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

[gunswordfist]

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.

[Daxdiv]

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.

[gunswordfist]

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.

[Foggle]

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.

[gunswordfist]

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.

[Spark Of Spirit]

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.

[Nel_Annette]

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.

[Spark Of Spirit]

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.

[Nel_Annette]

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. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

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.

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. 

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.

[Rynnec]

64 and Wii had the best Bowser's Castles, imo.

[talonmalon333]

I loved the Rainbow Road themes from Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, and Double Dash.

[gunswordfist]

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.

[Spark Of Spirit]

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.

[Foggle]

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.