What are you currently playing?

[NerfedFalcon]

Still occasionally losing my goddamn mind over Mario Golf 64. Think I'm finally starting to get my eye in, but how this game can possibly tell me "your feather-touch putt from one foot away stopped one inch short of the hole, go fuck yourself" with a straight face, I'll never know...

 

[Elvis Starburst]

How does it compare to Forza horizon 5?

Haven't played 5, but I did play 4. 4 is the more tight game in terms of its handling model and variety of races, but I know I had more laughs and more high stakes fun with Unbound

 

[Bob_McMillan]

How the fuckity fuck is Hades 2 out already???

 

[BrawlMan]

I'm surprised at the amount of hate it gets by some people, especially towards the flashy and fancy visual effects. It's like people stopped liking fun.

1. That's what happens when you're stuck with realistic or semi realistic Racer games four over a decade without many AAA goofy and fun racers.
2. Need for Speed Nitro is the better version of Unbound. I Hope you have a Wii or Wii U on hand.

I decided to give Final Fight 2 a try on expert difficulty.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I tend to refer to Malekith as a sword wielding monkey on crack because that's what it feels like I'm fighting. I know he's a big wolf dude, shuddup. Yeah, he feels like one of the most difficult bosses in the game by far.

^Accurate.

But teeth-gnashing difficulty aside, lore-wise, he's probably my favorite boss. He reminds me of Artorias from DS1, i.e.: a tragic figure who's more victim than villain who even at their worst is an absolute badass.

 

[Summerstorm]

How the fuckity fuck is Hades 2 out already???

Aw man, still haven't finished "Transistor"... I might have a problem with buying games and never finishing them...

I have been wasting time with "World of Warships" the last few weeks instead of playing a "real" game. Stopped playing "Manor Lords" (Too unfinished and too "micromanagy" after a while. Also stopped playing Helldivers 2 (I had a few bad games, and then felt i wasn't good enough to play on the higher difficulties and contribute enough - then played a few solo levels and lost my enjoyment)

Also i found myself just looking at my GOG/Steam lists, trying to think of a game to install and not coming up with anything.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

I tend to refer to Malekith as a sword wielding monkey on crack because that's what it feels like I'm fighting. I know he's a big wolf dude, shuddup. Yeah, he feels like one of the most difficult bosses in the game by far.

^Accurate.

But teeth-gnashing difficulty aside, lore-wise, he's probably my favorite boss. He reminds me of Artorias from DS1, i.e.: a tragic figure who's more victim than villain who even at their worst is an absolute badass.

Yeah thinking about it, the required bosses have a pretty upwards trajectory in terms of difficulty overall. Optional is all over the place in extremes, which makes sense. Malenia is one of those that is possible to cheese quickly with certain ashes or spells at a high enough level, or otherwise you’ll spend hours learning her to do it the hard way.

Speaking of Artorias/Maliketh similarities though, much agreed as they even have that same kinda down low “Watch out now because I’m a huge badass” pose in their cinematics. I struggled more with Artorias, but alas he’s a dlc boss. Although for me the notorious O&S combo wasn’t nearly as bad as a lot of people say either. Manus was another notoriously difficult boss IIRC but the Artorias Greatshield helped me beat him in one go, barely. Meanwhile I remember spending about three hours leveling before feeling strong enough to beat Gaping Dragon after dozens of failed attempts.

That’s the funny thing about FROM games. Everyone’s worst/best can be mean different things. In ER’s case it seems like there’s always something that feels impossible unless you switch your gear up. Those Crystalians without strike damage suck, and the bloody Revenants without the Heal trick can always fuck off. Crucible Knights by themselves are no joke, but together it felt like they’d wipe the floor with O&S.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I've been walking past my Xbox all morning, avoiding it like it was the results to my test for a terminal illness in a sealed envelope. Finally grew some balls and went for another run at Maliketh in Elden Ring, and holy shit on a Triscuit, I beat him FIRST TRY! (Well, "first try TODAY," anyway; probably 6 or so if we're counting yesterday's failures.) Nothing went differently this time insofar as my level of skill or learning, just some real A+ RNG, and some skillful running and hiding behind pillars while Tiche pulled aggro and kept up whatever status she inflicts that caused Maliketh's health to slowly tick down pretty constantly. Matter of fact, it was his final leap AWAY from Tiche that incidentally landed him close to me where I panicked and hit an R1 to finish him off.

 

[Bartholen]

Against all my better judgement I went and bought Balatro.

I've racked up 10,6 hours over the last 24 hours.

Yep, it's one of those. It's easily one of the smoothest, most tightly designed roguelikes ever. It literally took only seconds to install, but I could genuinely play it around the clock. It's extremely fast, intuitive, yet complexity and options abound. Despite its flash-game level graphics it has all the right effects in the right places to hit the dopamine drip. Getting that right synergy to carry you through the game, or getting that uber-mega combo with points racking up is like the primordial soup of videogames. It's basically perfect. Which is why I just uninstalled it. I simply can't have this in my life right now. I just went through this last year with Total Warhammer 2, and don't want to go through it again when I've got responsibilities to uphold.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

I've been walking past my Xbox all morning, avoiding it like it was the results to my test for a terminal illness in a sealed envelope. Finally grew some balls and went for another run at Maliketh in Elden Ring, and holy shit on a Triscuit, I beat him FIRST TRY! (Well, "first try TODAY," anyway; probably 6 or so if we're counting yesterday's failures.) Nothing went differently this time insofar as my level of skill or learning, just some real A+ RNG, and some skillful running and hiding behind pillars while Tiche pulled aggro and kept up whatever status she inflicts that caused Maliketh's health to slowly tick down pretty constantly. Matter of fact, it was his final leap AWAY from Tiche that incidentally landed him close to me where I panicked and hit an R1 to finish him off.

She gave him a taste of his own medicine!

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I've been walking past my Xbox all morning, avoiding it like it was the results to my test for a terminal illness in a sealed envelope. Finally grew some balls and went for another run at Maliketh in Elden Ring, and holy shit on a Triscuit, I beat him FIRST TRY! (Well, "first try TODAY," anyway; probably 6 or so if we're counting yesterday's failures.) Nothing went differently this time insofar as my level of skill or learning, just some real A+ RNG, and some skillful running and hiding behind pillars while Tiche pulled aggro and kept up whatever status she inflicts that caused Maliketh's health to slowly tick down pretty constantly. Matter of fact, it was his final leap AWAY from Tiche that incidentally landed him close to me where I panicked and hit an R1 to finish him off.

Congratulations.
And I really respect your slow patient pace for this game. I burned through it and burnt out on all Souls games.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Against all my better judgement I went and bought Balatro.

I've racked up 10,6 hours over the last 24 hours.

Yep, it's one of those. It's easily one of the smoothest, most tightly designed roguelikes ever. It literally took only seconds to install, but I could genuinely play it around the clock. It's extremely fast, intuitive, yet complexity and options abound. Despite its flash-game level graphics it has all the right effects in the right places to hit the dopamine drip. Getting that right synergy to carry you through the game, or getting that uber-mega combo with points racking up is like the primordial soup of videogames. It's basically perfect. Which is why I just uninstalled it. I simply can't have this in my life right now. I just went through this last year with Total Warhammer 2, and don't want to go through it again when I've got responsibilities to uphold.

Heh... I was thinking of trying this one a game because I been mostly listening to music for recreation and I like to have something to play that doesn't require sound (obviously).

 

[Xprimentyl]

Congratulations.
And I really respect your slow patient pace for this game. I burned through it and burnt out on all Souls games.

I appreciate the kind words, but I'm not sure if I'd call it "patience." I really don't have a lot of time to play, maybe an hour or two every couple of days, so my +250 hours play time is really padded with idle time when I'd boot up my Xbox, start the game, and sit at a grace for hours while I worked only, playing for like 5-10 minutes at a time during breaks, or watched videos on how to get over the next hurdle. I'd say you could shave a solid 100 hours off if not more.

I think my patience has simply been the fact that with few exceptions, I've thus far not spent any significant amount of time beating my head against a single boss for long, single stretches of time. Fire Giant was probably the closest I've come to burnout. He took me a couple of weeks of intermittent attempts, probably 15-20 tries in total, but spread out across weeks; it wasn't like I was cramming in 15-20 tries in one sitting. Maliketh took me two calendar days, but maybe 45 minutes of actual playing.

So yeah, "patience" is generous of you; it's more me being forced to take my sweet time, and never [yet] getting to the point that I bite through my own tongue because hours of any single given day were proven fruitless to discourage me.

 

[BrawlMan]

I've been walking past my Xbox all morning, avoiding it like it was the results to my test for a terminal illness in a sealed envelope. Finally grew some balls and went for another run at Maliketh in Elden Ring, and holy shit on a Triscuit, I beat him FIRST TRY! (Well, "first try TODAY," anyway; probably 6 or so if we're counting yesterday's failures.) Nothing went differently this time insofar as my level of skill or learning, just some real A+ RNG, and some skillful running and hiding behind pillars while Tiche pulled aggro and kept up whatever status she inflicts that caused Maliketh's health to slowly tick down pretty constantly. Matter of fact, it was his final leap AWAY from Tiche that incidentally landed him close to me where I panicked and hit an R1 to finish him off.

Then you are ready for Vergil in DMC5 on DMD, NO DAMAGE, NO DEATH, ROYAL GUARD ONLY!!! Talk to me when you are ready.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Then you are ready for Vergil in DMC5 on DMD, NO DAMAGE, NO DEATH, ROYAL GUARD ONLY!!! Talk to me when you are ready.

Lol, not a fan of the DMC games, if I'm being honest.

 

[BrawlMan]

Lol, not a fan of the DMC games, if I'm being honest.

Don't worry, I'm mainly just pushing your buttons.

 

[BrawlMan]

Final Fight 2 a try on expert difficulty.

Final Fight 2 Readjusted - Expert mode. I am never doing that again. Used about 3 continues total.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Against all my better judgement I went and bought Balatro.

I've racked up 10,6 hours over the last 24 hours.

Yep, it's one of those. It's easily one of the smoothest, most tightly designed roguelikes ever. It literally took only seconds to install, but I could genuinely play it around the clock. It's extremely fast, intuitive, yet complexity and options abound. Despite its flash-game level graphics it has all the right effects in the right places to hit the dopamine drip. Getting that right synergy to carry you through the game, or getting that uber-mega combo with points racking up is like the primordial soup of videogames. It's basically perfect. Which is why I just uninstalled it. I simply can't have this in my life right now. I just went through this last year with Total Warhammer 2, and don't want to go through it again when I've got responsibilities to uphold.

I really want a mobile version of it for phones and tablets. It seems absolutely perfect for playing on flights or in bed.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Snip

They look like very different games doing very different things in very different styles and levels of scope. It's hardly comparable.
Nitro does look like fun though. It feels like a game that'd be set up in an arcade cabinet

 

[BrawlMan]

YES!

1. Both games have a cartoony esthetic. Nitro looks like a late 2000's cartoon you would find on cartoon network. Unbound looks more like a anime influenced cartoon from the mid 2000s. The big difference being Nitro fully commits to the theme it's going for. Unbound does it halfway then just kinda moves on. Nitro knows what it wants to be without the cringe and really lame " How do you do fellow kids!".
2. Both games take heavy hip hop and graffiti influence. Especially Nitro.
3. Both games have an arcade nature, but Nitro even more so.
4. Both games have customization options. Though both are limited in some capacity, but Unbound has it worse from what I remember.

Nitro has better replay value, despite having some limited tracks. Makes up for it with a good variety of game modes.

Nitro does look like fun though. It feels like a game that'd be set up in an arcade cabinet

That is exactly why I love it. And it's in my top five NFS games.