Topic: What are you playing?

[broodwars]

I was wary about starting a game in this with Valkyria Chronicles 4 on the way, but I threw in Shadow of the Tomb Raider for a nice 5-6 hour stretch, and maybe it's just really low expectations after I was profoundly disappointed with Rise of the Tomb Raider...but I actually quite like this one so far.

I think what immensely helps is that there seems to be WAY less combat this time against armored goons with assault rifles. By about 1/4 of the way in, Rise pretty much became a glorified cover shooter. One of the things I REALLY liked in Tomb Raider 2013 was the scarce combat, and it was also combat that stressed movement & adaptability. In Rise, you pretty much planted behind cover, triggered the bow triple headshot, wash, rinse, repeat with wave after wave of goons. So far in Shadow, I've done VERY little combat against human characters, and what combat I've done has had a distinctly Predator-esque vibe: attacking from the shadows and vanishing back into the treeline.

Shadow has a LOT of downtime & exploration, and I love that. I wish it had the unrelenting momentum that Tomb Raider 2013 had, but this is pretty OK. What's really strange, though is that this kind of feels more like a sequel to the 2013 game than Rise did.

[Adrock]

I’m close to finally finishing Breath of the Wild. I went into Hyrule Castle for the Shrine there then decided to explore a bit which ended up with me pretty much clearing the whole thing minus Calamity Ganon. I almost triggered the final boss by haphazardly walking toward the Sanctum. I haven’t completed Vah Rudania yet. Hyrule Castle looks super daunting with all the Guardians Turrets/Skywalkers shooting and/or flying around. It wasn’t that bad with Link as souped up as he is at this point. Having the masks from Kilton is also helpful to avoid entire battles with groups of Lizalfos or Moblins.

Lake Tower and Faron Tower regions were the last two I unlocked. The southeast part of the map is my favorite in the game. Viewing the world from Tuft Mountain was breathtaking. Maybe I just don’t play open-world games enough, but I’ve never seen draw distance like this before. I somehow still have 62 Korok Seeds to find. Most of them are probably here. I try to find what I can on my own then refer to a map for others. I absolutely would not have found most of these on my own. It’s definitely doable to find enough without help to fully expand Link’s inventory.

One of the most understated things that I love about the game is that it acknowledges and shows that there is more to the planet/world than what Link can explore. Sure, it artificially locks Link from getting there either with that canyon to the north and northwest, and the “You can’t go any farther” message. The Zelda Encyclopedia tries to explain (not well) how the various realms and lands connect to Hyrule. I just like that I can see fields in the distance in Breath of the Wild. The world feels much less walled off than previous games even though it clearly still is walled off.

[Mop it up]

Sure, it artificially locks Link from getting there either with that canyon to the north and northwest, and the “You can’t go any farther” message.

I always felt there should have been more to that message, as a way of explaining why you can't go that way. Something like "You can't leave Hyrule, get back in there and save Zelda you coward!"

[ejamer]

Man, is Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS) ever a lot of silly fun.

I've only started the game and finished the first tank battle so far, but everything seems charming and the game feels like it will be great for quick 15-20 minute bursts.  DS had so many awesome little odd-ball titles like this, even though I appreciate the 3DS library it feels very "by the numbers" in comparison...

[ShyGuy]

I played a bit of Spiderman PS4 and Draqon Quest 11 at my cousin's place.

Spiderman seemed like I needed more time to get used to the controls. The camera was a little janky a couple of times as well. It didn't thrill me.

DQ XI seemed pretty sweet, if very cliche. I like the grass in that game.

[ejamer]

Splitting time between Zelda: Majora's Mask (3DS) and Ys: Seven (PSP).

Finished the first dungeon in Zelda over the weekend, and am really hoping to stick with the game until the end this time. (Majora's Mask sits at an awkward spot in my backlog. It's a game that I've started many times but never finished - despite liking the structure and design enough to have talked multiple times about it being one of my favorite Zelda games.)

Ys: Seven was a bit of an impulse thing; picked up my PSP Go over the weekend after thinking about some of the great games for the system that I haven't gotten to. Shouldn't really have started an additional game, but got a bit carried away when looking at my backlog (and outstanding want list) for the system. Don't regret it though.

[lolmonade]

I borrowed Persona 5 (PS4) about a month ago from a friend.  I love it for what it's story has evolved into, the characters who are genuinely interesting and funny, and the way it both has these epic dungeons/battles intertwined with a relationship building mechanic that forces you to play out each day's events as a school student and making choices with how you use the limited time in each of these in-game days.

That said, being 90 hours in has highlighted why I never play these games anymore.  This game is such a time sink.  So there's this dichotomy of wanting to give Persona 4 Golden a try after this and not wanting to make another huge game commitment for a while.  I think I need a break, lol.

[Shaymin]

I think the ability to take P4 Golden (and, Naga willing, P5 Crimson) portable will make them a bit more playable. But I tried to play Person 3 Portable after blasting through P5 and came to a stop in about August with 130 hours between them. So yeah, hold off for a bit.

[lolmonade]

I think the ability to take P4 Golden (and, Naga willing, P5 Crimson) portable will make them a bit more playable. But I tried to play Person 3 Portable after blasting through P5 and came to a stop in about August with 130 hours between them. So yeah, hold off for a bit.

Noted.  Maybe you're right that it'll be more easily consumable on a handheld untethered from a TV.  You're definitely right that i'll need a break after this. 

I have my doubts given the current state of Vita that we'll see a portable Persona 5 (unless it's ported to Switch, where I'd definitely consider obtaining), but now I feel dumb because I could have seen if remote play on Vita worked.  Could have spared my wife countless hours of my characters yelling "PERSONA!" each battle, but she also would have missed out on the awesomeness of Morgana.

Also, I'm an idiot and JUST now realized your profile pic is of the protagonist.  lol.

[GK]

Been bouncing back & forth between Timespinner & Beat Hazard 2(both on Steam) lately.

For a Metroidvania, I don't find Timespinner all that hard. Maybe if I were into achievement hunting I might find trouble. I've just been sidetracking on side quests before marching up to the Emperor.

Beat Hazard 2 is fun & all but I didn't try the first game until after Shadow Missions was added so it feels a bit bare bones to me at the moment. Still, getting #1 ranked in the world on obscure anime songs I found on Youtube hasn't gotten dull yet. 

[Adrock]

Axiom Verge (Switch)

Another game I started last year. I didn’t get too far, only about an hour in per my save file. I’m about five to six hours in now. “Axiom Verge” is worse-Metroid. That isn’t necessarily an indictment on the game. It isn’t bad-Metroid. “Axiom Verge” is very good so far, but it does almost everything worse than the series that primarily inspired it. Several upgrades involve some pretty absurd nonsense. For example, one of the last upgrades I got is right out in the open albeit walled off. I have to jump diagonally at a ledge, shoot my drone against the wall, quickly teleport to the drone in the air, then teleport through said wall.

It seems as if some weapons are completely optional and as such, are very well hidden. I’m not sure which ones I actually need or if I’ve missed others. I’ll consult GameFAQs later. I wouldn’t necessarily fault the game for this because I kind of expect optional items to be hidden away. However, this leads me to something I will fault the game for. Thomas Happ developed this game by himself so no one was around to tell him that some of the level design is problematic. Something Super Metroid did really well was placing notable landmarks at certain dead ends to force it into the player’s memory. That way, when a new powerup is found, they remember to revisit said landmark. “Axiom Verge” doesn’t really have those so it’s easier to get lost. I don’t want to be too hard on Happ. It’s still pretty amazing that one man developed this entire game. Even the music is quite good though sometimes it just stops while I’m in the middle of a room. Not sure if that’s intentional or something.

Anyway, I’m thoroughly enjoying “Axiom Verge” so far. The Rusalki are really well designed, just excellent sprite work. Trace is kind of a dork though. Also, I’m not sure if Happ designed him with mutton chops or if that’s just supposed to be like a shadow on his face. I keep thinking about that Simpson’s episode when Mr. Burns repeatedly told Don Mattingly to trim his sideburns.

EDIT: I googled it. Yeah, they’re mutton chops. I suppose it’s appropriate for Trace’s personality.

[MagicCow64]

Yeah, Axiom Verge for me had a really strong first impression, and then progressively fell apart to the point where I was pretty 'meh' on it by the end. Very good presentation, deceptively banal game design. I feel like the drone upgrade kind of encapsulates the title: Cool and surprising idea that turns out to not be that interesting in practice.

[nickmitch]

I've been playing a lot of Skyrim lately.  It's my first time playing it, but I understand it's pretty popular? 

I initially had some mixed feelings, but now that I'm deeper into the game, I do like it.  It's easy to compare it to Breath of the Wild, with that being my most recent open world experience, and in a lot of ways I can see how Nintendo perfected some aspects of the open world design.

Early on in the game, I felt constantly lost and finding myself in situations where I'm seriously under-leveled.  Quests would send you across the map, and along the way you can find caves and dungeons with bosses that are level 30+.  Not all of them have bosses, but traversing a dungeon only to turn back because the boss is too strong feels like a waste.  Once, I came across a mid boss and just had to flat out run away from it.  I used my "shout" to knock it off its platform and then just ran to the exit.  The main boss was waiting for me up some steps, but I guess the game glitched and I just arrowed it to death without it moving or attacking.

I think that was my frustration with the game.  It felt all over the place, whether I was ready for it or not.  Once I got attacked by some "cultists" and they whooped my ass until I was able to run away.  I eventually returned with some vampire lady, and she basically killed them for me.  I literally couldn't go back to that particular town for a while because I knew I couldn't kill those people.  That kept me from some quests.

The other frustration was the lack of explanations for most things.  Everytime I see a new shrine I accidentally activate it and get a new "blessing", but I don't know what they actually do, so I just kinda don't care.  Then there was the time when like 8 different NPCs told me that if I was interested in magic, I should go to the college in Winterhold.  Winterhold was so fucking far, I thought this had to be a mistake.  I tried going once, but got killed along the way too many times.  The story eventually led me there, but that felt like so many hours later.

Now that I'm deeper into the game, I'm liking it a lot more.  Actually reading through the skill trees (constellations?) and saving some "perks" got me a few that I actually make me feel stronger.  I find myself more equipped to take on stronger bosses, and I've actually killed a dragon (almost) by myself. 

One thing I've learned (finally) is which mechanics I feel comfortable ignoring and which I wanna get into.  The number of things you can develop in the game is tremendous and was actually overwhelming intially.  But now that I've decided that cooking, alchemy, and forging weapons aren't for me, I can just ignore anything related to those activities, which saves me so much carry space.  I enjoy enchanting my weapons and armor, and that's also a good way to make money in the game.

One other thing I like/don't like is that my quest list feels long as ****.  I have no clue what moves the actual story though.  I guess there's multiple stories going on?  So I'll go down the rabbit hole of a few quests, and then it'll just end.  So, I'll move to a new one, but that reintroduces the leveling issue. 

I finished one recently and felt about right, level wise.  Then I went back to one I had skipped for a while (because the quest told me to go far out to the middle of nowhere, and I had to climb a mountain, traverse some waters, and fight several packs of wolves to get to), and felt pretty op.  I killed most enemies with one or two blows. 

The lengthy quest list does make me feel like there's a lot of game left to play.  The structure also makes for some good, focused play sessions where I can just focus on or or two things and clear a quest or two in a shorter play session, or I can get comfortable and play for a bunch.

[ejamer]

After a couple intermittent sessions of Zelda: Triforce Heroes (3DS) - some online with NWR forum peeps (thanks to Khush and Mop it up) and some at home with my kids - I'm starting to get a feel for the game.

What a weird game. It's fun if you meet the strict three-player requirement. Tried single-player for one stage, and it was a bit of a hassle. Playing in person is more fun than online, but none of the early level puzzles are that bad so online play still works well. Haven't spent any time at all looking at the story of town - just focusing on going in and doing the little adventure stages. Honestly couldn't even tell you what the story is about.

Not sure how far I'll stick with this. My kids are too young to have much gaming skill, so we can push through the early levels but challenges and later levels are probably more than they can handle. (If they could practice without me, maybe it would be doable... but the strict player limit doesn't really allow that.)  Online play with the forum peoples here is enjoyable, but that's because the people here are good people.  I don't really care about the game itself enough to dive in and get wrapped up in any specific goals.

Recommended only if you have friends to play with - preferably local, and it's really nice that they offer download play in that regard.  Going online to try the levels with random people isn't something I'd be willing to do. (That said, I'd be willing to play with anyone on these forums who wants/needs a third and isn't too concerned about doing well...)

[MagicCow64]

Yoku's Island Express (PC):

I haven't gotten quite the same tickle as I have off this game in a long time. I'm not a pinball person, but I did get really addicted to that old Windows space pinball game on a work laptop at one point. And I like Metroid-style design a lot when done well. And here somehow both core impulses are married and satisfied in this strange one-off hybrid.

Basically it's a Metroid game but you're a pinball and a lot of the world is structured like a pinball table. It's really viscerally fun for most of the game, and the developers came up with some ingenious concepts to make it consistently playable as an "adventure".

If pressed, I would say they lean too hard on naturalism to stitch it all together, so you never get the level design equivalent of some high-stress third-stage pinball sequence, which in the end restricts how far it develops. The bosses are big missed opportunities for this, but it's also hard to envision how to introduce significant punishment into the mix without it being maddening. Additionally, few of the upgrades are particularly pinbally, but it's also easy to conceive how problematic a real late-stage screw jump would be in this context, so there's a bit of throttled feeling to it along with a bit of an uncanny valley between genres. The last third of the game is kind of a bore as a result, but it's offset by the cleverness of some of the secret/optional sections.

But even though I have some fairly substantial nags about it, this is probably the most engaged I've been by a game since Hollow Knight originally released.

[Adrock]

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (Switch)

I originally pledged to the Kickstarter, choosing Wii U as my platform of choice. I was admittedly irked that Wayforward announced a physical version about a month before sending out codes. Had I known a physical release was going to happen, I would have waited. Maybe Wayforward didn’t know during the Kickstarter window. Either way, the company got my money. Twice. I picked up the physical Ultimate Edition because I’d rather have a physical version, and I knew I was more likely to actually play it on Switch. I kind of just don’t want to play games on Wii U when I can help it.

I believe I got past the second boss (Giga Mermaid AKA Giga Boobmaid on Wii U before I stopped playing. I’m well past that point, having defeated the fourth boss. Outside of some frustrating platforming, I’m enjoying the game. However, so far, it’s already worse than “Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse.” The previous entry ditched transformations in favor of pirate gear which greatly improved pacing and made for some much appreciated new gameplay mechanics. “Shantae: Half-Genie Hero” returns to transformations, and while still fun, just feels like a step back.

I should note that the controls don’t feel as tight as I want them to be. I’m not sure whether the Pro Controller’s faulty d-pad is to blade or if it’s merely making the controls worse. My Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Pro Controller seemed to fair a little better, but that may be wishful thinking.

[NWR_insanolord]

Because I'm late to everything and have a massive backlog, I'm just now starting The Messenger. Neal gave it a 10 for NWR and was extremely vocal in his praise for it on Twitter and in the staff Slack, and based on the first little bit of it I can see why. I don't have that much experience with things this is based on like Ninja Gaiden, but I'm having a really good time with it so far. Pretty simple mechanics, at least so far, but it feels pretty tight and I haven't yet run into any areas where it feels cheap, though I am pretty early on.

[broodwars]

Been on a bit of a Resident Evil kick lately with REmake 2 on the horizon & the season and all.

Thoroughly replayed Resident Evil Revelations 2, one of the games in the series I find most overlooked & underappreciated, especially in comparison to the spectacularly mediocre Revelations 1.  Ended up getting all the medals, the Bad Ending I never got before, and even beat the game in Countdown & Invisible mode to get the Platinum.

Countdown mode was...interesting. I despise speed-running in games. I prefer to take my time & explore, but Countdown mode forces you to learn how to make snap judgments and find the most efficient path through a level before that timer hits zero.  It's not something I'd ever want to do again, but as a one-off experiment it was entertaining enough, I guess.

Invisible mode was a beast of another matter, though. It's the hardest mode in the game: all enemies are set to their highest difficulty mode, and you can't see them unless Moira shines her light at them for a few seconds & Natalia does the same with her pointing.  Like Countdown, it forces you to find the most efficient path and pick & choose which enemies you're going to engage with. In some ways, it reminds me of my Hard Core run in Dead Space 2, where I had to get creative at the start of the game finding ways to exploit the system & take down enemies without using my scarce ammo supply.  Another mode I'd never want to do again, but it was certainly a unique experience.

[broodwars]

Unfortunately, I decided to pick up Revelations 1 PS4 after that, and god...every time I come back to this game, I think "this time, I'm actually going to see what people like about it", and every time that never happens.  I just despise every aspect about how this game is designed, from the bullet sponge, wobbling enemies gimped for the terrible 3DS controls...to the game's love of countdown timers & just dumping you into rooms with dozens of ambushing enemies...to some of the worst, most annoying characters to ever feature in a non-FPS Resident Evil game.

Coming to this game after Revelations 2 was especially irritating, as I'd gotten so used to running in Rev 2 and there's none of that in Rev 1. Because the 3DS didn't have a 2nd stick, Jill controls pretty much like RE4 (i.e. stiff as a board with tank controls) with only slightly more mobility afforded by the right stick.  The big draw of this game was supposedly Raid mode, but Raid mode was so much more entertaining in Rev 2 with a variety of enemies & scenarios. Rev 1's Raid mode is just the main campaign but with enemies that have visible  health bars.  I didn't enjoy fighting the spaz-tastic Ooze monsters in the main game, so why would I want to dump another dozen hours into fighting them over and over again?

Also, "Terragrigia" is still the stupidest name I've ever seen in the history of fiction.

Went on to Resident Evil 4 PS4 from there, and if there was one positive from playing Rev 1, it's that it got me used to RE 4's still controls again.  Nearing the end of the game, and while I'm enjoying it...it's hard not to see how padded this game is and reliant on gimmicks. I'm nearing the point where the game gives up even trying to pretend it's still a horror game of sorts, at least until the Regenerators show up.  Forgot how annoying the shooting galleries are without pointer controls & a reticule.

[Adrock]

Unfortunately, I decided to pick up Revelations 1 PS4 after that, and god...every time I come back to this game, I think "this time, I'm actually going to see what people like about it", and every time that never happens

For me, the appeal of “Resident Evil: Revelations” was directly tied to 3DS. The game looked amazing on a handheld in 2012. If you didn’t play it back then, much of the wow-factor is lost. When I bought the Wii U port, and the game’s warts were far more apparent. It was easier to see how much Capcom hid behind a 240p screen so the graphics were far less impressive on an HD console. The HD ports did have dual stick controls though the Circle Pad Pro helped immensely on 3DS.

Ghost Ship was the only part of Raid Mode that was really good, and even then, it wasn’t after a while for the reasons you mentioned. The lack of variety in enemies really killed it because the Ooze are just boring, low-polygon, nearly texture-less bullet sponges. Ultimately, I think you gave the game a fair shake. “Resident Evil: Revelations” isn’t that great especially by 2018 standards.

Also, "Terragrigia" is still the stupidest name I've ever seen in the history of fiction.

I’m almost with you on this except “The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks” had spirits named “Lokomo” and almost every character in the game was a train-related pun.

[broodwars]

Finished my replay of Resident Evil 4 on PS4. Man...that game does not hold up as well as I had hoped.  I had forgotten that everything about The Island (outside the Regenerators) is just "the worst", and it alone must push the game's run time at least 3-4 hours. It's bad enough that the game tosses in armored soldiers, which have always been the worst part of modern Resident Evil games, but it's also where the game decides to just throw in every leftover idea in an already schizophrenic game.

"Hey, we have this idea for a boss fight against a giant monster in a giant cage, but we just can't figure out how to set it up and make it interesting!"

"**** it! Put it in right at the end!"

"Hey, we have this concept for a character that's an old friend of Leon's. He's a military dude with a blade arm!"

"I like it! We can put him right after the giant monster fight!"

"But won't that be exhausting to the player?"

"Didn't you hear me earlier? **** IT!"

"But don't we need to set this guy up at all in the story? And what's this about him having explosive drones & a machine gun?"

"****! IT!"

The entire game feels like that at times. Mikami couldn't focus on any one idea after the 3-4 different prototypes RE4 had (including 1 that became Devil May Cry), so he just decided to throw in whatever came to mind. Sometimes that led to really cool sequences, and sometimes that led to ducking in and out of cover while dudes with chain guns, dynamite, & rocket launchers rain down death from above. The game's especially fond of just flooding the area with enemies from either behind you or from above, and eventually it stops being interesting or surprising & just becomes exhausting.

And seriously, Capcom, your refusal to just remake Separate Ways is just getting embarrassing now, with all the cinematics (including ones just lifted from RE4 GCN) rendered at resolution so poor that watching them on my 1080p TV now looks like 90s-era Quicktime files.

Yes, RE4 is still a great game in its own right, but between the awful last 1/3; the lack of some gameplay perks from later games (like being able to shoot a gun & throw a grenade without diving back into menus); and the sheer length of the game, it's definitely dropped some rungs on my Top RE Games list.

[pokepal148]

I picked up a physical copy of Revelaitons on the 3DS ages ago. It's pretty fun when it's the more slow paced horrory action on the ship but when it gets to the more fast paced stuff it just became really frustrating for me to try and keep up. I gave up on the mountain where dudebro gets himself injured and has to fight off a bunch of wolves. That segment just shows off how unpolished the aiming controls are for more fast paced stuff.

[Luigi Dude]

Finished my replay of Resident Evil 4 on PS4. Man...that game does not hold up as well as I had hoped.  I had forgotten that everything about The Island (outside the Regenerators) is just "the worst", and it alone must push the game's run time at least 3-4 hours. It's bad enough that the game tosses in armored soldiers, which have always been the worst part of modern Resident Evil games, but it's also where the game decides to just throw in every leftover idea in an already schizophrenic game.

Even back in 2005 the Island was widely considered the weakest section by far.  Most people praised the overall game for how amazing the Village was and the Castle was still mostly well loved as well but I never saw too much love for the Island.  That was usually the moment people thought it jump the shark from something still resembling survival horror into full blown action which didn't work as well since the game wasn't properly designed around being a full blown action game like the Island tries to do.

[ejamer]

Maybe splitting my time between too many games lately, but ended up buying a copy of Severed (3DS and Wii U with cross-buy) when it was on sale because it seemed like a good Halloween game.

Early impressions are decidedly mixed.  The art style is undeniably cool, but the environments are mostly barren and the pointer-based gameplay mediocre so far. (Just starting the third part of the crow temple, so not that far into the game.) It reminds me of the highly stylized, on-rails action game Killer 7... but super streamlined and without the crazy story that was packed into the game. Neither change is for the better, in my experience.

There are some vocal supporters of this game on the forums here, so hopefully I'll find something that appeals to me as it progresses. So far I've been mostly disappointed and am left feeling like it's a style-over-substance affair.
 

[Order.RSS]

There are some vocal supporters of this game on the forums here, so hopefully I'll find something that appeals to me as it progresses. So far I've been mostly disappointed and am left feeling like it's a style-over-substance affair.
 

Aww crud, hope it picks up for you. The atmosphere really worked for me and I really dug the subtle storytelling done almost entirely through environmental cues. To me the world felt very desolate, where only scavenging creatures like the crows and vultures can still thrive while everything else slowly withers. Gave me that Metroid Prime sensation at its best times.

For what it's worth, the areas do get progressively better, but I could see this game ultimately having little wide appeal. At the end of the day it's just a first person dungeon crawler with few means of interaction and it takes a while before you get to truly desperate fights where you're stressed & scrambling to stay upright. Those instances are a bit too few imo.
Hope it grows on you (heh), but I don't know if it will ever really address your current criticisms unfortunately.