Whatcha Been Playing?

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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

ReprobateGamer wrote: July 9th, 2020, 5:46 pm Tried out No Man's Sky a few nights ago as it's available on Game Pass. It starts well enough but I lost interest at the point where I'm required to build a base.

I was interested in having a game where I could fly across the universe, exploring at my leisure but I have to say that having to farm resources to construct a base is the point where I started to lose interest.
Honestly, once you've got a few hours in, farming resources is completely unnecessary, you can just buy them from space ports and trader posts. That revelation changed the game for me, made it a lot less of a grind-fest.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I almost gave up on Watch Dogs 2 this evening. After getting so annoyed failing the same mission multiple times thinking its just too difficult not to be seen and the stealth isn't that great anyway, but I thought fuck it and knocked it down to easy, and ended up having an absolute blast. Much more fun now!
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Angry_Kurt
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Angry_Kurt »

Alex79uk wrote: July 10th, 2020, 12:24 am I almost gave up on Watch Dogs 2 this evening. After getting so annoyed failing the same mission multiple times thinking its just too difficult not to be seen and the stealth isn't that great anyway, but I thought fuck it and knocked it down to easy, and ended up having an absolute blast. Much more fun now!
You saying that has just made me realise that the GTA games don't have difficulty levels, or Red Dead. Just a random thought.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I could have sworn GTA 5 did till you said that, but no apparently not.
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Jobobonobo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Jobobonobo »

I have not played a snowboard (or indeed any sports) game in ages so thought I would give Steep a try. Interestingly, it is much more than snowboarding with skiing, wingsuits, sleds, parachutes and even jetpacks to use in various events. The controls are responsive and tight and the sense of speed really is something to behold. It has that lovely moreish quality of "just one more event" that makes it difficult to put down. Yeah, have to say I'm digging this a lot.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

Monument Valley 2 has sat on my iPad home screen since it was free about 2 years ago. I liked the first one well enough, but never felt I needed more until I was fed up of seeing it there! Which is a shame because it turned out to be incredible! Not sure why it caught hold of me more than the original - the aesthetic is evolved and even more polished, as is the gameplay to an extent. But it strangely felt like Journey this time, partly in theme but also in its sense of drama, with the sensory controls pulling you in even further. Stunning game!

I’m a couple of hours into Silent Hill on PS1. I still love how it uses technical limitations to up the atmosphere, even if the controls leave a bit to be desired nowadays.

And I’m getting better than ever before at Paperboy on the Spectrum and not bad at the arcade version on PS2 and PSP for a new blog post. Also finished Manic Miner 2020 and Super Mario Bros. Special Edition on the Spectrum. Both short and sweet and the former is quite brilliant!
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

A few days ago I started Shadow Warrior 2, since they announced the third game recently, and I've been meaning to get around to this one for a while. I was kind of hesitant to try this one, even though I have had it sitting on my GOG account for ages thanks to some giveaway that happened years ago. But I had heard how this one wasn't as well received as the previous game, and had randomly generated levels and Borderlands-like looter-shooter systems. And those things are definitely there, but I'm still enjoying the game a lot regardless. The moment-to-moment is fantastic. It's fast and furious, with fluid movement and a frenetic pace. Swift and stylist, punchy and powerful. Guns feel great, as do swords, both having a visceral feeling of tearing through enemies in an excessively gratifying way. The controls feel really tight, and you have a lot of freedom of movement too. Much like the recent Doom games, it's a high bar for what modern shooters can feel like if they try, and it all works really well on a controller. Visually it's really impressive too, with gorgeously detailed environments, and great lighting and wind effects. But those randomly generated levels are hard to ignore. Despite looking great, none of the levels are particularly interesting from a gameplay design point of view. They don't feel like they have much logic or direction to them, and there isn't really much point in exploring around. While they work well as arenas for combat, and even have some level of verticality to them, navigating them feels kind of thoughtless. But so far it hasn't really ruined the experience, as the combat and aesthetic is where the real appeal is. Although I am glad it seems the third game is going back to more intentionally designed levels.

More Gujian 3 as well. Still enjoying it. I've reached a point where a huge crafting system has opened up. It's kind of overwhelming at first, with multiple hours of tutorials on the myriad of things you can craft, and how all the farming systems work. It's pretty crazy. The story is starting to feel a bit meandering right now though, as it's hard to keep track of why I'm doing the stuff I am at the given moment. But at the very least it's taking me on a tour through some really fantastic looking environments. I've also managed to improve the performance somewhat, by using RTSS. It still struggles to reach 60fps a lot of the time, but at least now with this tool the frame pacing is evened out a bit, so it feels much less stuttery.
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Been playing a few rounds of Rocket Arena.

Quite enjoying it, I am
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

I had a similar experience with Shadow Warrior 2, in that I was at first pretty disappointed with the change in design philosophy, but once I’d got into it I had a blast still.

I think the first game is better still, but 2 is definitely worth playing.
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Stanshall »

Neon Abyss for me, really enjoying it. My favourite rogueish since Dead Cells, but maybe better than that. It's very very derivative and familiar but well balanced and refined, and I much much prefer the run and gun gameplay to Gungeon's awkward kinda top-down thing.
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

I've definitely got Isaac on my mind whenever I play a rogue lite now. Its like your first MMO

Nothing can touch it and no matter how hard I try I struggle to get into another one.

Rogue Legacy and Hades are the two I enjoyed but even then it's no Isaac. (To me)

Neon Abyss seems fab though and glad it sprung up on gamepass
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Stanshall »

dezm0nd wrote: July 16th, 2020, 7:25 am I've definitely got Isaac on my mind whenever I play a rogue lite now. Its like your first MMO

Nothing can touch it and no matter how hard I try I struggle to get into another one.
Same here, Dez. It's still my most played Switch game by miles (300h) and that's after forcing myself to uninstall it about two years ago! Nothing else has come close even if I've enjoyed dabbling in the odd one here and there but we're talking a handful of runs.

Having played more, this is my favourite since Isaac, I'm sure. The sense of getting a mad OP run is great and it happens probably one in eight. When you're up against it a little more and trying to make a wonky run work for you and hanging on for that one element to bring it all together, it's still really good fun. Then suddenly you get that weapon, or you hatch an egg that's spraying cash and you start moving through the gears. :D

Great fun!
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

I played a bit of Neon Abyss, but I really struggle with using the shoulder buttons or triggers to jump. I can map them to my joypads underside paddles (like I do when I play Overwatch or Apex) and that helps, but I don’t ever feel as in control as I do when I’m playing dead cells.

I’m perhaps just too old and lacking in reflexes to handle twinstick shooting *and* jump at the same time...

I’ve been spending my evenings this week playing Cross Code instead. On the surface it’s a fairly cute looking secret of mana esque action RPG. But it’s plot is extremely meta, you’re actually playing an amnesiac person *playing an mmo* to try to get their memories back by re-experiencing the mmo from the beginning, or something like that anyway.

It’s pretty solid mechanically (also twin stick, but no manual jumping... heh) but I suspect you’ll only get as much out of it as I am if you’re an mmo player cause the jokes and references will fly way over your head otherwise.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I know it shouldn't still surprise me, but honestly, playing Donkey Kong Country (SNES) on the Switch online service is like playing a totally different game to the original we had on console. The speed difference to what we were used to makes the game so much more responsive and fluid to play. It's an incredible difference!
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

dezm0nd wrote: July 16th, 2020, 7:25 am I've definitely got Isaac on my mind whenever I play a rogue lite now. Its like your first MMO

Nothing can touch it and no matter how hard I try I struggle to get into another one.

Rogue Legacy and Hades are the two I enjoyed but even then it's no Isaac. (To me)

Neon Abyss seems fab though and glad it sprung up on gamepass
Did you ever play Risk Of Rain? That was one I felt closer to Isaac, despite the view change.
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Mr Ixolite
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Mr Ixolite »

Playing some more Golf Story now that I'm on summer vacation, and have been really getting into it. I've grown increasingly fond of having "chill-out" games to play before going to bed, and playing a few holes does the job nicely. Sometimes the "Story" part of the game can feel too meager compared to the "Golf" part, but thats mostly because the writing is excellent and has me grinning ear to ear when the story does take center stage.

All together, I never thought I'd play a video game that'd make me go "Oh boy, I unlocked a new golf course! Haha, this is Rich Geezer themed, thats great!"
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I'm right at the very last boss in the epilogue of Bayonetta at the moment, and this game has been brilliant. First time playing it through and I can't believe it's a decade old! I listened to the CaR show (episode 12!) last night and it was quite funny to go back so far. The title music, Leon dropping F bombs, Darren Foreman... Was good to hear Tony's voice again though. Even when I started listening right back around episode 5 or 6, the show always had a professional feel about it, but it's amazing how far even since that you guys have come in terms of production and editing etc.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Jon Cheetham »

I'm playing Resident Evil 4, for the first time. Did the first couple of levels back in December and have been pretty much chugging through it over the past couple of nights. I'm up to 4-2 now.

I played a lot of the OG Resi 2 & 3 back in the day, and when I'd borrow my brother's PS2 it was largely a Code: Veronica X and Outbreak File #2 machine (as well as other contemporary Capcom hits like Devil May Cry and Onimusha). But Resident Evil 4 seemed to come to the system when I was doing A-levels and then subsequently went to university, at which point I lost touch and just hardly touched a console or PC game for over a decade. So there's a few blind spots and this is clearly one of the bigger ones.

It's really fantastic, per popular consensus. Love the environments, the village and the castle are both tremendous, and the way you're always exploring further is really absorbing and makes it hard to put down. Listening to the C&R ep from last year, Leah put into words something that really rings true for me as well which is that in shooters she often posts up in a strategic location to take shots at the enemy anyway, so the stop and pop gameplay isn't too uncomfortable. I'm not very good at the old run and gun myself so I don't really have an issue with this combat. I'm playing through Steam with a mouse and WASD which also works pretty well for aiming.

Anyway, love it. Think I'll go straight into Ada's campaign after if I continue enjoying it this much.

EDIT: The adaptive difficulty, as has been much discussed, is really exemplary in how it tries to curate a tense but doable level of challenge throughout whatever your skill level. One little addition I hadn't heard about before was the fact that there's always a rocket launcher on sale in case you just want to "opt out" of a boss fight you're not enjoying. That's a genius idea. I haven't used it yet, but having the option really helps assuage any concerns of hitting any buzzkill difficulty spikes in boss form. I love the philosophy that underpins all this of crafting an experience that is tuned and fun no matter who is playing it.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Paper Mario and the Origami King.

So far, so good. Its following the trend of the narrative adventure style and has had me laughing several times. The combat is interesting and enjoyable and the soundtrack is something special. Hopefully this all lasts as both Sticker Star and Colour Splash both run out of steam as they approach end credits.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

Played through interactive mystery movie (and PS+ freebie) Erica on PS4. It’s a bit gimmicky, but has an engaging story and is very well put together. I’d recommend it to anyone that has it.

Also finished Silent Hill on PS1, and it’s still great... dated controls in frantic situations involving demonic nurses or opening sewer gates aside!

And also finished The Room 2, which has been sitting on my iPad for years. The puzzles are very slick, but the increase in scale over its predecessor made it a little disjointed for me.

Not decided yet on Spyro 2 or Ghostbusters on PS4 for next main game.
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