Whatcha Been Playing?

[Angry_Kurt]

I love gran turismo and the amount of grind required in that is satisfying (not played 7 yet though) but I found it to be the wrong side of satisfying in this.

I started the crew motorfest and would say if you enjoyed the Forza horizon games, definitely add this to your to play list because it’s fantastic. Early days but I’m enjoying it more than Horizon. The event variety is really good and a lot of fun to drive, haven’t tried cars or boats yet. Looks fantastic with its Hawaii island setting.

[Alex79]

I'm about halfway through Storyteller at the moment. The game was mentioned on TCGS a few weeks back - it's presented as a story book with empty comic book style panels, underneath which are the backdrops for the scenes and the characters which feature in those scenes. I'm playing on my tablet (the game is currently free for those with a Netflix subscription) so you drag and drop the scenes and characters in to the panels to form the story briefly described at the top of the page. To give an example, you might have to engineer a situation in which the knight murders the king, so you might have a scene in which the king and queen are married, followed by a scene of the knight proclaiming his love for the queen, only to be rejected. The third panel might be the knight shooting the king.

It's a really smart concept, and executed very stylishly and it's very satisfying to drop the characters in to the scenes. However, here's the problem - it is incredibly easy. I'm halfway through the game and not a single puzzle so far has required more than ten seconds thought. You burn through the game very quickly, and whilst the final few puzzles might ramp things up a little, at halfway through the game I'd like to be scratching my head a little more than I have been.

As I said though, it's such a cool concept that it's well worth playing, especially if you have a Netflix subscription.

And whilst I'm here, I'm going to bang the drum once again for Netflix gaming. It's absurd that more people aren't talking about it. Perhaps people aren't playing games on mobile as much these days, but they really do get some premium games on the service. Turtles, Kentucky Route Zero, Oxenfree 1 and 2, Valiant Hearts 2, Immortality, 12 Minutes, World Of Goo, Into The Breach, as well as some really interesting games you've probably not heard of, including the really stylish X-Com influenced Ticket To Earth. Don't overlook Netflix when you're looking for games to play on your phone or tablet!

[Caligulas Horse]

I'm about halfway through Storyteller at the moment. The game was mentioned on TCGS a few weeks back - it's presented as a story book with empty comic book style panels, underneath which are the backdrops for the scenes and the characters which feature in those scenes. I'm playing on my tablet (the game is currently free for those with a Netflix subscription) so you drag and drop the scenes and characters in to the panels to form the story briefly described at the top of the page. To give an example, you might have to engineer a situation in which the knight murders the king, so you might have a scene in which the king and queen are married, followed by a scene of the knight proclaiming his love for the queen, only to be rejected. The third panel might be the knight shooting the king.

It's a really smart concept, and executed very stylishly and it's very satisfying to drop the characters in to the scenes. However, here's the problem - it is incredibly easy. I'm halfway through the game and not a single puzzle so far has required more than ten seconds thought. You burn through the game very quickly, and whilst the final few puzzles might ramp things up a little, at halfway through the game I'd like to be scratching my head a little more than I have been.

As I said though, it's such a cool concept that it's well worth playing, especially if you have a Netflix subscription.

And whilst I'm here, I'm going to bang the drum once again for Netflix gaming. It's absurd that more people aren't talking about it. Perhaps people aren't playing games on mobile as much these days, but they really do get some premium games on the service. Turtles, Kentucky Route Zero, Oxenfree 1 and 2, Valiant Hearts 2, Immortality, 12 Minutes, World Of Goo, Into The Breach, as well as some really interesting games you've probably not heard of, including the really stylish X-Com influenced Ticket To Earth. Don't overlook Netflix when you're looking for games to play on your phone or tablet!

Ah, I've recently given up my Netflix subscription, but this does sound like a cool concept and something I'd like to try.
Are the solutions to the puzzles set in stone, or does it allow for some creativity, e.g could you find some other reason or way for the knight to kill the king?

[Alex79]

There is some degree of flexibility on some of the puzzles. Most are pretty much 'one solution' but there are quite a few that offer multiple ways by adding additional challenges. So you might be challenged, for example, with "The Queen gets arrested", but then the additional 'bonus' challenge is "...but nobody dies". I'd say about a quarter to a third of the stages have these extra challenges, but aside from that it seems fairly rigid. (It might open up a little more towards the end).

My two younger kids are really enjoying it too, aged 7 and 8. They need a bit of help sometimes but they picked it up really quickly.

[Alex79]

I'm about halfway through Storyteller at the moment...

...However, here's the problem - it is incredibly easy. I'm halfway through the game and not a single puzzle so far has required more than ten seconds thought. You burn through the game very quickly, and whilst the final few puzzles might ramp things up a little, at halfway through the game I'd like to be scratching my head a little more than I have been.

Huh, well, the difficulty curve in this game is a brick wall

Eight chapters of pure easiness, and now the ninth chapter is suddenly rock solid! Well, I wanted it more difficult, so I can't really complain!

[Jobobonobo]

Nearly finished Yakuza 6, just want to sort out a few substories and minigames before I finish it off.

I really have gotten into puzzle games recently and I am continuing that with Tetris Attack for the SNES. Never played any Tetris Attack before and I have to say I really dig it. The Yoshi's Island graphics and presentation are a delight (still think it is among Nintendo's most beautiful work) and the simple premise of matching 3 or more colours while preventing the screen from being filled can make for some very tense gameplay. Have done all the single player stages and am now tackling the puzzle stages where you have to clear a screen in a set amount of moves. Really fun way to spend the time.

Also playing Rayman 3D which is a 3DS port of Rayman 2. It definitely is a bit lacking in certain technical areas, in particular sound design, but the base game is still enjoyable. I owned Rayman 2 for the N64 but never finished it as we did not have a memory pak so I always had to play a long session to get anywhere. Never finished it in one go, sad to say. My stumbling block as a young one was the Sanctuary of Stone and Fire but finally finished it last night. Still a long tough bastard of a level. Now with that out of the way, from here on out, everything in the game will be new. Looking forward to seeing what I missed all these years. Nice returning to this. I find it mostly holds up really well and is still quite impressive in many visual aspects.

[Truk_Kurt]

Have been playing Spiderman 2 since Friday. I'm enjoying it a lot but it really does feel like more of the same which has lead to some disappointment. It seems like they haven't learnt anything from the side content in the first game which is just as repetitive in this game, there's also rubbish stealth bits where you play as Peter or Mary Jane which are just as long and monotonous as those in the first game. I also don't really know what to think about the fact that it seems like in combat Spidey is more reliant on tech than actual webs. I've also had a few bugs, nothing game breaking but still a little unusual to see from a Sony first party game which are normally so polished. Final comment would be that whilst the city looks stunning, the human character models of even main characters look a little outdated compared to other games these days.

Positives though, I'm really loving the combat and has great moments when fighting alongside another character where you do a joint takedown, very similar to those you got in Arkham Knight when Batman was fighting alongside someone. Swinging around is also a lot of fun, the wings are a great addition to as they enable you to travel much faster through the city. I'm also quite enjoying the story.

[Jobobonobo]

I decided that after playing and enjoying VII all those years ago, I should try out another Final Fantasy so I am now tackling Final Fantasy IV on the GBA as a lot of people rate it fairly high. I like how you are thrust into the story straight away and the idea that you are part of an invading army that you turn away from would have been a big narrative twist for videogames back then. I also can tell that the music and graphical touches with mode 7 really add a lot to how this game presents its story and is another example of what a leap the 16 bit era was for gaming. So in this regard FFIV is pretty forward thinking but man, I am not used to nor like random battles and the frequency can be really obnoxious at times. Even though the dungeons are pretty simplistic, constant ambushes really discourage exploration which is a shame because that is how you get the good loot! I am now at the stage that I can at least explore the overworld safely as I have the hovercraft so the game is slowly becoming a bot more approachable. So far, still intrigued to play more but I hope the battles become less intrusive as the game goes on.

[duskvstweak]

I hope the battles become less intrusive as the game goes on.

This might not be the era of Final Fantasy for you

[duskvstweak]

Besides lots of Marvel Snap (glad the iPhone doesn't tell me the amount of hours played), I recently started a new Stardew Valley game. I never finished the community center in my first playthrough and I found I had almost no memory of what I was doing when I revisited that farm. So new farm time! Enjoying being back and having a clearer idea from the start of what to do. Probably won't make it to year 3 this time either, but as long as that community center gets finished...

[Jobobonobo]

This might not be the era of Final Fantasy for you

Ugh, well I will keep going on until I feel it is too much. I am intrigued otherwise but the only games I played where random battles were a thing was FF VII and the Pokemon series which for the most part were never too overbearing so the randomness was a slight inconvenience. At least I know what to expect from this point on. I love JRPGs, it is just random battles themselves that I can do without. Shame as there are a fair few old school ones I want to try out and I hope they don't ruin the experience for me too much.

[duskvstweak]

This might not be the era of Final Fantasy for you

Ugh, well I will keep going on until I feel it is too much. I am intrigued otherwise but the only games I played where random battles were a thing was FF VII and the Pokemon series which for the most part were never too overbearing so the randomness was a slight inconvenience. At least I know what to expect from this point on. I love JRPGs, it is just random battles themselves that I can do without. Shame as there are a fair few old school ones I want to try out and I hope they don't ruin the experience for me too much.

I believe the new versions of those games can turn off the random encounters? I might be wrong, but I think the Pixel remasters have that option.

https://seekingtech.com/how-to-disable- ... h-and-ps4/

[Jobobonobo]

Nice addition for the remasters but I am slowly getting used to how the game operates and I quite like playing a RPG which just has the main story and no side content for a change. Story moves at a more natural pace when you are not doing tedious side quests like fetching flowers for an NPC or something. Also leveling up a bit quicker so I am not getting beaten down by enemies as much which in turn makes random battles that bit more bearable.

[Scrustle]

Finally got around to playing Tears of the Kingdom. I'm around a quarter of the way through, and loving it so far. I was pretty confident I would like it, but I did have some reservations going in. With it being so iterative on Breath of the Wild, I was unsure if it could capture the same magic. A lot of what made that game special was discovering stuff for the first time and exploring. When I have tried to go back to it after completing it, I have found it hard to enjoy it like I did the first time around. But TotK somehow manages to make lightning strike twice and make the overworld feel just as fresh and intriguing as ever. While there is a lot that is familiar, there are so many new points of interest in new places that a lot of it stuff feels pretty fresh and it retains that sense of discovery. It brings back that feeling of getting perpetually side-tracked in the most satisfying way. Getting sucked in to spontaneous adventures where you get enticed by the endless bread crumb trail of wanting to check out that new thing that just appeared on the horizon for hours and hours. It just eats entire days without getting old. I've also managed to avoid most spoilers about the game, so I've been able to have moments over and over where I'm just thinking "what the hell is that!?"

One thing that I think BotW does better though is the intro sequence. The first island in the sky you wake up on for the tutorial isn't as good as the Great Plateau. It feels both more prescriptive and less effective at teaching you the mechanics. That kind of extends to the main quest of the game as a whole. In BotW you had a really good idea of what your overall goal was, but a sense that you could do anything and go anywhere too. TotK doesn't pull that off as elegantly. But it's hard to judge this game too harshly for that. BotW was a masterclass in game structuring and pacing. It wasn't likely that even its own sequel could top it, even if it tried to do exactly the same thing. It's not like TotK does this stuff badly either. But in comparison it does have a bit more of a bumpier start despite it seemingly trying to guide you more intentionally.

[Simonsloth]

It’s so good isn’t it! More of a good thing is always welcome!

[markfm007]

I've been starting and stopping a lot of games recently. I've made to what I think is the last main chapter of Celeste, despite not playing it for very long. This is ignoring bonus stuff though. I like it... I think. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's frustrated me at times and I've not fully gotten on with the controls. But when it's been good, it's been good. The last few chapters have been great, and the music, graphics and characters all have a sweet bounciness to them. I'll finish it eventually but I've put it down for now as there's no sense in pushing through when I don't want to.

I've also been playing Hollow Knight, I've explored a few areas and got some abilities. I really love this game so far. Its graphical style is right up my alley, the soundtrack is much more beautiful than I was expecting, and I love how exploration driven it is. It also has a sort of understated sweetness and sense of humour I find really appealing. I can see myself really getting lost in this one, but again I'm not going to push it more than necessary.

[Alex79]

If anyone is playing Coffee Golf, add me! Would be cool to have a few people on the leaderboard - not sure if you can set up leagues or not, but either way, be cool if a few people are playing.

Add Alex79uk#6218 as a friend on Coffee Golf!
https://shallotgames.com/coffeegolf/add ... 9uk%236218

In case that link doesn't work, my username is: Alex79uk#6218

[Truk_Kurt]

Unfortunately I think I'm done with Alan Wake 2. The atmosphere is great and story intriguing, but I'm not enjoying the combat at all and the last straw yesterday was a puzzle in the Coffee park gift shop that I just couldn't figure out. I had a word with myself and asked if I was actually enjoying myself overall or if I would rather be playing something else and decided it was probably the latter. Maybe I will go back to it at some point in a quiet period.

[Alex79]

Just picked up one of my favourite games from last (?) year for £7.49 on Switch - The Artful Escape. Absolutely loved this on Gamepass, looking forward to sitting in a dark room, cranking up the headphones and blasting off to space again.

[Indiana747]

Unfortunately I think I'm done with Alan Wake 2. The atmosphere is great and story intriguing, but I'm not enjoying the combat at all and the last straw yesterday was a puzzle in the Coffee park gift shop that I just couldn't figure out. I had a word with myself and asked if I was actually enjoying myself overall or if I would rather be playing something else and decided it was probably the latter. Maybe I will go back to it at some point in a quiet period.

Thats a pity mate, although the puzzles dont get any easier, especially when playing as Alan. Im a firm believer that you need to be in a certain state of mind to play certain games. Maybe when you come back to it next year or so you'll enjoy it more.
As a matter of interest, Alan Wake 2 aside, have you ever played a game & bounced off it hard but ended up loving it when you returned? Id guess you have, like myself, you get through a lot of titles on a yearly basis.
Its happened to me loads of times, most notable in my memory is Batman Arkham Asylum, i really didnt like it when i played it on release but gave it another go roughly a year later & absolutely adored it.