Topic: What are you playing?

[broodwars]

Finished my replay of Conker's Bad Fur day via Rare Replay and...wow. I had mixed feelings on that game to begin with, but man that game is a piece of irredeemable, singing **** now. Plus, in Rare Replay you take its unfunny gross-out humor; terrible camera; and poor scenario design, and you get to marry it with a controller the game was simply not designed for. The end result is that any time you're in a shooter sequence or a time when you need to aim a projectile, your aim swings wildly all over the place with the slightest stick movement because the Xbone control stick is simply better than the N64 one and the devs really didn't compensate for it.

And don't get me started on how godawful the shooter controls are later in the game when you have to move with the right stick and aim with the left.

Speaking of which, though, just this morning Microsoft released a patch that dramatically fixes the controls in Jet Force Gemini, and wow do they make a difference. Now instead of switching sticks when aiming, you can always just use the left stick to move & the right stick to aim. You also have Jump now on the A button rather than...Up on the Right Stick (because the original controls map all the original C buttons to the right stick). It can't be understated how completely that changes the overall experience, even if the character movement is still pretty twitchy.

And yes, Rare Replay in general is pretty awesome. There's an insane amount of attention to detail in the presentation, though I wish their N64 emulator was...a lot less faithful (Conker's framerate constantly chugs, true to the original). Also, I'm sorry, but all the Spectrum games suck. Every single one of them. And **** Battletoads on the NES. Seriously, I've never seen a game so gleefully eager to instant kill you in my entire life. I don't think it's actually possible to beat that game, even with Rare Replay's pre-N64 game Rewind feature (which lets you always rewind about 30 seconds of gameplay in the past).

[sudoshuff]

And **** Battletoads on the NES. Seriously, I've never seen a game so gleefully eager to instant kill you in my entire life. I don't think it's actually possible to beat that game, even with Rare Replay's pre-N64 game Rewind feature (which lets you always rewind about 30 seconds of gameplay in the past).

At the Classic Games Fest in Austin a couple of weeks ago they had a station to challenge people just to beat the speeder bike level.  I never saw a single person do it.

[ejamer]

And **** Battletoads on the NES. Seriously, I've never seen a game so gleefully eager to instant kill you in my entire life. I don't think it's actually possible to beat that game, even with Rare Replay's pre-N64 game Rewind feature (which lets you always rewind about 30 seconds of gameplay in the past).

At the Classic Games Fest in Austin a couple of weeks ago they had a station to challenge people just to beat the speeder bike level.  I never saw a single person do it.

Speeder bike level isn't that hard (although like many levels in the game, memorization of the patterns helps a lot and beating it first go would be very difficult).

But there was one level late in the game that had you holding onto some kind of unicycle-like device and running from some kind of circular death ball. Never could figure out the controls there, and it always brought an end to my game...

Just did some research - the stage I couldn't beat was called Clinger Winger, and was the penultimate stage. Really, I just didn't understand the controls as a kid, and because it's a quick instant death that stage would always be the end of me.  It's a shame there wasn't some kind of practice mode that would let you skip to levels you needed practice on.


Edit: Worth noting that I don't mind at all using in-game warps to get to different levels. Don't think I ever played through from the first stage to Clinger Winger without skipping levels. That would be pretty crazy.

[broodwars]

Man, Jet Force Gemini holds up way better than I was expecting now that the controls have been retooled for a dual-stick controller. There's just this constant feeling of momentum, the weapons & enemies scaled-up so quickly, and the level design's unexpectedly excellent for an N64-era shooter. I'm really having a blast replaying it.

[Louieturkey]

I've been playing Sly 3 with my son.  He loves the Sly games and keeps replaying stuff over and over again.  Still kind of enjoyable even with all that.

My last game I played for myself is Beyond Good & Evil HD.  I'm loving this game more each time I play it. I really wish Ubisoft would finally announce the sequel.

[azeke]

Rocket League (PC):
Played a few matches with a friend. Very accessible which is a must for couch co-op game where you don't want to waste ANY time explaining game rules and controls. I just said "soccer with cars" and he got it.

It could be that i still haven't figured out how to handle cars but it feels a bit random. Team work when it happens still feels good. We mostly played 2vs2 against bots and some 1 on 1 against each other. Also tried out 3 on 3 but that felt way too random.

The only small problem was that UI text was way too small, though it might be splitscreen issue.

Pre-ordered Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom-Pain on Steam and got it's demo Ground Zeroes for free:

MGS now controls just like any other standard third person shooter.




Good!

Finally, MGS has shed it's ridiculous control schemes. Especially with separate weapons and items switching on shoulder buttons -- an atavistic a vestigial relic coming from PS1 MSX (!). Decoupling lunge action from crouch/prone button is also a huge improvement -- no more crouching when you want to roll or vice versa.

Controls until GZ have all been of varying flavours of terrible. Ground Zeroes is literally the first time controls stopped being a hindrance in the series.

And in general, there was some serious redesigning made to the formula. The base that you're sneaking around is huge with lots of vast spaces. Soldiers are placed relatively sparsely and are seen and heard from afar despite you not having any radar equipment.

Taking cover is semi-automatic and you basically get glued to walls and objects automatically, there is no dedicated cover button.

Reflex mode is a neat addition that helps to overcome general inadequacy of all console third person shooters with limited visibility and action.

One playthrough is so short the game can be called a demo, but it's one of the most enjoyable, fun and intense 83 minutes i spent playing a videogame.

The story is very, VERY dark. Much more so than any previous games in the series. Tortures and rapes for everyone.

It's very fascinating how this one hour game crams in most traditional elements of other games in the series, from initial infiltration to vehicle escape sequence and story twists.

I highly recommend anyone to play Ground Zeroes despite it being heavily tied to Peace Walker story-wise. Improvements in controls and overall gameplay i think will be worth getting spoilered by PW's ending. Oh and it looks amazing graphically, that helps too.

Will try to 100% GZ while excitedly waiting for Phantom Pain...

[Triforce Hermit]

Metro 2033 Redux: It is like Fallout except it is polished, has a better story, more creative, and overall better everything (gameplay, physics, scavenging element, etc). But yet it isn't open world so it isn't therefore super popular. I'm enjoying the environment in the game a so much though. Your main character doesn't speak, but you can find notes that give his views on current events which is probably for the best since it goes into more detail then dialogue could.

MGSV: GZ: I just finished the only worthwhile parts of the game. The main mission and the two side ops, Jamais Vu and Deja Vu. These are the reasons to own the game. Main mission for obvious reasons, Deja Vu for great fun fanservice, and Jamais Vu because it changes up the formula of sneaking for an S Rank and is fun. Supposedly there are bonus in PP for a ton of stuff you do in this game so if you want that, then you have more then the 30 minutes. People who call this a demo don't even bother with half the game. Short? Yes. A demo? No. But I still have like 17 hours in it so far. Haven't done any of the other side ops except one.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein: PC version crashes a lot on newer systems. I've tried patches and fixes, but nothing works. From what I have played, this is a great game and I enjoy it a lot. Maybe because I've have a WW2 itch that needed to be scratched, but I'm loving what I am playing. I just wish it didn't crash so much.

Chivalry Medieval Warfare: High skill curve. Bad players are too easy and don't help you get better and good players are assholes who use advanced tactics making it hard to learn. But killing is extremely satisfying because of how difficult it first is. Extremely fun if you can get into it. The game is ambitious for an indie title, but it is still and indie title. GPU/CPU intensive and extremely reliant on internet speed so it sucks for me most of the time. Horde mode is...interesting in this to say the least.

[BranDonk Kong]

Still playing Arkham City...trying to get 100%. I have Arkham Knight on deck, and a **** ton of other games I bought a while ago that are still in the wrapping...Alien Isolation, WWE 2K15, Tomb Raider, GTAV, Watch_Dogs, The Evil Within, Forza 5, Dead Rising 3, The Last of Us....

[broodwars]

You know, Grabbed By the Ghoulies isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It's just kind of...boring and disjointed, feeling like a game slapped together from mismatched parts.

[NWR_insanolord]

Finally tried out Rocket League after being relentlessly badgered by a friend of mine, and I've gotta say, yeah, it's pretty good. Simple mechanics, but executed very well, and extremely addictive.

[Louieturkey]

I don't know if I'll ever stop playing Sly Cooper games.  My son fell in love with them again when he realized I had the HD Trilogy of the first 3 games.  He never actually played these, just watched let's plays or speedruns on youtube.  Now that I have it, he's constantly asking me to help him with it.  I don't mind as they are quite fun games. I guess we're going back to Thieves in Time tonight though.

At some point, he'll remember that he likes Disney Infinity and will want to play that all the time again.

[NWR_insanolord]

I finally started up New Super Luigi U, which I've had since it came out but was holding off on until I beat the Mario campaign, which I did a few months ago. I really wish I'd come to this sooner, because this is really my kind of game. I was a big fan of NSMBU, but the shorter, harder, faster-paced levels in this give it a Super Mario Bros. 3 kind of feeling, which I prefer to the Super Mario World style of NSMBU.

[broodwars]

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture has a ****ing amazing soundtrack, particularly when it comes to choral pieces. The game itself? Well...it's an acquired taste. It's essentially a well-acted Radio Drama you have to walk very...very...very slowly through to witness play out in scattered segments. It's clicking with me, but I can see how it would piss some other people off. That said, it's WAY more compelling that something like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, which I recently played through and found profoundly boring. It helps that the game's art direction is fantastic & the radio drama portions come fairly often as you explore.

[lolmonade]

Finally tried out Rocket League after being relentlessly badgered by a friend of mine, and I've gotta say, yeah, it's pretty good. Simple mechanics, but executed very well, and extremely addictive.

Rocket League is my "I can't stop playing this" game right now.  It's silly fun, and is so satisfying when you make a really good save, demolish someone else's car, or contribute to a goal in one way or another.  Thankfully, most games I've played online have been pretty close, many going into overtime, so the population right now must be even-handed enough at the moment.
 
Only gripe I have about the game is the online matches are almost unplayable if you have even one person with a bad Ping.  And when that happens, your car starts acting like it's possessed, shifting into the floor, shifting left and right in a stutter-motion.  .
 
That, and I'm probably done with 4v4 unless I want utter chaos.  1v1/2v2 seems a bit bare on the field to me.  3v3 is just the right mix of silliness & potential cooperation.

[ClexYoshi]

gosh, it's been a while since I've posted in this thread, but I'm quite bored right now, so...


Legend of Dragoon: This game holds up better than I would have thought and is kinda a true lost gem amongst JRPGs. I paritcularly like the way it handles Random encounters, what with the whole encouter risk meter the game has going on. It's also worth noting the Addition system being right at home in an era that would soon unleash Paper Mario into the world. This game is kinda like if Sonic Chronicles was good and made by Sony or something. even that description is a bastardization, but damn, this is a fine JRPG.

Senran Kagura Burst: I want to take a drill and detach alaska from the rest of the US and then reattach it to Hokkaido.

Really, I don't know what to make of this game yet, although I have strong impressions already. Radio Trivia actually pushed me over the edge to try it, so... yeah.

Dark Souls... Again.: I really cannot get enough of this game. it's amazing and I love it to death. <3 although man, it's kinda rough going back to it after you're used to the speed that Bloodborne moves at.

[BiteThePillow]

To me, Legend of Dragoon felt a little... manufactured, as if Sony were ticking boxes to clone a successful JRPG based on what was hot at the time. Maybe I judged it too soon. I only put a couple of hours into it.

[pinny]

I like playing games, shooting games such as counter is a challenging task to do. During the game, it's a thrill. Stimulation caused a lot all the time. It's fun and I am also a game that can be played with family. Do you believe that it helps the kids with my intimate time together. Play Together It is good for me. Do you think it's interesting, too?

[broodwars]

*looks at above post.* Honestly, I can't tell this time if that's a very good spambot or a badly-translated real poster, because that post is incoherent but actually on-topic.

[ejamer]

Finally playing through Mega Man X (Wii U Virtual Console).  I've played little bits of the game multiple times previously, but never really sat down and gave a concerted effort. Now that I have started, surprised at how easy the game is... difficulty just feels really low compared to the 8-bit Mega Man titles I'm used to.


Still fun enough, but I think I prefer the non-X series.  Do later entries get better, or keep the same feel?

[BiteThePillow]

Finally playing through Mega Man X (Wii U Virtual Console).  I've played little bits of the game multiple times previously, but never really sat down and gave a concerted effort. Now that I have started, surprised at how easy the game is... difficulty just feels really low compared to the 8-bit Mega Man titles I'm used to.


Still fun enough, but I think I prefer the non-X series.  Do later entries get better, or keep the same feel?

Stick with it and it will get harder toward the end. The Sigma's Fortress bosses can be kind of tough, and Sigma himself is difficult the first few times (obviously not using hadouken on everything will help). But you are definitely right about the low difficulty when compared to the MM games. Yet, I have heard plenty of people tell me how MMX is brutally difficult. One of my brothers even says it's one of the hardest games he's ever played. I told him to go play MM1 and get back to me on that.

I dabbled in MMX 2 and 3, when I played the Gamecube collection at a friend's house years ago. They seemed much more challenging from the beginning, and the bosses are quite varied in how you have to fight them. But the difficulty may have stemmed partially from the Gamecube's crappy controller configuration. According to Johnny Metts and James Jones on the RFN podcast, the games are only good through about MMX4, then the series goes to ****.

[ejamer]

Well, I've been going through Sigma's fortress (I think that's what the bottom right corner space is?)  and have gotten through the first three stages easily enough.


Ok, there was one jumping moment that was super annoying and made me wish there was some kind of improved jumping upgrade... but that was more annoying than truly difficult.


I like the way that bosses get interspersed in these stages as mini-bosses you have to battle, and the actual boss designs have been interesting enough. The levels just feel very short and sparsely populated.  That will probably change before the end though.


Also worth noting that the game wasn't that easy before getting some of the power-ups. Easier than 8-bit games, but I died a few times getting started.  But a few health bonuses helped a lot, and then I found out that the two energy tanks I had been hoarding for the end-game were refillable... well, that was the end of any meaningful challenge (so far).

... I told him to go play MM1 and get back to me on that.  ...

Hahaha... you didn't at least start him with the (relatively easy) MM2?  Meanness.

...  According to Johnny Metts and James Jones on the RFN podcast, the games are only good through about MMX4, then the series goes to ****.

Fair enough. I have 4 and 5 on PSN after a big sale a while back. Considering the price, even if the series did go to **** they should be fun enough to justify the purchase.

[MagicCow64]

Mega Man x is great. I played through 2 a little while back on the VC, and thought it was significantly worse. From what I've gathered, it just goes downhill from there.

[Evan_B]

Mega Man gameplay has never really clicked with me. Tried Mega Man, Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero... my friend told me that, since I like RPGs, I should give Battle Network a try but I've been so consecutively let down by the series I am hesitant.

Mega Man-alikes do nothing for me either. Tried Shovel Knight. Great soundtrack, mediocre gameplay. Azure Striker Gunvolt was terrible, and I fully expect Mighty Number 9 to be awful as well.

As for me, I'm still chipping away at Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and enjoying it for the most part. It's just a terribly slow game. The characters are either dull as a brick or trying too hard. Gameplay is solid, much like Conviction, the game I played before this one briefly. I also just recently finished the original Phantasy Star, which I quite liked, but it had some serious dated aspects that made it hard to love. I'm moving on to Phantasy Star II right now and I'm blown away by the upgrade in presentation.

[NWR_insanolord]

EA has apparently been paying attention to how much I play FIFA, because I was invited to the FIFA 16 Career Mode Beta. I was already 100% onboard with giving them my $60 on day one next month for it, but what I've played so far gives me absolutely no reason to reconsider that. The ability to train individual players in specific areas really is a game changer for how to approach this game.

[MagicCow64]

I've slowly come to the conclusion that I'm just kind of done with a lot of genres/trends in video games, and am going to wipe up some stuff I've had sitting around (or have meant to play for a long time) and find more productive uses of my time.

Here's the current wave:

De Blob 2 (Wii):

I bought this for $2 and change months ago, and finally fired it up this week after having somewhat enjoyed a rental of the first game when it came out years ago. I'm about halfway through and don't know if I'll continue. Having the jump function on a button is certainly an improvement, but the core gameplay is extremely thin and repetitive and has barely developed at all over the course of the campaign. It's been a long time since I played the first one, but I seem to remember it having more going on, or better integration of the musical aspect, or something. The 2D bits also get extremely tiresome very quickly.

Dust: An Elysian Tale (PS4):

I saw this kicked around on lists of good Metroidvania titles over the years, and finally picked it up on a sale off the PSN. I've beaten it, and kind of minorly enjoyed it in a way that I can't really justify, because it basically sucks. The combat, which is most of the gameplay, is very shallow and it's often difficult to tell what's going on with all the sprites rolling all over reach other. The platforming straight sucks, and the art design has an unpleasant disconnect between the characters and the environments that makes it feel very stiff and "budget" overall. Also, way too much story and dialogue with insufferable characters. The "Metroid" elements are perfunctory and unnecessary, mainly just there to prop up a gear/crafting system that didn't need to exist.

Sanitarium (PC):

I've seen this listed as a horror/adventure gem, so I gave it a shot off GOG. While I liked the atmosphere at approach to the genre at first, the game degrades steadily as it goes along. It also relies heavily on awful "puzzles" that involve interacting with an obtuse mechanism and fiddling with dials and buttons and levers and **** toward some unclear goal. Probably my biggest pet peeve with the adventure genre. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream is a much better take on this kind of niche.