Whatcha Been Playing?

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

Anyone else try the Onrush PS4 beta? Great to see some originality in a racer (with no races), but I found once you got past the initial thrill it soon felt very shallow and success very random.

I am really, really enjoying Golf Story on the Switch! As much as I want to get Ocarina of Time finished before I embark on Breath of the Wild, I’m struggling to pull myself away at the moment.
rob25X
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by rob25X »

stvnorman wrote: May 22nd, 2018, 9:26 pm Anyone else try the Onrush PS4 beta? Great to see some originality in a racer (with no races), but I found once you got past the initial thrill it soon felt very shallow and success very random.

I am really, really enjoying Golf Story on the Switch! As much as I want to get Ocarina of Time finished before I embark on Breath of the Wild, I’m struggling to pull myself away at the moment.
A racer without races, how does that work then? Time trials?

What do you think of Ocarina of Time playing it in 2018? Wind Waker was my personal favourite in the series.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

rob25X wrote: May 22nd, 2018, 10:26 pm A racer without races, how does that work then? Time trials?

What do you think of Ocarina of Time playing it in 2018? Wind Waker was my personal favourite in the series.
It’s my first Zelda game! Not sure how long I’ve played or how far to go but I’m at the Temple of Time. I’m playing on the 3DS and it’s definitely a bit clunky to control, and it’s occasionally rough around the edges, but it’s still very compelling, cleverly designed and hard to put down.

Onrush is a lot Motorstorm and a lot Burnout, but it’s team-based and you have to drive as crazy as you can, as fast as you can, taking down opponents, jumping, flipping, etc. to earn boost to make you even faster and earn points for your team. You keep going until one team beats the other team to a certain number of points, the round ends and you start again until one team wins a certain number of rounds. There’s several other modes in the final game, but I believe that’s the main one.
Todinho

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Todinho »

It's been a minute since I posted here, not been playing much though I was playing Divinity Original sin 2 but there were alot of small things in the game bugging like how the inventory is handled, how the maps works,vendors,pickpocketing and even stuff like the skills checks, for instance I can have my full party near me and start a conversation then the game asks for a speech check but the character that I started the conversation with doesnt have high speech so you're pretty much fucked because the game only recognizes the character that initialized the conversation so even if you have a speech master you cant use him even if he is right there, I get this was done because of the multiplayer so that players could do multiple things at once but playing it alone it is really annoying. None of these are major gamebreakers but they were getting on my nerves, so when they announced definitive edition coming in august I decided to stop playing and resume when all the new improvements roll in especially since they are completelly redoing chapter 3 which is apparently where the game shits the bed currently according to word of mouth.

Other then that I picked on a whim a new roguelike that came out called Wizard of legend, terrible name I know, but it's actually really fun, the combat has a big focus on combos which isnt something you expect to hear in a genre like this but its pretty interesting you have several spell slots you can place skills on and from there you kinda have to create a combination of spells that can overcome your enemies so you can opt for say a lightning build or a fire build or have a balance of all elements, have slow skills,quick skills,etc. Its actually really cool how you can customize your playstyle almost from the get go and of course you can expand that even more as you go on, it might sound like a weird comparison but its similar to God Hand in how you approach combat so you could say that this is the God Hand of roguelikes... :roll: One other thing it has in common with God Hand though is that is pretty hard I mean the first time you come across a boss expect to get demolished but as you unlock more moves, learn the enemy patterns and how best to play you will get the hang of it, I have to say that out of all roguelikes I've ever played this one feels the most skillbased out of any of them because of how you can control how you go into every run to a much higher degree and the mechanics are solid with combat being almost entirely skillbased there's no instant win setup. The one criticism I've seen leveled at the game is that it doesnt have enough stuff in the sense that areas, bosses and enemies repeat alot and while I think thats fair it doesnt bother me too much because your array of itens and skills is really varied and changing that is what matters most so Im good for now.
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Todinho wrote: May 23rd, 2018, 6:11 am It's been a minute since I posted here, not been playing much though I was playing Divinity Original sin 2 but there were alot of small things in the game bugging like how the inventory is handled, how the maps works,vendors,pickpocketing and even stuff like the skills checks, for instance I can have my full party near me and start a conversation then the game asks for a speech check but the character that I started the conversation with doesnt have high speech so you're pretty much fucked because the game only recognizes the character that initialized the conversation so even if you have a speech master you cant use him even if he is right there, I get this was done because of the multiplayer so that players could do multiple things at once but playing it alone it is really annoying.
Having been playing Divinity Original Sin recently, you really need to be sanguine about these things. I was reloading saves to deal with this issue, I agree it is annoying.

Really enjoyed my time with Original Sin, it's good to hear an Enhanced Ed is coming out for consoles. I feel like I should buy it day 1 to support it but my current playthrough of OS probably won't even be completed by then.
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

Today I finally got around to checking out Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day, which is the game included in the Short Peace collection (which I talked about here), and to be frank, it's pretty awful. It's only a short game, but I only got about halfway before deciding I wanted nothing more to do with it. It's an action platformer that kind of plays like a high speed auto-scroller you might see on smartphones, except here the running isn't automatic, and occasionally there are some more traditional platforming sections. Most of the time you are running very fast through levels, attacking enemies without stopping, as you try to keep away from an off-screen hazard that is chasing you. Aesthetically it's pretty nice, and the premise of playing as a teenage assassin going after her own father is kind of interesting. But the performance of the game isn't great. Lots of frame drops and screen tearing all the time, that makes any sense of fluidity pretty impossible. The flashy effects that cover the screen any time you kill an enemy can obscure platforms too, which is a big pain. But the biggest issue is when the game makes you stop in your tracks, usually to kill all the enemies in a certain room, while the instant-kill hazard is still chasing you from behind. The controls feel pretty crap for slower movements, making these sections sloppy and annoying. The point where I quit was at a boss fight section, where you had to climb up a level away from the the hazard, whilst also trying to attack the boss that drops down in your path and shoots you at certain points. Turning those controls that were obviously meant for horizontal momentum towards a vertical climb was just atrocious, and having to deal with the damn boss and the hazard chasing you at the same time on top of that was an absolute deal-breaker. Was not about to play any more of that rubbish. At least the anime shorts were good.

I've also been continuing through God of War, and as I suspected, I'm continuing to find this game more enjoyable the more I play it. I think I'm getting towards the latter third or so of the game, and things have really picked up the pace in recent sections. The bit where you "swing back around to pick up the old lawnmower" is just fantastic. It really improves the combat in the way I was hoping. Makes managing crowds much more doable. The story moments surrounding that section were fantastic too. Really well handled. The extended consequences of that and how they start to bring Kratos' past back in to the plot is great too. The relationship between Kratos and Atreus has taken a very interesting turn as well. Although I'm still not entirely convinced the claustrophobic camera was a good choice for the combat in this game. I've been getting better at dealing with it, and this recent change to the combat has helped make it less of an issue too, but it still feels like that design choice is inherently flawed for the kind of game this is trying to be.
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Stanshall »

I've just been playing Hyrule Warriors, pretty much. About to complete Legend Mode and loving the variety of tools and extra weapons and characters, as well as the constantly shifting conditions and strategic decisions. It's pretty remarkable how satisfying the loop is and how fantastically well balanced it is. It's quite the trick to make you feel both overpowered and simultaneously, constantly under threat. The real test will be once I get to Dark Souls tomorrow, will I drop HW like the proverbial hot potato? Honestly - and don't tell anyone I said it - I'm more excited to keep playing this...
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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stvnorman wrote: May 22nd, 2018, 9:26 pm Anyone else try the Onrush PS4 beta? Great to see some originality in a racer (with no races), but I found once you got past the initial thrill it soon felt very shallow and success very random..
Yeah, I was disappointed by it. Its not even a racing game, more like a crap version of Twisted Metal but without weapons.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

What was the general concensus on Watchdogs 2 in the end? It’s down to a tenner in CEX and I seem to recall people were more ‘up’ on it than the first game (which I mostly enjoyed despite its stupid ‘my dead family!’ plot and pointlessly Gravelly Voiced Jake Template main character)
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

It was widely regarded as a huge improvement over the original. Every podcast I listen to almost said so.
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macstat
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by macstat »

Yes, that was general consensus, but i think it says more about the first game rather than its successor.
W_D was considered to be extremely dull and bleak, while the second one is more colorful, goofy and playful. Unfortunately, I still couldn't get into it, mostly cause characters and the setting is so forgettable, and I'm usually having fun with even the worst AC games.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I tried to play the first one on PS3, but it literally didn't work properly for me. I had no environmental audio whatsoever. Dialogue was mostly OK, but no gun shot noise or engine noise or even background chatter from the other city dwellers. It was bizarre. I checked the settings, tried reinstalling a couple of times, just never worked.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Combine Hunter »

Been playing a lot of Axiom Verge and Hollow Knight. I think they capture what’s brilliant about both Castlevania: SOTN and Super Metroid more effectively than other modern indie takes on that style, even ones I love. They both have a real feeling of entering the unknown. I think the way Hollow Knight handles the map system is especially brilliant. When you enter a new area, you have to locate the character that sells you maps, before you're able to see where you are. So you have to initially navigate the area from memory until you locate this guy. On top of that, the map isn't completely filled in. When you discover new paths, the map only updates once you've had a chance to sit at a bench. With this, Hollow Knight manages to preserve that filling of discovery and entering the unknown, without frustrating the player long term. It's clever way to handle this.
Todinho

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Todinho »

Combine Hunter wrote: May 26th, 2018, 9:08 pm Been playing a lot of Axiom Verge and Hollow Knight. I think they capture what’s brilliant about both Castlevania: SOTN and Super Metroid more effectively than other modern indie takes on that style, even ones I love. They both have a real feeling of entering the unknown. I think the way Hollow Knight handles the map system is especially brilliant. When you enter a new area, you have to locate the character that sells you maps, before you're able to see where you are. So you have to initially navigate the area from memory until you locate this guy. On top of that, the map isn't completely filled in. When you discover new paths, the map only updates once you've had a chance to sit at a bench. With this, Hollow Knight manages to preserve that filling of discovery and entering the unknown, without frustrating the player long term. It's clever way to handle this.
Hahaha the map system might be the thing I dislike the most about Hollow Knight, different strokes for different folks I guess.
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duskvstweak
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by duskvstweak »

So, I just played and beat Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon this weekend! Tons of fun! Beat on both modes and was super proud of myself for getting through ANY game's Nightmare mode. Has anyone else picked up this game? I only just discovered it and it's soon-to-be sequel, missed the kickstarter completely. Looking forward to Ritual of the Night.
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Chopper »

I suppose I should mention that I spent last week playing Conan Exiles, though there is not much to report. It's an open world craft-em-up, single or double A quality.

Mostly you'll be crafting, and finding stuff to craft with. It's a good hunter-gatherer simulation. I've just moved from the stone age to the iron age, in that I'm now smelting iron and making iron tools. However the crafting is not compelling, and takes a phenomenal amount of raw materials, and there's no real goal outside of that (I guess, exploring the world and becoming more powerful is the aim).

It's definitely geared towards multiplayer; there's not much exciting stuff to do in single player.
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ThirdDrawing »

I have been plowing through SMT Strange Journey.

There's something about SMT games that just sucks me in and I can't stop playing until I'm finished.

I like the new dungeon too. Definitely worth a pick up if you haven't played it before.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

Resident Evil: Zero, on the GameCube.

This game just goes in hard straight off the bat.

I’ve just finished the train section and I’m into the Training Facility.

NICE
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Stanshall »

Despite being deeply drawn into Hyrule Warriors, I've played nothing but Dark Souls Remastered since it unlocked at midnight on Thursday.

It's basically identical with minor QoL improvements, rock solid 60fps (to my insensitive eye) and the odd bit of fancy lighting. I'm delighted how close it is to the original and how it retains that woozy overcast jade tone. Magnificent.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by hazeredmist »

I’ve picked up Breath of the Wild again on Switch, having completed & sold the Wii U version. Playing it again at my brother in law’s place reminded me how much I had to get back in that world. It’s the perfect place to go when you don’t really want a target or a purpose when firing up a game - just go exploring and see what happens. Slightly worried it’s going to stop me completing anything else for a while now :lol:
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