Whatcha Been Playing?

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I'm currently mainly playing two games.

Yoku's Island Express on Switch is every bit the delight everyone has said it is. I love pinball and I love a well made MetroidVania. This is just so much fun, I'm smiling constantly as I play it. I think I'm about halfway through maybe now, and already don't want it to end. It's the perfect antidote to life.

Shadow Of The Tomb Raider (PS4), on the other hand, is pure stress. I'd not played the previous two games in this rebooted series, but that doesn't appear to matter much. The story is wafer thin, and everything about the game feels like 'well this is fun, but I'd rather be playing Uncharted'. The game looks great - stunning in places - and I've said before nobody does a jungle like Naughty Dog, but this is a good attempt at it. There seems to be an ever so slightly more stylised look to the game, very very almost... cartoonish look to the graphics, but they've absolutely nailed the feeling of claustrophobia as you crawl through narrow caves or when the jungle canopy closes over you. Very impressive. I was really enjoying the game until I got to a frankly horrific section underground. I don't like jump scares, I don't like being chased, it was just horrible. I'm hoping those particular characters don't make a come back, though I suspect they may.

Other than that, I've just started South Park: The Stick Of Truth on Switch. I've previously bought this game on both PS3 and PS4, and loved it every time, but never got more than 6 or 7 hours in to it. I figured on Switch I might finally finish it.
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Mr Ixolite
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Mr Ixolite »

Playing a bit of the original Ori and the Blind Forest..
Its quite nice, beautiful of course, and skewing a bit more towards traditional platforming than Metroidvania exploration, which I'm totally fine with, theres just two things that nag at me a bit:
Oris auto-targetting laserblasts feel awkward to use, and clash a fair bit with its cute and cuddly nature. It looks like the sort of thing that should bounce on people, or maybe not attack at all. Apparently it gets a sword in the seuel? lol

And the storytelling/writing style has some awkward shifts; sometimes its very portentious-sounding narration, sometimes it feels blunt and video-gamey...like, the game goes directly from "listen to our tale of woe, this big owl stole this magic light when The Big Tree tried to summon you" to "Now go rekindle the three elements", and I'm all "wait how is this related to the evil owl?". Definetely felt Hollow Knight struck a better balance between obtuseness/regular dialogue.
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

Not a game, but I am 'playing' the NiGHTS Into Dreams soundtrack while working from home in self isolation at the moment, and it's cheering me right up!

If you're in the same boat, I wholeheartedly recommend it!
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FemalePheromones
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by FemalePheromones »

dezm0nd wrote: March 16th, 2020, 1:38 pm Well... the game has re-started powering off my xbox one x on load.

I've had enough of it. Gonna leave it alone.

If I had paid for this (I'm game sharing) then I would be furious.
I see you're back on it already 😂
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

...

I finished it!

It's good but really disappointing.
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FemalePheromones
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by FemalePheromones »

I've just got into the area you open with the chime puzzle thing. Admittedly I'm kind of getting a bit bored and think I mainly just want to get to the end now. It's probably my own fault for hitting it pretty hard though.
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

Since GDC got cancelled due to coronavirus, a bunch of the indie developers who were planning on showing their game demos there instead got together to release them on Steam instead for everyone to try. You can find them all listed here. So I tried a couple, so here's my thoughts.

Firstly, Raji: An Ancient Epic. It seems to be a top-down/isometric action game of sorts, with the twist that it is all based on Hindu mythology. You play as a young woman fighting to rescue her brother who has been kidnapped by demons. Visually, it's quite nice, with all the fantasy stylised Indian aesthetic to it. Combat has some potential, but right now it's not in a great state. Your attacks are pretty slow, although not unacceptably so, but your dodge move is pretty unreliable. Hit detection is also pretty bad too. But it has some interesting ideas in that you have some acrobatic moves that allow you to use the environment to your advantage. You can do swing around pillars for an AoE attack, or run up walls and backflip off them to attack from above. With a lot more fine tuning this could be a pretty fun system, and the setting is very unique as well.

And also I played Recompile, which is a third-person shooter/platformer it seems. It could also be a Metroidvania, but the demo was too short to really tell how the mechanics would play out across the wider game, but the one level the demo did include seemed to suggest that might be the case by presenting it in a truncated form for the sake of time. You play as a little glowy voxel person in a strange abstract cyber space looking environment, where you have to jump across platforms and take out little drone-like enemies. But then you start collecting abilities, that open up your movement capabilities massively. It starts off relatively small, but then you get access to an air dash, then a Screw Attack right out of Metroid Prime 2, and eventually the ability to properly fly around at super high speeds. At first it felt a bit fiddly trying to navigate these small platforms with your limited abilities, but with those unlocks it quickly made movement really fun to toy around with. I highly doubt the full game would drop that on you so fast, but even in that time, the sense of progress was pretty satisfying.
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Simonsloth
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Simonsloth »

The oft repeated “if you give it X number of hours it gets good” definitely applies to Days Gone.

I’ve got to admit it starts quite well with some creepy sequences and story building but then the open world elements create too much padding and It takes a long long time to get any kind of attachment to the story or characters.

I can’t ascertain how many hours I’ve played it but it’s probably somewhere around the 40 hour mark I reckon. I have to say I am now gripped. I am actually counting down the hours at work so I can get home and switch it on.

Without spoiling too much there are several camps you do missions for with the third being more story centred and this is where the game comes into its own. The missions are closer to the camp, there’s more exposition, character development etc which almost makes the opening 20 or so hours unnecessary as it to me adds almost nothing. I genuinely care about the main characters now and it really feels to me like it is hitting the same notes as the walking dead Tv series at its peak.

Anyway its tricky for me to recommend playing a 20-30 hour mediocre slice of a game to get to something really excellent but if you’ve already put some hours in then it won’t be as arduous a task.

Trim the fat and the open world setting off this game and what’s left is delicious.
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Played some more black Mesa.

Very tense
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

Despite being at the point of dropping this twice in its first few hours, I finished Anodyne on Switch after staying up way too late playing it for three nights! It’s a 2D pixel-art Zelda rip-off of varying quality for the first few hours, then things take quite a dark turn and everything gets mixed up a bit, then it starts to develop its own identity and there’s some really challenging stuff happening by the end. Overall it’s still a Zelda rip-off, but turned out to be a far more engaging one than I first thought! I got it for about £1.50 I think, and definitely recommend looking out for it in a sale if that’s your bag.

Started Shadow of the Colossus on PS4. Beat the second colossus but not sure about this yet. Kind of enjoyable but really not seeing what the big deal is... watching huge cutscenes then riding a rubbish horse to loads of really big boss fights. Is that it?

Enjoyed the new Trials of Mana demo on Switch. Reminded me that Secrets of Mana is still waiting for me on the SNES Classic before I even consider this, as much as I enjoyed it! Didn’t enjoy the new Moving Out demo, also on Switch, so much though. Like Overcooked, I can see the attraction, but not really for me as a solo player.

NOW I NEED AMAZON TO TREAT ANIMAL CROSSING AS AN ESSENTIAL DELIVERY TOMORROW!
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by DomsBeard »

I'd skip the Resi 3 demo.

It's 15 minutes long and Nemesis in that short time is a bit of a wet fart as it's out of context with no grand introduction.

Positives are it looks great and you initially appreciate the wider areas but zombies can quickly surround you.

I've played an hour or so of Division 2 on Stadia and I quite like it. Steady away loot and shoot which will be nice to while away time when we no doubt go into lock down
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Enraged at Sony revealing no news whatsoever about PS3 backwards compatibility in the next gen, I've got my PS3 out and plugged it all back in. I actually did it to play through Max Payne 3 again, but whilst I was looking for the disc found a copy of Bayonetta I totally forget I owned! Woohoo! 2 games to play, one of which I've never even played properly before.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Not to dampen your spirits too much Alex, but you should know that the PS3 version of Bayonetta is notoriously bad. It may not give you the best impression of the game, I'm afraid. :(
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ratsoalbion »

Yeah, I would get the PS4 version if I were you, Alex. Well worth £15 not to play such a poor version.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Ah maaaan... To be honest it's not a game I'm desperate to play, just that I found the disc so thought I may as well! I probably will pick up the Switch double pack at some point if it's ever on offer.

Was pretty cool booting up the PS3 though and seeing all those games I've not played in ages. Had a quick go on Fight Night Champion and immediately began cursing EA for dropping the series.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

I have my PS3 set up in my home office, mainly for watching Miami Vice, Streethawk, On The Buses and other such box sets when I’m working, but I play something at least once a day - Daytona is my current favourite, but the PS+ library is vast and I really enjoy exploring all those too. Not forgetting it plays PS1 stuff too! I would dearly love PS2 disc compatibility on PS5 as my console is a bit temperamental now but some of my all time faves (mostly starting with the letters SSX) are dying to get played again. Fingers crossed.

While I’m here again, I’ve spent the last three hours playing Animal Crossing on Switch. It’s like crack!
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Just went to play Max Payne 3 and it looks like my PS3 has stopped reading discs...

:cry: :cry: :cry:

Absolutely gutted. I've been really looking forward to this.

:(
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

Ah mate max Payne 3 is great too.

Been playing doom 64 and my memories serve me well. This is the doom 3 everyone wanted but didnt get to see because it was exclusive to the n64.

Now the shackles are off and everyone can play a very good classic doom game
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79uk wrote: March 20th, 2020, 9:01 pm Just went to play Max Payne 3 and it looks like my PS3 has stopped reading discs...

:cry: :cry: :cry:

Absolutely gutted. I've been really looking forward to this.

:(
Update: After testing, the console does read DVDs and PS1 games, just not PS3 discs or BluRay movies. It's clearly a problem with the BluRay part of the drive. Looking online, loads of similar issues. I'm going to take it apart and see if I can fix it...
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countstex
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by countstex »

Well the current events haven't changed my life much since we were out of season here on the island so work hadn't really started yet, but that hasn't stopped me from sinking a whole bunch more ours into Stellaris. Playing via XBOX Ultimate on PC so I get to play the fully updated version of the game (I can't play the Console version until it get the Utopia update as the game changed so much at that point) but I still get to earn my achievements! Now I just need a DLC sale on there so I can grab a few extra story packs and maybe one of the full DLC packs.
So easy to sit sit in that game and not think about much else which is perfect right now.
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