What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast

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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.

[Spark Of Spirit]

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.

[Spark Of Spirit]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

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I think I remember that bit from Gears of War. Drove me and my friend up the wall years ago.

[Spark Of Spirit]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I think I remember that bit from Gears of War. Drove me and my friend up the wall years ago.

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).

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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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

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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. One of the top 10, if not top 5, of last gen, easy. Might even be my favorite Platinum game now.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

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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!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Foggle]

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.

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

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.

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.