Whatcha Been Playing?

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Jobobonobo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Jobobonobo »

Suits wrote: December 20th, 2017, 7:32 am
Jobobonobo wrote: December 19th, 2017, 9:17 pm Just finished world 4 of the Super Mario Bros 3 remake on GBA.
Having never really got on with SMB2 previously, my arm was twisted in that unique way that a lack of launch games twists it and I spent a lot of time with Super Mario Advance. Changing my opinion of that game vastly.

Wonderful little ports those games with some essential upgrades to gameplay, that make them great to go back to if you’ve played the originals.
Yeah, SMB2 is certainly the black sheep of the original trilogy and while I appreciate its overall weirdness, found it a tad too punishing at times to really get into it but maybe I need to replay it, I don"t know.

However, what I adore about the original Super Mario Bros trilogy is how unique each game was and how it had its own style and gameplay mechanics. And of course Super Mario World went and expanded on what made these games great and added in its own great ideas. This was always my problem with the NSMB games, they are so cookie cutter in comparison and just don"t really stand out in any way (I suppose multiplayer in the Wii version is a definite innovation for the series but I digress).It truly felt like the closest thing Nintendo had to a Call of Duty or an Assassin"s Creed: another year has rolled on by so we have to release a new one. Kinda hoping with Mario Maker that if any one wants to relive nostalgic memories they can create Mario levels in that and for Nintendo to start experimenting with Mario in 2D again.
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Jobobonobo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Since people here are talking about Switch ports, I would personally love Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Pikmin 3 to be rereleased. I was always bitter that Pikmin 3 never got released for the Wii and from what I have heard from Donkey Kong fans Tropical Freeze is meant to be up there with DKC2 quality wise which sounds incredible. But I never bought a Wii U and I cant justify getting it for just two games. The Switch on the other hand interests me greatly and if these got ported over I would snatch it up ASAP!
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seansthomas
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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ratsoalbion wrote: December 20th, 2017, 7:16 pm I feel pretty much exactly the same way.
Me three. I've enjoyed playing Odyssey on Sunday mornings with my daughter - and it'll hold a very special place in my heart because of that - but as a game it hasn't remotely captured my attention like 64, Galaxy 1&2 or possibly even NSMBU did.

I do find that it is loads better played on the TV with a Pro Controller. Mario controls so much tighter. I find the sticks on the JoyCons a bit poor on a few games actually. Plus once I learned how to chain a few moves together, that massively helped.

But I think the sheer amount of moons just cheapens it for me. Earning a star when there is 5 per level or 120 in the entire game felt like milestones. A bit like the Test of Strength shrines in BOTW, I think the game would be better if they'd not repeated themselves on a few levels and just had 40 great ones per world, rather than 100 with variations on a theme as two dozen of those.
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seansthomas
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Jobobonobo wrote: December 20th, 2017, 8:47 pm Since people here are talking about Switch ports, I would personally love Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Pikmin 3 to be rereleased. I was always bitter that Pikmin 3 never got released for the Wii and from what I have heard from Donkey Kong fans Tropical Freeze is meant to be up there with DKC2 quality wise which sounds incredible. But I never bought a Wii U and I cant justify getting it for just two games. The Switch on the other hand interests me greatly and if these got ported over I would snatch it up ASAP!
I decided to pick those two games up before I bought a Switch and play them as I knew I wouldn't return to it for a while and I'm so glad I did.

I had never played a Pikmin game before and found 3 to be utterly entrancing. Completed it to 100%, something I rarely do, and really appreciated all the thought Nintendo put into the control scheme. First few hours baffled me but a Kotaku tips page helped and once I realised I could replay days events, I was hooked. Stunning looking too.

Miyamoto slipped to Eurogamer 2 years back that 4 was pretty much wrapped up and done, and waiting the right time, so maybe it's imminent next year?

As for DKCTF, I never got on with DKCR on Wii as the motion controls made some sections very hit and miss. But Tropical Freeze is, again, very special. It's up there with Metroid Prime as Retro Studios finest hour for me. Bastard hard at times and every level has so, so much going on, but it's more rewarding to clear a level on that game than any other 2D platformer I've ever played. Really hope it gets a port too as it deserves to be adored by a far wider audience.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Completely agree. Two more of the many, very compelling reasons for anyone to have added a Wii U to their console collection.
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Jobobonobo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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seansthomas wrote: December 20th, 2017, 9:23 pm
I decided to pick those two games up before I bought a Switch and play them as I knew I wouldn't return to it for a while and I'm so glad I did.

I had never played a Pikmin game before and found 3 to be utterly entrancing. Completed it to 100%, something I rarely do, and really appreciated all the thought Nintendo put into the control scheme. First few hours baffled me but a Kotaku tips page helped and once I realised I could replay days events, I was hooked. Stunning looking too.
Yeah they are really unique, charming games that show Nintendo at its best. I definitely recommend you try out the Wii re-releases of the first two games. 2 in particular is one of the best sequels I have ever played, it just improves on everything so much and the multiplayer is surprisingly well done.
seansthomas wrote: December 20th, 2017, 9:23 pm Miyamoto slipped to Eurogamer 2 years back that 4 was pretty much wrapped up and done, and waiting the right time, so maybe it's imminent next year?
Ooh great to hear Pikmin is not being abandoned! Nintendo have been pretty on top of things regarding games lately, hope they keep it up. If 3 is re-released alongside 4 then I will definitely be nabbing a Switch :)
seansthomas wrote: December 20th, 2017, 9:23 pm As for DKCTF, I never got on with DKCR on Wii as the motion controls made some sections very hit and miss. But Tropical Freeze is, again, very special. It's up there with Metroid Prime as Retro Studios finest hour for me. Bastard hard at times and every level has so, so much going on, but it's more rewarding to clear a level on that game than any other 2D platformer I've ever played. Really hope it gets a port too as it deserves to be adored by a far wider audience.
If DKCR turned you off due to motion controls, try the 3DS version. Still gorgeous to look at and no silly motion controls at all. Definitely the superior of the two versions if you ask me. Might be hard to go back to if the follow up is such an improvement but if you want some DK on the go then it is a great option.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Todinho »

Started playing The Letter, it's a philipinno horror-visual Novel that takes place in a fictional town in England and it's pretty cool so far, there's this weird mixture of eastern and western influences on it that I really like, for example the ghost in this is very similar to your japonese ghost long hair and all but kinda of adapted to the setting. The game is divided in chapters and you play as a different character through each of them, Im also pretty impressed so far with how your choices are handled, from the get go you can access the whole tree and see the different branches, the most interesting part isnt even seeing how many different outcomes there is but is seeing how sometimes you will find yourself in some small branch without chosing it, meaning something you did before made you reach automatically get there, the game like Until Dawn also has a meter between character in how they feel about each other I bet that influences that too.

The game is far from perfect though, both the art and the voice acting can be hit or miss, they can range from fine to pretty bad at times thankfully it has mostly fine so far and they really nail the scary moments at the very least, the art is kinda of anime but not really once again it's that mixture I talked about, overall I like it but sometimes the characters can look abit creepy and not in a intentional way. Also the game sometimes has quick time events which I thought was funny, you can turn them off in the menu if you want but I found it so odd that I kept it and have to say it somewhat enchances some of the more tense moments but I could easilly see people getting pulled out by it so it's good that they give you the choice.

What I like about this game the most though is that it has heart, what I mean by that it's that it's clearlly not a perfect game and you could even look at some aspects like the voice acting and call it amatourish but the game was clearly worked on by people that really cared about it, you can just tell by the amount of detail they tried to put in even if it doesnt work all the time like the little animations the characters have on screen,like breathing that sometimes look like they are floating XD, or just by looking at the story branches and seeing how much variation they've put in it's way more then i expected and I've only played 2 chapters. Looking foward to keep playing it.
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Michiel K
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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seansthomas wrote: December 20th, 2017, 9:12 pm Me three. I've enjoyed playing Odyssey on Sunday mornings with my daughter - and it'll hold a very special place in my heart because of that - but as a game it hasn't remotely captured my attention like 64, Galaxy 1&2 or possibly even NSMBU did.
Yeah, it's almost like I'm more in love with the event around it (getting a new 3D Mario game from the store on release day, enjoying the wonder and excitement of my kids when they play it, discussing it with them, the flippin' Jump Up, Superstar song) than the actual game. I don't want to be too down on the whole thing and maybe I'll change my tune later on, but I haven't had these occasional feelings of near-disinterest for a 3D Mario game since Super Mario Sunshine.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

I can't be the only person on the planet that cringes when I hear that, Jump Up Superstar Song.
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Feirsteax
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Cringed at first, but grew to love and embrace the unrepentant gorgonzolocity of it all. Think it was the New Donk Festival moment that did it :P
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Stanshall »

I think the lyrics are brilliant, even though they're pretty on the nose. There's a sincerity to that level of cheese which I find the Japanese do very well. All the meta references, which I normally find irritating, are a big celebration, a big Mario love-in.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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You can listen to the Japanese version in the game later too.
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Craig
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Suits wrote: December 22nd, 2017, 12:34 pm I can't be the only person on the planet that cringes when I hear that, Jump Up Superstar Song.
Like the melody and arrangement but really really dislike the lyrics. It’s like someone brainstormed things to do with Mario, and then they’ve decided to just squeeze as much of them in as possible and some of them seem incredibly forced (stand out is using “‘stache” in the second verse.)

Still, it’s better than that other song. That gave me so many Sonic adventure feelings.

Other than that though it’s an utterly stellar soundtrack. My favourites being the surf rock forest level music, and Bowser’s castle which had so many wonderful touches and an unmistakable festival rhythm to the percussion.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

Progear No Arashi - CPS-2 (fullkit with original artwork and beautiful B1 sized poster)

A game that is getting increasingly rarer to find, and over time I know it would be cheaper to get this game now, rather than hopefully try and track it down years down the line, possibly for even more money. It's definitely an investment.

Needless to say, this is an amazing game. It's also amazing that this game only had a six month development cycle, on hardware they weren't familiar with, and that it turned out as solid as it is. And that beautiful Junya Inoue artwork... stunning. I remember playing this game a bit earlier this year in Hiroshima, specifically in a little Taito station, and was grateful for air-conditioning and that this game was there, 2 games for 100 yen. Brings back memories of Hiroshima, which is an awesome place.

The main Cave games we've seen released are self-published, which is probably why we're not seeing re-releases of Progear (Capcom) and Esp.Ra.De (Atlus). Although, the original Dodonpachi, also published by Altus, got a PS1 and Saturn release, so not all hope is lost.

If ever a game needed a re-release, this would be it. Criminally overlooked.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Every time I think I've finished with the Witcher 3 it keeps going on and on and on and on. You don't realise how tedious that is until you're rushing to the end. There's nothing left for me to do other than story missions and I'm desperate to finish it before Christmas! Tedious is probably the wrong word, because I'm enjoying it still, but dammit I want to get it done now!
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

Yeah it’s a long old slog of a game! Brilliant, but oh so long! If you’ve got nothing left to do other than story missions your play time must be in hundreds of hours Alex...not surprised you want it over and done with...
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Michiel K
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Stanshall wrote: December 22nd, 2017, 2:12 pm I think the lyrics are brilliant, even though they're pretty on the nose. There's a sincerity to that level of cheese which I find the Japanese do very well. All the meta references, which I normally find irritating, are a big celebration, a big Mario love-in.
Agreed. It's super festive. And the jazz band arrangement is solid.
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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In other super festive and jazzy news, the new GT Sport update has some hilariously cheesy synth jazz Christmas menu music at the moment. It's ace. Fat single player update, too, and a couple of tracks and a dozen new cars. Best racing game I've played in a long time.

Other than that, PUBG on the One X. I've probably played about five hours today and feeling a bit twitchy now. It's certainly a good thing that I'm off out soon (to loot my neighbours' sheds for a sickle, motorcycle helmet and an Uzi suppressor.)
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Sinclair Gregstrum wrote: December 23rd, 2017, 4:06 pm Yeah it’s a long old slog of a game! Brilliant, but oh so long! If you’ve got nothing left to do other than story missions your play time must be in hundreds of hours Alex...not surprised you want it over and done with...
About 130 hours. I exaggerated slightly when I said there's nothing else to do. I've done all contracts and secondary quests available. I have no interest in clearing all the ? markers, although I've done a lot of them. I also have a couple of treasure hunts incomplete but they didn't really excite me enough to totally clear.
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Michiel K
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Michiel K »

Joshihatsumitsu wrote: December 23rd, 2017, 2:07 am Progear No Arashi - CPS-2 (fullkit with original artwork and beautiful B1 sized poster)
Nice. How much did you put down for it, if I may ask?
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