Author Topic: What are you playing?  (Read 692482 times)

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Offline ObbyDent

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #550 on: October 09, 2014, 10:29:47 AM »
Why does a new game need to advance the series? Why not just make another new game?

Offline Adrock

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #551 on: October 09, 2014, 11:43:53 AM »
Doesn't need to, but I'd like it to. Keeps things fresh.

Offline Luigi Dude

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #552 on: October 09, 2014, 12:22:50 PM »
Why does a new game need to advance the series? Why not just make another new game?

Yeah, especially when there was an 8 year gap between Super and Fusion.  It's not like we were overwhelmed in 2D Metriod games during this time.  Hell, its been over 10 years since the last 2D Metriod these days, I wouldn't mind getting another one right now even if its gameplay is similar to Supers as well.

When there's gaps that long between installments, I'm not sure how anyone can get sick of the gameplay unless they're playing the previous installment over 9000 times during said gap in which case it's there fault, not the developers.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #553 on: October 09, 2014, 12:45:48 PM »
I might have enjoyed Fusion more if I hadn't played Zero Mission first. 


For me, Zero Mission was extremely close to my ideal Metroid. It didn't bring a lot of innovation to the series, but did bring all of the best parts of the series together into a finely tuned experience. My only complaint was that it felt a bit "hand holdy" with the mapping system - if there was an option to turn off the hint system of where players needed to go next, that might have been preferable.


Fusion plays similarly in many regards, but falls short due to the little details. Writing didn't impress at all - a real disappointment because the story had potential and exploring the idea of an overpowered, evil Samus that must be avoided and hidden from is a great concept. Backtracking felt worse here than in other Metroid games, although in retrospect the hidden connections between different sections of the map aren't lacking. There were also one or two spots where I remember getting stuck looking for obscure hidden passages - something common for the series, but that just didn't seem to be as nicely handled in Fusion as in other games.


Someday soon I'll play through Fusion again. Maybe it will hold up better than my recollections do.
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Offline Adrock

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #554 on: October 09, 2014, 12:56:17 PM »
When there's gaps that long between installments, I'm not sure how anyone can get sick of the gameplay unless they're playing the previous installment over 9000 times during said gap in which case it's there fault, not the developers.
That's pretty terrible reasoning. The length of time between releases shouldn't stop developers from innovating. There was a five year gap between the original and Metroid II. They made some significant improvements and it is a much better game. Three years after that, Super Metroid is even better. If you can improve things, even if it's already great, why wouldn't you do that?

Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #555 on: October 09, 2014, 03:40:04 PM »
I didn't mind the linearity. Despite an eight year gap, Fusion advanced the series very little beyond ledge grabbing and a few tense moments where Samus runs away from the SA-X. That doesn't make it a bad game and I really like Fusion. However, it's primarily why I hold Super Metroid in a much higher regard.

I think the platforming in Fusion feels a lot better than it does in Super. You mentioned the ledge grabbing, which is a nice addition, but Samus in general feels more natural to control. It's a fair point to say it didn't really change that much, but given the context of the release I don't have a huge problem with that. It's kind of like Pikmin 3 in that it's more of a refinement of its predecessors than a major change, but it having been so long since the last ones and there having been so few of them up to that point, combined with how high quality it is, makes that okay.
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Offline azeke

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #556 on: October 10, 2014, 05:10:11 AM »
Donkey Kong Country 2 (GBA):
Finished with 59%:

Will i go for full completion? Nah, but i will try to check out more levels in the Lost World.

Overall, the best part of the game were bosses -- easy to figure out, rather imaginative, lots of phases (i like that). Even some story progression in their design like you kill a bird boss and see it's ghost flying away, and then that ghost bird comes up later as a boss.

Penultimate boss was very similar to Donkey Kong 94 final boss (still the best DK game i played).

Toxic tower was annoying because when you jump high with snake, you can't see where you are going to land (similar issue in SMB3) so there were lots of blind jumps. But the later half of that level turned out very cool because i was using all of my animal buddies came back there, so it was nostalgic in a way, as a last parade of sorts.

Minecart levels were okay -- it's just jumping. Flying levels were slightly annoying because of your hitbox doubles and levels usually have maze-like structure (especially that last race with a bird that you have to win to proceed, good for farming lives though).

Regular levels were the hardest of all, i was constantly missing platforms. Characters moving when i just press B to prepare to run was annoying.

Bayonetta 2 (demo on Wii U):
AWWWW YEAHHHHHH! The witch is back!

It doesn't feel good playing it on a Gamepad. It's probably my grip or hands but it's just too hard to access L and R shoulder buttons. And for a game like Bayonetta you need all the buttons. I had to set controls to Classic Controller and type B so that it matches button layout of original game on Xbox. Stick on CCPro is a "looser" than on Xbox which isn't a problem at all, and lack of analog triggers actually works as an advantage. Playing it that way feels even better than on Xbox.

Took me a while to adjust to new attack timings, i had re-develop new reflexes when to press dodges at the right time all over again.

Demo doesn't have abilities from late game, and i guess i got too used to rely on stuff like Moon of Mahaa-Kalaa (parry/deflect type thing) and Kilgore (rocket launchers).

At least the most basic "bread and butter" combos still work -- ol' reliable PPPPKKKK... that ends with flurry of wicked weaves is there. My favourite PPPKKK roundhouse sweep is still there (it looks slightly different, but works the same). Aside from basic PKP which throw enemies away from you with a weave they also added PKK which launches an enemy into the air. And in general a lot of combos now feature launching finishing hits.

The whip and the ability to pull enemies towards is there. It feels good to launch an enemy into the air, finish him with a long combo, then instantly switch to whips and pull another mook from the ground towards you and keep your streak going.

Now i can try to do stuff like this or this myself. Okay, not really, i actually can't, there are some moves that are not unlocked in this demo (Afterburner Kick, teleport and others).
« Last Edit: October 10, 2014, 05:15:45 AM by azeke »
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Offline MagicCow64

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #557 on: October 10, 2014, 12:16:06 PM »
In the stark light of an attempt at objectivity, I think you could make a strong argument that Zero Mission is the best 2D Metroid game. Some of the late-game secrets are mindblowing, and everything about the game is designed like a dream. Plus the crazy sequence-breaking you can do. Though nothing is technically a huge leap for the series, the concept of approaching a remake like this is pretty damn cool.


I also like Fusion a lot, and don't mind the more linear take on the formula. SAX is rad. I like less the Mega Man mini-boss style boss enemies, that devolve into races to see if you can pump enough missiles into them before they can kill you as opposed to learning more complex patterns. It's been brought up here before, but maybe the biggest quibble about Fusion is that the game is explicitly about Samus merging with a Metroid, and yet the game doesn't incorporate this meaningfully into the gameplay/ability system. Like, cluster missile you need to use twice, yay.

Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #558 on: October 10, 2014, 12:24:23 PM »
I think that's a fair criticism. The story conceits in Fusion do a good job of justifying a lot of the usual series tropes like reacquiring your powers and replenishing health and missiles, and it's a nice touch that you start out very susceptible to cold temperatures because of it, but it seems like they could have taken the "Fusion" aspect a lot further. In the end it's largely a vey traditional Metroid game, whereas the plot had the potential to be a lot more than that.
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Offline Ceric

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #559 on: October 10, 2014, 01:33:46 PM »
Shouldn't Samus get the ability to feed off of other things life force.  Though I guess that would make her a stone throw away from being the Nintendo Succubus.
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Offline Mop it up

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #560 on: October 10, 2014, 04:47:58 PM »
People complain about its linearity but Super isn't really any less linear unless you're going out of your way to sequence break,
It's more about how Fusion usually blocks off areas, preventing the player from exploring to look for hidden items and returning to areas with new abilities and such. There's less freedom in Fusion in that sense. I also didn't feel like the world design was as good as Super either. The controls in Fusion are certainly sharp and smooth though, no argument there. I still think it's a good game but it doesn't have the right balance of action and exploration/freedom for me.

Donkey Kong Country 2 (GBA):
Finished with 59%:
I think some of the issues you talk about are made worse in the GBA version, where the viewable area is smaller than on SNES.

Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #561 on: October 10, 2014, 09:21:26 PM »
Fusion was the first Metroid game I ever played. I loved it but I got stuck and then got bored. I couldn't stop playing Super Metroid when I got it until I beat it then went back and beat it again to get 100%. It has been a while since I played either game but I think what I liked better about the SNES one was the controls and the atmosphere if I remember correctly. I also loved the music.
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Offline ShyGuy

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #562 on: October 12, 2014, 02:30:50 AM »
I've been playing some Diablo 3 on the PS4 with my cousin. Fun coop game.

Offline broodwars

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #563 on: October 12, 2014, 04:13:16 AM »
I've started playing Alien: Isolation and...this is definitely an acquired taste. I'm up to Chapter 5, and I'm not sure it's my kind of game yet, mainly because it feels like the game gives you a great deal of tools at your disposal for the expressed purposes of punishing you with instant death-by-Alien if you actually use them.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #564 on: October 12, 2014, 01:40:02 PM »
Playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS) and finding it... "ok".  Doesn't live up to the cult hype, and feels rough compared to the sublime writing in Ghost Trick (DS), which I thought was supposed to be similar.  Despite the let down it's still a good story and has plenty of time to go off the rails (in a good way) as I get deeper into the game - only mid-way through the third chapter right now.
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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #565 on: October 13, 2014, 01:53:25 AM »
I put some serious time into Shovel Knight and Dr. Luigi today. That is another amazing game on the console more people need to know about.
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #566 on: October 13, 2014, 08:22:54 PM »
One of the seemingly dozens of space games that have been Kickstarted, Starlight Inception, had been sitting on my Vita unplayed for months until tonight. The game was apparently a complete mess at launch, but received a pretty massive patch later on, and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. It's got a real X-Wing/TIE Fighter vibe to it, which makes sense given it was made by some of the people involved in those games.
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Offline Ceric

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #567 on: October 13, 2014, 09:26:52 PM »
Bayonetta 2 Demo Presented by
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Offline azeke

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #568 on: October 14, 2014, 12:12:48 AM »
Playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS) and finding it... "ok".  Doesn't live up to the cult hype, and feels rough compared to the sublime writing in Ghost Trick (DS), which I thought was supposed to be similar.  Despite the let down it's still a good story and has plenty of time to go off the rails (in a good way) as I get deeper into the game - only mid-way through the third chapter right now.
It takes some time to establish characters and arcs. Once the game accumulates enough characters and long standing mysteries, it starts to interweave them in wonderful ways.




Donkey Kong Country 2 (GBA):
I was watching GameCenter CX episode ass i playing the game. After i finished the game, i then watched the last episode and found out that Arino was forced not to stop after beating K. Rool and had to go to Lost World. Paused the episode on that moment and started playing DKC2 again to do the same.

You need to collect Kremkoins to unlock levels in Lost world. I already unlocked and beaten one, so that leaves four levels and a secret boss.

Collecting Kremkoins is tedious. There is nothing worse when i re-play the same level looking for secrets, find secret room and in the end see that i already got this particular Kremkoin earlier.

I wish Cranky's hints were saved somewhere, i bought a lot of them in the beginning of the game and by now completely forgot what was he talking about.

Vanquish (Xbox 360):
Finished the game and started Hard. The plot is stupid but loveable, similar to "so bad it's good" B-tier movie or Jack Bauer 24 series.

Penultimate boss was pretty hard, because for the first time in the game you were actually killing people instead of robots and i wasn't too keen on that. Once i stopped caring and started prioritizing killing guys it went much smoother.

The final boss wasn't as hard as i thought it would be. I was very careful (read: cowardly) and mostly was sliding away, only occasionally shooting cheap shots with Assault Rifle in slo-mo (probably the only boss where Assault Rifle is the best).

The end was okay though i could live without the QTE. Ending movie was kinda baffling for how awkwardly it was directed. Smash bros style credits sequence was okay.

Bayonetta 2 (demo on Wii U):
Disregard what i said about Gamepad not being fit for the game. I just needed to play it a bit and clicked. It works great, even on Gamepad small screen.

Because of demo launch restrictions i had the console on since friday. Yesterday i decided i have squeezed enough from the demo after practicing enough to get Pure Platinums on each verse consistently (not during the same run though).

I checked in the Applications Log: between two demo launches, i've spent 12 hours there.
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Offline broodwars

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #569 on: October 14, 2014, 01:47:31 AM »
I've played some more Alien: Isolation and...****...this is probably the most never-wracking game I've played all year.  I'm really digging this game, but MAN...you REALLY have to be willing to buy into what Sega's selling. This is a no-holds-barred survival horror game, where it's very common to spend the better part of a half hour sneaking under tables, crafting makeshift equipment on the move, and slinking around corners while constantly crouch-walking and listening on your motion tracker for any sign of the one-hit-kill menace...and then sighing for relief as you claw your way to your first save station in the last 45 minutes. I'm playing the game on EASY and I'm still dying quite frequently, even now that I have Spaceballs: The Flamethrower.

For better or worse, the developers totally nailed the authentic Alien horror experience. If you enjoy that kind of experience, you'll love Isolation. If not, you'll despise it.
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Offline Fatty The Hutt

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #570 on: October 14, 2014, 10:52:00 AM »
Been playing Minish Cap, ostensibly to get some time in before my Club Nintendo post-play survey expired. Then it expired before I filled it out. Whoops.
No matter, Minish Cap is surprisingly charming and fun. So far, I am liking it better than Link's Awakening which I found got tedious nearer the end. I am just past the first dungeon and making my way the next challenge. I am playing it on Wii U. I've had it on 3DS since being "gifted" it as an Ambassador but never got round to it. I have played the Wii U version both on the big screen and on the gamepad. Both experiences are very satisfying.
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Offline azeke

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #571 on: October 16, 2014, 12:15:59 AM »
Donkey Kong Country 2 (GBA):
Beat Lost World tire level (Jungle Jinx), was pretty fun. Not as unbelievably hard as Fiery Furnace, but still extremely hard. I vaguely remember similar levels in DKC1 where you jumped on monster truck tires.

Back to collecting Kremkoins to unlock the next Lost World level, i guess...

Vanquish (Xbox 360):


I've spent almost three hours last night trying to beat Tactical Challenge One. It's the first and the easiest one and it's already kicking my ass.

Enemies are EXTREMELY aggressive, way more so than even on Hard. If you show as much as a toe out of a cover all 5 mooks will instantly home in on you. You need to memorize that map layout, where the covers are (not thigh-high puny covers, big ones, containers and tanks that you can semi-safely stand behind while shooting at one romanov knowing that the other two romanovs across the map can't hit you) and meticulously plan out your weapon choices, and how you move during every second of the level just to beat it.

Grenades suddenly become the most valuable weapon you have -- you don't really need to use them in the campaign, but in tactical challenges it's the only way to supress waves of incoming enemies. Top players can time grenade throw into the teleporting sphere so perfectly it blows up at exactly the moment robots are teleported in, before they can spread out all over the map. They just throw it at the sphere and slide away dispatching other enemies, knowing that when it will blast off three seconds later, it will kill the entire incoming wave.

Level design really shines through in how waves are designed, one of the hardest waves in the whole challenge is 3rd where you get three packs of flamethrower Romanovs with couple of yellow robots. Individually these enemies are not that hard to kill even if they are bullet sponges, but put in this particular combination -- it's harder than any boss in single player. Oh and there are three packs of them. If you as much as stand in the wrong place when this wave is teleporting in (like between two spawning points) you will be dead in two seconds.

And finally in the end you face Boogie with two Romanovs. Romanovs are not a problem and are easily killed by leftover walking turrets from the last wave, but Boogie... I fought TWO of them in the story simultaneously and it wasn't half as hard as this one. It is more intense because i've spend like 20 retries and 2 hours on this and if you die on him, you will have to start all over again. I usually get to him by 7th minute and spend the same time just trying to kill him alone.

So far i only managed to do it once with 15 minutes. Watching how people do it in 4 minutes or in even less is very enraging enlightening.

Diablo 3 (360 demo):
I miiiight get the full game to play with my friend (without local co-op i wouldn't have even bothered), so i decided to check out how it plays.

Oh boy. The deeper i get into japanese action games the biggest dissonance i start to feel each time when i try to play games with more primitive combat. I really try to shake the feeling "this combat is mindless, amoeba-level button mashing with zero thought put into it" and give it a fair shake, but it's getting harder and harder each time.

Button layout is okay, i guess. UI looks competently done for a console game. From the way the game looks you expect it to be twin stick shooter, but it's not, right stick is only used for rolls. Resolution is pretty low, but otherwise it plays fine.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #572 on: October 16, 2014, 08:20:11 AM »
I had forgotten how fantastic the music in PictoBits is.  Fun little game (maybe less so after everything is unlocked) and quite challenging when you try higher-level Dark stages... but the music makes the game for me.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2014, 08:22:03 AM by ejamer »
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Offline broodwars

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #573 on: October 17, 2014, 10:07:04 AM »
I started up The Evil Within last night and...wow, this game looks like ****. Seriously, this thing takes up the max 50 GB a dual layer Blu Ray can hold, and I've seen better-looking PS3 games at a fraction of the HDD size and without having to hide its engine problems behind forced letter-boxing.

There's also some just plain technical incompetence. Take this image for instance, which I snapped 5 seconds into the game when I accidentally walked right through my "partner" NPC:



As for the game itself, it has a really slow wind-up, but once it gets going it's basically a less-interesting incarnation of Resident Evil 4. I enjoy the focus one exploration and adaptation, but it just doesn't have the magic RE4 did when I first played it.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2014, 10:16:09 AM by broodwars »
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #574 on: October 18, 2014, 04:18:11 AM »
I went back and played a decent chunk of Super Mario 3D World tonight. As time passes, I'm becoming more and more comfortable saying that's my favorite game of all time. Perfectly distilled platforming.
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