Currently playing: Dragon's Dogma and LoZ: Minish Cap.
I am considering starting Dark Souls 2 and either Child of Light or Bation or Transistor also. Struggling to make up my mind!
I noticed the "Risen" collection is on sale on Steam. Anyone know if it is any good?
Whatcha Been Playing?
-
arry_g
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
Hmmm... I don't know what I want to move onto next. I've decided I need a break from Zelda before I continue that and Dragon's Dogma - I intend to start over and play later in the year but I have a very specific set of requirements for what I want to play next but don't know what meets these requirements. Perhaps someone has some ideas?
I do not want to play another FPS.
I do not want to play another 2D puzzle platformer.
I want to play a game that gets me thinking, perhaps it's the state of the world that does so or the plot it's telling me or even bosses or environments that require I have to have focus and think tactically.
I want a game no older than fifth generation but anywhere up until current (eight).
Theme, genre (bar the two I do not fancy) and system (within the constraints supplied) are all open. Any ideas?
I do not want to play another FPS.
I do not want to play another 2D puzzle platformer.
I want to play a game that gets me thinking, perhaps it's the state of the world that does so or the plot it's telling me or even bosses or environments that require I have to have focus and think tactically.
I want a game no older than fifth generation but anywhere up until current (eight).
Theme, genre (bar the two I do not fancy) and system (within the constraints supplied) are all open. Any ideas?
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
Monster Hunter 3 on the Wii U?
-
arry_g
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
I absolutely intend to revisit RE2 in the coming weeks, I'm slightly nervous about it as it remains my favourite entry in the series.Todinho wrote:well then why dont you play RE2&3
I've never played a MH game before because the feedback has always been that the series isn't accessible to someone who doesn't know others who play the games. Would you disagree? What's your take on the series?dezm0nd wrote:Monster Hunter 3 on the Wii U?
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
MH3U is supposed to be the easiest version to get in to, and I certainly had no problem with it myself. There is a lot to take in at first, but it runs you everything quite simply at the beginning of the single player. That said, it does take a lot of time to do that. Be prepared to put maybe up to 10 hours in to the game before you really know what you're doing. That said, it makes learning fun, because most of that is framed as actual hunts. But once you've got a hold of the basics and can hold your own, online isn't really that much of a big deal. You've just got to remember not to be totally incompetent, and try not to get in other people's way too much. There's quite a few of us on the forums who play it, so we'll be happy to help you out with learning the ropes, or just general online hunts.
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
I've never played one before 3 but it got me, real good. Sure I didn't put in the hundreds of hours most do but 50+ hours for me was more than enough. It's a really, really good game if you give it the time it needs.
-
Todinho
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
Speaking of RE3 I was playing it today and got a little trigger happy with my ink ribbons and I spent them all before getting the trolley to work the next hour or so involved me running around town and to the very begining of the game with nemesis and a bunch of zombies chasing me everywhere just to get a friggin oil! Then I got the train to work but I forgot a boss fight followed soon after,without any ink ribbon on sight and only one First Aid Spray you can guess the result...
-
arry_g
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
I'm guessing a nice big "You Died" screen (actually I can't remember if RE3 is "You Died" or "You Are Dead").Todinho wrote:Speaking of RE3 I was playing it today and got a little trigger happy with my ink ribbons and I spent them all before getting the trolley to work the next hour or so involved me running around town and to the very begining of the game with nemesis and a bunch of zombies chasing me everywhere just to get a friggin oil! Then I got the train to work but I forgot a boss fight followed soon after,without any ink ribbon on sight and only one First Aid Spray you can guess the result...
OK, so you don't need to be one of the super fans with 200+ hours into it to get something from it? Does the game have any kind of A to B core campaign to it at all? Or is it just a string of missions, some of which have to be tackled co-op?dezm0nd wrote:I've never played one before 3 but it got me, real good. Sure I didn't put in the hundreds of hours most do but 50+ hours for me was more than enough. It's a really, really good game if you give it the time it needs.
That sounds very promising. It's one of a few games I haven't stockpiled up so I think I'll pick it up next time I see it for a good price online and when I go into town this weekend I'll look and see if I can get it. Though the "You've just got to remember not to be totally incompetent" bit worries me.Scrustle wrote:MH3U is supposed to be the easiest version to get in to, and I certainly had no problem with it myself. There is a lot to take in at first, but it runs you everything quite simply at the beginning of the single player. That said, it does take a lot of time to do that. Be prepared to put maybe up to 10 hours in to the game before you really know what you're doing. That said, it makes learning fun, because most of that is framed as actual hunts. But once you've got a hold of the basics and can hold your own, online isn't really that much of a big deal. You've just got to remember not to be totally incompetent, and try not to get in other people's way too much. There's quite a few of us on the forums who play it, so we'll be happy to help you out with learning the ropes, or just general online hunts.
Been playing through the last three episodes of The Wolf Among Us this week. Loved them all (despite the criticisms the third and fourth got elsewhere). Absolutely my favourite of the Telltale stuff so far.
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
There's a separate online and offline campaign for MH3U, but your character is consistent between both of them, so you can focus on whichever you want at your preference, but still keep your progress between both. You can actually do the online stuff alone if you want as well, but the monsters are harder, so you pretty much need other players to seriously progress. There's very little story in the offline mode, and none at all in the online. It's it pretty much just a string of missions, but you can pick which ones you do, and you don't have to do every single one to progress.
And there's not really anything to worry about in terms of competence. All that really boils down to is making sure you have at least a minimum amount of preparation for a hunt, which more or less consists of making sure you have potions and other appropriate items, and that you keep an eye on your health so you're not dying all the time. It's not anything incomprehensible for someone used to games in general. They do give you more things to think about than in most similar games, but they ease you in to it, and it's not insanely complex. As someone who is in to the Souls games, you should have no problem about making sure you don't jump in to hunts without any thought.
Similarly, making sure not to get in people's way isn't that hard either. Basically that just means making sure if you're using a weapon that can stagger your party members, that when you go in to attack a monster you're not just wailing away at another player at the same time. You can't actually do any damage to them, but obviously stun-locking your ally isn't smart. A certain amount is forgivable, since that just happens sometimes, but just remember not to attack a monster from a position that is blatantly going to screw over another player too. Obviously, staying out of the line of fire of players with ranged weapons is a good idea too.
And there's not really anything to worry about in terms of competence. All that really boils down to is making sure you have at least a minimum amount of preparation for a hunt, which more or less consists of making sure you have potions and other appropriate items, and that you keep an eye on your health so you're not dying all the time. It's not anything incomprehensible for someone used to games in general. They do give you more things to think about than in most similar games, but they ease you in to it, and it's not insanely complex. As someone who is in to the Souls games, you should have no problem about making sure you don't jump in to hunts without any thought.
Similarly, making sure not to get in people's way isn't that hard either. Basically that just means making sure if you're using a weapon that can stagger your party members, that when you go in to attack a monster you're not just wailing away at another player at the same time. You can't actually do any damage to them, but obviously stun-locking your ally isn't smart. A certain amount is forgivable, since that just happens sometimes, but just remember not to attack a monster from a position that is blatantly going to screw over another player too. Obviously, staying out of the line of fire of players with ranged weapons is a good idea too.
-
Todinho
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
You got it,I think this is a nice representation of how my RE3 playthrough has been going: (replace all non-Nemesis deaths with Nemesis)arry_g wrote: I'm guessing a nice big "You Died" screen (actually I can't remember if RE3 is "You Died" or "You Are Dead").
-
arry_g
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
Off shopping tomorrow morning to see if I can find a copy of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate in town.
At the moment I'm playing RE2, mostly thanks to Todinho being so attuned to the series right now and me having "Umbrella Envy". Absolutely loving my Leon/A playthrough, I'm currently at the Giant Cockroach. I forgot how early the Lickers are thrown at the player... oh and welcome back block puzzles!
At the moment I'm playing RE2, mostly thanks to Todinho being so attuned to the series right now and me having "Umbrella Envy". Absolutely loving my Leon/A playthrough, I'm currently at the Giant Cockroach. I forgot how early the Lickers are thrown at the player... oh and welcome back block puzzles!
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
Played some Ninja Gaiden 2 today. I was thinking about getting it a while ago, so it was a stroke of luck to see it was on sale on XBL today for a good price. Played the first two chapters. Well, almost. So far I'm liking it, but not without a few caveats. Combat feels nice. Has a real good sense of impact behind it, and some of the moves are really fun to pull off. I have to admit the dismemberment and all the gore is actually pretty cool too. I know it's a cliched word, although it is one I hardly ever use to describe a game myself, but it does have a very visceral feel to it. Here I think it's definitely appropriate though.
But the camera is pretty garbage. It doesn't like to focus on anything useful at all, and it's just made worse by some of the areas you fight in being extremely tight and narrow. By default, it also spins painfully slowly. I have a feeling the way they've designed enemies might be a bit of a problem too. Sometimes it just looks like a mess of stuff on screen and I can't tell what's going on. Might have been a bit better if they designed the enemies to be a bit more distinctive. The out of combat controls are a little clunky too. You're slow to turn and your momentum jumping is a bit wonky. But it feels responsive in actual combat, so it's not so bad.
And that boss at the end of chapter 2 is a bastard.
The graphics are actually something that I think is pretty interesting. Since it came out quite early in the generation, it has a certain look to it that I've noticed with other contemporary games. They kind of look like graphics from the generation before, but way better, if that makes sense. I don't know exactly what it is about it. Maybe it's the lighting engine or something. But the funny thing about it is that it actually stands up as still looking pretty good. There are some areas that don't look as good as they could, like backgrounds/skyboxes. But then there are some things which look fantastic, and even better than most games do now. Like Ryu's outfit looks really nice. The way they animated this face moving under his mask when he speaks is great as well. Maybe that's actually really easy to do, but they manage to make it look like it's actually cloth with something physical behind it, and not just some stretching textures.
But it feels like what happened was the studio didn't really know what to do with all the power they got from a new generation console, so they put loads of effort in to aspects that later most studios decided wasn't worth it. You get that with quite a few early generation games.
Because of all the talk of it here recently, I went back to Dragon's Dogma again too. Sucked me back in instantly. Took a look at how far I was through the game, and I was surprised to find I'm actually already about 2/3 through the main quest, or maybe even a little further. I've been trying to pay more attention to sidequests this time though, and I've found quite a few a lot more interesting that I've found before. Most stuff I played before just felt like boring checklists, because that's what they were. The noticeboard quests. But just exploring around and talking to people I've found some cool stuff. I found a particularly interesting one involving the witch who lives in Witchwood for example.
But the camera is pretty garbage. It doesn't like to focus on anything useful at all, and it's just made worse by some of the areas you fight in being extremely tight and narrow. By default, it also spins painfully slowly. I have a feeling the way they've designed enemies might be a bit of a problem too. Sometimes it just looks like a mess of stuff on screen and I can't tell what's going on. Might have been a bit better if they designed the enemies to be a bit more distinctive. The out of combat controls are a little clunky too. You're slow to turn and your momentum jumping is a bit wonky. But it feels responsive in actual combat, so it's not so bad.
And that boss at the end of chapter 2 is a bastard.
The graphics are actually something that I think is pretty interesting. Since it came out quite early in the generation, it has a certain look to it that I've noticed with other contemporary games. They kind of look like graphics from the generation before, but way better, if that makes sense. I don't know exactly what it is about it. Maybe it's the lighting engine or something. But the funny thing about it is that it actually stands up as still looking pretty good. There are some areas that don't look as good as they could, like backgrounds/skyboxes. But then there are some things which look fantastic, and even better than most games do now. Like Ryu's outfit looks really nice. The way they animated this face moving under his mask when he speaks is great as well. Maybe that's actually really easy to do, but they manage to make it look like it's actually cloth with something physical behind it, and not just some stretching textures.
But it feels like what happened was the studio didn't really know what to do with all the power they got from a new generation console, so they put loads of effort in to aspects that later most studios decided wasn't worth it. You get that with quite a few early generation games.
Because of all the talk of it here recently, I went back to Dragon's Dogma again too. Sucked me back in instantly. Took a look at how far I was through the game, and I was surprised to find I'm actually already about 2/3 through the main quest, or maybe even a little further. I've been trying to pay more attention to sidequests this time though, and I've found quite a few a lot more interesting that I've found before. Most stuff I played before just felt like boring checklists, because that's what they were. The noticeboard quests. But just exploring around and talking to people I've found some cool stuff. I found a particularly interesting one involving the witch who lives in Witchwood for example.
-
Todinho
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
So RE4 is kicking my ass,I swear I was better at this when I played this when it came out it also doesnt help I keep thinking with old RE controls while trying to fight in a difficult situation anyway somehow I made it to El Gigante just to be stomped to death,which reminds me one thing I hate about this game is the bloody quick time events and it's not like there's one here and there they are bloody everywhere and always anoying if not a mean to give you a quick death,best thing about the game though is the merchant and the whole economy the have here it's great and it's by far the thing I love the most in the game it was brillant move even if it turned the game into a loot hunt more than anything else but I shouldnt complain too much since Im still at the village part which is the best part of the game when I get to the final part of the then the true horror will begin and not in a good way.
-
wolfrider
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
Started the new Wolfenstein today and really enjoying it. Really like the perks system and how it makes you use different tactics.
-
arry_g
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
Currently playing:
'Tales of Xillia', 'Monster Hunter 3: Ultimate', 'Among the Sleep' and 'Atilier Rorona: The Alchemest of Arland'.
Firstly, at least two of these games involve collecting dung: MH3 and ToX. A weird coincidence I noticed!
Anyway...
An hour into ToX I am loving the humour and am finding the gameplay super engaging. I will also add that the prologue potentially does a better job of paying homage to the opening of Square's (then Squaresoft) Final Fantasy VII than XIII ever did.
An hour and a half into MH3 and I am finally gelling with the controls, my eyes have adjusted to the font size and I completely rocking the hammer! The only thing I am struggling with slightly is the lack of direction sometimes but heck I've played and loved games with less so I will adjust.
Half hour into Among the Sleep and I am disturbed by where the game is leading... is this a game about an abusive father, an alcoholic mother or maybe some kind of demonic teddy bear... I don't yet but I'm intrigued. All that said, I do struggle with motion sickness when playing this game.
About an hour into Atilier Rorona: The Alchemest of Arland and I'm glad I gave this game a go. It's a JRPG with the emphasis on crafting rather than combat but it's not the mechanics I'm interested in (at the moment), it's the story. This is a tale about a girl whose parents offered her into involuntary employment in order to pay for her childhood medical expenses (of which they could not afford) and this girl's lazy Master pressuring her into managing the store and preventing the local monarchy from shutting it down (with next to no training). Said Master also occasionally jokes about touching said girl in her sleep, I cannot confirm whether this is or is not the case but am now infused with a morbid curiosity. I need to play more in order to know whether this is an interesting, comedic, bohemian story encapsulated in good mechanics or something which thoroughly repulses me to the core.
'Tales of Xillia', 'Monster Hunter 3: Ultimate', 'Among the Sleep' and 'Atilier Rorona: The Alchemest of Arland'.
Firstly, at least two of these games involve collecting dung: MH3 and ToX. A weird coincidence I noticed!
Anyway...
An hour into ToX I am loving the humour and am finding the gameplay super engaging. I will also add that the prologue potentially does a better job of paying homage to the opening of Square's (then Squaresoft) Final Fantasy VII than XIII ever did.
An hour and a half into MH3 and I am finally gelling with the controls, my eyes have adjusted to the font size and I completely rocking the hammer! The only thing I am struggling with slightly is the lack of direction sometimes but heck I've played and loved games with less so I will adjust.
Half hour into Among the Sleep and I am disturbed by where the game is leading... is this a game about an abusive father, an alcoholic mother or maybe some kind of demonic teddy bear... I don't yet but I'm intrigued. All that said, I do struggle with motion sickness when playing this game.
About an hour into Atilier Rorona: The Alchemest of Arland and I'm glad I gave this game a go. It's a JRPG with the emphasis on crafting rather than combat but it's not the mechanics I'm interested in (at the moment), it's the story. This is a tale about a girl whose parents offered her into involuntary employment in order to pay for her childhood medical expenses (of which they could not afford) and this girl's lazy Master pressuring her into managing the store and preventing the local monarchy from shutting it down (with next to no training). Said Master also occasionally jokes about touching said girl in her sleep, I cannot confirm whether this is or is not the case but am now infused with a morbid curiosity. I need to play more in order to know whether this is an interesting, comedic, bohemian story encapsulated in good mechanics or something which thoroughly repulses me to the core.
-
stvnorman
- Member
- Posts: 911
- Joined: March 19th, 2013, 8:09 pm
- Location: Keysoe, Bedfordshire, UK
- Contact:
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
I stopped playing Burnout Paradise today. As I posted in the podcast thread, I had a blast but could see the end coming, which happened around 18 hours in. It wasn't strictly for the reasons I predicted though. Yes, I'd pretty much had my fill by then, given the ton of PS4 stuff I've still got to play, but something new cropped up that started to rile me more and more. I'm colourblind with various colours, and in the end got fed up of repeating events because I couldn't distinguish between the event done / not done colours on the map. Still really looking forward to listening to the podcast though.
By complete coincidence, I just read this on IGN and that very problem gets a mention! http://go.ign.com/W495KG
I'm guessing I'm not the only one here that might relate to this article. I recently contacted Halfbrick about their latest iOS game being ruined for me by the same thing. Still not as prevalent in gaming as magazines printing black on red, but no need for it all the same.
Anyway, back to Strider on PS4 now. Fantastic game!
By complete coincidence, I just read this on IGN and that very problem gets a mention! http://go.ign.com/W495KG
I'm guessing I'm not the only one here that might relate to this article. I recently contacted Halfbrick about their latest iOS game being ruined for me by the same thing. Still not as prevalent in gaming as magazines printing black on red, but no need for it all the same.
Anyway, back to Strider on PS4 now. Fantastic game!
-
arry_g
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
It's nice to see IGN put up a piece on that actually, it's an area which doesn't get nearly enough attention and is surrounded by ignorance.
I have two friends who are colourblind (and gamers), they both like the Battlefield series a fair bit and yet I've heard comments directed towards them like "well, if the developer wasted less time on colourblind mode and spent more time fixing bugs this would be a better game", "what's the point in colourblind mode, I've switched my monitor to black and white mode so it's as if I'm colourblind and it still plays fine" and my personal favourite "so do colourblind people like see through the colour red? Is it invisible to them?".
As I said, there's a lot of ignorance out there and even the attitude that other people are losing out on something by the fact that some developers include this mode.
I have two friends who are colourblind (and gamers), they both like the Battlefield series a fair bit and yet I've heard comments directed towards them like "well, if the developer wasted less time on colourblind mode and spent more time fixing bugs this would be a better game", "what's the point in colourblind mode, I've switched my monitor to black and white mode so it's as if I'm colourblind and it still plays fine" and my personal favourite "so do colourblind people like see through the colour red? Is it invisible to them?".
As I said, there's a lot of ignorance out there and even the attitude that other people are losing out on something by the fact that some developers include this mode.
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
I try to fight against it whenever the design of something I'm working on is going to use only colour, rather than colour AND shape, to distinguish important gameplay info. I think some people I've worked with got a little tired of me banging on about it, but it's important. (It's also far more common in men than women, and common enough that every game I've been on has had at least one person on the team who is colour blind in some way, so you'd think it would get more attention)
In terms of playing...
I bought a WiiU with Mario Kart 8. It is good. Very good. (I also have the Mario game with cat Mario that I can't remember the proper name of, but that's not even been in the drive yet...)
In terms of playing...
I bought a WiiU with Mario Kart 8. It is good. Very good. (I also have the Mario game with cat Mario that I can't remember the proper name of, but that's not even been in the drive yet...)
-
stvnorman
- Member
- Posts: 911
- Joined: March 19th, 2013, 8:09 pm
- Location: Keysoe, Bedfordshire, UK
- Contact:
Re: Whatcha Been Playing?
I could be a lot worse off than colourblind, and it's very rare that it actually comes into play, so I don't generally mention it, but in design terms there's absolutely no need to compound the problem. Nice to know I'm not alone though.
And in terms of playing, Mercenary Kings on PS4 today. No excuses here, I'm just rubbish at this! I can't even complete the first mission, and I've tried a load of times now. I'm from the era when games were made for real men, but blimey, this is hard! I've a feeling that not playing solo might make life easier. For all that I'll keep coming back for more though. Fun game.
And in terms of playing, Mercenary Kings on PS4 today. No excuses here, I'm just rubbish at this! I can't even complete the first mission, and I've tried a load of times now. I'm from the era when games were made for real men, but blimey, this is hard! I've a feeling that not playing solo might make life easier. For all that I'll keep coming back for more though. Fun game.