Whatcha Been Playing?

[Suits]

I’m digging it.

Mrs is just having a whirl now.

The music is rad.

I played it first off for a while normally, then after the third stage in journey mode switched to VR.

It’s neat, really neat.

[KSubzero1000]

All these positive impressions are wonderful to read, but there's absolutely no way I can justify paying 35€ for any kind of digital game, especially without VR. It's sooo tempting, though!

[Michiel K]

Don't know what it is about DOOM 2016... not a good game to be playing late at night, what my usual video game time slot is. Not because it's scary or anything, but I just find the game THAT intense and demanding and it gets my heart racing like crazy, once... all hell breaks loose.

Have yet to finish my 1st playthrough after getting it early 2017 for my then new PC. Maybe doesn't help that I started at the traditional 'Hurt Me Plenty' difficulty level. Last night I pushed through the final stretch though, and finally defeated the Cyber Demon after a harrowing battle and many deaths. Turns out the game isn't over yet, so I'm planning to see it through tonight.

[Suits]

Mate from memory, you’ve got quite a way to go yet .

The challenges are cool too, make sure you give them a go too.

[Alex79]

All these positive impressions are wonderful to read, but there's absolutely no way I can justify paying 35€ for any kind of digital game.

That's interesting - do you always trade your discs in after you've played them then? I always trade physical games back in, only ever really have two or three at a time, but I prefer to buy digital if the price is comparable these days to be honest.

[Suits]

All these positive impressions are wonderful to read, but there's absolutely no way I can justify paying 35€ for any kind of digital game, especially without VR. It's sooo tempting, though!

Yeah, it’s expensive.

Most things considered, what ever way I look at it, I do think it’s a tad rich.

[KSubzero1000]

That's interesting - do you always trade your discs in after you've played them then?

No, never. I really enjoy having a collection to go back to in the future, across different platforms and generations. I have sold some of my games in the past, but I've regretted it a few times afterwards. So now I try to be more discerning with my purchases in the first place. I can't recall the last time I bought a complete dud, to be honest.

"Buy carefully - Enjoy - Complain about on the CaR forum - Keep forever" That's how I do things.

Should digital purchases ever become more than a glorified rental and provide some kind of ownership in the future, I would gladly pay higher prices for high-quality products. Until then, 20€ is sort of my upper limit for these things. There's no way I'm paying 40+€ for something that could go up in smoke tomorrow.

[Michiel K]

Mate from memory, you’ve got quite a way to go yet .

The challenges are cool too, make sure you give them a go too.

Yes, it appears so. I'm in the Necropolis now, looking for something called The Crucible.

[Scrustle]

The Elder Scrolls games have always had a tradition of starting you off as a released prisoner. All the games do that. Provides a good reason to let you fill in your own backstory without bringing too much baggage. The Fallout games have a tradition of always putting you in the role of a vault dweller adventuring out in to the wasteland for the first time. So I guess it just happened to fit well with Bethesda's traditions when they picked up the IP.

Interesting take on the lighting in the Special Edition. Personally I prefer it a lot. I find looking back to the original version, it feels a bit flat. But the lighting feels like it gives the game a sense of atmosphere and fills in the gaps the original had. It also helps make the game world feel a lot more diverse. Skyrim as a setting has always felt a little monotonous to me in comparison to Oblivion. Not necessarily in a bad way, but more just because of the nature of the region meaning there's only so much you can to with environments. Has to all be frigid tundra of some variety. But the lighting helped things feel a bit more distinct. Obviously the game still looks aged, but I was surprised how much that lighting helped things when I picked up that version.

[Simonsloth]

So I’m currently playing Demon’s souls and it’s a very lonely place compared to when I tried it on release.

I’ve been gradually coming to understand how the game works and have been gutted that I’m not getting the full experience.

As it turns out a clever fan has set up private servers which are well populated and even has a Patreon to support it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/demonssouls/co ... te_server/


So I’m now online playing it and there’s pools and notes everywhere like before. The main issue here is that I have until December 6th before they close to finish the game!!

[Chopper]

Current players online: 6
US 1 EU 2 JP 3
Popular areas in your region:
1 Nexus

World Tendency: Neutral

Well, it is 9am....

That is incredible, I am going to try it out later and send them a few quid. It looks to me that the Return to Boletaria event is ending on Dec 6th, not necessarily the hosting itself. It could be that they are shutting it down till another event in December, as they mention Christmas and several events in 2019. So maybe it's just that the server is up at certain times?

What class did you choose at the start? I've never played as a magic user....

[Chopper]

Hah, my (original, Euro) save file has 191 hours; soul level 202. I also appear to be lugging around 223,313 souls

[Simonsloth]

Hah, my (original, Euro) save file has 191 hours; soul level 202. I also appear to be lugging around 223,313 souls

Now that’s just greedy! You could chuck your spare items/weapons on the floor for me to snatch up like the pauper I am.

I chose royalty in the end as the word on the street is that it makes it a little easier at the start. I blitzed through 1-1 and 2-1 but the Cthulu inspired prison guard enemy at the start of 3-1 has killed me in one hit about 10 times in a row.

[Suits]

So my in-laws from Wales are currently staying with us, doing the early Christmas thing.

Earlier today Di was having a snoop about in my office looking at my games and spotted Quackshot on the Mega Drive and was suddenly adorned with flashbacks of playing this years and years ago when the kids were young.

He looked at me, pulled it out and said;

"Can we play this, is that possible...?!?"

Appeasing his anxious request, I cooly said;

"Yes. We have the hardware to play this ."





What initially began as a quick look see at an old game he remembered from bringing the kids up, turned into a quest to beat the game.

The girls were putting up the Christmas tree (I know, a touch early perhaps but it seemed apt and was nice for Kayleigh to do that with her Mum.)

We played on, passing the pad around after each continue.

I tried to encourage Di to do most the of the work but towards the later levels the platforming can get quite tricky considering its hardly the most responsive of games to control.

Five hours, a few ham baps and a good few beers later we'd beaten it.





This might have been the coolest thing I've done with my father in law and was wonderful, wholesome fun.

Rad.

[ratsoalbion]

Ahhh, lovely.

[Suits]

Ahhh, lovely.

Mate, it was very fulfilling.

We generally tend to have a rocky relationship with this set of parents due to where we choose to live and etc.... so this was a moment of bonding that was immensely cherished on my side.


I don't care what he thinks .

[Stanshall]

Lovely day and great to hear it bringing you together.

[Chopper]

Hah, my (original, Euro) save file has 191 hours; soul level 202. I also appear to be lugging around 223,313 souls

Now that’s just greedy! You could chuck your spare items/weapons on the floor for me to snatch up like the pauper I am.

I chose royalty in the end as the word on the street is that it makes it a little easier at the start. I blitzed through 1-1 and 2-1 but the Cthulu inspired prison guard enemy at the start of 3-1 has killed me in one hit about 10 times in a row.

There is no level restriction on this server so in theory I could drop in and give you all the end-game gear

Out of curiosity, I installed the US version also. In that my single save was SL186, 109 hours played, and coincidentally, had 223,476 souls. I abandoned both characters after the Platinum, I'm guessing those souls came from the Dragon God on NG+3.

So 300 hours all told And still not what one would call skilled at the game.

3-1 is tough! I would generally do 4-1 before that, then 2-2. I started a new game myself, I must have skipped over the Royal and chose Magician. I was very surprised to see the basic attack (Flame Toss) one-hit-killed all the basic enemies in 1-1.

Further notes: the European version has a notice saying online has been discontinued; the US version just hangs for a while trying to connect and eventually comes back saying you'll have to play offline. Curious.

I just completed 1-1. Very enjoyable.

[Simonsloth]

I might give 4-1 a go then instead.

[ColinAlonso]

Got the platinum trophy in Valkyria Chronicles 4 after 75 hours.

Gameplay spoilers

Spoiler: show

The APC is overpowered. So is using command (you can get 2 people to follow a leader) with Minerva (scout, large movement bar).

Onto Final Fantasy 8, I'm about 10 hours in and leaving Timber. I'm in that odd phase where I only have a few GFs so one party member has loads more health, one doesn't attack with anywhere near the strength of the others etc. Drawing magic is already pretty slow. I'm going to start converting cards into items then into magic soon to speed the process up. I didn't really go that way when I was younger so its new ground for me.

Squall has actively started being a jerk now, he's getting worse over the course of the game and since so many of the characters have a similar background (i.e. the military/mercenary academy) it feels like the rest of the party aren't really getting developed beyond a few tropes. Could change though.

Also I love the way towns and dungeons are drawn in the PS1 Final Fantasies.