No, I got that, Dread is what I was referring to by short and sweet. It's just that I don't have a Switch and I don't especially care for Metroid.
What are you currently playing?
- Thread starter Nick Calandra
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- Apr 1, 2009
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Yeah, his statement was weird since no Metroid is 40 hours, not even the prime ones.
I'm referring to Afterimage, which I just beat and took me 40 hours to 100%.
Gekido Urban Fighters - I decided to test this out on my RG35XX-H and works better there than the Myoo Mini+. Especially since this device can be plugged into a TV with an mini HDMI to HDMI cord. This game is one of the better 3D brawlers on PS1. I tried playing Fighting Force, but it's way too rough for me to play again. Gekido is much better paced, despite being janky at times. I still say Crisis Beat is better, but at least Gekido doesn't have stages with empty ambient sound effects and no music. Those get annoying after a while in CB. None of these top Panzaer Bandit though.
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With all the Half Life 2 stuff going on and it getting an update, decided to reinstall and start a playthrough again. Just beat the chopper, still holds up, although the start is quite awkward. I know they had to narratively connect 2 to the first game, but its still weird how everyone seems to know you and most of the named characters are from Black Mesa. Like the overall story is good, but it just feels like everyone from Black Mesa is just kinda hammered into there, especially since it feels like Gordon has been gone for at least a few years since the 7 hour war.
Finally got caught up on the Genshin Impact MSQ, only a couple of days before the next update adds more onto it. Holy shit, they cooked with this one. I kinda regret leaving it to the last minute, if I'd known it was gonna be that good and that different from everything else they'd done I'd have done it much earlier. The entire war arc was a rollercoaster, and a lot more effective for coming out of left field.
I know the spoiler's probably redundant because none of you care about playing it ever (good) but I see it as good practice.
I know the spoiler's probably redundant because none of you care about playing it ever (good) but I see it as good practice.
Caravan Sandwich
Am a simple lump of trapped consciousness. Saw the cute yellow van and thought "that looks so damn cute I wanna brum!" Not sure what the image is doing that other videogame vehicle pics don't, but it communiced confidence of its own handling/driving physics in a way that overcame the usual doubts and am not sure if intentional or some personal baggage was responsible for such fleeting trust. Luckily can say game feel good. Game look good. Bit of a Sunday bumble type genre (I refuse to say the "c" word!) where you go about solving environment, uh, stuff: keep prodding around with your exploratory prodding tools until progress occurs. Relaxed, laid back, mediative for now while peril levels are low, ominous literal and metaphorical horizons notwithstanding.
Not watched trailer so hopefully it doesn't make it look worse than it plays;
Oh hang on it's Caravan SandWitch. Huh.
Am a simple lump of trapped consciousness. Saw the cute yellow van and thought "that looks so damn cute I wanna brum!" Not sure what the image is doing that other videogame vehicle pics don't, but it communiced confidence of its own handling/driving physics in a way that overcame the usual doubts and am not sure if intentional or some personal baggage was responsible for such fleeting trust. Luckily can say game feel good. Game look good. Bit of a Sunday bumble type genre (I refuse to say the "c" word!) where you go about solving environment, uh, stuff: keep prodding around with your exploratory prodding tools until progress occurs. Relaxed, laid back, mediative for now while peril levels are low, ominous literal and metaphorical horizons notwithstanding.
Not watched trailer so hopefully it doesn't make it look worse than it plays;
Oh hang on it's Caravan SandWitch. Huh.
At least eighteen years, as there has to have been enough time after the Combine enabled the suppression field for all of humanity's children to reach adulthood (to provide an excuse of there being no children present anywhere).
It really is a humungous coincidence that so many of Black Mesa's best and brightest (and Barney) could have all managed to make their way from the southwestern US to vaguely-eastern-bloc Europe and gathered together in City 17 in the state the world was in after the Portal Storms and the Seven-Hour War, but I think Half-Life fans handwaved it away because it was just so cool.
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Yeah and Gordon being some kinda folk hero seems really out of place. Really even the bag guys knowing about him seems kinda weird. I think they could have made it work better with a few changes in dialog, have the G-man told them Gordon would be coming... I guess the Vortagons could have helped with the folk hero status since they see all times at once.
The Vorts likely were the source of much of it, and there were probably enough Black Mesa personnel who saw the goateed guy in the orange space suit absolutely tear through aliens and Marines to also spread the legend. And Breen knowing about him is plausible, since A) he was Black Mesa's administrator and could have seen/heard about at least some of Gordon's antics, and B) captured rebels may have spilled the beans on his reputation. Breen would've definitely told the Combine about such a potential threat to their dominance, and there's a clue that the Combine had intel on Freeman's status, as in one of his transmissions to Overwatch forces, Breen says something about "having good reason to believe" that Freeman wasn't in any position to act between the resonance cascade and when he appears in City 17.
Playing Resident Evil 3: Nemesis for the first time, the GOG version.
Carlos was more handsome in the original.
Looked up why some PlayStation games (RE3, Spyro) had wobbly graphics and others (RE2) did not. Something about vertices and floating points, tl;dr.
The sweater that's permanently around her hips is stupid. Just drop it. Makes her look like a relaxed tourist.
Find it funny how cramped the spaces are. It was like this in parts of RE2 (which had a garage that no one could get their car into/park in) as well, but here you notice it more with all the back alleys between very tight streets. Still cozier than the spread out American nightmare, though.
Ran in circles from Nemesis in the restaurant and surrounding area. Stuck. Will continue later.
Carlos was more handsome in the original.
Looked up why some PlayStation games (RE3, Spyro) had wobbly graphics and others (RE2) did not. Something about vertices and floating points, tl;dr.
The sweater that's permanently around her hips is stupid. Just drop it. Makes her look like a relaxed tourist.
Find it funny how cramped the spaces are. It was like this in parts of RE2 (which had a garage that no one could get their car into/park in) as well, but here you notice it more with all the back alleys between very tight streets. Still cozier than the spread out American nightmare, though.
Ran in circles from Nemesis in the restaurant and surrounding area. Stuck. Will continue later.
- Apr 1, 2009
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Generally when you beat Nemesis he drops weapon parts so its worth the ammo usage.
That was the entire point why they changed them in the remake. He's still good looking there, just more rugged. I like either design fine, but most people actually do prefer the remake look.
I don't know what the game wants me to do. I chose to "hide" in the restaurant rather than go down the ladder, then tried shooting Nemesis until he fell, but after a while he stood again. Ran aimlessly in this big circle around the restaurant. Not gonna look up the solution. Might just drop it like RE Zero. He's annoying.
He normally he stays off your tail for a while if you hide or you cook him in that restaurant. The part where Carlos complains and says you could have barbecued both of them.
It ain't that hard to look at a video walk through guide, but it's your choice.
Now you know why I prefer fighting the remake version of Nemesis. He still challenging, but in a much more fair way. Though, if you are playing on a hardest difficulty, he's basically the equivalent of his original self, and move super fast and can kill you in about two or three hits.
I've finally gotten to playing FFXII: The Zodiac Age remaster on my PS5. After settling into the horror of having to play a 2006 game at 30 FPS three entire console generations later, I've found I'm liking it quite a lot. I like the characters, I like the arabian-influenced aesthetic (so far), I like how the combat and exploration are seamless, I like the extensive dungeon crawling. The translated dialogue and voice acting are deliciously good compared to FFX. The story especially feels well ahead of its time, at times bordering on overcomplex. But the character motivations are strong, and the politics are nuanced in a way I definitely wasn't expecting. Even Vaan and Penelo feel like they belong there, since Vaan's always dreamed of big adventure, and Penelo would no doubt worry herself dead were she not with him. I like Balthier and Fran's Han Solo & Chewbacca dynamic. Since this is a less talked about installment of the series I have zero clue where it's going, and that's a good thing. Since it lifts a shitton of things from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, it gives me lots of good nostalgia. The graphics on the remaster also hold up incredibly well, showcasing some of the best facial animation and highest level of detail of the PS2 generation.
But there is a giant, 8000-pound albatross around this game's neck that drags every moment of it down, and that's the leveling system. I have no idea what on God's green earth Squareenix were huffing when they decided that yes, this godawful, completely ass backwards system is the future. The License Board is no doubt one of the worst RPG leveling systems I've ever experienced, right up there with FFXVI's, which was barely a system at all. Dragon's Dogma did something similar, and solidified it: do not make a leveling system that relies on merchants. It robs leveling up of 95% of its satisfaction, and doesn't give a sense of progress at all. Investing into the license board is one of the greatest exercises in pointlessness in gaming history, because most of the time the things you're "unlocking" aren't even available to you yet. So not only is there no sense of growing stronger, you have no way to gauge how much stronger you're getting until you're finally able to buy the abilities you've unlocked like 4 fucking hours ago. Since upgrades are basically only available from shops, you're left in the dark as to whether you should even bother investing in new tiers of equipment and abilities, because you have no idea how soon they become available. Instead of a leveling curve we have a leveling staircase. When the powerups happen, they happen in large leaps for all party members when you finally reach the shop that actually has something worthwhile to sell. And then you're stuck slogging with that same setup for god knows how long.
On a much lighter complaint, while I do enjoy the more grounded feel of the story and visuals, it means that the high-tech airships feel more out of place than in perhaps any other FF game. On the ground you're in 15th century Istanbul, in the air you're suddenly transported to 2256. It's just jarring.
But there is a giant, 8000-pound albatross around this game's neck that drags every moment of it down, and that's the leveling system. I have no idea what on God's green earth Squareenix were huffing when they decided that yes, this godawful, completely ass backwards system is the future. The License Board is no doubt one of the worst RPG leveling systems I've ever experienced, right up there with FFXVI's, which was barely a system at all. Dragon's Dogma did something similar, and solidified it: do not make a leveling system that relies on merchants. It robs leveling up of 95% of its satisfaction, and doesn't give a sense of progress at all. Investing into the license board is one of the greatest exercises in pointlessness in gaming history, because most of the time the things you're "unlocking" aren't even available to you yet. So not only is there no sense of growing stronger, you have no way to gauge how much stronger you're getting until you're finally able to buy the abilities you've unlocked like 4 fucking hours ago. Since upgrades are basically only available from shops, you're left in the dark as to whether you should even bother investing in new tiers of equipment and abilities, because you have no idea how soon they become available. Instead of a leveling curve we have a leveling staircase. When the powerups happen, they happen in large leaps for all party members when you finally reach the shop that actually has something worthwhile to sell. And then you're stuck slogging with that same setup for god knows how long.
On a much lighter complaint, while I do enjoy the more grounded feel of the story and visuals, it means that the high-tech airships feel more out of place than in perhaps any other FF game. On the ground you're in 15th century Istanbul, in the air you're suddenly transported to 2256. It's just jarring.
Spent another thirty to forty minutes editing the arisen in the free DD2 character creator (last "played" in March), which amounted to nothing as I then looked at other people's and saw more interesting faces. No getting around the neck that becomes bigger higher up, however. Like some animal.
Shoulders are messed up too. They never maintain realistic (attractive) anatomy while providing the hundred sliders.
The muscles in these character creators are always shitty. Same as in Dark Souls: textures. You can't make muscles with textures, you have to sculpt them.
Creators all suck ass. So few exceptions that it BARELY depends. Developers have all the needed tools. Players just don't. I will always take a good dev-made character that's more alive in the game over the best lifeless one that a player can make. Any of the protagonists Capcom made in the last six years look more human and interesting than what it takes me hours to make in this shitty editor, or FromSoftware's.
Just let me find dev-made characters in the world and make my party. Make it so that I can switch them out as needed and make anyone still standing the player character at any time. Characters with backstories and personalities. Would have more interesting conversations in towns and while adventuring.
Shoulders are messed up too. They never maintain realistic (attractive) anatomy while providing the hundred sliders.
The muscles in these character creators are always shitty. Same as in Dark Souls: textures. You can't make muscles with textures, you have to sculpt them.
Creators all suck ass. So few exceptions that it BARELY depends. Developers have all the needed tools. Players just don't. I will always take a good dev-made character that's more alive in the game over the best lifeless one that a player can make. Any of the protagonists Capcom made in the last six years look more human and interesting than what it takes me hours to make in this shitty editor, or FromSoftware's.
Just let me find dev-made characters in the world and make my party. Make it so that I can switch them out as needed and make anyone still standing the player character at any time. Characters with backstories and personalities. Would have more interesting conversations in towns and while adventuring.
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Played the 60 minute Resident Evil Village demo just now. For fifteen minutes. Annoying. How they can even call this Resident Evil anymore, I don't know. It so badly tries to be something else. The fight with the talkative swarm lady in shitty first-person view with gun locked to protagonist's eyes (which is so distracting and silly after not playing play first-person shooters more than briefly for as long as I have) tonally and mechanically felt nothing like RE1 to 5. (Don't remember 6 well and didn't finish 7.) The scripted animations were lame too. Nice tech demo, though.
Played two metroidvanias, Teslagrad 2 and Touhou Luna Nights.
Teslagrad 2 is the vastly superior sequel to Teslagrad. Again it's a wordless fable with a vague Norse setting (if I got it right, it's the other half from a conflict alluded to in the first game). It doesn't do things that differently - it's still very much a puzzle-platformer based on fiddling with things like magnetism and momemtum - but now there is less jank and the mechanics make traversal more fun. The map is more varied and also more fun to navigate this time around. The first game was built around regularly looping back to a tower hub (exit right, clear area, enter left, open barrier; leave left, clear area, enter right, etc.) while this one has a map that folds itself much more elegantly. You'll gain a new power and suddenly realize that the things that used to be obstacles or scenery dressing are now pathways to new locations, or otherwise loop back to a previos area in an unexpected way that makes things travel easier. I live for these little eureka moments.
Touhou Luna Nights is from Team Ladybug of Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, another super fast-paced almost-shmup that cribs to some degree from SotN. This is still one of those doujin fangames that adapts a Japanese IP I'm not familiar with into a throwaway chapter that is either All a Dream or All a Simulation so it doesn't really matter but if you're a fan you get to point and recognize characters I guess. The notable thing here is a timestop mechanic that lets you weave around the bullet hell and comically pile on attacks (flurries of knife throws) on enemies. Suprisingly the timestop develops beyond a mere gimmick as different enemies and platforms react differently to it. Like "Deedlit", you're also very much in charge of balancing a passive-aggresive healing mechanic: "graze" enemies while time flows normally to regain HP, graze them while time is stopped to regain MP. Attacking normally consumes MP, and stopping time consumes a timer.
Teslagrad 2 is the vastly superior sequel to Teslagrad. Again it's a wordless fable with a vague Norse setting (if I got it right, it's the other half from a conflict alluded to in the first game). It doesn't do things that differently - it's still very much a puzzle-platformer based on fiddling with things like magnetism and momemtum - but now there is less jank and the mechanics make traversal more fun. The map is more varied and also more fun to navigate this time around. The first game was built around regularly looping back to a tower hub (exit right, clear area, enter left, open barrier; leave left, clear area, enter right, etc.) while this one has a map that folds itself much more elegantly. You'll gain a new power and suddenly realize that the things that used to be obstacles or scenery dressing are now pathways to new locations, or otherwise loop back to a previos area in an unexpected way that makes things travel easier. I live for these little eureka moments.
Touhou Luna Nights is from Team Ladybug of Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, another super fast-paced almost-shmup that cribs to some degree from SotN. This is still one of those doujin fangames that adapts a Japanese IP I'm not familiar with into a throwaway chapter that is either All a Dream or All a Simulation so it doesn't really matter but if you're a fan you get to point and recognize characters I guess. The notable thing here is a timestop mechanic that lets you weave around the bullet hell and comically pile on attacks (flurries of knife throws) on enemies. Suprisingly the timestop develops beyond a mere gimmick as different enemies and platforms react differently to it. Like "Deedlit", you're also very much in charge of balancing a passive-aggresive healing mechanic: "graze" enemies while time flows normally to regain HP, graze them while time is stopped to regain MP. Attacking normally consumes MP, and stopping time consumes a timer.