Whatcha Been Playing?

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Megadirt
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Megadirt »

I'm currently playing through GTA IV, and I've hit the mission that made me rage quit all those years ago. I forgot how absolutely infuriating the lack of checkpoint system is in these games. The story is stronger than I thought, and I am amazed at how in many ways, GTAIV is still better than almost every "GTA"-esque game because of companies misunderstanding certain things about what makes them good. Unlike Watchdogs, or Saints Row you always feel genuinely connected to the other people in the city, it feels like a real place. I think it's because of things like cameos from characters after you've finished their questline, how they are also your upgrades, and you can spend time with them to maintain access to the upgrades. They are truly part of your life if you choose them to be and not if you don't. The ability to call the cops on your mobile phone, jump into their police car, access their police computer and become a vigilante for a while demonstrates a video game logic and a certain amount of real world logic meeting in the middle there. The colours of this game are worse than I remember, and the control of the cars feel like when I'm trying to use a t-shirt to usher the tv remote over to me when it's all but out of reach on the carpet, but your vehicle will be shot through the window of a Tesco Express if you so much as clip a wasp.

I'm also on Persona 4 Golden which, after almost a decade of trying has finally clicked with me. In a strange parody of my actual school experience, I didn't enjoy it the first time because I was taking it too seriously, and spent too much time trying to keep everyone happy that I forgot to do what was necessary, making my experience a lot harder than it needed to be. I nearly failed an exam cos I promised a pretty girl I would go to a drama club and when I did go she left as soon as I arrived, so then I just started playing Persona 4.

I'm chipping away at what will inevitably be my first playthrough of at least two runs of the FFIX remaster. Occasionally diving in and out of Two-Point Hospital which is the first game I've played where my expectations were met perfectly.

I started a Disco Elysium save, but I might clear up the rest of these cos I'm overwhelmed with real life as well as video game choices. Similarly I started Skyward Sword but I'm going to wait to go back when I can give it my full attention, perhaps with a sexy new OLED screen if I become impulsive after xmas.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I think I'm about two thirds through Halo Reach at the moment, and honestly, dismissing this series as boring is one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. I am having an unbelievably good time playing through the Master Chief Collection. I enjoyed Halo CE enough, but each game that has followed has just got better and better. Reach is just the pinnacle of the series so far, I think. It's got everything, epic fire fights, space combat, decent story...

I know the series takes a dip after this game, but I'm still looking forward to playing them. What a brilliant series of games, I know telling people that Halo is good is a bit ridiculous, but I just can't really believe how wrong I was before!
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Jon Cheetham »

In between my Dark Souls SL1 playthrough (brilliant way to re-experience the game and get to know its world even better), played some Loop Hero. It's really good and extremely absorbing for something where the combat is "idle". A bit like the old Warcraft strategy games or AoE where you're obsessing over everything but the combat, managing this little world on-screen. I like it. The music and aesthetic is on point too

Still got Disco Elysium on the go, I'm on day 5. Still loving it.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Are you playing Disco Elysium on Switch? I'm really wanting to play it, but that's the only version available to me and wondering how it is on there...

EDIT: Oh actually, just checked and its on Xbox too, didn't realise!
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Alex79 wrote: December 25th, 2021, 2:55 pm Are you playing Disco Elysium on Switch? I'm really wanting to play it, but that's the only version available to me and wondering how it is on there...

EDIT: Oh actually, just checked and its on Xbox too, didn't realise!
Haha, you might not need this info any more but just in case, and for anyone who is interested, it runs well on Switch. They've minimised the UI and text really well, at least to my eyes.

Relatively long load times though, compared to when I played it on pc.
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SludgeWizard
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by SludgeWizard »

Finally pulled the trigger on AC: Valhalla.
I've been up and down on the AC games (mostly up) but I could not get into Odyssey for the life of me. I tried to convince myself that I was enjoying it, probably have like 30-40 hours of playtime, but the whole thing was a struggle. I don't know what it is about Greek mythology, but I just can't be bothered to care about it (I also bounced off of Immortals Fenyx Rising for this reason).
But throw a viking skin over the whole thing? So far, so good.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Phantom Phreak wrote: December 27th, 2021, 10:31 pm Giving Just Cause 3 another go. Played it first on PS4 but it was near unplayable with the severe frame drops so I dropped it. However, with PS5 it's running at a locked 30 with no drops whatsoever, not even during the most intense explosions. And this game is so much fun. The traversal is very good, especially with the upgraded Rocket wingsuit you get from Sky Fortress. And the island of Medici looks so beautiful. The colors really pop on my 4K setup.
Yeah I love the Just Cause games. 3 is the only one I've not played actually, but for a turn your brain off, blow things up and glide round in a parachute experience they can't be beaten.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Halo 4, and so far, it's brilliant! Firstly, it looks absolutely insane for a 360 game. I like the new weapons, enemies, currently wandering through a jungle which looks like it could be current gen. Maybe the game goes off the boil later, but so far struggling to see why long time fans of the series didn't like it much.
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Miririn
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Miririn »

I took a break from Sekiro and started it again from the beginning on Boxing Day. It's going a bit better now I understand levelling up etc this time (I'm not smart). Have just beat horse man in the main timeline and veat the shinobi hunter in the Hirata timeline yesterday.

I still genuinely don't know if I like this game or not.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Miririn wrote: December 28th, 2021, 3:24 pm I took a break from Sekiro and started it again from the beginning on Boxing Day. It's going a bit better now I understand levelling up etc this time (I'm not smart). Have just beat horse man in the main timeline and veat the shinobi hunter in the Hirata timeline yesterday.

I still genuinely don't know if I like this game or not.
At one point in my first playthrough I had the game box set aside by the door to return.

My GOTY 2019.
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Miririn
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Miririn »

It's not clicked for me like Bloodborne did... I'm not sure if I'm continuing out of stubbornness/lack of other things I want to play. I wonder if I should just play somethinf else for a while and go back to it. It might just be low mood generally though. I'm trying to put my finger on what I don't like and it's hard because objectively it is great. I do really, really hate having to take out minions over and over before a lot of bosses though - in a way I never hated runs from the lantern to the boss in Bloodborne.
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Angry_Kurt
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Angry_Kurt »

Been playing 3 games over Christmas. Beat Saber was the first on Quest 2. Incredible VR experience that gives you such a high although I’m not very good at it, I tried the campaign and think I’ve gone as far as I can go. An essential purchase for anyone with VR and one I will certainly go back to for the odd few songs every now and then.

Next up is Deaths Door on Switch. Really liking it, it’s like an isometric Zelda but with the aesthetic of a Souls game. Quite hard but nowhere near as hard as the Souls games, tougher than a Zelda game though. I really enjoy the environment designs and enemy designs, they’re cool. Only thing I don’t like is having to do runs up to mini bosses every time they kill me, I run past all the enemies on the way to them anyway, just stick a checkpoint at the start of the battle please!

Last off is Death Stranding, very early on but I like the mechanics of the walking, the story and characters have me intrigued and it’s the most beautiful game I’ve ever played. Hopefully this will be the first Kojima game I stick with till the end.
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hawnia
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by hawnia »

I've been playing Valorant for the past 8 month
it's a different experience and kinda cool
I used to play Overwatch, never got used to it...
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Phantom Phreak wrote: December 27th, 2021, 10:31 pm
Alex79 wrote: October 31st, 33393, 10:55 pm Are you playing Disco Elysium on Switch? I'm really wanting to play it, but that's the only version available to me and wondering how it is on there...
Saturday I got to bust out the NES for a little action! I fired up "Mystic Origins" from the same people who made the "NES Maker" software. I tried a little bit of it at the Midwest Gaming Classic and it seemed pretty cool, so I bought it. After putting some time into it, my opinion changed pretty quick.

The game feels more like a demo than anything. The general game play reminds me of the game "Dragon Power", though the game is supposed to be more "Legend of Zelda". Your character is a bard type person that uses his lute as a melee weapon. You can also jump and when in the air, do a double tap to slam down on trap doors to enter places below. Your character doesn't have the precision movement of Link and the environment can get you a little stuck, so I found myself trying to move around trees but getting hung up on pixels. This gets bad when an enemy is nearby and touches you, as your health can get zapped to nothing pretty quick. You eventually learn some magic to charge up and shoot a ball of energy, which is then used to light torches to make stuff happen. You can also learn songs, which you play with your controller ala Ocarina of Time. I did not, however, obtain any desire to find any. The graphics were all right but there are parts where, when you go transition to day to night, the walls become difficult to discern as being solid or background. I wondered why I wasn't moving when that part of the wall looked like a path. The game also uses an experience system to strengthen your character but no save feature to speak of. Needless to say, my work was lost when I turned off the system. The big plus, though, is the music-they did an excellent job.

I played better NESMaker games, so I hoped the developers of the tools would be able to crank out something decent.
Hang on, WTF is going on here? I didn't post that EDIT in my comment you quoted. It's a link to some dodgy paid website. Something is amiss here...
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Michiel K
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Michiel K »

Miririn wrote: December 22nd, 2021, 4:03 pm ...wow that was a very long and rambling response to a short, light-hearted quip, lmao. V sorry!
No, that was excellent!
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Kasuga-san
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Kasuga-san »

SludgeWizard wrote: December 27th, 2021, 9:03 pm Finally pulled the trigger on AC: Valhalla.
I've been up and down on the AC games (mostly up) but I could not get into Odyssey for the life of me. I tried to convince myself that I was enjoying it, probably have like 30-40 hours of playtime, but the whole thing was a struggle. I don't know what it is about Greek mythology, but I just can't be bothered to care about it (I also bounced off of Immortals Fenyx Rising for this reason).
But throw a viking skin over the whole thing? So far, so good.
I just started AC Valhalla, and I feel kind of the opposite. I'm struggling to not bounce off of it at the moment. Part of it is the annoyance of load times and the inability to use Quick Resume without it constantly glitching the autosave (it's surprising how often the game autosaves, but you know each and every time when it glitches) can't get around that. I've also found the combat to feel off from the last two games. Does the combat get better as you put the three billion skill point nodes in the skill tree? I also just don't care much for Eivor so far, either. It's disappointing to me because I absolutely love Norse mythology and history. I'll give it a few more days to see if it manages to hook me, but I have a feeling I may be getting to Ys IX faster than I thought.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

My delayed Evercade VS console arrived just in time for Christmas, when I also received no less than eight of its retro-rich compilation cartridges - the two Atari Lynx Collections, The Oliver Twins and Bitmap Brothers Collections, two Piko Interactive ones, the Technos and finally the Interplay Collection, and I’ve had a go on everything so here’s a few highlights…

I like my California Games, the Atari Lynx is where I originally played it, so that’s was where I started! Honestly the Lynx blown up onto my biggest TV isn’t what it was designed for, but your eyes soon adapt to the bulky pixels, and the gameplay is as intact as ever, and I’ll always love the feel of it’s surfing!

Next up, I had a really good time with another Lynx game that I’d never played before, Basketbrawl. It’s prison-yard basketball with flying kicks, weapons and power-ups, and it plays a lot like my old Spectrum favourite Basket Master - simple mechanics all round but they all feel really good! The challenge ramps up as you progress through the matches, and there were loads of times where the winning score came in the dying seconds. Then there was more Lynx goodness with its wonderful take on puzzle classic Chip’s Challenge, and laid-back shooter Gates of Zendocon, and even more old favourites like Checkered Flag and Blue Lighting… I do love a Lynx!

Away from the Lynx, I played plenty of Speedball 2 on the Bitmaps Collection - now there’s another violent sports game with simple mechanics that still feels absolutely perfect to play! And I can’t resist some Xenon II when it’s shoved in my face, although I really wish it was the Amiga version here and not the inferior Mega Drive one.

Tons more to explore, but away from the Evercade, on the Xbox Series X, I fancied the spectacle of another bash at Star Wars Squadrons, which I played a ton of on PS4 but was just sitting there waiting on Game Pass so I had a download and played through the campaign again. It’s not perfect, but apart from climbing into that sit-down Star Wars arcade cab almost forty years ago, I don’t think there’s any more authentic Star Wars experience than this!
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SludgeWizard
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Kasuga-san wrote: December 31st, 2021, 8:23 pm Does the combat get better as you put the three billion skill point nodes in the skill tree? I also just don't care much for Eivor so far, either.
I'm still not super far into it, but the combat got more interesting to me once I got a few skill books under my belt. Books of knowledge? I forgot exactly what they're called but I didn't even know they existed until I stumbled across one. They're how you get cool new moves.

I also find Eivor to be a big nothing. I don't like him, I don't hate him. I don't feel anything for him at all.
Kasuga-san wrote: December 31st, 2021, 8:23 pm I have a feeling I may be getting to Ys IX faster than I thought.
Now you're talking! 2021 was the year of Ys for me. I'd never played it, picked up Origin randomly in a sale, and then immediately tore through VIII and IX. I think IX was my favorite of the three. I currently have Memories of Celceta tucked away for a rainy day.
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shadowless_kick
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by shadowless_kick »

after discovering that I don't actually hate metroidvanias, I've since started Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth.

the Ikaruga-like interchangable fire/wind system really caught me by surprise and should be quite fun once I've got the technique down.

while the 2D animation is fantastic, some other aspects of the game seem a little low-budget. but those weaker points are actually sort of charming to me. the dialogue and overall story have been meh so far. I'm not all that familiar with the series/world, but it seems like the main characters have just been tossed in willy nilly—it's a solid metroidvania with a Lodoss War skin (a thin one, too). but this, too, doesn't bother me much. I think coming in with modest expectations has been a positive for this game.
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ReprobateGamer
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ReprobateGamer »

Just started on Crown Trick - a roguelike dungeon crawler.

It seems fairly simple at the moment with it's elemental power base on it's skills but as someone who isn't great at rogue games, this suits me fine and there is plenty of early progress (though I can see that spectre of grinding lurking in the background ...)

I'm liking as well that it's friendly enough that my daughters are able to get into it.

Been spending a reasonable amount of time in Sea of Thieves - we are still wishing that there was a non PvP server available but it makes for an enjoyable few hours sailing around with friends. Though the increased density of mobs since the Pirates of the Caribbean update can make some of the quests a little frustrating

Have also made a start on Marvel Avengers - nothing to shout about here honestly. A fairly average third person action game which honestly if it wasn't for the IP I would have already given up on. That said, I realise as 'm writing this that it's been a few weeks since I was last on it so perhaps I already have ...
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