Whatcha Been Playing?

[KSubzero1000]

That’s true, but in those situations the cards are on the table and you can sort of calculate in the possibility of an unlucky dice roll. When randomised reinforcements can come in and attack in the same turn, alll bets are off.

I hear you, man.

Chapter 21 of FE6 is horrible in that regard as well. It has a grand total of 22 standard reinforcement units plus one secondary boss (!) that appear out of seemingly nowhere over the course of the battle. Worst of all, these are almost all wyvern lords carrying silver or ranged weapons, which gives them incredible mobility and destructive potential. Absolute pain to deal with.

Spoiler: show

Now imagine The Birds from Hitchcock on top of that, except that the birds are all replaced by LotR fellbeasts. Fun!

Basically, if you aren't hiding Roy and your healers inside a makeshift roman-style tortoise formation as you progress, it's going to hurt. And no casual mode or battle saves to help you out.

(Still one of my favourite chapters in the series thanks to the writing and because of how absolutely insane it all is.)

[Alex79]

I am about 18 hours in to Dark Souls 3. It's really good. Enjoying it more than Dark Souls 2 (which I still liked very much)

Spoiler: show

I've only taken on four bosses so far, last one was the Crystal Sage, which was incredibly easy! I'm alternating between exploring Farrons Keep and The Cathedral Of The Deep at the moment. I think I'm getting close to the boss in both areas. I just joined some cool wolf covenant too.

I know the Souls games tend to be a little front loaded, but there's not been a bad stage yet. All so different and amazing to look at and explore.

[Chopper]

Edited for possible spoilers

[Alex79]

Oh no sorry, have I posted some spoilers? Sorry I'll edit my post in case!

[Jobobonobo]

World 7 of Super Mario Bros 3 is absolutely kicking my arse so far so taking a break from it for a while.

Instead, I have started the 3DS version of Yoshi's Woolly World and it is a delightful little romp so far. It is charming, inventive and easy going but packs a far greater challenge than Kirby's Epic Yarn did. The game at its best actually matches Yoshi's Island in creativity and I think it is more than a great follow up to that beloved SNES classic.

[stvnorman]

Yesterday our house in the wilds of North Bedfordshire received the gift of 60MB/s broadband and I stayed up far too late playing the original Star Wars Battlefront. To my amazement, I instantly jumped into a game in every mode I tried, including the season pass expansions. Seems like it’s still holding its own against its sequel.

Anyway, after two years of 1MB/s internet I have to say it’s a life changer - I’ve watched stuff on YouTube and Amazon Video, had football streaming on Sky Go, downloaded the latest Cane and Rinse podcast in mere seconds, and enjoyed a whole new world of multiplayer gaming with... nothing because PSN decides to go down at the worst possible moment!

[Chopper]

Oh no sorry, have I posted some spoilers? Sorry I'll edit my post in case!

Not at all! I had written a reply to your post and then saw that my post might contain (very mild) spoilers so I edited it. Sorry

[Alex79]

Oh no sorry, have I posted some spoilers? Sorry I'll edit my post in case!

Not at all! I had written a reply to your post and then saw that my post might contain (very mild) spoilers so I edited it. Sorry

Ooooh haha, no worries!

[Stanshall]

Street Fighter V

After last night's action, I took a hell of a lot of good lessons into some ranked and for once I didn't put my foot through the telly. I actually did pretty well and took down a couple of players who were clearly technically better than me, in the 1600-1800 region, and I stopped doing filthy wake up and random air tatsus (after getting my shit pushed in last night for doing so). I had a brilliant hour or so with it, so much fun and scraped some really tight matches by just being a bit more defensive and punishing when I had the chance. Oofff. Very satisfying. There's little like a good SF win in all gaming.

ARMS

My beautiful boy, ARMS. You will grow up to be a champion. After not playing much ranked for quite a while, only Party Crashes recently, I've decided to put a bit more time in to see where my level is. I'm not very good at games in general but I feel like this is one that clicks with me and I may have a fair bit of improvement ahead. I've been playing as my boy Springman, having put Lola and Twintelle on temporary gardening leave, and keeping it tight and chunky (inspired by mikeleddy's Ryu), making my openings count, nothing too random or careless. I ended up with some good wins against folk a couple of ranks above me which was really satisfying and which give me confidence that I can climb a little bit higher.

Apologies if it's gauche to share Twitter links to two clips but they basically capture what I love about the game, and that persistence pays because comebacks are so viable.

Play to the buzzer:

https://twitter.com/_Stanshall/status/9 ... 7915670532

It's never over with Rush:

https://twitter.com/_Stanshall/status/9 ... 1697988608

It's mad how I used to think that every fight ended up as a defensive mid-range war of attrition. I have so much more joy with Springman getting up close/mid and applying pressure.

I'd love an ARMS night but not sure how many of us have got it here. Any interest?

[Michiel K]

ARMS

Are we Switch friends and is there a way to set up matches between friends? I might need you to give me a crash course some time.

I like to figure things out myself usually, but realistically, with all the games I have to play I just can't see myself putting in THAT much time to get a decent grasp on it.

[Stanshall]

We're not, no, and yes there is. I'll have a look for my/your friend codes this evening and add you. I'd be well up for that. Likewise, if anyone else on here plays ARMS, let's get something going.

[DomsBeard]

We're not, no, and yes there is. I'll have a look for my/your friend codes this evening and add you. I'd be well up for that. Likewise, if anyone else on here plays ARMS, let's get something going.

And me. With this and SFV I have the fighter bug back. I had a mess around with Menat last night and got destroyed, she does remind me of Juri in IV though so going to persist as there is a good fighter in there. I have only scratched the surface with the new arcade added stuff.

Played the opening couple of levels of Sine Mora EX and it is great fun although the tone is a bit odd. It reminds me of UN Squadron however there is cut scenes mentioning

Spoiler: show

Rapes

which isn't what you would expect from this kind of game (although 16+ on the box) especially with it being Nintendo.

I have left the Divine Beast Ruta and gone back to the world to wander round do some shrines and find some more bows. I think if the broken weapon system was not in this game I would probably not picked up or played anything else. It just seems like a chore which is weird as all I have heard is great things and Ocarina Of Time is probably in my top 3. I want to love this game but it doesn't seem interested. There needs be a weapon repair system in place, knowing my luck one will be introduced after I have completed this Divine Beast.

[Flabyo]

The weapon system sort of drifts into the background after a while, it becomes something you don’t think about as much. The game wants you to not get too attached to them, so it becomes quite quickly ‘you should be using the ones you find in the area you are’ rather than ‘you should hoard any good ones you get until you really need them’.

My suggestion for new players is to do the divine beast in the north west ahead of doing the one in the east. It’s much easier, and you’ll get a few more hearts by doing shrines along the way.

Just remember that you don’t have to complete any of them in one sitting, you can always walk away and come back later.

[Stanshall]

Only when I restarted did I realise how much more fun (and less interrupted by frustration) the game is once you get past the weapon durability issue (both because weapons last longer later on, because you have more inventory slots and mostly because you change your mindset about the value/'relationship' you have with weapons - Dark Souls it ain't) and you get a good chunk of more stamina. I clicked with it immediately but I do get why not everyone does. All I would say is play on, level up stamina, increase your inventory and it'll get better.

[Joshihatsumitsu]

I've been been a bit Psikyo recently...

In recent weeks, both Gunbird 2 and Strikers 1999 PCB's have arrived, and Ive been able to spend a little bit of time with both.

There is a version of the original Gunbird on the Switch at the moment, and I really hope the sequel gets a release. They certainly built on top of the strengths of the previous game, and man, is it a wonderfully bright and colourful game, filled with the sort of charming details that you pay no attention too while your playing, because you're too busy dodging bullets and staying alive.

By comparison to Gunbird 2, Strikers 1999 has a much more subdued colour palette. And compared to previous Strikers games it has some very tight controls (in that you feel much more confident piloting around the screen, weaving in and out of ever increasingly complex bullet patterns), and it is confidently challenging, in that the rhyme and reason for the enemy patterns and attacks is coming from a developer that has a ton on experience under their belt, and it just kinda showing off!

Considering the generous amount of Psikyo games being released on the Switch, there's a good chance that these may appear sometime down the line.

However, if you want your Gunbird 2 with a little bit of Morrigan from Darkstalkers, the Dreamcast version is the one to get.

[ratsoalbion]

Or the forthcoming Switch version (hopefully)!

[KSubzero1000]

I busted out my Elgato and spent the past couple of days no-lifing RE4 Mercs. I suppose the podcast thread put me in the mood again. Somehow I managed to break my Village highscore despite being hit twenty times during the run and messing up the first chest like a complete scrub. Fate has a sense of humor sometimes.

Anyway, tomorrow evening: back for more.

PS: I think I lost like five kilos or something. This stuff is addictive.

[Chopper]

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is fantastic. Everything about it, from the writing, to the environments, to the tactics, is near-perfect. My only issue is that I have a complete absence of imagination when approaching this type of game, so I usually end up searching for the one Jenga piece that I can take out before progressing methodically through the subsequent guard-slaying.

[Flabyo]

It’s really satisfying isn’t it? “I need to get past that guy, but that guy will see me if I take him out, but that guy is covered by those two guys over there, and they’re too near that other guy who will hear if I go for them and...”

Using the Shadow mode to trigger a bunch of actions across the whole team at once gets super satisfying, the Jenga comparison is definitely apt.

I think I’m on the last level. And the complications it’s thrown into the mix are making it a bit of a brain bender.

[Chopper]

I’m about three quarters of the way through. I was a bit worried that the missions would get a bit gruelling after Suganuma Village (3h45m, it’s the first level of Demons Souls all over again) but it’s still a joy to play. Yuki with her trap was my go-to early on, but I’m enjoying using the others more as the game goes on.