Author Topic: What are you playing?  (Read 4012494 times)

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HardcoreRetro

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39660 on: October 31, 2023, 11:22:22 AM »
They should do me a solid and remaster the 3 Resistance games. All 3 of those have it's own flavour. I'd also enjoy going through the couch co-op campaign with a friend in 1 and 3 once again.

demi

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39661 on: October 31, 2023, 11:55:16 AM »
SpiderMan 2 has just been more SpiderMan. I have no problem with this, I enjoy that each checklist has their own little mini-story. The combat is still very whatever.

It's still a triple-A game experience too: https://ibb.co/QjnJwf0
fat

Bebpo

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39662 on: October 31, 2023, 12:03:09 PM »
I do like that after a while you get enough abilities/tools/splurge/finisher things that you can basically just rotate between them and avoid actually doing any combat on normal difficulty sometimes. Just spam everything constantly.

I'm sure on the harder difficulties you need to do more normal combat between cooldowns.

Bebpo

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39663 on: November 03, 2023, 03:04:17 AM »
Got to the back half of Spider-Man 2.

Having fought the "real" bosses at this point, I'm pretty meh on the Sekiro boss combat system. Basically just means you stand around or PPPPPPP while staring at your spider-sense and dodging blues, parrying yellows, using cooldowns when you have them. You almost don't want to be doing anything else because sometimes you'll be stuck in animations and unable to dodge or parry when the spider-sense fires off in time. The flow just seems kinda eh. And my biggest issue is when they try to mix up attacks that you can't dodge or parry and you have to jump and those don't have a unique color so it gets kind of hard to tell what the fuck it wants you to do sometimes.

Also bosses have a ton of life and idk why it doesn't checkpoint each lifebar even as an accessibility option. Like on

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Martin Li

I died a bunch because the visual visibility on the stupid tornadoes when he's in the bubble and you have to wait for your lightning to recharge is terrible and so I'd get through his 2nd lifebar and into the 3rd and then die from the tornadoes and then have to start at the beginning of lifebar 2 and do it all over again each attempt. That fight was pretty terrible, especially all the negative realm spam that goes on forever.
[close]

Still lots of cool set pieces. Haven't done side stuff for a while because the main plot keeps you wanting to stick to it. Good game but yeah some of the combat stuff is a bit iffy. Also so.many.fucking.dudes in some of the sections. It's just fight fight fight fight fight and it gets a bit draining.

demi

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39664 on: November 05, 2023, 11:38:29 PM »
Playing random Xbox games waiting for Yakuza Gaiden and Mario RPG

- Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (played on twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1967022359)

I prefer the N64 version of this for sure. This was "fine" but hardly anything like a Tomb Raider game I was hoping it would be.

- Breakdown (played on twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1968219148)

Gotta get that first person puke in. I played this on "easy" because this game can be frustrating as shit. MMarsu stopped by which I appreciate, it's fun to talk while playing these games, which is why I'm trying to stream them more. But I still think this is a unique game.

- Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (played on twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1969537620)

Neat little jank Zelda-like. Not much to say about it. I've played this before, but it's neat still.

- Panzer Dragoon Orta (played on twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1969817718)

First time playing this through. Beside some annoyances with a couple bosses, it was a fun little play. Even checked out the included Panzer Dragoon (Saturn) for a bit before ending stream.


Also Xbox BC makes these games look so good. I still have a few more games to check out (Splinter Cell Trilogy, Jade Empire, Ninja Gaiden...)
fat

Himu

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39665 on: November 06, 2023, 04:32:47 AM »
Nice stuff Demi. As said when I first got my Series X it's easily the best console since ps2 in terms of just flat out shit it has to offer. Getting upscaled Panzer Dragoon Orta or NGB, two games I own on disc, in 4k in 2023 is fucking wild.

Also GTAIV gets 60 FPS on Series X when it was far less stable on 360.
IYKYK

Svejk

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39666 on: November 06, 2023, 02:29:00 PM »
Been chipping away, juggling between Horizon 2 and Doom 2016 still.

Horizon 2 – Gotta say this game is really starting to get it’s hooks in.  Getting use to working with the perks, which make you feel more and more badass.  There looks to be more focus on elemental buffs, which has me optimizing my load out to be more fine tuned.  Really starting to wreck shit.   And goddam… the water/ocean is fucking mind blowing on how incredible looking it is.  Guerilla seriously worked some black magic for their waves and reflections.  I just went through the stormy boat cutscene.  It’s becoming harder to put down.

Doom – Also is starting to get it hooks into me more.  This game can be exhilarating as hell (see what I did there? Lul) I do enjoy it’s simplicity and it’s lightening fast gameplay.  Although it gets the adrenaline pumping, it extremely satisfying ripping a plethora of demons to shreds.  Some of the challenges are dumb though, like the one where you only get 3 seconds to move before you become stationary until you kill something else.  The enemy placement just forces you to just memorize where they are and just not really a fun challenge.  Otherwise, got all the main weapons and having a good time with it.  About 70% through.

tiesto

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39667 on: November 07, 2023, 01:46:58 PM »
Had a staycation last week and thus, played a lot of Legend of Legaia.

This game is mediocre as all hell. It's such a slow paced and sluggish game, where battles take forever, movement takes forever (especially on the world map), the game itself is pretty grindy (especially since equipment seems way overpriced yet necessary), and the load times aren't insignificant. The graphics were all rendered in 3D on the maps, which seems pointless since you can't rotate the camera or zoom in/out, I think things would've looked much better if they used prerendered backgrounds. The dungeon design isn't that great, usually its a straight line to the next area (filled with lots of battles), maybe a branch off to get a treasure chest. The story, just feels rather repetitive, no interesting twists, very little mystery... and the characters are one-note, you have the silent lead, annoying girl raised by wolves that carries on like a hyperactive child, and the stoic monk character who tries to put her in her place. This is during a time when RPG stories and gameplay were at their height, yet here we have simplistic story and characters from an early 16-bit RPG and a slow, grindy gameplay progression to match.

The combat has some interesting aspects - a system primarily driven by the d-pad (though it can be confusing and unintuitive with where menu options are placed, if I want to attack with a bespoke combo I need to press <- to select "Attack", then -> to select "Custom", then input the command sequence(s) for different attacks, then <- again to "Confirm"... be careful you don't press -> instead of <- at the end because then you'll have to re-input everyone's commands!) it builds nicely as you unlock new skills, and has some decent visuals (as far as PS1 3D goes). But the slow pace of combat and the fact every enemy seems to have overinflated HP (especially the boss fights which just dragggggg assssss).

Music.. most of the songs are very repetitive and loopy, especially the battle theme. Sure, I like drum and bass (the official genre of the PS1) as much as the next guy, however hearing an amen break plus 5 notes over and over again for the battle theme got old fast. Especially considering how long you spend in battle.

A little over 30 hours in. I made it past the Kowloon Walled City style town, and while this would've been the high point (since it has some minigames and a more interesting/unique graphic design than the rest of the game), however there's a big grind needed to save up for special bread. Now I'm in a snowy town and have to find something called the "TimeSpace Bomb", yeah the game's translation feels pretty stilted as well. The "Seru", "Ra-Seru", "Sim-Seru" all kinda give me L'Cie, Fal'cie vibes :P

But my SO2R collector's edition finally arrived so I will probably shelve this for a bit and play that.
« Last Edit: November 07, 2023, 01:55:38 PM by tiesto »
^_^

demi

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39668 on: November 07, 2023, 02:18:33 PM »
Damn, I love Legaia tiesto. You will appreciate it more when you try the sequel.......

Also you are now banned, sorry.
fat

tiesto

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39669 on: November 07, 2023, 09:49:18 PM »
Sequel is better or worse? I think I have that one too.
^_^

Bebpo

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39670 on: November 07, 2023, 09:54:11 PM »
I honestly remember 2 more than 1, probably cause 2 was one of those early gen PS2 jrpgs. I still have this thick ass guidebook for Legaia 2 somewhere in my closet.

I liked both but they were also products of their time. Dunno if I'd like them today. The combo concept was cool because not many jrpgs do combos and the ones that do tend to be the good ones like Xenogears and Valkyrie Profile and Shadow Hearts and Grandia.

demi

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39671 on: November 08, 2023, 02:31:55 AM »
Sequel is better or worse? I think I have that one too.

To me I think its way worse. You thought Legaia 1 was boring and monotonous? Yeah Legaia 2 takes it up tenfold. I dont consider it a Legaia game. Much like there is an "Alundra 2"
fat

Polident Hive

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39672 on: November 08, 2023, 06:43:14 AM »
Been messing around with various PS2 leaked dev builds. No idea if they’re all recent discoveries. Stuff like the original Capcom Red Dead Revolver, Daredevil, Oni 2.

Daredevil’s build is around 2003. Might be one of the earliest instances of detective vision. If anything it reminds me of Tenchu without the stealth.

HardcoreRetro

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39673 on: November 11, 2023, 07:09:57 AM »
I'm looking at Spider-Man 2 with it's two Spider-Men. Why doesn't this have some form of coop? Give it an unique selling point. Shit feels like belated DLC as it is now.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39674 on: November 11, 2023, 09:27:16 PM »
Finished Spider-Man 2 main story. Overall it was pretty good. Still have a decent amount of the side stuff to wrap up over the next week or two, but overall I'd give this a 9 and it's the best game of the three Spider-Man Insomniac games. Traversal is a amazing, gameplay is fun, side activities and sidequests are decent.

My main complaints are

spoiler (click to show/hide)
That it takes like 75% of the game for Venom to show up and then you chase him a couple of times, boss fight and then the game is over. Just feels like the Venom part of the venom storyline was kinda weak.

Venom was also weird as he wasn't scary or threatening, but he also wasn't goofy like the Tom Hardy movies. He's just this weird middle ground and honestly I didn't care for the take on Venom. Especially with Tony Todd doing the voice I would've rather they gone the scary brain eating monster route.

Kraven was good, and got a ton of screen time, though I feel like his finale still felt a bit underdeveloped too. But was generally a pretty darn good Kraven game. Good black suit story for Peter, and ok Venom thing.

Venom's storyline being this whole videogame-y wants to turn the whole world into symbiotes! thing was kinda lame too, so that didn't help Venom's part of the story.
[close]

Will be there for the DLCs and expansion if they do one. I assume if they do a standalone expansion in the wait for SM3 it'll be

spoiler (click to show/hide)
A Venom spinoff, though I guess it'd have to be Eddy Brock? Because Harry's going to be stuck in a coma until SM3 and Goblin stuff.
[close]

Polident Hive

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39675 on: November 12, 2023, 04:36:16 AM »
Onto world 2 of Super Mario Wonder. Look, maybe I’m a bigger weeaboo than I thought because I couldn’t stand the talking flowers in English but switching to Japanese audio, they’re fine. Cute, even.

Good so far. Immediately better than the NSMB trilogy. The badges, aside from the swimming one, is too much of an assist. This one I got adds new blocks to stages, and it manifests as new platforms to block obstacles and additions power ups. And I only bought it after maxing out my purple coins (999) and needing to offload some. Also had to buy 50 1ups just so I can collect more. But trying the world 1 special stage, I might end up needing them down the road.

Nintex

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39676 on: November 12, 2023, 01:58:24 PM »
Mario Wonder is amazing, at the desert world which is great, so many secrets and awesome stages. A lot of gameplay variety too.  :rejoice

Played some more Alan Wake 2 also. Up to the point that I can freely switch between Wake and Saga. What an incredible game, truely an audio visual marvel and has me on the edge of my seat the entire time.
🤴

Svejk

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39677 on: November 13, 2023, 03:54:40 PM »
Finished Horizon 2.  Was pretty satisfied with it overall.  Second half was definitely better; picking up story-wise, fine tuning better loadouts and gear, gameplay/combat perks, to environments and puzzles, and dinobot variety.     Did kind of b-line it after getting the fly ability.  Didn’t care to 100% it or anything, just wanted to keep the momentum going.  I think I had well over 15 points left of perks I never used, now that I think about it. Lol  Where the story appears to be going, I will be on board for the 3rd one.   Glad to have this off the backlog though.  I may actually go back to TOTK now finally.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2023, 04:00:52 PM by Svejk »

The Sceneman

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39678 on: November 15, 2023, 10:55:40 PM »
A lot of Armored Core 6. About halfway through NG+. Awesome game. I'm "OK" at it now.

Resident Evil 4: Seperate Ways pretty good DLC. Ada's voice is so good in this game which is a huge highlight of it
#1

Polident Hive

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39679 on: November 17, 2023, 02:41:47 AM »
Played Bomber Man World in arcades. Was pretty fun and wanted to try it again in MAME. Oddly, couldn’t find it in the full MAME set I have. Turns out they called it New Atomic Punk Global Quest. in America. They should’ve kept it that way for the rest of the series.

The older games played around with the concept in ‘94, 64, Hero, Saturn, etc. while the newer Switch game is the main grid stuff.

tiesto

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39680 on: November 17, 2023, 04:52:42 PM »
Completed the original Ninja Gaiden (NES version) after beating 2 and 3 a bit earlier. There were 2 sections that were extremely tricky with the enemy placement - in stage 5-3 and 6-2 - where it was better for me to just restart the level to get the spin jump attack than to actually survive. I also got good enough at stage 6-3 where I could carry the spin jump attack from the beginning to the final bosses, so I could just use that to cheese. So, go me for beating a legendarily-difficult NES game.

Also struggled through Legend of Legaia and completed it last night. It did pick up in parts but as soon as it looked like it was going to turn over a leaf, something happened to piss me off. Like a crash bug in the final dungeon, or a freeze (after an hour and a half since my last save) that triggers all the time when playing on PS3 (I switched over to playing on PS2 at that point, now with a Retrotink the game looks just as good, if not better, than it does on the PS3).

The story got a bit more interesting, environments a bit less generic, and I liked some of the almost horror elements that pop up towards the end. But still, the sluggish pace of the combat and awfully repetitive music kinda killed it for me.

So now I started SO2r, not too far yet (just beat the Symbology Forest), and this is everything I could possibly want in a remake. The new guild missions that introduce you more thoroughly to the whole Item Creation system. The fast travel and notes where you can find Private Actions. The absolutely gorgeous graphics and dynamic camera angles. Have off all week so I'll spend the majority of it catassing this game and eating lots of turkey.

And finally, tonight I will have my friend over to play Mega Man X3, which I scored a copy for the SNES at a slightly-less-than-market price.
^_^

Svejk

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39681 on: November 18, 2023, 01:44:28 PM »
About 2 chapters away from finishing Doom (2016). Was hard to put down last night.

 Was going to play some TOTK, but the thought of syncing a controller and setting up the earphone extention cord sounded too much of a chore.  :noah

The Sceneman

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39682 on: November 19, 2023, 03:46:12 AM »
Seperate Ways has to be some of the GOAT DLC in terms of length, quality and value for money. Holy shit this is great content. Hardcore mode is spot-on difficulty wise as well. Ive died quite a few times but it's never frustrating and it's so fun playing out each encounter a bit better by spacing the enemies more and making better use of items
#1

Pissy F Benny

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39683 on: November 19, 2023, 07:07:13 AM »
I don't think Blood and Wine giving you an easy 25 hours plus for about £15 will ever be topped. Thats a full Mass Effect game worth :rejoice

Phantom Liberty is pretty great too.
(ice)

Nintex

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39684 on: November 19, 2023, 08:40:54 AM »
Seperate Ways is fantastic, I hear the Xenoblade 3: Future Redeemed DLC is great too but I haven't finished XB2 and Torna yet and it seems like its mandatory to finish the series before doing the big finale.

Talking about great games. Just finished the Watery/Coffee World part of Alan Wake II and it was fan fucking tastic. This is one of the few games that is genuinely unsettling and scary at times. I nearly jumped out of my chair at the well part.
Sam Lake and Remedy really pulled out all the stops for this one.





🤴

Bebpo

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39685 on: November 21, 2023, 05:20:32 AM »
And...done with Utawarerumono trilogy.



Good srpg/VN series, but I rank them 1 > 2 > 3.

Game #1 - Prelude to the Fallen - Story - 9, Cast - 8, Gameplay - 5
Game #2 - Mask of Deception - Story - 8, Cast - 9, Gameplay - 7
Game #3 - Mask of Truth - Story - 7, Cast - 8, Gameplay - 8

Basically depends on what you value you most in a VN/srpg.
Found this steam review that basically says why 3 is kinda meh:

Quote
Many battle/war scenes are predictable anime fare: you have the enemy on the ropes, but then the enemy activates some super secret power, but then an ally arrives at just the right moment to thwart the enemy. We've all seen it a hundred times before. I get the sense that the writers of Utawarerumono were more adept at writing comedy/slice-of-life than they were at writing wartime SRPG stuff. This is another reason why I feel that Mask of Truth is the weakest of the trilogy, storywise. While Mask of Deception was mostly a whimsical comedy, Mask of Truth is mostly a wartime drama. The former allowed the writers to play to their strengths more.

Also didn't help Mask of Truth is double the length of each of the two previous games, but not as interesting plot-wise, even if the gameplay is a bit better.

Still glad I played the series. Sounds like the prequel game they put out last year Monochrome Mobius sucks,

Quote
I love the Uta series. I love the world and characters and stories, and I know Aquaplus released this game as a sort of celebration for their 25 years of making games. However, what I ended up getting was a very subpar prequel to an infinitely more interesting set of games with infinitely more interesting stories and characters. A heavy "been there, done that" vibe permeates every inch of this game, and there was never a single moment where I did not wish we'd gotten a sequel to Mask of Truth or at least something fresh instead of what we got here."

so will skip that one. If they do another VN/tactics series probably would play it.

Also because these games are 90% visual novels and they've done anime adaptations for all three, I'm pretty sure you could just watch the animes and get the exact same or better experience than playing the three games.

Svejk

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39686 on: November 24, 2023, 10:13:10 PM »
Beat Doom (2016).  Good stuff.  Didn't overstay it's welcome, but was pretty satisfactory, especially if you like the OG.  Tempted to get Doom Eternal that's on sale for $10 atm.

Played through Portal 1 (Portal Collection on Switch).  These games are brilliant.  Played P2 awhile back on PS3, but have been wanting to play the first one for awhile now.  Valve just had some crazy creative devs at the time.  Would like more similar puzzle games.

TOTK.  Finished the Wind Temple.  Boss and "dungeon" were, eh.  Gonna try and just move onto the next main dungeon.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39687 on: November 24, 2023, 11:06:44 PM »
Beat Lunacid - Goodish 8/10 souls/kings-field game. Very jank. Has good exploration, secrets, cryptic lore, aesthetic, music, has bad/jank combat and balance and level design.

Finished all the side content and plat on Spider-Man 2 - side content was much better than prior games. Enjoyed most of it and the setups for DLC/Spider-Man 3. Great game overall. For a by the books AAAA mainstream game it's pretty quality. Best of the three games for sure in the series.


Picked up Alan Wake 2 on the BF sale for $33.50 for PC. Might play another indie game or two before jumping into it. Dunno. Thinking I'll finally get to Inscryption next. Also need to get back to and finish Bomb Rush Cyberfunk.

Nintex

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39688 on: November 25, 2023, 06:07:59 PM »
I finished up the main story of the wonderful Super Mario Wonder, what a trip.
They pulled out all the stops of the final level too.

While the game is great overall it doesn't quite hold onto the same level of surprise throughout.
Especially the subtle creative surprises like the very long goal post, or the goal post that runs away are mostly confined to the first few worlds.

As far as the wonders go, they repeat some quite often. Like the Jelly Mario transformation.

Weakest part of the game are the bosses. Mid bosses are entirely missing(except for a few Airships) and the world bosses are just Bowser Jr. over and over again.
🤴

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39689 on: November 26, 2023, 07:57:49 PM »
Finished Act 1 of Inscryption. Thought that was pretty hard tbh, got lucky at a few spots on a run and cleared it but I kept dying before that right before the final boss on the 3rd map where the opponent keeps playing lots of airborne enemies that hit hard and I can't keep up.

The only thing I found that really helped was the squirrel totem + weakening attack, that got me some good runs including the clear run.

Started Act 2, doesn't seem as interesting, but more actual permanent deckbuilding seems like it'll make it easier. Gonna take a break for a bit before going for this. Act 1 took me about 5 hours of retries. Maybe 5-10 runs total. But I didn't do the paintings, and I read they give you a 3rd candle life outside bosses and let you redraw your deck so that probably would've helped. I found the normal battles tougher than boss fights because of RNG whereas the bosses all seemed to have tricks to them.

Joe Molotov

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39690 on: November 27, 2023, 10:16:18 AM »
I played Star Ocean The Second Story R all weekend. I already loved the game but this is a fantastic remake. It looks a lot better than that their HD-2D games. If Xenogears got a remake like this, I would poop with joy.
©@©™

Nintex

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39691 on: November 27, 2023, 05:53:10 PM »
Went back to playing Alan Wake II and a bit of Tears of the Kingdom.

Remedy even put a musical in the game, which shouldn't work at all but somehow everything comes together perfectly :doge

spoiler (click to show/hide)
[close]
🤴

The Sceneman

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39692 on: November 27, 2023, 08:14:14 PM »
Finished RE4 Remake on Professional with S+ rank. Equal parts fun and annoying, was still quite difficult even though I "cheated" with the mictotransactions for an early infinite machine gun. But felt good to stack those S+ cheevos and get the base 1000/1000. Working on Seperate Ways pro S+ now. I have an additional golden ticket to help with that too

I'm like 2/3 through Sea of Stars and it's a bit of a slog. It looks great and plays well but there's just no decisions to be made in combat. No role playing, gear is as barebones as it can be and there's no customisation to any of your characters. Wheres all the accessories? Half of the characters equip slots are empty because the items just don't exist. It's really strange.

Started GRIS and not sure if I'll finish. Really great art and music, game a bit of a snooze fest. But I think it's short so might as well get to the end
« Last Edit: November 27, 2023, 08:23:30 PM by The Sceneman »
#1

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39693 on: November 27, 2023, 08:37:38 PM »
Finished RE4 Remake on Professional with S+ rank. Equal parts fun and annoying, was still quite difficult even though I "cheated" with the mictotransactions for an early infinite machine gun. But felt good to stack those S+ cheevos and get the base 1000/1000. Working on Seperate Ways pro S+ now. I have an additional golden ticket to help with that too

I'm like 2/3 through Sea of Stars and it's a bit of a slog. It looks great and plays well but there's just no decisions to be made in combat. No role playing, gear is as barebones as it can be and there's no customisation to any of your characters. Wheres all the accessories? Half of the characters equip slots are empty because the items just don't exist. It's really strange.

Started GRIS and not sure if I'll finish. Really great art and music, game a bit of a snooze fest. But I think it's short so might as well get to the end

Sea of Stars is a bad game.
FF13 is a bad game.
FF16 is a bad game.

Developers need to stop making rpgs that have extremely minimal player interaction/choice gameplay. FF13 is probably the best of those because at least the combat has a bit of depth in character/team builds with the break/juggle system.

As a long time jrpg fan I just hate this trend of making jrpgs that have no gameplay basically. They're boring to play even if they look nice or have a good story. But despite doing this like 50% of the audience seems to love these games ( :doge) so they keep making them like this. It's one of my biggest pet peeves in gaming.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39694 on: November 29, 2023, 01:53:06 AM »
Made it a good ways into Act 3 of Inscryption.

Yeah, this game is really good. I can see why it won GoTY in a lot of lists in 2021.

Nintex

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39695 on: November 29, 2023, 06:31:40 PM »
Alan Wake II is so fucking good. The pieces are now coming together but I'm still not entirely sure about the big picture.

spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Some doors are best left closed"

Is Mr. Door Saga's father?
[close]
🤴

The Sceneman

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39696 on: November 30, 2023, 02:20:22 PM »
Yeah I'm gonna scoop Alan W 2 next week I think. Heard nothing but amazing things
#1

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39697 on: November 30, 2023, 03:11:48 PM »
I got to the part about 4 chapters at the talk show exterior and I'm enjoying it, but I don't get the raves yet. It's basically just a walking sim with a bit of minor combat so far...

I really was not a big fan of the first game which was like a 7/10 for me, so it's going to take a lot for me to love this one. Will see what happens.

Nintex

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39698 on: November 30, 2023, 06:07:25 PM »
It depends on how much you are invested in the story I guess. It's a great experience overall but if you don't like Remedy style story telling, you won't change your mind with this one.
The combat is probably their best yet after CONTROL. I especially like the shotguns and rifles. They sound good too.

The Matrix/Inception city Alan Wake is stuck in, is probably the best part of the game. Everything feels so surreal and sometimes you are completely stumped on how to solve some of the puzzles.
The True Detective story of Saga is awesome too but a bit more by the numbers gameplay wise and takes a while to really get going.

The weakest bits of the game are the 'optional' areas that you can return to after you've finished a chapter to collect hidden items.

There is basically only three types of these:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Nursery Rhymes (which tie back into CONTROL)
Alex Casey lunch boxes (currency for weapon upgrades)
Cult stashes (boxes with gear that require some thinking and puzzle solving to open)
Additional Manuscript pages (these tell the story but some only appear when you revisit important areas)
[close]
During those segments you pretty much walk around mostly empty areas shooting the occasional enemies that pop up.
Fast Travel would've helped as tracking through the woods can be slow.

Overall though the main missions of the game come together perfectly so far, which is what it is all about.
Easily a GOTY contender for me.
🤴

demi

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39699 on: November 30, 2023, 09:08:42 PM »
I did say if you were mid on Alan Wake, 2 is not going to convince you otherwise. They really didnt accomplish the "resident evil" feeling they wanted. It really is just alan wake
fat

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39700 on: November 30, 2023, 09:18:45 PM »
I did say if you were mid on Alan Wake, 2 is not going to convince you otherwise. They really didnt accomplish the "resident evil" feeling they wanted. It really is just alan wake

Yeah, I'm still real early. Maybe 3 hours in, and it's better than the first game which was a total bore mostly outside the nice graphics and some atmosphere. This one still has nice graphics and atmosphere, but it's a little more fun? But I'm waiting for the combat/more gameplay stuff to open up.

Got distracted by Inscryption because it was the way better game, but now that I'm done with that, going to get back to AW2 tonight.

So far AW2 is like a smooth enjoyable 8/10 if AW1 is a 7 and Control is a 9. I liked Control because it felt like a Japanese gameplay-focused TPS game in the gameplay loop, while balancing the western graphics and story stuff.

Bebpo

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39701 on: December 01, 2023, 02:36:30 AM »
When does the combat get any better? I'm walking around the subway and this combat kinda sucks. How long until you get a better weapon than the revolver?

Nintex

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39702 on: December 01, 2023, 06:53:40 PM »
The combat remains largely the same but it does get more intense with more enemy variety.
It never comes close to Resident Evil 4 combat though and so far I haven't felt as powerful as I did in CONTROL.
I do like that the enemies become more agressive as you progress through the Dark Place, just like how it works in Inception.

I just picked up Saga's final weapon, she has about 5 weapons in total. For Wake I have 3 weapons so far but I don't think he'll get as many as her.
With Wake I usually try to avoid enemies because fighting these shadows in the dark can be quite challenging and you run out of batteries real quick.

But overall this is a narrative driven avant-garde survival horror game with sprinkles of action and Sam Lake quirkiness.
You either love it or hate it but you can't deny they put great care in putting this all together so seamlessly.

Resident Evil 4: Remake on the other hand is a perfectly tuned action game with survival horror spinkled in.
I see people compare these but I don't see many similarities at all. Except that Remedy replaced their own floaty camera system with an over-the-shoulder perspective.
🤴

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39703 on: December 01, 2023, 08:17:46 PM »
I just find the Wake side super boring. There's no actual thinking to the plot board stuff and you can just walk past most of the shadows and you have tons of health items so it's not really survival horror. Wake's side just feels like a walking simulator and dull, basically everything I disliked about the first game that would keep putting me to sleep like FF13's dungeons do.

Saga's side felt a bit more survival horror and was sorta fun even though the combat was limited and teleporting enemies are dumb. Looking to get back to her side.

After another hour in the subway (I guess I'm about done), downgrading my opinion back down to 7/10 like AW1, at least for Wake's side of the game so far.

Kind of regret buying this for $33.50 instead of waiting until it was bargain bin $10 in a year or two. Control's goodwill bought that.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39704 on: December 01, 2023, 08:20:14 PM »
I'm just trying to figure out 4 hours in how Era is polling this game as the best game of the year after Baldur's 3. Then again a bunch of people seemed to really love the first Alan Wake.

Like AW2 at this point is closer to the worst 10 games I've played in 2023 than top 10 for me. Doesn't even get near something like Tears to the Kingdom or even Spider-Man 2 which actually have gameplay in addition to the story stuff.

Hopefully AW2 just has a slow start and what impresses everyone to give it the kind of scores and press it gets will come in to play later on. Feels like trying to get to Gran Pulse in FF13...

Nintex

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39705 on: December 02, 2023, 11:49:30 AM »
Hideo Kojima and Sam Lake should team up and create the ultimate avant garde survival horror conspiracy game with a $750 million budget :lawd
🤴

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39706 on: December 02, 2023, 02:36:15 PM »
Ok, after the part where you can start switching between characters, game is getting better. Also now that I see how the Wake side is structured I'm more on board with it and the smart budget re-use going on there. 5 hour fucking intro tutorial...man, I hate some AAA game design these days.

Still kinda feels like the combat is trash though. Like with the revolver it takes almost a full clip to down an enemy and meanwhile the reload takes fucking forever and multiple enemies teleporting/rushing on your ass that are invincible until you flashlight them and you die in 2 hits so basically a lot of dodging and running and flashlighting while just trying to fucking finish the reload cycle to take down one more enemy in the group and then repeat.

Yeah flare gun and stuff gets around that but it's survival horror so I'm trying to conserve good weapon ammo and just pistol fight as much as possible. But revolver fighting against multiple enemies at a time just feels crappy here.

Plus I hate how the semi-invisible enemies in dark areas can appear gank you out of nowhere for a hit taking off half your lifebar. Like there's no enemies and then an enemy rushes me from the front so I start flashlighting and firing at him only to get hit from the side by an enemy that appeared out of sight and didn't see until half my lifebar is gone. Just seems pretty bullshit.

Bebpo

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39707 on: December 03, 2023, 01:51:44 AM »
Up to ch.7 in Wake, and switching to ch.3 in Saga and doing Watery now.
Did I miss the shotgun in Wake's side on

spoiler (click to show/hide)
The second loop with the hotel?
[close]

Because I got a lot of shotgun ammo but never had a shotgun.


Also have a couple of questions:

-The map is weird af, marks all these "points of interest" or ?s on the map but there's nothing there. This bugs the OCD get everything 100% in me.
-There was a spot in the hotel with the yellow arrows going into a room at the end on the second floor (223 I think) and another arrow going out but no word of power in the room? Then the next door room 224 had an arrow pointing at a breakable piece of wood that you can duck under some metal and go into a bathroom but there was nothing there? I was under the assumption yellow arrows always go to words of power, so I'm not sure what was going on there but it bugged my OCD like I missed some words of power somehow.

Nintex

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39708 on: December 03, 2023, 08:01:54 AM »
Up to ch.7 in Wake, and switching to ch.3 in Saga and doing Watery now.
Did I miss the shotgun in Wake's side on

spoiler (click to show/hide)
The second loop with the hotel?
[close]

Because I got a lot of shotgun ammo but never had a shotgun.
I think you can return to this location and still pick it up. In fact I haven't seen any areas that I couldn't return to with optional stuff to collect (unlike CONTROL).

spoiler (click to show/hide)
The shotgun is outside on the roof of the hotel (the way you come in the first time). There is a bar with a flickering light in front of it, if you use your lamp there the bar will open and the shotgun is behind it locked behind glass.
Use the lamp again when you stand in front of the case to read the menu and look at the code behind the item 'Shotgun'. Type the 'shotgun' code into the door keypad (much like how you used the Oceanview code to open the hotel) and it opens the glass case so you can collect it.
[close]

Also have a couple of questions:
Quote
-The map is weird af, marks all these "points of interest" or ?s on the map but there's nothing there. This bugs the OCD get everything 100% in me.
Points of interest are usually just things to read or locations relevant to the plot in some way.
?'s on the map are either stashes left by Breaker or Words of Power. 

Quote
-There was a spot in the hotel with the yellow arrows going into a room at the end on the second floor (223 I think) and another arrow going out but no word of power in the room?
There's one well hidden in the hotel, which you can collect by looking through the window of the closed elevator shaft on the second floor.

Quote
Then the next door room 224 had an arrow pointing at a breakable piece of wood that you can duck under some metal and go into a bathroom but there was nothing there?
I think this one was in the bathtub?
Quote
I was under the assumption yellow arrows always go to words of power, so I'm not sure what was going on there but it bugged my OCD like I missed some words of power somehow.
Some are hidden quite well, so you missed them. I had to return for the one in the elevator also.

I agree that the world can be a Escher labyrinth sometimes with sections looping or doors transporting you. Again stuff they took from Inception and The Matrix.
Again unlike in CONTROL most of the hidden things and puzzles are usually confined to the room you are in or very close by. Also sometimes they mess around with the logic of the yellow arrows, painting additional fake ones to send you on the wrong path or reversing them (so up becomes down and down becomes up). There are some stashes with math problems too so keep your phone ready.

I remember having to solve a puzzle which went something like: a factory makes cars and bikes. cars have 4 wheels, bikes have 2. there's 754 wheels in the factory and a total of 200 vehicles. How many of those are cars?
🤴

Svejk

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39709 on: December 03, 2023, 03:05:58 PM »
Started Tails of Iron, but didn't like the combat, so dropped it pretty quick.

Also started The Ascent. This some good shit.  Besides looking stunning, I haven't played a twin stick shooter since the PS2-3 days.  Feels refreshingly nostalgic and having a ton of fun with it so far.

Almost finished my first Daemon run in Bitterblack Isle.  Game still rules over all.  Still learning little things here and there, like the Garm beasts will only show up after corpses have sat and rotted for a bit, so they show up to eat them, which can be completely random.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39710 on: December 03, 2023, 04:09:44 PM »
I think you can return to this location and still pick it up. In fact I haven't seen any areas that I couldn't return to with optional stuff to collect (unlike CONTROL).

Oh, yeah that explains some stuff. There were a couple of fights in the hotel that seemed meant for group weapons like using devil on the entrance to make the staircase to floor 2 and 3 guys rush you. Ended up using flare gun for those spots.

Will try to make my way back through the whole maze dungeon and get the shotgun next chance. I went in the bar to grab the code but didn't see the shotgun.

Nintex

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39711 on: December 03, 2023, 05:12:10 PM »
I think you can enter more easily through the front door now. I remember accidentally ending up at the bar again when I was looking for something else.

Just got the 'point of no return' warning at ~24 hours in. Not sure how long the end game is but I'm going to open a few more locks I have the items for now tommorow and then head for the ending.
🤴

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39712 on: December 03, 2023, 06:16:22 PM »
I think you can enter more easily through the front door now. I remember accidentally ending up at the bar again when I was looking for something else.

I don't think you can because there's a scripted part where you take the elevator down from the roof after entering through the bar and pretty sure you can't take it back up because it's a story thing, so need to go through the alley/roof maze again I think.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39713 on: December 04, 2023, 12:39:32 AM »
Speaking of missing stuff, with Saga apparently I missed both the first two inventory space upgrades in Cauldron Lake, so here I am in the woods at Watery and I have the crossbow and it's basically impossible to pick up anything with only two rows of inventory space  :-\

Think I may just run back to the car and in Watery and go get those inventory upgrades and then come back. Important items seem really easy to miss in this game.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39714 on: December 04, 2023, 01:53:59 AM »
Well, it was good I went back because I'd missed the shotgun with Saga too  :lol

Also find some new areas of the Cauldron Lake map to explore, so fully exploring that map out before heading back to Watery.

Joe Molotov

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39715 on: December 04, 2023, 10:59:56 AM »
Been playing Super Mario Wonder and Persona 5 Tactica to complete my end-of-year whimsy quota.  :uguu
©@©™

Nintex

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39716 on: December 06, 2023, 07:32:57 PM »
Collected everything in Alan Wake II (stashes, rhymes, lunchboxes), at some point you get an item that tells you where everything is if you are nearby, which is a huge help to collect the last few things.
The collectibles aren't really worth it overall. The charms only give small skill boosts, the stashes just stuff (outside of the inventory upgrades) and the lunchboxes currency for weapon upgrades (but even with all the lunch boxes there's not enough to fully upgrade every weapon. There are few fun easter eggs to find too but nothing like those hidden bosses in CONTROL. Collecting stuff does add some context to the story though. I'm not sure if I got all the manuscript pages, TV and radio items.

Now playing the endgame, which is great so far.
Ocean Lake Summoning was fucking epic.

Can't wait to see how this all ends.

They could've trimmed the game down a bit in places. But overall certainly a GOTY contender for me.
🤴

Himu

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39717 on: December 07, 2023, 02:26:33 AM »
Sonic Adventure 2, the best Sonic game, on Series X to celebrate the Sonic The Hedgehog 3 trailer.



Hardest stage to get an A on as well.
IYKYK

tiesto

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39718 on: December 07, 2023, 12:18:39 PM »
Juggling Metal Saga and Sonic Superstars. Metal Saga is really fun but super barebones in terms of plot/characterization. It's just go to a town, loot everyone's house, customize your tanks, hunt down some wanteds, move to the next town. Maybe play some minigames/casino games to break things up. I do like the quick pace and barebones story however (but the load times are a bit too long, even for a PS2 game).

And in Superstars, beat Sonic's story and now onto
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Trip's story... though I only beat the first world so far. I hear Trip's final boss SUCKSSSSSSS
[close]
^_^

Himu

  • Senior Member
Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #39719 on: December 07, 2023, 01:42:29 PM »
metal saga :rock
IYKYK