Whatcha Been Playing?

[Jobobonobo]

Finally tackled the Parodius trilogy on Super Famicom. Tough but very silly and enjoyable affairs. Playing Saejima's story in Yakuza 5 and while it is very different from what I have seen of the series so far, I like it. The hunting sidestory is honestly quite a nice diversion and becoming proficient at taking down bears and trapping prey is pretty rewarding. Even though I am far from finished with it, I admire Yakuza 5 for the changes it makes to the formula and I'm into it a fair bit more than 3 or 4. Lastly, tried out something a bit more casual, BoxBoy! for the 3DS. Very basic puzzle platformer but a welcome change of pace from the bullet hell of Parodius and the huge time sink of Yakuza. On World 5 now, should take two playthroughs at most to finish it off I reckon.

[Will Marley]

Charged up the Switch for the first time in months and ended up playing about six hours of Binding of Isaac and picked up the Repentance DLC. Still annihilates any other rogueish kinda games for me because of the build variety early doors. Where you end up from where you start is always so much fun. I found the Hades love-in quite irritating for many reasons, mostly the smug tone of the game and that it ripped off every single mechanic, but a few hours of Isaac solidified exactly why I find it so dull. It's very very polished and nicely balanced, it feels good - if completely derivative - but the parameters are so narrow. One run is so similar to the next whereas the synergies with Isaac can be unpredictable and novel even after hundreds of hours.

[Magical_Isopod]

I really like the progression mechanics in R-Type Final 2. On first attempt, the game feels impossibly hard, but as you press on, not only do you learn the levels, but you unlock new stuff - ships, pilot gear, etc. So instead of just being an arcade type game you play through once, you gradually chip away at it and come back better.

Reminds me a lot of Einhander, and I think this is a great way to structure SHMUPs. Like the stuff you unlock is downright better, but you can't unlock it without putting your time in and chipping away. Provides a great balance of risk vs. reward, and doesn't make the game end too quickly.

[RinseWashRepeat]

Anyone else still stuck playing Vampire Survivours? I just can't stop playing this thing. I get into bed, planning on having an early night and then 3 runs later, it's well past my bedtime.

I'm also chipping away at Danganronpa. Think I'm near the end - very enjoyable and there's another 3 or 4 games in the series for me to get into.

[MattL]

Sooooooooo, any other Marvel Snap fans here? Did yesterday's patch completely screw the game up for you, like it did for me? I've has as many or more login failures, matchmaking failures, and match disconnects today than I have the entire time several months I've been playing the game. When the game does work, its running super slow. It take 10 to 15 seconds to load in artwork for the zones sometimes. Same for some card abilities. I don't see this being discussed anywhere.

[Alex79]

Sooooooooo, any other Marvel Snap fans here? Did yesterday's patch completely screw the game up for you, like it did for me? I've has as many or more login failures, matchmaking failures, and match disconnects today than I have the entire time several months I've been playing the game. When the game does work, its running super slow. It take 10 to 15 seconds to load in artwork for the zones sometimes. Same for some card abilities. I don't see this being discussed anywhere.

Yeah I play every day, but I've not had any issues since yesterday. I'll check to see if it's actually been updated.

[MattL]

Yeah I play every day, but I've not had any issues since yesterday. I'll check to see if it's actually been updated.

I appreciate that. So far, I think it's just me. No one is talking about it in any official topics anywhere that I can find. Every discussion of the patch is pretty much just fans of Leader crying that they lost their instant win button.

[Cornelius_Smiff]

Finally took the plunge and started playing Dark Souls: Remastered, and I am very much addicted. Also on the side having been playing alot of Hi-Fi Rush, which is seriously good fun.

[ColinAlonso]

The hunting sidestory is honestly quite a nice diversion and becoming proficient at taking down bears and trapping prey is pretty rewarding.

Oh good, I got deep into that hunting game back in 2016, like proper hours at it, and thought I might just be mad.

Yakuza 5 seems like a throw everything at it and see what works situation. It is a lot of game. I think 0 learns a lot of lessons from it.

I've completed 2 more chapters in Live A Live. The Twilight of Edo Japan involves infiltrating a fortress. Stealth is an option and I did go with a no kill run, although as usual, I feel like I'd have more fun killing my way through it. The Near Future, like Prehistory and Imperial China are the closest to typical JRPGs with town like areas (this one is all in a town, but no fighting areas with NPCs) a dungeon and a typical anime protagonist. A nice 2 hours though.

I'm also still playing a lot of Splatoon 3 on the side

[Rhaegyr]

Another playthrough of Banjo-Kazooie.

I was so close to finding everything on my own for the first time until I forgot where one of the honeycomb pieces on Rusty Bucket Bay was - bastard!

Also enjoying some GoldenEye 007 and Wave Race. Think I'm on a bit of a nostalgia kick at the moment.

[Magical_Isopod]

Haven't had much time to game, but I've put in a few minutes here and there on R-Type Final 2, Hydro Thunder: Hurricane and Back 4 Blood. All on my Xbox One. That thing is getting a lot of use this month, probably because I love the Series X controller so much... And because it has a rather large backlog of games had for cheap.

Hydro Thunder is a great little boat racing game that, while not overly sophisticated, has a lot of content and a fair level of difficulty. Lots of hidden collectibles too, which I love in a racing game.

Back 4 Blood is... Perplexing me a little bit. It's got gameplay mechanic overload, and it seems WAY harder than Left 4 Dead 2. Far from done with it, but it's not something that wowed me on the first go either.

[Alex79]

I started Divinity Original Sin 2 on Switch. I'm about five hours in, and whilst I'm absolutely loving the game, the characters and the sense of place it has, I'm just banging my head against a wall with the complicated systems and combat. I enjoyed Baldurs Gate back in the day, and this is very much a modern version of that type of RPG, but after a couple of decades playing more action focused RPGs I'm really lost! Finding it really difficult managing my party, my inventory and fighting. I've not made it out of Fort Joy yet, which is pretty much the opening area of the game after the tutorial...

[Rhaegyr]

I started Divinity Original Sin 2 on Switch. I'm about five hours in, and whilst I'm absolutely loving the game, the characters and the sense of place it has, I'm just banging my head against a wall with the complicated systems and combat. I enjoyed Baldurs Gate back in the day, and this is very much a modern version of that type of RPG, but after a couple of decades playing more action focused RPGs I'm really lost! Finding it really difficult managing my party, my inventory and fighting. I've not made it out of Fort Joy yet, which is pretty much the opening area of the game after the tutorial...

I ended up playing this game in co-op with two friends over the course of year - one of my absolute favourite gaming experiences.

It's overwhelming at the start but stick with it if you can and definitely use some beginner guides/tips - I found those a big help. Also, steal paintings!

[Alex79]

Yeah I'm enjoying the story so far, might knock it down a level for the battles... I can't even work out how to escape Fort Joy! I've got a key, but can't get past a gate with guards around it. They fight me when I try to open it. I'm also looking for some stolen vegetables, can't find them either!

[MattL]

Yeah I play every day, but I've not had any issues since yesterday. I'll check to see if it's actually been updated.

I appreciate that. So far, I think it's just me. No one is talking about it in any official topics anywhere that I can find. Every discussion of the patch is pretty much just fans of Leader crying that they lost their instant win button.

Update: It was just me. For some reason my Pixel 7 started having problems interacting with my router. My router kept trying to assign it a fresh IP address every few minutes, so I had to disable my Pixel's randomized MAC address to fix it. I had no idea randomized MACs were a thing. I thought each and every device had it's own static MAC address.

[RinseWashRepeat]

I've completed 2 more chapters in Live A Live. The Twilight of Edo Japan involves infiltrating a fortress. Stealth is an option and I did go with a no kill run, although as usual, I feel like I'd have more fun killing my way through it. The Near Future, like Prehistory and Imperial China are the closest to typical JRPGs with town like areas (this one is all in a town, but no fighting areas with NPCs) a dungeon and a typical anime protagonist. A nice 2 hours though.

I'm looking forward to starting Live a Live once I'm finished with Danganronpa. I love the fact it's neatly chunked up into different character chapters. Some games you can play for hours and not feel like you've made much 'progress' at all.

I take it you're enjoying it?

[Jobobonobo]

The hunting sidestory is honestly quite a nice diversion and becoming proficient at taking down bears and trapping prey is pretty rewarding.

Oh good, I got deep into that hunting game back in 2016, like proper hours at it, and thought I might just be mad.

Yakuza 5 seems like a throw everything at it and see what works situation. It is a lot of game. I think 0 learns a lot of lessons from it.

Yeah, even for a Yakuza game the sheer amount of stuff to do is wild and reminds me of 0 alright which is a very good thing in my eyes. Finally decided to leave the village and get back to more normal gameplay. Just sweeping up the substories at the moment. Will probably be done with Saejima soon. Shaved head suits him a lot better than that mop he had in the last game.

[Alex79]

Speaking of Yakuza, I started the 4th game the other night. I was disappointed with 3 after enjoying 0, 1 and 2, and I'd heard 4 wasn't up to much, but I'm really liking the story and new characters so far.

[Scrustle]

Been playing Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and I've been liking it a lot. I've never played an MK game before, although I know this one is nothing like the main series. But as a brawler, this is a really fun time. Hits feel really meaty and hefty, it's got great kinaesthetics that are pretty impressive. There's real depth to the mechanics too, with juggling potential and stuff like that. It does a good job of giving you reasons to actually try to fight well instead of just mashing your way through it. Probably thanks to inheriting mechanics from the mainline games. Although it's not perfect. The lock-on doesn't seem to work very well. If I'm up against several enemies it's not rare for the game to decide it wants to attack in a different direction than the enemy I've got right in front of me, or attacks whiff when they feel like they shouldn't. But generally it's a good time.

[ColinAlonso]

Speaking of Yakuza, I started the 4th game the other night. I was disappointed with 3 after enjoying 0, 1 and 2, and I'd heard 4 wasn't up to much, but I'm really liking the story and new characters so far.

3 is easily my least favourite in the series, although as Jobobonobo said, Saejima has an awful mop in 4 .