Whatcha Been Playing?

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
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shadowless_kick
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by shadowless_kick »

ThirdDrawing wrote: June 16th, 2019, 4:30 pm They just announced yesterday that Ikaruga is getting a physical release in the West.
:|

I did a thorough sweep of the net looking for any concrete news on a physical release before I bought the digital version. I swear they were waiting for the money to leave my account before signing the damn contract and making this announcement... no use even getting mad over it. where did you see this?
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FemalePheromones
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by FemalePheromones »

Alex79uk wrote: June 15th, 2019, 11:21 pm I've seen a couple of videos of Necrodancer, but I think don't really get what it is. I know, 'a roguelike rhythm action dungeon crawler'.

Yeah. I still don't get what it is :lol:
It's only £2.39 on Xbox and Switch for the next couple of days!
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

Scrustle wrote: June 16th, 2019, 11:09 pm While we're on the topic, I also happen to own a Lego Technic Enzo Ferrari from when I was younger. Great kit, with an engine with moving pistons, and it even has a differential too.
Man, a few years ago I went a bit nuts and bought the £300 Lego Technic Porsche 911 GT3 model.

Took me about 40 hours to build in five separate stages.

Full four wheel drive, locking diff’s, independent suspension, working flat 6 boxer engine, gearbox the lot.

Absolutely incredible piece of kit that came with a making of book and everything.

Wonderfully crafted and put together.

Bloody massive though. Massive.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Lego TECHNIC are some of the best designed toys on the market. Impeccable polish and ingenuity and you can totally tell they are hiring some proper engineers to design and fine-tune every aspect of every model, especially with how all the gears and transmission etc... all fit together. They also have some of the most precise and informative instruction manuals ever created.

Every once in a while I see a particularly dope specimen in a store and consider buying it. I then admonish myself for wanting to buy a Lego product at my age. Immediately afterwards, I admonish myself even harder for caring about what random people may think about me buying a top shelf construction model. In the end, I remind myself that I don't really like cars and I wouldn't have enough space to store it so it's probably best to just walk away...

Anyway, those things are LEGIT. If you have kids and want to turbo-charge their prefrontal cortex, or if you're a grown-up with an interest in model building and a spare storage room or two, you could do a lot worse than invest in the TECHNIC.


NO SHAME
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

I buy Lego for myself fairly often, I find putting them together to be a good way to relax.

Got most of the Overwatch sets now, for example.

On topic... still playing Mortal Kombat 11, I seem to have settled into Skarlet as my main now. I’m actually starting to win matches in ranked play. Don’t seem to be in the mood to settle into a longer form game at the moment, though I did buy Spider-Man with the dlc for my PS4 in the e3 sale so I’ll likely get to that soon.

Considering doing a play through of all the Metro games as well, cause they’re all on gamepass now.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Been playing a few things recently.

Firstly I finished and very very much enjoyed Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.

The multiply endings, secret routes, item combinations and background scenery monster hunts make this feel like so much more than just another Castlevania game.

The cryptic paper clues scattered about the castle and available in the shops, hinted at by the odd background scenery creatures let you in on the fact that there may well be more to meets the eye.

I also believe that this is another fantastic experience made better by the form and function of the console it was designed for – The DS.

I’ve done my best to try and compare it to SotN, a game that I’ve not played for probably ten years and I can at very least say I enjoyed it just as much as that, maybe more due to the benefits I believe of playing it on a Dual Screen handheld.

Top, top game this. (It took a lot longer than 14 hours to beat - that must be combined time).

Image


I also picked up Elite Beat Agents, a few weeks before this sudden resurgence on Twitter from Liam Robertson’s piece on it.

I saw it in my mates retro game shop and thought, yeah, now is the time.

It’s wonderful. I enjoyed a bottle of red wine the other evening, with a proper set of headphones and a place squished on our sofa.

I enjoyed it’s humour and art style, although it’s song choice I wasn’t so much a fan of. Just Dance by Bowie is an all time favourite tune of mine but the others I found I could take or leave – I think I prefer the more original eclectic style of the Rhythm Heaven/Paradise games but it’s still very much welcome, I’m just splitting hairs.

I’m not a fan of the input controls however, to a degree.

I found that on the more complex songs, the final space song for instance, I was often masking what the next input was with my hand holding the stylus. Which in turn made it feel a bit rushed and scatty as oppose to the more clear button prompt games.

That said, very enjoyable hugely recommended and a delight to play on the DS again.

Image


Like many others I’ve also been playing Cadence of Hyrule on the Switch.

Very good, great art, excellent music with some seriously stand out tracks and remixes from the Zelda Universe.

I’d not played Crypt of the Necrodancer (that this game is based upon, with a Zelda twist) and jumped into this. I also, unknowingly to me, started as Zelda, which starts you in a different part of the map surrounded by more advanced enemies sets and complex environments.

It's not that different but there are differences which can make it a lot steeper of a learning cure than starting as Link in his house.

I was tempted to start over but gave it one more go and then suddenly, all of a sudden something just clicked and it all fell into place.

The rhythm, the weapons, the movement and it became a lot easier to handle.

So, the first maybe two hours were a real slog but since then it’s been pure enjoyment and Zelda exploration fun.

I have one more instrument to find, Death Mountain – then I don’t know, lets see what happens…..
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

If you liked Elite Beat Agents but not so much the music, then the Japanese games it’s essentially a spin-off of might be more to your taste, they’re waaaaaay more JPop.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osu!_Tatakae!_Ouendan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moero!_Ne ... _Ouendan_2
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Simonsloth wrote: June 16th, 2019, 9:14 pm
Alex79uk wrote: June 16th, 2019, 9:04 pm I haven't been there yet, but just discovered this place is a 20 minute drive from my house!

https://m.facebook.com/electriccircusarcade/?_rdr

Real pinball tables, loads of them! And games! I can't wait to go!
Ooh that looks great! I hadnt heard of that. Let me know if it’s any good.
Will do! I'll check it out and see if it might be suitable for a little Midlands mini-meet up.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Suits wrote: June 17th, 2019, 2:25 pm I’ve done my best to try and compare it to SotN, a game that I’ve not played for probably ten years and I can at very least say I enjoyed it just as much as that, maybe more due to the benefits I believe of playing it on a Dual Screen handheld.

Top, top game this.
I don't have the highest opinion of SotN - I find its level design can be very basic and repetitive at times, and its weapon arsenal to suffer from severe balance issues.

Aria & Dawn of Sorrow, on the other hand, are better in those two key aspects, not to mention that they make the best out of their own unique set of mechanics, like the Soul system. These two are the very best in the franchise for my money. I put AoS in my Top 50 last year, but maybe I should replay DoS at some point to compare them more directly to one another.

Very glad to know you've been enjoying this as much as you have! :)
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ratsoalbion »

DoS was my personal ‘GotY’ when it came out in 2005, though I don’t hold it in quite the same regard as I do SotN.

I still haven’t played beyond the first hour of Aria though. Saving it..!
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I'm very close to finishing Aria actually. Started it a while back and was loving it, but then got my Switch for my birthday and haven't really picked up my PSP since. I think I was in the very last bit though so really should make the effort to finish it. I really enjoyed it, but I've only really played SotN and the DS games before.
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ThirdDrawing »

shadowless_kick wrote: June 17th, 2019, 12:45 am
ThirdDrawing wrote: June 16th, 2019, 4:30 pm They just announced yesterday that Ikaruga is getting a physical release in the West.
:|

I did a thorough sweep of the net looking for any concrete news on a physical release before I bought the digital version. I swear they were waiting for the money to leave my account before signing the damn contract and making this announcement... no use even getting mad over it. where did you see this?
Ha. It feels like that sometimes, doesn't it?

I saw it here.

https://twitter.com/shmups/status/1139574498200395777
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

Suits wrote: June 17th, 2019, 2:25 pm
Firstly I finished and very very much enjoyed Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.

I also believe that this is another fantastic experience made better by the form and function of the console it was designed for – The DS.
I've often thought Konami have been really dropping the ball on re-releasing old Castlevania games by not porting the more recent handheld titles to newer consoles, since I think that would be pretty valuable, and more interesting than just releasing the original 8 and 16-bit games over and over. But I wouldn't be surprised if the reason they don't do it is because them being designed for the DS means they wouldn't really work on a single screen/without touch controls. Do you think there's any way they could retool it to work on more traditional hardware? Even if it means sacrificing some of the platform specific tricks. Perhaps like how TWEWY was ported to Switch, despite it not being the ideal version, it was still possible.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

Scrustle wrote: June 17th, 2019, 4:34 pm
Suits wrote: June 17th, 2019, 2:25 pm
Firstly I finished and very very much enjoyed Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.

I also believe that this is another fantastic experience made better by the form and function of the console it was designed for – The DS.
I've often thought Konami have been really dropping the ball on re-releasing old Castlevania games by not porting the more recent handheld titles to newer consoles, since I think that would be pretty valuable, and more interesting than just releasing the original 8 and 16-bit games over and over. But I wouldn't be surprised if the reason they don't do it is because them being designed for the DS means they wouldn't really work on a single screen/without touch controls. Do you think there's any way they could retool it to work on more traditional hardware? Even if it means sacrificing some of the platform specific tricks. Perhaps like how TWEWY was ported to Switch, despite it not being the ideal version, it was still possible.

I think so mate, yes.

Firstly, the top screen is used to display info and the bottom screen is used for gameplay.

You'd lose the ability to have the map screen, or the info screen constantly on display, which may harm the navigation of the game but I'm not sure at what level of detriment.

For instance, the information screen shows you what equipment, souls and abilities you have at all times. It also shows you the details of the last enemy you encountered, its weaknesses and other key info. It's a really helpful screen to be honest with you and very interesting in a way that helps you bond with Soma and keep you immersed in the world and its beasties.

It's a great screen to have on display but you never use it, as the top screen is always set to the map - for me anyway.

The movement is quick and the castles layout is very busy and complicated meaning that it's pretty much essential that you have the map up at all times displaying, save rooms, doors, warp points and other key locations.

It's not impossible but it would sure take some of the joy of bounding around the castle if you had to keep checking your map, maybe they could window it I suppose though.

The other key feature of the DS is the touch screen and in this instance the Magic Seals.

This requires you to input via your finger (or stylus if you're quick enough) to copy a sort of compass mini puzzle when a boss is weakened to finish it off. It feels totally arbitrary if you ask me and pointless. Something that was just squeezed in to make use of the systems gimmick.

Honestly I feel it could be totally removed and no-one would care/notice.

So yeah, they could totally make a version of this game that would have all the key elements that make it great without it being on a DS - they should !!
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I think it would be fine, every Castlevania game other than the DS ones you had to pause to view the map anyway. I'd love to play them again, never actually finished any of the DS ones.
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Pitwar
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Pitwar »

Onrush

After playing it to death at launch, mostly on the Xbox, I've jumped back into Onrush but carrying on playing on the PS4 (as I've flogged my Xbone).

It's still an amazing game and it's such a shame it didn't do better. It's perfect for a quick bash or losing hours playing.

Division 2


Again, I was playing Divs 2 on the Xbox but I've started again on the PS4, and I'm having a much better experience. The game is brilliant no matter the system you play it on, but the PS4 has a much more active community so the social aspect of the game is way improved.

I adored the first game and feel the same about the sequel. I'll be playing this for a long time to come I'm sure.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

I picked this up brand new for £6.99 at the weekend after wanting to play it since launch. To be honest the gameplay isn't all that exciting, but the humour of the series is there in spades and I've laughed out loud on more than one occasion. I look forward to cracking on with it.

Ace Combat 7

I last played an Ace Combat game on the PS2 but remember really enjoying it back in the day, so thought I'd take the plunge with the latest instalment.

I'm not overly far into it but what I've played has been excellent, although I feel it's easing me in and the difficulty is going to ramp up before too long. It's a beautiful looking game too.

I've yet to try out the VR stuff but I've heard good things so will certainly give that a go at some point.


So as you can see I've a few things on the go, all of which I'm enjoying.

I'm very tempted to pick up Red Dead Redemption 2 having not yet played it and it's being pretty reasonable at the moment, so I can see me biting the bullet very soon.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by deacon05oc »

It’s been a long time since I posted on this forum. School and work took all of my time. I haven’t played anything new except Mortal Kombat 11. I bought Alien Isolation at launch and didn’t get very far due to getting sidetracked so I went back. I started a new game just to refresh my memory on the controls, but I actually have spent the last few days just playing the Crew Expendable and Last Survivor dlc. It’s been a blast. Love the atmosphere of the original film. I’m trying to accomplish it now without using the motion tracker.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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ratsoalbion wrote: June 17th, 2019, 3:35 pm I still haven’t played beyond the first hour of Aria though. Saving it..!
I’m taking this completely that there may well be a Castlevania series playthrough on it’s way soon.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

Wow. I had a quick go on Aria of Sorrow earlier, but wasn’t expecting to see it being discussed here. Didn’t get far, was just seeing where I’d got to years ago. which wasn’t far either!

Finished Final Fantasy 7 on Switch. Wonderful story which I knew nothing about in advance so the twists and turns were exactly as intended; it played well enough; and I loved how the pre-rendered backgrounds look, even with crude polygon characters running all over them! The soundtrack passed me by a bit - had heard great things about it for years but just didn’t really notice it. The 3x speed button was welcome where random encounters got a bit too much, though not turning them off, together with a fairly stable party whenever possible, meant I was well prepared for the end game. I think there were two sections around the end of part one where I had to check a guide to see what to do next, but otherwise progression was relatively well signposted. What surprised me reading up a bit afterwards was the existence of loads of side quests which I don’t think I came across at all! So glad I’ve finally played it though.

Also finished the original NES Castlevania on the Switch Konami collection. Still really fun and so atmospheric. I will confess to using save states once I got to the final final boss fight though - that was way harder than anything that preceded it.

I’ve now started Resident Evil 2 Remake on PS4. Really is brilliant, isn’t it!
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Simonsloth
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Simonsloth »

Simonsloth wrote: June 15th, 2019, 8:39 am
Chopper wrote: June 15th, 2019, 7:40 am
Simonsloth wrote: June 14th, 2019, 8:42 pm Really really enjoying Prey.
Delighted to hear it, as the beginning can be a bit finicky. It didn't click for me until several hours in. You'll be glad to hear it...errrr....broadens and deepens as you go along too.
I was a bit worried at first because I died extremely quickly multiple times until I realised there’s a quicksave and that it’s not a combat game (or if it is it’s an incredibly hard one).
Spoiler: show
my current tactic for tough enemies is to carry around a turret and drop it then hide. They destroy it and walk off allowing me to creep up and repair it. Rinse and repeat.

The mimics aren’t scary per se either but they’ve made me jump a lot and watching them hide in such obvious places as junk is funny. It might be me but on their own they are almost afraid of you but if there’s 3 or 4 they are aggressive and deadly.

All in all it’s possibly my game of the year so far!
I’m at a bit of crossroads with Prey. The game seems to be nudging me towards alien upgrades but I’m reluctant as I’m so fond of the Talos turrets and I don’t want my friends to turn on me.

Just wondering whether anyone else had the same thoughts and what you did in the end. It’s not quite as binary as dishonored nastier skill sets and abilities which were obviously designed for “bad” people.
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