Topic: What are you playing?

[ejamer]

Just stop it.

Yes - but only after you have everything. You must collect them all.


--


By the way, even though still early in teh game, Chrono Trigger is really good.
Everyone should play this at some point. What's that? Everyone else already did..?


Really regret not putting more effort into this sooner. After just a few hours, it's easy to see why it's got a huge following.

[ClexYoshi]

So... it's 7 AM. I never expected my quest for Sonic Adventure 2 completion to devolve into an excercise in (basic) Genetics less consistent than Pokemon IV breeding.

Did you know that Chao for some @(%*#!ed reason not only keep data for dominant and recessive genes, but they also keep that data for any stat of theirs you've upgraded via this game's arcane and ophuscated transformation system where you have to keep track of hidden values you get based on the last animals you fed it?

I'm shocked at how this stuff works and the level of documentation that's required to digest to understand it. It might just be my 7 AM exhaustion from this crazy crap, but Chao Garden may have a more complex metagame than Pokemon given the amount of fooling around and save scumming and keeping track of which chao you've given what to keep track of this crap.

Oh, and there's also two HIDDEN stats that effect your Chao's AI during races and such.

And chao can permadie, but you have to have messed up pretty bad for your chao to permadie


That, or leave the game running for like... 6 hours inside Chao garden without interacting with your chao at all.

it's crazy how much manipulating the clock and mindless yet mindful busiwork go into this nonsense. if you attempted to play Chao garden the way the game intends you to by finding a chao key and beating a stage and feeding your chao the random chaos drives and animals you find along the way? you'd both get pretty random results and basically make no progress.

like... you have to be in the garden for time to pass there. which is nice, I guess. it'd suck if you sat there grinding at Route 280 A-ranks only to come back to your chao having all died/reincarnated.

At the same time, sitting around watching a chao sleep is about as exciting as hearing your grandfather's story about how he used to work at a watch factory for the hundreth time.


At least this chao stuff is making for pretty good podcast listening.

[NWR_insanolord]

Yeah, the chao stuff in that game is really extensive. Are you using the GBA connectivity with Sonic Advance? I spent a ton of time with that what seems like forever ago

[ClexYoshi]

I'm playing it on Steam. which actually has some inaccessable content, such as the jewel chao from the GBA games, the Tails Chao you get from Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 &2 (which is the chao I used back in the day for all the chao race and karate BS because it's pretty much a pre-baked nearly min/maxed chao) or a few other bits of functionality... and they also introduced a couple of new graphical glitches too, such as two-tone 'shiny' chao that you breed glowing like solar babies.

[Khushrenada]

I saw your post the other day and was going to talk about getting all the A ranks in Sonic Adventure 2. It's not as bad as it sounds. The only thing that got to me was Chao grinding and harvesting crystals to increase their stats. That was the worst part of A ranks for me. With Knuckles and Rouge, you start learning when emerald pieces will keep spawning so you can get better at the. Tails and Eggman is just about getting large combos by locking on to multiple enemies. Shadow and Sonic are a bit tougher with needing to get points and finish fast but it gave you a glimpse of what those levels could be or were meant to be with fast speed if they weren't so glitchy. The driving levels of Tails and Rouge were a bit annoying as well particularly when required not to touch anything with your car.

As for Korok seeds, I'm almost at 700. Yeah, the hunt can be tedious some times but at least I'm still discovering new places and hidden touches in the game that I probably could have overlooked without that goal. Hopefully you are still finding other little neat moments as you conduct your search. I think I've been smart to still have some shrines and a divine beast to complete as I appreciate the chance to do something else besides scan the landscape for Koroks as I keep playing. There are 3 side quests I still need to find too but I doubt they'll take too much time at this point.

[ClexYoshi]

yeah, korok seeds I can sit down with a map for 10 minutes and figure stuff out.


I think that it's not so much the ranking system in general, but specific offenders. Sand Ocean is a strange level where there's not enough enemies to combo to win on score bonus alone, so you're reliant on ring collection and Time Bonus to get you over the line there.

Mission 5 on Egg Quarters features a stupid gimmick where you have to have Rouge grab bombs that Cocoanuts throws at her and then bring them to to the designated spot. the problem is collision with picking stuff up, weather you'll do the pickup command or just attack the bomb, weather or not the bomb will explode immediatley after cocoanuts throws it, or weather the bomb will clip through the floor, and even WHERE Cocoanuts throws the bomb is a complete crap-shoot.

some of the score or time requirements for Sonic and Shadow's stages are crazy. Metal Harbor boils down to if you have the level perfectly rehearsed. it feels like you don't get the A-rank unless you get a perfect storm of rings, grinding the little rails on the bends getting ALL the homing attack chains, and getting that top part of the rocket at the end of the stage, and a hardy enough time bonus. it's technically possible to beat it without getting the top half of the rocket, but you literally have to bounce braclet into the jets flying overhead to get enough points to actually pull that out.

[Order.RSS]

By the way, even though still early in teh game, Chrono Trigger is really good.
Everyone should play this at some point. What's that? Everyone else already did..?


Really regret not putting more effort into this sooner. After just a few hours, it's easy to see why it's got a huge following.

Yeah Chrono Trigger has tons of heart. I too played it first on DS and initially intended to blaze through it as fast as possible. However, once a lot of the character-specific sidequests opened up I did them anyway and I would highly encourage you to do the same. I won't say which ones, but there's a few pretty impactful ones that really grew my affection for the characters.

[ClexYoshi]

By the way, even though still early in teh game, Chrono Trigger is really good.
Everyone should play this at some point. What's that? Everyone else already did..?


Really regret not putting more effort into this sooner. After just a few hours, it's easy to see why it's got a huge following.

Yeah Chrono Trigger has tons of heart. I too played it first on DS and initially intended to blaze through it as fast as possible. However, once a lot of the character-specific sidequests opened up I did them anyway and I would highly encourage you to do the same. I won't say which ones, but there's a few pretty impactful ones that really grew my affection for the characters.

I played Chrono Cross before I played Chrono Trigger on an emulator. CT was one of my first Emulator games, funnily enough.

Yeah, it's pretty great. Chrono Cross is too as long as you're willing to plug your ears and try and forget that it's the sequel to Chrono Trigger.

[Stratos]

I've heard people say its best to think of Chrono Cross as an "alternate reality/universe" similar to how most every Fire Emblem game is in its own world with shared themes across the games. Still have an unopened copy of Chrono Cross sitting on my shelf for the PSX, never set aside the time and eye stamina (from the 32-bit jaggies!) to actually give it a go. Though some of the designs are neat.

[oohhboy]

Space Engineers.

I hate MineCraft and I don't stand for the mods. However this gets away from the Feed the Beast BS by not having to build a busy work factory something that Factorio does so much better which is fun without things being arbitrary. You can focus on making cool machines that move around to solve your problems and make things increasingly efficient rather than the other way around.

From the Depths is also very similar sans most of the resource gathering. The problem that needs solving is how to kill things better with the vessel of your choosing.

It is still early access despite years of continued development. It does have a problem with breaking mods regularly as they swap out API's for something better hampering mods. Not to say they don't give warning as give a grace period when possible.

One of my most favourite mods right now is just a script that makes wheeled vehicles a joy to drive. Without it is is very problematic as finding that settings sweet spot just to make one functional is very hard to impossible given the changing terrain. Then there is the matter of whenever you make changes to the bricks you suddenly now have to rebalance everything again. So this script is a godsend. One extra cute feature htey threw in is stop lights which is just great.

Just in case someone here wants it it is call the Driver Assist System or DAS. It is still in active development with excellent turn around on bugs measured in hours.

[ClexYoshi]

I've heard people say its best to think of Chrono Cross as an "alternate reality/universe" similar to how most every Fire Emblem game is in its own world with shared themes across the games. Still have an unopened copy of Chrono Cross sitting on my shelf for the PSX, never set aside the time and eye stamina (from the 32-bit jaggies!) to actually give it a go. Though some of the designs are neat.

Huh, that is a not bad way to think about it! Too bad the DS remake of Chrono Trigger goes out of it's way to add extra bits to better set up the events of Chrono Cross.


It's a weird one. it's not that it's a bad narrative, but it attempts to recontectualize and rationalize some things. It's a game essentially about the the fallout of time travel and trades it's whimsy for brutal reality where the cast of the original game minus maybe Ayla and (maybe) Magus all met pretty grim fates, you play as a kid who finds out his continued existence threatens the fabric of reality and time, and your main love interest type character is a pile of tragedy severalfold due to her ties with the Chrono Trigger cast. It also tries to go on to explain crap like what happens with the Reptites, the fall of Guardia, and lots of other very convoluted bullshit.

[Stratos]

Bummer. I never finished the DS version more than once a long time ago so I don't remember the changes. Sounds like a typical sequel to a well received stand-alone narrative: convoluted, overly complicated, and takes itself way too seriously.

[ClexYoshi]

Chrono Trigger DS features an extra endgame dungeon that sets up Dalton as having survived the whole Zeal thing and foreshadows the idea that he brought Magic and Zealian technology and funds to begin Porre's coup against the new rule of Guardia, AKA King Crono and Queen Nadia.

There's also the matter of the new ending, wherein Crono and the gang fight a souped up version of Lavos fused to Schala to form the Time Devourer. Magus desires nothing more than to free his sister from the beast, and when you manage to fight it back, the ending you get involves Magus getting amnesia from his encounter with the Time Devourer, which allows for the 'Magus is Guile' connection to be far stronger.


This, coupled with some FMVs that were from the PSX version as extras are the sorts of retcons they've done to make Chrono Cross work. Then again, Retcons are kinda the name of the game if you know anything about Radical Dreamers, which just straight-up got retconned out of existance because the guy who wrote the scenarios for these games wasn't satisfied with how his little satellaview exclusive Chrono Trigger fanfiction played out.



... what? this is the what are you playing thread? Right, sorry.


Still chipping away at the mountain of WTF that is Chao Eugenics.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Been playing Cuphead for Xbox One. This game is the reason why I got an Xbox One a couple years ago, and I have to say it is well worth the wait. Not only is it beautifully animated with a creative visual style but it is extremely addicting. The game mostly centers around gigantic, multi form boss battles rather then traditional run n gun platforming levels but there are some of those as well sprinkled around the game world map, they are also optional too, though I highly recommend you play them, some of them are really fun (though, like the rest of the game, challenging with no checkpoints) and they have coins sprinkled throughout them that you can use to buy upgrades. Really though the star of the show (as it should be) are the boss battles which are varied and punishing. Though if you want to lower the difficulty you can, but even at that they still aren't easy, it just limits what they can do and the forms you have to battle through to defeat it. Be warned though, you cannot get to the final boss unless you beat the bosses on the standard difficulty.

If I were to compare the boss battles to another game it would probably be Treasure's old games, especially Gunstar Heroes. Also while they can be difficult it is the good kind of difficulty in that you feel motivated to go back and continue learning their patterns. They have no health meter, the only way you know how close you were to defeating it is if you die, it will then show a progress graph with a finish line which is a unique way to track how well you did along with how close you were to defeating the boss, not to mention it limits screen clutter which is a good thing considering what the bosses can throw at you.

Beyond gameplay though the visuals are beautifully animated, and the sound design is top notch as well to immerse you in the 30s animation style they are going for.

Anyway, I'm having a wonderful time, I wish it would come out on Switch and PS4, but it appears it is solidly a Xbox one/PC exclusive. Would be the perfect game though for Switch though.

[ClexYoshi]

I've broken out of the duldrums of completing Sonic Adventure 2 after having finished all the Chao garbage, and I've been playing...

A Boatload of fan games! namely from the Sonic Amateur Game Expo (SAGE) 2017 showcase! but also one or two distinctly non-sonic games.

I'll not go into too much detail about a lot of 'em becaus ethere's unfortunatley not a ton that stands out from the pack this year as there was Last year. lots of stuff either made on Sonic Worlds or just GameMaker Studio or such. there's a really bad Unreal 4 3D sonic game, and something I thought might have the potential to be the next Freedom Planet (Freedom Planet originally was shown at SAGE 2012), but was total bunk... there's 3 games I'd like to highlight from that here quick.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 HD

IT'S BACK FROM THE GRAVE, BBY.

Sonic 2 HD was a project started in 2011 or so  and essentially redid the assets of SOnic 2 in a vectorized style with tons of frames of animation added in to give the game a very... moving cartoon sort of look? while still staying as faithful to the original animations in the game and the art style as possible. there was an Emerald Hill demo back in 2012, and then the team broke up for some reason.

Thankfully, a couple of the alumni from that original team (Tom Fry, Jared Kasl, and Tee Lopes) would go on to form Pagoda West Games, and eventually bring their animation, programming, and musical expertise to Sonic Mania.


With a fair bit of the ground work laid out, a new team has been formed and knocked out a new zone in the form of Chemical plant, as well as finishing work on Hill top (which was hidden in the debug code for the demo the original team put together, since it's blue Emerald Hill)

Sonic feels decidedly a little heavier here than normal and takes a bit to get going at even a decent clip, and there's a couple of small things that are off here and there, but for the most part, it's Sonic 2 level design, sonic 2 enemy behavior, and... really, everything you'd love about Sonic 2 so far. I'm kinda lukewarm on Sonic 2, but i can't deny how amazingly clean and well animated the art is here and how good it feels.

Petit Hedgehog

This one crushed my soul, because it just... seems like it's still too early to really properly judge it, as the engine is still buggy as all hell.

Petit Hedgehog, as it's called right now, is a Sonic game that has a really unique and neat sprite style (lots of solid colors without shading, decidedly bright color palette) along with playable Sonic and Shadow. listening to the hissy compression on the sound effects, the music, and the really oversaturated and bright color palette, it's clear that this game is meant to be in the style of a long-lost GBA game, and really tries to channel the spirit of the sonic advance games.

the problem is it lacks gamepad support or really the ability to rebind your keys. Jump is mapped to SHIFT, which is extra cruddy because of course, you activate sticky keys all the dxamned time trying to rev up the spin dash. it's also buggy as hell... sonic gets a blue trail that follows him as a graphical effect when he moves really fast, but it kinda wiggs out and doens't properly track where he's coming from when you first pop into it... and there's also lots of collision errors and eventually it crashed, so...

Sonic World

This is better than it has any right to be, and it's still kinda atrocious and really just needs a team of QA guys. Sonic Worlds is a Unity powered cluster **** of 3D Sonic past, present, and future.There's a roster of 42 unlockable and playable characters. That's more Characters than were in the base game for Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, all with different attributes, abilities, voice acting, and techniques to help them get through the game's 58 stages, which all have 5 missions, and target S rank requirements... and pretty much, the stages are designed so any of these characters can get through them in some form or another!

In spite of my attempts to do so, I cannot seem to get the engine to just bug the **** out. the physics engine is usually pretty good about orienting you on a slope if you have the momentum to do so, and things don't feel as noodly as they do in the adventure games, but it's not like boost formula Sonic where you feel like you're controlling a car and not a platformer character. so far, I've only found one instance where I got caught in a spot they clearly missed in playtesting where i got stuck with a character who had an obnoxiously low jump height and I couldn't get out.

This game has a fully functioning Chao garden also.

that being said... the level design and enemy AI can be... hit or miss. some levels just SPAM enemies or are obnoxiously long. others are based on the level design from Sonic 3D blast, which was a game not menat to handle the speeds you can travel here. some levels are obnoxious to clear unless you're playing certain types of characters. also, all the boss fights and quite a few of the 'mach speed' style stages are obnoxiously difficult.

The devs here clearly seem to be focused on pushing quantity of content here, and not quality. I still however, find a perverse pleasure in playing Tiara Boobowski, Ray the Flying Squirrel, and Honey the Cat in a Sonic Heroes style team-up through Westopolis Zone from Shadow the Hedgehog.


I'll make a seperate post to talk about the non-sonic fangaming I've been doing once someone else posts.

[Fatty The Hutt]

Been playing Sakura Samurai for the 3DS. Not bad. I'm about 3/4 of the way through world 2 and I am just about done with the grind of increasing difficulty but basically same-ey gameplay. Not sure if I will continue much longer. But it's been fun and satisfying to get there. Not bad for a cheapie.

[broodwars]

Played about 7-8 hours of Evil Within 2 last night...in a row. I never do that anymore. I think I might like it.

Wasn't a huge fan of the 1st game, but the sequel makes some changes to its environment & structure that bring it MUCH closer to something like Silent Hill. In fact, I get a real Silent Hill Downpour-esque vibe from what I've played, with how you can pursue the main quest in the town or go off exploring to find these hidden side quests with ammo caches & upgrade material. Meanwhile, these insane rage zombies skulk around the alleys.

I'm not sure so far if it's an overall better game than the 1st (the side content's not as developed as I'd like), but this is definitely a type of experience that suits me better.

[GK]

Been playing my 3DS with headphones to distract myself from flies & annoying co-workers during lunch break lately. Finally got around to beating Kirby Triple Deluxe 2 weeks ago. Now it's all about looking for those darn stars. Ended a long hiatus from Monster Hunter 4U yesterday though.

On the home front it was Muramasa: The Demon Blade on Wii before Pinball FX 3 came out on PC.

[Phil]

I've been playing through Knack 2, and IMO it is a dramatically better game than its predecessor. For one thing, the designers made an effort to finally rebalance the gameplay in favor of something akin to the LEGO games. In the first game, you died in 2-3 hits, no matter how many relics you had or where you were in the game. And when you got hit, that damage was persistent until you either found more relics, you hit the next area, or you died and respawned at the last checkpoint. Now, when you get hit, you lose a pile of relics & get smaller as usual, but if you can avoid damage for a few seconds, the relics fly back on and reattach, essentially giving you regenerating health.

The game also plays a lot more with alternating size & scale. Outside of the Stealth Knack sequences in the first game, you always started a stage small & progressed through the stage progressively growing larger. It lacked variety. Now, you can shrink back down to Little Knack at any time to fit through small holes & find secrets or to navigate puzzles.

Oh yeah, there are actual puzzles & platforming now. They're basic, but I find them satisfying enough.

You also have a skill tree of stat boosts & new moves you acquire by progressing through the story & finding XP crates.

So far, I'm about 1/3 of the way through the game, but I like it so far. I think Sony actually hit the "all ages cartoons platformer" mark they were aiming for, especially since you can play it local Co-Op. I'd recommend it for kids or the Young At Heart (TM).

What a coincidence! I have this checked out from the library right now, and I finished the first two chapters of the game. I'm enjoying it, but I can't comment on any improvements on the original Knack since I didn't play it. Seems like Knack left quite a bad taste in most PlayStation 4 owners' mouths. I guess that's why this sequel bombed everywhere. I've read that the game sort of overindulges on its story length, making the game sort of feel like it goes on for longer than you'd expect.

[broodwars]

I've been playing through Knack 2, and IMO it is a dramatically better game than its predecessor. For one thing, the designers made an effort to finally rebalance the gameplay in favor of something akin to the LEGO games. In the first game, you died in 2-3 hits, no matter how many relics you had or where you were in the game. And when you got hit, that damage was persistent until you either found more relics, you hit the next area, or you died and respawned at the last checkpoint. Now, when you get hit, you lose a pile of relics & get smaller as usual, but if you can avoid damage for a few seconds, the relics fly back on and reattach, essentially giving you regenerating health.

The game also plays a lot more with alternating size & scale. Outside of the Stealth Knack sequences in the first game, you always started a stage small & progressed through the stage progressively growing larger. It lacked variety. Now, you can shrink back down to Little Knack at any time to fit through small holes & find secrets or to navigate puzzles.

Oh yeah, there are actual puzzles & platforming now. They're basic, but I find them satisfying enough.

You also have a skill tree of stat boosts & new moves you acquire by progressing through the story & finding XP crates.

So far, I'm about 1/3 of the way through the game, but I like it so far. I think Sony actually hit the "all ages cartoons platformer" mark they were aiming for, especially since you can play it local Co-Op. I'd recommend it for kids or the Young At Heart (TM).

What a coincidence! I have this checked out from the library right now, and I finished the first two chapters of the game. I'm enjoying it, but I can't comment on any improvements on the original Knack since I didn't play it. Seems like Knack left quite a bad taste in most PlayStation 4 owners' mouths. I guess that's why this sequel bombed everywhere. I've read that the game sort of overindulges on its story length, making the game sort of feel like it goes on for longer than you'd expect.

Yeah, the game definitely goes on long after it's run out of new ideas. Hell, the last move you get in the game just exists to remove the thing that artificially makes the endgame enemies invulnerable. Still, overall I thought it is an admirable effort.

[ejamer]

Not sure which DS game to play next. Any thoughts on the following games?


Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Hotel Dusk
Trace Memory
Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks


I'll be playing one from that list, but not sure which.

[Adrock]

Personally, Spirit Tracks is at the very bottom of my list of Zelda games. I couldn’t bring myself to finish it. This is coming from someone who liked but didn’t love Phantom Hourglass.

Hotel Dusk. Just go with Hotel Dusk. I started but never finished it. I still have it somewhere.

[ejamer]

...
Hotel Dusk. Just go with Hotel Dusk. I started but never finished it. I still have it somewhere.

Works for me.


So I'm about to start Hotel Dusk.  Started playing it once before, and found the style and gameplay extremely appealing. Not sure why I stopped, but it's been long enough that starting over will be like a new game.

[Mop it up]

Not sure which DS game to play next. Any thoughts on the following games?

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Hotel Dusk
Trace Memory
Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

I'll be playing one from that list, but not sure which.

I haven't played any of them, so I can just say that it depends on what kind of mood you're in. Hotel Dusk and Trace Memory are more laid-back games, whilst FFCC and Zelda are more action-y. And Zelda requires use of the stylus the whole time, so you've gotta be prepared for that.

[Stratos]

UGH! Rings of Fate is awful. Sorry excuse of a sequel to one of the greatest multiplayer Final Fantasies of all time.