What are you currently playing?

[NerfedFalcon]

If you’re thinking these games require perfection then they’ve done a bad job at presenting what’s required of the player. Outside of dodge roll or parry timing, of which only the former is anywhere close to being necessary, there is very little precision involved. Most of the series is just about, as you’ve alluded to for the other examples, being careful.

And thus has always been my problem ever since I uninstalled the first Dark Souls after just under six hours of playing. Maybe it's just "old man yells at clouds" time here, but my issue is that Soulslikes don't punish mistakes; they punish imperfection. And the player is expected to slam their face into a brick wall for the "privilege" of sticking their bloodied visage through the hole and saying "look how good I am".

I think that focusing exclusively on the (perceived or actual) difficulty of Dark Souls, whether as a positive of the game or a negative, is a disservice to it. It's missing the forest for the trees - the game isn't just 'a difficult game'. Being difficult is a part of it, but giving you the tools to overcome that difficulty, to create room for error and opportunities to exploit your enemies, is just as important to its design, I think. Increasing your level is one thing, but thinking about how best to use the items you have, equipment, consumables and spells alike, is how you overcome it more than perfecting the spacing and timing of a single attack. And of course, the story and the world are engrossing as well (in my experience, YMMV obviously).

Maybe I'm just finding different words to say the same thing, but I feel like both the 'git gud' crowd and the anti-'git gud' crowd are problematic.

 

[sXeth]

Been working on my playthrough of Dragons Dogma on stream, along with Stranger of Paradise after getting it on sales.

Coincidentally, these are both games with an interesting class/perk system.... and godawful AI companions lol. (The latter does let you replace them with players, but the whole streaming it thing tends to go poorly when you mix in unsupervised randoms)


Off-time, been playing Arcadegeddon. Which is a surprisingly fun roguelike/looter shooter thing that was free off PSPlus in either july or august. Borrows a lot of basic concepts in its mechanics from the the Save the World PvE mode of fortnite (but more shooter focused and polished, no building forts). Essentially it plays as a co-op roguelike shooter run but at the inbetween stops you have little versus mario party/fall guys games for someone to get extra loot.


And as always mucking about in Warframe. Veilbreaker, the first major update under the new team (with the prior heads moved over to Soulframe) is coming up. No particularly prep-work there cause no one knows what thats going to involve exactly, but got into Legendary Rank and refining out my Nova build(s). If you were looking into checking out Warframe, logging in during the first two weeks of Veilbreaker will give you the new 50th Warframe Styanax for free.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I think that focusing exclusively on the (perceived or actual) difficulty of Dark Souls, whether as a positive of the game or a negative, is a disservice to it. It's missing the forest for the trees - the game isn't just 'a difficult game'. Being difficult is a part of it, but giving you the tools to overcome that difficulty, to create room for error and opportunities to exploit your enemies, is just as important to its design, I think. Increasing your level is one thing, but thinking about how best to use the items you have, equipment, consumables and spells alike, is how you overcome it more than perfecting the spacing and timing of a single attack. And of course, the story and the world are engrossing as well (in my experience, YMMV obviously).

Maybe I'm just finding different words to say the same thing, but I feel like both the 'git gud' crowd and the anti-'git gud' crowd are problematic.

Well said. So typical that the industry “leaders” locked on to what they thought was the best marketing focus for the games, but failed to realize they were at least a step behind. All they have to do is watch one of the near countless commentaries on the games to understand what they’re about, and why their following has grown.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

My criticism of Lost In Random remain but the whole thing clicked with me and I got sucked in... I kind of love this game now. I dunno why exactly- but those are the best games. I'm at the last boss.
That moment of picking a card that matches with your circumstances in the right moments is to cool. And I do rather love the story- it's absurd, there's a dice literally called Dicey, lol, but it's the kind of stupid that works emotionally in a game only.

I also finished Tinykin which I was only able to play while listening to something else because the game is just running around looking for stuff. The good part of the game is that if you just keep running around, eventually you'll find all the things you need so it's just a matter of how patient you are for that sort of thing. Critics and Escapist folks are losing their minds over it and it's like... lol I get it you're sick of AAA open world tedium but calm down it's just a cute little collecting game. It's fine.

 

[BrawlMan]

I had a decent co-op on Hyperstone Heist, though the second player joined me at the start of stage 3. I am encountering people who don't know how to play this game, or they just wanna button mash. They at least tried to learn the bosses pattern this time. Different user this time, but the thought counts. I foresee most people playing HH online, because it and TF SNES are the games only stable enough to handle the frame rate delay. Digital Eclipse, please update your online and put TiT SNES on there too! That's where most players are gonna play the most!

 

[Dalisclock]

I had a decent co-op on Hyperstone Heist, though the second player joined me at the start of stage 3. I am encountering peoplw who don't know how to play this game, or they just wanna button mash. They at least tried to learn the bosses pattern this time. Different user this time, but the thought counts. I foresee most people playing HH online, because it and TF SNES are the games only stable enough to handle the frame rate delay. Digital Eclipse, please update your online and put TiT SNES on there too! That's where most players are gonna play the most!

Wait, I didn't realize there's on-line co-op in this version. That's....potentially cool? Sorry, not to make light of your problems here. I just didn't realize that. I thought it was just a big collection.

 

[BrawlMan]

Wait, I didn't realize there's on-line co-op in this version. That's....potentially cool? Sorry, not to make light of your problems here. I just didn't realize that. I thought it was just a big collection.

I actually I mentioned before the game came out and you forgot. No worries. The online is for TMNT (Arcade), TiT (Arcade), Hyperstone Heist (Genesis), and Tournament Fighters (SNES).

When you get to the menu, just scroll to right and you will be online. It comes after scrolling past Games.

 

[Dalisclock]

I actually I mentioned before the game came out and you forgot. No worries. The online is for TMNT (Arcade), TiT (Arcade), Hyperstone Heist (Genesis), and Tournament Fighters (SNES).

When you get to the menu, just scroll to right and you will Online. It comes after scrolling past Games.

Appreciated. I've had a lot going on and I hadn't grabbed the collection yet either.

 

[BrawlMan]

Appreciated. I've had a lot going on and I hadn't grabbed the collection yet either.

Most of us have a lot going on, so it's no problem. Take all the time you need. The collection is $39.99. Spend a copy whenever you can.

 

[thebobmaster]

Currently playing Persona 5 Royal. Honestly, this might be one of the best games I've ever played.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Tried the Circus...contrapt... electric... steamp...Eletrique last night, and it did keep me up way past bedtime, oops. It's Darkest Dungeon but jauntier, slightly easier, and with a circus management half which is as involved as the rest of the game. The tutorials were kind and generous. The characters are colourful. The music slaps like Will Smith at the Oscars. I was gonna be mad that they dangled a warrior Lion character as part of my troupe every 5 minutes only to hide it away in a narrative-only box every time, but we're mostly sorted out on that issue now. Early days, but these are pleasant early days.

 

[gorfias]

Currently playing Persona 5 Royal. Honestly, this might be one of the best games I've ever played.

I have Persona 5 Strikers... is it similar? Strikers seems more like one of those old games where you have a spear and wipe out armies, over and over again and not much else.

 

[meiam]

I have Persona 5 Strikers... is it similar? Strikers seems more like one of those old games where you have a spear and wipe out armies, over and over again and not much else.

Pretty different, P5 is JRPG while striker is a dynasty warrior game (mosou). Althought, imo, the biggest hurdle to liking P5 is the characters and they're the same in striker so if you like the group you'll probably like P5 (assuming you like JRPG and time management sim ish).

 

[Casual Shinji]

Playing some more The Last of Us Part 1, and getting to the Fall chapter really tanks the pacing and enjoyment of this game. Something I was never too aware of previously, but with TLoU2's highly improved combat and level design still fresh in my mind, and with the characters' journey no longer being as impactful as it used to be, it sticks out like a sore thumb. The quiet traversal through this chapter is not terribly engaging, and out of the three combat sections two force you into a firefight, which with TLoU's mechanics is really quite frustrating.

I was nearly ready to just call this whole game quits until I decided to switch over to the Left Behind DLC right after Joel gets Lara Crofted. Doing myself what I figured this "remake" would do, which is to stitch the DLC into the main campaign. Anyway, it kinda saved the experience for me, because I really liked Left Behind, which is odd since I fucking hated it back when I played it first when it was initially released. I still think giving Ellie a substantial human killcount before she meets David is a mistake, but overall I was very entertained by it now. Only ever having played it once, and not 20+ times like I did the main game, also probably helped. And it stands out how much chemistry Ellie has with Riley as opposed with Dina in TLoU2, but then that Ellie is also a boring, moody slog of a character by comparison.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Currently playing Persona 5 Royal. Honestly, this might be one of the best games I've ever played.

Would you recommend it even to some one that isn't into JRPG's and never played a Persona game?
I think it's gonna be on GamePass soon? And so many people love it but also I just tend to bristle at that whole anime/weeb style

 

[thebobmaster]

Would you recommend it even to some one that isn't into JRPG's and never played a Persona game?
I think it's gonna be on GamePass soon? And so many people love it but also I just tend to bristle at that whole anime/weeb style

If you aren't really into the anime style, Persona 5 might not be the game for you. Not having played a Persona game is less of an issue, though, because this is the only Persona game I've played. As for not being into JRPGs, this one is a bit different from most. It's definitely more tactical than "press A to magick or hit with big sword". If it does come to GamePass, there's no harm in at least trying it out.

 

[meiam]

Would you recommend it even to some one that isn't into JRPG's and never played a Persona game?
I think it's gonna be on GamePass soon? And so many people love it but also I just tend to bristle at that whole anime/weeb style

Depend about what you dislike about JRPG and anime.

It's a very very long JRPG, if you stitches all the dungeon/combat section together it would probably be upward of 40 hours of dungeon and fight. The other half of the game is mostly made up of high school shenanigan and hanging with anime cliche character (the student council president, the talking animal mascot, the shut in loner, etc.). For most of the game there's not much of a main plot, it mostly consist of independent arc that I would describe as "teenage angst worldview". The unique part of persona that makes it stand out from regular JPRG is that to get stronger in the dungeon section you have to socialize with friend in the time management/high school life simulator section.

Even trying it can be complicated, you'll still be knee deep in tutorial and exposition 5 hours in (although the first arc is by far the strongest so it at least has a good first impression).

 

[Casual Shinji]

Would you recommend it even to some one that isn't into JRPG's and never played a Persona game?
I think it's gonna be on GamePass soon? And so many people love it but also I just tend to bristle at that whole anime/weeb style

It's very JRPG and it's very anime, and all that that implies, so probably no.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Would you recommend it even to some one that isn't into JRPG's and never played a Persona game?
I think it's gonna be on GamePass soon? And so many people love it but also I just tend to bristle at that whole anime/weeb style

There's a lot of people who said that even though they weren't normally into JRPGs or the anime style, they still thought that Persona 5 was amazing, including our own local professional critic. If you have Gamepass, I'd recommend giving it a shot, since it won't cost any extra. If you can, try to at least reach the end of the first arc (May 1st in-game) before you make any judgments on it.

 

[BrawlMan]

Did another co-op session in TMNT HH. This one was better, but still some lag, and the player I partnered up with wasn't too bad, but he rushes his attacks too much. Them playing as Leo did not help, because he has an internally delayed fourth hit in his standard combo that leaves him exposed. Leo makes up for it with the quickest back attack. I noticed more people are populating Hyperstone Heist than the two arcade games, so it's starting show weak the network is with 4 players.

I did some survival runs in Streets of Rage 4 again. I might do a Mania+ Arcade run with Axel over the weekend.