Whatcha Been Playing?

[SenpaiMD]

Borderlands 3, Prey and Picross GB.

Borderlands 3 is good, but the story can play out like at a young adult novel at times. The game play is the best its been so that's good. I don't play the game for the story any even thought it has a funny moment here and there.

Prey 2017 is something that I had seen here and there but didn't give it a try since 2017 had me distracted between breath of the wild, Mario and Splatoon 2. Not to mention that Dota2 still had its firm claws stuck on me so I was playing that when I was between games. I have MASSIVE appreciate for its level design and for the developers to make the space station feel as livable and realistic as they possible could.
That being said I wish the game was more survival horror-esque. I suppose I got the impression that the game leaned towards that rather than something like a Half-Life adventure game. It has its moments though and the atmosphere is pretty tense. I feel like I'll be complaining about this until the end of time, but console UI has really messed up the chances of PC players having decent UI. The UI in prey is TERRIBLE with unintuitive menuing and way too many confirmation clicks to so something as simple as upgrade a weapon or use a medkit. The quick selection menu is equally as awful. Overall though the game is fun to play and the space station is enjoyable to explore. The main plot is interesting, but I'm not finished with it yet so I can't give a great opinion.

I've had a Picross itch really bad so I wanted to play some. I usually play a steam Picross clone called Picross Touch most of the time since it has custom level and it's free. Though since I have the mind of a small child I'm drawn to the Nintendo official releases. I really appreciate some GB music and Mario's Picross certainly delievers [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tK1aU2pYAg[/youtube]

I miss the quality of life features from later titles though. I'm 1/3 of the way from finishing this and I'll pack this away.

[Flabyo]

Planescape Torment is not a game to play if you don’t like reading. (I mean, that’s true of pretty much every game on that engine, but it’s especially true for this)

Some of the best writing the medium has ever had of course, but so so much of it...

[Alex79]

Does anyone know if these old PC RPGs have had any QOL alterations? I really fancy Baldurs Gate, which I loved on PC back in the day, but found it a bit of a pain when I came back to it a couple of years ago.

[hazeredmist]

Virtua Racing (Switch)

Good god, this is addictive. I love it!

It is, you find yourself restarting races even if you mess up the racing line even slightly on one bend!

Yeah! I'm involved in a couple of time battles on the Beginner course right now, it's ridiculous how addictive it is shaving a little time off (exactly what I hoped this game would be for me) - and yeah, one mistake and it's reset time Looks like a few are into this game here! Any interest in a community thread to share times?

[Caligulas Horse]

Planescape Torment is not a game to play if you don’t like reading. (I mean, that’s true of pretty much every game on that engine, but it’s especially true for this)

Some of the best writing the medium has ever had of course, but so so much of it...

For sure and I like the way they use the text to fill in the details of what the characters look like, their facial expression, body language and actions as you're talking to them but I can imagine that same thing being jarring for others, like it's a game I should be seeing these things!

[Alex79]

Virtua Racing (Switch)

Good god, this is addictive. I love it!

It is, you find yourself restarting races even if you mess up the racing line even slightly on one bend!

Yeah! I'm involved in a couple of time battles on the Beginner course right now, it's ridiculous how addictive it is shaving a little time off (exactly what I hoped this game would be for me) - and yeah, one mistake and it's reset time Looks like a few are into this game here! Any interest in a community thread to share times?

Go for it. Would give me a reason to get back in to it. The lack of friends list leaderboards is a shocking oversight. FWIW, my best time on the first track is 3m17s something.

[hazeredmist]

Agreed, it’s disappointing not being able to look at friends times. I’ve made a thread

[Chopper]

I've started another five or six games of Darkest Dungeon. The controls on console are a bit all over the shop, so I'm back on the PC version. It is so beautiful. Presentation is so gorgeous.

[OneCreditBen]

Pokemon Ultra Sun on the 2DSXL.

I bought this the day before my big trip to Oz and I can honestly say it's one of the best Pokemon games I've ever played.
Loads of new gameplay tweaks, awesome new Pokemon and a fresh engine really made it fantastic. I'm about 20 hours into it at the moment and I'm really enjoying it.

[ColinAlonso]

I got stuck in Super Metroid, looking for what to do next for at lease an hour, so I stopped playing it for almost a week. Came back to it today and found a new path and weapon in 2-3 minutes. Nice.

Continuing Final Fantasy 15, it isn't great (yet anyway) but I find it quite relaxing.

[Suits]

I got stuck in Super Metroid, looking for what to do next for at lease an hour, so I stopped playing it for almost a week. Came back to it today and found a new path and weapon in 2-3 minutes.

Exactly how I remember playing it too.

[Suits]

Finished the first chapter of The Thousand Year Door last night.

So incredibly charming.

I’m also pleasantly surprised by the level of challenge that the environmental puzzles offer.

A few times I was left scratching my head, to eventually figure it out and get that endorphin hit.

The battle tactics are great too. The variation of battle moves and paths through the encounters are fun too.

Started to choose a build to go with as well, I may go with the glass hammer, heavy item use build - as I enjoy using the badges as opposed to the normal attack moves.

Still only about 5 hours in, but I can certainly see the sharp ends of the diamond coming through in this.

Looking forward to settling into it again tonight.

[duskvstweak]

Resident Evil 0 sure was having a laugh at my expense last night. I probably got 40 minutes of progress in my three hour playthough. I can't wait to make it through the first half of the game!

[KSubzero1000]

Resident Evil 0 sure was having a laugh at my expense last night. I probably got 40 minutes of progress in my three hour playthough. I can't wait to make it through the first half of the game!

Why you gotta stream at such an ungodly hour, then!!

[duskvstweak]

Resident Evil 0 sure was having a laugh at my expense last night. I probably got 40 minutes of progress in my three hour playthough. I can't wait to make it through the first half of the game!

Why you gotta stream at such an ungodly hour, then!!

It's the only time I can play!

[Scrustle]

Recently been playing Anodyne. I've actually had this game since it first came out years ago, but never really gave it a decent go until picking it up on Switch a few days ago. I kind of like some parts of it, but I'm not sure I'm going to play any more than I have. I like the mood of it though. It has a kind of dreamlike eerie tone where everything feels a bit off. I hear that it takes a lot of inspiration from Link's Awakening, and it certainly seems that way. But it takes things in a darker and more abstract direction. The music in particular is pretty good.

The gameplay is starting to ware a bit thin though. I think I've got about 2/3 of the way through the game by now, and it's never really done anything impressive. There's hardly anything to it. I hear this game does start to get really weird in later parts, but I feel like I should be starting to hit that by now. I've already seen one bit where the art style changes, but it didn't affect gameplay in any meaningful way. The mysterious tone feels a bit aimless too. It doesn't feel like it's going anywhere apart from that initial feel. I guess there are a few hints about how this is all some fantasy in the main character's head and that it's some kind of escapist hallucination, but that feels a bit on the nose.

The point that made me feel like I might not play any more was a certain puzzle though. I need to push and enemy on to a switch by knocking it across a room while making sure it doesn't get hit by some lasers. But it seems like it requires an extremely high level of patience and execution that is way beyond anything else the game has asked so far. It's one of those things where it feels like the controls aren't up to the task. Even if it could be done, it would take way more time and effort than would be worth it. Maybe I'll give it a few goes, but I'm not expecting much.

Also been playing a bit of the original Test Drive Unlimited too, with the Platinum mod pack. It's a compilation of mods that are supposed to bring some pretty major changes to the game. There's an insane number of new cars, some new weather effects, and new music on the radio, and the physics have been tweaked too.

Despite the massive amount of content this adds, it still feels basically like TDU. Just now there's more stuff. It's fun to go back to though. Even though the graphics are really aged now, and the gameplay isn't amazing, it's a nice bit of nostalgia to go back to this world and drive around. The soundtrack is pretty cool too. Even with the new stuff, all the old songs are in there as well, and there's something about them that just fit the vibe of this game so well. I'm not totally sure how much the physics have changed, but I think they do perhaps feel better. Like cars are more controllable over rapidly changing gradient. Something that was always an issue originally. It is rather odd driving around in these extremely highly detailed mod cars in the rather sparse and drab environments though. But at the same time I think they can still create a relatively pleasing image, and the lighting effects can look rather nice at times.

[Suits]

Man, I loved TDU on my 360.

Did it all 100%, even the online stuff.

I even bought the MS Xbox 360 wheel for it and the DLC that added expert controls.

Wow, what a game .

[DomsBeard]

Thanks to my 3 year old I have got back into Super Mario Odyssey I caned it when I first got it and got up to around 400 moons before getting a bit bored of it. Went back after 18 months or so and have enjoyed playing 2 player co-op. Between us we have pretty easily mopped up another 100 moons to unlock the last level.

I also having never played before got Links Awakening which reminds me of The Binding Of Isaac a bit. I finished the first dungeon and got the jump ability so will see how long it holds my interest before sending it back (I have it as a rental). It is quite relaxing to play I have found so far.

Restarted Spider-man on PS4 and have spent the first couple of hours simply unlocking towers and collecting old back packs. No urge to push the story on unless I need to

[Conor NVM]

Continuing Final Fantasy 15, it isn't great (yet anyway) but I find it quite relaxing.

I found that most of my enjoyment of FFXV came from relaxing and investing myself in the 'road trip'. To the extent that I never fast travelled anywhere, and spent half my time taking photos of the gang!

In the end I really enjoyed it, and it has stayed with me quite a while. Not a perfect game, but a special one.

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts the more you play!

[Suits]

Also, what's the difference between composite cables and an RGB scart in terms of picture quality? Is it really worth picking one up? Sorry for the noob questions but I'm clueless with this stuff.

In short, SCART is better.

Your composite cables, the yellow RCA one in particular, will be carrying down it, the Red, Green & Blue picture signals.

As well as that it will be carrying down a sync signal which will tell all the other signals how to behave.

Because all of those signals are travelling down one thin piece of conductive cable, it will be jumbled up a good deal and interfere with itself quite a bit. Giving a fuzzy or flickery picture image.

A euro 21-pin SCART cable, whilst still using a single wire to carry the single, will split the signals out into their own pin and deliver them to your TV directly, thus reducing the amount of interference and delivering a clearer picture.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get an excellent jump in analogue picture quality.

A decent PS2 SCART cable will cost under £20.