Whatcha Been Playing?

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

Post by Michiel K »

Been playing a bunch of different things again, just to get a taste of them and to download the updates for them should they stop to become available in the future, such as the PS3 Yakuzas. I completed the first one on PS2 and will start the second one very soon, so I never popped the others in. I did now though and I found 4 especially hard to put down. Very intriguing start from a narrative perspective.

Due to Smash Bros. I also became more interested in the regular Kirby games. I only ever got the more spin-off type Canvas Curse, Mass Attack and Epic Yarn and I always felt I wasn't the target audience for your every day suck 'n copy Kirby game. I got Triple Deluxe, Super Star Ultra and Adventure Wii on the cheap and started playing through Super Star Ultra and enjoying it a lot. The happy go lucky, sugary atmosphere is just what I need in my life right now and all the different abilities are fun to play around with. Sure, I'm still not really the target audience and there isn't that much in the way of challenge, but it's all quite fun to interact with and it's cool to see all the Kirby stuff from the Smash Bros. series in the context of the universe it originated from. Very lovely sprite art, as well.

I also started playing The Last Guardian with my kids. Listening to Tony's recount in the CaR issue on the game, I had a feeling my kids would start reacting much the same to Trico and I turned out to be right. They got very involved and emotionally connected.

Finally, last night an old friend came by last night. He doesn't consider himself much of a gamer, though he still plays WoW, and he asked me if I could recommend him any interesting games for PC with a good narrative. Looking at his tastes in aesthetics, story telling and his anxiety for games (except for WoW) that are frantic in nature, I decided to fire up The Banner Saga, which I hadn't played yet, and we played it for close to 4 hours, becoming quite engrossed.
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ColinAlonso »

Finished the second disc of Final Fantasy VIII. I'm finding it oddly nostalgic considering I wasn't that happy about it back in the day. This time around I'm really keeping on top of the junction system. Honestly it's destroying any difficulty curve this game had. The disc ended with a big climactic battle where I took the piss.

I'll talk about story near the end of the second disc in the spoiler.
Spoiler: show
The orphanage twist is not quite as bad as I remember. That is a relative statement though, even at 12 I thought it was terrible. The risk of memory loss from GF use is set up early in the game, so that's ok. The problems start with Irvine, who only started using GFs and isn't suffering memory loss. While this means his nerves when shooting the sorceress at the end of disc 1 make sense, little of his early interactions with the party make sense, especially not reacting when he first met them in disc 1. You'd think he'd bring up that they were at the orphanage together at the start.

Also it implies that SeeD and Garden have existed for 15 years. Which seems very short for an organization of that size.

The battle between the Gardens is a great scenario and although it is dated it is clearly impressive for the PS1. This game was great at using FMV and in-engine scenes together despite the graphical jumps
I'm also near the end of Yakuza Kiwami 2. It's not on the level of 5 or 0 but I'm enjoying it.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

Gave the God Eater 3 demo a go. Apart from girls with huge breasts, I never did work out what was going on and have no desire to find out. The Resident Evil 2: 1-Shot Demo is a completely different matter though. I finished it and got the bonus trailer with a few minutes to spare, but had I known I was about to trigger the end I’d have wandered around a bit more and sucked the full duration out of it! This demo did kind of convince me I want it, but I still own, have fully accessible and have never finished the original on PS1 and PS4, 2 and 3 on PS1, plus Zero on GameCube. Can’t quite justify the full price purchase!
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duskvstweak
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by duskvstweak »

With my PS3 being all but dead, I had to cancel plans to play Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and am now tackling Chrono Trigger via Steam. Got to the dinosaur times when I was a teenager and lost my save, did a second playthough in college and lost my save around the future setting. This time, I got the cloud!
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ReprobateGamer
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ReprobateGamer »

I've been going down the grindy RPG rabbit hole recently:

Assassin's Creed Odyssey: I'm around 5 hours in and have just left the first island. Currently I'm loving the progression and I'm very keen to carry on but that is a very big map out there ... I saw one comment about sticking to the story and try not to get diverted by side quests and i think that may be a way to progress before the inevitable burnout

Battle Chasers: Night War: Picked this up on the recent Xbox store sale for just a few pounds - it's essentially a JRPG with a Joe Madueira re-skin. The original graphic novel remains one of my favourite examples of the art form (other than Red Monika ...) but the game doesn't quite live up to the pedigree. Certainly fun, definitely well put together but I'm pretty certain that this is going to be one where you have to grind out levels on characters to aid progression (rather than just a giant map) and it's been a very long while since I saw the ending on a game with that model ...

Elder Scrolls Online: This was a game that I avoided on release but briefly dabbled with last year after it featured on an Free to Play weekend. Friends have recently got back into it and I'm kinda tagging along, and being glad that I kept up the daily log-ins for the last several months (I have a lot of gold and resources) as it means that my only character is not completely outclassed.

Brawlhalla also remains on daily rotation and in contrast we also tried out the Resident Evil 2 Re-make One-shot demo. That was great other than it triggered my wife's motion sickness (though most games do these days). She was disappointed by that as she is a big Resident Evil fan. From what I saw, it looks like it's been given a good treatment and I'm sure we'll pick it up at some point, though not likely as a day one purchase.

But largely what I've been doing is making sure I won't be contributing to the games completed 2019 thread :lol:
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

I must be a third of the way through Valkyria Chronicles 4.

It got cold, and then things got serious. The mission design is impeccable. More, please.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

Michiel K wrote: January 13th, 2019, 10:29 am Due to Smash Bros. I also became more interested in the regular Kirby games. I only ever got the more spin-off type Canvas Curse, Mass Attack and Epic Yarn and I always felt I wasn't the target audience for your every day suck 'n copy Kirby game. I got Triple Deluxe, Super Star Ultra and Adventure Wii on the cheap and started playing through Super Star Ultra and enjoying it a lot. The happy go lucky, sugary atmosphere is just what I need in my life right now and all the different abilities are fun to play around with. Sure, I'm still not really the target audience and there isn't that much in the way of challenge, but it's all quite fun to interact with and it's cool to see all the Kirby stuff from the Smash Bros. series in the context of the universe it originated from. Very lovely sprite art, as well.
I love me a bit of Kirby.

I enjoyed All star Sllies earlier in the year, which had a rather large and challenging end game.

I’ve also just finished Planet Robobot on the 3DS which does some clever stuff and looks fantastic. It also has a really cool flying/schmup mechanic which I want more of.

I have Kirby Pinball and Dream Land on the DMG too, which I’m going to get into.

I’m also going to get Extra Epic Yarn when it lands (even though I have it on Wii).

Like you say, they are good to just sit back and experiance at a relaxed pace and offer a decent palette cleanse to some of the more heavy stuff that generally fill up our calendars.
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DomsBeard
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by DomsBeard »

Assassins Creed Odyssey

Preparing to leave the initial island again (I had it on PS4 rental but sent it back and picked it up on One X). Looks even more stunning on that. I did the opposite to the first couple of side quest choices this time
Spoiler: show
I let the plague family die and killed the guys at the start
. I got up to a very big decision last time which I will maintain this time when I get to it.

The Turing Test

Nice little puzzler and the perfect antidote to The Gardens Between. Puzzles are fun and there is a vague story at the moment which makes you want to find out more.
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Michiel K
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Michiel K »

Suits wrote: January 14th, 2019, 12:39 pm I love me a bit of Kirby.

I enjoyed All star Sllies earlier in the year, which had a rather large and challenging end game.

I’ve also just finished Planet Robobot on the 3DS which does some clever stuff and looks fantastic. It also has a really cool flying/schmup mechanic which I want more of.

I have Kirby Pinball and Dream Land on the DMG too, which I’m going to get into.

I’m also going to get Extra Epic Yarn when it lands (even though I have it on Wii).

Like you say, they are good to just sit back and experiance at a relaxed pace and offer a decent palette cleanse to some of the more heavy stuff that generally fill up our calendars.
I knew you would get it!

Planet Robobot and Star Allies look ace, they're on my long shopping list as well.

I bought Canvas Curse on vacation YEARS ago and it was the first Kirby game I ever played. One of my fave DS games and much more substantial than it appears. Games like Epic Yarn and Mass Attack kind of fell in my lap, but now only I'm actively seeking out more games in the franchise.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

KSubzero1000 wrote: January 14th, 2019, 12:21 pm I must be a third of the way through Valkyria Chronicles 4.

It got cold, and then things got serious. The mission design is impeccable. More, please.
Fam, it is consistently great. I have my own set of rules for VC games (no permadeaths, no ranks lower than A), and even with those restrictions and multiple retries, none of the stages are bad. You can play it basically any way you want. But the potential for cheese strats is huge, and given the relative obscurity of the game, there aren't a lot of them out there -- which makes it more fun. Just experimenting with the dumbest idea you can think of and having it work? Oof.
Yacobg42

Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Yacobg42 »

Suits wrote: January 10th, 2019, 6:35 pm I enjoyed Super Hot, played it for a few nights years ago on the Xbox.

Once I’d beaten it, I never went back to it mind.

Clever game, that controlled great but apart from that I found it pretty un-remarkable.

I’d recommend it though.

If that makes sense.
I'd really encourage anyone playing SUPERHOT to do the challenges. That's where the real ~game~ is in my opinion. You can get through the story mode proper without having to really push the mechanics, but when you've only got a sword for the whole time or have a real-time time limit, you have to think and play incredibly differently. There's a lot of depth, you're just not required to interface with it all in a vanilla playthrough.
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

The thing to understand when playing AC Odyssey is that the amount of quests, optional and otherwise, and the total hours you can spend, is more on a par with something like Skyrim than previous AC games.

You need to tackle it how you’d tackle an Elder Scrolls or Fallout game. There’s a lot in there, and a lot of it is well off the beaten path. It’s not a ‘main quest and done’ kind of series anymore, and it’s not expecting you to play it that way. (You’ll get stuck if you’re not staying in level with the quests your doing, and that means you need to go side questing at some point)
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FemalePheromones
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by FemalePheromones »

Currently 2 hours into my first playthrough of Ori and the Blind Forest.

How have I missed this game?

Thank you Game Pass!
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

Yacobg42 wrote: January 14th, 2019, 6:02 pm I'd really encourage anyone playing SUPERHOT to do the challenges. That's where the real ~game~ is in my opinion. You can get through the story mode proper without having to really push the mechanics, but when you've only got a sword for the whole time or have a real-time time limit, you have to think and play incredibly differently. There's a lot of depth, you're just not required to interface with it all in a vanilla playthrough.
Right, OK, thanks for the heads up.

So many times the best (or best to an opinion, as you say) modes are set aside from the main game. GT Sport's missions were easily the best part of that game for me as an example off the top of my head.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

Flabyo wrote: January 14th, 2019, 7:35 pm The thing to understand when playing AC Odyssey is that the amount of quests, optional and otherwise, and the total hours you can spend, is more on a par with something like Skyrim than previous AC games.

You need to tackle it how you’d tackle an Elder Scrolls or Fallout game. There’s a lot in there, and a lot of it is well off the beaten path. It’s not a ‘main quest and done’ kind of series anymore, and it’s not expecting you to play it that way. (You’ll get stuck if you’re not staying in level with the quests your doing, and that means you need to go side questing at some point)
Honestly, I'd say it's bigger than a Fallout game. Fallout 3 in particular, it's pretty straightforward - main quest is around 30% of the game, and a few very good quests are 70% of the game. Beyond exploring for the sake of it, there's not much else there.

With AC Odyssey, you have a long main story, literally hundreds, if not nearing 1000 sidequests with unique stories (one has you obtaining bear testicle for a horny old woman so she can make ancient Greek Viagra for her husband), plus oodles of ancient shrines and
Spoiler: show
mythological creatures for fuck sakes
off the beaten path with no signposting, the world is just absolutely amazing to just *look at* in a way Fallout rarely is, there's a whole 'neither GAME packed in there with the ship mechanics, it's like... This game is absolutely gluttonous when it comes to doing literally everything it can.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

Oh, and to the folks just now getting off Kephalonia... There are entire systems and mechanics you will not even see for another 10 hours. The best part of the game ends up becoming an entire tab in your menu - it's your hit list, ostensibly. But not the Mercenaries one. This one's even better.

Maybe it's time to hop back on and see if I can finish it before RE2make... spoilers, I won't tho.
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Played the first level of Rad Rodgers. Its a platform/shooter which has sweary characters, rubbish jokes and satires videogame mechanics.

You'd think it was made for me but unfortunately its a bit rubbish
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

dezm0nd wrote: January 15th, 2019, 6:52 am Played the first level of Rad Rodgers. Its a platform/shooter which has sweary characters, rubbish jokes and satires videogame mechanics.

You'd think it was made for me but unfortunately its a bit rubbish
Anyone remember Mat Hazard?
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hazeredmist
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by hazeredmist »

I'm still trying to complete Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice on 3DS, more determined than before now though.

It's a loooooooong game, and a consequence here is it always sends me to sleep as I play before bed, so I make slow progress each night. Final case, backend of the trial though so hopefully not too much longer.

Predictably, the weaker cases are bookended with excellent cases and the final one is by far the most interesting. I do think the series needs to mature somewhat to retain my interest beyond this game, I feel like I'm outgrowing them after many, many years of playing every Phoenix Wright game (most several times over). I don't think I'll be getting the DLC case this time. It's all Steins;Gate's fault, I'm too excited to get to Steins;Gate 0. And Root Letter. I also have Zero Time Dilemma to get to, though I'm pondering replaying Virtue's Last Reward for that one.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

Don't know where best to post this, but I recently re-did my Top 100 Games list and properly put it into Google Docs for better sharing.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... 4qLAWY50fo

If anyone's interested in the methods I used to distill basically every game I've played into a Top 100 list in a way that feels *right*, let me know - I can probably do a write-up as to how to make it as empirical as possible.

I also made a GOTY list for every year 1991-Present and did a breakdown of country or origin. Because I can! :D
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