What are you playing?

[Potato]

Some people were just too cool for the 3DS. Those people were fucking distinguished mentally-challenged fellows.

[Svejk]

Up to chapter 15 in Resident Evil 4 Remake.  Man, that 1st part of the 2nd Krauser fight was absolutely spectacular.   
2nd part... Not so much.  Felt like humdrum Nemesis blah crap. 
Slow going for me, but should have it finished next weekend.  Right on time for dem Tearzzz.

[Joe Molotov]

Downloaded Super Auto Pets on my Steam Deck to farm some cheap dopamine.

[HardcoreRetro]

Bought a cheap second hand 360 because my old one is being a little bitch. Played some BC xbox games on it. Sega GT 2002, Ghost Recon 2, Burnout 3 and some Fable.

[Hamarr]

I have been playing Forza 7 and Forza Horizon 5 a little. 

I bought Watch Dogs Legion Bloodline during a sale for some reason.  I had heard it fixed a lot of the issues with the main campaign but it just felt like more of the same.  Same world, same buildings being reused for missions over and over. Everything you do feels like a side mission. Meh.  I didn’t even finish before uninstalling again.  I might be done with Ubisoft finally.

Oh, and I played an hour or so of Redfall last night to see if it was really that bad.  Everything about it seems off. Shooting and movement felt floaty and awkward.  There was this persistent feeling of lag everywhere.  Not sure if that was just the frame rate or what.  I was playing solo.

Graphics looked very low details and map design was uninteresting.  The whole game experience felt like a cross between old shooter MMOs or janky survival games and a mobile game.  The UI, health bars, etc all look like a cheap mobile game.  It’s baffling this was intended to be a big game for Xbox and it all feels so throwaway.  I usually like Arkane games aside from Death Loop, and even that looked and felt way better to play than this. 

[chronovore]

Bought a cheap second hand 360 because my old one is being a little bitch. Played some BC xbox games on it. Sega GT 2002, Ghost Recon 2, Burnout 3 and some Fable.

Burnout 3 was so remarkable in its day. Paradise City was a good attempt,  it didn’t feel as compelling, despite my love of open-world games.

[paprikastaude]

Burnout Revenge >

[Polident Hive]

Always mixed about track vs open world racing/sports games. Burnout 3 vs Paradise or SSX Tricky vs SSX3. Tracks are better, but I deeply value zoning out to music as I aimlessly drive.

PGR died before it went open. There was a glitch in PGR3 to jump over invisible walls and drive around the empty city. That was fun.

[Nintex]

Got some eShop deals

Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX
Fantastic 2D sprites, banger tunes. Gameplay is basically what happens if you built an entire game around the Megaman X Dash mechanic. And yeah so far that works.

Resident Evil Revelations
Haven't played this since it originally launched on 3DS. It's certainly a game from a different time. Jessica: "Don't worry, my sweet ass is coming down to save you".
Overall I enjoy it although it aged a bit. Especially compared to Resident Evil 4: Remake but it's also fun to see how far the series has grown since then.

Fire Emblem Engage
At chapter 20 now. Stakes are higher, battles bigger. The Emblem Trials are among the best maps in the game. I love the small references to previous Fire Emblem games but since most were Japan only I only picked up on a few of them. I now have enough rings to basically equip the entire party with Emblems. One mechanic the community is divided on is the reinforcements. In later maps enemies keep spawning until you beat the objective. I enjoy the challenge but it's different from previous Fire Emblems.

[Svejk]

Finally finished RE4 last night.  Absolutely fantastic game.  The later half just never let up.  Really surprised how well done it was. 

Fired up Doom 2016 afterwards... I dunno, like the demo, it's just kinda boring to me for some reason and not clicking.  I should turn in my gamer card. 

[BIONIC]

How far are ya in Doom?

Once you’re a few levels in and unlock a few weapons and their alt-fire modes it really comes into its own. Not to mention the runes.

First level is pretty boring since you only have the shittastic pistol (which is so worthless they didn’t bring it back in the sequel), and an unupgraded shotgun. I’d recommend finishing at least three levels. Might still grab ya.

[Svejk]

How far are ya in Doom?

Once you’re a few levels in and unlock a few weapons and their alt-fire modes it really comes into its own. Not to mention the runes.

First level is pretty boring since you only have the shittastic pistol (which is so worthless they didn’t bring it back in the sequel), and an unupgraded shotgun. I’d recommend finishing at least three levels. Might still grab ya.

Played for only about 20 minutes/1st area.. Fresh off of RE4, my high just wasn't jiving with it at the time oddly enough. ATM though, I'm just skipping around back log until Tears drops.   

[BIONIC]

20 mins? 

[Himu]

DQXI S

Back to it and jfc. Tried the under Octagonia quest and this is tough. I'm level 50 and I'm just wandering around seeing what I can do at my current level so I can get more levels to allow to beat other quests at gatdamn it's like constantly hitting a brick wall.

[Svejk]

20 mins? 

Not like this is an RPG or Walking Sim.  There's action out the gate (as it should).  It wasn't bad, just my timing sucks. RE4 just filled the cup for that shooty gore mood so damn well.  I'm sure I'll try it again tonight.  The one thing that did stand out was the music queues. It was pretty cool.

Edit: you know, I almost felt the same when I started RE4 and the opening village.  It was good, but wasn't blowing me away immediately, so I did question it at first... But it did take a good hour or 2 before it started to get really good, to the point it made me put the controller down and say, oh shit.. shit's getting real. Hopefully lighting will strike twice.

[MMaRsu]

Totk all weekend

[BIONIC]

Totk all weekend

How’d you get your copy?

[Bebpo]

Finished Paranormasight

Great game, feels like a passion project from random people at Square Enix who worked on everything from Mario Sports to Left Alive to FFXII Revenant Wings. Great horror folktale VN with a real good cast, interesting story and fast pacing that doesn't overstay it's welcome. Best game I've played this year so far. Hopefully the team stays together to make more games.

[MMaRsu]

Totk all weekend

How’d you get your copy?

It came with my new switch 🤣

[demi]

Finished Hogwarts Legacy, and there was a patch 2 days ago that broke a quest I was literally on the last step on. This side-quest locks me out of earning like 4 achievements because of it LOL

https://hogwartslegacy.bugs.wbgames.com/bug/HL-12673

What a fitting end to this shit game. Oh well

Zelda in a week!

[Nintex]

Totk all weekend

How’d you get your copy?

My man is a pirate but bought a 360 Euro Limited Edition Zelda Switch so I'll allow it

Fire Emblem Engage
The battle against Celica was tough. Her summoners kept spawning groups of 4 random enemies each turn. This battle alone took me about 2 hours and 4 attempts. But now I can finally continue to level one of my favorite Emblems.
On the story side of things I think I got the last big plot twist but I thought that at the previous one. 72 hours in now and while this is certainly the final stretch I can't say for sure how many chapters are left.

[thetylerrob]

Having to play Redfall with my normie friends when I have Zelda available to me got me like 

[D3RANG3D]

Baroque for the PS1/PS2 what a weird fucking game. 

[chronovore]

Finally started Square Enix’ Crystal Dynamic’s Marvel’s Avengers.

It’s fun. There is a heap of one-off terrain that must’ve cost a fortune to make, but it’s sure pretty. The Tomb Raider DNA is readily present in its platforming sections. There’s a neat switch up: Kamala Khan has a chase sequence like Crash Bandicoot z-axis chases, then later there’s one with Hulk where he just smashes through everything, a clear parody of the mechanic.

The pivot away from GaaS is welcome. Looks like they dropped the various crafting currencies in favor of generic “fragments,”  which is appreciated after Gotham Knights’ tedious, bullshit crafting.

[Joe Molotov]

Okay, finally burned myself out on Super Auto Pets. Time to jump back into the Trails thunderdome. I need to finish Zero and Azure before Reverie comes out!

[tiesto]

I'm up to the final battle(s) of Azure. Will finally finish tonight after work!

Also started playing Battle of Olympus - died on the Hydra but was a bit stoned when I played so I kept getting lost in the gotdamn forest beforehand. I played the game a bit back in the day but never really made it very far due to its obtuse nature and some clunkiness (like a too-short weapon and monsters that have erratic patterns).

[Himu]

DQXIS

Okay so I finally got progress. It's easy to get caught up in all the quests you're definitely not ready to do any of them out the gate as the Act starts. So I continued the story thinking I could save it for later but nope. Much better game flow now.

[Nintex]

Fire Emblem Engage
Chapter 21 is insane. At some point in the battle each turn additional enemies spawn on top of the 3 bosses and two dozen enemies already on the map.
4 mixed sword/axe/lance/archers from the top right
4 mixed sword/axe/lance/archers from the top left
2 magicians/fighters from the middle right or 1 Wyrm
2 magicians/fighters from the middle left or 1 Wyrm
4 mixed axe/archers from the bottom right or 2 wyvern knights
4 mixed axe/archers from the bottom left or 2 wyvern knights
4 axe wyvern knights from the bottom

During my last attempt I was surrounded by about 40 enemies and got completely destroyed so I've retreated for now to grind out some levels.

[Himu]

DQXIS

Okay so I finally got progress. It's easy to get caught up in all the quests you're definitely not ready to do any of them out the gate as the Act starts. So I continued the story thinking I could save it for later but nope. Much better game flow now.

This dungeon I'm in for the main story in Act 3 sucks. It regurgitates other dungeons in the game. It's absolute doo doo.

[Himu]

Okay, finally burned myself out on Super Auto Pets. Time to jump back into the Trails thunderdome. I need to finish Zero and Azure before Reverie comes out!

(Image removed from quote.)

List reasons why i should play these games.

[demi]

Okay, finally burned myself out on Super Auto Pets. Time to jump back into the Trails thunderdome. I need to finish Zero and Azure before Reverie comes out!

(Image removed from quote.)

List reasons why i should play these games.

1- the music
2- thats about it
3- i guess if you like worldbuilding and long drawn out stories

[archnemesis]

I picked up the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster bundle for Switch and replaying them is great. I blasted my way through the first one, alternating between getting 4x experience/money each battle and turning off random encounters. Now I'm a third into the second game and it's also really fun.

The Advance Wars remake is also really good.

[tiesto]

Okay, finally burned myself out on Super Auto Pets. Time to jump back into the Trails thunderdome. I need to finish Zero and Azure before Reverie comes out!

(Image removed from quote.)

List reasons why i should play these games.

Worldbuilding, the best and most developed NPCs ever in RPGs, great soundtracks, fun and fast turn-based combat and the 'quartz' system which is kinda like Materia.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

And Best Girl Sara:

[close]

[Joe Molotov]

Okay, finally burned myself out on Super Auto Pets. Time to jump back into the Trails thunderdome. I need to finish Zero and Azure before Reverie comes out!

(Image removed from quote.)

List reasons why i should play these games.

Because it's a billion hours of content, it's the CSI of JRPGs. You can settle in with it for the evening or the weekend or a few months and marinate in old-school, turn-based goodness and ridiculous anime plotlines. Characters come and go, but Trails is forever.

[Nintex]

Fire Emblem Engage
Grinding levels is going better than I expected but some of my main group are still not strong enough.
I think I need to do about 2 or 3 more battles before I can give the new story chapter another shot.

[tiesto]

Back when DS launched, I picked up Mario 64 DS. Played through it and got about 137 of the 150 stars (and beat Bowser). Then for some reason, I dropped it and never got the rest. Unfortunately, the rest of the stars are almost entirely castle secret stars, so I don't know which ones I got and didn't (being 18 years ago), so I'm trying to get all of those now and get 150/150. So far I'm up to 143/150, the glowing rabbit hunt in particular is annoying.

I did play Mario 64 N64 to completion last year (120 stars), something I didn't do back in the day.

Like, I get Mario 64 is a super revolutionary game but I'm not a huge fan personally. I find the turning radius is too large and I don't like how the camera will move on its own accord and you have to compensate with your control (i.e. you can't just keep the stick straight), it makes walking on narrow platforms a lot more frustrating than it needs to be. Happy that this was fixed in later 3D Mario games.

[Svejk]

Back when DS launched, I picked up Mario 64 DS. Played through it and got about 137 of the 150 stars (and beat Bowser). Then for some reason, I dropped it and never got the rest. Unfortunately, the rest of the stars are almost entirely castle secret stars, so I don't know which ones I got and didn't (being 18 years ago), so I'm trying to get all of those now and get 150/150. So far I'm up to 143/150, the glowing rabbit hunt in particular is annoying.

I did play Mario 64 N64 to completion last year (120 stars), something I didn't do back in the day.

Like, I get Mario 64 is a super revolutionary game but I'm not a huge fan personally. I find the turning radius is too large and I don't like how the camera will move on its own accord and you have to compensate with your control (i.e. you can't just keep the stick straight), it makes walking on narrow platforms a lot more frustrating than it needs to be. Happy that this was fixed in later 3D Mario games.

I dont know how you're managing that on DS.  Those controls were rancid on there.. even with the stylus.  Pretty brave to pull that off.

[Nintex]

The DS port is very weak apart from the new characters which have fun new abilities, it plays better on the Switch though.

With that said, Mario 64 has many great  levels but also some very bad and janky ones. Most people remember the earlier levels but the more complex the game gets (with flying, enemies that toss you up etc.) the less polished it feels overall.

[MMaRsu]

The DS version has the cool minigames tho

[chronovore]

Yeah, I remember the N64's analog stick was required for the level of control in that game, according to Nintendo. The DS version must either prove or disprove that bombastic statement.

I've got it on Switch, and still find it groundbreaking… but dated.

[Hamarr]

A friend told me about the voucher deal for Switch, so I used it to pick up TOTK and Link’s Awakening.  I’ve been playing ZLA quite a bit the last few days.  I had it on the Game Boy Color, but not the DX version, and couldn’t get into it, but I am having a blast now.

The art design looked terrible to me in screenshots but I like it a lot in game.  It reminds me of 3D Dot Game Heroes.

I have also been playing more Redfall a bit for some reason.  I have two or three more main bosses before I am done with all of the main quests.  Not sure if I will finish it any time soon.

[Nintex]

Links Awakening is such a cozy game

Also shows that despite all the hardships and trauma Link just wants to live in a small village with a cute girl far away from castles, fame and royalty

[Polident Hive]

Like, I get Mario 64 is a super revolutionary game but I'm not a huge fan personally. I find the turning radius is too large and I don't like how the camera will move on its own accord and you have to compensate with your control (i.e. you can't just keep the stick straight), it makes walking on narrow platforms a lot more frustrating than it needs to be. Happy that this was fixed in later 3D Mario games.

There’s a comprehensive improvement mod for the PC port, SM64 Plus (or Pro?), with the option to play with the game feel of modern 3D Marios. Interesting way to go through it. Alternatively, Galaxy 2 includes a Mario 64 level with modern controls. Trivializes whatever platforming sections it had.

[Himu]

BOTW

Restarted my game. I tackled two beasts in my original game I think? Three? I forgot how to literally play the game. The runes, cooking, parrying, everything. So I started over despite the obvious nervousness in doing so and....I don't regret it. Since the game is so amazing and I forgot everything it's like playing it all over again for the first time. It's incredible and still the best open world game ever.

Shame it's so dense it's not helpful when you return from breaks. So I'll be playing this exclusively till I beat it

[benjipwns]

Took a quarter of a century but people's eyes are finally opening about Super Mario 64.

[tiesto]

Well, all 150 stars acquired in Mario 64 DS. No cool reward or anything for acquiring all 150 in this one, apart from the ability to catch one rabbit and get a new minigame for Luigi.

Back to Battle of Olympus and Theatrhythm tonight - wow, the Dissidia games have some good music, I'll need to play those.

[Nintex]

Fire Emblem Engage
Finally managed to beat chapter 21. The most difficult Fire Emblem battle in quite some time, I don't recall a challenge like this in Three Houses where waves of enemies just kept spawning every turn even if you hadn't beaten the previous wave.
Surprised to see that despite a little slowdown on the map, the Switch could handle 50 - 60 units on screen.

[tiesto]

While everyone is playing TOTK, I'm playing 2 Zelda series knockoffs:


Battle of Olympus - no where near as good as Zelda 2 or Faxanadu, as it seems that nearly every enemy is a pain in the ass to hit, coupled with random, jittery patterns. The areas are quite confusing (well, the forest in particular) and without a guide it's really easy to get lost. There's also a few places where you have to grind for "olives" (I thought they were red orbs for a second) which is the currency... these are random drops from enemies and you only get one at a time, so there are some parts where I'm grinding for 20+ min just to get the item I need to advance. I managed to rescue the first of 3 fairies, and get the ultimate sword in the super dangerous Phythia area. Based on some guides it looks like I'm nearing the 2/3 point.


Neutopia 2 - started playing this last night and beat the first 2 dungeons. I beat the original during the pandemic and it was a fun, polished Zelda clone that didn't really stand out too much but was still a breezy time. The sequel definitely improves things, especially in terms of soundtrack (great PCE chiptunes!) and control (diagonal movement and attacks). Boss fights are quite challenging too. It seems to be a bit more linear (instead of 4 different maps with 2 dungeons in each, this one has more constrained, linear maps with one town and dungeon per map).


Leaving for vacation next week so will be playing Children of Mana on the flight.

[Himu]

Tried Metroid Dread demo. There's some things I like (parries) and there's some things that they started years ago in this franchise like Adam which make me groan and then there's the constant cutscenes in every other room in a historically atmospheric, minimalist franchise. Game feels cheap (in the budget sense) and an after thought compared to the quality of BOTW and Mario Odyssey proving my personal theory that Metroid, as per Nintendo's own actions, is a low tier Nintendo franchise. It's such a redundant franchise.

It's basically Metroid Fusion, a bad Metroid sequel, with "better" graphics. I say "better" because I prefer Fusion's sprite work.

Honestly playing the demo just made me break out Super Metroid.

[Himu]

Super Metroid is still top tier.

Metroid Prime HD, which I have been playing along BOTW is good but it's no Super Metroid. The backtracking is ridiculous.

[Nintex]

Tried Metroid Dread demo. There's some things I like (parries) and there's some things that they started years ago in this franchise like Adam which make me groan and then there's the constant cutscenes in every other room in a historically atmospheric, minimalist franchise. Game feels cheap (in the budget sense) and an after thought compared to the quality of BOTW and Mario Odyssey proving my personal theory that Metroid, as per Nintendo's own actions, is a low tier Nintendo franchise. It's such a redundant franchise.

It's basically Metroid Fusion, a bad Metroid sequel, with "better" graphics. I say "better" because I prefer Fusion's sprite work.

Honestly playing the demo just made me break out Super Metroid.

It takes a little while for the game to open up but when it hits the groove it's top tier Metroid. A lot of Nintendo games have been doing the "ok, that was the baby area now the REAL game begins" as of late. Probably because it was received so well in BOTW?

[Svejk]

Tried out Ghostrunner.  It’s pretty good.  It’s like if Doom, Shinobi and Hotline Miami were spliced together.  It’s a pretty cool concept that pulses with a cyberpunk vibe and adrenaline, but have to be in the right mind to want to memorize levels, and speedrun them essentially.  Feels like it’s a non-VR version of Sairento.

Picked up Wanted: Dead on sale last week.  It feels pretty solid so far.  The vibe it puts out seems more serious than goofy, from what I expected.  There’s a learning curve of learning the controls… which are straight forward (compared to other games), but coming off of Ghostrunner, muscle memory had to be reset for W:D.  From what I’ve played so far is thrilling and beautifully brutal in a good way.  Will need some time to warm up to it, but I’m really liking what I played so far.  And yeah, it definitely feels old school in a great way, but carries the somewhat stale tropes like bullet sponge enemies.   Played through the training levels and got up to the ninja on the first level.  It's brutal and fast. After RE4, Sekiro and TOTK, the parry window in this is unforgivingly narrow (which can be upgraded later to widen the window).  Slightly clunky, but still very playable, stylized and satisfying.  It's ticking a lot of boxes for me right now. 

TOTK... Wrote several paragraphs about it, but decided to simply state, the end part of the last dunkey NAILS exactly what TOKT is in a nutshell.      Great, polished AF game, but this is no 10/10 game.   After 20 hours in, feeling BOTW fatigue pretty quick... and I generally enjoy open world games.  I need to b-line the supposed dungeons to get some new flavor, because the combat does not hold my attention.

[Himu]

Replayed Metroid Prime and just finished a replay of Super Metroid. Haven't played Prime since release. I think Super is above and beyond it. Prime I don't think has aged well in terms of its level design (too much backtracking) in comparison to Super. Can't wait for Dread. Super is still a top 10 game. Whew boy. Putting Prime on the same level as Super is shocking to me.

[demi]

Dread is mid

[Himu]

So that would make the only great games in the franchise...Super and Zero Mission?

[Nintex]

While Metroid Prime is a a fantastic game it is more different to 2D Metroid than people care to admit. It's mostly guys who worked on all those Quake, Unreal, Turok and the first Half Life that developed it. With that said it's not directed particularly well with a messy story, lots of progression stops including a progression stop final objective and some areas simply acting as padding to stitch one section of the map to another. It also lacks the sense of urgency of 2D Metroids. You can mostly walk around slowly, plan out your attacks and see enemies in advance.

[Svejk]

So that would make the only great games in the franchise...Super and Zero Mission?

Basically... Which is unfortunate. 
Dread is solid and well made, but it does not hit those notes and strides like Super and Zero.  Personally, I even liked 4 better (barely).
And the Dread OST is horribly bland, unmoody and unmemorable.

[Himu]

So that would make the only great games in the franchise...Super and Zero Mission?

Basically... Which is unfortunate. 
Dread is solid and well made, but it does not hit those notes and strides like Super and Zero.  Personally, I even liked 4 better (barely).
And the Dread OST is horribly bland, unmoody and unmemorable.

4? Fusion?

[Svejk]

So that would make the only great games in the franchise...Super and Zero Mission?

Basically... Which is unfortunate. 
Dread is solid and well made, but it does not hit those notes and strides like Super and Zero.  Personally, I even liked 4 better (barely).
And the Dread OST is horribly bland, unmoody and unmemorable.

4? Fusion?

Yes..  Which is probably an unpopular stance, but I felt the story was fitting at the time and the gameplay was shaken up just enough to be unique.  Plus the music fit the level style and the ominous tone.  It felt like it was the original Dread... And Dread tried to carry that over, but missed the mark.  The pacing in Dread sucks too.  The game is fast..  probably the fastest M game, which Samus blazes through levels and enemies, but then record scratches to a halt on the Dread parts with it’s ridiculous “counter” window.  It’s pretty dumb and not fun in those instances.  It’s not the worst, but it could’ve been executed better…  Still, glad that Nintendo actually allowed a 2.5D Metroid this day and age. 

[Himu]

Yeah, like I said earlier Dread is a sequel to Fusion which I already didn't like (haven't played in decades though)