What are you playing?

[Himu]

Finished my MGS1 playthrough.  Still a classic, but it's a bit hard to believe there's no proper analog support with that game on the Master Collection... Pretty unacceptable.  But that game still remains an all-time classic.  Immediately jumped onto MGS2, which has been decades since I last played.  Never played the HD version, so this looks really nice to me when compared to my memory of playing it on PS2.

Makes no sense as the original had analog.

[demi]

Played through everything in Castlevania Anniversary Collection. All legit, using some cheats if available for lives. Used a guide for Simon's Quest because fuck that

CV1&2: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2013639793
CV3&4: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2014621578
Bloodlines, the 2 GameBoy games, Kid Dracula: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2015541157

[Svejk]

Finished my MGS1 playthrough.  Still a classic, but it's a bit hard to believe there's no proper analog support with that game on the Master Collection... Pretty unacceptable.  But that game still remains an all-time classic.  Immediately jumped onto MGS2, which has been decades since I last played.  Never played the HD version, so this looks really nice to me when compared to my memory of playing it on PS2.

Makes no sense as the original had analog.

Right.. And most people complain that MGS2 & 3 aren't true 1080p, when there's a much bigger, glaring issue omitted.  For the record, you can use the analog, but it's just 8-way.
Edit: Apparently Konami has acknowledged in patch notes that they are working on fixing that.  Retardedly unacceptable, but at least they're not fully brain dead. 

Played through everything in Castlevania Anniversary Collection. All legit, using some cheats if available for lives. Used a guide for Simon's Quest because fuck that

CV1&2: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2013639793
CV3&4: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2014621578
Bloodlines, the 2 GameBoy games, Kid Dracula: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2015541157

Awesome.  Wish Konami added some QOL improvements for Simon's Quest, like adding that Redacted version or something.  As much as that game was butchered, it still holds a special place for me as one of my fav CV's, thanks to that good ol' Nintendo Power mag that let me play through it that beautiful Saturday morning back in the day.

They really need to do a DS Collection.   

[demi]

Played some Disney Afternoon Collection, neat little bundle with a bunch of the classic Capcom/Disney NES games (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2016462987)

I didnt get to DuckTales 2 and Rescue Rangers 2 on stream but it wouldnt have been exciting, both of those games are just not as good as the originals.

Also apparently playing DuckTales got some of my VOD muted? Lol

[Svejk]

Picked up Jedi Survivor on the holiday sales. This game is a very good star war.  Cal is way more nimble and Jedi like and a joy to play as.  Respawn really polished the feel for this series and the gameplay especially.  Very impressive sequel so far.  I haven't been able to put it down.

[Nintex]

Picked up Jedi Survivor on the holiday sales. This game is a very good star war.  Cal is way more nimble and Jedi like and a joy to play as.  Respawn really polished the feel for this series and the gameplay especially.  Very impressive sequel so far.  I haven't been able to put it down.

What platform did you get it on?

[Svejk]

Picked up Jedi Survivor on the holiday sales. This game is a very good star war.  Cal is way more nimble and Jedi like and a joy to play as.  Respawn really polished the feel for this series and the gameplay especially.  Very impressive sequel so far.  I haven't been able to put it down.

What platform did you get it on?

PS5. About 6 hours in, and so far, it's run buttery smooth in performance mode.

[tiesto]

Currently playing TTYD and up to chapter 6. I don't think the level design is as interesting as the original Paper Mario, even though there seems to be more options in combat and different "actions" to execute. Chapters 1 and 5 were fun, but 2 through 4 were clunky to me - 2 with managing all the little slugs and hoping they don't get separated from you (along with the grating repetitive ambient music), 3 for just being mostly battles with limited exploration, and 4 for all its backtracking/padding.

So far, the Mario RPGs feel like they've been getting worse, my rankings (not including the M+L games since they're a separate series):
SMRPG > Paper > TTYD > Super Paper. I hear that the ones after Super Paper drop all the pretense of being rpgs...?

Overall, TTYD is decent but feels vastly overrated by the "Nintendo fans from the RPG-drought N64 and GC years" (the same ones who will make youtube videos with soyface poses whining everrytime there's a new FE or Xenoblade announcement and not a new Starfox or F-Zero).

[Himu]

TTYD is on Switch now? Apparently it's not.

Currently playing TTYD and up to chapter 6. I don't think the level design is as interesting as the original Paper Mario, even though there seems to be more options in combat and different "actions" to execute. Chapters 1 and 5 were fun, but 2 through 4 were clunky to me - 2 with managing all the little slugs and hoping they don't get separated from you (along with the grating repetitive ambient music), 3 for just being mostly battles with limited exploration, and 4 for all its backtracking/padding.

So far, the Mario RPGs feel like they've been getting worse, my rankings (not including the M+L games since they're a separate series):
SMRPG > Paper > TTYD > Super Paper. I hear that the ones after Super Paper drop all the pretense of being rpgs...?

Overall, TTYD is decent but feels vastly overrated by the "Nintendo fans from the RPG-drought N64 and GC years" (the same ones who will make youtube videos with soyface poses whining everrytime there's a new FE or Xenoblade announcement and not a new Starfox or F-Zero).

Apparently, and I've just heard this, that the new Mario games are very much RPG's but kind of drop leveling and make it more about skills and item management and stuff. I've always wanted to make an RPG without leveling to teach people how to play an RPG and apparently, those Mario RPGs are the closest thing and it's just Nintendo kiddies crying.

I was shocked when I played Super Mario RPG for the first time a few years ago. The dungeon design and everything was amazing. I put it above CT and FFVII. I was shocked how good the dungeon design and resource management was. FFVII dungeons are basically boring tunnels yet this Super Nintendo game with experimental graphic style and was more of a traditional RPG than it.

[demi]

TTYD is coming out this year, we don't know if there's any QOL improvements so it might be too early to talk about it

The newer Paper Marios are garbage Himu, it's not just people "crying". You're welcome to try them out

I think Origami King is probably the best one but I still think it's a far cry from TTYD and early games

[Nintex]

Square was on some shit during the SNES days, so of course Super Mario RPG is fantastic.
After TTYD and Super Paper Mario three things happened.

1. Nintendo put in place some restrictions to keep the Mario universe consistent. That made the Paper Mario games very bland for a while. I assume it had something to do with Super Paper Mario not having Mario-like characters at all and being a parody game.
2. After the success of Super Star the Mario & Luigi games were the new Mario RPG games and Alpha Dream pumped those out quickly on DS and later 3DS and Paper Mario had to be taken in a different direction to stand out and hopefully sell better as M&L games dropped off.
3. Intelligent Systems had a surprise big hit with Fire Emblem Awakening (which was their last chance to make Fire Emblem sell). From that moment on Fire Emblem took priority over Paper Mario at IS. So much so that Paper Mario entirely skipped the DS and the Wii (Super Paper Mario was a very late GameCube asset flip).

So from that point on Nintendo develops mid Paper Mario games with TOSE. Origami King always seemed a bit of an outlier after Color Splash did so poorly I figured the series was dead.
My guess is they started working on it after the Switch became a surprise hit and it was one of the easy projects they could do with a short development cycle and few resources. The same way the likes of Bowsers Fury and XB2 Torna came into existence.

[Himu]

TTYD is coming out this year, we don't know if there's any QOL improvements so it might be too early to talk about it

The newer Paper Marios are garbage Himu, it's not just people "crying". You're welcome to try them out

I think Origami King is probably the best one but I still think it's a far cry from TTYD and early games

I'm just going by what I heard from Segata a long time ago. Like I said, it's what I heard.

[Himu]

Sonic Adventure 1 is even better than 2. I forgot that. SA2 has some levels that really take it down a notch and I guess I prefer 1 even if I feel 2 has higher highs. I forgot 1 has the amazing spin ball tech. Such an amazing game and better than Mario 64. It's weird how in the mud the name for Sonic Adventure games is but people still love Mario 64. SA1 is legit great and imo better than Mario 64 and Sunshine.

Got Prey 360 because it was on sale and holy shit this game is insane. It's so good.

[The Sceneman]

I picked up HiFi Rush again and I'm really enjoying it. Got sidetracked when it first came out and only passed one stage back then. Pretty massive job getting all the achievements though. I'll see how far I get before I get bored. I intend to finish the story at least

[demi]

Finished Wild ARMs 3 (platinum), way more enjoyable than Star Ocean 3. Now I'm up to Star Ocean 4 and Wild ARMs 4. I have played WA4 already so I know that's fine. SO4 on the other hand is all new.

With Yakuza 8 at the end of the month, I dont really want to start another RPG, so I decided to play the Splinter Cell games on Xbox (via BC). This includes:

- Splinter Cell
- Pandora Tomorrow
- Chaos Theory
- Double Agent (not to be confused with the 360 version, this one is actually different and in line with the original games)

Here's the first half of Splinter Cell: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2026936704

Game still plays great. I think the Stealth is a little too strict compared to modern games, but it works very well still. Mostly the whole "sound of footsteps" but I believe they added a sound meter in later games.

[tiesto]

Finished Paper Mario TTYD and Sonic Superstars - I have a few more "Troubles" to solve in TTYD (which I'll probably do tomorrow) and then I'll put that away.

Also started playing Venba, which is a cute, concise indie game about a Tamil family who immigrates to Canada, it's got VN type segments interlaced with segments where you get to cook some South Indian food. It's a niche but cool concept; bought that and Little Goody Two Shoes to give my fiancee a bit to play on Switch during her time off.

Probably gonna continue with my GC playing and start Luigi's Mansion 1 next.

[Himu]

SC trilogy is still great and Chaos Theory is perhaps the greatest stealth game ever made. Enjoy. Honestly I wouldn't bother beyond Chaos Theory but have fun.

[demi]

I've played all Splinter Cell before, but I never played the OG Xbox Double Agent which most fans say is way better than the 360 version

[Himu]

I've played all Splinter Cell before, but I never played the OG Xbox Double Agent which most fans say is way better than the 360 version

Holy crap I didn't know this. I checked it out and it looks legit and Chaos Theory like.

These are all bc on series x?

[demi]

Yes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_backward-compatible_games_for_Xbox_One_and_Series_X/S#List_of_compatible_titles_from_Xbox

[Himu]

Right, right. Thanks.

Sonic Adventure - Beat Sonic story, working on Tails

GTA: Vice City - Killed Diaz. Game is still amazing and more addictive now than it was at release. It's so damn refreshing and vibrant. The missions are still as open-ended as I remember too. I forgot how utterly hilarioius this game is too "I poke my head out of the gutter for one freakin' second, and fate shovels shit in my face!"



GTAIV - Surprisingly....loving it? Didn't have much work to do today and ended up playing it most of today. Once it gets into a groove and you can do more side activities it's pretty fucking good, lack of mission variety aside but that's hardly a GTAIV problem but a modern Rockstar problem. I'm loving the vehicle physics and I'm surprisingly...nostalgic for this game. I can't believe I missed it. I still have a lot, a lot, a lot of issues with it. Pigeons are useless. Needing 200 to get a reward instead of the slow drip strategy of III and VC really hurts this game. Especially as I go back between IV and VC, the game loop of III and VC is so fucking addictive to me, constantly unlocking stuff. THe fact you don't even get an armor drop at your safehouses for 10 flying rats is criminal especially given how difficult this game can shockingly be, how expensive guns/ammo/armor is, and the lack of locations. I've always been so conflicted about this game. It was never abject hate. I love it, but I also hate it hahaha. I love the idea of a more realistic GTA but this game lacks content that even III had. It's like there's so much missed potential. The story is actually better than I remember and the lead up to the burning of the depot is amazing.

RDR2 - took a break

The Witcher 3 - still churning but slowly.

Playing too much good shit rn.

:damn

Also, the fact I'm playing all of these games on my Series X (except VC which is on ps2) makes me really glad I got one instead of a PS5. Best console since ps2.

[chronovore]

Currently playing TTYD and up to chapter 6. I don't think the level design is as interesting as the original Paper Mario, even though there seems to be more options in combat and different "actions" to execute. Chapters 1 and 5 were fun, but 2 through 4 were clunky to me - 2 with managing all the little slugs and hoping they don't get separated from you (along with the grating repetitive ambient music), 3 for just being mostly battles with limited exploration, and 4 for all its backtracking/padding.

So far, the Mario RPGs feel like they've been getting worse, my rankings (not including the M+L games since they're a separate series):
SMRPG > Paper > TTYD > Super Paper. I hear that the ones after Super Paper drop all the pretense of being rpgs...?

Overall, TTYD is decent but feels vastly overrated by the "Nintendo fans from the RPG-drought N64 and GC years" (the same ones who will make youtube videos with soyface poses whining everrytime there's a new FE or Xenoblade announcement and not a new Starfox or F-Zero).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Thing_You_Do!

[Svejk]

About 18 hours into Jedi Survivor.  Game really makes you feel like a proper 80's Jedi Chad (especially with the outfit and hair options... still trying to find the mullet. lol)  Tons of fun... Hoping the story still holds up as good as the first one, which I thought was great.

One thing I give mad props to Respawn for is, unlike every other game with skill trees, etc., they start you off with everything you unlocked/earned in the first one, and only build upon it... Not have some lame excuse of why you lost your abilities and have to gain them back. That's a gaming trend that needs to die.  Especially with Metroid. 
  Looking at you, MP4. 

Gonna follow up Jedi with A Plague Tale: Requiem, thanks to being a PS freebie, like the first one was. 

After that, finally picked up Signalis on the low, so I'll finally get to play it too afterwards...

Hoping I can manage all the above, at the very least, before the Gaming Apocalypse on March 22nd...

[Himu]

Signalis is amazing. Enjoy.

[Cerveza mas fina]

W6 in Mario Wonder now, game is living up to the hype

[Nintex]

Mario Wonder is such a trip. The bosses are kind of shitty though and the game has a few too many very short baby gimmick levels but overall an absolute banger.

I'm still playing Tears of the Kingdom, I started playing it again in December and haven't put it down since.
About 94 shrines now, not nearly as many light seeds but still a good chunk of the underground discovered.
It has certainly reached 2023 GOTY levels for me. It's kind of insane how much they put in this game.

[Bebpo]

I’m at the final boss of Wonder, all Wonder seeds so far. Just gotta beat it and try special world.

Game is ok. I wish the entire game was just badge challenge stages since at least they bring something new. That or full wonder stages.
The normal stages are just kind of boring in comparison to the badge and wonder stuff. Also it doesn’t matter if it’s a max difficulty stage, the wonder section of it, which is like 1/3rd or 1/2 the stage is always baby ez mode because they’re more experimental and fun than challenge.

I’ve enjoyed the game, but honestly it’s the most forgettable first party Nintendo game I’ve played in a long while.
Maybe an 8/10 but wouldn’t even have made my top10 last year.

[demi]

Alright, Yakuza 8 is out this friday so it's time for a wrapup before Friday

Splinter Cell (Xbox) - Played via SeriesX, still a good stealth game. Can only go up from here

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (Xbox) - Played via SeriesX. A drop down from Splinter Cell, was made by the C team. The train mission was cool. Finished in a single session, so here's a twitch vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2032155734

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Xbox) - Now this is peak. Great level design, lots of freedom (no more "strict alarm limit"), you can go in guns blazing, or play it stealth. Also adds in quick saves, no more checkpoints. Just relaxing and chill, if you want it to be. This is the one to play. Here's a couple twitch vods: part 1 part 2

After that I took a side turn and checked out a couple PS1 fan translations. One of my goals, at least I thought, was to try out a bunch of translations that have been released in the past few years.

Iblard: Laputa no Kaeru Machi (PS1) - Based on some japanese artist and world ("The Birthplace of Laputa"), honestly I have no idea what I played. But it was pretty chill. You throw a boomerang at shit. I finished it in a few hours. Twitch vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2039985477

Addie no Okurimono: To Moze from Addie (PS1) - Or "Addie's Present". I like the graphics on this one, it does some neat stuff with blur. I couldnt get far in this game, the game is pretty much this puzzle game where you have to tilt, turn, twist, etc. Some log puzzle with letters. It made me feel REAL dumb. I looked at a guide and saw that this was all this game was, and just decided it wasnt for me. FLUSHED

I also finished Hotel Transylvania 3: Monsters Overboard (SeriesX). This is a budget pikmin game, so I wanted to try it out because Pikmin-likes are seemingly rare for some reason! It is very budget and basic, but it satisfied my needs.

Then I played some Bust A Groove, because that game rules and I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I also have the new Prince of Persia coming from gamefly

[Himu]

Chaos Theory

[Polident Hive]

Ace Combat 3 got an updated complete translation in the past year. Worth checking out. Outside of PS1, Rent A Hero got a new translation patch on Dreamcast. Disaster Report 3 on PSP got one. Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 on ps2.

[Svejk]

I’m at the final boss of Wonder, all Wonder seeds so far. Just gotta beat it and try special world.

Game is ok. I wish the entire game was just badge challenge stages since at least they bring something new. That or full wonder stages.
The normal stages are just kind of boring in comparison to the badge and wonder stuff. Also it doesn’t matter if it’s a max difficulty stage, the wonder section of it, which is like 1/3rd or 1/2 the stage is always baby ez mode because they’re more experimental and fun than challenge.

I’ve enjoyed the game, but honestly it’s the most forgettable first party Nintendo game I’ve played in a long while.
Maybe an 8/10 but wouldn’t even have made my top10 last year.

Honestly, this is exactly how I felt when playing through Mario Odyssey when I got my switch.  Very OK 3D plaformer with boring bosses.

[Bebpo]

I’m at the final boss of Wonder, all Wonder seeds so far. Just gotta beat it and try special world.

Game is ok. I wish the entire game was just badge challenge stages since at least they bring something new. That or full wonder stages.
The normal stages are just kind of boring in comparison to the badge and wonder stuff. Also it doesn’t matter if it’s a max difficulty stage, the wonder section of it, which is like 1/3rd or 1/2 the stage is always baby ez mode because they’re more experimental and fun than challenge.

I’ve enjoyed the game, but honestly it’s the most forgettable first party Nintendo game I’ve played in a long while.
Maybe an 8/10 but wouldn’t even have made my top10 last year.

Honestly, this is exactly how I felt when playing through Mario Odyssey when I got my switch.  Very OK 3D plaformer with boring bosses.

I liked Odyssey a lot, but then I think 3d Mario games are more ambitious, interesting and challenging. There's a treasureload of challenging good indie 2d platformers now, so 2d Mario just doesn't really stand out. There's not a lot of truly great indie 3d platformers, even non-indie there's rarely any 3d platformers, so 3d Mario games don't have much competition and are still a big deal imo.

Finished Wonder including Special World. Overall just feel the game lacks identity. It just throws so many ideas at the wall and barely develops and re-uses them to further more challenging degrees. It's also the easiest Mario platformer ever made. I normally struggle in Special World, but I cleared this in an hour and the only one that gave me problems was the timer disappearing platforms stage and only because my pro controller kept giving me problems with doing wall jumps quickly so the very last section kept killing me.

Most of the wonder sections are literally "you are invincible, watch the pretty colors, auto-win", even the final two stages in the main campaign, both wonder sections are auto-win impossible to die and make up like 25-30% of the already short stages.

Wonder is a solid 8/10 but it reminds me more of LittleBigPlanet, easy creative platformer you watch the pretty colors and move on a scripted line, than a real 2d platformer with some meat to it. The closest to meaty bits are the badge stages (which a bunch are just ripped from other games like Umihara Kawase or Mutant Blob Attacks), but they never go far enough to introduce real "die 100 times on one section with infinite lives and frequent checkpointing" challenge to these new badge mechanics.

Mario Maker 2, which was the last 2d Mario I played, was a better platformer imo than Wonder. It's shorter, and doesn't have the production values, but I think the level design in the main camaign was better and of course the user levels. I'm sure I'm going against the grain here, but I don't think the level designs in Wonder are great, they're good, but not great.

[Bebpo]

That said, I'm excited for Wonder 2 if it takes these mechanics and ups the challenge to use them in more interesting ways. Also longer stages for the love of god and Nintendo needs to fucking learn that challenge != just taking away checkpoints.

Good, fun challenge is hard + good checkpoints.

[Polident Hive]

Elevator Action Returns x3

Started as a test to see if MAME or FBNeo is better. Ended up playing it through on both, and again on Saturn for good measure. Still an awesome time and a precursor to many modern indie 2D shooters. Doubt it had any influence. But the feel of door kickers action squad, not a hero, and even gunpoint is there.

Also unique in how the lady character isn’t the fast weak one like in every other game. Lowest health, yes, but strongest attack. The Axel character is the fast one.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Mario Wonder is such a trip. The bosses are kind of shitty though and the game has a few too many very short baby gimmick levels but overall an absolute banger.

I'm still playing Tears of the Kingdom, I started playing it again in December and haven't put it down since.
About 94 shrines now, not nearly as many light seeds but still a good chunk of the underground discovered.
It has certainly reached 2023 GOTY levels for me. It's kind of insane how much they put in this game.

bosses where crap for sure

zelda was my disappointment of the year though, this bebes experimental open world stuff has to stop

give me back my zeldavania!

[demi]

Finished Prince of Persia Lost Crown

Pretty mid game, only highlight was the bosses - very well done and fun, wish there was a "boss replay" or "boss rush" mode. Easy win, but hey I'm not a game dev

Just made me want to replay the Sands of Time trilogy instead

[Polident Hive]

Was thinking about replaying Warrior Within, myself. Never finished it back in the day. Played Sands of Time a couple times and the third game once or twice. But WW, I think I tried it on PSP and never progressed.

People also used to speak highly of the Wii game. Want to try that out.

[Svejk]

Finished Jedi: Survivor.  A good continuation of the first.  Story was an ok star war with some unique twists here and there.  Combat was definitely the highlight for me, as it was greatly improved.  A good 8.5/10 easy, especially if you like SW.

[demi]

Finished Dr. Slump (PS1) - A fan translation, based on a manga from DBZ creator Akira Toriyama. Its about some robot girl that learns about the world and does hehe zany things. It was very boring and really doesnt do anything interesting. Whatever I guess

[Himu]

didn't know there was a dr slump game. Always loved that psx graphic style similar to Tron Bonne

[demi]

Yeah, I thought it would be something cool like Tron Bonne or MML

Hell no, you just go back and forth between scenes, touch poop, and then do some really basic "action stage"

The more I play these translations, the more I understand why we didnt get them in NA/PAL region

[MMaRsu]

I would love to replay Sands of Time, but what's the best version? The Gamecube on emu perhaps?
The pc version is utter shit and doesnt even support a controller smh

[Polident Hive]

There is or was a remake coming. Looking into it, the announcement was from early 2020 by Ubisoft Mumbai. In 2022 they scrapped it and Ubisoft Montreal took over. Then last November they dropped and update saying it’s progressing.

Way back when the Xbox version was best, if it plays on modern Xbox. GameCube, I assume, is 2nd best as usual.

I learned this recently. Of all the multiplatform games that generation, True Crime New York is the rare game that’s better on PS2. Breaking console wars scoop from 2005.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Finished Mario RPG

Very charming, just a shame it is waaaay too easy. Some weird game design sometimes and bad platforming too.

In the end I was glad it was over.

[tiesto]

I beat Luigi's Mansion and am now juggling Infinite Wealth, Star Ocean Blue Sphere, and Mario All Stars.

Posted my thoughts about Infinite Wealth in the OT (it's great so far), Blue Sphere though is a weird one. Technically impressive with some of the best graphics on the GBC, but the devs bit off a bit more than they can chew. Combat feels clunky, story is super basic, and the dungeons are way too large and confusing. I'll still continue with it but it's one of the weaker entries in the series.

[demi]

I would love to replay Sands of Time, but what's the best version? The Gamecube on emu perhaps?
The pc version is utter shit and doesnt even support a controller smh

There is no exclusive content or features, so pick whatever is easiest to play. Which would probably be PS2 or Gamecube. Speedruns use PC version

Sands of Time is BC on XB1 but you can't buy it digitally

[Polident Hive]

I would love to replay Sands of Time, but what's the best version? The Gamecube on emu perhaps?
The pc version is utter shit and doesnt even support a controller smh

There is no exclusive content or features, so pick whatever is easiest to play. Which would probably be PS2 or Gamecube. Speedruns use PC version

Sands of Time is BC on XB1 but you can't buy it digitally

fyi I wanted to play Winback and searched if the N64 or PS2 version is better and a post of yours on era is the top result. Going n64.

Part of messing around with high accuracy N64 emulation. Kind of interesting how much power is needed vs standard emulation cores that are 98% of the way there. Like Bomberman 64’s intro used to be broken in emulators but works fine in high and low level now. Goldeneye is still a little broken in the less accurate cores. If there’s a trade off, difficult to render at higher resolutions and can’t use widescreen hacks. Never liked N64 looking overly sharp so it’s fine with me.

[Let's Cyber]

  Persona 3: Reload

New music takes a minute to sink in if you're used to the old tracks but everything is otherwise right on the money.

  2024 

[Svejk]

Signalis is pretty awesome.  Very moody, atmospheric and elusive with its story telling.  The 6 slot item management is a bit ridiculous, but adds to the tension.  They really litter things about.. it’s hard not to put logic behind the lack of “just find a bag and carry more shit!”, but I suppose that’s classic survival horror and would eliminate the fun in it.  Otherwise, pretty well done game so far.  Curious where it goes.

A Plague Tale: Requiem.  Very pretty game.  Enjoying this one as much as the prior.  The combat/sneaking/environment puzzles have definitely improved some.  Interesting how the perks upgrade based on how you play; forcing you to change your playstyle if you’re wanting to upgrade other perks.  The rain fx with the DualSense and insane RTX, felt shockingly real.  Felt even more real than how Returnal did it.  Very impressive.  Love that shit. 

And on a random whim, said fuck it, and jumped in Wanted: Dead again to torture myself with that first damn ninja that has whooped my ass for a year now.  However, this time, instead of fighting through all the baddies that take usually several minutes to plow through just to get to him, I just up and ran past them all and went straight to the ninja fight ..with all of the baddies following behind…  And wouldn’t you know, I fucking destroyed him!  Even while being surrounded by shooting baddies, it was zen-like and made this game shine like Orion’s Belt in the fun department!  Felt so good, and looked cool AF doing it too.  Guess I’ll be hopping back into this again some… until the next roadblock.  Embrace the jank!
 

[Bebpo]

They actually patched Signalis last fall to make inventory management easier with the flashlight and one of the other things not taking up space.

I didn't find the management that bad. It was part of the gameplay and just felt like a throw back to the early REs.

[Polident Hive]

Think they have several options to tweak it. Like you can increase slots, or as you say, make some vital items exist outside the slots. Even if you stick with the default six slots, they tweaked item placements so you’re less likely to have moments of needing an item, but no slots, so you run back to the item box.

It was annoying but didn’t stop me from really liking Signalis. Apparently there’s a deeper in-world reason for it being six. Like the Metroid Other M thing where Samus won’t use abilities without permission. It’s meant to be annoying and oppressive rather than a basic convention of survival horror.

[Svejk]

Think they have several options to tweak it. Like you can increase slots, or as you say, make some vital items exist outside the slots. Even if you stick with the default six slots, they tweaked item placements so you’re less likely to have moments of needing an item, but no slots, so you run back to the item box.

It was annoying but didn’t stop me from really liking Signalis. Apparently there’s a deeper in-world reason for it being six. Like the Metroid Other M thing where Samus won’t use abilities without permission. It’s meant to be annoying and oppressive rather than a basic convention of survival horror.

Yeah, there was a certain log I found describing why, although rather brief.  Nothing like a Kojima style justifying lore. Lol

[Himu]

GTAIV

The more I play the better it gets. I'm so conflicted. It's not a bad game. On the contrary, it's a really good game that is on the cusp of becoming great or incredible. I think that's why this game was always so frustrating because you can smell the potential here. Missions don't become more open until ways into the game. As they become less guided the better the game gets. The amount of detail put into this game is insane. The humor manages to strike a balance between grounded and hilarious. Seeing your exploits be reported on in such matter of fact fashion is thrilling. What I'm surprised most about is how good the story is when I previously discounted it. I like that each person you work for has an arc, almost like a vignette in Dragon Quest. Each character you work for ends up having a lesson in street etiquette or experience a tremendous, tragic fall. The games story and themes are harrowing as you dig deeper and deeper into the pits of humanity, crime, and greed. It's really good shit.

The main flaw the game has is the complete of things to do and the lack of rewards for doing the things that there is to do. Sure, leveling up Dwayne to get body guards or getting free rides from Roman's cab service is a perk but I feel that the game needs more than that. I'm convinced at this point that if it had more activities, better rewards - especially for shooting flying rats -  it would be easily the best GTA. Shame that didn't end up happening. A little fixing the stiffness of the shooting would be a welcome addition as well. I think looking back this is what made playing GTAIV so frustrating: it wasn't that it was a bad game so much as it was a really good that gives you a little taste, a small morsel, a hint of being a GOAT. In the end it just become foreshadowed utterly and completely by its predecessor and successor. Just like the many characters that exist within its story, GTAIV aimed high but ended up losing its wings and experienced a tremendous fall from grace. Whether that's deserved or not is subjective. I feel that time has actually been more kind to GTAIV than I expected. Give it a shot, especially on Series X (60 fps) if possible.

I don't know about anyone else but I find this shit hilarious and nostalgic. I miss just abject no fucks given shock humor like this. Bring it back.

[Himu]

I completely forgot this shit and it had me laughing in my place at 1 am.

[Coax]

Resident Evil 4 Remake was a fun romp. Hadn't played the OG since wasn't really into that kind of thing at the time. It really does show just how Village was a pastiche of RE4 but without the camp humor and less meat (though I still did enjoy the game for what it was).

[Joe Molotov]

I bought a cheap retro handheld (Miyoo Mini Plus) to play old JRPGs on. These days even the cheap ones are good enough to play PS1 games.



So far I've beaten Summon Night: Swordcraft Story and Tomato Kingdom on it, it's p cool.

[chronovore]

Skull and Bones Beta is updated Black Flag visuals with the gameplay of UBI's previous mobile Assassins Creed Black Flag MOBILE app. It's very pretty, and has a lot to do, but I'm unsure if I want it worth 70 USD even with my swollen backlog.

Finished Saints Row 2022 but still want to play through the remaining activities.

Fortnite added several modes to its gameplay, including:

• Festival - a Rock Band game from Harmonix, with a planned guitar controller, because apparently Epic needs to learn the peripheral lesson that destroyed GH and RB franchises.
• Rocket Racing - Race game themed after Rocket League with boosts, inverted driving, etc. It's very arcade-y. It just got a new track.
• Lego Fornite - Minecraft / Valheim style game with resource gathering, some combat with mooks, some with big-bads. It's super-chill overall, but they're also still ironing out kinks that have destroyed some people's work.

The Save the World die-hards are completely butt-hurt about the lack of attention STW receives even as Epic co-opts entire companies to add new modes. They don't get it: STW would be dead-dead-dead and offline if it were not for Battle Royale breathing life into the game. STW being left alive, even on life support, is a courtesy. I'm also wondering how many THOUSANDS of hours those players expect for the minimal outlay they put into STW? The spoiled privilege level is truly insane, and that's coming from me as a player who still loves STW.

[Bebpo]

Finished Ghostwire Tokyo

This was surprisingly good. Game in its current state with all the post-release content/gameplay systems has to be pretty underrated. Tango did real good here and it's too bad it bombed horribly and there's no chance for another similar game.

Combat was fun with just enough depth to be enjoyable and give options, stealth assassinations were good, gliding and grappling around rooftops felt good. Insane amount of collectibles basically making it a Shibuya 3d platformer collect-a-thon. Great database Japanese history stuff. Great art, good music. KK's cool and good VA.

Main character's a dud, game is repetitive, have to like Japan.

But better sandbox game than Mad Max (which I like), like 75% of the AC games, Watchdogs 3 and a bunch of others. It's not top-tier Sandbox like Rockstar or AC2 at its time or even Watchdogs 2, but it's just a tier below that and a very solidly enjoyable B-tier Japan AAA sandbox game. Glad I got around to playing it.

[Bebpo]

Playing Octopath Traveler 1 finally (think I might've posted about this already). Had the cart sitting in my switch for like 4 years since I went all digital a bit after that released. I touched it a couple of times but never sat down with it proper.

On chapter 2 now, have everyone. Game is great, very happy with it. Story-telling reminds me of SaGa with how it does everyone's stories separately. Gameplay is simple but solid enough with some real challenge starting at chapter 2.

My only big complaint with the game is that your team members you don't use don't gain any passive XP and the level catch up when you need them isn't anywhere near as quick as I'd like it to be.

I hadn't used Ophelia the healer girl because her ch.1 story was godawful (Cyrus the best) and she was lvl.9 while my party was lvl.24 mostly (a few stragglers at like lvl.12/15/17). I took her in the lvl.24 sewer dungeon with Cyrus and grinded for like 60-90 mins because the elemental shits would do all party attacks x 2-3 and wipe everyone under 1k HP. Then I took on the boss and beat it and got a ton of XP. And 2 hours later when I came out of that my lvl.24 party was lvl.29 and my lvl.9 Ophelia was only...lvl.19 so still ten levels behind.

If every chapter when I do a character's story if they aren't part of my main team rotation and they're behind on levels it means I gotta grind an hour or two each time and then do it again next chapter. Seems a bit too grindy even if the grind is fun.

I think I'm just going to start rotating party members to try to keep them closer to the same level so I don't have people 10+ levels behind. But I don't have sub-classes yet, and I feel like some characters are way less useful than others.

Right now basically Olberic and Cyrus are damage dealers with Olberic being powerhouse physical all enemy attacker and single boss attacker, meanwhile Cyrus with his double tap elemental spells on all enemies does great all enemy damage as well. The medicine axe guy and Ophelia are pretty solid healers with axe guy better for status/single character big heals and Ophelia better for reflect/all party medium heals.

Beastmaster girl seems potentially good. But catching stuff limited use summons is something I haven't spent the time on yet. Dancer girl seems kinda bad, for good NPC summons you have tiny % chances to get them, otherwise NPC summons at lower levels suck (same deal with Ophelia's summons, by the time you are at a level you can guide the NPC they suck and do like no damage. Also not worth wasting a turn you could be healing or all enemy light attacking to summon an NPC). Anyhow Dancer's skills seem pretty crappy. Thief is cool for bosses debuffing armor/attack and good for grinding with passive double money on collect and double steals, but for group combat he's useless.

My protag is the merchant girl who I can't change out. Which is OK because her hired help summons can be extremely useful when you buff them with BP and get like 4 sword slashes in a row to all enemies for break purposes. Same with axe and maybe dagger if you aren't being cheaper (2,500 gold). I don't fuck with the 10k gold light damage or 30k gold major damage summons though. I like having lots of money and good gear. Also her merchant ability to give her BP to others so Olberic can keep doing max BP single enemy attacks on bosses during break is great support, plus her item usage where 25% passive chance to not lose an item when use. All in all I'm happy with her from a gameplay perspective so I don't mind her being always stuck in the party. Plus she has all enemy wind damage which unfortunately Cyrus doesn't which sucks when you need wind.

Anyhow, great game so far. Ch.1 was a bit boring since it was easy and just very talky, but ch.2 upping the challenge and becoming more of a grind and having everyone is super fun. Plus the game has great music, good art. Wish it had more music tracks though so it didn't re-use the same ones for everything.

Not planning on playing Octopath 2 after this. Lots of other rpgs to play but assuming I enjoy Octopath 1 through the end, I'll play Octopath 2 at some point in the next couple of years.

Since SE is shitcanning all of their small dev teams in favor of nothing but AAA (terrible decision), might as well take my time with their AA output from the last 4-5 years (Octo2, Triangle Strategy, Harvestella, SaGa, Live a Live R, SO2 remake, etc...) since not gonna be a whole lot more in the future.

[Svejk]

Tried the Contra: Operation Galuga demo on both PS4 and PS5.  PS4 version runs like shit stained cheeks; chuggy 30fps and slow ass loading.  PS5 version blazes.  Would like both versions, but definitely not paying for 2.  Need a confirmation if I get the PS4 version, it'll upgrade to the PS5 version for free. (The kids want it on PS4 too. *shrug) Guess we'll see.  It's not showing a pre-order yet on PSN.  Good stuff otherwise.  WayForward knows their shit.