What are you currently playing?

[Old_Hunter_77]

I'm liking Ultros a lot. I love a metroidvania with a personality and oddball mechanics that isn't just another riff on Metroid or Castlevania. And if nothing else Ultros oozes personality fluid from its many branching alien synapses.

It's also a lot of fun to figure out exactly how all the moving parts in the game work together and how the way you relate to them keeps changing.

Is it a rogueli*e of some sort? I was listening to Yahtzee play it and at some point he started over and lost all his abilities and weapon.
I thought the demo was cool but I was little iffy on the "combat" with it's weird dodge=parry thing, which seemed like the kind of thing that would either click into something unique or just piss me off.

Edit:
Meanwhile I chose Lysfanga as my next/new game and, man, it's hard for me lol. Though I was listening to Second Wind podcast and Frost said it was too easy.. well, I always admitted to being poop at games. But it's the kind of game I'm into now in that I can just sort of attempt battles while listening to podcasts.

 

[Xprimentyl]

IIRC only the weapon skill Corpse Piler adds fire, so if you’re just power stancing (LB attacks) it with the cold Uchi it will be just bleed damage on each plus the frost. I think this is what Let Me Solo Her used, and it’s still hella strong so yeah there’s that. The Winged Sword Insignia talisman from Stillwater cave boss at the bottom of the southernmost cliff in Liurnia stacks damage from successive hits. It stacks even more with the Thorny Cracked Tear physik, but that’s found on the way to Haligtree which is optional. The Leyndell catacombs in the sewers has a boss that gives the Lord of Blood’s Exultation talisman which also stacks bleed damage.

If you keep a shield in a second offhand slot (Great shield or medium?), Barricade Shield ashes are good to maximize guard boost for using guard counters. Curved Sword talisman boosts that damage.

One of my most fun setups was a strength arcane build using two Grossmessers (one Occult, one Heavy) with a greatshield in a second offhand slot, plus the Dragon Communion seal for dragon breath spells. I’d use guard counters then swap the shield out to power stance the swords (or use Sword Dance which has decent stance damage), then if they weren’t dead yet their stance was usually at least broken to finish them off with whatever dragon spell worked best.

Did you ever get to the underground bloody area via White Mask Varré’s quest? It has the defacto spot for quick and easy rune farming if needed.

Yes, I went through Varre's quest, and found the farming spot. The question now is what do I dump those easy runes into? I'm at the level now where each level is pretty expensive; farming for stats I've not invested in feels like pissing on a house fire. And I've only got 9 Larval tears left, so enough to experiment, but not so many that I can do so anytime I want.

I think this is why I'm such an inefficient Elden Ring player; I don't have the time or patience to study and tweak all the little knobs that could maximize a build, and Elden Ring has no shortage of knobs; it's got knobs coming out of its ears. There's just so much you can do, it's hard to know what you should or could do. And so we're clear, I'm not faulting the game; it's amazing. It's just too complex for my caveman brain. Like if Google Maps gave you every possible route to your destination, then shrugged and said "There could be traffic, accidents, road closures, etc. at any given point, but I'm not gonna tell you about any of it; figure that shit out."

I think a lot of my problem is the heldover simplicity from Dark Souls 1. I'm used to "find a weapon you like, upgrade it, dump into the stats that make it hit harder, go kill shit." Elden Ring? Ashes of war, weapon affinities, talismans, great runes, power-stancing, mixed physic flask, etc.; there's so many ingredients without a recipe! I feel like I'm in the kitchen with my grandfather who makes amazing food, but when asked how he does it: "Oh, y'know, some salt, a little pepper, a dash of garlic powder, a handful of onions, put it in the oven at the right temperature, then you eat it when it's done."

Thanks, Papa; not helpful at all, but thanks.

It's been a while since I've assessed my assigned talismans (given 90% of the ones I have either don't apply, or don't offer enough benefit to appreciably change my struggle,) perhaps I have overlooked one in the vast array that might actually be helpful.

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

Is it a rogueli*e of some sort? I was listening to Yahtzee play it and at some point he started over and lost all his abilities and weapon.
I thought the demo was cool but I was little iffy on the "combat" with it's weird dodge=parry thing, which seemed like the kind of thing that would either click into something unique or just piss me off.

Edit:
Meanwhile I chose Lysfanga as my next/new game and, man, it's hard for me lol. Though I was listening to Second Wind podcast and Frost said it was too easy.. well, I always admitted to being poop at games. But it's the kind of game I'm into now in that I can just sort of attempt battles while listening to podcasts.

There's a time loop mechanic, but it isn't a roguelike genre or format. Does something else more interesting with it.

 

[BrawlMan]

Is it a rogueli*e of some sort? I was listening to Yahtzee play it and at some point he started over and lost all his abilities and weapon.
I thought the demo was cool but I was little iffy on the "combat" with it's weird dodge=parry thing, which seemed like the kind of thing that would either click into something unique or just piss me off.

Edit:
Meanwhile I chose Lysfanga as my next/new game and, man, it's hard for me lol. Though I was listening to Second Wind podcast and Frost said it was too easy.. well, I always admitted to being poop at games. But it's the kind of game I'm into now in that I can just sort of attempt battles while listening to podcasts.

Honestly, for a game like that, that's not exactly a big negative of being "too easy". I feel like this is getting thrown around too much around again like during the Wii era. I remember some people complaining that DMC 5 on normal was too easy. It's only easy if you've been playing these games non-stop 24/7 or are long time players of the previous titles. These games can still be challenging, but these people are so familiar with the genre or franchise, that almost anything is "too easy" if it's not constantly kicking them in the nuts or bean.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Is it a rogueli*e of some sort? I was listening to Yahtzee play it and at some point he started over and lost all his abilities and weapon.

You lose your sword, gear and any skills you've unlocked whenever you perform a certain ritual, usually after defeating a boss. You get sent back to the starter room and a cycle starts anew. The game is basically a finite series of timeloops. Map is fixed, progress carries over and you quickly regain anything that you lost.

What Yahtzee didn't notice, because the man behind 'spunkgarglewewee' and 'jiminycockthroat' was too busy mocking the devs' florid choice of words for dialogue, is that you quickly get certain items to prevent skills from resetting. They're usually rewards for exploring off the beaten path but the first one is a freebie.

I thought the demo was cool but I was little iffy on the "combat" with it's weird dodge=parry thing, which seemed like the kind of thing that would either click into something unique or just piss me off.

Combat is fine. It's tight, pretty easy and in-depth enough that there are 'style' rewards for mixing up your moves for higher quality drops, but really isn't the focus of the game. I don't want to spoil anything but let's say the game is about learning to do without it.

You played and liked stuff like Cocoon and Chants of Sennaar, right? Ultros is absolutely leaning in that direction in terms of eureka moments and deciphering the game's train of thought.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

You played and liked stuff like Cocoon and Chants of Sennaar, right? Ultros is absolutely leaning in that direction in terms of eureka moments and deciphering the game's train of thought.

I only played the demo for Sennaar and appreciated it but haven't bought it because I don't trust myself to have patience for the puzzles. However it's still on maybe or "on sale" consideration list.

Ok well as long as Ultros isn't a rogueli*e I'm still down for it.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I only played the demo for Sennaar and appreciated it but haven't bought it because I don't trust myself to have patience for the puzzles. However it's still on maybe or "on sale" consideration list.

Ok well as long as Ultros isn't a rogueli*e I'm still down for it.

It might feel like a rogueli*e when you get to the first reset but I promise it has more in common with time-loop games like Astalon (also a metroidvania), Minit and The Sexy Brutale. And unlike these the resets in Ultros are essentially few and scripted at specific points (you don't start over whenever you die, but rather when you turn in after defeating a boss), and the challenge is both exploiting them and working around them.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Yes, I went through Varre's quest, and found the farming spot. The question now is what do I dump those easy runes into? I'm at the level now where each level is pretty expensive; farming for stats I've not invested in feels like pissing on a house fire. And I've only got 9 Larval tears left, so enough to experiment, but not so many that I can do so anytime I want.

I think this is why I'm such an inefficient Elden Ring player; I don't have the time or patience to study and tweak all the little knobs that could maximize a build, and Elden Ring has no shortage of knobs; it's got knobs coming out of its ears. There's just so much you can do, it's hard to know what you should or could do. And so we're clear, I'm not faulting the game; it's amazing. It's just too complex for my caveman brain. Like if Google Maps gave you every possible route to your destination, then shrugged and said "There could be traffic, accidents, road closures, etc. at any given point, but I'm not gonna tell you about any of it; figure that shit out."

I think a lot of my problem is the heldover simplicity from Dark Souls 1. I'm used to "find a weapon you like, upgrade it, dump into the stats that make it hit harder, go kill shit." Elden Ring? Ashes of war, weapon affinities, talismans, great runes, power-stancing, mixed physic flask, etc.; there's so many ingredients without a recipe! I feel like I'm in the kitchen with my grandfather who makes amazing food, but when asked how he does it: "Oh, y'know, some salt, a little pepper, a dash of garlic powder, a handful of onions, put it in the oven at the right temperature, then you eat it when it's done."

Thanks, Papa; not helpful at all, but thanks.

It's been a while since I've assessed my assigned talismans (given 90% of the ones I have either don't apply, or don't offer enough benefit to appreciably change my struggle,) perhaps I have overlooked one in the vast array that might actually be helpful.

That’s the conundrum of sorts with it and the whole “go bigger” mantra. They made more ways than ever to subvert the head-against-a-wall difficulty of past games but it also requires as much if not more time to find them. Luckily there are guides and shortcuts, because no one is efficient without first spending hundreds of hours digging through the game otherwise. I’ve already put in that time and still only know half/most of these tips because I read Fextralife lol.

Ultimately it ain’t worth sweating the meta stuff like with tons of buffing and shit because chasing the highest dps and all that can kinda be a rabbit hole. It’s like with PC gaming where you can be constantly chasing better performance. Basic rule of thumb is eventually level Vigor to 40 for casters, or 60 for melee (either with or without talisman boosters), and most points otherwise going towards the offensive stat your preferable weapons scale best with. Endurance is fine left at whatever you want equipped that allows medium rolls. Mind, 20 is plenty unless leaning heavily into hungry ashes and spell casting.

That mimic at +9 or 10 will tank a lot and dish out helpful damage. No harm/shame in checking out the build page for ideas to help fine tune a setup to save time. That’s what it’s there for!

 

[Bartholen]

Finished RE4make last night. Probably going to play it again pretty soon, it's a really fun game with lots of replayability and a new game+. Not that much more to add really. The final boss fight was piss easy and went down first try. There's basically no point in using the Broken Butterfly on Harcore mode. You get so little ammo for it, crafting ammo is horribly expensive, it's terribly inaccurate and its added power doesn't really matter much. The MVP of this run was no doubt the Stingray. The ability to one-shot enemies from incredibly far proved invaluable time and time again. I'm thinking of maybe getting the Separate Ways DLC, would you guys recommend it?

 

[Casual Shinji]

Finished RE4make last night. Probably going to play it again pretty soon, it's a really fun game with lots of replayability and a new game+. Not that much more to add really. The final boss fight was piss easy and went down first try. There's basically no point in using the Broken Butterfly on Harcore mode. You get so little ammo for it, crafting ammo is horribly expensive, it's terribly inaccurate and its added power doesn't really matter much. The MVP of this run was no doubt the Stingray. The ability to one-shot enemies from incredibly far proved invaluable time and time again. I'm thinking of maybe getting the Separate Ways DLC, would you guys recommend it?

One wonders what the point of even including the Broken Butterfly was in the remake. Capcom obviously realized and tried to mitigate its status as a 'fuck you' gun for the remake, but in doing so made it nearly inoperable. The Killer7 is basically the Fixed Butterfly.

The Seperate Ways DLC is good, or atleast as good as single-player DLC can be, which arguably is never that much. But it certainly adds some very welcome moments, and is leaps and bounds better than the OG Seperate Ways.

 

[laggyteabag]

Ive kind of dropped Diablo 4. The story was interesting, but I don't think the gameplay really holds up for as long as the story is. I know this is a pretty weird take, seeing as this is a live service game, and it is intended to be played for hundreds if not thousands of hours, but once you have reached an optimised build of abilities, the only progression past that point is just adding a few extra percentage points of damage, and it really isn't all that interesting. Im sure I would have more fun with the game if I was bouncing between different different classes or even different builds, but I can't do the former because that would require restarting the campaign, and I cant do the latter because as far as I know, there isn't a way to easily swap between different talent builds like World of Warcraft's dual-spec system.

What is also quite bizarre, is that you cannot progress Diablo 4's current season's Battle Pass if you play a character on the so-called Eternal realm. For the uninitiated, Diablo 4's seasons all revolve around making a brand-new character for each season. After that season ends, they move onto the Eternal realm so they can be revisited, but that character cannot engage in any of the new seasonal content or mechanics. So if I do want to continue playing the story, then I need to either play on the Eternal Realm and neglect all of the seasonal content/battle pass, or start the whole thing again from scratch. Its pretty demoralising either way, and is pretty poor design IMO.

Otherwise, I decided to replay Batman Arkham City on my Steam Deck, because all of the discourse surrounding the new Suicide Squad game got me all nostalgic for the Arkham games. I do like City, but I feel like I have played it too much, and so I just wanted to breeze through it after I reached a certain point. Turns out, if you just follow the main story, the game is actually pretty short.

That being said, whilst I have overplayed Arkham City, I haven't played Arkham Origins all that much, so I've decided to replay it. Arkham Origins received pretty middling reviews when it came out, on account of it being effectively more Arkham City. At full price, I can definitely see why some people would have been quite miffed by this, but at its frequently discounted price, there is a lot to really like here. Whilst the mechanics and northern section of the map are more or less identical to City, I really like the Christmas theme and all of the snow, im really enjoying this game's story, and the presentation of story moments is honestly leagues ahead of either of its predecessors.

Arkham Origins is definitely seen as the dark horse of the franchise, and never receives much love. Arkham Asylum and Arkham City have both been remastered and ported to more modern consoles, but Origins has never received the same treatment, and is still locked to the PS3, Xbox 360 (though it is likely backwards compatible) and Wii U.

I would just recommend giving it another try.

 

[BrawlMan]

Xbox 360 (though it is likely backwards compatible)

Arkham Origins actually runs better on a 1X or Series X. Once you play it that way, there's no reason to play it on 360 anymore.

 

[BrawlMan]

I decided to get Wanted: Dead, because GameStop has deep sale on it for $14.99. Add a $5 coupon, and I paid $10 for the disc. The game got two updates recently, with the last update came out a few weeks ago. @Old_Hunter_77, I'll let you know how it plays.

2023’s most underrated action game gets much-needed boss overhaul

2023's most underrated action game, Wanted Dead, finally gets the boss overhaul it needs, with this new patch updating checkpoints, too.

www.pcgamesn.com

Wanted: Dead Gets Anniversary Patch, Sale - miso!

Wanted: Dead has an anniversary patch and sale just in time for the game's first year on the market! Check out more on Miso!

miso.moe

Madcap Action Game Wanted: Dead Gets an Update Almost One Year After Release

Not dead yet

www.pushsquare.com

 

[BrawlMan]

Finished RE4make last night. Probably going to play it again pretty soon, it's a really fun game with lots of replayability and a new game+. Not that much more to add really. The final boss fight was piss easy and went down first try. There's basically no point in using the Broken Butterfly on Harcore mode. You get so little ammo for it, crafting ammo is horribly expensive, it's terribly inaccurate and its added power doesn't really matter much. The MVP of this run was no doubt the Stingray. The ability to one-shot enemies from incredibly far proved invaluable time and time again. I'm thinking of maybe getting the Separate Ways DLC, would you guys recommend it?

Separate Ways is one of the best DLCs ever made. Ada gets good shit Leon can't do or get, and she has a gap closer with her grappling gun.

The Killer7 is basically the Fixed Butterfly.

Took words right out my mouth. The Butterfly's exclusive final upgrade is barely worth it, unless you're speed running through Professional Mode NG+ in tandem with the Infinite Rocket Launcher.

 

[BrawlMan]

Wanted: Dead - The game is like a weird cross between Ninja Gaiden, Devils Third (what it was supposed to be originally back in the 360 era), Ghost in the Shell, and Deadly Premonition. There's also some weird Suda51-lite type moments where some cut-scenes switch into a 2D anime for no reason. It's usually a flashback to Stone's early life. It's like the director wants to be Suda, without exactly understanding how Suda works in that case. The voice acting is cheesy and entertaining at least. There's a bunch of medium blending as well, but I've barely scratched the surface.

The shooting works okay, but it's best used on enemies with guns, because they tend to have the least health compared to melee mooks. Using cover can be iffy at times, and Stone can get stuck in certain places if not careful. Thankfully, that update allows you to enter cover manually and you can vault forward over most of it. Usually the chest high walls. If you're ever playing this game, make sure to focus your upgrades on handgun parries and follow up attack parries. That way you can kill enemies quicker, do finishing moves, and prevent them from doing suicide attacks, a la Ninja Gaiden II. There's an upgrade to do finisher on delimbed enemies as well, and wish that wasn't an upgrade and should have been a default move.

Melee works good enough, but you'll find into a comfortable groove, once you know what you're doing. The running dash attack upgrade is so useful. You can cancel block into gun, and some other neat tricks. I have not gotten them all yet, because I'm on the second stage. The upgrades can be expensive at times, but you can at least go into your skill tree any time. Square is your attack button, X to dodge, L1 to block/parry, TRI to shoot your pistol (which you can mix into your combos or parry red hue attacks) and O to reload your guns. There's a burst meter you can fill via completing executions, and pressing L3+R3 releases a "fuck you, I am shooting everyone in the vicinity with my pistol!" move. You want to do executions fill that meter, get chain executions, and see all of the animations.

Music is surprisingly great and catchy. Lots of rock, techno, and 80s synth wave music.

I don't know how to feel entirely, but I still wouldn't call this the best bad game of 2023, nor "underappreciated". Wanted: Dead feels like a janky game that came out in 2005-06 in the 360's life cycle. Released on modern consoles for $70/$60, when it should have been half of either. The game is either love it or hate it. The fact WD took a full year to get two updates, show the game wasn't exactly ready last year and should have been delayed to 2024. The silver lining is that while the game is still challenging, more checkpoints are given in certain sections, and the game is on sale right now. It's even cheaper if you buy the physical. @Old_Hunter_77, I can this game is definitely not for you, so proceed with caution, if you ever decide to try it out. You might want to pick easy mode from the start. Stone will be wearing cat ears, if you pick easy.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Wanted: Dead - The game is like a weird cross between Ninja Gaiden, Devils Third (what it was supposed to be originally back in the 360 era), Ghost in the Shell, and Deadly Premonition. There's also some weird Suda51-lite type moments where some cut-scenes switch into a 2D anime for no reason. It's usually a flashback Stone's early life. It's the director wants to be Suda, without exactly understanding how Suda works in that case. The voice acting is cheesy and entertaining at least. There's a bunch of medium blending as well, but I've barely scratched the surface.

The shooting works okay, but it's best used on enemies with guns, because they tend to have the least health compared to melee mooks. Using cover can be iffy at times, and Stone can get stuck in certain places if not careful. Thankfully, that update allows you to enter cover manually and you can vault forward over most of it. Usually the chest high walls. If you're ever playing this game, make sure to focus your upgrades on handgun parries and follow up attack parries. That way you can kill enemies quicker, do finishing moves, and prevent them from doing suicide attacks, a la Ninja Gaiden II. There's an upgrade to do finisher on delimbed enemies as well, and wish that wasn't an upgrade and should have been a default move.

Melee works good enough, but you'll find into a comfortable groove, once you know what you're doing. The running dash attack upgrade is so useful. You can cancel block into gun, and some other neat tricks. I have not gotten them all yet, because I'm on the second stage. The upgrades can be expensive at times, but you can at least go into your skill tree any time. Square is your attack button, X to dodge, L1 to block/parry, TRI to shoot your pistol (which you can mix into your combos or parry red hue attacks) and O to reload your guns. There's a burst meter you can fill via completing executions, and pressing L3+R3 releases a "fuck you, I am shooting everyone in the vicinity with my pistol!" move. You want to do executions fill that meter, get chain executions, and see all of the animations.

Music is surprisingly great and catchy. Lots of rock, techno, and 80s synth wave music.

I don't know how to feel entirely, but I still wouldn't call this the best bad game of 2023, nor "underappreciated". Wanted: Dead feels like a janky game that came out in 2005-06 in the 360's life cycle. Released on modern consoles for $70/$60, when it should have been half of either. The game is either love it or hate it. The fact WD took a full year to get two updates, show the game wasn't exactly ready last year and should have been delayed to 2024. The silver lining is that while the game is still challenging, more checkpoints are given in certain sections, and the game is on sale right now. It's even cheaper if you buy the physical. @Old_Hunter_77, I can this game is definitely not for you, so proceed with caution, if you ever decide to try it out. You might want to pick easy mode from the start. Stone will be wearing cat ears, if you pick easy.

Oh... yeah, no, I had no interest in actually playing it. I was watching KC (who made the Bytesized) video and someone stream it when it came out and they were having fun making fun of it and stuff and some of the combat looked fun but the only way I'm ever buying this game is if it's literally 5 bucks or something. The only appeal is chick with a sword. Anyway I'm not even into these kinds of games these days.
But man thanks for playing it and reporting on it.

 

[BrawlMan]

Oh... yeah, no, I had no interest in actually playing it. I was watching KC (who made the Bytesized) video and someone stream it when it came out and they were having fun making fun of it and stuff and some of the combat looked fun but the only way I'm ever buying this game is if it's literally 5 bucks or something. The only appeal is chick with a sword. Anyway I'm not even into these kinds of games these days.
But man thanks for playing it and reporting on it.

Yep, five bucks will be the best.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

King Arthur: Knight's Tail
No idea about the original classic legend tbh. Boy, sword, stone, power? Ahh yes, Ocarina, triforce, time-travel, lady pirates, love the series too mate!

Though after playing this game, it's become clear how sorely mistaken I've been all those years. Zelda, this is not. Warhammer, on the other hand?...weeeell every time the shoulder armour popped on screen I had to consider double-checking I hadn't obliviously bought the ChaosGate Warhammer game that was sold literally right beside Arthur on the PSN app store during purchase instead. There were like 2 versions of ChaosGate occupying twice the phone screen territory than this game, so it weren't entirely outside the realm of possible bumblery. And shoulder armour won't calm down after the first peacock-esque display neither: it wants you to know it's got something to prove, and you will bloody well know it. Just... avoid eye contact, keep your head down and don't make any sudden moves, you'll be safe home in no time!

Oh, the game, right, oops! Is Xcom tactical combat type, narrative campaign, alight VA, nice enough visuals, struggling performance mode, slightly cumbersome controls, Eurojank vibes though Eurojank asking price sweetens the offer.



The Serpent Rogue
3 quid pretty good deal for this strange amalgamation of gameplay systems of which am still discovering., cute surprise. plague masks rule.

 

[Gergar12]

Helldivers 2, and I was only able to play it for 3 hours of which I had to spend 1 hour waiting for the servers to let me in, and another due to a black screen problem. But it's like cocaine, once you do it, it gives you such a high that you need to do more of it.

 

[Worgen]

Still playing Helldivers 2 when the servers work. Also, the automaton escort mission can fornicate itself with an iron rod.

I grabbed Radiant Silvergun since it was on sale. It makes me happy, quite a good console shootemup. Meaning it doesn't feel like the kinda game you just feed quarters too, which I like. You seem to level up by using your copious amount of weapons and their levels carry over between runs, so its an early example of a roguelite.