Whatcha Been Playing?

[gallo_pinto]

I started playing Life is Strange. I'm about 45 minutes in, so there's still a lot left for me to see. I like Max and some of the high school dynamics are set up in interesting ways

But hooooo boy is the dialogue/writing distractingly bad (at least so far). None of Max's internal dialogue sounds anything like an actual 18 year old. The banter between the students is cringe-inducing and most of the slang sounds extremely forced. I like enough of the rest of the game so far to stick with it, but the writing is more distracting than I was expecting.

[Joshihatsumitsu]

Forgot too add I instantly downloaded when it appeared under new games on xbox one Neo Geo Turfmasters. A tough as nails golf game that I spent many a credit on back in the day. Wonder if Windjammers will appear on Xbox One as well then or if it is an exclusive?.

Windjammers has only been announced for the PS4 and Vita (so far), no Xbone yet. That's not to say that it couldn't happen, and it would be good if it did, because it's a pretty fun game.

[Scrustle]

Still focusing mostly on Yakuza 0 and Bloodborne at that moment. Also picked up Unravel too.

As for Yakuza, I'm in the second chunk of Kiryu's side of the story. Been doing a lot of the side content lately. Got in to the slot car racing thing and bit, before finding that all the new upgrades cost way more money than I had. So I switched over to the real estate minigame for a while. That's been kind of fun, albeit not exactly as complex as it makes itself seem. But it feels good to accrue ludicrous amounts of money from that thing as you pick up more and more property. This seems to be where the game expects you to make most of your cash, given how expensive things start getting. I'm also liking how Kiryu's combat styles more than I originally did. I guess it's a mix of getting more used to them, and unlocking more options. At first I was a little disappointed with them, especially given how thoroughly fleshed out Kiryu's move set in 5 was. I found Majima's styles to be much more entertaining. But after coming back to Kiryu, I've found they're not as bad as I thought.

Really liking Bloodborne too. I was a bit unsure whether I would like this one at first, before I really got in to it. Up until then I had kind of a split opinion on the From games I had played, with this one having a reputation as being the hardest. But despite that, I've really been liking it. One of the main things is that it retains most of why I liked Dark Souls 3 much more than 1. The feel and pace of the combat is great. I was kind of surprised actually that BB ended up being so close to DS3 in terms of speed. I was under the impression that DS3 was somewhere in between the previous games and BB. Either way, in BB it's fast and visceral, but not so much as to feel cheap, or like the great animation work goes to waste, in that it doesn't happen too fast to see what's coming. But I have noticed something about BB that I'm not sure I'm fond of. Far too often I've come to a point where I just have no idea what I'm supposed to do next. Way too frequently I'll beat a boss or something, only to find a dead end after it. Look down every other path I haven't explored yet, also finding dead ends. I end up having to ask for help or look up the answer, only to find it's some obscure thing that the game never really hinted at. I generally don't mind looking up things just to point my nose in the right direction when stuff like that happens, but I feel like it's happened way too frequently in this game. Another little thing that's perhaps worth mentioning is the performance problems. Hasn't stopped me from enjoying the game, but playing this really does make me appreciate how nice a solid 60fps is with DS3 on PC. I think the frame pacing issues are the bigger problem here though. In areas where that's bad, it can definitely impact the experience.

As for Unravel, I've also been really enjoying that. Looking at it purely as a game, it's not the most amazing thing in the world. It's got some fun ideas, but nothing that's really mind-blowing, and the controls/physics can be a pain sometimes. But it has a whole lot of charm. I look at it in a similar way to The Unfinished Swan. It's not trying to expand your consciousness like a lot of arty indie (or indie-like in this case) games try to do. But for what it is trying to do, it nails the tone really well. So well in fact that it had quite a profound effect on me. I won't go in to it here, since I'm close to finishing it, and I want to write up all those thoughts in the Game Completed thread instead. That'll probably happen pretty soon.

[Beck]

I ended up getting signed off work for 9 days so I made an attempt on my pile of shame and started with ...Dark Souls 3.

Oh my, I've fallen in love with this game. I've been putting off playing a souls game for a good while, I bounced of both Demon's Soul and Dark Souls 1 quite quickly but keep hearing how good the series is so have felt obliged to get involved. I'm so glad I've given it another chance, this game is amazing. I've been watching youtubers play the Dark Souls series for a while now and almost found it intimidating playing one myself, the games seem brutal, frustrating and soul breaking.The game can be stressful but the feeling of reward given by finishing a boss or getting past a group of monsters in your way to the next bonfire has been refreshing.

I've progressed through the first boss, Vordt, the Sage, the Abyss Watchers, the Demon King, the huge skeleton with the bracelets, The Deacons, Pontiff, DragonSlayer, Aldritch and that Dancer (25 attempts!). I can't put it down, it's in my top ten games of all time and I've not even finished.

Why did I not start this series earlier? My backlog has now got Dark Souls 1 and 2 on it as well as Bloodborne.

[Stanshall]

Now you can subscribe to the ever increasing list of Souls related podcasts too!

[Beck]

Haha, good shout

[DomsBeard]

Got to Sander Cohen now in Bioshock

Spoiler: show

I thought it was going to turn out that Atlas was an AI so I felt bad when he turned up and his family died

[DomsBeard]

Got to Sander Cohen now in Bioshock

Spoiler: show

I thought it was going to turn out that Atlas was an AI so I felt bad when he turned up and his family died

Don would you kindly tell me what made you ask that question?......

Tried Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode One. It feels horrible to play but I'm wondering if it is some kind of lag via PS Now.

[Alex79]

No, it's just the game

[ColinAlonso]

I remember seeing people saying that Sonic 4 was just another Sonic Rush game, but having played the first Sonic Rush since then, Sonic 4 is bad even compared to it never mind the originals.

I am pretty excited for Sonic Mania though as it is running on Christian Whitehead's engine (probably updated since then) that was used for the Sonic CD remake.

Anyway, I'm currently playing Uncharted 4. Ever since the second one when my flatmate started watching me play it early on, we agreed that I would only play them when he is around. We have good discussions about pretty much everything in the games as its ongoing. This one is good fun so far too (better than 3 anyway).

[Alex79]

I had a few hours to kill between lectures at uni this afternoon, so on a whim decided to go in to town and pick up Yakuza 0. I've been wanting to properly get in to it for ages, and thought I'd treat myself. Tesco, no copies. HMV, no copies. GAME, 1 copy, £55. Damn. I didn't want it that bad. Think I'll wait till its in a sale on the PSN!

So instead, I've been finally playing Salt & Sanctuary for a couple of hours tonight. Love it! I've beaten the first proper boss - The Sodden Knight - took a few goes, but that satisfying Dark Souls feeling is there when he's finally taken down. Looking forward to playing some more over the weekend. It's possibly even more obtuse than the Souls games in regard to telling you what to do or where to go, but that's the fun, right.....??

[hazeredmist]

Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice (3DS)

Struggling with this if I'm honest, it's tough to go from something as intense as Steins;Gate back to light-hearted Ace Attorney drama, so I am kinda forcing myself through the first case at the moment hoping it'll click like it always did. I'm sure it will soon.

Second case is really hitting the spot. A well-judged change of pace, some old friends return and the intrigue is dialled up several notches from the first case. Should never have doubted them

[seansthomas]

I've been playing a few of my favourite online Wii U titles in the knowledge that, given I'll be busy with Zelda for months and the Switch is imminently out, some of them will go offline soon.

Mario Kart 8 is still so, so good, isn't it? Played it offline this week too and realised that due to people always choosing the same tracks, I'd barely played a few of those DLC courses. Felt like getting a new DLC pack! Something I hope Deluxe will get...

Also booted up Splatoon again. After losing my first bout or two, despite being level 17 and most of my competitors being 40+, I went on a ten game win streak, pretty much winning all three of the final bouts with the last blob of ink that hit the terrain. Such a brilliant adrenalin rush still.

I adore the motion control tilt aiming so not such how they'll keep that on Switch if you also need to use the screen to see what's happening.

Breath of the Wild may trump them, but Splatoon and Bayonetta 2 will be the titles I most affectionately look back on when I think of this weird little machines legacy.

[The Sonic Mole]

I've started replaying Ogre Battle 64 on the Wii U Virtual Console. A definite desert island game for me. I would LOVE for them to do to it what they did with the PSP remake of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. Also, I've gone back to P4 Golden, which really is superb. I only stopped playing because I'm not commuting to London regularly from Leeds at the moment. I've just done the Void Quest and am about to go back to school, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where the story takes me.

[hazeredmist]

I've been playing a few of my favourite online Wii U titles in the knowledge that, given I'll be busy with Zelda for months and the Switch is imminently out, some of them will go offline soon.

Mario Kart 8 is still so, so good, isn't it? Played it offline this week too and realised that due to people always choosing the same tracks, I'd barely played a few of those DLC courses. Felt like getting a new DLC pack! Something I hope Deluxe will get...

Also booted up Splatoon again. After losing my first bout or two, despite being level 17 and most of my competitors being 40+, I went on a ten game win streak, pretty much winning all three of the final bouts with the last blob of ink that hit the terrain. Such a brilliant adrenalin rush still.

I adore the motion control tilt aiming so not such how they'll keep that on Switch if you also need to use the screen to see what's happening.

Breath of the Wild may trump them, but Splatoon and Bayonetta 2 will be the titles I most affectionately look back on when I think of this weird little machines legacy.

Playing on the Wii U and realising just how good so many of the ideas were really reminds you that if Nintendo got it right marketing wise, it could have been SO much more. The dual screen benefits are immense.

I'll be playing mind for years to come, it's going nowhere! Hope the online functionality sticks around for some time yet. Would be a bit shit to cut if off within 1-2 years of the Switch launch.

[Flabyo]

I would LOVE for them to do to it what they did with the PSP remake of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together.

Probably the most shameful thing in my ever increasing pile of shame is the PSP version to Tactics Ogre. I have the really fancy collector edition of it, and I've literally never played it. I was playing Valkyria 2 at the time and after that for some reason I put the psp down and I don't think I've ever turned it on again...

[Joshihatsumitsu]

The ever reliable and fun Snow Bros. (reliable as in the board works with no issues)



I'm a bit on the slow side, because I only just realised that by chaining the attacks together, you can greatly increase your score. I guess it's easier to notice things like that at home, rather than the arcade. Such simple mechanics, and sooooooooooo much fun.

[ratsoalbion]

Awesome!
Love Toaplan.

[Alex79]

Finally got round to getting a copy of Yakuza 0, should be on my doorstep in the morning. And - my girlfriend is away tomorrow night, perfect timing!

[KSubzero1000]

I hope you'll enjoy it!