Whatcha Been Playing?

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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

I've just started The Evil Within and it feels like a Resident Evil game so far. This stealth bit is a bit poo but from what I understand it gets much better after this is over.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

dezm0nd wrote: October 11th, 2018, 1:42 pm I've just started The Evil Within and it feels like a Resident Evil game so far. This stealth bit is a bit poo but from what I understand it gets much better after this is over.
Yeah it never really uses that mechanic after the opening area at all. It's basically Resident Evil 4.5.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

Recently the local council have been around the Suters household to paint a red cross over our front door - so I've not really been up for much lately.

However, I did put a rather lot of time (25 hours maybe), very quickly into Forza Horizon 4.

I've finished all of the championships, albeit up to level 10 and done the two serious, or rather the two story jaunts that applied to me the most. The stunt driver and the YouTube streamer.

I've decided to call it a day now, at about level 64, I feel like I have had my fill and the game is beginning to feel a little bland. I have very much enjoyed my time with it though and can recommend it, even to no driving game fans.

It was a great vehicle (excuse the pun) for mates to get together and Lego talk while ticking off races and co-oping the events.

I've also cancelled my Gamepass auto renew after my trial :D .

I'm going for a bit of break over the weekend and into next week to Amsterdam with my best mate, just to kick back, do a bit of shopping, go see the Holland Germany game and generally chill out. I've not been for a few years and will be good to catch up with my childhood bestie who still lives in Wales.

Mind, it's going to be the first time I've left my boy since he was born - which suddenly dawned on me today and was another new feeling to add to the list.

I've packed my 3DS which has become literally almost strapped to the side of me for last few months and explore a few new games I've picked up for it.

These will be my airport killers, as my mate is flying into Schiphol from Cardiff and I'm going from Southend, so I'll be by myself for a good few hours at least.

Image

Princes Peach, I've messed with a bit already and reminds me a lot of Super Mario Bros. 2 in a lot of ways. I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

I've also picked back up Animal Crossing on the 3DS, which I've not played since the new update a year or two back with Harv the camping dude. I've also dusted off a old small N3DS and picked up one of the Nintendo selects Animal Crossing version (£15) for my wife and we're going to mess about with that again.

I was tempted to pick up TWEWY for my Switch but I'm not sure, I'm not really craving that sort of game at the minute, so may hold off on that until I fancy it more.

Still just waiting for RDR2 really.
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

Been playing more of the same, but I have more to say.

Firstly, more Forza Horizon 4. As I suspected, I hadn't actually "finished" the game before. Turns out there was at least one more big race to do. Once you hit level 20 in the road racing discipline one more big race shows up, bigger than any of the previous ones. You also stop levelling up at that point too. So now I've done that race perhaps today is my new "real" completion date, but I've decided not to change that yet. Because now I have to grind up to level 20 in all the other disciplines to see if they have another finale race too... I mean, it's not really "grinding", since it's fun and I'm making progress. You do have to repeat a few races though. It's kind of fun to set up a race that has 20 laps or something and just get in to the zone trying to get your best lap time. Pure racing game pleasure.

I've also dabbled a bit in to the online multiplayer stuff too. Standard racing is fine. Or at least as good as any online racing game is. A lot of it depends on whether some moron decides to ram you off the road on the first corner or not, which they usually do. But playing with friends who aren't awful drivers is fun. Also did a bit of the Team Adventure mode. It's a game mode that has been in the series since FH2, except here they separate you in to two teams rather than it being a free-for-all. They screwed it up this time though. In previous games, the winner was decided by overall XP, and the bits where you drive from race to race through the open world contributed to that, but didn't count as a race in itself. This time it does. So way too much of the outcome of the overall adventure is based on the chaos that happens between the real races that are on actual tracks. It pretty much ruins the whole mode. In top of that, they still, after three games with this mode in it, don't allow you to quit out between adventures. Once one adventure ends, another begins right away and you can't quit out in between. You have to wait until the next event starts and then quit out of that. Which puts the team you abandon at a huge disadvantage by putting them a player down. Previously you could also vote on what the next adventure would be once one finished. Now you can't. Just get thrown in to whatever the game gives you, making people even more likely to quit. So yeah, weirdly bad mode that I used to enjoy quite a bit previously, especially in FH2. Doubt I'll be playing it here ever again, outside of the minor amount needed for achievements.

Also more CrossCode. And I think my opinions on it are starting to get quite polarised. All the stuff I said I liked about it before I still do, but a lot of things have begun getting on my nerves more. Mostly the side-quests. For some reason they tend to be notably harder and just generally more annoying and fiddly than the main quest. So much frustration has come out of those putting me in horrible, unfair situations. Some of them have driven me bonkers. But on the other hand, the dungeons have been getting a lot better as the game has gone on. I think I'm approaching the tail end of the game now, at least once I finish off the bit I'm on now. Currently I'm doing a dungeon that is split in to three smaller dungeons, having done the first two, and these have had a lot of the most interesting, enjoyable, and satisfying puzzles yet. Only one has caused any aggravation, but it was nothing like some other bits in the game, and was eventually satisfying to work out. Combat has also been good, with a lot of cool new enemy types here that are mostly all fun to fight. There was a boss in particular that has been the best in the game so far. It's stylish and fast, but not overwhelming. Has well-telegraphed attacks, and uses the puzzle mechanics of the dungeon in a good way too.

I've also been dipping back in to Splatoon 2 lately as well. I think I've managed to de-rust after not playing for a while quite well. And bloody hell, that game is a blast. When you're firing on all cylinders and really in the zone, it's really amazing. Had a really great win streak lately, with a bunch of great Rainmaker and Clam Blitz games. I've gone back-and-forth a bit on how much I like these modes. RM has always been one of my favourites, and in this most recent stint I remember why. Feels to good to push forward as a team, picking the right moments, getting all the right "kills." Dunking the Rainmaker itself on the goal is such a fantastic feeling too. One of the best in games. Actually, it reminded me of a thread I think we had on these forums a while back about the most satisfying actions in games. I think the Rainmaker dunk has to go in there too.

I was killing it in Clam Blitz too, playing on the new map. It's a strange one since it's not symmetrical in the same way every other map in the game is. It's side-to-side, instead of front-to-back. So it really messes with your instincts of pushing forward in a line. Although I was using that to my advantage and catching other people out with it instead. It was pretty easy to harass and put pressure on the enemy team around their goal for the whole game. So they couldn't get much done since they had me to deal with right up in their faces the whole time, and me being there gave my teammates and easy path in to score. It's pretty fun to be able to toy with the enemy team like that. Although I guess you could say that's an argument for why the map is bad. Or perhaps I only did so well because I was exploiting other players' ignorance of how to play the map, which won't last once people cotton on to what I was doing. Either way it was fun, and it got me up to S+ rank! Now I'm S+ in every ranked mode!!
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Stanshall »

I've been on various train journeys this week with work and have found FIFA 19 to be the perfect thing for those mindless slogs up and down the country. It's excellent comfort gaming (to paraphrase Sean on this week's TCGS) and it's about as much as I can focus on among the bumps and flickering sunlight through the trees (which I never noticed much before I tried to play Switch on the train) and people getting up and walking past and all the usual National Rail palaver. It's a great game, anyway, just no different to FIFA 18 as far as I can determine.

Otherwise, Psyvariar Delta docked in hotel rooms, perfect five or ten minute blast before dinner or after a shower or while boiling the kettle or brewing tea or whatever.

I've also been putting a little bit of time into Risk of Rain which is...ok. It seems to lack any consistent identity and I've no idea if I'm making progress. It's basically kind of fun and I probably prefer it to Gungeon which I find depressing and boring but it's not a patch on Isaac. There's no reason for it to exist, essentially.

Otherwise, still intermittently enjoying Shikhondo and Azure Reflections here and there, despite my initial feeling that they'd wither and die on the vine. Just decent games, with Azure Reflections pretty excellent at its best, in boss fights.

Shitcanned:

Into the Breach - I don't like this kind of thing, just wasting money on optimism and delusion. It's funny because my job involves constant planning and strategising and this kind of shit, maybe that's why I have no interest in similar during my leisure time.

Mario + Rabbids - as above, this ain't my thing and a recent attempt to get back into it just made me regret the purchase twice over. Great music and it looks, well, not sacrilegious.

Looking forward to:

AC Odyssey - I'll be right back on it this weekend once I'm home, I actually miss this game.

Dark Souls Remastered on the Switch - The network test told me that it's basically the PS3 version with much better performance. That's exactly what I want. That's all I ever wanted. 60fps doesn't feel like Dark Souls, don't @ me.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

Stanshall wrote: October 11th, 2018, 8:31 pm Mario + Rabbids - as above, this ain't my thing and a recent attempt to get back into it just made me regret the purchase twice over.
That seems a shame man, I absolutely enjoyed every moment with this. Even the Co-Op multiplayer.

I didn't feel like I needed to play the DLC but I still enjoyed it tremendously.

Horses for courses :) .
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Stanshall »

If it were a brawler or something, I'd be all over it. I'm just not patient enough for anything strategic or turn-based. I bounced off Octopath for the same reason. I love the presentation but given the story stuff takes a back seat there, that's the biggest hook gone for me.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I've been mainlining Assassins Creed 2 for the last couple of weeks. Really loving it, maybe even more so than the first time I played it.

I also re-re-re-restarted XIII on the Gamecube. Its held up surprisingly well. Looks blurry, and the aiming is a bit shonky, but it's still hugely enjoyable. There isn't much more satisfying in gaming than aiming a throwing knife or crossbow at an enemies head whilst in stealth and seeing the comic panels flash across the screen with a THUUUNK!
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

After binning Hollow Knight last week, I’ve reinstalled it and put another 10 or so hours in over the last few days. I’m still not good enough to beat my two problem bosses but once I’d made the decision not to bother trying to finish it I’ve had so much fun just exploring. I think I’ve been just about everywhere now so have just archived it again and am back on God of War 3.

Also downloaded the Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun! demo on Switch. It’s bonkers! I realised I had a big grin on my face while I was playing the two demo tracks over and over. The motion control option is a bit ropey but the button controls work fine, though I’m sure not as well as my real drum controller will when it turns up with the full game, which I can’t wait for now.
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DomsBeard
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by DomsBeard »

So started Spider-Man and loved the beginning, a fabulous start. Then:

A random thing I hate in videogames is pipe puzzles, ever since the hacking game in Bioshock. Please don't tell me they are throughout Spider-Man? :D
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Alex79uk wrote: October 11th, 2018, 7:36 pm
dezm0nd wrote: October 11th, 2018, 1:42 pm I've just started The Evil Within and it feels like a Resident Evil game so far. This stealth bit is a bit poo but from what I understand it gets much better after this is over.
Yeah it never really uses that mechanic after the opening area at all. It's basically Resident Evil 4.5.
It seems more serious in tone and has a whiff of last of us about it too.

What i dont get is that theres all these hiding places but the way im playing it doesnt facilitate these cupboards etc. Is it optional stealth?
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Played some Taiko no Tatsujin on the Switch with the demo last night.

Im not sure why im so surprised it was 99% Japanese bonkers but im glad it is.

Im not sure i totally get it yet as the motion controls were too generous with its failings.

Is there something im missing? It like no matter what gesture i did it corrected it to add +1 to the combo. Is it because i was on easy?
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

Yes. Those games are straight up evil on the harder settings.

I’m not sure which version to get, the Switch one has those Nintendo exclusive tracks, but the PS4 release has a bunch of anime themes that aren’t on the Switch one.
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Ive pre ordered the Switch drum edition from Namcos website but seen it cheaper elsewhere.

Hoping it comes with a bonus something to justify the price
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

That's (Planescape Torment) possibly my most ever (maybe alongside Chrono Trigger) new starts in a game. I've tried so many times over the years, and always enjoyed the couple of hours I had played each time, but just never ever got any further. No idea why, both those games are right up my street, just abandoned them both more times than I can remember.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

dezm0nd wrote: October 14th, 2018, 9:30 am Ive pre ordered the Switch drum edition from Namcos website but seen it cheaper elsewhere.
I’ve pre ordered exactly the same way man.
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Michiel K
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Michiel K »

Met with Suits in Amsterdam, yesterday, and he put a copy of DecapAttack in my hand. I played until my first game over, where I had to defeat a fat toad, that had little toadlings pop out of the warts on its back. Every bit the weird and wonderful game I remember it to be and a bit of a step up from Psycho Fox, as far as Vic Tokai's lineage of odd platformers go.

EDIT: Oh yeah and I finally got a working 2nd Mega Drive controller, so me and my son played the first Streets of Rage together, yesterday afternoon.
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countstex
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by countstex »

Been playing through teh Zoo Tycoon on Game Pass, which is actually a different game achievements wise from the original game. Anyway, it's actually quite a nice, relaxing game for a gaming couple to play through in co-op. And all the achievements are ernable during co-op so it's actually better implimented than most co-op games out there. Nice way to spend an evening together. Zoo Tycoon and chill.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

The new Williams tables on Pinball FX 3 are superb, particularly Medieval Madness. It looks stunning and plays like a dream. Can’t get enough of it!

I’m done with God of War 3. Seems I was about half way through when a combination of me being bored, it feeling very dated, bad platforming and the fact it was a PS+ game rather than a purchase made me think I’d had my fill.

I’ve also embarked on the original Mega Man on Switch. It’s quite challenging.
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Playing horizon 4 in the morning whilst its winter in game is a beautiful bit of synergy.

Also little one loves copying the sat nav which is the icing on the car cake
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