What are you currently playing?

[Hawki]

Updates:

XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 2

So I was in Melbourne fairly recently, which was the one case where the Switch being portable actually worked in my favour, allowing me to take it with me. However, I put the main quest on hold to focus on side quests since I didn't want any main story material interrupted, the result being that my characters are probably about 5-10 levels above where they're meant to be, so to speak, in regards to the enemies in the main story.

That said, really don't have much to say. Got the Poppibuster, which is...okay, I guess, but nothing too special. I love the design of the Tantal/the Tantalese (or at least their knights), and while I've sort of rolled back my analysis that XC2's theme is ultimately "death and decay," Tantal does sort of fit into that. A grand civilization that, when you get down to it, is a miserable place to live, with its people on the verge of starvation. Yay...

WARCRAFT III

Still playing the odd multiplayer match. This goes for all RTS games, but I hate it when people toy with me. If you're so good that you can do so, good for you, I'm not the best player in the world (I'd maintain by no means the worst either - I got into platinum league in SC2 after all), but just finish me off, don't draw it out.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

Still on that. Human warrior's in Duskwood, currently using a night elf druid. You might recall that my WOW playing was to help for a story I was writing, so as much as I'd love to be able to make it to the Arathi Highlands to get a proper sense of scene, using my night elf now to get a sense of how druids fight, since that might have better 'returns' from a narrative standpoint. And if you think it's weird that I'm playing WOW for stuff I'm doing on FFN, well, yeah, probably is, but that's the program, deal with it.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

I feel like I might just not be smart enough for Ikaruga.

I haven't made a lot of major progress since I unlocked stage 3; while I have made it to the mid-boss of that stage one time so far, I also keep dying in really stupid ways, and in places where I shouldn't be dying at all anymore at this point, like in the first level even before the boss. And there's still a lot of patterns that just don't make any sense to me in terms of how to chain them; I'm losing my chain frequently in S2 and S3, and that means I can't get extra lives to play more of the game.

It's not that I want to give up, or anything, but I keep dying without achieving anything, and that hurts.

Aside from that I started playing Genshin Impact again. It's the only gacha game I've ever played that feels like it actually put effort into the moment-to-moment gameplay to make it fun, as opposed to building a team and then auto-playing them to see if it works or not; your actual skill as a player matters at least as much as your party setup. There's also plenty of new content since I last played, so I should have quite a bit to do to see it all.

 

[BrawlMan]

feel like I might just not be smart enough for Ikaruga.

I haven't made a lot of major progress since I unlocked stage 3; while I have made it to the mid-boss of that stage one time so far, I also keep dying in really stupid ways, and in places where I shouldn't be dying at all anymore at this point, like in the first level even before the boss. And there's still a lot of patterns that just don't make any sense to me in terms of how to chain them; I'm losing my chain frequently in S2 and S3, and that means I can't get extra lives to play more of the game.

Which version are you playing? I know the GameCube version has a practice mode, that allows you to the play levels up to a certain point of where you progressed the furthest. The GameCube version also gives you more credits the more you play. That's how I was able to get so far in the game. All the other HD versions vary.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Which version are you playing? I know the GameCube version has a practice mode, that allows you to the play levels up to a certain point of where you progressed the furthest. The GameCube version also gives you more credits the more you play. That's how I was able to get so far in the game. All the other HD versions vary.

I don't have a Gamecube, and I've seen footage of the Conquest mode anyway; I'm not really a fan of how few segments each stage is split into. Makes it difficult to reach the part that I want to watch replays of or practice, especially at half speed. And if I'm looking up Youtube videos to skip to the part I need, might as well just look up anyone's S++ replays.

Anyway, I heard the patterns are slightly different in the pre-HD and HD versions. I've got it on Steam and on Switch, and both have the 'free play' option, but I'm of the opinion that burning credits doesn't mean anything. Maybe it's holding me back unnecessarily, but that's just how I feel.

 

[meiam]

I feel like I might just not be smart enough for Ikaruga.

I haven't made a lot of major progress since I unlocked stage 3; while I have made it to the mid-boss of that stage one time so far, I also keep dying in really stupid ways, and in places where I shouldn't be dying at all anymore at this point, like in the first level even before the boss. And there's still a lot of patterns that just don't make any sense to me in terms of how to chain them; I'm losing my chain frequently in S2 and S3, and that means I can't get extra lives to play more of the game.

It's not that I want to give up, or anything, but I keep dying without achieving anything, and that hurts.

It's not smartness or anything, it's pure pattern memorization, to get anywhere you need to eventually know the level well enough that you go where you need to be to avoid the shoot before they're even fired.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

It's not smartness or anything, it's pure pattern memorization, to get anywhere you need to eventually know the level well enough that you go where you need to be to avoid the shoot before they're even fired.

Knowing the pattern doesn't help when you're dying to things that aren't even really a threat because you can't press the right buttons at the right time. That's what the 'stupid' deaths are, especially in the early stages.

 

[Bedinsis]

I've finished Chaos; Child. Or rather, I've finished the first ending, and I don't know if I am interested in playing the rest. There were so many plot twists at the end that I was left both logically and emotionally distant from the characters.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I replayed Undertale and Deltarune recently and I think the difficulty was reduced for all of them. Undertale felt much easier, and both chapters of Deltarune felt a bit easier from when they had launched. Undertale I am sure was reduced in difficulty, but Deltarune might just be me knowing how to play them.

Nah, Undertale is just a much easier game after your first playthrough. Knowing how fights work is where a lot of the difficulty comes from. Once you know what you have to do to beat an enemy they become much easier.

 

[Worgen]

Nah, Undertale is just a much easier game after your first playthrough. Knowing how fights work is where a lot of the difficulty comes from. Once you know what you have to do to beat an enemy they become much easier.

Could be, but it really felt just easier, not necessarily like I was that much more skilled. I mean I originally played it at launch and only replayed it a couple months ago, so I would expect my skills to have dulled somewhat, not that its that hard a game, but it also seemed like the enemy encounter rate for a pacifist run was also really reduced.

 

[BrawlMan]

All the Steam updates for Final Vendetta reached consoles.....ffffinally! Enemies and bosses are nowhere near as overpowered as they were before, more weapons are placed (and only have a 50% chance of disappearing when dropped), faster recovery frames on weapon usage, you can level select without the cheat code (assuming you've already did a one credit run), you can gain lives by scoring a million points, rankings are easier to get, and Casual Mode has been added. The game is a more fun experience overall, but still lacking bonuses. The game should have been charged no more than $10-15. At least it's more casual friendly, should a player choose to do Casual mode.

 

[Dalisclock]

FInished Expeditions: Viking

Definitely a step up from Expeditions: Conquistador in gameplay and roleplaying. Especially how there are several victories you can strive for this time around, either achieving enough Wealth, Power, Allying with either of the two major British Kingdoms in the game(Picts and Northumbrians) and finally just conquering Britain outright. I also appreciate how the writing reflects if you've been doing quests for Kingdoms, up to the point both sides are trying to take the same strategic town and if you've advanced both sides quests up to this point, you can have both armies meet you at the entrance and realize what you've been doing, even outright asking if you've been playing both sides and forcing you to make a final choice who to support, at which point you'll be unable to return to one of the towns unless you help the other conquer it(which you have to do if you want one of the alliances). Of course, you can choose to pick neither side and have to fight both of them at the same time, which you can do but it'll be a bit more difficult.

The Homestead mechanic is nice, where you use resources you find to upgrade your village, which makes it look a bit nicer, but also gives you benefits like having merchants with good prices, an income of money, herbs and hides(all useful). Also just being able to come back to the homestead every so often and relax a little and take a look at the improvements.

One thing I did learn is that you want to figure out what you what your party members to do pretty early so you can specialize them. XP is finite(and is only awarded by completing quests) and the game runs on a time limit(albeit a pretty generous one) so you have enough XP to maximize one, maybe two weapons skills and by god those make the endgame so much easier. Diplomacy is also a nice skill to invest in for your main character to give you more dialogue options and possibly give you more ways of dealing with situations(such as being able to bribe or threaten or bluff enemies to avoid fighting some of them). So if you know you need an archer, spec them to be an archer, if you need them to be a support/medic, spec them to be a support/medic from the get go because there is no respec and you don't have points to make someone good at everything. While a number of characters have preset stats, you can hire a couple of others before you leave for Britain and those are essentially where you get sent to the character creator to build them any way you want to. So here's your chance to build the perfect berserker from scratch if you want.

The game does have two time limits: In Act 1 you have about a month or so to get everything done in Denmark before you set out to Britian and in Act 2 you have about 6 months to finish everything you need to do before the endgame. Fortunately, time only really passes while traveling or camping, so unless you're just wandering around or camping for the hell of it you should have time to spare and it felt pretty generous. I was able to finish most of the content with at least a month to spare at the end, and the stuff I didn't finish was stuff I felt wasn't worth the time investment.

So about 35 hours, give or take a few, Solid CRPG with an Alternate History setting. Worth checking out if a Viking RPG sounds interesting to you and you want something a little more grounded then AC Vahalla(plus a fuckton shorter). For what it's worth, I'm not terribly interested in vikings but I got drawn into this and enjoyed seeing where it went. I also enjoyed learning some new words and fun things about Norse culture.

 

[Worgen]

Finished Return of the Obra Dinn. That is an incredible murder mystery on the high seas game. If you feel like you would enjoy a game about figuring out who is who and the fates of those involved in a doomed voyage then just get the game, don't watch vids, don't look at user screen shots, it is such an engrossing experience to go into blind.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Got back to ER after being away in vacation and finished Crumbling Farum Azula, I think. Beat the big lightning dragon, Godskin Duo and finished Iron Fist Alexander’s quest line, which was satisfying and yields a nice talisman and something else I haven’t looked into yet.

I ended up respec’ing back to STR prior to all the above, because while I’m always curious about magic and such it never winds up appealing to me beyond supplemental use. Also don’t like having to babysit FP so much or use up slots to negate its use and cycle through spells, lock on constantly, etc. plus the feedback of melee combat just feels better. So I’m rocking a now fully upgraded cold infused Gargoyle Great Ax with Wild Strikes, and the Shard of Alexander should compliment that nicely along with the Physik for increased damage on successive hits.


Anyways, will probably head back to Malenia next. I never even tried her with a magic build but it took long enough just taking down Alecto that it probably wasn’t worth bothering. I saved enough INT to help out with my cold infused weapon and that’s good enough for me.

 

[BrawlMan]

Boss Rush Mode in FV I beat earlier in the afternoon using Duke. Beating the mode once, unlocks alternate colors for everyone, and I am so glad for the reward. I did another Arcade Run w/Claire's alternate colors, and managed to only die twice total through out the entire run. I got an A Rank, and beat my highest score again.

 

[Chimpzy]

The Looker

A parody game of The Witness. If you liked The Witness, you owe it to yourself to play it because is both legitimately funny and a good puzzle game in its own right. If you hated the Witness, you owe it to yourself to play it because it relentlessly riffs on how much up its own ass The Witness (and it ruffled Jonathan Blow jimmies). No really, try it. It's the highest quality of shitpost, available for free on Steam, and only a couple hours long.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

The Looker

A parody game of The Witness. If you liked The Witness, you owe it to yourself to play it because is both legitimately funny and a good puzzle game in its own right. If you hated the Witness, you owe it to yourself to play it because it relentlessly riffs on how much up its own ass The Witness (and it ruffled Jonathan Blow jimmies). No really, try it. It's the highest quality of shitpost, available for free on Steam, and only a couple hours long.

I was very disappointed by The Witness. I came in expecting Myst style game and got an over priced Line Puzzle game where most of the stuff in the world series no purpose but to seem thought provoking.

 

[Worgen]

Just finished the Yuffie mini campaign in the FF7 remake. It was pretty neat, I like her combat mechanics and there were some cool boss fights, but it was way shorter then I expected and not quite as well written as the main game. Plus, in the main game you can swap characters for different play styles in combat, with Yuffie there is only Yuffie so it can become slightly tedious. Not bad, but just not that much to mix things up since there is only one.

 

[Chimpzy]

I was very disappointed by The Witness. I came in expecting Myst style game and got an over priced Line Puzzle game where most of the stuff in the world series no purpose but to seem thought provoking.

Then you should play The Looker.

 

[Bartholen]

I got back into Valkyria Chronicles (the first one) after like 6 years due to finally being able to play PS4 games again after getting a PS5, and feeling a bit burnt out on action games after Elden Ring.

This has got to be one of the most psychotically tone-deaf games ever made ever. The meshing of bright cheery high-school anime tropes and drama with WW2 is such a staggeringly mismatched concept that I can only imagine how distanced the devs must have felt from actual war (which due to currently being very present in everyone's lives isn't doing this game any favors). It is legitimately horrifyingly disturbing to see these characters shooting enemies at point blank range and blowing them into bits with tank mortars, and then go back to talking how pretty the flowers look. It makes everyone in this game look like a stone cold psychopath, and is one of the reasons why this game's anime-ness is utterly unbearable and makes me incapable of following the story in the slightest. However juvenile a wank fantasy Call of Duty may be, at least they treat their subject matter seriously and don't shy away from its ugliness.

Or that's what I thought at first.

Over the course of roughly an hour and a half of gameplay I stumbled upon a realization that completely changes how you can view the game, and actually makes the twee anime cutesiness both make sense and actually somewhat bearable to follow. And that realization is a reframing: none of it is literal. Since the game is presented in a scrapbook format, it's already framed as a sort of recollection, a set of memories. So if you take that idea and run with it, it's incredibly easy to see the game as the processing of trauma by a scarred war veteran who's trying to make sense of it. The bright colors, the cute anime characters, the worryingly chipper tone, it's all in the mind of this unknown person who's trying to come to grips with the horrors they saw. "No, we weren't in France in 1939, we were in Gallia in 1935. No, there wasn't blood, corpses and limbs everywhere, some buildings just fell down in a cloud of dust. The people we fought weren't reduced to shreds, guts and blood, they just ragdolled and fell over. No, the training instructor wasn't a monstrous abuser, he was just a bit animated and goofy." And so on. It actually gives the game a sense of both unintended and undeserved gravitas that I'm sure the devs didn't intend. But trying to see it as just what it is will have you tearing your hair out and recoiling in horror and revulsion at these psychotic murderers.

The game itself? Pretty good actually. The fusion of Gears of War and X-Com isn't entirely seamless, but it creates some unique and interesting dynamics. Like waiting for enemies to reload before moving on. There's quite a lot of tactical depth to it, but I can't comment on it too much since I'm not even 2 hours into the game. An unexpected positive are the tutorials, which not only explain the mechanics, but also give tactical hints when they're presented. Which in another game might feel patronizing, but I think it's warranted in a game with core gameplay this unusual. One thing I'm already getting worried about though is how singular the game feels: it feels like the game expects you to face each scenario with one and only one sequence of events in mind, and if you stray too far from that the game will a) give you a poor grade at the end of each mission and b) do some massive ass-pull to go "nuh-uh, you can't it that way".

 

[Dalisclock]

Because I enjoyed Expeditions: VIking, I decided to just bite the bullet and keep the CRPG thing going with Expeditions: Rome, which came out pretty recently(etiher early this year or late last year). Set around 70 or so BC, at the end of the Roman Republic, you get invovled in schaiganiry from the very start. You're the younger child of a notable Roman Noble, who dies, but his wife is certain he was poisoned and that the rest of the family might be next(except for the elder daughter, who is to be married off to some other rich guy). So your character, younger son/daughter, is spirited away by boat to greece to be put under the protection of one of the Consuls who is currently campaigning on the Greek Islands and you quickly get pushed into being a soldier. Even if you play a woman, which is handwaved because the consul likes your family so much and apparently he sees a lot of potential in your ability to kick ass and take names.

So quickly you're sent on what are essentially commando missions with a few other characters as a type of scout/spy/secret agent type and in probably the most insanely fast promotion in history, are given command of a legion because.....the consul really likes you so much. I mean, yeah, you pull off some impressive stuff despite not even being a trained soldier, or even a soldier at all, but I guess the game devs really wanted to get you into the mechanics quickly so here we are. And no, being a woman doesn't really matter, even if you'll occasionally get a sexist remark along the lines of "You fight as well as a man" because you have friends in high place to allow your talents to shine. Those talents revolving mostly around killing people in battle which being these are Romans....sure, why the fuck not? Like the other Expeditions games, this is an alternate history, which allows some hand waving about such things. One example is that early on you meet a young Julius Fucking Caesar, who here is a soldier who has yet to make a name for himself. You get to hang out with him a little bit but then he's killed in an ambush per the storyline and thus will never come to power in a few decades. Apparently you get to rise to glory in his place.

The combat system and character building has been changed since Viking so going from one game ot the other doesn't really matter that much because you have to relearn some of the systems. Now instead of picking stats at character creation, you pick a class from one of four types(Tank, Support, Archer and DPS) and one starting ability from 3 skill trees that are only accessible to each class. And for the rest of the game you will work your way up those skill trees each time you gain a level, unlike viking which let you spend XP on whatever you want, even if it had nothing to do with your class. Which doesn't allow you to do hybrid classes but trying to Hybrid in viking was probably a waste of XP regardless considering you had finite time and XP to work with.

Once you're given a legion, you can pick centurians to give you buffs and debuffs to your army depending on who you pick and assign, hire troops, build up your camp(thus your army) and introduced to the legion battles, where you watch icons on a map duke it out based on the stats and centurions for each army. Your primary contribution to this is choosing from a couple of different strategies given to you and watching them play out, with the strats depending on the situation and such. It does tell you the pros and cons of each but I'm unsure just how to read the numbers given to understand which strat is the best for a given situation. I won the first battle with ease but I don't know if it's because I picked right or just dumb fucking luck.

But so far I'm enjoying it. It does feel like 5 hours in I'm still playing the toturial and have yet to really play the game.