What are you currently playing?

[Johnny Novgorod]

Still playing Blast Brigade. It gets a little dicey in the second half. For all the abilities and guns and perks you unlock your damage output stays pretty much the same, as far as I can tell. Weapons don't have stats so it's hard to gauge, but there seems to be a lot of "this weapon fires double the bullets but they do half damage" nonsense going on.

And I pretty much just skip all dialogue at this point. The benefit of "it's supposed to be a Saturday morning cartoon" is always that you have plausible deniability about the story being dumb and the dialogue sounding dumb (see: Resident Evil), but past a certain point it becomes unbearable.

 

[BrawlMan]

USFIV again. I decided to do another Makoto run, and actually managed to 1CC it, and face Evil Ryu as a secret boss. I beat him Turns out, you can get into any secret boss, no matter the difficulty. I've gotten the hang of using focus attacks, and implementing them to my combo strings. Something I did not do to often when the vanilla version and Super released.

​

https://streetfighter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000155453

USF4, how to fight all secret bosses.
I'm not sure if that info is on this wiki or not, but I'll talk about it anyway. I know it's an old game but it's still worth playing. So here is something that applies to every boss fight. The difficulty doesn't matter, you can pick any difficulty and achieve these conditions. Seth's fight doesn't matter either. As long as you don't lose the match, you're fine. You can lose a round during this fight and still fight any secret boss. But that also applies to perfects, getting a perfect against him won't count. You also need to keep the 3 round structure.

Akuma=Do not lose any rounds and get one perfect victory. Do all of this before the fight with Seth and you will fight the master of fists.

Evil Ryu=Do not lose a round and get one perfect victory before the fight with Seth. And when you fight Seth, finish him in the final round with a super or ultra.

Gouken=Do not lose any rounds. Get one perfect victory. Hit the opponent first ten times. And finish five fights with a super or ultra. If you do this, you'll fight Mr. Sheng Long himself so you can stand a chance.

Oni=Do not lose a round, and get one perfect victory. Hit the opponent first ten times. Finish five fights with a super or ultra. And finish Seth with a super or ultra.

​

 

[Drathnoxis]

After obsessively playing Stardew Valley for about 100 hours I'm pretty much done with the game. I can easily make more money than I know what to do with, have a greenhouse full of ancient fruit, a cellar jam packed with ancient fruit wine casks, max friendship with everybody in the game, a wife, a kid, I've caught every fish in the game, 4 out of 5 masteries, I've reached floor 250 of the skull caverns, have about 700 iridium ore sitting in a chest, have a massive mostly empty house, and completed the rarecrow collection. Qi says my completion is only about 60%, but Grandpa's ghost just told me I'm perfect so I'm going with that.

It's kind of funny I got so into the game because I tried it a couple years ago and shut it off after about 15 minutes. Guess I just wasn't in the mood then. I was very close to playing Harvest Moon: It's a Wonderful Life, because that game has been hanging over my head since I'm a child, but it's so tedious so Stardew Valley won out. Inventory management is a massive pain in this game. There's so many items and every item is split into 4 different qualities so your backpack will always be full even with both upgrades. So much of your time is spent organizing chests it's ridiculous. The characters are pretty boring and not very well written and most of the special scenes are boring or weird. It would be great if the higher quality watering can charged up faster. I know it's much faster watering in a 5x5 area, but it doesn't feel like it when I need to sit there charging up for 5 seconds every time.

Still there's something very appealing about pulling value out of the land and being given the freedom to organize your farm however you want. The game gets a bit too easy once you start snowballing wealth and power, though, and money is largely useless except for a couple big sinks. People say this is a cozy game, but the ticking clock added a lot of pressure to play as optimally as I could and fit in as much as possible every day.

 

[Silvanus]

Was playing Lies of P (recently beat the King of Puppets & Champion Victor), & planning to play the newest GW2: Visions of Eternity release. But alas, am now spending some weeks away from home, back and forth between hospital. So no PS5 or PC.

Which means its time to bust out the trusty Switch. Replaying some Star Fox 64 in advance of the new Star Fox, though I've still not fully been convinced to buy a Switch 2.

And runs of Hades 2 to finish the last few things on the to-do list. Have finished a successful run with every weapon aspect, & got all the statues (requiring a 24 fear surface run and a 32 fear Underworld run). I think the only remaining tasks are to fully reconcile Narcissus and Echo, and to get into Icarus's pants.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Everyone, gather around. I have an confession to make. I... oh, God, how do I say this....

I... think I'm starting to... like Elden Ring....

Absent the linear bullshit and mandatory poison swamps, the core Souls-like experience of the game is getting a chance to reach me, and... honestly, it's starting to gel. 60FPS is smooth enough to read a boss's movements (I'd really prefer running this at 144FPS, but whatever) and so I can tell when that Erdtree Avatar is about to club me immediately or is winding up for a heavier swing and react accordingly.

And the open world is setting off my "hey, what's that over there" response almost as much as Skyrim, and I'm pretty often finding caves or tombs tucked away in obscure corners that I might never had found had I not glanced behind that tree or looked down over that cliff's edge. Fairly often there's a boss, too, but I can just ride away on Torrent if I don't feel like dealing with that crap.

That's not to say that I'm going to like the Souls-like formula as a whole; it's just that Elden Ring feels like an actual effort to bring it to me.

But still, fuck those chariots in the puzzle tombs. Maybe I can actually survive a hit from one now, but they're still annoying as hell.

 

[BrawlMan]

The Super Street Fighter IV 3D port is still pretty fun, and the stereoscopic 3D works surprisingly well for a launch title 3DS game. The game will run at 30fps in over the shoulder mode and with the 3D turned on, but you can slide it on/off at anytime. Some of the supers really do pop out. The only thing I hate is Seth. He still pretty cheap, unless you're playing on Easiest mode. I am not complaining much, as you can still face Akuma/Shin Akuma no matter difficulty and he will be challenging enough. I managed to get to him twice. This came in the mail today, and I ordered it last week for cheap.

 

[Silvanus]

Absent the [...] mandatory poison swamps

Oh my sweet summer child.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Oh my sweet summer child.

He's not technically wrong. It's completely possible and even feasible to beat the game without ever going to Caelid, the Lake of Rot, or the Haligtree, and in my own playthrough I didn't go to the latter two at all. That, and Torrent is IIRC immune to poison swamps. He can't be used in the latter two, but again, they're well out of the way.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

It's completely possible to beat the game without ever going to Caelid, the Lake of Rot, or the Haligtree

Oh, I've been to Caelid. Even brought down two Putrid Avatars. But Torrent's little hoofsies don't care about that mess!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Alright chat Sekiro is 50% off. If anybody wants to endorse or poo poo the game now is the time.

 

[thebobmaster]

Nah, I'd rather watch other people play potentially edited videos of the game and criticize the gameplay without actually doing so. Much less stressful than actually playing a Soulslike.

Seriously, though, I've tried Sekiro a few times. Soulslike games are just not really my thing in general.

 

[meiam]

Alright chat Sekiro is 50% off. If anybody wants to endorse or poo poo the game now is the time.

Sekiro is all parry, all the time, so if you liked that aspect of soulsborne, you'll like it. If you don't, probably give it a pass. I hate parry and cleared the game without using it (minus final boss), and had an okay time with it, but its clear that I wasn't playing how the game wanted me to play and the game was pretty mad about it.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Alright chat Sekiro is 50% off. If anybody wants to endorse or poo poo the game now is the time.

I'll repeat my endorsement. You'll enjoy it for sure.

 

[BrawlMan]

Alright chat Sekiro is 50% off. If anybody wants to endorse or poo poo the game now is the time.

I got Metal Gear Rising, Hf Rush, DMC5, and later Phantom Blade 0 for my parrying needs. I am good.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Alright chat Sekiro is 50% off. If anybody wants to endorse or poo poo the game now is the time.

As much as Sekiro is mostly focused on "parrying", it's not in the high-risk sense like the other Souls games. If you've played Super Mario RPG, it's like blocking in that game; if you time it perfectly, great, but if not, it's usually not a big deal. The window is also pretty generous, I think it's 12 frames for a perfect parry (and Mario only has 5), so mastering the timing on it isn't that difficult, and the unblockable attacks keep you guessing while also staying pretty fair.

More importantly, the fundamentals of combat in Sekiro are unlike the other Souls games in one key way. Rather than giving you a lot of different weapon and equipment options to allow you to form your preferred playstyle, whether that's fast-rolling with a Dex weapon or trying for one-hit KOs, Sekiro gives you one basic fighting style that you pretty much just have to master. There are plenty of consumables and gadgets that allow you to get a situational edge, but when it comes down to it, they're additions to the basic fighting style rather than a different style altogether. Whether you enjoy Sekiro or not will ultimately come down to whether that style clicks with you or not, though personally I think it's a lot of fun and well-executed.

It's also got the best story of the Souls series, in that Wolf is an active participant in the plot, which is mostly going on at the time where you are rather than all being confined to lore. The lore is also quite good, and the level and world design, while relatively straightforward and linear for the most part, is at least nicely varied and plays into your expanded movement options well.

Overall, I do recommend it, especially for that price. I wouldn't say you'll know right away whether it clicks with you or not, since it took me a few attempts to get into, but if it clicks for you, you'll have an amazing time with it.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Everyone, gather around. I have an confession to make. I... oh, God, how do I say this....

I... think I'm starting to... like Elden Ring....

Absent the linear bullshit and mandatory poison swamps, the core Souls-like experience of the game is getting a chance to reach me, and... honestly, it's starting to gel. 60FPS is smooth enough to read a boss's movements (I'd really prefer running this at 144FPS, but whatever) and so I can tell when that Erdtree Avatar is about to club me immediately or is winding up for a heavier swing and react accordingly.

And the open world is setting off my "hey, what's that over there" response almost as much as Skyrim, and I'm pretty often finding caves or tombs tucked away in obscure corners that I might never had found had I not glanced behind that tree or looked down over that cliff's edge. Fairly often there's a boss, too, but I can just ride away on Torrent if I don't feel like dealing with that crap.

That's not to say that I'm going to like the Souls-like formula as a whole; it's just that Elden Ring feels like an actual effort to bring it to me.

But still, fuck those chariots in the puzzle tombs. Maybe I can actually survive a hit from one now, but they're still annoying as hell.

For a secret, Margit’s Shackle works on the chariots within a considerable range, and the ones in Auriza hero’s grave drop one of the best armor sets in the game.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

For a secret, Margit’s Shackle works on the chariots within a considerable range

 

[gorfias]

Was playing Lies of P (recently beat the King of Puppets & Champion Victor), & planning to play the newest GW2: Visions of Eternity release. But alas, am now spending some weeks away from home, back and forth between hospital. So no PS5 or PC.

Which means its time to bust out the trusty Switch. Replaying some Star Fox 64 in advance of the new Star Fox, though I've still not fully been convinced to buy a Switch 2.

And runs of Hades 2 to finish the last few things on the to-do list. Have finished a successful run with every weapon aspect, & got all the statues (requiring a 24 fear surface run and a 32 fear Underworld run). I think the only remaining tasks are to fully reconcile Narcissus and Echo, and to get into Icarus's pants.

Sorry to read that you're spending a lot of time in the hospital. Glad you have a rig to take with you.

Kids got me the Switch a few back and I have about 10 games on it. I'm assuming Star Fox 64 was for the N64? Did they make one for that system? I had the Cube one that people said wasn't even legit Star Fox.

ITMT: Just getting into Forza Horizon 6. Bought my 1st car and an estate today with a run down home in the mountains. A simple hoot after clearing debris from the road in front of the house in a mini game. But being a completionist, I asked myself about FH1 and 5. I have an Xbox 1X. Internet says FH1 is BC with the OG Xbox 1 but not the 1X. Super odd. FH5: Play anywhere on sale on Xbox for $30, so that's downloading now.

 

[Silvanus]

Sorry to read that you're spending a lot of time in the hospital. Glad you have a rig to take with you.

Kids got me the Switch a few back and I have about 10 games on it. I'm assuming Star Fox 64 was for the N64? Did they make one for that system? I had the Cube one that people said wasn't even legit Star Fox.

Yep, it was for the N64. I played it as a kid so its always a bit nostalgic (alongside Banjo Kazooie, Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64...). Now playing on the Switch's N64 player.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Alright chat Sekiro is 50% off. If anybody wants to endorse or poo poo the game now is the time.

It's Fromsoft - the camera and the lock-on are gonna be shit. Have fun!