What are you playing?

[demi]

I told you, people are dumb

[Bebpo]

Also the game reminded me of things that make me dislike FPS games.

Why does every single FPS from Serious Sam to Destiny to whatever have enemy types that rush at you and explode and you run away shooting and hope they don't get to close while you run out of bullets and reload and they explode in your face? I've never found fighting those types of enemies fun in FPS games. They just annoy me.

[HardcoreRetro]

To get you to engage with other mechanics beside just shooting. If all enemies were just long distance you could just game the system and hide behind a corner and take potshots till the end of a battle. The exploding wretches in Gears 5 even explode after you already killed them. So they keep on being a threat and basically make sure you have to move around the arena.

[Svejk]

Unlocked the bloodsmoke technique in Sekiro.     Damn this game is so good.

[Bebpo]

To get you to engage with other mechanics beside just shooting. If all enemies were just long distance you could just game the system and hide behind a corner and take potshots till the end of a battle. The exploding wretches in Gears 5 even explode after you already killed them. So they keep on being a threat and basically make sure you have to move around the arena.

I feel like in the good FPS games the enemies are just smart and flank you so you have to keep moving instead.

[The Sceneman]

Got the 1000/1000 in Dicey Dungeons, and even played through the Halloween DLC even though it had no achievements lol. A game has to be very good for me do that. Superb game, couldn't put it down. Apparently Terry Cavanagh is working on some more DLC, so I'm looking forward to that.

Onto Nobody Saves the World. Seems good. Good jokes and it has a good gameplay hook although we'll see how it holds up :p Just beat the first "legendary dungeon"

[HardcoreRetro]

I feel like in the good FPS games the enemies are just smart and flank you so you have to keep moving instead.

How many of them actually do that? FEAR is the biggest one that comes to mind and tactical shooters. Make the enemies too "smart" and people get annoyed playing the game.

The only time the rush-type enemy annoys me is when it's the only thing that's spawned. When it's used in synergy with other enemy types they're quite fun to fight.

[Bebpo]

I feel like in the good FPS games the enemies are just smart and flank you so you have to keep moving instead.

How many of them actually do that? FEAR is the biggest one that comes to mind and tactical shooters. Make the enemies too "smart" and people get annoyed playing the game.

Halo 1/2 were the first games where I was impressed with the AI because they'd flank you.

[Bebpo]

Took down a thunderjaw in Horizon. Man, this game is so fucking good. I'm actually liking it even more as I play. Getting and modding all the weapons and then referring to your notebook to find the best weakspots and equipping elemental stuff and going to town is awesome. It's fun becoming a badass dino hunter.

Tonight I started using the ropecaster and it's real good. Tying dinos up to go around them and attack weak spots is great. Or keep enemies tied down so you're not overwhelmed by multiple enemies. Good stuff. Tying down birds from the sky to the ground is satisfying.

Also finally got my mount on call which is nice.

The game even has some of that Monster Hunter feel with grinding drops from certain monsters to build gear.


The only thing I hate is animal hunting. I'm always low on fatty meat and finding rat and turkey skins are a pain and keeping my carrying upgrades down.

[demi]

Posting this with all the Destiny talk

[mormapope]

OlliOlli World is pretty good. A very relaxing, soothing, fun and great feeling skating game. Music and the style in general is excellent for an indie game.

[Joe Molotov]

I'm eurojanking it up in Dying Light 2. Seems pretty good.

[chronovore]

Watch_Dogs: LEGION Special Edition is US$17 on PSN with Plus right now, and I was weak and I caved and I hope it's better than you guys said it was.

I liked the first game just fine. Everyone in Chicago is an asshole though, and the main character is a hypocritical sociopath who lost his niece so he ends up ruining everyone else's lives. If that was intentional, I wish they'd lean into it in the story harder. Having an unreliable narrator would be a fantastic game fiction.

The 2nd game in San Francisco was FUCKING LIT. I loved every aspect of it, and wish I could play it again from scratch with no memory of my first run. Given my age, failing memory, and failing cognitive functions, that'll be true in a bout 2 years. 

Hopefully LEGION doesn't screw the pooch horribly. That's pretty much all I ask.

[MMaRsu]

Really? I got it for free and I wouldnt spend my precious time on it



The second one was a great game. Id ask for a refund on Legion tbh, its trash

[Pissy F Benny]

it an amusing enough game for a while, I had about 12 or so reasonably enjoyable hours before dropping it. The fake AI voice acting can be a larf if you get a good one, like my rude boy MI5 agent.

[HardcoreRetro]

My character was some Polish construction worker with bad voice modulation and a hilarious accent. Best hero these games have had by far.

[thetylerrob]

I played through Sifu over the last two days and got both endings. It's got a really refreshing take on melee combat, sorta a blend of the Rocksteady Batman games and Sekiro.

It's also really difficult until you get good, partially because it takes a while to learn the mechanics, boss patterns, etc, but also because the rpg-lite elements are really poorly explained. I kept having to google how the permanent progress actually worked since it's so convoluted.

I recommend it though. It's the closest a video game has come to a playable kung fu movie.

[Bebpo]

Finally getting to the story in Horizon.

In retrospect, I don't think doing everything and exploring the whole map first was the best order. The map is pretty big and checking all the boxes gets a bit boring eventually without quests/story motivation. Though being all geared up makes story fights lolz. Have the same problem with other sandbox games where I get distracted and do all the side stuff and am super overleveled and already explored everywhere for the main story.

I did like most of the actual side content.

I think for the Frozen Wilds expansion and Horizon 2 I'm gonna do the main story quests first before the side stuff.

[naff]

Finally getting to the story in Horizon.

In retrospect, I don't think doing everything and exploring the whole map first was the best order. The map is pretty big and checking all the boxes gets a bit boring eventually without quests/story motivation. Though being all geared up makes story fights lolz. Have the same problem with other sandbox games where I get distracted and do all the side stuff and am super overleveled and already explored everywhere for the main story.

I did like most of the actual side content.

I think for the Frozen Wilds expansion and Horizon 2 I'm gonna do the main story quests first before the side stuff.

i followed the critical path p close on hard and the story quests were p easy. lots of challenging enough events though. I wasn't bored. I still haven't done half of the errands etc and I've nearly finished frozen wilds. it's great, and harder for sure, but once you figure the enemies out it's still pretty easy. Still think they do a really good job at making enemies really intimidating at first.... but just scanning, looking at their weakness and exploiting that means you don't really need to engage with their movesets meaningfully. they just kinda crumble under your arrows after throwing a few elemental bombs / traps at them

[tiesto]

I've been putting time into the original, PS1 edition of Crash. I've only played the demo back in the day, and a few levels here and there at a retro expo... but never buckled down and played all the way through.

It's definitely dated but it's... not bad. Some issues with depth perception here and there due to camera angles and lack of shadows, my biggest issues are the stupid requirements to break every box without dying on a level if you want to 100%, the saving mechanics being annoying (having to find the bonus round, and it's every other level, and bonus levels/lives in earlier levels don't respawn till you either Game Over or restart your game so there's no grinding save points/extra lives). Also the level design leaves a bit to be desired. I'm like nearing the end of the second island but I feel like I've seen everything. Jumping between lily pads, rolling wheels, wooden aboriginal fortresses, hog rides, boulder chases... and like a lot of platformers have the thing where the first half of a level introduces a mechanic, and then the second half expands on said mechanic, never overstaying its welcome. Well with Crash, some of these levels never seem to end and you've got 5 or 6 checkpoints in each level, where it's this same mechanic getting slightly more difficult after every checkpoint.

[Bebpo]

Finally getting to the story in Horizon.

In retrospect, I don't think doing everything and exploring the whole map first was the best order. The map is pretty big and checking all the boxes gets a bit boring eventually without quests/story motivation. Though being all geared up makes story fights lolz. Have the same problem with other sandbox games where I get distracted and do all the side stuff and am super overleveled and already explored everywhere for the main story.

I did like most of the actual side content.

I think for the Frozen Wilds expansion and Horizon 2 I'm gonna do the main story quests first before the side stuff.

i followed the critical path p close on hard and the story quests were p easy. lots of challenging enough events though. I wasn't bored. I still haven't done half of the errands etc and I've nearly finished frozen wilds. it's great, and harder for sure, but once you figure the enemies out it's still pretty easy. Still think they do a really good job at making enemies really intimidating at first.... but just scanning, looking at their weakness and exploiting that means you don't really need to engage with their movesets meaningfully. they just kinda crumble under your arrows after throwing a few elemental bombs / traps at them

Yeah I felt the game's been a good difficulty. Almost perfect actually. Not frustrating but not too easy (outside some of the story stuff). Like the hardest side thing for me even fully loaded was the corrupt zone lvl.32 with two rockbreakers because they do like 75% damage if they hit you and they aren't easy to kill quick. I hid up on a rock and tried to snipe them but it didn't work well and had to just run around like crazy dodging two worm robos bursting constantly from the ground while lobbing ice grenades to try to freeze them and then get in for some damage.

Early on there was some hard stuff too like the lvl.25 bandit camp in the northeast, but that was mainly a low lvl, low gear thing. Fully loaded at this point, humans are a joke.

Which is why I'm finding the main story stuff easy coming back to it. It's mostly fighting...humans so far and loaded up with my damage modded proximity & blast bombs, triple precision arrows damage modded and triple fire arrows fire modded and rattler damage modded to shotgun people on fire...humans do not stand a chance with me now 

Still not sure how I'm supposed to override birds even though I have all the overrides. Can you override a dino after roping it down even if it's aggro'd? Is there a way to put a dino in a non-aggro state once you've aggro'd it so you can override? So far it seems like you can only override stuff initially before a fight starts when they're unaware.

[Kunai With Chain]

Sekiro's last boss is so good, just beat him on NG+ and heart rate is still kinda pumping. On first playthrough I beat him on around the fourth try which made me think he was underwhelming since he has a reputation for being notoriously hard. Well I must have gotten a lucky RNG with him, because on NG+ it took me almost 20 or so tries to beat him and I still hadn't mastered all his moves and got kinda lucky with his last phase.

[naff]

Finally getting to the story in Horizon.

In retrospect, I don't think doing everything and exploring the whole map first was the best order. The map is pretty big and checking all the boxes gets a bit boring eventually without quests/story motivation. Though being all geared up makes story fights lolz. Have the same problem with other sandbox games where I get distracted and do all the side stuff and am super overleveled and already explored everywhere for the main story.

I did like most of the actual side content.

I think for the Frozen Wilds expansion and Horizon 2 I'm gonna do the main story quests first before the side stuff.

i followed the critical path p close on hard and the story quests were p easy. lots of challenging enough events though. I wasn't bored. I still haven't done half of the errands etc and I've nearly finished frozen wilds. it's great, and harder for sure, but once you figure the enemies out it's still pretty easy. Still think they do a really good job at making enemies really intimidating at first.... but just scanning, looking at their weakness and exploiting that means you don't really need to engage with their movesets meaningfully. they just kinda crumble under your arrows after throwing a few elemental bombs / traps at them

Yeah I felt the game's been a good difficulty. Almost perfect actually. Not frustrating but not too easy (outside some of the story stuff). Like the hardest side thing for me even fully loaded was the corrupt zone lvl.32 with two rockbreakers because they do like 75% damage if they hit you and they aren't easy to kill quick. I hid up on a rock and tried to snipe them but it didn't work well and had to just run around like crazy dodging two worm robos bursting constantly from the ground while lobbing ice grenades to try to freeze them and then get in for some damage.

Early on there was some hard stuff too like the lvl.25 bandit camp in the northeast, but that was mainly a low lvl, low gear thing. Fully loaded at this point, humans are a joke.

Which is why I'm finding the main story stuff easy coming back to it. It's mostly fighting...humans so far and loaded up with my damage modded proximity & blast bombs, triple precision arrows damage modded and triple fire arrows fire modded and rattler damage modded to shotgun people on fire...humans do not stand a chance with me now 

Still not sure how I'm supposed to override birds even though I have all the overrides. Can you override a dino after roping it down even if it's aggro'd? Is there a way to put a dino in a non-aggro state once you've aggro'd it so you can override? So far it seems like you can only override stuff initially before a fight starts when they're unaware.

ha, yeah the human encounters are p average, not terrible just bland next to the brilliant robo dinos. an addition late in dev required for diversity and story re their noclip doc. think it's great they're combining the enemy factions with dinos in the new game.

you can override any bot that's roped down or shocked

[Bebpo]

Didn't finish it tonight but got pretty far in the story. Actually liking the story. We don't get enough Terminator robos vs humans plots in stuff anymore. Should finish it 100% tomorrow. Might go for the Platinum if it's not a lot of work. Guessing chasing down all the data entries will be the most work. Missing a bunch still.

[Nintex]

I've beaten Metroid Dread 

In the end a strange mix between Metroid Fusion, Metroid Zero Mission and Samus Returns.
+ Somewhat HD Metroid
+ Great level design
+ Some great bosses
+ Challenging
+ Game actually rewards you for using things like Shinespark

- You can tell this used to be a 3DS game
- Moving between environments is clunky and confusing
- A lot of repetition in boss/mid-boss fights
- Difficulty depends a lot on luck and figuring out patterns rather than skill
- No memorable music
- Map screen UI sucks

Moving between environments

spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's kinda confusing and I think this is because there are multiple methods of transportation. In Metroid prime for instance, you had elevators to move between areas. Clear and simple.
In Fusion you had a sort of hub area from which you could reach other areas, again clear and simple. In Metroid Dread there's trains, elevators and warp pads. Sometimes you're warped to a different area where you can only find a single item and then have to get back to where you came from. The game doesn't really open up until you've collected the gravity suit and screw attack (which you get in short succession). It's sort of fun to get to multiple areas quicker but in some cases you can hardly tell it is a different area. The areas with the themes are often the smallest and the rest is just generic space caves.

[close]

Repetition

spoiler (click to show/hide)

First you have the EMMI's, of which you have to beat 7 (technically 6) pretty much the same way. (6 central units -> 6 EMMI's). Than you have the Chozo robots which are repeated a lot and finally the Chozo warriors which are also repeated a few times with new variants (i.e. another shield or color). Each of these mid bosses repeats 5 or 6 times in total. That's a lot of the same fights and enemies.

[close]

Difficulty

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Often I get the feeling that the reponsiveness of the controls and the framerate got in the way.
The game relies heavily on short windows to parry, jump away or time attacks. However the timing of these things seems to vary from boss to boss and enemy to enemy.
In the boss fights in particular the timing can be difficult to get right and is not always synced with the animation. It also takes a while for Samus to activate the morphball and often it feels like you are just too slow to evade attacks.
The luck factor plays a big role as well. Sometimes enemies are stuck in an 'easy loop' where they open themselves up to attack time and time again. At other times they never do the one move that allows you to damage them.
In other cases it's just a matter of figuring out the pattern of a boss and you barely get hit at all.
Still, I don't really see how DREAD MODE (1 hit) is going to work as most hits are just caused by bad luck, frame drops or getting stuck against a wall.

[close]

Music

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Music is very toned down compared to say Super Metroid. It does change based on the environment but is merely there to set the mood in the background. The overall soundtrack has a weird contrast with the events, some bosses, opening and credits music and what you hear during normal gameplay

[close]

Map screen UI

spoiler (click to show/hide)

This is absolutely horrendous. I don't know who signed off on this but you can't really tell what's what with all the icons in the way.
The game 'highlights' where you should go next but this is often impossible to spot due to other things flickering.

[close]

Overall I'd say an 7.5 or 8/10 is fair.

[Svejk]

I've beaten Metroid Dread 

In the end a strange mix between Metroid Fusion, Metroid Zero Mission and Samus Returns.
+ Somewhat HD Metroid
+ Great level design
+ Some great bosses
+ Challenging
+ Game actually rewards you for using things like Shinespark

- You can tell this used to be a 3DS game
- Moving between environments is clunky and confusing
- A lot of repetition in boss/mid-boss fights
- Difficulty depends a lot on luck and figuring out patterns rather than skill
- No memorable music
- Map screen UI sucks

Moving between environments

spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's kinda confusing and I think this is because there are multiple methods of transportation. In Metroid prime for instance, you had elevators to move between areas. Clear and simple.
In Fusion you had a sort of hub area from which you could reach other areas, again clear and simple. In Metroid Dread there's trains, elevators and warp pads. Sometimes you're warped to a different area where you can only find a single item and then have to get back to where you came from. The game doesn't really open up until you've collected the gravity suit and screw attack (which you get in short succession). It's sort of fun to get to multiple areas quicker but in some cases you can hardly tell it is a different area. The areas with the themes are often the smallest and the rest is just generic space caves.

[close]

Repetition

spoiler (click to show/hide)

First you have the EMMI's, of which you have to beat 7 (technically 6) pretty much the same way. (6 central units -> 6 EMMI's). Than you have the Chozo robots which are repeated a lot and finally the Chozo warriors which are also repeated a few times with new variants (i.e. another shield or color). Each of these mid bosses repeats 5 or 6 times in total. That's a lot of the same fights and enemies.

[close]

Difficulty

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Often I get the feeling that the reponsiveness of the controls and the framerate got in the way.
The game relies heavily on short windows to parry, jump away or time attacks. However the timing of these things seems to vary from boss to boss and enemy to enemy.
In the boss fights in particular the timing can be difficult to get right and is not always synced with the animation. It also takes a while for Samus to activate the morphball and often it feels like you are just too slow to evade attacks.
The luck factor plays a big role as well. Sometimes enemies are stuck in an 'easy loop' where they open themselves up to attack time and time again. At other times they never do the one move that allows you to damage them.
In other cases it's just a matter of figuring out the pattern of a boss and you barely get hit at all.
Still, I don't really see how DREAD MODE (1 hit) is going to work as most hits are just caused by bad luck, frame drops or getting stuck against a wall.

[close]

Music

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Music is very toned down compared to say Super Metroid. It does change based on the environment but is merely there to set the mood in the background. The overall soundtrack has a weird contrast with the events, some bosses, opening and credits music and what you hear during normal gameplay

[close]

Map screen UI

spoiler (click to show/hide)

This is absolutely horrendous. I don't know who signed off on this but you can't really tell what's what with all the icons in the way.
The game 'highlights' where you should go next but this is often impossible to spot due to other things flickering.

[close]

Overall I'd say an 7.5 or 8/10 is fair.

Totally agree.  It was fun and a very good Metroid game... Just certainly not the best.  Glad it was made and it seemed to sell well.  Don't ever see myself revisiting it though... Not like the others.

[Nintex]

I might try hard mode sometime but I agree it's not very replayable overall.

Still out of all the games that made it out of development hell like Duke Nukem Forever probably the best next to Half Life Alyx if you count it as Half Life 3.

[Bebpo]

Horizon's main story path is like walking sim while listening to nothing but audio journals for a bunch of it. It's cool and I like the story but it's also weird.

Have the power armor and on to the final boss now. Should almost auto-get the plat when the ending rolls. I think I just missed the one trophy for hitting all the training dummies in the world so I'll need to quick map them. I went waaaay above and beyond what the plat requires. I don't want to think of all the hours I spent grinding animal skins to max out every ammo carrying upgrade and ...there's not even a trophy for that and it doesn't count towards % completion. And since you can craft on the fly there is ZERO REASON to upgrade your ammo count, especially not grind hunting dumb animals for hours for it. Easily worst part of the game is trying to get animal skin/bone drops for these.

Also marked off every campfire and there's no trophy for that either. And bought every piece of armor, every weapon and every unique item in the game and no trophies for those.

Game makes a good case for looking at optional trophies before playing so you know what to do (hit those training dummies) and what you can skip (upgrading ammo counts, etc...). I've never looked at an achievement or trophy list before beating a game since I'm always worried it'll spoil stuff tho.

Anyhow, on to the final boss mission now.

[Bebpo]

Ok, beat it and got my plat/100%. Good game! Up there with the top5 sandbox games, only below like AC2 at the time and GTA/RDR. Basically Monster Hunter x AC which is a formula I never knew I wanted. Best combat in a sandbox game and some of the better sidequests. Gorgeous world landscapes & effects. Cool setting/story even if the characters are forgettable. Great music. Good size but not 100 hours. Took me 48 hours to 100% it and if I didn't waste time on stuff like animal skins probably could've done it in like 40-45.

Will take a break for a day and then start the Frozen Wilds expansion on Monday. Will probably just focus on the main story and not try to 100% it so I can finish it this week and check out Horizon 2 on the weekend, though I'll probably hold off playing it for a month or two so I don't get burnt out. Will play Elden Ring instead.

[tiesto]

Horizon's main story path is like walking sim while listening to nothing but audio journals for a bunch of it. It's cool and I like the story but it's also weird.

Have the power armor and on to the final boss now. Should almost auto-get the plat when the ending rolls. I think I just missed the one trophy for hitting all the training dummies in the world so I'll need to quick map them. I went waaaay above and beyond what the plat requires. I don't want to think of all the hours I spent grinding animal skins to max out every ammo carrying upgrade and ...there's not even a trophy for that and it doesn't count towards % completion. And since you can craft on the fly there is ZERO REASON to upgrade your ammo count, especially not grind hunting dumb animals for hours for it. Easily worst part of the game is trying to get animal skin/bone drops for these.

Also marked off every campfire and there's no trophy for that either. And bought every piece of armor, every weapon and every unique item in the game and no trophies for those.

Game makes a good case for looking at optional trophies before playing so you know what to do (hit those training dummies) and what you can skip (upgrading ammo counts, etc...). I've never looked at an achievement or trophy list before beating a game since I'm always worried it'll spoil stuff tho.

Anyhow, on to the final boss mission now.

I've always wondered why western devs are so obsessed with storytelling by audio journals...

[Kunai With Chain]

As someone who really liked Momodora 4, playing Minoria is so disappointing. I don't think I can even bring myself to get to the first proper boss.

[Pissy F Benny]

Horizon's main story path is like walking sim while listening to nothing but audio journals for a bunch of it. It's cool and I like the story but it's also weird.

Have the power armor and on to the final boss now. Should almost auto-get the plat when the ending rolls. I think I just missed the one trophy for hitting all the training dummies in the world so I'll need to quick map them. I went waaaay above and beyond what the plat requires. I don't want to think of all the hours I spent grinding animal skins to max out every ammo carrying upgrade and ...there's not even a trophy for that and it doesn't count towards % completion. And since you can craft on the fly there is ZERO REASON to upgrade your ammo count, especially not grind hunting dumb animals for hours for it. Easily worst part of the game is trying to get animal skin/bone drops for these.

Also marked off every campfire and there's no trophy for that either. And bought every piece of armor, every weapon and every unique item in the game and no trophies for those.

Game makes a good case for looking at optional trophies before playing so you know what to do (hit those training dummies) and what you can skip (upgrading ammo counts, etc...). I've never looked at an achievement or trophy list before beating a game since I'm always worried it'll spoil stuff tho.

Anyhow, on to the final boss mission now.

I've always wondered why western devs are so obsessed with storytelling by audio journals...

It was cool in Bioshock 1, but I've long since stopped listening to them, same with codex entries

[Bebpo]

Horizon's main story path is like walking sim while listening to nothing but audio journals for a bunch of it. It's cool and I like the story but it's also weird.

Have the power armor and on to the final boss now. Should almost auto-get the plat when the ending rolls. I think I just missed the one trophy for hitting all the training dummies in the world so I'll need to quick map them. I went waaaay above and beyond what the plat requires. I don't want to think of all the hours I spent grinding animal skins to max out every ammo carrying upgrade and ...there's not even a trophy for that and it doesn't count towards % completion. And since you can craft on the fly there is ZERO REASON to upgrade your ammo count, especially not grind hunting dumb animals for hours for it. Easily worst part of the game is trying to get animal skin/bone drops for these.

Also marked off every campfire and there's no trophy for that either. And bought every piece of armor, every weapon and every unique item in the game and no trophies for those.

Game makes a good case for looking at optional trophies before playing so you know what to do (hit those training dummies) and what you can skip (upgrading ammo counts, etc...). I've never looked at an achievement or trophy list before beating a game since I'm always worried it'll spoil stuff tho.

Anyhow, on to the final boss mission now.

I've always wondered why western devs are so obsessed with storytelling by audio journals...

I mean the JRPG equivalent is you get to some old robot who sits down for a 10 min exposition cutscene telling you about what happened there.

I don't think either are great for pacing.

[Bebpo]

Some more Horizon shots before I start Frozen Wilds



















Gorgeous game. Also props to their insanely good mecha designer. Yeah it's hugely inspired by Shinkawa's Metal Gear Solid mecha designs, but those are the best so it's good inspiration.

[Bebpo]

Also great character models and props for representing the hairy man

[naff]

Didn't finish it tonight but got pretty far in the story. Actually liking the story. We don't get enough Terminator robos vs humans plots in stuff anymore. Should finish it 100% tomorrow. Might go for the Platinum if it's not a lot of work. Guessing chasing down all the data entries will be the most work. Missing a bunch still.

lol, there's no data points/audio logs trophy. that would be horrendous. ive nearly got the plat just polishing up a few things after campaign missions, very easy plat. just need to get all the flowers and cups and to replay the final mission for all allies (do a bunch of sidequests, but i've done abt 3/4 of what's required). fun enough as they take you to nice looking locales full of bots

[demi]

I enjoyed Horizon's lore, the ending was pretty sweet (like, awww sweet). Curious what they do for the sequel

[chronovore]

Horizon's main story path is like walking sim while listening to nothing but audio journals for a bunch of it. It's cool and I like the story but it's also weird.

Have the power armor and on to the final boss now. Should almost auto-get the plat when the ending rolls. I think I just missed the one trophy for hitting all the training dummies in the world so I'll need to quick map them. I went waaaay above and beyond what the plat requires. I don't want to think of all the hours I spent grinding animal skins to max out every ammo carrying upgrade and ...there's not even a trophy for that and it doesn't count towards % completion. And since you can craft on the fly there is ZERO REASON to upgrade your ammo count, especially not grind hunting dumb animals for hours for it. Easily worst part of the game is trying to get animal skin/bone drops for these.

Also marked off every campfire and there's no trophy for that either. And bought every piece of armor, every weapon and every unique item in the game and no trophies for those.

Game makes a good case for looking at optional trophies before playing so you know what to do (hit those training dummies) and what you can skip (upgrading ammo counts, etc...). I've never looked at an achievement or trophy list before beating a game since I'm always worried it'll spoil stuff tho.

Anyhow, on to the final boss mission now.

I've always wondered why western devs are so obsessed with storytelling by audio journals...

I mean the JRPG equivalent is you get to some old robot who sits down for a 10 min exposition cutscene telling you about what happened there.

I don't think either are great for pacing.

Audio storytelling has the best player acceptance to the lowest production cost ratio for storytelling.

Most players aren’t satisfied to sit and read text on an in-game page or buried submenu to get their story. Text is the cheapest, but no one wants it. If you wanna play a game, you’re not wanting to sit and read a novel on your TV.

Cinematics require lip-synching data in addition to the body movement, and if anything changes in the story, location, or which characters are involved, it’s a heap of work. With audio, you don’t have to deal with any animation, but there’s usually audio processing involved, so using pick up sessions from the actor’s home studio is feasible.

[Bebpo]

Yeah, I get it.

I actually think audio journals are cool and fine but like the problem with them in Horizon is you have no audio journals for hours as you are on the open world/main story missions and then you go into these ruins and every few rooms has like 4 audio journals that are 30-60 seconds each sitting right next to each other.

Like it makes in-game world sense that the journals would be located in the ruins where people actually were, but it's really bad for pacing to stop and listen to each before moving on in the middle of a mission.


Normally the way audio journal pacing is supposed to work is that you get one audio journal at a time and it plays as you move through a section with no dialogue/cutscenes so you are making mission progress while hearing the journal. That's how Bioshock and most games do it. Putting 4-5 in a room in Horizon is just bad design. Hopefully they change that for the sequel.

[chronovore]

Really? I got it for free and I wouldnt spend my precious time on it



The second one was a great game. Id ask for a refund on Legion tbh, its trash

it an amusing enough game for a while, I had about 12 or so reasonably enjoyable hours before dropping it. The fake AI voice acting can be a larf if you get a good one, like my rude boy MI5 agent.

I was trying to figure out what was bothering me about the player-character voice acting. There is a distracting lack of subtlety across the various accents and regional dialects, to the point where they sound like a parody. It’s more noticeable when nonplayable characters are speaking with player-characters, because the former have recognizable skill.

It’s truly distracting.

The other thing that bothers me is the driving. I remember not liking driving much in WD2, but I don’t remember feeling like I was fighting the camera at all times. I am so accustomed to driving in GTA that constantly manually adjusting the camera is second nature to me, but if I try it here it’s an absolute shit fest. I need to look up how to turn off some of the camera assists. Driving is incredibly unpleasant.

Outside of that, it’s pretty much the same gameplay as WD2, which I enjoyed plenty. I played Legion for almost the entire day yesterday, and enjoyed myself outside of those two complaints.

[Bebpo]

Started Frozen Wilds. Getting those Death Stranding snow vibes.

[Svejk]

Making good, but slow, progress in Sekiro.  Taking my time in Senpou Temple area.  Defeated the bridge knight on second try.  The loaded axe wrecks his posture pretty quickly.   Did a few grinds to obtain the Breath of Life art before moving on.   This game is amazing though...

Also started to put some time into Xenoblade: DE.  Man, the QOL improvements are so welcome!  The arranged soundtrack is gorgeous too.  Looking forward to chipping away at this throughout the year.

[Hamarr]

Really? I got it for free and I wouldnt spend my precious time on it



The second one was a great game. Id ask for a refund on Legion tbh, its trash

it an amusing enough game for a while, I had about 12 or so reasonably enjoyable hours before dropping it. The fake AI voice acting can be a larf if you get a good one, like my rude boy MI5 agent.

I was trying to figure out what was bothering me about the player-character voice acting. There is a distracting lack of subtlety across the various accents and regional dialects, to the point where they sound like a parody. It’s more noticeable when nonplayable characters are speaking with player-characters, because the former have recognizable skill.

It’s truly distracting.

The other thing that bothers me is the driving. I remember not liking driving much in WD2, but I don’t remember feeling like I was fighting the camera at all times. I am so accustomed to driving in GTA that constantly manually adjusting the camera is second nature to me, but if I try it here it’s an absolute shit fest. I need to look up how to turn off some of the camera assists. Driving is incredibly unpleasant.

Outside of that, it’s pretty much the same gameplay as WD2, which I enjoyed plenty. I played Legion for almost the entire day yesterday, and enjoyed myself outside of those two complaints.

I think I avoided driving whenever possible in the game.  I ended up mostly using those hovering bots that can move boxes, even though they were kind of slow so I would use a lot of fast travel.  Except for maybe missions where cars were required.

London also got pretty boring quickly for me.  Part of that is having so many random characters that all used the same locations for their various character missions.  It reminded me of the time share dungeons in Dragon Age 2.  SF and Chicago both felt like they had more variety in settings.

I’m continuing on with my Battlefield kick.  I really suck, but it is fun.  People on the Xbox keep kicking me out of the squad as soon as I join, so there is less communication than there could be.  That seems to be a thing with V. 1 has been a little better as a rando.

I’ve also been firing up Rocksmith a bit more.  I got one of the new Epiphone ES 335s and have been having a blast playing it.

[chronovore]

I think I avoided driving whenever possible in the game.  I ended up mostly using those hovering bots that can move boxes, even though they were kind of slow so I would use a lot of fast travel.  Except for maybe missions where cars were required.

London also got pretty boring quickly for me.  Part of that is having so many random characters that all used the same locations for their various character missions.  It reminded me of the time share dungeons in Dragon Age 2.  SF and Chicago both felt like they had more variety in settings.
(snip)

I don't know what a "share dungeon" is, and I haven't played Dragon's Age, though they're in my backlog. 

I agree, London feels oddly same-y no matter where I go in it, with the exception of the Ready Player One refugee camp in the stadium. The San Francisco setting was an absolute blast to explore. Made me homesick for it. I'm unfamiliar with Chicago for real, but the suburbs, cities, rural outlying area all had a distinct feeling to them. London feels like the same buildings used repeatedly to separate the stand-out landmarks.

In Options, I upped both Camera and Driving sensitivity from 50 to 75, and it's feeling less sluggish. No more oversteering, and I'm able to emergency-brake turn around corners. Woot!

The Cargo Drones are the fucking cat's pajamas; there are plenty of places to summon them (the Construction Worker you recruit early on can summon one anywhere), and they'll get you up into any roof for overwatch. Unfortunately there are many flying drones, so when the Restricted Area troops branch out, they have drones that scope the nearby roofs as well. It's challenging.

[Nintex]

Nintex is on an adventure

A wild hippie appeared

Nintex attacks

Smaaaaaaaaaash

The hippie came back to his senses



You might not believe it but I'm a healer of sorts

[bork]

Tried:

Grapple Dog (Switch)- 16-bit style platformer about a dumbass who helps the bad guy get back into power and then has to go do some platformin' action to stop him.  Jumps arcs are a little weird, but you're pretty mobile and can grapple some surfaces and send yourself flying down to attack or break other surfaces.  Seems pretty good.

Rumble Dragon (Switch)- A Gameboy Double Dragon clone. Plays smoother than those games, but is still very much '8-bit' and limited with attacks and enemies on screen. The first stage boss wrecked me.

Ocean's Heart (Switch)- This is a 2D Zelda clone that looks kind of like Minish Cap did.  Not sure if I like this. It looks the part, but am not big on movement. Feels too loose and kind of off.  Wish I got this on Steam so I could refund it.  Maybe it will get better or patched.

Playing:

Valis Collection (Switch)- I never played the PC-Engine CD versions of these games before.  The difference between the first game and the Genesis version at first glance seems to be an impressive amount of voiced dialogue, especially considering how old this is, a redrawn Yuko sprite, plus lots of pantsu~.  Valis 1's intro cut scene was so long that the Switch screensaver kicked in.


Valis 1 is also the newest of the three games in this collection.  It was remade for the PCE-CD in 1992.  Almost done playing through it- being able to save at any time and reload and/or rewind the game back makes it pretty easy to keep going.  It's nice to be able to reload at say, a boss fight, since dying usually puts you all the way back at the start of a level.  Most of the bosses have been easy (you can literally just spam attack and win), although I did have to react to attack patterns for a few of them.  This is a nice little time capsule.  I don't understand why they didn't include Valis IV or even Syd Of Valis in this collection, but it's not like I can't get the roms.  IIRC all three games have different level designs on all the platforms they came out on, so it would have been cool to have had multiple versions included.  Definitely want to try the PCE Valis IV now.  Apparently the SNES version had a lot of content changed or cut.

The King Of Fighters XV (PS5)- This is the first time I've spent any real amount of time playing a game on the PS5 since I got one last year...and it's playing an "uprezzed PS4 game" that apparently has less input lag when played on PS4, similar to Guilty Gear Strive.  But the game looks nice and plays well with the stock PS5 pad, load times are short (much shorter compared to Samurai Shodown 2019), and online matches have been pretty great so far- the game uses rollback netcode and it shows.  Even a 1-bar connection match I had felt fine.  Didn't have any trouble getting matches and hopefully that's a good sign, since the game isn't officially out yet (the digital deluxe version unlocked a few days early on consoles).  encountered some crazy-good people online and got destroyed, but it was impressive seeing what people have already learned.  I like the way a lot of the characters play and it's making it tough to choose a team to stick with!

[tiesto]

I'm up to disk 3 in Koudelka. One of the few horror RPGs out there.

It's cool to see a lot of the origins of the Shadow Hearts games in here, but the actual gameplay is super slow and clunky. In combat, before or after a character does a move, there seems to be a 5 second pause for whatever reason. And it's one of those games that has a positioning-based battle system, which makes things even slower (as the characters have to slowly trot to their assigned space, and most of the time it's still too far to get an attack in the first round). Some of the environments have a bit of a pixel hunt going on, as it's not really clear what you can interact with/where the exits are. I nearly missed a key item because I couldn't see it due to the low-res dark backgrounds.

There's only 2 songs on the soundtrack that I've noticed, the battle and boss theme, neither of them really fit and seem more like a rejected new-agey Secret of Mana song.

If this got a remake, it could be pretty cool. But that would never happen since as far as I know the SH company is deadddddd.

[chronovore]

Watch_DOGES Legion update:

Stayed up until 1AM last night, enjoying the game.

Despite establishing that Assassins Creed is a game in the WD universe, Legion reverses that, and claims that Templars and Assassins are organizations about which the world's foremost conspiracy-minded AI cannot find any references. 

Encountered a set of missions which led to a fun chance to recruit Darcy, an Assassin with WD-themed tools, by getting her into an AC: Syndicate-related tomb.

HOWEVER, once the mission was completed at 1AM, Darcy isn't added to my team. Long story, short: Darcy's missions are part of the Deluxe Edition, but the Season Pass is separately required for recruiting her.

Researching it made me realize that much of the negativity in reviews of this game come from the monetization schemes in place in this full retail game. In WD2, the main game was essentially complete, and there was no compelling reason to get the Season Pass. Ubisoft went ahead and released a bunch of that Season Pass content later, wanting it to be played -- and paying customers complained that their purchase was diminished by the giveaway. With Legion, they have in-game credits for sale, exclusive characters, clothes, etc.

I'm not a fan of unclear messaging in-game: can I recruit her or not?

Trying to picture how I'd feel if GTA V had charged me for a car that was better at winning races. Or for Franklin. Or for Franklin's "driving focus" slow-motion power. Pretty sure I'd hate it.

The season pass is on sale, but I don't want to support the business model.

[Bebpo]

I'm up to disk 3 in Koudelka. One of the few horror RPGs out there.

It's cool to see a lot of the origins of the Shadow Hearts games in here, but the actual gameplay is super slow and clunky. In combat, before or after a character does a move, there seems to be a 5 second pause for whatever reason. And it's one of those games that has a positioning-based battle system, which makes things even slower (as the characters have to slowly trot to their assigned space, and most of the time it's still too far to get an attack in the first round). Some of the environments have a bit of a pixel hunt going on, as it's not really clear what you can interact with/where the exits are. I nearly missed a key item because I couldn't see it due to the low-res dark backgrounds.

There's only 2 songs on the soundtrack that I've noticed, the battle and boss theme, neither of them really fit and seem more like a rejected new-agey Secret of Mana song.

If this got a remake, it could be pretty cool. But that would never happen since as far as I know the SH company is deadddddd.

Yeah, Kouldeka is a cool game except for its gameplay which is bad.

[Bebpo]

Getting close to done with Frozen Wilds. Maybe finish it tomorrow before Horizon 2 is out.

I thought the base game Horizon was the perfect difficulty. Challenging, but not too hard and as you level and get better gear you feel like god mode destroyer. Frozen Wilds really turns the difficulty up...but there's no more skills to get (the new skills are all non-combat skills like extra inventory space) and the new bluegleam weapons are barely any stronger and outfits not much better (especially compared to the power armor), so it's like you're just back to being weak and enemies having a ton of HP and it's...less fun. Plus they made the new enemies super aggressive and the old enemies more aggressive with more HP and damage in the new daemonic forms. And you can't even override them now to help in the fights.

Was never once pissed off in the main game but I've gotten kind of rage-y cursing pissed off in some of these Frozen Wild fights. I haven't even died in fights (though I died a dozen times from fall damage), but the fights are just annoying. I like the power curve of increasing your strength and without that just not having as much fun.

The new weapons suck too (thunder spear, flamethrower) and the hunting grounds here is ridiculously bullshit. Even the bandit camp had a real grindy boss. It's just trying to be a lot more challenging expansion but I find it just more annoying than challenging.

[naff]

you've got to actually manipulate their weaknesses and use multishot arrows etc. take the scorcher, very aggressive but you can take it down in one freeze window by teeing up 3 arrows and pulling til you've triggered a powershot (w bluegleam hunter bow). frostclaw? r3 slowmo flame arrow volleys, smash with bombs, hard points. shadow volley sling + ice mods is your best friend.

I thought the new ice weapon was good, and they're strong for triggering elemental weaknesses if you mod em up.

new bluegleam weapons are a lot stronger but risk/reward. you've got to pull the bows til they trigger the powershot. load em up with multi shot too and you're away

[chronovore]

You guys are making me happy that I skipped that Horizon DLC.

In Spider-Man as well, the DLC just became increasingly unforgiving. I enjoyed the hell out of the main game, but found I had less and less fun when progressing through the DLC. If nothing else, it proved how well-tuned the main game was. I spoke with one of the devs from the Spider-Man team, and they agreed that the emphasis was simply on making it more difficult, not more fun. They also weren't a fan of the DLC.

[naff]

idk abt that spidey biznis but the horizon dlc ruled imo. horizon is at its best when the enemies are actually intimidating. once you figure out how to take down a thunderjaw in a couple minutes it not nearly as engaging

[Bebpo]

you've got to actually manipulate their weaknesses and use multishot arrows etc. take the scorcher, very aggressive but you can take it down in one freeze window by teeing up 3 arrows and pulling til you've triggered a powershot (w bluegleam hunter bow). frostclaw? r3 slowmo flame arrow volleys, smash with bombs, hard points. shadow volley sling + ice mods is your best friend.

I thought the new ice weapon was good, and they're strong for triggering elemental weaknesses if you mod em up.

new bluegleam weapons are a lot stronger but risk/reward. you've got to pull the bows til they trigger the powershot. load em up with multi shot too and you're away

Actually after reading online a bit I read that for Frozen Wilds I need to ditch the slow & powerful windup bow and mod up the damage & handling on the bluegleam hunter bow so that I can get the bluegleam full power shot windup quickly since the openings are much, much smaller in the expansion.

After making that switch the game is 100x easier. I stopped using the standard fast bow along time ago outside for fire arrows because it just didn't do enough damage. But the bluegleam one with hardshot arrows and mods on weakpoints or frozen enemies kills them way faster than winding up triple shots with the slow bow.

Also I read that for frozen wilds you always want ropecaster on your wheel and to be consistently using it to slow down these enemies. So been using that & normal hit element weakpoints + triple shot hardpoint arrows on fast bow and yeah everything is going down insanely fast. Like for the weapon upgrade quest I think I took down a Thunderjaw and Stormbird in like under a minute each.

[Bebpo]

You guys are making me happy that I skipped that Horizon DLC.

In Spider-Man as well, the DLC just became increasingly unforgiving. I enjoyed the hell out of the main game, but found I had less and less fun when progressing through the DLC. If nothing else, it proved how well-tuned the main game was. I spoke with one of the devs from the Spider-Man team, and they agreed that the emphasis was simply on making it more difficult, not more fun. They also weren't a fan of the DLC.

The combat gets dumb in the DLCs. Like the optional mob survival challenges just get stupid hard & annoying. I turned the difficulty down to easy for the DLCs and enjoyed them a lot more.

[naff]

you've got to actually manipulate their weaknesses and use multishot arrows etc. take the scorcher, very aggressive but you can take it down in one freeze window by teeing up 3 arrows and pulling til you've triggered a powershot (w bluegleam hunter bow). frostclaw? r3 slowmo flame arrow volleys, smash with bombs, hard points. shadow volley sling + ice mods is your best friend.

I thought the new ice weapon was good, and they're strong for triggering elemental weaknesses if you mod em up.

new bluegleam weapons are a lot stronger but risk/reward. you've got to pull the bows til they trigger the powershot. load em up with multi shot too and you're away

Actually after reading online a bit I read that for Frozen Wilds I need to ditch the slow & powerful windup bow and mod up the damage & handling on the bluegleam hunter bow so that I can get the bluegleam full power shot windup quickly since the openings are much, much smaller in the expansion.

After making that switch the game is 100x easier. I stopped using the standard fast bow along time ago outside for fire arrows because it just didn't do enough damage. But the bluegleam one with hardshot arrows and mods on weakpoints or frozen enemies kills them way faster than winding up triple shots with the slow bow.

Also I read that for frozen wilds you always want ropecaster on your wheel and to be consistently using it to slow down these enemies. So been using that & normal hit element weakpoints + triple shot hardpoint arrows on fast bow and yeah everything is going down insanely fast. Like for the weapon upgrade quest I think I took down a Thunderjaw and Stormbird in like under a minute each.

yah it gets easy. ropecaster strong. I don't think I ever really used the slow wind up bow for anything but tearblast arrows and precision occasionally. sometimes I would lead a battle with 3x precision arrows to aggro. I find with the hunter bow nocking 3x hardshot arrows + windup gets more dps than faster individual shots + windup. I use the shit out of freeze bombs on everything not resistant too. haven't actually looked up others strats, but seems p clear what is strong

[chronovore]

It's nice that Watch_Dogs: Legion included a fishing game:

[Svejk]

Yeah, the last boss of Frozen Wilds is a total arrow sponge.  But was actually much easier than the Frost claws, or whatever those brutal enemies are..  Just took longer to fight.

[Bebpo]

Been playing licensed games as it is actually my favorite genre:


Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions (PS3, 2010): I was thinking about how many times they've done Spiderverse stuff over the years and there's the TAS version in the 90s, it seems they did it again on Ultimate Spiderman TAS, this game, the follow up game Edge of Time, the actual comic series, Into The Spider-Verse, No Way Home, and Into the Spider-Verse 2. Anyway this is real solid but suffered a loading issue near the end of the game so I didn't finish it, but I beat it previously when it was new so whatever.

Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY (PS3, 2009): Been a while since I replayed this instead of just playing Arkham City. Story is definitely tighter, but the improved mechanics in the follow up games can make this feel a bit stiff and clunky at times. It's still real good, but it isn't as fun as the other Arkham games even if the narrative and structure is a bit better.

The Amazing Spiderman (PS3, 2012): Much like the Raimi movie tie in games, this is better than it needs to be. It's really like a next gen version of those games and really the template for the PS4 version as well. It's very much coming on the heels of Arkham, with the fighting style being basically exactly the same, but also including a lot of sections of crawling through vents and stealth takedowns. It's kind of interesting that it directly follows up the movie storyline in a completely different direction than the actual movie sequel (the game sequel also does the same thing and brings in Carnage and Kingpin and other closer to the comics stuff), but also didn't get the likenesses of anyone in the movie except Rhys Ifans, who doesn't voice the role.


Batman: Arkham City GOTY (PS3, 2011): Coming directly from TAS1, it will take a bit to get used to it being slower and clunkier than the speedy, free running, high flying Spiderman.

I loved Shattered Dimensions back then. Was one of the best comic book fanservice games there is. The Spider-Man Noir stealth stages were great and 2099 getting representation was fun. Plus lots of Spider-Man villains.

Check out the Spider-Man DS game if you haven't. It's a 2d Metroidvania and pretty solid.

[naff]

didn't actually know/remember that bayo and vanquish had received an anniversary edition bundle on PS4. saw it was on sale and picked it up 

been wanting to replay both of these for quite a while. haven't played either since the 360 days. have bayo 2 on wii u i been keen to play again also.... though i might try it on dolphin instead this time. my wii u pro controller been a bit janky. gonna be sweet to revisit ahead of bayo 3 (still this year sometime?).

picking up forbidden west tomorrow anyway. feels silly to jump into something like this with elden ring there. whatever happens, forbidden west will be dropped for the ring come friday week.