Whatcha Been Playing?

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

Post by Switchsayer »

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask on Switch. My favourite Zelda game of all time. The music, the eerie atmosphere, the 3-day cycle, the masks...it's just all so weird and wonderful, bursting with personality. I don't mind the fact that there is only 4 dungeons, it's all the side-quests which make this game.
I'm also playing Horizon: Forbidden West. It's fantastic, I spend most of the time playing around with the photo-mode!
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ColinAlonso »

Miririn wrote: February 23rd, 2022, 1:28 pm
ColinAlonso wrote: February 20th, 2022, 5:33 pm I'll admit that this is game accessibility's version of 'first-world problems' but it is a niggle.

I'm 1.5 hours into The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD and I want to give the motion controls a proper go as that is how the game was originally designed. There is a slight problem though, I'm left-handed and the game maps the sword to the right joy-con. I could, in theory, swap joy-cons, but they're less comfortable that way and I will definitely get confused about the L/R buttons. Having the sword on the left joy-con might be more awkward as movement is on the left stick but I think I would feel a lot better about the motion controls if I could give it a go. Sadly there seems to be no option in the game to swap the motion controls.

This was not a problem in the original (which I haven't played) as the Wii-mote was held in the dominant hand.
I'm left-handed and this kind of thing bothers me too.

There were also a lot of 3DS games that clearly assumed you'd be holding the stylus in your right hand. Annoying.

Also didn't Link used to be left-handed? Changing it is left-handed erasure ;)
Link was left-handed or ambidextrous and preferring his left (2D sprite mirroring meant he would hold a sword in his right hand when moving left :) ) up until Skyward Sword. Of course, Twilight Princess was completely mirrored from the GameCube version for the Wii version. I actually played the Wii version but Link being right handed didn't bother me there even though I was using my left.

I started playing Chicory: A Colo(u)rful Tale on Switch. I toyed around with the buttons, motion control and touchscreen options for painting and settled on motion controls oddly enough. My finger just got in the way on touchscreen. This game does have a left-handed option for motion controls in the menu, which is nice. I'm only on Chapter 2 but I think my thoughts are similar to Jobobonobo's so far.
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Kasuga-san
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Kasuga-san »

I checked out Lost Ark last night, and I just can't bring myself to play it due to the controls. Apparently they are more in line with MOBAs (which I have no interest in) than Diablo despite being a Diablo clone. Really wanted to play it, but my old brain doesn't like having to add in a click just to get my character orientated for attacks and some skills.

Finished a run of Cyberpunk 2077 and while I felt like one of the two people who liked that game when it first came out despite the bugs, I really enjoyed it this time as well. Has a lot of design issues I wish they'd ironed out, but when the game is at it's best, there are few that rival it in the genre. Just wish those moments weren't so few and far between at times. I still think it was a major accomplishment and was overly maligned by some of the gaming community that likes to blow things way out of proportion.

Finally got back to Ys IX after getting distracted, and I think it's going to stick this time. I think delving into the button configuration has helped a lot. Honestly not sure what's in the cards after, though I've been eyeing Edge of Eternity on Game Pass. Anyone checked that out?
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MauricioMM
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by MauricioMM »

The games I played since last time I posted here were:
  • Stardew Valley: I ended up investing around 280 hours in it, so I seriously doubt I’ll be replaying it anytime soon :lol: Still, I hugely enjoyed it, and no other farming sim seems like it’d live to my current expectations thanks to Stardew Valley.
  • Just Cause 4: Like with JC2 and JC3, even tough they’re not exactly what anyone would seriously consider High Art I love how entertainingly stupid and stupidly entertaining these games are, and the fourth one is no exception. In fact, it ended up becoming my favorite one of the whole saga, in part because of its beautiful South American setting (I still hold Panau and Medici close to my heart but Solís was pretty gorgeous), in part because of how much the sense of (and creation of) chaos improved, and in part because I waited until now that the game is fully patched and has all of its DLCs released to begin it, otherwise I might’ve found it underwhelming like many did when it launched.
  • Deltarune Chapter 2: Toby Fox doesn’t disappoint. I enjoyed Chapter 2 more than Chapter 1 (and I thought Chapter 1 was good already), however now that I know there are at least 5 more chapters to be released I feel like I’d rather wait until they’re all out to play Deltarune again.
  • Outer Wilds: My impressions of this one are here but, to keep it short, I freaking loved it!
  • A bit of Halo Infinite (Multiplayer): I kinda suck at competitive games but I still had a blast with it, although since I only play it every other weekend and just for a couple of hours tops I feel not the slightest incentive to spend a nickle on it :lol:
  • Wolfenstein: The Old Blood and The New Order: Second time in my life that I played them, this time as “refreshers” in preparation for The New Colossus. They were my favorite FPSs back in the day, especially TNO, and they still hold up thankfully, although I wish they’d used a better engine with no framerate cap. Regardless, they’re hugely enjoyable and quirky (in a good way) shooters, and TNO’s storyline is pretty good despite some of its over-the-top sci-fi/fantasy wackiness. That wackiness actually adds to the experience, especially in its more absurd and funny parts (“Look at that, it’s raining nazis”).
  • Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus: An improvement of TNO in most areas. I particularly liked its even more political writing, its greatly enhanced engine (one that, ironically, ran waaay better on my PC than TNO’s despite it being orders of magnitude heavier), and its slightly better mechanics. I only wish that some of its characters had a more prominent role in the storyline, and that I didn’t run into so many bugs halfway through the game. Also, its DLCs were kinda boring.
  • Wolfenstein: Youngblood: Coming from the previous Wolfenstein games, this one felt... odd. Playing it solo was alright but the game was obviously designed around coop, so stuff like not being able to properly pause during sessions and the repetitive nature of most quests were frustrating. Plus, its simpler and shorter plot felt frankly underwhelming, although I have hopes that in the next game this can be easily improved. What I did love about the game, though, was its level design (thanks in part to Arkane it seems), art direction, quirky Kraftwerk-esque soundtrack, enemy variety, and gunplay mechanics.
I’ve now started NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... So far I like it but it does feel like a JRPG of its time, mostly because of its “fetchy” quest design. Its plot seems intriguing and its characters are charming, in their own Yoko Taro way, but time will tell if I’ll enjoy them as much as I enjoyed NieR Automata’s.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Thanks to several recent Tweets by Cane and Rinse's own James, I picked up Hollow Knight on Switch this week for about a fiver. I adored this when I played it on PS4 a few years back, and thought I'd just grab this on Switch to keep for a rainy day. Obviously I 'had a quick go' just to spend a little while back in that world with that gorgeous artwork and soundtrack. Except it wasn't a 'quick go', was it. It was never going to be. So I'm about 12 hours in to a full replay and loving it again. :lol:
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dezm0nd
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by dezm0nd »

I tried to play XCOM 2 to which my arse got handed to me on a plate, so our Ryan Zhao recommended Gears Tactics and it's a joy. If you're a fan of turn based games but one which is a touch more accessible then give it a go.

It feels in line with Mario and Rabbids. Challenging without being overwhelming (to me)
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

I only started playing Far: Changing Tides because it’s new on Game Pass this week, but wow! I’ve really enjoyed its meditative, melancholic, post-apocalyptic puzzling, which is incredibly hard to put down, especially when you’ve just worked out what’s been staring you right in the face for the last ten minutes while you had no idea where to go next! Real looker too, with its 2D platforming working mostly perfectly in its pseudo-3D environments, and the seamless transition from above to below water never fails to impress. Not sure how long it lasts, and I’m not sure how long I will as this isn’t usually my thing, but I’m enjoying it so far!

Total War: Warhammer III has been my very first Xbox Game Pass for PC experience! And actually, going back a very long time, Total War was one of the first games I ever owned on PC. I’m not the nerd I was back then though, and certainly not the nerd I was when I was into Warhammer in the late eighties, so this empire building, real-time strategy nerd-fest was always going to be a bit of a struggle now! I had a good few hours with it though, and it’s very welcoming until it all gets too much. Not the best-looking game ever either, but if it’s your thing there’s an epic waiting to be experienced here!

After spending probably dozens of hours on Batsugun last month, I got to the point where I was happy with being able to clear it in a handful of credits, so decided to move on to another of YouTube’s Schmup Junkie’s schmups for beginners, and this week I’ve spent most of my gaming time on Mushihimesama on Switch. I think this began life as the Xbox 360 version of the arcade version, which significantly introduces a novice mode to this bullet-hell big-hitter, and is a perfect entry point to its more challenging original mode. It’s absolutely stunning too, with its gloriously unique insect-ridden forest floor setting and marvellous audio. And I’m already seeing the end in a few credits, and I reckon I’m even starting to make some progress with this schmup stuff!
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

I've put probably 40+ hours into Horizon: Forbidden West on PS4 Pro - not beaten the story.

I think I really hate this game. Not since Kingdom Hearts have I seen a game's story veer so far off course from the spirit and intent of the original. Like I'm genuinely offended by how downright stupid this writing is. I'm not going to spoil anything, but if Horizon: Zero Dawn's story was important to you, you genuinely may want to skip the sequel. I'm serious. It is egregiously bad.

The game makes a lot of gameplay improvements, and visually, it's quite attractive, even on my PS4 Pro. So if you're playing the series for the joy of hunting robots, you'll probably have a great time.

I ran into some serious technical issues with this one though. My auto-save data straight-up corrupted after fast-travelling to a specific campfire. This was repeatable. Any time the game loads from that one camp fire, the game crashes and the auto-save data is corrupted. The issue seems to stem from a nearby destructible war that the game didn't register as destroyed (the icon still appears on the map, even though the wall is gone). I also found myself falling through the floor in the main base area of the game... Someone who worked on the streaming and automation portion of the game tells me that area is doing a LOT of heavy lifting to load stuff like collision... But this problem could have been fixed with like a "Metroid Prime door" where it doesn't let you in until the level has loaded properly. It's a sloppy bug that the devs knew about, and still left.

All in all, this whole game feels like a "product". It feels like it was designed within a mandated framework of, "Your game must have this, this, and this," and as a result, it's all incredibly cliche, and a very interesting world established in the original is essentially jettisoned in favour of narrative decisions that make it easier to built an open world video game. The pacing is literally, "Go here, collect the things, build your base." If you told me Ubisoft made it, I'd believe you.

Is it a terrible game? No. By no means. But it does have some glaring flaws that I definitely can't overlook. It feels less like a labour of love, and more like a "necessary sequel." I'd be genuinely interested to learn about the creative process behind this one, because there's a lot of stuff in there that tells me they couldn't commit to any one story, so they threw a bunch of ideas into an AI to generate it for them.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Truk_Kurt »

dezm0nd wrote: March 6th, 2022, 11:31 am I tried to play XCOM 2 to which my arse got handed to me on a plate, so our Ryan Zhao recommended Gears Tactics and it's a joy. If you're a fan of turn based games but one which is a touch more accessible then give it a go.

It feels in line with Mario and Rabbids. Challenging without being overwhelming (to me)
Totally agree with you here. I found XCOM2 to be really hard and not enjoyable as a result, I also didn't really like the base building in it. Both Gears Tactics and Mario & Rabbids felt very similar to me in that they get rid of the base building which I appreciated. It feels like a lot more streamlined experience. They're both easier than XCOM 2 but by no means are they easy, they can both be really challenging. Especially the last boss in Gears Tactics which took me many attempts to do but I loved it when I eventually beat it. I really hpe we get a sequel to it as it was my favourite game of 2020 and I can't wait for Sparks of Hope. Controversially I would say Mario & Rabbids is my favourite Switch exclusive (I played BoTW on WiiU).
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

Another one you might want to check out is Phoenix Point. It's a little jank - it's made by a small Bulgarian studio - but it's also lead by one of the X-Com devs formerly of Firaxis. But it's very cheap - I paid $20 brand new for the "Behemoth Edition" on PS4 - and it's surprisingly polished relative to its budget.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

Not sure if I'm going through a bout of depression or what - though, I suspect I am - but I've been having trouble sticking to any one game.

Horizon: Forbidden West was so incredibly disappointing to me that I just sold it. And very strange for a new game, it generated zero interest on the second-hand market. I had it listed for $70... Games are $90 after tax here. Not even any low-ball offers. Never seen that before, especially on a AAA game. Wound up cutting my losses and trading to GameStop for $50.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a great little game. It has PS2 platform energy, so if that's your jam, I actually strongly recommend this one. I've seen the physical edition going for half-price at Amazon and Wal-Mart over the last couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for this one.

Maneater seems like it could be a really fun, cathartic murder simulator - same reason I enjoy Hitman. Of the ones listed, this is the only one I'm not selling, as I'll go back to it once the open world fatigue from Forbidden West has passed. Really cheap too, I got this one physical for $18. Like... for that price? Give 'er.

Phoenix Point, as I mentioned earlier, is a neat little X-Com clone. If you are frothing at the mouth for more X-Com, this is that. It's a bit jank - the game stutters when you kill an enemy, and there's weirdly no music? But if you're a gameplay-first sort, throw on some music or a podcast and have a go. The jank was a deal-breaker for me tho.

Sine Mora gives me Einhander vibes, with its hulking bosses with destructible appendages. Cool little game. This is another one that could be had dirt-cheap - I got it $15 physical on PS4, but I've seen it as low as $1.25 on the eShop. I'm gonna finish this one for the sake of the podcast, as it's quite short, but I think I'll enjoy my time with it.
Marlew
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Marlew »

Genuinely sad that Sine Mora has been chosen for the podcast ahead of the hundreds of better shmups. Weird one. Game is dogshit.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ratsoalbion »

We don't generally select games by the critical consensus and besides, we think a game that features Grasshopper Manufacture and Akira Yamaoka among its dev talent is well worthy of discussion.

There are plenty of great and popular shmup focused YouTube channels such as ShmupJunkie and Electric Underground if you want more shmup content in your life!
🙂
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

Marlew wrote: March 8th, 2022, 6:14 pm Genuinely sad that Sine Mora has been chosen for the podcast ahead of the hundreds of better shmups. Weird one. Game is dogshit.
There's a ton of great SHMUPs out there, but there's not a ton to talk about. "Yeah this one has a cool upgrade system. This one has good music." Sine Mora has a lot going on in terms of story, development history, mechanics... I presume it'll be the first and only Hungarian game covered.

Einhander is a top 10 game all-time for me, but the only way they could fill 90 minutes is if they invite me on as a guest so I can rave about how the combination of sound and imagery stimulates my ADHD brain in fun ways.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

ratsoalbion wrote: March 8th, 2022, 7:05 pm We don't generally select games by the critical consensus and besides, we think a game that features Grasshopper Manufacture and Akira Yamaoka among its dev talent is well worthy of discussion.

There are plenty of great and popular shmup focused YouTube channels such as ShmupJunkie and Electric Underground if you want more shmup content in your life!
🙂
For what it's worth, the "throw a dart and see where it lands" weirdo episodes like this one are some of my favourites. I already know about Super Metroid - WTF is Sine Mora? I think some people mistakenly think C&R is a curated hall of fame, when it's more like an antique shop on the main drag of a seaside tourist destination.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ratsoalbion »

And anyway, it's not really that out there or obscure a pick, it's been released on 10 different formats (2012-2017), and has an 83-84% review average.
Marlew
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Marlew »

I definitely appreciate that you're not just working through '1001 Best Games Ever' and it's something I particularly enjoy about the show. It's that I feel the genre is underrepresented in games media as a whole and the likes of Sine Mora (or R-Type Final 2 or Sol Cresta) get far more attention than they deserve - in my opinion - and their 'popularity' has nothing to do with their quality. I understand that this may nevertheless make for an interesting issue. I just also know there are a few big shmup fans on the team, like yourself, so I'm slightly disappointed that this is the one that somehow made the cut. But yes, I accept that your remit isn't to popularise my favourite genre! :)
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ThirdDrawing »

I've been playing through the Uncharted collection because I wanted to blow through something quickly for fun, and I've realised just exactly how much I loathe Uncharted 2 compared to the first game.

It's basically Call of Duty Modern Warfare, but in third person.

The fun and adventure of the first game is gone. The tone has shifted dramatically, and Drake feels like a bumbling second fiddle to Chloe. Elena and Sully are barely in the game. The camraderie is gone. There are good *parts*. The heist with Flynn is fun, and incorporates mechanics into the action well.

The Nepal section in the city is one long, boring combat section in boring, brown, drab environments - again, Modern Warfare. The only interesting bit is the temple exploration, which is fun, has interesting level design and is deservedly moody.

The train section is neat, but overstays its welcome.

Tibet is cool and exploring the caverns is fun. Then we get yet another long, boring combat section. And after dying 15-20 times in a row trying to get a goddamn RPG to damage the tank, I just put the game down. I can't even be bothered to finish it.

Uncharted 2 is a poor knockoff of the original game, with a larger focus on combat that makes it a lot less fun to play because of its lack of variety. I'll take the jetski from UC1 over UC2 any day.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

ThirdDrawing wrote: March 9th, 2022, 6:14 pm I've been playing through the Uncharted collection because I wanted to blow through something quickly for fun, and I've realised just exactly how much I loathe Uncharted 2 compared to the first game.
So I'm not the only one! I've been saying this for years, and was summarily dismissed as some kind of moron. Sony has this tendency to make all their games "more epic" with the second entry, and it's just tired at this point. The first Uncharted really feels like some schmuck stumbling into a really bad day. And it's great for that - especially during the twist at the end. But in the second one, he's suddenly Rambo, some immortal government super agent punching yetis in the face. "Bigger and louder" does not always mean better.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Magical_Isopod »

I completely forgot the one game I've been playing to death recently... Yu-Gi-Oh Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution.

I haven't played YGO since I was in college, but MAN is this game a good time. A single-player TCG that ALSO has online support? Imagine! Take the friggin hint, Magic and Pokemon! It definitely feels "budget" in presentation, but it's got over 10,000 cards, some with incredibly convoluted effects, and everything just works.

I paid $25 for this, brand new, and I feel like an absolute bandit. Really recommend it if you're really into TCGs, or even if you just want a trip down memory lane.
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