What are you currently playing?

[BrawlMan]

Been playing SHDW3 on NG+. Getting remaining upgrade orbs and completing NG+ challenges. Like HRR and Evil West, the game gets even more fun on NG+ and there is no exception here. I fully upgraded Wang's sword yesterday and it is a game breaker with the elemental charge attacks. You will either freeze, electrocute, or burn enemies. Your choice is randomized per charge attack, but they stun lock the enemies either way for an easier kill. Freeze is the best as most of your shots or using the Riot Gun turns demons into a one hit kill.

 

[FakeSympathy]

I had Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice for free, just sitting there in my GOG Galaxy library. After feeling burned out with Souls games, I decided to give it a shot.

And holy hell, this game is an experience and a half. I am not quite sure what to make of it.

On one hand, it is one of the best narratives I've ever seen. Druth maybe my second-favorite storyteller after Mimir in GOW games. The sound effects and puzzle set pieces are done so well too. The voices that surround Senua, which also surround me when I wear headphones, are also done exceptionally well. Now I sort of understand what having schizophrenia is like, and I feel bad for anyone suffering from it. In fact, all of the voice acting was top notch IMO.

And the ending.... oh my god, the ending. I think it delivers the message quite hard

Unfortunately, the combat is bit mediocre at best, the environment (while amazing) doesn't offer too much in terms of exploration on top of slow movement by Senua, the puzzles can get a bit repetitive and the game is a one big walking simulator.

It is one of those games that I am content to have played at least once, but never wanna touch again

 

[Dalisclock]

I had Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice for free, just sitting there in my GOG Galaxy library. After feeling burned out with Souls games, I decided to give it a shot.

And holy hell, this game is an experience and a half. I am not quite sure what to make of it.

On one hand, it is one of the best narrative I've ever seen. Druth maybe my second-favorite storyteller after Mimir in GOW games. The sound effects and puzzle set pieces are done so well too. The voices that surrounds Senua, that also surrounds me when I wear headphones, is also done exceptionally well. Now I sort of understand what having schizophrenia is like, and I feel bad for anyone suffering from it. In fact, all of the voice actings were top notch IMO

Unfortunately, the combat is bit mediocre at best, the environment (while amazing) doesn't offer too much in terms of exploration on top of slow movement by Senua, the puzzles can get a bit repetitive and the game is a one big walking simulator.

It is one of those games where I am content to having played at least once, but never wanna touch again

Yeah, Hellblade's particular "gimmick" for a lack of a better term, really does a lot to sell the whole experience(and I say that as someone who liked the game). Because of that I was more then willing to put up with the passable combat to see where it all went and was happy with it when all was said and done.

That being said, I'm not particularly hopeful about the sequel coming out in the near future, partially because it felt like Senua's story was finished and there's no need to really continue it. Maybe I'll be proven wrong but right now I'm not holding my breath for it.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Roombo: First Blood

Probably born from the pun, you play a killer Roomba in a Home Alone scenario that slides around a house taking out burglars by hacking other appliances. Once you murder everyone you get about a minute to clean up all the blood and gore before the homeowners arrive. The game is over before you know it - there's only six levels and they're all set in the same house, with no variation other than how many burglars you're fending off. The cleanup part at the end of the level is fun but pointless - there's no incentive to clean up the mess, and you're not given much time to do so anyway. The game could use more variation. As is, it feels like a demo.

Mystik Belle

It's a cute SNES looking metroidvania/adventure game. You play a witch sent in a game-long errand of restoring a magic brew (or else). The whole game is essentially a series of fetch quests - you pick items, give them to an NPC or use them on another object, get a new item for it, reach a new area with it, repeat. The world usually opens up via keys moreso than gaining new abilities but you do get the odd ability now and then. Movement is slow and platforming is floaty although thankfully your basic starter spell has infinite range and spams infinitely, so nothing in the game poses much of a fight anyway. The challenge usually lies in typical Resident Evil-style item box juggling wherein you can only carry six items on you and have to stash everything else in chests. You never know what you're gonna need next but don't want to max out your inventory from the get-go, so expect tons of backtracking.

 

[meiam]

Roombo: First Blood

Probably born from the pun, you play a killer Roomba in a Home Alone scenario that slides around a house taking out burglars by hacking other appliances. Once you murder everyone you get about a minute to clean up all the blood and gore before the homeowners arrive. The game is over before you know it - there's only six levels and they're all set in the same house, with no variation other than how many burglars you're fending off. The cleanup part at the end of the level is fun but pointless - there's no incentive to clean up the mess, and you're not given much time to do so anyway. The game could use more variation. As is, it feels like a demo.

That actually sound like a fun premise that could really be expanded, maybe making it into some sort of hotline miami style game with quick reload.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

That actually sound like a fun premise that could really be expanded, maybe making it into some sort of hotline miami style game with quick reload.

It really is, but the devs figured it was only good enough for a joke. To put the disappointment in perspective, imagine if Hotline Miami were just the first level six times with an extra enemy every time.

I paid a dollar for it and really isn't worth a cent over that.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Spider-man Miles Morales. It feels... different. In a bad way. Web slinging is excellent as usual, but I'm not enjoying the combat nearly as much as I did in the original.

 

[Dalisclock]

It really is, but the devs figured it was only good enough for a joke. To put the disappointment in perspective, imagine if Hotline Miami were just the first level six times with an extra enemy every time.

I paid a dollar for it and really isn't worth a cent over that.

For some reason this feels like a review of "Aliens: Colonial Marines" where the reviewer(paraphrasing) said "I bought this on discount for $7 and I feel like I got ripped off".

More WInd Waker.

DId the Tower of the Gods, which was interesting(with the little remote controlled Robot dudes) and the big....video gamey boss at the top of the tower. Which was pretty cool overall. After that, I got to go down below the ocean and see Atlantis....er, Hyrule after being flooded and man that hit some big nostalgia vibes there. I also appreciate the next dungeon is the forsaken fortress again, but this time I have the MASTER SWORD so it feels more like a revenge tour now and I'm here for it.

So yeah, having a really good time and Wind Wakers Post Apocalypse vibe is pretty cool despite being so sunny and pretty. Especially since it feels like it's a riff on the biblical flood motif except...well, the waters never receded and everyone just lives on the few islands that are left. And it begs the question.....where am I hauling these chests full of money up from? It's easy to not think about it before then but when it's revealed the ENTIRE KINGDOM OF HYRULE is submerged under a Kilometer or so of ocean(and apparnetly has been for centuries), the origin of the money chests becomes disturbing. Also, what about the rest of the world? I know there's apparently another continent in Spirit Tracks but unless Hyrule was like the Netherlands and....Oh, nevermind, I'm pretty sure the lore isn't that well thought out.

Also, I'm annoyed that Tetra is revealed to be Zelda and promptly gets locked in a vault under the sea. Like I wanted to go on pirate adventures with her but nope, she's a princess, gotta lock her in a box so Ganon won't get her will be slightly inconvenienced when trying to kidnap her.

 

[meiam]

For some reason this feels like a review of "Aliens: Colonial Marines" where the reviewer(paraphrasing) said "I bought this on discount for $7 and I feel like I got ripped off".

More WInd Waker.

DId the Tower of the Gods, which was interesting(with the little remote controlled Robot dudes) and the big....video gamey boss at the top of the tower. Which was pretty cool overall. After that, I got to go down below the ocean and see Atlantis....er, Hyrule after being flooded and man that hit some big nostalgia vibes there. I also appreciate the next dungeon is the forsaken fortress again, but this time I have the MASTER SWORD so it feels more like a revenge tour now and I'm here for it.

So yeah, having a really good time and Wind Wakers Post Apocalypse vibe is pretty cool despite being so sunny and pretty. Especially since it feels like it's a riff on the biblical flood motif except...well, the waters never receded and everyone just lives on the few islands that are left. And it begs the question.....where am I hauling these chests full of money up from? It's easy to not think about it before then but when it's revealed the ENTIRE KINGDOM OF HYRULE is submerged under a Kilometer or so of ocean(and apparnetly has been for centuries), the origin of the money chests becomes disturbing. Also, what about the rest of the world? I know there's apparently another continent in Spirit Tracks but unless Hyrule was like the Netherlands and....Oh, nevermind, I'm pretty sure the lore isn't that well thought out.

Also, I'm annoyed that Tetra is revealed to be Zelda and promptly gets locked in a vault under the sea. Like I wanted to go on pirate adventures with her but nope, she's a princess, gotta lock her in a box so Ganon won't get her will be slightly inconvenienced when trying to kidnap her.

Tetra deserved her stand alone game!

Honestly I never cared for the idea that all Zelda game share a lore, it makes very little sense, was obviously just though of much later and doesn't bring anything to the series since at most the lore is just "yeah this shit keeps happening the same way everytime".

 

[Dalisclock]

Tetra deserved her stand alone game!

Honestly I never cared for the idea that all Zelda game share a lore, it makes very little sense, was obviously just though of much later and doesn't bring anything to the series since at most the lore is just "yeah this shit keeps happening the same way everytime".

Yeah, it becomes really hard to try to put them all in a shared universe if you actually think about it. Which is why it's really weird that BOTW has references to...like every Zelda game that came before it, even ones that are arguably in mutually exclusive timelines(The RIto and the Zora technically shouldn't exist together). It's even more awkward if you try to figure out how the first two games (the NES ones) connect to the rest because a lot of the series elements weren't established until around OOT, which is probably the entire reason why the whole "Downfall Timeline" even exists.

Though arguably you can also just ignore all that and not be bothered and be perfectly fine enjoying the games as they are.

 

[BrawlMan]

Finished my NG+ run of SHDW3 and got all of the unlockables for Final Vendetta (PS4).

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I got Evil West. Just started it, only got through the first area or mission or whatever, and it's delivering exactly what I expected- I punch things they go splat. Fun times.

Will be going back and forth between that and the current Witcher 3 with next gen updated. I am at level 20, having completed the Novigrad plotline, and more importantly the new quest they added that results in getting the Netflix looking armor diagrams. It's a really good quest because it has some a couple new enemy types.

 

[BrawlMan]

I got Evil West. Just started it, only got through the first area or mission or whatever, and it's delivering exactly what I expected- I punch things they go splat. Fun times

Enjoy! What system are you playing on?

Right now, this is by far my favorite brawler and 3rd person shooter hybrid. At least until Wanted: Dead comes out. But I'm not hedging my bets on all that.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Enjoy! What system are you playing on?

Right now, this is by far my favorite brawler and 3rd person shooter hybrid. At least until Wanted: Dead comes out. But I'm not hedging my bets on all that.

PS5. It's also the first game for the console I got a physical disc copy of.
Basically for this generation of game tech my approach will likely be to use PS5 for the AAA's and Deck for the indies.

 

[Kyrian007]

Yeah, it becomes really hard to try to put them all in a shared universe if you actually think about it. Which is why it's really weird that BOTW has references to...like every Zelda game that came before it, even ones that are arguably in mutually exclusive timelines(The RIto and the Zora technically shouldn't exist together). It's even more awkward if you try to figure out how the first two games (the NES ones) connect to the rest because a lot of the series elements weren't established until around OOT, which is probably the entire reason why the whole "Downfall Timeline" even exists.

Though arguably you can also just ignore all that and not be bothered and be perfectly fine enjoying the games as they are.

Yeah, it doesn't really pay off to think too much about the Zelda "timeline." Even the "official" timeline was something someone came up with about 20 years after the franchise began. I just finished a replay through the entire main series (and even my first playthrough of BotW and 4-Swords Adventure.) And then I got bored and now am back into BotW where this "replay" started a little over a year ago. I am finding a ton of stuff I missed the first time around. Plus, I know how to cheese some higher level enemies early and get weapons that I can use to absolutely rampage through early game enemies (although I'm still really still suffering from "saving this weapon for later" syndrome. Still, enjoying it very much.

About on par with my enjoyment of Wind Waker and MM, just below my love for LttP and OoT. Strangely enough, this latest run through didn't change my opinions about the games much at the high end (other than adding Botw to that end.) But at the bottom end, I now have moved Skyward Sword up over Twilight Princess. TP just didn't introduce anything. It was just a better looking OoT with a worse fishing minigame. People complained a lot about changes in Skyward Sword... but at least it evolved. Plus, I still maintain that a lot of the issues were people who didn't have their Wiimotes set up properly and blamed the hardware. Because I never seemed to have all the control issues everyone else complained about. Plus SS had the most interesting attempt to fit into an overall "timeline." Hints at a futuristic high tech past that suffered some kind of apocalypse. And the complaints about Fe... I found her only AS annoying as Navi, and OoT is still my favorite of the series. I can't fault the game for Fe and not judge OoT down with it as well. Plus, Fe had the more interesting connection to the story.

I'm also replaying Golf Story in preparation for buying Sports Story. I remember wishing it was a little more Stardew and a little less NES Golf. Still, a good retro style Switch game. Also, I think I'm going to pick up the Switch version of Link's Awakening. I don't count it as a "main" Zelda game because it was only on handheld. But maybe I'll like this... remake? Reimagining? Whatever it is.

 

[BrawlMan]

PS5. It's also the first game for the console I got a physical disc copy of.
Basically for this generation of game tech my approach will likely be to use PS5 for the AAA's and Deck for the indies.

Congratulations on getting the physical version. Digital or physical, the PS5 version will run at 60 frames per second. I got the PS4 version that runs at 30, but it still feels smooth. I rarely had any slowdowns aside from the very last level.

 

[Bedinsis]

Playing more Zero Time Dilemma. I am not liking it.

Premise: 9 people are locked in a facility in groups of three, where they must complete room escape puzzles to escape. The way it has been laid out is that only once 6 people are dead will anyone be able to escape. What they've done to make it more interesting is that in the story, once an escape room is completed everyone experiences knock-out gas that gives them amnesia of what just occurred in the puzzle rooms. And as a player you can experience these segments in any order, thereby letting you mimic the sense of disorientation that the game's characters experience.

And I don't think this was a good decision. In the previous titles, there was at least a cut scene explaining who you were and you got to experience the player character's inner thoughts and thereby engage with them. In this game, you are free to jump between any team so there is no central character. This lack of anchor and the fact that the story is told as scattershot chapters that somehow got mixed and out of order means I am lost in what's going on, and that I fail to engage on an emotional level with the characters even in scenes that are clearly meant to be dramatic.

 

[BrawlMan]

I got the Germaphobe Trophy for Final Vendetta (PS4). It's almost playing a different game when you can't pick up any health items, weapons, bonus items, nor extra lives. The game does allow you to get extra lives by scoring a million each time, so it does not hurt getting the achievement, but getting those lives faster are only helped by collecting stuff on the ground. I was able to beat it with my last life. What's cool about most of the trophies/achievements is that they can be done on almost any difficulty. You can get most of them on Casual mode, if you wanted.

 

[BrawlMan]

Popped in NG3:RE and did some ninja trials. I am tackling the harder trials. A bit rusty, but adapting. Been alternating between Ayane and Kasumi. It so fun doing the running man on enemies turning them gibs with Kasumi. She has the best and most entertaining juggle combo in the game!

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Spider-man Miles Morales. It feels... different. In a bad way. Web slinging is excellent as usual, but I'm not enjoying the combat nearly as much as I did in the original.

I think I've narrowed down my issue. The enemies you encounter early game in Miles Morales are about the same level as the enemies you would encounter let's say 50% into the original game. However, Miles starts out let's say only at 20% of the full capabilities of Peter.

For example, every goddamn fight has the entire fucking population of Harlem bringing out their guns. Normally this would be no problem, in fact fighting armed enemies in the original was crazy fun when you had the automatic takedown after a perfect dodge. With Miles though, you don't start out with this ability and your gadgets are quite lacking. When you try and take out these armed enemies, they take so much punishment that finishing a combo on them results with them being knocked even further away from you, which puts them at an advantage.

I have already upgraded some of my favorite skills from the original game, so I feel like I just need to play a little bit more to get to a place that I'm happy with.

EDIT: I should say though, despite my qualms, my God is it nice to be playing videogames again.