What are you playing?

[bork]

Wind Waker is cel-shaded.  I like the look of cel-shaded games.

That's about the only positive thing I can think of to say about it.

And sadly I might end up with it again since I don't care about the other two freebies you can get for buying Mario Kart.   

[bork]

Been playing Super Mario 3D World.  It's an absolutely fantastic platformer.  Every time I try to play NSMB Wii U, I just want to go back to 3D World instead.

Also been playing Super Street Fighter IV AE 2012 to gear up for Ultra SF4 next week.  Can't wait!

[Bebpo]

Wind Waker has a good heart and some good dungeons, great visuals, probably one of the best stories in a zelda game (extremely low bar).

But the gameplay is not that good, lots of tedious stuff, small number of dungeons, super easy. 


It all balances to an alright Zelda.  A game that works better as nostalgia since the stuff you remember (graphics, story, the good dungeons) are good and you forget the tedious everything else.


Tbh, I don't even know what the "best" Zelda is since they've all been extremely flawed with lots of tedium and other problems since like OoT?  Even Majora's Mask, which is dope, only has like 4 dungeons, which is not.

[a slime appears]

I think the closest a Zelda game has gotten to the fun of OoT was Between Worlds. But that game is a pseudo-remake of LttP so it doesn't count.

I loved the Oracles games though. Up until Between Worlds they were the best handheld Zelda games.

[Bebpo]

Yeah, the only Zelda games I've never played were the Oracle games and I'd really like to get to them someday.  I remember loving the heck out of Minish Cap, but that was so long ago I don't remember anything about it.

[a slime appears]

Actually I take that back, I think I still prefer the Oracle games lol.

Bebop, both games are out on the 3DS eShop. They've held up really well and are still fun to play.

[fistfulofmetal]

it's the 10 year anniversary of Escape from Butcher Bay.

[Himu]

Xbox!!!!!!

[chronovore]

Started Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. Game is very pretty. Weird pretty, but pretty. It has a very conscious and consistent design sense. This will be my first Metroid-like game other than Arkham Asylum, since I've lived a Metroid-free life.

I'm the king now in Fable 3. It's hard to imagine this game being more of a boring chore to play. I'm scanning the Achievements to see which ones I can get easily before I quit and delete. I'm pretty sure gaming's not supposed to feel like this.

it's the 10 year anniversary of Escape from Butcher Bay.

I should probably play my copy, go with my review of "the Riddick oeuvre."

I wanted to do a single run on Hard difficulty, but the initial boss knife fight gave me problems.

[Trent Dole]

Fable III is rushed out garbage, you can tell there's entire segments missing.

[Rufus]

Don't forget the genius menu system.

[Trent Dole]

Oh god yes, so so terrible. Molyneux pls.

[chronovore]

Yeah, nothing makes me feel so heroic as a Pause Menu which has my hero standing in a lobby, being stared at uncomfortably by John Cleese.

[Himu]

I had Fable 2 and I did not get the appeal. It was pretty bad.

[Raban]

so I'm like eight puzzles away from finishing Paint It Back, a fantastic 2D picross game for iOS you can try for free and buy for $3. I think it was Oscar that might've mentioned he prefers the 2D picross but honestly I'm the other way on it. the really huge Picross 3D puzzles on DS had me losing my mind looking for the block I needed to break, but in both this game and what I've played of Picross DS I seem to be flying through puzzles with abandon. the basic formula of these games still appeals to me greatly however, as I've always been awful at computing math quickly in my head and picross seems to help. I'm kinda disappointed with the difficulty of Paint It Back, but that might come from playing way too much goddamn picross in the past two years.

I know there's a 3D picross knock-off for iOS but iirc it's kinda shit and not nearly as polished as this game. maybe I'll get desperate enough to check it out one day. prolly gonna go back to playing Bejeweled, Robot Unicorn Attack 2 and Sudoku tho

EDIT: Ooh that reminds me, one of the recent Bombcasts had Drew talking about this game called Hack RUN and it's a lot of fun! it's a game that takes place entirely in a pseudo command-prompt screen and you use the iOS keyboard to type in commands, hack people's accounts and creep their email, it's really awesome and totally free. cheggit out.

[tiesto]

Played a bit of Mario Kart 8 with my girlfriend last night, game looks extremely lovely and seems a bit more balanced than the Wii one, which is good. Didn't notice the 59FPS though

Finally started Castlevania: Order of Eccelsia. The last of the 7 Metroidvania games that I haven't beaten, when it came out I was kinda sick of the formula so I sat it out. But going back to it finally and it's pretty good. More linear and level-based than the rest of the Metroidvanias, and the boss fights are really hard (a bit 'bullet spongy' though). Level design is still fairly plain, but so far it seems like one of the better games. I'm up to the mansion and I think I have close to 40% of the map explored.

Also played Bari Arm/Android Assault for Sega CD. Pretty basic horizontal shmup, very reminiscent of Gate of Thunder in terms of ship 'feel' and enemy design. Doesn't really stick out from most of the shmups available at that time, but for Sega CD games it's pretty good. Also played Dark Wizard on my Sega CD. It's a very basic strategy RPG that has hexagonal movement (kinda like a PC strategy game), the battles take forever due to the loading, and they also look very plain... like Fire Emblem but with no background. Shining Force is a much more aesthetically appealing series.

And some more Project Diva F.

[Himu]

I'm really enjoying Paint it Back. It is my first 2d Picross game. Oh cube got pretty boring fast, but PIB, I'm half blazing through it, half getting the occasional stump where I have to test out ideas and theories. Surprisingly both feel satisfying. I really like it and it makes me kick myself I've never played 2d Picross before now. The puzzles are getting more and more complex.

Raban gifted me Ridiculous. fishing. Unlike most ios arcade-y games where you play for points, Ridiculous keeps the player constantly involved. There's new levels, always a new challenge, a new goal to set, and it has charm out the out. If you can think of any other game where you fish by blazing them to death with an Uzi, I'd like to hear it.

Ios continues to impress. Between it and Steam, I'm going to eat well this generation.

[Fifstar]

Is there a good Picross game for pc?

[Himu]

Haven't played these but there's this rps article.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/11/14/picross-picross-picross-play-some-picross-picross/

Oscar would be good to check it out too because there's one with a massive grid.

[Rahxephon91]

I guess I'm playing FFXIV again. Have to start over as I sold my previous pretty darn good account. The long grind in MMO's is kind of annoying. Maybe it wouldn't make sense, but I really just want a FFXIV where I just do dungeon runs and don't have to partake in this leveling thing.

[etiolate]

Inescapable - Retro Computer Metroidvania. Enjoying it so far. A lot of reused assets and a screen filter adds to the old feel of the game. It makes me wish there was a way to translate these old bitmap ground designs into 3d. They have a 70s/80s fantasy feel to them that I'd love to see in 3d.

Transistor - I liked Bastion more than I like Transistor so far. The game has a fun battle system and a nice art style, but the story isn't grabbing me and the pacing has the same issues Okami had. Move long battle, next spot, battle, next spot, battle, etc. Very monotonous.

Qbeh-1 The Atlas Cube - Enjoying this more than I thought I would. It's just a really relaxing 3d puzzle platformer involving special cubes you collect and place in special areas. It also has hidden items that involve thinking ot the level design. The visuals are basic cube shapes floating in the air above a planet. There's some nice shadow and light work as well.

GW2 - Finishing my Four Winds meta, leveling my thief in ICM mode, and I bought the Harp, so I'm learning a couple of songs on harp. Got Hallejulah and Concerning Hobbits down.

[Himu]

Stuck on this puzzle in Paint it Back.





What a mind fuck. There's not enough tiles.

[Himu]

Because for example, third column is 3, 3. You have 4. Yours is wrong. Row requirements often contradict the column requirements.

[Himu]

Guess I looked at the wrong column.

[Rufus]

Huh? Mark the overlap.

There, I stopped where it gets ambiguous (and tedious to paint).

[Himu]

I have no clue how I got stuck on that.

[Rufus]

Epic brainfart.

[Himu]

I had less trouble when using x's. Before this level I didn't think them necessary.

[Rufus]

They're going to become essential eventually. That's usually when these become more trouble than they're worth, too.

[Himu]

Sometimes a mistake is right in front of me.

[Raban]

x'ing is absolutely crucial to 2D picross. without them it feels way more like guesswork than proper math.

[Himu]

Fuck me.

[Raban]

man you're making it really obvious that this is your first picross game there's like a million things you can do from where you're at

EDIT: whoops I see where you made a mistake, the second row of 14 you have is actually 1 and 4. and your 14, 10 and 12 rows might actually be incorrect.

[Himu]

Oh.

[Himu]

I wish the music played longer. it's so good and it cuts to the next song too much.

[Raban]

yeah, I actually emailed the creator of the game so I could get the soundtrack I can PM you a link to the songs if you want 'em.

btw I opened up that puzzle and felt like pointing out some clutch tips. first, when you have a row or column on any edge of the board that's completely full (i.e. the bottom 16 row), it gives you the solutions for at least one number in every adjacent row or column. like this


additionally, the way that I solve for bigger, unbroken numbers that don't fully reach across the board is subtracting the number from the number of squares in a given row or column. for example, the row of 14. 16-14=2, so you leave two squares on either side (which leaves room for all potential solutions) and fill the rest of the squares, like this

you can use this subtraction trick for any number that's greater than half of the total number of squares in a given row or column, and it even works for the broken numbers too but that's a bit of an advanced technique

[magus]

himu if you like picross and don't mind getting your hands dirty with emulator's there is a HUGE collection of them released for the snes



not only there is a shitload of picross with some of them being huge, but there is even a section that feature picross with nintendo character, like OOT picross or starfox picross

of course i guess you should stop sucking at picross first

[chronovore]

I had Fable 2 and I did not get the appeal. It was pretty bad.

Fable 2 was great, I loved it. 3 killed all the goodwill the franchise had for me.

Yeah, Fable 2 was a wonderful, engrossing game for me, and Fable 3 is total crap. I'd give the former 4/5 stars, and the latter 2.

I have been desperately trying to figure out what the difference has been between the two experiences. I'd summarize it as:

• This Sanctuary "menu" system is bloated, heavy, counterintuitive crap. John Cleese telling me that there's new DLC available EVERY FUCKING TIME I show up is straining our relationship.
• Sanctuary "menu" for my Inventory meant I have an armory somewhere, where my character can change his equipped weapon, spell, and firearm. Somewhere. I spent 25 hours in this game before realizing that (a) spells get changed in the armory, and (b) I already owned all the gauntlets which cast spells.
• There is no need to actually travel anywhere 99% of the time; Fast Travel will pop me to the Quest location immediately, so I have no sense of journeying anywhere. Oddly, Fast Travel sometimes seems to put me RIGHT where I need to be, and other times it will put me further away than I was before electing to Fast Travel.
• They tried to do something interesting with the "Make a promise" (required to advance the storyline), and then introducing conflict/agony over fulfilling the promise. Sadly the game's own economy makes it circumventable fairly easily, and in the most boring manner possible: I can donate my own sizable reserves to Albion's treasury, eliminating actual consequences. If this worked (see Spoiler), it would have been really impressive, even heartbreaking. But it doesn't.

[archie4208]

The PSN version of Digital Devil Saga runs at like 20 fps. 

I'm just emulating it now.  Runs like a charm.

[tiesto]

I had Fable 2 and I did not get the appeal. It was pretty bad.

Fable 2 was great, I loved it. 3 killed all the goodwill the franchise had for me.

Yeah, Fable 2 was a wonderful, engrossing game for me, and Fable 3 is total crap. I'd give the former 4/5 stars, and the latter 2.

I have been desperately trying to figure out what the difference has been between the two experiences. I'd summarize it as:

• This Sanctuary "menu" system is bloated, heavy, counterintuitive crap. John Cleese telling me that there's new DLC available EVERY FUCKING TIME I show up is straining our relationship.
• Sanctuary "menu" for my Inventory meant I have an armory somewhere, where my character can change his equipped weapon, spell, and firearm. Somewhere. I spent 25 hours in this game before realizing that (a) spells get changed in the armory, and (b) I already owned all the gauntlets which cast spells.
• There is no need to actually travel anywhere 99% of the time; Fast Travel will pop me to the Quest location immediately, so I have no sense of journeying anywhere. Oddly, Fast Travel sometimes seems to put me RIGHT where I need to be, and other times it will put me further away than I was before electing to Fast Travel.
• They tried to do something interesting with the "Make a promise" (required to advance the storyline), and then introducing conflict/agony over fulfilling the promise. Sadly the game's own economy makes it circumventable fairly easily, and in the most boring manner possible: I can donate my own sizable reserves to Albion's treasury, eliminating actual consequences. If this worked (see Spoiler), it would have been really impressive, even heartbreaking. But it doesn't.

I haven't played the 3rd Fable game yet, but I had fun with the second one, certainly more than #1. The simulation aspects they were hinting at in the first game finally came to light a bit, and I had more fun being a slum lord and wedding hookers than I did with the actual action RPG part of the game. The second game ran like crap though (the menus were sluggish as anything), the 'final confrontation' was really lame, and combat was the definition of mashy, but I still liked it.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

God I love Picross. NemoNemo Picross is my go to subway game. Himu, use the Xs. They're going to be essential when you start doing 25x25 and bigger puzzles.

[demi]

Using the X is as integral as using Flags in minesweeper. You must. Must must must

Especially in 3D Picross on DS

[Raban]

in 3D picross it's literally mandatory because x's are replaced with actually destroying the blocks

[Himu]

^_^

[Himu]

Thanks to Raban's tips and doing the pro grid version of this, when I did the normal version it's easy as shit. Due to the tutorial I thought it was best to fill in stuff with the biggest number first. But that creates too much guessing on larger grids. It is best to start with one long line and then fill in the tiles in the columns rather than rows.

Like this!

[Raban]

so himuro gifted me Kero Blaster and I just finished it at a minute over 3 hours...

alright, fine. Oscar was right, this game is pretty sweet. the cuteness factor goes a long way to aid my enjoyment and the different level themes are creative and fun. the bosses are intense and frenzied just like they are in Cave Story but this is by no means even half the game that Cave Story was. however, obviously that doesn't mean it can't be great in its own right. the approach to enemy variety, placement, stage construction, weapon tactics etc. are all very Professor F and I couldn't stop thinking about Mega Man while playing, save for the boss fights. I'd consider that a good thing. music is jammin, the visuals are charming, and the story (while perfunctory) does its job well.

I'll also concede that while this game uses virtual buttons, they never failed me (except once when my contiguous play period was so long that my screen was too coated in finger-grease to read input), and the learning curve is fairly slight.

one thing I don't understand, though, is y'all mentioned a NG+ mode and I can't seem to access it. after the credits I can either pick up from my save (prior to the final boss) or start a new game, which resets everything. what am I missing?

[magus]

When you get asked if you are satisfied with the game answer no

Also you betrayed me raban  :'(

[Raban]

I'm sure if I played it on PC I'd be in the same boat as you, but playing it on iOS you can tell it was designed for that platform. the visuals are crisp in a way that you don't get in the PC version and the simpler encounter design lends itself to controls that can't accommodate "twitch" gameplay. the snack-size levels are perfectly suited to on-the-go gaming, too.

[chronovore]

I had Fable 2 and I did not get the appeal. It was pretty bad.

Fable 2 was great, I loved it. 3 killed all the goodwill the franchise had for me.

Yeah, Fable 2 was a wonderful, engrossing game for me, and Fable 3 is total crap. I'd give the former 4/5 stars, and the latter 2.

I have been desperately trying to figure out what the difference has been between the two experiences. I'd summarize it as:

• This Sanctuary "menu" system is bloated, heavy, counterintuitive crap. John Cleese telling me that there's new DLC available EVERY FUCKING TIME I show up is straining our relationship.
• Sanctuary "menu" for my Inventory meant I have an armory somewhere, where my character can change his equipped weapon, spell, and firearm. Somewhere. I spent 25 hours in this game before realizing that (a) spells get changed in the armory, and (b) I already owned all the gauntlets which cast spells.
• There is no need to actually travel anywhere 99% of the time; Fast Travel will pop me to the Quest location immediately, so I have no sense of journeying anywhere. Oddly, Fast Travel sometimes seems to put me RIGHT where I need to be, and other times it will put me further away than I was before electing to Fast Travel.
• They tried to do something interesting with the "Make a promise" (required to advance the storyline), and then introducing conflict/agony over fulfilling the promise. Sadly the game's own economy makes it circumventable fairly easily, and in the most boring manner possible: I can donate my own sizable reserves to Albion's treasury, eliminating actual consequences. If this worked (see Spoiler), it would have been really impressive, even heartbreaking. But it doesn't.

I haven't played the 3rd Fable game yet, but I had fun with the second one, certainly more than #1. The simulation aspects they were hinting at in the first game finally came to light a bit, and I had more fun being a slum lord and wedding hookers than I did with the actual action RPG part of the game. The second game ran like crap though (the menus were sluggish as anything), the 'final confrontation' was really lame, and combat was the definition of mashy, but I still liked it.

Yeah, the menus in Fable 2 sucked badly. Their responsiveness could only be marginally improved by installing the game to your hard disk, but Microsoft would have never let the game go out like that if it was for any other publisher. They are shameful about ignoring their own TRCs.

The final confrontation in Fable 3 is worse than 2. It spends a heap of time implying there'll be a huge battle against an even larger foe than the previous, seriously epic battle for the throne, and ends up being a waltz down Main Street Bowerstone. The game squanders its potential for emotional involvement at every opportunity.

I also enjoyed Fable 2's open-world stuff more than 3's. The town jobs actually had some variation in gameplay, there were a few extended non-main storyline missions, and the minutiae were kind of fun to manage. I also enjoyed fighting.

3 has that Bioshock Infinite problem where it's no longer necessary to work for anything. I never looked into upgrading my weapons because fighting was never a challenge. When I looked into it, I found I'd never used magic effectively; I used Vortex/wind the whole game. I never even knew weapons could be upgraded by performing some challenges -- why not start the Hero with a weapon which sucks, but has easily-met upgrade conditions? This would educate the player naturally. Fast Travel, again, here. There's no reason to actually run anywhere, so there is no perception if distance or place.

Anyway, it's done. I finished the last tolerable Achievement last night, and now it's on to the next thing. In the end F3 was an education in what NOT to do.

[Rufus]

The First Templar
Thoroughly mediocre (co-op) hack'n'slash set in medieval times. You go back and forth between Europe and the Levant in search of the holy grail, always accompanied by a companion who supports you in combat and helps you hold levers every now and then. It's competently made (by the guys who make Tropico since 3), but obviously C-tier in every respect. Crisp but relatively low-poly geometry and models, decent animations in combat, but jerky and wooden in cutscenes, etc. Cheap, but not in a tacky way. Shallow as all hell combat with XP based upgrade system that suggests a lot more character building choice than there actually is. Refreshingly sober, but almost completely self-serious, sadly.
Tl;dr, it feels like a PS2 game with good textures and draw distance. Enjoyable enough, but again, thoroughly mediocre. It doesn't do anything catastrophically wrong (even the -optional- stealth sections are functional), but doesn't shine in any way either.
I've had a thing for anything involving Templars since Broken Sword, so I was fairly engrossed enough throughout the seven or so hours it took to beat this.

PS: The grail ends up looking like the wrong one from Last Crusade. So much so I expected it to be a trap, but no, Jesus apparently did drink from Catholic kitsch he couldn't lift with one hand. 

[iconoclast]

Been playing Crimzon Clover 1.01 over the last week or so to warm up for World Ignition and I just got my first 1cc. That was the first time I ever fought the TLB (since he's not available in training mode) and I had to beat him without any spare lives in stock. Pretty intense fight, especially since I didn't know that his patterns become more dense as he gets low on health.

And I've been playing a ton of Mario Kart 8. I don't think it tops Sonic Transformed as the ultimate kart racer, but it's probably the best game in the series (it's a close call between this and MKDS). Nintendo's Wii U output has been pretty amazing.

[CajoleJuice]

lol'ing at himu's picross adventures

still love you, boo

[tiesto]

Nearing the end of Dracula's Castle in Order of Eccelsia. Have off all next week so I'm planning on starting Wild Arms XF on PSP.

[Himu]

Wow. Paint it Back may be my favorite mobile game I've played so far. Haven't played a mobile game that forces me to get better as a player as well as this one.

[Positive Touch]

I wish someone would go back in time and make more classic castlevania. I miss castlevania

[Raban]

I wish someone would go back in time and make more classic castlevania. I miss castlevania

[Trent Dole]

I wish someone would go back in time and make more classic castlevania. I miss castlevania

(Image removed from quote.)

B-bu-but Iga's kickstarter thingy and stuff! Also endless indie clones. Er, wait, those are ohmigawth Metroids, not 'classic' CV. I'd be up for more of either really.

[StealthFan]

Deadly Premonition I ain't even that far in and this shit is just a bunch of

[DCharlieJP]

In the mix right now :

Dark Souls 2 - PC
MLB: The Show 2014 - PS4
Borderlands 2 - Vita

Just got Persona Q today - guess i'll try playing some of that

[Positive Touch]

Deadly Premonition I ain't even that far in and this shit is just a bunch of

and it just keeps getting better and better