Author Topic: What are you playing?  (Read 3558805 times)

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The Sceneman

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30360 on: November 13, 2017, 08:30:37 PM »
So I'm done with Medal of Honor: Airborne. Knocked out all the single player achievements aside from beating the game on Expert. I tried level one on Expert and it was classic 2007 cheap insta deaths aplenty. A matter of patience rather than skill, so skipped that cheev and deleted.

Working on 1000/1000 in Rayman Origins. I have about 200/246 of the "electoons". It's a decent, if pretty middling platformer. The game is enjoyable, but never ever feels exciting. The speed run trophies are quite satisfying to obtain though. The fucking music is atrocious however. Some of the ambient tracks are fine, but the music when you're riding the mosquito and chasing the treasure chests is sooooo grating. The singing "king lums" powerups dotted through the levels are also extremely annoying. Should probably issue a fatwa on whoever did the audio for this game.

Oh and a while back I tried The Cave (note how all the games I play these days is the free shit Micro$$ucc feeds me). This has to a contender for worst game I've ever played. It was a really, really bad idea to make what is essentially a point and click adventure game (with the typical hurrr hurrr put a rubber chicken in the freezer type of puzzle humor you can expect from Ron Gilbert), and make the shell around the puzzles 95% meandering through barren 2.5d levels which exist only to pad-out total playtime. Appalling shit.
#1

chronovore

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30361 on: November 13, 2017, 09:27:05 PM »
Your timeline is a bit off, Bebpo.

Just Cause was 360 launch era up-port that added stuff like extra motion blur. PC version is a PS2 port at heart though IIRC.

Just Cause 2 had a number of PC graphical extras. That definitely made 3 not look as impressive to me. Especially since it still had a visibly non-smooth LOD system. I accepted that in 2. Water is pretty though, 2 on PC had nice accelerated water overall especially at a distance, but 3's got it nice everywhere, especially up close and on the coasts and such.

Agreeing with you regarding all the 3 stuff gameplay wise, my favorite part was when a mission had me blow up a giant bridge then twenty minutes later I came back to the area and it was rebuilt fully. :doge

Woah, X360 was out in 2006? Feels so long ago. I looked it up though and you're right on that.

Isn't JC1 the game which was not so much of an up-port as "well, we're in a transitional stage, so let's make sure we can sell an OG xbox version too"? The foliage made it clear that OG Xbox was not their target platform.

benjipwns

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30362 on: November 13, 2017, 09:50:20 PM »
There's a PS2 version though too. And I thought for sure the PC version is based on the PS2/Xbox gen version. Has lower resolution textures than 360 or something.

The 360 version was done in just six months apparently.

tiesto

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30363 on: November 13, 2017, 10:15:35 PM »
I beat Ys VIII, and then I opened up the postgame dungeon, where I'm about 50% finished.

This postgame dungeon sucks. It's basically a "ruined" version of Dana's dungeon, with annoying platforming while getting raped by bees, and it's dark even with the glow stone. Oh well the rest of the game was pretty fun and I'll stick with it another hour or two to beat it and finally put this game to bed.
^_^

Bebpo

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30364 on: November 13, 2017, 10:20:25 PM »
Wait, there's a post-game dungeon? Like after the true end

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Stuff with sea of life origin final boss
[close]

There's a PS2 version though too. And I thought for sure the PC version is based on the PS2/Xbox gen version. Has lower resolution textures than 360 or something.

The 360 version was done in just six months apparently.

WTF, there's a PS2 version of Just Cause? I can't even imagine how that is possible with the open world.

benjipwns

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30365 on: November 13, 2017, 10:36:51 PM »
THROUGH THE POWER OF THE EMOTION ENGINE AND GRAPHIC SYNTHESIZER




ps2 vs. og xbox comparisons:
spoiler (click to show/hide)


[close]

benjipwns

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30366 on: November 13, 2017, 10:46:08 PM »
even better in terms of open world what are they thinking is that Mercenaries 2, which came out in 2008 for 360/PS3/PC, for some baffling reason also got a PS2 version

spoiler (click to show/hide)


[close]

why it has 1/10th the draw distance of any of the PS2 GTA's despite not appearing to have anymore complex environments (maybe even less so) is beyond me

hell, it makes the original game look next gen

chronovore

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30367 on: November 14, 2017, 02:30:41 AM »
even better in terms of open world what are they thinking is that Mercenaries 2, which came out in 2008 for 360/PS3/PC, for some baffling reason also got a PS2 version

spoiler (click to show/hide)


[close]

why it has 1/10th the draw distance of any of the PS2 GTA's despite not appearing to have anymore complex environments (maybe even less so) is beyond me

hell, it makes the original game look next gen
THAT was the game I was thinking about. The PS2 game was clearly not something in the project's original scope. Probably didn't sell for shit, and the wasted effort must have contributed to Pandemic's downfall. Man, I really wanted to work there. I loved Mercenaries 1.

HardcoreRetro

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30368 on: November 14, 2017, 04:08:31 PM »
I'm playing the new Prey.

What the fuck does this have to do with Prey?

(It's one of the better games this year. Which is pretty damn good when you look at what came out so far. It's a better continuation of the Shock franchise than Bioshock was.)

Corporal

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30369 on: November 14, 2017, 07:14:12 PM »
Decided I'd rather press on after finishing the required story bits in New Donk City in MariO.

After suffering through a water world, now there's even an ice world? Uuuuuuuurgh. I'm very much not looking forward to the inevitable eventual fire world.

It's weird how the NDC shortcut painting near the landing spot leads to a world you haven't unlocked yet. These shortcuts are weird in general. I guess there will be a story reason why you'd need to travel to other worlds without the use of your hat ship thing. Otherwise there's little sense to them.
!list

Scrooged

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30370 on: November 15, 2017, 12:27:03 AM »
I've been playing Nier: Automata and started the third play-through.  Holy shit.  I didn't realize how different it would be.

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Did they basically add a sequel to the game...within the first game?!  They have opening credits again and everything. And now there's a huge crazy weird tower in the sky and YorHa is gone and those twins are back and...I don't even know anymore. 
[close]

I'm sure it will get 10x weirder before the end. lol

SmokyDave

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30371 on: November 15, 2017, 06:05:35 AM »
I paid actual money for MONSTER JAM: CRUSH IT! on the Switch. I’m a fan of the sport, and it’s not like there are many racing games to choose from on Switch. Regardless, it’s fucking awful. I could probably tolerate the iOS depth and ropey gameplay, but every new load is greeted by a three second hard lock that’s as jarring as fuck. So much so I’m just going to return it as faulty and pretend it never happened.

Back to BeamNG Drive, then.

Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30372 on: November 15, 2017, 11:43:56 AM »
Alright I am done with Danganronpa V3 for the time being, fuck these minigames.

Played through Doki Doki Literature Club this weekend. The thing was shorter than I expected it to be, but still really good.

With that I'm back to Witcher 3, had stopped like a month ago when I picked up DRV3 and Cuphead. Just met Yen at Skellige and did a couple quests. I think I got like, half the plot because I never played the previous games, but still having fun.

Still playing through A Hat in Time too. I have a few issues with it but I love this game much more than I thought I would. Already beat the final boss but I'm still missing a number of hourglasses.

ILikePizza

  • Junior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30373 on: November 15, 2017, 05:31:12 PM »
Almost done with AC: Origins.  I wanted to start the Horizon DLC right after but I need to take a break from open world games.   Hopefully the Wolfenstein 2 PC port isn't as bad as it seems.

StealthFan

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30374 on: November 16, 2017, 03:27:59 AM »
Beat Postal Redux. It was a decent use of like a buck fitty. I am now juggling Battle Brothers, Lakeview Cabin Collection and Final Exam.
reckt

Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30375 on: November 16, 2017, 01:31:51 PM »
I've been playing Nier: Automata and started the third play-through.  Holy shit.  I didn't realize how different it would be.

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Did they basically add a sequel to the game...within the first game?!  They have opening credits again and everything. And now there's a huge crazy weird tower in the sky and YorHa is gone and those twins are back and...I don't even know anymore. 
[close]

I'm sure it will get 10x weirder before the end. lol

Did you not play the original Nier? It has the same structure.
野球

demi

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30376 on: November 16, 2017, 01:32:58 PM »
Except wayyyy better cause man was automata not as good
fat

tiesto

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30377 on: November 16, 2017, 09:51:39 PM »
Wait, there's a post-game dungeon? Like after the true end

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Stuff with sea of life origin final boss
[close]


Yup, at least in the PS4 version. It even mentions there's a new Interception (where the recommended level is 95, but I S ranked it at level 94), and a new bonus dungeon, which is basically a mostly-dark, ruined form of Dana's dungeon, swarming with enemies.

So anyways, yeah I finally finished Ys 8's bonus dungeon, the new postgame Interception, and got 100% completion for items/enemies/map/treasures... think I'm done and won't go forth with the Platinum because I don't want to be running around in circles for the characters I neglected to get the trophies for playing 8 hours with them in the lead, nor do I want to replay on Nightmare difficulty or grind skills to their max levels.
^_^

Bebpo

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30378 on: November 17, 2017, 03:10:51 AM »
Got Caladrius Blaze for free on JP+ last month and finally got around trying it after googling and seeing it was shmup and not some generic VN or something which I thought it was.

Playing it now and  :lol I think this is the first time a shmup has been too pervy for me to play it  :lol
It's too bad because the mechanics seem kind of interesting, and I like the Devil Survivor 2/Digimon Cyber Sleuth guy's character design style, but the whole losing clothes every life until reallllllly close to naked lolis is ^^;

Also it's by MOSS the Raiden guys, and feels kinda good Raiden-ish but more crazy.
At least Death Smiles, despite being lolis, kept it pretty goth classy. Cave panders, but not toooooo bad. But this, jeez :(

/goes back to at least finish one run through the story mode

Corporal

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30379 on: November 17, 2017, 03:52:30 AM »
I just spent ten minutes in MariO grabbing achievement moons from Toadette, one at a freaking time. What a waste of my precious lifetime.

Giving Nintendo the stank eye for handling it that way. Cheevos aren't necessary for me, but if you implement them, at least don't make them a chore to unlock after they pop.
!list

paprikastaude

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30380 on: November 17, 2017, 07:58:30 AM »
Except wayyyy better cause man was automata not as good

I think in theory the final final ending could have been more impactful in Automata, if its characters weren't so blatantly inferior to the party of Nier 1 (old sack version).

HardcoreRetro

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30381 on: November 17, 2017, 08:06:24 AM »
This telepath in Prey is wrecking my shit. Time to see if the open structured gameplay can be used to break the fight.

fistfulofmetal

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30382 on: November 17, 2017, 09:38:04 AM »
This telepath in Prey is wrecking my shit. Time to see if the open structured gameplay can be used to break the fight.

If you haven't, make sure to scan them so you can figure out what the weakness is. I underestimated the usefulness of that stuff and found it basically trivializes every encounter. Even the Nightmare wasn't that hard after that.
nat

HardcoreRetro

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30383 on: November 17, 2017, 11:52:38 AM »
I just threw some recyclers at the nightmare and then finished it off with the shotgun by just jumping in and out of cover. Thing is too big to fit through some doors.

Bulleta©™®

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30384 on: November 17, 2017, 08:42:35 PM »
Got DQ11 for PS4 so gonna try that out.

Bulleta©™®

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30385 on: November 18, 2017, 01:12:28 AM »
Seems like it plays like 8, so should be fun. 9 was fun, but always felt like a downgrade compared to 8. And I don't play MMO's, so 10 doesn't exist.

seagrams hotsauce

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30386 on: November 18, 2017, 01:29:38 AM »
Played through Max Payne 1&2 on a whim this week. I've seen people in the Steam reviews bitch that 2 makes the game too easy, but man, it being more forgiving makes it so much less tedious than the first game. Being able to shootdodge without depleting your bullet time and staying on the floor after you land instead of instantly starting the standing up animation after dodging alone make it much, much less frustrating. 2 is overall such an improvement on the first in just about every other way, too. The story isn't anything mind-blowing, but it's executed in a much more interesting, nonlinear way than the first game, and it's a lot less hammy, the graphics and art are much better, there are a ton of little side-conversations with NPCs that give the game character, and the AI is slightly less dumb.

Overall both were fun, short trips down memory lane. I started 3 again, and I'll play through it this week, but I don't have as much nostalgia attachment to it.

Bebpo

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30387 on: November 18, 2017, 01:56:24 AM »
Seems like it plays like 8, so should be fun. 9 was fun, but always felt like a downgrade compared to 8. And I don't play MMO's, so 10 doesn't exist.

Yeah, it's fairly similar to 8, but a lot quicker and a little more mainstreamed. I kinda feel like the scale doesn't feel as massive but that might be just because DQ8's scale world was super impressive at the time and feel enormous. But I'm definitely enjoying 11 as much or more than 8. The characters and battles are great. Could see 11 being my favorite DQ or at least second favorite behind 5 at this rate. I'm taking a break from jrpgs for a month, so I'm stopped about 1/3rd in myself. Will pick it back up in January since planning on playing through Xenoblade 2 first in December.

Positive Touch

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30388 on: November 18, 2017, 10:46:44 AM »
after ffxv's multiplayer mode, we can never again say that character creators will always make ugly characters without extensive tweaking by players
pcp

StealthFan

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30389 on: November 18, 2017, 11:10:16 AM »
Max Payne 2 is, despite claims I've seen to the contrary, a goddamn timeless classic. What a wonderful game.
reckt

The Sceneman

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30390 on: November 19, 2017, 01:03:38 AM »
Just wrapped up the 1000/1000 in Rayman Origins. The last few levels were pretty good. Challenging and enjoyable.

#1

HardcoreRetro

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30391 on: November 19, 2017, 11:27:03 AM »
Just wrapped up the 1000/1000 in Rayman Origins. The last few levels were pretty good. Challenging and enjoyable.

Up there with Super Meat Boy and DKC Tropical Freeze as some of the best platformers released in the last few years.

Started on Dishonored 2 myself.

D3RANG3D

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30392 on: November 19, 2017, 03:06:53 PM »
Flare, an open source diablo clone.

spoiler (click to show/hide)
[close]

The Sceneman

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30393 on: November 19, 2017, 06:24:11 PM »
Just wrapped up the 1000/1000 in Rayman Origins. The last few levels were pretty good. Challenging and enjoyable.

Up there with Super Meat Boy and DKC Tropical Freeze as some of the best platformers released in the last few years.

Started on Dishonored 2 myself.

Yeah, my opinion of the game went from middling to pretty good after playing through the final world, and the secret "Land of the Livid Dead" level. The later level designs were really cool and satisfying as hell to nail the time trial challenges. I should check out Legends soon as I am sold on Rayman now
#1

demi

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30394 on: November 19, 2017, 06:32:00 PM »
Legends is wack and requires mad grind to 1k
fat

The Sceneman

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30395 on: November 19, 2017, 07:09:32 PM »
Tried out NiGHTS into Dreams. I understand the game is regarded as a classic and I had never played it before. Had no idea wtf was going on so I had to watch a Youtube video as a tutorial. Seems like a pretty fun action/racing game with the Sega Blue Skies and some sweet music. Hopefully its not too tough to get 400/400
#1

Sho Nuff

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30396 on: November 19, 2017, 09:56:51 PM »
I'm about 15 hours into Skyrim VR. Never did the DLC before so that's taking priority. It's fucking nutstown, I've knocked over multiple objects swinging my sword at Draugr

paprikastaude

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30397 on: November 19, 2017, 10:12:10 PM »
Rayman Legends > Origins. Limiting your moveset for half the game like Rayman 2 was stupid for a 2d platformer like Origins. Worlds, graphics and soundtrack are also more interesting in Legends (especially since they've toned down the unbearable chipmunk crap). Only thing Origins has going for it is a higher difficulty. edit: WiiU version for Legends is useless though if you plan to ever play it alone.
« Last Edit: November 19, 2017, 10:17:29 PM by Spieler1 »

Bebpo

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30398 on: November 19, 2017, 10:15:06 PM »
I'm about 15 hours into Skyrim VR. Never did the DLC before so that's taking priority. It's fucking nutstown, I've knocked over multiple objects swinging my sword at Draugr

As someone who wants to love VR, but has yet to find a "killer app" that is just like super immersive fun stuff, is this it? I'd imagine the visuals have got to be pretty rough looking with the usual VR downgrade.
I think my favorite VR game is still the Valve demo disc. I find the bright colorful cartoony artstyle to work much better with the limited graphics than anything realistic that looks like PS1.5 or is dark and hard to see.

Sho Nuff

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30399 on: November 20, 2017, 02:14:12 AM »
I'm about 15 hours into Skyrim VR. Never did the DLC before so that's taking priority. It's fucking nutstown, I've knocked over multiple objects swinging my sword at Draugr

As someone who wants to love VR, but has yet to find a "killer app" that is just like super immersive fun stuff, is this it? I'd imagine the visuals have got to be pretty rough looking with the usual VR downgrade.
I think my favorite VR game is still the Valve demo disc. I find the bright colorful cartoony artstyle to work much better with the limited graphics than anything realistic that looks like PS1.5 or is dark and hard to see.

The game looks great in caves/buildings but once you go outside it's uggo. It's the most time I've put into any VR game so far but it's all first-generation stuff, I'd hold off for a year or two until they catch up with the fidelity that the mainstream really needs

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30400 on: November 20, 2017, 02:57:26 PM »
Was reading the Blood, Sweat and Pixels book and the first chapter got me hyped to play Pillars of Eternity which has been in my backlog forever (I backed the damn thing). Finally started it Saturday night and blew through all of Act I exploring every nook & cranny on Sunday. Got to Act II/Defiance Bay.

At first wasn't feeling the story/characters. The party members seemed boring, the world uninteresting and everything overly wordy with generic fantasy names I can't remember (btw I don't like fantasy rpgs generally; if I never played a game with elves again I'd be thrilled) and the battle system was alright but my mage party member would get ganked all the time and die in 2 seconds. But then I spent time reading all of the spell descriptors, learning how aggro worked and building a good tank and pause pause pause in combat and got some more party members and the combat and dungeon crawling was pretty fun when it's a good challenge. When it's not a good challenge it gets kinda faceroll boring, and when it's out of your level it's just a wipe, but when you are just the right level/team for a dungeon it's really satisfying (though the loot kinda sucks).

I'm glad the game has the long ass optional dungeon since as the pure dungeon crawler it's a ton of fun.

Also I turned voices off and started really enjoying the characters/story. The crummy VA that sounded like a guy down the street at 7-11 talking was constantly taking me out of a medieval fantasy setting. I don't think I can play medieval game without accents. But yeah, enjoying the story now that the characters have the voices I imagine them having. And it's not like I have a problem with Obsidian's VA typically. I was fine with it in Fallout NV, Alpha Protocol was great, KoTOR2 was great. idk, this is the first game of theirs where I can't stand the VA.

I picked up The White March after I found out it takes place in the middle of the game instead of a post-game sequel expansion. Hard part is figuring out where it fits in since like I just mentioned the combat/dungeon crawling can be really satisfying (battle system feels a lot better than Tyranny imo) but only if the challenge level is just right and apparently if you do White March in the middle you're OP for the rest of the main game and faceroll everything. Probably gonna get up to the point of no return in the main game and then go do The White March with level scaling.

Anyhow, probably play a little into Act II then gonna drop the game in a week when XB2 comes out, but will pick it up at some point. I think my party hit lvl.6 right before starting act II. I'm running a fighter character so since the game gives you a fighter tank party members I'm making my fighters the off-tank with a focus on attacking while whatever his name runs Guardian stance and tanks 3-4 guys and I grab another 1-2. I like the crazy priest Durance guy and his DEF buffs are goooooood and made the game 10x easier once I got him. The attack mage is alright but I hate how his AoE's can hurt your characters so you have to position him all carefully or stick to single target spells. Just got the wolf hunter lady and not really sure how to use her properly yet. The chanter dude is great though, having played Tyranny first and really enjoying the song character gameplay, I like it here too.

The Sceneman

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30401 on: November 20, 2017, 06:57:15 PM »
Deadfall Adventures is good cheesy fun, a-la Marlow Briggs. Main dude looks like Shia LeBouf
#1

Corporal

  • Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30402 on: November 20, 2017, 07:34:23 PM »
I had five bucks left over and was drunk last Sunday.

I have been battling the probably impossible to win Switch port of a mobile game of a physical card game called "Shephy".

Seriously, even after sobering up I'm basically unable to even come close to winning. I think I'm starting to understand what I'm supposed to do, but  I always run out of turns. You only get three reshuffles. Best I got was two 300 cards. I'd need three, plus a 100 card plus a merge card. Impossibru. I feel so dumb.



Also, while getting drunk (aka the reason for the booze) I spent way too much time trying to survive even a single fecking salmon run in Splatoon 2 with a friend in local CoOp. Damn that game. Damn it to hell. The last wave always kicks our asses. Doesn't help that you sometimes apparently get another weapon during the last wave? We probably should have done some research or gone online to get more players up in that bitch, but this is starting to become some sort of personal challenge. We will beat this on our own, or die trying. From liver damage, most likely.

Fucking Fly Fish. Hits across the map with homing missiles, one-shot kills you, and saving up ink for the one attack that can hurt it takes ages. Hitting with it is by no means guaranteed as well, given the swarming enemies all around. Fuck you, Fly Fish.

Makes for a good drinking game, though.

I shudder to think how this plays online with Randos during the very limited time slot it is available. At least our drunk as a skunk grudge fuck game is all in good fun. Imagining wanting to get some tickets out of this and raging against a bunch of drunk and/or inept dudes boils my blood, and I haven't even experienced it.
!list

chronovore

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30403 on: November 21, 2017, 01:41:52 AM »
Deadfall Adventures is good cheesy fun, a-la Marlow Briggs. Main dude looks like Shia LeBouf

It's the Son of Indiana Jones follow-up to Crystal Skull that no-one asked for!

etiolate

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30404 on: November 21, 2017, 03:05:06 AM »
Playing Steamworld Dig (first one).

Really liking it. Like a dig-dug metroid game.

I'm a Puppy!

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30405 on: November 21, 2017, 10:51:16 AM »
My kid got Cuphead and I played it with him for a while. My thoughts are that if it weren't for the music and animation (which really are just downright astounding) no one would care about this game. Yes, it's a bit of an experience with its aesthetics (which again, are top notch) but the controls, the gameplay, it just seems "meh". It feels like everything in the game was polished, with the exception of the gameplay, which I found buggy and repetitive. Which, for some, might be fine. But for me, I've always been of the opinion that games are games first and foremost. Not political statements, or treatesies on societal justice or nostalgia pieces. Sure, you can add that stuff after, but if you don't have a core game that's fun and fun to play, you've fallen in love with your own extraneous ideas and forgotten that you were supposed to make a game.
que

demi

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30406 on: November 21, 2017, 11:20:52 AM »
I'm not sure what you are referring to How is Cuphead any of this? Because it's a game like Contra?

Quote
But for me, I've always been of the opinion that games are games first and foremost. Not political statements, or treatesies on societal justice or nostalgia pieces.
fat

I'm a Puppy!

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30407 on: November 21, 2017, 11:45:47 AM »
I'm not sure what you are referring to How is Cuphead any of this? Because it's a game like Contra?

Quote
But for me, I've always been of the opinion that games are games first and foremost. Not political statements, or treatesies on societal justice or nostalgia pieces.

Eh, Contra I loved. You had movement different locales Bosses had different weakspots to add. Here  I sorta feel like you got a screen, Now shoot right until it's done.

And Cuphead's not guilty of any of the above. It's just a statement.
que

etiolate

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30408 on: November 21, 2017, 03:45:13 PM »
Hollow Knight is indeed up there as a Metroidvania. Axiom Verge is one of the best, so I recommend checking it out.

My problem is I keep starting these games and not finishing them.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30409 on: November 22, 2017, 02:48:43 AM »
Man, I didn't even realize Pillars of Eternity had permadeath until I took on the dragon boss at floor 5 of the Endless Paths optional dungeon. Beat the fight just barely but then noticed one of my knocked out guys wouldn't get up and was missing from the party member bar. Reloaded the last save and will wait until the party is stronger to do the boss. I accidentally jumped down from floor 2 -> 5 so I haven't done floors 3/4 which should help a get prepared a bit more.

Still working my way through Defiance Bay questlines in Act 2.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30410 on: November 22, 2017, 01:57:17 PM »
Ok, the HP/Endurance mechanic is kinda of crap in Pillars. I like Obsidian’s storytelling creativity but sometimes their gameplay ideas are iffy.

So HP cannot be healed in battle and when it hits 0 you get permadeath.
Endurance on the other hand is healable and refills after battle.

In a working gameplay system world, HP would only deplete when endurance hits 0, so endurance is your battle health and HP is your weariness between battles that make you camp/rest at an inn.

I think a lot of people think that’s how HP/endurance works, so it’s fine.

But, big enemies do endurance AND HP damage in battle. So on big bosses, my tank’s HP is draining with each hit, can’t be healed and permadeaths when he hits 0. Essentially this puts an artificial timer on fights, so you have to deal X amount of damage in time. I guess it works as a level/skill check, but I don’t like it. Especially in a low level campaign like Pillars where your team is doing piddly damage.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30411 on: November 23, 2017, 02:00:08 PM »
Haha, I hear ya. Yeah, I really enjoyed reading your play comments when you were doing your hardcore run.

I'm more normal difficulty = perfect challenge kinda of crpg guy. But I'm making progress. Got through the Drake boss on lvl.5 last night in Old Nua. Did lvl.6 with the mass skeletons everywhere too, but had to do that by getting their attention and then running back and roadblocking a hallway with my tanks.

I'm starting to do actual MMO-style tank swaps with my Fighter off-tank character & Eder whose my main tank. This essentially doubles the length I can survive a fight since when their HP (not endurance but actual HP) gets low I swap them out and bring the other tank in.

Anyhow, now that I got to lvl.7 of Old Nua, gonna go back and finish exploring Defiance Bay and doing the quests there in Act II. When I see pictures of your equipment, it puts mine to shame haha. My best swords are still like rare gold icon 14-20 damage with some bonus effects. I need to get further in the story/quests and get some higher progression loot.

Like you, I'm loving Pillars. It's one of the most fun and satisfying quest & dungeon & combat rpgs I've played in a while. BUT, the game is still a bit buggy which drives me up the wall sometime.

-I'm constantly pausing and assigning tasks in battle but way too often the pathfinding FUCKING SUCKS and my guy/gal/dog does not go where I want and it fucks up the fight. Pathfinding AI constantly has issues navigating in Old Nua imo.

-When I scroll my cursor down to select a character in pause mode to assign them tasks, too often the cursor like goes through the face portrait? And think I'm clicking WALK HERE to whoever I was previously assigning tasks to. I probably should use the keypad 1/2/3/4/5 to change between characters but I find it easier to just click on their face and then assign their next move, especially since it brings up their skills.

-The game could use better QoL fast travel than it already has. I get tired of bringing up the map, clicking on the exit point of a map, and then sitting in fast mode waiting for my team to run over to the exit point so I can exit. I'd like a more modern fast travel from the pause menu anywhere kinda thing. Like in Old Nua, if there's not a grand staircase exit on your floor, you have to run back through a few floors each time to the previous exit zzz; this isn't a huge deal, but combined with all the load screens and everything it's just a little inconvenient and with all the other modern upgrades I'd like better fast travel.

-The stronghold stuff is maddening. I constantly get notifications that someone is at my stronghold and I exit the map I'm in and head to the stronghold and by the time I get there 23+ hours have passed and the person is gone. Like I wish you could at least instant warp to your stronghold. Especially if you need to change party members or something. Otherwise I enjoy the role playing aspect of the stronghold but it does seem like a money sink. I've probably got like 20,000-25,000 gold at this point in the game and I currently am down to about 4,000 gold. I haven't bought ANYTHING besides refilling camping supplies and occasional quest where I give money to someone. All the rest has been going into buying one stronghold upgrade after another and for all the tens of thousands of gold I put into the stronghold, I'll get like 500 gold in taxes, and bandits will take 300 of it, so I'll get 200 gold -_- I googled around a bit and since release people have generally complained about the stronghold as a money sink and distraction with the bandit attacks and you basically spend all your money and waste a bunch of your time defending it just to get a few bonuses.

That stuff plus the HP/Endurance handling being kinda eh are my nitpicks. Otherwise everything else is GREAT. Tyranny really does not hold a candle to this game and I liked Tyranny. I held off on playing Pillars for all these last years because it seemed like a generic kinda crpg and I expected combat sorta like Tyranny (and people said Tyranny combat is better; maybe in very short bursts but without the dungeons and progression development it never feels fulfilling like Pillars), but the combat is super satisfying here along with the dungeon crawling.

Also having the Old Nua optional dungeon you can do at your own pace is a genius game design decision. That way whenever you want some good satisfying challenging combat, there's always Old Nua to progress further in. It's a great pacing counter to when you're doing lots of non-combat questing like where I'm at in Defiance Bay. I do a bunch of non-combat quests and then when I'm feeling the itch to fight something I go to Old Nua and do another floor or two.

And the boss fights are great >>>>>>>>>> normal fights. I get that normal fights need to exist to make the boss fights more satisfying, but the boss fights here are all really exciting and the normal fights are like auto-ai go go go and I'll just watch out and make sure no one is dying besides the wolf because he will always die.


Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30412 on: November 25, 2017, 03:28:15 AM »
Tyranny isn't garbage it's just like a choose your own adventure novel with occasional 10 min battles that play like a faster, more arcade version of Pillars since you don't have dozens of hours of character building between them.

Like you'll get

Story w/choices
Story w/choices
Story w/choices
Battle scene!
Story w/choices
Story w/choices
Short dungeon
Story w/choices
etc...

It's also super linear in the story progression outside of the choices. It's not like Pillars where you have this big world to explore on your own.

And like I beat Tyranny twice in ...22 hours seeing all the major sections/factions.
In Pillars I haven't even started the main quest in Act II in Defiance Bay, still exploring the wards and doing sidequests (just got to the last ward I need to explore and just hit lvl.7 with my party) and I'm at 20 hours...

So in Pillars I really feel like I've been building up my team and each combat scenario I'm used to my team and slowly buff them up with new levels/skills/better equip.
But in Tyranny it's like jump from section to section and level up all the time and combat. Also iirc you have a smaller team too.

I think you'll like Tyranny for what it is, but yeah I don't think it holds a candle to Pillars. Tyranny feels like a very small indie-type game that's good but very small scope on a very small budget. Pillars feels like a full crpg. Also Tyranny's ending based on your choices is really good fwiw. Definitely feels like your story.
« Last Edit: November 25, 2017, 04:27:44 AM by Bebpo »

kingv

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30413 on: November 25, 2017, 10:17:33 AM »
That actually sounds great. More rpgs need to be beatable in 20’ish hours.

paprikastaude

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30414 on: November 25, 2017, 12:48:17 PM »
That actually sounds great. More rpgs need to be beatable in 20’ish hours.

How did Chrono Trigger pull it off without feeling lacklustre and then hardly anything else ever since? If anything, even Chrono Trigger still feels bloated in the final dungeon Not much comes to mind other than Nier, South Park and maybe Bloodborne (which took me like 24 hours, but without looking up any bonus areas in my first playthrough). edit: I guess some of the Super Mario RPGs are short, others still bloated though.

archie4208

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30415 on: November 25, 2017, 05:54:14 PM »
I beat Persona 3.  P5 is a way better game (even if it has plenty of flaws itself).  Before Novemberish, basically nothing happens in P3 (and then everything happens).  I did like some characters (notably Junpei, Yukari and Mitsuru) more than any of the individual Phantom Thieves though.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30416 on: November 25, 2017, 09:57:13 PM »
Yo Borys, Pillars is so.damn.good. I'm like 25-30 hours in and finishing up Act II quests before starting The White March (I got the letter that starts the quest there). Omg Bounty Hunting! It's like if the optional dungeon wasn't enough of an offset to the story/questing, now there's also kickass boss fights whenever you want with good XP payout (which is nice since combat usually doesn't give xp). I also got first Soul weapon and it's pretty cool. I finally fully understand how the enchanting system/weapon loot rarity all works and it feels really similar to Dark Souls weapon upgrade/infusion system which is nice because it's familiar.

I love all the factions and reputations. Game feels as good and complex as Fallout NV (but better combat cause Bethesda engine was terrible for strategic combat in NV), maybe even as good as Fallout 2, idk that's probably the high bar for Black Isle/Obsidian imo. Feels so good when you are able to resolve a situation in an awesome way because of your reputation.

I do have one more AI complaint though, if you select everyone and have them attack someone in a group of enemies (I do this when I'm lazy to take out a specific guy quick), after that enemy dies, the entire AI team will just sit and do nothing in the middle of a battle even though there are other enemies until they are attacked at which point they will start combat with whoever attacked them. I get this issue with summons too, they kill the enemy they were summoned on and then just sit and do nothing until someone else attacks them. Basically means I gotta micro-manage at all times and whenever I see someone with "..." as their action I gotta pause and assign them on something. But I wish the AI was smart enough in battle that if the target they are attacking dies, they move to the next target in the general area on their own. Overall, player AI is pretty weak in this game which just means you gotta pause and order combat all the time, which is fine because you should be doing that anyhow.

My party feels super fucking strong now at lvl.8 with glowy weapons and stuff. Definitely feel ready to do the next set of Endless Paths. I hear lvl.8 is good level for floors 6-10 and then max level for 11-15. Going to finish Act II -> White March pt.1 -> Endless Paths 6-10 -> White March pt.2 > Act III -> Endless Paths 11-15 -> Act IV.

Oh and I really like the Stronghold now that I've almost maxed it in upgrades. The rest bonuses of +3 on core stats are really useful for quest stat checks, especially combined with food and equip and I like all the little mini-quests and events that pop up. Now that I've started defending my castle myself it's actually kinda fun. And I like how it plays into the story too where you get messengers and quests spawning from it. Like,

spoiler (click to show/hide)
The whole sidequest of the Noble who wants to take your castle and ultimately ends in a giant war battle where you can bring in any faction you've built up enough rep with to fight with you, is awesome.
[close]

Game's about a 9.5/10 for me at this point. I'm definitely going to be there and play Pillars II on day 1.

eleuin

  • perennial loser
  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30417 on: November 25, 2017, 10:48:35 PM »
I beat Persona 3.  P5 is a way better game (even if it has plenty of flaws itself).  Before Novemberish, basically nothing happens in P3 (and then everything happens).  I did like some characters (notably Junpei, Yukari and Mitsuru) more than any of the individual Phantom Thieves though.

which soundtrack do you like better? I guess you could throw in 1,2,4 if you've played those too
« Last Edit: November 25, 2017, 11:07:43 PM by eleuin »

Freyj

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30418 on: November 26, 2017, 01:14:00 AM »
I just finished Divinity Original Sin for the first time and Bebpo's Pillars posts just remind me how much more I enjoyed Pillars over Original Sin.

I loved the first one and half-ish areas and after that the game was just became a slog to finish. Especially the drawn out ending. No idea when I'll get around to 2, but hopefully they've improved things there.

One thing I really disliked:

spoiler (click to show/hide)
After Cyseal and Silverglen to a much much lesser degree, there's basically no towns and no quests to pick up. It's just exploration.
[close]

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #30419 on: November 26, 2017, 01:49:13 AM »

Tried some steam sale stuff real quick:

Ruiner is pretty great. Love the presentation and art direction. Not a fan of twin stick arena shooters much so the arenas are already getting a bit repetitive, but the controls are really slick and lots of moves and enemy types should be enough for me.

Dishonored 2 Looks nice, but man this still runs like shit on PC. I got past the opening to the coastal city and no matter what I do I cannot even get a smooth 30fps on my 980. Pretty frustrating. Maybe I should just get it for cheap on console at some point if it's at least smooth on console.

What Remains of Edith Finch Damn, this game is gorgeous and has fantastic presentation.

I just finished Divinity Original Sin for the first time and Bebpo's Pillars posts just remind me how much more I enjoyed Pillars over Original Sin.

I loved the first one and half-ish areas and after that the game was just became a slog to finish. Especially the drawn out ending. No idea when I'll get around to 2, but hopefully they've improved things there.

One thing I really disliked:

spoiler (click to show/hide)
After Cyseal and Silverglen to a much much lesser degree, there's basically no towns and no quests to pick up. It's just exploration.
[close]

Everyone's telling me with OS to skip OS1 and jump straight to OS2 as they're pretty similar but OS2 is way better and makes OS1 outdated. I was gonna play OS1 first, but your post makes me think I should skip to OS2.