would benefit more from simpler customization options like Bloodborne since its primary draw is in combat, and constantly sifting through menus distracts from that.

I follow TS17 on YouTube, who's one of the most skilled gamers that I know about for character action games. He is a Dark Souls fan but I know that he has major issues with SOTFS and DS3 for many of the reasons that Foggle mentioned, and additionally he has ranted before about how he hates the obnoxious side of the Souls fanbase who want their games to be challenging regardless of good design. I remember in his playthrough of Nioh's most recent DLC, he said that he liked how it did shortcuts more than the later Souls games which he found to be obnoxious and overly long run-backs just for the sake of catering to fans who want to brag about how tough their game is.

I also love challenging games, but the challenge in and of itself has to be fun. It has to make me want to get better at the game. Difficulty just for the sake of difficulty leads to stuff like the worst parts of Ninja Gaiden 2 (mostly Chapter 9, which I loathe) or Legendary difficulty in Halo 2 which is a nightmare.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 20, 2017, 11:00:42 AM
Started my run of Nioh (finally). There's definitely a Ninja Gaiden vibe here. Anyway, died 3 times already and I'm probably 30-45 minutes in. It's mainly me trying to get used to a stamina bar. Right now I'm fighting the habit of going in balls to walls and hacking away at everything.

As stated, Ninja Gaiden vibes, but also the fighting game vibe is definitely here as well. Taking turns and dealing with spacing. I haven't ran into any rock, paper, scissor moment though, but the taking turns, for sure is a fighting game familiarity.

There's a lot of potential here. I just gotta get used to this stamina bar.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 20, 2017, 11:46:45 AM
Have you beaten the prologue stage in London yet? If not, then when you reach Japan you'll be given some options for your initial build. Specifically when it comes to Guardian Spirits, I recommend picking Kato as your starter and then leveling up your Spirit stat to 6, as it will grant you a +5 Ki passive buff, which is great for this point in the game.

Also, Ki-Pulsing. Get used to it and it'll make stamina a lot easier to manage. In fact, the ability to Ki-Pulse while dodging in each stance should be among the first upgrades that you get, so instead of taking up more Ki, properly timing your dodges can help you recover it faster.

Also, being the fighting game aficionado that you are, the Dual Swords would probably be most up your alley for their timing-based combos and having the best parry mechanic in the entire game after the patches made the Katana's parry borderline useless  (to be fair, it was arguably broken before that). That said, you can only parry human enemies, but there are a lot of human bosses in this game and going from a parry directly into Sign of the Cross level 2 followed by a Finishing Blow does an absurd amount of damage and can make seemingly tough boss fights an absolute cake-walk.

Here's a really good example of how good the combat can be when everything clicks just right: https://youtu.be/rgALXbuCd_4
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 21, 2017, 02:32:33 PM
I have not gotten past the London stage yet. I just wanted to try it out (I try not to play any games on Sunday. Trying to stream monster it up and I need everything free if possible).

You already know dual swords is love, dual swords is life. I loved them in NG2 and from the video you provided, I'm loving every minute of what I saw. Is he stance cancelling (reminds me of Dante's weapon switch in DMC4) or is that the Ki Pulsing? Combination of both? It also look a bit like FADCs. Holy cow the depth of this combat. I gotta talk about those costumes real quick. THAT'S WHAT I WANT. I saw a costume, he called it Samurai Jerk. So sick.

1st impression after watching that video. Nioh has the potential to be my #1 favorite of all time. I love samurai's. I love Japanese history. I love seeing different portrayals of Japanese lore and it breaks my heart that we have so little of games representing the samurai side of things. It's all medieval, and I'm like can we break away from this cycle for once.

Dammit Ubisoft. You have everything you need at your fingertips. Historical figures, assassination weapons, etc. TAKE ME TO JAPAN.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 21, 2017, 04:53:49 PM
Quote from: Mustang on August 21, 2017, 02:32:33 PMI have not gotten past the London stage yet. I just wanted to try it out (I try not to play any games on Sunday. Trying to stream monster it up and I need everything free if possible).

I got ya. I'm kind of the same way when it comes to gaming, though in my case I just don't game at all when I have too much work and life related stuff going on, which is what's happening right now, which is why I haven't been able to play more than a few hours in total over the past two months.

QuoteYou already know dual swords is love, dual swords is life. I loved them in NG2 and from the video you provided, I'm loving every minute of what I saw. Is he stance cancelling (reminds me of Dante's weapon switch in DMC4) or is that the Ki Pulsing? Combination of both? It also look a bit like FADCs. Holy cow the depth of this combat. I gotta talk about those costumes real quick. THAT'S WHAT I WANT. I saw a costume, he called it Samurai Jerk. So sick.

Yeah, Dual Swords in NG2 and in this game are among my favorite weapons from each. As for what he's doing in the video, first of all, I need to give you a fair disclaimer that he has a decent amount of upgrades that you'll need to unlock before you can do some of the stuff that he does, but on top of that XHL Gladiator is a fucking beast at these types of games. I've played the game for well over a hundred hours myself and still can't play nearly as well as he does. However, what his videos showcase to you is the potential of the combat system, and as you can clearly see yourself, it's hardly lacking in depth and variety, which is why I love the game so much.

For the record, he is switching stances and using dodges to Ki-pulse. You'll learn about the Ki-pulse system from the brief dojo tutorial after you clear the London stage (you can't change stances in the prologue, unfortunately), however it'll only tell you the basics of how to use it, in that it basically functions like the active reload system from Gears of War. However you'll quickly discover that there is more nuance to it than that. There are early ability upgrades which you can get that let you Ki-pulse by dodging at the right time (which is what he does a lot of in that video), and also by changing your stance at the same time that you Ki-pulse (which ends up recovering your Ki even faster). He uses both of those a lot. While there technically is no stance cancelling, there is such a thing as canceling out of stance change animations. Essentially you can complete a combo in mid-stance and then immediately switch to high stance to follow it up with a devastating blow to an enemy drained of stamina or leaving themselves vulnerable to further attacks. Normally when you change stances from an idle state their is a brief animation of William changing the positioning of his weapon, however that animation can be skipped if you change in the middle of a recovery animation or if you choose to attack before the animation is even fully complete, which once again you see a lot of in this video. Additionally, you can dodge cancel out of certain combos, but being from the same team that made the Ninja Gaiden games, you do have to commit to individual attacks and typically can't cancel out of most of those in the middle of the active-frames animation for when you're attacking an enemy. It's something that's easy enough to get used to, though. Spacing tends to be far more important in a game such as this, anyways.

As for the costumes, one of the best aspects of the Blacksmith system is that you can have your cake and eat it too, so to speak. What I mean is say that you get a piece of armor that looks cool but doesn't have stats that you like or is too heavy and you're going for a light armor build, but the armor that does have the stats that you like doesn't fit the look that you want. In this case you can use the Refashion option to make any piece of gear look like another piece of gear of the same type, so you can have your cool looking character while also having the exact build that you're going for. It's probably one of my personal favorite aspects of this game's whole loot system.

Quote1st impression after watching that video. Nioh has the potential to be my #1 favorite of all time. I love samurai's. I love Japanese history. I love seeing different portrayals of Japanese lore and it breaks my heart that we have so little of games representing the samurai side of things. It's all medieval, and I'm like can we break away from this cycle only once.

Glad to see that it's up your alley as well. It's my favorite game in years and really leaves me hopeful that the next Ninja Gaiden game will be a return to form for the franchise after the dumpster-fire that was the third game.

QuoteDammit Ubisoft. You have everything you need at your fingertips. Historical figures, assassination weapons, etc. TAKE ME TO JAPAN.

Honestly pretty surprised that Assassin's Creed Japan wasn't done ages ago. It seems like a no-brainer.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on August 21, 2017, 09:30:24 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 21, 2017, 04:53:49 PM
Honestly pretty surprised that Assassin's Creed Japan wasn't done ages ago. It seems like a no-brainer.

I recall reading an article around the time Unity was coming out that they had actually planned to, but weren't able to do the amount of research/map accuracy they wanted to because the Japanese sources they were using disapproved of what they were using it for, and found it disrespectful (I assume through which historical figures they were deeming Assassins and Templars). So they dropped it. I know there had to be way more to it than just that though. They definitely WANT to do an AC in Japan, I know that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 27, 2017, 03:51:12 PM
Continuing Nioh, I made it past the London tutorial, and while I do like the dual swords I gotta say that I am favoring just the single katana at the moment. Probably because I feel safer with it. I'm still trying to get used to Ki Pulsing, but I feel a little more comfortable Ki Pulsing with just 1 katana. I am also favoring the low stance quite a bit as well.

Speaking of stances, I'm seeing just how XLHGladiator is doing all the stance switching with Ki Pulsing. While it's not too deep it does require a bit of practice, and I gotta get my mind into thinking it's very much like FADCing. He got skills. Memorizing that Triangle, Square and X = high, mid, low while in the midst of battle and under pressure, yeah, he's a beast.

All the menu's can be pretty overwhelming as well, but I'm slowly understanding it.

This is really pushing me lol. I haven't been challenged this much in a long time; since the Ninja Gaiden days. Having a renewed interest in that game as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 27, 2017, 08:00:28 PM
Glad you're enjoying it! :joy:

Execution-wise, stance changing to Ki-Pulse is easy enough. Actually remembering to do it constantly and using it effectively in the heat of battle is a bit more complex, though, especially since you'll want to be in a certain stance to use the specific attacks that you want to use.

The Katana is definitely a well-balanced weapon, but the patches really ended up needing it in the long run, IMO. The Dual Swords take more skill to use but have the best parry in the game.

The menus and general mechanics of this game are incredibly overwhelming, but once you get used to it the core systems aren't too hard to grasp.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 30, 2017, 06:01:52 PM
Is XLH Gladiator the only one who plays like that on Youtube? Everyone else I've seen so far is going for max damage type of build. That seems cool and all, but that seem like it'll get boring after a couple playthroughs. I mean I have moments where I want to feel like a badass just 1 shot hitting people all over the place as well, but I don't know, I wanna style and profile while looking like a badass at the same time.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 30, 2017, 06:33:25 PM
Very few people can play like XLH in general, but these are videos designed to exhibit style over efficiency. In that regard it's no different than Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry. Playing the game just to beat it isn't necessarily all that flashy, but playing games of thus nature to master stylistic combat is the main draw, IMO.

That said, I tend not to overlevel my character and play with a lightweight armor build since that better suits my style and is a more fun challenge for me. In general, the game gives you the freedom to play how you want. You can certainly grind to be far more powerful than most basic enemies, which I find to be boring as sin. Or you can get just to a perfect spot that feels neither too ridiculously tough but also not too comfortably safe, either.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 08, 2017, 11:33:22 AM
Just picked up Double Dragon IV on my Switch. So glad they decided to port it.

Now if only we could get Neon as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on September 14, 2017, 11:58:49 AM
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Enjoying it so far. I like how the island has very recognizable areas so you know where you are, and you can see other recognizable areas. I just wish there weren't so many transitions between each area like a KH game, and that you could just travel around without that. Also don't really care for the village defense stuff, but overall I like exploring. I've always been a sucker for "mysterious island" stories.

And if this takes place between Ys V and Ys VI, that mean Napishtim happens after this... meaning Adol and Dogi go through two shipwrecks in a row. XD Why did they do that anyway? Barring a few connections between the lore of the games, they're each pretty stand-alone, so I don't see why they couldn't just set it after VII.

Dana kind of reminds me of Tia from Ys VII design-wise. Blue hair and all.

Holy crap, the ending of chapter 2 threw me for a loop.

Spoiler
For all the usual anime talk of everybody working together despite their differences and all making me pretty comfortable and thinking I knew how things were going to go down, they sure weren't afraid to kill the living hell out of three characters in half an hour. Carlan's death, I actively cheered for. The Captain, I was genuinely sad about, and the doctor's was hilarious. He sets himself up to be a recurring villain and a dinosaur just eats his ass. I loved the mystery aspect but I did just want to end that plotline rather than drag it out, so I'm happy. And chapter 3 looks to be a complete change of pace, so I'm looking forward to that.
[close]

So yeah, besides the interceptions and some tedium doing sidequests (hate timed sidequests), I'm having a blast.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 14, 2017, 01:09:13 PM
I'm not sure why the timeline for Ys is the way it is. I understand the purpose of setting IV before III due to the fact that Dogi had to rejoin Adol somewhere in order to explain why he's in III with Adol, but at this point you'd figure they'd just set them chronologically.

If anyone is confused, this is the Ys timeline:

Origin
I
II
IV
III
V
VIII
VI
VII

Oh wait, is Geis in the game? He first appears in VI and shows up again in VII. This may be an excuse to explain why he's not in the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on September 14, 2017, 01:28:38 PM
I don't remember how VII ended; it's been years since I played it on PSP. Did Geis leave with them? VIII's another shipwreck story and I feel like it works perfectly as a stand alone story even if it took place after VII, but I guess it doesn't work if anybody traveled with Adol and Dogi afterward.

Now we just need that remake of Ys V and we'll be all set. I don't have a Vita so I never got to touch Celceta. Hope that comes to Steam eventually. I recently marathoned I, II, Oath in Felghana, Ark of Napishtim and Origin a month or two ago.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 14, 2017, 03:17:50 PM
I think Geis went off on his own, but they appear to be setting him up for having an arc of his own eventually, so that's the only reason I could see them setting this before VI and he shows up.

Here's hoping they re-release Celceta so we can get all the Ys games in one easily available place. I just wish someone could give the TG16 version of IV an official re-release as I'm a big fan of those versions of the games. Just license a fan translation like they did for Oath for all I care. Just get it out there.

The way Falcom works is that with every new entry they remaster an old one. With VI we got III (and Origin). With VII we got IV. Now with VIII we should hopefully get V. After that the series should be finally caught up with every entry having an official Falcom-made version.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on September 14, 2017, 09:00:59 PM
Wait, so would V be updated with VIII's graphics and engine? That'd be sexy as hell.  :drool:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 14, 2017, 11:21:11 PM
It would!

In other news, I just played the Octopath Traveler demo. It was great! You can tell this is the team behind Bravely Default in that they are the best team currently at Square Enix. Like Radiant Historia, it feels like a long lost 16 and 32 bit RPG from their heyday. The combat system is simple yet can be complex, the music and art style are on point, and everything just clicks so well. And I only played one chapter of the eight characters. Who knows how much the full game contains.

I'm honestly surprised they did a demo, but I'm glad. This might be the first RPG I've purchased in a long time when it comes out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on September 14, 2017, 11:26:04 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on September 14, 2017, 01:09:13 PM
Oh wait, is Geis in the game?

Oops, sorry, Spark, I completely missed this question. I'm fairly positive he's not in the game. The artbook in the special edition has every character in it, and he's not there. Apparently someone from the Celceta game was caught up in the shipwreck and washed up on the island too (I haven't gotten far enough in to find her), but since I never played that game she's a foreign face to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 14, 2017, 11:41:56 PM
Hmm. I'm guessing that might be why they set it earlier. Geis doesn't show up until VI and he's been kind of a main character since. They probably wanted to save his story for the next game to not overdo him too early.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 16, 2017, 08:39:10 PM
So, I waited a bit to see people's opinions on it, but it looks like Sonic Mania is legitimately being viewed as a great platformer by fans of the genre, and not just Sonic fans. Easy allies gave it a 4.5/5, and being that this is the same team that comprised GT, who are decidedly not Sonic fans, that also helped a lot to convince me that this game wasn't just being over-hyped like Generations was (not that I dislike Generations, but it's an OK platformer that was made out to be a great one, IMO).

I had $30 sitting in my PSN account from a previous gift card, and I used $20 to buy Sonic Mania. I'll be trying it out pretty soon, but what also caught my eye was that both Metro 2033 and Last Light were both on sale for $7 a piece, being marked at 65% off. Unfortunately I only had about 10$ left, but I went ahead and bought Metro 2033 since I can't pass up a deal that good. If that deal is still good tomorrow, I may add $10 to my account and secure Last Light for later.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on September 17, 2017, 04:37:16 PM
Okay, I passed chapter 3 of Ys VIII, and finally found a part of the main plot I didn't like: you're heading through the giant mountain, and then the game makes you backtrack to go to a different dungeon, followed by a mandatory suppression mission followed by an interception mission. Kind of killed the pacing a bit.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 18, 2017, 04:50:16 PM
So, I did actually end up snagging Metro: Last Light for the same price as well. I'll be saving both of those games and the Resident Evil Origins Collection (which I've had sitting on my shelf since February) for October. Those are some perfect games for the Halloween season. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 23, 2017, 02:46:31 PM
Haven't been able to play anything for the past couple of weeks due to work, but I did buy the season pass to Nioh, and I just found out that the last DLC will have Ryu Hayabusa as a boss. I'm hyped up for that.

Other than that, I've been watching footage of DBFZ and MvCI. High level play in DBFz is too good. Still a little worried since these characters are still relatively the same, but I think it's probably because most people are playing them that way. In a sense, I wish this was a 1v1 game instead of 3v3, but other than that it looks too good.

MvCI on the other hand, despite the ugliness and the roster, this game is winning me over. Capcom, yet again was aiming for casuals but the way the game plays, it might turn out much like MvC3 in terms of the complexity, it might be too much for casuals. Next to Tekken and Guilty Gear, this might be the deepest fighting game to date. Spider-man looks too fun.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 23, 2017, 10:38:42 PM
I'm not going to lie, while I think that the base campaign for Nioh is really solid stuff, the DLC kind of fucked things up for me in the long-run. I'm not talking about the new missions or enemies themselves. Those are fine. I'm talking about how Team Ninja made the poor decision to tweak the gameplay balance in order to put more emphasis on scaling up your gear, thus forcing players to grind for better weapons and armor in order to take on tougher mission levels in the new regions added by the DLC. If you refuse to do this, then have fun doing shit damage to regular enemies and practically none to bosses, all while they can wipe you out in just one hit. The funny thing is that I can deal with the latter since my time playing character action games on harder difficulty settings has made me adept at not getting hit most of the time, which is why I hardly put time into upgrading my armor. But I absolutely detest enemies and bosses that can tank your most powerful attacks like it's nothing, forcing you to slog trough fighting them all while you have to play absolutely perfect the whole time. The main game never had this issue for me, but unfortunately Team Ninja decided to over-emphasize the RPG aspects of this game with the new content, when the balance that they had with the emphasis on character action game-style skill is what made Nioh such a uniquely fun experience in the first place, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 23, 2017, 11:39:24 PM
I finally finished playing through all the Wolfenstein games. Overall, I think The Old Blood might actually be my favorite - the last third is fairly weak (especially that final boss, ew) but it's one of the most satisfying shooters I've ever played. The New Order is right behind it, though on my second playthrough I did notice it having a few tedious/poorly-balanced parts that made me want to take breaks from it sometimes; still an awesome game overall, though. Can't wait for the next one!

Now I'm replaying the original Deus Ex for the fifth time. I'm always finding new stuff in this game... it never fails to impress me!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 24, 2017, 12:53:45 AM
I beat Double Dragon Neon finally and have been playing Hard mode. We all agree that the tank level is the worst level, right?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 24, 2017, 10:43:43 PM
I played a bunch of New Order. It's alright. I just really wish we could ditch iron sights already. They slow the action down and every game uses them the exact same way. Also, I wish it was easier to stealth. But it's a fun game overall.

Quote from: gunswordfist on September 24, 2017, 12:53:45 AM
I beat Double Dragon Neon finally and have been playing Hard mode. We all agree that the tank level is the worst level, right?
The surfing level is more annoying. Too many instant deaths.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 25, 2017, 12:05:41 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on September 24, 2017, 10:43:43 PM
I played a bunch of New Order. It's alright. I just really wish we could ditch iron sights already. They slow the action down and every game uses them the exact same way.
I never use iron sights! I'm always dual-wielding. :D Makes the game way more fun.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on September 25, 2017, 01:51:35 PM
Quote from: Foggle on September 25, 2017, 12:05:41 AM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on September 24, 2017, 10:43:43 PM
I played a bunch of New Order. It's alright. I just really wish we could ditch iron sights already. They slow the action down and every game uses them the exact same way.
I never use iron sights! I'm always dual-wielding. :D Makes the game way more fun.
More ammo drops is all I ask.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on September 25, 2017, 03:05:45 PM
Quote from: gunswordfist on September 24, 2017, 12:53:45 AM
I beat Double Dragon Neon finally and have been playing Hard mode. We all agree that the tank level is the worst level, right?
The surfing level is more annoying. Too many instant deaths.
[/quote]I forgot about that level..I took a long break on that game. lol
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on September 25, 2017, 11:39:11 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on September 25, 2017, 01:51:35 PM
More ammo drops is all I ask.
Yeah, definitely. They should also make it so you can pick up the ammo by simply walking over it like in every other game ever...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 10, 2017, 02:13:10 PM
Beat Ys 8 about a week ago. It kind of shit the bed towards the end.

Gameplay wise, the closer you get to the end of the final dungeon, the more side-stuff it starts throwing at you. Suppressions, interceptions, villager sidequests, and one final, extra flashback for Dana. I can *see* the boss of the area in the distance and that stupid parrot keeps calling me back to the village. Not to mention two or three key items were in the final dungeon. I did all the villager sidequests and still didn't have maximum affinity with everyone in the village, so I'm guessing there's a few gift items locked behind the last few suppressions and interceptions, which I didn't have the patience to complete.

Story-wise, hoo boy...
Spoiler
This plot was great and intriguing until it started doing that Tales of thing where we basically have to kill a god and save the world. I was fine with it being an island escape story. I thought the big threat in the past was also going to be Okeanos, to link the creature as the big bad of both plots. But you finally kill him and the plot derails into this Evolution/Genocide Tree thing that just absolutely loses me. (The cast even looks like a Tales Of party once you have all six of them together). This series already had a great mythos with the Eldeen and now we're just piling all these previous civilizations and gods on top of it? Was Maia and the other two gods mentioned previously? I forget. Did the Eldeen come after Dana's people had died out? That was a bit confusing to me. I thought it would have been cool if Ura/Sarai had turned out to be an Eldeen and that it was going to be revealed that they were the last victims of the Lacrimosa, but she just seems to be from a race of shapeshifter aliens.

I was expecting a bigger reveal for that red-haired chick from Dana's past sections, considering she appears on the Japanese box art with the party. I was expecting her to be the big bad, honestly.
[close]

Still an enjoyable game, I just really didn't like the last few hours. There was a post-game dungeon, but the reward at the end of it just seemed like something that should have been a standard new game + option, rather than something you had to go through the hardest dungeon in the game for.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 10, 2017, 05:25:29 PM
I haven't been all that into Ys stories after the first three games when the original creators left (to form Quintet, natch) for the reason that they became pretty generic, especially after IV. The first few games have a lot of mystique and mystery to the world and lore, and later games just kind of dump it all on to you in order to save the world against something that comes out of nowhere. And it always involves the land's ancient god or whatever instead of keeping it related to the story you've been involved in since the beginning of the game.

I'm glad the game is otherwise great. The combat and exploration is always top notch in Ys, and that's really what I come for. I just wish we could have a story as engaging as the early games were again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on October 10, 2017, 05:41:05 PM
Story was never the most important thing in Ys, but it was jarring in this game to just see it go the usual JRPG route and have you kill a god to save the world. Not even a region, this time, but the entire planet. On this tiny deserted island in the middle of the sea (I assume it's the same Mediterranean Sea stand-in that the Canaan Islands are in).

The other subplots are really fun. Murder mysteries, ghost ships, finding the missing castaways, the dinosaur stuff (localization keeps calling them Ancient Species; it's stupid), exploring Dana's past and trying to find out how her ancient civilization died out, it's all great. It's why I wish the ending had stuck with that deserted mysterious island theme.

Speaking of the localization, it seems NIS got a lot of complaints and is going to update it.

(https://abload.de/img/1ujs41.png)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 15, 2017, 11:38:12 AM
Got The Evil Within 2. It's a lot better than I expected but almost completely different from the first one. There are many superficial similarities but despite being basically the same on paper its mechanics function much differently from the original. At first this threw me off as well as frustrated and disappointed me but the more I play it the more I love it. Like the first game, this one doesn't really put its best foot forward (in fact it seriously doubles down on the early cinematic walking simulator stuff) but it gets super good once you hit chapter 3. The "open world" is more like a bunch of small but dense hubs and they're a lot of fun to explore. Certain gameplay elements are locked behind the upgrade system early on which sucks, and I wish they hadn't got rid of matches or toned down the trap placement, but this is way more of an actual survival horror game now. While TEW was basically Resident Evil 4 Part 2, this one carves out its own little niche and feels like something entirely new and unique. It's also hard as hell on the recommended difficulty setting (Nightmare). Recommended!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 15, 2017, 01:16:51 PM
I still need to play the first TEW before I can get to this one, but I really do want to get to it. I had planned to play through the RE Origins Collection thus month but it doesn't look like that will be happening after all. The final Nioh DLC took me longer to complete than expected, and I still have both Metro games to play through in addition to getting back into Bloodborne.

By the time I get done with those it'll probably be next year. My gaming progress is pretty slow these days due to my divided attention with work, life in general, and other forms of entertainment. But I do still really want to play TEW and the sequel.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 15, 2017, 08:01:43 PM
Finally played Cuphead and beat the first world. Excellent game and well worth the acclaim. Just wish I didn't have to play it with a crap d-pad.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 15, 2017, 10:16:30 PM
Xbox 360?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 15, 2017, 11:36:42 PM
My friend had a steam controller. It made me jump randomly when I'd push up. Lot of frustrating deaths.

But the game was still worth it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 21, 2017, 02:49:00 PM
Since my last post I haven't played anything. Working extra hours and just haven't been in the mood to play anything. Games is usually my go-to for stress relief or to take my mind off of things (with all this crazy ish going on in sports and life period), but I just haven't been in the mood at all.

I'm also working on getting off of wireless internet as well, so hopefully in about a month or two (maybe even weeks to come) I'll be able to jump into online rank/lounges again.

I know it's around that time again where my brother-in-law and I would run some sets in whatever Street Fighter game, it'll probably be 3rd Strike or USF4, so maybe I'll jump back into training mode on those in a couple of days. Other than that, it's mainly tournament watching and letting the backlog continue to grow (damn, MGS5 and Ni-oh are games I want to get back into).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on October 22, 2017, 12:54:10 AM
A day or two ago I got to Double Dragon mode on Neon. Yeah, it's easier than whatever Hard mode is called because I Maxed out Training Wheels. lol. Hard mode was tearing me apart at first.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 27, 2017, 07:32:31 PM
As someone who is not a fan of either Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine, I have to say that Super Mario Odyssey is an incredible game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on October 30, 2017, 05:09:06 AM
A Hat in Time is supposedly getting a console release and I for one could not be more excited. Hopefully soon!

I don't have any kind of PC built for gaming (never really attempted anything with my laptop, but I only use that for work and would prefer to keep it as such), so console releases are a must for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 30, 2017, 12:51:08 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 27, 2017, 07:32:31 PM
As someone who is not a fan of either Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine, I have to say that Super Mario Odyssey is an incredible game.
It's my most-wanted game right now! Too bad I don't have a Switch. Soon...

I'm playing Wolfenstein 2 right now and it's great fun. The new powers, weapon upgrades, and movement speed make it really nice to play. Feels like a perfect halfway point between New Order and Doom 4. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing too. Really disturbing story, though - it goes a lot farther than pretty much anything else I've played, especially in the AAA space. MachineGames definitely busted out their storytelling chops from The Darkness on this one.

I beat The Evil Within 2 last week and I liked it quite a bit overall. The last third or so becomes fairly tedious and poorly-written but Chapter 14 is exceptional and the final boss/ending sequence are fantastic. It wasn't as good as the first game or Resident Evil 7 but I would still wholeheartedly recommend it to fans of PS2-era horror titles.

Last night I had fun role-playing as a gambling-addicted cop hunting a psychotic killer in 100% Orange Juice with Micki!, another friend, and a random online player. :D

Spoiler
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNXA6PFUEAAIsM7.jpg)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNXA6PEVwAAr4l0.jpg)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNXA6PEVAAEptyN.jpg)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNXA6PDU8AAVx1S.jpg)

Spoiler
Yes, my username is KawaiiGRRL.
[close]
[close]
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 30, 2017, 02:15:38 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 27, 2017, 07:32:31 PM
As someone who is not a fan of either Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine, I have to say that Super Mario Odyssey is an incredible game.

Quote from: FoggleIt's my most-wanted game right now! Too bad I don't have a Switch. Soon...

I've been wondering what the senses were with Mario Odyssey.

Same boat as the boat of you. We all know I can't stand Mario, but that game looks hella good. I almost bought a Switch immediately because of it, but the way my bank account is set up, we'll get into that another time. As someone whose looking to bond with his nephew I just might get it, especially after hearing that Shin Megami Tensei 5 will be a Switch exclusive.

Finally got back into playing games again. Preparation for DBFZ, went back to playing Xenoverse 2. Sort of regretting that decision, but having a bit a fun as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 30, 2017, 04:46:57 PM
Quote from: Mustang on October 30, 2017, 02:15:38 PM
Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 27, 2017, 07:32:31 PM
As someone who is not a fan of either Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine, I have to say that Super Mario Odyssey is an incredible game.

Quote from: FoggleIt's my most-wanted game right now! Too bad I don't have a Switch. Soon...

I've been wondering what the senses were with Mario Odyssey.

Same boat as the boat of you. We all know I can't stand Mario, but that game looks hella good. I almost bought a Switch immediately because of it, but the way my bank account is set up, we'll get into that another time. As someone whose looking to bond with his nephew I just might get it, especially after hearing that Shin Megami Tensei 5 will be a Switch exclusive.
Odyssey is what I imagined 64 would be when I first played it back in the day. It has tight levels like Galaxy/3D World, wide open spaces like 64 (and bigger games like Banjo 1 and 2 and the first Jak & Daxter), a strong art-style like Sunshine, and a lot of the tricks from Breath of the Wild's open world. Basically, it has all the strengths of the old 3D Mario games without any of the weaknesses.

I'm not sure if I like it more than the Galaxy games (as they are still my bread and butter 3D platformers) but this one easily stacks up and is a monumental improvement on the collectathon platformer that 64 started and no one has been able to improve on since the original Jak & Daxter. It's really that good.

If this becomes the base for a new wave of collectathon platformers we should all feel grateful. It's overdue.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 01, 2017, 12:14:52 AM
I forgot/didn't know The Darkness staff did Wolfenstein II!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 01, 2017, 11:59:21 AM
Quote from: gunswordfist on November 01, 2017, 12:14:52 AM
I forgot/didn't know The Darkness staff did Wolfenstein II!
MachineGames is mostly comprised of Starbreeze staff who worked on the Chronicles of Riddick games and The Darkness. There's a reason the writing in their Wolfenstein titles is shockingly good!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on November 01, 2017, 09:21:25 PM
Finished replaying Trails In The Sky on PC. Six years after playing it on PSP, I can finally play the sequel. And the third game. And the Trails Of Cold Steel games. Oh, how I have waited for this day.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 04, 2017, 03:44:10 PM
So that slightly regretting playing Xenoverse 2 has turned out to fully regretting and dropping it. Don't get me wrong, I fully support the game, but after beating it once and going back to it after what, a year? Not worth it. I noticed some things have been added and some things have been taken out, but man, hit detection in this game is awful. You won't really notice it until you start playing on some of the harder levels, but it really rears its ugly head on the 7-star missions, especially when you're fighting characters like Vegito and SSJ3 Gotenks at the same time. I am a little sad though because Goku Blacks clothes are achievable. Oh well, I do hope they're working on Xenoverse 3 and I hope they fix more of these hit detection issues. Ish made me very salty btw.

Might fire up Metal Gear soon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on November 15, 2017, 04:31:40 PM
I beat Cuphead last night, all in all a fun little game and it took me about 10-11 hours to beat. Sure most of my deaths in this game were my fault, but there were times I felt the game kinda cheated me a few of them, looking at you Rumor Honeybottoms, Grim Matchstick & Dr. Kahl's Robot. Those 3 remain my hardest challenge in the game, even harder than the Devil himself, whom I beat after 3-4 attempts. But yeah, I will say equip the smoke bomb cause it allows you to Dragon Ball Z yourself out of most attacks, Charge shots makes thing easier, Scattershot is my favorite weapon cause getting up close it does deal more damage. I only use the Hearts on the airplane level since smoke bomb doesn't work there. Also the Invincibility Super got me out of a few tight jams.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on November 15, 2017, 05:37:55 PM
Yeah, it's a great game. I hope it signals a return to arcade style shooters like this. They've also stated their next game will continue the 2D animation style, so that's cool.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daxdiv on November 15, 2017, 06:12:47 PM
Good, if they keep up the same 2D art style, I won't complain. This game really is a labor of love towards gaming and animation, 2 of my favorite things. I swear the details in the animation of this game is one of many positives about it. Even watching other people play the game makes me appreciate all the work that went into animating and drawing the bosses, the background and the duo of Cuphead & Mugman themselves. Sure I can catch that while playing, but sitting back does make me go "Damn, how did I not notice that detail before?"
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 17, 2017, 11:16:20 PM
So instead of firing up MGS5 as I originally planned I decided to fire up Persona 5 again. Just been in the mood for some Persona lately (started because I watched a video of Dante in Nocturne).

Even though I've yet to play them (and probably won't at this time), if someone were to say something along the lines of Nier Automata or Horizon is their GOTY I wouldn't say a word. Looking at other folks play both games I respect them enough to say they deserve it (at the very least they need to be in the conversation). For me at the moment it's a toss up between Persona 5 and Ni-oh (I'd give a slight nod to Tekken 7 as well). Just some great games that got me out of my gaming slump.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 18, 2017, 12:14:35 AM
I'm glad you found a game you like that much! That's exactly how I felt about Persona 2 and 3 back when I played them the first time. :joy: I really need to give P5 another go when I'm less busy. I do gotta get around to Ni-Oh and Horizon also. Both have complete editions coming out soon so it'll be a pretty good time to pick them up. I also wish I could play Mario Odyssey because I know I'd love it.

Nier Automata is definitely my favorite game this year. As unbalanced as it is, I really enjoyed the gameplay (enough to 100% it... twice!), and of course the music is excellent, but the story really means a lot to me. Doing a second full playthrough made me understand the writing much better and, though I wish 2B and 9S were more likable, I have to say that it is simply brilliant narrative-wise. Ending E, which I already loved, I found truly beautiful upon reexamination. Both Automata and its prequel stir up a lot of emotions in me.

The most pure fun titles for me this year were Prey and Sonic Mania by a long shot. The former may very well have surpassed Deus Ex as my all-time favorite immersive sim while the latter is the smoothest and most vibrant 2D platformer I think I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Meanwhile, Resident Evil 7 was a scary and funny return to the survival horror days of old which I appreciated immensely; The Evil Within 2 attempted the same thing and while I'd say it was less successful I still liked it a lot. I also loved both the writing and gameplay in Wolfenstein 2 though it was slightly outclassed by some of the aforementioned titles. My beloved Yakuza series saw two(!) releases and it continues to be my favorite annual-ish standby.

The biggest disappointment for me this year was probably Yooka-Laylee, but I still enjoyed it very much (I 100%'d it, after all). It definitely needed another year in the oven, so hopefully Playtonic is able to learn from their mistakes and deliver a killer successor in a few years.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 18, 2017, 01:02:36 AM
Mustang: Really glad that you're enjoying Nioh. It's main campaign is one of the best that I've played for any action game in quite a while. I will warn you that the DLC is a bit of a step back if only because Team Ninja put a bit too much emphasis on scaling, forcing you to grind a bit too much for better gear in order to do half-way decent damage to even normal enemies. That said, they did add the tonfas as a new weapon with a sub-class called Gun Sticks (tonfas with gunpowder that lets you blast enemies at point blank range at the end of combos), probably one of my favorite weapons in gaming.

Nier: Automata was a great game as well. It wasn't quite what I expected it to be, but I suppose that's the whole point of a Yoko Taro game.

I've also been meaning to get around to Horizon and some of the other games that you mentioned.

Foggle: Just FYI, Nioh Complete Edition is already out on PC. From what I can gather the game had some early bugs and issues (not surprising for a KT port to PC), but a patch has recently been released that apparently fixes most problems. Still, the general consensus is that if you have a choice, go for the PS4 version of the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Painted Outlaw on November 24, 2017, 11:08:58 PM
Focusing right now on Majora's Mask on my Wii U. I never got a chance to play it back in the N64 days (I did for OoT, though!) and although I tried the 3D copy, there's something about playing it on my TV that I couldn't pass up. And no, I'm not using the gamepad; partly because mapping the Ocarina on it was a pain in the butt and also that for some reason whenever I put it down, Link kept walking in directions by himself and it kept messing me up in spots like sneaking into the Deku Palace. So, blerg to that; classic controller all the way.

My other backlog of games consists of Resident Evil 0, Mario 3D World and a friend indirectly recommended to me Final Fantasy 6 (since as I told him, "I thought what I played of the first one was fine but I'm thinking of skipping around some" and I thought 6 sounded the most interesting out of the list he gave me).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on November 24, 2017, 11:57:53 PM
Been playing the Hell out of Double Dragon Neon kinda. I beat the game twice and I'm now on the hardest difficulty on the final stage.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on November 25, 2017, 10:45:00 PM
Trails In The Sky trilogy is finished. Fantastic series. Hoping we get 4th and 5th games in the U.S. someday. Doesn't feel right to just skip ahead to the 6th.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 02, 2017, 02:06:01 PM
So, I finally picked Bloodborne back up last week. Such is my life that I get busy with so many things in my day to day life that I just have to temporarily drop things and pick them up literally months later. At any rate, I've made it up to Cainhurst Castle. Since you can tackle areas out of order in this game, I should mention that so far I've cleared Central Yharnam, Old Yharnam, Cathedral Ward (the lower portion), Hypogean Gaol (which apparently is an optional area, though I didn't realize that), Hemwick Charnel Lane, The Forbidden Woods, and Byrgenwerth, in addition to a number of side-quests. Thematically and Aesthetically, I think that Cainhurst may be my favorite level so far. I absolutely love the combination of this area feeling like it's taking elements from both classic Dracula films and mixing them in with good old-fashioned haunted house tropes.

Also, the Rifle Spear has been my favorite weapon so far. It's transformed state in particular makes it probably the most versatile weapon in the game, at least out of the ones that I've managed to collect so far. It has proven to be particularly useful on pretty much all enemy types at Cainhurst.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on December 02, 2017, 03:57:08 PM
Cainhurst is an excellent level and also features one of the most intense boss fights in the game. I love it! (It's also an optional area, btw.)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: gunswordfist on December 03, 2017, 03:00:37 PM
I've been playing New Super Mario Bros. 2 on my 2DS. So far it's very linear like the 1st one, hell I literally just youtube to make sure it wasn't the same thing. They start off similarly. Anyway, it's good to have my a Nintendo system that I have bought by myself for the first time (I think I might have bought a Micro or Color from somebody, idk). Anyway, NSMB2 came in a bundle with 2DS for 80 bucks and I'm waiting to get Alpha Sapphire. Will probably snatch up all the Gameboy Color Zeldas while they are on sale.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 06, 2017, 03:12:41 PM
So my brother-in-law is coming to town in about 2 weeks so all other games don't exist to me right now unless DMC5 gets announced. That being said, it's Street Fighter time. This time we'll probably bounced between 3rd Strike and USF4, but probably end up focusing more on 3rd Strike. I'll probably talk him into USF4, but at the same time I'm also gonna get some SF5 playtime as well (probably do ranked or battle lounge)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 06, 2017, 08:18:11 PM
I defeated Martyr Logarius and met Queen Annalise in Bloodborne. Literally the only thing that I dislike about Caihurst as a level is the run back to the boss. I think I actually spent more time running back to fight him than on the actual fight itself. It's a shame too because the boss himself is interesting, but having a two-to-three minute obstacle course standing in my way to get back to him makes it a lot more frustrating than it needs to be to fight him on subsequent attempts.

The boss himself is quite interesting. Any boss that emphasizes good parry skills is worth fighting in my eyes. That said I actually found his first phase to be the hardest to deal with by my play-style. He loves to spam arcane attacks which are easy enough to avoid if you keep a relative distance from him and only chip away at his health with one or two hits at a time when he leaves himself open to attack for a brief window of time. However, that requires a degree of patience that I iust don't have, and thus I often went in to attack him with wreckless abandon in order to get him to the next phase and ended up taking a lot more damage than I needed to. The rest of the fight is pretty fun, though, once you get decent with timing your parries against him. My only gripe here is when he sometimes starts spamming his summoned swords to attack you. Taking out the sword that he stabs into the ground can be annoying at times when the lock-on is acting finicky and keeps targeting him instead of the sword.

Overall, though, that one gripe aside, Cainhurst is my favorite level in the game up to this point. In case you're curious, The Forbidden Woods is my least favorite so far. Too long and drab for my tastes. I do like the boss fight, though, which is another one that emphasizes parrying.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 16, 2017, 01:55:08 AM
Just curious if anyone has ever played Nidhog? Daigo vs Tokido (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWe9HX-Y8m8). I was mentally taking notes throughout the video because of how good the spacing was between the 2, and I want to try to implement the level of spacing here into my Street Fighter game. I'm ok with counter poking with Dudley but after that, that's it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 28, 2017, 02:12:04 PM
Sort of went back to playing Nioh, but I almost decided to get rid of it along with Nier Automata and my whole backlog (pretty shitty month, let alone holiday), but after calming down a bit I just need to get my hands on some money and a Switch so I can play Zelda (until then, nothing else really matters unless it's Street Fighter).

So as of now, I'm looking into getting Yakuza Kiwami and possibly Yakuza 0. Also been thinking about getting a 3DS, but not entirely sure on that one either. Basically been watching videos of Zelda, Street Fighter 3 and 5.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 28, 2017, 04:30:53 PM
I myself have encountered the problem of playing or wanting to play so many ARPGs back-to-back. I only have a limited amount of hours that I can play per week, so it literally takes me at least a month or more to get through a game like Nioh, Bloodborne, or Nier: Automata. Tack onto that wanting to play some Persona, Yakuza, and Zelda as well, and you basically take away most of my free time. Simply put I just can't keep up with this genre, which is why the shorter but more replayable character action game set-up is much more up my alley these days as opposed to life before acquiring a full-time job or attending college. Fighting games are also preferable since I can play those in short bursts while still feeling like I didn't completely waste my time unless I sunk several hours into them in just a single span.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 29, 2017, 09:45:12 AM
Yeah, I feel you. For me I've had roughly a week and a half off (I go back to work Tuesday) and while I wanted to spend most of that time playing games it's just been personal issues/drama since I've been off and none of the games I have would've gotten me out of my slump. I mean I'm good now, but at the time I definitely could've been better if I had something like Zelda or a Shenmue. I avoided fighting games because they would've set me off (I was not in the right state of mind to play those)

But I don't want to bore anyone about my melodrama.

Sort of a year in review.

Mass Effect Andromeda was what started my gaming funk earlier this year. I wanted this game to be so good but it was plagued with so many issues that I couldn't help but ignore the game altogether. I blame EA. Bioware need to bust a Kojima and dip. I am very worried about Anthem at this point, especially with all this lootboxing fiasco. Edit: I take it back. I am no longer looking forward to Anthem. Had no idea they were going in the same direction as Destiny.

I have a lot of respect for Horizon and Nier Automata and after trying them out they're not for me. To be honest, Horizon, while it looked good from the start I was never into the whole hunting/survival thing (despite them being machines). Nier on the other hand, for some reason I just couldn't click with it. It might've been my patience or the drama I was going through at the time. Right now neither game is for me, but I might revisit them some time down the line.

Gravity Rush 2 is another game I have a lot of respect for and much like Nier Automata I couldn't click with it.

Persona 5 is my GOTY. I don't want to sound like a broken record, so all I'll say is that it pulled me out of my gaming slump earlier this year.

I am looking forward to getting my hands on Breath of the Wild (of course) and Mario Odyssey, and perhaps Fire Emblem Warriors.

Overall I'd say this was a solid year for gamers, but me personally, not so much and most of it started with Mass Effect not being good and the FGC (lets just say they sort of killed my interest in games a bit).

2018 is looking more like a year for me though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 30, 2017, 10:19:19 PM
So, I picked up Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator and Yakuza 0 on sale today. With GGXR I wanted something to serve as a go-to fighting game for me until DBFZ is released and it made sense to go with an ASW game in this case.

As for Yakuza 0 I've been meaning to get into it for a while now. That said, I picked it up because it was at half price, however I won't be starting it until after I beat Bloodborne.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 31, 2017, 01:42:20 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 30, 2017, 10:19:19 PM
So, I picked up Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator and Yakuza 0 on sale today. With GGXR I wanted something to serve as a go-to fighting game for me until DBFZ is released and it made sense to go with an ASW game in this case.

As for Yakuza 0 I've been meaning to get into it for a while now. That said, I picked it up because it was at half price, however I won't be starting it until after I beat Bloodborne.

Make sure you upgrade to Rev 2 if you're looking to dabble to play against people online in. There's been a couple of patches that's been released since Rev1.

I'm also looking into picking up Yakuza 0 along with Kiwami perhaps next pay check. (I'll look into getting a Switch come tax time).

In the meantime, Nioh, lots of fun, but I keep on panicking against these big demons and getting myself killed lol. Growing pains if you will. I'll get over it eventually, but it's pretty learning from my mistakes. Nothing rage inducing because its been all on me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 31, 2017, 04:18:07 PM
I would've picked up Rev 2, but I just happened to see a used copy of Rev 1 at Gamestop on sale for $3 since the store was having a clearance sale on used games to clear up shelf space, so I just couldn't resist at that good of a price.

As for Nioh, how far along are you so far? As for big enemies, most of them are pretty simple once you get their attack patterns down. The Raven Tengu from later on in the game, though, as well as the bearded Oni from the DLC can be quite vicious to new players since they're designed to punish sloppy gameplay.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 31, 2017, 05:10:50 PM
Not far. Just beat the 1st level boss that keep throwing his balls at me. Died at least a good 7 times trying to be cute or not realizing that he wasn't done attacking.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on December 31, 2017, 07:30:02 PM
I'm replaying Breath Of The Wild, the difference being that this time is on Switch and now I have the DLC. I have to say, getting Majora's Mask right after the tutorial part reeaaally trivializes some parts of the game.

First time trying to get to Zora's Domain on Wii U: "OH GOD THIS SUCKS WHY DOES EVERYONE HAVE THUNDER ARROWS OH GOD NO"
Second time on Switch with Majora's Mask equipped: "?La la laaaa, skipping through the meadows!? Why hello, Lizalfos, don't mind me, I'm just having a merry stroll through Zora country."

Trial of the Sword is kicking my ass though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 06, 2018, 09:15:14 PM
Just defeated The One Reborn in Bloodborne after resuming the game since yet another hiatus; I imagine I'll finish it sometime by the next console generation, at this rate. :humhumhum:

I remember watching TS17 play through this fight a couple of years ago in his walkthrough of it, which is why I knew to use the Blood Beast Pellets in this one. This was my first time using them in the entire game, and after this fight, I don't think that I'll ever use them again because holy fuck are they ridiculously overpowered. In truth, I used one, and ended up killing the boss on my first try before I even realized it. The damage output was ridiculous, and while I could totally see this being great for BL4 runs where everything one-shots you and you do shit damage without them, it's just far too broken for a normal run, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 13, 2018, 08:50:51 AM
Oh Capcom, I wish you didn't let Combofiend walk away so he can tell you that you over nerfed a lot of characters in Street Fighter 5. Now all the fun looks like its been zapped out of it. I mean, I don't want to jump the gun but I don't want to see a match keep resetting to neutral. If a character specializes in rush down then let them rush down. If they get punished for over committing then that should be on the player. My hype for Cody being here is dwindling.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 13, 2018, 08:11:04 PM
Just completed Upper Cathedral Ward in Bloodborne, which was surprisingly short and relatively easy for such a late area in the game. That said, is it just me or was Miyazaki really paying heavy homage to Resident Evil with the central area of this level? As soon as I stepped into that room with the symmetrical curved staircases and overhead giant chandalier, an image of the Spencer Mansion is the first thing that popped into my head. And if that's not enough, he even has the "beast dog" crashing through the window jump scare moment.

**Ponders**....:thinkin:....Incidentally, it just occurred to me that Miyazaki might be capable of making a legitimately great Resident Evil game, if Capcom ever wanted to outsource the game to an actually capable third-party developer. Just food for thought.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 14, 2018, 02:02:08 PM
Nioh
Can't decide if I want single sword and dual swords or single sword and tonfas. I know for sure I'll definitely try out tonfas and dual swords together in any case, I finally beat the first boss without a game over. I know for sure that I'm not looking forward to the 2nd stage. Walls and chests as enemies are "ugh" and I know for sure that I'm gonna get bodied by the boss. So not looking forward to fighting her lol. Having a blast though. Probably will be in my top 5 favorite games.

Also playing this yugioh (guilty pleasure) game that I bought on psn. It's too bad they didn't put anything into the game since this could've easily been a tag force style of game. You're just playing through yugioh's story starting with Duelist Kingdon and bits of the last one with Pendulum summoning.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 14, 2018, 04:48:26 PM
Glad you're enjoying Nioh. :thumbup:

If you are confident in your parry timing, Dual Swords can be outright OP against human bosses and enemies. Otherwise, if you unlock Guardian Spirit Talismans as one of your Onmyo Mage spells and equip the Daiba-Washi (one of the three starter spirits, but you can unlock it in a side mission if you didn't pick it), you can use that spell to get the same knock-down effect as parrying with either the dual swords or the spear. After that, use Sign of the Cross (a move that you can learn with either the katana or the dual swords) and follow it up with a downward stab (known in-game as a final blow) to deal out massive damage.

Some of the early bosses and levels can be the hardest in this game, not because they are designed harder but because they are designed to punish poor gameplay and since new players are still learning the game at this point, this is how the game ultimately teaches you to get better. After the first third of the game I actually beat most bosses on my first try, and didn't die all that often in general. It all becomes really straightforward once you get the hang of it.

Also, FYI, for Hino-Enma, make sure you have the pills that give you resistance to paralysis as well as the anti-paralytic needles. Additionally, she's weak to fire so it's a good idea to stock up on fire buffs for your weapon, and also make sure that you have either some shuriken or kunai, which you can throw at her while she's airborne by locking onto her. Hitting her with three of these consecutively will knock her out of the air and temporarily put her in critical state which will allow you to wail on her for a few seconds, but back off after 4 or 5 hits or she'll retaliate with a deadly grab move that actually restores some of her health.

She's not too bad if you have a good sense of spacing and don't get too greedy attacking her.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 15, 2018, 03:15:29 PM
Good stuff. Unfortunately I don't have parry unlocked just yet, and even then I probably wouldn't be too confident in my timing, but as the japanese would say in 3rd Strike, "practeece".

I might replay the first level again just to try and work on few things but it'll have to wait until the weekend (fighting games and whatnot).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 15, 2018, 07:28:19 PM
When it comes to practicing parries, fighting Revnants is actually the perfect way to do it, especially higher level ones since they tend to drop much better gear that you can use.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 18, 2018, 09:28:32 PM
I got tomorrow off so more Nioh and Street Fighter 5 will be occupying my time. Mainly Street Fighter 5 tomorrow since Arcade Edition should be arriving tomorrow and I'm in a bit of a character crisis.

Karin is the main (at least for now), but I don't like the sound of her changes. But on the other hand, I did see a bit of footage from the best Karin and she still looks good. I've grown to like her, but honestly, I still don't care for any of these characters like Dudley and Cody. Those 2 are like my identity, especially Dudley. Out of SF5's cast, Karin has style like Dudley and a lot of her colors/costumes are just as swaggy as Duds as well. Her damage output is as crazy as both Cody and Dudley and her resets are swaggy (Laura and Ibuki has style stylish resets as well)

Laura is looking fun every moment, but she is looking like she might be too strong and I'm just hoping there won't be a Laura army. People should play whoever they want, but I personally have a problem playing a character that everyone would flock to. It makes me feel like I'm following a crowd and that's the last thing I'd want to do. I know I need to work on that, but bump following crowds.

Ibuki's bomb mixups are nerfed to hell, but she got a giant ninja star where she has more access to even more mixups and resets.

Juri was the weakest character in the game for the 2 years she's been out, and I'm not sure if I want to jump on this bandwagon yet, but I am liking her damage output now. And her costumes are too good.

Guile is the dark horse. I am terrible with charge characters, but this dude has swag and power.

Urien is another dark horse for the same reason as Guile.


Hard to really narrow this down at the moment.

Edit: A bit of an update.

Still hard to narrow down, but as of now Ibuki and Karin are out. What I forgot about both characters are that they are on the harder side for their technicality. Just trying to do a JSF Tenko into her shoulder press is too much because it requires a lot of buttons. And as far as Ibuki goes, not only do she requires a lot of time I do not have, her giant star, while good, you can definitely see her weakness now that she's been nerfed. Some folks are trying to downplay that she's still good, and that maybe the case, but I'm not seeing it.

M.Bison has been added to the potential list of characters I'm trying along with R.Mika (she might come off because she's been nerfed to oblivion as well)

I'm only on vol.1 when it comes to trials and so far I've completed Laura, Mika and am currently on Bison and my goodness, being a charge character is really kicking my butt. I'm starting to understand charge characters a lot more, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a grind fest. Stuck on his 7th trial which is really trying me. Part of his combo requires charging <, > P into charging <, >, <, > KK. I get what I'm suppose to do there but my brain and muscle memory at the moment sucks at the moment and I had to take a break. Hell, even R.Mika's trial was getting the best of me for a little bit because of spacing. This is some good learning experiences for sure.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 26, 2018, 02:38:59 PM
Frustrating day at work.

Pretty certain I pre-ordered Dragon Ball FighterZ Wednesday. I get home about an hour ago looking for a package from Amazon only to find out that not only did I not have a package. I find out that Amazon didn't even ship the game yet.  :burn:  :anger:

I was really hoping that game arrived because Nioh is not a game for me to play when I'm heated. As much as I love the game, I am not in the right state of mind to play because I might launch a controller through my tv.

Street Fighter 5 training mode is where I'll be for the time being.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 26, 2018, 05:15:09 PM
Picked up both Dragonball FighterZ AND Street Fighter V Arcade Edition today. I plan on having one hell of a weekend. :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 27, 2018, 06:29:33 PM
I'm going to be holding off on SFVAE until I can get a decent arcade stick. I just can't play this game with a standard PS4 controller, and since there is no current-gen equivalent to the Mad Katz fight-pad that I used back on the XBOX360, I might as well go for a a full-on stick. My older brother has gone through a few sticks, but he says that Hori is a decent brand (though he has replaced several buttons as well as the stick on his own) as well as Razer. I'm going to have to do a bit more research before making a decision and ordering one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 27, 2018, 07:11:50 PM
Hori and Qanba are my go to sticks although I have been sticking with a controller for now. If you want to stick with your 360 controller you might want to start looking into converters. I haven't bought one yet, but smug uses a 360 controller to play on ps4. The lowest price I've seen for them is $30 I believe (might be $40) on Amazon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 28, 2018, 02:43:49 PM
I ended up going for a Razer Panthera, which should arrive from Amazon for me later this week. I got it for $100 instead of its normal $200 retail price since I used a $100 Amazon gift card that I got for Christmas to take off half of the purchase price.

As for DBFZ, I'm also really learning to like Teen Gohan, and Beerus is a lot more to my liking than I expected him to be. It's actually really hard to settle on what my ideal team is since I'm constantly learning new things about each character the more that I play as them. Ones that didn't initially impress me that much turn out to have a lot more handy features beneath the surface (such as Yamcha and Adult Gohan), whereas ones that I really wanted to play can sometimes have drawbacks that I didn't initially realize until I got punished for some of their weaker aspects in online play (like with Future Trunks). And even then, I'll still continue to flip-flop on all of these characters for presumably the next few weeks until I finally settle on the team-build that best suits me. In other words, I have even less of a clue as to which characters I want to main than when I initially started. Such is the nature of fighting games. :sly:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 28, 2018, 02:47:54 PM
By the way, if anyone wants to add me to their friends list on PS4, my gamertag is Black_Falcon_089, and specifically in DBFZ I am using the lobby character name of Toribot.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 30, 2018, 09:53:06 PM
Got my hands on Yakuza Kiwami. Probably won't start it until the weekend though. Been too busy watching DBFz footage, SF5AE, and catching up on EVO Japan.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 05, 2018, 06:38:03 PM
Moving away from DBFz for a while, at least until the netcode is fixed. I get kicked out of these lobbies every 5-10 minutes and it's really off putting. A great game that could've been my game of the year but it's bogged down by this silly "always online" BS (weren't people against this back with Microsoft? What happened?).

While it won't be until the weekend, I'll be getting back into Guilty Gear, Tekken and BlazBlue. I can never fully drop Street Fighter even if my life depends on it, but I probably won't touch 3rd Strike until the 30th Anniversary Collection which has become my most anticipated game at the moment.

I'll probably squeeze in either a little bit of Halo Reach or Mass Effect as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 05, 2018, 07:47:28 PM
Quote from: Mustang on March 05, 2018, 06:38:03 PM
Moving away from DBFz for a while, at least until the netcode is fixed. I get kicked out of these lobbies every 5-10 minutes and it's really off putting. A great game that could've been my game of the year but it's bogged down by this silly "always online" BS (weren't people against this back with Microsoft? What happened?).

This. I must confess that I've shifted my attention away from DBFZ to SFV for now because the netcode is ass. I tried to jump back in today and played four matches, two of which crashed and kicked me out. The core game is amazing but ASW really needs to fix the online server issues because as it stands, it feels like a luck of the draw kind of affair if I'll land a stable match or not.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 19, 2018, 04:13:06 PM
Mostly watched Final Round 2018 yesterday, but I did dabble in Tekken 7 for a while as well as Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2.

Content wise, I got my fill of Xenoverse 2. I couldn't ask for anymore than what was given in that game because they provided just about everything that folks were asking for. Checking this last DLC pack, we can customize the instructors colors but not on our custom character (cannot change colors of any of the character costumes which is probably the main thing everyone is asking for). Combat/gameplay is a different story.  I've been down this road before and won't repeat it, and while it'd be unfair to compare this to a fighting game I do think they should look closer to them in terms of hit detection. Other than that I did enjoy the game overall (solid B)

Finally got around to trying out Hwoarang and good God this guy is on a whole different level when it comes to movement. I can wavedash and Korean backdash (no where near good or consistent with it), but trying to add his footwork into the mix and stance changes, man, I see why people say he's hard to master (despite people call him brain dead for some reason). Back in the Tekken 3 days I recall just mashing the kick buttons (but I see his old kicking combo has changed since they). Now you'd kick your teeth knocked out for going for those strings. In any case, I decided to stick with just Jin and Kazuya for the time being (both got trench coats and suits for extra points) and Kazuya's attacks look very painful and satisfying and then a little bit of Devil Jin on the side.

I'd love to have a Street Fighter x Tekken revival someday just to play Jin/Kazuya x Ryu.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on March 20, 2018, 03:45:32 AM
Breath of the Wild is just so good. I literally cannot put it down; I must've racked up a good 7-8 hours at home today, and I've even been bringing it to work and playing when I'm between shifts. I honestly don't think I've ever been this engrossed in a game, it feels like every time I pick it up I'll stumble upon something new in a place I've already been a hundred times. I just now finally finished all four Divine Beasts (been putting off Naboris for weeks, primarily because I wasn't too enthused about the random Yiga Clan encounters to follow), so now I think it's time to get the DLC. Need that overbuffed Master Sword.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 22, 2018, 02:53:19 PM
I'm waiting on my taxes or a price drop so I can get my hands on a Switch. Breath of the Wild's gonna be the first game I get on there. You have no idea how much of a funk I've been in with single player games because of me waiting for it because nothing else is doing it for me (I need BotW or Shenmue to get a HD remake)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 25, 2018, 09:35:40 PM
I got this game called Tokyo Xanadu EX. I may make an attempt tomorrow to play, but I don't think I'll get deep into it until roughly Friday. Off of some videos I've been watching I got Persona vibes from it, and with Persona 5 being my favorite game of last year I figured I'd try it out. I'm aware of this being on the PS Vita previously so I'm not expecting much (especially on the same level of a P5), but I'm hoping this'll get me out of my funk for the time being and hold me out until Zelda (or something else that might catch my eye)

I did get a bit of Tekken 7 practice in over the weekend as well. Despite wanting to play as either Jin or Kazuya, nor how hard his movement may be, but I can't depart from my dude Hwoarang. Knowing that Hwoarang and Steve are some of the harder characters to learn with due to stance cancels and whatnot I decided that I'll stick with these 2 and add the Mishimas to my game later down the road.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 20, 2018, 03:38:53 PM
Alright Switch owners. I already have Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey (O_O). My Switch should officially arrive tomorrow. I damn near might quit fighting games for a little bit just for Zelda alone (not to mention I'm just fed up with the FGC and esports and general right now)

Of course I'm looking for some games. I'm open to almost anything especially because of the nephew, but at the same time I'm still looking for those single player games that caters to me (if they're actually out). I'm aware of Bayonetta 1&2 and Fire Emblem Warriors (although I'm iffy on it), but I draw a blank after that. I did, however, stumble upon Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack. I don't know anything about it but the clip I saw looks interesting and it drew me in. Is it any good?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on April 20, 2018, 09:16:25 PM
Switch games worth looking into:

Super Bomberman R
Puyo Puyo Tetris
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Mario Kart 8: Deluxe
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition
Blaster Master Zero
Splatoon 2
ARMs
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Kirby Star Allies
A ton of good arcade ports

There's some fun stuff. It just depends what you're looking for.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on April 21, 2018, 11:47:44 AM
They just released Wild Guns: Reloaded on the Switch, picked that up the other day.  Also Doom is pretty good on the Switch.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 22, 2018, 05:26:25 PM
Haven't been able to get my switch to play through my tv for some reason. Having 3 cables and whatnot, thought it'd be easier than ever. I have an Emerson tv with what, 5 modes (TV, HDMI 1, HDMI 2, PC, and Video) and it won't play through any of them. Already feeling a bit disappointed in this thing. Moving along, until I figure this out I've been playing more Persona 5 and I finally got my hands on the ultimate Persona; Yoshitsune. Jokes aside, I would put him in the #2 spot. That being said, if I were the type that looks for a challenge I'd say don't even bother putting Sataenal in your line up. For me, I just like feeling dominant.

Also went back to USF4 for a little bit. My Dudley's rusty but I'm liking my Ryu even more than my Dudley. My Evil Ryu is piss poor, but I've barely touched Evil Ryu despite claiming that I'd main him.

Very tempted to get God of War. I was never looking forward to it, nor has it been on my radar, but I've seen bits of it and while it's no DMC or Ninja Gaiden. Hell, don't even look like it's older self, but I am very curious about it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Commode on April 22, 2018, 08:43:52 PM
Perhaps you have a bad HDMI cord, as far as I know thats the only output from the Switch to a TV.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 25, 2018, 05:54:38 PM
So I've been trying to save up for a Switch lately, but a thought has come to me- I also want a PS4. I want to get to Nioh, Nier Automata, DB Fighters, Bloodborne, and other games I've forgotten about.

Granted, my 360 didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, and I haven't got around to playing the OG X-Box games I brought over. But I do plan to get back into gaming eventually.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 25, 2018, 06:05:51 PM
Nioh and Dragon Ball are also available on PC, but yeah, the other two are PS4 exclusives (and that reminds me that I really need to get around to that Bloodborne DLC).

I'd say that Bloodborne alone is worth the price of a PS4, but it doesn't hurt that there are other great games on the console as well. That said, the Switch has its fair share of games that I want to play as well, but I'll probably wait for the next price drop before I get one for myself.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 03, 2018, 06:30:17 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 25, 2018, 06:05:51 PM
Nioh and Dragon Ball are also available on PC, but yeah, the other two are PS4 exclusives (and that reminds me that I really need to get around to that Bloodborne DLC).
Nier is also on PC, though I hear the port job leaves a lot to be desired.

I played through all the No One Lives Forever games recently. The second one still holds up almost perfectly and the original is great though I do have big issues with certain design choices and the extremely long cutscenes. Unfortunately, getting NOLF2 working on my computer proved to be a very arduous task. In the end, the fix I discovered was fairly simple, but I couldn't find help anywhere online for my particular issue, so I spent the greater part of my playthrough suffering through constant crashes and troubleshooting. It really deserves a remaster. (Oh, and Contract J.A.C.K. still sucks, but at least I can finally say I beat it!)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 05, 2018, 08:14:29 AM
Quote from: Commode on April 22, 2018, 08:43:52 PM
Perhaps you have a bad HDMI cord, as far as I know thats the only output from the Switch to a TV.

You were right. Decided to use my HDMI cable from my ps4 and alternate between the 2.

I haven't started anything as of yet, but I might start Zelda later on after Persona 5 is finished.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 19, 2018, 12:14:24 AM
Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition
Mika and Laura are really some fun characters in this game. And while neither is close to a Dudley, they are closer to other characters that I do like. Laura is basically Makoto (USF4). Once she has V-Trigger available (VT1) she can comeback in a blink if you guess wrong. And her damage output is nice (it's no Karin, but it's nice) and the fact that she has resets and mixups is all the more reason to like her. Mika on the other hand feels a lot like Yang/Fei Long despite being a grappler. Fuudo plays her like Fei Long. His footsies is insane with her despite the fact that she's an "in your face" kind of character. I'm suprised Mago hasn't switched to her yet. With all that being said, I still need Cody to be good or at the very least have swag.

Edit:

This is definitely me being in the moment, but Fujimura's Ibuki was astonishing over the weekend at Stunfest and he's got me to go back and give Ibuki another go around. I tried her out in training mode a couple of times and gave up on her because I found her to be a little hard, but I'm gonna commit to her. People were saying he's the best Ibuki just over the weekend and while I think he's awesome I do think people are jumping the gun a bit. It's like people forgot all about Xian and personally I'd like to see them throwdown and then I'd like to see how Fujimura would do at Evo.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 24, 2018, 08:57:09 PM
Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition
Finished all of Laura's trials (vol 1-3). The combos they had for her were relatively easy once you got the timing down, and shes easy on pad players as well. Even with the explosive damage output it's crazy that there's only 1 viable Laura that you see in tournaments and he don't travel. I'm looking at some of these matches that he's (Idom) winning and you can clearly see where she struggles. Kind of off putting to be honest. If they survive your onslaught you're finished (especially if you're up against the top tiers) so once again I'm not settled on a character.

Which brings me to R. Mika. She is very taxing on the hand. She's not difficult to play as (nor would I call her highly technical). She's just tiring on my hand while playing on pad (stick getting custom work done to it) especially when calling for Nadeshiko. She has some short little microdashing you gotta keep in my while playing her. Dropped combos = disaster. I'm on her 9th or 10th trial vol 1.

Ibuki on the other hand. I'm stuck on her 3rd trial vol.1. The cross under is kicking my butt and I know if this is giving me problems now I can forget it.

I need Cody asap.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on May 28, 2018, 02:49:51 AM
Bloodstained Curse of the Moon's out now and it's a fucking blast. Solid Classicvania gameplay with significantly bullshit moments and a CV3-style character switching system. It's rather short for the asking price, but if you've been itching for new Classicvania-style gameplay then this game will satisfy that craving, there's really no reason not to check this one out for CV fans. Can't wait for the main game later this year!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 01, 2018, 04:31:52 PM
Nioh
Still never finished my first playthrough (due to Street Fighter 5 of course. I have up till the 26th to get some Nioh and other games in), and keep going back and forth on the type of build I want to go for. Outside of the odachi and axe I like all the weapons and then I like magic and ninjutsu. Right now its hard to focus on a build and keep going without wanting to change it partway. I blame Xlh Gladiator. I know I will never play like that dude but dammit, I want to.  :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 01, 2018, 08:51:56 PM
Don't fret. I half suspect that XLH is secretly an artificial AI program that can play games at a level beyond normal human capabilities. ;)

Admittedly it's been a while since I played the game, but my favorite build was lightweight armor (mostly ninja gear since they tend to have a lot of boosts to your Ki gauge or reduce Ki consumption) and I used the Katana as my main weapon against Yokai type enemies and the Dual Katanas against human enemies. That said I also got a lot of use out of the Tonfas against human enemies and bosses in the DLC since they do wicked Ki damage which makes it super easy to stun-lock and guard-break human opponents.

Of course, regardless of your build, using items and magic to buff your stats is so ridiculously useful that it borders on being OP and really makes any sort of build you go for practical since it's easy enough to use temporary stat buffs in fights to make up for your character's weaknesses.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 03, 2018, 03:15:13 PM
That's mainly what I'm going for. A ninja build, but can't exactly decide on the weapons. Katana for sure, and while I chose the Kusugari as my secondary weapon I'm not exactly all that great with it either, or rather I don't feel safe with it. Seems like spacing is a must with that thing. That being said I decided to switch to Dual Katana's to be on the safer side. I'll probably switch back to it though when I feel comfortable with the game I guess.

I doubt I'll get to them but Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 6 came in the mail recently.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 03, 2018, 04:57:12 PM
Any weapon in the game can be amazing once you get the right moves unlocked for them and figure out how to best use them. Except for maybe the Odachi. It doesn't have any clear advantages that can't be utilized better from a different weapon from what I've seen.

Also I have the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection arriving in the mail tomorrow, so that should get me back into gaming. I also need to try out the new DBFZ DLC characters.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 05, 2018, 11:03:56 AM
I'm still disappointed that only four games in the collection come with a training mode, but otherwise I'm enjoying the arcade perfect ports. Mainly I've been playing through the Street Fighter Alpha games which I've never played before.

Now if only Capcom could release a collection like this for Darkstalkers.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 05, 2018, 02:30:40 PM
I didn't buy the Anniversary Collection yet. Mainly because I'm being told that with 3rd Strike I'm better off with the Online Edition on the 360/PS3 because the netcode is better there than the collection. And then I'm iffy on it because I don't like the idea of training mode for only 4 games instead of all. I still might get it eventually if I see enough people playing it though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Daikun on June 14, 2018, 08:19:55 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnEW6dX_BmU

:happytime:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 25, 2018, 02:57:44 PM
Yakuza 0
I'm having a hard time getting into this series. The presentation of the game is awesome. I find the story of the Yakuza to be fascinating. Not to the degree of samurai's but I'm interested nevertheless. Kiryu is an awesome character and one that I can support and considering that I'm a huge fan of Shenmue and hearing that the series in general is a spiritual successor to that game I should like it. I think it might be how over the top (that's what makes it Yakuza right?) it is that might be bothering me along with the combat. I don't think I'm looking for something along the lines of Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden, but the combat feels weird to me. I'm only on chapter 2 so there might be more to it and I have to be patient.

Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition
Cody is the deciding factor on if I stick with the game or not. If I don't like how Cody is then I'm done. I don't like the idea of suddenly adding loot boxes to a game where you have to deal with costumes and colors. I wouldn't have a problem with it if it were just colors, but since we're talking costumes, and considering how costumes are being handled (especially these special costumes) I don't like it.

Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator 2
Going to get back into this. Of course I'm gonna play as my dude Johnny. It's only going to be Johnny because he has too much to learn and I can't afford to try to play secondary characters especially when he's considered top tier.

Any wireless router folks here? I'm far from my router and I'm trying to boost the connection but not entirely sure which booster connection I should buy. Any suggestions?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 02, 2018, 06:11:10 PM
Nioh
Finally decided on the type of build I'm gonna go for. Katana and Tonfa wielding ninja. Don't get me wrong I love dual katana's, but something about the tonfa just ooze style to me. Eventually I'm gonna go for both dual swords and tonfa's and that'll probably be a ninja as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 02, 2018, 07:47:49 PM
Hey, you can't go wrong with either of those weapons. Tonfas in particular are ridiculously OP against non-boss human enemies as it guard-breaks them incredibly quickly by just spamming quick attacks in mid-stance.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 03, 2018, 02:45:14 PM
Interesting.

Let me admit now while I'm still reeling on Nioh, that I do run into a feeling of being overwhelmed a little when it comes to building my character mainly because there're so many options, like when do you stop putting points into, er, let's say spirit or ninjutsu or what's the first thing you start putting points in. Those type of thoughts run rampant through my head. Now it don't cause me to stop playing but it does cause me to start my game over a lot lol. Anyway, thought I'd get that off my chest.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 03, 2018, 02:56:39 PM
The thing about base stats in Nioh is that they are less relevant than you think. Upgrading your gear and using various buffs does pretty much all of the legwork for you. In fact, go check out TheSeraphim17's Level 1 run on YouTube to see what I'm talking about.

Really, just leveling up your Onmyo Magic and Ninjutsu to level 20 each is all that you really need since you have to get those up to unlock more advanced skills. After that just make sure that your level in any given stat is high enough to meet the minimum requirements to unlock the perks granted to you by any specific piece of armor that you want to wear. As for your weapons, you will get more powerful versions of them as the game progresses, regardless of how high your Strength or Skill stats are. You can still put points into that, but it's not going to make the game unplayable if you don't go crazy on leveling up your character. I have completed various missions that were ranked well over a hundred levels above where my character was at without anymore difficulty than what's normal for the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 06, 2018, 04:13:25 PM
I didn't think I'd take to the tonfa's the way I am, but I feel a lot more comfortable with them more than the single katana at this point and that's usually my go to for comfort. Then again the low stance in general is just making me feel comfortable.  Low stance for katana I don't feel as comfortable because there are some gaps in my attacks that I don't like and luckily I haven't been punished for it yet. I don't have any confidence in high stance (yet) lol with the katana and haven't attempted with the tonfa's yet either. Other than that on to the 2nd main mission (oh dear god this boss scares me lol)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 06, 2018, 05:10:13 PM
Pro-tip: high stance with the Katana against an Oni with its horns still attached gives you a high chance of scoring a critical on them. You can just do that and then wail on them in mid or low-stance until they recover.

And yes, the Tonfas are very fun to use. Have you come across any gun tonfas yet? Those are a unique variety that can shoot out blasts of gunpowder at the ends of specific combos.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 06, 2018, 07:59:42 PM
Not yet on the gun tonfas but I'm definitely looking forward to them.

Surprisingly I found out you can score a critical on the horned Oni's with tonfas in low stance. I called myself just trying to stick and move (in and out) only to see that I score a critical on it.

I'm starting to feel like a badass a little bit with ki pulse canceling while dashing out of range to strike back with a quick attack.

Edit:

Gosh dang XLHGladiator has become my favorite with donguri990 following closely behind.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 06, 2018, 09:08:30 PM
I'd give donguri the edge when it comes to Devil May Cry, but I'd say that XLH shows more versatility in his content and tends to have the better videos for other games. That said both are ridiculously amazing and downright inhuman in their level of skill.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 09, 2018, 03:45:58 PM
I definitely give dongrui the edge in DMC. The guy is just too good. I think there was another guy for Ninja Gaiden as well (japanese guy I think), but as of right now minus the fighting games, donguri and XLH are my go to guys for inspiration if I'm ever in the mood to play these games. Especially XLH and his Nioh videos. Despite not being able to play like him, I can always count on his videos to get me to try even in failed attempts.

Speaking of failed attempts. Died twice so far against Hino-Enma (1 rage quit... Too much ish going on and I was on tilt trying to play the game)

USF4
I'm actually going through a funk right now with games in general but this and Nioh are my go-to's to keep me going. Anyway I was going to go for Yun and Ibuki, but gonna stick with Dudley and Evil Ryu. They just feel to much like me and I'm able to express myself through both characters.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 09, 2018, 04:43:54 PM
You may be thinking of Shinobier in regard to veteran Ninja Gaiden players who did extremely stylistic videos. That said I'd say that XLH is right up there in skill level when it comes to his Ninja Gaiden content. And I have yet to see anyone even come close to matching him in Nioh, but part of that is sadly because this game doesn't have much of a community among fans of this particular niche community of free-form combo videos, most likely because everyone still thinks of this game as a souls clone first and foremost. So XLH doesn't really have much in the way of competition when it comes to this game. Even Nier: Automata has more of a combo community, just for a point of reference.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 28, 2018, 06:14:58 PM
With Evo being right around the corner that spark has kicked in once more for fighting games, but unfortunately that drive that had me going for Nioh has burned out and I'm in another funk. I need for Spider-Man to be great.

In the meantime I've gotten back into the usual run of the mill fighters at the moment (currently installing SF5 and Tekken 7).

Street Fighter 5 - Laura, Kolin (gonna give Zeku a try and still thinking about Ibuki)
Tekken 7 - Jin, Steve, Kazuya
Dragon Ball Fighterz - Adult Gohan, Bardock, Cell
Street Fighter 3rd Strike - Dudley (of course), Yang, Yun (going top tier now)
Ultra Street Fighter 4 - Dudley, Yun, Yang
BlazBlue Tag Battle - Jin, Yu

This should keep me tied over until the Shenmue collection and Spider-Man (I can't forget Dragon Quest 11 either)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 11, 2018, 11:10:12 AM
Despite my brother and his wife telling me not to, I'm doing it anyway. Decided to teach my nephew how to play Street Fighter. Didn't show him SF5 yet, although I probably should since it's an easier game (mechanically) compared to other games in the series. He'll be turning 5 in Decemenber but he'll be starting school soon and you can tell he's starting to get nervous and he hasn't been around a lot of people and while it's not much I can do I decided to teach it to him. Give him something to look forward to every weekend or something.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 29, 2018, 11:22:21 AM
I don't go back to work until next Tuesday. Problem is, neither Spider-Man or Dragon Quest 11 are out to spend time playing. I pre-ordered Spider-Man but I really need to get my hands on it now. I haven't watched anything about Spider-Man since E3 and I just want to play it.

Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition
Running into a lot of issues with Ken at the moment. When I first played him I found him to be fun. Playing him now, not so much. The way the game is built, you need to play like a nut and I don't like doing that, but the problem is Ken is too much of a nutty character and needs to be a nut to be successful with. That being said Nash is a lot of fun. Not sure if I can attempt swag combos with him just yet. His damage output I'm not too thrilled about but I do like what I'm seeing.

Edit:
Please don't judge me for this. I forgot how annoying it is to watch little kids play video games lol. I remember being this bouncy during my first Super Mario game as well, but I think I got over it relatively quickly. That's speaking for the nephew. My niece on the other hand is a different ballpark.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 08, 2018, 12:38:54 AM
Even though I finally settled on my character choice for SF5 (Ken, Kolin/Karin), I'll be taking a little break from it now. Having both Spiderman and Dragon Quest 11 to play for quite some time. If any changes come to SF5 of course I have to try them out so I don't get too far behind, but other than that my time will be occupied with those 2 games for perhaps the remainder on the year (with a sprinkle of SF5)

Also, I really hate that you have to wait till the game is installed on the ps4 in order to play any game. Especially when my internet sucks to begin with. Whatever happened to just pop in disc and just play?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Insomniac on September 08, 2018, 01:09:47 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmiaJtoXsAABmtg.jpg)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 09, 2018, 12:34:44 AM
Spiderman
Fun game. The only problem I'm having is controls and that's more of getting used to it. Other than that I'm having a blast with it. I hope people pump the brakes when it comes to saying this should be game of the year though. Maybe I'll feel different when I get more abilities unlocked but at the moment, no. This game do take me back though. The days when you unlocked costumes and those costumes gave you powers, I've missed that. To me, that's more of an achievement than trophies and leader boards.

I want to say that this should've been Rocksteady's project more so than Insomiac. Spiderman is definitely an Arkham clone, but I think Rocksteady would've definitely had more polished controls. Anyway, with that being said, as I get used to combat I'm getting that feeling of this might be able to pull me out this funk.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 16, 2018, 03:28:02 PM
Spiderman
Can't help but draw comparison's to the Arkham series the further you get into the story. Where it lose at for me is combat, but I don't think there's much that could've been done in that department considering that Spider-Man's no martial arts expert. But I can't help but think that when you make a game that's very close to the Arkham games, Spiderman needs to do more than what he's doing in terms of hand-to-hand combat. Whatever on that though. The main part I hate about this game is chasing stuff. I just hate that aspect in all games. But here it's push me a few times because I'm not that great when it comes to swinging, not to mention I hit walls a lot.

If it weren't for the Batmobile, Arkham Knight would be a 10/10 game, but with it it's about 7-8/10 (for being forced), and while I don't think Spiderman lives up to the hype it's been getting I do think it's a great game. I'm not finished with it. I've been doing a lot of the street missions and stuff.

Spoiler
From what I've seen of the story, Miles and MJ are there for stealth. I hate that. I rather not have them playable if that's all they're going to do
[close]

There's quite a few directions I can see this going if this was going to be an ongoing series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 16, 2018, 05:02:24 PM
I actually find that I much prefer the combat in this game to any of the Arkham games. Mind you, this is no DMC, obviously, but it actually takes more from Spider-Man 2 in regard to combat than Arkham (a lot of people don't realize that it was Arkham that took several concepts from that game to begin with), though Arkham's influences can be felt in a number of other ways of course.

The combat in both this game and Arkham is incredibly shallow, of course, but where I have a bit more fun with this one is that Spider-Man is a far more agile character than Batman and thus doesn't have to be so grounded for combat. I watched some of TS17's videos on this game and he specifically mentions not to play it like an Arkham game and make sure to mix things up by moving/swinging around a lot in combat and using more of Spider-Man's web-based moves as it's both more fun and efficient (he's currently doing a no-damage run on Spectaculular difficulty). I find that this advice holds true and made all the difference for me. While the core combat itself is basically glorified button-mashing, there is at least some strategic element to movement in these scenarios provided that you're playing on hard mode.

While I do enjoy casually swinging around the city, I do agree with you about hating the chase missions. I especially dislike how finicky the responsiveness of the controls are when you get close enough to a vehicle and have to press triangle to latch onto it. There are times when I hit it and nothing happens despite the fact that the icon is clearly being displayed right in front of me to notify me that I'm close enough to make contact. It's just not fun under most circumstances and outright frustrating at worst.

I also find the stealth in this game to be laughably bad and it's somehow even more shallow than Arkham's with only about three takedown options and just one way of distracting enemies. I tend not to use it unless I'm in a segment where I'm forced to.

On the whole I do enjoy the core gameplay of this title enough to want to at least finish the main story, but in other ways it succumbs to many of the numerous issues that I find plague modern game design and that really holds it back from being something special to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 20, 2018, 02:40:42 PM
That's fair assessments. Admittedly, I do play Spider-Man like Arkham out of habit, and I'll also admit that the most fun parts of the combat is definitely when you don't play that way. It's been so long since I played Spider-Man 2 that I can only remember it in bits, but I think I see what you're saying when saying Arkham took parts from Spider-Man 2. There are times when I can't be bothered with TS17's vids (something about him rubs me the wrong way, but that's a story for a different day) but I should check out his Spider-Man vids to see how he handles combat. I'd love to see XCV or Zevik get their hands on the game though (no commentary = win)

I thought it might've been just me when it comes to how finicky the controls felt, especially during chases (I've felt it a couple times during combat where I thought I dodge but still got hit). Chasing birds and cars felt more like button mashing segments because of how finicky the controls are. Hitting buildings don't help either.

For me what also makes stealth not so good is that your "gadgets/abilities" are limited. But the recharge after battle. I don't mind the abilities being limited per use, but the gadgets, come on. The stealth could've been so much better if players could just let loose (Not to mention beams, light fixtures and whatnot are also limited to 1 per enemy)

I haven't played in a couple of days, but honestly I think I've played enough of it. My desire to finish the story is low right now. I'll probably boot it up come the weekend, but I'm tempted to just watch the remainder of it on YT. Not to mention I got Dragon Quest 11 to get to.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 20, 2018, 09:38:01 PM
Quote from: Mustang on September 20, 2018, 02:40:42 PMThat's fair assessments. Admittedly, I do play Spider-Man like Arkham out of habit, and I'll also admit that the most fun parts of the combat is definitely when you don't play that way. It's been so long since I played Spider-Man 2 that I can only remember it in bits, but I think I see what you're saying when saying Arkham took parts from Spider-Man 2. There are times when I can't be bothered with TS17's vids (something about him rubs me the wrong way, but that's a story for a different day) but I should check out his Spider-Man vids to see how he handles combat. I'd love to see XCV or Zevik get their hands on the game though (no commentary = win)

You aren't exactly alone. Quite a few people aren't a fan of TS17's personality and sense of humor. Personally, I'm OK with it as he tends to have the same taste in games that I do, and his commentary is pretty much spot-on when it comes to action games and their mechanics. Also, I heavily referred to his videos to get through games like Metal Gear Rising and DMC3 on their hardest difficulty settings, among others, and his commentary definitely came in handy on the toughest sections of those games.

QuoteI thought it might've been just me when it comes to how finicky the controls felt, especially during chases (I've felt it a couple times during combat where I thought I dodge but still got hit). Chasing birds and cars felt more like button mashing segments because of how finicky the controls are. Hitting buildings don't help either.

Yeah, it's a minor (but still very present) issue with the game. That said, the hitting building parts isn't so much of a problem if you tap "X" to zip forward in-between swings in order to keep yourself from losing altitude before you're next opportunity to latch and swing off of a ledge.

QuoteFor me what also makes stealth not so good is that your "gadgets/abilities" are limited. But the recharge after battle. I don't mind the abilities being limited per use, but the gadgets, come on. The stealth could've been so much better if players could just let loose (Not to mention beams, light fixtures and whatnot are also limited to 1 per enemy)

It also kind of bothers me that enemies aren't instantly knocked out when you pull down heavy objects on top of them. That seems like a no-brainer, but no, you're only meant to use those for distractions. The last time I tried to knock a guy out by pulling a warehouse shelf on top of him, he only took some minor damage and I got instantly spotted. Obviously, it's not a big deal mechanically as once you know what can tip off enemies to your position you can just easily avoid doing it, but it just feels rather frustrating that some basic elements of good stealth gameplay don't seem to have been applied to those sections in this game. That said, I can at least tolerate the Spider-Man stealth sections. The MJ and Miles segments, though? Man do I hate those.

QuoteI haven't played in a couple of days, but honestly I think I've played enough of it. My desire to finish the story is low right now. I'll probably boot it up come the weekend, but I'm tempted to just watch the remainder of it on YT. Not to mention I got Dragon Quest 11 to get to.

Despite all of my complaints, I do still enjoy the game on a casual level. That said, much like Arkham City, it's the type of experience that I'll likely never come back to once I finish the main story. The core gameplay is just far too shallow and whereas other easy but fun games can keep me coming back to them with other well-designed elements that make them worth revisiting and exploring, this one feels like the type of experience where once you've reached the end of the first act, you've basically seen everything that it has to offer outside of the main story.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 27, 2018, 04:19:49 PM
Getting closer to the holiday's and my brother-in-law will be coming through so I'm preparing now (especially, seeing how there are no new games that I need to have day 1 for the remainder of the year)

I know for sure that his main game is Dragon Ball Fighterz. So for the most part I know we'll be playing that regularly. Now that Android 17 is out, I got a couple of teams in mind, but the main team, Bardock, Goku Black and Cell will see a lot of play for sure. I'm hoping my 17 will be developed (and me used to the game again) by the time he comes through

3rd Strike is also another game we play whenever he rolls through so we'll be firing that up (ps3 or x360 version though). Got the good ol Dudley and Yang ready for the rematch. I may bring out the Ryu as well.

Ultra Street Fighter 4 of course I could never put down permanently, but it's one I'm hoping he'll play with the nephew and my older brother.

I'd love to see if he'd be down to run a few games in Street Fighter x Tekken as well. That game gets very little love. I already know he's not going to bother with Marvel vs Capcom Infinite (nor Street Fighter 5 for that matter)

I'm looking into getting a landline in my room asap so I can start playing outta state folks soon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 01, 2018, 11:03:01 PM
Oh yeah, I did end up beating the main story of Spider-Man last week.

It was....pretty much an Arkham game with a Spider-Man skin. For what it's worth, it had been long enough since I last played an Arkham game (that was back whenever City released, I never bothered with Origins or Knight) that I wasn't as tired of the formula and ended up enjoying the experience. The story was also handled better than I expected, though the people who are raving about this being the best Spider-Man story ever are fucking nuts. I really can't get behind that sentiment at all.

I hate to sound like a broken record here, but once again TGBS pretty much nailed it with his brief review of this game. It's fun, it's fine, but it also limits itself a whole lot due to design philosophies that aren't really the best suited for crafting good action-based gameplay. What we have here is fine, but it never excels to being great due to certain factors that would make for more interesting and dynamic encounters in both combat and stealth. In essence, I basically feel about this game how a lot of critics of the MCU say they feel about those movies, in that it does a superb job of playing it safe and not being terrible by any stretch but also holding itself back from being truly spectacular (pun fully-intended, of course). That's not to say that I necessarily agree with all MCU movies being that way, but I definitely feel that way about this game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on October 03, 2018, 08:24:04 PM
Thanks for your review. It backs up my decision not to bother with it. I'm just done with Arkham style stuff.

I've mostly been playing old PC games off GOG. Stuff like the original Quake, Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon, Strife, and others. The modern game industry isn't putting out a whole lot that interests me. Not like I'm not going to play Smash like crazy (it'll probably be my last Smash game, though) but it feels like the industry is just reading water. Only a few good franchises and middle market stuff are really doing much to excite me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 03, 2018, 08:51:03 PM
Yeah, I figured that you'd also feel similarly to me if you played it for yourself. The thing about Arkham is, when Asylum came out, it was fresh enough to be interesting for what it was and it helped that everyone went into that game with low expectations due to the bad reputation of most licensed games (especially back then). I'll still give that game props for having fairly tight level design and being just long enough to show you all of the fun stuff that you could do and made collecting things actually feel worth it rather than trying to over-stuff itself with needlessly huge environments and lots of side content that only served to show how shallow and boring the game was at its core. That's where City lost me, personally, and Spider-Man has many of those same issues, even though it has parts that I enjoyed. Granted, I get why people enjoy it, which is fine, but I can't understand the insane level of praise it's getting when it hasn't really done anything new from Arkham or Spider-Man 2 other than slightly refining the gameplay mechanics from those games. Sure, the swinging mechanics are fun and well-designed, but that alone doesn't make for an interesting video game, and the game itself is sorely lacking in any meaningful variety or incentive to really delve deeper into its mechanics. I remember a game like Nioh got criticized for being rather repetitive with it's enemies, which is a fair knock against it, but even that game had really well-designed enemies and enough of them to create good variety for each given level even if those enemies ended up getting re-used a lot in later levels (again, though, they each had a lot of individual depth to their attacks and weaknesses, so I never personally got bored of fighting them). Comparatively, Spider-Man has the exact same enemy sets has Arkham games. There's normal guys who fight with fists, guys with guns/rifles/rocket launchers, guys with shields, guys with melee weapons, and bigger enemies that need to be stunned in some way before you can attack them or take them down. That's literally all of the enemy variety. The game tries to disguise this somewhat by creating different enemy factions, but it still doesn't change the fact that they all fight the exact same way no matter what skin they have on. It really negates a lot of potential for strategy and interesting use of the game's combat mechanics, and I felt the repetition a lot more here than in a game like Nioh or Devil May Cry.

And yes, I get that this is a different kind of game than titles like those, overall, but the point that I'm trying to make here is that I don't see why this game specifically gets a free-pass when it has numerous issues of its own. Again, I'm glad that a lot of people enjoyed the game, but the insane praise that it's getting just feels like a classic case of over-hyping something that is mostly pretty average with above average production values.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 03, 2018, 11:02:05 PM
Thankfully I never played Arkham Origins (despite owning it and all its DLC...) or Knight, so while I'm not a fan of the combat system, I should hopefully have a better time with Spider-Man than you did. As long as the web-swinging and story are good I'll probably enjoy it, since I played the hell out of the PS1/2 games as a kid. Nostalgia strikes again!

Right now I'm playing Knights of the Old Republic 2 with the restored content mods on Steam. These reinstate a lot of cut/bugged content, including an entire planet, and fix over 500 bugs! I can understand why people would have hated this game back when it came out due to it being released unfinished, but as this is my first playthrough in earnest, I'm really enjoying it. Like most Obsidian games, I find the combat uninteresting but the writing to be excellent. It's a very unique story for Star Wars, and I love that the player choices aren't as clear-cut good/evil as the ones in BioWare's game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 03, 2018, 11:18:46 PM
Quote from: Foggle on October 03, 2018, 11:02:05 PM
Thankfully I never played Arkham Origins (despite owning it and all its DLC...) or Knight, so while I'm not a fan of the combat system, I should hopefully have a better time with Spider-Man than you did. As long as the web-swinging and story are good I'll probably enjoy it, since I played the hell out of the PS1/2 games as a kid. Nostalgia strikes again!

The story actually is pretty good, but I can't bring myself to agree with the sentiment that it's the best Spider-Man material outside of the comics (that honor belongs to TSSM and always will, in my book), and honestly I can't even say that it's better than all of the Spider-Man movies. I mean, better than TASM and Spider-Man 3 for sure, you could make a case for it being better than SM1 and Homecoming; though I'm kind of irritated at the recent backlash that the latter gets simply because it doesn't hammer home the tragedy of Peter Parker element that everyone says absolutely needs to be there for a Spider-Man movie to be good (Yeah, it's intrinsic to the character, but it's not like every good Spider-Man story ever is about beating down Peter). I definitely wouldn't put it above SM2, though, which, yeah, I know is weird since I used to call that movie overrated, but my opinion on it has completely 180'd over the years. Also, while on the subject of Spider-Man movies, I'm super excited for into the Spider-Verse (partly because I'm on the Miles Morales hype-train, and also the inclusion of Noir and Ham cinched the deal for me). And judging by the early reactions to Venom, Sony is going to need that movie to be a hit or they're pretty much screwed.

As for this game, the story pretty much goes like this for me: Act 1- Standard video game plot set-up shenanigans; Act 2- Fun middle-chapter antics but without any clear direction; Act 3- Incredibly exciting climactic encounters with genuinely emotional beats to the final few segments of the game. I think it's Act 3 that leaves everyone off with a strong impression of the game, and it's legitimately great material, but I do feel that the game's main plot kind of meandered at times in the first two acts. That said, I'll say that the J. Jonah Jameson radio antics legitimately contained some of the most fun and memorable dialogue that this game had to offer. It was genius having those segments play out when you are just swinging through the city, as you always have some form of entertainment going on rather than just awkwardly swinging in silence. That, and they recorded so many of these segments that I never heard one repeat once in my multiple hours playing through the game, and that includes the various side missions that I set out to complete.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 04, 2018, 01:34:53 AM
Sounds good. With everyone raving about the game, I've tried to temper my expectations before starting it, so knowing your thoughts on it helps! Personally, I've liked every Spider-Man movie (yes, even TASM 2) pretty well. Some of them are genuinely great, and the bad ones are at least funny to me. I'm actually really excited to see Venom since it sounds like a hilarious train wreck. I would agree that TSSM is the best adaptation of the character ever. Had it been allowed to continue and reach its conclusion it might have even ended up being the best take on the character period. I miss that show so much.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Insomniac on October 04, 2018, 06:50:33 PM
Watching cutscenes from the game, I got the feeling the developers were trying to fix issues they had with the comics. Like having Miles show up earlier in Peter's life, or making Peter choose between saving Aunt May's life and saving the lives of others. Along with Stan saying he loved seeing MJ and Peter together.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2018, 10:24:48 PM
Well, the funny thing about the game's story is that it subtly criticizes certain aspects of the Spider-Man canon by changing those aspects up to what the developers think is better suited to his mythos (some things work for me while others don't, but overall I'm fine with this interpretation of the character), but it also equally celebrates all things Spider-Man both good and bad. There are even nods to TASM2 of all things. Also....

Spoiler
....the Aunt May scene was a clear huge middle finger to Quesada and One More Day. I am OK with this.
[close]
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 04, 2018, 11:16:32 PM
Alright, so I finally started playing the game. I was only going to try it out but ended up getting sucked into it for over 4 hours so that should tell you everything you need to know about my thoughts on it. ;)

I like it a lot! I can definitely see the combat getting old, but despite its lack of depth I do think it's quite a bit better than what I remember from the Arkham games since it isn't just a two-button affair. It's also much flashier and I find myself getting easily sucked into the spectacle of it all because I'm a basic bitch. :P The opening bit where you take down Fisk is fantastic, probably Insomniac's best introductory level since Crack In Time. They used to be the kings of that, but I felt like they were slipping a bit in recent years. I haven't gotten too far into the story yet because I've been too busy doing all the side content. The web-swinging is fun enough that I'm actually getting a lot of enjoyment out of grabbing all the collectibles, which is rare for me. I do think the writing is pretty good so far too. It actually reminds me a lot of SSM... which does make me wish this was a sequel to that series instead of another new canon... but I digress.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 04, 2018, 11:25:21 PM
I actually did comment that I liked the combat better than Arkham. While it's not incredibly deep, there is some good variety here. I think my main issue was that the game limits it's own potential by having a lack of variety in enemy type and also by using hit-scan instead of hit-boxes (TGBS discusses the significance of this difference and it's impact on the gameplay in his video). I do like the game. I just don't love it as much as everyone else.

At any rate, though, glad to hear that you're enjoying it! As long as you have a game that you can have a blast with, that's really all that matters. :thumbup:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 04, 2018, 11:30:45 PM
I'm honestly surprised it has hit-scan enemies since a big part of Ratchet & Clank's appeal is being able to dodge projectiles like in a classic shoot 'em up and there's a decent amount of that series' DNA in here. I'm just happy I get to play a new Spider-Man game that reminds me of the time I spent with the PS1 and 2 titles as a kid. This really does feel like the true sequel to Spider-Man 2 that Activision never gave their studios enough time to get right.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 06, 2018, 08:54:38 AM
Spider-Man's definitely a good game. Much like Dr. Ensatsu-ken, I just think it's overly praised. A lot of the game just felt limited, but it is fun.

Dragon Ball Fighterz
Starting to really home in on Vegito a lot. Like the guy just ooze style, meter building and damage. I see a lot of people stay away from him because his only low is 2M and it's pretty slow so he don't really have a high-low game, but his left-right mixups are good. I've been keeping an eye on 2 people for a while now simply for Vegito alone. Kaimaato and Chunbeyun. Kaimaato's team is Vegito, Teen Gohan and Kid Buu. The synergy with this team is ridiculous, especially Vegito and Teen Gohan. Gohan allows Vegito a double super in 1 combo basically resulting in a TOD (touch of death) and Kid Buu allows Gohan the same. Kid Buu makes Vegitos left-right mixups even more deadly because of his lockdown assist. Chunbeyun's team is Vegito, Adult Gohan and SSJ Goku. Pressure and rushdown from what I can tell. I'm tempted to go Vegito, T.Gohan, SSJ Goku, or Vegito, A.Gohan, Kid Buu (of course KB would probably be replaced by Cell if I can't get KB's assist to work properly)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 06, 2018, 07:48:11 PM
So, I don't know how I missed this but I only just realized that MJ in Spider-Man PS4 is voiced by Laura Bailey.

I now can't un-hear Keiko Yukimura's voice when listening to any of her audio from the game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Painted Outlaw on October 08, 2018, 12:20:59 AM
Laura Bailey is awesome. Even when something like Saban's Glitter Force had her, it clearly didn't deserve her.

Just beat Arkham Asylum. For a general take on the game, I had a lot of fun with it. The voice work was great and helped elevate the dialogue from funny to downright hilarious. One point I tend to think of is when you're on your way to stop Poison Ivy and her and Joker just start trash-talking each other, I had to put down the controller cause it made me laugh so much. Also, the buildup to the Scarecrow fights was consistently cool.
Where my dislike goes (it's not enough to ruin the game for me but, it's still there) is, of course, the final Titan Joker fight. Like, why? There's nothing that would've been any different if he had stayed himself but no, he needs to turn into looking like Doomsday for some reason and make me fight the same goons I've been fighting the whole bloody game up to that point. I could rag on the actual Scarecrow fights for being the same every round but, at least those were spaced out and as I said, the buildup was cool. Titan Joker's the climax of the game, and it was... that. Ah well.

Arkham City is next on my list but, I think I'm gonna play a non-Batman game in the meantime. I have a list to get to (like Resident Evil 0, Majora's Mask on the Wii U, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Persona 2, Persona 5 NG+ maybe), etc. So, I should have enough for a Batman-break.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Insomniac on October 08, 2018, 04:12:26 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 06, 2018, 07:48:11 PM
I now can't un-hear Keiko Yukimura's voice when listening to any of her audio from the game.
God, it's gonna suck when FUNi dubs that YYH OVA and they won't be able to fly her back to Texas to reprise her role. Especially since Shizuru and Yukina's actresses have also been gone from FUNi for years, so they're gonna have to recast all the female characters barring Genkai and maybe Yusuke's mom if Meredith McCoy's willing to do it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 13, 2018, 01:42:49 AM
So, uh....I found this really interesting Let's Play for Spider-Man PS4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMUCZq9-uBg
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 26, 2018, 08:43:13 PM
Ultra Street Fighter 4
Got my nephew playing a little bit. I won't use Dudley or Ryu on him unless he cut up and get bratty. Then I would embarrass him. I did end up picking up Gouken and Oni as well. I don't know why I never picked Gouken sooner. Dude hits hard as hell. Other side characters that I play are Makoto, Ibuki, Yang, Cody and Guy.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Perhaps my favorite game of all time now. Just so much to do and play how I want to play. The scale is something I want in all of my games. Seriously, I wish developers would take notes from the Zelda series just to get the general sense of how to make a game feel large. Only thing I wish for these days is for the Zelda team to tackle something other than Zelda. Try tackling some anime hits or a Nioh-ish game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 27, 2018, 12:31:04 AM
I beat the Black Cat DLC for Spider-Man. It was really short and remarkably easy to 100% in just a single sitting.

Also, I was in the mood for some DMC so I booted up DMC4SE for the first time in over a year and picked up from where I left off on that file. I was up to Mission 18 on Son of Sparda difficulty and immediately remembered why I stopped....I hate that boss fight. Still, I played through the last three missions and cleared that difficulty setting. I just jumped straight in there instead of practicing on a lower difficulty setting as a warm-up. Naturally I was very rusty and had to use an item to heal myself mid-fight which I rarely ever do in these games. However, the last two missions as Nero were relatively easy, and while I was still sloppy, I managed to clear them in one try with no deaths or use of items. After that I went straight into completing the first three missions on DMD mode which went a little rough at first but became progressively more straightforward as I got back into the swing of things. By mission three in particular I think I was mostly back to normal as I was able to S-rank it on my first try. I'm not sure that I'll try and clear the whole difficulty setting, but I'll probably at least go through the rest of Nero's missions (except for the last two) since I've always found his to be far easier than Dante's, and I mainly just want a DMC fix right now without going too crazy getting into more nuanced mechanics. I feel that if I do that, I'll end up tuning my expectations for DMC5 to be too much like 4, which I don't want to do since it'll make it harder to adjust to that game's spin on the mechanics.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 27, 2018, 04:42:09 PM
Ah, speaking of Spider-Man, I've almost finished the main game! I probably won't play the DLC until all three are out since they're a continuing thing.

Playing it more, I can understand your complaints a bit more now. I still think the actual story missions and general writing are fantastic, certainly not flawless, but as engaging as any superhero game has ever been. But I've gotten really burned out on the side content. There's just too much of it. Four kinds of random crimes? Four sets of bases? Really? And I'm just now finding out that there are 50(!) secret photos you need to take to unlock the last suit!? And while I honestly think the combat system is fun even after 20+ hours, I absolutely hate fighting the Sable guys. That said, I still love the game. I'm just glad they patched in a New Game+ mode, because replaying it would be pure torture if I had to do all side content again to level up/upgrade my gadgets.

As for KOTOR 2, I'm on the last level now I believe. The Restored Content Mod worked wonders in terms of fixing this game/making it more interesting, but the last part of the game still feels really rushed. And that droid factory they added back in... that should have either stayed cut or been turned into a walking simulator. The dialogue is funny and it's very plot-important but oh my god the gameplay is so fucking bad. It's a really cool game overall, though. The story is super entertaining and makes excellent use of the Star Wars mythos. Now I want to play through the first one as a complete bastard. :awesome:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 27, 2018, 05:12:25 PM
With Sable I'd recommend webbing them up quickly when you knock them down or into walls or large objects. That takes them out much faster than just trying to beat them up normally, since they have an obnoxious amount of health.

And yeah, the side content in this and the Arkham games feels really lazy to me. I've heard people defend this by using the excuse that it'd be too expensive to design completely new in-game content and assets for unique side-missions, which may be true, but it's still a shitty excuse. Games like Nier: Automata, Nioh, Darksiders 2, Bloodborne, and various others I can think of also had to reuse many in-game assets for budget reasons, yet those all have much more interesting and engaging side content that feels engaging rather than tedious, so there's no reason that this game shouldn't be able to do the same.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 28, 2018, 02:13:54 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 27, 2018, 05:12:25 PM
With Sable I'd recommend webbing them up quickly when you knock them down or into walls or large objects. That takes them out much faster than just trying to beat them up normally, since they have an obnoxious amount of health.
Ah, silly me, I thought you couldn't web them at all since I had only tried when they were standing regularly. :sweat:

QuoteAnd yeah, the side content in this and the Arkham games feels really lazy to me. I've heard people defend this by using the excuse that it'd be too expensive to design completely new in-game content and assets for unique side-missions, which may be true, but it's still a shitty excuse. Games like Nier: Automata, Nioh, Darksiders 2, Bloodborne, and various others I can think of also had to reuse many in-game assets for budget reasons, yet those all have much more interesting and engaging side content that feels engaging rather than tedious, so there's no reason that this game shouldn't be able to do the same.
Mmm, I love the side content in Nier Automata. A couple of the quests are awful but something like 95% of them are actually engaging and fun since they tell their own mini-stories. (Speaking of which, 2B is getting added to Soul Calibur 6! Yay!) Yeah, I wish this game was more like that. There's some similarly good stuff in there - I liked the Screwball and Tombstone side missions - but the rest coasts by on the core game mechanics being a lot of fun since they don't really offer much in terms of substance.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 05, 2018, 06:19:49 PM
Ultra Street Fighter 4
Another character I might have to add to my "do not use against my nephew" is Ken. Because he don't have the costumes I avoid him like the plague in USF4, but man he can be so demoralizing lol because he can style on people just as good as Dudley, not to mention he's easier to use (but very hard to master). My Evil Ryu is nowhere near as good as my Ken simply because of the 1-frame links that I drop all the time, but if I could ever get them down he'll be another to add to the list.

Nioh
Getting back into this game, although this is possibly the worst game to play when you have a frustrating day at work. Other than that, I love this game despite not being fond of the stamina gauge. Thinking about Nioh 2 I don't know what I want new in it. Thinking about Ninja Gaiden 2 the only thing I can think of is a weapon like the Talons or the Flails. I'm not entirely sure if I want a create a character implemented in there either because I like the idea of playing as the other characters. If anything I'd like to be able to customize their armor and maybe have a color palette or something of that nature. Not to mention I don't mind playing as William. And then there's of course the motivational factor (XLH Gladiator)

Warrior's Orochi 4
I think I prefer WO3 over it at the moment. I like what I'm seeing so far, but I'd rather see an actual campsite instead of something like a wallpaper or something. I'm only just now getting to chapter 2 so maybe it'll change up later.

Yu-Gi-Oh: Legacy of the Duelist
Good ole guilty pleasure. I think I once said that if it wasn't for YGO there would be no message boards/forums for me (perhaps that may have been a bad thing in the long run lol). It's too bad that Konami won't update the game because I definitely want to make a Dark Magician deck. Other than that I've been settling with a Masked Heroes deck (I also want to find a way to make a competitive but fun Utopia deck)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 06, 2018, 04:10:02 PM
I'm pretty sure it's a safe bet that Nioh-esque versions of other NG2 weapons will be in Nioh 2 (I'm hoping for a Windmill Shuriken, myself). That said, I'd additionally like some form of jumping to be in the sequel. Just because the game is inspired by Souls doesn't mean that it has to abide by all if its limitations as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 10, 2018, 01:30:40 PM
A good ole fashion jump button. I'm not against it at all, although, I haven't found myself in need of one just yet, but then again I can certainly see where it'd be useful.

Nioh
Trying to go with Kusagari and Tonfa, and no doubt I'm having fun with it, but I feel so unsafe without the trusty katana. The Tonfa's got me killed using them in the low stance (found myself mashing) against a yokai.

I'm thinking about giving my nephew my old DS or buying him a 3DS, but running into some similar issues the last time. He's clearly smarter than I'm thinking he is, but I don't want to get him games that're deep. When we were playing Super Mario Bros on the Wii I found out that he'll keep repeating the same level mainly because he's scared of going to the castle (the music creeps him out). So hopefully nothing scary either on either handhelds. Other than that, free range. I know for sure he's into cars.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 10, 2018, 03:39:52 PM
The tonfas are best against human enemies that block a lot since their quick, successive attacks cause lots of cumulative Ki-damage, which guard-breaks those opponents relatively quickly since it depletes their stamina rapidly. It's not nearly as effective against Yokai, though, especially those of the larger variety, and in those instances it's better if you're just trying to be stylish and show off like XHL Gladiator, but generally you won't any weapon with powerful overhead attacks or that can be rapid quick attacks from behind when dealing with the Yokai.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 12, 2018, 04:00:38 PM
You won't judge men if I said I was trying to style would you?  :sly:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 22, 2018, 06:34:30 PM
Ultra Street Fighter 4
Just ran a long set with my nephew. Turns out my Ken is probably my strongest character even though I use Dudley more. My nephew on the other hand is attached to Juri, and it's going to take a while before he can beat me in a match he did manage to take a round off me. I finally understand what people say when it comes to fighting a person that plays randomly. It can definitely be a struggle at times if you're trying to use fundamentals.

Edit:

Expanding upon this a little bit. I will say this about USF4. Going back to USF4 after playing SF5 is on the difficult side because there are no 1-frame links, and going back to that reminds me of the flaws of USF4. I've said it countless times now that with the way the game plays, Street Fighter 5 is a great and fun game, perhaps the best once you get past the little nuances that you miss in previous games. Once you get past that hurdle of not finding a character (it's hard as hell too, especially if you're a loyalist) everything else is a blast.

I'd probably stay away from the online community because it's so toxic. It's probably the most toxic community since it's so divided.

Getting back into Street Fighter 5 soon. Just wanted to get my nephew into USF4 before we move onto 5. (I'm not going to introduce him to 3rd Strike at all)

Edit 2:

Street Fighter 5
Back in a character crisis. Found myself bouncing all over the place. I thought I was going to settle on Ken and Zeku, and no doubt Zeku looks like a lot of fun and you can probably differentiate yourself with him. My problem is that he requires a lot of work. I should probably not let that deter me, but at the moment I'm not in the mood to put that much work into a character for little reward, but I'll probably end up coming back to him in the long run.

Ken on the other hand, while I'm not going to drop him, I'm not looking to main him either. Which brings me to Laura and Juri. Laura is just a straight up blast with her burst damage that can you in a blink and I like that (like Makoto). Juri I just saw replay videos of the #1 Juri player and the way he plays her is refreshing. Just a straight up mauling rush down style. Now I'm usually swayed by the tier list because I'm no low tier hero or anything and both characters are on the lower end of the tier list, but right now I just want to have fun with the characters I play and both are doing that for me (both got a good dosage of costumes despite being on the skimpy side and both fulfill certain roles)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 06, 2018, 01:20:17 AM
Street Fighter 5
I'm really taking a liking to Juri. Outside of her "storing" which can be on the tricky side (not nearly as crazy as it was in USF4) she's still a  straight forward character. Execution speaking, she's on the easy side, but the tricky part of her is managing her "storage" because you still have to watch out for your opponent while looking for opportunities to store. What's really selling me on her is the combos (her costumes is a different matter "coughs").
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 06, 2018, 10:46:10 AM
It's been a while since I played any SFV (most likely I'll pick it back up when I go home for Christmas and undoubtedly play a few rounds against my brother), but I remember finding it hard to get a feeling for Juri's playstyle in that game. Juri was a favorite of mine in USF4, so I was somewhat disappointed when she didn't jive the same way with me in SFV, but perhaps I just need to practice much more before I can truly get a feel for her.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 06, 2018, 03:06:41 PM
A lot of people didn't/don't jive with Juri's style in SF5 and I don't blame them. If you were to look at Infiltration (don't get me started on this guy) video's playing her you'll see her being used in a "hit and run" type of style and personally I hate that. Makes her look boring. Then I saw vids of Justakid's Juri https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM14hkSoo9k . I love that "in your face" rushdown.

I'm also starting to look at Ibuki again because she's another one of those characters that play be played differently. I just hope that Capcom don't nerf her too badly.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 19, 2018, 04:38:01 PM
Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition
So pretty much as soon as I saw that Juri didn't get anything from the patch that was noteworthy I dropped her and went onto Kage. And my goodness this guy is fun and hits hard. Minus his fireballs, Evil Ryu is still there, but his mixup game and gimmicks are insane and I love it. In a sense, he's Dudley with Dan's moveset (somewhat). Decided to give Ryu another try as well. Zeku, the guy has swag. Every time I play as him I like him even more.

Tekken 7
I've had my issue's with Tekken 7 in the past. Nothing dealing with how the game plays mind you nor the roster. Like Capcom, I hated the half assed way it was released. It was pretty much barebones much like Street Fighter 5, but there was no backlash (but all hell, lets rag on Capcom, right? Get that ish outta here). That being said, the game is still as fun and deep as ever (holy hell is it deep). There was a new patch that came out and well, Capcom need to take notes. Mostly all buffs on everyone and slight nerfs, but the game is very balanced. I'm thinking about dropping Jin, but man that guy is too cool to drop him. I don't want to drop Kazuya because he hit hard as hell. Hwoarang (like Jin) has always been my favorite in the series. Steve is too cool. The problem is is that every one of those characters is hard to play and requires time to learn, but I think I might go with Kazuya for the time being considering his style fits me the most.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 05, 2019, 04:46:20 PM
Happy New Years everyone.

Originally I started playing Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep in preparation for Kingdom Hearts 3 but I couldn't stick with it. Something about the whole "drop" thing don't sit well with me. Almost making me feel like I'm being rushed when I want to explore and find treasure. I may go back to it if I ever feel up to it, but it the mean time I'll watch some walkthroughs or something.

I fired up Final Fantasy 7 earlier today. Playing on the PS4 has its benefits. Being able to cheese my way through the game is something I can get behind. While not having to due with it being on the ps4 there are tidbits in the game that I don't care for and because I haven't reached those moments yet I'm almost tempting to drop it lol.

Of course I'm still playing my typical fighters although I've begun focusing more on 3rd Strike again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Peanutbutter on January 09, 2019, 03:23:15 PM
Just beat Red Dead Redemption 2 yesterday. Great game, slow beginning but when you start to get to the middle it's amazing.


Picked up a Nintendo Switch with my mom, so will probably be playing Pokemon on it along with Zelda: Breath of the Wild. From I've heard, it sounds like Zelda will have a similar layout to RD2. Can't wait to check it out!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 13, 2019, 03:08:22 PM
I just ordered God of War. Never cared for norse mythology but I was never interested in greek either but the story is fascinating to me.

I still need to play Zelda Breath of the Wild.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 21, 2019, 05:31:48 PM
Quite a few games to keep me going for the next couple of months until Devil May Cry 5.

God of War
Nioh
Street Fighter 3rd Strike (switch between this and Tekken 7)
Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition
Kingdom Hearts 3 (when it comes out)

I may end up getting Horizon Zero Dawn and play a bit of that as well, but at the moment these are the only games that're holding my interest in games. I think once DMC5 comes out all other games won't exist outside of 3rd Strike and Nioh.

One game took a turn for the worst that I was looking forward to; Sekiro, I was looking forward to this quite a bit but with the way combat is being described, I'm out. Hopefully my opinion will change upon its release or I see some vids that change my opinion.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 02, 2019, 02:28:15 PM
Nioh
Got me humbled real fast lol. I'm only on the, I guess you would call it the 2nd main mission and just progressing to get to the boss alone got me peeking around every corner before I run wherever. I did almost end up starting over because I still couldn't decide on kusagari or dual swords and I had already pumped a little bit into kusagari, but eventually I just stuck it out went with dual swords without starting over. Xlh Gladiator is getting me into all sorts of trouble lol. If it were just humans only I'd be okay, but the fact that most yokai are giants I have no confidence whatsoever lol. Right now I'm taking a break looking at this shrine before I get wrecked by Hino. Speaking of breaks, putting the game down for 2 months and then coming back to it is a no no.

Edit:

Hino Enma has been beaten. Took about 4 tries and while I did notice her pattern a little early she didn't give me the trouble I thought I'd get. I guess perhaps this first run I might be overthinking things a little too much. In any case, got some nice armor that goes well with my ninja look.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 02, 2019, 07:47:48 PM
Dual swords are actually really good against most Yokai, provided that you unlock the right skills for them. Absolutely must-haves include:

Sign of the Cross (upgrade to level 2 as soon as you reach Adept class)

Water Sword (also level 2 ASAP)

Cherry Blossom (Very useful high-stance maneuver that is powerful enough on it's own and can also critical damage the horned Oni on impact)

God of Wind (get it to level 3 to unlock the full combo; it requires frame-perfect timing, but is very powerful against human opponents, including bosses)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 04, 2019, 04:06:45 PM
I do have Sign of the Cross. Not upgraded. Not sure when I'll be able to upgrade it (don't tell me)

What are some ninjutsu and magic that you'd recommend? For ninjutsu I know I have kunai's, bombs and the first stealth kill technique thing. Other than that I'm not really all that impressed with ninjutsu. In terms of magic all I have is the first level healing, and spirit summoning thing. I also have something that cures paralysis (names escape me at the moment because I'm not currently playing at the moment).

I do have my first elemental sword. I love that it's slowing down my opponents. Makes me more confident.

One thing I have to start incorporating into my game plan is using high and mid stances. With the light attacks I've sort of developed a hit and run tactic. Eventually once my confidence build up this will change, but right now, 3 attacks and back away, especially with the side mission I'm on (looks like its all Yokai. You unlock it after beating Hino Enma)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 04, 2019, 04:29:47 PM
Well, I'll tell you right now that Sloth is by far the most useful piece of magic that you'll learn....it's also borderline cheating IMO, but don't feel ashamed to use it on particularly tough enemy types or bosses.

For Ninjutsu the actual attacks aren't very useful, but the buffs are usually worth your time if you get the stronger versions of them. The stealth scrolls are particularly good for if you don't want to have to fight a lot of the same enemies if you die and just want to rush back to your Guardian Spirit to reclaim your Amrita.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 08, 2019, 09:19:02 PM
The DMC5 demo is finally available to play on the PS4 this week. I have been playing and replaying the shit out of it. I'll give my detailed thoughts later, but this feels like a real game. Not some press "X" to win bad-ass simulator, but a good old-fashioned hack n' slash with style. The amount of games that I could say that for from the past few years can be counted on one hand. I'm more excited for the full game than ever. This could potentially even surpass Nioh for me as my favorite game of this console generation so far.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 09, 2019, 02:37:04 PM
Agreed. In a sense it's like I've finally been welcomed to this generation of gaming with DMC5. With all these Souls-like games it's like games like Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden were/are being phased out. Remasters and remakes can only get you so far.  Not to take shots at Nioh which is the closest I've gotten to that scratch that I've been looking for and I have to use weak weapons to get that combat that I've been yearning for. God of War as great and visceral as it is I'm only playing that for its story and when I'm in a bad mood.

March can't come fast enough. I am a little worried that it won't get the recognition it deserves especially when it comes to the Souls/Borne games. I think people are more into those kinda games than character action games these days.

Also got my ass handed to me in Nioh. On a side mission (18) and enemies just keep spawning. Dying is all on me for sure. My little hit and run tactics aren't working much lol especially when its 2/3 vs 1 and my finger exercise has been terrible. I know for sure I want to keep all enemies where I can see them, but there are times when I get myself between the 2 (giant axe skeleton and horned demon) and I'm like "oh.... shit.... Not to mention got an arrow firing off behind me as well. It's a fun stage for sure, I just gotta get over some of these mental blocks.

Oh, I definitely feel a lot more safe with the trusty Katana lol.

Edit:

Finally beat that mission. Got Mizuchi spirit for my effort. I gotta admit that I usually don't get caught up in the whole "feelings of accomplishments" and whatnot but "my feels" lol. So now I have 3 guardian spirits. Currently going through a 2nd run and about to face Hino again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 10, 2019, 01:53:38 PM
Capcom re-emerging as this gen's MVP is something I would have never predicted. REmake 2 is so good I've already played it twice.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 10, 2019, 02:47:38 PM
Quote from: Foggle on February 10, 2019, 01:53:38 PMCapcom re-emerging as this gen's MVP is something I would have never predicted. REmake 2 is so good I've already played it twice.

They've also been better about porting over more of their classic titles. Just a few years ago we got perfect ports of RE0 and REmake, and about a year ago they did an HD remaster of Okami, which I'm playing now and really enjoying. Now, if they could just re-release some of the other Clover Studios titles on the PS4 and bring a Darkstalkers collection to the PS4, I'd call them publisher of the generation just based on that alone.

Oh, and also maybe stop trying to nickel-and-dime their fans on Street Fighter V content. That'd be nice too.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 16, 2019, 07:13:15 PM
Nioh
3rd mission. Got my ass handed to me by Nue. 2 strikes and I'm down. First time going through the mission in general. This game keep me on my toes at all time. This is what I call scary, but not because of anything like your horror games but that constant fear that every enemy that touches you can kill you. I don't like that in a sense but whatever. I can tolerate it. Other than that still having a blast with it and about to go round 2. I've seen 3 attacks so far.

Dragon Ball Fighterz
Hit, Adult Gohan, SSJ Goku is the team I decided to go with although I may swap SSJ Goku with Goku Black. That being said Hit, SSJ Goku/Black shell is a shell I can get attached to real quick. I know Hit needs a beam assist to really get him going (makes him feel like Vergil in a way). Adult Gohan's slot will be shared with Bardock, Cell, and Vegito (not to mention they will be my secondary team and are my favorite characters in the series) with a splash of Beerus every now and then.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 16, 2019, 07:27:18 PM
The main trick to fighting Nue is to use items and attacks that deplete it's Ki-guage faster. Staggering him and then smacking him in the tail-end as much as you can does the most damage. He's also weak to water (and it slows him down). For his lightning attack he telegraphs it pretty well with his roar, so when he does just run continuously in a circle and the attack will never hit you.

I forget, are you playing on XBOX ONE or PS4? If it's the latter, what's you're gamertag? It'd be great to fight you online (I'm really bad, though).

I was playing against a guy using Base Goku and Jiren in their team, and they had this really devastating combo that ended with Jiren's level 1 super cancelled into Goku's Spirit Bomb which is an almost guaranteed kill every time. It was super annoying since he used it in me a lot but he was also way better than me so I pretty much deserved that, lol. :sweat:

It's cool to learn other interesting tactics like that, though. But, you know....I hate Jiren, so I'm not using that particular one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 17, 2019, 05:05:29 AM
Found 1 mission I don't like in Nioh. It's a sub though. Recommended level is 21 I think. You're with what's her name, Ginchiko (?) and you're going through this underground area filled with traps in the dark. I beat it but man do I hate that. I don't see myself going through that one anytime soon. Not to mention these mimic treasure demons. I don't mind them for the most part but I hate fighting in the dark.

As for DBFz. I'm on the PS4. BigDiesel313. Don't worry about being bad. I'm also terrible. 3v3 has never been my cup of tea. Too much ish to manage and on screen for my eyes. In any case, I may have some serious lag on my end considering I'm wireless at the moment. Still trying to find ways to improve on that. I bought a wifi extender but I don't know how reliable these things are.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 17, 2019, 08:29:31 AM
Mine is Black_Falcon_89; I'll send you a friend request later.

Sub-missions featuring that area come up a few times in the game, but the traps never change, and mimics are actually very easy to spot if you count the latches on the chest. It's been a while so I can't remember if it's one fewer latch or one extra, but it should be easy enough to just look up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 22, 2019, 11:34:34 PM
Nioh
Tachi$#$#bana. Damn. Died at least 10 times before fighting him in a cheap way. I see what Ben (Easy Allies) was talking about when he said you have to take a break after each mission. Got me so riled up it almost became rage levels. Most of the time I was dying to stupid shit of my own accord of course, but man when he drain you of your ki that's all she wrote. It was still an epic fight but damn.

Dragon Ball Fighterz
Hmm, that disconnect is starting to rear its ugly head again. What turned me off from it the last time. It's starting to show even more now that I've played a bit of both BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle and Marvel vs Capcom Infinite. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good game, but that freedom is not there, or rather, I feel like the freedom here is limited (even with the latest patch). That being said, Hit and Bardock put my fingers through quite a workout, especially Hit. I've gotten a feel for all the characters that I gravitate to and Cell, Bardock, and Goku Black are the ones that feel just right for me. Hit and Vegito felt like they can be on the execution heavy side of things, (again) especially Hit. I feel like he's the Johnny of the cast with his stances and canceling. I feel like with those 2 I have to play on an arcade stick. Not ready to bring that thing out yet.

Damn, Tachibana got me salty right now.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 22, 2019, 11:50:26 PM
Hey, if you think that boss fight is tough, try fighting him with another boss at the same time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOYKxe6M4fU :sly:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 23, 2019, 08:09:07 AM
That scares me lol. I can only imagine what that'll be like when I get to it. I decided to fight him again and this time I died 3 times but I still had to fight him in a cheesy tactic. He has pants that I'm after as well. I have everything else off of him that I need though in terms of armor.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 23, 2019, 01:36:34 PM
If it makes you feel any better that's a post-game (after the credits) quest that pops up once the final mission of the main game is complete. There are a bunch of boss fights that put you up against two bosses at once to challenge you, but all are completely optional.

Honestly, bosses like Muneshige can be trivialized completely if you master the parry mechanic, preferably with the dual swords since it's an instant knockdown.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 24, 2019, 12:29:36 PM
Hopefully by the time I beat the game I'll be skilled enough to the point where I'm confident to take on those boss fights.

I beat Tachibana a 3rd time. This time I felt more confident and didn't die either. I got the whole hookup, but I didn't like the pants to his getup. When I get more money I'll use them to make the ninja pants stronger.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 01, 2019, 10:23:27 PM
Nioh
Beat the giant centipede boss. That mission wasn't so bad. The poisonous effect sucks but it was nothing overbearing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 01, 2019, 10:47:05 PM
Kind of reminded me of the centipede boss from DMC3, except dumber. Wasn't really a fan of that level, to be honest. However, there are some really great levels coming up from here. The ninja fortress in particular is my favorite of them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 02, 2019, 06:08:47 PM
Not playing anything at the current moment (bout to boot up Nioh in a few) but I just watched Sajam (commentator) stream the tutorial for Under Night in-Birth. This might have the best tutorial for anyone new to fighting games. Seriously, Guilty Gear Xrd's tutorial is robust and deep as well, but I think it mostly covers how to play Guilty Gear and it's mechanics. Under Night, holy hell, you can apply what you learn from UN to other games. Street Fighter 5's meta is rushdown and shimmy, UN teaches you how to do that. It teaches fuzzy guards, etc. Why have I ignore you all this time?

Then I also watched some Street Fighter 5 tech (Zeku). Might have to boot that up again as well, but I'm waiting to see who/what's going to be revealed next (poor communication from Capcom's fighting division of course). This season might be the last season, but even then I'm waiting because this could be make or break for Street Fighter 5 for me (been debating on deleting the game and data for good off my ps4). This E-sports stuff has killed my interest for this game. I hate this direction they're going, but people'll do anything for money, even accept the bullshit. That being said, I saw some Zeku swag and it might get me back into it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 23, 2019, 02:58:40 PM
Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition -
I tend to settle on Karin from time to time because I couldn't find a main. I've tried Urien, Guile, Bison and Balrog, and props to all those that use charge characters. I could never wrap my head around using them, especially in a style of rushing down. And then of course Ken, Ryu, Karin, Mika, Laura, Ibuki and Cody. The only ones that sort of clicked with me was Karin, Ken and Laura, but while I never found them boring I just never found them cool enough. All that being said I finally found the character for me. Both cool/stylish and have damaging combos. Zeku. Yes, a lot of it has to do with Momochi showcasing Zeku at Final Round, but at the same time I've considered him before Momochi picked him up. I guess another thing is even if Capcom nerf's him I'd stick with him because I like his style and much like Dudley, the dude clicks with me, at least on a lower level compared to Dudley. It was either going to be Zeku or G and I've grown to hate G now considering how he steals matches from you.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 30, 2019, 05:37:29 PM
Persona 5
I went back to playing this game. I feel like outside of Chrono Trigger, this might be the best JRPG at least when it comes to this generation. I haven't finished Dragon Quest 11, but I don't have a desire to do so and here I am replaying P5 for the 5th time. I'm not paying attention to the story (I still hate Ryuji and Mishima) but fusing personas and the style of the game is too good. If only Atlus made a Persona where all the characters in previous games came together to thwart off evil. And I'm not talking about turning it into a fighting game either. Leave it as a JRPG and you get to choose between the 5 main characters or something along those lines.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Kiddington on April 11, 2019, 06:26:41 AM
Finally picked up Let's Go: Eevee.

It's.....................fine. Pretty much everything that sucks about the mobile game still sucks here (catching mechanics especially, just awful), but it's got enough going for it otherwise to keep me interested. Not gonna lie though, I still enjoy FireRed/LeafGreen quite a bit more as the definitive remake experience.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 15, 2019, 02:50:00 PM
I still haven't started DMC5 yet (not to mention I still managed to avoid spoilers). I plan to enjoy that with my next rotation of games. Right now my lineup is Persona 5, Phoenix Wright, and Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition. Right now you can always say SF5 (or some form of SF) will always be in my lineup. I've pretty much just been in the mood for some Persona and Phoenix Wright is one of those "sit back and enjoy" kinda games for me.

My next lineup though, is gonna be pretty fierce. Nioh (get back into it of course), Devil May Cry 5, God of War, and Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Probably not in that order, but, yeah, gonna be getting into (or back into) these games finally.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on May 07, 2019, 10:21:12 PM
GameStop has a 2 for $20 sale on used games $15 under, and I took the opportunity to finally pick up House of the Dead Overkill and Kirby Epic Yarn. Good timing too, since I intend to bring my Wii over from my mom's house.

Will these games end up in the same to-play pile that for years has been stacked by the likes of Sonic Colors, Tatsunoko vs Capcom, Punch-Out, Sin & Punishment 2? Doubtful, since I was only really planning on bringing Twilight Princess and Animal Crossing over anyway, as I've been meaning to replay the former.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on May 09, 2019, 01:45:11 PM
And I went to another GameStop to add GoldenEye and Muramasa to my collection. This isn't great for my wallet, but is really helping to make my Wii library hold well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 11, 2019, 11:43:59 PM
I had two unused Game Stop gift cards coming out to $50 total from last Christmas that I hadn't gotten around to using yet. I had a REALLY tough time deciding on whether I wanted to use it to buy either Resident Evil 2 or Sekiro, but I ultimately decided on Sekiro if only because I still have a copy of HD REmake and 0 that I've had for over a year and still haven't gotten around to playing yet. I want to finish that first before I go onto to RE2 Remake.

I can't say that I'm regretting picking up Sekiro, though. It's another FromSoftware Souls-like game, but unlike any of their previous titles it really feels more like an adventure game than a straight up action game. I mean, there is plenty of action in it, obviously, as the game is designed for combat, but stealth and effectively traversing your environment are arguably just as prevalent in the game as actual fighting is. The lack of alternate weapons besides your katana will probably limit it's replay value for me, though, compared to something like Bloodborne which has a lot more room for experimentation and different character builds. That said, this game is definitely faster-paced when it comes to combat and more up my alley than Dark Souls.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 14, 2019, 06:06:08 PM
I pre-ordered Sekiro but I never ended up buying it. I just don't enjoy the Souls style or formula anymore, unfortunately. This is especially odd since I consider Bloodborne to be one of my all-time favorites, but that kind of gameplay simply does nothing for me at present. These days I'm not even sure what I particularly like. I did love the RE2 Remake - played it twice already. Aside from that, though, I dunno...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 14, 2019, 06:59:04 PM
I think I tend to like Sekiro better than Dark Souls because it's faster paced and has less emphasis on annoying traps (at least so far) and gimmicky platforming. It does still suffer somewhat from that overly familiar Souls formula, but I think it stands out due to a greater emphasis on stealth as opposed to pure combat (a lot of Tenchu DNA in this one). It's sort of like a more well thought-out version of what Metal Gear Rising tried to do. It's not as good as Bloodborne or Nioh, though, IMO, which are more Spuls-like but just do it really well.

That said, with DMC5 and the upcoming Bayonetta 3, I'm really glad to finally see a return to form for my preferred style of action games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 18, 2019, 11:10:07 AM
The Tenchu aspects of Sekiro really sells me, but it's everything else about the game that I don't care for, mainly because I'm too attached to Nioh's combat and have never cared for Souls games. Even now I still debate on getting the game, but I don't want to because I don't like the idea of only doing huge chunks of damage through parries (even though they look like they feel good to pull off).

That said, I think I get where Foggle is coming from. A lot of these games are great in their own right but I'm not in a rush to get any of them. There are only a select few games these days that interest me (Nioh, God of War, Devil May Cry 5, Persona 5, and Zelda: BotW). Anything on the cusp of coming out I have no interest in (outside of Shenmue 3). Hell, I'm even thinking about bringing out the old Xbox 360 and PS3 (honestly I had more fun with games last gen than now, especially since it seems like majority of the devs are releasing incomplete games and relying on patches and DLC).

Don't get me started with next gen (might skip it completely depending on the games)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 18, 2019, 11:57:14 AM
Quote from: Mustang on May 18, 2019, 11:10:07 AMThe Tenchu aspects of Sekiro really sells me, but it's everything else about the game that I don't care for, mainly because I'm too attached to Nioh's combat and have never cared for Souls games. Even now I still debate on getting the game, but I don't want to because I don't like the idea of only doing huge chunks of damage through parries (even though they look like they feel good to pull off).

A game based on my favorite video game mechanic actually kind of sounds like a wet-dream to me. :sly:

Honestly, though, parties are essential to combat but not entirely the focus of it as previews may have lead you to believe. There is no stamina bar in this game, so instead you have to try and break your enemy's "Posture" in order to land a deathblow on them parrying is the quickest way to do this, but you can also achieve this by constantly being offensive until you break their guard. That said, yes, Nioh does combat far better, which is why I find it to be a good thing that this game mixes in a lot of stealth as well to keep encounters engaging and interesting.

QuoteThat said, I think I get where Foggle is coming from. A lot of these games are great in their own right but I'm not in a rush to get any of them. There are only a select few games these days that interest me (Nioh, God of War, Devil May Cry 5, Persona 5, and Zelda: BotW). Anything on the cusp of coming out I have no interest in (outside of Shenmue 3). Hell, I'm even thinking about bringing out the old Xbox 360 and PS3 (honestly I had more fun with games last gen than now, especially since it seems like majority of the devs are releasing incomplete games and relying on patches and DLC).

Don't get me started with next gen (might skip it completely depending on the games)

I feel like in general, the big problem with the big-budget, heavy-hitter titles since last gen has been an increased focus on selling the game on half-baked ideas and concepts that sound really interesting on paper, but which rarely ever get delivered on. This as opposed to stuff where developers just ran with something and worked on making that one specific element of a game really work, and then the "full" "finished" game's quality could speak for itself.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 18, 2019, 10:54:27 PM
I think the whole parrying thing in Sekiro is what scared me away from it, not because I don't like the concept but because I suck shit at Souls parrying. I will almost certainly get around to the game someday, I just need to get back in the mood for that style first. And when that finally happens, I'll probably try to finish Dark Souls 3 and Let It Die or dig into Nioh before I consider buying another one. ;)

As for games these days, there are actually a ton I'm interested in, it's just working up the energy to get around to them or trying to get myself in the mood for them. Right now it seems all my most anticipated games are FPS, which is weird - Ion Maiden, Amid Evil, Wolfenstein Youngblood, Doom Eternal, and John Romero's new Doom WAD are getting me all sorts of hyped. Unfortunately, four of those don't even have concrete release dates, so I'm in kind of a rut right now. I bought Rage 2 because I thought it would sate my thirst for these, but while the core combat is absolutely amazing - some of the best I've ever experienced, even - the open world nonsense is ruining my fun at every turn. I just want a nice focused adventure with cool music, creative level design, and maybe a well-written story. Praying for a new Shinji Mikami, Hideki Kamiya, or Yoko Taro game at E3...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 18, 2019, 11:36:33 PM
Yeah, in all honesty I've kind of lost interest in open world games ever since college. Maybe it's just a lack of time to really sink hours-upon-hours into a game of that nature like I did in High School, but these days I tend to prefer more tightly-paced action games that can be fun and engaging in short bursts. That's why DMC5 is such a godsend to me in this day and age where most linear AAA games tend to be more focused on being cinematic than being deep and more re-playable. That isn't to say that I can't appreciate other games with more open exploration elements like Bloodborne (and Sekiro, which I'm currently playing) or Nier: Automata, but there's a reason why it takes me literally months to finish games of that nature.

Oh, also since you both mentioned about being apprehensive when it comes to parry timing in Souls games, I'd just like to mention that timing in Sekiro is way more lenient than in any Souls game that I've tried. However, it's also less overpowered, so it's an even trade-off.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 18, 2019, 11:56:19 PM
I think Bloodborne and Nier did the whole world exploration thing just right - I was really able to sink my teeth into them and they weren't ridiculously large for no reason. Like, I did nearly everything in BB (except the chalice dungeons, as I felt they got stale fast) and was still able to finish the game and its accompanying DLC in something like 35 hours? Meanwhile, I've played Rage 2 for around 9 hours and I feel like I've made barely any progress, and I don't feel much incentive to continue. Nier's open world is small and dense enough that I would compare it more to classic JRPGs' world maps than something like Assassin's Creed or Far Cry - being populated solely by traditional side quests and treasure chests rather than radio towers and outposts certainly helps. You can also beat that game in around 25-30 hours if you focus strictly on the main story and don't go crazy trying to 100% it like I did... twice. ;)

In general, I feel that exploration is my favorite thing in games, but it has to be done well. Resident Evil, Metroid, Castlevania, Deus Ex, new!Prey, Banjo-Kazooie - that's what I'm looking for. Driving a car for hours fulfilling a checklist? Not so much. The only games of that nature I actually enjoyed 100%ing were Saints Row 4 and Spider-Man (the former much more than the latter due to its excellent mini-games), and I think that mostly comes down to their superpowers making the world traversal fun instead of a chore.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 25, 2019, 07:49:37 AM
I just got past the Lady Butterfly fight in Sekiro. It wasn't too bad, all things considered, though her second phase could get annoying. So far, though, I've oddly had a tougher time with some of the mini-bosses (who are mostly optional) than the actual boss fights. Like, that Spear General guy was a nightmare to deal with, even after getting a free stealth deathblow on him. I essentially had to try and loop him into a predictable attack pattern until I could build up his posture meter to max to break his guard and deliver a second deathblow. Though, after dozens of tries, when I finally landed that final well-timed Mikiri Counter after he dealt out a spear thrust and I pinned his spear to the ground with my foot while delivering a deathblow through the back of his throat, it felt so, so satisfying.

These fights are especially tough when one of the Generals is surrounded by their men and you can't just stealth kill them ahead of time before engaging him in combat. In those situations you really have to get creative.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 26, 2019, 09:40:19 AM
Still playing Persona 5. Not playing it for the story as I've already beaten it quite a few times. I'm mostly working on my Persona line up and their abilities.

Spoiler
Yoshitsune - physical
Satanael - gun
Alice - Curse
Thanatos - Almighty
Black Frost - Ice
Kaguya - Holy
Odin - Lightning
Asterius - Fire
Arsene - Buff/Debuff

Not entirely sure who I want to use for wind, nuke, and psy. Also still not sure if I want to use Alice for curse and Asterius for fire. Everyone else is fine.
[close]

When I have my fill of Persona I'll move on to DMC5 (along with a bit a Batman. Been interested in going back to the rocksteady games lately)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 27, 2019, 06:50:22 PM
I'm up to the Genichiro boss fight in Sekiro and it's utterly kicking my ass. He has three phases, and I've made it up to gus final phase on one attempt so far, but I died quickly because I stupidly skipped the instructions given earlier for how to reverse his lightning attack and instead ended up getting killed by it. It's a very doable boss fight that's mostly fair, but it does really require you to stay ultra-focused for an extended period of time. I'll really need more practice here.

I also just went through most of the Senpou Temple side-quest and it's my favorite part of the game so far. You can stealth almost the entire way through the area, and there are tons of creative ways to do so. The more I play this game, the less it really feels like a Souls game other than in it's base aesthetics. It's more Souls-lite than Souls-like. And personally I prefer that, though I'd still say that Bloodborne is probably the overall superior game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 28, 2019, 03:01:17 PM
With CEO coming up and after that the next major tournament is EVO I'm usually practicing because my brother-in-law usually comes to town and we'll just play fighting games around this time, but I think this time I'm gonna take a break from fighters in general. There's only a negative side and a worst side for why. The negative side is that the huge backlog of games that I have and the worst is that I don't like where the FGC is currently at right now. I'm not gonna go into any details at the moment but because I've ranted quite a few times before.

That being said I think the first game we're going to jump into is Devil May Cry 5. I owe it to myself to play and enjoy this game since I've managed to avoid spoilers. I've heard people say that V is unique in both a positive and negative way. I think when I first saw his style of play my initial thoughts were I don't care to play as him, but we'll see. I may enjoy him. Dante and Nero, come on now, if they're anything remotely similar to DMC4, of course I'm gonna enjoy playing as them.

After that I gotta get back into Nioh. With me being hyped for Nioh 2 I gotta finish the 1st one. I doubt it, but I am hoping something will carry over for playing or beating Nioh. If not it's cool. I think I last left off beating the giant centipede and I had 3 swords.

After that will probably be between God of War or Batman Arkham Knight. Personally, I was never into the God of War series for it's game play. Comparing it to DMC and NG it's satisfying but average. I was in it because they know how to tell a story and it sucked me in. I was never into Greek mythology nor that type of setting, but if told right, I'm game. Batman Arkham Knight is a 10/10 game trapped in a 8/10 body because of the bat-mobile. Everything else from what I can remember was spot on and I feel like it deserves a full playthrough from me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on May 29, 2019, 04:27:21 PM
Played through John Romero's Sigil, the semi-official fifth episode of the original Doom that just released! I bought the Limited Run physical release so I was able to play the special version with the Buckethead soundtrack. Overall, it was really good, and felt just like an expansion pack that might have been released back in the day. If you're like me and prefer Doom 1 over 2, you'll definitely like this a lot, and if you're at all a fan of that game's fourth episode, you'll probably love it. The level designs are mostly great, though some parts were so dark they felt like self-parody of Doom 3, and the aesthetic felt really unique in terms of official Doom content despite only using stuff that was present in the original release. The music was also phenomenal, and I say this as someone who doesn't usually like metal that much. An all around excellent experience that any fan should check out!

I've been revisiting some games from my childhood recently too. After many years, I found an N64 emulator capable of running the Duck Dodgers game, and I had a great time playing that again, even though it isn't particularly good. I'm also taking this opportunity to finally 100% Super Mario 64, and I'm honestly not enjoying it that much. I have a lot of nostalgia for this game, and when it works it can be an absolute joy to play, but its age really shows in the way Mario controls and how the camera functions. I'm finding a lot of the challenges to be either frustrating or tedious because of this, but I don't hate it or anything; it's still a landmark title in the history of gaming and has a special place in my heart.

My main focus right now is the Phoenix Wright Trilogy, which I'm absolutely loving. I hope they port the later games to home consoles and PC someday too!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 01, 2019, 10:00:52 PM
Played through a bunch of Sekiro this weekend. Judging by what I know about the game from other YouTubers that I follow, I think I'm at about the halfway point.

So, I had last left off on the Genichiro boss fight (the second one if you count the one you're supposed to lose during the prologue), and at that time it seemed ludicrously tough due to him having three phases and how much effort it took me just to get past a single phase. After figuring out some strategies for him, though, he's definitely a really well-done boss that feels challenging but fair once you get his attack patterns down. This is where you really have to learn to play the game on it's own terms. Whereas Bloodborne and Dark Souls ask you to be patient to wait for enemy openings, in Sekiro that's rarely the case. Most enemies and bosses that you kill will not be through the conventional means of depleting their health, but rather by breaking their posture and landing a deathblow (more than once for mini-bosses and bosses). To do that, you have to keep on them so as not to give them an opportunity to recover their posture, and that means keeping on the offensive while reacting to their attacks and avoiding them properly rather than keeping your distance. This is further emphasized in this fight since by fighting from a distance you end up prompting Genichiro to take out his big ass bow and fire large arrows at you that do tons of damage if they hit you or absolutely wreck your posture if you try to block them. That naturally leads to an intense battle because you are never truly going to be at a safe distance if you want to fight him properly. However, that sort of balance makes it exciting, and the boss is really good about telegraphing all of his attacks and having consistent patterns that makes almost everything he does fairly easy to predict. So in that regard, it's a really fun boss fight once you get it down and it feels super satisfying when you finally defeat him.

After that I actually did quite a lot of side-questing since a lot of opportunities open up once you get Genichiro out of Ashina Castle, as well as attain the Gun Fortress Key (which is a really annoying zone due to all of the snipers). This game is actually a lot lighter on the RPG elements than previous Souls-type games, so it was actually the first time that I really had to do any kind of major side-questing. In general, everything is streamlined enough where you don't really need to farm for anything unless you just want better equipment, and in my case I really just wanted to get the Phantom Kunai which is why I went out of my way to get some materials that I needed to make that prosthetic tool. That said, even then it wasn't really that much grinding compared to Dark Souls or Bloodborne.

Anyways, I also defeated the four monkeys, which counted as a boss fight but was really just a gimmick fight (and a fairly easy one at that) as well as the Guardian Ape boss fight. The latter in particular is a beast type enemy, and there are a few such enemies in the game, though most are humanoid. I'll say that ironically enough, since beast type enemies don't typically block, they are among the few exceptions where you normally take them out by depleting their health bar, and thus work much like in a traditional Souls game where you wait for your opportunity to strike. The Guardian Ape himself was actually quite simple, all things considered, once you got a grasp of his attack patterns and when was safe to attack him. The fight dragged out a bit but I was able to defeat him with relative ease by just being patient and waiting for the opportune moments to strike. That said, these are also my least favorite part of the game, because it's the absolute antithesis to it's combat system by design, and feels out of place here since this clearly isn't meant to play like a Souls game in regard to it's approach to combat.

Anyways, I think that I'm supposed to be headed to the Ashina Depths next, and so far I'm enjoying this game a lot more as an overall action game with light RPG elements than any of the Souls games aside from Bloodborne. If you were on the fence about it before, I can wholeheartedly give it my recommendation at this point.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 08, 2019, 02:15:07 PM
So, I beat the two Guardian Apes boss fight on my second try (which as far as I can tell is actually optional). The takeaway here is that Lady Butterfly's Kunai is the best prosthetic weapon in the game. Not sure if I should feel like a genius for figuring out that strategy so quickly or if that's something that's common knowledge amongst the Fromsoftware fan-base.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 10, 2019, 02:45:15 PM
We got some trash talking going on and money is starting to get involved in terms of fighting games so I might be booting up Street Fighter 5: AE soon although my attention in terms of fighters have been more on SF3 and Tekken 7 at the moment.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 13, 2019, 07:28:40 PM
Probably 2-3 paychecks from now I'll probably start investing in the Hitbox (bills keeping me from getting it now). At first I was confused on how to do quarter-circle motions but I saw a little tutorial on the thing and everything just makes sense. I won't be touch Soul Calibur or Dead or Alive, but every other fighting game that came out within the past couple years has a chance of being revisited at some point (especially a lot of the older fighting games). A Fightstick can usually get the job done, but turns out a lot of people are having wrist problems from using fightsticks (and some things are just too hard for me to pull off) and I don't need those problems in my life. When I do get this hitbox the main games will probably be

3rd Strike (of course, buffering parries should be a lot easier for me)
Tekken 7 (don't know why people haven't been using this from jump. It just make sense to use it for wave dashing and Korean backdashing)
UMvC3 (maybe. Movement should be simpler but the BS I don't know if I'll be able to put up with)
DBFZ (ASWs games in general for that matter. Instant air dashing seems like it'll be easier for me)
Garou: MotW (SNK has weird inputs so I might be iffy on this one)

To talk about a current situation (nothing major). Trading in a lot of my games to get a Switch. I don't feel like shelling out $300 at the moment. A lot of games I have are just sitting here collecting dust and I have no intention of playing them (plus some old stuff). I have probably 25+ PS4 games and out of all those I only play about 9 of them. Clearing space in a sense.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 15, 2019, 04:20:49 PM
Just a heads up that the Borderlands Handsome Collection is available for free to download if you're a PS Plus member. I'm still making my way through Sekiro and have a big backlog to get through, but of course I didn't miss out on the opportunity to get these for free. I never got around to playing Borderlands last gen, so it'll be nice to finally give it a shot within the next few months or so.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 19, 2019, 07:09:49 PM
Dragonball Fighterz
So the trash talking has moved on from Street Fighter to DBFZ and UMvC3. So not only do these folks want to stay up all night they want to get hype as well (I wish Capcom would put MvC2 on the PS4) and I don't drink but I'll bring some out for the occasion (all while Evo is going down no doubt). That being said I've been watching some footage of some people. To get back in the groove of this game I think I'll make the main team either Goku Blue, Bardock and Goku Black or Vegito, Bardock and Goku Black. I don't think my Hit will be ready by the time my folks show up. I'll practice with him for sure, but considering the left/right mixups he's capable of I won't have that down in time whereas Goku Blue, Bardock and Goku Black are relatively easy not to mention still have the frame traps and mixups that I like (can't say that about Goku Black though. Seeing a lot of people talk bad about him)

Now in terms of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 I don't know. I haven't played this in years and even then this game makes me real salty, especially if you have a character that can get away with mashing crouching light attacks (they know this too and I think that's why they want to play it). Whatever, the team I can recall using was Spencer, Vergil and Hawkeye, but I'm thinking of going with Nova, Vergil, Hawkeye instead (Nova, Spencer, Hawkeye works as well, although I think most people would say use Dr. Strange or Dr. Doom instead of Hawkeye)

Unfortunately, I have to drop USF4 for good. No one in my camp likes the game and don't want to play it at all, but dammit I refuse to end the night off with no Street Fighter. If we gotta go SF5 then we'll do that, but I'ma aim for 3rd Strike.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on June 21, 2019, 11:12:15 PM
I FINALLY got my tax return (long story there), and I'm doing what I've planned to do for a long time, and finally get a Switch. For now, I'm just going to get BOTW, unless Gamestop has a good deal going on, in which case I may also get Mario Odyssey and/or Smash. But I intend to get to both of those, as well as Tropical Freeze, soon. And I'm hoping to ask for Doom for my birthday.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 22, 2019, 04:14:58 PM
Nice! I was actually thinking if doing the same thing with my tax return money, but decided on putting it into my savings for now instead since I am a bit tight with money right now (not THAT tight, but I do still use up most of my income on living expenses and paying off my college loans). That, and I have a sizable backlog of games to play right now as it is. That said, I'm still wrestling with the temptation to pick one up, but the first game that I'd want to play for it is actually Bayonetta 2, though BOTW is easily high up there.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on June 22, 2019, 04:57:45 PM
I forget, doesn't Bayonetta 2 on the Switch also come with the first one? If so, I definitely intend to get it.

While I was buying the Switch, I decided to upgrade my GameStop account to Pro, so I should be getting a buy 2/get 1 deal soon. I'll need to wait a little, but I think that I'll use that to get Odyssey, Smash, and Tropical Freeze.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 22, 2019, 05:29:50 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on June 22, 2019, 04:57:45 PMI forget, doesn't Bayonetta 2 on the Switch also come with the first one? If so, I definitely intend to get it.

It comes with a download code for it (which you can't get if you buy it used). Granted, there aren't many unopened copies of the retail version of the game left in stock in any one particular place, but I assume the digital version would also include the first game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 26, 2019, 04:14:32 PM
Had to babysit the niece and nephew for a little bit today. Fired up the good ole Wii and what did my niece ask for? Smash Bros. God I hate Smash. Even though I was showing them the how to play nothing felt comfortable. Anyway I'm not gonna bash the game or the console. Just know that I did not have a good time, but watching them play, while a silly experience was an annoying one as well.

Hopefully, I can get the Switch some time between this Friday and next payday. My nephew loves Mario and he's asking for Mario Maker 2. And I'll buy that for him but we're going to be sharing the Switch so I can play some other games (Astral Chain and Zelda)

I gotta another rant about fighting games soon to come (Sorry, gotta get it off my chest).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 26, 2019, 06:36:38 PM
I'm not a Smash fan either but perhaps your problem is more with Brawl and the Wii controls in this instance? That game just feels terrible to play IMO, especially with the Wiimote - the other ones are a lot better.

I just finished a playthrough of the original Deus Ex and it was as excellent as ever. It's actually been a long time since I've beaten it because my old computer would always crash during a certain sequence halfway through the game. There is a fix for that but I kept forgetting to install it before starting a new playthrough. This time I played using the GMDX (Give Me Deus Ex!) mod, and not only did it fix that bug, it also made the rest of the game better than ever before, improving things just enough to make it play smoother without fundamentally changing the core mechanics.

Right now I'm playing Invisible War, and honestly? I like it! I've tried it before but always had a difficult time getting past the utterly horrible control scheme and inventory system, plus I think I let others' opinions of it cloud my judgment too much. It's undoubtedly inferior to the original in most aspects, but the intricate level design and opportunities for player choice are still there, and the writing is still engaging. Once you get past its (admittedly frustrating) design quirks, it's a pretty great game in its own right - not as good as the original or its prequels, but still worthwhile.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 26, 2019, 11:05:11 PM
Yep, that controller for that game is terrible. So imagine a 5-year old boy asking you to teach them how to play Smash Bros. In the back of my mind I'm like "SHIT, ask me to play this game" (I don't think I've ever liked Smash since N64). But yeah, you hit the nail on the head. I was caught off guard when they asked to play it because all I ever hear them playing is New Super Mario Bros. Showed no interest in playing anything else. I'll be better prepared next time with better controllers for sure though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 03, 2019, 09:30:12 PM
Breath of the Wild deserves its hype as not only one of the best Zeldas, but one of the best games period. It really feels like a modern reinterpretation of the franchise, with just about everything that makes Zelda great.

I especially love the freedom, to go anywhere, to do anything at my own pace. One way this has really helped me was during my first Divine Beast quest, in the Zora area. I couldn't hold my own against Ganon, as one hit was all it took to knock me out. So I left the Beast to go back to Kakariko Village, got a couple of hearts, and found the fairy fountain and took a few fairies from there. Then, I teleported back and got him. I love that bit of freedom, which feels removed from other Zelda games, but is just right.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 04, 2019, 06:16:28 PM
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Don't know what I was thinking when I said they know how to handle grinding in this game, let alone that I don't mind grinding (BS). Looking back on it, if I weren't in the moment of needing something different I probably would've noticed it at the time when I first played through it. I think what makes grinding in this game even worst than other games is that the reward is so random that a lot of the times you're getting nothing worth value for your effort. Like you're battling against time while having to babysit, making sure to not let an AI's health drop below 50%, weird hitboxes and sometimes non responsive buttons only to get 2 Vegito's Gloves when you need the whole set. That's discouraging and makes people not even want to continue playing. I noticed this even in Nioh, you just get pieces of costume sets, and it's like why bother. I wouldn't mind doing the grinding if I knew I'm gonna get the whole set at once instead of individual pieces of the set.

Dragon Ball Fighterz
Well, not playing it yet, but to my surprise my nephew is into the game. We watched some high level players and he's already grown attached to Vegito. So I have a little renewed interest in the game if only for that connection with my nephew. While he's set on Vegito I'm looking for different combinations that can be used with Hit. Considering how my brain works I'm go with 2 different teams altogether (A Hit team and then a Vegito team).

I'm not entirely done with the torture of Xenoverse 2 just yet. I'm gonna make a saiyan and then torture myself some more before jumping into either God of War or Devil May Cry 5.

Edit:

Feels weird not playing some weird obscured game (damn near broke Xenoverse 2). Feels weird to play a Devil May Cry game after so many years. Playing Devil May Cry 5 to be exact. Trying to get used to having square as my gun and triangle as my sword. If possible I might switch it up. I don't want to misjudge the game since I just booted it up, my hype level is pretty low for it right now, but it could very well be because of where and how I feel about games in general right now (at least games that're not fighters).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 23, 2019, 08:42:14 PM
Best Buy has the Playstation Classic on sale for $20, and I bought myself one. I've heard mixed things about it, but the price was good enough for me to give it a shot, especially as I've been meaning to replay Metal Gear Solid and try Final Fantasy VII again, and this is the cheapest way to knock both out.

Also, would I be good by trying out Resident Evil Director's Cut here, or should I really opt for REmake instead? I've been thinking of buying Zero on the Switch- should I stick with that or save the money for now and play this version?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 24, 2019, 01:18:07 PM
The original Resident Evil is fun for established fans and nostalgic PS1 gamers but I don't know if it's the best entry point into the series. It has a lot of charm and I do play it fairly regularly but it's also very rudimentary and honestly not that great. It's like Sonic 1 compared to 2 and 3 in that regard. REmake is a masterpiece, though, and 100% worth playing. If you're worried about it being too hard, there's no shame in playing on one of the easier difficulty settings, and the remaster also has an option for non-Tank controls. Definitely play as Jill first btw.

Don't bother with Zero. I love the series to death and even Code Veronica has grown on me significantly, but Zero is just a tedious slog that feels like a pale imitation of its predecessors. You can start with either version of RE1, but definitely do not start with Zero.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 24, 2019, 03:21:45 PM
I've owned the PS4 version of REmake for almost two years now and still have yet to play it, lol. I was planning on starting it after I finish Sekiro (which I will this weekend after the final two boss fights), and finally tackle that Bloodborne DLC (finished the game last year but never played the DLC).

I'll still probably play RE0 after that just to formulate my own opinion on it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 24, 2019, 03:46:21 PM
The Bloodborne DLC is great! It has by far the game's best boss fights and the coolest location (aesthetically anyway). The game felt kind of incomplete without it to me, but adding that onto my playthrough rounded it out perfectly.

If at all possible I would highly recommend playing Resident Evil 2 (original), 3, and/or Code Veronica prior to 0. 0 is both a huge jump in difficulty and drop in quality compared to the other games because of its unique mechanics, which sound good in theory but absolutely obliterate the pacing in practice. It also expects way more of you in terms of ammo conservation compared to the others (unless you play on Easy) and has a couple of instances where you can actually render the game unwinnable due to poor design decisions (to be fair, CV is also guilty of this).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 24, 2019, 08:50:39 PM
If Zero's really that bad, maybe I'll just look for a decently priced copy of REmake for the Gamecube or Wii and write that off.

But since I can't really find a cheap copy of 2 anywhere, I'm probably going to end up hacking my PS Classic to get that and 3, among other games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 27, 2019, 08:27:48 PM
So, I finally beat Sekiro. It only took....2 whole months. :sweat:

Keep in mind that I don't get to play every day and more often than not only play about a few hours per week since I'm too busy to do more than that. I also didn't touch my PS4 for the last two whole weeks since I had a lot of extra errands to do. So, it takes me forever to clear lengthy games (Bloodborne took me a whole year since I had to come back to it on and off). I also almost essentially 100%'ed it. The only things that I didn't do was to kill all of the Headless, unlock every skill and prosthetic tool upgrade, and get all of the endings. I didn't bother to fight all of the Headless because they are a BS mini-boss type that are not actually fun to fight, and since they are all the same that means killing one of them is no different from killing any of the other ones. I've killed two (one regular type and one underwater variant), which is good enough for me, as the reward for killing them is, IMO, not worth it. As for the skills and prosthetic tools upgrades, I have most of the skills and getting the rest is just tedious busy work and I don't feel like farming experience points to get them.

Same goes for the prosthetic tool upgrades. I have all of them except for two which I would have to play the whole game over again to get the materials for since Lapis Lazuli is a finite item with only 6 available for each playthrough. While I'm not against replaying the game since I enjoy it, I do have to move on to other stuff for now. The same goes for the other three endings. I got the Purifucation ending which requires you to get all of the stuff needed to achieve the previous endings and more, so in effect you already have achieved the other endings by getting the "true" ending of the game, even though you only get to pick one per playthrough (unless you back up your saves).

Technically the Shura ending has you fight two other bosses, but watching YouTube videos of those consecutive fights shows that they are overall pretty basic compared to other boss fights in the game. It makes sense since that's supposed to be the game's "bad" ending. Defeating Ishin Sword Saint was in itself a classically brutally tough final boss fight, and killing him felt so utterly satisfying, especially when he finally accepts defeat and allows you to finish him off. This, The Demon of Hatred, and the Owl (Father) fight are actually the hardest Souls-esque bosses that I've fought to date from what I've played of Miyazaki's games. Even Bloodborne's bosses weren't this brutal, IMO, though from what I hear the DLC bosses are much harder than in the main game, which I suppose I'll find out for myself soon enough.

Overall, though, it's easily one of the better games that I've played in recent years. I like it more than what I've played of Dark Souls, but Bloodborne is still Miyazaki's best game, IMO. I'd say that it ranks right behind Devil May Cry 5 for me of the top games from this year so far.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 28, 2019, 09:15:31 AM
Got Wolfenstein: The New Order as part of a bundle on sale on the PS Store for a pretty low price. I was planning on saving this for later after I finished at least REmake and RE2 Remake (I also just installed Dolphin so that I can play the GC version of RE2), but I tried out the first chapter just to get a feel for the game and now I'm already hooked, damnit!

Why the fuck did I miss out on this game for so long! It's the perfect modern take on old-school FPS game design. There's no handholding waypoint to tell you exactly where to go, you have to actually find health packs and armor (but they are fairly strewn about everywhere), the gunplay feels fucking amazing and (more importantly) fluid, and the game (at least so far) rarely forces scripted set-piece segments on you. I'm also playing on "I Am Death Incarnate!" difficulty, which is the game's hard mode, but it feels so perfectly balanced.

Why the fuck didn't anyone tell me this game was so damn good!?

I'm hoping that New Colossus and Youngblood are just as good if not better. I'd be really eager to play those after completing this game, but this is the kind of game I'll immediately want to replay when it's over.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 28, 2019, 01:06:26 PM
I'm a pretty big fan of the MachineGames Wolfenstein series (and I'm fairly certain I've sang its praises before :P) so I'm glad you're liking TNO! You didn't mention it in your post but please be sure to play The Old Blood as well. The last segment is kind of eh (and the final boss is just bad) but the first half (more like two-thirds tbh) where you actually escape from Castle Wolfenstein is ridiculously good and probably my favorite part of the entire franchise. The way it keeps ramping up until it crescendos upon your exit is just masterclass game design and pacing.

The New Colossus is a different beast entirely. I personally love it, but it's a lot more narrative-heavy, with many more cutscenes than TNO. This didn't bother me because the writing, acting, and directing are far superior to the majority of video games and I was really invested in BJ's story, but it's something that a lot of people hate. The gunplay is still fantastic and satisfyingly chunky, and those hatchet stealth kills are amazing, but it's also a lot harder (you might want to play on Bring 'Em On the first time) because they tie the gameplay mechanics into the story and one of its major themes. It's smart design from a narrative standpoint but kind of poorly balanced from a pure gameplay standpoint. I do believe they made it slightly easier in a patch, though, and there's an incredible level in a courthouse that's worth the price of admission on its own. The level design was also a point of contention for many but I personally thought it was fine, though nothing spectacular. Overall, it's weaker than the first two titles but still extremely engaging if you're willing to meet it halfway. Just ignore the godawful DLC packs.

Youngblood is... hmm. I haven't played much of it yet but I can't say I'm a fan, and I was really excited for it too. Aesthetically it's on point, the level design is fantastic (courtesy of Arkane), you can now double jump like Doom4Guy, and the cutscenes are as good as ever, but... they turned it into an RPG/shooter hybrid. Enemies have health bars, levels, and armor types requiring the usage of different weapons. Instead of unlocking perks by playing well you have to level up and put points in skill trees. The bosses are ridiculously spongey and uninteresting. The gore is heavily toned down and the hatchet's brutality has been neutered beyond recognition. And the worst crime of all - you can no longer dual-wield shotguns and assault rifles. Surprisingly, the forced player-two AI hasn't really bothered me, but unless you have a co-op partner, I would recommend playing on Casual difficulty to just enjoy popping some Nazi heads and the silly storyline; that is, if you get it at all. It might be better just to wait for Wolfenstein 3.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 28, 2019, 02:03:31 PM
Quote from: Foggle on July 28, 2019, 01:06:26 PMI'm a pretty big fan of the MachineGames Wolfenstein series (and I'm fairly certain I've sang its praises before :P) so I'm glad you're liking TNO! You didn't mention it in your post but please be sure to play The Old Blood as well. The last segment is kind of eh (and the final boss is just bad) but the first half (more like two-thirds tbh) where you actually escape from Castle Wolfenstein is ridiculously good and probably my favorite part of the entire franchise. The way it keeps ramping up until it crescendos upon your exit is just masterclass game design and pacing.

I got it on the current PSN sale as part of a combo pack with The Old Blood. I spent $15 in total, which seems like a pretty good deal. :thumbup:

And now that you mention it, I suppose I do recall you raving about it a few years ago. This was a 2014 game if I'm not mistaken, so I wouldn't have had a console to play it on at that time and thus probably wasn't paying attention to the good reception for this game since it wasn't on my radar at the time.

Also, yeah, the game is amazing. It's everything I want in a modern FPS. I feel like kicking myself for not getting into it sooner; though the same could be said for 2016's DOOM, which I really want to play but have to hold off on for now.

This is also, now that I really think about it, a way better example of how to do an alternate timeline story than in BioShock: Infinite. If you recall, that game was an absolute slog for me to get through (I don't even think I bothered to finish the final level), and I was absolutely perplexed as to how the game was getting such unanimous praise when it was full of bad game design decisions that limited combat options more than in previous entries and bogged down the pacing with unskippable story segments that were far too drawn out for their own good (not to mention how full of obvious gaping plot holes said story was). Keep in mind that this is also coming from someone who loved the first BioShock and even enjoyed BioShock 2 despite it being a clear rehash. While I obviously haven't even finished a single playthrough of it yet, TNO already intrigued me more on how different decisions that affect the story can be made on subsequent playthroughs. While those overall changes may be minor, story focus clearly doesn't impede the flow of gameplay or the game design when it comes to diverse combat options.

QuoteThe New Colossus is a different beast entirely. I personally love it, but it's a lot more narrative-heavy, with many more cutscenes than TNO. This didn't bother me because the writing, acting, and directing are far superior to the majority of video games and I was really invested in BJ's story, but it's something that a lot of people hate.

I've actually really been enjoying the story in this game so far. It has some scripted-heavy moments but they don't predominate the game. It's proof that games can tell compelling stories perfectly fine through traditional cutscenes rather than by forcing exposition dumps on us in the middle of gameplay on a constant basis, disrupting any sense of flow. I'm sure I will definitely play New Colossus, and if more story comes in the form of more cutscenes I'm OK with that. I'm just hoping that the narrative doesn't constantly interrupt gameplay in a form that can't be skipped on replays.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 28, 2019, 03:35:36 PM
I thought you played Doom 4 already! I think you'll like that game a whole lot too, it's really great. The level design and gameplay mechanics are incredible, and the way it handles the story is seriously inspired. Eternal looks so good.

I just really liked BioShock Infinite at the time because I thought riding around on the rails shooting dudes was a lot of fun. :sweat: The shotgun in that game was actually pretty satisfying but most of the other guns sucked. I enjoyed the story a lot on my first playthrough but it doesn't really hold up on replays like Wolfenstein's does. Honestly, I feel kind of the same way about BioShock 1 - I really, really loved it when it came out, but replaying it a few years ago, it just doesn't do anything for me anymore. I don't know if you played Burial At Sea but I thought it was atrocious. Gameplay felt like a weak attempt at recreating the original game with BSI's combat system and the story was downright insulting, retconning events from the entire trilogy haphazardly to try and piece everything together. I kind of stopped caring about the series completely after that.

I'm not sure if it's exclusive to the PC version or if they patched it in, as I've seen a lot of people complain about them, but you can definitely skip the cutscenes in Wolf2 (except the goddamn helicopter taking off for side missions, ugh). It does have unskippable scripted narrative moments as well but I don't think they're any more numerous than the ones in the first game - they might be a little longer sometimes, though? Anyway, I think it does suffer from middle-of-trilogy syndrome a bit in terms of both game design and story but I still really liked it and was on the edge of my seat the whole time. :thumbup:

Just a heads-up, I think the Fergus character/storyline is a lot more interesting than the Wyatt one, especially in the sequel.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 28, 2019, 03:49:35 PM
I'd say that while BioShock 1 isn't mechanically that great, it has more interesting level design than Infinite, as well as more creative uses of abilities. For example, you can plant a bunch of trip mines on a single object and then use telekinesis to blast it at enemies, in some instances being able to one-shot Big Daddies. The whole emphasis of that game was to creatively use weapons, items, and abilities together rather than play it as a traditional FPS. It does show it's age in a number of ways, of course, but at least it has something that makes it feel unique.

Infinite pretty much scraps all of that in favor of making a standard shooter with more forced story segments, so even if the first game may not hold up for you, I'd still make the argument that it's a far more admirable attempt at something genuinely interesting than Infinite ever was, which just pandered to a market that was easily impressed by good visuals (at the time) and a pretentious story without any real depth or substance to back it.

This video does a phenomenal job of tearing the game to shreds and how gaming journalists were easily suckered to buy into it's hype and allure: https://youtu.be/VdNhwb7iuI4
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 28, 2019, 04:00:21 PM
I'll need to watch that later! The original BioShock was definitely a more interesting and ambitious game in a lot of ways, and my fondness for it held much longer than my fondness for Infinite.

Here's a really good video about The New Colossus (don't watch until you've played all the games though!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGhFBupwfdU. It does a fantastic job articulating my thoughts on it and goes into depth about its messier aspects. Made me both appreciate it a lot more and also understand why some people disliked it so much. Definitely worth a watch regardless of your feelings in the end. :im_nabeshin:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 30, 2019, 04:00:38 PM
I restarted Youngblood a second time, bumping it back up to Normal difficulty again, and while I still think certain aspects of it are bizarrely stupid, I'm finally enjoying it; in fact, the more I play it, the more I like it! It makes a pretty poor first impression, and if you're playing it as a single-player game you definitely need to know exactly which skills to invest in first, but it opens up a lot in the second level and quickly becomes a ton of fun. The level design is great and areas are very fun to explore (thank you Arkane!), and the combat is just as satisfying as the previous titles once you get a couple of weapon upgrades. Overall, I still think the other three games are better, but it's winning me over at a rapid pace. It has a lot of negative user reviews and word of mouth surrounding it, but I'm pretty sure most of the people talking trash about it dropped it an hour or so in (perhaps understandably, but still).

Youngblood's coolest feature (which I haven't seen a single person bring up anywhere) is Wolfstone: Die Neue Ordnung, an arcade machine available in the hub area. The New Colossus featured Wolfstone 3D, a reskin of Wolfenstein 3D replacing BJ with "Elite Hans," the Nazis with Allied soldiers, and Hitler with BJ himself, which was a nice little atmospheric touch. The version in this game is an in-universe sequel, featuring two entirely original Wolf3D episodes made from scratch by MachineGames! As a fan of the old Wolfenstein games as well, finding this was honestly incredible, and I probably won't be getting back to the main story until I've beaten the whole thing! :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 30, 2019, 04:12:26 PM
Good to know that you like it! I've been noticing a lot of reviews on my YouTube page (from fans more than journalists) calling it garbage, but it could just be people overreacting to this spin-off being taken in a very different direction than the rest of the series.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on July 30, 2019, 04:28:47 PM
It's definitely an acquired taste and not going to be for everyone, and at first I really didn't like it much myself, but it's growing on me a lot. "Garbage" is pure hyperbole resulting from the presence of microtransactions (which are literally only used for ugly gun and player skins, completely unnoticeable in single-player) and its multiplayer/RPG-esque nature. As a game, it's actually not bad at all - it's just not what most people probably wanted, meaning the hate for it is understandable but seriously overblown. People will probably come around on it once the proper Wolfenstein 3 releases (like I did on RE5 once 7 and REmake 2 came out).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 06, 2019, 07:06:59 PM
Playing Persona 5 yet again, at least until I get my hands on Royal.

Mainly been watching a lot of Guilty Gear though. My Hit Box will be arriving some time next week, and with the announcement of a new Guilty Gear I've just been giddy (I will not use this word again) to get back into it. I think I saw something where all the characters who'll be in it was either leaked or announced and Johnny will be making a return.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Spark Of Spirit on August 24, 2019, 12:31:29 PM
Been playing DOOM 3 on my Switch.

Been gone a while, guys. Good to see you.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 24, 2019, 01:40:21 PM
SPARK! :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 24, 2019, 03:20:47 PM
I missed you pal! :shakeshakeshake:

I actually just played through Doom 3 recently too! On PC, before the Switch version was announced, but still.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 24, 2019, 04:07:47 PM
I haven't played through DOOM 3 since the original XBOX, but I remember liking it well enough back then (it was actually my first game in the series). I've wanted to replay the original, as well as finally play DOOM II, but I'm having trouble running it on my current laptop. It's obviously not a gaming laptop but you wouldn't need one to run an MSDOS emulator (which is essentially what the Steam version uses), but it keeps crashing on my PC anyways. The funny thing is that I was able to run older games like this without issue on my much shittier laptop from a several years ago with Windows Vista still installed on it. Maybe the emulator isn't as compatible with Windows 10 for some reason? Anyways, I looked into it and apparently I may have to tweak some settings to get it to run properly on a modern PC, but I'm usually pretty terrible at that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on August 25, 2019, 05:52:09 PM
 :SHOCK:

Also, I didn't know DOOM 3 was on the Switch. I was hoping to get the new one for my birthday, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on September 08, 2019, 06:27:20 PM
I finally got around to fini... well, not finishing, since I still have a lot of shrines, sidequest, and Korok seeds to collect, but I beat Calamity Ganon last night. Breath of the Wild's reputation as an all-timer is absolutely deserved IMO.

That was a hell of a final fight, too. I'm surprised that I didn't die during the first act, but I had a lot of leftover food to heal me, which I ate after every hit, and I also took every opportunity to hit and dodge/fury that I could. The second part with Link on the horse got me a few times though, especially with that one strike beam of Ganon's. But I did like how good timing helped to make each blow matter. I'm also glad that I took advice and got all of the captured memories, since apparently I'd get less of an ending if I didn't.

I'm going to put the game on hold for a little, maybe hook up my Playstation Classic, but I intend to go back and finish a lot of what I didn't. I honestly just loved exploring the world and could go around everywhere for hours on end. That's the best kind of open-ended game,
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 16, 2019, 03:12:31 PM
I really need to get back to Breath of the Wild.

Anyway, Dragon Ball Fighterz been seeing bits of play from me. I haven't tried out Janemba yet and I just bought GT Goku. I know people are saying that GT Goku should be banned, but I've never been for banning characters. This notion of banning characters boggles my mind. I only know of Akuma being banned in Super Turbo and I wasn't even around for that, and to take it to SF5 real quick, I see people whining about Karen now. This notion of Nerf this, ban this kills my interest. This makes me respect people like Smug even more because, yes, he complains about the character every now and then, but he's always in training mode, and I think people just don't want to put in the work anymore. They want everything handed to them or in this case, they want said character nerfed to the ground, and it's like, whatever happened to actually going to the lab to figure out how to get out of said situation.

Enough of that tangent. Hit is still my main (might actually be Adult Gohan) and I've been watching a lot of Lord Knight videos and he's been making me think a lot lately. Right now the teams I'm working on is Hit, Trunks, SSJ Vegeta and Adult Gohan/Teen Gohan, GT Goku, SSJ Vegeta which ultimately might turn into Hit, A.Gohan/Bardock, SSJ Vegeta.

Also, I did see Gogeta at Tokyo Game Show and as soon as he comes out I think I might drop Hit. Hell, my team might turn into Gogeta, Vegito, ?????. Anyway, just had the urge to jump back into the game along with BBCTB.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on September 16, 2019, 07:02:19 PM
I did GameStop's buy 2/get 1 used deal, and finally got Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Super Mario Odyssey, and Smash. I may get to Smash soon and try to get my groove on this version and knock out everything.

But I've also plugged in my PlayStation Classic, and have been playing Final Fantasy VII. I won't lie, so far I've liked the characters and story a good bit, but gameplay wise, I am just not for JRPGs anymore. I think the combat is a slog, as is the traveling. It feels easy to get stuck in little corners, and there isn't really a way to control the camera to fix it. Maybe I should've waited for the remake.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 06, 2019, 03:05:24 PM
Phoenix Wright Collection
I've only played Justice for All and I can't remember the one afterwards on the DS. Anyway, I do recall enjoying these games but I also recall saying back in the day at another place that once you've played and beaten the game there's no reason to come back. I take breaks so I don't know exactly how long these games are but they feel pretty lengthy, especially since these cases are broken into 3+ parts. I just finished the 2nd to last case before the end of the 1st game.

I got a Switch that should be arriving tomorrow. I will finally be able to get back to Breath of the Wild.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 06, 2019, 06:57:48 PM
I played that earlier this year and positively loved it! The games are pretty long, Steam says I clocked in 70 hours across the whole trilogy. After finishing the collection, I also played Ace Attorney Investigations and Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright. Investigations was pretty good but nowhere near the level of the originals, while the Layton crossover started out really well but turned into something I absolutely loathed with its big twist near the end. Now I'm playing Investigations 2, and not only is it better than the other two spin-offs, it's just as good as the trilogy! :im_nabeshin:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 12, 2019, 09:41:27 AM
Still playing through the Phoenix Wright trilogy on the PS4. I forgot how good (and adorable; Maya) some of these characters really are. I think I'd like to see Capcom explore this type of game some more. I'm not completely out of my funk per se, but it's getting me back into the groove a little bit.

I've also been playing Yugioh Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution on the Switch. Little obscure games like this can help make the time go by even when I don't feel up to playing anything. It's not a good game at all, but it's a guilty pleasure and a little reminder for myself on what got me started in message boards and forums in general.

I haven't been back to my locals for a while due to work but I'm gonna turn up today (maybe?) to get some casual games in to get back into the groove of things as well. 3rd Strike and GGXrdR2 are the main games of course, but they brought back GGXXCR+ and USF4 as well so I'll be messing around with those too. Unfortunately I won't be playing any of the other fighters but I'll still check out tournaments. Maybe I'll get back into Street Fighter 5, I'm not sure though. That crowd remains as toxic as ever.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 18, 2019, 11:51:40 PM
Still playing through the Phoenix Wright trilogy. Trials and Tribulations to be exact. I'll give it to Capcom. The presentation and story telling is really good in this series although it drags on in both Justice for All and here in Trials.

Spoilers just in case;

Spoiler
A couple of times I caught myself about to put this game to rest without finishing because I'm pretty much tired of it and then the switch happen and now I'm like, ok, you got me interested again. If you know me and know the type of characters that I like then you know I can't stand a character like Phoenix Wright himself. I've never liked that goofy trait at all. I've always flocked to the edge-lords or moody characters (hell, Byakuya is my avatar and he is one of the kings of moody). But when I started playing as Edgeworth (heh), it got me anxious to see this game through to the end, for now anyway. Personally, I just hate playing as underdogs or goofy/airhead characters (which is why I'm missing out on a lot of games/anime now).
[close]

After I'm done with this I might try to give Batman Arkham Knight another shot or finally attempt to play The Witcher 3.

GGXrdR2 update. I got bodied by this Venom and holy crap was it inspiring. I'm not dropping Johnny, but I am picking up Venom because, holy crap his pressure is ridiculous and like Johnny the guy is full of swag (not as much as Johnny though). Seriously though, his pressure game, when you're in the corner just blocking all of these pool balls, you start panicking because he's setting up a hard to see high/low mixup. Not to mention that your block gauge is cranking almost to the max as well, and if you guess wrong and burst at the wrong time you're dead. He's a sick character.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 26, 2019, 02:47:32 PM
Playing The Outer Worlds. While on the surface level it heavily resembles Bethesda's Fallout games, and the writing is very close to the original Interplay/Black Isle Fallouts, it actually reminds me more of BioWare's classic works like Knights of the Old Republic. In that era, Obsidian often made sequels to other companies' games (KOTOR 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, New Vegas, etc.), and I feel like this one could be accurately described as their take on Mass Effect (the original). As always, the writing and role-playing design are brilliant, but shockingly enough the game is almost entirely bug-free as well. I would highly recommend it if you're a fan of Obsidian or the golden age of BioWare; it successfully hearkens back to the era of original Xbox/early 360 sci-fi RPGs much like their previous games Tyranny and Pillars of Eternity did for late 90's/early 00's PC fantasy RPGs. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 26, 2019, 02:49:59 PM
Hey, when you bring KOTOR into this, you've got my attention. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on October 26, 2019, 02:54:41 PM
While it lacks the Star Wars mythos/talking aliens and plays more like Fallout 4 in terms of core mechanics (though with much more role-playing depth), it really does remind me of the KOTOR games, which I just replayed last year! Especially when you finally get your ship and go to the space station hub area. There's even a robot party member lying dormant in your crew quarters you can fix up! :P
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 26, 2019, 03:35:51 PM
I've been keeping an eye on Outer Worlds a little bit and to see a comparison to Mass Effect, hmmm, that could fill in that missing void that I've been needing (the disappointment that Andromeda caused for me was quite the blow).

Witcher 3 was a no go. I wasn't looking for something like a Nioh or DMC, but I wasn't having fun with how the game plays. It was definitely telling an interesting story, but man, I need the whole package. Batman Arkham Knight was also a no go. Hopping in the Batmobile after getting to Poison Ivy I was already done with it. I just can't, and it sucks because I'm of the belief that without the batmobile that it's a 10/10 game and the batmobile just kills all my interest.

Devil May Cry 5. I'm coming back around. Little by little.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 26, 2019, 03:49:37 PM
I've actually heard a fair amount of negativity in regard to Arkham Knight. Not the "it's a bad game" kind, but even many fans seem to take quite a few issues with it.

Devil May Cry 5 is still easily my GOTY, so hopefully it clicks with you this time around.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 26, 2019, 04:18:57 PM
Oh hell yeah, and rightfully so. You lock your true ending to a game behind getting 100% of everything (Riddler trophies included which involves that damn batmobile). When I heard that after getting the game I checked out immediately (which takes me back because I got my PS4 through the Arkham Knight bundle back then), but I spoiled myself to Arkham Knights combat and trying to go back to Asylum, City, and Origins (such an underappreciated game), especially when you start removing certain gadgets to use during combat, you start seeing how the older games don't hold up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 02, 2019, 06:07:10 AM
Went to my locals yesterday (Got home about 11 last night). Lots of trash-talking going down yesterday. Brought out the heat in me that I haven't felt in a long time. They fired up USF4, because, for some reason that game brings it out of people, so it was a competitive evening. Then it kinda turned into a party afterwards because they decided to fire up Street Fighter x Tekken and all games were 2v2 so you had a lot of salty people mad at their partners and it made for a fun (hilarious) night/finish.

For USF4, before they brought the fire out I was playing Yun and while he is easy to play with in terms of execution, he can be pretty hard to play if you're lacking in the fundamentals department (Luckily I also play Dudley otherwise I would've been toast), but he is a ton of fun. 1 thing I will never understand is why was there a lack of Yun's before SF5 came out. I mean in Arcade Edition you had a Yun army and in AE2012 it disappeared like that. In USF4 I'd argue he was top 5 and yet I can only name 3 Yun's and only 1 of them actually did something, but yet folks bitched a lot about Yun being too good (Kinda like how people are bitching about Karin right now), but the results didn't match because only Kazunoko was the only one winning and I didn't see any Yun's online back then either. Anyway, once the heat was brought out of course I went back to Dudley, but I'm very rusty. Dropped the basic combo a lot and missed a lot of my meaties. Oh well, it's always a fun / competitive time anytime USF4 is brought out.

Street Fighter x Tekken on the other hand I just watched (I hate teaming up with people in that format) but I did get inspired to fire it back up to try out some characters.

While I was there I was also checking reviews for Death Stranding just to see how it was doing. I think I was fully checked out when I saw Geoff Keighley (sp?) in the game, but I still want to support Kojima (I'm a Kojima fan, what can I say), but I just can't get into that weird stuff. Anyway, I go to shoryuken forums only to see him being called a hack. I'm like, yo, the game don't look like it's for me either but that don't mean he's a hack. Then there's a tirade about how he got some sort of propaganda with everything he makes because he has issues with social media. At that point I stopped reading. (Mind you, Shoryuken is full of man babies between the ages of 18-50). So, hype check. Where does everyone stand with Death Stranding? I've seen / heard very little talk about it last month (even at Easy Allies and Playstation Access)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 03, 2019, 02:28:59 PM
I love weird shit but Death Stranding doesn't seem like it's for me from what I've read about it. Apparently the game "isn't actually fun" and has cutscenes that are literally hours-long, so it's definitely not something I'm gonna want to pick up at full price. I do appreciate that such a bizarre passion project got the same first-party advertising and financial support from Sony that they normally reserve for stuff like Dad of War and The Last of Us, but I also feel that literally only happened because of Kojima's fame. And it makes me kind of jealous since other weird games like Control, Nier, and Deadly Premonition don't get that kind of treatment despite having just as many unique ideas and probably better gameplay to boot (well, maybe not DP :P). Overall, I'm not super interested in the game but I'm happy it got made and don't really understand where the hate comes from. Fair dues if someone thinks Kojima is a hack I guess, but to only develop that opinion now when the narratives of MGS4, 5, and Peace Walker exist? I dunno man. Also, if people think Kojima only started having a political agenda now, well, I guess they didn't really pay attention while playing any of his games. MGS1 and 2 are probably the most political things he's written for god's sake...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 23, 2019, 08:32:23 PM
Been playing Jedi: Fallen Order. Despite bitching about how much I didn't like the pure overly-scripted, spectacle-driven showings from E3, I will gladly admit that the game had thus far proven me wrong and isn't really like what the previews emphasized. That said, it is still one of those licensed games that gets by on mimicking other games rather than being it's own unique thing. In this case, it borrows from Souls/Sekiro, Uncharted, and a few old-school Star Wars games.

I might be more critical of this game had I not played the bland-as-fuck new GoW a few months back, but as it stands this game is a lot more fun than that. It has simple but entertaining combat (though I can see it getting old by the end of a single playthrough), very intuitive platforming and controls, puzzles that do actually make you stop and think without insulting your intelligence, some pretty decent enemy variety so far, and an actual entertaining story that feels very classic Star Wars in tone.

I will say it is on the easy side, though. I'm playing on Jedi Master difficulty, which is the second hardest difficulty in the game, but it kind of comes off like a walk in the park if you've ever played an actual Souls game or Bloodborne or even Nioh. That said I'm alright with sticking with this difficulty if only because the game's more simplistic nature means that upping it to the hardest mode wouldn't really add anything to the experience other than just encouraging me to play safer.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 30, 2019, 05:59:12 PM
Went to my locals yesterday but didn't play (was sick and still feeling it a bit right now). I was watching them play Street Fighter x Tekken and they got me reassessing my top favorite fighting games altogether. The stuff I was seeing reminded me why I loved the game in the 1st place. I'm still trying to figure out my team. Jin and Hwoarang are my favorite characters (yay top tier), but I don't know if I like them on the same team so I might go Cody / Jin and Hwoarang / Lars (Dudley is terrible) and somewhere down the line I might make an attempt for Kazuya / Dudley (the damage might go through the roof).

As far as 1-player games goes, nothing honestly. Getting ready to jump back into either Persona 5 or Breath of the Wild. I just ordered Dragon Quest 11 and Tales of Vesperia for the Switch, so, yeah. PS4 still being used as a Blu-ray player.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 30, 2019, 10:45:43 PM
Played some more of Jedi: Fallen Order. Dathomir fucking sucks. It's clearly an unfinished, buggy mess, which makes me think that the developers had to rush and this world got the short end of the stick. There's one jump that I kept dying on over and over again, and has a YouTube video dedicated specifically to it because the platforming physics are garbage. Likewise you have super buggy enemy AI with some just spawning on a delay and popping up right in front of you. The most hilarious are the archers who randomly stop attacking you and stand completely still for no reason while still voicing out pre-programmed dialogue to threaten you.

Even the parts that are working as intended are pretty frustrating at best. You have these super annoying bug creatures that emit poison projectiles at you and also explode into poison when you kill them making you stay clear of them until they fade away. They are also a bitch to fight because they come in groups and tend to stun-lock you when you get hit (lots of smaller enemies do this). It's a sign of bad game design and feels like the developers wanted to give the game a little Dark Souls flair without realizing that the annoying gimmick enemies are the least appealing aspects of those games (and even then have better and more nuanced design than in this game).

Anyways, this isn't reflective of the whole game, as the bad design here feels mostly isolated to this world (so far), but it is pretty horrendous and almost made me want to stop playing. That said, there are definitely issues with the rest of the game as well. Were this game more refined and had there been a bit more to the gameplay, it could have been a good modern day equivalent to the Jedi Knight series. As it stands, it's an OK Star Wars games with some major flaws.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 27, 2019, 09:30:25 PM
Tried playing Ultra Street Fighter 4 on stick earlier (my hitbox have to get repaired) and it felt too awkward for me. Confession time, I've never liked playing on a fight stick to begin with. My hands are big so I can't get that comfort around the stick because there's not enough space for my hand, so I have to use an awkward grip just for hand placement and it's uncomfortable. Ever since I got my hands on a Hitbox it just felt natural for me. It's like using a keyboard in a way (I can't do that either) but with bigger buttons. Going back to stick, just no.

Single player games, nothing. Not in the mood to play anything. Kind of done with a lot of them. Only a few standouts at this point.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 21, 2020, 08:27:51 PM
So, I managed to find a used PS3 for a pretty damn good deal. I just had to order a separate HDMI cable since my TV doesn't have a pin-style hookup which is what the system came with (it should be coming in the mail tomorrow).

With this I have access to more games that aren't available on the PS4, including downloads for some classic PS1 games. I'm definitely finally going to get around to God Hand, plus I have the MGS Legacy Collection which I got with my PS3.

I'm open to other recommendations if anyone has them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 27, 2020, 03:27:55 PM
God Hand and the MGS Collection are definitely great choices! Make sure to at least try playing Metal Gear 1 and 2 (the MSX games) which can be found on the main menu of MGS 3, since I think they're still really fun (especially 2). Aside from those, I highly recommend the original Nier (the PS3 version is easier to find than the 360 version), Demon's Souls (which I personally like more than Dark Souls, though less than Bloodborne), Resistance 3 (I didn't much like the first two but I loved this one), and the main series Ratchet & Clank games (the PS2 trilogy collection, Tools of Destruction, Crack in Time, Quest for Booty, and Into the Nexus).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 27, 2020, 05:39:36 PM
I actually got most of the way through the original Metal Gear a few years ago, but ended up stopping due to studying for my NAPLEX at the time. I will go back and play through all of it and the sequel for sure, though.

For some reason I thought Nier was a 360 exclusive (I still have my 360, but would have to get an HDMI cable for it which I don't know if that's available for the old version of the console), but I'd happily get it for the PS3 if that's available. Speaking of Nier, I also noticed that Drakengard 3 is available on PSN. Would you say that it's worth getting or would it be incomprehensible unless I've played the first two games?

And yes, Demon's Souls and the Ratchet series are definitely on my list (as is the Sly series), but I'll be sure to check out Resistance 3 as well! It may be a while before I can get to them, though. I still need to finish God Hand, MG 1 & 2, and MGS 1 & 4. I was also planning to finally get around to the classic RE games after MGS, starting with REmake, followed by RE2 (PS1), RE3 (PS1), and maybe Code Veronica: X.

Also, Fatal Frame 2....can't forget that one. I can finally play it now. Damn, I have so many choices that it's kind of overwhelming. :sweat:

I was wondering, is the Silent Hill game on PSN (for the PS3) that's listed as a PS1 Classic the actual PS1 version of the game, or is it just from that crappy HD remake collection of the game?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on January 27, 2020, 10:37:20 PM
The best advice I can give for MG 1 and 2 is to not be afraid to use a walkthrough. I mean, don't play with one open or anything, but if you get a stuck there's a good chance it's a case of not having the manual to look at.

The version of Nier released overseas (with the dad character) was 360 exclusive in Japan but the international PS3 version is exactly the same as that one. They actually did a reprint of it a few years ago so it shouldn't be too difficult to find these days! I love Drakengard 3 but, in all honesty, it's a kusoge. A lot of people said Nier 1 was bad as a game and I personally disagree - the core combat is no great shakes but it's still fun to play because of how varied it gets (as long as you do it on Normal) and the boss fights are genuinely great. It basically feels like if Automata was made for the PS2 and had a story more focused on characters than themes. Drakengard 3 is very poorly put together all around. If you have a broad sense of humor and an affinity for Yoko Taro's other games it might be worth playing, but the design is super basic and it runs at around 15-20 FPS half the time. Also, the final boss fight is borderline impossible unless you're really good at rhythm games. The writing is incredibly funny and creative, it's one of my favorite comedy games for sure and I could go on for days about how much I love its weird-ass narrative, but it's strictly for hardcore fans and masochists, plus you probably wouldn't get much out of the story without playing Drakengard 1 first anyway (2 is unnecessary, though). I'm pretty sure you're right btw, the earliest model 360s don't seem to support HDMI for whatever reason.

Definitely play REmake on the PS4 if you can, but the PS3 giving you access to the original trilogy is great. Code Veronica is honestly better on the last-gen systems than the current-gen ones (the PS3/360 version is an actual remaster while the PS4 version is a straight PS2 port). I hated CV back in the day but I've really come around on it, so it might be worth checking out once you've played the others. Make sure to pick up REmake 2 and RE7 Gold Edition as well!

Oh yeah, you can get the whole Fatal Frame trilogy on PS3! 2 is the scariest and probably the best but I have a real soft spot for 3 and it might be my favorite. If you still have an original Xbox, the first two were actually ported to it, and they're the definitive versions... but they can be rather pricey. Speaking of emulated games available on the PS3 store, Suikoden 2 is 100% worthwhile. Physical copies go for several hundred dollars but it's absolutely worth playing for the price they charge on PSN. I would also recommend the Jak & Daxter trilogy if you can find it for a decent price. They've definitely aged worse than Ratchet and Sly but they still have a special place in my heart, especially the first two (though I've also come around on the third one like I did with CV). Also like CV, the PS3 versions are actual remasters while the PS4 versions are straight ports (and in this case, really fucking bad ones - avoid the PS4 versions at all costs).

Only Silent Hill 2 and 3 were remastered, the first game on PSN is a direct port from the PS1. I actually finally finished the game for the first time last year and it holds up really well. Definitely not as timeless as RE in terms of level design but it's very unique and still scary to this day. Silent Hill 2 was ported to the original Xbox but unless you want to deal with the awful remaster you can only get 3 on the PS2 or PC (and the port doesn't seem to like Windows 10 much).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 01, 2020, 08:18:58 AM
So in addition to God Hand, I've been playing through NGS2 in my spare time. It's, to say the least, a VERY different game than the original XBOX360 version, to the point where I feel like calling it a separate game that just happens to reuse the same assets and cutscenes. That said, I was a purist several years ago and unfairly hated on the game without even trying it. Over the years I have become more open-minded, and also listened to other more reasonable NG fans, so I can say that it's an interesting entry in the franchise. Some changes I'm still certainly not a fan of, while others are for the better, but as it is, it's certainly a worthwhile action game that is well above average for it's genre.

Quote from: Foggle on January 27, 2020, 10:37:20 PMThe best advice I can give for MG 1 and 2 is to not be afraid to use a walkthrough. I mean, don't play with one open or anything, but if you get a stuck there's a good chance it's a case of not having the manual to look at.

I already played through more than half of MG1 on the HD collection, so I'm familiar with how ridiculous some of the puzzles are (who would ever think to punch a wall to look for structural weakness?), and I'll definitely have a guide handy for that and the sequel.

QuoteThe version of Nier released overseas (with the dad character) was 360 exclusive in Japan but the international PS3 version is exactly the same as that one. They actually did a reprint of it a few years ago so it shouldn't be too difficult to find these days! I love Drakengard 3 but, in all honesty, it's a kusoge. A lot of people said Nier 1 was bad as a game and I personally disagree - the core combat is no great shakes but it's still fun to play because of how varied it gets (as long as you do it on Normal) and the boss fights are genuinely great. It basically feels like if Automata was made for the PS2 and had a story more focused on characters than themes. Drakengard 3 is very poorly put together all around. If you have a broad sense of humor and an affinity for Yoko Taro's other games it might be worth playing, but the design is super basic and it runs at around 15-20 FPS half the time. Also, the final boss fight is borderline impossible unless you're really good at rhythm games. The writing is incredibly funny and creative, it's one of my favorite comedy games for sure and I could go on for days about how much I love its weird-ass narrative, but it's strictly for hardcore fans and masochists, plus you probably wouldn't get much out of the story without playing Drakengard 1 first anyway (2 is unnecessary, though). I'm pretty sure you're right btw, the earliest model 360s don't seem to support HDMI for whatever reason.

Yeah, I found it available on Amazon for $35, so I may get a copy for myself, but first I'll check my uses games from the local Gamestop to see if they have it cheaper.

QuoteDefinitely play REmake on the PS4 if you can, but the PS3 giving you access to the original trilogy is great. Code Veronica is honestly better on the last-gen systems than the current-gen ones (the PS3/360 version is an actual remaster while the PS4 version is a straight PS2 port). I hated CV back in the day but I've really come around on it, so it might be worth checking out once you've played the others. Make sure to pick up REmake 2 and RE7 Gold Edition as well!

I actually already own Origins Collection, and have for two years because I got it on sale for really cheap, so I'm good there. I'll be getting to that right after I beat God Hand. Though, I do want to go back and also finish playing Okami, so I'll see what I prefer to do first. I may just go with REmake since it's a shorter game, then finish Okami, then switch back to my next RE game.

QuoteOh yeah, you can get the whole Fatal Frame trilogy on PS3! 2 is the scariest and probably the best but I have a real soft spot for 3 and it might be my favorite. If you still have an original Xbox, the first two were actually ported to it, and they're the definitive versions... but they can be rather pricey. Speaking of emulated games available on the PS3 store, Suikoden 2 is 100% worthwhile. Physical copies go for several hundred dollars but it's absolutely worth playing for the price they charge on PSN. I would also recommend the Jak & Daxter trilogy if you can find it for a decent price. They've definitely aged worse than Ratchet and Sly but they still have a special place in my heart, especially the first two (though I've also come around on the third one like I did with CV). Also like CV, the PS3 versions are actual remasters while the PS4 versions are straight ports (and in this case, really fucking bad ones - avoid the PS4 versions at all costs).

Only Silent Hill 2 and 3 were remastered, the first game on PSN is a direct port from the PS1. I actually finally finished the game for the first time last year and it holds up really well. Definitely not as timeless as RE in terms of level design but it's very unique and still scary to this day. Silent Hill 2 was ported to the original Xbox but unless you want to deal with the awful remaster you can only get 3 on the PS2 or PC (and the port doesn't seem to like Windows 10 much).

Yeah, all of these are on my list of stuff to get to. It just may take me a while to get around to all of them. :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 01, 2020, 02:40:31 PM
Sorry, been meaning to post sooner, but so many things came up the week prior before this one and then Kobe Bryant passing messed me up a bit so I didn't feel like doing much of anything.

I think Foggle pretty much nailed everything on that head that could possibly strike an interest to you, but if I may add, personally outside of fighting games (not having to pay for online) I don't think you were really missing out on much (other than what Foggle named) since the majority of the games were also on 360. If you're looking for games from PSN, personally, with those prices I'd say just grab whatever catches your eye. A lot of the JRPG's from the PS1&2 era are really good.

I'm currently playing Dragon Ball Fighterz. Another renewed interest to play, not to mention that there was an Ultra Instinct Goku leak (no trailer though). I'm broke at the moment so I don't have Gogeta or DBS Broly, but I do plan on getting them, especially since I want to make Gogeta the main. Currently going through Base Goku's combos and his 9th trial is giving me a run despite there being an easy-to-do super jump (I need my friggin hitbox). Until I get Gogeta the team I'm working on is Hit, Bardock, Base Goku (probably change Hit or Bardock to Adult Gohan)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 08, 2020, 08:31:33 PM
I got Sekiro coming in the mail. You can thank donguri990 for that one. I watched his boss run and my goodness that looked so good. And to see all these folks giving it game of the year, I have to at least try it out. I think I'd be doing myself a disservice passing it up simply because it's from Fromsoft (that Souls-style I just don't really care for) and my love for all things ninja/samurai, I have to try it. I think I also saw that there were a lot more human bosses over huge towering bosses so that might be a plus as well.

Anyway, almost found myself about to go through another funk (simply waiting for the games coming next month) till I said bump, let's just try some games out and see how I feel. So Yakuza 0 will be first up. I tried it once before, didn't click, but I'm willing to give it another go. Devil May Cry 5 will be after it. I can't remember who, I want to say Angry Joe, said something that hit while I wasn't able to really enjoy what little I've played of it. Something along the lines of level design not being all that great and I think that was mainly it, but that should never be a reason to stop playing (considering how shallow that is), but in a sense that is the reason why I wish it would go open or semi open-world but that's neither here nor there.

Dad of War should be able to close it until Nioh 2 (highly doubt it'll go as planned) because the rest of March and April will be stacked and well, my catalog will take another major blow.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 08, 2020, 09:31:43 PM
I'd actually disagree that DMC5 has weak level design. It feels like anything that isn't trying to make some big open world or some Metroid or Zelda-style interconnected world is labeled as having boring levels these days, but that doesn't really work as a criticism when taking gameplay style into context. With DMC5 embracing it's more combat-focused approach, the more linearly focused levels work far better for it than trying to stick to the more methodical RE-level design of older games (DMC4 is proof of this). The levels themselves are far more focused on pacing the action and giving you well-designed environments and arenas to fight in. They are still detailed enough with some alternate paths and secrets for you to discover on replays.

Now if he's referring to various areas looking kind of bland and uninspired in a purely aesthetic sense, then I somewhat agree with that. For as good as DMC5 looks graphically, I will say that it has the weakest overall art design in the series since the second game.

And I pre-ordered Nioh 2's special edition. I won't lie, I was kind of down on this game when I was first seeing it in action, but playing the Beta really helped to boost my hype levels for it back up by quite a lot.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on February 13, 2020, 10:44:39 PM
Has anyone here played Darkest Dungeon before? It seemed kinda cool, and was on sale on Nintendo's eShop, so I decided to go for it. I do think the story is interesting, but man, does it remind me of why I'm not a fan of RPG combat. It gets especially redundant, as it lives up to the title's name by delving you into dungeons, so I'm currently kind of over it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 14, 2020, 03:28:23 PM
Yeah, a lot of people love Darkest Dungeon and I also thought it would be something I'd enjoy, but it wasn't my thing either. Played maybe a couple hours and got bored.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 15, 2020, 06:00:46 PM
Yeah, all those games I mentioned that I was gonna begin tackling before Nioh 2; Scratch that. I went straight (back) into Nioh 1 and for the most part, I was scared lol, because I forgot how to play and I believe I'm on the level where I have to fight Umibozu (?). So, I think I'll be dying quite a bit before I remember how I was playing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 15, 2020, 07:28:37 PM
Umibozu is most people's least favorite boss in the game, and I can't disagree with him being a pain in the ass to deal with. While you can actually run straight to the boss fight early on in the level, you're better off lighting the three fires around the area as they will prevent minions from spawning in during the fight, as Umibozu is already enough to deal with on his own. During the fight, don't use any of those fires to buff your weapon until after the boss is below half health as he can spawn more minions in during the second phase of the fight if any of them are unlit.

Just stock up on fire buffs (he is weak to fire elemental) and equip a fire-based guardian spirit. It really allows you to deal out much more damage as he tends to tank your regular, unbuffed attacks. Thankfully most bosses in the game aren't as obnoxiously designed as that one, but it was still a really frustrating boss that can easily be dealt with if you could fight him later in the game with much better gear and Onmyo Magic at your disposal.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on February 17, 2020, 05:19:30 PM
Quote from: Foggle on February 14, 2020, 03:28:23 PM
Yeah, a lot of people love Darkest Dungeon and I also thought it would be something I'd enjoy, but it wasn't my thing either. Played maybe a couple hours and got bored.
I think part of my problem may be that I suck? I barely make it through most of the dungeons that I go through, but to be fair, I haven't been that interested in strategizing for it, since it's mostly just scrolling and combat.

I also kinda suck at Doom, which I've been playing on and off, but that's much more fun. Also glad to have Eternal preordered, especially now that they added a download of Doom 64 with it at GameStop.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 17, 2020, 11:14:15 PM
I mean, I'm bad at most games, but I still have fun with them. ;) Darkest Dungeon just has the kind of gameplay that does nothing for me, and the narrative isn't engaging enough for me to look past that.

Doom 64 is fantastic, btw. I played the unofficial PC port last year (which I think is what they're polishing up for the Eternal release) and it's honestly one of the best in the series, far superior to 2, 3, and Final Doom for me. Not that I dislike those games by any means, but 64 has the same kind of airtight level design I love in Doom 1 and 4. Also, John Romero's Sigil - the pseudo-official 5th episode released last year with a badass Buckethead soundtrack - is amazing and 100% worth playing.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 21, 2020, 08:09:08 AM
If anybody here has a Nintendo Switch, DMC3 just released for the system this week but this port has a special bonus. Two, actually: Freestyle Mode and Bloody Palace co-op. Freestyle mode allows for on-the-fly style switching in this game for the first time (officially, anyways, since PC mods had implemented this feature in before).

There has never been a better time to get into one of the greatest games of all time. :joy:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 22, 2020, 04:09:36 PM
So, I had to take a break from gaming over the past couple of weeks due to a busy schedule, but I've been playing a few different titles over the past week.

Among these, I finally got back to God Hand and I cleared the first four stages of the game so far. Despite being under the branding of Capcom and Clover Studios, this is definitely a Platinum game at heart. While the game is definitely flawed in many ways, even for it's time, it's combat is so unique and interesting while also having an intentionally juvenile sense of humor to it's story that I can't help but find charming, myself. The soundtrack is also fucking killer. I also find that for the most part, the game is pretty fair in most encounters despite complaints about it's difficulty from detractors. It is difficult (and I mean genuinely difficult, not just hard to figure out for newcomers like a Souls game), but there is also definitely that aspect to it which rewards skilled players. That said, where I find it oversteps it's bounds and becomes obnoxious is when you're closed in a small arena and forced to fight multiple tougher enemies or mini-bosses at a time. The game's camera isn't really friendly to taking on too many enemies at once, however the main game encounters balance this out by de-aggro-ing enemies that are off-screen much like Devil May Cry. So, in normal encounters you don't have to worry too much about being hit from behind. However, this concept doesn't apply to certain encounters and mini-bosses, and can lead to some utterly frustrating deaths that you really can't do much about, unless there are some other mechanics to deal with this that I'm just not aware of. Of course, it's been a minor issue so far since only certain mini-boss encounters have done this (the battle with the Sentai characters is easily the worst offender of this), but I'm just hoping that the game doesn't decide to throw an increasing amount of these scenarios at me in future levels.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on February 25, 2020, 10:10:28 PM
Speaking of Doom, the Switch's eShop had a sale on the games. I got the first 3 for $6 total!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 28, 2020, 03:37:19 PM
Yeah, you can probably ignore me trying to finish up Nioh. Not likely gonna happen before Nioh 2.

Dragon Ball Fighterz, while I haven't gotten the chance to play it yet, but season 3 looks crazy good. Now I don't want to over hype it, but there's definitely a lot more Marvel vibes with the additional assists. I don't know if it makes all the characters viable or not, but just from looking at it, I hope to see a lot more variety in tournaments. I got 3 teams in mind for sure, but if I were to try to narrow it down to just main team and fun team, right now

Main team - Base Vegeta/Bardock, A.Gohan, Base Goku


One of my coworkers was telling me about Diablo 3 and it piqued my interest because I've always been under the impression that it plays like World of Warcraft or League of Legends, and I can't stand those MMORPGs. And stupidly on my part, I never bothered to even check out a single clip on youtube and low and behold I find out it's almost like X-Men Legends. I don't know if that's a good comparison, but just looking at it that's the vibe I got. And considering the funk that I've been in this is probably the game I need to get out of it. Another game we got to talking about was Divinity: Original Sins 2 and he told me that it was a turn-based RPG. I remember watching Ben Moore (easy allies, I got some issues with these guys as of late) talking about it being his favorite game of 2017 I believe over Zelda Breath of the Wild, and the way my coworker was talking about it got me very curious. Have anyone else tried out either Diablo or Divinity? I'm curious about other folks thoughts on the games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 01, 2020, 12:34:22 AM
Speaking of Nioh 2, I just completed the Last Chance Trial demo. I think after two demos I already know that I'm going to go for a build that prioritizes the Skill and Magic stats as that most seems to fit my playstyle, with my two primary weapons of choice being the Switchglaive and Dual Swords.

Also, I'm definitely sticking to Feral Guardian Spirit types on my first run, as they have the best Burst Counter and that ability is insanely necessary in this game. Seriously, I died nearly a hundred times to the first main boss of this demo because I tried fighting him without using BC's and ended up getting fucked hard because of it.

Even returning enemies from the first game feel different when you throw that ability into the mix of combat flow.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on March 01, 2020, 09:35:15 AM
I just got done with a 12-hour session with the demo myself. I haven't played Nioh since the first games beta, but I've played a bit more Soulsborne and similar games since then, so it was a little easier getting into the groove of things. Getting used to using X as the dodge button instead of O is going to get some getting used to, and whadya know that those are conveniently the only buttons you can't swap in the control options. It does make sense with the intereact button being used in conjunction with your strong attack for your Yokai Trigger, but going from Bloodborne to Code Vein to this is going to throw me in for a loop when the full game comes out.

Since this is my first outing with Nioh in a while, I really appreciate just how good the weapons and combat feel in this game. Took a spin with each of them in the dojo and every one of them feels awesome to use, and doubly so when you use them in actual levels. Of the ones I took for the demo missions, The switchglaive is my personal favorite so far, feels like a good all-arounder and is stylish as hell. The Odachi was cool too, easily my favorite of the sword weapons.   The Kusagrima and Tonfas are just flatout badass, I might make the tonfas my secondary weapon with how much they wreck human enemies and lesser yokai. Not sure what build I'll go with, I usually go for pure offense, (which is why I picked the brute guardian) but the way the game describes the stats and how it affects weapons is leaning me towards a jack-of-all-trades character, especially since there aren't as many healing options as there are in Bloodborne.

With me being preoccupied with Code Vein and Doom Eternal releasing in a few weeks, I won't be able to tackle the full game until April at the earliest, by then enough gameplay videos and threads will be around for me to decide on a build.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 01, 2020, 10:36:34 AM
Yeah, the weapons and combat in Nioh are "it's thing" that make it stand out in the Soulsborne sub-genre. While it isn't quite up to par with the level design and atmospheric world-building of those games, it makes up for it in deep and nuanced mechanics that entices experimentation and multiple replays with different character builds and weapon sets. I especially love how crazy stylish you can get when learning to switch stances mid-combat. XLH Gladiator has tons of great videos on that.

The Switchglaive, which is one of this sequel's new additions, is an instant favorite of mine as well, and my main go-to against Yokai in this game, especially bosses. Meanwhile, the dual swords are my returning favorite from the first game with it's parry being the best in the game against all human enemies. I especially use them to farm revenants. Literally every other weapon is great, though, like Rynnec mentioned. The only one that I'm not that into is the axe/hammer, as it feels a bit too slow and clunky for my liking, but even that I've seen videos of people doing crazy stuff with it so it's definitely more of a style preference thing than it not being a good weapon.

I already have the game preordered from Amazon so I will be playing the shit out of it as soon as it arrives. Let me know if any of you guys are interested in co-op anytime.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 05, 2020, 11:21:47 PM
I recently got a Nintendo 3DS along with a copy of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. I actually recently replayed A Link to the Past in it's entirety on my brother's Switch, so seeing how this game maintains the world design of it's predecessor while switching many other things up is pretty fascinating. I've only gotten past the first dungeon in the game, so I don't have much to go on yet, but I do want to mention that I finally have a lot more appreciation for ALTTP than I used to. I always had trouble getting into it before for various reasons, but it really clicked with me this time, especially with the creativity of the overworld once the Dark World comes into play. Also, the music in this game still amazes me to this day. I'd still give the edge to the Oracle games as my favorite 2D Zelda games, but I can finally see why this game is so highly regarded amongst the fanbase.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 06, 2020, 02:54:12 PM
Been watching a little bit of Diablo 3 just to see what a bit more of what I'm getting myself into. I've only looked at this one person play as a demon hunter. Hated the way they were playing but I liked what I saw in terms of the abilities. I mainly want to try out Necromancer and I think I saw Wizard. In any case, my copy should be arriving tomorrow.

That being said, I had to make some hard decisions on what are my "must have" games that I need day 1 and what can I wait to hold out on because I recently had to go on a budget due to waiting on my taxes. (which is why I'm going into Diablo) Unfortunately, Nioh 2 is on the wait and hold out list (along with Granblue Fantasy Versus and Under Night) Persona 5 Royal and Final Fantasy 7 Remake are must haves for me (and what I'm looking for right now). One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 might be on there as well (if Persona 5 Scramble were to come out within that time, I'd be in an even more rough spot). And then I saw a little bit more or Ghosts of Tsushima, yeah, still not entirely sure what the game play is like, but all human enemies so far shoots this higher than Nioh 2 as well. All this can change if I get my taxes before Nioh 2's release date.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 07, 2020, 10:22:55 PM
Cleared Stage 5 in God Hand. This felt surprisingly a bit easier than the previous two stages, with the boat fight being the only part that I had some trouble with, and that's mostly because I kept trying to save the innocent bystander rather than focusing on the fight properly, causing me to get my ass handed to me in situations that I'm usually able to avoid. Then I kept killing the guy by accident whenever I used roulette moves close to him, which I had to since the enemies automatically gravitate toward him to attack him. After giving up on trying to save him I cleared the mission just fine. The final battle with Elvis was also way easier than his past two forms. I got him down in three tries, mainly because his attacks were easy enough to avoid once you knew how to bate him into using the same basic swing and ground pound counters, and kept close enough for him to not bring out any ranged attacks.

That said, I like how this and the other Deva bosses are treated like a rivalry throughout the game. It reminds me of stuff like the reoccurring bosses from DMC1, Vergil from DMC3, or Genshin and The Greater Fiends from Ninja Gaiden 2's story. I just really like it when games give unique personalities to boss characters and you meet them in battle more than once until you finally put them down for good.

I also just got past the House of Gales in ALBW (my second dungeon). While I am still early on in the game, it does seem noticeably easier than ALTTP, not that it's predecessor was a particularly hard game by SNES standards, but this one just feels far more forgiving. That said, while it feels less tense in that regard, the puzzle solving and general pacing is a lot of fun. I like how using my knowledge of ALTTP let's me find my way to useful items but the game still throws me a curve ball by making me attain them in a different way. It rewards past knowledge of an earlier game while still giving you a completely new experience.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 08, 2020, 06:00:08 AM
Diablo 3: Eternal Collection
Yooo. This game is dangerous. I started earlier this morning about 1am, just to see what it's like (after going through another funk). Next thing I know it's going on 6am. It seems like it's been ages since I've lost myself in a game. Goldeneye 007 was the last game where I lost time (and that was at least 25+ years ago). So simple, yet so addicting, because I'm just trying to see how the attacks look and see how much damage I can pull off. This'll definitely keep me busy for quite a while.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 14, 2020, 04:15:36 PM
Got Nioh 2 in the mail yesterday, but I was really busy so I only had about an hour to mess around in the game. That said I've already played enough of both Beta demos to determine that this is a more than worthy successor to the first game.

I also completed Stage 6 of God Hand today, and I was displeased to have to deal with the Sentai boss fight yet again, which was just as annoying the second time around. And almost right after that was another mini-boss fight with a telikenetic guy who spammed projectiles at you while you fought his minions. Both types of fights are this game's weakness, IMO, since it goes against what the main mechanics of this game support. Meanwhile the main boss fight was once again surprisingly easy. This may be the first boss fight that I cleared on my first try. It's a weird balance in challenge with this stage. That said, all of the regular fights felt fine. I think the game is at it's best when it's just being itself and trying to be goofy fun while challenging you as a player, rather than creating overly difficult sections for the sake of being difficult.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 20, 2020, 05:12:17 PM
I picked up Animal Crossing earlier today and meant to try it out for an hour or two... ended up playing it for 5 hours straight. :sweat:

I mean, it's Animal Crossing, you get what you paid for. Obviously I'm loving it so far, even if it feels somewhat like a beefed up version of the mobile game. I like that you have the option to build up "miles" and pay off your debts with them, which I was able to knock off in less than an hour. However, I'm not in love with how easily the items break. The first set of items you'd get would break pretty quickly too, but these only last a dozen uses each. That Nook is a smart, greedy bastard.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 20, 2020, 09:44:41 PM
I have Animal Crossing for the 3DS which came with my bundle. I might give it a shot some time, though first I'll be playing through Donkey Kong Country Returns once that comes in the mail.

I recently beat A Link Between Worlds, and it's easily up there with the best games of the franchise. That said, I've never been a fan of hiding heart containers behind frustrating mini-game challenges, and this title is no exception on that regard. Still, it was a really fun ride through the main quest. I'll be playing through Link's Awakening (original GB version), before finally moving onto Breath of the Wild.

Otherwise, Nioh 2 has been my go-to game this past week, and it has really been an addicting experience to say the least. I'm loving the new Burst Counter mechanics, and the combat has been as fun and engaging as ever.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 22, 2020, 01:34:18 PM
I hope everyone has been well during these times. I still have to work (fortunately/unfortunately?)

Anyway, Diablo 3 did its job for the most part. I've had my fill and ready to move onto something else (One Piece PW4 if things go smoothly)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on March 25, 2020, 05:56:02 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 20, 2020, 09:44:41 PM
I have Animal Crossing for the 3DS which came with my bundle. I might give it a shot some time, though first I'll be playing through Donkey Kong Country Returns once that comes in the mail.
That's New Leaf, right? I haven't played it, but I've heard that it's another fun one. That's also the first with Isabelle, I believe. I didn't get acquainted to her until the phone game, which is cute, but I got bored of fast. It's not nearly the same as the real deal.

So yeah, I've been playing a LOT of the new AC. Adding a rewards system is a great touch to keep me hooked, as I keep trying to wrack up Nook Miles. The island does feel smaller than the towns I'm so used to, which is a nice enough change of pace, but I also kind of hope it isn't the norm with the next one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 27, 2020, 06:10:00 PM
I've been playing The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel to take my mind off things. I'm only on the 2nd chapter doing my 2nd field study, and it's been interesting. It's doing enough to tug and keep me interested in the story, but I wouldn't put it up there with Persona. I'm not sure if I really care for the game play mechanics though. It's probably because I don't quite understand Artz and Quartz. At one point I thought it was going to be like the Materia system in FF7, but I don't know yet. I've yet to see anything to let me know if I have a setup correctly or not, but again, it's still doing enough to keep me interested.

I don't have my taxes yet, and I don't get paid till next week, but with all that's going on, I'm definitely gonna have to tighten up the budget even more.

Stay safe everyone. I suppose at this point I should start playing the fighting games online again too, despite my hitbox not being available at the moment.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 30, 2020, 04:38:05 AM
Continuing my playthrough of Trails of Cold Steel. Now I'm thoroughly enjoying it. The problem I was having was unfair to the game itself (not to mention I was doing a lot of comparing to Persona 5). I had to keep reminding myself that this is a PSP game, and it's unfortunate because this series should've been made on the PS3 that way everything would've looked a little better by the 2nd game. Anyway, I'm not hooked by all means (not the way Persona 5 hooked me), but like Demon Slayer, there is something there that keeps pulling me in. In this case I want to say the characters keep reeling me in. Still not understanding Quartz or Artes, but I understand links and S-link.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Nel_Annette on March 30, 2020, 10:47:15 PM
Quote from: Mustang on March 30, 2020, 04:38:05 AM
Continuing my playthrough of Trails of Cold Steel. Now I'm thoroughly enjoying it. The problem I was having was unfair to the game itself (not to mention I was doing a lot of comparing to Persona 5). I had to keep reminding myself that this is a PSP game, and it's unfortunate because this series should've been made on the PS3 that way everything would've looked a little better by the 2nd game. Anyway, I'm not hooked by all means (not the way Persona 5 hooked me), but like Demon Slayer, there is something there that keeps pulling me in. In this case I want to say the characters keep reeling me in. Still not understanding Quartz or Artes, but I understand links and S-link.

If you ever get the chance, play the Trails in the Sky trilogy. It takes place two years before Cold Steel 1 and it's such an emotionally satisfying go. Second game is one of only two video games to ever make me tear up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 02, 2020, 08:16:52 PM
You know, one of the problems with me playing long RPGs is that I'm no longer in grade school anymore, and just don't realistically have the time to devote hours to them on a daily basis like when I was a kid. At best I'll get one or two long sessions per week to play them and anything else is too short to bother. That said, I'll be damned if I'm not still loving the hell out of Nioh 2's advanced mechanics and excellent combat. I'm still only on the second region, but I'm also at the point where my skill tree options have really opened up and I can finally use magic and perform active skills that really wreck the shit out of tough enemies in fun and useful ways. I can still get enjoyment and satisfaction from this game on that level even in small bursts, despite not making much progress in the main story on any sessions less than a few hours.

I've also been on a Zelda kick lately. I beat A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds, and just recently Link's Awakening DX. I also have Breath of the Wild for the Switch and Twilight Princess for the Gamecube. I'm going with BotW first because I wanted to try a shakeup to the classic formula before going back into it since I've played three classic style Zelda games back-to-back. Of course, this does bring the dilemma of yet another long ARPG-type game to play at the same time as Nioh, but the benefit of the Switch is that I can play this one while lying down in bed so I don't have to be sitting up until late.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 03, 2020, 12:25:31 AM
If Trails in the Sky ever make its way to either the Switch or PS4 (maybe 5) I will definitely try it out because Trails of Cold Steel has definitely hooked me with its characters and the militaristic setting, almost feeling like a what Fullmetal Alchemist could've been mixed with Persona with it's classroom settings. I'm starting to understand Quartz a little bit, but I have no idea what the purpose of synthesizing would do. There's no explanation on what that does so I've ignored that completely. Other than that this game has been a blast to play and I'm only playing the 1st game in the series so far. I'm hoping 2 and 3 can live up (it's not G.O.A.T status material, but in top RPG's it definitely deserves a spot)

Dr.Ensatsu-Ken, any other time I'd agree with you, because, when I get off work I'm tired and would never dedicate any time to long running rpg's during workdays. I'd save them for the weekend, but because of this Covid19, I have all the time in the world because my job had to shutdown. I just hope it's not permanently (I swear, during this whole crisis, it definitely makes you think what you should be grateful for that's for sure, no matter how small it may seem, be thankful and grateful)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 04, 2020, 04:05:14 PM
I hear you. As a Pharmacist I work at a closed door location that primarily fills scripts by mail, thus we are deemed as an essential business and are allowed to remain open for our regular hours and since our staff is small anyways we are able to keep everyone on, though of course new procedures and precautions were implemented in the office and pharmacy areas to take extra measures to keep things sanitary and sterile.

In that regard, I'm still as busy as ever. I suppose that's a good thing since I still have a full source of income, but I wouldn't mind having at least some time to myself for a week or two. :sweat:

Anyways, I finally beat God Hand, which I had been playing in weekly sessions whenever I had time to commit to playing a few hours in a row just because it was so easy to get stuck on retrying difficult fights. I think I may have broken my right thumb fighting Ongra. Holy hell was that one of the hardest final bosses I've ever had to fight. He hits like a motherfucking truck while hitting him feels like punching a literal tank for how little damage it does. I then went back and replayed the game's first level (still on Normal difficulty), which felt very cathartic after that frustratingly grueling endurance test of a final boss. I love challenge, but that was just going overboard, IMO, not unlike Sekiro's final boss, Isshin Sword Saint, which did not need to be four-phases long.

That said, my overall impressions of the game are still quite positive. It's like Shinji Mikami really loved the melee moves that Leon could perform in RE4, and wanted to make a whole game based around a massive expansion of those mechanics with that camera (in fact several animations in this game are clearly recycled from RE4), and despite being such an odd concept it strangely kind of works better than it probably should. Obviously, it has it's issues, and the game is far from perfect. I would really compare it to Ninja Gaiden 2 in that regard, since both games have excellent combat mechanics and a clear skill progression for the player to keep things interesting, but both also have rather unbalanced difficulty and aren't short on their fair share of bullshit.

I do think this is a game that's worth replaying and getting a better grasp of, and I can definitely understand it's cult classic status, but for now I'll have to take a break from it since there are way too many titles on my backlog. Still, really glad that I finally got the chance to play this one. As the final game to be released under the Clover Studios logo, this was definitely a solid title to go out on. Speaking of which, I'll definitely be playing Viewtiful Joe as well now that I have a Gamecube, but again, I have to get through a bunch of other games on my backlog before I get to that point.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 05, 2020, 04:22:21 PM
I'm pretty lucky in the job department, myself. My current employment is still paying us even though we're staying at home, and even took some money out to make sure that they have us covered for at least a couple more weeks. Meanwhile, right when I picked up a second job, I lucked myself into a delivery job, which is still going strong and giving the chance to work more days to save up as much as I can.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 02, 2020, 08:16:52 PM
I've also been on a Zelda kick lately. I beat A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds, and just recently Link's Awakening DX. I also have Breath of the Wild for the Switch and Twilight Princess for the Gamecube. I'm going with BotW first because I wanted to try a shakeup to the classic formula before going back into it since I've played three classic style Zelda games back-to-back. Of course, this does bring the dilemma of yet another long ARPG-type game to play at the same time as Nioh, but the benefit of the Switch is that I can play this one while lying down in bed so I don't have to be sitting up until late.
Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild are both among my favorite Zelda games. I can understand how the former can frustrate some fans who don't like the wolf elements or are tired of the Zelda format, but I personally thought the wolf parts worked well and that the traditional content is among the strongest in the franchise. It was Skyward Sword where I thought the combination of new gimmicks and the traditional Zelda structure were not working. I also think that Midna was a good new character, and helps keep the experience fresh.

BOTW, meanwhile, is every bit the breath of fresh air that it gets credit for. As opened ended as it is, every single path you can take has some kind of strategy to back it up, and is endlessly fun to explore. While I haven't done A Link Between Worlds yet, from what I understand, they're good compliments to each other, with that one doubling down on classic dungeon design vs BOTW's experimentation for Zelda.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 05, 2020, 07:10:12 PM
Yeah, A Link Between Worlds is very much a classic Zelda experience but in the best way possible. The formula is familiar, but it's so well refined and tightly paced that it makes a strong case for why that formula works so well to begin with. In particular, I love the dungeons in this game, which are some of my favorites in the series and this is one game where I can say there's not a bad one in the bunch.

As I alluded to earlier, though, a game like Breath of the Wild would have been perfect for me in my pre-college days. Back then I loved long, expansive quests that gave me a ton of playtime for my money, especially since I rarely got to buy games (I mostly had to stick to rentals). Playing it now I can definitely see why it's so highly regarded, and I am enjoying it to be sure, but goddamn is it massive. I mean, like....almost too massive, to the point where it feels like I'm spending more time traversing the environment than I am progressing in the actual game. Of course, that's clearly the intention, as the very title alludes to, but it does mean that I can only ever play this game on a day off when I have no other errands to run, which is only once a week.

It'll probably take me half a year at least to finish the game at this rate, lol. I've got 9 shrines down and I'm focusing on getting heart containers first until I have enough to get the Master Sword as early as possible. Then I'll focus mostly on Stamina. That said I am trying to balance that out with progressing in the main quest, but man does it feel like I'm getting lost in the world every time I try to go from one point to another. There's always something to catch my interest and divert me from the main path. Again, that's clearly the point of it's design, and it's great, but I have to admit that it makes me feel like I probably won't even reach the first dungeon for at least another 20 hours or so. This is especially the case since you have to complete shrines and side quests to level up your character enough to even stand a chance against anything other than basic enemies.

What I can say so far is that I definitely think this game was necessary to shake up the formula and keep people from feeling fatigued on the Zelda series. That said, I don't think it in anyway overwrites the more formulaic games. Sticking to a formula isn't inherently a bad thing, and I will still always feel the need to go back to classic Zelda for a big adventure but still tightly paced experience. With BotW, it's more of a case of playing it to get lost in it's world and lore, but I probably wouldn't replay it much after that, not because it isn't great, but because it's way too much of a commitment for me to ever go back beyond one playthrough.

At any rate, with the recent release of the Link's Awakening remix, while BotW2 is close on the horizon, I'll be more than happy if Nintendo manages to balance both classic and new styles like this with future releases.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 06, 2020, 04:27:32 PM
I think the best thing the Zelda franchise can do is what it's kind of doing now, by still releasing some games that stick to the classic format, while also allowing for more experimental titles like BOTW and Hyrule Warriors to come out. Granted, the latter wasn't exactly a proper Zelda game (and that's part of why I struggled to gain interest in getting a Wii-U- I was already tuning out of video games, but having no proper Zelda, Mario, or Animal Crossing wasn't enticing me to get back into them), but it fits enough and any occasional change of pace is welcome.

Going through the shrines and getting hearts is a smart way to do it first. I wish I thought that through before I went to the first Divine Beast. One hit from that boss, and I was out.

There's a lot of content in BOTW, but the story isn't THAT overwhelming. If you focus on the Divine Beasts, the memories, and Ganon's castle, it's about as long as your average Zelda game. The world is massive though, and adding in the shrines and everything else you can find can take a long time. I haven't touched the game since I beat Ganon, but I do occasionally think of going back just to go through that world again, finish the rest of the shrines, maybe pick up the DLC.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 06, 2020, 05:27:20 PM
While I could just go through the game for the main story, obviously that would be missing the point and going against the intended experience. I do of course want to explore and indulge in the freedom the game has to offer, as well as take on various side quests. It's just that my current lifestyle and desire to balance other interests in with gaming makes it kind of impossible for me to truly enjoy that scope in the way that I used to. Obviously that's no fault of the game, of course. I'm just mentioning how I feel a tad daunted when really looking into the scope of all of this.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 07, 2020, 02:07:52 PM
I finally finished ToCS over the weekend. The way it ended, if you'd have told me there was no sequel I'd be pissed. That being said, this game is great and much like Persona 5, by the time you get towards the end the fatigue starts setting in (but for me this is typical with any jrpg), and what makes it a negative here is that you're watching most of it instead of playing. Of course I couldn't just play it once I'm playing it again with some stuff carrying over just to feel dominant in my own twisted kind of way before I move onto ToCS2.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 07, 2020, 02:08:24 PM
That's fair, it is a pretty daunting experience in all. And yeah, if I was a bit younger and had less responsibilities, I would've beaten it much sooner than I did, rather than it taking me a couple of months, a few hours at a time, once a week or so.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 07, 2020, 11:44:51 PM
In other news- I did it! I beat Doom 2016. It's a mighty fine game, and I'm looking forward to when the Switch version of Eternal comes out, even if I've heard mixed things.

Next, I plan to play Super Mario Odyssey, then after that either The Witcher III or the Link's Awakening remake. I do also have Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Sonic Mania, but for some reason, I'm not in a DK or Sonic mood rn, so I'll probably save those for after.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 12, 2020, 12:27:16 AM
Persona 5 Royal finally downloaded (after 3 days of waiting). I didn't want to take a chance and buy it physically and have to wait perhaps months. I'll probably buy a lot of games digitally for a little bit even though it's not my preferred way to go. I haven't started it yet, because I'm still playing Trails of Cold Steel 1, on my 2nd play through but I'm on chapter 6. So, pretty close to the end.

Oh, my 1st play through, the big plot twist hit me. Didn't see it coming at all. That being said, I do wish Japanese developers make more main characters not be a sword or dagger wielder. Culturally I get it, and I love them for it, but I kind of wish they mix it up once in a while.

Anyway, folks on discord trying to get online tournaments going for USF4 and 3rd Strike again, and well, that means it's time for other fighters to be put aside again and start practicing. Before I leave DBFz behind though, I gotta talk about this update. Boy, the additional assist opened things up. Its to the point of being in another character crisis. It's mainly because there's too much that I want to try all at once and can't narrow it down and it's a little overwhelming at the moment. Other than that the game is good.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 16, 2020, 06:01:20 AM
And since my last post I finally started Persona 5 Royal. From what I can recall from the original everything feels a little wider here in Royal. They've also added phone call conversations after you talk to a confidant. I'm trying not to skip the story, but it's hard when you've played through it 4 times already, but they definitely added some things to make you have to keep an eye out for. I'm just now getting to the 2nd palace.

Turns out our little online get together, they want to play DBFz as well as UMvC3 (I'm crying on the inside). USF4 on the other hand I'll continue to play Dudley, but my main now is Evil Ryu. No reason since they're essentially the same character in terms of game play and what I want to do.

DBFz I'm gonna toy around with Bardock, Broly (S), Goku (base), Vegeta (base), Jiren, Vegito, and Gogeta

UMvC3, man it's been so long, but Nova, Vergil, Hawkeye
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: RacattackForce on April 16, 2020, 02:31:37 PM
Instead of finally getting past the opening of Astral Chain, I decided to buy the indie title GRIS last night and am casually making my way through that. I also aim to dust off my Wii U and play some MadWorld over the weekend.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 16, 2020, 04:39:49 PM
I'm two dungeons down in Breath of the Wild. Those two being the Elephant and Camel Divine Beasts (can't be bothered to remember their actual names). I did actually enjoy the dungeons, as different as they are from traditional Zelda, but do feel like they are substantially easier than most other stuff in the game that doesn't directly progress the story. I'm also not a fan of the quests leading up to the dungeons, particularly that forced stealth section to get the Thunder Helm for Riju.

I think despite my wariness of the huge scope of this game, playing it in nightly intervals in portable mode as I lie down really helps me to enjoy this game in a way that I can't usually enjoy games these days. I decided to just go at my own pace and not rush through the content, and it really helps to keep the game feeling fresh and interesting rather than a slog. Traversing the wide open landscape IS essentially the main focus of this game, more so than traditional combat and puzzle-solving, and it is definitely more entertaining than I expected, though it can occasionally feel like a slog. That said, the way the game does such a great job of having you discover tons of interesting things on your own really keeps the whole experience feeling more fun than tedious.

Anyways, I managed to also free the dragon from the Spring of Wisdom, found two out of the four great fairy fountains, and managed to reopen the Akkala tech lab, among other things. I also made my way down to Rito Village, though I'm not going to take on that Divine Beast just yet, as I want to go ahead and go for the Master Sword since I finally can. I only have 10 hearts, but I have four stamina wheel fragments, so I can temporarily convert three of them to actually pull the sword out and then convert them back afterward.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 19, 2020, 05:30:01 AM
Persona 5 Royal
2nd palace is done. Although I caught myself about to start getting bored with it until you actually get to fully go through the palace without any blocks. They changed it up quite a bit, and the boss fight itself turned out to be even more interesting than the original fight in P5. Atlus added a lot to it so far to make it a new experience.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4
You know I have to get obscure titles like this, especially for crummy days. So far I've played as Zoro, Luffy, Sanji, blue haired brother and his pink haired sister... (names escape me at the moment) Usopp (you're forced  :anger:), Whitebeard, Ace, Law, Aokiji, Crocodile and Sabo. Out of all those characters the ones that I grew attached to were Ace (of course you saw that coming, best character in the series) Sabo and Sanji's blue-haired brother.

Having fun with both games but I'll admit that since Trails of Cold Steel, neither have really been satisfying, but because of all the time I have it doesn't impact me negatively (if I were working, I'd be a little disappointed and probably be in another funk). Now I probably could've put my money towards Nioh 2 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake first and have a different outcome, but P5R and OPPW4, for me, took priority.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 19, 2020, 09:32:44 AM
I was tempted to buy P5R, especially since I missed out on the original P5 release, but it just didn't make sense when I already have not one, but two massive games to complete (BotW and Nioh 2), that'll take me months at this rate since I can only play a few hours every odd day or so. Not to mention that once I'm done with BotW, it'll be replaced by another Zelda game (in this case, Twilight Princess), since I'm going through every major game in the series barring the co-op only games and certain spinoffs like Hyrule Warriors.

I may consider it after beating Nioh 2, but then there are three whole DLC packs coming out that'll keep me coming back to that game up through Fall of this year. Speaking of which, I'm 8 main missions down through Nioh 2, and I've gotten to that point where my magic build basically let's me trivialize certain enemies and boss fights if I want to. I even beat the ice boss on my first try by casting Weakness Talismans on him and then hitting him with flurry attacks from my Dual Swords from behind when he was vulnerable after a big whiffed attack. Normally I'd feel cheap for doing that, but being able to cater a character build's perks to your playstyle is the whole point of Nioh. That's why I have to internally groan whenever one of countless people miss the point of that and complain that the game is a grind-fest claiming that you do shit damage to enemies and they can all pretty much one-shot you unless you're a significantly higher-level than they are. That's only true if you're just trying to play this game like a straight hack n' slash and not like an ARPG, blatantly ignoring all of the numerous advantages that this game gives you if you choose to use them.

In BotW I now have the Master Sword and have also activated all of the towers on the map except for the one at Death Mountain (which I think is called something else in this game). I've also completed a fair bit of sidequests, so I'll probably go ahead and take on the Divine Beast from Rito Village. I'm not interested in 100% completing this game, but I will at least do all of the shrines and memories, the former of which will take up the bulk of my playtime.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 20, 2020, 05:20:03 AM
I don't know if you would like P5R, to be honest. Not particularly sure how you feel about turn-based rpg's, but I figured you'd want more action rpg's. Like you said, P5R is a long game (the original P5 is about 100 hrs long, and P5R is longer). But if you are into turn-based rpgs do try it out some day.

Edit:
Played more One Piece Pirate Warriors 4. Ace is still the favorite after making it to the Whole Cake Island arc, however, TS Luffy is definitely better than Ace, and I want to say TS Zoro is too, if not a tad bit better, but in terms of who has a better feel to them, yeah, Ace all the way. I will say this though, Pirate Warriors 4 is a step down from 3. Despite having fun with it, it's a huge step down. (I never understood the coins outside of ATK, Life, Def, Sta) Your special moves are mapped to your face buttons and you're fairly limited in what special moves you can do. They can be good, it's just when you get to the main characters they are lacking.  What can I say, though, they're trying lol.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 22, 2020, 04:29:29 PM
...someone stop me. Capcom is having a sale on the Nintendo eshop, and I already bought Devil May Cry. I loved the couple of levels I got to play of it before realizing that my 360 was not working out. Unfortunately, while 3 was recently added to the shop, it's not on sale from what I can tell. The second is, but I don't think that I need that.

I'm also considering getting Resident Evil and/or the first Mega Man Legacy Collection after I get paid on Friday. I was also considering getting Dragon Ball Fighterz, as that's also on sale for $15. Until then, I think that I'm going to start Bastion tonight, since I got that on sale for $3 a week or two ago.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 22, 2020, 05:07:54 PM
I'd say that DMC1 is definitely worth it if on sale, though I've already bought the game on two other consoles which is why I passed on it. And yeah, DMC2 isn't even worth playing if it was free. It's that game that you only play out of curiosity and just to say that you tried it. I beat it once and never looked back. DMC3 is easily my favorite in the series (5 is a close second), but Capcom sales happen pretty frequently so it's definitely worth waiting for.

I was tempted to get the Mega Man/X Legacy collections, but passed on it due to having too huge a backlog of games to get through as it is.

You know, I couldn't help but feel like with KoeiTecmo and Team Ninja having a seemingly good relationship with Nintendo, it'd be great if they could port NGB to the Switch. Especially considering that Microsoft has apparently been cooperating with Nintendo recently and allowing some of their previous exclusives to be released on the Switch.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on April 22, 2020, 08:25:26 PM
It'd be great if they could! I could see a joint HD remaster of the first 2 NG games come to Switch, in fact.

My backlog is pretty big as well. Besides all of these games for my Switch, I have a bunch of unused Wii games that I've hit up over the years (a lot of which came from Spark's excellent thread for the console), and also won a cheap Sega Genesis Mini from eBay. Not to mention the PlayStation Classic, which I don't hit up as often as I'd like, since the only place I can currently hook it up to is my mom's room. Although I actually did score a couple of hours of Final Fantasy VII there last night.

Oh yeah, and I do still have my own copy of NGB to boot up whenever I decide to set my X-Box back up. I've also been interested in replaying Halo: CE and KOTOR.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 27, 2020, 05:30:39 PM
Not sure if anyone here has ever had to deal with the issue of trying to get an older console to play on a modern HDTV with half-way decent visuals, but after experimenting with multiple different options over the past few weeks, I finally managed to find a way to produce a clear image for my Gamecube on my modern Samsung HDTV. I tried using an AV-to-HDMI converter (I actually tried out two different brands), but in every attempt it would produce an incredibly blurry image, noticeably muted and washed out colors, and also cropped out a portion of the left side of the screen. It was just to the point where the game would technically be playable, but would look nothing like how it's intended and would really bother me personally. Getting a component cable for the Gamecube wasn't and option for me since my model is DOL-101, and those cables are only compatible with the 001 model (and also they are incredibly rare and expensive to obtain). So after doing some more research I got an S-Video cable for the Gamecube for dirt cheap, and then got an S-Video-to-HDMI converter. The first one I got, unfortunately due to my own stupidity and ignorance, was not compatible with the Gamecube as it's S-video-in component was literally designed to be plugged into the source rather than allowing for an S-video cable to be plugged into it. I returned that and instead got myself another one which appears to be imported, but it worked with my Gamecube and even had adjustable settings. After fiddling around with it, I found that setting it to 720p not only produced the best image quality, but also automatically scaled it to the 4:3 aspect ratio (without me having to manually alter my TV's settings) and more importantly fixed the cropping issue! :joy:

Is it as sharp as playing this on a CRT TV? Of course not. But it's a clear enough image that more or less resembles what the game should actually look like. Also, while I know that any hookup to an HDMI will produce some lag, from what I've tested, any lag here is so minuscule that it's not even really noticeable; maybe unless you're already familiar with the game and it feels off to you, but for me it has been very responsive so far.

Long story short, now I can finally play Metroid Prime, Twilight Princess, and any other Gamecube games that I get without them looking like ass.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 28, 2020, 01:27:15 PM
Still going through Persona 5 Royal. The fatigue is hitting me hard. What's keeping me going is the thought of what changed in the palaces. There is one change I don't like that's dealing with status effects. They last a full 3 turns on my party, but against the demons they only last 1 turn. I get it, it's to stop the money abusing tactic, but man, you're cutting off money and cutting off being able to enjoy playing the way I want to play, especially with this alarm system that can get random in some key critical moments in trying to make your ultimate persona. I will also say that I have to recommend playing this your own way instead of trying to follow a guide, there's way too much to do and it can get overwhelming fairly quick when the game starts opening up. Other than that I still want to call this a 10/10 game, but I'm hesitant as well.

The next game I get will probably be Nioh 2 or Final Fantasy 7 Remake (might try to get both), but neither will be played immediately. Even though I'm laid off, these long running games are still taking a toll on me. Might even stop playing Persona for while just to recoop.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 07, 2020, 11:22:07 PM
Persona 5 Royal
This might be the longest game I've ever played. Good God, as I said, the original was long enough, but the added bits might be too much. I'm still not done with my first playthrough and I'm clocking in around 112 hrs. I'm close to the end, but man, fatigue hitting hard. That being said, with the extra length you can probably get 99% of the personas during your 1st run. I'm at 84% now (I have no plans on getting all of them because I don't care), but a lot of it was due to unintended grinding.

Got Nioh 2 coming soon. FF7R is on hold. Gonna probably wait until it's completed before I touch it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 09, 2020, 02:23:44 PM
Recently I played though and completed the original NES Zelda on my Switch. Yes, I did use a walkthrough because I don't know how I could possibly finish that game without one, but only for getting to the dungeons and at a few specific parts in said dungeons when I got stuck. However, I mostly got through the dungeons on my own as even bombing walls was a lot simpler there with only 4 locations to choose from. I can certainly see the appeal of the original game, especially back in it's actual era where kids could partake in the social aspect of it and make markings on their maps and share their findings with one another to help complete the game. That said, yeah, this is a game I respect for it's influence more than I actually enjoy. It's wildly ambitious for it's time, but naturally for a first attempt that ambition comes with a lot of issues that it took the series a few entries to truly refine into something great. Still, it's nice to finally say that I've beaten the original Zelda. I may do the same for Zelda II one day just to say that I did, but obviously I'm in no hurry to get around that one.

I also have Majora's Mask 3D on it's way in the mail. I would have preferred to play the original release of the game, but my copy and original N64 are in bad shape and don't work properly anymore. The Gamecube version is way too expensive online since it's only part of the Collector's Edition collection which is kind of rare at this point, so that only leaves me with the 3DS version as the most reasonably price alternative. That said, while having some good quality of life changes, I am not oblivious to the other controversial changes that it makes to the game that significantly alters the original intended experience, so I see this more as a way to play a specific version of the game until the day when I get actually play the original release as intended. I also have both Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks for the DS, which I will get to after completing BotW, TP, and MM (and yes, I am trying to play through every Zelda game in the series aside from the multi-player only entries).

I'm currently 80-shrines down in BotW with 40 more to go (I do plan to complete all 120) and I've already conquered all 4 Divine Beasts. I'm definitely not spending the time to do every side-quest, though I did complete most of the major ones, including the entire Tarrey Town series, so I feel content in that regard. I've played enough of the game to be comfortable in saying that it does deserve it's praise, but I was also right to feel that it would not be one of my personal favorite Zelda games. I really do like it, and it managed to be one of the few modern open-world games to truly hold my attention for several hours on end, so it definitely deserves props for that. However, I feel that this is very much an Ocarina of Time situation (and I love Ocarina of Time). It's a game that is a big leap forward for it's series in scope compared to what came before, so naturally it gets heaps of praise put on it from the get-go. However, as time goes on I feel future releases will refine and improve on it's formula, and the flaws that hold the game back will become more apparent over time. After that, you'll get people with opposite extremes claiming it's overrated and not really a good game. In OoT's case, I have always been massively annoyed by this because, while I can personally accept that the game definitely has it's issues that have become more apparent over time, it still does so many things really well, especially for it's time. To me, BotW is much the same. It does a lot right, but also has a ton of room for improvement, so I'm saying right now that it is a good Zelda game that will become very influential for the series, but just not a personal favorite of mine. I personally prefer A Link Between Worlds from earlier in the decade. It may be the more formulaic Zelda game, but it's a formula that has persisted for a reason, and it's also refined to absolute perfection in that game.

At any rate, it'll still take me a while to complete BotW since some of these shrines can be really hard to find and sometimes has me searching for them for well over an hour.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on May 10, 2020, 01:43:37 PM
I feel the same way about the OG Zelda, as well. If I was a child in the 80's, or possibly if it was my first Zelda experience in general, I'd be much more interested in it than I ultimately am. While I can still find plenty of charm in the game's simplistic (in comparison to later entries) design, but I'm just too accustomed to how the series has evolved since to fully enjoy it. I feel the same way about the original Metroid, although I still get plenty of enjoyment from Super Mario Bros.

And I do also wonder how BOTW is going to look in 10 years or so. Right now, I'm really curious to see how the sequel is going to turn out. Part of me is hoping for and expecting a Majora's Mask-esq diversion, but considering how successful this was for Nintendo (I believe that it's already the best selling Zelda game, period), I wouldn't be surprised if they don't stray too far from it.

I actually have been meaning to replay Ocarina, myself. I got a cheap copy of it a long while back (lost my original ages ago), but I haven't really hooked up my N64 in a good while. Maybe after I finish Super Mario Odyssey, I will. I wanted to play The Witcher 3, but I need to buy a memory card for my Switch first.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 12, 2020, 09:05:43 AM
Talking to you guys inspired me. I've been getting back into video games the past month. :joy:

First up, Breath of the Wild. Ensatsu-ken, I'm a bit behind you in terms of progress, but I'm doing pretty well. I'm two divine beasts in. I can totally see why it's not your favorite, but I think what's really working for me is that this is the kind of Zelda I personally wanted back when I was super into them. Sometimes I'll just turn the game on, explore, and eventually have to give the game a rest without making any story progress. Speaking of the story, I like how it is implemented, in how you have the option of uncovering the storyline yourself, though I'm struggling a bit with a few of the memories (one of them in particular just seems to be in one of several forest areas). Overall, I'm very happy and look forward to picking it back up.

Also, am I the only one who gets nervous whenever the blood moon starts to rise? Something about it, from the visuals to the sound, just unsettles me every time. :sweat:

Quote from: Avaitor on May 10, 2020, 01:43:37 PMMaybe after I finish Super Mario Odyssey, I will. I wanted to play The Witcher 3, but I need to buy a memory card for my Switch first.

Those are both next on my list! I'l;l probably check out Odyssey after I finish off Breath of the Wild first. Galaxy was always one of my favorite games, so I'm really interested in seeing if it can be matched. During this quarantine, I've been catching up on some things that I'd been interested in but never got around to. So I plan on catching up on the games that really catch my interest from recent years.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on May 12, 2020, 12:23:25 PM
Odyssey is a lot of fun, but I don't think it's as revelatory for the Mario franchise the same way BOTW is for Zelda. It's at worst a step below the Galaxys, but those games are so tight and pleasurable that saying so isn't a negative at all. It's definitely worth getting to if you like the 3D Marios.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on May 12, 2020, 12:58:22 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on May 12, 2020, 12:23:25 PM
Odyssey is a lot of fun, but I don't think it's as revelatory for the Mario franchise the same way BOTW is for Zelda. It's at worst a step below the Galaxys, but those games are so tight and pleasurable that saying so isn't a negative at all. It's definitely worth getting to if you like the 3D Marios.

That makes sense. But, in a way, I think Zelda maybe needed a shakeup a bit more, just comparing their most recent games. Galaxy was awesome, while Skyward Sword probably was the game that led us to Breath of the Wild. Thinking about it, they are polar opposites in terms of design, and I suspect fan criticism of it was what inspired Nintendo to design Breath of the Wild in the way that they did. Know what I mean?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on May 13, 2020, 04:42:56 PM
That's fair. I do think that Skyward Sword almost broke the formula and hurt the Zelda franchise. And it's a shame, because I still think that Twilight Princess before it is upper-tier Zelda.

Mario, meanwhile, has been more consistent, with the closest thing to its Skyward Sword moment being Sunshine.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 13, 2020, 06:41:31 PM
I haven't played Skyward Sword, but going by the critical analyses I've seen on it, following the Zelda formula wasn't the issue. Generally dumbing down the core gameplay and puzzle solving to the point of being insulting to the player's intelligence seems to be what rubbed fans the wrong way, leading to very lackluster dungeons and combat outside of a few highlights. A Link Between Worlds and the Oracle games are peak formulaic Zelda and those are regarded as some of the best games on their respective handhelds of release. The Windwaker and Skyward Sword are also seen in much the same way by people these days among 3D/console Zelda games.

Again, that's not to say that I don't welcome a shake-up like BOTW. I like the game enough to complete all of it's shrines and all of the bigger sidequests, obviously. I just can't say that, as it is now, that I find it to be superior to the best games in the series regardless of their more established formula. For me, there's innovation and refinement. Games like ALTTP and OOT were innovations to 2D and 3D Zelda games respectively, and both are remarkably influential for that reason, but also have their flaws in retrospect. Yet despite not being as original as them, later entries refined their core gameplay to create tighter and more fulfilling experiences with far less in the way of obvious flaws. For me, BOTW feels like it's much the same. It's an innovator first and foremost, but as the first game of the series to branch out in this direction, it noticeably stumbles in a few places along the way. That doesn't mean it's not still great (as are both ALTTP and OOT, IMO), but rather that it doesn't really make for my favorite overall gaming experience in the series with all things considered. A later game with this newly established formula could absolutely claim that status if it manages to iron out what I personally find to be the few but significant setbacks to this game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 16, 2020, 01:33:21 PM
So, in addition to playing BOTW and Nioh 2 in my spare time, I caved a while back and bought the Mega Man X Legacy Collection (volume 1). I had originally played the first MMX game quite a few years back on an unofficial emulator, and while I loved it I never got very far into X2 and didn't really progress through the series due to a keyboard not being the ideal way to play these games. Having this available on the Switch, though, is a godsend, and I recently played through all of X1 to 100% completion and loved it even more thanks to way better controls. This is also a testament to why I just prefer shorter, tighter gameplay experiences that maximize on entertainment value with little to nothing in the way of padding the length out with filler.

The couple of hours that it took me to replay MMX was packed with just as much enjoyment as either of the two massive behemoths I'm playing now, just condensed into 3-hours (I replayed some stages a few times over to find all of the upgrades) rather than over 100 hours. Not to take away anything from games like BOTW or Nioh 2, since I really do enjoy the former on the whole and outright adore the latter as a fan of deep, nuanced combat, but those experiences can also tire me out after some time with how massive they are. A good series of shorter but equally fulfilling games like this on the side is just what I need to balance things out.

Anyways, I played through the intro stage of MMX2 and defeated one boss so far (Wheel Gator). I even intuitively found my first armor upgrade on my first run though the level just based on good exploration on my part! So far the quality has been consistent with the first game. This is definitely S-tier Capcom.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on May 16, 2020, 02:15:39 PM
I picked up the first MMX collection too, but I don't have the storage space to play it yet. As soon as I can buy a memory card, I hope I can get through the first one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 23, 2020, 05:55:12 PM
I just beat MMX2 today. Man, those last few stages were frustratingly tough. I like a challenge but unless I'm missing something those X-Hunter boss fights basically forced you to tank hits from the bosses to get through them, and I found the amount of instant death spikes to get rather obnoxious after a while. Getting the Shoryuken was WAY more of a nuisance than learning the Hadouken in the first game, and you only ever get to use it on maybe a select few bosses due to it's more specific application. In fact, I only ended up using it on the second Morph Moth fight since I hate that boss (and it wasn't even a one-shot since he has two phases).

I got really agitated at some parts in a way that i never did in the first game, but then I got to Sigma and he was surprisingly easy this time. I actually defeated him on my second try (with this being my first time encountering his second form). Still, the main game was just as great as the first, but it's just missing that little something that made the first game stand out so much. In terms of overall quality, though, it feels pretty consistent and is a worthy follow-up to such a classic game.

I'll take a break from the X series for a few days before jumping into X3, but I'm definitely looking forward to it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 24, 2020, 01:57:24 PM
I also just recently got a Sega Genesis Mini which went on sale for $50, and while I have way too many games on my backlog as it is, man did I just have a blast marathoning play sessions of quite a few great classics. Sure, most of these games are available individually or as part of other collections on various different online stores for modern consoles and PCs, but there's just something so gratifying about playing these on a TV with a classic Genesis Controller that the other versions can't quite replicate, IMO.

While I will eventually get around to some of these games in full, like the Monster World games and some of the Sonic spin-off titles, I think that Gunstar Heroes and Castlevania Bloodlines tops my list. Gunstar Heroes is the perfect shoot-em-up that is reasonably challenging but not blisteringly nuts like Contra: Hard Corps (which I think is fucking awesome, but there's no way I could beat that game without a cheat for more lives), and just playing a bit of it again reminded me of why I loved what I played of it several years ago back on the XBLA. This was my first time trying out Bloodlines, but it reminds me a lot of Super Castlevania IV, and it's just a really fun action platformer from what I've played of it. That said, as far as retro games go, I'm definitely going to clear out the rest of the first Mega Man X Legacy Collection before I go onto the Genesis games (though I'll hold off on the second collection due to the more mixed reception of the later games).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on May 24, 2020, 02:06:21 PM
I also scored a Genesis Mini a while ago. I haven't hit it up yet, but Streets of Rage 2 is my top priority when I get the chance.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on May 25, 2020, 08:18:56 PM
GameStop had a buy 2, get 1 free sale this weekend, for pre-owned AND new games. They do this with the former sporadically, but never the latter, so pretty cool all in all. Unfortunately, new first-party Nintendo games were excluded, along with retro titles, but I was able to find pre-owned copies of Astral Chain and Super Mario Maker 2, as well as Skyrim. I almost got a new copy of Dark Souls Remastered instead, except that wasn't a part of the sale. I guess that counts as retro, even though Skyrim doesn't?

I was hoping to get Mario Kart 8 and/or Luigi's Mansion 3. but not this time. Didn't even bother looking for Bayonetta 2, since I only want that new. And it's not like it's easy to find it in the first place.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on May 27, 2020, 09:05:52 PM
So, the MM Legacy Collections went back on sale on the Switch (as they often do) and I took the chance to hit up the second X collection and both of the classic series collections as well. I figured that I will end up playing all or at least most of these games after all, given how I'm already half-way through the first X collection, and each individual title is fairly short. I held off on Zero for now since it wasn't really on sale by that much, but also because I've heard that the DS collection is a better overall port, which I may get if I can find it for a reasonable price. I may have gone for this one if it was also 50% off, but as it is I think I can afford to wait.

Anyways, I've defeated two of the Mavericks in Mega Man X3 so far, and while the game retains the tight controls and awesome action-platforming style gameplay of it's predecessors, I do feel that it makes a few missteps with a bit too much in the way of instant death-traps (they were fairly sparse in the first game while only really prominent in the X Hunter Fortress stages of the second game), which can be really annoying if you just make a single misstep. Combine that with the overall longer length of the levels, and if nothing else it would have been better to give you more lives by default or at least to make checkpoints feel less obtuse. Again, I like challenging games, but this is the kind of thing that seems to confuse challenging for frustrating. It's not enough to make it a bad game by any means, at least at this point, but it doesn't entice me to play as much as the first two games did.

That said, a lot of the fan community, from what I can tell, seems to share my sentiments. Seeing as how my opinions so far have lined up with the popular take on the series up until now, I can at least happily look forward to the next game which is considered by many to be not just one of the best (if not the best) games in the X sub-set of the franchise, but also one of the best Mega Man games of all time. Either way, if it's even in the same ballpark as the first game, then I'm bound to absolutely love it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 29, 2020, 07:31:29 PM
Started working last week so I haven't done too much gaming, but I last left off playing Legends of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 2. I shouldn't have started it, or, rather I shouldn't have started right after finishing Persona 5 Royal (which was taxing but great), but I figured I wasn't gonna start work again anytime soon so, what the hell. Just know that I haven't finished ToCS2 even though I'm on the final chapter. I took a break from the single players again and went back to the fighting games, especially since a lot of folks started firing up 3rd Strike again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on June 03, 2020, 01:53:13 PM
I beat Mario Odyssey... for now. I stopped Bowser in the Moon Kingdom and got the end credits. I still haven't 100% the game, and stopped in the Mushroom Kingdom, but I decided to due to my Switch having a serious case of joycon drift. There are some things that I don't think that I can knock out without getting it fixed. I've messaged Nintendo's support about fixing it, but haven't heard from them yet.

It's a damn good game. Maybe the Galaxys are slightly better, but the classic Mario gameplay is here, and Cappy is a good addition. It's fun to spin him around and to take the bodies of other characters with him, and he's not nearly as intrusive as FLOOD. My biggest complaint might be that the world building feels comes off as generic platformer-ish, with a lava level, a couple of water levels, etc, as opposed to the Galaxy game's more consistent and subtle designs. But even then, there's so much to find and explore in each place, and it's another welcome addition to take you back to 8-bit Mario for certain parts. The city stage is probably my favorite to explore, but I did like how Bowser's castle was inspired by feudal Japan. That feels surprisingly locational for the otherwise universal Mario games.

My Switch is still okay to play despite the aforementioned drifting, so besides my daily bit of Animal Crossing, I think that I'll start Link's Awakening next. I'll probably play Xenoblade Chronicles after that, as I picked it up the other day.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 06, 2020, 04:24:04 PM
Dragon Ball Fighterz
UI Goku is wild. I wanted to make a Jiren team, but with UI Goku in the game it almost makes Jiren practically useless since not only is he low tier, but they gave UI Goku everything he has and none of the weaknesses. Anyway, Hit has made it back into the rotation of characters I use. From what I've seen between 2 top Hit players, they both use a beam assist (Goku Black A or Trunks B) and I can certainly see where that makes him shine. Masking your approach and mix ups from a beam is one of Hit's strength, but I think I like the idea of a lockdown assist (Yamcha A, Bardock B, Kid Buu A) over a beam assist. Hit, to me is a left/right mixup monster (which makes beams great), but I just like the idea of locking your opponent down and making them guess where the next mixup is coming from. I also tried Gogeta. I don't know if I like the way it feel playing him. Something about him don't click well with me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 13, 2020, 02:01:55 PM
On the topic of mini consoles, I also recently got a Neo Geo Mini since the international version is available for just under $60 online (though it's about $80 when you add a controller which is sold separately). While the release got mixed reviews, it seems to be that hardcore Neo Geo fans who were lucky enough to experience the original console are a bit disappointed since the emulation, while mostly well done, leaves some games not being perfect ports of the original, and the controller pads are decidedly lower quality since the analogue stick lacks the micro-switches built into the original (this was clearly done to keep the cost down).

That said, as someone who never experienced the original, I can't tell the difference, and honestly I haven't tried a single game yet that doesn't run and control smoothly. Naturally, a majority of games on here are fighting games so this isn't a collection for anyone who really doesn't care for that genre, but I personally love those old-school style games regardless of how badly I suck at them. However, there are a good number of other arcade classics on here. I myself have been playing the shit out of Metal Slug and Blazing Star, as well as Sengoku 3 (one of the best 2D beat-em-ups of all time, BTW), though I already own and have played the PS4 version. Same with Garou: Mark of the Wolves. I also dabbled a bit in Magician Lord (which is surprisingly fun and I may come back to it later) and a few other obscure retro titles.

Personally, I'm really loving this mini so far, and between this and the Genesis, I'm pretty set on good 16-bit classics for a while.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 14, 2020, 11:57:47 AM
I just beat MMX3, which I have mixed feelings on because this was fun to play in terms of having the same great mechanics established in the first X game. However, it also inflated the difficulty in really annoying ways that hampered a lot of that fun. I do still like it overall, but I probably wouldn't go back to replay it like the first two.

I'm excited to start X4, though, which I hear is arguably on par with the first game. After that, I'm aware that the series takes a nosedive in quality, but I'll get around to that eventually.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 15, 2020, 02:46:45 AM
I also got a Neo Geo Mini for around the same price late last year! It's a pretty nice little box, my only disappointment is that the Metal Slug games have the blood turned off. Of course, I already have 3 other ways of playing those uncensored anyway. ;) I love old SNK games even though I suck at them, I don't think anyone has ever done pixel art better (at least, not consistently). The Anniversary Collection and ACA Neo Geo series are great investments as well.

I was interested in the Genesis Mini but I think the collection I have on Steam has pretty much the same games. There's definitely some novelty to owning the actual hardware but since I didn't grow up with the console I didn't have any nostalgia to push me over the edge into buying it. Now, if they ever released an N64 or PS2 Mini...

Speaking of classic Sega games, Saturn and Dreamcast emulation are actually really good now so I've been checking out a bunch of games I've been interested in for well over a decade. I would prefer to own physical copies but since they're so expensive and don't display well on modern televisions I'd rather try before I buy y'know (not that I even own an actual Saturn...). I'm already collecting PS2 and original Xbox games anyway. ;)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 15, 2020, 09:24:25 AM
Quote from: Foggle on June 15, 2020, 02:46:45 AM
I also got a Neo Geo Mini for around the same price late last year! It's a pretty nice little box, my only disappointment is that the Metal Slug games have the blood turned off. Of course, I already have 3 other ways of playing those uncensored anyway. ;) I love old SNK games even though I suck at them, I don't think anyone has ever done pixel art better (at least, not consistently). The Anniversary Collection and ACA Neo Geo series are great investments as well.

Which version did you get? I got the international version, which defaults to Japanese text, but you can switch it to English in the settings. Though, all of the games themselves are Japanese text and audio only, but being non-story focused arcade games and all, that's hardly a dealbreaker for me, personally. This version absolutely has blood and now censorship in any of it's games that I'm aware of, but it does sadly lack Metal Slug X and a few other notable SNK arcade classics.

QuoteSpeaking of classic Sega games, Saturn and Dreamcast emulation are actually really good now so I've been checking out a bunch of games I've been interested in for well over a decade. I would prefer to own physical copies but since they're so expensive and don't display well on modern televisions I'd rather try before I buy y'know (not that I even own an actual Saturn...). I'm already collecting PS2 and original Xbox games anyway. ;)

You may already be aware of this, but Retro RGB is really good about giving out modern solutions for how to get retro consoles to look good on modern TVs that don't involve overly complex procedures.

As for me, I did things the hard way with my Gamecube with trial and error, but I finally found an S-video to HDMI transfer pack that looks quite good in 720p with an automatic 4:3 aspect ratio presentation.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on June 15, 2020, 02:15:08 PM
Oh yeah, I bought the western version since it had all the Metal Slug games in it, that must be why. :il_hahaha:

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely have to check it out. :thumbup: I have an HDMI converter cable for my PS2 but everything is still super washed out with it. Thankfully I was able to snag some official component cables for my Xbox, which still seems to be the best way to play it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 20, 2020, 05:35:47 PM
So, as someone who found The Last of Us to be a fairly average game that got by on high production values, I had no plans to play the sequel and didn't even bother to keep up with any news on it. I just figured it'd get heaped with praise like the first game or something like Nu God of War and that I'd just harmlessly ignore it (nothing against anyone who genuinely loves either of those games, obviously).

But, wow, a good portion of the fanbase is turning on this one harder than people did on The Last Jedi, so I checked out a plot synopsis of the game to see what all of the fuss is about. I was already expecting something akin to the first game that was more invested in pushing themes and characters with the appearance of depth and groundbreaking concepts than in actually telling a good story, but if what I've read about it is true, it's like on top of that if you combined it with one of those edgy comic books that tried to amp up character deaths for shock value in a desperate attempt to seem mature. To be fair, I haven't played the game so it's not like I'm really qualified to critique it, but based on Naughty Dog's track record from this past decade it's not too hard to believe.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 20, 2020, 06:41:23 PM
I'm in the same boat as you. Even though I'm a fan of the Uncharted series (not hardcore or anything) but when it comes to TLOU I'm the complete opposite. I have no desire to play it at all, but, like you, I decided to check out all the noise and to my surprise I see people going ham over review scores and endings and whatnot.

Honestly, I have no input on anything revolving around Last of Us, but I am shocked that even folks like Easy Allies (Huber of all people) is catching all types of hell. For the most part, I roll my eyes every time Huber talks (nothing against him, but he's too hyperbolic for me) but even I acknowledge that he's genuine when it comes to these type of games because he's always into them (for sure he can be bias, but "shrugs"). I seem to recall his favorite genre is survival horror and story driven games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Insomniac on June 21, 2020, 03:10:12 AM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 20, 2020, 05:35:47 PM
But, wow, a good portion of the fanbase is turning on this one harder than people did on The Last Jedi, so I checked out a plot synopsis of the game to see what all of the fuss is about.
I read the leaks and watched some of the scenes, and I'd compare it to a Star Wars movie where a kid whose parents worked on the first Death Star when it blew up brutally murders Luke in front of his friends as revenge, and Luke's loved ones go on a merciless road of rampage until they refuse to kill that character because "revenge is bad or something", even though they've killed countless other characters in the movie.

I just want to say I hate the cliche where the main character spares the main villain's life for moral reasons even though they've already killed countless henchmen. Even shows I love like Avatar do that shit.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 21, 2020, 08:33:10 AM
The whole "but revenge is bad, y'all" cliche really irks me when it's done so poorly. It's the most obvious message in the world but I feel like pretentious writers love to use it to try and seem subversive and meaningful without understanding a bit what they are actually saying with it. The way TLOU2 uses it seems to be that Ellie sparing Abby at the end is some sort of profound revelation when it doesn't actually absolve either of them of the terrible things that they have done. That's something that even a movie as flawed as Spider-Man 3 seemed to have a better grasp on than this game.

An example of the "revenge is bad" theme being executed well is in one of the First Law spin-off books by Joe Abercrombie, in which Monza's revenge scheme does ultimately succeed by the end but fucks over a ton of innocent lives in the process and leaves the main character with a ton of regrets and guilt but not a lick of actual satisfaction. It displays the violence and carnage that goes along with vengeance without betraying the characters, portraying all parties as nuanced and layered, and actually understanding how to tell a proper story in the process. The cutscenes that I've checked out of TLOU2 on Youtube as well as the common criticism I hear is that the plot has a really sloppy structure with no sense of direction and characters wandering in and out of situations without any real point or cohesion. While I'm not a big fan of the first game, personally, I'll give it credit for at least understanding the basics of how to tell a structured story-line with a sensible path of progression for it's characters.

More than anything else, though, I think it's perceived as just outright bad by even the biggest fans of the first game because of how poorly written it is. A big reoccurring complaint that I see in comments and videos is that the writing seems "contrived" and "forced" to make situations like this happen. This video explains that point pretty well: https://youtu.be/OkvLu4DlY8k
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 03, 2020, 03:14:08 PM
Been playing The Wonderful 101 Remastered on the Nintendo Switch. This game's controls definitely have a learning curve and I utterly suck at reacting to the Unite Morph QTEs or figuring out what the game wants me to do at key moments. That said, I can put up with all of it because the base combat is so good. It's a key aspect of what I've come to realize about all character action games. It doesn't matter how many combos or advanced techniques you can do, but rather how engaging the core mechanics feel. If it's not already fun on a base level, it won't be fun to get any better at the game and learn more about what it has to offer. TW101 clearly does not have a focus on Bayonetta-esque combos nor does it have any mechanics that are too complex for anyone to be expected to perform. It instead designs simple gameplay mechanics and cleverly designs the levels and enemies around those mechanics, and then trusts the player to intuitively use the tools that they have to engage with their obstacles. Thus, the simplicity of the game works in it's favor, though of course there is tons of nuance and layers of depth to the combat despite it's relatively simple nature.

My one and only major gripe so far is the very questionable, and IMO, poor decision to mandatorily have an arcade-style continue system in the game where the player just picks up literally right where they left off when they choose to continue, otherwise have to reset the entire level if they don't want to. Whatever happened to just basic checkpoints? It feels unsatisfying to die and then pick back up anyways without having to win a fight cleanly from beginning to end, but it's just as frustrating to restart an entire mission when you're far enough into it because of how long they tend to be for an action game. I don't mind dying and being fairly punished for it, but I absolutely can't stand screwing up and having to self-inflict an extra hard punishment on myself, or just treat it like nothing happened. I get that it hurts your ranking at the end if you use continues, but it still feels trivial at best. Plus, that system actively de-incentivizes players getting better at the game, which is really counterintuitive to a character action game like this which is all about learning it's mechanics. Having to restart at a checkpoint is one of the oldest video game tropes of all, but it exists for a reason: it incentivizes players to learn the mechanics of a game to maximize the gameplay's potential. A continue system that treats a game over like it never happened will never help players improve and thus won't get them to truly appreciate the gameplay unless they go out of their way to do so (which is kind of what I'm doing right now).

Also, a minor complaint is the forced shoot-em-up sections in a melee-based action game. However, this is a Hideki Kamiya game, so it's pretty par for the course at this point. :sly:

Of course, nedless to say my complaint doesn't change the fact that I really enjoy this game so far on the whole, and will likely replay it several times over to really try and master it. It's amusing how a kid-friendly superhero game for Nintendo has simple yet thoughtful and creative gameplay that can be so engaging on a clearly restrained budget; meanwhile most modern AAA titles with high-budget presentations score perfectly on review outlets despite completely derivative and uninspired gameplay in most cases.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 03, 2020, 09:30:43 PM
Finally got my HitBox back, but at what cost? I don't even feel like playing any of these fighting games right now with everything going on and whatnot. Anyway, I haven't had this thing since the beginning of the year. Probably would've gotten it sooner if it weren't for CoVid.
That being said, I'll probably focus on fighting games a lot more until Ghost of Tsushima comes out.

Right now, though, I just went through training mode as Dudley and Ryu in Ultra Street Fighter 4. Both of them definitely needs work.

Probably tackle a little bit of DBFz tomorrow or a little bit later on tonight/overnight. I think the shell I'm gonna tinker around with is Adult Gohan and Yamcha. There's a lot of characters I want to fidget around with as my point character, namely UIGoku, Vegito, Hit, Cell, Beerus and maybe Piccolo (Bardock, Base Vegeta are no brainers but I want to build a team for them separately)

Might even fire up some Tekken 7 and Guilty Gear Xrd tomorrow.

As for single player games I played a little bit more of Trails of Cold Steel 2. Finished some more side stories. Still not ready to finish this game off lol. I need to hurry up though because I want to get my hands on ToCS3 and I want to finish that up before ToCS4 comes out. I also have Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Nioh 2 (hell, I still need to finish the 1st one) to get through too.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 26, 2020, 06:38:29 PM
Trails of Cold Steel 2
Good God, this game is long. I beat the final dungeon or so I thought. Turns out there's an epilogue and then another damn final dungeon. Seriously, if there's a flaw to JRPG's it's this excessive padding. On the plus side of things I've grown attached to the core cast of characters and quite a few of the side characters. Hopefully I won't be too fatigued to finish this because it's definitely time to move on, especially since I have Ghost of Tsushima waiting for me. I've been hearing some great things about that game and from I've seen of it, it might be my GOTY.

Anyway, fighting game wise, it's still been Dragon Ball Fighterz and Tekken 7.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on July 31, 2020, 03:38:40 PM
Mario Odyssey is excellent!

Considering how much I loved Galaxy when it came out, this might be the best successor that I could have asked for. I might still prefer Galaxy and its sequel by a hair, but this feels like the perfect utilization of the more open ended platformer concept that 64 did. I especially like the desert and city lands.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 01, 2020, 11:26:55 PM
Finally beat Trails of Cold Hard Steel 2. Very long game. Might give the Persona series a run for length. This one tugged on the strings a little bit. I don't really get emotional for a story, but this one almost got me. Since it's the same cast from ToCS1 these characters left a memorable impression on me. Makes me kinda regret some of my choices I made in my left time. None of them individually hold a candle to the likes of a, let's say Dante, Vergil, Cloud, or Sephiroth, but as a collective, you just don't want much to happen to this group of characters as they are kids at the end of the day.

I'm still not entirely sure how quartz and arts work. I mean I get Impede, Action and whanot. I mainly used other folks setups for my characters. I get what role the majority of the characters can play, but not entirely sure how I'd go about it myself. I mean once you figured out that 4 particular characters go well together it kind of makes you wonder is there a reason to go a different route, especially because 1 character does their role so well that there is no one else that can handle that role. Sure anyone can heal, but no one can really replenish CP and to me that 1 character is detrimental. I tried experimenting a little bit but found myself lost w/o said character.

Story wise, it was entertaining. Typical anime type stuff although I do wish the main character was one of the other characters. Nothing against Rean, but most people know I like the characters that're moody / edgy.

That being said this series has been great. I have ToCS3 on deck but it's probably going to be a while before I get to it. I'm a little burnt out on JRPG's and I have Ghost of Tsushima next.

Speaking of, I played roughly 20 minutes of it. I can say much from the little bit, but so far it's good.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on August 10, 2020, 03:27:55 PM
So I'm still playing Animal Crossing every day. It's a nice, calming way to help ease some of the tensions brought on by COVID, and it's just a lot of fun to fish.

But I do agree with the criticism that it's not really finished. I don't even mind that some features are deliberately missing when you time jump, like holiday specials, since it encourages keeping up year round. What bugs me is how the building system and furniture collections feel incomplete. On the former, there are a lot of items that are available in different colors, yet you're not able to change the color yourself even if you have paint. The inability to make more than one item at a time also stings. As for the latter, it seems like I've seen every item I can buy thus far, since looking online, it doesn't seem like I'm missing much. I like to collect musical instruments and clocks for my house, but I think that I have everything I need there.

What really hurts is the villagers, and their dialogue. A big part of the franchise's charm is how you're able to build connections with your neighbors, and have fun conversations with them. Here, whenever I try to talk to my villagers, I seldom get more from them than a "it's nice of you to check up on me!" They'll still ask me to run errands for them occasionally, and I understand that it's a badge of honor to receive a portrait of them, which has happened once so far, but they're hardly distinguishable at this point beyond their species and the handful of personality types scattered around the characters.

Ah well, I'm still having fun with the game. It does make me want to find my copy of the original GCN version and dust it off for old times sake. We'll see if I do.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 16, 2020, 01:55:02 PM
Ghost of Tsushima
I'm not far in and I'm still trying to get used to the controls, but I love this game. Jin Sakai is a very rugged looking guy, but he's straight samurai through and through and I love it. The combat is nothing spectacular but it's very satisfying. I was very worried at how Sucker Punch was going to handle the kind of combat you'd see in samurai movies, but from what I've seen of it so far they nailed it. If you're looking for something along the lines of Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, temper your expectation. You will be killing people within 3 strikes and the same can be said about you. And then there's the most important thing of all. The clothes. Some of these kimonos that I'm seeing in this game is fire, especially in some of Jin's flashbacks. I saw a guy dressed in all black and I'm like "I need to get Jin some clothes like that". I haven't seen any foxes yet but I followed my first bird. Good stuff.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 16, 2020, 03:00:25 PM
I started playing it but immediately took a break to play the Nioh 2 DLC. Despite my complaints about playing it safe, this core gameplay is so much fun that it's easy to jump back in and have fun with this game. I really need to experiment with the new weapon type.

I'll be getting back to GoT by next weekend.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on August 26, 2020, 02:33:46 AM
I finally finished Link's Awakening. It's not a long game, but I only ever get to play it for an hour or two at a time spaced out. You could easily beat it in a week with a little more effort.

It's a good game! Not as amazing as BOTW, but it's a nice return to classic Zelda in a cute package. It makes me want to find the original version, either the first release or DX. I haven't played it in ages, so I've been looking on and off for either. tbh I think it would've been a better deal if the DX version was ported alongside this remake.

Next up, I'm going to play DKC: Tropical Freeze, and also try to get experienced with Mario Kart 8 in between. I do also want to get to Witcher 3, but my Switch's memory can't handle it. I'm going to get a new memory card for my birthday in October, so hopefully then I'll finally get to that and Sundered.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 29, 2020, 04:56:58 PM
Ghosts of Tsushima
I guess I'm still on act 1, but I've only seen maybe 3 characters that're gonna help Jin rescue his uncle. I finally got to pet a fox. Despite the violence this game speaks serenity and just good vibes all around. Like when you're not doing any missions and just soaking in the scenery, it can definitely be relaxing.

That being said, as I have unlocked the water stance along with another ghost attribute the combat puts me in the mind of a combination between Assassin's Creed and the Arkham series. Somewhere in-between the 2, but for me that equals satisfying.

I can see why people are criticizing the the sameness. I can see a lot of this stuff getting boring very quick for people. For me, doesn't bother me here because, well, I'm simple-minded. Through samurai/ninja's into the mix and I'm sold.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 29, 2020, 06:44:13 PM
The Split Staff in Nioh 2 is fucking glorious. People weren't over-hyping it by saying it was their new main weapon. It somehow manages to be an amazing spiritual successor to Ninja Gaiden 2's version of the Lunar Staff.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 29, 2020, 06:58:21 PM
I saw bit's of that split staff in action and I was amazed at some of the things I was seeing. I think once I get to it I'll probably make it my secondary weapon. Honestly, I feel if I make anything other than the single katana my main weapon I feel out of place or something. It's my safe and go to approach until I get comfortable, especially with this kind of game, not to mention all of these other games start you out with a sword.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on August 29, 2020, 09:41:31 PM
The single Katana was my go-to weapon in the first game, but after it got seriously nerfed in patches I switched to the the dual swords which were also a go-to in this game as well. That said, the Switchglaive became my main weapon throughout the campaign due to my character primarily having a magic build, and it was a damn good weapon. However, the DLC added the Split Staff which also scales with magic, but has a much more versatile move-set in terms of fast, moderate, and slow but heavy-hitting combat. The Switchglaive is greatly useful, but outside of wanting to experiment with combos for the sake of looking flashy, a majority of it's most useful moves were in high stance. The Split Staff doesn't have as much raw power, but it can be equally deadly in it's various multi-hit moves that stack tons of damage on most enemy types. My only gripe with it so far is that it doesn't have any good parry moves, but to be fair it also doesn't really need them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on August 31, 2020, 03:04:06 PM
I'm two worlds into Tropical Freeze so far, and I'm simply in love. I really enjoyed Returns, but this is the real return to the DKC world that I was really hoping for, and plays delightfully. And I really like how getting the other Kongs helps you out in this. Cranky is my favorite- he reminds me of Scrooge in the DuckTales game.

It's not all that forgiving, though. The boss in the second world and the level right before it were getting on my nerves. Still, I can't wait to pick the game back up.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 31, 2020, 03:44:10 PM
I'm all over the place with Ghost of Tsushima. Nothing's feeling like a chore yet, but I definitely wouldn't argue with anyone who has a problem with the repetitiveness. For me my problem lies in the reward for some of these quests just don't feel like they're worth it. I mean everything is geared towards building up Jin. I guess what I'm actually looking for is something a little more, "cheap", but then again I haven't really put much in going the "ghost" route.

Speaking of ghost, I called myself sneaking on a boat and ran into my first glitch. I was getting ready to assassinate this one leader like I'm in Assassin's Creed (jumping from atop) and noticed that Jin went through the damn boat and next thing I know Jin is inside the room on the ship. Took away my feeling of dominance.

I think where I'm at in the game so far (still at the beginning stage) I will admit that I'm a little disappointed in terms of armor and sword upgrades. If you're going to let me customize Jin, then let me customize Jin. I don't want you giving me a specific set of colors for an outfit. I want to put whatever color I want on Jin. I only have this yellow / green color for the samurai clan outfit and then nothing for the travelers outfit.

Obviously more will unlock as I go forward, but I'm not liking some of this stuff. Still, overall the game has been great.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on August 31, 2020, 04:53:56 PM
Quote from: Avaitor on August 31, 2020, 03:04:06 PM
I'm two worlds into Tropical Freeze so far, and I'm simply in love. I really enjoyed Returns, but this is the real return to the DKC world that I was really hoping for, and plays delightfully. And I really like how getting the other Kongs helps you out in this. Cranky is my favorite- he reminds me of Scrooge in the DuckTales game.

It's not all that forgiving, though. The boss in the second world and the level right before it were getting on my nerves. Still, I can't wait to pick the game back up.
Tropical Freeze is in my top 10 games of all time! Just a perfect, sublime experience.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 03, 2020, 06:42:18 PM
I almost checked out hard on Ghosts of Tsushima. I hate game overs when it comes to stealth. I hate them with a passion. Here in this one mission you can't let the guards raise an alarm otherwise that's it. Okay, fine, then let me do stealth all the way and not half ass it. You're letting me climb houses, cool but I can't climb trees or poles. Why? In the end it wasn't nearly as bad, but still, I'd rather be given more options when it comes to stealth.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 13, 2020, 01:23:39 AM
Still on the Ghost of Tsushima train. I'm getting better with the stealth. It's not like it was hard to begin with. It's just annoying especially when you're trying to stay on a specific path (I was trying to stay on the path of being a samurai). That being said, I got a hook (completely forgot this thing was in the demo) and felt like everything just opened up in terms of stealth. Chain assassinations feels good. I got motivated to actually play more of this game because I, technically was done with the game (hard quit). Watched a couple of reviews and found out that there were things I wasn't doing that I wasn't aware of.

A nitpick. Climbing. Honestly I blame Breath of the Wild for this. In BotW you can climb anything (at least from what I can recall) but here you have to find a ledge with an R2 prompt that'll lead you up or down a rocky mountain. Considering you're on a path to becoming a ninja you'd think they would have some sort of claws or something to remedy that. Oh well.

Apparently I'm still on Act 1 (Goodness)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on September 17, 2020, 03:19:24 PM
RIP to the 3DS. (https://www.ibtimes.com/3ds-officially-dead-here-why-nintendo-might-never-make-something-it-again-3047488)

I'll admit, I never did get one, as I haven't had much of a taste for handhelds in a long time, but this does raise an interesting point- are they a thing of the past? The rise of smart phone gaming is one factor, but also the Switch's own portability is an undeniable boon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 22, 2020, 05:08:53 PM
I have a 3DS which I plan to use for more games, but up to this point I've only really used it for ALBW (which is genuinely one of the best Zelda games IMO) and some retro games. Still, a thing of the past or not, a 9-year life-span is nothing to sneeze at. The 3DS will go down as a classic, regardless of the future of handhelds going to mobile phones.

Speaking of Zelda, I started up Twilight Princess (Gamecube version) this past weekend. People weren't kidding when they said it has a really long tutorial-phase. On the one hand it does work well enough for a first playthrough, but I could see it becoming a barrier to replaying the game since there's a lot of unskippable story and tutorial stuff in the beginning. It took me well over two hours just to get Link to revert from his wolf form back to normal. That said, completing the Forest Temple, which is understandably simple for a first dungeon, was both familiar and simultaneously refreshing to experience. While I did enjoy BotW on the whole, I admittedly missed the feeling of completing a classic style Zelda dungeon, so it was nice to go back to the old style here. I do hope that the game takes more advantage of the Twilight Realm and wolf-form features though, to keep an interesting twist to the gameplay. I'm hoping that Link will be able to switch between both at will as the game progresses, but I'll just have to keep playing to see, I suppose.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 22, 2020, 09:38:48 PM
Gotta love how Midna pokes fun at the series trope of having to light torches to unlock a secret entrance. I suspect that little bit of dialogue was just added in by the localization team, but it's appreciated all the same.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on September 23, 2020, 03:47:03 PM
Midna's one of my favorite parts of Twilight Princess, and she's the primary reason that I'm interested in finally getting to Hyrule Warriors soon. That, and I want to knock it out before the BOTW prequel from next year arrives.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 23, 2020, 05:04:12 PM
Yeah, I almost forgot that companion characters were a series tradition for 3D Zelda games until Breath of the Wild did away with the concept. While I understand why it wasn't utilized in that game, it's a fun gimmick when done well, especially since Midna easily has far more personality than any of the preceding side-kicks for Link.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 23, 2020, 07:38:18 PM
I wanted to like Twilight Princess because that tone was screaming my name, but I gave up on it midway. By the time I even got to the game I was bored of that OoT style of gameplay which is unfortunate because I found the scale of the game to be awesome. I'd love revisit the game to see if I'd still feel the same way now since that was back in 2008ish where you couldn't talk to me about Nintendo let alone find me buying a Nintendo console.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 23, 2020, 09:31:57 PM
It really depends on your personal preferences. This is VERY much following the OoT formula for 3D Zelda games, but in this day and age where every big game is seemingly trying to be huge and open world, the more straightforward design is enjoyable for me. That said, there definitely is some padding here. At over 8 hours into the game I have only just reached the Goron Mines, and some of collecting the tear drops of light in wolf form in the Twilight Realm for each new area kind of feels a bit tedious after the first time you do it. That said, the core experience is still fun for me, overall.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on September 24, 2020, 12:01:50 PM
I think time's becoming increasingly kind to Twilight Princess, as we've gotten further away from the OOT format. I could see why it was tiresome to some at the time, but it's quaint in the best possible away compared to BOTW's scope, and better constructed than Skyward Sword on every level.

I do agree that it's a bit padded, but it's otherwise a lot of fun.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 24, 2020, 02:00:02 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 23, 2020, 09:31:57 PM
It really depends on your personal preferences. This is VERY much following the OoT formula for 3D Zelda games, but in this day and age where every big game is seemingly trying to be huge and open world, the more straightforward design is enjoyable for me. That said, there definitely is some padding here. At over 8 hours into the game I have only just reached the Goron Mines, and some of collecting the tear drops of light in wolf form in the Twilight Realm for each new area kind of feels a bit tedious after the first time you do it. That said, the core experience is still fun for me, overall.

Agreed. I would probably be more open to Twilight Princess now compared to back then because I was definitely burnt out at the time. And while I haven't played nearly as much open world games that I thought I did, I will also agree that there are quite a bit of them (I don't really have a problem with it even though only 3 of them truly satisfied me)

And when it comes to padding, man, from what I can remember of that first temple (I think the one where you get the boomerang) felt like a chore to get through until I got that boomerang and afterwards it opened up. I think that was the case in a lot of those dungeons in that game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 26, 2020, 09:39:03 PM
Not playing anything. Just watching random people play Among Us. It looks like a good party game that can ruin friendships lol. Some of these have been really funny. Some have been awful because people tend to be too honest for their own good. I've seen a couple videos where they got the imposter figured out, but the imposter just sit their and don't say nothing or say something along the lines of "I hope you're right". That kills the game. I don't play these type of games but it is something I could play with a bunch of random people sort of like an ice breaker.

Edit

I take it back. It's great to play during the 1st hour, but bail afterwards because it is very toxic. Watched 2 streams go south very fast after the 1st hour lol.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 30, 2020, 01:17:18 PM
After looking on and off for a matter of several months for a complete copy of Viewtiful Joe for the Gamecube, I finally managed to get one at a reasonable price. It just arrived in the mail today and is in excellent physical condition so I'm definitely happy about that. I'm currently playing through Twilight Princess and just started my Hard Mode run of The Wonderful 101, so I won't be getting to this right away, but I am excited to play this game after clearing my current Kamiya fixation.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 04, 2020, 02:27:33 PM
Ghost of Tsushima
Yeah, I'm done. I've had enough of the forced stealth. It's not a bad game by any means. I've had my fill, I can move on.

I downloaded Genshin Impact but haven't tried it out yet. It may be a while before I even get to it too. Getting back into USF4, 3rd Strike and perhaps some DBFZ. Very skeptical because of the pandemic, but my brother-in-law will be coming to town soon along with my cousin. We usually do this around the holiday's and every Evo, but, well, yeah, you know what happened.

I need to look into this Parsec thing people have been raving about as well. I know fightcade 2 is up and there's been nothing but praise for it so I want to look into that as well.

Edit:

I might've lied about Ghost of Tsushima. I saw a trailer that kind of motivated me to keep going lol.  :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on October 11, 2020, 05:48:40 PM
I didn't ask for much for my birthday this year, especially since I'm in the process of moving. I did get a memory card for my Switch, and $60 in credit for Nintendo's eShop. I'll keep an eye on games I want from the shop, but I am hoping to use the card to finally play The Witcher 3 on it, although I might still do Xenoblade Chronicles first.

But only after I finish Tropical Freeze. Which is still fun af, but damn is it hard.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on October 13, 2020, 06:38:33 PM
Still not sure if I can get a PS5 by the end of the year, but just in case, I took advantage of GameStop's buy 2/get 2 used deal and ordered the following:

-Bloodborne
-The Last of Us Remastered
-Hitman Season 1
-Resident Evil 2

I thought about ordering Control, but decided against it since apparently there's a PS5 version with all of the expansions coming up, so I may just do that instead.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 13, 2020, 07:24:40 PM
I would also recommend Nioh 2 if you ever get it for a good deal (but you have enough on your plate as it is, lol), in which case the first game is great as well, but I consider 2 to be mechanically superior to the point of being the better game by the slightest of margins.

As for me I am about three-quarters of the way through Twilight Princess and I think at this point it's safe to call it a really good Zelda game but not necessarily a great one. Unlike some people I don't mind a more linear story progression if it leads to tighter game design for the core mechanics. In certain regards, that is the case for Twilight Princess. However, it also ends up feeling somewhat disjointed as an overall experience. What I mean is that different aspects of the game feel mostly inconsequential of each other. For example, Link's Wolf form is very contextual in nature only being utilized in specific story segments and occasionally in a puzzle or two that makes it very clear that you need to use the Wolf form. However, very rarely is it used in conjunction with Link's human form to get you thinking about both in the context of a greater whole. The Arbiter's Grounds so far is the only dungeon to really do that which initially got me excited for future possibilities, but as of yet the game has yet to match that attempt. Likewise, the dungeons themselves feel great on their own but have little connection with the world around them. Items you attain and/or put to use in the dungeons rarely ever have any application in the overworld, and the overworld itself mainly just feels like a place to get some collectibles and get you to the next dungeon.

The thing is, Twilight Princess (at least so far) is actually pretty great at the moment-to-moment game design. The dungeons themselves, even the weakest of them, are far superior to BotW's Divine Beasts, IMO (not that those were badly designed for what that game was trying to achieve). The game also has some great and memorable set-piece moments. That said, all of the in-between stuff, in actually trying to get from one segment to the other, does tend to follow a check-list sort of approach, in which you fulfill a bunch of pre-requisites and objectives to gain access to the next dungeon. In that regard it can come off feeling like mostly filler.

Still, I'm mostly happy with what I've played of the game so far, even the lesser aspects of it. Classic formulaic Zelda holds it's appeal for me, after all, but I do see where the series could absolutely flourish if it combined the best of what the older style had to offer with Breath of the Wild's more open-ended approach. Easier said than done, obviously, but the potential is absolutely there.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on October 13, 2020, 08:33:13 PM
I forgot about Nioh. The first one would have been applicable for the sale, but not the second, since it's over $30.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 18, 2020, 02:31:43 PM
Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3
I'm 50+ hours in and just finished chapter 2. I haven't ran into too much to dislike but the dislikes standout quite a bit. For one, it looks like the attacks that I used (I guess most people used in previous games) have been nerfed; cost more CP to use Rean's Gale. I get it, change up how one played or took advantage of the previous game so that's no biggie. The problem I'm having is feeling less rewarded. The treasure chests that I've been coming across so far, has had garbage in them. Money/Sepith is a lot more scarce this time around so I have to be cautious on what I use on what. In a sense, I'm underwhelmed from what I've seen of this game so far when comparing it to 1 and 2. I'm seeing that chapter 3 is suppose to ramp up big time so hopefully the payoff is worth the wait.

I saw Nioh was brought up. Man I need to get back to that game. I also have Final Fantasy 7 Remake that I need to get to as well. My backlog is dwindling due to losing interest in most, but it's still fairly large.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on October 30, 2020, 08:42:16 PM
Quote from: Mustang on September 26, 2020, 09:39:03 PM
Not playing anything. Just watching random people play Among Us. It looks like a good party game that can ruin friendships lol. Some of these have been really funny. Some have been awful because people tend to be too honest for their own good. I've seen a couple videos where they got the imposter figured out, but the imposter just sit their and don't say nothing or say something along the lines of "I hope you're right". That kills the game. I don't play these type of games but it is something I could play with a bunch of random people sort of like an ice breaker.

Edit

I take it back. It's great to play during the 1st hour, but bail afterwards because it is very toxic. Watched 2 streams go south very fast after the 1st hour lol.

I've enjoyed Among Us most in my private groups with friends who are generally on the same wavelength. We've had a blast with it even if I always kind of want to be the impostor. It's especially nice during these times, as we'll sometimes have a few rounds of it on Zoom when we can't see each other in-person.

Quote from: Avaitor on October 13, 2020, 06:38:33 PM
-The Last of Us Remastered

Have you played that one, yet? Or will this be your first time? I recently finished Part II. It's not quite as good as the first game in some ways (the length, mainly), but in other ways I like it more. It has its flaws, but unfortunately it's gotten slammed hard by bigots.

Quote from: Avaitor on August 10, 2020, 03:27:55 PM
So I'm still playing Animal Crossing every day. It's a nice, calming way to help ease some of the tensions brought on by COVID, and it's just a lot of fun to fish.

But I do agree with the criticism that it's not really finished. I don't even mind that some features are deliberately missing when you time jump, like holiday specials, since it encourages keeping up year round. What bugs me is how the building system and furniture collections feel incomplete. On the former, there are a lot of items that are available in different colors, yet you're not able to change the color yourself even if you have paint. The inability to make more than one item at a time also stings. As for the latter, it seems like I've seen every item I can buy thus far, since looking online, it doesn't seem like I'm missing much. I like to collect musical instruments and clocks for my house, but I think that I have everything I need there.

What really hurts is the villagers, and their dialogue. A big part of the franchise's charm is how you're able to build connections with your neighbors, and have fun conversations with them. Here, whenever I try to talk to my villagers, I seldom get more from them than a "it's nice of you to check up on me!" They'll still ask me to run errands for them occasionally, and I understand that it's a badge of honor to receive a portrait of them, which has happened once so far, but they're hardly distinguishable at this point beyond their species and the handful of personality types scattered around the characters.

Ah well, I'm still having fun with the game. It does make me want to find my copy of the original GCN version and dust it off for old times sake. We'll see if I do.

I'm in a place with Animal Crossing in that, after consistently playing it, I fell out of it for a month and don't know how the villagers will respond to my absence. :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on October 31, 2020, 04:56:35 PM
I haven't touched any of my PS4 games, since I'm hoping to pick up a PS5 when I'm able to find one without getting bloodthristy. I don't expect to find one at the very beginning of its launch, but I'm hoping to see one or two when it's closer to Christmas.

Which reminds me, I forgot to hit up GameStop's deal of the day yesterday, which had Spider-Man for $15 used. I wanted to see what the hype is all about, but it also doesn't look 100% like my kind of thing, anyway.

Heh, I told myself that I'd stop playing Animal Crossing daily when I could find a steady job that would take more of my time, which I did. I've been intending to play on weekends and maybe one or two nights a week otherwise, but I haven't really been doing much of that, either. :sweat: It's still fun when I go back, but I think it's for the best that I've fallen off the groove of playing frequently.

Well anyway, I think I'm going to pause on DKC: Tropical Freeze for a while. It's just too damn hard, and this one level has been particularly killing me- Forest Folly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY6LVrjAxPk). I'm just having a really hard time jumping from those little platforms, especially after the first save point. I can't land at the right time, and keep falling. And when I do land, I just can't seem to pound to the next side at the right time. There are some levels that I've had to pause and come back to the next day, and get through right away. This is not one of those. It's a shame, since I really do love this game otherwise. The design is just bananas.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 01, 2020, 03:38:37 PM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on October 30, 2020, 08:42:16 PM
Quote from: Mustang on September 26, 2020, 09:39:03 PM
Not playing anything. Just watching random people play Among Us. It looks like a good party game that can ruin friendships lol. Some of these have been really funny. Some have been awful because people tend to be too honest for their own good. I've seen a couple videos where they got the imposter figured out, but the imposter just sit their and don't say nothing or say something along the lines of "I hope you're right". That kills the game. I don't play these type of games but it is something I could play with a bunch of random people sort of like an ice breaker.

Edit

I take it back. It's great to play during the 1st hour, but bail afterwards because it is very toxic. Watched 2 streams go south very fast after the 1st hour lol.

I've enjoyed Among Us most in my private groups with friends who are generally on the same wavelength. We've had a blast with it even if I always kind of want to be the impostor. It's especially nice during these times, as we'll sometimes have a few rounds of it on Zoom when we can't see each other in-person.


Definitely. I watched a stream full of people within the FGC play and it looked like 2 of them were on the same wavelength and made it look like they were dominating the game. I'd hate to see 2 people that're good liars as imposters together.

I'm 100+ hours into Trails of Cold Steel 3 on the final chapter. I'm kind of dreading what's to come because we're at the endgame and I've gotten attached to some of these characters. This one is even more Fullmetal Alchemist than ToCS2, plot-wise. I'm 3 games in and while I got a better understanding of the quartz I still don't have it down completely. I know for sure how to make characters have high attack strength. Rean is a monster right now. I can make a decent evade tanker, but when it comes to mages, yeah, I'm completely out of ideas, not to mention you have characters like Jusis who was a dominant force in ToCS2 only to be butchered here and now I have no idea how or what route to even build him up.

Overall, this series has truly won a place in my heart. I already bought ToCS4 and if I ever decide to start gaming on the PC I'll make sure Trails in the Sky would be the 1st game I'd start playing immediately.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 02, 2020, 07:35:01 PM
I'm still playing through The Wonderful 101 on Hard mode. I'm almost done with this run, and aside from that rant I had about Operation 006-B being one of the worst levels in a Platinum game (mainly because of one single segment, the rest of the level is fine), which I still stand by, the rest of this playthrough has been far better and more fun than my first playthrough of the game. It really is an amazing game once you can get your head around the admittedly complex mechanics. It's a shame that more people didn't give this game a chance when it came out, partly because it was a Wii-U exclusive, limiting it's player-base, but I think even then it sold poorly because it was perceived as a side-project compared to games like Metal Gear Rising and Bayonetta 2 which released within a year or so of this game. I've only played through Bayonetta 2 once, and plan to replay it some more after I get to Astral Chain, but I have played the first game up through the hardest difficulty, and the same goes for Metal Gear Rising.

Basically, I know my shit fairly well when it comes to these style of action games, including those from Platinum, and this is by far one of their best games. I'd argue it has far more mechanical depth than Metal Gear Rising (which I love, but let's be honest it was a rushed product), and I'd say that it's overall design feels more unique than that of Bayonetta in terms of having mechanics that set it apart from any other game in the genre. I feel like people see the Saturday Morning Cartoon style of the game and assume it's easier and less complex because of it's more kid-friendly vibe (which is completely ignoring some of it's more risque humor), but honestly that just gives the game it's charm as it's crammed with so much personality that it can make even other Platinum games seem tame by comparison. However, the actual mechanics are some of the most satisfying and hard to master of any game in the genre. I'm really glad that this game was remastered so that I could finally play it. I'll definitely be playing through this on 101% Hard mode, and while I have no desire to try and Pure Platinum this game, I will try to at least get the highest rank on some of my favorite missions. If anyone was on the fence about this game I definitely recommend it. It's easily become one of my favorite action games of all time as it is. It easily belongs in the same tier as Devil May Cry 3 + 5 and Ninja Gaiden Black, IMO.

I also recently bought No More Heroes on the Nintendo Switch. I was skeptical at first since this was a Wii-exclusive that used some motion controls and I heard that the PS3 version was actually an inferior port. However multiple fan reviews seemed to say that this latest update played really well overall, and that the lack of motion controls didn't really hurt the overal experience all that much since they were more of a gimmick than a mechanical necessity. And I have to say, after having played through the first through Rank Battles of the story mode, it plays pretty smooth with a regular Pro Controller. This is a game where I'm definitely into it for the story and characters first and foremost, with the gameplay being fun for what it is but lacking in depth. I'm not very experienced with Suda but I have learned from some of my favorite YouTubers that there is the unfiltered Suda that made games like Killer 7 and the first No More Heroes (among several others, of course), and the Suda who had his vision warped by big corporate entities like how EA infamously meddled with Shadows of the Damned to the point of it not even resembling Suda's original vision for the game. Even with the hour or so that I have played of NMH so far, though, I can tell that there is more to this game than just wacky shenanigans that pokes fun at Otaku culture. There is clear pathos here and a message that is being built up through the narrative in only the way a video game can. It makes me want to play more of it and possibly seek out some other Suda works from around and before this era. I have also heard that his recent effort of Travis Strikes Again is a return to form of sorts for him with a lot more of his artistic vision left in tact than if it were a bigger studio project, so I'll be sure to get to that eventually as well.

Lastly, even though I wanted to finish off Twilight Princess first (and I will this weekend, when I can play for more than a brief amount of time in a single night), I couldn't help myself and cracked into my Super Mario 3D All-Stars Collection to play Super Mario 64 this past weekend. I haven't even played it that long but before I knew it I already accumulated 27-Stars. What can I say, this game is pure nostalgia for me and even if it hasn't aged the most gracefully I still love it. I mean, yeah, I do get annoyed and rage at times at the more annoying segments due to the poor camera control and the finicky physics of the game, but it's also the kind of frustration that's easily forgotten after I get through those sections and focus on the more fun stuff. This game also isn't that long, and I don't plan on doing a 120-Star run, so I can probably get through this in another solid weekend or so of play-time and move onto Super Mario Sunshine and then Galaxy, which is exciting since I've never played either before.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 03, 2020, 04:05:14 AM
I really, really need to get into Wonderful 101 for real. I played a little of it on the Wii U and thought it was great, but never got particularly far. Of course, that didn't stop me from backing the remaster on Kickstarter the moment it went up. :il_hahaha: Glad to see you're enjoying it so much! I haven't really been around much lately, did you ever end up finishing God Hand? I still think it's the peak of action games along with Ninja Gaiden Black, but I admittedly last played it in over half a decade ago. I just watched a really cool extended interview/documentary with Mikami by someone named Archipel on YouTube, and he had some very interesting things to say about it. Makes me want to revisit the game super badly...

No More Heroes is one of my all-time favorite games, and it's one of the few games where I think parts of it purposefully being un-fun actually work in its favor. It's basically a big ol' satire of open world game design, forcing you through increasingly tedious bullshit just to play the fun boss fights and see the entertaining story. It's still relevant today and pure Suda51, and as you said, it was one of the last games he really got to let loose with (the final one being Fatal Frame 4). He became disillusioned with the game industry and began distancing himself from the development process more and more starting with NMH2 (which is still great IMO) after the horrific failure of NMH1 domestically and being fucked over by companies like EA and Kadokawa at every turn with later projects. We are truly blessed that Gung Ho let Grasshopper go back to being independent after the success of Let It Die, as getting to work on the Silver Case and Killer7 remasters along with Travis Strikes Again revitalized Suda's game-making spirit, and soon the absolutely incredible-looking NMH3 will be upon us. I really liked TSA from what I played but it's a very janky and messy game that feels like it was made on a shoestring budget (it was). I can forgive its rather obvious flaws though since it was the project that made Suda51 fall in love with directing games again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on November 03, 2020, 03:29:41 PM
I'm trying to decide if I want to buy the No More Heroes remasters, or wait until I can go back to my mom's place to get my Wii and copy of the first. I was thinking of bringing it anyway since I've been wanting to replay Twilight Princess for a while, as well as try a couple of other games I have for it but haven't touched, like NSMBWii and REmake. So I may just look into buying the second on the Switch, unless I can find a Wii copy for a good price.

And I still need to boot up my copy of Wonderful 101, too. Unfortunately, I only brought a few of my Switch games over here, and that wasn't one of them. If I don't give Tropical Freeze another shot, I may finally go to Xenoblade Chronicles, or try one of the digital purchases I've ordered. I've been hearing a lot about Hades, in fact...
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 03, 2020, 05:12:13 PM
Quote from: Foggle on November 03, 2020, 04:05:14 AMI really, really need to get into Wonderful 101 for real. I played a little of it on the Wii U and thought it was great, but never got particularly far.

I will say that my first playthrough of the game was a complete mess. Not in terms of the game design itself but rather how deceptively deep it's mechanics are and me not being prepared for it's arcade-style continue system. I am used to more standard checkpoint system like most other action games, so it felt awkward to either have to accept continuing where I left off after a death as if I were popping another quarter into the arcade machine or manually restart from the last checkpoint, which could be a long way off. The latter could be punishing but the former felt far less satisfying. That said, I think what got me through it was, beyond the fact that it's a Platinum game directed by Hideki Kamiya (which means that it has to have more to it than what's on the surface), I had also heard from several reliable sources that I follow that it was best to treat the first playthrough as a tutorial and just have fun with it no matter how badly you do (and I performed really atrociously on my first playthrough). After beating it once I looked up some tutorial videos from better players to get a better grasp on the mechanics. While you could certainly fault the game for having a steep learning curve (even by Platinum's standards) and really requiring you to have quite a few essential purchased upgrades to stand a better chance in some scenarios, it really does feel incredibly engaging once you start understanding the game on it's terms. There's a unique sort of rhythm to the combat and the squad-based mechanics that you utilize which feels like nothing else out there once it all finally clicks together. What's best, though, is that you are constantly learning new things about the enemies and bosses well after your first playthrough that makes the combat continue to feel so interesting and rarely ever repetitive or dull. For instance, I didn't even know that you could recruit certain enemies into your team until well into my second playthrough. The game is just layered with great mechanics to uncover which is what most of my favorite games have in common.

One thing I will say in case you don't already know, but if you ever do get back into the game, whenever you use the mixer don't waste any of it on items since you have unlimited continues anyways and using either one decreases your rank, so you might as well just use the free continues if you need to. Instead, save up all of you ingredients for the credit card as it makes buying the more expensive abilities and power-ups in the game SO much easier and you can get them MUCH earlier than you would if you were saving up the credits for them. Likewise, make sure to get the Energy Converter if you don't already have it as well as Ukemi and Speed Charge. Both make the game SUBSTANTIALLY more forgiving when it comes to taking damage without ruining your rank (Ukemi even allows you to Pure Platinum a fight even after getting hit if you use a well-time Ukemi to negate that damage). Energy Converter in particular is useful since it will heal you as you attack enemies if your battery power is already full. And Speed Charge is essential for refilling your battery quickly if you don't want to be constantly stuck in situations where you're just hanging back for half a minute or so avoiding enemies since you don't have enough battery to dodge, use Unite Guts, or form any substantial attacks. It makes the recharge time so much quicker and really speeds up the pace of fights considerably to the point where it just flat-out makes the game way more fun, IMO.


QuoteI haven't really been around much lately, did you ever end up finishing God Hand? I still think it's the peak of action games along with Ninja Gaiden Black, but I admittedly last played it in over half a decade ago. I just watched a really cool extended interview/documentary with Mikami by someone named Archipel on YouTube, and he had some very interesting things to say about it. Makes me want to revisit the game super badly...

I did! I'm pretty sure that fighting Ongra nearly broke my thumbs! :joy:

I have only beaten it once, though, and much like Bayonetta 2, I do really want to go back to it for more playthroughs to really master it's great combat system. The only reason I didn't, in this case, was because the way God Hand handles difficulty settings basically means you can't tackle Hard mode (which is what I'd normally do in a game like this) until you have completely mastered Normal mode. Not once did I ever get above enemies at Level 3 on Normal, and seeing as how Hard locks them into Level Die which I could never reach naturally myself, I'm clearly not ready for it. That said, this is also another really unique and interesting action game that is unlike anything else out there. I also think that, in terms of difficulty, people do it a disservice by making it seem like some impossible game to beat much like with games like NGB. It's definitely challenging, but aside from certain scenario fights and boss fights, it's pretty fair and can definitely be managed once you have a solid grasp of the core basic principles of the mechanics.

As for No More Heroes, I will respond to you on that and expand with more of my thoughts as I play more of it, but I will say that it's more "bizarre" gameplay elements so far clearly have an intended purpose behind them rather than just being there to be a "wacky" Suda game. I'm not even familiar with other Suda works but I can already tell that this criticism which I've heard about the game from some of his detractors is a complete misreading of designer intention. Personally, I have my own take on why these sections are included, but I'll save it for when I've played more of the game to really assess if I still hold that interpretation by the end.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on November 03, 2020, 06:25:02 PM
Oh EK, GameStop's having another used PS4 games sale (buy 1/get 1 half off) and I think that I'm going to use that to get both Nioh games. As well as Red Dead Redemption 2, which is on sale for $20.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 03, 2020, 06:47:53 PM
Sounds like a great deal! The Nioh games aren't necessarily games that surpass the FromSoftware Souls games, but they are good "Souls-likes" among that sub-genre by playing mostly to Team Ninja's strengths, which is interesting combat and enemy design. That said, sometimes the great combat makes me want to focus more on pure action than RPG mechanics, which is why it would be nice if Team Ninja were to take another stab at a Ninja Gaiden game without trying to compromise their core game design strengths for a more "accessible" experience at the cost of actually making an interesting action game, which is why Ninja Gaiden 3 was such an utter train-wreck. Nioh, if nothing else, though, proves that they are still capable of making a challenging but fun game with deep mechanics even in a post-Itagaki era.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 04, 2020, 04:10:31 AM
Quote from: Avaitor on November 03, 2020, 03:29:41 PM
I'm trying to decide if I want to buy the No More Heroes remasters, or wait until I can go back to my mom's place to get my Wii and copy of the first. I was thinking of bringing it anyway since I've been wanting to replay Twilight Princess for a while, as well as try a couple of other games I have for it but haven't touched, like NSMBWii and REmake. So I may just look into buying the second on the Switch, unless I can find a Wii copy for a good price.
No More Heroes 1 is your call, but you should definitely get the Switch version of 2 instead, as the original release has a nasty bug where a certain boss will hard-crash your console until you unplug it from the wall, making a terrifying noise when it happens. I played the game three times myself and watched a friend play it once, and it happened on 3/4 of those playthroughs, so it isn't exactly uncommon. This was fixed in the Japanese version which I'm sure has carried over into the remaster.

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 03, 2020, 05:12:13 PM
I will say that my first playthrough of the game was a complete mess. Not in terms of the game design itself but rather how deceptively deep it's mechanics are and me not being prepared for it's arcade-style continue system. I am used to more standard checkpoint system like most other action games, so it felt awkward to either have to accept continuing where I left off after a death as if I were popping another quarter into the arcade machine or manually restart from the last checkpoint, which could be a long way off. The latter could be punishing but the former felt far less satisfying. That said, I think what got me through it was, beyond the fact that it's a Platinum game directed by Hideki Kamiya (which means that it has to have more to it than what's on the surface), I had also heard from several reliable sources that I follow that it was best to treat the first playthrough as a tutorial and just have fun with it no matter how badly you do (and I performed really atrociously on my first playthrough). After beating it once I looked up some tutorial videos from better players to get a better grasp on the mechanics. While you could certainly fault the game for having a steep learning curve (even by Platinum's standards) and really requiring you to have quite a few essential purchased upgrades to stand a better chance in some scenarios, it really does feel incredibly engaging once you start understanding the game on it's terms. There's a unique sort of rhythm to the combat and the squad-based mechanics that you utilize which feels like nothing else out there once it all finally clicks together. What's best, though, is that you are constantly learning new things about the enemies and bosses well after your first playthrough that makes the combat continue to feel so interesting and rarely ever repetitive or dull. For instance, I didn't even know that you could recruit certain enemies into your team until well into my second playthrough. The game is just layered with great mechanics to uncover which is what most of my favorite games have in common.

One thing I will say in case you don't already know, but if you ever do get back into the game, whenever you use the mixer don't waste any of it on items since you have unlimited continues anyways and using either one decreases your rank, so you might as well just use the free continues if you need to. Instead, save up all of you ingredients for the credit card as it makes buying the more expensive abilities and power-ups in the game SO much easier and you can get them MUCH earlier than you would if you were saving up the credits for them. Likewise, make sure to get the Energy Converter if you don't already have it as well as Ukemi and Speed Charge. Both make the game SUBSTANTIALLY more forgiving when it comes to taking damage without ruining your rank (Ukemi even allows you to Pure Platinum a fight even after getting hit if you use a well-time Ukemi to negate that damage). Energy Converter in particular is useful since it will heal you as you attack enemies if your battery power is already full. And Speed Charge is essential for refilling your battery quickly if you don't want to be constantly stuck in situations where you're just hanging back for half a minute or so avoiding enemies since you don't have enough battery to dodge, use Unite Guts, or form any substantial attacks. It makes the recharge time so much quicker and really speeds up the pace of fights considerably to the point where it just flat-out makes the game way more fun, IMO.
Thank you so much for the advice! I was absolutely terrible at the game when I tried it too, and I'm sure your tips will make it much more fun for me, even if I'm still bad. :joy:

QuoteI did! I'm pretty sure that fighting Ongra nearly broke my thumbs! :joy:

I have only beaten it once, though, and much like Bayonetta 2, I do really want to go back to it for more playthroughs to really master it's great combat system. The only reason I didn't, in this case, was because the way God Hand handles difficulty settings basically means you can't tackle Hard mode (which is what I'd normally do in a game like this) until you have completely mastered Normal mode. Not once did I ever get above enemies at Level 3 on Normal, and seeing as how Hard locks them into Level Die which I could never reach naturally myself, I'm clearly not ready for it. That said, this is also another really unique and interesting action game that is unlike anything else out there. I also think that, in terms of difficulty, people do it a disservice by making it seem like some impossible game to beat much like with games like NGB. It's definitely challenging, but aside from certain scenario fights and boss fights, it's pretty fair and can definitely be managed once you have a solid grasp of the core basic principles of the mechanics.
Yeah the final boss was brutal for me too. :il_hahaha: A lot of people say he's easier than Azel right before him but I definitely don't agree. The game is challenging for sure and has some pretty rough roadblock boss fights but I never thought it felt unfair except for a couple times near the end. I was pretty much locked on level 2 during my first playthrough and was able to get into level 3 regularly on my second, sometimes hitting level die (which would, in turn, cause me to die). I haven't dared tried hard yet, and since it's been so long, I might be back to square one on my next playthrough. :butbut: I bought something called a Retro Tink for my PS2, which makes the games look waaaaay better on my HDTV without input lag, so I'm finally getting back into that catalogue, and I've been itching to replay God Hand now that I can do so easily.

QuoteAs for No More Heroes, I will respond to you on that and expand with more of my thoughts as I play more of it, but I will say that it's more "bizarre" gameplay elements so far clearly have an intended purpose behind them rather than just being there to be a "wacky" Suda game. I'm not even familiar with other Suda works but I can already tell that this criticism which I've heard about the game from some of his detractors is a complete misreading of designer intention. Personally, I have my own take on why these sections are included, but I'll save it for when I've played more of the game to really assess if I still hold that interpretation by the end.
There's a lot of BS design in Suda's games, but at least in the ones he directed himself I would say there's a reason for it to be there and often it just adds to the charm for me. Grasshopper games would never win awards for their mechanical depth or level design but I've loved just about every one of them. Something about their style is incredibly appealing to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on November 04, 2020, 05:42:18 PM
Ah damn, thanks for letting me know about that with NMH 2. I'll hit that up on the Switch.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 04, 2020, 07:58:20 PM
Quote from: Foggle on November 04, 2020, 04:10:31 AMThank you so much for the advice! I was absolutely terrible at the game when I tried it too, and I'm sure your tips will make it much more fun for me, even if I'm still bad. :joy:

For what it's worth I still consider myself bad at the game. :sweat:

That said, the appeal of Platinum's video game titles in general (save for the few occasional duds) is creating mechanically fun games that can entertain you on a surface level but make you want to get better at them. While something like Bayonetta or Vanquish arguably does this better since it is much easier to grasp the basics of those games (IMO), I think that The Wonderful 101 fulfills that drive within me even better than those games, since the real skill of the game comes in using your Unite Morphs as intuitively and creatively as possible rather than being really good at high-level skills or having twitch reflexes. To be clear, I love both Bayonetta and Vanquish to death, and both also reward creativity and don't rely solely on reflex-based skills (as I was able to clear the hardest difficulty on Bayonetta without really being all that great at the combat system even by my third playthrough), while TW101 absolutely has insane things that are possible in it which my level of skill could never pull off. However, I do feel it skews more towards being smart with the use of your abilities and less towards how fast you can perform certain inputs.

Oh, and I'm not sure how far you got when you originally played it, but you definitely need to play it to the end if only to witness one of the greatest finales in video game history (again, IMO). It's some of the most hype shit I've ever seen, EVEN by Platinum's standards.

QuoteYeah the final boss was brutal for me too. :il_hahaha: A lot of people say he's easier than Azel right before him but I definitely don't agree. The game is challenging for sure and has some pretty rough roadblock boss fights but I never thought it felt unfair except for a couple times near the end. I was pretty much locked on level 2 during my first playthrough and was able to get into level 3 regularly on my second, sometimes hitting level die (which would, in turn, cause me to die). I haven't dared tried hard yet, and since it's been so long, I might be back to square one on my next playthrough. :butbut: I bought something called a Retro Tink for my PS2, which makes the games look waaaaay better on my HDTV without input lag, so I'm finally getting back into that catalogue, and I've been itching to replay God Hand now that I can do so easily.

The funny thing is that I mostly found the big demonic forms of the Devas to be easier boss fights than their humanoid counterparts since they had such big hitboxes when it came to attacking them while having attacks that were way more forgiving in terms of how well telegraphed they were, whereas the human versions were typically much quicker and while not necessarily as hard-hitting, still felt dangerous and (IMO) more lethal in how they could combo your health down in a matter of seconds. However, as for the difficulty of the game in general, I feel that with the exception of a few legitimately unfair segments (mainly due to how the camera in this game works and some of the scenarios it puts you in which work against that set-up), most of the game is really fair. Likewise, the actual level segments are fairly short so you really aren't punished too much for dying. Usually you aren't sent back more than 5-minutes of gameplay, maybe more for longer stages, and replaying a stage goes by quick once you know what you're doing. Likewise, the game has tons of items and environmental props littered about that you can use to help you ranging from healing fruits to power-ups to things you can attack enemies with for major damage. So even if you aren't super adept at the combat system (and after only one playthrough I'm definitely far from good at it), the game still gives weaker players other alternatives to make it through tough situations. I feel like the people saying that the game is impossible are the types of players who don't ever try to use any of the things that the game gives them and just try to mash out powerful moves.

QuoteThere's a lot of BS design in Suda's games, but at least in the ones he directed himself I would say there's a reason for it to be there and often it just adds to the charm for me. Grasshopper games would never win awards for their mechanical depth or level design but I've loved just about every one of them. Something about their style is incredibly appealing to me.

So, honestly I think the "tedious" stuff in NMH, at least so far, actually works in the game's favor. Here's the thing: in most games this would simply be shameless padding. In this game....it is shameless padding, but it's also part of the game's thesis (at least in my interpretation so far). This is very much a commentary on the medium of video games itself and gamer culture and maybe nerd culture in general, from Travis's Otaku-style apartment to his Star Wars-esque beam katana to the obvious retro-game homages in many of the game's aesthetics. And of course you already mentioned the GTA knock-off open world design and various other things that were popular in games at the time. But I also feel that it sort of works as a commentary on some of the very gamers who play the game and are huge fans of gaming themselves. The Ranking Battles represent the actual core or meat of the game and are the parts you want to get to since they are the fun bits, but you need to put up with the everyday rigors of real-life to get the the stuff that you want to do, which in this game is represented by menial tasks such as gathering fruits or mowing lawns, among other things. I think what hit me about that is it immediately made me think of my life right now, which may just be me reading too much into it, but the comparison still works for me. I work a daily job that can be very tedious and sometimes highly stressful and emotionally draining on tougher days, and getting to play these games and watch movies or doing other nerdy stuff that I love is my form of escape from that and what I look forward to. Keep in mind that I'm also living by myself right now as most of my family lives in New Jersey (which I'm trying to find a job in so I can move back there but COVID-19 makes that way harder than it already is).

Playing this game immediately reminded me of my own everyday life, which may not have been Suda's exact intention for all I know as it wouldn't apply to everyone playing the game, but it does still apply to me at this moment all the same. All of that is to say that, those more traditional "video game" segments of NMH serve as a way to examine the psychological implications of those indulgent fantasies that we love escaping into so much. The first mission starts out about as fun and over-the-top as you would expect, with the first boss being mostly what you would typically expect from an action game. The second boss, however, introduces a trace of subtlety to his motives when you piece together that he became an assassin for money for the benefit of his family but that only served to estrange him from his daughter. You still kill him off all the same but the idea that you can kill someone who is not 100% evil is introduced in there. The third fight with Shinobu (which is where I've gotten up to this point) isn't played for any sort of laughs and the scene where Travis cuts her arm off is clearly intended to be excruciatingly painful and not a moment of triumph in the slightest. Her begging him to end her life and him opting to spare her is a great way of introducing an element of conflict into what you have been doing up to now. As a gamer you are escaping from the tedium of the menial chores of life by jumping into a highly fictionalized world in which you indulge in the punishment of others by exacting violence on them. However, in the world of NMH, this is all Travis's reality, and therefore the player's reslity, and it really makes you think of the fucked-up nature of it in this context.

What's great, though, is that it's clear that Suda is still an avid fan of games and is celebrating games as much as he is critiquing them. With NMH in particular, it feels much to video games what a Grant Morrison run is to comic books (particularly something like Animal Man). It brings up a very interesting meta-textual idea about the medium itself but isn't outright condemning that medium either. I don't think it's Suda's intention to say: "don't enjoy this game." Rather, I think the idea is to use the context of NMH to examine the thing that we love and maybe learn a little about ourselves in the process. Perhaps try to find the enjoyment in some of the more menial day-to-day stuff in conjunction with the thing you view as the fun bits.

Again, I'm probably off-base with this based on my lack of experience with Suda, and how I've not made all that much progress in the game, but it's impressive the little that I've played of it managed to inspire this much thought in me, so it definitely gets major props from me for that.

Also, as for the criticism that the game is padded with unfun side-jobs that you have to do in-between missions, I actually find that it helps keep the game from feeling monotonous. Let's be honest, the combat is fun and the boss fights are actually interestingly designed so far and easily the highlight of the game's mechanics; though, Shinobu having a move with an indefinite range that can clip through geometry and almost always insta-kill you towards the end of the fight is kind of BS, IMO. That said, it lacks the depth of a Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, and would easily feel monotonous if you just played through the Ranking Battles back-to-back. The side jobs help pace out the game, are usually pretty short and easy to do (at least so far), and up to this point the game hasn't every really made me grind for the money to enter the next Ranking Battle. Ususally two jobs with a gold-medal rank will get you what you need, and even if you have to do more than that it's still maybe thirty-minutes of gameplay tops. I don't really have an issue with it, though I could maybe imagine that changing somewhat if it does become too grindy for some of the later missions, though it would undoubtedly work with the general themes of the game, I suppose.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on November 05, 2020, 02:51:29 AM
My opinion on NMH differs slightly but I still think you're dead on with a lot of what you wrote, and of course it can have different meanings to different people too. It's not subtle but it is nuanced and is much more effective than most games that are "trying to make a point" because it doesn't scorn the player (just trolls them a bit). It's a very dense game with a lot to dissect but succeeds because the surface level is also good and appealing, which is rare for artsy games, as most forego fun gameplay altogether. I'm glad you're having a good time with it!

Side note: I think Shinobu is probably one of the harder bosses in all honesty, mostly because she forces you to learn how to successfully counterattack. I think it's a well-designed fight for the most part but one-hit moves like that are always a pain.

And I totally agree about the bosses in God Hand. Maybe I'd just improved a lot but I was shocked by how easy some of those demon forms were!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 07, 2020, 09:50:40 PM
I forgot to mention this, but I beat Twilight Princess a while ago. This is definitely Ocarina of Time 2.0, which means different things depending on who you are, but for me that's certainly not a bad thing. As for my overall thoughts on the game, though, I really enjoyed it but it is admittedly very derivative of what came before it. On the one hand that gave the developers the chance to fine-tune what they already knew how to do well from past experiences, which they mostly succeed at, but that also comes with the caveat of having no real surprises in store for seasoned Zelda players. Still, while people are always gushing about how Breath of the Wild brought Zelda back to it's roots (which is an accolade that I agree with, mind you), people tend to overlook that other games in the franchise weren't bad simply because they weren't open world. For how linear some of these games were, they still boasted creative dungeons and a great system of progression throughout their worlds that made them such big hits in the first place.

Breath of the Wild did a great job of bringing back elements of Zelda that had been ignored for far too long and modernized them for a current generation of gamers. However, in doing so it also lost some of what other Zelda games had excelled at in place of having more freedom for exploration, and thus doesn't make any past entries obsolete by any means, and Twilight Princess is proof of that (at least for me). Of course I'm still appreciative of Breath of the Wild and look forward to whatever Nintendo does next with the series. Hopefully they find a way to integrate some of the better design elements of older 3D Zelda games into the mix without significantly compromising Breath of the Wild's sense of freedom.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 26, 2020, 03:37:20 PM
Trails of Cold Steel 4

I've been neglecting everything (game-wise and forums) due to this series. I guess you can say I'm bordering addiction, but for a different reason. While the story is still good, it's the customization that got me. It feels like I'm near the end of the game, with the events that I went through only to find out that I'm only on Act 2. The problem I'm seeing here is that it's getting to overwhelming levels of customizing. There's being so much thrown at me and I'm beginning to have a hard time on what I want to tackle first. Do I go for unlocking slots first for everyone (the largest cast of characters I've ever seen in a RPG) or do I go for trying to get quartz level 3's? Both points to ridiculous amounts of grinding. This would be an easier decision if the game didn't throw you into combat with characters you'd rather not use.

I've got a lot to catch up on when it comes to fighting games. There was an UMvC3 tournament ran by Maximilian Dood this past Monday and while I haven't watched all of it yet, it did motivate me to get back into it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 21, 2020, 05:27:12 PM
Trails of Cold Steel 4
Almost a month later and I'm near the end. Literally, the date in the game says "finale" but there's a lot of touch up stuff that I've been doing (cooking, side missions, etc), but like other JRPG's I am hitting that fatigue factor. I probably could've had the game beat yesterday, but I started experiencing the fatigue then. I do love the series though, and this probably would've hit me more had I started with the very 1st Trails game. I do plan to play it eventually, but as of right now there's a lot of things I have to do in order to make that possible (in terms of setting up my room and whatnot). Whatever on that though. I still enjoyed my time with this series specifically.

Again, I personally think this series can be in contention with the upper echelon of RPG's in terms of "best or top rpg series". I'd probably put it right behind Final Fantasy and Persona (I think I also prefer ToCS over Dragon Quest at this moment as well)

With all the characters in the game I do like that they let you play whoever you want in your party despite at some points in the game there are character locks and the bulk of guest characters you can't customize which is a downer. There were a couple of guest characters I wanted to try Gungnir + Minotaurus on but they had other Master Quartz locked in place.

Like all my games I usually play through a 2nd or 3rd time and this one is no different, but I probably won't do a 2nd play through immediately after beating it.

Anyway, Christmas break is coming (last day of work is this Wednesday and I don't go back till the 4th) and I plan to have this game beat before this weekend. As for what's next. I've had the urge to go back to playing Ghosts of Tsushima (might be my game of the year), and I saw some hand or claw combat in Nioh 2 making me want to start that game up as well. I'm also a masochist and I like torturing myself with Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 (OH GOD, I'm already remembering why I stopped playing). Poor Final Fantasy 7 Remake. It's gonna be a while before I get to it, although I'd rather play it in its completion.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 25, 2020, 02:38:28 PM
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Ghost of Tsushima
I LOVE THIS GAME despite giving up on it once before. I love stealth when you let me play stealth the way I want to. I hate it when I'm told not to kill anyone or raise an alarm. To me, that takes the fun out of it. I don't like just sneaking around with access to the equipment that I have and can't even use it. Anyway, I'm going to do all of the stealth missions up until I get the grappling hook. After that, hopefully I won't run into anymore of those missions.

As far as ToCS4 goes. I had enough, although I will come back to it some day. I had to free up some space (these 500GB PS4's are garbage).

I have GranBlue Fantasy Versus on the way. I don't know how he feels about them, but I want to get my brother-in-law into some anime fighters.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 29, 2020, 12:15:52 PM
I've been playing Super Metroid for the first time. Another one of those classics that it took me a couple of decades to get around to, but it's just as fresh and great to play to this day. At this point I defeated Draygon, the main boss of Maridia and am making my way back to Ridley. Though, first I'm going to scour a few previously inaccessible areas for more upgrades/power-ups.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 30, 2020, 07:07:30 PM
Taking a little break from Ghost of Tsushima for a little bit. Went back to playing Persona 5 Royal. It might be the spur of the moment but I think I like the Trails series over Persona. Persona looks better than Trails but in Trails I can customize all of or majority of the characters. Not to mention I like all of the characters in Trails while in Persona 5, two characters nearly ruin the game for me. "Realism" or how relatable a character is never don't matter to me in this instance.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 14, 2021, 08:18:40 AM
After owning it for nearly a year, now, I've finally started playing Metroid Prime (GC version since Trilogy for the Wii is ludicrously overpriced by third-party vendors). Much like RE4, the control scheme took some getting used to since this was before genre controls for shooters were standardized like they are today. That said, the controls work for the type of game that this is once you learn to just rely on lock-on shooting most of the time.

The game is pretty much Super Metroid's formula applied to a first person perspective, and yeah, that's enough for it to live up to the hype. I'm enjoying the exploration and atmosphere of the game, as well as the soundtrack. So far I only really have two minor complaints. One is that if you fall into acid or lava, it is a pain in the ass to get out to the point where I usually opt to just quit and restart if I am not close enough to a reachable platform. The other is with the first major boss fight where you fight the plant creature in Chozo Ruins. Every time you damage it you get a drop of missile refills along with some health. The problem is that they disappear from the screen much quicker than normal so if you don't grab them right away you lose that refill. It doesn't help that it tends to use an attack to block off your path for a few seconds as well. The health I don't really need as much since I already had three energy tanks when taking on the boss, but the missile refills were definitely something that made the fight so much more tolerable since it takes too long to shoot out the lights with your normal blaster. It's a real pain in the ass to fight this boss if you're out of missiles, and this early in the game it's really easy to run out. Just seemed like a weird design choice to me. Either way I still managed to defeat the boss, and I also gained access to the Magmoor Caverns and Phendrana Drifts. The exploration really opens up after the Chozo Ruins.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 17, 2021, 11:31:41 PM
Still playing Metroid Prime, though not much to update until I beat it. I think it's safe to say that I really like it, though.

I did manage to beat the NES Metroid in my spare time with the use of a walkthrough and limited save states in key areas (so as to at least preserve some level of challenge). The walkthrough, for obvious reasons, was necessary if I actually wanted to beat this game without spending days on end trying to navigate the map through old-school Nintendo's cryptic bullshit (much like Zelda on the NES). The save states were a necessarily evil because fuck it if I was going to utilize that obnoxious password system. I would've gone without save states if the game had a built-in save functionality like Zelda did.

Either way, though, it was more as a way to get an idea of what the game was than to truly experience it as it was originally intended. To be honest, I'm glad that I did because I don't think that I could put up with the more annoying aspects of the game design otherwise. I respect the game for what it is and what it started and influenced, but it's definitely a relic of time, in my eyes.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on January 18, 2021, 05:34:09 PM
So Walmart is selling the next DLC chapter of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker... except apparently it's selling you the whole game for the price of DLC. So you can literally get a whole Nintendo game for $4.

This wasn't even on my radar, but I couldn't say no. :happytime:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 19, 2021, 10:16:23 AM
Finally got back to Breath of the Wild to tackle the DLC Packs as far as the main content goes. Trial of the Sword was kind of like that one Shrine Quest in the base game where you are stripped of all of your gear and non-key items and have to reach the end goal with your character starting from scratch. Except in this case you are also stripped of the Champion's abilities, and instead of traversing an environment you are basically stuck in a gauntlet of challenge rooms. It's really not my cup of tea since the challenge comes more from having to endure long stretches of gameplay with no checkpoints or ability to save your progress in-between. I still completed it, though.

The next DLC is Champion's Ballad and so far I only did the first part with the one-hit obliterator. This was a much more engaging challenge than the gauntlet structure of Trial of the Sword. You can use pretty much anything at your disposal aside from the Champion's abilities, but you will be killed by anything in one hit. Of course, the challenge is mitigated by the fact that you can save whenever you want, but it still allows the player to tackle this however they want and think of creative solutions around seemingly tough situations, which is much more fitting for a Zelda game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 30, 2021, 02:13:54 PM
I'm done with Trails. Had a blast but I think I'm finally ready to move on. Getting back into the fighting games. I would love to hop on the Guilty Gear Accent Core +R train but I'm working on things on my end to make that possible. I'm going to get my internet provider to rearrange my phone line so I can get a wired connection.

That being said, I am currently installing Spider-Man: Miles Morales onto my PS4. I also have Fenix: Immortals Rising as well as Genshin Impact that I have to get to. But as far as Miles Morales goes, I was definitely split on the OG game. Loved swinging but wasn't convinced about the combat that much but still had fun with it. I hated the stealth portions. The side stuff, the combat portions kept me entertained, but chasing birds, get out of here. I'm hoping and hearing that Miles don't have any of that so I'm looking forward to it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 30, 2021, 02:45:27 PM
I'm going to be brutally honest and say that I've come to terms with the fact that I'm just not a fan of Spider-Man on the PS4 and probably won't feel any different about Miles Morales. For that matter, I'm not a fan of the Arkham games either. The combat is dull and shallow, the stories are fairly average at best, and they tend to just recycle formulas established by other game franchises that had executed them much better to begin with.

And that's fine. I certainly don't begrudge other people for enjoying these games, but I prefer games that can genuinely excel at one or two things than games that can competently do every popular trend at the time without having any single feature about it stand-out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 30, 2021, 06:59:01 PM
You like what you like. Nothing wrong with that. I think I said it once before. There's a certain feeling that I get from the Arkham games when it comes to combat. The impact of certain hits that just make it feel like there's a lot of weight behind each button press. Spider-Man, not so much, but I do think the combat is fun (when I'm trying not to play it like it's an Arkham game). The best way I can describe it is akin to Ryu's Metsu Shoryuken in USF4. You just had a stressful day at work and decide to come home and play a few games in rank only to be annoyed by this one annoying, we'll say a Blanka player that's trolling you. That Blanka player slips up and you let him have it. That first gut punch letting that Blanka know that you are sick of his shit, and that uppercut to the chin is pure bliss (in the back of my mind I'm saying "I'm GONE KNOCK THIS MOTHAFUCKA OUT"). Probably not to that degree since you are playing against someone in USF4 instead of mindless enemies.

Also fighting some limitations. I can't do the finger gymnastics like I used to. Sure, I can still play DMC and Nioh and enjoy it, but not like I want to. These controllers are not nearly as comfortable these days which is why I switched to a hitbox for fighting games.

I don't even play FPS anymore cause they mess with my eyes a lot. Almost to the point of motion sickness.

A lot of that came out of nowhere  :sweat:, but I gotcha.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 30, 2021, 08:36:41 PM
Right, and I totally get why people enjoy it. I more or less am indifferent to those games since they don't do anything for me personally, but I think it's still great for people who want that kind of experience. The last thing I want to be is one of those snobs who just immediately looks down on anything that's not for me as an inferior product.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 01, 2021, 05:33:11 PM
Quick update to Genshin Impact. Like the Breath of the Wild look but that's about it. I should've known what I was getting into when you had to choose between brother and sister. It's too anime for me, but a lot of that is coming from the fatigue of the Trails series and Persona. Unfair but that's where I'm at (Not to mention I'm bout ready to hop back into Persona 5 Royal. Something about making an overpowered Yoshitzune is bliss).

I think I'm going to hold off on Fenix: Immortals Rising for that very same reason despite it being closer to what I'm looking for.

That being said, Spider-Man: Miles Morales finally finished installing but I probably won't get to it until the weekend.

In the meantime I've been hitting training mode in USF4. I've done some Cody, Ryu and Dudley training. Honestly, I've been sort of rejuvenated to play all fighting games I can get my hands on, except Mortal Kombat. I respect those players but the way the blockstring setup is, I can't get used to that at all. Despite not caring for Smash Bros at all, if I had a Smash Box I would probably try to play that as well (Sephiroth being 1-B to Vergil being 1-A favorite character and whatnot)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on February 02, 2021, 03:29:35 PM
Quote from: Mustang on February 01, 2021, 05:33:11 PM
Quick update to Genshin Impact. Like the Breath of the Wild look but that's about it. I should've known what I was getting into when you had to choose between brother and sister. It's too anime for me, but a lot of that is coming from the fatigue of the Trails series and Persona. Unfair but that's where I'm at (Not to mention I'm bout ready to hop back into Persona 5 Royal. Something about making an overpowered Yoshitzune is bliss).
I feel similarly about Genshin, but I don't think it being overtly anime is the problem... it's more that it's, like, non-descript anime. It doesn't really have an interesting or unique art style. I saw a tweet where someone said the models all look like they were randomly generated and I think that's spot on. Every character has the same body type and face, especially the men, and you can only tell them apart because of their clothes and hair. Then you get an hour or two in and it hits you like a truck with the multiple different types of paid gacha. The gameplay and world design are doing their best Breath of the Wild impression but it all comes up short in every way that makes a Nintendo game good. Really do not understand the hype behind this title unless you mainly play mobile or free-to-play games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 02, 2021, 06:21:57 PM
I immediately thought about it after I posted. "Too anime" feels like I'm taking a jab at anime and that wasn't what I was aiming for. I just couldn't think of anything better to describe the feeling I was getting.  :sweat:

But I agree. The hype behind it I'm not feeling it at all. I think what got me on board in the first place was the overall look of the game when the look isn't what I shouldn't have focused on to begin with. What I wanted from other developers to take from Breath of the Wild was the scope/scale/size of its world.

And now that I'm really thinking about it, I'm really looking at Fenix sideways now. We'll see. I'll try (probably) it out the weekend.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 07, 2021, 03:28:03 PM
Ubisoft screwed themselves with this register thing that's been keeping me from playing Fenix. It's unfortunate because it's literally keeping me from getting past the very first screen.

That being said I went back to playing Ultra Street Fighter 4. Back to my shoto roots with Ryu. I stayed away from him back in the day because he was definitely on the boring side. Nowadays I have the urge to play and practice footsies and, well, who better to train with than the footsie teacher.

Edit:

I was watching some Street Fighter x Tekken matches at work and was instantly reminded why I stopped caring for the game. To none of the players faults because I get it. In fighting games you're suppose to maximize your damage whenever possible. In this game these players (specifically Japan players, to be even more blunt, Kazuya and Xiaohu players) make the game so boring to watch because it's the same Dorya, Dorya combo (or whatever max damaging combo). It's bad when you're more excited for the mixup or setup than the actual combo itself. It's my own fault because all of these videos are 7-8 years old and no doubt the tech has changed since then. Unfortunately, though, no one is playing the characters that I'm interested in so I have to go back to these old videos to study.

With watching these videos I have learned that no one is really playing the style I'm looking for either. Some would call it UNGA UNGA or a nut, but I'd probably call it constant rushdown and relentless pressure. In USF4 there's Dudley, Yun, EVil Ryu, Oni, Makoto and Cammy (characters that make you scared to push buttons). In x Tekken the only ones I'm seeing is Hwoarang (for sure) and possibly Jin but I don't want to use them on the same team. Dudley might be another one but he's very disappointing in this game. I also think he's under explored because he may be capable of more than what I've seen. I don't think anyone has even attempted to try going for some of Smugs combos (granted a lot of them you can't due to FADC, but even then there are still some that no one has attempted)

Edit 2:

Watching more videos at work of Street Fighter x Tekken. Still seeing more or less of the same problem, or rather, I don't want to call it a problem because where I'm at in these videos you can see the progression and see more people adding in different types of combos (mainly using their meter for combos instead of saving up for supers). I do have to take back calling Japanese players boring in this game because it's not just them. They're playing it safe whereas my play-style involves more flash and risk. I have no issues with people wanting to be as optimal as can be, but me, I have to style because I'm going to get bored quickly going for the same combos over and over.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on February 24, 2021, 03:30:03 PM
As of late, I've been rotating through a handful of games at a time, taking turns with what I play when I get a chance. The titles I'm currently playing include:

Animal Crossing- I told myself that I'd stop playing the game as regularly as I was when I picked up a more consistent work schedule, and when I got my new job in September, that's what happened. I went from playing every day, to once or twice a week, to maybe just 2-3 times a month tops. As I've mentioned before, I don't think this is everything the new AC could have been, but it's still a relaxing time. The last time I played it was during my day off on President's Day, which I didn't realize was also the first day of Carnivale. So I got to make Pave a few feathers and got some neat Carnivale swag. That was pretty cool!

Sundered- This is basically a metroidvania with Lovecraftian influences, which is 100% my thing. But I suck at it, and can't last more than 10 minutes alive, so I keep picking it up for about 30 minutes, and drop it. I do enjoy it, although I'm not as impressed by the customizability. I tend to be a bit of a meat and potatoes fighter, so that doesn't matter as much to me.

Superhot- I'm having fun with this one too, a FPS that's basically a puzzle game. It's set almost entirely in slow motion- the more you move, the more likely you are to be attacked, and one hit will kill you. So it involves needing to find the right angle to shoot or hit your opponents. It can be a little frustrating, but I can get the hype.

Xenoblade Chronicles- I'm finally getting around to this. I'm normally not a big RPG person. It takes one or two really strong elements to get me hooked on one, ideally strong combat, music, or characters. But here, the battle system is just fine, the music is just fine, and the characters are just acceptable. Still, I'm going at it.

Although I just noticed that the story of the game is basically just Star Fox Adventures. Just replace the furry stuff with steampunk aesthetics, and replace the Zelda-esq gameplay with modern Final Fantasy combat. The dinosaurs are definitely still there.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 28, 2021, 06:10:40 PM
Persona 5 Royal
Not much to really say about it. I know last time I played it I was disappointed in how they implemented the new characters, but I understood it. Now I'm just playing it because I was in the mood for it. Not to mention I just wanted to build an overpowered Yoshitzune. I also found out that one of the DLC Persona's is flat out broken and I love it for what I'm doing because it allows me to fly through everything.

Granblue Fantasy Versus
This one is weird. I get what ASW is doing here and while I have no problems with it per se, I still find it weird. I haven't played much of it at all either, but from what I've tried out, it suffers from the same thing DBFz suffers from. This "always online" thing. It's irritating especially for someone who just want to spend time in training mode at the moment. If I can fault ASW for anything it's this forcing everyone online despite a lot of people having wi-fi internet (for whatever their reason may be). Ethernet is not an option for me at the moment. Regardless of all that, whatever happened to letting people just play without all of that lobby crap? I can already see Guilty Gear Strive suffering from the same thing.

Edit:

Persona 5 Strikers
I've played roughly about 2 hours of it and threw in the towel. There are some games that shouldn't be turned into a Musou game and the Persona series is one of them. And this is coming from someone that likes Musou games. The problem I'm having with this game much like other IP's being turned into Musou games is the combat. Where I find all of the fun in Musou games (particularly Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi) is the thousand of enemies that I can just pummel. I understand what Koei was doing. Trying to bring in some of the mechanics from Persona 5. To me, that don't work.

That being said, I'm not calling the game bad by any stretch. Hell, the game is right up my alley. Personally, I'd rather Atlus just add this as another story and keep it as turn-based combat (there's a new character in Strikers that's just adorable) to Royal. For this game it's more of bad timing than anything. More and more of these obscured games that I play are going to get sidelined, especially with Guilty Gear Strive coming out next month. This would've been my go to game when I need a break from fighting games but there are other games that deserve more of my attention than this one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 13, 2021, 10:20:29 PM
Been watching streamers play Among Us. Some of them been using mods and the chaos has been awesome. This game might be the greatest / craziest party game ever.

Edit:

So to my surprise to see that Bandai Namco is still supporting Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 I decided to fire it up once again. I did remember why I stopped playing right away but I'm going to try and stick to it for a little. Bounce between this and Persona 5 Royal. I don't know how many updates there've been since the last time I played (I think Ultra Instinct Goku was released) but the A.I. is more aggressive than I remember. Not a bad thing, but I do remember getting through 3 and 4 stars quests fairly easily, but then again there was always that Android quest that got under my skin a bit. Anyway, I made a saiyan. Level 66-68 I think and just finished beating Cell saga.

As for Persona 5 Royal, I forgot the levels of my party, but I am at 5th palace. The build up to get to this palace always bug me because of a certain incident between 2 characters (all of it was dumb), making me do things I didn't want to do. 99% of this game is great just this 1% that's bad is here lol.

While it's on my mind, I was watching an old Kizzie Kay stream of BlazBlue Central Fiction yesterday. The guy he was playing against, I can't remember his name for nothing but he (Kizzie's opponent) was playing Naoto. In Kizzie's chat, someone mentioned that the guy was the GOAT Naoto. I don't know how true that is but the guy was amazing and inspiring. What made it even more impactful on me was that I saw my guy Dudley as Naoto. Naoto's gameplay looks very similar to Dudley. Both corner carry's are strong. Both can combo from an overhead. And both have frame traps for days. What makes it even better for Naoto is that he hits hard as well (you can feel the impact too). The only turn off I'm hearing from people is that he is execution heavy. Dudley is also execution heavy. Hell, the way I see it just about every character I play or like is execution heavy (Johnny GG anyone).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 18, 2021, 01:16:58 PM
I got around to finishing Mario 3D World for the Switch, and it's been delightful from start to finish. Really nails down the pure fun factor of the classics. I wouldn't call it one of my favorites in the series (for me, it's a race to the top between Odyssey and the Galaxy games, followed closely by 3 and World), but that's fair considering the high standards of the series. It's a great game.

Just as good, if not even better, was Bowser's Fury. It does feel more like a DLC that recycles the 3D World assets into something new, but that's fine by me. I love the open and exploration element that Odyssey combined with platforming, and this took that a step further by making it almost completely non-linear.

Also, I recently played Bioshock Infinite for the first time thanks to a PS4 re-release, and... it was something. I had a great time in the first half of the game (even if it didn't feel like Bioshock), but it really lost me more and more through the second half.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: talonmalon333 on March 18, 2021, 01:22:58 PM
Quote from: Mustang on March 13, 2021, 10:20:29 PM
Been watching streamers play Among Us. Some of them been using mods and the chaos has been awesome. This game might be the greatest / craziest party game ever.


It's wonderful. That's been the Zoom party game for me and my friends for a while. Admittedly, we haven't been playing it as much lately. Now, we work together through rounds of GeoGuesser. However, I'm sure it'll be back in our rotation before long.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 18, 2021, 05:49:08 PM
Yeah, I never even bothered to finish BioShock: Infinite. I'm just not a fan of the direction the gameplay went in, especially with how much more versatile the combat and enemy encounters in BioShock 2 were. In that regard it felt like a step back. I also found the enemy encounters to get more obnoxious as the game progresses as opposed to being a fun challenge. The story didn't resonate with me either and felt overly-preachy with a false attempt at depth. The Matthewmatosis video review of this game sums up most of my thoughts on it perfectly.

I've been playing Majora's Mask on the 3DS (which I know is the inferior version to the N64 original in certain aspects, but was my only option at the time) and I've pretty much completed 100% of the content from the main dungeons to the side quests, other than the final four heart pieces, Fierce Diety's Mask, and Majora boss fight to end the game. I will obviously do all of those things in my next and last play session with the game. That said, it's fair to say that overall I do really appreciate the game and find it worthy of it's praise. It's a strong case for why the more old-school 3D Zelda approach isn't rendered obsolete in any way by Breath of the Wild, as some people seem to claim. I'd be fine with the new style co-existing with a more traditional one, or Nintendo finding a certain balance between BotW's freedom and MM's more intimate and involved NPC's and story-telling as well as superior dungeon design (all four in this game are pretty fantastic, in my book).

That said, even though it's the popular thing these days to say that this is a superior game to Ocarina of Time in every way (which I can completely understand), I still personally find OoT to be my favorite 3D Zelda game. That doesn't mean that I can't be objective and recognize it's faults or how other games improve on it, but something about it's coming of age theme and general world design just resonates a bit stronger on a personal and emotional level to me. Obviously that's just my own preference, but again, MM definitely deserves it's praise and it's good to see so many people give the game it's due. I just wish it wasn't so often a point where people use their love of that game to shit on it's predecessor so much, despite it laying much of the ground work that MM was built on in the first place.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 20, 2021, 11:13:20 AM
Quote from: talonmalon333 on March 18, 2021, 01:22:58 PM
Quote from: Mustang on March 13, 2021, 10:20:29 PM
Been watching streamers play Among Us. Some of them been using mods and the chaos has been awesome. This game might be the greatest / craziest party game ever.


It's wonderful. That's been the Zoom party game for me and my friends for a while. Admittedly, we haven't been playing it as much lately. Now, we work together through rounds of GeoGuesser. However, I'm sure it'll be back in our rotation before long.

Yeah, I think if I were to play it right now, proximity chat would have to be included at the very least. Sheriff, Joker, etc are nice cherries, but not a necessity for me to play. I don't think I've ever heard of GeoGuesser though. If it can cause chaos I'm for it though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 25, 2021, 04:13:35 PM
Y's IX
I've never played a Y's game before but I've always had my eyes on the series since the PS2 days (unfortunately at that time the games cost a nice penny and I had no job at the time), but never bothered to get into them. Even this game is nothing special, but it satisfies me. The controls are simple and the combat is basic but it's what I expected so I am enjoying it (far more than most AAA titles these days)

Truth be told though, like usual, I watch more videos than I actually play these days but I refuse to watch people play single player games. I've been watching KizzieKay play numerous fighting games but mostly Guilty Gear XXAC+R and King of Fighters 13. I didn't forget but my God, KoF13 still looks so good. And watching him (and other content creators) do these trials has been getting me back in the mood for that game.

That being said I've arrived at a interesting predicament. I would say over the past 6-7 months I've been thinking about making the transition of being a console gamer to PC gamer. That's mainly because console just haven't been doing anything for me. AAA titles don't do much for me and the majority of the games I play (fighting games) are being played on PC. This also stems from all of the rollback netcode talk and parsec talk on PC as of late and I'm missing out. All the single player games I play are also on PC (RPG's and MGS5). The only game I will actually miss is Persona 5 and hopefully that'll come someday.

So what exactly is the problem? I don't know where to begin or what to look for when it comes to PC. Say I have a budget of $700 where do I start? I don't plan on getting a monitor because I plan to hook it up to my tv and I'm assuming none of the fighting games are that large, but I suppose I'm looking for 1-2TB. Other than that, yeah I'm lost. Any help would be much appreciated.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 03, 2021, 11:11:26 AM
So, I've been replaying Half-Life 2 on the PC. Kind of funny how this was once a cutting edge game for it's time and I can now easily run it at max settings on a pretty average laptop (by 2021 standards). Not that I'm complaining though (I also have a strong craving to replay F.E.A.R. as well). Anyways, this game holds up remarkably well, outside of the platforming occasionally feeling kind of janky. Oddly enough, the game makes me think of Breath of the Wild, of all things, what with an intricate physics engine being a big part of the game and despite being linear, it let's you tackle most situations in just about any way that you see fit. It doesn't take long playing a game like this again to remind me of how limiting and patronizing most big budget modern games have become. Oddly enough, despite really being into the game back on the Orange Box, I don't think I gave it nearly enough credit. The design is phenomenal and it really speaks to Valve's expertise in how intuitive most of the game feels without having to condescend to the player by having a voice over point out where everything is and what to do at any given moment. Again, even though it's an odd comparison, it really does remind me of an old-school Zelda design philosophy in it's general approach to gameplay and guiding the player through the game in natural ways.

I'm up to Ravenholm now, and while I initially didn't like this level back when I first played it I think I have a bit of a newfound appreciation for it now. It's more frustrating if you don't know where to go or what to do, but otherwise it's a playground for you to get as creative as possible with the gravity gun and various different props.

Playing this also makes me a bit regretful that I simply won't likely be able to play Half-Life: Alyx for a long time to come since I don't have a PC good enough to run it and am not going to be able to spend up to $1,000 extra on top of that for a Valve VR headset (or even just a few hundred bucks for a generic VR headset that is compatible with the game).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 03, 2021, 08:31:02 PM
Got bored of Y's. Definitely the gameplay that started getting boring to me. Story-wise, it's your typical anime type of story. Gameplay is probably Kingdom Hearts-ish, maybe.

Not exactly sure what game I'm looking for. Outside of the usual fighting games I'm not feeling it at the moment. Let me add that Sony's not making it any easier either considering the garbage they're pulling. A lot of the game preservation don't effect me but at the same time, what's to say I won't have that urge to boot up one of them old games one day? Dare I say despite no exclusives Microsoft is actually handling everything better at the moment? I may just have to start firing up random games just to see if I can get motivated to play.

Getting deeper into Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2. Lots of studying going on. Trying to find all Johnny, Slayer and Venom players and form my own style of invoking fear. Think more along the lines of calculated or explosive rushdown. I can probably do that with Johnny and Slayer. Venom is going to be a probably considering his playstyle is completely different from anything I've ever played. Not to mention he's a charge character and I'm terrible with charge characters.

I don't plan on playing these games to try and prepare for Strive considering that Strive is completely different from Rev and AC. If anything, I'd probably say me playing Rev 2 is more of a preparation for AC when I switch to PC.

Also hoping BlazBlue Centralfiction gets rollback netcode implemented in the future.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 10, 2021, 04:05:37 PM
Street Fighter 5: Championship Edition
Zeku has been the character I've been using. I was about to bail on him until I saw this one player (BTM Gun Slingah) style with him. The one thing I find myself not caring about these days in fighting games in general is optimization (please do not follow my lead). Don't get me wrong you always want to go for whatever is optimal at any given point no matter the situation. My problem is I get bored very quickly so for me to keep going for the same combo over and over is a turn off, and I find it even more disappointing that in order to find that pleasure I have to play a selected handful of characters, whereas, I can't just pick up the character I want to play and go for unoptimized or stylish stuff. So like I said, Gun Slinga was what kept me going with Zeku and I'm actually motivated to put in time learning this character thoroughly (there's a reason why I gravitate to players like Smug and Sakonoko).

Ultra Street Fighter 4
I don't know how long I'm gonna stick with this one even though it's my favorite. At the moment I'm kind of using this game as training for Guilty Gear Strive. I know, I know, completely different games, but people are using the older GG's to try and prep them for Strive and I see Strive being more like USF4 considering the usage of meter. In general RC's is FADC, but the way I've seen RC's used in Strive reminds me a lot like how FADC's can be used in USF4. Hell, I can probably even say Street Fighter x Tekken considering how fast you build meter.

And then there's Among Us. For the most part I only watch Bruce Greene play with his friends because of the chaos that ensues. They've been playing with modifiers and boy it's been so chaotic and fun to watch. I have my grievances with Bruce some times because he has this mentality that he knows all or he's perfect, but it's nothing for the most part. I tried watching his Phasmophobia videos but my goodness he becomes unbearable to watch.

Other than Among Us, I am interested in Predator Hunting Ground as well as Dead by Daylight. Not on that competitive level I've been seeing but with a few friends kickin the shit.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 11, 2021, 12:51:18 PM
So, I'm a hypocrite who pretty much went against my own sensibilities and sense of reason, but I bought the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection. I don't really need it as I own a PS3 and already have NGS2 and could buy NGS by itself for cheaper (and I never plan to play NG3/RE again). Furthermore, these are bare bones ports with nothing of value added to them. I don't want to reward lazy effort with my money....but on the other hand I'm voting with my wallet because at the end of the day I don't want to say that I didn't show my support for the series.

Still, even if it's the Sigma versions, I was playing a bit of NGS 1 & 2 for fun and noticed two things: having the Switch versions, both games are surprisingly well-suited to handheld play, and even just reliving each title for a little bit reminds me of why I fucking adore these games so much, even after all these years (and even not being my preferred versions of either of them). It's not simply about good combat, but just how amazing these games still feel to play to this day. They are so fluid and responsive with such good enemy design that it instantly reminds me of why I miss these sorts of games and have more trouble getting into a lot of modern action games. The sheer mechanics of these first two games are still largely unrivaled by most games in the genre to this day, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 13, 2021, 02:45:30 PM
Don't feel too bad Ensatsu-ken. I bought the Mass Effect trilogy (haven't started yet) and am debating on buying Ninja Gaiden as well. I don't need either but at the same time I don't have my older consoles anymore.

Anyway, I just got my copy of Guilty Gear Strive and am currently installing it. Not sure who I'm going to main but I am eyeballing Sol, Zato, Giovanna and I-no.

Street Fighter 5: Championship Edition
Zeku is quite the character. As fun as I think he is and with GGS being in my hands I'm probably going to drop this game. At least until Akira and the last DLC character comes out.

Trails of Cold Steel 2[b/]
I beat ToCS1 some time last week and have started up another run of this game. Gonna do 3 and 4 as well. The customizing the series allows is so good.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 21, 2021, 02:37:40 PM
Fair warning for anyone looking into the Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection: do NOT buy the Switch version. The second and third games have pretty noticeable performance issues with this port specifically, and it points to a either a lazy or rushed job on KoeiTecmo's part. The first game runs very well, actually, and I could even recommend it if it were available to purchase by itself, but since you have to get the collection it's not worth the money.

It's stuff like this that passes me off, though. I could care less about NG3, but when a company is OK with doing that poor of a job bringing over games that they have had ported countless times to any console and releasing it in a significantly inferior state to it's intended performance, it shows how little they truly care. It irritates me because for quite a few people this could be their introduction to the NG series and that's a pretty shitty first impression to give them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 25, 2021, 05:33:20 PM
So, I have a Wii U now. I didn't actually ever plan on getting one, but I did want to buy a used Wii to play some exclusives for that console. When talking to a friend about this he said he had a Wii U pretty much collecting dust in a storage box of his that he was more than happy to straight up just give me as long as I would pay for shipping, which I did (and of course the Wii U is 100% backwards compatible with the Wii), so now I own a Wii U. He also threw in some of his Wii/U games that he still had lying around, including Skyward Sword and Wind Waker HD, and I've already played and beaten Skyward Sword so I have no reason to buy the Switch port anymore. I'll give my thoughts on that game at a later time, but I'm really eager to replay WW one of these days. I also bought myself a copy of MadWorld for $20, so I'll eventually get to that as well.

Anyone have any good Wii game recommendations? I'm particularly interested in good lightgun games. I also wanted to get Tatsunoko vs. Capcom but it's nearly impossible to find a reasonably priced copy of that.

Also, yes, I will eventually be playing Devil's Third when I get around to it. I never thought I'd ever be in possession of this console, but now that I am I feel obligated to play this game no matter how bad it is. :lol:

I got back to 2D Metroid with Metroid Fusion, in preparation for Metroid Dread. I know people are more mixed on this one since it's linear, but I enjoy it so far for it's gameplay and atmosphere, though I'm not very far in it yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on June 26, 2021, 05:59:46 PM
I won't lie, I still use Spark's old list as a primer (https://animationrevelation.com/forum/index.php?topic=540.0).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 27, 2021, 06:37:48 PM
Trails of Cold Steel 2
Done. This might be the longest out of the 4. Granted, a lot of it was optional, but I chose to go for it anyway. Playing again to make an overpowered party now.

Guilty Gear Strive
Definitely a fun game. I do like it, but not over the previous games. Then again this can be solved depending on who exactly is in the DLC because the problem I'm running into is finding a character that suits me. Right now I'm settling on Sol and Giovanna and as fun as Sol is he's not that character I gel with at the moment. Leo, as aggressive as he is don't fit my style of aggressive even though I can probably just use him the same way. Giovanna fits but she just feels so incomplete at the moment.

That being said I've been watching some high level play which has been awesome, I wish ASW would find a way to put GGXXACR+ on the PS4/5 with the same netcode that's on the PC version or use the same netcode for Strive. The freedom, while it's there, I just enjoy the freedom more in +R.

And I hope they don't abandon GranBlue Fantasy. I hope they can somehow improve the netcode in that game as well. Saw a new character that reminds me of Wolverine was announced and sparked my interest again.

As for them weird party games like Among Us. I still watch people play, but I've mainly been watch ZeRoyalViking play with ChilledChaos's crew. Smart bunch of crazy idiots creating chaos. I saw that there was a new update to the game but it certainly does seem like it's on its last leg.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 12, 2021, 02:24:03 PM
Trails of Cold Steel 3
I think I like the new Class 7 over the old in terms of characterization (and there's only 1 character that I don't care for at all and that's because he's so boring). Anyway, currently on chapter 3 and having a hard time trying to customize Rean mainly because I don't know what I want his role to be at the moment. I've never been into healers, but at the same time I already have my damage dealer and nuke set in stone (just waiting to get more stuff). We'll see by the time I get to the end of the chapter.

So, what's been on the brain lately (hasn't been fighting games)? Good ole Dark Souls. Of all games, Dark Souls. I've always been curious about the series but never decided to make the leap. With Elden Ring coming I'm more interested than ever. The main reason being is that I'm curious why everyone is always gushing about it. I still listen to Easy Allies and it's like they can't go a day without mentioning Souls/Borne. IMO, I think Nioh shits on the souls/borne games at least in terms of combat, but they would always say something along the line of everything is perfect. I recall Huber once stating that he had to hard quit Nioh because it was too hard. So you can imagine me when I hear things like that and then hear you say Sekiro has the best combat?! I have no problem with that (in the back of my mind I'm calling BS though) but I've been going over this for a little bit now. What the hell am I missing? I watched The Completionist talk about it and he's the only one that actually went into any kind of relevant thought. I can definitely see the world and lore being the draw, but if you tell me combat but then take issue with Nioh I'm going to question you or call BS. All that being said I'm still very curious about Dark Souls but I don't see myself playing all of them. I may get DS3 and call it a day until ER comes out.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 12, 2021, 04:26:59 PM
Huber is also the same guy who thinks Nu God of War is a 10/10 masterpiece, so it's clear he values different aspects of gaming. I don't inherently have a problem with that but the odd thing about him saying that Nioh is too hard while he's clearly a fan of Dark Souls makes me believe that he's trying to approach Nioh as if it were a FromSoftware Souls game. Despite being inspired by it, the mechanics are entirely different, and the funny thing is that it's far easier to exploit Nioh's mechanics to cheese enemies and bosses than it is to do so in any Souls game. If you take the time to understand the game on it's own terms, it's really not nearly as difficult as it initially seems. I'd argue Sekiro was actually more difficult to beat than either Nioh game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 12, 2021, 09:35:31 PM
I'm effectively close to the end of Metroid Fusion, but I'll be doing a run of all six zones to try and get all remaining collectible items that I missed since I always like to 100% all Metroid games (except for scanning everything in Metroid Prime....that was too much). As someone who doesn't have any previous nostalgia for this game, it's way better than some fans give it credit for. Yes, it is linear in nature, which may feel like a betrayal of the series' routes, but that doesn't make it condescending to the player. The AI gives you a clear objective marked on your map at all times, but it's more about traversing the environment and figuring out how to get there that makes it interesting. The game doesn't hold your hand by any means. It also allows for more intense encounters and this is easily a far more challenging Metroid game than most, which I actually quite like. The music and sprite-work are also top-notch. It's not as good as Super Metroid, no, but it's still pretty great in it's own right, IMO.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 13, 2021, 07:57:11 PM
Alright, nevermind. It turns out the game locks you out of being able to access any zones outside of the Main Deck for no good reason once you trigger Adam's final order. This would obviously be the perfect chance for players to have one last go to get everything that they missed, but you're effectively forced into the endgame. That's just a stupid design choice, IMO.

Still, I stand by my opinion on the rest of the game. It's a solid action platformer overall.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 15, 2021, 07:19:59 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 12, 2021, 04:26:59 PM
Huber is also the same guy who thinks Nu God of War is a 10/10 masterpiece, so it's clear he values different aspects of gaming. I don't inherently have a problem with that but the odd thing about him saying that Nioh is too hard while he's clearly a fan of Dark Souls makes me believe that he's trying to approach Nioh as if it were a FromSoftware Souls game. Despite being inspired by it, the mechanics are entirely different, and the funny thing is that it's far easier to exploit Nioh's mechanics to cheese enemies and bosses than it is to do so in any Souls game. If you take the time to understand the game on it's own terms, it's really not nearly as difficult as it initially seems. I'd argue Sekiro was actually more difficult to beat than either Nioh game.

To be fair, I think Huber is one of those types that favor story over everything else so I expect that from him (The amount of times I've rolled my eyes at him every time he brings up story over gameplay is too much to count). It's the rest of the allies that I question for actually letting him off saying things like that without any pushback whatsoever.

I did end up buying Dark Souls 3 though. Probably won't start it anytime soon though. Too invested in Trails, Persona and Guilty Gear. I really need to stop buying games until I finish a 3rd of my backlog.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 25, 2021, 01:18:05 PM
Metroid: Zero Mission may end up being my favorite game in the entire series, though we'll have to see how the final third plays out as that part can be polarizing among the fans (I'm currently at the point where I'm ready to fight Mother Brain). However, it has the best core gameplay of any game in the series that I've played thus far, and I love how the game is designed with sequence-breaking in mind. Since I'm already familiar with the original NES game which I had beat using a walkthrough, I totally used similar tricks that I learned in that game and despite very different mechanics, a lot of that stuff still worked here. I was able to get to areas way before I was intended to, and in fact actually got to Ridley's lair before Kraid's and actually defeated Ridley before I had even gotten the Varia suit. It really felt like I explored at my own will and crafted my own adventure.

It's funny, playing something like this essentially proves something that I have thought about the Zelda series. It's entirely possible to combine Breath of the Wild's freedom of exploration with the more structured design of the classic Zelda formula and still make it work. That is to say, you can absolutely have the freedom to go where you want when you want to, but you have to earn it. Either you can follow the general path and context clues that the developers leave you and have a guided path through the game, or you can get creative and experimental and forge your own path through the world. It'll be harder but arguably more rewarding to do it the latter way. In that regard, it's also perfectly fine to follow the set guidelines for your first run through the game to learn it's general layout and mechanics, which makes a replay all the more rewarding. Metroid: Zero Mission does this brilliantly, IMO, and I believe that the same thing could be applied to the Zelda formula.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on July 28, 2021, 06:45:00 PM
I went from not using my Switch as much to beating two of the games I've had on rotation for a while, Superhot and Katamari Damacy. The former was pretty fun, but I could get pretty frustrated with it, because you need to be at the exact right angle to get the right hit in without getting hit yourself. And one thing that bugs me is that while it takes a couple of punches to kill your enemies, all it takes is one for you to die. That's pretty cheap imo, but I still did end up enjoying the game.

And I'm glad that I finally got around to Katamari- it's so much fun! The gameplay is pretty one-note, yes, but it's balanced by an incredible soundtrack and a strong sense of humor, so it still remains worth it. It's also the perfect length, IMO. Not too long and overwhelming, but it's not so short that you'd feel ripped off, especially because it's meant to be sold at a discount. I don't know if I need to play the sequels, because it seems like the novelty ran off the longer the franchise went along, but I'm glad that I got to experience the original.

Now that I'm done with those, I've been going back to Animal Crossing, which is pretty relaxing after a long day of work, and Hades, which I love, even if I suck at it. And I think I'm in the last third of Xenoblade, but I haven't been playing that as much lately. I might fix that later, who knows. I've also been trying the original Castlevania, but I somehow suck even more at that. Still, though, it's pretty fun when it isn't handing my ass to me, easily among the NES games that hold up better.

I'm trying to decide what to play next. I'm deciding between adding Ori and the Blind Forest and Celeste next to my rotation, but I've also thought about finally trying out Assassin's Creed: Black Sails. I've heard that it's one of the best of the franchise, and good for a beginner, which is why it's on my radar. But also, my collection of unplayed games is honestly pretty obscene. :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 08, 2021, 07:38:59 PM
Since my last post in this thread I've actually beat Trails 3 and Trails 4. Sort of replaying Trails 4 to see how broken I can get some of these characters. I've also been playing Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 (against my better judgment). I haven't reached rage inducing levels yet but my blood is pumping a little bit because of these controls lol. Only reason I'm playing is because I want to see what's been added and how it's been implemented.

Getting that itch to get back into fighting games. Mainly Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Dragon Ball Fighterz. I've been watching Marlinpie's channel as he streams UMvC3 and people have been coming with some interesting teams. As for Fighterz, considering how much has changed I'm probably going to have 2 main teams I toy around with (SSB Gogeta will probably be my main). Also looking to get back into 3rd Strike as well.

That being said, there's been a lot of talk revolving around Melty Blood as of late and I may check it out but I may skip it. I'm not one of those people that'll just play any fighting game just because. I'm not really fond of the dull look that I'm seeing from the game but gameplay looks interesting. I'm also not nor have I ever been into all this "WAIFU" fighter either. All the characters I choose is for one reason and that reason is I found myself in them in some form of fashion.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 23, 2021, 01:03:18 AM
I really need to stop buying games if I don't plan to play them immediately. I just bought Tales of Arise. I've been anticipating this game, which feels like forever, but I ended up getting it won't be getting played anytime soon since the urge to jump back into fighting games.

Speaking of, the main focus will probably be on Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Dragon Ball Fighterz. With UMvC3, I plan to have 2 teams. The Vergil team is for when I'm trying to outright own people and the Dante team is for when I want to have fun and style. That being said my Vergil team might be either Nova/Spencer, Vergil, Hawkeye/Taskmaster. The Dante team will probably be something like Dormmamu, Dante, Doctor Strange, I haven't figured that one out yet.

DBFz on the other hand, man, Wawa is crazy good. He might not be the best player in the world but he's the only one actually going for style points. Right now I like his team of SSB Gogeta, A.Gohan, UI Goku and that will be the team I use as well. I thought about using Hit, UI Goku/SS4 Gogeta and A.Gohan. Still might use as a secondary team.

I'll probably dabble with USF4, GGS (Giovanna) and some 3rd strike as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on September 29, 2021, 01:41:56 PM
Not sure who cares, but here's my current collection of Switch games.

Physical Copies:
-The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
-Doom (2016)
-Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
-Super Mario Odyssey
-The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
-Animal Crossing New Horizons
-Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
-Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
-Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
-The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
-The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition
-Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
-Super Mario Maker 2
-Collection of Mana
-Bayonetta 2 +OG Bayonetta
-Sonic Mania Plus
-Astral Chain
-Luigi's Mansion 3
-The Wonderful 101
-Paper Mario: The Origami King
-Mega Man 11
-Bioshock: The Collection

All these, plus I have a preorder of Metroid Dread down, and I'm hunting Walmart regularly for the new WarioWare

Downloads:
-Darkest Dungeon
-Doom
-Doom II
-Doom 3
-Devil May Cry
-Dragon Ball Fighterz
-Mega Man X Legacy Collection
-Bastion
-Mega Man Legacy Collection
-Outlast
-Furi
-Friday the 13th: The Game Ultimate Slasher Edition
-Sundered: Eldritch Edition
-Contra Anniversary Edition
-Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
-Assassins Creed: The Rebel Collection
-Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
-Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
-Enter the Gungeon
-Doom Eternal
-Castlevania Anniversary Collection
-Superhot
-Katamari Damacy ReRoll
-Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition
-Hades
-Celeste
-Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game

...Just don't ask me how many I've played. :sweat:

Edit: After posting this, I downloaded Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and Trials Rising.

Edit #2: And I just went to a different Walmart, and found WarioWare! No more spending until November.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 30, 2021, 12:12:14 PM
That's a good list of games. To be honest, I also own a lot of games for the switch (mostly digital), as to me it's the ultimate amalgamation for retro/classic games as well as retro-style games, which is mostly what I tend to play on the console. I have even double-dipped with games that I already own elsewhere just to have a portable version to play. Here is what I own:

Bayonetta 1 & 2
Pokemon Sword
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition
DOOM 1, 2, 3, & 64
Celeste
Final Fantasy VII
Mega Man Legacy Collection Volumes 1 & 2
Mega Man X Legacy Collection Volumes 1 & 2
Namco Museum
Hades
The Wonderful 101
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
No More Heroes
Guilty Gear
Capcom Beat-em-up Bundle
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Collection of Mana
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Ninja Gaiden Master Collection
Sonic Mania Plus
Streets of Rage 4
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game
Castlevania Anniversary Collection
Contra Anniversary Collection
Axiom Verge
Steel Assault

And I too have Metroid Dread pre-ordered.

Also definitely keeping an eye out for the new Kirby game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on September 30, 2021, 02:51:39 PM
That's another good list of games! :thumbup:

I try to be as good as I can about getting titles, and mostly just get downloads when there's a sale. Similarly, a lot of the physical copies were also bought when there was a sale, or were birthday/Christmas gifts. My Metroid preorder is actually a birthday gift, as well.

I am thinking of getting Super Mario 3D All-Stars the next time I see it, though. I do already own SM 64, and will technically own it again when the N64 titles come to the Switch, but I'm not sure if I still own the first Galaxy. And while I don't love Sunshine, it'd be nice to own as well. Plus, I just like the idea of telling Nintendo to shove their limited supply.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 16, 2021, 10:55:25 PM
Dragon Ball Fighterz
Kinda going through a character crisis at the moment. The difference between this and UMvC3 is that there are so many characters in this game I want to toy around with while in UMvC3 there are about 6 characters I have set in stone that I'm going to play. Here, Beerus has now become a character I want to learn (like A.Gohan, he has swag combos) but the problem is, is that there are too many characters I want to try with him and it's leaving me at square 1. I was going to use him and 17 together, but I think I want 17 on a different team altogether. I got some ideas that I've been thinking about like Piccolo but then I get in my own head and wonder do I really want Piccolo and Beerus on the same team? It may be something to try. We'll see.

As far as single player games go. Nothing.

I have graduated (or flunked, maybe?) from watching Chilledchaos play Among Us to watching him play Project Winter and JackBox Party. I think out of everyone I've ever watch stream games I can get behind Chilled and his group more. Anyway, I'm very interested in Project Winter along with some of these other quirky games they've been playing but I'm still searching for a good computer and whatnot.

Edit:

Decided to go with SSJ4 Gogeta and Beerus. Now to find an anchor. Not exactly sure whose a good anchor for this team yet. I'm trying not to pick a top tier anchor just because they are the "best anchor in the game". I'm trying to find one that I like and one that fits well with the other 2 characters. I may try Hit first, just to see if he actually has synergy with the team.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 16, 2021, 11:55:04 PM
I finally got around to playing Quake (or starting it, anyways) on my Nintendo Switch and it reminds me of just how much I love old-school FPS design. No long-winded cutscenes or cinematic intervals between gameplay slowing down the pace. It's just constant fast and frantic action done in a way that's constantly engaging. It doesn't have any pointless filler, and the combat is actually more well thought-out and nuanced than it may initially seem despite the technological limitations of the time. There's also a decent bit of puzzle solving and secrets to find.

I also just miss a strategic use of strafing being a core aspect of combat in FPS games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 27, 2021, 06:43:47 PM
Dragon Ball Fighterz
Major character crisis. I only have Beerus set in stone as a character I want to use. I'd really like to make a team with just swag combos but in my head I see one thing, but trying to get them to gel together is another. I may just say "bump" and just try it out and see where I go from there. I was gonna try to utilize A17's barrier assist, but I think I am going to settle with SSj4 Gogeta, Beerus, A.Gohan. I'm not looking to take advantage of Gogeta's lvl 7 (hell, I should probably go for SSB Gogeta instead) and the obvious disconnect might be trying to get Gohan and Beerus working together. If it don't like it we'll try A17. If I don't like that I'll drop Beerus and 17 for Hit and A.Gohan.

Guilty Gear Strive
Sort of kinda getting back into this one. Still not really feeling the characters though. I'm gonna settle only Sol for now though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 02, 2021, 01:40:55 PM
Take last post and switch them around.

Guilty Gear Strive
So I've been watching and trying to learn from DEB (GG Vet) who also plays Sol Badguy. She has a style that's quite similar to how Smug played Dudley in USF4 (I try to tailor my game after his) which is more of a counter hit / frame trappy kind of game. I'd probably even add more of a turtle defensive in my game to wait for my opponent to mess up. That being said, I'm learning a lot and enjoying the game more than I originally did. This will be my main game for the time being.

Dragon Ball Fighterz
Unfortunately I won't be playing this as heavily. Bad habits are catching up with me every time I play this and Strive together. Especially because I have to play this game differently when comparing to Strive. When I play Strive I tend to carry some wildness from this game to that game and it's hurting me a lot lol. Love the game though. Earned its spot in my top 10.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 22, 2021, 06:58:38 PM
So because of Project L I'm changing things up a bit. Ultra Street Fighter 4 is done. Maybe I can talk my brother-in-law to playing it from time to time, but we're done. There are speculations that Project L will play like Marvel vs Capcom Infinite as well as Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid. I certainly see the influence. I mean, MvCI influenced PR:BftG. My only hiccup with those 2 games is that with the character, Ekko, that Riot showed off looks like he'll play even deeper than that, so with that being said I'm going to be playing BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle as well. With the amount of freedom in a BlazBlue game that you're given you can never go wrong with trying that out. And for the sake of what I saw Ekko doing I may bring Dragon Ball Fighterz back into the rotation simply for Beerus. I'm basically getting ready for the chaos that's going to come from Project L because just from that tidbit the Cannon's have shown, Project L is going to be very hectic and cheap.

While I will never play a MMO, Project L certainly had me looking up characters. If they bring in those skins there's a good chance I can dump over $500 into that game.

Anyway, I tried out the King of Fighters 15 demo. SNK definitely have their work cut out. In terms of looks/character models, they look good. Netcode is terrible. It's like one-sided roll back or something. The UI looks interesting. Well, it looks better than some of these other titles released within the last 2-3 years. I'll remain hopeful but I'm definitely skeptical.

Single player, nothing. I'll probably jump back into Persona 5 Royal soon. I'm also on the search for another Switch so I can play Shin Megami Tensei 5.

I've been watching a lot of content creators (mainly people affiliated with ChilledChaos so I can so said video from their perspective) play some wacky games. JackboxTV, Codenames, Cluedo, Town of Salem, Worms, Shellshocked. These are some very interesting games when you got a group of people you like playing with or like hearing people play and having a good time. I know Chilled got another group together that's going to play Monopoly with him so I'll be on the lookout for that as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 28, 2021, 02:32:12 PM
GranBlue Fantasy Versus
Honestly, I should've been tried this game out. It teaches you how to play footsies. At this point though, it's the last game I should be playing because every other game I play is hectic. I tried out Percival, Narmaya, Lancelot and Eustace. Percival is basically a hit-confirm machine and the coolest character in the game. The dude can literally teach you fundamentals and when you get the opponent in the corner it becomes lights out. You can compare him to Nagoryuki and Hakumen with a blend of Ky Kiske. Sort of hard to explain Narmaya. Probably pure rushdown. Lancelot is a mixup monster. Eustace is like Venom in a since, but nowhere near as cheap.

Watching ChilledChaos and crew play Monopoly
I've never seen people so terrified of a man because of the orange property. I know you can kill people off of them, but you usually kill off them combined with another color (yellow or red to be precise because that corner is deadly). It was getting to the point of being annoying because these people are so terrified to make deals with him. I'm like if you're that terrified of the man why play in the first place?

Also watched him play Jackbox TV Push the Button. I've never been apart of so much chaos. It was a blast. What made it so good was that his chat was not toxic. A lot of Twitch streamers are nice but tend to have toxic chats. Then you have some streamers who are complete dicks to their chat when its not called for, but chilled's chat is mellow, but when getting involved with the games becomes chaotic and we start placing bets. Even had Alanah Pearce to get in on it at one point.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 30, 2021, 08:16:45 AM
Guardians of the Galaxy (PS4)- I decided to go ahead and try this one out when I saw it on sale for half off as a Black Friday deal. I wasn't expecting much after how much of a disaster Square Enix's Avengers was, but the positive word of mouth for this game swayed  me. Overall, the gameplay is alright, but suffers from a lot of tropes that annoy me about modern AAA titles, from forced walking to cool down timers that water down the depth of combat and makes the game feel more limited than it has to. It's actually an interesting concept for a combat system with Peter Quill as team leader ordering around the other Guardians, but it feels like a proof of concept rather than something fully developed. He does have one move that I swear must have been inspired by Vanquish, so that's a plus. The thing that really keeps me going is the story, though. I'm legitimately impressed so far by how well-written and executed it is. I wasn't a huge fan of the stories in the Arkham and Spider-Man games, which were fine for action games but nothing that memorable for me. I can say with complete honesty that, at least so far, GOTG is on par with the movies in terms of story-telling quality, mixing inspiration from both the MCU and the comics. It's actually hard to put the game down sometimes simply because I want to see what happens next, and the humor is spot-on as well.

Persona 5: Royal- I know, JRPG's are clearly not my genre, so this is unusual for me. I'm playing it because my brother bought it for me for my Birthday last month. I'm about 10 hours in so far. This is another case where the story is what's keeping me going so far. The combat is fine but I'm just not that into turn-based battle systems. However the story is incredibly engaging and feels like the equivalent of watching a really good anime. I like it so far, but I probably won't love it as a game as much as so many other people do.

Quake- I'm still at it with this game and I fucking love it. This may actually end up surpassing DOOM for me, and I don't say that lightly. It's peak 90's FPS design and reminds me of why I love classic games so much.

Rayman Legends- I bought this game years ago only because I found it for ridiculously cheap (I seriously got it for only a dollar). I only just started playing it recently on a whim and I adore it. Like, I'm actually ticked off at myself for taking this long to get around to it. It may very well rank as one of the best modern platformers that I have ever played.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 09, 2021, 01:58:07 PM
The positive word of mouth is trying to sway me as well for Guardians of the Galaxy. I've seen comparisons to Mass Effect. Max (bless his heart) compared it to God of War for some strange reason. I think because of Atreus with how you use him. Unfortunately, I'm at a point where I just want nothing to do with GotG and it's not their fault (I haven't seen the movies and don't want to cause I'm not a fan of the cast), but I'm not going to get into all that.

Persona 5 Royal on the other hand. I love the game. I hope you ignored all of my other posts about the game. Might contain spoilers. When it comes to combat I'm not going to attempt to sway you because I get it, however, and I really would prefer you to continue playing but the game is very long so it might not be for you.

So my brother-in-law is coming to town on the 21st and I've been challenged in Ultra Street Fighter 4. Now I said I was going to be done with that game but when I get challenged I have to break it out because of my love for the game. So the challenge this time, while it's not a character lock, it's more of a character ban. We're not allowed to use our mains. So I'm practicing Yun at the moment. I'm trying to avoid using shotos period since they were my go-to's during the ST-Alpha days. So I'll be using Yun, maybe a little bit of Cody (although it may be too much for my brother-in-laws Ken and Akuma) and maybe either Yang or Guy.

Guilty Gear Strive
Sort of committed to Sol at the moment. Still learning from Deb even though she switched characters on me. She still gives pointers though.

I have not started on the BlazBlue's yet. Kinda discouraged at the moment because I'm missing out on the rollback netcode action going on and I'm trying to find a decent starting point for PC gaming. I can only do so much on the PS4.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on December 10, 2021, 12:06:40 AM
I'm mostly enjoying GOTG for the story, which again is surprisingly good and well-written by action game standards. Oddly enough the combat got me itching to replay Vanquish (which is a MUCH better actual game), mainly because Star Lord's combat mechanics feel sort of like Vanquish light.

As for the team mechanics, I'd say they are a nice idea, but again, being based on cool down timers ruins the whole thing for me. I'd probably give up on the game if I wasn't invested in seeing the story through to the end.

Persona 5 Royal also has a good story going so far, though I can only play sparcely these days, so I've barely made any progress. While turn based combat isn't really my thing, I'll at least give this game credit for being much more well-realized in it's team mechanics than with GOTG.

Also, on a side note, I finally managed to get a PS5, though it'll be at least another few days before I have a chance to play anything on it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 11, 2021, 07:30:47 PM
Guilty Gear Strive
I lied. I thought I was committed to Sol but some of that commitment spilled over to Giovanna (again). Like I said, I've never been into "waifus" but her style is too good. With Baiken coming out, not sure if I'm gonna bother with her or not.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on December 12, 2021, 02:06:56 PM
I usually tend to like the idea of indie games better than the actual experience of playing them, yet I keep giving them a shot anyway.

So it gives me joy to say that Celeste is one of the best games I've ever played. It's frustrating sometimes, since I seriously think a lot of the game relies on luck rather than skill- you have to land a jump at exactly the right time, which can be tricky to nearly impossible depending on the location. But at the same time, it's extremely cathartic when you land that perfect land, and the game seemingly rewards you for failure regardless. It can be a lot of fun, and the music is incredible. I do recommend checking it out if you like platformers with heavy puzzle elements.

I also started Metroid Dread, which is killer, even though I also suck at it lol. But the 2D Metroid system is a lot of fun, so I don't mind taking my time going through this world. It's making me want to play Super Metroid again, which I think I'll boot up when I'm done with this.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 18, 2021, 07:25:12 AM
DNF Duel
I really hated how ASW handled marketing with this game so far. Even trying to get access was a pain because some people (myself included) couldn't get access from the PS Store on the console. Had to go to the store on the internet and download to the library. Anyway, haven't really had the chance to boot up. Weather is bad, therefore, my internet is bad so I don't want to put people through the hassle of dealing with bad connection.

I did watch KizzieKay stream as he was playing it along with other people. He played the entire roster. Out of everyone I found Hitman to be the most boring. Which is unfortunate because he was going to be the main. But his playstyle just came off so boring to me compared to the rest of the roster. Ranger and Striker on the other hand I found to suitable for me. Vanguard is another that might works his way into my rotation as well. Crusader is a monster. Kunoichi is a mixup monster. Inquisitor is very intriguing. I'm not sure what to make of her yet. Berserker is also on the boring side to me. Grappler might be in the wrong game. I hardly saw Dragon Knight so I can't speak on her.

As for what the game is like. If I had to make a comparison it'd probably GranBlue Fantasy Versus with combos. The potential to get wild is there but I wish there was a training mode to actually see how wild it can get. I think I saw something like a roll cancel, but I'm not sure. If roll cancel is anything like SNK's roll cancels then the potential can blow through the roof at least in my head flooding with tons of ideas.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 23, 2021, 08:11:55 PM
Ultra Street Fighter 4
So my brother-in-law came through with the squad. Had fun. Even the nephew got in on it a little bit. All of us were rusty as hell and it showed. Eventually we got used to it again and the fights were getting better. I ended up using Evil Ryu, Cody, and Oni for the most part. When my niece and nephew jumped I just decided to use the same characters they were using to show them how to play as them. Chun Li, Juri, Ibuki and Cammy. They probably are done with the game for good but my nephew took a real liking to the game so we will probably bond with that game for a little bit. Now I just gotta get him out of the whining phase.

Persona 5 Strikers
I remember giving up on this previously, but I don't remember why I gave up on it. There's this one character that is so adorable that I wish she was in the main game. Game play, its a typical Musou game so that's definitely not a reason why I would give up on it. It was probably just a phase I was going through at the time.

Speaking of Musou games, I still haven't really played a Musou game that comes close to knocking off either Dynasty Warriors 8 or Warriors Orochi 3. Like the all of them are the same but the ones that try doing things differently leave things out and never really hit that strive that DW8 or WO3/U would hit. Like Ryu Hayabusa for instance. I can repeat his combo going into his izuna drop all day and still feel like I'm having fun whereas these other games just feel so dry. Thought I'd go on a tangent for a little bit.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on December 25, 2021, 03:05:07 PM
Merry Christmas! Did anyone get any new games this year?

I mostly got boring, practical stuff this time, but I did get the recent Tony Hawk remasters, so that's cool! I did want Super Mario 3D World, but I keep missing when it's on sale. Ah well, it'll happen sooner or later.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 31, 2021, 02:10:23 PM
Unfortunately, no. I bought my nephew some game. Paw Patrol or something along those lines. Other than that, no games. I probably won't buy any games for a little bit until I get a new PC.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 08, 2022, 12:37:20 AM
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Dragon Ball FighterZ
My brother threw a monkey wrench in my plans. He introduced my nephew to UMvC3 and I had no intentions of doing so because it can get very confusing trying to teach him, especially with how chaotic it can be, but at this point the gloves are off. Now I probably won't put 100% into trying to learn either game at this point unless rollback netcode is implemented, but I'll definitely put in enough to keep a leg up on them and make sure I body them.

BlazBlue: Central Fiction
This game is fun. Probably UMvC3 levels of fun (not saying hype). I said it before but I regret not getting into this game earlier than I should. It's a hard game for sure, but I love learning and there's a lot to learn. Jin for such a simple character is one I can just jive with and not to mention he fits my style. And when I say that I mean I can use him like how I use Dudley even though Jin is more of a all-rounded character. Like, he has setups (Dudley not so much) and resets and his combos are flashy and he has damage. There's nothing more I can ask for. There are definitely other characters I can and will try out in the long run but I'm definitely jiving with Jin at the moment.

I haven't touch Guilty Gear Strive in a while now and that's mainly because I'm going through a similar phase that hit me with Street Fighter 5. Fun game but can't find a character that I can jive with. I'm hoping when Baiken comes out that I can jive with her.

Single player games, nothing at the moment but I think I might give Spider-man a replay. I thought the game was overhyped back then but I still enjoyed what I played minus the stealth.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Markness on January 08, 2022, 01:30:10 PM
I've been playing both Disgaea 6 and Guilty Gear Strive.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 15, 2022, 08:16:39 AM
Hope you're having fun with Strive, Markness.

Definitely regretting not giving BlazBlue a chance back then. This game's potential to shoot up to being all time favorite is through the roof right now. I'm slow playing it though, just to make sure its not because of the "heat" of the moment type of thing. What's setting this game apart from the others is a combination of things. Most importantly is self-expression. I've said it countless of times when it came to GG. Being able to play a character the way you want is a real thing. I can look at 2 Sol's and tell you the difference between the 2 (in Xrd and +R) That same thing can be applied here in BB. Then the game might be just a tad deeper than GG as well. There are some things I'm still learning about too, so I'm not proficient enough to speak on some things. Anyway, then there's the characters. Unfortunately, Strive has no characters I'm interested in. Take it back to Xrd, there's Johnny, Slayer, and Venom. Take it back to +R there's Johnny, Venom, Slayer, Order-Sol and Testament. There are at least 10 characters I'm interested in in BB. I can really get lost in this game just learning some of these characters through training mode and trials. The 1 leg up GG has over BB is Johnny. No one is cool as Johnny (and only Vergil [DMC] trumps him).

I've also been watching all types of people play fighting games. Apparently there's Vtubers (I have no idea what that is) playing and some of them are really good (found out some were already members in the FGC and played/won tournaments). There's this one particular player that's playing on a Crossbox and is playing Nioh 2 on it. She's really good too. Impressed me a lot because she plays it similarly to Xlh Gladiator. Not saying she's as good as him, but she plays a little like him.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 22, 2022, 04:11:30 AM
BlazBlue Central Fiction

Started doing Jin trials and having issues right out the gate. Coming from Street Fighter 3-4 to this, I gotta develop some muscle memory for this type of pace. Stand, crouch, stand type of combos always get me for a little because I don't do those type of combos. I start everything with a crouching attack first unless I'm going for an overhead. Anyway, it's going to be an interesting ride.

Edit:

Making progress, but yeah, combos are really wonky for me. Timing is very specific. And then sometimes it feels like my button presses are not coming out at all. Right now I'm playing on pad, but it may be time for a new pad. I've had this thing since 2015 or whenever the PS4 first came out. I'm having some "aha" moments every now and then though, so all is not lost for me yet.

I know I said I'd probably play Spider-man next, but I got a lot of JRPG's I gotta get to as well. Dragon Quest 11 being one of them. I've had this game since it came out and have been glossing over it forever. I also have this Atelier Ryza game I've been curious about along with Tales of Arise (been waiting forever for this one). And I still need to finish my lineup of Persona's in Persona 5 Royal. I also have one of the G.O.A.T series (Mass Effect) waiting in the midst as well, so I have a lot of long running games ahead of me. It's probably for the best that there aren't any games for me coming out so soon. Gives me some time to clear some of the games in my backlog.

Edit 2:

Trial 10 normal for Jin. Damn, this one got me at the moment. Got me feeling like I need a new controller, but at the same time the recovery of this one move got me going as well because I also have to micro-dash in between to get close enough for the attack to connect.  ARGH!   :sweat:

Edit 3:

And just like that the normal trials are cleared. Hard mode trials #1 though is, well, it's not kicking my ass yet, but it's definitely beating me up pretty good. Crazy part about it is is that I can do it, it's just another weird little micro-dash in there and the recovery timing is getting me. And again the controller. This motion, (anime fighters call it 3 on the number pad) diagonal right/left sucks. I want to learn hitbox for this but the good ole arcade stick might be better for it. I am having fun though.

Edit 4:

Not about BlazBlue. So I have Roku TV and IGN has a channel so I leave my TV on it all day. Apparently they do walkthroughs that I wasn't aware of, but I've seen 3 walkthroughs now. Spider-man Miles Morales, Monster Hunter Stories and Life is Strange: True Colors. And that last game, Life is Strange; it's not a game I would ever play, ever. But I respect it for what it is. I was entertained from when it started to pickup all the way to the end. The first hour I was definitely bored though. Anyway, thought I'd bring that up since it's been on so many folks top 10 list of gotys of last year.

Edit 5:

Back to BlazBlue. I made it to hard trial 3 and I know I can do it, but it's definitely giving me a beating. All the while doing these trials I am getting a few ideas on combo routes. Whether they're optimal or not, who knows. I mean I will look at of some of Jin's basic BnB's but from the looks of it I think I already know at least 2 of them. I will eventually take Jin to the lab and start working on different scenarios and whatnot in the future. Do I think I can take on others right now, yes and no. That damn diagonal left/right motion will be the end of me in an actual match, but at the same time say I can actually get things going right, yes I can definitely take on other people right now with some basic movement and a basic combo from his trial.

Edit 6:

Had to call it quits for today. Hard trial 4 is got me. High jump cancels, yeah, they're in USF4 but I was never able to use Ibuki or Viper for that matter, let alone pull of their super jump cancels. I am happy with my progress for sure though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Markness on January 27, 2022, 02:51:29 PM
Are you looking forward to playing Baiken in Strive, Mustang?
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 27, 2022, 07:25:23 PM
Yessir. While I've never played Baiken in +R or Xrd, I am looking forward to her in Strive. I'm hoping she's fun, too, because, if she's not I won't be sticking with the game (Unless they bring in Johnny in season 2).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Peanutbutter on January 28, 2022, 07:30:45 PM
Enjoying Lost Judgment at the moment. The School Stories are just as intricate as the Side Stories, nevermind the main plot. Looking forward to Cuphead's DLC later in June.


Speaking of Cuphead, that trailer for its Netflix show =  :swoon: :swoon: :swoon: :swoon: :swoon: :swoon: :swoon: :swoon: :swoon: :swoon: :swoon: :swoon:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 30, 2022, 09:16:55 PM
Guilty Gear Strive
Day 3 of Baiken and I'm not sold. I'm not sold at all. If anything she bores me. That being said the combo trials keeps me coming back. I'll also say that the hate Strive is getting is unwarranted. Like SF5 it is a fun game. I'm only waiting for a character. The Johnny's, Slayers, Testament's, I'll settle for any of them, but I can guarantee that people waiting on those characters wouldn't say Strive is bad. But yeah, combo trials, I'm a happy camper. I can get to know a character even more with trials. Anyway, Baiken's not for me, but maybe in time they'll fix her up enough to interest me if I don't get a character for me.

Edit 1:

Disregard everything I said about Baiken. Day 4 everything is starting to click now. I'm not a RPS (rock, paper, scissors) kinda guy, but she's exactly fitting to my style. Like take Dudley for instance. The way I like to play him, even though he's a rushdown character I play him on the defensive side and wait for my chance. Baiken is actually that character in a nutshell (although, I'd rather do this stuff with a rushdown character than a character who plays like that outright), but she's fun. A lot of fun now that everything is clicking.

Dragon Quest 11
Kind of just started this. Still having a hard time getting into it. I'm not going to give up on this yet, but this one is definitely one of the harder ones for me for some strange reason.

Edit 3:
I give up on Dragon Quest. Which is unfortunate because I really wanted to like it, but I figured out what's keeping it from appealing to me. I'm going to bring Trails of Cold Steel 4 and Persona 5 into this. These 2 games specifically, I can make my character/party the way I want and have fun doing so. Dragon Quest gives me specific branches and routes to take. Take the hero for instance. Swords and Greatswords is his strongest area (or so I hear), but what if I wanted to make him advance in hand-to-hand and turn my claw guy into my sword wielder? I can't do because of these select branches. Back then with DQ8, I would've loved every minute of it. Nowadays, I want that freedom to customize however I choose. Games like Nioh and Dark Souls, as daunting as they are, I still get that freedom to go whatever route I please. I gave up on JRPG's once before because I was tired of the main character being tied to swords (which was how I was introduced to Jade Empire and Mass Effect). Fighting games and RPG's are all I have really going for me at the moment. I do not want to burn myself out on main hero and swords right now (which is why I'm not firing up Tales of Arise anytime soon)

BlazBlue Central Fiction
Jin's hard trial #5 is kicking my ass. This game is top 3 material for sure.

Edit 2:

This trial, damn. The link between the kick and them falling down is crazy. Like right now, I can't even get the kick button to come out as they are falling. You would think it's easy just by adjusting the timing and whatnot but damn. Can't practice my timing because the buttons not coming out at all. I got the combo otherwise.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 07, 2022, 05:13:19 PM
BlazBlue Central Fiction
Hard trial #5 with Jin. Still kicking my ass, but I'm getting the timing little by little. I will have this trial beat by this coming Sunday (I say Sunday cause I don't guarantee playing every day).

I also tried Hazama's trials, WOW. He's going to kick the crap outta me.

Edit1:

Hard TRIAL #5 COMPLETE! HOLD DAT!!!
Hard Trial #6...... shit. This is gonna beat me down for a while.

Persona 5 Royal
Finally decided to jump back into this game. I was going to start my game over but I that'd be too much progress loss, and I did a lot of grinding to get to this point now. I'm currently in the 6th palace I believe. My party is at lvl 60 (overpowered for sure. I remember Skadi giving me the business in the original version) and I think I'll have Yoshitsune made during this playthrough. Now my next playthrough I'll have to work on stats and whatnot. I have a lot of the abilities (like fire amp, fire boost) already and I have a lot of cards. It's just a matter of putting things together at this point.

Anyway, I'll probably start Atelier Ryza (maybe) next weekend depending on how far I am with Persona.

Streaming wise. I have a rant coming soon about fighting games, but at the moment I watch Chilledchaos, Aplatypuss, Chickzama, AutoMattock, and Ban Anya. I have other people that I follow but like I said there's a huge rant coming soon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Markness on February 08, 2022, 03:47:21 PM
I am playing Indivisible on my Switch after learning about it last month. I missed it when it originally made a scene and it's making me play my Switch more!
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 13, 2022, 04:40:52 PM
King of Fighters 15
I'm watching people play it. If I'm being honest I'm not feeling this at all. I understand that SNK is on a budget, and it don't look bad, it just looks kinda dull. Like, the impact on some of these moves are there, but at the same time this look just don't vibe with me. I know they're trying to get away from the 2D sprites, but they need to go back to the drawing board until they can get the 2.5D/3D down. Game play might be fun and like Mortal Kombat, it gets hindered because the animations don't look good to me.

I gotta get my hands on Sifu. I've been hearing it's very hard, but that's the game I've been looking forward to getting my hands on for quite some time now. Getting a lot of Raid/Ip Man vibes from the little bits I've seen.

People have been trying to talk me into getting Yugioh: Master Duelist, but I'm on the fence about it. I know its free to play, but I can easily spend over hundreds of dollars in this game and I don't want to do that. Not to mention there's too much netdecking and I want more going into single player.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 15, 2022, 08:42:59 PM
My nephew is completely hooked on fighting games now. At least for the moment, Street Fighter.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
I'm going to play top tier, but I'm learning Makoto and Yun at the moment. I'm in this mode where I want to learn mixups and resets. Yun don't really have resets except for when Genei Jin is activated. Makoto is Dudley but cranked to 11 and she has resets. Her slow movement will mess me up for sure, but I'm looking forward to learning her. My nephew's become somewhat of a shit-talker so I'll only pull out the shoto's and Dudley when he start trying to talk bad.

Ultra Street Fighter 4
My nephew's really into this game though. I've been teaching him how to play Ryu, but I gotta change the way I teach him. I want him to have fun and push buttons first and foremost, but I'm also in the middle of learning newer characters so, yeah. Right now I'm staying away from Ryu and Dudley (only use for warming up my hands). Like I said I'm in this phase of wanting to learn resets and mixups. Yang has some mean resets, Yun has powerful resets and Ibuki is just a mixup and reset monster. The thing with Ibuki is her vortex, but that's too cheap and she's actually pretty strong without the vortex as well. I may try to use Makoto in this as well. She's less dangerous in this compared to 3rd Strike (all of 3rd Strike characters are less dangerous in this except Ibuki, Ken and Akuma) and that's saying something considering she can end the game touching you twice. Maybe once depending on how much meter you have. Anyway, her reward for how hard she has to work is worth it. I won't touch Cody or Ken either. They're too simple for me and too much for my nephew to handle.

I'm may introduce my nephew to Street Fighter 5 Championship Edition. No reason really not to considering it's easier than USF4. The only problem is me finding a character to stick with so I can enjoy the game with him. For sure I'll be using Karin, but other than that I'm not sure.

Guilty Gear Strive would be too much for him to handle. At least with games like Blazblue, Dbfz, UMvC3, etc, etc there's autocombos, but strive, I don't know. Too much to try and teach him (especially when he don't even understand FADC)

Now in terms of single-player games I'm going to give Y's 9 another shot. I remember I got up to a certain point but got lost because of a glitch or something and I gave up after that.

Y's 9
Yeah started playing this yesterday and I'm 10 hrs in. Like I said, I don't know what caused me to give up the last time but I'm enjoying it now. Maybe it was the mood I was in at the time, I'm not sure. I know when it comes to certain portions in the game I just don't care for, but I didn't even pay attention back then that I can skip portions of the dungeon when I die. But whatever on that. Like I said, I am enjoying it. It's keeping me occupied that's for sure.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 20, 2022, 04:29:46 PM
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
I think I just got the final character that belongs in the party. If I had to compare this to another game, I'd probably say Kingdom Hearts or any Tales game, at least in terms of combat. Falcom or whoever is behind this and Trails, I swear they deserve a gold medal for characters. This is the 2nd series I've played where none of the characters annoyed me. Not even one comes close to annoying me either. The only fault I'd give this game other than its graphics is the bouncing back and forth between the different POV's. You're at a huge disadvantage in one whereas you have access to everything in the other. If it weren't for how it's connected to the story I'd cut it out completely. I don't know if this game has a NG+ or not, but I'm not sure if it's worth going through it again. I don't play these type of games for the thrill of a challenge. 1st playthrough is always for the story and the 2nd playthrough is trying to see how broken I can make these characters. I don't know if you make a busted character in this game like you could in Trails of Cold Steel. Anyway, I am enjoying it though.

Edit:

Watching people play Elden Ring. This would probably the only souls game I'm interested in, but looking at people play I can definitely tell you that dodge rolling don't sit well with me, especially after experience movement and dodging in Nioh. Other than that I can definitely dig this game and its world. It did take seeing a samurai type to actually win me over though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 01, 2022, 02:02:03 PM
Elden Ring
Only watching people so far. I don't have a copy of the game yet. But I'm watching 2 people play. I don't plan on watching them play the whole thing, but I'm trying to get some ideas on the kind of build I want to go for. 1 of them is going for a Vagabond Dex build. No idea what that means. I think the other 1 is going for some form of Dex build as well. Again, no idea. Both ran into an invader that was a samurai build and my eyes sparkled. I'm thinking I want a samurai magic welder or something like that. Kind of Sephiroth-ish in a way. Anyway, the more I watch people play Elden Ring the more I get the urge to fire up Nioh 1 and 2. I have unfinished business with 1. And I never even started 2. Today I was sort of binging XLH Gladiator videos (slow work day) and I was watching a little bit of Xenoswarm builds for Nioh 2, and I'm like, oh yes, I want to attempt some form of a dual weld poison build. Not sure what kind of build I'd go for in Nioh 2 though.

Street Fighter 5 Championship Edition
I missed out on a lot and have a lot of catching up to do. I don't plan on playing this seriously though, but I do want to be competent in it. I mean now that some of the whiners are starting to dwindle (hopefully) I get to enjoy the game. The nephew is coming by and he's asking to try it out. Might be a good one to learn together.

Ultra Street Fighter 4
My Yun is coming together pretty nicely. Although I'm thinking of making Yang the main (not intended) and having Yun and Ibuki as backups. I don't particularly care about tier lists and whatnot and considering people would consider Yang a mid tier character, his mixups and resets are brutal. And overall he's just more fun to play. He's a lot more fun in this than he is in 3rd Strike. In 3rd Strike Yang is more of a footsie based character and we know how I feel about footsies and neutral, whereas Yun is more fun to play in 3rd Strike. Anyway, none of my characters are competent yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 01, 2022, 04:26:39 PM
I've been playing Elden Ring. Haven't gotten very far outside of defeating the first main boss and being somewhere in the middle of Stormville Castle. Interestingly, there seems to be at least some necessity to invest in magic no matter what kind of build you go for.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 03, 2022, 04:56:22 PM
Hmm. So far the 2 people I've been watching play Elden Ring, I don't know if they've done anything with magic yet, but I do know neither has used magic at all. The other person I thought was doing a dex build is doing a strength build.

Nioh
Oh man, the rust is there for sure. I died once but it was me doing something stupid. I'm also trying to get used to the controls as well. It's not a weird feeling or anything, just taking some time getting used to all over again. The camera is sort of messing with me but it hasn't been too much of a problem. I'm currently at the first boss, and might make my attempt at him in a few, but more than likely it'll be tomorrow.

That's pretty much it. Probably will alternate between Nioh and some fighting game.

Street Fighter 5: Championship Edition
Doing trials. Going through Ryu's trials at the moment. I'm on Vol. 2. The one issue I always have, even in earlier Street Fighter games is doing Shoryuken from a crouching position. I've always had this problem and I hate it. I understand there's a shortcut, but it encourages mashing and I try to stay away from mashing. My hands are shot right now. That being said, my problem area is getting used to motion inputs in this game. There's definitely something weird going on. USF4 motion inputs (outside of dp) are easy for me. Obviously 1-frame links were what did everyone in. Myself included. I don't think there are 1-frame links in the game outside of microstep combos and even those might be 2-frames. Just going through Ryu's trials, light kick into tatsu should be easy mode, but for some reason the moves aren't coming out. I'm probably doing it too fast, but that wouldn't explain why the light kick's not coming out at all. Anyway, Ryu's boring but more exciting in this game than he is in USF4, I'll give Capcom that. The stiff animations on his moves throws everything off though, but he's definitely a lot more fun here (3rd Strike and Street Fighter x Tekken is where he's the most fun at).

I don't know if I'm going to play Nioh today. Like I said, my hands are shot right now.

Edit 1:

Nioh
So I fired it up afterall. Onryoki is beaten. I'm still a scrub, but I did manage to beat him on first go around. I beat the stage twice now. I may go for a 3rd run. Beat the little side mission that's in place of that as well. The one I know is going to give me a hard time is Hino Enma (sp?) along with Tachibana. Man I'm not looking forward to these fights lol, but on the plus side I still appreciate human-size bosses. Giant bosses is "meh" to me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 06, 2022, 06:46:17 PM
Quote from: Mustang on March 03, 2022, 04:56:22 PMHmm. So far the 2 people I've been watching play Elden Ring, I don't know if they've done anything with magic yet, but I do know neither has used magic at all. The other person I thought was doing a dex build is doing a strength build.

Do they not used any Ashes of War, weapons skills, or summons? There are tons of things that require FP in this game beyond just spells, so I'd expect they put magic to use in one way or another. It's kind of hard not to, though it doesn't have to be directly applied to combat depending on your build.

Anyways, I just beat Godrick at Stormveil Castle, and I've been all over the map doing a bunch of random side-quests since then. It's funny, since for as big as this game is, it still kind of shocks me just HOW big it is. Like, I discovered an underground area the other day and expected it to me a sort of mini-dungeon of sorts that I could get some cool loot from. Then I discovered a map and realized that it's another fully sized region of the game with tons of area to cover right underneath an entire other region of the game. It's pretty incredible how big this game is without feeling so padded or full of meaningless fluff, though at the same time that's also why it can be tad overwhelming for me in this day and age when I don't have much time to play.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 06, 2022, 08:19:23 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-kenDo they not used any Ashes of War, weapons skills, or summons? There are tons of things that require FP in this game beyond just spells, so I'd expect they put magic to use in one way or another. It's kind of hard not to, though it doesn't have to be directly applied to combat depending on your build.

I don't even know what Ashes of War is. They may use weapons skills, if they have I wouldn't know. Nobody has summoned anything. Romalla is stubbornly using these claws and has been doing well with them. APlatypuss, last I saw was using a big sword and was going for a look that look like it was inspired by Berserk. Honestly, it's almost boring watching them play because it's been swing swing roll. The other is swing swing troll for parry.

Edit 1:

Nioh
Hino Enma is beaten, but yeah, definitely hate her. 1st couple of times I'm still trying to get used to the controls and this broad hits me with paralysis (I forgot she had that). 3rd time I ended up panicking and she caused me to get the wrong jutsu (ended up getting poison resistance). 4th time she just bum-rushes me. 5th time she gets smoked. Didn't touch me one time. I say all that because I'm disappointed in my 4th try and I gotta run it back. And then I find out I had some paralysis stuff in my inventor (double pissed). So yeah, run back indeed.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 10, 2022, 09:49:58 PM
You know, it's funny. For how much George R. R. Martin's name was brought up to hype this game up a couple of years back when it was first announced, I barely see that used in this game's marketing or coming up in any discussions about the game now that it's out. After 30 hours with the game so far, the story-telling feels just about the same as any other Souls game. I'm not saying that GRRM didn't contribute to this game's lore, but it also feels like if his name was never attached to it and I was told the story and lore were crafted in-house like any other Fromsoftware game, I'd easily believe it.

I will say, though, despite how wary I have become of open world games, it is impressive to me so far how massive this home's world is while not feeling nearly as padded out as most other open world games. There's always something new to experience around every corner.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 11, 2022, 02:55:42 PM
So I've been listening to Game Scoop for a while now (also gravitating towards MinnMax now too) and while IGN gave Elden Ring a 10/10, this crew certainly don't particularly care for the game. I'm always going to be neutral when it comes to how people feel about whatever it is they like/don't like (I'm going to have to give this a listen a couple of times). Some of the things that's being said I can certainly understand. On the other hand I can see their emails getting flooded with hate mail lol. Personally, the main thing I'm taking away from their discussion is that they don't usually play these kind of games and still trying to give it a try. So I'd say before letting the hate mail go flying at least they are trying it out. Back in my younger days I'd probably go off on people trying to question said thoughts and wouldn't care about fan outrage and whatnot (sort of like I am these days but I try to ignore it more these days).

Anyway, I only brought that up because I thought the discussion was interesting.

Street Fighter 5: Championship Edition
Ryu's 10th trial Vol. 2 is still beating me up. Make matters worst my wrists are acting up and it's effecting the way I play. I don't want to go back to pad but at this rate I may have to. Anyhow, I may be closer to having a main than I actually thought originally. 3 characters are starting to separate themselves from a list I had. Zeku, Poison, and Laura. I won't ever truly be done with Karin, but I have more fun with the 3 characters I mentioned. Juri is another I can probably add but I want to narrow, not add to at the moment.

Guilty Gear Strive
Saw a video from a top GG player that made me look at this differently now. While I do still think the game is overall fun I was still on the fence because I wanted the characters to do more, but the way the player explained it, in previous games the accessibility of said moves were never used in the first place once you get to higher level. So here in Strive, Devs just removed the "useless" tools to make the player focus on optimizing what they should be doing. I can dig that if that's actually Dev's reasoning from removing the extra fluff because if there's one thing I've been saying time and time again lately is that I don't give a rip about optimization. I want flash and I want combos, but to bring in new people from that standpoint on trying to get them to compete, I can dig that and take a step back from this one.

Still having a hard time on a character I want to main but I'm going to settle for Giovanna (again). She's the only one I can gravitate to despite having such a simple design.

Later will be more Nioh
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 15, 2022, 06:13:21 PM
I still don't have it but I'm digging what I'm seeing of Elden Ring. I'll wait a little bit to see if it goes on sale or if DLC comes out. Dr. Ensatsu-ken, what type of build are you going for? I'm still going to aim for a samurai build or dual welding samurai. I also know people are already claiming this as GotY and they might be right but I'll wait and see. For me it might be one of them Trails games or DNF Duel.

And then there's Final Fantasy Origins: Stranger of Paradise I'm curious about. I know people are down on the story but let's be real here. This is Koei Tecmo we're talking about. If you think you're going to get a good story from then you need to go read a book. When was the last time they put out something with a good story? I'm more interested in the combat. I read that there are 20+ jobs. I'm curious about that and how that'll work with combat and then of course the customizing. I think I saw that you'll only be playing as the main guy while you can customize the other people, but not nearly as much as the main character. In any case, I won't be getting this day 1 either. Money is tight and my priorities is elsewhere at the moment.

The niece and nephew is coming down this weekend as well so Ultra Street Fighter 4 is definitely on the table. Not sure about Street Fighter 5 just yet. I know for sure my nephew might want to try out Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid. That one, Whoo boy is wild but it's easy enough for both of us to learn at the same time. So I might fire it up for him.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 15, 2022, 09:32:02 PM
I started as Samurai class and my build has been mostly focused on dexterity and physical combat. I'm still primarily using the Uchigatana that I started the game with. That said I have mixed some magic into the equation since certain spells can be extremely useful in clutch situations. I just beat one of the main bosses of the game and seemingly unlocked the ability to re-spec my character if I need to, which I don't plan on doing now but may end up going for if I find a better build that I want.

I've been spending a lot more time on side-quests than I anticipated since those often yield some of the best rewards. What I like is being able to venture into areas that I'm way too underleveled for and run past enemies to find some pretty good mid-to-late game items and loot.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 18, 2022, 10:55:19 PM
Ultra Street Fighter 4
Yeah, my Ryu is mean. Anyway, me and my nephew just stayed in Training Mode duking it out. Didn't play any actual matches. Little booger trying to talk smack in training mode but don't want to play in an actual match. I'm not gonna knock him though. Let him learn at his own pace. We started off with Ryu mirrors, Ken mirrors and branched off from there. I pulled out the very rusty Guy for the last session when he chose to try out Makoto. While he likes USF4 I think he's getting bored of it.

Street Fighter 5: Championship Edition
Low and behold my nephew took a heavy liking to this game and I can understand why. He fell in love with V-shift and V-trigger because they're so easy to use (activation for him). He also took a strong liking to Chun-Li. Even though we were mashing I can tell for him it felt like he was actually doing something, and I think that's the point people are missing when they decide to hate on this game. A lot of the game is very accessible for a 7-8 year old. Again, he got to talking a little trash and I pulled out Karin and sort of humbled him with her lol. Then I put her away and tried out Kolin, Mika, Cammy (she's boring). Both Kolin and Mika felt good in my hands but I couldn't remember some of their moves. Like I said, he took a strong liking to Chun-Li as well as Blanka and Honda (oh goodie...) We'll probably continue to play in training mode until he's actually ready.

Speaking of ready, it might be time to try him out on some beat em ups. I know he's interested in the Ninja Turtles collection. Probably have a lot of fun with Back in Time and whatnot. I may try out Streets of Rage 4 as well. Kind of at a standstill on what to get on my PS4 for him to play.

Edit1:

I will say that after we finished up with SF5, I went back to USF4 for a little bit. I even went with Omega. Might be done with USF4. There are 2 things that USF4 has over SF5. Characters and combos. And those 2 are the most important things to me in fighting games. So why would I say that this might be the end of USF4 then? Well, it's certainly not the characters. It's the combos. And this is what puts a lot of other games over USF4 as well when we go on a deeper level. Yes, execution means a lot. But that's only in USF4. What kills USF4 are the 1-2 frame links. And USF4 was praised for its execution, but when it comes to some of these combos the links aren't necessary. That's what makes UMvC3, GG, BB, etc so special. All you have to do is adjust height timing and space timing and ta-da you might hit that specific combo. 1-frame links, to much you have to do in order to be successful with it. SF5, I think most combos are 3-frame links or higher. And because of my love for 3rd Strike you can't go wrong with the shorter combos either because that's more damage when using super. Not to mention that it's fun doing these combos. (When I was doing the trials in BB, I was having a lot of fun despite having to repeat it a lot). So yeah, might be time to put USF4 (and probably SFxT) to rest, especially with DNF Duel and Project L on the horizon.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 26, 2022, 09:02:28 AM
When I'm not playing anything I'm usually watching games be played. Be it on Twitch (never will watch people single player games on there, let alone games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, etc) or IGN Tv (or whatever it's called).

On IGN I've seen quite the amount of games being played.

Metroid Dread
I've never played a Metroid game and probably never will but I respect this game. I could barely hear much of anything (I don't know if music was being played or not) but everything else was really good. The person playing, well, I think I could do better, but whatever. I think I prefer meaningful weapons like how you get them here instead of all this looting.

Final Fantasy 7: Remake Intergrade
Will probably never play this either. I still haven't even played the original remake yet either. Probably won't either. I'm not sure if I like the gameplay or not. No doubt its one I'd have to try, but just looking at it does no justice. If anything it almost looks bad. I find no reason to pay attention to the story even though they added some things. Unfortunately, I don't have nearly an attachment like other FF nuts do. I think that's why I have no desire to play right now. On top of Square/Sony pulling some BS and made this a PS5 exclusive when everyone and their mother new the game in its entirety would go the PS5 route. The problem is is that they said they wouldn't do that. So right now I'm kind of out on this remake altogether.

Horizon: Forbidden West
Someone made the comparison of this being a cross between Mass Effect and Monster Hunter(?), aw man I can't remember, but I can certainly see Mass Effect comparison. I didn't play Zero Dawn (I have it) so obviously I'm a little lost, but what I saw looks really good. If only the person playing the game was actually good at it.

Twitch has been the typical ChilledChaos crew playing Among Us, Clue, Project Winter, and Town of Salem. They play other games like Minecraft and Mario stuff, but I'm usually checked out at that point.

Edit1:

Everything I said about me transitioning over to Street Fighter 5. I take it back. The nephew blew it. I'm not going to go into details and we'll still play, but it definitely won't be my main focus. Not having a character really sucks and no matter how many times I take Zeku or Ryu to training mode, not having my character doesn't cut it. I won't say I'm going back to USF4 (maybe I will), but I might be making a full transition to Guilty Gear Strive once Testament comes out. Who knows, I'll probably have the same issues in Strive that I do with SF5 if I don't get Johnny, or they change Testament (and Johnny) enough to where I don't find them fun and engaging, but right now Testament looks very interesting.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 02, 2022, 11:58:41 PM
Guilty Gear Strive
Honestly, I thought Testament would do it for me. I don't think they're weak, and honestly, I don't care about that. This Testament has a mid-range style that don't jive with me. I like the idea of Testament playing similar to their old counterpart and Venom, but implemented here, it's not working for me. Footsies have never been me and it's like Daisuke's changed them to be a mid-range zoner type.

Ultra Street Fighter 4
My nephew's mouth is getting him in a world of hurt lol. I don't want to take away his enjoyment, but everybody knows what happens when you start taunting. I told him a few times he needs to chill on taunting, but he kept pushing my buttons. Gave him a taste at where my Dudley, Guy, Ryu and Cody is really at (yeah got a little serious on him). There is one other habit I'm trying to get him out of but I have to remember that he is a kid. In a sense, it's like he's trying to tell me how to play the game, and I'm dude, I've been playing this game for 10 years, but in reality even though he's pointing it out to me he might be trying remind himself of some things. I gotta remember that the next time we play. I still have a lot to learn trying to teach him as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 29, 2022, 05:00:10 PM
I swear, people in the FGC now. It's like these new games aren't even worth buying anymore because the community find ways to ruin it for everyone. DNF Duel is on my radar heavy, but when I think about it; Street Fighter 5, Guilty Gear Strive, Tekken 7, King of Fighters 15, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, Dragon Ball Fighterz, Mortal Kombat 11, and the new Melty Blood have been released within the past 5-6 years and nobody wants to put in that work anymore. It's just "argh, this character is too strong, nerf" and I'm at the point where it's like why are you buying fighting games then or even playing if you're not gonna put in the work? Back then had it's fair share of whining as well, but we were forced to adapt. Pick top tier or learn the matchup. Plain and simple. I think for now I'm going to stick with my older fighting games for now and just buy the new stuff to support the devs.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
That being said I went back to playing this crack addicting game. Like MvC2, people have been discovering new tech because there' have been new team combinations starting to see light. Yeah, you're still going to run into Zero May Cry and other top tier teams but it's been exciting to see these new teams go to work. I've seen Hsien-ko being considered broken now (lmao) because of some of her nasty mix-ups. Thor has some mean resets with Rocket Raccoon, and Spider-man has become a menace.

Speaking of Spider-Man, he's one of the characters I've been learning to put on a fun team. Yep, my main team is still Nova, Vergil, Hawkeye. Most of my teams will always be centered around Vergil simply because he's just that deal and my favorite character ever (with Sephiroth being 1B). I have a lot of ideas rolling around in my head and combinations I want to try.

Other than that, not much has been played. Not watching much on Twitch either. I heart ChilledChaos and company but I stopped supporting him. I can only handle so much Among Us. It's played almost everyday and by the same people and I'm like can we get a little bit a variation or something. The people are cool and everything but I'm not paying for 5-6 hrs of Among Us and 2 hrs of whatever else you have on the back burner. I did go back to watching Easy Allies though. They've finally decided to change things up for the better and it's something I can get behind.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 09, 2022, 02:31:39 PM
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Marvel vs Capcom Infinite
It was not a good weekend for me when it comes to these 2 games. I got bopped. Bopped pretty badly too. 2-5 in UMvC3 and 1-5 in MvCI. My boys brought that Detroit thunder outta me too. So much trash talk and whatnot (all in good fun though), and they just bought it out. So when I'm not playing some sort of JRPG all of my attention will be on these 2 games. These newer games have the potential to do the same thing if people would just stop whining and just play the game regardless of whose top / bottom tier. Pick yo ish and play. When you're having fun tiers don't matter. That being said, Spencer, Vergil, Hawkeye coming in full throttle the next time we get together. Man, when I say they woke me up.... It's gonna be some desert heat.

Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3
Playing around with different quartz setups and whatnot. Trying to compare how cheap I can make characters compared to the other games in the series.

Eventually I'll get back around to playing Persona 5 Royal. Eventually. Once I do it'll probably be the only rpg I'll be playing for a while. You know, gotta min-max certain personas (I need a devilish grin emoji here)

Edit:

So my nephew and I are currently playing Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. Both of us sort of training in our own way I suppose. My nephew I guess is training to ultimately play against his father and eventually me using my best team. Speaking of team, right now I'm using Wolverine, Spencer, Doctor Doom (my Doom is trash) against the little fella and he's managed to take a couple of games off of me. I've went back and forth with Doom and Magneto finding out little things that Spencer and Magneto can do together. To tell you how he got those games on me, the very first game, he pops X-factor and threw me completely off my game. That's not something you'll ever see. It threw me so off I had to hit training mode just to get the feel of doing combos. My brain was that rattled. After I came back down to earth it was murder she wrote. I will also say he gravitated towards a mean team (Zero, Vergil, Strider) which completely bops my Spencer team. That being said we had fun. Nice little bonding moments (especially since I'm not the type to like kids, but my nephew does look up to me and I can see it).

I haven't gotten back into playing Dragon Ball Fighterz but I've gotten back into watching it. Eventually I will get back into playing it only with the friends and fam. Online is still as toxic as ever, but man, watching some of these Wawa teams that he puts together are a joy to watch. Once you get past all the hatred for Labcoat 21 and the fusion characters (hell, leave them be IMO) you can see how far the game has really developed and how fun it truly can be. It's not Marvel by any means, nor is it trying to be. It's its own thing and it's a spectacle. I don't think I'd use SSB Gogeta and SSB Vegito together like I'm seeing so many people do now (LMAO, France really got America shook to the core) but I definitely think I'd use each one individually on there own perspective teams. Like I said, good stuff but this crowd, I can't help but shake my head at them.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 19, 2022, 06:57:16 PM
Trails of Cold Steel 4
Whoever made this Pom Pom Party game, I swear I wish that person ran into a tree. Ordinarily I wouldn't touch a game like this, but noooo, Falcom thought it was a good thing lock a Master Quartz behind that game. I've lost far more games than I've won and seeing how I only got up to Emma unlocked but am currently stuck on Ash. Yes, to the dev that thought it was a cool idea, kick your toe.

Edit:

So still playing through ToCS4 (probably my 4th-5th playthrough). This will probably be my last until I get ahold of the rest of the games in the other series (Trails from Zero, etc). Rude awakening playing this game. So there are guest characters in the game that stick around for quite some time. The only thing you can customize on these said characters are the weapons they use. Everything else, cool. I made one of the stronger than ever. Doing between 50-60,000 of damage with just 1 simple attack. Over 100K for S-Attack and 300K if boost by brave orders. So what is it that got me in my feelings this time. By the end of the game they stripped said characters of everything you put on them for some garbage setup. I hope whatever games comes after this one fixes this garbage because playing as fixed characters has got to be some of the lamest things you can do in a game just to make the game feel harder than it really is.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
Believe it or not it's been almost a full week and my brain is still rattled from that X-factor at the beginning of the very first game. So I've been playing this game full time now and I forgot how fun it is to do combos in this game. For some reason though, Vergil's super jump from Trick is giving me the blues though. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't.

Dragon Ball Fighterz
Doing someone bonding with my nephew and watched a few tournaments. He's very interested in the game so we'll probably fire this boy up over the weekend or the following weekend. Already got me thinking about teams and mixups and the like. I'm thinking about something along the lines of SSB Gogeta, Beerus and 17.

He's also interested in the older MvC games as well so I'll probably end up getting another laptop specifically for Fightcade and hooking that up to my TV for the time being. I think in general my nephew, like me might just like most fighting games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 26, 2022, 11:20:05 PM
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
Some Vergil training. Went back to playing on pad for a little bit too. Hitbox is messing with my wrists. No matter what I use, some thing's gonna hurt lol. Anyway, training with Vergil for the past couple of days now. For the most part he's relatively easy to use and combo with. Teleport > Super Jump can be a little tricky at the beginning but I got that down. Just a matter of being fast and precise. The real tricky thing is Roundtrip. Holding A/1/light attack (whatever you want to call it) to use in combos and mixups are hard for me at the moment, especially when it comes to relearning wavedashing. I can wave dash forward, but backwards wavedashing is tricky, and to be efficient with Vergil you need movement (at least when it comes to his mixups).

Did some Spencer training as well. For the most part he's still easy. Zip combos are gonna be a little problem but once I get past muscle memory and memorizing the combo's he'll be a walk in the park. There are some characters I want to use instead of Spencer and maybe I'll start training with them next. Nova, Magneto, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Captain America are the ones I've been sort of trying out and seeing if I can vibe with them. Nova's a given, but at the same time characters with flight gives me a problem (double for Magneto because he has TAC infinites and combos with flight).

Then I've been training with Taskmaster. Again, a relatively easy character once muscle memory is accomplished. His supers on pad can get a little weird some time. Using him and Vergil together I have to setup the controller a certain way. Not to complicated but it takes a little bit to get used to. In place of Taskmaster though, if I were to replace him would be Hawkeye, Magneto, Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man. Hawkeye's a given. Very easy to play. Just memorize the combos and you're set. Doctor Doom/Strange are hard for me, but could probably be some of the funnest characters in the game to learn.

Then we have characters you will never see me use. Zero, Strider, Wesker, Dante. First Dante. Don't get it twisted. I love Dante. I'm just note going to use Vergil and Dante together. For me it has to be one or the other. Too many people using the Dante/Vergil shell and besides, it's pretty much just me, my nephew, my brother, my brother-in-law, and my boys. It's not like I'm trying to go to Evo or anything of that nature. Anyway, I hate Zero. Strider, Wesker are "meh" so yeah.

In terms of single player. I finished Trails of Cold Steel 4. Haven't really decided on what to play next. Not really feeling much of anything at the moment either. I have a backlog to catch up on and then new games I can actually play but I don't have any motivation to do either.

Haven't been watching much either. I mean other than fighting games stuff I haven't checked out anything. I haven't even been watching ChilledChaos and them folks as much lately. I don't know, I might be getting in one of them little moods again where it might be time to take a break from gaming for a little bit. If it wasn't for my nephew challenging me I probably wouldn't be playing anything to be honest.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 04, 2022, 12:34:58 PM
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Decided to torture myself with this hellhole. I still have fun with it but man, the controls to this game is bonkers at times. I'm mashing btw, but one moment my character is charging up a punch (I'm mashing, how the hell are you charging?) to sometimes not getting an attack to come out at all (I can sort of understand this one). Don't get me started with the blocking. I block and get broken, CPU blocks and its a perfect guard (Bullshit). Oh, Teleports. Now suddenly when the CPU is going for their big move and I press the buttons for teleporting behind them my character just floats and I'm like "hello, TELEPORT FU$@$@$%". A lot of times it's Kamehameha (and good thing I got that one, soul thing, called "HAAAAAAAAAAAAA" because the amount of times I'm going from Goku to Gohan's blast puts me on tilt a lot. So why do I come back to it? Every now and then I have fun with it. Sort of trying to cope I guess, deciding what to play while going through this tortuous hell.

Fighting games, I'm all over the place at the moment. My nephew has this tendency to want to play 2-3 games of Street Fighter and switch to the next one. I'm like, this ain't helping me at all (certain little things that irks me). I take my fighting games serious. If you're not gonna help me learn you're wasting my time. Fortunately, I'm getting through to him little by little. I help him try to have fun while I'm trying to learn, but he's got to stop talking lol. Certain trigger words/phrases that brings out that desert heat and I want to embarrass you at that moment. Bouncing from Dragon Ball Fighterz to Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite and a little bit of GranBlue Fantasy Versus.

No idea what's next. Debating between getting back to Persona 5 Royal to starting the Mass Effect journey. Hell, I may start one of these weird Atelier games just to see what that's like. I will say every time I think about jumping back into Spider-man I am reminded of the stealth parts that I hate so much.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 17, 2022, 05:12:30 PM
So to no ones surprise after I beat Xenoverse 2 again as the Frieza race character I didn't stick around for the extra stuff. I was aiming to do another character, but hell no.

I moved onto Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne. I've been putting this game off since I was about 19-20. Back then I was very immature on how to handle games like this because I was going to church heavily at that time. I didn't exactly like the thought of fighting against demons and whatnot, let alone when it came to "end of the world" kind of stuff my conscience just wouldn't let me handle it so I said no on all of it, despite wanting to always play through the MegaTen series.

Now that I'm pushing 40 and maturing a lot. I'm able to separate those kinds of things and just play the game (movies? HELL NO). Anyway, this game is brutal. I thought I had a little advantage considering I've played Persona 5. Boy was I wrong. Luckily I do know the Japanese names for the elemental magic attacks. I also know Light and Dark attacks as well. Some of the ailments, though, are not the same as it is in Persona 5. I do remember some of the buffs and debuffs, but again they got here that I didn't even know exist. Anyhow, I just made it to Ginza. My character is lv 14. Trying to get to 15 so I can get a Bicorn. I am enjoying the game though.

Fighting games. My nephew has challenged me in Ultra Street Fighter 4 so, here we go again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 17, 2022, 06:25:00 PM
I'm almost done with Elden Ring. Yes, I've been playing this game since it came out (not every single day of course), and with my tight work and life schedule this is just how long it takes me to beat a massive open world game like this these days. It's probably why I don't play too many games like this anymore. That said, after sinking over 130 hours into this, I can safely say that this is indeed a great video game that will go down as an all-time classic. However, I probably wouldn't consider it to be one of my personal all-time favorites. I still prefer a great combat system like in Nioh above all else, despite the level design in this game being probably the best I've ever seen in the open world genre. It's amazing how massive this game is and yet still feeling like so many areas are entirely memorable with very little filler in-between. This is also a great game for anyone who likes to play the numbers-game in Action RPGs and loves to craft different kinds of builds. For me personally, now at the endgame, I have geared more towards putting my stat points more into Dexterity, Faith, and Arcane, the last of which I almost entirely ignored early in the game but realized how useful it could be with scaling some powerful late game weapons. I'll probably finish this game in another weekend or two, and I doubt I'll replay it after that given how long it is, but it has been time mostly well spent so far.

I have also gotten around to playing Titanfall 2 (well, am currently playing it, as I still haven't beaten the campaign yet). It's one of those games that made a quick splash when it came out and then got quickly forgotten about, but caught my interest because of how much of a cult following it developed. After playing a few levels, I can definitely see the appeal. The movement mechanics alone make this game stand out from other FPS titles and it helps that while the story is nothing that original or unique on it's own, the actual delivery of it all is stupidly good with how much they get you to buy into Cooper's partnership and bonding with BT, his Titan. The mech battles feel like a more fully realized version of what Monolith was trying to do with the mech sections in F.E.A.R. 2, but honestly the on-foot segments of this game are really where the combat shines, especially once you get a feel for wall-running as well as this game's version of bunny-hopping in conjunction with shooting down enemies.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on June 18, 2022, 11:54:10 PM
And after beating Titanfall 2 I immediately want to replay it. I mistakenly passed up on this game for so long but it's legit one of the best FPS campaigns in the last decade or so. This is like the Vanquish of FPS games. Amazing movement mechanics combined with tight gunplay. Definitely deserves it's praise and strong cult following.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 22, 2022, 02:04:03 PM
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
While I don't have the DLC to it, I did end up running into I forgot his name (Dante's replacement) and got my first game over. Yeah, this game's no joke at all, and to be honest, because of the random encounters I don't mind grinding. Then again I suppose that's because of the kind of game it is. I don't know if I'd could handle a Trails game with random encounters and having to grind. Anyway, my character is pushing lvl 28 I believe while my demons are between lvl 19-26. Negotiating is ridiculous lol. Trying not to spend money as is but when you got demons asking for 400+ and then turn you down in the end, brutal. I'm currently in, the name escapes me, but it's something with Ike______ getting ready to go up this tower/base or whatever.

Edit:

On my way to Asakusa. My character is level 37. Everyone else is between 16-33. Back then Atlus really knew how to keep you on edge and sort of made you have to grind to go foward. I'm thinking about grinding now just to have some extra cash on me at all times. Demon's asking for 700+ makka in order to join you now. I should've expected that by now but damn, so soon? Especially when you're trying to find demons that are immune to certain ailments or null some attacks. A lot of the demons I have on hand right now are weak to electricity and fusing them is not guaranteeing me much either. Rock, hard places indeed.

Been having some enlightening moments with some of my character choices in some of these fighting games. Heat of the moment, for sure. I've been watching a lot of GGXXACr footage and seeing this one Order Sol player makes me want to switch up. Before I was a Johnny main I was hipped onto Sol but switched up because at the time my brother-in-law was also a Sol main and I didn't want to have too many mirror matches with him. I didn't know of HOS back then either until I saw Kazunoko play him and then eventually I saw how much swag Johnny had. Anyway, watching guy play HOS and in my mind I'm like why am I not playing him? Sure I can be playing Slayer since he fits right in with my game plan, but I want that threat of bum-rushing you to linger in your head. And it's spilled over into other fighting games as well. BBCF with Susano'o. MvCI with Captain America. Just to name a few. USF4 even though Dudley is the main I come back to Cody. I'm not dropping the characters I usually play but I will be picking up these characters I either used to play from the start or never tried and should've been tried them out.

Edit:

So the fun in USF4 has been completely killed by the nephew. He's a kid. Not going to go into it but he's a kid and gonna do kid things. Aight, cool. In the meantime as punishment he's not allowed in my room to play games for a month. That outta of the way I can get back to focusing on getting prepped for DNF Duel which is out next week. From what I've seen even playing GranBlue Fantasy Versus looks like it won't be enough. Sure, it has the same ground base game, but damn near every character has far reaching moves. The game I should probably be playing is Under Night in Birth.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 04, 2022, 02:49:39 AM
I've been on a bit of a Halo kick recently and have been replaying the original trilogy's campaign modes. I may do a longer post later but these games hold a really special place for me and I think I actually appreciate them more now than I did when they first came out.

I've also started playing Phantom Dust, a re-release of an OG XBOX game that's now completely free to play on both XBOX and Windows PC. I've known about it since it came out but never bothered trying it because back then I assumed it was mostly an XBOX Live multiplayer-focused game (which i didn't have at the time). To he fair, it still is a multi-player game at it's core, but it also has a beefy, fully fleshed-out campaign mode and I'm loving the core combat mechanics. I'm now kicking myself for not having gotten this game back when it was released and I owned an OG XBOX.

This is yet another example of how that console had a treasure-trove of underrated gems.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 09, 2022, 10:20:33 PM
Tunic is fucking amazing and I can't believe I only just got around to it. I initially wanted to try it as a 2D Zelda-clone with some Dark Spuls elements. While it definitely takes some influence from both of those games in terms of being focused on puzzles and simple combat, what makes it feel unique is that most of it's puzzles and progression come from intuitively deciphering pages of the in-game instruction manual that you find rather than on more physical puzzles like what you find in Zelda. It's a pretty great feeling just being able to use your own judgement and visual clues rather than relying on expository text or dialogue on how to progress or even in terms of how basic functions work.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 04, 2022, 11:40:47 AM
Ultra Street Fighter 4
Got back into training with Yun, but man, every time I see a good Yang it makes me want to switch because I love resets. And Yang's resets are crazy good. I saw a guy on Smug's stream a couple of days ago using Yang and he did some reset that made it look like Yang was on the other side of Smug only to still be in front of him (you clearly see him dash under Smug's Dudley) and everyone in the chat lost it while Smug was confused as well. Only reason I haven't switched to Yang is because Yun can do something similar and he does more damage (not to mention, if Yun resets you in 1 combo you're pretty much dead). Not to mention I don't see anymore Yun these days and I happen to like him and I plan to take him online soon.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Played this one with the nephew last weekend. He's getting the hang of things somewhat. He's trying to learn parry, but I'm trying to get him to block first. He just don't want to block at all lol. Anyway, I'm learning Yang even though I mostly played Ken. There's not much to really learn with Yang in this one, but his spacing in this game is something I need to get down. Don't let me find out Yang have resets in this game.

I wish I was going to Evo this weekend but I still don't trust people enough to go traveling yet. I got a little rant about FGC again (I know I know, not another one lol). Gotta gather my thoughts on this one since it's been a minute since I've last posted not to mention there's been some conversations that came up recently that's actually got people discussing things instead of bullshitting.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 26, 2022, 09:11:48 PM
Persona 5 Royal
This is what, my 3rd or 4th playthrough of this game. At this point I can probably nitpick this game to death. The only nitpick I will throw out there is I wish Atlus would make either and Persona or Shin Megami Tensei game where you're an adult. I don't know what's up with Japan's fascination with teens (anime and games) as main characters, but for once can they make one of these games where you're an adult? Don't get me wrong, I love these games, but I'd like to experience one of these games where the main place to gather is home and work instead of home and school. I'd even settle for a character like Akechi to have a game of their own. Not saying AKechi himself, but a character juggling college life, with detective work and still having to deal with society. Like I said, nitpicking. Other nitpick I'll throw out there is Ryuji and Morgana still irritate me.

Street Fighter 5 Championship Edition
So the nephew has challenged me to this game for some reason. I'm assuming he's been watching some matches from Evo to want to challenge me in this game. I'm going to oblige him. Probably will play mostly Ken and Laura or I may play mostly Laura. Idom's performance really inspired me. I might bounce around. Not entirely sure.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
He's also challenged me in this as well. I'll mainly play Yang here. Will probably try out Makoto a few times. Might bust out Ryu as well. Ryu is too fun in this game.

I've been trying to get my nephew into other fighting games such as Dragon Ball Fighterz, King of Fighters, but no dice. He'll watch DBFz though. He did say he want to play Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid though. I'll buy it for him first to play on the Switch to see if he really likes it before seeing if he wants to challenge me in it though.

Other than that once I beat Persona this time I'll probably go to Y's 8 or Tales of Arise. Been hearing a lot of praise for Ys 8.

Edit:

3rd Strike
My Yang is looking pretty nice, although I am keeping it simple. I mean he's not exactly hard to play but he does fall in that category of easy to play, hard to master category. Knowing how your opponent plays is huge when playing Yang and because my nephew is random made things a little bit on the easier side for me. If this were Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 though, man my head'll be twisted. He did take 2 games off me though. He's also trying to punish correctly. His timing is off, but I gave him moral victories anyway because he clearly tried to punish and I should've been punished but I can only think he didn't make it in time in the end.

Felt the burnout seeping in with Persona 5 though (I had already beaten it and decided to try and min-max some personas) and for some reason my controller to my PS4 has been randomly de-synching and when I try to turn it back on it's like it just freezes for some reason. Right now I'm reinitializing everything again (lost data but I'm moving on from a lot of games anyway). Not like I had much to begin with.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 04, 2022, 09:16:43 PM
So I fixed whatever internet issue I was having where my controller just kept disconnecting. Problem now though, is that wasted time initializing my PS4 back to factory condition so a lot of saved games are gone in the process. The only games that actually mattered were the Trails games and luckily I can go back to play those games for quite some time. Persona 5 Royal on the other hand I'm probably done with for good. With Trails there's another game coming at the end of the month so that gives me reason to play those games again.

That being said, this huge backlog of games I have is a problem and I don't really see myself ever going back to them. Not to mention there's just a lot of games coming out that I'd rather be playing right now. So when it comes to single player games I'm kinda in a funk right now. Usually I can rely on a Musou game to hold me over for a little bit but I'm not really feeling any of them.

Anyway, cutting the BS for a little bit and playing fighting games kind of full time for a little bit, at least until either the next Trails game or Valkyrie Elysium (very interested in this one)

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
Wolverine. I love this character (not as much as Vergil) and with my team of Wolverine, Vergil and Doctor Doom it's hard to make Wolverine work with Vergil (both works with Doom). Matter of fact it's kind of hard to make Wolverine work with majority of the cast (fitting to his character). This is Punks team and he's a lot better with this team than me but most of his wins comes from Wolverine solo or Vergil solo. If I get too bored with Doom I'm going to focus on Vergil, Dante, Hawkeye (my original O.G team back in 2013)

Dragon Ball Fighterz
SSB Gogeta and 17 is the shell I want to focus on here. Yasha really showed a lot of synergy with these 2 characters. It's not the best shell in the game but you can throw any character on this team and it'll work. I'm working with Beerus at the moment but if I'm not feeling him there are tons of characters I want to try out in his place. The other shell I'll be toying around with is Hit and Adult Gohan. I love Hit, no question. Unfortunately there's a ton of Adult Gohan's that've popped up (of course because of Wawa) but like the other shell you can probably throw any character on this team and it'll work. For this shell I'm working on Bebi Vegeta (Wawa and Tatsunical have been going ham with this character lately)

Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
This is purely for my nephew. He loves Power Rangers and I promised him we could play the next time they come to visit their father. I'm not exactly sure who I want to play in this game. Eric Meyers for sure because that's Vergil. I might pick Lauren Shiba because she does tons of damage. The 3rd character I have no idea. Maybe Ryu (street fighter), Dai Shi or this weird blue ranger.

Guilty Gear Strive
This game has been catching a lot of heat and for the most part I think a lot of people just need to grow up and adapt. No it's not Xrd or +R, but if I wanted Strive to be like those games I'd go play those games. It's still Guilty Gear just less in it. I would've been putting time into this game but I don't have a character (same situation as Street Fighter 5) but I'm sort of settling on Sol or Zato until I get that character (don't necessarily have to be Johnny or Slayer, but I'm hoping for one of them or a character that's as cool as them). Anyway saw a tourney in I think Europe. This Sol player was schmooving and it inspired me.

BlazBlue Central Fiction
Of course I'm coming back to this. I'm going to continue to come back to this. There's no perfect fighting game but this comes close to it. Tons of characters for me and on top of that I'm into combos and there's tons of swag combos. So I really don't understand this notion why everyone in the FGC gotta whine so much when there are fighting games out there for everyone to play and enjoy. I mean sure I'd love for USF4 to go back to get the limelight it once had but it's not so move on already. Anyway, I'm really hooked on Susano'o at the moment. I usually don't play big/tall characters but he fits me. There's also Azrael, Jin, Naoto and Hazama that I can play as well. I haven't jumped into Cross Tag Battle but I just might considering the type of craziness that can happen in that game.

Other than that, there's still 3rd Strike and USF4. I'd really need to get a good working PC so I can get Fightcade and play Capcom vs SNK2 and King of Fighters 13 (rumor that this might get rollback but later in KoF15's lifespan).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 04, 2022, 09:23:17 PM
Started playing Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin for two reasons. One is that it's a Team Ninja ARPG and while I will always prefer a good old-fashioned hack n' slash like Ninja Gaiden, they still make these Souls-likes really well so I was going to play it eventually. The second is that this game has been touted as a gloriously unintentional meme-generator with how painfully lacking in self-awareness the cringe-factor of it's dialogue is, like a relic from the PS2-era, and to me that's genuinely a great thing. In this predictable era of most things being safe and boring in their presentation, there's a lost charm to a video game story being entertainingly bad. I haven't played much of this game yet but it has delivered on both of those aspects pretty well so far. While I don't think this will go anywhere near as deep as Nioh's combat system, it still feels like it has a lot of interesting possibilities for mixing and matching different weapons with different armor sets, and your AI party member are surprisingly useful in this game so making sure you spec them just right actually matters so far. This is also a sufficient way to hold me over until Wo-Long comes out next year.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on September 07, 2022, 11:44:56 PM
I'm 99% certain the cringe in Strangers in Paradise is intentional. No way you have characters bonding over Limp Bizkit and not have it be an intentionally funny scene. :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 10, 2022, 01:02:54 PM
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Been a nice little minute since I've played one of these type of games. Only doing it to get out of the little funk I'm in / heading in. What can I say? Getting my ass whooped. Not because it's a hard game, because it most certainly is not. Getting used to the controls is where I'm getting jacked up at. Mostly the L1, L2, R1, R2. Trying to remember these is costing me a lot, especially when I prefer City/Origins/Knight with the extra gadgetry. That being said this game still holds up, and I do see and remember why people prefer this one over the rest of the games in the series. Looking back on it, I still prefer City/Origins/Knight, but that's only for the gadgets, but presentation and overall package Arkham Asylum all the way. I love open world, but here in Asylum it feels just right without feeling overwhelming, and when I was speaking on DMC needing to try an open world route, AA is probably what I was alluding to. It don't need to be nearly as giant as Breath of the Wild, Arkham City/Knight, nor Dark Souls, etc. but that's another conversation for another day. Yeah, I've been shot up, sliced up, hit in the back of the head a couple of times just trying to remember everything, but once it clicks it's still satisfying to land these hits. I did forget just how much time you spend in detective mode though, wow. Also, I could've sworn Asylum had extra costumes. I know city and knight have them. Probably misremembering.

Now in terms of getting me outta my little funk, it's working in a sense. Arkham Asylum's probably not the one I should've started with. I probably should've started with Arkham City instead, but it's all good. I'm probably done with Asylum at this point though. Might actually move on to either Arkham Knight or just go right into Spider-man. Been wanting to give this one a retry for a minute now.

Not much to be said on the fighting game front. Still playing the same games.

Twitch streams, still the Chilledchaos's and the Aplatypuss. Dooley_Noted has been added to the foray now. Most of them are still playing Among Us, Jackbox Party games, Project Winter, Codenames, and Phasmophobia, but they have been trying newer games as well so they're not totally boring me yet. Their lobbies for Among Us got bigger (They go to 12. I wish they would just go the full 15, but I understand why they don't). You get assholes to come around every now and then in their chats, but for the most part it's still been good to get involved. Fighting game streamers is where all the bullshit is at though (Not the streamer, but their chats). There are some smaller standouts though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 10, 2022, 09:49:59 PM
Quote from: Rynnec on September 07, 2022, 11:44:56 PMI'm 99% certain the cringe in Strangers in Paradise is intentional. No way you have characters bonding over Limp Bizkit and not have it be an intentionally funny scene. :sweat:

It's from a director who has been associated with over-the-top edgelord content before, and the game takes itself seriously and seems to lack self-awareness, so I'm not really sure if it's intentional or not. Either way, it's ridiculously funny and entertaining whether it means to be or not, so I count it as a positive.

Anyways, now that I've got about 7 hours in, I really regret not picking it up earlier. The combat is excellent for anyone who likes Nioh. The job system is great and unlike in Nioh, they have simplified the leveling system so that you don't have to worry about re-speccing your character to switch between classes. You can have two jobs at a time and create different sets to switch between at save points; that includes weapons, armor, and active party members.

I have currently created and named four different sets for the eight jobs I have unlocked so far (there are something like 25+ in the entire game that you can unlock):

Set 1: Samurai- Ronin (Katana) + Duelist (Daggers)

Set 2: Warrior Mage- Swordsman (Greatsword) + Mage (Mace)

Set 3: Noble- Swordfighter (Broadsword) + Lancer (Spear)

Set 4: Veteran- Marauder (Axe) + Pugilist (Knuckles)

Samurai is my personal favorite base set that I've created so far, which is exactly the same weapon set that I go for in Nioh, which should probably tell you something about how similar this game is, lol. :sweat:
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 17, 2022, 03:27:49 PM
Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite
The amount of creativity is wild in this game and I have all these ideas in my head to the point where it can get a bit overwhelming at times. From what I can remember Dante was considered the best character in the game, and I don't know what the general thoughts are now, but if he's still considered the best I can see why. His million dollar super alone gives him synergy with the rest of the cast because they're either stuck blocking or getting hit while you can have whoever your other character is either stocking, combo extending, or prepping for a mixup. Just that alone got me trying Nova, Spiderman, Doctor Strange. Dante/Doctor Strange in particular on paper sounds like it can potentially be the dirtiest team in the game. Sure from UMvC3 we know Zero/Dante and Dante/Strider are beastly, but Dante/Strange sounds like best buddies especially when you think about everything they can do, and then factor in either Reality, Soul, or Space stone. All provide potential for dirty mixups. But because I'm a power kinda guy I prefer Nova/Dante with Power stone. Truthfully, Captain America/Nova with Power stone scares the shit outta me. Justin Wong's old team Spiderman/Nova with Power stone is just as scary. All these characters I'm naming are potential characters I'll be experimenting with either w or w/o Dante.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
Speaking of Dante/Strange, I finally decided that Dante/Vergil shell is best for me and the team will be Doctor Strange May Cry. I never seen anybody use that team, mainly because Strange is a technical beast and weak, but his loops deals out insane damage plus he and Dante are best buddies and Vergil/Strange got some nasty mixup potential. I'll also toy around with Spiderman May Cry as well. Even though there's been a little bit of a resurgence within the past year for this game, I believe there's a rumor about a mod that'll involve rollback netcode is in the works so that could be a huge boon for the community as well.

Haven't made the dive into Power Rangers Battle for the Grid or Dragon Ball Fighterz just yet. Too much of my attention is on Mahvel at the moment. Single Player games, God of War and Spiderman may get some play soon. I can rant for and against God of War lol. Seeing some things I don't like from both sides, but it's all good.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on September 17, 2022, 07:32:17 PM
I had a long-ass post on my impressions of the Wo Long demo on PS5 but my computer ended up crashing and I lost the entire post. Still being butt-hurt about that, my impressions are essentially that I love the actual feel of the combat and how it adapts the core mechanics of Nioh. It also improves on a number of pet peeves I had with Nioh's loot system and magic here is especially an upgrade. That said, The fact that abilities are tied to specific weapon drops rather than being unlocked through a skill tree that allows you to switch between ones that you can equip and unequip based on your preferences is just....fundamentally a bad game design decision. Not sure who at Team Ninja greenlit that idea but it severely limits your options in combat, unless you want to grind for gear that gives you the stats you want AND comes pre-equipped with the weapon abilities you want to use. That will also mean spending more time sorting out your menu options to keep several of the same kind of weapon to switch between so you have access to all kinds of abilities for a given weapon type. Essentially, that utterly contradicts and outright kills the entire purpose of streamlining the menus and gameplay aspects of this game in the first place. Not sure what Team Ninja is thinking here, but I'm praying that they fix this for the final build of the game, which is doable, since the system is already in place in Nioh, which this game is literally lifted from.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 26, 2022, 03:09:23 PM
The bulk of last week was me playing and watching mostly Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. One player in mind that I was watching was Milkynrco. He plays Magneto, Doom, Dante and the way he plays you can he enjoys the game. And looking at his team closely, each character individually allows you to play how you want. In my eyes there aren't many characters in the game that allow such freedom as those 3, yet some people will tell you that UMvC3 has so much freedom. I agree but I disagree with that sentiment. Those 3 characters plus Viper, Spencer, Ironman and maybe Thor and Spider-Man, but everyone else, not so much. The jury is still out on Vergil and Strider. I've seen some swag from them, and personally, I'd rather see more swag if it's available. You've seen me mention it before. I prefer swag over optimization any day of the week. To me when you swag you're making a statement, kind of like all the tea-bagging going on all over the place, but better in my eyes. Like I said, Strider and Vergil might have some swag but those characters, in a sense, if they're your anchor characters you're better off just being optimal. I've been seeing some point Vergil and point Strider teams though.

That being said, again, 2 teams for me. Magneto, Doom, Dante. Dante's toolkit allows for all the swag in the world. Magneto's speed and movement allows for swag. Doom's TAC infinite and his combo routes in general allows for him to swag. There will probably be times where I'll toy around with dropping Magneto for for someone like Ironman or Viper, you know, just for fun and testing stuff.

The other team. Magneto, Doom, Vergil. Yep, top tier for a reason. This is for when people start shit talking or I'm playing to win. Another variety of this one would be Spencer, Vergil, Doom. I know I said I was going to work on the shell of Dante/Vergil last time, but I can't bring myself to do that because the only characters I actually like with that shell is Zero and Strider. I hate Zero (never have been a fan of the Megaman series) and Strider bores me. Spencer and Spider-Man sounds great on paper and truth be told they are characters I want to try out with that shell in the future. We'll see. Another team I am eyeballing is Magneto, Spencer, Doom (if I ever get away from the Sparda brothers). That just sounds mean. The problem I have with Spencer is I can't fight Zero or Wolverine. They tear Spencer apart in the point battle.

I'm also starting to get that inkling of love for this game again too. Could be nostalgia or just putting more time into it, but that love is coming back. (could get back into my top 3 favorite fighting games again)

Let me leave this gem here you to see what I mean for Mags, Doom, Dante

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3k2pEnqKsk
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 13, 2022, 07:20:07 PM
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
I hate this game lol. Jokes aside, the moment I thought I was settled on the characters here comes Zero and Strider to shut me the hell up.

I will always prefer swag over being optimal any day of the week. So what trumps swag? Mixups and Resets. To be more specific, Team Clock "mothaf$$@" work (Vergil, Doom, Strider) and Zero, Vergil, Strider. We know what kind of Mixups Zero and Strider can do on an incoming character. Those will always be great and dirty. Nah, the ones that I like, you usually see in Street Fighter or Gear when a character is knocked down (Usually characters are getting up the moment they're down or getting Hyper combo'd in Marvel). Zero's left/right mixups are stupid good, backed by Vergil and Strider should be illegal lol. Now when it comes to the resets, usually in Marvel people are going from throw resets (intentionally dropping mid-combo to air grab) but Team Clockwork is reset heaven because of point Vergil and his roundtrip with hard-tagging into Doom (can hard tag into anybody). It can set up for resets and high-low mixups. And I got hit by every last one of them (Dammit Clock lol)

I'm always going to go for swag no matter what. My style of game play though, can evolve if I can master resets which is why I love learning them. Take USF4 for example. My Dudley, while not anywhere near Smugs Dudley, I'd like to think you'd be able to see how I tailored my game after his. I'd prefer to be patient with you having the fear of "he can be a nut in the blink of an eye" So, passive rushdown in a sense (Wolverine is the perfect character for me in that sense since against most of the top tiers, you need to be patient, but he has no swag).

Oh, let me say this while it's on my mind. People seem to think loops and infinites equal swag (it's always been this way since the beginning of combos). BULLSHIT. They're hard to do, sure, but there's no swag in lightning loops. There's no swag in light/heavy/light/heavy repeat for 30 times. Takes a lot of skill for sure, but that's the most boring thing for me. Do a Doom TAC while Box Dashing in the air in the shape of a box and then you got swag.

Anyway, Clockwork got me pondering about using his team. It's got everything I want. It's just a matter of actually doing it now. Bump it. Lets get it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 24, 2022, 01:57:42 PM
There's been a lot of games I've been wanting to get back to but don't think I'll ever be able to because Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 has consumed me. There's just too much to catch up on. The meta, while still filled with Zero May Cry teams, believe it or not, is not the team that I fear. Sure, it's probably top 3 best team in the game, but I'm only seeing maybe 2 people (maybe 3) capable of piloting that team at a high level. There's a lot of high tier in the meta, all which can probably give my team(s) a problem, but the teams I fear the most are any team that has Haggar on them. Big bodies are a problem for me and that's in any game. Grapplers, my brain just melt instantly. Hulk+Haggar. I hate you. I'm still on my swag/mixup train and have come full circle with Spencer as well. Spencer, Doom, Dante is what I'm currently toying around with, but that might eventually turn into Magneto, Spencer, Doom. I just see that as Spencers best team (I can be convinced to say Spencer, Doom, Sentinel is his strongest team). Some will tell you that Nova/Spencer are bros for life and I agree wholeheartedly but I think Mags/Spencer needs to be looked at a lot more. I've been watching Mundank, who plays Nova, Spencer, Magneto. In my head this team shouldn't work, but the way he plays it make Spencer/Mags look kinda broken.

Dragon Ball Fighterz
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Nioh 2
Final Fantasy 7: Remake
Tales of Arise

Just a few games that have fallen victim to not be played ever unless I'm in the mood and not playing Mahvel. That goes double for DBFz cause I really like that game but between that and Mahvel, nah, can't do both and Mahvel > DB.

I did get back into playing the Trails series again though (I have to. With Trails from Zero on the way to my house)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 17, 2022, 06:52:31 PM
Trails of Cold Steel 3
As much as I love this series and have replayed these games, man, this one in particular can fuck off. I have never been so heated at a rpg to rage inducing levels, ever. It's not even that the game is hard because it's not. It's more along the lines of being limited in certain things. I don't grind unless I absolutely need to. I don't farm because it tack on extra hours when that's not in my plan to begin with. It forces you to farm needlessly, but then when you actually go to farm it caps you at 99. For those that's not in the know, I'm talking U-material. Trying to farm for these is a bitch and going from 99 - 0 can happen in a blink because everything is tied to them. It didn't bother me the first few times back when I first played these game because I was following a guide and going by someone else's build. Now that I'm toying around with my own builds it's an entirely different story. First playthrough, forget trying to even go for everything unless you got time to kill. New Game+ you got things that carries over. I got all this money. All this sepith, but can't use the sepith for shit because getting tier 4 quartz cost this, this, this and this + 16-30 U-Materials and that's just for 1 character. Imagine trying to fill out a roster of over 10 characters And you're trying to give them specific roles. FUCK YOU! I've also been looking at this guide on character builds trying to get some ideas on a direction to these characters. Go figure, calling for all tier 4 quartz. Piss off. What makes this even more diffcult, you have the master quartz and sub quartz. Previous games you can use 1 MQ per person. That's no different here but you're allowed to use a secondary quartz to kinda combine abilites. So say I want Brigid and Scorpio on a character. I can't use that combo on another character but I can flip it, Scorpio/Brigid. This damn guide is messing me up because of repeated MQs on different characters so now I'm getting hit by a 1-2 punch between being limited from the game and this damn guide being half-assed.

Luckily Trails 4 remedies a lot of this. Call myself trying to get through all the trails games before I move onto Trails from Zero.

Then I lose wi-fi signal again. FUCK! I'm hoping this is because high winds.

I'm gonna go cool off and come back Sat.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 20, 2022, 10:57:34 PM
Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
Gonna play this with my nephew for Thanksgiving. Specifically going to put the Green Ranger on my team. I heard earlier about Jason David Franks passing, and this'll be my way in paying homage.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 24, 2022, 06:22:50 PM
Gobble Gobble everyone.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredders Revenge
It's been a long time since I've played a 2D beat em up. Think the last time I played one was when I was a kid (12-13). Anyway, I decided to fire this up for me and the nephew. We beat it and we had fun with it. I understand that this was made by the same people that did Streets of Rage 4 and I also understand that this is an Indy game, but this could've been a little longer IMO. Sure, you don't need 15+ hours of playtime, but 4 hours feels almost too short for me. And even then, for people that game as long as us, way too short. Speaking for myself though, this is not a game you'll see me play by myself at all. I can easily see myself getting bored of this trying to play solo. I think these kind of games are meant to bring back that couch co-op feeling and that it did for a little while at least. I may get the cowabunga collection but I'm not sure yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 05, 2022, 04:56:16 PM
Trails of Cold Steel 4
Man, this 1st playthrough (since having unfortunate internet problems causing me to reset my ps4 to factory condition) has been brutally frustrating. Most of it is much like Trails 3 and these damn U-Materials. Not to mention I'm starting to get burnt out again, so it's causing me to rush through the rest of the game (close to end credits). And yet again, trying to find sample builds for what I'm trying to attempt but a lot of Trails fans are just dumb and flock straight to posting endgame builds. Like, no shit, I can do busted endgame builds as well when I actually get the stuff needed. I mean, one person said they stick to 4 characters and I'm like, idiot, there are parts of the game where you're forced to play with other characters. What do you use for those moments? I guess I'm just getting to the point where I need to just step away.

Whatever on that though. Just about finish with the game and afterwards I'll probably take a break on rpg's for a little bit. Probably even take a little break from games in general but it might be too soon to do that since people are coming here for Christmas.

But depending on my mood I'll probably take my break after the new year depending on what game(s) come out at the beginning of the year though. For now I'll get back into my fighters. Starting with either Blazblue or Guilty Gear Xrd and a mix of Mahvel 3.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 13, 2022, 01:40:43 PM
So I've been watching God of War: Ragnarok. Story-telling, presentation is great as always. I'm an action buff when it comes to movies so this is right up my alley. That said, there is a HUGE no no for me. Me being the animal lover that I am, especially dogs and wolves (I'm also a cat guy too) you are crossing into a territory where I'm ready to come at your head should any harm be done and on that note, getting through the story was a huge struggle (Viking era, I get it, but whatever). Combat/Gameplay, I can only speak on so much since I haven't touched it, but it looks wild, like, some of the axe swinging looks sluggish. Now I'm actually going to give it a pass because it fits with the game. I don't think a Ninja Gaiden, DMC, or Bayonetta can get away with something like this. That being said, just by looking at it, I'd say it's far from being anywhere near "Great" combat, but because of Kratos himself being a brute, I like what I see. Am I going to play this? No (leave my animals alone, dammit), but I will buy it to support them. Thor is awesome btw.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 18, 2022, 02:28:28 AM
Crashed real hard on Trails of Cold Steel 4. Granted I did beat it, but just stopped caring to go my usual way of playing. Anyway, my nephew wanted to play some good ole Dragon Ball Fighterz. 1st thing, Android 17 is a lot trickier to use than I originally thought. His rekka's, while good, can get you in a lot of trouble fairly quick. Not sure if I'm ready to bust him out in real matches against anyone yet. Gogeta (both of them) is crazy good. We had fun. I don't know if he'll want to play again though.

I really need to find something more suitable for my hands. Both the pad and hitbox messes with my hands. Pretty badly too. I'm hoping to get a new setup some time, but with this inflation and rent going up on me I won't be getting anything anytime soon.

Single-player games, still thinking I may take a break from them. Nothing really striking an interest at the moment. Nothing in the backlog I feel like playing either (Might be because I'm ready to upgrade to a PS5)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 22, 2022, 06:47:41 PM
So my brother-in-law came sooner than expected and we ran some sets. 3rd Strike, Super Turbo, USF4. I'm rusty in all of them. I don't think I've touched any Street Fighter since March/April. For 3rd Strike I think I lost 10-7 (They were best of 4s though). Super Turbo, I got waxed. I haven't touched this game in forever. It's still as fun as I remember, but I completely forgot how to play. And because it's so basic and fundamental heavy this one was not me. No excuses though. USF4, it was me and the nephew. I won 4-0 but again, couldn't really get going like I want/use to.

There's been a lot going on with the Street Fighter scene in general, along with some bullshit drama, so I've been kind of down on it as a whole. Street Fighter 6 included. Kinda kept my distance from everything pertaining Street Fighter hence why I've been playing more anime fighters.

Speaking of, Dragon Ball Fighterz continues. I know I said I wasn't ready to bring A.17 out in a match against anyone yet, but I am still looking to build a team around him though. Right now I'm trying to see if him and Beerus have any chemistry I can work with. I don't know if I can say I found any chemistry between the 2 so far. If anything, I'd say I got a lot of gimmicks. To be perfectly honest, I'm not seeing a lot of characters that I like being able to go with 17 other than SSB Gogeta and I don't really want to use that shell. A lot of characters can make use of 17's barrier assist but 17 can't really capitalize off of others from my testing. Right now in my head the only characters that I think can go well with 17 and form a team is 18 and Goku Black. I may toy around with that idea, but it's not main team worthy.

Tempted to get back into Guilty Gear Strive and learn Baiken. Heard she's got some nice changes from the previous balance patch (the patch for summer I believe). Other than DNF and maybe Mortal Kombat, for the most part it's never the game I have a problem with. Majority of the times it's the roster. If I can't find a suitable character for me then I won't play. That's been the case for Street Fighter 5 and that's the case for Strive. I'm a character loyalist first and foremost. Gimme my character 1st and if I don't like what I'm seeing then I'll move to another character. Other than that Strive is bare, sure, but it's also fun and nothing wrong with fun. All that talk about Strive dying when Xrd got rollback btw, yeah, all talk. Some times, the FGC need to just sit all the way down and don't say shit. People go where the money at. Plain and simple.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 27, 2022, 06:05:25 PM
Monopoly
I thought I could get my brother in on the action but it ended up being just me, the nephew and the niece. Called myself trying to take it easy on them but both of them ended up running off at the mouth a little too much and I let the shark loose a bit towards the midgame. I' not gonna gloat because they're kids, but they learned the hard way, don't mess with a shark. In the end, though, they had fun so it's all good. May do it again either before they get ready to go back to school or maybe Spring break.

Tales of Arise
Finally getting to this, what looks like a beast of a game that's going to take forever to get through. I say that because it's a Tales game, and while it's not doing much in the "wow" department, it has gotten my interest. I tried to fire up Trails of Zero before this game and about 10-20 mintues later I ended up switching to this. I think I played 1 too many turn-based games at the moment. Right now, I don't see myself quitting Tales cause the gameplay is something I needed. Oddly enough, I still couldn't get myself in the mood to start up Spider-Man/Miles Morales or finish Devil May Cry 5. I may have a little something I need to get off my chest about AAA titles coming soon, but right now, outside of possibly Ghosts of Tsushima (leave the animals alone dammit) I haven't really been pleased with or interested in any of the AAA titles since MGS5/BotW. Anyway, Tales is cool so far. Not sure if I like Alphen over Yuri (Vesperia). He's ok in some areas, and get a little annoying in other areas.

Dragon Ball Fighterz
Boy, much like Mahvel 3, a complete 180 with this game. There is potential that this game could top USF4 for me in favorite fighting games. Right now I think I got USF4 in the 4th spot while DBFz is sitting in the 6th spot. Let's get it out there right now, this game has nothing on Mahvel 2/3, at all. Hell, if the roster was better along with the graphics, MvCI would be better than all of them (the gameplay is that good). Alright cool. That's out. DBFz is still great on it's own. I dare say DBFz shines over Mahvel in 1 category and that's the roster (O_O BLASPHEMY. I know, I know). I'm not saying that Dragon Ball has better characters or memorable characters. That's whatever to me. I'm saying that the roster (the whole roster of characters) are viable, if you can find a way to gel them together. Yes, Fusions and Lab-coat 21 are running amok, but if you can pull yourself away from rank for 1 moment and just try to find synergy between the rest of the cast you'd be surprised at how much fun the game can be and see how much it opens up. I've also been watching Wawa's youtube and he's been trying out all sorts of teams. I don't think anyone legit hates any of the fusion characters (I hate Gotenks though). I think the hate only comes from when you pair them up with "easy"-to-use characters (the meta term we use is brain-dead), so SSB Gogeta, UI Goku would see a lot of hate whereas SSB Gogeta, Yamacha wouldn't get so much thrown at them which is why I try not to use SSB/4 Gogeta together with Vegito. Seriously, learning how to use SSB Gogeta, 17, Jiren together is tons of fun. Watching Wawa use Base Vegeta, A.Gohan, and Janemba is tons of fun. I've been cracking out on this game.

Edit:

More cracking out on DBFz. I've been watching this training group called Whis Training Grounds and listening how one of the guys would break down a "perfect" shell and what characters can enable other characters and since watching said video, I've been watching a lot more tournament footages and all of Wawa's vids to see if I can compare what he was saying to these high level matches/teams. For the most part, yes. Something else I did end up finding out, especially when the game first came out, that everyone was trying to play this game like it was UMvC3 which is what we got now as well with Labcoat 21, SSB Gogeta, Vegito teams. When you take into account what WTG folks were saying into consideration (trying to enable characters to focus on your favorite character) then you're essentially turning the game into MvC2 (but instead of running away, you are constantly keeping the pressure on, or playing like you on that high octane ish). It's hard to explain it but using this little method I've got 3 main characters and looking to make 9 teams. Each main gets 3 sets of different teams. Adult Gohan, you already know I can't distance myself from the sauce. Main team with A.Gohan is SS4 Gogeta, A.18, A.Gohan. The 2nd team with Gohan is Kefla, Gohan, 18 and I haven't quite decided on the 3rd team just yet, but that's the gist of it. The other 2 characters I plan on making teams around are Beerus and 17.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 07, 2023, 02:29:03 PM
Despite owning a Switch for the last three years (or close enough to it), I admittedly only just got around to Super Mario Odyssey, but holy fuck is it just as good as it's been hyped up to be. I know that I'm late to the party, but the simple charm of this game combined with it's creative brilliance that shines in a way that only top-tier Nintendo games do, is the kind of stuff that washes away all of my modern-day cynicism and reminds me of that child-like wonder that made me fall in love with video games to begin with. I'm a grown-ass adult working a fulltime job and usually too tired or busy to play for more than an hour or two at a time (which is why it took me months to get through a game like Elden Ring for a single playthrough), yet I have found myself almost neglecting some of my daily responsibilities just to get in as many hours as I can with this game during my free-time. It's like a fully realized modern day version of Super Mario 64, and it may very well end up being my favorite Nintendo Switch game.

As someone who considers myself more of a Zelda fan than a Mario fan, I can already say that I like this better as a modern Mario game than Breath of the Wild as a modern Zelda game. Just to be clear I do like Breath of the Wild, but I've gone on record saying that it's personally not my favorite direction for the series, even though I respect its ambition. Odyssey is everything I love about Mario, Nintendo, Platformers, and Exploration games distilled into a single awesome package. I can't believe that I waited this long to play this game. Out of all the games from the previous console generation, I could very possibly see this tying with Devil May Cry 5 as my number one favorite, and that's high fucking praise coming from me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on January 08, 2023, 03:49:47 PM
I'm glad you enjoyed Mario Odyssey, it's really a lovely game, and it's one I keep meaning to go back and 100%, alongside BOTW and Tropical Freeze. The Switch has been very good for Nintendo's main franchises, with most of them receiving at least one high tier title. I think Donkey Kong and Star Fox are the only ones which haven't, but the former at least has a port of TF to tide fans who skipped the Wii-U over. I have a feeling that we'll probably get another Star Fox game as good as 64 again, though.

Which reminds me, one of my few "fun" gifts for Christmas this year was a copy of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which I hope to get to... after I go through some more of my backlog. :sweat: I think after I finish either Metroid Dread or Xenoblade, I need to get to Super Mario 3D World first. I'm also booting Hades back up in excitement of the sequel.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 08, 2023, 04:25:05 PM
I've 100%'ed every Zelda game that I have played (I haven't played Adventure of Link or the original DS games) except for Breath of the Wild, and I don't think that I ever will with the 900 Korok seeds and countless other collectibles strewn everywhere around it's world. I can definitely see myself replaying it, but 100% just ain't happening for me.

I probably won't 100% Odyssey, but I will most likely at least collect 500 Power Moons to reach the game's true final level.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 14, 2023, 04:38:26 PM
Dragonball Xenoverse 2
Oh dear God, why do I continuously comeback to this hellhole to put up with this torture? The only answer I could come up with is that I must be some sort of masochist or something. Truth be told, it's the only game in my catalog (backlog included) to hold me over until Persona 3 and 4 comes to the PS4, that is if I don't break first, and considering all the hit-detection issues and not facing the right way and charged up attacks (that I never do) I'm definitely on the verge of breaking point. For as long as this game has been out, I've never seen everything in it. I've seen the story ending 3 times. But when it comes to the new content, I've seen maybe Jiren and Ultra Instinct Goku once. The other stuff, never. There are something's that I'll never be able to see due to it being locked behind multiplayer (this has got to stop). Believe it or not, I think this type of game can work. Just get away from the arena-base fighter style (Hot-Take, Tenkaichi was never good. Copy-cats of this nature are the plague). I have ideas but I don't think there have been any games made with how I'm thinking.

Still going strong with DBFz. I decided to drop A.Gohan (It's been real homie). Gonna go for Beerus. Right now, I'm liking SSB. Gogeta, 17 and Beerus, but that may turn to Kefla, 18, Beerus since they do almost the same thing, in terms of enabling Beerus to get setup, but I think Gogeta and 17 may be just a tad more optimal. If I really wanted to be optimal I'd have to drop 17 and pick up SSB Goku and I hate Goku.

Now when it comes to streams. Let's see. Little blow up happened last night. Won't go too much into the details. Twitch streamer mods and chat got into it a little bit over something petty. It sucks because this streamer is connected to the other streamers I venture to as well as those same mods. For the time being I'm distancing myself from those streamers. Nothing happened to anyone by any stretch, but I'm at a point in my life where I just need to distance myself from situations because I know I can go from 1-100 at the drop of a dime. It also sucks because it was these streamers that got me into the likes of Among Us, Project Winter and so on. I'm going to stay in my lane and stick to fighting games. When it comes to me, when you burn bridges, you've burnt them. You can't come to me. I have to come to you (in this case, will probably be a couple of years before I do any reaching out)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 15, 2023, 12:19:09 PM
Super Mario Odyssey may actually end up tying with Devil May Cry 5 as my favorite game of the previous console generation, and I don't say that lightly. I've gotten to the end credits after the finall fight with Bowser, but I of course am far from having beaten the game as there is so much post-credits content that I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. This is easily the most pure fun I've had with a title in ages, and it's that rare gem that makes me feel like a kid again and reminds me of why video games are awesome.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 15, 2023, 03:30:21 PM
I respect that. You probably won't be able to get me to ever play another Mario game other than with my nephew but I still respect that. Other than Breath of the Wild and possibly Phantom Pain I don't really have a favorite from last gen. There are fighting games, sure, and I had fun with some of them, but none of them really compares to some of the old, and if I had the means I'd probably would still play those older games (GGXXACR+, MvC2, CvS2, Project Justice). But for the most part I've been through a gaming funk through the entirety of last gen. Got out of it here and there, but if it weren't for my nephew I'd probably quit gaming.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 18, 2023, 02:15:23 PM
New look. I can dig it.

Dragonball Xenoverse 2
I'm surprised I haven't thrown in the towel yet. I did manage to beat it fairly quick and I have 3 other stories to beat (Already beat the one dealing with Universe 6). My character is a Frieza race (got a 2nd character that's a saiyan whose moveset is going to take a little bit to get used to again) and his Ultimate Attacks are Super Ki Explosion and Emperor's Death Beam. They have been some life savors because the enemy A.I. can swarm and not let up at times. Which begs the question. Why do my A.I. allies suck when I pick them but as enemies they give my partnered allies the business? This has been the bane of me, especially when I have to baby sit partnered AI's. Next breaking point will cause me to break the game itself. There will be no more deleting and coming back later.

Brief update for DBFz. Turns out Vegito and Beerus works off each other quite a bit. Almost making a completely dangerous shell that I'm surprised no one uses. I know people hate Vegito and would rather use other characters but as a complete shell, the damage can go through the roof. Not to mention I love resets and they are reset monsters. Now I'm trying to find a 3rd character because as of right now I have 2 point characters but they can go anywhere on the team. 18 still might be the one, but I'm also thinking Videl could probably be a character that can fit this shell.

Edit1
Annnnnnnnnnd broken. What broke me? The damn RNG (I completely forgot about how random the drops are). So I'm at the 7 star PQ's, basically the DLCs at this point. All these fights are coming down to the wire where I'm leaving about 49 secs - 1 min left on the timer. I'm ending all these battles with Ultimate Finishes and getting Z ranks. How many times do I gotta see a chest piece or leg piece before getting the opposite? How many times am I gonna see arm pieces with no shoe pieces and vice versa? No doubt they're great for money. What's bad is what I really need them for is connected to playing multiplayer. I'm not replaying these missions with silly and corny ass rando's to get a chance at getting rare items and skills. No, Hell no. Luckily I'll be starting Persona 3 Portable soon though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 23, 2023, 03:37:28 PM
Spider-Man
At first it started off with my nephew playing. And then he got stuck so I got him out of the spot he was in. Then my niece jumped in and wanted to try and got stuck. I got her out of it. Gave it back to the nephew and got stuck again. They're learning, but for the most part I think we're gonna just make it a tradition to play Spider-Man when they're around. I'm not out of my funk, but it did get me to play a long stretch of the game. Basically doing everything except the main quest. I still don't think this is a 10/10 game and I still don't think it's better than the Arkham games in terms of combat (especially, Arkham Knight's combat even though they're the same. I just prefer Batman over Spider-man). What it does beat Batman in is just about everything else. Traversal, they're equal (Not counting the Batmobile  :sweat: ) ). One thing I really want to praise Spider-Man for though, is the suit collecting. My God, does it feel good to go around doing missions just to unlock suits/gadgets that actually does something to enhance the gameplay (even if it's minor). No grinding. Just collect and boom. Batman, DLC, suits does nothing.

To really get out of my funk I think I just need to reset and start over. Stop trying to buy everything day 1 and just play what I'm truly amped for, beat it, replay it a few times and then move on. I can't blame anyone, but I can certainly point fingers at Huber and this keeping up with the "zeitgeist" and trying to be apart of a conversation. Damn all that. Hell, there was once upon a time where spoilers never got to me. Nowadays I'm trying to avoid everything. Damn all that as well. I'll get to said games when I'm good a ready for them. All that being said, I need a PS5 in order to start over first though lol. I know I heard something about not needing to sign up for a first come first serve type of thing so that's good. Hopefully I can get one either by not the next pay day, but the one after that or taxes. 1st game for the ps5, not sure actually. 
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 28, 2023, 01:29:31 PM
Hi-Fi Rush was a real surprise, but I downloaded it from Game Pass as soon as it was announced and it's an absolute blast. A DMC-esque action game based on music rhythm is a genius idea, and it makes sense that this is a kind of project that Shinji Mikami would use his studio to back, even if he wasn't directly involved with making the game himself.

With games like this, Bayonetta 3, Soulstice, Evil West, and the upcoming Wanted: Dead being released so close in proximity to each other, it really does feel like a small but pronounced little return to more pure-hearted straight up action games, which I have sorely missed in the modern era of gaming.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 28, 2023, 01:40:32 PM
Spider-Man
We did the big chase in the early game. They both like the game. Both are a little annoying to deal with in their own ways though. The niece asking these unnecessary questions while the nephew trying to extend his time before passing the controller. Both are having fun in their own little quirky ways. To be fair, yesterday I been up since 1:00am, so, it's not their fault, but when I'm sleepy I get agitated easily but everything's good. I kind of want to try them on Batman though.

Granblue Fantasy Versus
I've cooled off on Dragonball Fighterz for a little bit, but only because of this game, and it's probably one of those heat of the moment situations. I don't see myself dropping DBFz (like I have with UMvC3. Unfortunate situation, I'll explain when I update my top 10 fighting games), but I do see myself playing this more along with probably DNF Duel. Percival is the main of course, while Narmaya is the backup, but I'm thinking of adding Metera to the mix too. Bow and Arrow/Gun characters, I'm starting to find them on the interesting side, especially if they have setups/mixups like Venom/Beerus.

I did happen to see Hi-Fi Rush in action for a bit, and while it's not something I'd play, Microsoft definitely needed that and I applaud them for it. I'm not sure what year we're in with Game Pass, but you can definitely sense it that those who're for it are slowly starting to get annoyed with it, especially since it feels like everything keeps getting delayed.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 31, 2023, 08:48:04 PM
Hi-Fi Rush is proving to be just that great of a surprise release. This is a full-on high-quality action game. It's like something that Platinum would make and the mechanics behind it are rock fucking solid. Take it from someone who has beaten multiple games in this genre on their highest difficulties (DMC on DMD mode, Ninja Gaiden on Master Ninja, MGR on Revengeance difficulty, and Bayonetta on NSIC). The game's combat loop is not necessarily as robust as something like DMC 3-5 or Bayonetta 1-3, but it's comparable to those and probably on par with MGR and Ninja Gaiden in that regard.

Also, the "Just" timing mechanic in this game is doable without being laughably easy and it does actually take some practice to get better at. I still only average out at B-ranks at this point.

Don't be fooled by the game's colorful and cartoony visuals (which I personally love, but that's an aesthetic and is subjective), the core game mechanics are still hardcore and have a seriously high skill ceiling.

I'd take this over another Insomniac Spider-Man game or new God of War game any day. Let's just put it like that (and I'm not even trying to knock those games, just express my personal preference). If you like traditional old-school style 3D action games like stuff made by Clover or Platinum or Capcom or even Team Ninja, among others, don't miss out on this one.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 02, 2023, 03:56:10 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 31, 2023, 08:48:04 PMI'd take this over another Insomniac Spider-Man game or new God of War game any day. Let's just put it like that (and I'm not even trying to knock those games, just express my personal preference). If you like traditional old-school style 3D action games like stuff made by Clover or Platinum or Capcom or even Team Ninja, among others, don't miss out on this one.

Talk yo ish.

Whether it was a jab or not, talk it. No problems here, but I will use this as a catalyst  :devil:

Jokes aside, from you I expect something like that. Truth be told, I would expect knife gouging, because I know exactly the little trinkets that you're talking about that most people that don't play the NGs/DMCs like you do or I used to won't understand. My first PS2 game(s) was DMC1 and MGS2. My first Xbox game(s) was NG1 and Shenmue 2. I remember the days when I put in countless hours playing DMC3 (The ORIGINAL DMC3. Not the special edition. If you know, you know), so yeah, I'm cut from that very same cloth, and I have no problems with that take.

Nah, my problem lies with this Souls/Borne/clone only crowd. Probably since the beginning of November (probably a little earlier) of last year I've been seeing/hearing these weird little takes about open-world and hard difficulty and whatnot. Taking little jabs here and throwing subtle shots here. Listening to my usual podcasts. This one in particular, Podcast Beyond (IGN folks. I know, mistake). I hear something alone the lines of "fans of open world don't like Elden Ring because it's too hard. That's fine, go play an Ubisoft game". These little shots are what's getting these "personality" folks in trouble and why everyone is on their heads. Out of all the open world games out there we choose Ubisoft? Like I said, this ain't the first time I heard something like this. Isla (Easy Allies) also said something along those same lines and then the trickle effect rolls down to youtube and reddit comments (Brian Altano was the latest one btw). So who exactly are playing Ubisoft games (I know people play them, and they make money but you get the point. Always the butt of the joke)? We don't dare mention Breath of the Wild or GTA huh? Spider-Man, Batman? No? I see you. How about Red Dead? Gotcha. Open world we straight up think Ubisoft? Got it.

This whole difficulty thing. Like I said, I expect the hammer of judgment from the character action community when it comes to games like Spiderman, God of War. Souls/Borne/clone, go sit the fuck down (I remember the days when no one bought Demon Souls) I bring up Nioh, you tell me too hard. I bring up Ninja Gaiden, too hard, never finished (wha?). DMC? Not my style of game... Cool, but we want to throw shots in the end right? Come join me in any fighting game. What was that? Too scared? Fuck outta here. But we want to pop off about Souls/Borne/clone being this, that and the other. I will never push back at anyone here for the takes on God of War/Spiderman/Batman. I think I been here long enough to know what yall prefer (somewhat  :sweat: ). God of War in particular I consider myself neutral, but I know exactly what Dr. Ensatsu-ken is alluding to when it comes to the combat. If anything, the gushing, this bullshit here that these media outlets love doing across the board, on top of comment sections, ...yeah, but when it comes to these souls/borne folk, especially these new fans, man, and I know the FGC is toxic. I'll be the first one to tell you that, but this fandom here is something else.

All that out the way, if I had an Xbox S/X, I'd give Hi-Fi Rush a shot (musically, not me), because I am at that point in my life to try out things that I'd never try (minus survival horror. Limiting me will never be something I'd give into) just to see if it can reignite my interest in some of these games. I was watching XLH Gladiator at work earlier just to see if I can get that spark to fire up Nioh/Nioh 2, especially with Wo Long coming out soon.

Niece and nephew are coming through tomorrow and they want to see Miles Morales.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 03, 2023, 11:43:41 PM
Heh, you know me too well I suppose from when I was way more unfiltered about my thoughts.

Truth be told, I only even mentioned those games simply because if you asked most mainstream journalists or gamers in general what the best action games were, you'd inevitably get answers like that. As for me, I played all of Spider-Man (2018) and it's DLC as well as all of the first God of War in the new trilogy. I played about half-way through Miles Morales and never finished it because if I'm being honest, I got bored with it. The same has kind of happened with Ragnarok though I may still go back to it, not sure yet (and I ever gave it credit for improving combat over the original, but not enough to be that interesting for me).

I do mean what I say that I respect the talent and passion of the developers behind those games, and you can clearly tell that the people making them really do believe in them. I also have no problem with so many people enjoying them the way they do. But to see them held in such high regard and barely (if at all) ever being criticized for their very clear shortcomings, whether it be limited combat, over-simplified puzzles or stealth mechanics depending on the game, or recycled and very uninspired (in terms of mechanics) enemies and bosses, it kind of starts to rub me the wrong way. There's that now infamous IGN list that ranks 2018's God of War as the best action game ever made, on a list with the likes of Ninja Gaiden Black and DMC in it, among other things. And it kind of sticks out like a sore thumb in how it feels so much less refined in it's combat that literally every other game ranked below it on the list. To the untrained player who just wants a good story and to have some mindless fun with the combat on the lower difficulties, I totally get the appeal. But anyone who really breaks down and experiments with the mechanics in these games would undoubtedly find out just how limited and boring God of War's combat is at it's core. Yes, you can do combos and such in it, but that in and of itself isn't what makes combat interesting. You can especially tell on the harder difficulties in which you are forced to play in the safest, most monotonous way, and enemies are complete unflinching attack sponges. It's challenging in the worst way because it comes off as tedious rather than something that you want to overcome.

I'm currently on my second playthrough of Hi-Fi Rush on Very Hard mode, and the key thing that I'd say puts this game on the level of your DMCs, Bayonettas, and Ninja Gaidens, is that there is a constant drive to want to improve at the combat. I'm now at a point where I'm more consistently getting A-ranks in my "Just" timings but now my time score is suffering a bit since I'm taking longer to finish fights because I'm trying too much to focus on timing my hits to the beat. I was constantly getting S ranks in that category before, but now I'm getting more A ranks. Of course it's completely possible to pull off a balancing act and get an S in all three categories, but it takes a much higher level of skill with this game's mechanics, and I feel really motivated to keep playing it until I get there. What it is that makes the mechanics in games like this and others of it's like is a completely different subject that would warrant it's own lengthy discussion or write-up, but suffice it so say that's why I find lacking in so many of the modern AAA action games from your Arkhams to your endless array of Ubisoft-esque open world games.

And as far as the Soulsbourne stuff goes, this is again a case where I don't inherently have a problem with it. I like the FromSoftware games that I have played in this genre, and I can honestly say that Elden Ring deserves all of it's praise. That said, like you, I have a bit of an issue with these sorts of games effectively having replaced traditional action games in the modern landscape of the medium. They often get compared due to their challenging nature and having technical combat mechanics, but they are still wildly different beasts. I like Nioh and it's sequel, but they are absolutely nothing like a Ninja Gaiden game despite being from the same developer (which in itself is made up of very different people than back when they made NG in the first place). With those game I do love the combat but even in this case it has a limit to how much I want to push myself with it due to having no real ranking system and being a bit too padded out for me to want to constantly replay it like I would with Ninja Gaiden Black or it's sequel.

Obviously it's just a matter of personal preference, but I will always find the versatility of encounters and mechanics in games like Hi-Fi Rush infinitely more interesting and worthy of replay value than a majority of what we see in the AAA scene of games these days.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 04, 2023, 02:06:37 PM
Hi-Fi Rush is the type of game that makes me wish it was the early 2010's again when Spark of Spirit was on here and Foggle and Talon were online on a more regular basis just so I could annoy and pester them to play it like I used to for Ninja Gaiden or other games.

I also love how this game is mostly original tracks and doesn't overuse licensed music, but absolutely knows how to effectively use it when the time warrants. Like, look at stuff like this:  https://youtu.be/muEtpNhHygc

In the context of the scene in the story, you can't not get super hyped bashing in enemies while jamming out to Invaders Must Die by The Prodigy. The humor and attention to detail in the environment (even the plants are hopping to the beat) are on par with the best of Platinum games, and the combat action puts most modern games to shame, action or otherwise.

Sorry, but don't expect me to shut up about this game anytime soon. I fucking love it and it's easily creeping it's way up to being one of my favorites in the genre.

If you don't have an XBOX than play it on Steam. It's that fucking good.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 05, 2023, 03:16:01 PM
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
The gadgets. I love gadgets. I can see an Ironman game from Insomniac. That being said, this game, oh man, if this game came first or as a DLC package with the first game I'd have no problems with it. I understand it wasn't marketed as a 2nd game either, but at the end of the day this could've been tacked on as a $30 pass or whatever (Witcher 3 got what, 3 DLCs that could be their own games entirely, or something along those lines I heard) and I would've been fine with that. Miles Morales is definitely on the boring side. This could be because I don't know anything about him and I find origin stories on the boring side in general. This could also be that I'm in the same environment as the original game but with snow (which is why this could've been DLC). This could also be the portrayal of Miles in this game. Voice don't fit and I don't like him. This could all go away if I decide to continue because I'm only at the point where I just got my cloaking and new suit. Speaking of, everything is shinier. I like that. Again, I like the gadgets. Traversal is traversal, always going to like swinging around. That's just me comparing to the original Spider-man. If I were to go my usual way of comparing to Batman, heh, talk about getting reamed. Anyway, playing this is making me cautiously optimistic about Wolverine.

Frosty Faustings was Friday and Yesterday (It's been a long time for a 2-day tourney). I missed DBFz, but I did happen to catch BBCF, GGXXAC+R, and XrdR2. BBCF in particular caught my attention because of the player known as Monarch competing with Japan's best with a character that's suppose to be on the weaker side of the tier list. When it comes to this game I don't know what to believe. In anime fighters, zoners are considered weak because of so many ways to get through their zoning. I don't know if I believe that at all anymore, especially now. Outside of Johnny in Rev2, yesterday was the day for zoners.

Let me say this about Hi-Fi Rush as well. I see the love for it and I love seeing it get the attention of the outlets. I just hope it don't get brushed aside towards the end of the year like Sifu and Horizon did. If Tears of the Kingdom come out this year I can see it drowning out nearly everything for a long stretch until the next big hit comes out which will probably be Final Fantasy 16 (maybe?). Microsoft really needed something like this and I'm glad they got it especially with all this doom and gloom talk.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 11, 2023, 11:16:00 AM
BlazBlue Central Fiction
I've tried Jin Kisaragi and he's the usual sword character I'd go for. I enjoy playing him. He's very basic but tricky enough to where you cannot sleep on him. That being said, the actual main for me is Valkenhayn. He's the Yang (USF4) in this game. I say that because he does little damage (but wait, don't you usually prefer damage? Yes. Hear me out) and you have to put in work. So why play him? Because he's a mix up machine. 3 touches and your dead. A lot of people try to go for either a TOD or 2-touch. Valk on the other hand, his setups for high/lows are crazy and the fact that he's fast on top of that. Oh, forgot to mention he can turn into a wolf. It's that wolf form that makes him crazy fast and get them mixups. The way I play and the reason I went back to play GranBlue Fantasy Versus (to work on my neutral), his style allows me to play defensively while being able to turn it on in a blink. I went back to GB so I can work on my footsies. Sure, I can play a Street Fighter game for that, but an anime fighter, the limbs are smaller and faster than what you see than in SF and the way people just go ham in this game, GBFv helps prep for that.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 11, 2023, 10:54:17 PM
So my gaming fun has been put on hold until further notice. I don't know if my PS4 is dying on me or not. I'm still having connection issues because of a weak wi-fi connection and it's locking me out of doing anything. I'm bout ready to throw the sum bitch out the window. Google is giving me no answers. Playstation itself is giving me no answers. Typical bullshit about moving the ps4 closer to the router. No shit that will work, but I CANNOT PLAY GAMES IN MY FUCKING KITCHEN!

So yeah, in between a rock and a hard place right now. Got some choices to make. I can only go for one and even then I have to save up first as well as try to stay on budget with this inflation and my portion of rent. I can probably go for 2 but that'll probably involve selling most of my games. And what I mean by 1 or 2, console/pc (ps4/5 and/or Switch). Not to mention I need a new laptop on top of that. This one I'm currently using, Windows 8 expired on me and getting 10 is going to cost $200, so yeah, I'm in a money pinch at the moment.

On the bright side this could be the break I need to get outta my funk. I'm not completely bored yet but I'll be on Twitch and Youtube heavily for quite some time in the mean time putting up with bullshit. Great.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 18, 2023, 05:56:35 PM
Hi-Fi Rush has taken up most of my interest lately, but I'm nearly done with my playthrough of Paper Mario on NSO, and this is a game I really wish I would have played back when it came out, it'd probably be 11 year old me's favorite game ever.

I'm not a huge JRPG guy but the battle system here is simple and intuitive but has a surprisingly decent amount of depth and nuance to it's mechanics.

I liked my experience so much that I actually went searching for a reasonably priced copy of TTYD for the Gamecube (it pisses me off how wildly overpriced retro games are online) and I finally managed to find one at a local retro game store. I can't wait to start playing it after I beat the first game sometime this week.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Avaitor on February 19, 2023, 02:12:34 PM
Thousand-Year-Door is even better, but I still haven't beat the game. That final boss is cheap, and it bugs me that I can't skip through the dialogue in between that fight. Otherwise, it's the perfect balance between turn-based combat and classic Mario platforming, doing everything the first Paper Mario did but slightly more refined and funnier.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on February 19, 2023, 02:33:07 PM
I just started TTYD today and while I've barely made any progress so far, It definitely already has that same level of charm going for it from the get-go. I like that the action commands work just like the N64 game from the get-go and I've heard they expand throughout the game to allow for more advanced and skilled applications in combat as you get further. The only gripe I have so far is that they seem to have gotten rid of the spin-dash (maybe I will unlock it later) which is what I used to traverse environments at a faster pace in the original game. I can live without it, but Mario's standard trot is a bit slow for my liking.

Also, this doesn't have to do directly with the game itself but man, Nintendo knew how to make good hardware. I'm playing on a two-decade old console with a fair amount of wear-and-tear, but the game runs buttery-smooth and I haven't had a single issue with it since I got it two years ago. I cant't say the same for a number of other consoles, like my XBOX360 which broke down on me a few years back (and that was the revised model after the whole RROD fiasco).

Anyways, I look forward to playing more of this game over the next few weeks. I also need to get to Metroid Prime 2 which I have had sitting in my collection for well over a year now. Metroid Prime Remastered was great news, and I would have bought it if I hadn't played through the entire game on the Gamecube not that terribly long ago, and maybe the 2nd game will get a re-release, but I kind of feel like playing it on original hardware since I have that option available to me already (though I snagged the game for $10, which seems like a pretty fair deal). I also still have Viewtiful Joe to get through as well, which I'm excited to finally play one of these days.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 23, 2023, 06:08:28 PM
Crisis averted. No more disconnection issues (for now). Got a Wi-Fi extender and so far it's been good. That being said, still no games that's really jumping out to me. Octopath Traveler 2 is the 1st real game that stands out and I'll get that next week.

Still continuing the training in BlazBlue Central Fiction. I'm jumping back and forth between Valkenhayn and Jin (I love my sword characters, especially the ones of the samurai draw style). Hazama and Litchi I'm thinking about tinkering around with as well. Even before I really got heavy into the game, back when it was Calamity Trigger, Hazama has always been that cool character I would've tried from the start. Litchi on the other hand is someone I started taking interest in recently. High-Low, Left-Right mixups, I love them. Both characters oozes them (Valk, again is a mixup monster). And then there's Susanoo and Hakumen. DAMAGE!!!

As happy as I am about Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom coming to Evo I don't know if I'm really going to jump back into it. I love the game. Love the community (especially now), but at this point right now the only team game I'm willing to put time into is Dragonball Fighterz. Family over community. The nephew is interested in DBFz and my brother-in-law plays from time to time. If enough people can talk me into coming back to UMvC3 I probably will though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 27, 2023, 06:34:20 PM
BlazBlue Central Fiction
More training shenanigans. Besides extensive Jin training, I dabbled with other characters and found out real quick that some of them aren't for me at all lol. Litchi and Hazama in particular. These are Tekken characters lol (I'll throw Valkenhayn in there as well). I'm for learning characters that have so much utility but damn, all 3 of them? At the same time? OH HELL NO! I have a mean habit of jumping from character to character, but doing that with them I won't learn anything because movement is key to 2 of them (Hazama and Valk) while Litchi is essentially 2 characters in 1. It got overwhelming real quick because they require so much attention individually that you'll have no time to go to another character. So I've decided to main Jin fulltime. I think I recall saying once before that he has all the tools needed to deal with any situation even though he fell from top 10 to probably top 15. He's just one of those characters that's as good as the player. Meaning if you suck, your Jin sucks. I highly doubt it but I may try to dabble with Hakumen from time to time.

No Mahvel yet, but they're definitely tempting me.

Edit:

In between Training mode and Combo Trials with Jin. I'm on Hard Combo #6. Low and behold these damn microdashes and high jump canceling. They are the bane of my existence. Microdashing itself is not a problem. Microdashing into a crouching attack into a standing attack into high jump cancel is the problem because of timing. Even then, I'm starting to get the timing of the microdash. But that damn high jump cancel, a simple down, up and you get your high jump. So what's the problem? IT'S DOWN, UP, that's my problem. It's the same reason I stay away from charge characters. Down/Up, Left/Right kills me all the time. For the most part, it's me trying to high jump cancel from a diagonal down position to a diagonal up forward so Jin can move towards the character so the attack hits. I'm doing this on pad btw. I'm settling on pad since the type of controller I need don't exist yet. Hitbox murders my hands. Stick murders my hands. Pad kills my thumbs but at least my hands are still alive. Dammit Jin. You lucky you cool lol
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 01, 2023, 06:41:59 PM
You know, I still have a very skeptical stance on video game remakes. A lot of times I find them unnecessary and they tend to be more geared towards pleasing a modern crowd at the expense of the more intricate aspects (whether perceived as good or bad by said crowd) that made them special in the first place.

That said, even a jaded player like myself who tends to prefer the classics can't help but gush over how fucking good the RE4 remake is. Like, it pays all of the respect to the original while also doing so much of it's own thing mechanically to the point of having a gameplay style like nothing else on the market (except for the original, obviously). You can't compare it to any other third person shooters because at it's core, RE4 has always been a stylish action game (having more in common with Mikami's later game God Hand than with something like The Last of Us or Gears of War) with a horror theme in disguise as a third person shooter. Getting in close to kick or suplex enemies is just as important as the actual shooting, and there is so much variety in how you can tackle any given situation. I love how you can use the traps that enemies lay for you against them, for example, and at no point does the game have to hold your hand for you to capitalize on any of it's hidden depth. It actually makes so much more sense in retrospect how Vanquish was the natural next step of what Mikami wanted to do with this kind of gameplay style.

This right here is what I wish more AAA games in the industry would strive for. It makes me feel justified in why I find games like The Last of Us, Uncharted, or the modern God of War games (for a moe melee focused equivalent) to be so mediocre. Just my opinion of course, but those games don't hold a candle to the amount of detail in this game's mechanics that makes it feel so versatile. I could see myself coming back to this multiple times throughout the next few years. I haven't even beaten my first run yet, but it's definitely not a one-and-done affair. I can say that much for certain.

Funny thing is I'm finally going through RE2's remake at the same time. I just finished the Police Station portion of Leon's campaign, and since 4 is a direct sequel to 2 in terms of Leon's story, it's also a great example of how varied Capcom's games are even within their own series. The two, aside from having an OTS perspective, couldn't play more differently and actually reflect Leon's character quite well from story to gameplay. In RE2, he's a rookie cop who finds himself in a situation which is way over his head and he's just struggling to survive while trying to do the right thing. In RE4 he's has 6 years of intense training in-between and is a mercenary bad-ass, and the gameplay reflects that in how he takes on hordes of enemies so effeciently as if he were John Wick.

It's games like RE2, RE4, and DMC5 from a few years back that really solidifies why Capcom games are so fucking awesome in a way that very few other publishers can even begin to compete with. Now imagine if a new Ninja Gaiden game got shown this kind of love from Team Ninja....
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Foggle on April 03, 2023, 02:50:23 PM
I wasn't expecting much but after playing it I totally agree with everything you said about the RE4 remake! It's really, really great, and while I don't think it outdoes or replaces the original, it's probably the most pure fun I've had with a new AAA game since Rift Apart. For every part I was sad they altered or cut, there was an entirely new or improved sequence that made me smile. I especially love what they did with the Krauser boss fights, lake section, Ashley (post-water room), and mine cart ride. I very much hope RE9 is a continuation of this gameplay style, hell, even make it about Leon having a big dumb adventure again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 08, 2023, 05:03:35 PM
I'm not a fan of Resident Evil at all. Lord knows I can't take the gushing (I'm sorry, Huber wore me out with this franchise), but I can take it as long as it's coming from anyone except Easy Allies lol.

Semi-jokes aside, I do watch people play it though and I do respect the franchise. I don't necessarily have a beef with the game, but the genre as a whole I hate being limited (My rationale won't let me enjoy horror at all. Be it games, movies, books, etc). I hate sluggish movements. Making my character run slow just to amp up the intensity, that don't get me excited. But I get it. Like I said, Resident Evil has my utmost respect (along with probably Dead Space) for what it's done for gaming (and content these days)

I might have my PS5 come next Saturday if things play out right. Not entirely sure what I'm going to get on it though since everything that I'm interested in can be played on the PS4. I'm really getting it just so I can give my brother my PS4 so that he can finally experience some of these games. He's very much into the Batman's so I want him to try out Spider-Man, and he's a huge fan of Red Dead so I know he's going to enjoy Red Dead 2. And then both he and my nephew are heavily into Yugioh so we'll probably jump into Master Duelist, as far as I know you can crossplay between the 2 systems, so there's that.

If I play my cards right, not only will I be able to acquire a PS5, but a little bit after rent I may be able to acquire a Switch as well just in time for Tears of the Kingdom. There's been quite a few games that came out specifically on the Switch that I'm interested in, mainly speaking of Shin Megami Tensei 5 and the Fire Emblems. I've never played them but I've always wanted to. Then there's Xenoblade Chronicles 3 that I'm interested in as well. I can get behind this cast of characters. The cast in the previous games, not so much.

Other than that I have to continue waiting for Final Fantasy 16 (which I think is not going to live up to everyone's expectations).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on April 09, 2023, 01:34:41 AM
The thing about RE4 is that it's not really survival horror like it's predecessors though. It's more of a straight up action game with a horror theme. It's like if you sent John Wick to go up against a hoard of brainwashed villagers who have succumbed to hostile parasites.

For me the appeal of this game, like most games that I like, is in the insane combat depth and just how versatile your strategies for any given situation cam be.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 09, 2023, 10:32:33 AM
I'm aware. I've seen it through its many re-releases and ports/remasters, and I've seen this one. Unfortunately, this is one series I cannot be talked into (Believe it or not I can be talked into souls) let alone, genre (like I said, my rationale won't let me enjoy it. I think too logically. The moment I see a person going somewhere they shouldn't I've already checked out)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 21, 2023, 09:22:02 PM
Currently testing out my PS5. Not too shabby so far. The controller feels weird though. Not really digging the buttons. If I'm playing a game that requires multiple presses (mashing) I feel like the buttons would get in my way a little (like it might get stuck in the long run). I guess I won't really get the full experience until I get a game suitable for the PS5. All the games I currently have leftover are fighting games and subpar JRPGs.

In the meantime, BlazBlue: Central Fiction, I still haven't been able to hit that damn combo with Jin lol. And with the buttons feeling extra weird at the moment, high-jump canceling is going to be a bigger hurdle. Oh well. I got quite a few games with combo trials to carry me over for a little bit until I get Final Fantasy 16. 4 of them are very extensive so it's going to be a while and a lot of pain for me lol.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 24, 2023, 07:39:18 PM
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
As I said in the fighting game thread, people really know how to reel me in with this game. All it takes "come get this work" and it's on. That being said, until the big throw down (more or this in a bit), I've been doing quite a bit of combo-theory practicing for a point Vergil team. I know team Clockwork (Vergil, Doom, Strider) might be the strongest point Vergil team out there, but I wanted to test the waters a little bit. Angelic (seasoned vet of UMvC3) really opened my eyes a couple nights ago with his Vergil team. He's using Vergil, Morrigan, Shuma. While I hate Shuma, I can also see that his beam works well with Vergil and that got me thinking about other beam characters. Right now I'm testing out Vergil/Ironman/Doom (want to get away from Doom but that might not happen since he and Vergil are best buddies). It's kinda messed up that it's either Vergil/Doom or Vergil/Dante. Nobody has the vertical assist that Hidden Missles or Jam Session provide because I definitely want to break away from that mold, but oh well.

Ultra Street Fighter 4
So why am I coming back to this when I said I was done? You see, a lot of the times I stay humble and let these kids bark back n forth, but when you want to bring me back to "war-mode" I come back to this. It was all in good fun until you want to start coming at old heads like we don't know our shit. For some reason it's never 18-21 year olds. It's almost always these damn 25-30 year olds that think they hot shit.

Guilty Gear Strive
And this is the game we decided to collide in. He has 1 tournament under his belt in this game and quit, while I have training mode under mine (fuck around and find out you don't mess with training mode monsters)

So what happened? Well, all this talk about Street Fighter 6 and the cracked Beta and whatnot. People saying those who got it should be banned when it comes to tournaments. I'm no tournament player so this don't affect me. Me being me, coming at it from an "indifferent" viewpoint, cause there's all this talk about how a cracked-beta player will dominate and whatnot. I see the point and I get it. Like I said, me being me, I say, "day 1, beta-player vs Justin Wong, I'm not betting against JWong", and my mans responds with he'll take beta player free. Cool, I respond with "fundamentals carries you a long way in Street Fighter" and he goes into all this option-selects, drive rushes, so on and so forth. I said John Choi didn't need any of that in SF4, fundamentals crosses over no what matter what Street Fighter game you come from. He goes on this tangent about old people. Usually, I'm cool on this but folks need to watch their tone.

Granted, I'm a nobody, but at the same time I'm like "who you talking to?" All you got is Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Dragon Ball FighterZ under your belt. I've been in the scene since 07-08 with Alpha 3 and SSF4. There's a reason why Street Fighter players (as bull-headed as we were back then) would tell Marvel players to STICK to Marvel. Slow the game down and you wouldn't know damn thing. Push blocking and reflecting teaches you bad habits because all you do is MASH (LIKE A FUCKIN SCRUB). There's a reason why Punk, Justin Wong, and Latif (granted, Latif is a GG player 1st and foremost, but I know him as THE VIPER player that beat Daigo) went a dominated Strive at the beginning. Their FUNDAMENTALS CARRIED THEM! Ain't no way in hell should Justin Wong of all people be beating folks in their own game. Street Fighter fundamentals can be applied in every single fighting game you can name.

So there you have it. I'ma bust his ass in Strive in a 1st to 10, and then I'ma go back to being humble. This warmode of me aint right, cause the hood part of me just come right out.

OoooooH!!! I haven't been this heated in a minute. Saturday can't come fast enough.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on April 29, 2023, 09:19:00 PM
Aw yeah, I'm back. Wow 9 hrs. Lot's of fun. Did I need it? For sure. Got my mind off a lot. I'm no tournament player anymore, but going to my local just felt good to get that peer-to-peer interaction going again. Win or loss, I would've given the update btw. That being said

Guilty Gear Strive
That BUSS-ASS happened. Again, I won't mention names because he's a "pro" (DBFz and UMvC3 player) and decided to show up. My Sol vs his Sol. 10-3 my win. I was already coming in hot (like "you mad bro" kinda hot. So much going on in the personal life). So my man's take the first 2 games and look at me to get the crowd going. I'm like, "bet, bitch". Next thing you know it's 4-2. I'm telling him, don't let me get 6 wins. 4-3, he tells me he still in it. 5-3, I just stare at him. 6-3, YOU FUCKIN SUCK!!! I told you don't let me get to 6. At this point, he's not nervous, but it's getting to him. The T.O. (tournament organizer) plays Destiny Awaits (I call it Byakuya's bankai song lol). The timing was too good. I shake my head laughing at him (The T.O. knows that I don't pop-off so he knows I'm too heated)  and continue the set. 10-3, I shake his hand and tell him "don't disrespect the OGs. May not be able to keep up with the 3v3 team games but we can still buss yo ass in any 1v1 game". I could've been a savage and told him to "take yo ass home", but at the end of the day, I kept it within the game. It's just trash talk. He know it, I know it.

That was the big one. I played 2 other sets. Went 8-10 against a Happy Chaos player. And 10-6 against a Zato player. Btw, no money was involved. I'm more of a bragging rights type of guy. I don't need your money. There used to be days where sets were ran 24/7, some was grinding/training, some were to handle in-game beefs (street shit couldn't be handled), and bragging rights or just trying to be the best. Nowadays money gotta be involved to get sets ran. I'm not with that. Things can turn left real quick. I'm not from the streets but I'm from the hood (what you hear/heard about Detroit is probably true and I've probably seen it), and when things turn left it's usually because of either women or money.

Anyway, ran a couple of 1st 5's in 3rd Strike and UMvC3 (yeah, he got his get-back lol. 5-1'd me). Overall, it wasn't EVO, but tons of fun.

So what's next? Not sure to be honest. I've practically did a 180 on most of these fighting games (dropped them). Trying to get back in shape or learn some of these games is too much. There's too much digging that I gotta go through, not to mention Street Fighter 6 is right around the corner. Discord's not for me. Just give me my guides and players to follow and keep it pushing. If I ever get the chance to upgrade to PC gaming I'll make the jump to MvC1/2 and CvS2 and commit to those while waiting for Project L. Those old school games that a lot of us grew/came up on, I can get a lot of mileage out of those games, especially if you're telling me that I can get a chance to run sets against the likes of a Smug, Justin Wong, and Maximilian. Right now I'll probably just play 3rd Strike and UMvC3. Might throw in a little bit of Alpha 3 as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on May 11, 2023, 11:03:05 PM
Turns out my chances of getting that gaming PC is brighter than ever now. I found a couple at Amazon between $500-$650. Basic and cheap, yep, I'm not looking to do that hardcore gaming on it. Hell, the only games I'm planning to play on it are the oldies on Fightcade; X-Men vs Street Fighters, Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighters, Marvel vs Capcom 1&2, Capcom vs SNK 2, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, 3rd Strike and King of Fighters 13 to be more specific. Anything beyond that on Steam, I'm not entirely sure just yet. Good ole Guilty Gear X2+R will be a must, but after that I don't know. There's not a lot out there I'm willing to take a leap on. Among Us, Jackbox and Uno might be some must haves so me and my family can all play games instead of just me and my nephew or me and my brother-in-law. I can probably start streaming around that time as well, but I have something planned for that (IF I ever decide to become a streamer), but right now, I'm gonna keep it real simple and basic. But, again, I gotta play my cards right. Might be able to get it before the year ends or next year when taxes roll around.

Having said that;

Nioh Collection
I just bought this (I know, should've/could've kept the PS4 version, but I wanted my brother to experience them). I've been craving a bit of Nioh and since it's going to be a little bit before I get my hands on another Switch and Tears of the Kingdom I gotta make this PS5 useful for something and Nioh 1/2 are the games I can sink my time into until Final Fantasy 16 (Yep, you see that right lol. I'm not skipping Street Fighter 6, but I'm skipping Street Fighter 6 lol). I probably should've brought Nioh 2 because I want to try out the claws, but me being me, I gotta show some love to the original. I almost always gotta start with the original first. Get my ass handed to me a couple of times and then probably move onto the 2nd one.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
Not being able to play like I want to on the PS5. Dualshock controllers are terrible for me these days. Whatever, it's just training mode anyway. That journey to finding the perfect point Vergil team might be impossible due to my stubbornness. There are just some characters in this game I am not touching, and Shuma Gorath is one of them along with MODOK and Sentinel (along with quite a few others). And even then, all the teams I keep coming up with needs either Doom or Dante lol. There's one idea in my head that I'm toying around with; Vergil, Dormammu, Magneto (I think most people would do the reverse, Mag on point with dark Vergil anchor), but the idea in my head is if you kill Vergil you still have a scary duo to contend with which is why I keep landing on Doom because Doom just makes everyone better (Not to mention you realize just how strong the Doom/Vergil, Dante/Vergil, and Morridoom shells really are). Even though I don't plan on competing I do think Vergil, Dorm, Mag (can probably drop Mag for Strange) can contend with some of the top tiers. The overall goal for this whole thing was to not use Strider (Team Clockwork is goated). To be honest I don't like Strider. I love ninja's but not him. Don't care for his design nor playstyle. I might have to scrap the whole idea though. At the end of the day I still have Wolverine/Spider-Man May Cry teams to fall back on, especially when I get tired of the Doom/Vergil shell.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 03, 2023, 09:40:39 AM
Nioh 1

Ooh, boy, I'm feeling the rust lol. Not that I was ever great before, but I at least was at a point to where I felt comfortable running in guns blazing a bit without any fear. Right now I'm kinda creeping by everything lol. I did happen to beat Hino on my "first" try. Before that, I died to the wall statue cause I forgot how to get out of the screen with the gestures lol. As far as controls go, still feels weird, but it fits I guess. As far as the build, not sure what I want to do yet. I'm bouncing back and forth between Katana/Dual Swords and Katana/Tonfa's. Kinda want to keep Ninjutsu and Onmyo balanced until I figure out which direction I want to go, although I'm leaning towards Ninjutsu. Having said all of that, I'm not there yet, but I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to this fight coming up down the road that involves a certain person that thinks he's superman lol.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 15, 2023, 06:54:39 PM
Spider-Man
Even before the Sony's State of Play video of Spider-Man 2, I was already thinking about booting this game up again. I don't know, just had the urge to play it. I'm having fun with it. Sure, it doesn't have the best combat. Hell, it's combat, is probably the weakest I've played comparing to Arkham, and probably it's biggest weakness, but whatever, you know. Sometimes you just feel like playing one of them games that'll put you in a good mood and this one is doing it for me at the moment.

I'll probably end up getting FF16 next week. Money not right this week.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 18, 2023, 05:18:14 PM
Spider-Man
Main story is complete and finished The Heist. Currently doing Turf Wars at the moment. I think I know what it is that's making me enjoy this over the Batman games. Even though they're relatively the same, it's not the combat. Combat in Batman got this beat. I like Batman overall as a martial artists, whereas Spider-man, just feels like he's flailing all over the place. Nah, I enjoy Spider-man because of everything else (except the stealth as other characters). But then again, I'm bias because I enjoy most of Marvel's main characters story over DC. Anyway, the sections that I don't enjoy are where I have to chase things and put under timers, so, yeah, Taskmaster and Screwball stuff are no, no's for me. I could dig their section if you just take away the timer. Let me enjoy my games without the duress of being timed. That'll make me not want to ever play again. Anyway, I do plan to do a new game+ just to see what carries over and whatnot.

I've practically given up on Twitch at the moment. For some reason the sound is so low and I can't hear anything on this laptop when watching videos (yep, speakers are at max and I don't like having to use headphones on my computer) so I'm all Youtube now (on my tv and phone only)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 25, 2023, 02:28:14 PM
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Shorter than expected. I think the original games was about 20-30hrs. This one might be about 10-12 hrs. Feels about as long as a summer blockbuster movie. I thought it was cool. I think I prefer the original over this one to be honest. I think that's because I don't know Miles and I grew up with Peter. Not to mention I'm not aware of any of Miles enemies so I don't know if more could've been done here or not. Even on a gadget level, the original just have more going for it. I understand that Miles venom powers was more of the focus but there was stuff I was wishing I'd have from Peters gadgets over Miles. The suits might've been put to better use here than in the original. That's about the only thing this one excels at. Still a cool game though. I think people might've been overrating this one a tad bit as well, but the message was loud and clear, and I did like the message as well.

Street Fighter 6
Installing as we speak. I'm only playing Ken and Juri. I may play a bit of Ryu, Chun and Cammy just to see what they're like, but I have no desire to try out the other characters just yet. I may hop on rank, but like other fighters I may skip rank altogether. Looking at how people are treating rank with 1 and dones, whether they win or lose, I'm not digging. From one of the Youtuber's I watch perspective, he seem to run into a lot of 1 and dones in Platinum rank. So I may skip rank completely and send a bunch of invites and create a room/lobby or something of that nature.

Don't have Final Fantasy 16 yet, but I'm sort of back to playing games as you can see. My funk has tethered a bit. Been enjoying my time in the open world games (at least in the case of Spider-Man's) and probably will fire up Ghosts of Tsushima (against my better judgment) and hop into that world until I get my hands on FF16.

After FF16 might be Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on June 29, 2023, 07:58:19 PM
Spider-Man and Miles Morales
Replaying both just to see if I was tripping or not. Swinging-wise, Miles all day. I don't know, it feels tighter in MM. I still wish MM had some of Peter's and vice versa, but I get it. If they had each other's toolkit they'd be broken. Everything else I stand by. Peter just has too much in his story and again, I grew up with Peter.

Street Fighter 6
I need about a month or 2, but right now, despite not having Cody, Dudley, Yun or Yang, this is still looking like it can be my favorite fighting game of all time, dethroning 3rd Strike. This is possibly the deepest Street Fighter I've ever played. The decision to just include a little bit of something from previous Street Fighters through the Drive mechanic is genius. The only other game that I'd say come close to this is probably Capcom vs SNK2 with all the grooves. I've said that Street Fighter 5 was a fun game to play, and this game takes that fun and ramps it up to maximum. I can't speak on balance just yet. I need to see more and experiment more. But at the moment, Dee Jay is a problem. Juri is a problem. JP is a problem. Cammy is a problem. Despite all that I don't find any of the characters overbearing. I've heard pro players talk about the mental stack because of all the options that you have, and I can certainly see why they would say such a thing. Hell, Daigo is saying that this version of Ken is probably the hardest to play because of all the answers he has at his disposal, it's just a matter of choosing the right one, even though his gameplan might be simple. I gotta talk about Juri though. This little nutcase is a walking torpedo with this Drive Rush. Her startup is very deceiving because it looks like she has a slow startup, but the moment you think that she's already in your face and next thing you know you're losing almost 50% life. I've heard critiques here and there and all games deserves to be critiqued, and considering what some of those critiques were, I'd say they're fair. I haven't heard anyone outright blatantly say they hate the game. Even if they do, by all means, they have that right. It's just been an overwhelming ball of positivity. Sure, I'm also hearing BS about running into X Ken's but you know what? That's cool. Just remember. 18 characters at launch. Everyone that's probably settling on Ken is more than likely waiting for their character (case in point, me with, again, Cody, Dudley, Yang and Yun). Just be happy you're not running into Blanka and JP at the moment. Once people figure out how to actually play them, good luck. This is a 10/10 fighting game and I haven't even touch World Tour. I might crack out on this game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 06, 2023, 03:58:44 PM
Over our little break for Independence Day and whatnot, my nephew decided he wanted to run some sets in SF3, USF4, and SF5. Haven't been able to play SF6 against him yet (apparently the Dualshock 4 don't work on the PS5 version for some oddball reason)

3rd Strike - This little boy here bodied my Dudley with his Akuma. Got to the point where he was trying to "let" me win rounds without pushing buttons. Alright, cool, it's been forever since I've used him, but whatever, no excuses. He won 3-0 against my Dudley. Then started to run his mouth. Unfortunately, my nephew is not old enough to go to our locals yet, so he didn't get a chance to witness that version of me where I bodied the last guy that wanted to pop-off at the mouth. Alright cool, warm up over. Bring out my Ryu. I'm up 3-0 at this point. He got a couple rounds off me. Good job. He's definitely improving. Then I bring out Ken and it was murder she wrote.

USF4 - I was actually surprised he wanted to play this. He only played Yun here. I bring out Ryu to get my hands warmed up. I'm up 2-1. Not bad, nephew. Not bad at all. To keep up with my Ryu for his age. Not bad. Switch to Evil Ryu, but he felt way too foreign in my hands. Hover over Cody and he says NOOOOOOO NOT HIM! LOL. He hates when I throw rocks at him and not to mention my Cody is pretty deadly. So, I bust out Ken yet again, went 5-0, but he did take a couple of rounds off me. Check you out little man. I also had him do combo trials. That was a funny sight.

SF5 - He played Ryu and I played Ken, and went 5-0 here. No rounds lost. He don't have access to this game so he can't keep up with this one, but he had fun.

SF6 - Most of my time has been spent in training mode, but I did start doing Ken's trials. Ooh boy, Drive Rush cancels from a normal are eating me alive. The timing is weird for me at the moment. >> is something I'm terrible at when it comes to canceling from a normal because you have to confirm it and that's a single hit confirm and I feel like I'm mashing the dash input. Fun stuff though. I got some training drills in my head that I can go through. (Edit - I take it back. Drive Rush cancels from a normal is not as complicated as I thought. Just weird. And seeing how this is Ken, the timing is throwing me off a bit)

I finished up everything I wanted in Spider-Man 2018. Might play up to a certain point in Miles Morales because I have everything unlocked and there's no real reason to go through the rest of the campaign other than see how many hits does it take for a over-leveled MM to put down some of these enemies.

Gonna jump into Ghost of Tsushima next while I wait on Trails of Reverie (completely forgot about this game)
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 14, 2023, 11:37:16 AM
Street Fighter 6
Same ole typical training mode stuff. Ken and Juri.

Ghost of Tsushima
I had to pull myself away from this for a little bit lol. I'm on Act 2, but I've also been tackling a lot of the side quests as well. Have I ever mentioned how much I love this game? I know I gave up on the game once before but that's because somebody spoiled some stuff and also, if you know me, you know animal killings a killjoy for me. I can handle in game stuff, but cinematic, nah, I'm ready to go to war at that point. I think I know when it happens (haven't gotten to that point yet) but I got some things I can do to remedy that situation. Anyway, like I said, I love this game. Gonna end up seeing this on my favorite games list when I update it (there's a huge update too). Petting foxes. The scenery. The combat. The characters. Are they Vergil, Dante, Sephiroth? HELL NO, but if you know me, you know that I love all things Samurai. If I could, my house would be designed in a way to represent a Samurai lifestyle. The overall game is so basic and simplistic, but the way it's presented is what makes it work. Do I need another 1? No, but I sure as hell want one. And don't get me wrong. I certainly see the flaws, but this is one of those type of games that's perfect for me, if that makes any sense.  :sweat:

After this, not sure yet. Toss up between Trails of Reverie and Final Fantasy 16.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on July 22, 2023, 07:01:43 PM
Ghost of Tsushima
And beaten. Currently going through a new game+ though. I love this game. Iki island was good, but could've been better in terms of the rewards (armor, swords, etc). Sure, there were a lot of charms, but I rarely use or depend on them. Getting to pet other animals was the cherry on top. New game+, seeing that you can still get dye, armor, etc, "chef's kiss". Overall, I've enjoyed this game from beginning to end.

Street Fighter 6
Little disappointed in my nephew. I don't mind using modern controls at all, but when I find out you're depending on a handicap to get your wins. Come now, you're a fraud. Anyway, I'm still enjoying the game.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
My nephew originally challenged me in this game, but I don't know if I'm gonna accept his challenge. I think I'm gonna make him earn the right to challenge me this time. In the meantime, I've been hitting the lab with Wolverine/Dormammu/Dante and Spencer/Dante/Hawkeye. I also might want to try out Spencer/Dormammu at some point. Spencer + Dark Hole sounds like damage galore. Getting the brain racking again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 08, 2023, 05:22:44 PM
Ghost of Tsushima
So overall, I have about 200hrs put into the game, and going through a 3rd playthrough, but I'm not going to finish it anytime soon. As you can see, my love for samurais is through the roof. I know people here don't like it, but this is what I'd say Dad of War is close to, in terms of presentation, and I think that's why people tend to oversell it so often. Anyway, I'm updating my favorites, and a little bit of a spoiler, this is in my top 5.

Kind of had Street Fighter 6 on pause for a little bit, but I'm about to jump back into it. After Evo, I'm gonna stick with Ken. Originally, I was gonna make Juri the main, but Ken, his game fits me. People were suggesting Marisa for me, and I'll admit she does fit that criteria, especially when it comes to striking fear because of damage (I'll make her a secondary), but she's a little on the slow side for me. Like, I need to really sit and learn her because, while she's slow, her moves are hard to time making it hard for me to whiff punish with her. Anyway, Ken is the safe pick for now, until I get a character I actually like.

Single-player stuff, I'm not really in a rush for anything. Yeah, I can buy Final Fantasy 16, and while I'm looking forward to playing it I'm not exactly in a rush to play it immediately. Same for Trails of Reverie and Dad of War/Ragnarok. I think the only game I'd actually rush to get is Spider-Man 2, but even that isn't something I must have day 1. So, not really sure what I'm firing up next. Guess it depends on my mood.

Sort of given up on Twitch and went full YouTube. Mainly watching the same people (ChilledChaos, ZeRoyalViking, Dooley_Noted, etc.) for the Among Us, Project Winter, Town of Salem fixes. Town of Salem 2 is really something. This is one I'd play with random people, especially for icebreakers. It's too good and can get real hectic if you're playing with people that know how to sell their role and lie about others.

My PC gaming might start sooner rather than later, so I might even get a setup going for streamer and all that jazz. Gonna get interesting between now and December.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on August 23, 2023, 08:02:22 PM
Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie
I've come to love the series over most of your upper echelon of jrpg's over the recent years, and while I do love the game, I'm also split as well. I'm just hitting over 100 hrs mark (damn near right there at the end), and that could've been shortened entirely if I weren't grinding for "loot". So, yeah, I'm split on the final entry here because, on one hand I like the direction of telling a story from different angles. I like that I can build every playable character the way I want to play them.

That being said, everything else is disappointing. Severely disappointed in this game but I'm still having a blast doing my thing. Anyway, the disappointing parts. Where to begin..? There's a damn gacha mechanic in here. WHY!? This is not Genshin Impact. You can sort of abuse it in a way to get strong items/quartz very early, but it involves save scumming and I don't have time for all of that. I've only done it once and that was because I wanted a Master Quartz badly. I wouldn't have much of a problem with the gacha system if a lot of what you got weren't useless. Like, I'm not going to jump for joy over getting some sort of cosmetic item that don't do shit when there could've been had something like Attack 3 or Skanda Gem.

Speaking of that useless fluff, did I mention there were 51 playable characters? Potentially useless fluff for 51 characters? YOU SHITTIN ME!! Tried it out, OH HELL NO! Costumes are Ultra Rare value? Falcom, what kind of bullshit are you smoking? Ok, FINE, I'll bite. Wait. Where are the costumes for the Liberal crew? Where's Sara's, Laura's, and Emma's? They're not DLC this time, but they're from the previous Trails games, so I know they have some.

So that's just costumes. Gameplay, nothings changed. So I can build my characters up the way I want to but what's the point if the moves are the exact same from Trails 3-4? Like nobody learned anything new since the end of Trails 4? Really? Class 7 has 5-7 crafts while Liberal and Crossbell is stuck with 2-3 crafts (I hear they had even more moves in Azure and Zero). BULLSHIT! Ok, I can still play though. WAIT!!! Falcom, where are the bonding events? They don't exist anymore? WHYYYY!!? Some people are trying to justify it by saying because of the events that's happening. I'd buy that if it weren't for these minigames (trying not to spoil stuff as well). Vantage Masters, Pom Pom Party makes a return and you even got some Beach thing where you can hold romantic conversations. Falcom, you lucky there's 51 playable characters otherwise I'd break this shit in 2.

Like I said, I'm pretty much at endgame (about to go to the final dungeon). There's post game stuff, and even more characters and Master Quartz to unlock. Overall, this is for the fans. Somebody new coming into the series, I'd urge you to skip it. Hell, on a scale from 1-10, this is probably sitting at/or between a 5-7. I'm gonna replay it when I beat it because there's definitely a character I want to unlock and try out. And then, of course I have to go for my busted builds. I feel like there's something else I'm leaving off, but I'll leave it there.

Next game after is between Final Fantasy 16 and Sword and Fairy.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 01, 2023, 09:17:57 PM
Street Fighter 6
Me and my nephew just finished a session. I won but the score don't matter. The takeaway is that he's definitely learning and trying to adapt. I'm very impressed. He's a little masher, but that's the way he plays at the moment, especially on Modern controls. I also tried to use Modern controls. Not for me at all. Missing buttons, and a special button is weird to me. It's not really all that weird in a wider scope of things, but in Street Fighter, it's weird to me to grasp. I can't really explain it that well. I'm not knocking it either. Just not for me, especially when I like my flashy combos. That being said, while Ken is the main, I've tried Cammy, Juri, JP, Rashid, Guile and Luke. JP and Luke definitely feels cheap. The rest felt strong. That being said, 19 characters. About to be 20 soon with A.K.I. You really feel it when your character(s) are not in the game. It's definitely a repeat of Street Fighter 5 at the moment. Everyone feels fun, but I can't enjoy it the way I want to because I'm missing Dudley and Cody. I hate settling on characters that I know I don't want to stick with in the long run, especially in a game with a roster this small.

I've been watching people play Armor Core. Man, that game look sick. I might have to get it because the movement looks insane. I kinda want to make a Gundam. And then on top of that I've been getting MGS5 vibes from it. With it being mission based and whatnot. I can see the souls formula there but I might be able to ignore that in this game.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 16, 2023, 08:55:27 PM
Final Fantasy 16
Finally pulled myself away from Trails into Reverie to fire this baby up. I'm currently at level 17 and had my awakened fight. I'm not going to talk much about the story at all since it's presented well. The problem is, is that the game so far is mostly cutscenes so I can imagine people that had a problem with Metal Gear Solid 4 for its cutscene heavy focus is going to have a problem here. Me, I love it. Nah, my issue comes more along the lines of traversal. I mean, from what I've seen so far you're running from point A to B and while that's fine and all, the world map itself is in the way of it all. It's only there for fast travel, and they pretty much force you to do this. Combat, I'm still getting used to, but you can certainly tell Devil May Cry inspired this game, but there are traces of Final Fantasy 15 here too. Much like Devil May Cry 5, it starts out slow. Almost caught myself getting bored in the 1st hour, but once you start gaining abilities and Eikons, while it's nothing special, it is good at the same time. The combat starts to open up and, yeah, DMC all over the place. There's even its own version of Stinger in it. As of right now, no it's not game of the year. Not even close, but we'll see as I get further into the game.

Edit:

Update: Before I really get into it I may take all of this back because of where I'm at in the game. Anyway, traversal, I see you can actually run around the entire map if you really want to, so that's cool. So let me get straight to the nitty-gritty. You know me, I'm gonna talk about the gameplay/combat. I think I see what Square is doing, but I'm not sure if it's enough. Let me also say that I got my fourth Eikon and this one is very fun. The 3rd one, not so much. Anyway, my gripe with this combat is that there are not enough weapons. I'm pretty much just using this one sword and considering that you only control Clive, and he don't gain or learn additional attacks with this sword and at one point it had me going "eh". But as I said, I could be taking all of this back because I see what's going on with the Eikons. But that also brings another problem. Outside of the original Eikon, the ones I've gained so far only has 4 attacks which can be upgraded, but it leaves me wanting more. Some of the moves I don't really care for (admittedly, I haven't found a way to use in a way for me to enjoy them). That being said though, for a "character action" game I can tear this apart. If a Ninja Gaiden head got their hands on this, you better believe this is getting torn to shreds. BUT this is a good game. I think Ninja Gaiden fans and DMC fans will take this 100% over God of War. It don't go as deep as Ninja Gaiden, but if given another shot, I think Square can nail it (which is what I think FF7Rebirth will turn out to be). I don't think this is game of the year either. I can't remember everything that came out this year (and with Alan Wake and Spider-Man 2 coming) it might not even belong in the conversation. But it is a good game. This Games of Throne stuff. This medieval stuff. You can miss me with all of it, but here, I'm intrigued. I'm willing to give more games in this kind of setting a shot. Give Yoshi P and his team another crack at this kind of game I'd guarantee it'd be 10/10 game.

Had to get that out because as soon as I finish this play-through I'm going right into my 2nd play-through and it's where my fun truly begins. Right now I'm enjoying the story though. I might do a 3rd run to see if I can do anything broken, but it don't look like I can. After that, it's probably going to be Breath of the Wild (yep, stalling. I also have Tears of the kingdom but I'm indeed stalling lol)

I guess you can also say I'm officially out of my funk. I think it was Spider-Man that brought me out of it though. I'm just enjoying these. Enjoying my time. Taking my time with these games too.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on September 26, 2023, 08:32:31 PM
I've healed up enough.

Final Fantasy 16
And done. Currently going through my 2nd playthrough, you know, since that's where the "real" fun begins. I stand by what I said previously. It is a good game, but it's NOT a GOTY contender, and it's definitely one of those 1 and done's for the most part. Why am I replaying it then? Because I like to get my monies worth. I don't see myself replaying the whole thing though. The combat took a turn for the worst for me. I like the thought process with the Eikons, but I wish there were more weapons. The thought of having daggers, an axe, spear, etc with this game could've been so good, opening the combat up even further, but to stick with this 1 sword and have Eikons be the way they are makes it feel limiting. Maybe I missed something, I don't know, but that's sort of what this 2nd playthrough is for. To see if I can customize these Eikons a certain way.

Story, eh, it's a good story. Makes me curious about this kinda setting, but I'm not going to go out my way looking for this type of thing. Music is actually crazy good, and it actually might be it's strongest/selling point. There are some epic moments and the music really makes some of those moments shine. Other than that, deep down this game is just like a Tales or Y's game. Slightly disappointed, but it's a good thing I went media blackout with this. That "slight" disappointment could've put me in another funk.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 01, 2023, 03:59:15 PM
Trials of Mana
Yep, more stalling. I just know as soon as I delve into Zelda, there will be no turning back and I'll be stuck in that world for quite some time, especially with me liking open-world games and being able to zone out the way I zone out, yeah. Anyway, Trials. I've been putting this off for some time as well, though for different reasons. Now that I'm getting to it, I'm having a hard time jiving with it. I like the idea of being able to customize each character to my liking, buuuut, I don't know, this one just might not be the one for me. I'm just now getting to my 2nd character, so I know I gotta give it a little bit more time. It might be the main character choice. It could be the acting (although, the main lady in Hawkeye's story, whoever is voicing her got my full attention). Combat, not fond of, but this is where I need to have some patience at. At the same time, I'll admit that I should've put this game off a bit more considering I'm kind of anxious to jump into either Valkyrie Elysium and Tales of Arise a little more than this at the moment. I'm also holding off on God of War as well lol.

At the very least, I'm holding out on Zelda until Spider-Man 2. Reason being, I think Spider-Man 2 is the last game that I'm anticipating for the remainder of the year. I don't think or recall anything aimed for me is coming out in neither November or December (I don't count fighting games. I'm always going to be playing them). That frees up a lot of space for me. Still plan to play at my own pace, but by the end of January going all the way to March I believe is going to be stacked for me (Tekken 8, GranBlue, Persona 3 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth)

I also gotta get back to grinding in fighters too. Christmas tradition. This time we got a gauntlet of games we're gonna be running through.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 07, 2023, 08:28:25 PM
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Why am I playing this again why I know I'm not going to complete it? Yes. I'm still a masochist. What's even worst is that the Dual Shock 5 controller absolutely sucks with this game. So I'm already dealing with hit detection, hit boxes, and unresponsive buttons, I'm also dealing with a terrible controller on top of all that. So why put myself through this torture? Masochist is all I can say. The real answer is, I watch Seereax, Rhymstyle and Dotodoya (call themselves the 3 idiots) do these little raids, although they're playing a custom version, but regardless, sometimes seeing them play puts me in the mood to play as well, and I remember that there are still some things I need to see and moves that I need to acquire. There is one move in the custom version that I'm hoping is in the actual game. One move Seereax uses on his character (I don't even know the name of the move) but it looks like a move Vegeta would do; like, fire off 3-4 Big Bang attacks. Little stuff like that gets me going some time.

Anyway, with the games I've been playing, and the mood I've been in, a couple of games are in due for a replay at some point. Devil May Cry 5 and Nier Automata. I've been playing a ton of JRPG's lately, and a lot of them have been ARPG's on top of that so I figure those 2 games, especially Nier is due another shot because I dismissed both games. I'm fairly certain I dismissed Nier because I was in a big funk and just wasn't feeling it at the time. DMC5 on the other hand, was a different reasoning, but still I owe it a playthrough, especially because of Vergil.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 14, 2023, 05:35:19 PM
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Just as soon as I was about to rage. Previous day (day after that last post) I was HOT. DLC PQ 101 had me tilting badly. Expecting me to be able to babysit 2 people. I can barely babysit 1. So the following day (yesterday) I had a gameplan set. Boot up. As soon as I'm loaded into the game, I get an unexpected update. Fast-forward to now. Whatever the update was for, they made part of it easier, and it made my day cause holy hell, the babysitting, the randomness was dumb as hell. I finally got my hands on a lot of the stuff that's been hard to get that I've always wanted. Expert missions are complete (some of it is a pain even with easy mode on). I don't use it on everything though. Just the missions that's asking for bullshit.

All that being said, there's apparently another update coming in 2024. I guess I get it. It's easier to keep updating a game instead of making a new game, but at this point I'd rather have Xenoverse 3 instead of these updates. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely grateful for this update, but considering there's more to work with now from the manga and whatnot, it would have been a good opportunity to kinda reset a little bit.

Even then, don't necessarily need Xenoverse 3, but could've done another anime just like Xenoverse. Perhaps a Bleach, Naruto, MHA, etc. These companies are getting stranger and stranger by the day.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on October 14, 2023, 07:52:59 PM
Signalis- A really good homage to classic survival horror so far. Kind of reminds me of Nier: Automata of all things what with every character seemingly being machine-based replicants emulating humanity, and if I'm being honest it does seem to be trying a little too hard to seem cryptic and layered with meaning (not to imply that it's necessarily pretentious, though). However, the atmosphere and overall gameplay make up for that so far, especially the puzzles which mostly hit a good sweet spot of neither being too obvious nor too obtuse. It's just enough to get you thinking for a hot minute. The music is also excellent so far.

Dead Space (2008)- Replaying this for the first time in about a decade. I have little interest in the remake if I'm being honest, but this game still holds up incredibly well. I'm mainly excited to go to the sequel after this since I actually never played it. That said, I may go ahead and replay Alan Wake first before going onto that since I want to relive the original before playing the sequel to that game which is nearly upon us.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 22, 2023, 01:51:56 PM
Spider-Man 2
Good God, Insomniac has some amazing set pieces. I'm probably about 4-5 hours in, but man, it's been a blast to experience so far. Combat is nothing to write home about, but I never thought much about the combat to begin with. Pure fun is what I'd say the combat is. That being said, this is the equivalent to Arkham Knight. The wings and fighting side-by-side in certain areas has Arkham Knight written all over it. This is what Arkham Knight should've been. Minus the Batmobile, AK is a 10/10 game. If you can remove that, SM2 does not beat that game IMO (none of the SMs do). That being said, flying might've gotten figured out and we might be a lot closer to a game where we can control somebody that flies in the future. Depends on what Insomniac is going to do after Wolverine. 1 thing I am disappointed in. The suits have no powers. Granted it never really mattered in the first 2 games anyway, but it gave me something to look forward to. Here it's all about "drip". Modern people ruin games I tell you. Some of these suits do look good though.

I gotta get something off my chest though. I was watching Kinda Funny's review for this game (I think it was the review). I understand the notion of wanting something different innovative and different. I also want change. I think it was Blessing that said something along the lines of wanting Insomniac to change it up. My thing is why do they gotta be the ones to change it up? For the most part it's almost always everyone except Naughty Dog and Sony Santa Monica that these journalists "allows" (not sure if that's the word I'm looking for) to get away with whatever just because the story and presentation is "top" notch. To me, neither God of War nor Uncharted/TLOU gameplay is anything to write home about either. If you're tired of the hero formula or open world formula, just say that. I'm not a Horizon supporter at all. But the amount of BS that series get is mind boggling. Like, they were a company that did FPS for crying outside. To go from that to Horizon and then the sequel, and the response from journalists is "it's doing the same thing the first game did but better" is suddenly a negative? HUH?! Yet God of War and Last of Us added the world and the kitchen sink to their sequels right? At the end of the day, just be consistent. I get it, we all have our favorites but man. If you gonna be a spade then be a spade and call all of them out. Tiptoeing is not something I respect.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on October 28, 2023, 05:14:29 PM
Spider-Man 2
I think I've played enough of it to give my overall thoughts. I'm either at endgame or damn near close to it. Once again, the set pieces are crazy good and I find it entertaining. Story, I saw something with Kyle Bosman comparing Super Mario Wonder and Spider-Man 2. Pretty much giving his suggestion to folks on which one to get first. Overall, he was basically saying get Mario, and for the most part, I see where he's coming from because it's very comic book tropey, and the same stance he has towards SM2 is my exact stance towards horror (as a whole). I think the main problem is, while the delivery is good from everyone, except Yuri Lowenthal (sp?). 1st lemme get this out. If you've seen symbiote Spidey in any form of fashion then you already know what you need to know. It's just a matter of how it's handled from Insomniac. Now, back to Yuri. He's good as Peter Parker. He's good as Spider-Man. He's terrible at being edgy. To be fair, I didn't like him as Sasuke either. I just never thought Yuri was good enough to portray that type. I think to really pull this off they should've stuck with Josh Keaton.

Even then, throughout all of media (besides the comic) I still think 90's cartoon Spidey is the best when dealing with the symbiote and Venom.

Anyway, combat, not much to say here. I'll tie in everything else here as well. I've seen lots of complaints about the game being too samey too. All of it is fair. I also don't want to be a hypocrite here because I've had that same feeling with DMC5 and a few other games too, but it's a fair complaint. I just wish people would be consistent with that complaint. For the most part the game is go here and beat up people, go there and beat up people. The Mary-Jane stealth portion makes its return as well, but it's better than it was in the first since she have a little more in her arsenal and you're not penalized with a gameover for getting spotted. I've had some tech issues to pop up, but nothing game breaking.

Overall, I'd say this game is about an 8 maybe high 7 and I'm having a blast. At the moment, without having played Tears of the Kingdom yet, this is my GOTY. When it comes to media, I'd be surprised if this is even in the discussion considering what all came out this year. And to be fair, even though I'm not into most of them I do think the audience trounces Spider-Mans, at least most of them except maybe Dead Space, but I could be wrong. I know most people love the survival horror genre.

This is the last big game of the year for me. I have some small games to pick up like Star Ocean 2 and GranBlue Fantasy Versus Rise to pick up, but once Spider-Man is done here comes Zelda.

Edit:

After finishing this post I went ahead and beat the game. Now I'm tackling some of the side activities. I don't see myself 100%ing the game because that's just not something I'd do, and some of these activities can be irritating. That being said I stand by about everything I said, high 7, to a mid 8.

Anyway, you know me. Comparison to Batman Arkham Knight time. Nah, there are a couple of things I want to hammer home. Spider-Man 2 has Batman Arkham Knight beat when it comes to it's world itself. Having NPC's around in the world really can make a game. That being said SM2 trounces AK in it's world and suits, but everything else, AK is the better game IMO. I'm also bias because, as I said in the original post, everybody delivers and I'm also a stan when it comes to the 90's cartoon. Having said that I'm not the biggest Spider-Man fan, let alone Peter Parker. There are just some things he does that irritates the hell outta me (across the board in everything). Even when it comes to Batman, I'm not the biggest supporter these days, but I'll take him over Spider-Man any day.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on November 15, 2023, 08:09:52 PM
I beat Spider-Man 2 and it was exactly the game I expected it to be. If you know my taste in games well enough,you can pretty much figure out my feelings on it.

On the flip side I am re-playing F.E.A.R. and this game still fucking slaps. So much so that it convinced me to finally buy Monolith's other noteworthy horror title from around the same time, Condemned: Criminal Origin, which I plan to try after beating F.E.A.R. again.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on November 26, 2023, 03:55:29 PM
Valkyrie Elysium
I just fired it up. Played about 30 minutes just to get a feel for it. I don't have enough to info to say if I'm impressed or not, but I'm definitely interested. Right now it's looking like a Ys type of game. Nothing wrong with that. I do recall seeing that reviews were on the low side calling it ok and average, and for the most part, I can see that. I have read that combat is on the fun side though, so I'm looking forward to that.

BlazBlue: Central Fiction
Back on this grind, but even more characters has been added to my ever growing list for my crisis. Jin is the main for sure, but as far as a secondary choice, yeah, that's where my crisis is kicking in. Sure I shouldn't be worried about a secondary at the moment since Jin has tools for all situations, but me being me, there are certain type of characters I just play bad against despite my character being the jack-of-all trades type.

I might jump in Breath of the Wild some time in the midst of playing Valkyrie Elysium, especially if things go south for that game. I've been kinda getting bored with games again, but that's because there are games I want now (Persona 3 Reload and GranBlue Fantasy Relink) and I've been putting off the deep-dive with Breath and Tears for so long now.

Edit:
Update on Valkyrie Elysium. No hooks yet, but the combat is weird, but it's getting me interested. In a way, I feel like Y's could've/should've went in this direction with its combat. Now the reason it feels weird to me is because Valkyrie feels floaty, especially in the air. And then on top of that I can see they're trying to do something with dash canceling. As more moves get unlocked I gotta see how it progresses. Neither for nor against it yet, but it's definitely weird and intriguing at the same time.

Deep down I was kinda hoping that I'd lose interest in Valkyrie Elysium so I can jump into BotW, but it looks like the opposite is happening so I may have to skip BotW altogether and go straight for Tears of the Kingdom. The idea was to get through as many smaller games as possible and spend this month and January on both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom because I wanted to commit as much time as I wanted doing whatever I want in both games without having to rush or feeling the need to rush, but with Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising coming next week and Relink creeping behind in January (and those are 2 of the smaller games I'm looking forward to) not to mention the heavy hitters creeping behind them, ain't no way I'm going to be able to spend time in both games. My headspace at the moment, while I'll always love Zelda, I'm actually the opposite of most Zelda fans lol. Even though I hold Zelda to such a high standard, I'd also drop it in a heartbeat for games like a Persona, Final Fantasy and Tekken (and now Granblue and Legend of Heroes series).

Anyway, got the nephew here now. He's ready to hop in Street Fighter 6. He'll probably bop me this time since I haven't been playing. Hell I haven't played since Rashid's release.

Edit2:

You'll probably see me bring up games like It Takes Two, Ratchet and Clank, Sackboy and asking for games like them. My nephew's gaming buddy (his mother's boyfriend) passed away 2 weeks ago, and he's been really down and I want to get more games to play with him just to get his mind off of it.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 16, 2023, 11:16:33 PM
I was finally able to pull myself away from BlazBlue and Street Fighter to boot up both Zelda and Shin Megami Tensei 5. I haven't forgotten about Valkyrie Elysium, but I think I might've played enough of it to move on. For VE, I never played the old games, but I think people are expecting too much and dismissed it too early. It's a pretty fun little game from Square. I don't know why people thought they were getting this huge game in the first place. It's not like it was a Chrono Trigger-ish type of game to begin with, hell, it's not even Xenogears. It's one of their lesser known titles, and for what it is I think it's solid.

Shin Megami Tensei 5 already got me shook lol and I'm not even 30 minutes in. I've said it once before when I played Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne, that it's not that they're horror games. They're are far from horror games. Horror games does nothing for me. My logic and mindset just won't let me enjoy that genre. Playing in the dark and all that jazz doesn't do it for me. SMT on the other hand, I'm not nearly as religious, but the paranormal and last days, I don't play around with, and SMT in general tend to skirt the lines of last days and I don't like thinking about it lol. That's the type of stuff that scares me (movies like 2012, Perfect Storm, Fallen, Left Behind... Leave me the hell alone with these movies lol). I'll probably put this on hold for a little longer just to get through both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

My nephew is asking for Street Fighter 6 again, and then my brother-in-law will be in town this week as well. The gauntlet's pretty much about to go down (probably next Saturday-Sunday since I work this week). I can see myself taking 3 games out of the 7 we'll be playing. BBCF I know I got in the bag along with GG. SF3 and USF4 can go back and forth. SF6 I'll likely get smoked. If we boot up DBFZ or UMvC3 I'll get smoked, but it's gonna be fun either way.

There are some games I'm looking to try out along the way as well. Olli Olli World is one. Vampire Survivor and maybe, just maybe a bit of Fortnite (the Lego portion only), but for the most part I definitely don't rock with Fortnite.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 24, 2023, 07:52:26 PM
Saying this now just in case I don't come through tomorrow. Merry Christmas.

Street Fighter 6
We had 2 nights of this so far. Oh yes! This game is pure fun. We (me, my brother, brother-in-law, my sister, niece and nephew) ran quite a few sets. Capcom really outdid themselves with this game from all angles. When I play, I'm only in training mode, and I haven't been to my locals for this game yet (too much noise and drama), so finally getting around to more than just the nephew and playing someone of equal skill really opened my eyes. One advantage my brother-in-law has over me is using Drive Rush in combos. Everything else, we're equaled. Everyone else was pretty much getting that eye opening experience from when we used to play back in the old days. So it just just a ball of fun.

Tomorrow is the start of the gauntlet and we'll see from there.

That being said, I might give up on fighting games other than playing with the family for a bit. Right now the FGC is just too toxic and the discourse is whatever.

On the other side of things, this will open up the opportunity of me getting back into the action games (maybe). I got Bayonetta 1-3, God of War 1 & 2, DMC5, Nioh 1-2, Nier Automata and Replicant in the backlog and then there's GranBlue Fantasy Relink, Persona 3 Reload, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (I still need to play Remake, but I'll probably just watch someone play that) that's coming. I'm trying to get back into that gaming funk, but I'm gonna force myself to play Zelda to stay out of it.

Again, happy holidays just in case I don't make it back through out the week.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on December 31, 2023, 05:20:59 PM
Ultra Street Fighter 4
We only played a little bit yesterday and we ended it on a draw. My Cody against my brother-in-law's Ryu was the highlight. Lot's of back and forth's.

Guilty Gear Strive
Not gonna brag on this one since this was their first time playing and I've already and plenty first to 10's in this. I don't think any of them are sold on it though. Oh well, probably try again next year.

We cut both sessions short because my nephew wanted to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and so we did that both yesterday and today. 4 player coop. I know it's a throwback, but personally, I don't care for this game. If it wasn't for my nephew, I would've been got rid of it. I'm gonna try Streets of Rage 4, but this genre itself might not be fore me anymore.

Overall, the gauntlet was a blast. For people that grew up on fighting games specifically, it was a treat to see people get a renewed interest in them and then it was a treat to see the fire lit under others for that competitive drive once more. Street Fighter 6 was probably the game of the gauntlet though. If it wasn't for SF6, no one probably would've played the other games.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 08, 2024, 01:58:23 AM
Got a little project I'm gonna do. I posted about it a little bit in the most anticipated games thread I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIc-kG8sON8

If you go to the 4:28:16 mark, you'll see Kyle doing a docket for games he'll be playing/streaming throughout this year. This is my 2nd time seeing him do this, and I like this idea. Before this mark, he does a tier list for his streams of the games he played in 2023. I'm not sure if I'll do a tier list or not. Sounds neat, if I can find the right one then I'll do it.

If you're a streamer or planning to do so, I definitely think you need to be planning out a schedule. Now, while I'm not going to be streaming, I do want to use this to kind of tackle 2 or 3 birds. Before I go further, the other thing that brought this on was the Sony/Nintendo wrap up. Shows you your stats and what you accomplished throughout the year. I didn't keep up with much, but it did light a spark and so I want to play as many games as I can, but at the same time I want to open up to more games that I don't usually play as well. I still plan to play at my own pace. I'm not rushing for anything and I want to continue to enjoy my games to the fullest, and some times that'll result in me replaying a game multiple times before moving on to the next. I still don't care about that zeitgeist, which I believe is still causing people to rush through games. That 3rd bird is to clear as much of my backlog (which grew very large) while still adding to it, therefore, it'll be something that continues into the years to come (I highly doubt I'll get to every game on my list or in my catalog).

That being said, I have setup some rules for myself.

-New games that I am highly anticipating has TOP priority (GranBlue Fantasy Relink has the highest of priorities)
-Fighting games will always be played/replayed
-Completed games has a chance to be replayed (if niece or nephew wants to do a watch/playalong or if I'm in the mood)
-No Horror
-If a game don't hook me within 3 days it goes in the "Bailed" section

I have a huge list that's red which are no-no's (horror is part of it), but I won't bore anyone with it. Just know that there's still a huge list of games you'll still never see me play lol. That being said, I'm slowly opening myself up Metroidvania's, 2D-Action, Roguelikes, Mario's, Puzzle's. Just give me some time. I've been playing fighting and rpg's for so long, it's gonna take me a hot minute to really get into them. I've been hard on Indie's and Retro's, this sort of opens up that opportunity for me to get back to them.

All that out of the way;

Currently playing

Kingdom Hearts 1
Spider-Man 2018


Yep, played and beaten both of them. Replaying them because my niece wants to watch me play Kingdom Hearts 1 and then both my niece and nephew wants to do a playalong in Spider-Man 2018. I haven't played the Kingdom Hearts games since I was in my 20s so this will be an interesting experience lol.

Street Fighter 6
GranBlue Fantasy Versus Rising


There will always be some fighting game being played. Right now I'm trying to keep up with the modern crowd, but they're definitely pushing me away with all the complaining on all sides. Both games are fun as hell too, and Tekken 8 is on the horizon, but man, it's definitely getting harder to enjoy the newer games. Anyway, as I said, both games are fun as hell. I'm still settling on Ken, but I'm trying out Jamie and Chun-Li. All I can say is damn, if only I had a main.

As far as GBFVR goes, I'm bouncing between Siegfried, Soriz, Seox,and Belial as the main with Narmaya as the secondary. I'm tempted to just go with Narmaya, but I have to find who I identify with first amongst the men 1st (that sounds so sexist lol). Same story with SF6, but here I don't know who these people are so I gotta find who represents me first (again, it might be Narmaya lol)

Bayonetta
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild


I bailed on Bayonetta a long, long time ago. I don't remember why though. Character action games are kind of having a resurgence with me at the moment and I figured let's jump back in. Bayonetta could probably be what I'm looking for to get back into these. Now for Breath of the Wild, for it to be my favorite Zelda I've only played this once. Can't have that, especially when it was back in 2017 when I played it. I remember some things, but a lot escapes me. Might as well play it now before jumping into Tears of the Kingdom.

In the future, I will probably try to correlate my list into this, like color usage and whatnot.

All of this is of no importance lol. Just something I'm trying while keeping myself entertained lol.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 19, 2024, 02:11:21 PM
Since posting that last post, I have been going through a little bit of a funk. This funk is mostly because I'm lacking the motivation to boot up some of these games. And going back over my list, I see why. Considering my time-frame between now and next Thursday (ultimately, Feb 1) I'm trying to stall until then. The problem is, every single game I have is very time consuming, and while I have all the time in the world (or I can easily make time) they're also relatively the same. So at the moment I'm trying not to play Bayonetta and God of War/DMC5 at the same time. At the same time I'm trying not to play Breath of the Wild and some other large game together because I'll end up burning myself out and not play anything for some time and that defeats the purpose of this little thing I'm doing for myself.

So with that being said, I'm currently playing

Spider-Man 2018
This is still weekends only with my niece and nephew, and for the most part I'll handle boss fights and stealth portions and let them handle "puzzles" and everything else. This will probably carry on through Miles Morales and eventually Spider-Man 2. Depending on how I feel, this will probably have me revisiting the Batman Arkham series.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4
For the time being, this is being played until I get my hands on a shorter game that I'm interested in (at the moment, that might be Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Everything else is too long)

Yugioh: Legacy of the Duelist Link Evolution
The other time killer but this is also being played with my nephew since he challenges me all the time.

Yep, games I've already played and beaten, but as I said, Ratchet and Clank might take up a slot once I get it and I'm currently on the prowl for some shorter games to space some of these longer games out. Currently revisiting all the games that came out from 2015 to now and try to open up to them.

Off to a poor start of the year lol.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on January 28, 2024, 02:30:10 PM
God of War: 2018
After what, 6 years, I've finally got to this game now that the noise is gone, lol. Combat is taking me a little to get used to again. Square, Triangle. I gotta remember that this is my setup. Sometimes I hit circle to dodge because I'm used to dodging with circle and X being my jump button (which this game needs). I'm only at the part where you first meet Brok and upgrading gear and whatnot. So far, it's nothing to write home about, but it's not bad either. No overall grade yet. Too early for that, buuuuuuuuut the experience so far has been solid.

Ultra Street Fighter 4
Me and my nephew played a little bit yesterday. Nothing major.

No fighting game being played specifically for me at the moment. Yes there's Tekken 8 and Under Night 2, but I'll probably get those closer to Evo time. There are games with more priority coming on the 1st and 2nd for me; Granblue Fantasy Relink and Persona 3 Reload. GB is looking like the rpg I've been looking for and I've never played Persona 3 before so these are must have's and must plays for me at any and all costs. Then Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is at the end of Feb, so that's the 3rd priority with Rise of the Ronin being the 4th priority coming in March.

Still playing and using One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 as the time killer until Granblue.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 03, 2024, 08:57:28 PM
God of War
I'm probably 6-8 hours in now. Just been following the main quest line. Haven't been given much of a reason to deviate, but it looks like Brok's given me my first sub/side-quest. As far as story goes, it's keeping me engaged. I will say that I wanted to slap the piss out of Atreus with all the backtalk lol. Combat-wise, something is definitely off. Somewhere between locking on and the camera feels weird to the point where it feels like Kratos feels sluggish trying to move to an enemy of my choice. Then it feels like he doesn't want to back-turn. It's just a weird feeling. It might be something I have to adjust in the settings. Overall it's not bad. I can see myself replaying this when I'm having one of those bad days.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 06, 2024, 04:46:33 PM
God of War
I fought a big ass dragon lol. I'm still trying to get used to the combat, and at the same time it's definitely nothing special, but I don't think it's trying to be either. I think for the most part it's sticking with (or trying to anyway) the old games of having that satisfaction from the QTE's or impactful blows, and I do get that relief. This could definitely be one of those type of games that you go to just to relieve stress. Throwing the axe is something that I want across the board (been watching too much Marvel movies, but I do want to be able to throw and recall my weapon) but at the same time I don't like having to throw my axe at these symbol bell things to open chests, especially in a certain amount of time. If you gonna do that, just let me chug the damn axe and keep it pushing. Overall, I am enjoying the game. Is/Was it over-hyped? Possibly, can't say yet (I can go on a tangent about why I'd come back to this, the Spider-Man's and the Batman's, but I think I need to play the Bayonetta games before I do that)

Early impressions

Granblue Fantasy: Relink
Poor Granblue. Not only did you come out during with 3 big hitters (Like A Dragon, Tekken 8, Persona 3 Reload), but you get glossed over because of the noise surrounding Suicide Squad. Not to mention Hell Divers seems like it's this weeks darling. Anyway, I'm getting quite a bit of "Tales" vibe but with better combat and I heard the characters are all unique, so it gives me a possible reason to return to some day after beating it. 1 things for certain, I will never complete this. Mostly because I just don't do raids, and all these endgame raids and whatnot. I'm good.

Edit:
A whole lot of Tales vibe and to be honest, I'm a little disappointed. For years, you've had Platinum handling this game and all you took from them is their running animation? Seriously? Now I am jumping the gun quite a bit, but you had one of the kings of combat and in the end you still come out feeling like Tales / Y's? Hell, even Valkyrie Elysium's combat is more interesting than what I'm seeing here at the current moment. Now, as I said, I am jumping the gun and I'm sick so my emotions could be carrying me a bit and considering I'm at the beginning, yeah. BUTTTTTTTT!!!! YOU HAVE A DAY to empress me.

Tekken 8
Damn this is a good ass game so far. The little bits I've tried and watching a whole lot, yeah, potential GOTY right here. That being said, I probably won't play as Jin here. Not that I think he's bad. It's more along the lines of him being boring now. Yeah, they gave him some stuff, but for the most part he is the same as was in T7. Hwoarang is definitely the go-to for sure. Secondary character(s) I'm looking at at the moment is Lee and Steve. Training mode is gonna see me constantly, especially because I plan to utilize all 100+ moves in some form of fashion lol.

Persona 3 Reload (Starting Shin Megami Tensei 5 this weekend), Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Bayonetta 1 are on the docket and up next to replace each game accordingly.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 17, 2024, 01:43:15 PM
Shin Megami Tensei 5
Scary ass game lol. I understand why people play horror games, and more power to you. When I tell you horror does nothing for me, it does nothing. Sure, you'll get me to jump with the jump scares, but that thrill most people get from them. Nah, not me. My brain, with the way I think just won't let me enjoy that feeling everyone gets with that genre. I say all that because this shit here, paranormal, end of days, apocalypse, revelations (biblically), all this is what scares me, and then throwing in the creepy music, oh man this game. I just beat the first boss encounter, but I am taking it slow and there are some game breaking stuff in this game. Similar to Nocturne, but what's new is fusing skills and weaknesses which I'm still trying to wrap my head around. I also noticed that a lot of demons have been nerfed overall. Like, demons from Persona 5 have been nerfed to oblivion. Yoshitzune in P5 (lvl 90 I think) can be fused at lvl 45. Previously, he was immune or he reflected just about everything except for All Mighty and Darkness. This one, HOT DAMN! Null's elec and can be hit by everything else. I get it though, but damn, that was the homie. Overall, I am enjoying it though.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on February 24, 2024, 09:25:59 PM
More SMT5. Probably about 30 hours put into it now. Most of the time has been a little bit of grinding and sidequests. Story-wise, I want to say it's the same as SMT3 or any other SMT game; angels vs demons and whatnot. The only problem I have with it (along with with the Persona series but then again it's Japan dev's in general) is the usage of kids/teens. This even trickles to anime in a sense. The main premise is school. Kid's being relied on by the grown folks to do the grown folks job. It's pretty much been there, done that. Oddly enough, I caught myself questioning Maximilian Dood and MinnMax about their fascination with Final Fantasy and not trying other JRPGs, and yet, here I am understanding why now lol (Personally, I'm a sucker for JRPGs in general). Just ONE time, Japan, ONE TIME, let grown folks handle whatever the crisis is instead of kids. That being said, I would still play it regardless, lol, just a trope I'm kinda tired of though. I won't do a 2nd play through of this with the announcement of Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance. I think I heard that nothing will carry over, so it's basically getting the Persona 5 treatment (Atlus being Atlus). So I'll pick Vengeance up on the PS5. Controls kinda wonky on the Switch.

Fighting games will be on the back burner for a bit. 4 Great games out right now, and the noise behind all of them is a bunch of manchildren doing more bitching. I will say that I've been playing SMT5 so much that I haven't been watching much in terms of the usual content I usually watch. I know Capcom Cup is going down (I think it's been going on the whole week), but as I said, too much noise drowning out the actual tournament for me to bother with it.

I have been getting that feeling to jump back into Nioh again. Coworker trying to talk me into Elden Ring, which I may consider. Exploration has been one key factor that's been becoming important to me lately, almost as much as gameplay. Combat still rubs me the wrong way so I keep talking myself out of it though. Good ole Nioh though, I'm kinda thirsting for. Having a little bit of an epiphany too with Nioh in comparison to other action games. Need to hop into Nioh 2 and try out the fisticuffs weapons first.

Not sure what I'll tackle after SMT5 is done. It won't be FF7 Rebirth (so I'll be trying to dodge spoilers for quite some time).
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 03, 2024, 03:30:02 PM
Shin Megami Tensei 5
Pretty much at endgame. I'm currently going back to clear some sidequests. There was one portion that had me at rage inducing moments and it wasn't because of any fights. It was platforming BS. I don't have the patience for platforming. It's why I don't do Mario's and metroidvania's. Just let me go from A to B. I don't need nor find methodically timed edging just right to have fun in my games. To make matters worst, once I got past that section, I had already cleared that part twice but didn't even know it.  :anger:  Other than that, I've been enjoying the game. Is it better than Persona? I don't even like the comparison to be honest. Persona branched off from the Shin Megami Tensei games. It's the games you go to when you want story and character driven arcs. SMT has story, but it's mostly just how much can you take and there shouldn't be anything wrong with that.

Next up, probably Bayonetta 1 or Soulstice. I did end up bailing on God of War (I'll probably end up bailing on a lot of these type of games). It's not bad by any means. I just played enough of it to know what I'll be getting out of it. And it's pretty much a 1 and done type of game for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 06, 2024, 04:29:01 PM
Shin Megami Tensei 5
Yep, got 1 last boss plus some secret bosses, but I just might end it now and do those secret bosses in the next playthrough. I did say I wasn't going to play this twice because of Vengeance, but I don't think I'll be able to hold out lol. It's not a 10, but I also think this is better than Persona 5 personally. Obviously, it's preferences but the cast in P5, 2 characters damn near ruined that game for me. Ryuji and Morgana. These have never been my kind of characters and there's this damn part of the game that could've been avoided altogether, but you're forced to do it because of these 2 characters. Don't force me, but the story for SMT5, people say is nothing special, and for the most part, it's not. Kept me engaged though. Overall. 9

God of War 2018

I bailed, but I finished (do that make sense? lol). Overall, I'd give this about an 8.5. Story is a 10. I don't play games for story, but the way the story is presented, hot damn. Gameplay / Combat is a 7. It's pretty much the same as the old games, but less in it I guess. One things for sure, I don't like the camera being behind the back the way it is. Almost like it's trying to be Gears of War / Mass Effect but with action. The equipment / loot, while I like it almost serves no purpose, but it's enough I suppose. It's a one and done for sure. Ragnarok's Valhalla DLC is roguelike (?), I basically call it Bloody Palace, but I'm not into that kind of stuff. When you lock story behind it pushes me further away from it. If you're going to be a roguelike, be one from jump. Don't add it in just because. /small rant.

Great games in general though
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 16, 2024, 02:14:51 PM
Shin Megami Tensei 5
Yep, just finished the second playthrough. I played against the secret boss as well as the DLC secret boss. I fought both 2 times each just to get a 1st impression because I didn't think I was ready and wanted to see what they were like and just how much prep and grind did I need to go through. Needless to say, I got my ass whooped. Holy hell I was not prepared for what's coming lol. Summoning allies, cool. Summoning extra allies, healing, 1 hit kills? Not cool at all. I did beat the 1st secret boss, though. As far as the DLC secret boss. More prep gotta be done, but I might hold out on that one for Vengeance. Only because I think I built my character wrong, but I suppose it's no biggy, but I'm doing less damage than I want.

I've been trying to get more into some of these side-scrollers. I don't know. They're not hitting.

Aeternoblade 2: Infinity (no idea where or how to get the 1st one)
This ones weird. Some aspects goes side scrolling and then other aspects it goes 3-D.

Maybe I don't live in that B-tier space lol. I'm probably more A-AA. Niohs, Trails, Tales, whatever you want to label those kinda games as.

Gungrave: G.O.R.E
It's been years since I've played Overdose. I remember loving that game despite it being the way it was. That was my go to before I got into the Musou's. Here's the thing. G.O.R.E, if I can recall almost 20 years ago, plays worst than Overdose. I don't know if it's because I can't get used to the controls or if it's because of newer things being attempted, but something is definitely throwing me off. OR it can simply be another one of those "I did this already and not ready to go back to it" (combination of all 3? Who knows).

I call myself trying to get these "smaller / lesser known" games to show support and also spread in between a lot of the 60+ hour games I tend to play (so I don't burn myself out), but at the same time I know what I like as well which is why I don't really ask for recommendations unless it involves my niece and nephew. The one thing I hate doing is wasting my money (no matter how little or large, and I don't keep games I don't like), especially when I could've spent it elsewhere. [/rant]

I won't say what's next. I keep deviating from booting up Ratchet and Clank for whatever reason lol.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Rynnec on March 17, 2024, 06:58:12 AM
Quote from: Mustang on March 16, 2024, 02:14:51 PMGungrave: G.O.R.E
It's been years since I've played Overdose. I remember loving that game despite it being the way it was. That was my go to before I got into the Musou's. Here's the thing. G.O.R.E, if I can recall almost 20 years ago, plays worst than Overdose. I don't know if it's because I can't get used to the controls or if it's because of newer things being attempted, but something is definitely throwing me off. OR it can simply be another one of those "I did this already and not ready to go back to it" (combination of all 3? Who knows).

Having played Overdose a few years ago and watched a fair bit of retrospective vids about it, I can definitely say that G.O.R.E is at least better than OD on a pure gameplay/quality of life level. A lot less cheap bullshit, shield regenerations actually works as it should, and the devs actually listened to feedback and patched out most of the stupid platforming sections. Where G.O.R.E does falter compared to OD, I feel very strongly, is its style. The presentation, atmosphere, art-style, ost, everything just feels off. Not helped by the non-existent story (which while minimalist in the first game at least felt "complete" and had stylish presentation) and half-assed dub (literally no one from the anime or Overdose came back). It has a significantly less of a "late night adult swim anime" vibe the first two games had, and that was a big part of the series' charm. That, and the DMC-style character progression system just doesn't work for Gungrave, imo. Having to farm for red orbs/style points/whathaveyou was bad there, and it's bad here.

Warts and all though, I did enjoy G.O.R.E greatly, and that was with all the day 1 bullshit stage and boss designs. Even with all the stylistic changes, it still has that sense of "coolness" I look for in everything. As far as solo play sessions go, I prefer it over Musou, if only because most Musou games don't give me the feeling of playing a Terminator as directed by John Woo.

The first game is still the GOAT tho'.
Title: Re: What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast
Post by: Mustang on March 26, 2024, 04:49:06 PM
You win, for the Terminator feeling alone lol, because I can actually picture that.

Called myself taking a little break from the fighting games. Playing a lot of these single-players and deception games with the fam (often dabbling into Tekken 8 so I don't get left too far behind), buuuuuuut people are starting to call me out again wanting the smoke (go Street Profits lol). Nah, but they do want my help in trying to get better, which may or may not cause me to start going to my locals a bit more (especially with ED being released and Akuma's on the way)

Before I fully bounce off these games though, my nephew has challenged me to Pokemon and Mario. "Sigh" little midget challenging me to games I don't particularly care for. FINE! Better be happy I like him lol.

Eventually I'll pull out Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 to play to pay homage to Akira Toriyama as well. Been meaning to do that over the weekend but haven't been able to get to it.