What are you currently playing?

[Dreiko]

Just started SMT5V, bout 6 hours in, this game feels like modern day nocturne, which is basically all everyone who has been a long time smt fan has ever asked for. Lots of quality of life upgrades, more super moves, more interaction with demons, voice acting (the new Vengeance girl is voiced by Satou Chiwa of Senjougahara fame!) but at the core you have a dark isolated world and you're trying to make your way through it, while slowly inching closer to godhood.

I have to say, your buddy demon that you meet at the start and fuse with is very interesting though, less of a callous taskmaster like Dagda, or a scheming mastermind like Lucifer, he feels like a half-robot-half-demon being who is with you on the journey of discovering what the hell happened, which makes him a lot more relatable. It eases the feel of isolation a bit, but not by much.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Finished Minishoot Adventures, my current personal favorite of the year thus far. Now lemme 'splain why this game so good:

- Moving around you little ship guy feels good. And shooting at things works well and you get three aim assist options in the menus.
- All the information is on the screen so even though some of the fights get bullet hell I always knew where the dangers were coming from. This what actual "tough but fair" looks like, not the FromSoftware cult lies.
- There's a map and it's useful. Just a basic freaking map that tells you where you are and where stuff is I dunno why this is so damn hard for so many games to do.
- The combination of making the core gameplay simple (twin-stick shooter that feels good to play) while emphasizing exploration makes that exploration actually fun- I wanted to zip around in every single nook and cranny and the fact I didn't have to finger-breaking platforming or run away from pixel accurate homing missiles meant I wanted to keep going everywhere. I actually discovered some real secrets without using any internet!
- Useful rewards for secrets
- Limited but impactful "side" activities. There are these races which are nice and a couple of "optional" bosses that are just hanging out in the open world between dungeons, so it's all relevant to the rest of the game.

This is the first game in a long time I played where I felt genuinely challenged but didn't resort to looking stuff up online and only dropped the difficulty on the last boss because I didn't realize there was yet another phase after it transformed and I thought I was done, and it was late and I was tired but I wanted to finish and repeat that long fight. Of course there's also a "true final" post-credits boss but that's ok I'm good.

I haven't played a twin-stick shooter since, I dunno, we had a president with the last name Bush and I wouldn't even know which of the two. I forgot how fun they could be and I guess I'm kind of not bad at them- I always felt like I could beat any enemy. I didn't find every single little secret but I found a good amount.

My only minor criticism is that it has a useless skill tree- just a bunch of upgrades like bullet strength and boost speed, and you can always re-allocate points around at any time so that just meant occassionally re-speccing for certain parts, which is just dumb- makes it feel like Steam won't allow games without skill trees or something, that's how expected they are in games at this point.

If you're looking for a nice 6-10hr arcady shooty exploring thing with some cute art and neat chill music, check it out.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I just finished Half-Life 2 for the first time. And I didn't really care for this one either.

When you review a game on Steam, it asks you simply "Would you recommend this game", and today in 2024 I can think of a 100 games that I would rather play and recommend before I even consider Half-Life 2. And even in the context of 2004, I think I would just rather play Halo 2, instead.

Yeah, I wasn't really blown away by it when I played it a handful of years ago either. Gordon Freeman does some bafflingly stupid things in it, too.

 

[Chimpzy]

One more day of demos after this, and then it's back to full games. Probably Animal Well

Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
Top-down puzzle game where gameplay takes place on a grid of tiles and you don't move your character, but the tile she's standing on in one of the four cardinal directions, as well as any tiles along that direction and any objects on those tiles. It's a bit hard to explain, probably easier if I just show it.

Anyway, this is basically how you traverse the world, solve puzzles, and do combat. It's a pretty simple concept, and I'm not sure how much mileage they get out of it, but even in this early game part there were some puzzles that stumped me for a bit before I got my aha erlebnis. Let's just say it pays to think moves ahead.

Forgotlings
A sort of pseudo-sequel or maybe spin-off of Forgotton Anne. This retains the Ghibli-esque anime art style of that game, but instead of a puzzle platformer in the style of Out of this World, this one is a more action-focused metroidvania. Except this also retains a lot of the slow and clunky pace of its predecessor, which, I get that they made a lot of really nice hand-drawn animation they want to show off, but I like my controls snappy and responsive, and this isn't that. Especially combat doesn't feel good, worst of all if you're unlucky enough to have to fight more than one enemy, since that usually leads to you getting stunlocked to death. Looks great, but I wasn't feeling it.

 

[FakeSympathy]

I got the Kingdom Hearts bundle on greenman gaming; the entire series for like $50. Starting with KH1: Final Mix.

And holy crap, nostalgia hits like a truck as soon as you hear that dearly departed song at the main menu. I've played the original version both on ps2 and on an emulator. And the gameplay is still so much fun for the most part.

A few annoying things that I feel still are present here; The camera angle always feels like it's working against me. The higer fps feels off, because it's all over the place; sometimes it's above 60, and sometimes it drops. And while I understand this is just PS2 graphics in higher fidelity, some graphical stuff looks super outdated. The facial animations of KH-original and FF cameos look strange sometimes

But the big issue that I felt back then, and is still the same, is Sora's basic three-hit combo. I hated it back then, and I still hate it. His attack is so slow and wide, I keep getting hit before I can dish out the full three hits. I think the idea was to use the ability system, but I found some abilities to pop off a bit too late, or at very conditional situations. You can feel is on Destiny Island spars with friends; They ALWAYS attack faster. And in some frames they have some sort of hyper armor, but you don't.

Despite all that, it’s still kingdom-fucking-hearts. I am having a blast

 

[Chimpzy]

Last batch of demos

Pipistrello & the Cursed Yoyo
Top down Zelda-like where you use a yoyo to fight enemies, solve light puzzles, grab keys, and, while you don't unlock any in the demo, use various yoyo tricks for new abilities/unlocking new areas of the world, judging by the trailer. Intended to Look and feel like a lost GBA game, which it does succeed at, tho the audio is not as bitcrunched. Not that that is a bad thing. Not quite so fond of the main character's ingame design, but otherwise I quite liked it. It's not the most mindblowingly original idea, but it's executed well, and sometimes, that's enough.

The Alters
New game from the folks that did This War of Mine and Frostpunk. You're an astronaut stranded on a hostile planet with 3 suns, and you have to explore, gather resources, make new gear, the whole basic survival crafting gameplay loop, as well as do some XCOM-like base building. All to get your mobile base up and running before the third sun comes up and fries you crispy. The gimmick here is that the game's unobtainium allows some timey-wimey multiversy shenanigans that let your main character Jan see his life decisions and change them. For example, if Jan stayed home to take care of his mom instead of moving away, he would've ended up a technician. Others, a doctor. Or a scientist. You then use a special machine to create these alternate yous, and this is how you gain news skills. But there's also a social and team building element to it, because your alternates also have different personalities that may not gel with other alternates. Played it because I've seen it recommended, but I'm not really into survival crafting, tho I can easily see this become a critical darling.

 

[Agema]

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes

Most monochrome (with flashes of red) puzzle game seemingly set in a mid-20th Century (or is it?) middle European hotel. Deep in a forest. In the dark. Solve all sorts of problems, open doors, find stuff, work out what the hell is going on. Good stuff. Control is very weird: I assume it's designed for a console type controller, and hasn't been optimised for mouse and keyboard.

 

[meiam]

I got the Kingdom Hearts bundle on greenman gaming; the entire series for like $50. Starting with KH1: Final Mix.

And holy crap, nostalgia hits like a truck as soon as you hear that dearly departed song at the main menu. I've played the original version both on ps2 and on an emulator. And the gameplay is still so much fun for the most part.

A few annoying things that I feel still are present here; The camera angle always feels like it's working against me. The higer fps feels off, because it's all over the place; sometimes it's above 60, and sometimes it drops. And while I understand this is just PS2 graphics in higher fidelity, some graphical stuff looks super outdated. The facial animations of KH-original and FF cameos look strange sometimes

But the big issue that I felt back then, and is still the same, is Sora's basic three-hit combo. I hated it back then, and I still hate it. His attack is so slow and wide, I keep getting hit before I can dish out the full three hits. I think the idea was to use the ability system, but I found some abilities to pop off a bit too late, or at very conditional situations. You can feel is on Destiny Island spars with friends; They ALWAYS attack faster. And in some frames they have some sort of hyper armor, but you don't.

Despite all that, it’s still kingdom-fucking-hearts. I am having a blast

Got the bundle too, but a bit annoyed that I didn't actually check what was in each pack, cause one of the three pack is just a bunch of side chapter that I have no interest in playing, probably should have just brought 1/2 and 3.

 

[BrawlMan]

I did a run of TMNT: Hyperstone Heist on Hard Mode as Donnie. I wanted an easier time, so I picked him, but still lost a few lives, but didn't lose all of them.

 

[Piscian]

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Monster Hunter Stories demo 1 & 2.
Perhaps not the best idea to play these right next to each other, cause from what I can gather, they seem to be the same game except one plays and looks like a dated PS2 relic while the other brings out the big money graphics, art direction, cinematic direction, modern Zelda tones (including a dude who looks almost exactly like daddy Goron wtf?), smoother playability and QOL features, clearer tutorialising and a mildly more amusing "fed up" facial customisation result for protag. Can't speak on story, though on a surface level a lot more effort appears to have been put into 2 also, along with aforementioned in-game cutscene direction that were surprisingly competent and visually easy on the eyes. Ultimately, left with plans to obtain 2 when it's out and reviewed, but no chance of thinking bout 1 ever again unless it's to remember how quickly it convinced.me to buy the sequel instead lol.

Oh almost forgot to mention, they basically play like the Pokémon turn-based combat genre just with cutsified monster hunter creatures and overall design sensibilities. Both have the option to toggle battle speed between 3 settings, and is absolutely a genius simple addition the world could benefit greatly from seeing more of, including within these same titles for those world-spanning commutes plz.

Last batch of demos

Pipistrello & the Cursed Yoyo
Top down Zelda-like where you use a yoyo to fight enemies, solve light puzzles, grab keys, and, while you don't unlock any in the demo, use various yoyo tricks for new abilities/unlocking new areas of the world, judging by the trailer. Intended to Look and feel like a lost GBA game, which it does succeed at, tho the audio is not as bitcrunched. Not that that is a bad thing. Not quite so fond of the main character's ingame design, but otherwise I quite liked it. It's not the most mindblowingly original idea, but it's executed well, and sometimes, that's enough.

The Alters
New game from the folks that did This War of Mine and Frostpunk. You're an astronaut stranded on a hostile planet with 3 suns, and you have to explore, gather resources, make new gear, the whole basic survival crafting gameplay loop, as well as do some XCOM-like base building. All to get your mobile base up and running before the third sun comes up and fries you crispy. The gimmick here is that the game's unobtainium allows some timey-wimey multiversy shenanigans that let your main character Jan see his life decisions and change them. For example, if Jan stayed home to take care of his mom instead of moving away, he would've ended up a technician. Others, a doctor. Or a scientist. You then use a special machine to create these alternate yous, and this is how you gain news skills. But there's also a social and team building element to it, because your alternates also have different personalities that may not gel with other alternates. Played it because I've seen it recommended, but I'm not really into survival crafting, tho I can easily see this become a critical darling.

You've invented the gaming equivalent of speed dating with none of the crushing dread and anxiety lingering over the whole mess!

 

[Dreiko]

Monster Hunter Stories demo 1 & 2.
Perhaps not the best idea to play these right next to each other, cause from what I can gather, they seem to be the same game except one plays and looks like a dated PS2 relic while the other brings out the big money graphics, art direction, cinematic direction, modern Zelda tones (including a dude who looks almost exactly like daddy Goron wtf?), smoother playability and QOL features, clearer tutorialising and a mildly more amusing "fed up" facial customisation result for protag. Can't speak on story, though on a surface level a lot more effort appears to have been put into 2 also, along with aforementioned in-game cutscene direction that were surprisingly competent and visually easy on the eyes. Ultimately, left with plans to obtain 2 when it's out and reviewed, but no chance of thinking bout 1 ever again unless it's to remember how quickly it convinced.me to buy the sequel instead lol.

Oh almost forgot to mention, they basically play like the Pokémon turn-based combat genre just with cutsified monster hunter creatures and overall design sensibilities.


You've invented the gaming equivalent of speed dating with none of the crushing dread and anxiety lingering over the whole mess!

Isn't the second game a direct sequel storywise? Like it will be the same with minor improvements gameplay-wise but the story obviously will be different, and they're rpgs so they're all about the story.

I've not gotten into them yet but any RPG made by capcom will get my support cause they haven't put out any big rpgs since breath of fire, and those were really good back in the day, especially 3.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Isn't the second game a direct sequel storywise? Like it will be the same with minor improvements gameplay-wise but the story obviously will be different, and they're rpgs so they're all about the story.

I've not gotten into them yet but any RPG made by capcom will get my support cause they haven't put out any big rpgs since breath of fire, and those were really good back in the day, especially 3.

I don't know for sure, but the main characters acted confused when they first met the cat companion like they didn't know who or what they were in the 2nd game as if it were first time introduction to them and the audience, while the 1st just had the cat there seemingly by default without explanation. Multiple details like that I'd assumed were from higher budget giving creators more freedom to fill out their world building in ways they couldn't the first time round. Oh and the starting narrative/tutorial/quests are almost identical.

 

[Worgen]

Isn't the second game a direct sequel storywise? Like it will be the same with minor improvements gameplay-wise but the story obviously will be different, and they're rpgs so they're all about the story.

I've not gotten into them yet but any RPG made by capcom will get my support cause they haven't put out any big rpgs since breath of fire, and those were really good back in the day, especially 3.

I think it is a rather direct sequel, like I know that a bunch of the supporting characters in 2 are also in 1. But you can enjoy the story 2 in plenty without having played 1. Also the graphical style is pretty different, like its kinda the super deformed chibi in MS1 but in MS2 its more of just a cartoon style. I know that I ended up getting into the story for 2 without having played 1 at all and if you know monster hunter stories then you know how much that says since they are always just throw away.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Alwa's Legacy. I played the first game, Awakening, about a month ago.

It is basically the same game again - you play the same character, in the same world, fighting the same villain and collecting the same three spells in the same order. The thing is that everything in the sequel, from the movement and the platforming to the basic satisfaction of 'progress', feels ever so slightly better. Zoe animates better, moves faster, jumps higher, can cast a spell with a single button press instead of requiring an awkward extra directional input as well (that often clashes with the character's movement).

The first big twist here is that those three spells you spent all of the first game acquiring are now obtained in the first area of Legacy, and that the 99 orbs you can collect go into upgrading them with a bunch of properties and effects rather than providing fixed DMG UP every 15 or so. The upgrades are all pretty interesting in that they let you weaponize basic platforming spells in a bunch of different ways, and you're free to respec orbs, which goes well with the freedom of exploring the world in whatever order you want. The ability to upgrade checkpoints into warp points with an extra set of collectibles also adds to that feeling of freedom/involvement.

It's generally an easier game, still tough but definitely not as punishing as Awakening. Don't know if this is a deliberate choice in moving from an 8-bit Nintendo Hard experience to the friendlier, colorful SNES version or merely a response to common criticism for the first game. But water won't kill you (immediately) and early on you're also given an ability to temporarily walk over spikes that would've one hit killed you in the first game. You still only have 3 hearts to contend with, but I suspect the rose petal collectibles will go into changing that.

 

[BrawlMan]

I finally got the Sega CD games to work on the Myoo Mini+. I forgot to extract the files. That's why they weren't working at the time. Playing Final Fight CD w/Arcade Colors Mod and Soul Star. Soul Star is a psuedo-3D SHMUP on Sega CD. I am loving it! You ever heard or played this game @Worgen?

 

[Worgen]

I finally got the Sega CD games to work on the Myoo Mini+. I forgot to extract the files. That's why they weren't working at the time. Playing Final Fight CD w/Arcade Colors Mod and Soul Star. Soul Star is a psuedo-3D SHMUP on Sega CD. I am loving it! You ever heard or played this game @Worgen?

Oh yeah, I have seen some of the classic game channels I follow cover that one and say its pretty cool. Very cool that you got it working. I never had much expriance with the sega cd, I rented it a couple times from blockbuster back in the day. But the only game I really remember playing on it was Switch or Panic! or whatever.

 

[BrawlMan]

Oh yeah, I have seen some of the classic game channels I follow cover that one and say its pretty cool. Very cool that you got it working. I never had much expriance with the sega cd, I rented it a couple times from blockbuster back in the day. But the only game I really remember playing on it was Switch or Panic! or whatever.

At least you were able to rent Sega CD games. I parents weren't going to waste money on that one.

 

[Worgen]

At least you were able to rent Sega CD games. I parents weren't going to waste money on that one.

I only got to do it once or twice... Is it weird that I'm nostalgic for that? Being able to rent a system that is pretty different from the one you own? Now all the consoles are pretty much the same with things. Even on the switch the games are the same, just a bit less good looking.

 

[BrawlMan]

I only got to do it once or twice... Is it weird that I'm nostalgic for that? Being able to rent a system that is pretty different from the one you own? Now all the consoles are pretty much the same with things. Even on the switch the games are the same, just a bit less good looking.

My rental days pretty much ended a quarter way into the 6th generation. I can't even remember what was the last game I ever rented. Some parts of the rental days I miss, but not much anymore. As far as Switch, I just go games that are not graphical powerhouses or are stylistic in presentation. That's all I really care about.