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

[Avaitor]

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.

[Mustang]

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.

[Foggle]

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!

[Mustang]

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.

[Mustang]

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.

[Foggle]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Hey, when you bring KOTOR into this, you've got my attention.

[Foggle]

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!

[Mustang]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Mustang]

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.

[Mustang]

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)

[Foggle]

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 ). 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...

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Mustang]

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.