What are you currently playing?

[Hawki]

So I've been playing a lot of Sonic stuff - mainly Frontiers, but I've used the opportunity to play a no. of Sonic mobile games, for better or worse. I'm done with Runners Adventure, so in addition to Frontiers, Iz gotz the opinionz:

SONIC DASH/SONIC DASH 2

Spoiler

I'm lumping these together because they're basically the same game - endless runners with Sonic characters. Dash 1 is the mainstream versions, Dash 2 is the Sonic Boom versions, Dash 1 has more characters, Dash 2 has fewer characters, but more mechanics. Is one better than the other? Maybe, don't really care. It's an endless runner, don't care enough to comment further.

SONIC JUMP

Spoiler

Another mobile game, but one I was a lot more reciprocal to, in that it has a series of distinct stages rather than endless ones.

Basically, your character is always jumping - you tilt the phone to adjust the angle, and tap it to do a double jump. It's simple, the controls get some getting used to, but there's actually a fair bit of fun to be had as you climb stages through about five zones, fighting Eggman three times per zone (whose attacks get more intense with each zone). The zones of Green Hill (because of fucking course it is), Jungle Zone (STH1, 8bit), Blue Sky Zone (Sky High Zone from STH2 8bit?), Mountain Zone (...it's a mountain), and Mechanical Zone (because I guess Scrap Brain or Metropolis were too obvious). I'm probably being a mite too generous with the nostalgia trip for the 8-bit stuff (since STH2 8bit was the first game I ever played, period), but even then, this is a simple but fun platformer. At this time of writing, I've gotten every red ring (which gives me...nothing), but there's no way in hell I'm bothering with the S ranks, which not only require you to beat a stage without getting hit once, but as far as I can tell, it's impossible to get these ranks without certain power-ups, but it's impossible to get certain power-ups without reaching certain levels, and it's impossible to reach certain levels without grinding.

So, yeah. Fun game, but I'm not bothering with a lot of the extra stuff.

SONIC FRONTIERS

Spoiler

Of course, this has more meat in it than the other three games put together, but regardless, at this time of writing, I'm up to the fifth and final island. Up to this point, I got more memory tokesn than I needed, as it was fun to just zoom around the open world/get pass obstacles to get them, but here, being a bit more streamlined. So, anyway, random thoughts:

-Minor point, but by the third island, Sonic's clearing deteriorating due to cyber-corruption, and while it's a small touch, adjusting his game pose to reflect this, it's a nice one. By island three, he starts out bad, by the end, he's worse, and by the fourth island, he's in his worst shape. Honestly, with the fourth island, I would have started taking away abilities and/or made him weaker, similar to Arthas in The Frozen Throne (where he gets weaker throughout the campaign rather than stronger), but it's a minor gripe.

-A lot of people have pointed out that Rhea Island isn't a "proper" island due to missing the features of the others, and while I agree with the letter of that statement, I don't think it's an issue here. We've had three islands up to this point, Rhea provides a nice breather to climb six towers before moving back into Ouranos (a 'traditional' island) to do the last set of tasks. With tense music all the while, with Sonic visibly deteriorating as things go on, and the last batch of revelations. I say "revelations," but if you've been paying attention, these are more 'solidifications' as to what the player's likely sussed out by this point. I don't think it's bad writing per se that Sonic does this, but while YMMV, there's a disconnect between what the player knows ("don't do what the voice says!"), and what the protagonist does per the demands of the game.

-It's after this that we get a derp moment. Sonic's friends are released from cyber-space, the eldritch monstrosity is released, and Sonic succumbs to cyber-corruption. This last plot point is reversed in the very scene it's introduced in, as Tails, Amy, and Knuckles do...something, to reverse the corruption, and end up going back into cyber-space, or something. I really have no idea exactly how this worked, and it's only one step removed from a "power of friendship" moment. At least we don't have anyone yelling about the "super power of teamwork!" (looking at you, Heroes!)

-At this time of writing, I'm on the fifth and final island, which is back to being a 'proper' island. Don't have much to say here, it's the same game loop that the game's used up to this point.

So, yeah. Nearly at the end of the game, you can check back to see my earlier thoughts. Should be done soon...ish. In the meantime, here's my current ranking of the series, now that I've got three mobile games to throw in:

RANKINGS

Spoiler

1: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles

2: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)

3: Sonic Adventure 2

4: Sonic Adventure

5: Sonic Mania

6: Sonic Generations

7: Sonic Rush Adventure

8: Sonic Rush

9: Sonic Riders

10: Sonic the Hedgehog 4

11: Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)

12: Sonic Unleashed

13: Sonic Lost World

14: Sonic Spinball

15: Sonic Battle

16: Sonic Colours

17: Sonic Heroes

18: Sonic Advance

19: Sonic Advance 3

20: Sonic Advance 2

21: Sonic Pocket Adventure

22: Sonic Runners Adventure

23: Sonic 3D Blast

24: Sonic CD

25: Sonic Chronicles

26: Sonic Chaos

27: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)

28: Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit)

29: Sonic Shuffle

30: Sonic Forces

31: Flicky

32: Sonic Jump

33: Sonic Pinball Party

34: Shadow the Hedgehog

35: Sonic Forces: Speed Battle

36: Sonic Dash

37: Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom

38: Sonic Drift

39: SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter

 

[Dalisclock]

This is something I'd never considered before, but we might be reaching a threshold where even digital copies of games won't be guaranteed to work anymore on modern hardware. As a total software noob I guess I assumed there was some magic system guaranteeing compatibility on digital platforms unto infinity, but if DA:O is any indication, this could be a future that's closer than we'd like to admit.

Hypothetically emulation can run any software, but some hardware is harder to emulate then others(PS3 in particular). It's why porting is a good thing and I'm always happy to see older games ported to newer hardware even if it's not as lucrative as making new games(Don't get me started on Red Dead Redemption). Ironically, DAO isn't that old. It's like 15 years or something and really should run better then it does, but considering DAO has bugs to this day that really should have been fixed years ago(there's a nasty few in Awakening) I suspect it's a design or QA issue.

 

[BrawlMan]

I just beat Prodeus tonight. The game has a really abrupt ending. More or less ends on a sequel hook of sorts. The final boss with mooks summoned in each phase with no checkpoints. I hate these kinds of fights, took me 4 tries, and I barely scarped by with 35pts of Health. I know there are community maps and such, but I felt the game was just getting started at its halfway point. I still recommend playing this game if you're into Doom 64, Quake, and many other 90s era shooters.

 

[Worgen]

I just beat Prodeus tonight. The game has a really abrupt ending. More or less ends on a sequel hook of sorts. The final boss with mooks summoned in each phase with no checkpoints. I hate these kinds of fights, took me 4 tries, and I barely scarped by with 35pts of Health. I know there are community maps and such, but I felt the game was just getting started at its halfway point. I still recommend playing this game if you're into Doom 64, Quake, and many 90s era shooters.

That's what I'm saying. Its a really cool game, but considering it was in early access for like 3 years with almost no updates, you expect more then a few more levels and weapons and a sudden end. It really feels like the team got sick of each other and just stopped, except for the level guy who got into a car wreck and was never quite the same.

 

[BrawlMan]

That's what I'm saying. Its a really cool game, but considering it was in early access for like 3 years with almost no updates, you expect more then a few more levels and weapons and a sudden end. It really feels like the team got sick of each other and just stopped, except for the level guy who got into a car wreck and was never quite the same.

Noted. I still had more fun with Prodeus, than most AAA FPS from 7th gen, 8th gen, and now. I'll get to Shadow Warrior 3, whenever PSN has a sale. I'll be buying Moonrider next week, when it releases. I am in such a great mood for 2D ninja action right now. Especially of the Shinobi III variety.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Still playing Rimworld. If beating up tame animals with a wooden axe to train melee skill while another colonist stands by and constantly stuns them with their psychic powers so they can't fight back before nursing them back to health to do it all over again is wrong, then I don't want to be right.

 

[Bartholen]

Went through the Korkari Wilds in Dragon Age, about to head into the bit battle in Ostagar. In a way it might have been good that I played through that opening segment like 15 fucking times while trying to get the Steam version to work, because it allowed me to get a feel for the combat. Which still feels very clunky and I have serious confusion as to how the game is expecting me to play it. It doesn't seem to do anything particularly well: the third person view gives you close to zero clue as to the bigger picture of what's going on and basically no control over your party members. The zoomed out tactical view only lets you scroll the map about 100 feet in front of you, which can lead to situations where you literally can't see enemies that are shooting at you because they're too far away. And the fact that scrolling the camera is done by clicking the mouse wheel is an incredibly clunky way of doing it, and gets in the way constantly. I hope the easy mode can put up at least a bit of a fight further on, because right now it's hard to get any kind of tactical feel or learn anything because enemies die so quickly. That in turn leads to a lot of the excitement of leveling up disappearing, because I'm basically button mashing my way through the game, and still have zero clue about tactical use of abilities. God, I fucking hate RTWP systems.

Last time when I tried this game I was fresh off The Witcher 3, and therefore really not feeling this type of fantasy (big damn heroes, morally unambiguous horde of endless mooks etc.). It feels much more palatable now, and I've even started delving a bit into the lore. So far I just have a hard time taking the Orcs... sorry, Darkspawn, seriously. Based on their lore they should be these super dangerous, inhuman monsters from another dimension, but they're just mutated humans who wear and use the same equipment you do. There's a whole background conversation in Ostagar where you can learn that even touching the Darkspawn's blood can lead to an agonizing death... after which you slaughter them by the dozens in the Korkari, and this seemingly vital piece of information goes completely unaddressed. They just seem so at odds with their lore.

Whatever. At least I got the Morrigan mod that gives her her face from Inquisition to work. Her original design kind of freaks me out. Human faces (or anything else for that matter) don't look that great in Origins to begin with, but hers felt particularly uncanny valley.

 

[Bedinsis]

Started playing the first Zero Escape game. It's okay so far.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Finished Ender Lilies. It was a pretty good Metroidvania but doesn't get full marks from me. Mostly design nitpicks. In a game where you can't attack on your own but rely on up to 26 different spirits to do it for you, each with a different application/moveset, I wish you had access to more than 6 at any given time. Metroidvanias are all about character progression but only being able to tap into 23% of available spirits at any given time seems paltry and it made me play more conservatively than I would've liked. I'd add more slots to the starting two. I'd also like it if you were able to save loadouts, both for spirits and the relics/charms.

The map is cluttered and like almost every other Metroidvania, if you're gonna have a map you might as well color-code different areas or give them different shapes or at least name them. I wish they'd let you edit the map too with markers and such but MVs rarely let you. Off the top of my head Hollow Knight is the only one that lets you edit the map.

And the last area of the game is designed horribly. Verboten Domain. It's a poison gas area that forces you to play most of it without the fabled gas mask, and once you do get it the gas still hurts constantly. And I think forcing a player to take constant damage is poor design. Shitty poison gas areas are a dime a dozen in the genre but even in Demon's Souls and Dark Souls you're never forced to suck up damage as a feature in Valley of Defilement or Blighttown.

 

[Dalisclock]

Went through the Korkari Wilds in Dragon Age, about to head into the bit battle in Ostagar. In a way it might have been good that I played through that opening segment like 15 fucking times while trying to get the Steam version to work, because it allowed me to get a feel for the combat. Which still feels very clunky and I have serious confusion as to how the game is expecting me to play it. It doesn't seem to do anything particularly well: the third person view gives you close to zero clue as to the bigger picture of what's going on and basically no control over your party members. The zoomed out tactical view only lets you scroll the map about 100 feet in front of you, which can lead to situations where you literally can't see enemies that are shooting at you because they're too far away. And the fact that scrolling the camera is done by clicking the mouse wheel is an incredibly clunky way of doing it, and gets in the way constantly. I hope the easy mode can put up at least a bit of a fight further on, because right now it's hard to get any kind of tactical feel or learn anything because enemies die so quickly. That in turn leads to a lot of the excitement of leveling up disappearing, because I'm basically button mashing my way through the game, and still have zero clue about tactical use of abilities. God, I fucking hate RTWP systems.

Last time when I tried this game I was fresh off The Witcher 3, and therefore really not feeling this type of fantasy (big damn heroes, morally unambiguous horde of endless mooks etc.). It feels much more palatable now, and I've even started delving a bit into the lore. So far I just have a hard time taking the Orcs... sorry, Darkspawn, seriously. Based on their lore they should be these super dangerous, inhuman monsters from another dimension, but they're just mutated humans who wear and use the same equipment you do. There's a whole background conversation in Ostagar where you can learn that even touching the Darkspawn's blood can lead to an agonizing death... after which you slaughter them by the dozens in the Korkari, and this seemingly vital piece of information goes completely unaddressed. They just seem so at odds with their lore.

Whatever. At least I got the Morrigan mod that gives her her face from Inquisition to work. Her original design kind of freaks me out. Human faces (or anything else for that matter) don't look that great in Origins to begin with, but hers felt particularly uncanny valley.

The whole dark spawn thing corrupting you thing basically gets ignored. Apparently Bioware wanted to address it through gameplay (including making everyone in the party a warden) but decided not to do that for whatever reason. You can in awakening but it seems to make no difference.

It's basically plot related if someone contracts the blight and pretty much your party tends to be immune.

 

[Dreiko]

Went through the Korkari Wilds in Dragon Age, about to head into the bit battle in Ostagar. In a way it might have been good that I played through that opening segment like 15 fucking times while trying to get the Steam version to work, because it allowed me to get a feel for the combat. Which still feels very clunky and I have serious confusion as to how the game is expecting me to play it. It doesn't seem to do anything particularly well: the third person view gives you close to zero clue as to the bigger picture of what's going on and basically no control over your party members. The zoomed out tactical view only lets you scroll the map about 100 feet in front of you, which can lead to situations where you literally can't see enemies that are shooting at you because they're too far away. And the fact that scrolling the camera is done by clicking the mouse wheel is an incredibly clunky way of doing it, and gets in the way constantly. I hope the easy mode can put up at least a bit of a fight further on, because right now it's hard to get any kind of tactical feel or learn anything because enemies die so quickly. That in turn leads to a lot of the excitement of leveling up disappearing, because I'm basically button mashing my way through the game, and still have zero clue about tactical use of abilities. God, I fucking hate RTWP systems.

Last time when I tried this game I was fresh off The Witcher 3, and therefore really not feeling this type of fantasy (big damn heroes, morally unambiguous horde of endless mooks etc.). It feels much more palatable now, and I've even started delving a bit into the lore. So far I just have a hard time taking the Orcs... sorry, Darkspawn, seriously. Based on their lore they should be these super dangerous, inhuman monsters from another dimension, but they're just mutated humans who wear and use the same equipment you do. There's a whole background conversation in Ostagar where you can learn that even touching the Darkspawn's blood can lead to an agonizing death... after which you slaughter them by the dozens in the Korkari, and this seemingly vital piece of information goes completely unaddressed. They just seem so at odds with their lore.

Whatever. At least I got the Morrigan mod that gives her her face from Inquisition to work. Her original design kind of freaks me out. Human faces (or anything else for that matter) don't look that great in Origins to begin with, but hers felt particularly uncanny valley.

Touching darkspawn blood sickens you from the Blight, but you are a gray warden, and in the ritual where you get inducted to the order you become resistant to the effects of the blight so you can fight them and go on for a lot longer, that is basically the point of having gray wardens, though every gray warden does eventually get destroyed by their taint too, it just takes a lot longer. That potion you drink and see if you survive is made out of darkspawn blood too, it's like a vaccine. It comes in during some big story moments here and there but it's not like you instantly melt if you touch the blood. It's more akin to a magical disease. It takes time to advance and kill you off or drive you mad.

The whole dark spawn thing corrupting you thing basically gets ignored. Apparently Bioware wanted to address it through gameplay (including making everyone in the party a warden) but decided not to do that for whatever reason. You can in awakening but it seems to make no difference.

It's basically plot related if someone contracts the blight and pretty much your party tends to be immune.

I believe that driving off the archdeamon is supposed to weaken the effects of the blight to a degree until another one arises or something along those lines, so after origins it was less of an issue.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

eventually get destroyed by their taint

*blinks*

Oh dear.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

*blinks*

Oh dear.

Well, I mean, it's better than getting destroyed by someone else's taint.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Well, I mean, it's better than getting destroyed by someone else's taint.

Hey now, no need to be judgemental.

 

[Bartholen]

Touching darkspawn blood sickens you from the Blight, but you are a gray warden, and in the ritual where you get inducted to the order you become resistant to the effects of the blight so you can fight them and go on for a lot longer, that is basically the point of having gray wardens, though every gray warden does eventually get destroyed by their taint too, it just takes a lot longer. That potion you drink and see if you survive is made out of darkspawn blood too, it's like a vaccine. It comes in during some big story moments here and there but it's not like you instantly melt if you touch the blood. It's more akin to a magical disease. It takes time to advance and kill you off or drive you mad.

That's what I figured. It's just that you head into the Korkari before anyone in the party is a Grey Warden, so it going completely unaddressed does rather raise some eyebrows.

 

[mirbrownbread]

A Link to the Past on a Switch Lite!!!

Still enthralling as ever Plus, I still feel like there's some other secret I haven't yet uncovered - like a hidden well leading to an extra dungeon or whatever. Never goes out of style!

 

[Dalisclock]

Touching darkspawn blood sickens you from the Blight, but you are a gray warden, and in the ritual where you get inducted to the order you become resistant to the effects of the blight so you can fight them and go on for a lot longer, that is basically the point of having gray wardens, though every gray warden does eventually get destroyed by their taint too, it just takes a lot longer. That potion you drink and see if you survive is made out of darkspawn blood too, it's like a vaccine. It comes in during some big story moments here and there but it's not like you instantly melt if you touch the blood. It's more akin to a magical disease. It takes time to advance and kill you off or drive you mad.

I believe that driving off the archdeamon is supposed to weaken the effects of the blight to a degree until another one arises or something along those lines, so after origins it was less of an issue.

I get that. The issue is that in Both DAO and DA2 the only time you ever see someone get blighted is when the plot demands it. The party from DAO, The Party from Awakening and the initial group from the intro of DA2 are exposed to constant Darkspawn attacks and blight sickness is never an issue....except when it's demanded for a character to catch it and then they seem to catch it instantly or something(Aveline's Husband, in particular).

 

[meiam]

I started Daemon x Machina, which is the embodiment of the meme: "kid: we want armored core! - Parent: We have armored core at home.- The armored care at home : Daemon x Machina" . Everything good about it is what's outright stolen from AC, everything that was changed is bad to utter garbage. The control scheme is a mess and seemingly just change things from AC for the sake of changing them. The story is filled with godawful character that are the worst combination shallow tropes and anime (one guy literally just yell all the time for no reason) and the writing is borderline non sense, maybe its a very very poor translation (possibly machine translated)?

It's only redeeming quality is that there hasn't been an armoured core in years, which is thankfully soon not going to be the case anymore.

 

[BrawlMan]

I started Daemon x Machina, which is the embodiment of the meme: "kid: we want armored core! - Parent: We have armored core at home.- The armored care at home : Daemon x Machina" . Everything good about it is what's outright stolen from AC, everything that was changed is bad to utter garbage. The control scheme is a mess and seemingly just change things from AC for the sake of changing them. The story is filled with godawful character that are the worst combination shallow tropes and anime (one guy literally just yell all the time for no reason) and the writing is borderline non sense, maybe its a very very poor translation (possibly machine translated)?

It's only redeeming quality is that there hasn't been an armoured core in years, which is thankfully soon not going to be the case anymore.

Too bad. I always thought about getting the game, but something just felt off when looking at the gameplay. It's sad, cuz I did like the trailer when they first announced the game. Gave me that early to mid 2000 feeling. Like you said though, at least we're getting an actual Armored Core now.

 

[meiam]

Too bad. I always thought about getting the game, but something just felt off when looking at the gameplay. It's sad, cuz I did like the trailer when they first announced the game. Gave me that early to mid 2000 feeling. Like you said though, at least we're getting an actual Armored Core now.

If you see it for cheap, why not. There's still some good in it cause they're ripping off a good franchise (if you're interested in the core concept of mech customization), just need a high degree of tolerance toward anime-ism or skip all the cut scene.

In other game I've been playing, Here comes Niko! is a charming platformer. Nothing fancy, its more about the chill atmosphere and the colorfull visual (think paper mario).