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

[Mustang]

Nioh
Beat the giant centipede boss. That mission wasn't so bad. The poisonous effect sucks but it was nothing overbearing.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Mustang]

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.

[Mustang]

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.

[Mustang]

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.

[Kiddington]

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.

[Mustang]

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.

[Avaitor]

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.

[Avaitor]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Foggle]

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...

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Mustang]

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)

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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).

A game based on my favorite video game mechanic actually kind of sounds like a wet-dream to me.

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.

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)

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.

[Foggle]

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...