Whatcha Been Playing?

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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Well if anyone feels like flogging/swapping their RDR2 for PS4 give me a yell! Not got a great deal to offer for a swap, but got loads of PS3 games and 360 ones, as well as a few on Gamecube.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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dezm0nd wrote: November 26th, 2018, 5:24 pm So i purchased tetris effect with the money and finding it alot more rewarding but why does the game suffer from framerate dips and affect the input in a laggy way? It puts a delay on the controller input and severely knackers the run
Mate, I saw on Twitter that you mentioned this - but I can’t think of a single instance that it’s burped or skipped, in VR or screen play.

Very odd.
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duskvstweak
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by duskvstweak »

I picked up Jurassic World: Evolution on sale. I decided that $20 was a decent price for a game that doesn't have TONS going on but is a pretty decent Dinosaur-zoo simulator. I actually got sucked in to the game in a big way on my second island. More than something like Rollercoaster Tycoon, it actually reminds me of Lionhead's The Movies, less involved but sitting back and watching the ants (Triceratops) go about their business is a calming process.
Huh, where can I get a copy of The Movies these days...
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Suits wrote: November 26th, 2018, 6:52 pm
dezm0nd wrote: November 26th, 2018, 5:24 pm So i purchased tetris effect with the money and finding it alot more rewarding but why does the game suffer from framerate dips and affect the input in a laggy way? It puts a delay on the controller input and severely knackers the run
Mate, I saw on Twitter that you mentioned this - but I can’t think of a single instance that it’s burped or skipped, in VR or screen play.

Very odd.
Launch ps4, seems to happen after a pause
bixer

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by bixer »

Been working my way through Octopath Traveler for the past 6 weeks or so.

I'm not typically one to get so engrossed in JRPGs outside of Pokemon, but Octopath has been different. It has made me realise however that handheld is the only way I wish to experience them, as otherwise I just won't make the time to finish them.

Already one of my favourite games of the year.
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DomsBeard
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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duskvstweak wrote: November 26th, 2018, 6:57 pm I picked up Jurassic World: Evolution on sale. I decided that $20 was a decent price for a game that doesn't have TONS going on but is a pretty decent Dinosaur-zoo simulator. I actually got sucked in to the game in a big way on my second island. More than something like Rollercoaster Tycoon, it actually reminds me of Lionhead's The Movies, less involved but sitting back and watching the ants (Triceratops) go about their business is a calming process.
Huh, where can I get a copy of The Movies these days...
Really enjoyed Jurassic World when I had it as a rental. I have been waiting for it to go sub £20 before picking it up on consoles. I got up to the 3rd island. That music on the intro sucks you right in.

With Christmas coming up I have to give a little nod to knowledge is power on PS4 which I played this weekend whilst on a family holiday away. Up to 6 players can play via their phones and it really is a fun quiz game. It was PS+ but for some reason I did not download it as it was not on mine when I checked last night. However they have released a new version called Decades which I picked up for £15.99 and have a game of with my Mrs last night. To start with you pick either 80's, 90's, 00's and 10's then whichever is picked most all of the following few questions are on that decade.
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Chopper »

Traded by Friday lunchtime, I'm calling it now. ;)

I have been dipping in and out of Astro Bot, Gran Turismo Sport, and Demon's Souls.

Astro Bot is very nice; I'm not a fan of platformers so it's not the best thing ever for me but it is pretty neat and guaranteed to make you smile. The only drawback I've noticed is you can't turn back for stuff you've missed.

GT Sport is more of the same (for someone who is a Dodgem-car racer). I've never really gotten to grips with the fact that you can just out-tune your car to beat everyone else. I haven't been doing that this time round, so I have a bunch of 2nd finishes and one 1st in the Sunday Cup, and two wins in the Volkswagen Van event. The tracks are absolutely amazing though.

I was primarily interested in the VR side of things but that is disappointing (I somehow foolishly had the impression that there wouldn't be a reduction in visual fidelity) as it is only one other car and they are badly tuned so that they are hopeless. Maybe there is a setting to make them better, I dunno.

Demon's Souls is still the best. Amazing to see a game install from disc and not a single patch get downloaded (settle down now, KSub and Joshi). There seem to be a few bugs I don't remember from before (1-1 Dragon not breathing fire in his flyby for example), and I definitely have a deep hatred for 4-2, but it's all good.

Oh, also Tetris Effect, but I've hit diminishing returns on the penultimate level on Normal.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

Chopper wrote: November 27th, 2018, 4:41 pm GT Sport is more of the same (for someone who is a Dodgem-car racer). I've never really gotten to grips with the fact that you can just out-tune your car to beat everyone else. I haven't been doing that this time round, so I have a bunch of 2nd finishes and one 1st in the Sunday Cup, and two wins in the Volkswagen Van event. The tracks are absolutely amazing though.

I was primarily interested in the VR side of things but that is disappointing (I somehow foolishly had the impression that there wouldn't be a reduction in visual fidelity) as it is only one other car and they are badly tuned so that they are hopeless. Maybe there is a setting to make them better, I dunno.
One of the most enjoyable games I’ve played this year GT Sport.

I too bought it for the VR side of things and like you, after 90 seconds I binned it off. However, I soon became addicted to the simplistic driving options and wonderful physics of the driving.

I played and beat (on Gold) all of the Missions, which was thoroughly enjoyable and I’d recommend jumping into that at any level and giving it a go.

GT Sport really shines in that regard and delivers a great, refined, console racing sim without a lot of the surrounding fat that other racing sims carry.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

My Dad’s just moved house and it seems like most of the contents of his loft were mine, given the pile of stuff now living in my garage! The first thing extracted from the pile was my Atari ST, and it powered on first time after gathering dust in a carrier bag for over 20 years. My Quickshot joystick, Ghouls n’ Ghosts and my beloved Kick Off were in the same bag, and that’s what I’ve been playing! Still an incredible game of football, and my muscle memory confirmed what an unplayable abomination that revamp from a couple of years ago on PS4 was! Can’t wait to find the huge box of disks with the rest of my games in...

Just finished the seventh dungeon in Legend of Zelda on the NES Classic Mini. Then on the Switch! As I’ve mentioned before, a couple of dungeons in I couldn’t resist starting it on the Switch as well, so I’m playing both version in parallel. It seems like I’m not far from the end now, but I really don’t want it to finish. First (and second) time playing it and I absolutely love it!

Apart from that, still obsessed with Moonlighter on Switch, not as obsessed as I wish I was with Castlevania Rondo of Blood on PS4, and plodding away on Mad Max despite being a bit bored with it now.
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Still utterly absorbed by Tetris Effect, probably will consume me until Smash Bros Ultimate. If you want more leaderboard names add Gargette on your ps4
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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How much of a step up in normal from easy ??

I’m at the last level on easy now, once I beat it I’m stepping up to Normal.
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Suits wrote: November 28th, 2018, 9:42 am How much of a step up in normal from easy ??

I’m at the last level on easy now, once I beat it I’m stepping up to Normal.
It's not a big step up at all, at least in the first half. Gets a bit tricky near the end.
Suits wrote: November 27th, 2018, 7:08 pm
One of the most enjoyable games I’ve played this year GT Sport.

.....

I played and beat (on Gold) all of the Missions, which was thoroughly enjoyable and I’d recommend jumping into that at any level and giving it a go.
I played the first two missions this morning and it does seem like a good way of getting the most out of the game, cheers.

@stvnorman
plodding away on Mad Max despite being a bit bored with it now.
I hope you are critical pathing it at this stage and not doing the side activities; I did them for the first area and didn't bother any other sectors as they are all the same, just bombed through to the end.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I think I ended up doing everything in Mad Max, but I was out of work at the time and that kind of ‘mop up the sandbox’ is pretty good gaming when you’re depressed.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Stanshall »

GT Sport is an absolutely fantastic online racing game, so that would be my recommendation. Much better than Forza 7 or any Horizon. I've seldom felt such tension and satisfaction as hanging on over a few laps of the 'Ring. Heart attack inducing shit. Great times. Single player cup content ain't great but the tutorial/mission stuff which teaches you the tracks is phenomenal. Best of its kind, in my experience.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

Stanshall wrote: November 28th, 2018, 10:46 am GT Sport is an absolutely fantastic online racing game, so that would be my recommendation. Much better than Forza 7 or any Horizon. I've seldom felt such tension and satisfaction as hanging on over a few laps of the 'Ring. Heart attack inducing shit. Great times. Single player cup content ain't great but the tutorial/mission stuff which teaches you the tracks is phenomenal. Best of its kind, in my experience.
The enjoyment I got from GT-S took me back to the glory days of F3 on the 360.

Pick a track, set a time man - I’ll race ya !!
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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On the final level of Demon's Souls now. Maneater was the only serious threat to my glass cannon Magician, and I'll be taking down the Old King by means of subterfuge, so not long now.

Urgh, and I forgot the Blue Dragon. Not so easy when your bow does 5 damage.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Chopper wrote: November 28th, 2018, 4:20 pm On the final level of Demon's Souls now. Maneater was the only serious threat to my glass cannon Magician, and I'll be taking down the Old King by means of subterfuge, so not long now.

Urgh, and I forgot the Blue Dragon. Not so easy when your bow does 5 damage.
WHAT?! How are you on the final level already? I started before you and have put a lot of time into it.
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Well, I thought I’d get ahead of you in case you needed a dig out :)

Plus, I know all the shortcuts, enemy placement etc, and haven’t been collecting stones or upgrading anything.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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plodding away on Mad Max despite being a bit bored with it now.
I hope you are critical pathing it at this stage and not doing the side activities; I did them for the first area and didn't bother any other sectors as they are all the same, just bombed through to the end.
I am. Went through the phase of being distracted by everything, then just doing what I needed to, now just focussed on getting to the end as I’ve got this far. Next stop is Gas Town, so assume I’m heading towards a climax there. It’s not a bad game, just finding it very repetitive now.

While I’m here, I’ll also quickly mention the wonderful R-Type Dimensions EX out on Switch today. I remember being blown away by the Spectrum version, and now after all this time I’ve got my mitts on the arcade original and I’m like a pig in muck. I can still only get to the end of stage one on the original, and I’ve not tried the sequel yet, but this is a forever game so no rush! What I don’t really care for is the updated graphics option. It’s fantastic that pressing X switches seamlessly between old and new, but the modern take just seems very bland by modern standards. Anyway, no problem just steering clear of X!
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Been playing Darksiders 3. After all these years of waiting, through all the troubles of THQ and licenses getting tossed around, it's finally here! Reviews may have been mixed, but I'm enjoying it a lot so far. I don't really see where some of these more negative reviews are coming from. This was always going to be a B-game that takes ideas from lots of other places, paying homage to old favourites. That's what this series has always been. And so far, it's doing a pretty good job of being that again. This time though there's obviously a big Dark Souls influence, rather than Zelda being the focus. Although that is still there to a certain extent. In a way, it's more of a Metroidvania influence really. Combat is slower, more deliberate, and more lethal than previous games, but it doesn't feel like it's going all-in on that as much as Dark Souls. Still got a distinct Darksiders feel to it. But the world design is definitely pretty Metroidvania-like, in a way that feels more faithful to that source than what Dark Souls was. There are paths that split off everywhere that obviously require some kind of ability that you don't have when you first reach them, with it all being very dense and twisting around on top of each other. Visually world design is great too. I was somewhat worried with this one being set on Earth like the first game, as that sometimes got kind of monotonous with grey, ruined buildings. Always preferred 2 for its more diverse worlds. But here things are colourful and dynamic looking, so it doesn't suffer from the same problems 1 sometimes did.

The characters are also pretty cool so far. Fury herself is a very good protagonist, and makes a great first impression. She's got a very forceful personality and likes to make sardonic quips at things pretty frequently. They present NPCs in a much more cinematic style too. Giving them cutscenes where they really move around and show off body language much more than in the previous games. Vulgrim in particular has a more well realised presence in this one, which is pretty nice after he was somewhat underutilised in 2. So far bosses seem to have a decent personality as well. Even though they don't get much screen time overall, for obvious reasons, they at least give them enough to let them establish some sort of personality beyond "I am bad guy! I will fight you!". Something which did occasionally happen in previous games, but more often than not it didn't.

The PC version seems okay so far. Runs well enough from what I've seen. A few minor hitches at max settings on my 970, but the vast majority of the time it keeps a smooth 60fps. But there is one problem though, which I've heard the console versions have as well. The anti-aliasing it pretty terrible. The game is very blurry and soft. If you turn off the AA the jaggies are just atrocious. There's no decent middle ground on any setting. Whatever AA the game is using, it's not very good. It doesn't necessarily ruin the experience though, and I got used to it after a while. That, or maybe some areas are worse than others. When I was fiddling with settings before and turned off AA, the jaggies were so bad it seemed like the game was running at a way lower resolution than what the settings menu claimed. Maybe the game is running some really aggressive adaptive resolution that it doesn't tell you about, and the game was at a much lower res when I was fiddling with settings, since that was a much more open area than I'm in right now. I kind of hope they fix that somehow. Maybe add an option to control dynamic resolution if that is a thing, or patch in some better AA.

Also been playing more Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition. I did end up starting a Vergil run on Son of Sparda. I really love how Vergil plays in this game. He feels so powerful and versatile, but without feeling overpowered or like you don't have to work to play well. But damn, he does not seem well suited to the Credo fight. That always seems to be the hardest boss for him. That is such an excellent boss though. After beating him with Vergil I went back to him with Nero to see if I could learn his Buster timing, and I actually managed to start getting the hang of it! I was never able to catch the spear he throws at you before, but I managed to do it quite a few times when I was focusing on that. It's really hard to judge though, as the timing can vary a lot depending on how far you are away from him. But damn, is it satisfying to pull off. I also managed to do a few Busters on his lunging move too, which was also very fun. Such a brilliant boss. Easy to see why people say it's one of the best in the whole series.
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