Whatcha Been Playing?

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Marlew
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Marlew »

Not sure how after bouncing off a dozen times but Death Stranding has finally clicked with me. I started again with the Director's Cut, just got back to episode 3 (which took me fifteen hours of not really paying attention previously) and I'm completely gripped.

I used to find the BT sections incredibly frustrating and boring but now I just twat them with a few grenades and crack on. Not sure why I didn't realise this sooner, I thought it was just a defensive tool. Ehh, anyway, I think the main issue is that I didn't pay attention to the tutorials properly before and skipped the dialogue. I know that seems quite obviously the problem, and my fault, but this is what happened and this is where I am now, thoroughly enjoying it.
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ColinAlonso »

I have three games at the moment, which is one too many for my current time.

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition is my fourth swipe at the Tales of Series (Eternia, Xillia and Symphonia, played in that order) and I'm falling into the same feeling I had with the rest, competent, well-made and I'll reach the end and be happy with that but it's missing something to make it very good. It may be my favourite in the series despite this. I am, however forty hours in and the plot is ramping up so I'm spending quite a bit of time with it.

I'm a good bit into Neo: The World Ends With You. Right now I don't think this will reach the highs of the original but it is doing a lot of things very well and I'm really enjoying it.

I worried that I wouldn't enjoy Outer Wilds after all the hype. I wasn't sure it was my type of game but it's wonderful. I'm at a stage now where I really have to pull on the narrative threads now, I'm no longer getting loads of information on each trip.
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Kasuga-san
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Kasuga-san »

Finally got around to beating Metroid Dread. Don't know if I see myself coming back to this one every few years like I do some of the others in the series, but overall my opinion is very positive for it. If I'm being honest, if they tweaked those QTE windows (or at least some consistency since some felt more generous than others and yet others seemed to require pressing the button long before the flash) just a little and decreased the boss health just a little bit so they didn't feel like phases lasted too long, I'd put it up there with my favorites of Prime, Super Metroid, and Zero Mission (not an actual order).

Otherwise, I'm still plugging away at Genshin Impact for now. Started playing Scarlet Nexus and it's... ok. Namco Bandai have this habit of making anime games that feel kind of clunky at cheap at times. I don't know if I'm going to stick with it or not. Diablo 2 Resurrected has been getting a decent amount of playtime as well. It's easy to forget how much progress has been made with loot systems since then. Might check out some other stuff on Game Pass, but I haven't decided yet.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Picked up a few bargains recently on Xbox - got myself a £20 code for the store and got Metal Gear Rising, Red Dead Redemption, Sleeping Dogs remaster and The Witcher 2 (which I've been wanting to play for ages but had nothing to play it on) and still had change left over!

Finished Metal Gear Rising which was brilliant, and playing both Red Dead and Sleeping Dogs side by side at the moment. Both look great running at higher FPS and Sleeping Dogs especially, I know it's not ray-tracing, but the reflections on the cars and puddles when it's raining are incredible!
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Feirsteax
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Feirsteax »

Also playing through Metroid Dread. Loving it. Movement and combat is so smooth and satisfying, bosses are all so cool as well.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

All about my favourite witchy cute ‘em up Cotton on Switch this week, with two more 30th anniversary releases coming to the West for the first time - SNES Cotton 100% and Mega Drive Panorama Cotton from the Mega Drive. Cotton 100% is a straight-up 2D shooter, remixing the original arcade game with new level designs and a hell of a paint job, where Panorama Cotton goes full on 3D; think psychedelic anime Space Harrier! I’d played both before but never really given them a chance, and how wrong I was!

I really fancied Hypnospace Outlaw after the Cane and Rinse podcast a while back and finally got to it on Game Pass. It’s an offbeat nineties internet simulator where you have to enforce standards by scouring its ancient pages and hunting down wrongdoers. It’s some very well-realised recent historical fictional mixed with some increasingly in-depth detective work and a bit of nostalgia, and I’m so glad I gave it a go. Really fascinating!

Over on iOS, I played Crossy Road to death a few years ago, and it’s sequel was a big draw for trying Apple Arcade again now, but Crossy Castle turned out to be a nice looking but very average loot-based platformer that didn’t hold my attention for long. Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls was another attraction, but while the monetisation might have been removed here, it’s still free-to-play at its worst! Don’t be fooled by the sights and sounds, this isn’t Castlevania. Controls like crap too!
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

I've been playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution again. I've actually been cracking away at for a while now, but I had to put it on hold for a bit halfway through. This is my third or fourth time through this game, but I'm not entirely sure I'm feeling it this time. I feel the desire to return to these Deus Ex games pretty often, but I have to admit I don't think I've ever been able to recapture the magic of my first time completing them. Perhaps that's kind of unintuitive give how this genre has a reputation for being built around high replayability. My first runs tend to be a sort of stealthy, mostly exploration based play style. Trying to find ways around obstacles by searching every spot I can. I'm starting to think that kind of hurts future playthroughs, as it exhausts most of the content, in a way that works with the mechanics in a good way. I see most of what there is to see. Going back and trying a less subtle method feels a bit trivial in comparison. Just running through blasting everyone away with the not particularly good combat mechanics. I often feel myself being pulled back to that old play style out of habit, but since I've seen all that has to show before, the sense of discovery is gone. But at the same time, I'm still making my way through the game, finding the moment-to-moment compelling. I'm not being bored or annoyed by it, and my momentum through it has been consistent enough. So it's not like I'm not enjoying it.

I am also having some technical issues this time which are dampening the experience somewhat. This time I decided to go through the Director's Cut version again, and it is notorious for problems on PC. I do vaguely recall issues my first time through, but I think I managed to solve them without much difficulty. I was surprised to have such troubles booting it up again. The game has awful stuttering walking around the world. Loading in to the game from a fresh boot is the worst. The first time you turn the camera from loading a save can see the game lock up for several seconds at a time. I spent a bunch of time messing around in the Nvidia control panel, and using RTSS on top of that. I tried to settle on a middle ground where the game more or less gets rid of the stuttering, but instead gets screen tearing in its place. It's supposed to be set up so the tearing only happens on the edge of the screen too. Instead the tearing happens way more often than I'd like, and it happens all over the screen, so it's very distracting.
Kasuga-san wrote: October 29th, 2021, 2:34 am Started playing Scarlet Nexus and it's... ok. Namco Bandai have this habit of making anime games that feel kind of clunky at cheap at times. I don't know if I'm going to stick with it or not.
I'd encourage you to keep going with that one to see if it clicks. I enjoyed it a whole lot, but it does take a while before it really gets in to the swing of things. Once you unlock a decent amount of combat options and the game stops throwing endless heaps of tutorial text at you, I found it evolves in to a really satisfying experience that has more to it than it might first seem.
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Switchsayer
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Switchsayer »

I'm currently playing Far Cry 6, just finished the main story. I've always really liked the FC games (apart from 5, which I just didn't click with it, mainly to do with the location I think) and I don't mind that they are all copy and paste games.

I think they really nailed the location this time; the islands of Yara are a beautiful sandbox to cause chaos in. And they have really gone done the chaos route this time, with the Supremo and Resolver weapons at your disposal. You get a wingsuit almost straight away, so it reminds me of Just Cause a bit, not that it's a bad thing. You can still approach the bases and army checkpoints with the aim of taking everyone out in a stealthy manner.
The animal amigos are great for this, especially Chorizo the little dog who is just ADORABLE, and is great for distracting guards so you can sneak up behind them and put your machete through their intestines.

The treasure hunts also add a lot of variety to the game, and you have your usual grand prixes and military convoy interceptions to do. The removal of the skill tree is jarring to begin with but you soon forget about that as the focus is more on gathering resources to improve your weapons with buffs, such as the type of bullets each gun has, which is important because some enemies are weak to armour piercing bullets, whereas others are weak to blast rounds or soft target bullets. This is a new change to Far Cry here, as you didn't need to mess around with bullet types before. You soon get used to it though!

Overall I'd say if you are a fan of the series and you don't expect anything ground-breaking, then you'll love Far Cry 6. It's a formula that works and there will be plenty to keep you occupied.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

I went through one of those weeks where I tried to get into a few games but nothing really stuck.

Siren on PS2 is... Some absolute jank. I had no idea how to even play that game.

Tried doing an "all collectibles" run of Man of Medan, but really, this being the 4th time I've played that game, its dullness is pretty evident. House of Ashes raised the bar so high it's hard to go back.

Then I started Evil Within 2 and... I really like this one. Feels a lot more polished than the first, and I'm actually itching to play more.
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Seph
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Seph »

I tried that Twelve Minutes and I really couldn't be arsed getting past the first hour. I like the looping dynamic, but it started to get tedious. I guess it didn't help that I'm playing on my laptop as my desktop is hundreds of miles away from me at the moment, but it felt like something that didn't live up to the premise.

With the limited gaming hours I have right now I've been working through Guacamelee 2. It's a solid metroidvania, looks great and I think the difficulty is well balanced. But can someone please make one of these games that isn't full of knowing, nudge-wink references? The Messenger just about balanced the humour, but I'm finding it really annoying here. I'm not against comedy, but the "this is just like that bit from that game" stuff is a boring trope.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Magical_Isopod wrote: November 1st, 2021, 2:09 pm Then I started Evil Within 2 and... I really like this one. Feels a lot more polished than the first, and I'm actually itching to play more.
Oh I downloaded that this week as well but haven't started it yet. I remember enjoying some of the first one but just got bored with it, felt far too long, and never ended up finishing it. I heard the second one was a better game though, so may well have a try of it.
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mrunkillable
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by mrunkillable »

I spent the last month either reuploading or newly running some Castlevania games, with a few new isolated tips and strategies for many of the games. I had recently heard the Cane and Rinse podcast about the original Castlevania and the Dracula fight, so my most recent upload is a brief but detailed breakdown on how to handle him pretty foolproof and consistent without taking damage. There are even deeper strategies involving those critical hits on him for speed, which might be a future video.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... QnpPVyVuUa
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Simonsloth
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Simonsloth »

Alex79 wrote: November 5th, 2021, 8:02 pm
Magical_Isopod wrote: November 1st, 2021, 2:09 pm Then I started Evil Within 2 and... I really like this one. Feels a lot more polished than the first, and I'm actually itching to play more.
Oh I downloaded that this week as well but haven't started it yet. I remember enjoying some of the first one but just got bored with it, felt far too long, and never ended up finishing it. I heard the second one was a better game though, so may well have a try of it.
I thought it was on balance a better game in that it was consistently solid throughout. The first game was a slog until somewhere around the final third where I started to really enjoy it and actually prefer that part to the entirety of the sequel.

Definitely give the sequel a whirl and perhaps you might have missed that good bit in the first game so worth jumping back into a old save and seeing how it goes.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

Big week of horizontal shooters for me! First I discovered Deathsmiles, a very gothic, occult-infused 2007 Cave bullet-hell arcade shooter that’s simply gorgeous, and its Castlevania-esque soundtrack does it no harm either! Forced me to finally get MAME going on my MacBook, then immediately started knocking on the doors of Thunder Force AC as my favourite shooter ever! It’s that good!

And it’s possibly only from lack of time spent playing it so far that I’m not saying similar about Schildmaid MX from our friend Michiel Kroder! I’m still getting to grips with its Jaeger mode for bullet-hell babies, but as well as a wonderfully catchy soundtrack against some often-breathtaking 2D visuals, it’s also absolutely exhilarating!

As always, I thoroughly enjoyed my annual play-through of Super Castlevania IV, this time on the SNES Classic Mini for that authentic controller vibe. Not much new to report - still looks and sounds gorgeous, still mostly plays fair, and I’d still live in that game if I could. Also beat Splatterhouse 2 on Mega Drive for the first time, albeit with the help of its levels-earned passwords, which I think still counts, but did then beat the original game again on PC-Engine well within its allotted five credits!

Also tried some new stuff on Xbox Game Pass. Nogunz: Doppelgänger Edition is an unforgiving black and white pixel art platformer that’s not as much fun as it likes to make out. Project Wingman is a marginally more fun flying combat not-sim that very quickly becomes less engaging than its missiles. Pick of the bunch was Unpacking, a space management game that has you unpacking boxes as you move your way through life. Very relaxing and thoughtful, although I did tire of organising women’s underwear drawers before it ended!
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Simonsloth wrote: November 7th, 2021, 8:11 amDefinitely give the sequel a whirl and perhaps you might have missed that good bit in the first game so worth jumping back into a old save and seeing how it goes.
Yeah I was considering a playthrough of the first game again - I originally played it on PS3 so don't have access to that old save, so if I was to replay it, it'd have to be from the start.

I've also been playing Unpacking last night. Thought I'd give it a try for ten minute before bed around midnight last night, and ended up playing till about 1:30am! Just something really satisfying about arranging the things all nice in the rooms. Some of the things the game forces you to do are strange though - tea towels not allowed in the drawer? Well that's where we keep ours!
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Michiel K
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Michiel K »

stvnorman wrote: November 7th, 2021, 8:44 am And it’s possibly only from lack of time spent playing it so far that I’m not saying similar about Schildmaid MX from our friend Michiel Kroder! I’m still getting to grips with its Jaeger mode for bullet-hell babies, but as well as a wonderfully catchy soundtrack against some often-breathtaking 2D visuals, it’s also absolutely exhilarating!
Woohoo! Can't wait to read more impressions!
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Feirsteax
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Feirsteax wrote: October 29th, 2021, 7:56 pm Also playing through Metroid Dread. Loving it. Movement and combat is so smooth and satisfying, bosses are all so cool as well.
100%'d it. Excellent.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Same as everyone else today I've been playing Forza Horizon 5. Really enjoying the driving, but getting a bit lost with what I'm meant to be doing with regard to mission structure and stuff. You start in one area with a few icons, which exponentially increase after each race, and before long you've bought a house (not sure why) and find yourself on another menu asking if you want to do road, dirt or some other kind of races. But then that's almost irrelevant, because after that, you can just go and do what you want anyway. And then you seem to have community made events and races mixed in with the actual proper game ones, it's all just a big jumble sale of events!
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

I've been playing Forza Horizon 5 as well, and like Alex I'm finding it pretty overwhelming. I'm having a good time with it, but I think it has some bad structure issues. It's constantly throwing heaps of things to do at you, pulling you in a hundred different directions at once, leaving you feeling unable to keep on top of it all or being able to work out which content is most relevant. I'm unlocking new stuff faster than I'm able to get to any of it, and the map is already totally buried in icons, despite the size of said map being bigger than any of the previous games by a large margin. It's hard to tell what exactly is supposed to be the "main" content, but honestly I think that's because there isn't really such a thing.

These problems were kind of predictable looking back at the series. It's been going in a direction like this for ages. Gradually getting less structured with each entry, before fully transitioning over to a "service" type model with FH4. All this stuff in FH5 is pretty familiar, being mostly another iteration of stuff that was in 4, but in that game things were gradually added in over time. Here it's all dumped on you all at once, often in an expanded form too. Not to mention how 4 started with a extended (perhaps excessively) tutorial sequence explaining how the season thing worked, while 5 just drops you in the deep end. So these issues have been creeping up for a while, but I think now it's finally reaching a point where it might be pushing things a bit too far.

The game itself is as fun as ever though. The same great handling model, and now with a great new location to explore. The lighting and atmospheric effects are really impressive, and there's lots of stunning places to see in Mexico, and I still haven't uncovered everything yet. It's definitely a welcome change from the comparatively unexotic UK in the last game. And despite the content being rather overwhelming at times, it does have that quality of keeping you hooked to do just one more thing over and over. Whether that's just exploring, trying to nail a PR stunt, or advancing one of the story adventure things, adding a new car to your collection and playing around with it, or simply getting a race done.

It's really pushing my PC though. It's just about managing, but it's struggling. I had to lock it down to 30fps to keep it looking relatively decent, but it's not without hiccups. I've had lots of instances of stuff not being able to load in on time, and other strange behaviour that is related to that. It's acceptable, and smooth enough, but definitely not ideal. Not necessarily the game's fault though. I only just hit the minimum recommended specs, and I do have some room to turn things down if I really have to.
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seansthomas
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by seansthomas »

Glad I'm not the only person feeling overwhelmed by the menus and map in Forza 5. Bought myself a Series S last weekend to play this and it's cool... but I have no idea what most of the menus and modes are.

I think this is just modern gaming now. Perhaps I'm too old. Or the next generations brains are wired differently. But I can't fathom FIFA or Asphalt 9 menus either.

Also been trying to get through Outer Wilds before the podcast, which I am adoring, helping my daughter with the odd bit in the strangely hypnotic and narratively compelling Unpacking and struggling to do the last few challenges on the Tony Hawk's remake as per usual.
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