What are you currently playing?

[laggyteabag]

Just finished SUPERHOT Mind Control Delete.

If you are unfamiliar with SUPERHOT, it is a FPS game, but the game is constantly in bullet-time, and time only moves when you move. So you can dodge bullets, line up perfect shots, deflect bullets with other bullets, etc, but when you start moving and shooting, so do your enemies.

Where the first game can sometimes be setup like a bit of a puzzle, Mind Control Delete goes for a sort of rogue-lite approach, where encounters are strictly combat arenas, and you can select upgrades between every few stages, like "start with a random gun", or "thrown objects explode into shrapnel" - and then if you die, your upgrades are lost, and you start again.

There are also enemy types, this time around. So some guys can only be killed if you shoot them in a specific body part, some explode into shrapnel after dying, and some hold weapons which will destroy itself when the enemy drops them. Not to mention the boss enemies, which cannot be killed, and have to be played around.

Ultimately, the game is fun, if a little too long.

4/5

 

[Kyrian007]

Continued my "picked it up for free on Epic and never installed it" kick with Oxenfree. Side note, I paid for everything in my Steam backlog... why aren't I more motivated to play those games than I am the freebies I got on Epic. Weird. Anyway Oxenfree, its ok. Good story, good teen-horror atmosphere. Less 90's style slasher teen horror and more (here's an obscure reference) "The Watcher in the Woods." Yeah, dropping a Disney live action movie starring Betty Davis reference. But anyone who did watch it remembers how damn creepy it was despite holding on to a PG rating... and that's Oxenfree. The most R-rated moments happen in conversations, like an early one where you play "fuck, marry, kill." It lets down in 2 categories though. 1 gameplay... there isn't any. The gameplay loop is walking from point to point on the map, making dialogue choices along the way, and tuning a radio dial until things get creepy. Also a letdown, the dialogue choices. It's really difficult to tell what choices are going to have what effect on the characters and the story. I went out of my way to be nice to and help a character, and yes I got her out alive but the ending told me she hated me... and that 78% of people ended the game with her liking them. So was I supposed to pick all the rudest responses towards her, actively try NOT to save her? I did get everyone out alive (except for someone who started the game dead, there's time travel... you can apparently keep him from dying before the game begins,) but that didn't seem like it took much effort at all. I didn't go out of my way to get the offered "collect all of these for the good ending" MacGuffins and we still all lived. I did a 2nd playthrough to see what changed... but a choice late in the first playthrough allows you to tip your character off to the happenings of the game early in the 2nd playthrough AND AWSOMELY you can avoid the loop of time that the game takes place in entirely. It was really cool, the second playthrough allows you to avoid playing the game again at all. And I did, I left it at "these events never happened." I know, that sounds like a mark against the game... but it was actually a pretty good and interesting choice. Overall I enjoyed the experience... and I didn't pay for it so I got my value out of it and then some.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Continued my "picked it up for free on Epic and never installed it" kick with Oxenfree. Side note, I paid for everything in my Steam backlog... why aren't I more motivated to play those games than I am the freebies I got on Epic. Weird.

Anyway Oxenfree, its ok. Good story, good teen-horror atmosphere. Less 90's style slasher teen horror and more (here's an obscure reference) "The Watcher in the Woods." Yeah, dropping a Disney live action movie starring Betty Davis reference. But anyone who did watch it remembers how damn creepy it was despite holding on to a PG rating... and that's Oxenfree. The most R-rated moments happen in conversations, like an early one where you play "fuck, marry, kill."

It lets down in 2 categories though. 1 gameplay... there isn't any. The gameplay loop is walking from point to point on the map, making dialogue choices along the way, and tuning a radio dial until things get creepy. Also a letdown, the dialogue choices. It's really difficult to tell what choices are going to have what effect on the characters and the story. I went out of my way to be nice to and help a character, and yes I got her out alive but the ending told me she hated me... and that 78% of people ended the game with her liking them.

So was I supposed to pick all the rudest responses towards her, actively try NOT to save her? I did get everyone out alive (except for someone who started the game dead, there's time travel... you can apparently keep him from dying before the game begins,) but that didn't seem like it took much effort at all. I didn't go out of my way to get the offered "collect all of these for the good ending" MacGuffins and we still all lived.

I did a 2nd playthrough to see what changed... but a choice late in the first playthrough allows you to tip your character off to the happenings of the game early in the 2nd playthrough AND AWSOMELY you can avoid the loop of time that the game takes place in entirely. It was really cool, the second playthrough allows you to avoid playing the game again at all. And I did, I left it at "these events never happened." I know, that sounds like a mark against the game... but it was actually a pretty good and interesting choice. Overall I enjoyed the experience... and I didn't pay for it so I got my value out of it and then some.

Text wall has been fractured for easier reading.

 

[BrawlMan]

I will be playing Ghost of Tsushima later. I played DBFighterZ again after a long absence. I finally bought all the Season Passes due to the PSN sale going on right now. I did nothing special; just a couple of arcade runs and some battles in versus against the AI.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Still plugging away at Last of US part 2. I'm 26 hours in, jesus this game is long.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir

Throw a rock and you're gonna hit someone who tells you how beautifully crafted and detailed the animation is in Vanillaware games. Any character breathes and you see with what subtlety all the muscles heave and the joints bend and the clothes ruffle. Everything has this uniquely fluid yet puppety feel to it. But I like how detailed the story is in Odin Sphere, too, told in such a way that makes a fairly boilerplate fairy tale into something intriguing and freshly appealing. I think this is the best ensemble cast game I've ever played. Each character handles differently and perfectly, each story is fun and self-sufficient, and everything adds up to something even more engrossing. With other "ensemble" games I always feel this or that character is the nominal one, and which story is the important one. Everything in Odin Sphere feels like it has been given equal attention though, to the point that mixing up the gameplay is the gameplay in itself.

It's been long enough since the original PS2 game that I'm not sure which aspects have been changed or improved in Leifthrasir. I remember some crippling slowdown in certain fights, which is now gone. The menu surfing has been streamlined, I think, as well as the alchemy mechanic. But it's basically the same game, beautiful as ever. I hadn't played it in like a decade. Missed this game.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I played Pikmin for a couple hours. It's such a good game. I just wish there was more point to accumulating vast numbers of Pikmin, since that's the part that's the most fun. I don't really feel like playing the whole way through since I've played it so many times so I think I'm gonna stop here and watch a speed run instead. Pikmin speedruns are incredible to watch. All the ship parts in a level on a single day. It's amazing.

Pikmin 2 is a far worse game. The random caves make the game so boring and tedious. Even the speedruns are far less interesting.

 

[Dalisclock]

Still plugging away at Last of US part 2. I'm 26 hours in, jesus this game is long.

They had to make it long to make you feel bad for killing everyone because they gave you little choice but to kill everyone, and so you could go through Seattle twice.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

They had to make it long to make you feel bad for killing everyone because they gave you little choice but to kill everyone, and so you could go through Seattle twice.

You're not really going through Seattle twice.

I mean, you are, but it's not like you're going through the same areas and backtracking. The areas that Ellie and Abby go through are completely different, so it's forgivable. It's not like they're reusing content to pad the length.

 

[Dalisclock]

You're not really going through Seattle twice.

I mean, you are, but it's not like you're going through the same areas and backtracking. The areas that Ellie and Abby go through are completely different, so it's forgivable. It's not like they're reusing content to pad the length.

I know it's not going through the same areas but one of the constant criticisms I've heard is that the 3 day flashback really hurts the pacing, especially considering where they decided to place it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir

Throw a rock and you're gonna hit someone who tells you how beautifully crafted and detailed the animation is in Vanillaware games. Any character breathes and you see with what subtlety all the muscles heave and the joints bend and the clothes ruffle. Everything has this uniquely fluid yet puppety feel to it. But I like how detailed the story is in Odin Sphere, too, told in such a way that makes a fairly boilerplate fairy tale into something intriguing and freshly appealing. I think this is the best ensemble cast game I've ever played. Each character handles differently and perfectly, each story is fun and self-sufficient, and everything adds up to something even more engrossing. With other "ensemble" games I always feel this or that character is the nominal one, and which story is the important one. Everything in Odin Sphere feels like it has been given equal attention though, to the point that mixing up the gameplay is the gameplay in itself.

It's been long enough since the original PS2 game that I'm not sure which aspects have been changed or improved in Leifthrasir. I remember some crippling slowdown in certain fights, which is now gone. The menu surfing has been streamlined, I think, as well as the alchemy mechanic. But it's basically the same game, beautiful as ever. I hadn't played it in like a decade. Missed this game.

I remember the whole food management being a giant pain in the ass in the original PS2 game. Like raising plants and chickens. And I think the remaster streamlined that nonsense out. Also the added super moves which I don't think the original had. I need to go back to this game, I still haven't finished it.

OT: Playing Ghost of Tsushima and loving it. Though I don't know how much of that is due to playing it this soon after The Last of Us 2, which was such an obnoxious and miserable experience. You ever have a glass of water and it's like the most delicious thing you've ever tasted, eventhough it's just a glass of water? That's what Ghost of Tsushima is like; a refreshing glass of water at the right cool temperature after an icky, spicey meal.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Bloodborne: Finished Yahar'gul after a lot of deaths and a lot of frustration. Then the first enemy in Nightmare of Mensis laid me out, so I feel like I might be underleveled for it. Instead, I'm going back to finish a few of the optional areas I didn't get around to before then like the Upper Cathedral Ward and Nightmare Frontier. I've been told to go for the DLC after defeating the first boss in Mensis, so hopefully all the extra Blood Echoes will get me to a point where I can reach that level.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I know it's not going through the same areas but one of the constant criticisms I've heard is that the 3 day flashback really hurts the pacing, especially considering where they decided to place it.

It’s not exactly a flashback, unless you’re considering going through the same three days as Abby that. It was by far my biggest complaint, but I’m not sure how it could’ve been condensed without losing something vital in the process. At first I thought you could have the bulk be just Abby’s journey (which to me as far more interesting) and somehow bookend it with Ellie’s stuff, but then her story would feel shortchanged.

Taking out the mostly stupid upgrade system might’ve been the best compromise to help pacing, because honestly all it did was serve to detract from everything else in an effort to make the game feel “deeper” when it would’ve been perfectly fine with a more simplified approach that valued immediacy. Be more ingenuitive with it instead of having to collect all these stupid parts, pills for various stupid stat increases, etc. It’s only based around three days; these characters aren’t going to change that much.

Maybe include a fatigue mechanic where you simply have to find some food to be in top condition. You could either hunt, prep and cook something or find food to steal from your enemies to add some morality weight. Immediacy. The timespan in terms of story doesn’t justify the length of gameplay that’s padded out by those design elements that ultimately feel trivial by the end of a play through.


Speaking of long games, I have nine trophies left in my quest for Platinum in RDR2 and currently going for the Grin and Bear It, where you need to survive 18 bear attacks and subsequently kill it. Not at all difficult when you know what to do, but finding bears makes it tedious. They don’t always show up where they’re prevalent right away either even after sleeping til the next day. 18 times, Rockstar? What’s the significance behind that number, the year the game was released?

Having said that, I do like how the Rockstar site tracks trophy progress as far as how close you are to getting them, but it could be a bit more detailed vs just showing a percentage. It’s a good idea that could be implemented into every game alongside the trophy/achievement system vs having players either guessing or resorting to Google/YouTube.

Bloodborne: Finished Yahar'gul after a lot of deaths and a lot of frustration. Then the first enemy in Nightmare of Mensis laid me out, so I feel like I might be underleveled for it. Instead, I'm going back to finish a few of the optional areas I didn't get around to before then like the Upper Cathedral Ward and Nightmare Frontier. I've been told to go for the DLC after defeating the first boss in Mensis, so hopefully all the extra Blood Echoes will get me to a point where I can reach that level.

Pretty sure you’re referring to the “Dummm dee duuuummmm” dudes/dudettes. You’re not under leveled if most other enemies are still manageable. Those things are designed to be a PITA, as they instill frenzy which usually kills without sedatives. Maybe at most be able to survive being grabbed with a full health bar. I think there’s a way of escaping quicker by rocking the left stick and circle or R1. Although it might’ve been just standing still idk. You can dodge or parry when they lunge, but that’s about the only advantage you have against them unless you can get a quick surprise kill.

 

[Dalisclock]

Bloodborne: Finished Yahar'gul after a lot of deaths and a lot of frustration. Then the first enemy in Nightmare of Mensis laid me out, so I feel like I might be underleveled for it. Instead, I'm going back to finish a few of the optional areas I didn't get around to before then like the Upper Cathedral Ward and Nightmare Frontier. I've been told to go for the DLC after defeating the first boss in Mensis, so hopefully all the extra Blood Echoes will get me to a point where I can reach that level.

You can do the DLC all the way up until you kill the final boss, either Gehrman or Moon Presence. Unlike DS2, beating the final boss will cause the game to end.

And yeah, the DLC is far harder than the base game. You'll be making good progress through the endgame areas of the base game, go into the DLC feeling pretty ready and likely get walloped by the first enemy you meet in the DLC. And no, he's not a mini-boss either, but he fucking feels like one.

 

[CaitSeith]

I finished Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Besides the typos and the tutorials showing the wrong buttons, I think its weakest aspect is how much effort it used in making references and parallels to the first game, just to use 90% of them as red herrings. I think there is some wasted potential if it tried to be more of its own thing, because it ended up chaining itself to the previous game (even if the chains were a subversion)

 

[Samtemdo8]

I am playing the Panzer Dragoon games for the first time in my life.

 

[Chimpzy]

Just finished SUPERHOT Mind Control Delete.

Also something of note for those interested, if you own the original SUPERHOT on Steam, you can get Mind Control Delete for free.

 

[Kae]

Russian roulette, it's quite thrilling.

Not really, I'm still playing New Vegas, I guess I'm very slow I am liking it a lot but I play like maybe 6 hours per week, sometimes more, sometimes less.

 

[BrawlMan]

I am playing the Panzer Dragoon games for the first time in my life.

How do you like them? I've always felt the Panzer Dragoon series was better than the Star Fox series in terms of 3D rail shooters. The Sin & Punishment games are in a whole different level though.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I know it's not going through the same areas but one of the constant criticisms I've heard is that the 3 day flashback really hurts the pacing, especially considering where they decided to place it.

Here I thought I was about to finish the game and then it just keeps on going. Started going through Santa Barbara with Ellie. Oh my god how much longer is this game? I didn't expect to still be playing after 30 hours.