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

[talonmalon333]

Talking to you guys inspired me. I've been getting back into video games the past month.

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.

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.

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.

[Avaitor]

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.

[talonmalon333]

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?

[Avaitor]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Avaitor]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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).

[Avaitor]

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.

[Avaitor]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Mustang]

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.

[Avaitor]

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.

[Mustang]

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.