Topic: What are you playing?

[Evan_B]

Oh, Ys Book I and II were so delightfully simple. Not sure if I can say the same about later entries in the series.

They also take actual skill to play.

I like when my RPGs try to be different, but I see your point in wanting something classic. One of the reasons I find Final Fantasy titles beyond V so hard to get into is because they're self-contained universes that have a lot of technical aspects to them. I couldn't believe there was a lore section in Final Fantasy XIII's menus, but I suppose that's only one of the glaring issues that game has. Games like Etrian Odyssey, which have relatively tame settings but absurd sci-fi aspects, are enjoyable when the story is light. Likewise, I've found Shin Megami Tensei's universe very engaging. Yes, Shin Megami Tensei, not Persona.

Mostly I like stories that are told genuinely. It's one of the reasons I like The Last Story, hate to bring it up again. It is cliche'd and actually has some Final Fantasy-like sci-fi twists, but the characters are very genuine and enjoyable. The European accents really only add to the experience.

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

I just started my annual replay of the NES Zelda titles. I am going to beat them both and then go through the different ones I have on Wii U virtual console, before digging into Wind Waker for a serious run once and for all. I figure if I can ever get past that stupid pirate island part that always makes me lose interest I might actually get into the game this time. I decided to play them in reverse order though so I am starting with Zelda II and if, and ONLY if I finally beat that son of a bitch will I replay Zelda NES again. I have beaten only two Zelda games in my lifetime, original and Link to the Past. I was on the final dungeon area of Minish Cap when my save got deleted, stupid sister! and I could never bring myself to go back to it after that.

So this weekend I am playing Zelda II on the NES, until I beat it or until I get bored.

[Evan_B]

Minish Cap has a great final boss that's uncharacteristically difficult. At least, that's what memory tells me. I might have to go back to it.

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

I thought all Zelda final bosses are difficult? Maybe I haven't played enough Zelda games to the end it would seem. Also it didn't as long to get bored as normal. I could blame it on the weather but the weather has been nice, so I have to place the blame on the headcold that decided to sneak up on me this weekend and screw with my brain.

[Luigi Dude]

Minish Cap has a great final boss that's uncharacteristically difficult. At least, that's what memory tells me. I might have to go back to it.

Yep, you're remembering it right.  The final boss fight for Minish Cap was awesome and by far the best in the series because of it's challenge.  Plus it's still the only Zelda final boss that requires you to use almost every item you've got during the game throughout the fight making it so much more satisfying. 

Hopefully Fujibayashi will make something like that in 3D with the upcoming Zelda.  I was really disappointed with Skyward Swords final boss fight being just a boring sword fight after the awesome final boss fights he made in the Oracle games and Minish Cap.  I'll let it slide for now because Skyward Sword was his first 3D Zelda so hopefully since he's more experienced with 3D design now he'll go all out for the upcoming Zelda and deliver on making a great final boss again.

I thought all Zelda final bosses are difficult?

Nope, most final boss fights in Zelda games are pretty easy.  Anyone that has a remote understanding of the games mechanics by that point can easily overcome them and most are no different then the average boss fights you do earlier in them.  The only exceptions are the Oracle games, Minish Cap and Spirit Tracks since these games actually try to demand more action from the player then the rest of the game did by creating clearly harder and more challenging experiences then anything else the player has done before. 


Of course I'd also add Zelda 2 as well since I consider the Thunderbird to be the true final boss in that game since he's hard as **** and just one room away from the official final boss Shadow Link who most people can easily cheese, but come on, you have to beat the Thunderbird first and he's a real asshole.

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

I guess I just don't have enough experience with them but I was going off old G4 videos and some youtube videos that I remembered watching.

[azeke]

Devil May Cry 3 (360 through HD Collection):
Most of my gaming time last two weeks was occupied by other Capcom action game, and while recovering from beatdown it gave me, i decided to continue progressing through Hard campaign with Dante. Initially i wanted to complete Hard with Vergil, but his controls are just messing my brain (mostly three way switching, i keep confusing which weapon i have at the moment even with just two weapons in rotation, let alone three).

Man i forgot how taxing this game on wrist. Constantly keeping devil trigger button, gun button, and actively holding and release lock-on button -- finger jumble.

Transformers: Devastation (Steam):
Not sure why i dropped it really.

I picked it up last night and apparently i was at what feels like tail end of the game with all bosses all coming at me one after another.

Blitzwing was especially cool.

I mean he can transform into Jet that bombs ice shards AND he can transform into Tank that is all on fire AND in humanoid form he can fire his cannon AND in slo-mo you can actually catch his projectile as it is leaving the barrel AND hit him with it (!!!!):

And other bosses are no slouches too: fighting Starscream in warp space (dat theme tho), Menasor that is the size of skyscraper but acts, moves and dodges as fast as a regular sized enemy, some other robot who transforms into lazer gun making all kinds laser fences all over the arena.

Also during breaks on work

Binding of Isaac (Steam):
After registering 134 hours, i can say that this game is a'ight:

Due to Steam achievement shenanigans (old Flash version is kinda buggy) my game didn't count several complete playthroughs (all the way down to Mom's Heart and even lower down to Satan). My stats stubbornly kept saying i only killed Mom 4 times. I had change my Steam cloud setting for kill stat to finally start counting right.

Crypt of the Necrodancer (Steam):
Great game, great music:

One interesting aspect is how this game does metagame. In Binding of Isaac you can literally manipulate your luck in your favour to get better item drops. In Crypt of Necrodancer you can go to Janitor and eliminate unneeded or simply weak items from item pool completely.

And the main gameplay is very original too.

Pinball FX (Zen Pinball) (Steam):
Bought several Zen Pinball tables on sale for 2+ bucks, including my favourite, Excalibur:

This port doesn't seem to be affected by weird physics of Zen Pinball 2 and plays more or less like 3DS port (my preferred version). Initial ball launching is a bit harder to time skillshots out of the gate, but everything else "feels" the same.

And obviously it looks nicer because it is on PC and i am using vertical monitor to play it.

[Soren]

I think I'm done with Undertale. The game is well written and just oozes charm in every direction. I just don't have the patience to sit and restart boss battles that only get tougher and tougher while you have to stick it out with your base set of stats in order to achieve the "good" ending. I really don't want to sit here for an hour and not feel like I've made progress. Which is a shame because the game is good and there's good stuff to be found. It's just that one sticking point, I guess.

[ejamer]

Finally started Telslagrad (Wii U).


When this was first coming out, I really liked the art style and thought the developers had some great ideas. Using magnetic/electric powers in a platform/puzzle game seemed extremely promising. But somehow it fell off my radar for a while and - even though I owned the game - never quite made it onto my "now playing" list.


Having finally dropped a few hours into the game, I'm not really impressed. There isn't anything bad to complain about... but controls feel a bit loose and level design has mostly been "meh" all around.  It's still early enough that things might improve - but they also might not get any better, which tends to be common in my experience with indie games. If anything, they tend to start out better and go downhill.


Overall I do like the game, but don't love it and can't help but feel a bit disappointed - even though that is my own fault for going in with relatively high expectations.

[Evan_B]

I had the same exact experience with Teslagrad as you, ejamer.

If anyone is interested, my review can be found here.

[Soren]

I had a bad time with Teslagrad, mostly because the game had a habit of hard locking at some crucial times when I was stuck on a particular platforming challenge. The constant failure + that grating sound when your console hard locks just killed it for me. Which is a shame because the game looked good and there was something there that could have resulted in a good game.

[MagicCow64]

Yeah, I think I chimed in before, but Teslagrad might be my most rued eShop purchase. I don't think it ultimately even had that great of an aesthetic and the animations were distractingly un-filled in. I felt like half the game was just dicking with fiddly physics ****, probably my least favorite thing to do in puzzle-oriented games. Did anyone collect all the scroll thingies and get to the real final boss? I gave up after I saw what the shaft race one entailed and just looked it up, and it seemed like 4X worse than any other boss.

[Evan_B]

The shaft scroll was agonizing to obtain and I completely agree on the physics- I'd rather a game force me to do something with strict guidlines than make me continuously struggle to make them work JUST RIGHT because of how unpredictable they are.

[ejamer]

I had a bad time with Teslagrad, mostly because the game had a habit of hard locking at some crucial times when I was stuck on a particular platforming challenge. ...

I had no issues with hard locks in Teslagrad... until the final boss. I knew his patterns and was ready to finish the game, but twice the game hard locked just before I could get the final hit.  Kind of sums up the overall feelings I have about the game - it's so close to being good, but can't quite cross the finish line.


In the end I'm glad to have played the game despite it failing to live up to expectations. The experience was short enough that I could plow through rough spots, and it's not that rare for indie games to be better in concept than execution.

[Stogi]

Anyone have XCOM 2? Thoughts?

[ejamer]

Anyone have XCOM 2? Thoughts?

Terror From the Deep kicked ass. Still can't believe that I beat it, and the final mission had a great surprise.
That's probably not what you're asking though.

[oohhboy]

Anyone have XCOM 2? Thoughts?

Anyone have XCOM 2? Thoughts?

Terror From the Deep kicked ass. Still can't believe that I beat it, and the final mission had a great surprise.
That's probably not what you're asking though.

LOL

But for reals, it is badass. Every aspect of gameplay is much better than is better than XCOM 1. You have so many options and toys to commit war crimes against the alien scum. Mods are great as they really enhance the game. The voice packs are nice on PC as they are flaky on Mac at this time. Question do you like timed missions? THere are a lot more of them and some people will bitch endlessly about them even though it is an integral part of the gameplay.

There can be quite a lot of bugs though and right now Mac is slightly ahead on squashing them. CTD, gameplay bugs, UI pauses. If you can tolerate them then get the game otherwise wait for the patches.

[sudoshuff]

I had no issues with hard locks in Teslagrad... until the final boss. I knew his patterns and was ready to finish the game, but twice the game hard locked just before I could get the final hit.  Kind of sums up the overall feelings I have about the game - it's so close to being good, but can't quite cross the finish line.

I had this exact same experience.  The other problem for me was the controls. Teleportation had to be really precise...especially on that final boss.  It took me forever just to get close to beating him.

[Adrock]

I played a lot of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U this weekend. I'm really close to completing all the challenges in the 3DS version. I managed to finally beat Classic on 9.0 intensity with a heavily customized Ganondorf. Master Core is such an ass. The only challenges I have left are the ones that will naturally take forever: collect all Smash Run powers, collect all custom outfits, headgear, and special moves, and play Smash mode for 50 hours. I have six trophies left, one of which is behind one of those challenges.

As for the Wii U version, I'm no where near completing anything. I started going through the challenges. I have like 80 of the 140 completed. Some of them are pure silliness. I've referred to The Youtube and The Google many, many times. Some of the challenges are probably not going to happen. I had a bit of trouble clearing solo All-Star Mode in under six minutes with Shulk. It would have been easier had I done this prior to the DLC character releases. That took over an hour. How long will it take to complete Trophy Rush with Dr. Mario after getting eight fever rushes? Or clearing solo Classic Mode on 9.0 intensity without losing a single life? I don't think I have the patience for that. Mainly I want to unlock all the music which requires me to run through all the modes I've largely ignored since the game came out like Special Orders.

After three and a half years, I finally got to the opening title in The Last Story. I was very tempted to start Twilight Princess HD, but I held off because I really want to play through my backlog. Anyway, it's a bit difficult to comment on The Last Story considering I'm only like an hour in. I don't fully understand the battle system yet though that always takes some time. I'm using the Classic Controller Pro which is an adjustment. On a related note, I'm glad that I'm finally using the Wii Remote rapid charging cradle/rechargeable battery I bought last year.

The music is pretty excellent so far.

[Evan_B]

Music is Nobou at his best. One of my favorite of his soundtracks.

[Triforce Hermit]

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest- Yes I know I bitched a lot, but I figured I'd give Conquest, the one aimed at old FE fans, a shot. I started on Hard mode and holy **** this is actual Fire Emblem. With minimal anime cringe so far. Love it, I'm stuck on Chapter 9 and it has been a slow process, but it is a fun challenge. They did a much better job of balancing the game, enemies finally pair up, and abilities are better applied to enemies. Deciding whether to pair someone up or have them side by side matters a lot. I'm happy with it. Hoshido is still casual trash, but I love this.

[broodwars]

Screencheat on my PS4:







It's a silly game.  :

It's a very fast-paced split-screen multiplayer shooter based around one simple concept: cheating by looking at your opponent's window. Why? Because all the players are invisible. It's an amusing spin on MP, and the shooting has a nice retro feel to it that reminds me a lot of N64 GoldenEye. I could see it being a great party game. The game does have online play, also, though I haven't heard anything good about the online servers.

[ejamer]

Not sure what to play lately, so am messing around with a few older games (and casually playing one new game). Using my PSP Go a lot because of the convenience - easy to carry with me, or can connect to a TV, and gives me the ability to slip into sleep mode when something more important interrupts.


Crash Team Racing (PSOne Classics) - Meh.  Racing games don't do a lot for me, but this is the perfect kind of game for my mood right now: very light and easy to play in short bursts. The rubber banding AI is crazy (as was the trend when this released, I believe) but there is still enough going on with racing/controls to keep it interesting.  As good as Mario Kart? Ehhh... I don't think so, and especially graphically it's way behind, but it's still a good game.


Rayman 2: The Great Escape (PSOne Classics) - Lots of great ideas on display, but maybe too ambitious as some ideas work out better than others. Still a nice throwback to classic 3D action/platforming - always wanted to play this game back in the day, might have even owned it on N64 at one point, but never got around to playing beyond the first level or two.


Unfortunately, the PSOne version appears to be a bad port. I vaguely remembered the game looking and playing better than it does here, and checking online suggests that I'm right: level design and graphics both seem downgraded, although the voice acting that surprised me here wasn't in N64 release (I'm neutral on that addition - but pretty down about the graphics and gameplay cuts). Has anyone here played the 3DS release?  I've read differing reports about the quality of that version, but wouldn't mind owning a better release of the game.


Dragon's Crown (Vita via PSTV) - Had been playing the D&D: Chronicles of Mystara game on Wii U, but shifted to this game because it can be played from bed for a few minutes at a time before I fall asleep. Still early in the game, but enjoying it so far. The art is absolutely gorgeous, although if too many characters get on screen at once you basically can't see what's happening.


I wish the camera was zoomed out slightly - although the over-sized characters look great, there just isn't enough screen real estate to make the most of the gameplay/graphics. Maybe the PS3 version is better in that regard and this is an artifact of playing a portable game on a big screen?


The game made waves due to very over-the-top character design; I'm not offended or affected by it (although admit that there is clearly more jiggle on display than there needs to be) and find Dragon's Crown to be a refreshing contrast from Nintendo's "we have to think of the children" localization efforts.

[Khushrenada]

Rayman 2: The Great Escape  Has anyone here played the 3DS release?  I've read differing reports about the quality of that version, but wouldn't mind owning a better release of the game.

I do. It was actually the launch game I bought with my original 3DS because the launch line-up was rather weak and I always heard that Rayman 2 was supposed to be a really good platformer from the 64 era. Of course, with how much the game has since dropped in price from its original release, I do regret purchasing it so early at that cost. Yet, I can't deny that I did enjoy it and even though it has some rough spots, it is a pretty entertaining platformer. This is the brief review I gave it on my Backloggery page:

I give this game a 3.5. It has a lot of diversity and I did like the 3D effect. I'd never played it before but I'd remember hearing good things about it way back when it was first released. It definitely shows it's age not just in graphics but also in the controls especially in The Iron Mountains when racing on top of a rocket. That said, I still had a good time and quite enjoyed it. Music was also quite good in many areas.

Honestly, I liked to use this game as an example to show other people the 3D effect of the 3DS for the first year of the system. Even though it is the chunky 64 type graphics, the 3D effect works pretty well with them and this game really helped sell me on 3D being a great fit for games. If you like the 64 type era of platformers with big spaces and collectible hunting, then you should still find enjoyment with Rayman 3D and will appreciate that we have the circle pad now for handheld gaming.

[sudoshuff]

I'm finally getting around to playing Link's Awakening DX for the first time (one of the few Zelda games I haven't played).  I'm only at the golden leaf quest (before the third dungeon), but have pretty much enjoyed every aspect of the game so far.  I love the item that allows Link to jump, the bizarre 2D platforming sections, and even the part where Link carries the chain chomp around.  As other people have said, the game is challenging, but doesn't seem unfair so far.  My only big complaint is that you only have two buttons to map to items.  Obviously, this is a Gameboy limitation, but it is pretty tedious to have to constantly remap items.