Whatcha Been Playing?

[cursivepractice]

I just beat Persona 4 Golden a few days ago (I had played the original version but never Golden since it was a Vita exclusive until the Steam release) and also been having leyawn's Persona 3 chillstreams on while I did work, so I decided to jump into New Game+ Persona 5 Royal on Merciless difficulty.

I think my brain may be irreparably damaged by this series. (I have over 300 hours logged into original Persona 5 over an upsetting number of playthroughs).

[Scrustle]

Lately I've been playing Grid, the 2019 game. When this game first got announced I was cautiously optimistic, being a big fan of the original. I was hoping they would be able to recapture what made that game so good, and hopefully avoid the pitfalls of the sequels. Although as time went on marketing seemed to show it to be more like the later games than the original, so I lost interest in it pretty quickly. But I was lucky enough to get hold of a copy recently and give it a shot. Because I have to admit, despite my repeated moaning about modern racing games, sometimes I do wonder if I'm giving them a fair shake. Often times I will do what I did with this game, and decide that they're not worth putting money down for before trying them. So sometimes I wonder if I'm being a bit too premature in judging them. Although eventually I do tend to get around to most of the more promising games at some point, and now it this game got its chance. So now that I've actually given it a shot to see if my assumptions were correct...

And it's fine. Perfectly okay. Pretty much exactly what I thought it was from my earlier impressions. It definitely does feel like more of a sequel to Autosport than a re-imagining of the first game. It doesn't have any of the subtle feeling of inertia of the first game, or the atmosphere and identity. It doesn't look bad by any means, and there are some nice lighting and rain effects. But it doesn't really have a personality, and it's far too clean and shiny to compared to the original. Handling is totally okay and functional, but feels somewhat flat and stiff. While it has a reasonable range of car types to race in the career mode, the only race types are normal races and time attack events. No drifting, no touge. Not as a distinct game mode anyway, although it does have one touge-style mountain road track with a few different layouts. So while I'd say it beats Grid 2 in terms of vehicle variety, it still falls below the others, and it's probably the overall worst in the series for event variety. It feels pretty uninspired in general though. Like if you were to imagine the most simplistic, no-frills concept of what a racing game is, it would be this game.

Another little detail I noticed is that it went with a Forza-style racing line this time too, instead of the braking warning indicator the first game had. As much as I love Forza, I think that little flashing light is a better method. Or at least having it as an option here would be. It told you the most important information you needed to know in where the braking point roughly is, but it was up to you to work out exactly where on the track you should be, and what line through a corner you should take. Add to that the problem that opponent cars cover up the racing line anyway, so it can't help you at all, and the feature then becomes less informative than the little light indicator.

One thing I will give this game credit for however is finally explaining what "steering linearity" is. It's an advanced control option that I've seen pop up in a lot of racing games in more recent years, but I've never seen any that actually tell you what the hell it does. Turns out, it controls how closely you stick inputs are translated in to an actual steering input to the game, in relation to how how much input you are pushing. So while tilting the stick to the max will always give you 100% steering no matter what your linearity is, when you are only tilting it partially, the linearity setting will change how that input is translated in to the game. Higher values will make it less sensitive, while lower values will make it more sensitive. So say if you turn the stick 50%, a high value might make the game input only 30% steering, while a value of 0 will put it at the same 50%. The game will let you go in to negative setting to make it even more sensitive, but only if you are using a wheel. But anyway, thanks to this feature I was able to tweak it to make it just a tad more sensitive, which helped make the game feel better on turn-in, as it's a bit sluggish with the default setting.

[Stanshall]

Enjoying your driving game reviews/retrospectives. Nice one fella.

[Alex79]

I'd got about 4 or 5 hours in to Blasphemous over the last couple of days and was really enjoying it until they just announced a big free update with lots of extra content releasing in a couple of weeks, so I decided to put that on hold and start a new game when the update drops.

So in the meantime, I've started Hyper Light Drifter. it's really cool. Love the design and the sound, although I don't have a clue what's going on with the story. The game seems to be that you have to travel in four different directions and beat the area bosses (North, South, East and West) before I guess something big happens after that. Its great so far. I've cleared the East area, and managed the boss first time so that was cool. Seems like a good game.

[Angry_Kurt]

Scrustle, I recommend this review on Grid 2019, it makes some comparisons with footage to the original and honestly I was shocked.

https://youtu.be/6sc4P4LPS9Q

[Scrustle]

Scrustle, I recommend this review on Grid 2019, it makes some comparisons with footage to the original and honestly I was shocked.

https://youtu.be/6sc4P4LPS9Q

Yup, this person gets it. Very close to my experience, and what I suspected the game would end up being like from previews. The original has a raw, dangerous feel to it that this new game just doesn't. It's far from bad, but it's not very exciting.

[Alex79]

What you playing it on, Scrustle? I've been tempted by the Switch port.

[Scrustle]

What you playing it on, Scrustle? I've been tempted by the Switch port.

You mean Autosport? That's not a port of this new game, it's a port of the previous game in the series from 2014. Originally a 360/PS3 game. Autosport isn't a bad game though. It still doesn't really capture what made the original so great either, but on its own terms it's fairly good. A good variety in different car and race types, and decent feeling handling. The Switch port is supposed to be pretty good too. You can choose between a higher detailed 30fps mode, or a high performance 60fps mode. Apparently it doesn't hit that target 100% of the time, but it does a pretty good job of keeping to it for the majority of the experience.

I've been playing this 2019 game on PC though.

[Angry_Kurt]

What’s been your favourite racing game this gen? Or ones worth highlighting?

[Scrustle]

Honestly the only ones I've found worth giving much time to are the Forza Horizon games. They're great, and pretty much nothing else comes close. At least out of the kinds of racers that appeal to me. I hear people who are in to hardcore PC sims love Assetto Corsa. And despite Grid not being amazing, Codemasters' other games have something of a following, with their F1 and Dirt games. Although I think the latter has a bit of a spotty history, with some entries being more liked than others. The genre in general has been in dire straits for quite a long time now.

[Alex79]

*double post*

[Alex79]

I enjoyed Project Cars, and Dirt Rally was a fantastic return to form for the old Colin McRae series, but none of them are a patch on the old Gran Turismo games for me.

What you playing it on, Scrustle? I've been tempted by the Switch port.

You mean Autosport? That's not a port of this new game, it's a port of the previous game in the series from 2014. Originally a 360/PS3 game. Autosport isn't a bad game though. It still doesn't really capture what made the original so great either, but on its own terms it's fairly good. A good variety in different car and race types, and decent feeling handling. The Switch port is supposed to be pretty good too. You can choose between a higher detailed 30fps mode, or a high performance 60fps mode. Apparently it doesn't hit that target 100% of the time, but it does a pretty good job of keeping to it for the majority of the experience.

I've been playing this 2019 game on PC though.

Ah thanks, I didn't realise it was an older version.

[Angry_Kurt]

I played far more racing games last gen, this gen I’ve only played Forza Horizon 4 and GT Sport, but even then not for as many hours as I did last gen or before. I was also a big fan of the old GT games. I’ve missed a really good arcade racer this time around like Burnout Paradise. I was also massively into Dirt 2 on 360 and even though there have been arcade style Dirt games on the current gen, the so so reviews meant I never came them a try.

[Alex79]

Dirt 4 was genuinely pretty good, but as I mentioned the Rally games were excellent. They're really the total opposite of arcade racers though!

[Jon Cheetham]

I've had a bit of a hankering for Resident Evil stuff, specifically something a bit like Resident Evil 4 since beating it. I had previously noped out of Resident Evil 5, and am saving 6 for when my brother and I get round to playing through it in co-op. So I bought and played most of the first episode of Resident Evil Revelations 2.

It has some decent atmosphere and spooky imagery as you arrive on the penal island, which is a good idea for a setting for a Resi game, and it feels like a mix of Resi 5 and the remake for 2 in its combat and movement. You can still do a roundhouse kick on a stunned enemy (always fun) and the pace feels decent. Plus some good enemy designs in Claire's section. Repetitive environment for the most part though and some horrible animations, particularly coming off 4 where the animations hold up to this day - when Claire or Barry are sprinting in this they look extremely strange.

Episodic gaming has been a benefit for me this time as I'm not sure if I'll feel like continuing with it, and I got episode 1 for RM8.40 - £1.50, so no harm in having tried it. I'll see if I have any craving or inclination to go back to it.

[Alex79]

I've had a bit of a hankering for Resident Evil stuff, specifically something a bit like Resident Evil 4 since beating it.

Have you tried The Evil Within games? They're very Resident Evil 4 in my opinion. I've not played the second, but the first game could quite easily have been Resident Evil 5 in another universe.

[ratsoalbion]

That’ll be because The Evil Within has the same director as Resident Evil 4.

[Jon Cheetham]

Yep, a Shinji Mikami joint!

I've heard a lot about them and seen some gameplay, I'm intrigued and they are probably worth a go. Thanks for the reminder!

[ColinAlonso]

I've been in a bit of a lull games-wise and don't have any big games on the go.

I'm playing Mr Driller Drillland (Switch says for more than 15 hours). Its great but damn it is hard. I've beaten the level 2 difficulties on World Tour and The Hole of Druaga but not the other three modes. Sadly it appears that the level 3 difficulties only open up when all the level 2s are beaten. That could take a while. Some of the modes, particularly Drindy Adventure only show their true colours on level 2 rather than level 1.

I've also started Professor Layton and the Lost Future for some puzzling, time-traveling shenanigans.

[Stanshall]

I'm also in a bit of a lull myself. I'm playing quite a few different things but nothing completely has its hooks into me:

Ghost of Tsushima - Very beautiful and has satisfying combat but I'm not inclined to really do anything in the world after ten years or so hours. Most of the mission content feels very interchangeable so I'm just wandering, fighting and using photo mode - the beaming highlight of the game for me. It's a chill out kind of game like AC Odyssey, pootle around. At some point, I'll feel the inclination to mainline the quests but that side is plodding at the moment.

Paper Mario - Origami King - Really enjoyable and genuinely funny dialogue and it's satisfying hunting for secrets (largely thumping stuff with a mallet), but the random battles are already very repetitive and cause me to groan involuntarily when I can't avoid them. The saving grace is no levelling up so no grind. I'll try to avoid as many battles as I can and focus on the positives, which are plentiful, but they are putting me off every time I think of firing it up.

Dark Souls - I decided to do a One Bro run to try to recapture the tension of my first playthrough but I'm finding it to do the opposite. Sprinting past everything on suicide runs basically ruins the atmosphere for me. I've long wondered about speedrunners and how they feel about games they've 'destroyed' (to use the parlance). I don't know whether they still love the games as much but this isn't Dark Souls as I know and love it so I'm probably going to leave it be.

I have been really enjoying the following though, albeit dipping in and out:

Mushihimesama Futari & Muchi Muchi Pork Arrange- Since I built my new stick, I've been having a brilliant time getting familiar with it. I've gone back to Futari and put in some good scores on God Mode, only a few million off my best so I feel like I'll hit some PBs soon. The stick feels superb, extremely responsive using the LS-62-01 lever which KSub recommended (hope you're doing OK, wherever you are, dude) and already second nature. I've also been playing Muchi Muchi Pork Arrange mode which I finally understand. I reckon I might actually be able to clear it with some practice. It's totally imbalanced, sometimes way too easy and then you get a massive difficulty spike out of nowhere, but it's incredibly chaotic in that uniquely Cave way and a hell of a lot of fun.

Battlefield V - Despite being arguably worse than BF4 and BF1, I've probably now played this more than both combined. I don't especially like FPS and only really played and enjoyed this and Titanfall 2 this gen, but there's something about BFV which hits the spot. It might just be that I know the maps because they've released so few. It might be that my scumbag sniper skills are most effective on this scale. Either way, I really really like popping from behind a doorway, lining up a quick headshot and getting that kill confirm sound. It feels great every time.

Missile Dancer - This is a fucking great little indie shmup off the Japanese eShop. It was made by one dude, I believe, but it's just really tight and satisfying, and the scoring system is straightforward, forgiving and quite addictive. Great soundtrack, too. It's built around a lock-on homing missile mechanic (like in Crimzon Clover) and your normal shot is only used to destroy enemy missiles (and rack up points doing so). It's different, fairly simple but tight and refined. I'm trying to get a clear on Expert but here's a Hard 1CC I barely closed out if you want to have a look at the game. Check out that tune on stage one!