Whatcha Been Playing?

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
User avatar
Scrustle
Member
Posts: 2426
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

Still playing Devil May Cry 5, seemingly unable to stop. Struggling my way through Dante Must Die mode. At first it didn't seem so bad, with Nero's levels in the first half of the game and V's as well. Definitely tough, but doable. A few deaths here and there when I just wasn't paying close enough attention. Then came the familiar feeling of hitting a wall halfway through, with the start of Dante's levels. Really big step up in difficulty. Enemies hit ridiculously hard, and the harder ones start showing up a lot more frequently. And with Dante's lack of mobility compared to Nero, it's a harsh awakening. With his first level, I admit I just brute-forced my way through, using way more revives than I really like doing. Didn't really feel great. That's usually what happens when I reach a point like this in these games. Start relying on items so much that all the fun gets taken out of it and I end up burning through all my resources I've gathered through the game.

So for his second level I decided to abstain from that and just try over and over, however long it took. To see if this was truly the end. It took a while. Probably 20 tries or so, but I beat that damn level without revives!!! Usually I find doing that sort of thing in games more trouble than it's worth, and it just feels like a waste of time and a hollow victory, but not this time. Incredibly satisfying to do. Especially with there being a boss at the end of the level, Cavaliere Angelo. That actually turned out to be easier than some of the earlier fights. Since there's only one opponent you don't have to keep track of loads of enemies attacking from all angles. And despite being totally crushed on the first attempt, I quickly found a good trick to get through its defenses. That boss you can parry pretty much all of their attacks, but it's very hard to actually make good use of it, as you tend to bounce off them too and not have enough time to do a follow up before their sword comes back down on you again. But it turns out if you just do the forward spin attack with King Cerberus, you get a really long sustained hitbox that doesn't bounce you off when you parry. So I could just spam that move over and over to whittle down his defense and knock away pretty much all its attacks. Very satisfying to pull off.

So yeah, still in love with this game as it turns out. Although I expect my progress through this mode will be very slow. Maybe only one or two missions at a time. Each one is a grueling trial, and you really have to do your best. Still unsure I'll be able to actually finish it, but this has given me a second wind at least.
User avatar
KSubzero1000
Member
Posts: 3365
Joined: August 26th, 2015, 9:56 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Ha! Well, I'm also playing DMC5 DMD at the moment. I wasn't comfortable with starting Sekiro while leaving so much unfinished in this game. I'm also hitting a brick wall on Mission 10 right now, but it's because the S rank point threshold seems really difficult to reach on this one, so I'm trying to get by without taking any damage and those damn Furies are an absolute pain in the neck.

I will not give up.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Interested to hear more about Trials Rising. I've always enjoyed the Trials game, but every release since the impeccable Trials HD on the 360 has drifted slightly away from what I loved about the game. Too much razzmatazz, not enough brutally difficult courses. Evolution and Fusion were both just far too easy, with the only tracks posing any challenge whatsoever being the final extreme ones.
User avatar
DomsBeard
Member
Posts: 3689
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 5:03 pm
Location: Doms Chin

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by DomsBeard »

Firestorm

For my tastes it is my favourite Battle Royale game. This isn't going to make sense but it is Battlefield with Battle Royale in it. Guns feel good, every death has felt fair. Even the parachute jump in feels realistic again as stupid as that sounds. Inventory system if a little fiddly is good.

The map is massive and some of it is cut off by the Firestorm at the start of each game meaning if you found somewhere you think you could get used to it might not be an option next game.
User avatar
duskvstweak
Member
Posts: 1123
Joined: August 23rd, 2017, 6:40 pm
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by duskvstweak »

I'm told I'm somewhere around 60% done with the Last of Us on the PS3. I've been enjoying it, for the most part. I suck at stealth games and the game wants me to feel bad about it, so I just pull out the shotgun and spread the guilt into those damn zombies. Other than the stealth, it's a nice tour through a decent story, though I wish I had played it when it came out and before it had been slightly spoiled or even bettered in Logan.
User avatar
Pitwar
Member
Posts: 323
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 9:46 am
Location: Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Pitwar »

Devil May Cry 5

I've got a little further into this, and I still don't like it. It's odd because for the most part I've enjoyed the franchise, but this just isn't grabbing me. I think part of it is I just don't enjoy the characters like I used to, and I'm getting nothing from the gameplay. I can't see me finishing it, and will likely trade it in while it still has some value.

Sekiro

I wasn't going to pick this up right away, but seeing so many people raving about it I gave in.

I never got on with the Souls games mainly due to being rubbish at them, but did really enjoy Bloodborne and played it through to the end.

Sekiro so far is kicking my arse, but I'm really digging it. It does have a good amount of Tenchu to it which is most definitely a plus as I enjoyed those games back in the day. I look forward to cracking on and hopefully getting better.

The Division 2

Still loving it :D
User avatar
duskvstweak
Member
Posts: 1123
Joined: August 23rd, 2017, 6:40 pm
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by duskvstweak »

ThirdMan wrote: March 27th, 2019, 12:23 pm
duskvstweak wrote: March 27th, 2019, 12:02 amI wish I had played it when it came out and before it had been slightly spoiled or even bettered in Logan.
That's an intriguing comparison. Care to expand on it?
I mean, it's not a 1 for 1 comparison, and "bettered" is probably a bit troll-ish on my part. But, grizzled old man who's done with it brought back into it by young, daughter-figure girl has been done a few times now. Which is why I wish I had played this first and then been able to say, "Oh, like in the Last of Us!" instead of the other way around.
I've found Joel's agreement of responsibility a bit too smooth in it's transition and, while I like Ellie, there's a difference between precocious and 32 year old woman.

But, I just got to the Winter chapter and the game has picked up for me in a big way. And really, it's much different from that movie comparison now.
User avatar
Scrustle
Member
Posts: 2426
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

Played a little bit more of Grid 2 and I think it's rather telling that I keep seeming to forget I've got this game on the go. I've put a decent amount of time in to it now, about 6 hours according to Steam. The lack of variety is becoming really apparent. In that time the game hasn't changed meaningfully at all. I've unlocked maybe around 20 cars or so, yet they all feel like they're in the same ball park. Hardly any distinction between how any of them drives, apart from some being a bit more slippy than others. Every single car I've unlocked has been eligible for every major race I've played too, so they clearly aren't meant to be that different from each other. It makes every race feel more or less the same. When it does change up the rules somewhat it doesn't exactly help the experience. One event type in particular that does this is the "live route" races, where the course changes layout from lap to lap. Sounds like an interesting idea, but in practice it's kind of annoying. You can't really tell what sort of corner you're coming up to until you're already turning in to it sometimes, so you can't really optimise your driving and learn the track. It makes you feel like you're driving blind. It makes the lack of the little hazard braking light from the first game really apparent. Would be very useful here, as you don't even get a mini-map for these races. I've got used to how the cars handle a bit more though, and the model is totally serviceable in isolation. Does the job fine. But it still does feel stiff and lacking inertia compared to the first game. Drifting in particular feels very rigid and not fun. Getting used to how the game controls hasn't changed those things. I doubt I'll keep playing much more of this. Apart from being impressed with the graphics (which hasn't been showing its best recently) I'm still getting the same kind of impression from it that I had the first time round.

I also picked up God of War 3 Remastered the other day and started playing through that. I've had a bit of an urge on and off to play this game again in this new form for a while. It was on sale on PSN for really cheap, so I finally went for it. After being so disappointed with Ascension right after playing Dad of War, this one is actually impressing me quite a lot again. I was somewhat surprised to find that the combat actually does have a decent feeling of impact, with good sound design and hit pauses and such. That's something this series has traditionally struggled with, but here I think they actually did a good job. Better than I remember. I think it might have something to do with having my audio settings being slightly differently to how I had it before. Or maybe the game audio was tweaked for this version. And even though visually it looks pretty much the same as the PS3 version, the improved frame rate is very nice. I think that might help with the hit pause feeling too, since it makes the difference between the fast fluid parts of the animation and the pauses much more prominent, compared to how the original felt with its fps in the low-to-mid 40s. Control response also feels really quick too, which I was unsure would be the case from my memories and other experiences with these older games. Although dodging and blocking still doesn't quite feel as instant as I'd like it. But overall I'm impressed with how well this game still holds up, and happy that my downer from playing Ascension right after the reboot was indeed just because that one game isn't great, and that some of the older games in the series do still stand up.

Still trying to chip away at DMC5 as well. Or, sort of. Coming off that hard earned victory of beating Mission 11 on DMD, it looks like I'm now stuck on Misson 12, even worse than I was before. I can hardly get anywhere in it. Not even to the first checkpoint. I guess this is the end after all. Right after such a great moment too... I know it's possible to basically cheat this level and not do any of the fights, but I'd rather not. That doesn't fix my problem of not being good enough.
User avatar
dezm0nd
Moderator
Posts: 4445
Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:48 am
Location: Leighton Buzzard

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Played some Goldeneye 007 last night. In one hour I got to Depot on 00 Agent difficulty.

I still got the touch
User avatar
duskvstweak
Member
Posts: 1123
Joined: August 23rd, 2017, 6:40 pm
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by duskvstweak »

dezm0nd wrote: March 27th, 2019, 9:16 pm Played some Goldeneye 007 last night. In one hour I got to Depot on 00 Agent difficulty.

I still got the touch
Like a... GOLDFINGER?!
User avatar
dezm0nd
Moderator
Posts: 4445
Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:48 am
Location: Leighton Buzzard

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

*alan partridge trumpet*
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Sorry to go off topic, but do you need to have watched the other Xmen films before Logan? I fancied watching it, but never saw any of the hundred million or so other ones.
Joshihatsumitsu

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

Alex79uk wrote: March 29th, 2019, 12:56 am Sorry to go off topic, but do you need to have watched the other Xmen films before Logan? I fancied watching it, but never saw any of the hundred million or so other ones.
Not really. I mean, if Logan was the last movie you saw after consecutively watching the previous stand alone Wolverine entries, at least you'd end on a high. The difference in quality is pretty significant.
User avatar
ThirdDrawing
Member
Posts: 571
Joined: October 13th, 2016, 2:33 pm
Location: Poverty Stricken StudentLand

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ThirdDrawing »

Been playing Ni No Kuni 2, which as it turns out, is pretty much Suikoden 6 in everything but name. A nice surprise!
User avatar
duskvstweak
Member
Posts: 1123
Joined: August 23rd, 2017, 6:40 pm
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by duskvstweak »

Alex79uk wrote: March 29th, 2019, 12:56 am Sorry to go off topic, but do you need to have watched the other Xmen films before Logan? I fancied watching it, but never saw any of the hundred million or so other ones.
In a lot of ways, the only X-Men movie Logan specifically mentions is the first movie and even that is blink and you miss it.

However, as an unapologetically biased X-Men fan, which includes a love for the movies, I'd say give the rest of the series a go too. There's more good-great than bad (really, only three are "bad" and that's a pretty decent batting average for nine slash eleven movies.
User avatar
Suits
Member
Posts: 3174
Joined: October 28th, 2015, 3:25 pm
Location: Chelmsford, UK

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

I’m playing Yoshi’s Crafted World 🦖🦖 !!

It’s cool. It’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a Yoshi’s Woolly World follow up in terms of its feel and mechanics but level wise, it has a nice little change up.

Foreground, background is now very much interact-able and there’s plenty of other things to do and busy yourself with that the other game didn’t have.

I won’t go into detail as there’s plenty of little tweaks and changes.

It’s what I expected and what I wanted, with a few nice little bonus chocolate chunks buried in there 😎.
User avatar
DomsBeard
Member
Posts: 3689
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 5:03 pm
Location: Doms Chin

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by DomsBeard »

Suits wrote: March 29th, 2019, 7:19 pm I’m playing Yoshi’s Crafted World 🦖🦖 !!

It’s cool. It’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a Yoshi’s Woolly World follow up in terms of its feel and mechanics but level wise, it has a nice little change up.

Foreground, background is now very much interact-able and there’s plenty of other things to do and busy yourself with that the other game didn’t have.

I won’t go into detail as there’s plenty of little tweaks and changes.

It’s what I expected and what I wanted, with a few nice little bonus chocolate chunks buried in there 😎.
I'm enjoying it also. Obvious comparison to Tearaway (I have never played Woolly World)
User avatar
DomsBeard
Member
Posts: 3689
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 5:03 pm
Location: Doms Chin

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by DomsBeard »

Sekiro Domsbeard Dies a lot.

I have given it a good couple of hours of my time and decided it isn't for me.

Started off great love games set in this era.

Being killed over and over with a poor explanation as to why and then bombarded with % for something and x happening because of y it lost me completely.

I think with a more in depth tutorial I would have loved this game
User avatar
Suits
Member
Posts: 3174
Joined: October 28th, 2015, 3:25 pm
Location: Chelmsford, UK

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

DomsBeard wrote: March 30th, 2019, 2:09 pm Sekiro Domsbeard Dies a lot.

I have given it a good couple of hours of my time and decided it isn't for me.
I think I’m with you on this mate.

I’m about 5 hours in and while it’s rewarding, I’m just not finding it easy to switch it on.

Plus with Yoshi (which just gets better and better after world 1) constantly nagging at me to play it, I’m going to shelve it for now.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Thanks for the replies re: Logan, folks.

I'm playing a bit of everything at the moment.

Making slow progress through South Park: The Stick Of Truth, and enjoying it (although the battles are a little easy). Slow progress because I'm only playing via remote play on Vita in bed, and do an hour or so per week.

On the final boss of FFX, and really enjoyed the game.

Picked up a playthrough of Dark Souls 2: SotFS I abandoned ages ago after getting stuck on a boss. I promised I'd solo it this time (although it's my first time through the SotFS version and DLC), as when I finished the vanilla game on PS3 upon release there were a couple of bosses I think I summoned on. Slipped right back in to loving it, just beat the Shaded Woods area, now trying to decide whether to carry on to The Doors Of Pharros or tackle the Rotten / Black Gulch.

Also, started The Following DLC of Dying Light. Its a lot of fun hooning around in that buggy, although the game is still basically unplayable at night time with those almost invincible zombies that kind of ruin it.

I think that's it!

Oh no, I'm around 90 min or so in to The Gardens Between, too.

I very rarely have so many games on the go at once. I think I'm suffering some sort of post-Arthur Morgan gaming trauma and can't concentrate on anything for long. I've already decided in my head I'm going to start The Surge as soon as the PS+ games drop next week, too.

Madness.
Post Reply