Whatcha Been Playing?

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Miririn
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Miririn »

stvnorman wrote: April 25th, 2021, 7:57 am Also played the Resident Evil Village demo on there. Can’t remember the last time I was so excited about a game, and this cruelly short 30 minutes they gave us - even on last-gen - has got me ravenous for the next demo later today and the next (not forgetting the Xbox ones) and the game itself. Already a beautiful thing and I can’t wait!
I know the internet's obsession with Lady Dimitrescu has become a meme at this point, but as someone who uses Cersei Lannister gifs approximately once daily, loves campy female villains, loves fancy hats, and was raised on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"... I am excited, to put it mildly.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

Miririn wrote: April 25th, 2021, 8:42 pm
stvnorman wrote: April 25th, 2021, 7:57 am Also played the Resident Evil Village demo on there. Can’t remember the last time I was so excited about a game, and this cruelly short 30 minutes they gave us - even on last-gen - has got me ravenous for the next demo later today and the next (not forgetting the Xbox ones) and the game itself. Already a beautiful thing and I can’t wait!
I know the internet's obsession with Lady Dimitrescu has become a meme at this point, but as someone who uses Cersei Lannister gifs approximately once daily, loves campy female villains, loves fancy hats, and was raised on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"... I am excited, to put it mildly.
I get you! She made a very brief appearance in my demo last night, mainly because working out how to stop one of her daughters (and my new obsession!) making an appearance took up quite a lot of my 30 minutes. That castle is absolutely gorgeous too, and I’ve still only seen it last-gen!
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

Still playing Drakengard 3 and I'm right up to the end now. I was kind of hesitant to talk about it until I'm done, but I figured I would anyway. It continues to be a frustrating experience throughout thanks to the abysmal performance. It's far beyond just being picky about wanting 60fps all the time or anything, it's very easily to not be able to comprehend what's going on on-screen, and lose track of where your character even is. I think maybe I made a mistake by not going for emulation after all, but I made it all this way so I can't really stop now. But the story does go in some interesting places once you get past the first credits roll, and that's especially the case in the last branch. And I'm currently on the final "boss" of the game, which is a music rhythm section calling back to the final ending of the first game. It's extremely hard and after about 2 hours of attempts I still haven't beaten it. But I'm somehow not getting frustrated with it so far because it's such a striking piece of surreal imagery, and the music track that plays during it is fantastic. Easily up there among Keiichi Okabe's best work. Also the game runs at least as an acceptable frame rate in this section too, although being a rhythm section, it doesn't even require the visuals to be playable, and the game uses that to do some wild things with camera angles too.

Also playing Nier Replicant ver. 1.22... because two Yoko Taro games at once definitely isn't overdoing it at all. So far I'm really enjoying it. Going in I was a little hesitant at some of the aesthetic changes they have made, but I really like most of them in practice. The environments may be a lot more detailed than before, but they haven't gone overboard at all and it still has that kind of minimal, desolate look. The sepia filter is gone and the bloom is toned down a lot, but it still has a good atmosphere. It has some nice volumetric lighting that gives it a sort of hazy, eerie feel that is more in line with how Automata looks. So it's still very Nier-ish, but a slightly different flavour. And the bloom is still used in certain places to create a sense of intense brightness where it makes sense, like in the seaside town, but it isn't absurdly overpowering like it could be before. The new music is very good, but I'm more mixed on it than the visuals. The tracks now have a fuller, orchestrated arrangement, which is sort of a blessing and a curse. Some tracks benefit from it, and some come across as interesting alternate takes, albeit not exactly improvements. But it also means that the instrumentation isn't as unique as before, and some melodies can get sort of drowned out in the bigger wall of sound. These tracks are still good, but they just don't stand out as much as they did originally.

Gameplay is a big improvement though. I always thought the combat in the original was still fun enough, even if it was a bit rough in areas. Here they kept it mostly the same, but just polished up the flaws it did have, which I really appreciate. So it maintains its character, but with more stylish execution and an ever so slightly faster pace. So instead of being an overhaul, it's basically the same thing just done better.

I've been liking the younger protagonist more than I expected too. The relationship with Yonah is still very sweet, even if the context is changed by being her brother rather than father. The voice acting is really good too. I was kind of worried about that watching trailers, but it's no issue actually in the game. Looking forward to seeing the slightly older version of this protagonist though, and also seeing what they have done with the father protagonist too, since he's apparently in there somewhere.
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duskvstweak
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by duskvstweak »

I started Metal Gear Solid 4. Not too far, had my first boss fight with an octopus lady.
I'm not... loving it, just yet. With MGS3, I was hooked from beginning to end. I'm sort of waiting for MGS4 to get going, there's a lot of exposition, and not the kind I usually get into with Kojima games. And, I know it's subversive and all that, but Snake is so old (i'll leave now).
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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duskvstweak wrote: April 28th, 2021, 8:19 pm I started Metal Gear Solid 4. Not too far, had my first boss fight with an octopus lady.
I'm not... loving it, just yet. With MGS3, I was hooked from beginning to end. I'm sort of waiting for MGS4 to get going, there's a lot of exposition, and not the kind I usually get into with Kojima games. And, I know it's subversive and all that, but Snake is so old (i'll leave now).
I loved MGS 4 in the end, but had the same reaction to the first few hours. It's not a great start, either pacing or gameplay-wise. Seemed almost like a straight up 3rd person shooter for a good while.
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Feirsteax
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Scrustle wrote: April 27th, 2021, 10:13 am Also playing Nier Replicant ver. 1.22... because two Yoko Taro games at once definitely isn't overdoing it at all. So far I'm really enjoying it.
[...]
The new music is very good, but I'm more mixed on it than the visuals. The tracks now have a fuller, orchestrated arrangement, which is sort of a blessing and a curse. Some tracks benefit from it, and some come across as interesting alternate takes, albeit not exactly improvements. But it also means that the instrumentation isn't as unique as before, and some melodies can get sort of drowned out in the bigger wall of sound. These tracks are still good, but they just don't stand out as much as they did originally.
Pretty much exactly how I'm feeling on it too atm.
Was playing it the other day and enjoying it, but when I went to listen to the OST later on I found myself searching specifically for the old version of "The Lost Forest" because I prefer the feel of the old instrumentation on it.
I'll see how it goes, there might be some tracks I end up preferring the new version of too.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Still deep into MH Rise, the credits are a very long time ago now but I'm still running into new monsters and new story content in the huge endgame, plus they've just dropped 2.0 with even more quests.

Also started Monster Hunter Stories on Android, which was $6 on Google Play and much recommended to me in the Modern Escapism Discord server. Very good so far, cute art style which looks really crisp and nice on my One Plus 6 phone and a good primer for the sequel in a couple of months which looks phenomenal.

So I've gone from "Monster Hunter World, meh it's ok" to now only playing MH games apparently.
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DeadpoolNegative
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Cyber Shadow- thanks, XBox GamePass! Like the Messenger, this is a ninja-fueled platformer meant to echo the days of the NES and quite frankly, so far I think I prefer it to the Messenger, even though it's not as inventive and clever. Perhaps it's that I have a better grip of the mechanics of Cyber Shadow... so far, anyway.

What really thrills me about this game, and it's kind of a niche thing, is that it doesn't just make the characters 8-bit and puts a modern story on it. The story is vague and somewhat cliched and doled out in the environmental storytelling, like a title released in 1991. It may be a silly thing to care about, but I liked how finding traces of the disaster that sets up the game on the corpses strewn across this barren world presented a vivid picture of what happened in my head.

The gameplay is classic, but it feels very fluid and strong. The checkpointing (in the earlier levels at least) Is surprisingly generous, which helps with the 8 bit level challenge. I suspect it may start eventually frustrating me like The Messenger has, but here's hoping.

The Angry Video Game Nerd I and II Deluxe Edition- speaking of generous checkpoints and 8 bit aesthetics! I'm not a huge fan of the AVGN, but I have friends who work at Screenwave Media here in PA and have met James a few times.

This is another 8-bit style Hey, Remember That Game platformer, but in addition to the games we see copious references, there's references to AVGN episodes. There's shit Pickle! I can unlock Mike Matei as a playable character! Do I even need to tell you the villain in both games is Fred Fucks?

The games are designed to be ludicrously difficult, but this special edition offers checkpointing on the earlier difficulty levels. Since the game tries way too hard at being hard, I appreciated this.

The first game is fairly straightforward, with levels based on the classic game worlds that frustrated old school gamers like me when we were kids. The second game tries bigger and better, with three level game worlds spread across a Super Mario 3 style map.

The jumping and shooting is solid if unremarkable. the platforming is challenging even on the easy mode. I did scream profanities once or twice. I'm not sure I can recommend this thing if you're not an AVGN fan, but I can't see anyone giving it more than a second look if they weren't. It provides quite a rush.

L.A. Noire- I had played the original a decade ago, but recently received the remaster for 8th gen consoles as a Christmas gift. I appreciated it since I never played all the DLC. I remember really loving playing this game, even though the story had some high and lows and was filled with plot holes (Daniel Weissenbarger had a rather hilarious multi-part takedown at Game Critics at the time). It reminded me a lot of classic adventure games, even though it's not really like a classic adventure game.

Playing it the second time around I think I appreciated it more and forgave the more egregious plot problems. Aaron Staton, who seems to have disappeared after Mad men's conclusion, is a very compelling lead as Cole Phelps (and I'm sorry, but the game suffers when switching to the bland Jack Kelso- it's a nice twist but the character is a bore and Gil McKinney can't find anything interesting about him).

Speaking of Mad Men, I did enjoy when a certain actor shows up, the camera holds on him in a way that seems to say, "Yes, of course HE'S here."

Loved the recreation of LA in 1947, it's just a shame that it's a big empty world with too little to do. I liked doing the street crimes, they were a lot of fun- but they were also, at times, clear across the map from where I was when I got the call. I wanted to go look for the film reels this time but it felt like a real needle in a haystack affair. The problem is, at 20 hours, and with fast travel readily available, there's just no reason to explore this world. I hit the maximum level for my detective way before the finish line was reached.

Overall, though, this second playthrough was thrilling, enough of the game had fallen out of my head in the intervening near decade that a lot of it felt fresh again. It also helped I never played all of the DLC, so some aspects were genuinely new to me.

But what really struck me this time around was
Spoiler: show
The climax, as Phelps tries to get out of the sewers, he knows he's finished and simply says "Goodbye."


Grand Theft Auto V back on Game Pass, now on my fourth play through, my second on the XBox One after two play throughs on the 360. Even with a year between playthroughs this game still feels fresh and exciting. I'm probably in the extreme minority on this, and it does have its flaws (For one thing, Franklin and Trevor's arcs remain frustratingly unfinished, the heists are too infrequent for how much importance they place on getting the right people to plan them, it's almost impossible to get a chance to hear Amanda's side of the story) but I think it's one of the best single player experiences of the past decade, and of that console generation. I've never even played GTA Online (tried a few times on the 360, didn't take). That whole stretch, from the Jewelery store heist and shifting you over, after so many long hours, to taking control of Trevor for his extended adventures in Paledo Bay, that's just thrilling. And we'll likely never see it again, now that Dan Houser is gone from Rockstar Games.

--Dan
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Yeah, I'm a little concerned to see where GTA goes for the next game as it seems to have lost of lot of key figures behind its success over the past year or two. I'm not worried that it will be online only like some people believe, due to the success of GTA Online, I always think it will have a single player campaign, but that talent being lost could have a big impact on the next game. Not just GTA but any games they make.
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markfm007
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Finished Dark Souls 3: Ashes of Ariandel today after scraping by the final boss. Really enjoyed how the fight builds from phase to phase, throwing further tests at you while the music and arena change around you, and how beautifully it fits with the narrative. Definitely the most challenging fight in the game yet, but also one of the most memorable and enjoyable across all From Software games. It's really nice when a fight can push you to your limits and give you that breathless, exhilirated feel that the best boss fights in these games do!

The DLC as a whole was quite challenging. I found some of the enemies a little frustrating, but the beautiful snowy landscape and excellent level design made up for it. Overall a very enjoyable experience. Think I'll take a break before moving on the Ringed City DLC.

Also been playing Final Fantasy IX after finishing X not too long ago. Only a few hours in but I've enjoyed it a lot so far. It plays fairly similar to X, and also has a fun world and cast of characters. The story so far has been a little more comedic and less epic in scope, but I've appreciated that. I'm enjoying seeing how each Final Fantasy game compares to the others.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Resident Evil 4 is in my top 3 games ever, and its clear influence, combined with the most personally appealing aesthetics I’ve ever seen in a game, has me more hyped about Resident Evil Village than even Shao-Lin’s Road on the ZX Spectrum in 1986! Anyway, I finally got my hands on the Xbox Series X demo, and it’s more than living up to that hype, and another hour on the PS4 version wasn’t bad either. Just need my wife to do the business for my birthday next weekend now!

Speaking of the Spectrum, I finished a new game on there, Danterrifik III. Plays like Super Meat Boy meets Manic Miner (i.e. the most brutal platformer you’ve ever played), looks like Downwell in a Nazi cathedral, and has the best music I think I’ve ever heard on there - close your eyes and it could be a C64!

Still enjoying Final Fantasy VII Remake on PS4. It’s come close to being a bit too JRPG a couple of times, but I’ve played about 12 hours now and in the main its been a really good time. Bits of the story might be familiar, but it’s definitely its own game and looks, sounds and plays great.

Also spent some serious time with Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection while my son’s been closed-door footballing this week. Just beat the zone two boss, though I’m in two minds about this having checkpoints - it’s nice to see more of one of these games than I ever have before, but it doesn’t feel quite right!
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Michiel K
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I tried playing a bit of R-Type Final 2, but really... I only seem to have time to play the game me and my friends are making these days.
Marlew
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Marlew »

Fortunately, those golden bip bip bips feel brilliant!
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Michiel K
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Michiel K »

Marlew wrote: May 3rd, 2021, 10:20 am Fortunately, those golden bip bip bips feel brilliant!
<3
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Switchsayer
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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God of War (2018)

Very late to the party with this one but since there is nothing to play on PS5 at the moment I thought I'd get this, as I missed it on original release. I've completed the main storyline and wow, I'm just blown away.

The way the relationship between Kratos and his son Atreus evolves throughout the game through natural conversation as you traverse the realms is fascinating. He's so awful to him at the beginning of the game, but the lessons he tries to teach him and the many, MANY sticky situations you get in means respect is developed, and it's made all the more cinematic by the fact the camera never cuts away.

The combat is loads of fun, never got tired of flinging my Leviathan Axe like Mjolnir and recalling it. That coupled with the fact you control where Atreus fires his light and shock arrows meant dealing with dark elves, trolls, revenants etc is always exciting and different. My only minor quibble with the game is that the armour/crafting/upgrade system is a bit of a mess and could have done with more refining.

And finally, graphically, it's just amazing. The game is so vibrant.

Now, on to Ghost of Tsushima, which I know won't be as good!
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Marlew »

Switchsayer wrote: May 4th, 2021, 10:52 am Very late to the party with this one but since there is nothing to play on PS5 at the moment...
Returnal is absolutely immense, provided it clicks with you.
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I reached Ending A of Nier ver. 1.22... and started the first part of Route B, although I only played the first few moments of that. Still enjoying it a whole lot. It's a really great presentation of an already brilliant story. I'm very eager to keep going with it and see more. I'm usually pretty hesitant to make judgements on stuff like this, but I think I wouldn't have a problem with calling this the definitive version of the game. It plays much better, and there's even new story sections that show up in Route A, and there promises to be even more in the later routes as well. Looking forward to seeing more of that. There's also way more voice acting for the side content, and pretty much all of it is very good. It's overall a more fleshed out experience in a way that feels natural alongside what is already there. I'm not entirely sure which version of the protagonist I prefer, as I still feel like an older protag fits the themes of the game better overall, but the younger protag is also a good character and there's nothing to complain about. And there are definitely some scenes where you can tell the game was written with him in mind. And with the creation of the older protag being inspired by a marketing decision, it makes sense to say this version is the more "canon" one anyway.

One thing I forgot to mention before was that a lot of the new versions of the music tracks actually have new sections to them. Often a small bridge that helps gap other parts of the song to help them feel a bit less repetitive. It's a small thing, but a nice addition that makes them feel fresh again.

There is one thing that has gotten on my nerves a bit, but it's something that bothered me in the original too. It's also less of a problem here, so it's actually another improvement anyway. I've been attempting to go for 100% sidequest completion, and there are quite a few that require you to return to a single dungeon over and over to grind materials. For some reason a lot of them need stuff from this one place, in large numbers, and even include rare drops that you have to grind for going in and out of the dungeon multiple times to respawn specific enemies. It's a drag. I remember in the original version this made me start to hate the music of this dungeon, as it had harsh percussion that got pretty grating after a while. This track also happens to be one of the ones that has been changed the most with its new version, making it way more of a conventional orchestra piece. So ironically the thing that made me a bit ambivalent about the new music was actually a blessing in this one case, as it's much easier on the ears for long periods. It makes me wonder if the developers actually did that intentionally with this one.
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DeadpoolNegative
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Grand Theft Auto 5- I keep thinking about how these action sequences work, and how they're much more exciting than a lot of what you see in theaters these days. Granted, it's a video game, so technically you have an "unlimited" budget, and issues of safety, but Trevor gets to ride a dirt bike alongside a train, leap onto it, then hijack the train to ram it into another train, then jump off into the water to recover what's on the train, then whitewater raft around while dudes in machine guns chase Trevor and Michael in boats. And this is after I led an assault on a local bank using GATLING GUNS where I killed, oh, about 100 cops and soldiers, and that's a conservative estimate.

(it's funny how the Paledo bay planning takes pains to point out since the bank is mob owned all the cops are likely dirty, but there's still something strange, even in 2021, about just slaughtering cops wholesale. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it, or was repulsed by it, there was just a niggling feeling in the back of my head. I have to take pains to make sure this niggling feeling does not become a Polygon pitch)

Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling- picked this up on the Golden Week Sale, because I had learned, primarily from the Big Think Dimension Podcast, that this recent RPG was heavily influenced by Paper Mario. I didn't realize that "Heavily influenced" was actually "Ninendo has grounds for a lawsuit." I don't know much about Moonsprout games other than that they're based out of Panama (and seem to be two guys), but I don't doubt they all played The Thousand Year Door hours upon hours. The love for that game, and the other games from the Paper Mario series drips out of very pore of this game, The battle system with its timed button presses for attacks and blocking, the badge- er, medal system, the 2d Paper characters. It fills a niche that those of us who have had the... unique experience of Sticker Star need filling.

Of course, all this wouldn't matter that much if the world that Moonsprout had created was simply a clone of the Mushroom Kingdom, but to their credit, after the 40 minutes or so I've played so far Bugaria feels like, well, a world created by sentient bugs. They incorporate human trash and nature to build their own kingdom, and the three main characters- Vi, Leif, and Kabbu, are characters with unique personalities. Vi is the hotheaded bee, Kabbu is the Battle with a Possible Dark Past who is also the more level headed one, and Leif is the mysterious magic user. The writing is really witty without being to quippy or snarky. Can't wait to get into it more.

Arcade Game Series: Dig Dug- I already have the 360 version of Dig Dug, but that's on the Namco Museum Virtual Collection disc, and they're not going to make that backwards compatible any time soon. Plus, it was only two bucks in the Golden Week sale. As for this version... well, it's Dig Dug. an even more bare bones version of the arcade classic than the 360 version. But that don't matter, because it's a classic. I Still get tense and excited exploring those caverns and hunting Pooka and Frygar like I did when I was a kid. I was never that great at it, but it's a fine way to kill a couple minutes.

Also, it inspired this award winning short:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFkda8N7cCQ
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Recently got back into Parkitect. After watching the new noclip documentary on Roller Coaster Tycoon (which I love and in my top 5 games) I had a craving to fire up Parkitect again.
It's a really good theme park builder, there is obviously Planet Coaster which I've played and does feel like the RCT game I dreamt of as a kid, but the problem is that the building mechanics are so deep, you have to be good at the game to create stuff that looks good, otherwise it looks kind of basic. Parkitect on the other hand is like RCT in that it's isometric and grid based, so it's like a modern looking RCT but with a deeper business management side and stuff like scenery is considered by guests. The building tools are still good though and I have created some cool stuff.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I'd forgotten all about Ghost Of Tsushima to be honest, it seems to have dropped out the conversation. But you've just reminded me I want to play it!
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