What games are you playing?
Re: What games are you playing?
Getting close to the end of Uncharted 4 now. Feels like there are too many moments of downtime, yet at the same time, there's not been any unfun encounters like there were near the tail end of Uncharted 3. I think this is going to solidly slot itself into the third spot of six behind 2 and Lost Legacy when it's all said and done unless the home stretch either goes over the top or flops. Don't see either of those things happening as this one's played it safe for the most part.
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Ashan
- The world has become a place
- Posts: 2825
- Joined: 14 years ago
- Location: Canada
- https://ashan.talkhaus.com/
Re: What games are you playing?
I finished Doom Eternal a few days ago. I'm really torn on how I feel about it.
The first thing I noticed was that it has a very different tone from the first game. They leaned into the wackiness of Doom with bright punchy colors, and the animations have more of a cartoonish feel to them. Nothing more obvious than the zombie glory kill where you bash its head straight down so it's lodged in between its own shoulders (basically looking like
), or the cacodemon glory kill where you cartoonishy yank out its eyeball as it stretches like it's made of rubber. They also did a way better job of depicting hell and hell-adjacent structures in this game. That was one of the biggest issues with Doom 2016 is hell had a pretty disappointing overall atmosphere. It basically looked like a desert with some spooky skull doors here and there. In Eternal it really feels like a depraved place where torture happens. The gore nest design also looks gross as it should.
The biggest issue for me they just way overcomplicated the gameplay with too many mechanics. The beauty of Doom is in its simplicity. You see a demon, you point your gun, and you shoot. The light RPG mechanics in Doom 2016 already felt like it was pushing the limit of what Doom needed, halting the game to a slog so you can purchase weapon and suit upgrades. In Eternal they seemed to think adding even more of that was what the series needed, and they went all out. Each of your weapons have 2 mods, each of which have upgrades, and those upgrade have individual levelling. Your suit has upgrades. There's upgrades that give you a health/armor/ammo boost on top of another perk. There's runes that give you new abilities when equipped. And it feels like too much for my taste.
They also made enemy encounters feel like puzzles with specific solutions rather than "unload ammo into it until it's dead." You have to pull out the right gun or weapon mod for every job, and keep an eye out on health, armor, and ammo in case one of them needs stocking up in which case you'll perform one of the various moves to spawn the applicable thing needed. If you're low on health you need to do some glory kills to get it back. If you're low on armor you have to use the new flame belch to light enemies on fire, at which point damaging them makes them drop armor. If you're low on ammo you have to pull out the chainsaw to make them explode into ammo. You get a sword at one point in the game (actually fairly late considering how much it's featured in the advertising) which is basically another chainsaw that instakills anything but has its own fuel. You can toggle between normal kill-things grenades and ice grenades that freeze enemies. And all of this combines to constantly put me in a state of analysis paralysis during enemy encounters. I'm a simple man, I like my Marios and my Mega Men where you have a small amount of buttons that do their special function and that's it. I find it difficult to be constantly swapping weapons and weapon mods and glory killing at the appropriate times and flame belching and blood punching and throwing grenades and toggling grenades and using one of my multiple options for panic buttons (freeze grenade, BFG, chainsaw, sword) and remembering how to deal with X type of enemy etc etc etc
There's also a lot more story in this game. Which is disappointing after the last game where they seemed to self-aware that nobody cares about Doom for its story. At the beginning of that game a guy starts spouting exposition for a few seconds before Doom guy smashes the monitor he's on so you can get back to the shooting. Here... it's not like the cutscenes are particularly extensive, but I didn't find they added anything. I barely understood what was going on and didn't care to figure it out. I don't know why they were so insistent on expanding the backstory of Doom guy because it's just so unimportant. He didn't need to have superpowers from aliens, he's just a macho power fantasy that says nothing and is good at killing demons.
Anyway, uhh... I doubt anyone is gonna read all that. I'm playing the DLC now and yep, it's more Doom Eternal.
The first thing I noticed was that it has a very different tone from the first game. They leaned into the wackiness of Doom with bright punchy colors, and the animations have more of a cartoonish feel to them. Nothing more obvious than the zombie glory kill where you bash its head straight down so it's lodged in between its own shoulders (basically looking like
), or the cacodemon glory kill where you cartoonishy yank out its eyeball as it stretches like it's made of rubber. They also did a way better job of depicting hell and hell-adjacent structures in this game. That was one of the biggest issues with Doom 2016 is hell had a pretty disappointing overall atmosphere. It basically looked like a desert with some spooky skull doors here and there. In Eternal it really feels like a depraved place where torture happens. The gore nest design also looks gross as it should.The biggest issue for me they just way overcomplicated the gameplay with too many mechanics. The beauty of Doom is in its simplicity. You see a demon, you point your gun, and you shoot. The light RPG mechanics in Doom 2016 already felt like it was pushing the limit of what Doom needed, halting the game to a slog so you can purchase weapon and suit upgrades. In Eternal they seemed to think adding even more of that was what the series needed, and they went all out. Each of your weapons have 2 mods, each of which have upgrades, and those upgrade have individual levelling. Your suit has upgrades. There's upgrades that give you a health/armor/ammo boost on top of another perk. There's runes that give you new abilities when equipped. And it feels like too much for my taste.
They also made enemy encounters feel like puzzles with specific solutions rather than "unload ammo into it until it's dead." You have to pull out the right gun or weapon mod for every job, and keep an eye out on health, armor, and ammo in case one of them needs stocking up in which case you'll perform one of the various moves to spawn the applicable thing needed. If you're low on health you need to do some glory kills to get it back. If you're low on armor you have to use the new flame belch to light enemies on fire, at which point damaging them makes them drop armor. If you're low on ammo you have to pull out the chainsaw to make them explode into ammo. You get a sword at one point in the game (actually fairly late considering how much it's featured in the advertising) which is basically another chainsaw that instakills anything but has its own fuel. You can toggle between normal kill-things grenades and ice grenades that freeze enemies. And all of this combines to constantly put me in a state of analysis paralysis during enemy encounters. I'm a simple man, I like my Marios and my Mega Men where you have a small amount of buttons that do their special function and that's it. I find it difficult to be constantly swapping weapons and weapon mods and glory killing at the appropriate times and flame belching and blood punching and throwing grenades and toggling grenades and using one of my multiple options for panic buttons (freeze grenade, BFG, chainsaw, sword) and remembering how to deal with X type of enemy etc etc etc
There's also a lot more story in this game. Which is disappointing after the last game where they seemed to self-aware that nobody cares about Doom for its story. At the beginning of that game a guy starts spouting exposition for a few seconds before Doom guy smashes the monitor he's on so you can get back to the shooting. Here... it's not like the cutscenes are particularly extensive, but I didn't find they added anything. I barely understood what was going on and didn't care to figure it out. I don't know why they were so insistent on expanding the backstory of Doom guy because it's just so unimportant. He didn't need to have superpowers from aliens, he's just a macho power fantasy that says nothing and is good at killing demons.
Anyway, uhh... I doubt anyone is gonna read all that. I'm playing the DLC now and yep, it's more Doom Eternal.
Re: What games are you playing?
So it's been a while. Spent Thanksgiving with some friends, we played Smash and most of the new Mario Kart tracks. It was fun!
Then on December 1, I finally did it.
The last fish is in captivity.
The island is at peace.
It took over a year to get the Museum complete in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but I'm glad it's done. I'm taking a long break before going back into it.
During the Game Awards, Steam showcased some demos. I played two:
Valley Peaks
Interesting first-person platformer game, where you climb mountains. Kind of an open world setting ish, leveraging a transitory/late PSX style variation. The mountain climbing mechanics are unique, in that each hand is a separate button, and on their own can grip any portion of a rock. They also stretch, which helps since you're a frog. Looks pretty nice. Has a wholesome vibe, though the end of the demo hinted at a less wholesome plot at work. That said, suffered from ye olde "vertical stretch on ultrawide" problem. Still, pretty nice.
Loddlenaut
A cutesy, wholesome game, with a similar PSX/N64 graphical style. The game gives me major Abzu vibes, given a somewhat similar premise: You're an aquanaut of some kind cleaning up a droll, polluted ocean planet using a laser and vacuum. It's got a very cutesy art style, and it shows when you finally meet the "loddles" you find in the game, which are apparently alien axlotl. Demo showed hints of crafting, the bane of my existence, but it didn't seem too bad. Also, ironically, game functionally had ultrawide support despite the settings suggesting it didn't. Can't complain too much on that. Pretty chill game, all things considered.
Finally, progress continues in Grand Theft Auto IV, though I've been on and off the last couple weeks. Recently, I learned one my major beefs, namely that the camera doesn't track while in in vehicle, is solved by me not touching my mouse. So, that's...nice? Regardless, I can see the problems of the social functions of this game: It feels really needy at times, when like most social circumstances are meant to have more distance to be healthy. I feel like I have to constantly babysit. And it doesn't help that one of the social events—getting drunk—is basically a guarantee to get the cops' attention (for whatever reason, when I tried to call a cab from Roman's cab company, I couldn't enter as a passenger), and becomes this arbitrarily difficult challenge of trying to drive your (girl)friend home (because drunk driving functions remain on until the end of the social event, making it hard to drive).
That said, an interesting dynamic has emerged with some of the characters. Roman I honestly do not like for the simple reason that the dialogue between him and Niko is very...performative? It's very clear the Brothers Houser sought to use the Cousins Bellic as a sort of soapbox to showcase the foreign dynamic of what is America: Roman being the normie who's assimilated and thus is all "America, fuck yeah," while Niko is the hardened, cynical outsider—whose past will deny him a meaningful life here—who just "sees past" the veneer yet only sees the flaws and is all "America sucks!" They come off as this stereotypical talk radio show and it just feels droll. I just don't care all that much about Roman as result. I'm thankful he's of limited relevance outside the main plot, certainly not towards 100%ing the game. Little Jacob, on the other hand, is someone I feel Niko can actually relate to, and the conversations are far more interesting. There's something more personal and thus personable to what they talk about. It feels worthwhile to hang out with him regardless. Plus being around him for missions is fun, especially when he has to translate for Badman.
I like the "random encounters," for those actually add a bit of flavor to what's happening. That said, wish they'd happen more often. I really like that getting wasted now no longer strips you of your weapons, which is very good at this point in the game where money is kind of hard to come by. That said, not entirely fond of what they did with "hidden packages," replacing them with pigeon hunting. You not only have to find the pigeons, but then kill them. And to make things annoying, you can only shoot them, not melee them. This doesn't seem like a big deal...except that if you fire your gun within earshot of a cop, you get an instant 1-Star Wanted Level. And pigeons are often in areas where cops can be around, but you can't see them. I can see the fundamental flaw of the whole dragnet system in that it's annoying that you have to escape cops because you shot a fucking pigeon.
Currently 19.58% done. Definitely not going to finish it this year, but I'll make progress as need be. Next week at my job is a full vacation, and I'm exhausting the last job leads this week. It'll be cool if I hit 50% before the year is out, but I see that as unlikely.
Then on December 1, I finally did it.
The last fish is in captivity.
The island is at peace.
It took over a year to get the Museum complete in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but I'm glad it's done. I'm taking a long break before going back into it.
During the Game Awards, Steam showcased some demos. I played two:
Valley Peaks
Interesting first-person platformer game, where you climb mountains. Kind of an open world setting ish, leveraging a transitory/late PSX style variation. The mountain climbing mechanics are unique, in that each hand is a separate button, and on their own can grip any portion of a rock. They also stretch, which helps since you're a frog. Looks pretty nice. Has a wholesome vibe, though the end of the demo hinted at a less wholesome plot at work. That said, suffered from ye olde "vertical stretch on ultrawide" problem. Still, pretty nice.
Loddlenaut
A cutesy, wholesome game, with a similar PSX/N64 graphical style. The game gives me major Abzu vibes, given a somewhat similar premise: You're an aquanaut of some kind cleaning up a droll, polluted ocean planet using a laser and vacuum. It's got a very cutesy art style, and it shows when you finally meet the "loddles" you find in the game, which are apparently alien axlotl. Demo showed hints of crafting, the bane of my existence, but it didn't seem too bad. Also, ironically, game functionally had ultrawide support despite the settings suggesting it didn't. Can't complain too much on that. Pretty chill game, all things considered.
Finally, progress continues in Grand Theft Auto IV, though I've been on and off the last couple weeks. Recently, I learned one my major beefs, namely that the camera doesn't track while in in vehicle, is solved by me not touching my mouse. So, that's...nice? Regardless, I can see the problems of the social functions of this game: It feels really needy at times, when like most social circumstances are meant to have more distance to be healthy. I feel like I have to constantly babysit. And it doesn't help that one of the social events—getting drunk—is basically a guarantee to get the cops' attention (for whatever reason, when I tried to call a cab from Roman's cab company, I couldn't enter as a passenger), and becomes this arbitrarily difficult challenge of trying to drive your (girl)friend home (because drunk driving functions remain on until the end of the social event, making it hard to drive).
That said, an interesting dynamic has emerged with some of the characters. Roman I honestly do not like for the simple reason that the dialogue between him and Niko is very...performative? It's very clear the Brothers Houser sought to use the Cousins Bellic as a sort of soapbox to showcase the foreign dynamic of what is America: Roman being the normie who's assimilated and thus is all "America, fuck yeah," while Niko is the hardened, cynical outsider—whose past will deny him a meaningful life here—who just "sees past" the veneer yet only sees the flaws and is all "America sucks!" They come off as this stereotypical talk radio show and it just feels droll. I just don't care all that much about Roman as result. I'm thankful he's of limited relevance outside the main plot, certainly not towards 100%ing the game. Little Jacob, on the other hand, is someone I feel Niko can actually relate to, and the conversations are far more interesting. There's something more personal and thus personable to what they talk about. It feels worthwhile to hang out with him regardless. Plus being around him for missions is fun, especially when he has to translate for Badman.
I like the "random encounters," for those actually add a bit of flavor to what's happening. That said, wish they'd happen more often. I really like that getting wasted now no longer strips you of your weapons, which is very good at this point in the game where money is kind of hard to come by. That said, not entirely fond of what they did with "hidden packages," replacing them with pigeon hunting. You not only have to find the pigeons, but then kill them. And to make things annoying, you can only shoot them, not melee them. This doesn't seem like a big deal...except that if you fire your gun within earshot of a cop, you get an instant 1-Star Wanted Level. And pigeons are often in areas where cops can be around, but you can't see them. I can see the fundamental flaw of the whole dragnet system in that it's annoying that you have to escape cops because you shot a fucking pigeon.
Currently 19.58% done. Definitely not going to finish it this year, but I'll make progress as need be. Next week at my job is a full vacation, and I'm exhausting the last job leads this week. It'll be cool if I hit 50% before the year is out, but I see that as unlikely.
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KobaBeach
- screw it lion time. we are so f***ing back
- Posts: 7129
- Joined: 11 years ago
- First name: David (evil)
- Pronouns: he/they
- Location: Portugal
- https://koba.talkhaus.com/
Re: What games are you playing?
"fuck them fish" - micheal jordaine
fuck crafting too, if it's like dummy complex and forces you to resource manage like western games and early 2010s kickstarters try to force into their games, it's a massive buzzkill. i like picking shit from a menu like in the swordcraft story trilogy. still need to do some synthesis in arc the lad 3 to make cheryl and marsia more useful (mostly cheryl i dig her edgelord shadow-ass character a lot)
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I did not play any games today because I technically slept from midnight until 10 pm. I literally got up at 5 pm and then kept falling asleep on top of my dog's abdomen, my mom told me to just take a nap on the couch. I might go back to bed now it's almost 3 AM. Who Knows
Though I didn't sleep the day before yesterday so. Played a bit of Deus Ex but the stealth tutorial was pissing me off. Still getting used to the game in Liberty Island oops
anyway here's a bunch of rpg maker gaymes (copypasted from my RMN post)
Densetsu Redone - Played through the demo yesterday [december 13]. Cute little project with a cute CBS.
Aurora Wing - Really impressive isometric SRPG done in an engine that doesn't natively support it. Major props. My one complaint is that none of the maps seem to have music? I opened this up on RM2k, just to make sure and it's just like that... I'm past the first battle, and I want to play more when I'm able to.
Final Fantasy vs. Dog - I game overed before Kain showed up. Hilarious game, will try again. I am on Windows 10, I'll see if it has problems in my system or not.
fuck crafting too, if it's like dummy complex and forces you to resource manage like western games and early 2010s kickstarters try to force into their games, it's a massive buzzkill. i like picking shit from a menu like in the swordcraft story trilogy. still need to do some synthesis in arc the lad 3 to make cheryl and marsia more useful (mostly cheryl i dig her edgelord shadow-ass character a lot)
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I did not play any games today because I technically slept from midnight until 10 pm. I literally got up at 5 pm and then kept falling asleep on top of my dog's abdomen, my mom told me to just take a nap on the couch. I might go back to bed now it's almost 3 AM. Who Knows
Though I didn't sleep the day before yesterday so. Played a bit of Deus Ex but the stealth tutorial was pissing me off. Still getting used to the game in Liberty Island oops
anyway here's a bunch of rpg maker gaymes (copypasted from my RMN post)
Densetsu Redone - Played through the demo yesterday [december 13]. Cute little project with a cute CBS.
Aurora Wing - Really impressive isometric SRPG done in an engine that doesn't natively support it. Major props. My one complaint is that none of the maps seem to have music? I opened this up on RM2k, just to make sure and it's just like that... I'm past the first battle, and I want to play more when I'm able to.
Final Fantasy vs. Dog - I game overed before Kain showed up. Hilarious game, will try again. I am on Windows 10, I'll see if it has problems in my system or not.
#1 mega cd enjoyer AND "making fun of"-er MaGL Patch Collection / vg backlog spreadsheet / animu list / mcmangos / steam
oogggghhhh games aren't art Fuck You Roger Ebert *kills him with a hamemr*
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LotusLandSigma
- Kobold Lover, Esq.
- Posts: 10
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Location: Brazil
Re: What games are you playing?
Playing some Spyro: Year of the Dragon because it's the game I have to play every year. Last year it was comfort food for some Hard Times. That hell feels like it was decades ago now, thankfully.
But yeah, unfortunately my analog is busted and the D-pad is stiff X-box style. Still, just playing it feels so nostalgic. This game has the best skyboxes of all time.
But yeah, unfortunately my analog is busted and the D-pad is stiff X-box style. Still, just playing it feels so nostalgic. This game has the best skyboxes of all time.
“There can be no truly moral choice unless that choice is made in freedom.” ― Murray N. Rothbard
Games I've played these last few years https://www.backloggd.com/u/LotusLandSigma/games/added/
Movies I've watched recently too https://letterboxd.com/lotuslandsigma/films/
Anime https://myanimelist.net/profile/LotusLandSigma
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KobaBeach
- screw it lion time. we are so f***ing back
- Posts: 7129
- Joined: 11 years ago
- First name: David (evil)
- Pronouns: he/they
- Location: Portugal
- https://koba.talkhaus.com/
Re: What games are you playing?
Legend of Heroes V: A Cagesong of the Ocean - Beat Chapter 1 on PSP, heading to Dogarna. Game's still cute. Gonna work on the Win9x side of the playthrough later.
Arc the Lad 1 for me, need to start it soon. I try to play Christmas NiGHTS every Christmas too, but I usually get dragged outside of my house, will try to play in the 23rd.LotusLandSigma wrote: ↑1 year ago Playing some Spyro: Year of the Dragon because it's the game I have to play every year.
#1 mega cd enjoyer AND "making fun of"-er MaGL Patch Collection / vg backlog spreadsheet / animu list / mcmangos / steam
oogggghhhh games aren't art Fuck You Roger Ebert *kills him with a hamemr*
Re: What games are you playing?
Beat Uncharted 4 earlier tonight. Like I said, it's good but with too many downtime segments. Things ramped up at the end, but I feel like the other PS4 Uncharted in Lost Legacy did that better. Solid game and decent ending point for the main cast at the very least, so I'm glad I went through it.
Re: What games are you playing?
I attempted Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty.
No.
No.
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KobaBeach
- screw it lion time. we are so f***ing back
- Posts: 7129
- Joined: 11 years ago
- First name: David (evil)
- Pronouns: he/they
- Location: Portugal
- https://koba.talkhaus.com/
Re: What games are you playing?
Trials of Mana SNES - Started a replay to just chill-out to on and off on my Vita, nothing serious. Started an Angela/Kevin/Hawkeye run on the old translation patch and I'm at the Waterfall Cave or whatev, just got Kevin. Kevin is there because White Mages are super important in ToM and I forget if anyone can get healing magic outside of Kev, Charlotte and maybe Duran. Also his physicals are broken af in general and also he was one of my husbandos when I was a teen (he's canonically 15 so morality and good sense prevails). Biggest problem is that Mode 5 hi-res fonts are completely squished in the SNES9x 2002 core, my fault for using ShitArch ig. Gotta see if 2005 has the same issue because...
Romancing SaGa 3 SNES - Started an also non-serious run with Ellen (shout outs to my homegirl EllenHouraisan) before bed yesterday to help install melatonin into my eye cores. I'm still in the Sinon pioneers' prologue, at Podorui before heading to Leonid's Crappy Vampire Otherkin Motel (no offense to otherkin, y'all are cool). Shout outs to the snow village tileset in this game, it goes fucking hard, I always loved it.
I'm gonna try and get a walkthrough out on my phone later on to help me relearn the game. I might try Khalid next time, especially since he has limitless access to the Asuras in the endgame, perfect for sparking Techs before the Abyss. Also dark skinned protags are always cool, I made JC black in my Deus Ex file too (he had the whitest voice tho), so was the protag in my first Dark Souls attempt. I just don't want to do Mikhail or Sara rn, Mikey is like, constant strategy battles and I need to find a good guide on those, and Sara is a whole Commander Mode game, especially in the final boss where it's unavoidable because plot, need to study that shit too.
Thomas seems to be a little weak but it could be from getting him at a bad time in the event progression in my older files, I'll consider him. Haven't experienced Julian much but he seems like a smarmy, shonen ass fucker. Love the guy. Giving him a go on SNES or Steam when I can. Monika, I have to check if she doesn't have any dumb minigames attached to her main quest like her brother, otherwise she's super cute so. Katharina was my first, eight years ago, natch.
Mode 5 fonts are also broken on here in at least SNES9x 2002, need to check if it works in 2005, so I can see stats and magic prices properly. The old English translation's font is So Ugly god
Star Ocean - Working on some skills at Mt. Metorx with Roddick, Iria and Cyuss still. Open this with an old ass SNES9x version from like 2002 and you'll laugh your ass off as it can't emulate the decompression chip (Rena told me people used to just use a folder with the decompressed assets in the olden days, like how some people have to do with Tengai Makyou Zero in older bsneses I think)
Ogre Battle - Still at Lake Jannenia, working on it bit by bit thanks to savestates letting me interrupt the game whenever. Don't wanna savescum tbh, it's not murder hard like the most of the good Fire Emblems (we do not count Fire Emblem 1 as good) just yet. Bless it letting you move shit on Pause because RTS on controller needs this sort of thing to be manageable, you do not have the same amount of fluid control you'd have playing Starcraft on a decent quality mouse with proper speed.
oh yeah and shout out to the bizarre amount of western strategy games and koei shit i just shoved into my rpg collection on my vita's retroarch folder for some reason, shit's praxis (also metroid and goemon 3 snes??). thank god i put in warlocked lmao. need to put in some gba translation patches
Also removed some games from my PSX rotation on Adrenaline: King's Field 1 (it was the JP version, I can't get the english patch to work on Adrenaline and I want the lore), Persona 1 (already beat PSP and I'm not playing retro Megaten without savestates just yet, let me get used to the Megaten feedback loop first), Hoshigami (pig disgusting, do not play this without a maxed out stat cheat code, the only strategy is to grind for hours).
Currently there's:
TitS FC works perfectly fine, the biggest issue is that the script is slightly outdated in glossary compared to the Steam release. But also, The 3rd does not have a translated console release, so you don't get the full story if you're sticking to portable devices that aren't the Steam Deck, even if you're one of those "TitS 3rd is not part of the ~main story~" nerds. Sides 3rd is more Falcom JRPG what more could you ask (it's just a bit too long like most Trails games are iirc).
Oh yeah there's also a translation for Trails to Azure's PSP version but it's shit iirc, stick to the official PC localization and the Geofront patch for now until that gets ported to the Switch in English (or if it runs on Steam Deck...). I don't think Zero PSP is translated either, not sure if it has a Vita version. Getting access to the patch isn't too hard....
nyaa
Support the official release if you can though. Even if NIS' prices are absolute garbotrashI also thought about adding some RPG Maker 2000/2003 games I'm playing to EasyRPG and try out the NP2kai core for my DS:LoH2 and AToV PC98 saves (Farland Story 1 requires mouse iirc lmao) but I'm not risking it, I only have like 1GB and a half free on my Vita's shitty worthlessly pricey Proprietary Sony Brand™ memory card. Also I think the PSP and RetroArch emulators for PC98 games run like shit and they're better for Adventure games like Dead of the Brain and VNs like Pia Carrot. Old!AToV is a basic SRPG and LoH2 is a basic DQ style JRPG but y'know. Also LoH2 has like on map encounters iirc lmao, how am I gonna dodge them
#1 mega cd enjoyer AND "making fun of"-er MaGL Patch Collection / vg backlog spreadsheet / animu list / mcmangos / steam
oogggghhhh games aren't art Fuck You Roger Ebert *kills him with a hamemr*
Re: What games are you playing?
Even though I'm technically not playing these games now, I think that it would be worth going over my top 3 best games I played this year, and the top 3 interesting ones. The best games are the ones I had the most fun with, while the interesting ones I find worth experiencing even if they aren't necessarily top tier.
Best
1. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
I played a number of FromSoft games this year, and this was my favorite one. It's basically Dark Souls for dex users, mixed with 3D platforming, stealth, and a grappling hook.
2. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
The game is a blast to play from start to end without a dull moment. Excellent gunplay and platforming. I miss the racing mini-game from Ratchet & Clank 2016, though. Also, Rivet was kind of pointless.
3. Tinykin
Usually collectathon platformers are not really my cup of tea, although I can still enjoy them due to them still being platformers. This game, on the other hand, actually makes collecting things fun. Levels are large yet are very easy to get around thanks to the smartly-placed shortcuts, you have a really fun moveset, most collectibles have a purpose and are worth going after, and the pacing is perfect. My only real complaint is that the blue tinykin can be annoying to use.
Interesting
1. Tunic
While I found the game itself to be a subpar Zelda clone, the actual puzzle side of Tunic is ingenious. A game so bold in its design that it deliberately obfuscates most of its in-game text is commendable.
2. The Forgotten City
While this is a visual novel at heart, The Forgotten City still manages to take full advantage of the video game medium by giving you complete authority to do whatever you want (and pay the consequences). The quest log can be a bit spoiler-ish at times, but the game can still be an intriguing experience that differs from player to player due to its non-linear nature and almost every sidequest having multiple solutions.
3. Psychonauts 2
How many times do you see a game that was in development hell for over a decade, but still come out as a high quality title where you feel every year that was spent on it as you play?
Best
1. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
I played a number of FromSoft games this year, and this was my favorite one. It's basically Dark Souls for dex users, mixed with 3D platforming, stealth, and a grappling hook.
2. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
The game is a blast to play from start to end without a dull moment. Excellent gunplay and platforming. I miss the racing mini-game from Ratchet & Clank 2016, though. Also, Rivet was kind of pointless.
3. Tinykin
Usually collectathon platformers are not really my cup of tea, although I can still enjoy them due to them still being platformers. This game, on the other hand, actually makes collecting things fun. Levels are large yet are very easy to get around thanks to the smartly-placed shortcuts, you have a really fun moveset, most collectibles have a purpose and are worth going after, and the pacing is perfect. My only real complaint is that the blue tinykin can be annoying to use.
Interesting
1. Tunic
While I found the game itself to be a subpar Zelda clone, the actual puzzle side of Tunic is ingenious. A game so bold in its design that it deliberately obfuscates most of its in-game text is commendable.
2. The Forgotten City
While this is a visual novel at heart, The Forgotten City still manages to take full advantage of the video game medium by giving you complete authority to do whatever you want (and pay the consequences). The quest log can be a bit spoiler-ish at times, but the game can still be an intriguing experience that differs from player to player due to its non-linear nature and almost every sidequest having multiple solutions.
3. Psychonauts 2
How many times do you see a game that was in development hell for over a decade, but still come out as a high quality title where you feel every year that was spent on it as you play?
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raekuul
- D&C 112:13
- Posts: 1856
- Joined: 15 years ago
- First name: Pokota
- Pronouns: he/him/his
- Location: Deti Plains
- Contact:
Re: What games are you playing?
My seasons rando game is essentially done (I still need to actually beat up Onox but that's a formality); I made the mistake of playing a cross-items (get some of the items that are otherwise unique to Ages; functionally this doubles the number of Power Bracelets and Flippers and gives you the switch/long hook+seed shooter+cane of somaria) keysanity (keys and boss keys are shuffled into the main pool instead of being restricted to their respective dungeons) and.. yeah, I needed a tracker for that one due to the unfamiliar logic.
Amusingly, I must have forgot to save at one point because I got stuck for an hour looking for an item that I had already collected once (the Boss Key to Dancing Dragon Dungeon, which gave me the Magic Boomerang, which led to my Unicorn's Cave Boss Key, which led to my Star-Shaped Ore, which gave me my Sword-And-Shield-Dungeon Boss Key).
Also running a Link to the Past crosskeys (keys and boss keys are shuffled into the main pool instead of being restricted to their respective dungeons, AND all the entrances are shuffled around) . The logic on this one is stupid, but Crosskeys usually is so shrug_emoticon.png. Some day I'll be good enough to run crosskeys regularly instead of just crossworld.
Amusingly, I must have forgot to save at one point because I got stuck for an hour looking for an item that I had already collected once (the Boss Key to Dancing Dragon Dungeon, which gave me the Magic Boomerang, which led to my Unicorn's Cave Boss Key, which led to my Star-Shaped Ore, which gave me my Sword-And-Shield-Dungeon Boss Key).
Also running a Link to the Past crosskeys (keys and boss keys are shuffled into the main pool instead of being restricted to their respective dungeons, AND all the entrances are shuffled around) . The logic on this one is stupid, but Crosskeys usually is so shrug_emoticon.png. Some day I'll be good enough to run crosskeys regularly instead of just crossworld.
Re: What games are you playing?
My bro has PS Plus again, so he downloaded Wheel of Fortune on the PS4. This is the 2017 one from Ubisoft. It's fine enough as a quick little party game.
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BurntTenda
- defeat four ducks
- Posts: 562
- Joined: 8 years ago
- Pronouns: she/they
- Location: Indoors~, Indoors~
Re: What games are you playing?
Whoa it's been ages!
I've been playing Shin Megami Tensei 3 HD.
Having a ton of fun grinding for demons to fuse. I'm up to Yoyogi Park and I don't know if I'm supposed to be Lvl 58 but I sure am! For a game that has such a reputation for difficulty it feels pretty generous. I've only Game Over'd four or five times and I've never really felt like it was totally out of my control.
I've been playing Shin Megami Tensei 3 HD.
Having a ton of fun grinding for demons to fuse. I'm up to Yoyogi Park and I don't know if I'm supposed to be Lvl 58 but I sure am! For a game that has such a reputation for difficulty it feels pretty generous. I've only Game Over'd four or five times and I've never really felt like it was totally out of my control.
Something goes here sometime.
Oh yeah, I have a Youtube channel
Oh yeah, I have a Youtube channel
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Matthew_Coco
- I do be vibin' though >o<
- Posts: 58
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Pronouns: He/Him
- Location: There
Re: What games are you playing?
Started up Chrono Trigger again after a few months and I'm enjoying it. Makes staying in the house more cozy! Me and my brother are also finishing up EX mode in Kirby's Return to Dreamland.
Re: What games are you playing?
Playing the PS3 and the original Dragon Ball Xenoverse at the moment. The drop rates on skills kind of blow, yo. At least there's only one left. Shame it's tied to the absolute worst mission in the game to try and do solo, so I'm using random online people because they still play this game some six or seven years after it came out. Go figure.
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Ashan
- The world has become a place
- Posts: 2825
- Joined: 14 years ago
- Location: Canada
- https://ashan.talkhaus.com/
Re: What games are you playing?
Steam hopped on the wrapped bandwagon this year.
https://s.team/y22/gtcwmqg?l=english
The cutoff must have been while I was playing Doom Eternal because I have more playtime in that than Doom 3 but it shows that I played more Doom 3.
Also it seems like sessions played is kind of a stupid metric for a PC-based game platform considering how frequently you end up starting and quitting out of a game 6 times to get all the settings configured to your liking the first time. Even more if you're installing mods.
https://s.team/y22/gtcwmqg?l=english
Also it seems like sessions played is kind of a stupid metric for a PC-based game platform considering how frequently you end up starting and quitting out of a game 6 times to get all the settings configured to your liking the first time. Even more if you're installing mods.
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KobaBeach
- screw it lion time. we are so f***ing back
- Posts: 7129
- Joined: 11 years ago
- First name: David (evil)
- Pronouns: he/they
- Location: Portugal
- https://koba.talkhaus.com/
Re: What games are you playing?
i had like 4 games and it was entirely the time i played like ys vi and zwei like in march and then sonic adventure in the middle of summer when i was bored
i did some rpg maker shitposting but that's not video games so Oops
i did some rpg maker shitposting but that's not video games so Oops
#1 mega cd enjoyer AND "making fun of"-er MaGL Patch Collection / vg backlog spreadsheet / animu list / mcmangos / steam
oogggghhhh games aren't art Fuck You Roger Ebert *kills him with a hamemr*
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raekuul
- D&C 112:13
- Posts: 1856
- Joined: 15 years ago
- First name: Pokota
- Pronouns: he/him/his
- Location: Deti Plains
- Contact:
Re: What games are you playing?
so it turns out my laptop can't run neverwinter nights comfortably. guess i'll stick with infinity engine and older crpgs.
also I was given Unconnected Marketeers for Christmas so that's fun, but I can't read kanji so all I know is "oh neat I get my SakuyaB back after ten years)
also I was given Unconnected Marketeers for Christmas so that's fun, but I can't read kanji so all I know is "oh neat I get my SakuyaB back after ten years)
Re: What games are you playing?
played through most of pokemon violet. i still have to do the elite 4 and the rest of the main story. but then seeing people i watch play the dwarf fortress steam release had me go back and play dwarf fortress a bunch myself (v.47) to an almost unhealthy amount.
ideally i should finish pokemon so i can go and play more kirby and the forgotten land
ideally i should finish pokemon so i can go and play more kirby and the forgotten land
Re: What games are you playing?
Dragon Ball Xenoverse could be a platinum tomorrow after being away from it for six years. Would definitely be the longest time between starting it up and getting that goal. Shame it's just online boosting to get there, but the real accomplishment was getting all the skills the other day with all the randomness to whether they'll drop or if you'll even get the chance to earn them in the first place. Xenoverse 2 was just better about that stuff in every possible way.
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raekuul
- D&C 112:13
- Posts: 1856
- Joined: 15 years ago
- First name: Pokota
- Pronouns: he/him/his
- Location: Deti Plains
- Contact:
Re: What games are you playing?
I made the mistake of playing "Doom, The Way We Remember It"
There's enemy spam galore, but
There's enemy spam galore, but
- That's almost entirely because the community standard for Doom 1 is Ultraviolence (the "Very Hard" difficulty)
- so they remembered Very Hard numbers/placements and put that in for Hey, Not Too Rough (the "Normal" difficulty)
- so now the mod's version of Normal is roughly equal to vanilla's version of Very Hard and the mod's version of Very Hard is ohgodwhat
- but somehow it's still fun
- at least in part because the mapdevs also remembered that Episode 1 (Knee Deep In the Dead) has a rocket launcher but nobody remembered how many rocket launchers or boxes of rockets there actually were
- so you also get rockets for days
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LotusLandSigma
- Kobold Lover, Esq.
- Posts: 10
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Location: Brazil
Re: What games are you playing?
Finally got to finish adding games to my backloggery - added games I played recently, and the actual backlog of Steam and free Epic games (sorry for being unfunny in the second image :p)
On games I'm playing, I have started Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, at least once a week I play a little bit. It'll pick up, definitely after I'm done with Spyro 3 replay
“There can be no truly moral choice unless that choice is made in freedom.” ― Murray N. Rothbard
Games I've played these last few years https://www.backloggd.com/u/LotusLandSigma/games/added/
Movies I've watched recently too https://letterboxd.com/lotuslandsigma/films/
Anime https://myanimelist.net/profile/LotusLandSigma
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KobaBeach
- screw it lion time. we are so f***ing back
- Posts: 7129
- Joined: 11 years ago
- First name: David (evil)
- Pronouns: he/they
- Location: Portugal
- https://koba.talkhaus.com/
Re: What games are you playing?
Played like four stages in Super Mario Maker 2 yesterday. I don't understand why everyone fucking hates SMM, the stages were pretty based imo. Had to give up on this one Japanese person's beginner stage though and my thumb started cramping before I started this one Kaizo stage that looked super cool.
Wound up ripping some tilesets for SMW later. Need to test my partial, half-joking DKC rip.
Wound up ripping some tilesets for SMW later. Need to test my partial, half-joking DKC rip.
greentext energyraekuul wrote: ↑1 year ago There's enemy spam galore, but
- That's almost entirely because the community standard for Doom 1 is Ultraviolence (the "Very Hard" difficulty)
- so they remembered Very Hard numbers/placements and put that in for Hey, Not Too Rough (the "Normal" difficulty)
- so now the mod's version of Normal is roughly equal to vanilla's version of Very Hard and the mod's version of Very Hard is ohgodwhat
- but somehow it's still fun
- at least in part because the mapdevs also remembered that Episode 1 (Knee Deep In the Dead) has a rocket launcher but nobody remembered how many rocket launchers or boxes of rockets there actually were
- so you also get rockets for days
#1 mega cd enjoyer AND "making fun of"-er MaGL Patch Collection / vg backlog spreadsheet / animu list / mcmangos / steam
oogggghhhh games aren't art Fuck You Roger Ebert *kills him with a hamemr*
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Matthew_Coco
- I do be vibin' though >o<
- Posts: 58
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Pronouns: He/Him
- Location: There
Re: What games are you playing?
Been Chrono Triggering for the past few days. Robo is fun and cool.
Re: What games are you playing?
After the huge Sony kick the last couple months of the year, I went back to a Nintendo system for the next game. Thanks to both raocow and Pink's playthroughs of it, I've hooked up the N64 and am finally trying to go through all of Donkey Kong 64 myself instead of stopping halfway through and then beating the final boss on another person's data. Got to 20% in about four hours of playing across a couple sessions tonight. That's almost right where my old save file was before deleting it tonight, so good work, me! Yeah.
