Whatcha Been Playing?

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

Post by Flabyo »

When I went to uni I was made to leave my gameboy behind because my mum couldn’t bear to be parted from Tetris.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Flabyo wrote: May 20th, 2019, 7:18 pm When I went to uni I was made to leave my gameboy behind because my mum couldn’t bear to be parted from Tetris.
Ha, thats cool.

Mum wouldn't even know what a "Nintendo" is/was.
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

I was a pretty fortunate kid in that respect, computers and games consoles were always in the house from around the time I turned 6.
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Pitwar
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Pitwar »

Devil May Cry 5

I really want to play through this as I've finished every other game in the franchise, but I'm struggling. It's just not a very good game.

The combat isn't a patch on what we had in the previous instalments, especially 3.

The locations you find yourself in are so bland, and are just recycled through the levels. Compare the look of this game to the last gen DMC and it's night and day. DMC was so creative and looked stunning.

I'm just over half way through, which didn't take too long to be fair, but I don't know if I can be bothered to play to the end.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

I've been working through a few games that I started but didn't finish, and this is the latest of those I've gone back to. After finishing God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn, this will be my next game to play to the end.

I had an hour or so on it last night and really enjoyed what I played. I can't really say why it got put on the back burner.
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Chopper »

Slay the Spire since 7am this morning :D

I'm playing a 'strength build' of my own devising; I just looked up 'strength build' online and I literally have none of the cards they recommend, so that's good.

Great game; Switch owners should obviously hold out but for PS4....
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

Back onto Mortal Kombat 11 for me, still trying to find a character I really like to put time into learning.

Played Kitana a lot, but I’m finding that most of her strength comes from her large number of strings that you can special cancel. It’s effective, but you have to hold a lot more in your head at once than I really can. (Some of her strings are 7 presses long... that’s getting into original Killer Instinct levels of memory)

Switched over to Skarlet yesterday and she seems to be closer to my favoured style (zoning with a few simple strings to push the opponent back out to zoning range if they’ve closed in).
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I have a quandary.

I've been playing and very much enjoying Yoshi's Crafted World. I've finished the game unlocked all the hidden worlds and I'm a very good way to 100%'n everything. I'm at just under 40 hours so far.

During the mop up, you'll be asked to go and find all of the Sunflowers, red coins and crafted items in the backgrounds.

As well as that, in the Boss levels (which are their own single experience world spots) you'll be asked to collect three Sunflowers that are tied to typical task for that Boss.

Things like, - Don't get hit, beat the boss quickly and interrupt their move cycle.

It's been quite fun working out how to do those task on some of the bosses require Wooly World levels of inputs, control and haste.

Until you unlock the bonus world's boss fight.

This fight is hard, I'm talking solid. Took me about two sessions to manage to do it.

I'm not quiet there yet, (as I'm doing the usual clear a world and move on system) but once I get to the boss fight, its all over, its ends there.

I'll never be able to do that level in the bonus tasks.

The final level is hard as it is but there's one key factor that makes it super super tricky again. Then, even thinking about attempting it without getting hit is making not want to pop the cart back in.


I think I'm done. Screw that level.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Suits wrote: May 21st, 2019, 8:10 pm I'll never be able to do that level in the bonus tasks.
Don't say that! I'm sure it's feasible.

I have complete and utter faith in you. :)

Image
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

KSubzero1000 wrote: May 21st, 2019, 8:16 pm Don't say that! I'm sure it's feasible.
It's fcuking solid man :| .
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ColinAlonso »

Just Final Fantasy 12 on Switch recently. Its the first time I've given it a go since the PS2 original in 2008. I'm 24 hours in and just left the bunny girl village. This game is still beautiful even if the character models show their PS2 roots.

The plot is only ok to be honest,
Spoiler: show
the interesting stuff seems to be happening within Archadia's political circles (which I'm not directly involved in) and I'm not fully invested in Ashe as a character and her conflict on how best to lead Dalmasca (which I think is the main driving force for the party right now).
I love this soundtrack. Its been a regular listen for me outside of the game for a long time.

The ability to speed up the game is brilliant here. Coupled with the gambit system, traveling by foot and defeating regular enemies is a breeze and a relaxing way to level up. Good for the commutes too. I've kept it to 2x rather than 4x though.

I think this is true of the original but the game is very dark in places (mines, caves and deep forests have all made an appearance). I would like an in game brightness/gamma option, the Switch's brightness option has helped most but not all of it.
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Have seen the end credits with two of the three Slay the Spire (PS4 in case anybody didn't realise it's out!1!!) characters; got through it handily enough with a 'strength' build with the Ironclad and then doing it with the Silent nearly killed me but I got there in the end with a 'poison' build- after not being able to make block and shiv builds work.

I say all that like I know what I'm talking about, but despite spending 70 hours with it on PC, I really only have a superficial understanding of the synergies involved. It's a lot of fun trying to figure them out though.

Doing the defect now, which is crazy fun, no idea what is happening a lot of the time as all its moves are flashy and the screen is full of numbers. Also tried a couple of daily runs and didn't shame myself but didn't bother the leaderboards either (they only show the top 100). I play too conservatively (seek out health, avoid elites) for that.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Hm. I now have the overwhelming urge to turn on my PlayStation 4 and look for a game called Slay the Spire.

No idea where this is coming from. It's the strangest thing!

*beep boop*
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Chopper »

The power of 'subtle' suggestion! :lol:

On the face of it, it's a game which will automatically exclude a large group of gamers - a card game that is also a roguelike, horrific. But it's not a traditional card game in the Magic style; because you can see what the enemies are about to play (eg attack for ten damage, buff for shield, cast an effect on you which will mess your shit up), it's more of a puzzle game where you attack and counter based on the information given to you up front.

The roguelike aspect is terrifically well done. There's so much variation (and several levels of strategy) that every run is a delight. When I played Hades recently, and I got killed near the end, I really didn't want to go through the whole thing again; here I am straining at the leash to jump back in.
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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clippa wrote: May 23rd, 2019, 9:26 am Chopper, I'm interested to know, with the mouse you can grab the card and sort of chuck it at the enemy, is it less satisfying using a pad? Does it take longer to play each card, or once you get into the rhythm of it, is it actually faster?
You can blast through cards no problem. Scrolling through cards is done with the left stick, X to select and play it, while you guide a big red arrow with the left stick again to the enemy you want. That sounds horrible but it's really intuitive and fast.

The UI isn't perfect though - there's a tendency for the tool tips to 'get stuck' on screen (just a navigation thing, easily remedied) and in the case of multiple enemies sometimes the top of your deck obscures the enemy status effects below them. Pretty good overall though.
It always seemed like it would be really suited to mobile platforms and touch controls. They'd make an absolute mint if they could get that thing on phones.
I can't believe getting it out on mobile hasn't been their top priority, it's flabbergasting. Also putting out the PS4 version before the Switch, very strange, unless there was a deal signed with Sony.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

clippa wrote: May 23rd, 2019, 9:26 am I urge everyone to check out slay the spire, especially those who would never even consider playing a card game. You have to trust me on this, the game transcends the genre and is very accessible.
You were saying you fancied a holiday from the breakneck adrenalin pace of shmups, owly, this would be the perfect way to unwind.
I can stand neither card games nor rogue-likes, but sure, I'll check it out. My backlog is already bursting at the seams and I don't like buying digital games at full price, so it's on the "maybe"-pile for now. I hope this is a single package type thing because if there are twenty DLC card packs lurking in the shadows, I'm out.
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ReprobateGamer
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ReprobateGamer »

Following on the theme of card games, my Xbox Insider Hub alerted me to Minion Masters

It's a card game mixed with tower assault. You preselect your deck from owed cards (ad you can have 18 decks available to choose) and these correspond in-game to a summoned minion card which then becomes 'alive' and begins it's default action.
You are one end of an arena, your opponent is the other end, both on towers and separated by an infinite drop spanned only by two bridges.
Minions once summoned will path to the nearest bridge then into the opponents half to attack their tower with the ultimate aim of destroying it. If they encounter an enemy minion on the way then they will stop to fight that minion.

Simple enough in concept of course - the strategy comes in that you can only select a card once you have enough mana to cast it and there are only four live cards in your hand at any point, randomly provided from your total deck.

The slight twist is that if you minion is the last one to have touched a bridge, you get XP from that bridge added to a slowly increasing total which will boost passive perks that affect all your forces in play.

Graphically the game is average with some very visible pop-up on some screens; audio wise is functional but not outstanding, with a particularly grating announcer, and the few hours I played last night had a number of server timeout error message pop, once or twice costing me progress. But the error message never popped up during a match, more so impressive in that it features cross play with Steam/Discord with the option on 1v1 or 2v2 gameplay.

As the night went on, I also found a lot more slow-down happening both during matches and on menu screens - a little worrying as it officially launches on Xbox One tomorrow (24th may 2019).

There is work to be done on this game for sure but it largely plays well, has a number of options to pursue (Joining a guild and playing 1v1 to boost it's standing; expeditions, challenges; quick play) and most of the units are distinctive enough to be easily readable except when it gets very busy (and it would be tricky for anything to be readable once a number of units are all trying to share the same space).

Certainly enjoyable enough even with the bugs and I'll be going back into the arena for sure

I also wanted to try out Dauntless last night but couldn't get past the character creation screen before being trapped in an infinite loading screen - with the servers going down not long after. Definitely not a good start for that f2p monster hunter clone
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Chopper »

clippa wrote: May 23rd, 2019, 10:39 am Maybe they thought it would devalue the pc and console versions if they went straight to mobile, it'd make a big splash that gamers would notice, they'd have to charge less on there and then people might start to see it as less of a "real game". It might damage the games credibility.
That's an excellent point.

If it comes out on mobile this year I'll be buying it for a third time this year :shock:
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Played a couple of hours of Iconoclasts on Vita today. It's a pretty good MetroidVania with great graphics and a nice feel to the movement.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

I’m not that far from completing Cuphead on Switch, but I’ve had to put it to one side. I know how to beat the boss I’m stuck on, but after hundreds of attempts I just can’t do it, and it’s got to the point where I’m throwing controllers and punching walls, meaning that’s enough! I think I’ll revert to the easier setting at some point so I can make a bit more progress and maybe see the rest of the game even if that means not “finishing” it, but for now I needed a break, so I’ve played through the whole of Uncharted 2 over the last few evenings.

This is the only Uncharted game I played on release, and this Nathan Drake Collection version on PS4 felt comfortably familiar and just as enjoyable as the first time around. I still got annoyed at the guy on the train that four grenades and four point-blank headshots won’t knock off though… quite what Drake’s melee attack has that they don’t I’m not sure! And now I’ve just installed Resident Evil 2 Remake, which I got for my recent birthday, so looking forward to that next!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Played a bit of Prey and wasn't really feeling it so I decided to rebel against the system and booted up ECHO instead.

I had to instruct my trusted rubber band (nicknamed Klaus) to "play" through the tutorial for me, though. He was looking a tad dehydrated towards the end, but it's nothing that a quick sprinkle of moisturizer couldn't fix. Plus it gave me the chance to catch up on a few episodes of The West Wing, so it's all good.

Game itself doesn't seem half bad! I dig the aesthetics, it's certainly going for a certain... something, same as the writing. The core gameplay also seems pretty interesting, from what little I could try before bedtime. More thoughts to follow, surely.

PS: Only 90% of the player base grabbed the trophy directly following the main tutorial. My thoughts and prayers go out to the 10% of Klauses out there who didn't make it.
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