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

[Avaitor]

I forget, doesn't Bayonetta 2 on the Switch also come with the first one? If so, I definitely intend to get it.

While I was buying the Switch, I decided to upgrade my GameStop account to Pro, so I should be getting a buy 2/get 1 deal soon. I'll need to wait a little, but I think that I'll use that to get Odyssey, Smash, and Tropical Freeze.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I forget, doesn't Bayonetta 2 on the Switch also come with the first one? If so, I definitely intend to get it.

It comes with a download code for it (which you can't get if you buy it used). Granted, there aren't many unopened copies of the retail version of the game left in stock in any one particular place, but I assume the digital version would also include the first game.

[Mustang]

Had to babysit the niece and nephew for a little bit today. Fired up the good ole Wii and what did my niece ask for? Smash Bros. God I hate Smash. Even though I was showing them the how to play nothing felt comfortable. Anyway I'm not gonna bash the game or the console. Just know that I did not have a good time, but watching them play, while a silly experience was an annoying one as well.

Hopefully, I can get the Switch some time between this Friday and next payday. My nephew loves Mario and he's asking for Mario Maker 2. And I'll buy that for him but we're going to be sharing the Switch so I can play some other games (Astral Chain and Zelda)

I gotta another rant about fighting games soon to come (Sorry, gotta get it off my chest).

[Foggle]

I'm not a Smash fan either but perhaps your problem is more with Brawl and the Wii controls in this instance? That game just feels terrible to play IMO, especially with the Wiimote - the other ones are a lot better.

I just finished a playthrough of the original Deus Ex and it was as excellent as ever. It's actually been a long time since I've beaten it because my old computer would always crash during a certain sequence halfway through the game. There is a fix for that but I kept forgetting to install it before starting a new playthrough. This time I played using the GMDX (Give Me Deus Ex!) mod, and not only did it fix that bug, it also made the rest of the game better than ever before, improving things just enough to make it play smoother without fundamentally changing the core mechanics.

Right now I'm playing Invisible War, and honestly? I like it! I've tried it before but always had a difficult time getting past the utterly horrible control scheme and inventory system, plus I think I let others' opinions of it cloud my judgment too much. It's undoubtedly inferior to the original in most aspects, but the intricate level design and opportunities for player choice are still there, and the writing is still engaging. Once you get past its (admittedly frustrating) design quirks, it's a pretty great game in its own right - not as good as the original or its prequels, but still worthwhile.

[Mustang]

Yep, that controller for that game is terrible. So imagine a 5-year old boy asking you to teach them how to play Smash Bros. In the back of my mind I'm like "SHIT, ask me to play this game" (I don't think I've ever liked Smash since N64). But yeah, you hit the nail on the head. I was caught off guard when they asked to play it because all I ever hear them playing is New Super Mario Bros. Showed no interest in playing anything else. I'll be better prepared next time with better controllers for sure though.

[Avaitor]

Breath of the Wild deserves its hype as not only one of the best Zeldas, but one of the best games period. It really feels like a modern reinterpretation of the franchise, with just about everything that makes Zelda great.

I especially love the freedom, to go anywhere, to do anything at my own pace. One way this has really helped me was during my first Divine Beast quest, in the Zora area. I couldn't hold my own against Ganon, as one hit was all it took to knock me out. So I left the Beast to go back to Kakariko Village, got a couple of hearts, and found the fairy fountain and took a few fairies from there. Then, I teleported back and got him. I love that bit of freedom, which feels removed from other Zelda games, but is just right.

[Mustang]

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Don't know what I was thinking when I said they know how to handle grinding in this game, let alone that I don't mind grinding (BS). Looking back on it, if I weren't in the moment of needing something different I probably would've noticed it at the time when I first played through it. I think what makes grinding in this game even worst than other games is that the reward is so random that a lot of the times you're getting nothing worth value for your effort. Like you're battling against time while having to babysit, making sure to not let an AI's health drop below 50%, weird hitboxes and sometimes non responsive buttons only to get 2 Vegito's Gloves when you need the whole set. That's discouraging and makes people not even want to continue playing. I noticed this even in Nioh, you just get pieces of costume sets, and it's like why bother. I wouldn't mind doing the grinding if I knew I'm gonna get the whole set at once instead of individual pieces of the set.

Dragon Ball Fighterz
Well, not playing it yet, but to my surprise my nephew is into the game. We watched some high level players and he's already grown attached to Vegito. So I have a little renewed interest in the game if only for that connection with my nephew. While he's set on Vegito I'm looking for different combinations that can be used with Hit. Considering how my brain works I'm go with 2 different teams altogether (A Hit team and then a Vegito team).

I'm not entirely done with the torture of Xenoverse 2 just yet. I'm gonna make a saiyan and then torture myself some more before jumping into either God of War or Devil May Cry 5.

Edit:

Feels weird not playing some weird obscured game (damn near broke Xenoverse 2). Feels weird to play a Devil May Cry game after so many years. Playing Devil May Cry 5 to be exact. Trying to get used to having square as my gun and triangle as my sword. If possible I might switch it up. I don't want to misjudge the game since I just booted it up, my hype level is pretty low for it right now, but it could very well be because of where and how I feel about games in general right now (at least games that're not fighters).

[Avaitor]

Best Buy has the Playstation Classic on sale for $20, and I bought myself one. I've heard mixed things about it, but the price was good enough for me to give it a shot, especially as I've been meaning to replay Metal Gear Solid and try Final Fantasy VII again, and this is the cheapest way to knock both out.

Also, would I be good by trying out Resident Evil Director's Cut here, or should I really opt for REmake instead? I've been thinking of buying Zero on the Switch- should I stick with that or save the money for now and play this version?

[Foggle]

The original Resident Evil is fun for established fans and nostalgic PS1 gamers but I don't know if it's the best entry point into the series. It has a lot of charm and I do play it fairly regularly but it's also very rudimentary and honestly not that great. It's like Sonic 1 compared to 2 and 3 in that regard. REmake is a masterpiece, though, and 100% worth playing. If you're worried about it being too hard, there's no shame in playing on one of the easier difficulty settings, and the remaster also has an option for non-Tank controls. Definitely play as Jill first btw.

Don't bother with Zero. I love the series to death and even Code Veronica has grown on me significantly, but Zero is just a tedious slog that feels like a pale imitation of its predecessors. You can start with either version of RE1, but definitely do not start with Zero.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I've owned the PS4 version of REmake for almost two years now and still have yet to play it, lol. I was planning on starting it after I finish Sekiro (which I will this weekend after the final two boss fights), and finally tackle that Bloodborne DLC (finished the game last year but never played the DLC).

I'll still probably play RE0 after that just to formulate my own opinion on it.

[Foggle]

The Bloodborne DLC is great! It has by far the game's best boss fights and the coolest location (aesthetically anyway). The game felt kind of incomplete without it to me, but adding that onto my playthrough rounded it out perfectly.

If at all possible I would highly recommend playing Resident Evil 2 (original), 3, and/or Code Veronica prior to 0. 0 is both a huge jump in difficulty and drop in quality compared to the other games because of its unique mechanics, which sound good in theory but absolutely obliterate the pacing in practice. It also expects way more of you in terms of ammo conservation compared to the others (unless you play on Easy) and has a couple of instances where you can actually render the game unwinnable due to poor design decisions (to be fair, CV is also guilty of this).

[Avaitor]

If Zero's really that bad, maybe I'll just look for a decently priced copy of REmake for the Gamecube or Wii and write that off.

But since I can't really find a cheap copy of 2 anywhere, I'm probably going to end up hacking my PS Classic to get that and 3, among other games.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I finally beat Sekiro. It only took....2 whole months.

Keep in mind that I don't get to play every day and more often than not only play about a few hours per week since I'm too busy to do more than that. I also didn't touch my PS4 for the last two whole weeks since I had a lot of extra errands to do. So, it takes me forever to clear lengthy games (Bloodborne took me a whole year since I had to come back to it on and off). I also almost essentially 100%'ed it. The only things that I didn't do was to kill all of the Headless, unlock every skill and prosthetic tool upgrade, and get all of the endings. I didn't bother to fight all of the Headless because they are a BS mini-boss type that are not actually fun to fight, and since they are all the same that means killing one of them is no different from killing any of the other ones. I've killed two (one regular type and one underwater variant), which is good enough for me, as the reward for killing them is, IMO, not worth it. As for the skills and prosthetic tools upgrades, I have most of the skills and getting the rest is just tedious busy work and I don't feel like farming experience points to get them.

Same goes for the prosthetic tool upgrades. I have all of them except for two which I would have to play the whole game over again to get the materials for since Lapis Lazuli is a finite item with only 6 available for each playthrough. While I'm not against replaying the game since I enjoy it, I do have to move on to other stuff for now. The same goes for the other three endings. I got the Purifucation ending which requires you to get all of the stuff needed to achieve the previous endings and more, so in effect you already have achieved the other endings by getting the "true" ending of the game, even though you only get to pick one per playthrough (unless you back up your saves).

Technically the Shura ending has you fight two other bosses, but watching YouTube videos of those consecutive fights shows that they are overall pretty basic compared to other boss fights in the game. It makes sense since that's supposed to be the game's "bad" ending. Defeating Ishin Sword Saint was in itself a classically brutally tough final boss fight, and killing him felt so utterly satisfying, especially when he finally accepts defeat and allows you to finish him off. This, The Demon of Hatred, and the Owl (Father) fight are actually the hardest Souls-esque bosses that I've fought to date from what I've played of Miyazaki's games. Even Bloodborne's bosses weren't this brutal, IMO, though from what I hear the DLC bosses are much harder than in the main game, which I suppose I'll find out for myself soon enough.

Overall, though, it's easily one of the better games that I've played in recent years. I like it more than what I've played of Dark Souls, but Bloodborne is still Miyazaki's best game, IMO. I'd say that it ranks right behind Devil May Cry 5 for me of the top games from this year so far.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Got Wolfenstein: The New Order as part of a bundle on sale on the PS Store for a pretty low price. I was planning on saving this for later after I finished at least REmake and RE2 Remake (I also just installed Dolphin so that I can play the GC version of RE2), but I tried out the first chapter just to get a feel for the game and now I'm already hooked, damnit!

Why the fuck did I miss out on this game for so long! It's the perfect modern take on old-school FPS game design. There's no handholding waypoint to tell you exactly where to go, you have to actually find health packs and armor (but they are fairly strewn about everywhere), the gunplay feels fucking amazing and (more importantly) fluid, and the game (at least so far) rarely forces scripted set-piece segments on you. I'm also playing on "I Am Death Incarnate!" difficulty, which is the game's hard mode, but it feels so perfectly balanced.

Why the fuck didn't anyone tell me this game was so damn good!?

I'm hoping that New Colossus and Youngblood are just as good if not better. I'd be really eager to play those after completing this game, but this is the kind of game I'll immediately want to replay when it's over.

[Foggle]

I'm a pretty big fan of the MachineGames Wolfenstein series (and I'm fairly certain I've sang its praises before ) so I'm glad you're liking TNO! You didn't mention it in your post but please be sure to play The Old Blood as well. The last segment is kind of eh (and the final boss is just bad) but the first half (more like two-thirds tbh) where you actually escape from Castle Wolfenstein is ridiculously good and probably my favorite part of the entire franchise. The way it keeps ramping up until it crescendos upon your exit is just masterclass game design and pacing.

The New Colossus is a different beast entirely. I personally love it, but it's a lot more narrative-heavy, with many more cutscenes than TNO. This didn't bother me because the writing, acting, and directing are far superior to the majority of video games and I was really invested in BJ's story, but it's something that a lot of people hate. The gunplay is still fantastic and satisfyingly chunky, and those hatchet stealth kills are amazing, but it's also a lot harder (you might want to play on Bring 'Em On the first time) because they tie the gameplay mechanics into the story and one of its major themes. It's smart design from a narrative standpoint but kind of poorly balanced from a pure gameplay standpoint. I do believe they made it slightly easier in a patch, though, and there's an incredible level in a courthouse that's worth the price of admission on its own. The level design was also a point of contention for many but I personally thought it was fine, though nothing spectacular. Overall, it's weaker than the first two titles but still extremely engaging if you're willing to meet it halfway. Just ignore the godawful DLC packs.

Youngblood is... hmm. I haven't played much of it yet but I can't say I'm a fan, and I was really excited for it too. Aesthetically it's on point, the level design is fantastic (courtesy of Arkane), you can now double jump like Doom4Guy, and the cutscenes are as good as ever, but... they turned it into an RPG/shooter hybrid. Enemies have health bars, levels, and armor types requiring the usage of different weapons. Instead of unlocking perks by playing well you have to level up and put points in skill trees. The bosses are ridiculously spongey and uninteresting. The gore is heavily toned down and the hatchet's brutality has been neutered beyond recognition. And the worst crime of all - you can no longer dual-wield shotguns and assault rifles. Surprisingly, the forced player-two AI hasn't really bothered me, but unless you have a co-op partner, I would recommend playing on Casual difficulty to just enjoy popping some Nazi heads and the silly storyline; that is, if you get it at all. It might be better just to wait for Wolfenstein 3.