What are you currently playing?

[BrawlMan]

I went over to my brother's last night. Played more of HiFi Rush. Finished the fourth stage. It does that No More Heroes thing where the game hypes up a boss, but you don't fight them. Instead, they get their ass kicked in a cutscene. How it happens I won't spoil, but it's actually unique and I don't mind it. There were some people that complained about it, but it led to a humorous section in the game I won't spoil.

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

Only recently realised Shadow Warrior 3's 'force push' power lets you launch elemental barrels and pots towards enemies, so now that's clicked been playing it like a fucking apocalyptic god on hard mode, is quite intense yet fun. And strangely the description for the new-Gen update doesn't mention any details of visual upgrades, yet am almost certain there's some work put into that area, as everything seems to look much nicer, smoother and colourful than when I first played it not long after initial release.

Looking forward to trying Atomic Heart soon, tomorrow maybe. But am also very curious as to where they are going with their narrative, and how closely they intend to follow "the spirit" of BioShock with their political exploration. Basically, am anticipating some sort of "and this is why anarcho capitalism is the best!" type of reveal somewhere, perhaps even a literal interpretation of the "guiding hand of the free market" materialising to save the day by slapping all the robots down with huge wads of wage-thefted cash (thefted? Not stolen? Am sticking with thefted, sorry!) Is just a curiosity though, something to humour either way.

 

[BrawlMan]

I decided to pop in Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge and finally managed to beat Day 2 on Hard. I swear it involves more luck than skill when getting to the chopper boss fight. The auto aim on the bow sucks, and higher difficulties, it will prioritize the spawning mooks over the shooting missile barrages and lasers at you! I went ahead and did Ayane Day 2. Shorter mission and a lot more fun.

 

[Hawki]

So I played more of Path of Radiance, to the point where I've just completed the mission where you have to pass through the border into Gallia (apparently Gallia didn't take issue with Daein soldiers fortifying themselves on their border?). Anyway, opinionz:


GAMEPLAY


-So far, game is tough (playing on normal), but not unfair. That said, I've got a terrible feeling I'm shooting myself in the foot, because even when I've tried to use Titania as sparingly as possible, she's probably racked up more kills than she should have at this point. Also, Soren's lagging behind.


STORY


-The Elincia plot twist really doesn't work for me, it comes off as a plot twist for the sake of a plot twist. In the space of a pair of cutscenes, we learn that:


1: She's the king's daughter, but not first in line. As such, her existence was kept secret from Crimea's populace.


2: Her existence was made known to other ruling families, so if ever it came to it, her claim would be recognized by other countries.


This seems overly convoluted to me. If the revelation came later in the story, sure, but here, again, it's a plot twist for the sake of a plot twist. Just make it clear she's the princess, make it clear she wasn't next in line, cue character arc.


-In hindsight, Mist showing Elincia her medallion is brilliant forshadowing. I love how casually she mentions that it only started glowing recently. I mean, I know why it's glowing, but in the context of the moment? Yeah...


-I love how Shinnon and Soren are unapologetic jackasses - selfish, self-serving, speciest, etc. Based on what I've seen of Engage for instance, it's actually refreshing to have amoral characters, especially since Shinnon is a beast in gameplay terms.


-So, why is Greil giving Ike command? I get it, this story started out with Ike learning the ropes, but a war's begun, we're beyond training wheels, surely by any reasonable measure, Titania should be the one giving the orders when Greil isn't around? I know, hero's journey, but still...


Anyway, overall, it's solid. Which is not something I can say for:


FIRE EMBLEM HEROES


I started playing this on the side. I can't say I'm fond of it.


Initially I started writing something much longer, but really, it doesn't deserve the attention. I know, I know, it's a mobile game meant to be played in short bursts, so of course character and story depth are going to be lacking compared to a mainstream entry, but even then, I've played mobile games that were genuinely fun to play (Rivals, Sonic Runners, Diablo Immortal), and this ain't it chief. I could forgive the simple gameplay if the story was better, but nup, it doesn't even manage that.


I could say more, but really, it doesn't deserve the attention.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I went over to my brother's last night. Played more of HiFi Rush. Finished the fourth stage. It does that no more Heroes thing where the game hypes up a boss, but you don't fight them. Instead, they get their ass kicked in a cutscene. How it happens I won't spoil, but it's actually unique and I don't mind it. There were some people that complained about it, but it led to a humorous section in the game I won't spoil.

I actually picked the game back up myself on a grey Sunday and got up to the same spot, maybe a bit further.

While my opinion about the game hasn't basically changed (good not amazing), I am having fun with it and that's all that matters. It's best and worst parts are the same: there's a lot of little mechanics and things in it- light attack strong attack, dodge and also parry and all crowds and all shielded enemies and also summons. Most of all- timed input with both visual AND audio cues, an sometimes they match up well and sometimes they clash.

The result is that when things come together, it really is a rush. Mostly this is combat and especially with boss fights. I am really loving the boss fights so far which is important (these days if I hear/read a review about a game that says the game is good except the boss fights, I stay away from the game, because I just find that unacceptable).
When it comes apart for me is during certain chase sequences with platforming and QTEs. The latter, in this game, can go f*** themselves straight to hell. It's a classic QTE with a button input and some visual like a shrinking circle around it, and I'm like wtf am I supposed to do with this, wait until the circle gets to the button name? But then you remember everything is supposed to be on the beat so do I wait for a beat or the circle (turns, f*** you player, the answer is "yes" lol).
But of course QTE's aren't just one button, it's a few, so I'm making that calculation three times and I have to get it right three times. So every QTE feels like I have a 33.33% chance of getting it right. It's so hatefully horrible it's the worst thing I've experienced in gaming in 2023 thus far.

Then I get past it and have cool fight and I"m enjoying it again.
I'm not even half-way through so I hope these QTE's and chase sequences won't stop me from beating the game. Certainly it will take me WAY longer than the 10 hours some reviewers been talking about, and it's not my main game since it's on my Deck. But that's ok I like having a little thing I can just pick up on the go and play a level or two.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I went ahead and rushed through the Witcher 3 DLCs to get all the trophies and see the next gen visuals in Touissant. It was my last playthrough, finally time to say goodbye to my #1 video game obsession after I-don't-even-know-how-many playthroughs.
Now I've decided to let go of free will and allow Playstation Plus (base tier level) decide my game choices for a while on my main console of the 5th PS.

Mafia: The Definitive Edition

The remakes, they don't stop! I booted this one up yesterday morning, a day where I had nothing to do 'cause it's a national holiday here- what you Brits would call a bank holiday- and my wife left town for a work thing, and the weather was shit. So I figured I'd check it out, probably not like it 'cause it's a remake of an old-ass game whatever.
But I got hooked on it and spent the whole day playing it from start to finish.

Is it good? Man, I dunno. I enjoyed it because it is everything that certain critics, including ones I like, are complaining about- it's a pLaYaBLE MOOVIE. Linear, cut scenes to explain the story, absolutely ZERO "player choice." It absolutely uses mafia movie cliches; it's an interactive Scorcese knock-off.
And you know what? It's fun as hell. Even more surprising, it's actually a good story. It does a nice take on the mafia character cliches and relationships. Imagine Goodfellas but the friendships are actually somewhat believable.

Gameplay-wise it's really a driving game, pretty much Grand Theft Auto 3. I thought this would turn me off because I don't really care for driving, and most of the actual gameplay is actually just driving from one location to another. To my own surprise, I enjoyed it here. Maybe I was just in the mood for it. But more likely it is the music- when you drive, there is a radio, that gives you in-game news and background but mostly plays music of the time, and it's a hyper-selective better than real representation of that music from the 1930's: Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway. I actually love and know this music and I don't think most white folks were listening to this on the radio, and even some of the songs I believe were anachronistic, but it doesn't matter, it was just too cool to drive around with that stuff on the radio.

Of course there's cover based gun fights and *yawn* drop it to easy to get past that lame stuff. And of course of course once I got to the 75% mark in the game's story they just throw waves and waves of bullet sponges for me to shoot and I remember that I hate video games (seriously, what's the point of Easy mode if it still takes 5 bullets to kill dude and there's 50 dudes and checkpoint is 40 dudes ago?!).

This is also the first game I can remember... maybe ever?... where I was actually disappointed at the lack of customization. You can customize cars but not outfits, and being a 1930's mobster would lend itself to making your character look as swank as you like with those suits and ties and hats. But, you know, even new games struggle with including character customization in cut scenes so it might be too much to expect such here I guess.

If you have PS+ and are down for a hang out game with some pulp story and chill driving, I recommend.

Next up are OlliOlli World, which I'm looking forward to 'cause I'm down for a cartoony game (I never played the other ones) and Evil Dead Game, which is some multiplayer thing so I probably won't like it but we'll see.

 

[BrawlMan]

When it comes apart for me is during certain chase sequences with platforming and QTEs. The latter, in this game, can go f*** themselves straight to hell. It's a classic QTE with a button input and some visual like a shrinking circle around it, and I'm like wtf am I supposed to do with this, wait until the circle gets to the button name? But then you remember everything is supposed to be on the beat so do I wait for a beat or the circle (turns, f*** you player, the answer is "yes" lol).
But of course QTE's aren't just one button, it's a few, so I'm making that calculation three times and I have to get it right three times. So every QTE feels like I have a 33.33% chance of getting it right. It's so hatefully horrible it's the worst thing I've experienced in gaming in 2023 thus far.

The QTES I don't care for either. I didn't have that much trouble with them, but they are annoying for opening certain hidden chests, and that's stupid hologram eyeball thing.

 

[Chimpzy]

Live A Live

The HD-2D remake from last year, to be more specific. I like it. It basically presents you with a number of vignettes set in different times and places, and which usually have their own little gameplay twist to mix things up. The Wild West section is about preparing a town with traps for a bandit raid before time runs out. The feudal Japan section is a more open ended infiltration mission with optional stealth. And modern day is a sort of boss rush/arcade fighting game/jrpg hybrid. They're all very simple, there's not much depth to them. But they're also fairly short, so by the time one is wearing out its welcome you'll be moving on to something different.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Aggelos

A very nice throwback to 16-bit Wonder Boy era proto-metroidvanias from a small French indie studio. The promotional artwork, thumbnail, etc. all looks very amateurish but the game itself is quality grade. Combat is basic but the variety of enemy behavior makes it engaging. Tight controls, tight platforming. Along the way you get some decent mobility upgrades that go hand in hand with combat and alter your relationship with the environment significantly. On Normal difficulty it leans towards "Nintendo Hard" but with some highly appreciated QoL modern features, like being able to fast travel between checkpoints (eventually) and a cheap, automatic revive item that essentially doubles your health bar. If you die you lose some XP (no biggie, you grind it with ease - and I'm not super sure what difference leveling up makes anyway) but keep whatever item you got or effect you had in the environment, which is a relief.

One of those games that doesn't do anything novel but pulls off every beat perfectly. Plus the very obvious labor of love bonus points. After slogging through a bunch of metaphors for depression it's nice to go on a cheery uncomplicated adventure where you get to open chests and hold swords aloft.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Alright, finished Doom Eternal Ancient Gods Part 1, as well as part 2.

And honestly, I was a tad bit let down with the final boss. Wasn't too difficult, just really annoying gimmicks. Bethesda also committed the sin of having dlcs as the "true ending". And while cutscenes were great, the campaign was really short.

Sentinel hammer was super fun to use, and finally gave me the edge to balance out the difficult combat. The new enemy types were really annoying too.

I think the ending either signifies the end of this doom slayer's journey, or they are baiting for a third title.

Now the question is if I want to try the multiplayer? I heard it's really fun, but that's what people said about Overwatch

 

[Casual Shinji]

I picked up Dead Space (the new version, though I've never played the old one), and while it's not bad it's not really grabbing me either. Under the hood everything's pretty great, though I don't find the dismemberment action as riveting past the first three or so times doing it. My real issue, I think, is that the game doesn't have much of a personality. The environments are pretty cool, but the characters are really bland in that 'EA/Activision FPS campaign' kinda way. Maybe this'll pick up later, but so far the characters have little to them. The enemies are just your typical corpse monsters; all fleshy, with exposed skulls, and pointy appendages. And their placement in the levels is... well, it isn't - They just pop up out of vents. They don't wander around, or hang from the ceiling, or can be found munching on some poor shmuck. Nothing interesting that might bring some more life and personality to the levels. Again, maybe this'll change, but 3 hours in and they're still only coming out of vents.

I also decided to play Hades again, but I think I ruined the spear by upgrading it. The triangle recall is now gone in favor of you zipping to the spear instead, which will damage foes and allow the next four attacks to be stronger, but now I can no longer spam the throw/recall attack as easily without interchanging between triangle and square, when initially I just had to spam triangle.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Moar Elden Ring. I found a village with a bunch of weirdly dancing and laughing women who either 1.) don't give a fuck that I'm there and just keep dancing or 2.) decide I wasn't invited to the party and aggro the moment they see me. Probably the most unsettling area thus far; it's like a brothel where all the women have syphilis, and seem pleased about it. But a Godskin Prophet at the top of the village made quick work of me, so instead, I decided to explore elsewhere.

I made it to the capital city outskirts. Margit popped up out of nowhere as an ostensible mob now seeing as he didn't have the boss health bar, but a few pot shots and arrow cheese, I was able to manage. Now, I've got a huge, fuck-all gargoyle thingy, two Tree Sentinels, and an amorphous blob on crack that breathes fire standing in my way of progression. Man, this game is soul crushing. Gone are the days when progress felt like victory; now, that feeling has been replaced with a defeated and unenthusiastic "great, what next?"

I'm thinking of heading into Caelid. My rationale is that since Caelid is relatively early game (insofar as accessibility,) I might be able to manage better now than when I dared set foot there for the first and last time weeks ago. I don't expect that to be the case, but a boy can dream.

It's settled; if I actually manage to beat this game (an unlikelihood I'm prepared to accept,) Elden Ring will have been analogous to childbirth: lots of blood, sweat, tears, screaming in utter agony, followed by unparalleled joy and the very acute desire to never do it again. I tried starting a sorcery build, just to get the feeling of a vastly different build, but the second I stepped into Limgrave and thought of everything I'd have to do again, I quit. My sorcerer has a total of 18 minutes playtime.

 

[gorfias]

I had a somewhat problematic doc appointment a couple of weeks ago. So, I'm trying to get my act together. Sharply reduced sugar, carbs and alcohol. And I'm going to use everything I have to try to get off my butt. Hidden deep in storage was my Xbox Connect. Dragged it out brought it to my exercise room, the missus saw it and asked, "are you buying more stuff?" I would have been lying but specifically referencing the Kinnect, no, it is not new. Set it up and played Shape Up. Actually gets me tuckered having me cross punch and cross knee blue blobs.


Then pulled out my Wii balance board. It judged me first, telling me I am fat, old for my age and clumsy and unbalanced. Great. Well, starting at the bottom gives me something to move up to.


A former boss of mine swears by the Oculus Quest 2. I 've got a few games to try on that but the cat keeps getting underfoot when I can't see what is around me.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

It's settled; if I actually manage to beat this game (an unlikelihood I'm prepared to accept,) Elden Ring will have been analogous to childbirth: lots of blood, sweat, tears, screaming in utter agony, followed by unparalleled joy and the very acute desire to never do it again. I tried starting a sorcery build, just to get the feeling of a vastly different build, but the second I stepped into Limgrave and thought of everything I'd have to do again, I quit. My sorcerer has a total of 18 minutes playtime.

Every so often I consider starting up another ER play-through, to play it without the pressure of beating it since I already did that (with MUCH fextralife/youtubing), and give it another assessment since I have so many gripes with it.
But then I think about.. all of the... everything *sigh*... I just can't even.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Ollie Ollie World

This is the skating game that PS+ made available for us. It uses an art style that's kind of like Sable or Rollerdrome, all pastels and such.
Well a skateboarding game is essentially just another kind of platforming gaming really and that means that I played for a few hours, hit a point I can't beat, and quit.

But if you don't have old cripple man unable-to-play-modern-platforming-games hands like me, you should give it a shot because skating feels good, it's fast enough to get the heart racing and the controls make sense with the environments you skate in. The levels offer the expected extra challenges and routes and such so that you can both progress through a "story" and also faff about, which is an important balance to have for a skateboarding game.

 

[wings012]

Tried out Atomic Heart. I think there's a good core in there, but it is marred by the most atrocious and obnoxious writing I've experienced in a while. I thought High On Life was bad!

The conversations in the game are too frequent and are very strangely written. Almost as if they asked ChatGPT to write the script or something. They throw shit loads of weird dialogue at you in absolute spades and it's not paced out well at all. You find an audiolog and can't even listen to it while proceeding with the game cause your character or glove will find something to say. Fuck! The walls are white! I hate that colour!! Yes he just seems absolutely pissed off about everything.

But anyway there's weird plant zombies and humanoid robots and you beat the shit out of them with a fire axe, and can also shock/freeze/fling them about with magic glove powers. You're also on some city in the sky. So it's Soviet Bioshock Infinite pretty much.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

The conversations in the game are too frequent and are very strangely written. Almost as if they asked ChatGPT to write the script or something.

Apparently Nexus Mods has started hosting mods for the game. I wouldn't be surprised if someone came up with one that reduced the dialogue. Right after the "have sex with the robot women" mods.

 

[meiam]

I picked up Dead Space (the new version, though I've never played the old one), and while it's not bad it's not really grabbing me either. Under the hood everything's pretty great, though I don't find the dismemberment action as riveting past the first three or so times doing it. My real issue, I think, is that the game doesn't have much of a personality. The environments are pretty cool, but the characters are really bland in that 'EA/Activision FPS campaign' kinda way. Maybe this'll pick up later, but so far the characters have little to them. The enemies are just your typical corpse monsters; all fleshy, with exposed skulls, and pointy appendages. And their placement in the levels is... well, it isn't - They just pop up out of vents. They don't wander around, or hang from the ceiling, or can be found munching on some poor shmuck. Nothing interesting that might bring some more life and personality to the levels. Again, maybe this'll change, but 3 hours in and they're still only coming out of vents.

Haven't played the remake so can't talk about this, but as far as character goes, the only one that really matters in the first game is the Ishimura itself, it was more about exploring the ship and getting a sense of what it was pre and post things going to shit. Issac was fully mute in the original and the other two cast member would only interact with you every couple of hours. Enemy variety will increase eventually, but its nothing amazing, and most enemy will still be vent poper, it's very much a game that has you go trough eerily calm room only for everything to go to shit.

 

[Dalisclock]

Tried out Atomic Heart. I think there's a good core in there, but it is marred by the most atrocious and obnoxious writing I've experienced in a while. I thought High On Life was bad!

The conversations in the game are too frequent and are very strangely written. Almost as if they asked ChatGPT to write the script or something. They throw shit loads of weird dialogue at you in absolute spades and it's not paced out well at all. You find an audiolog and can't even listen to it while proceeding with the game cause your character or glove will find something to say. Fuck! The walls are white! I hate that colour!! Yes he just seems absolutely pissed off about everything.

But anyway there's weird plant zombies and humanoid robots and you beat the shit out of them with a fire axe, and can also shock/freeze/fling them about with magic glove powers. You're also on some city in the sky. So it's Soviet Bioshock Infinite pretty much.

Yeah, the cringe writing at times really put me off wanting to get it. I passed HoL because of that and I don't want it in AH even if AH is more interesting conceptually.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Moar Elden Ring. I found a village with a bunch of weirdly dancing and laughing women who either 1.) don't give a fuck that I'm there and just keep dancing or 2.) decide I wasn't invited to the party and aggro the moment they see me. Probably the most unsettling area thus far; it's like a brothel where all the women have syphilis, and seem pleased about it. But a Godskin Prophet at the top of the village made quick work of me, so instead, I decided to explore elsewhere.

I made it to the capital city outskirts. Margit popped up out of nowhere as an ostensible mob now seeing as he didn't have the boss health bar, but a few pot shots and arrow cheese, I was able to manage. Now, I've got a huge, fuck-all gargoyle thingy, two Tree Sentinels, and an amorphous blob on crack that breathes fire standing in my way of progression. Man, this game is soul crushing. Gone are the days when progress felt like victory; now, that feeling has been replaced with a defeated and unenthusiastic "great, what next?"

I'm thinking of heading into Caelid. My rationale is that since Caelid is relatively early game (insofar as accessibility,) I might be able to manage better now than when I dared set foot there for the first and last time weeks ago. I don't expect that to be the case, but a boy can dream.

It's settled; if I actually manage to beat this game (an unlikelihood I'm prepared to accept,) Elden Ring will have been analogous to childbirth: lots of blood, sweat, tears, screaming in utter agony, followed by unparalleled joy and the very acute desire to never do it again. I tried starting a sorcery build, just to get the feeling of a vastly different build, but the second I stepped into Limgrave and thought of everything I'd have to do again, I quit. My sorcerer has a total of 18 minutes playtime.

Don’t give up, Skeleton!

So, did you go back and start a new game as sorcery? Yeesh…much easier to just respec for that shit! Worse comes to worst, just get that second Uchi and pump up the Arcane with bleed on both of them. With the default Unsheathe on one for staggers and maybe Double Slash on the other there shouldn’t be much trouble until at least past the capital.

Anyways, about the Windmill freaks -