Whatcha Been Playing?

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

Post by Angry_Kurt »

ColinAlonso wrote: May 30th, 2023, 9:50 pm
Angry_Kurt wrote: May 30th, 2023, 8:29 am I plan to pay this soon, I think the customisation options seem far more extensive than any of the games since the PS2 era which I really like. I also like the new art style, looking forward to it
On customisation, wraps (decals, art etc) and paint are free. I find that the idea is to add many decals to create a look with placement, size, colour etc adjustments. I usually just do something simple and get on with it as I'm not an arty person. Parts (spoilers, bonnets, bumpers etc cost though and I am saving cash for performance upgrades.

It starts with a prologue that limits what you can do but once that is thankfully over it opens up. I have turned the music off and am streaming from spotify, the in game soundtrack isn't my style.
Yeah it’s not my style either. I wish it had a burnout style approach where there were multiple genres on offer.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Went back to Breath Of The Wild. Finished the final divine beast I had to do (the flying one), did Eventide Island and now just trying to get as many shrines as I can before ending the game. I think I've found pretty much all of the ones out in the open (got about 86 I think so far) so now they're all the hidden ones. I pretty much hate most of the shrine quests though, can't work most of the riddle ones out for anything. Oh, still got a few of the photo memories to find, too.
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

Today the new season of Splatoon 3 started, so now seems like a good time to reflect on how the last season went. It was pretty good overall and I liked quite a lot of the additions. The two new multiplayer maps ended up being two of my favourites in the whole game. Manta Maria was already one of the best from Splat 2, so it's no surprise it's also good here. Um'ami Ruins is a weird one, because even though it does share a lot of the characteristics that are common problems with the maps in this game, in practice it ended up being a really fun stage. It's small, fairly narrow, and doesn't have many flanking options. But I think it works because it has a long, elevated block breaking up the middle of the map that works to split it in two and provide good cover, while also acting as a pretty good route going over the top as well. It's a good spot to be able to control mid from if you manage to get up there. I also like the desert ruins theme to it as well. It's kind of funny actually, two of my favourite maps new to this game both have a kind of desert/sandstone visual theme to them, and both manage to overcome the problems this game has with map design, despite on paper seeming like they shouldn't. The other one being Scorch Gorge.

The promised updates to existing maps didn't turn out to be worth much though. They just blocked off some of the most powerful sight lines by putting signs in the way. I guess that helps somewhat, but those perches are still a really strong position to pressure the enemy team from, and there's still a lack of flank routes. I guess it makes sense that with how many stages they made changes to, they wouldn't have been able to give them all the amount of work they really needed. Maybe there's still hope for some other update. And as I said, even these narrow tight stages can still be fun.

The Salmon Run updates have been really good as well. This was the first time I got to participate in a Big Run event, where this mode takes place on one of the PvP maps. It was pretty interesting, and worked better than I expected it would. It definitely helps bring some variety to the mode and is a very different experience to what I'm used to with it. The new King Salmonid boss is really good as well, I easily prefer it over the existing Cohozuna. It's a serpentine dragon-like thing that flies in a circle above the stage, and charges up bombs it throws from its mouth. I love the name too, Horrorboros. A great pun that describes it very well. It's more fun to fight too as being in the sky means it doesn't take up too much space on the stage itself, and the bomb charging in its mouth is also a weak point, letting you do a huge chunk of damage to it if you hit it enough. It's slightly easier to fight, but still a challenge, and a lot more engaging too.

I have played a little bit of the new season so far. It's too early to come to any kind of conclusion about it though. The two new multiplayer stages this time are Humpback Pump Track also from Splat 2, and a new stage called Barnacle and Dime. The former seems identical to how it was last time around. The latter is yet another textbook Splatoon 3 stage. Very small, pretty narrow. It has some semblance of flank routes, but the map in general is also very open, so it's hard to tell how practical they are at this stage. Some of the new weapons look like they have the potential to shake up the meta a lot, and there's a new blaster with two different range modes, which is pretty interesting. So far I've only tried out the Custom Dualie Squelchers though, since I play so much of the vanilla version already I wanted to see how these compare. Not sure if they will replace them as my main, but they do seem more usable than I was expecting. They also finally added some new music, and it's good stuff. Ska has finally come to Splatoon. It actually seems kind of odd that it's never been in these games before. The vibe of that genre seems right in line with the style of these games.
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Tolkientaters
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Tolkientaters »

I've been playing more Streets of Rage 4 to unlock the final 2 characters and I'm just loving it. It's been a real comfort game, where I know I'm always gonna have a good time with it. Honestly this is a game I probably would've never played if it wasn't for Michiel's very high recommendation.
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SludgeWizard
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Tolkientaters wrote: June 2nd, 2023, 2:17 am I've been playing more Streets of Rage 4 to unlock the final 2 characters and I'm just loving it. It's been a real comfort game, where I know I'm always gonna have a good time with it. Honestly this is a game I probably would've never played if it wasn't for Michiel's very high recommendation.
I liked it when I played it, very slick and fun, but I played solo and just could not beat the last boss for the life of me.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I've taken a break from Zelda which I'm now going to dip in and out of going forward rather than giving it my undivided attention to play something a little shorter I can blast through before F1 23 comes out in a couple of weeks, so I picked up Gear 5 for just £4.99 from GAME.
I have always enjoyed the Gears of War games as a fun popcorn shooter campaign and Gears 5 continues to provide that. Third person shooting in Gears is so much fun, really visceral stuff with a good range of weapons which all feel different. 5 introduces some new weapons which are really fun too and remind me of the Ratchet and Clank games with how crazy they can be (albeit no disco balls). I have also found myself engaging with the story which I think sometimes gets overlooked in the Gears games as people just dismiss it as a bro shooter, but actually I think there is a little more to it than that both mechanically and narratively.
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Michiel K
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Michiel K »

Tolkientaters wrote: June 2nd, 2023, 2:17 am I've been playing more Streets of Rage 4 to unlock the final 2 characters and I'm just loving it. It's been a real comfort game, where I know I'm always gonna have a good time with it. Honestly this is a game I probably would've never played if it wasn't for Michiel's very high recommendation.
<3

I'm playing a lot of Tears of the Kingdom, of course, but in no rush to get anywhere near the end of the game. And I just started playing Street Fighter 6. And I'm working on a Radiant Silvergun clear for the upcoming Cane and Rinse recording!
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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After getting fed up of waiting for it to hit Gamepass, and then this seeming even less likely since the launch of Ubisoft+, I decided to pick up Watch Dogs: Legion in the Xbox sale a couple of weeks ago for £8.99.

I never played the first game beyond about ten minutes, but had fun with the second game. I'm really enjoying Legion. I do think it suffers slightly from not having a main playable character, but out of my 20 strong team there are one or two who I've made 'mains' in my own head. There's a lot to like about the game. It looks brilliant, even on Series S it has ray-tracing, and the gameplay is pretty fun too. I think this got a bit forgotten about and dismissed as another Ubi open world game, and I can't argue with that, it's exactly what it is, but there are a lot of options for how you approach each mission and the side content is pretty fun too. There's a quite interesting Assassin's Creed crossover which suggests they're in the same universe, and there are loads of weapons and gadgets you can use to suit your play style.

Overall it's definitely worth a look if you liked either of the first two games, and it's pretty much always in a sale at this point too.

I'm also quite looking forward to Assassin's Creed Mirage. My playthrough of the series stalled when I got to Origins. I played a bit and enjoyed it, same with Odyssey, but they're both too big for their own good and a massive departure from the classic style AC games, which Mirage looks to be leaning back towards. I still want to try Valhalla at some point, but I suspect I'll go the same way as I did with the other two 'big RPG' games in the series.
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Jerome991
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I must concur, Crash 4 indeed presents quite the challenge. While I have yet to experience Stormy Ascent, I'm genuinely intrigued to learn how it measures up against this installment. The final stages, particularly the last one, are undeniably cunning in their design. It can be deemed a satisfactory game overall. Moreover, I share your sentiment regarding Luigi's Mansion 3, finding it somewhat lackluster. After engaging with it for a few sessions, I found its simplicity to be less captivating, lacking that certain allure. Frankly, I've been playing a lot recently, but I've started to pay attention to a different kind of game. Aviator is now a highly popular game! In this game, you place bets on the outcomes of flights. Game aviator tanzania offers the opportunity to win substantial prizes based on your predictions, which adds an extra level of excitement that keeps me coming back for more. It has quickly become one of my favorite games.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I've been playing Portal 2. It seems much more challenging than the first game, and I kind of prefer the parts where you're actually in the lab doing the challenge rooms, but it's still really good. I'm in the abandoned factory area now and they've just introduced the bouncy goo. I've got stuck several times but managed not to look at a guide yet, but I might need to for the part I'm doing now, can't work out what I need to do at all here!
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markfm007
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Lies Of P (demo): This is a well made Borne-like (no Souls :lol:), and I enjoyed it enough to play through this fairly large demo, including a nasty boss at the end. It does lift a LOT from Bloodborne, or remixes it slightly to create a similar effect. To the point that I felt like it was living in the shadow of its influence. Still a solid experience for anyone interested though.

Final Fantasy XVI (demo): Won’t spoil anything but thought this was an excellent introduction to the game. Looks gorgeous and felt good in action. The demo’s a well-paced walk through the various aspects of the game, story, set pieces, action etc. I’m not 100% sold on it yet, but it’s certainly impressive and hooked me enough that I’ll probably buy it.

Tears of the Kingdom: Played a bit of this while I’ve been travelling. This game hits a creative part of my brain I probably don’t use enough, and I’ve enjoyed experimenting and coming up with silly solutions to problems. I’m not sure how far I’ll get in it though as it exhausts me. There’s so many things I could be doing I feel like a deer in the headlights. I’m not fully sold on building cars and things either. Not a knock on the game, I’m just unsure of how far I’ll get with it.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Yeah I really enjoyed the Lies Of P demo. I played around half an hour until I died, at which point I deleted it as I know I'll play the full game when it comes out.
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Steam Next Fest has come around again, and I played a couple of demos that caught my eye. First being Jusant, a game from Dontnod that only recently got announced. It's something very unusual for the studio though, and pretty unique in general. It's a rock climbing game, that has the feel of a smaller indie game. It gave me a lot of vibes similar to Rime in fact. A similar colour palette and art style, as well as a nautical/coastal theme to it. The world you explore seems like an abandoned fishing community, on the edge of a dried up sea. Which is even stranger given that the whole thing is vertically orientated. It also has some magical elements to it that the demo didn't explore. It's a very pretty game though, and a setting that I definitely want to see more of.

The mechanics themselves are pretty interesting too. When I first saw this game I was intrigued but apprehensive whether they could make rock climbing fun, or whether it was just going to be nothing but holding the left stick in the only obvious way forward for the entire game. Happily there's a lot more to it than that. You have to control each of your hands manually, directing where you go and holding on with each trigger. The way to progress isn't always obvious and you need to get a bit creative in some places too. It's also rather physics driven, and you can rappel and swing from your rope, and place your piton in to the cliff face wherever you want. So there are quite a few things to consider, and some freedom in how you approach challenges. Some points felt a bit fiddly though, as at times it wasn't clear whether you are close enough to an interactable point to be able to use it or not. Sometimes it seemed like I wasn't, when it turned out I just hadn't pointed the camera in the exact right position, despite the prompt being on screen.

Another one I tried was Luna Abyss. An FPS with an emphasis on bullet hell style enemy design, and a really striking art style. Although the demo doesn't really show off much of the game, it still managed to pique my interest. The visual style really is something. It's set in this oppressive looking sci-fi world, full of enormous, cavernous stone interiors that are filled with twisting and ominous looking metallic machines and pipes. It's also very dark in general, with most of the few lights that do pierce the darkness being a deep, threatening red. It's a cool place to explore, as it alternated between these massive rooms and tiny passages. Switching between making you feel small and vulnerable and cramped and claustrophobic. There also seems to be a pretty big emphasis on story too, as there's a point where you stop and talk to some character who hints at things your character doesn't understand. Some of the character names mentioned seem to indicate an influence of Norse mythology too.

To actually play it's a bit weird, and this is where I feel like they should have shown a bit more. Strangely this game doesn't actually have much emphasis on aiming. You have a lock-on that there is no reason to note use. I guess that's intentional, as the focus is on avoiding enemy attack patterns, but there was only really one enemy in the demo that showed off anything of what this game might demand of you in terms of complex projectile patterns. But even then I didn't feel like I had to do much to avoid it here. It did look visually impressive though, and strafing and shooting in general was still pretty fun. You only get access to two guns though, both of which only seemed to have a single firing mode. A basic automatic rifle and a shotgun-like thing that can take down shields. From the game's UI and trailer it looks like there's only four guns in total too. I guess if the enemy design is good enough, such a small arsenal would be fine, but I would really hope that the full game fleshes out these weapons much more. There also seems to be something of a Metroid Prime flavour here as well. That sort of comes through in the lock-on aiming, but there are doors you need to open by shooting them, and some doors that require the shotgun, and others that require you to find a switch to activate them before you can open them as well. But the game seems to be extremely linear. No room to explore at all, and there was quite a lot of time spent on traversal between the rooms where combat actually happens too. That's not inherently a bad thing, but I'm not totally sold on the idea just from this demo. Maybe the story can carry it, as it seems to have aspirations at doing.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I was already interested in Jusant, and even moreso after reading that. Sounds great! I like the sound of the climbing mechanic - it reminds me a bit of Grow Home/Grow Up from a few years ago. Those games had really good climbing mechanics, but I'm not sure how many people played them.
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See Mi Yah
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by See Mi Yah »

I've been playing Diablo IV on PC and I'm having a rather fine time with it. It's mental junk food so having it as part of a sensible gaming diet will be absolutely essential in the months (years?) ahead. The minute to minute gameplay feels so damn good, especially on controller. In fact there's now a growing contingent of the PC hardcore that are requesting WASD movement be implemented because click-to-move is feeling decidedly old hat. Even worse for the hardcore is that the controller may actually offer an advantage with certain builds.

Thankfully I can enjoy the best of both worlds because the game instantly recognises what I'm using. I can navigate the menu and character sheets with K+M but as soon as I press something on my controller it switches to that and even the UI changes instantly. I'm sure Blizzard aren't the first to do this but it's such a neat quality of life feature and further highlights the importance of controller support for today's PC gamer.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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See Mi Yah wrote: June 20th, 2023, 12:26 pm Thankfully I can enjoy the best of both worlds because the game instantly recognises what I'm using. I can navigate the menu and character sheets with K+M but as soon as I press something on my controller it switches to that and even the UI changes instantly. I'm sure Blizzard aren't the first to do this but it's such a neat quality of life feature and further highlights the importance of controller support for today's PC gamer.
I remember playing GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas on PC back in the day, and I'd use keyboard and mouse for on foot and shooting parts, with a controller on my lap ready for when I got in a car. Sounds fiddly but it worked perfectly!
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Jobobonobo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I am currently going through a translated version of DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure for the SNES and this is a lovely little gem of a game that I do not understand was stuck in Japan. It is not too challenging but the levels are inventive, you have a nice range of movement and it looks and sounds gorgeous. Honestly this might be up there as my favourite non Nintendo platformer on the system. Currently on World 4 now.

Finished Route A on Nier Replicant. Getting a bit sick of going through the Lost Shrine, just finished my fourth run through the place. Story is keeping me intrigued and the characters are easily the most dysfunctional party I have ever played with in an RPG so plenty to keep me hooked but I remeber route B being the most boring part of Automata as well. Hope I'm over-levelled enough to fly through this route in comparison.

Just before the final boss in Mother 3. Will get it finished next weekend. I remember the ending being fairly heavy stuff so I want to take my time with this one.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I was absolutely loving Divinity Original Sin 2 when I played about 50 hours of it a few months ago. I've come back to it this week except I can't remember anything about what I'm supposed to be doing or where I'm supposed to be going! The quest log doesn't help as there's no indication which is the main story and which are side quests. Still, just going to have to persevere with it and try to break through because I can't start again, that would be crazy. Can I...? No I can't. No.

I've got really attached to the characters and am too far in now. Wish they more clearly indicated what I'm meant to be doing, though! For anyone who's played it, I've just emerged from the Blackpits and wandering around Paradise Downs where I found some Red Princess that my Red Prince is meant to meet up with. Not that this really helps, given the non-linear nature of the game!
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Rhaegyr
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Alex79 wrote: June 22nd, 2023, 4:58 pm I was absolutely loving Divinity Original Sin 2 when I played about 50 hours of it a few months ago. I've come back to it this week except I can't remember anything about what I'm supposed to be doing or where I'm supposed to be going! The quest log doesn't help as there's no indication which is the main story and which are side quests. Still, just going to have to persevere with it and try to break through because I can't start again, that would be crazy. Can I...? No I can't. No.

I've got really attached to the characters and am too far in now. Wish they more clearly indicated what I'm meant to be doing, though! For anyone who's played it, I've just emerged from the Blackpits and wandering around Paradise Downs where I found some Red Princess that my Red Prince is meant to meet up with. Not that this really helps, given the non-linear nature of the game!
Have you been to Bloodmoon Island yet? I think that's near the end of the act.

From what I remember you can also visit Ryker's mansion or the Sawmill if you haven't done those yet.

What level are you at? That may dictate where to go next,.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I'm level 13, not been to Bloodmoon yet. Last night I got some tablet Ryker was after, but then refused to give it him so he tried to fight me :lol:

I've got three source points now, so I don't think any other source masters in this act will give me any more (or so I read online). I do remember visiting the sawmill when I was last playing to rescue that elf, but got my ass kicked and haven't been back yet!

I'll see if I can mop up some of the side quests then head over to Bloodmoon Island. I still have a lot of the map to uncover.

Thanks for the tips! :)
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