What are you currently playing?

[BrawlMan]

Been swapping between Zombie Army 4 and Age of Calamity. I'll add new details about AoC in the other thread. Zombie Army 4 I am liking all things considered, but there are some design choices I disagree with in the main campaign. I screwed up in chapter 2, so I'm going to redo it over. Thankfully, I did not even get that far. I've been having more fun with the horde mode. What helps is that they give you a lot of maps to start off with, even without the season pass. Anyone else have played Zombie Army Trilogy and how it compares to 4? I've been thinking of picking that up at some point later.

EDIT: Never mind, I found something of great use.

​

 

[wings012]

Playing 7 days to die with friends. It is awful and janky but we're having heaps of fun. The blood moons that escalate in difficulty over time gives us something to work towards and look forward to. I think if we played something like Ark or Rust instead, we would've just got bored after we teched up and had nothing else to really do and I think those games are all about the social multiplayer with other groups and cliques vs cliques rather than being PvE. But we as a 4-man are not interested in mingling with the masses.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

A friend of mine got me to play Resident Evil 5 co-op with him; so far I've done the first two chapters and already they're pulling things out from the second half of Resident Evil 4. In the haste to escalate, they've almost totally given up on the horror and just gone for occasionally-scary action. Still, knowing that going in, and having someone to laugh about all the stupidity with, I feel like this is gonna be a good time.

Supposedly the input lag was even worse on his original Xbox, so that isn't even a game-breaker; I'm hosting, so I don't have to worry about it at all.

Resident Evil 5 is great. Tons of fun in coop.

If you and your friend enjoy it then I would highly recommend Resident Evil Revelations 2 for coop. It has much more of the horror atmosphere and a more thought out coop system where all of the characters you control are useful, but not all are combat oriented so you don't get to just DPS you way through every problem.

 

[Drathnoxis]

So after working through all the rest of Supergiant Games' games I'm finally playing Hades. I've been really looking forward to this one as Roguelikes/lites are one of my favorite genres, and I have to say that, thus far, it's meeting my expectations. The gameplay is fantastic and feels great, you have enough options of weapons and movement and the controls feel crisp and responsive. The different ways that you can upgrade yourself over the course of a run shake things up without generally feeling too broken.

But the best part of it all is the premise. It's absolutely brilliant, and well executed. You are the rebellious son of the Lord of the Dead, basically trying to run away from home and every time you die you get transported back to his house. It doesn't sound that great when I say it like that, but I love it. I love how death is full of bureaucracy and paperwork. I love that there's a little employee of the month portrait. I love that despite trying to escape from the LORD OF THE DEAD, it's handled basically as a minor familial disagreement and the two of them are still on speaking terms, even though Hades will sneer at you over his paperwork. I love that after you kill bosses they end up back at the lounge and will have a chat with you before going back to trying to kill you the next run. And I love all the dialogue. There's so much of it. Every time you die the all characters have something new to say, and I've died a lot so far. I'm actually amazed how much there is, and it's all voiced. Most games would have been far more stingy with new dialogue, only dolling it out as you reach a new level, but this game has a seemingly endless amount. And it's great because the characters are interesting and fun to listen to, and even have nice interactions with each other. On the whole it just has a great lighthearted comedic tone that juxtaposes perfectly with the themes of death that come naturally to the realm of the dead, and it perfectly appeals to me.

I don't actually have anything negative to say about the game yet which is, I know, unusual. So far I've made it as far as Elysium. I don't know how far that is and I suspect I have a fair bit of distance to go before I even finish a run, but I'm having a lot of fun.

 

[Dalisclock]

I don't actually have anything negative to say about the game yet which is, I know, unusual. So far I've made it as far as Elysium. I don't know how far that is and I suspect I have a fair bit of distance to go before I even finish a run, but I'm having a lot of fun.

Elysium is the last BIG area before reaching the Styx, but you have to earn your way past that(the boss of Elysium is a tough one).

 

[Dalisclock]

Dark Souls 3: It All returns to nothing....it all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down........

RIP Murder nun. She's a tough fight, I'll give her that, but at least she doesn't have that much defense/hp, so you actually get to see her health bar drop in big chunks IF you can hit her. The downside is that she's VERY good with her Scythe(apparently the Sable church is quite keen on teaching self defense to the sisters) and chop you to bits even faster. So yeah.....

With that being said, onto the Dreg heap, which might be one of the most visually interesting zones in the entire series. I'd given up trying to figure out just how far into the future this place is supposed to be considering time seems to be ever more disconnected the closer to the end all of this comes(or in more descriptive turns "Time and Space have gone on vacation and lost their luggage". I made a comment a little while back about a Black Knight or two still down in the demon ruins, lost down there for god knows how long. There there's a few lothric knights still hanging around and my god, they've got plants growing out of them. Just how long have they been waiting in the drag heap and how have they not died like the rest of their buddies apparently have by now is a mystery for the ages.

Nice to see some callbacks to Dark Souls 2....I mean other than Zoey, who can rightly fuck off somewhere else(also those angels, who can also fuck off). Also, I find it interesting the Earthen Peak windmill didn't survive but man, that poison swamp below it somehow survived to the end of the world. FROM, are you legally required to put a poison swamp in like every area or something? Because I'm seriously starting to wonder.....

I've run up against the Demon Boyz in a very familiar looking location(Time and Space have stopped giving a shit, so why not?) and while I think I've figured out how to beat them, I'm not quite there yet. At least I don't have to solo the fight, just figure out how not to get oven roasted in the process(Yay for homing fireballs).

I think I'm almost to the Ring City and hopefully I'll be seeing it soon.

 

[09philj]

DOOM (2016)

It's like Brutal Doom, except not as fun. That's not to say there isn't fun to be had with DOOM 2016, I particularly like the weapon upgrade system even though there's always one clearly better upgrade path to take. It's just that a third dimension does not make up for wimpier guns, less interesting levels, and less goretastic violence compared to Sergeant_Mark_IV's enhanced editions of DOOM and DOOM II. It runs well and has detailed graphics, but like the original the art style is fairly ugly to look at but this time has muddier colours so splattering everything with blood is less spectacular.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Finished up to 2-3 in Resident Evil 5, and Jesus Christ what the hell were they thinking with 2-3.

 

[Trunkage]

Elysium is the last BIG area before reaching the Styx, but you have to earn your way past that(the boss of Elysium is a tough one).

I think the mazes in Styx are the worst. Took me a while to get through those

 

[Chimpzy]

Yakuza Kiwami 2

Kazuma Kiryu never killed anyone. Those guys you run straight through the body with a sword? They're fine. The guys whose gun you take and then shoot them in the chest with at point blank range? They're fine. The dudes you smack upside the head with a huge ass overhead swing from a mallet, hitting so hard they slam headfirst into the ground? They're fine. The bloke you throw off a container on a flatbed who ends getting run over by the truck's real wheels? He's fine. Walked it off. I mean, he kind of had to, to get off the road. Yeah, it's kind of a running joke, and there are still plenty goofy heat actions, but some of the finishers in this game come off particularly vicious compared to the other 2 game I've played. Maybe it's the visual upgrade.

 

[Dalisclock]

Dark Souls 3: What happens in the RInged City stays in the Ringed City

Coming down to the end here. KO the Demon Boyz after hours of attempts. Possibly one of the hardest mandatory(well, for DLC progression) boss fights in the game so far. Not even conceptually difficult, but there is a nasty gimmick in there that can cause issues if you co-op(or don't know the gimmick), a gank fight that almost requires co-op(or using the NPC phantom(s) provided) and some beefgating with some nasty hard hits, so the perfect shitstorm. Also, big fucking demons, who even prince lorian couldn't kill per the lore.

Beyond that "Joyful" confrontation lies the actual ringed city and I must say it's fucking gorgeous. And of course, like most gated communities, the locals don't want undesirable undead popping in to visit and man, once past the first bonfire the game totally makes it clear how unwelcome you are. I managed to push to the next bonfire before calling it. The painting was rough but it was bleak to start with. This is "Look at this BEAUTIFUL VIEW of this AMAZING LOOKING city. GET OUT!"

Soon I'll be done and you guys won't have to listen to my ramblings twice a week, though I plan to do a seperate thread when I'm done where I ramble about lore and such in regards to this game.

 

[happyninja42]

So after working through all the rest of Supergiant Games' games I'm finally playing Hades. I've been really looking forward to this one as Roguelikes/lites are one of my favorite genres, and I have to say that, thus far, it's meeting my expectations. The gameplay is fantastic and feels great, you have enough options of weapons and movement and the controls feel crisp and responsive. The different ways that you can upgrade yourself over the course of a run shake things up without generally feeling too broken.

But the best part of it all is the premise. It's absolutely brilliant, and well executed. You are the rebellious son of the Lord of the Dead, basically trying to run away from home and every time you die you get transported back to his house. It doesn't sound that great when I say it like that, but I love it. I love how death is full of bureaucracy and paperwork. I love that there's a little employee of the month portrait. I love that despite trying to escape from the LORD OF THE DEAD, it's handled basically as a minor familial disagreement and the two of them are still on speaking terms, even though Hades will sneer at you over his paperwork. I love that after you kill bosses they end up back at the lounge and will have a chat with you before going back to trying to kill you the next run. And I love all the dialogue. There's so much of it. Every time you die the all characters have something new to say, and I've died a lot so far. I'm actually amazed how much there is, and it's all voiced. Most games would have been far more stingy with new dialogue, only dolling it out as you reach a new level, but this game has a seemingly endless amount. And it's great because the characters are interesting and fun to listen to, and even have nice interactions with each other. On the whole it just has a great lighthearted comedic tone that juxtaposes perfectly with the themes of death that come naturally to the realm of the dead, and it perfectly appeals to me.

I don't actually have anything negative to say about the game yet which is, I know, unusual. So far I've made it as far as Elysium. I don't know how far that is and I suspect I have a fair bit of distance to go before I even finish a run, but I'm having a lot of fun.

Yeah the humor of the game is a definite plus in my book. I also like how Zagreus doesn't really WANT to fight people, he just wants to get out of the house. He'd be VERY happy to just pass through, not fighting anyone, but of course, that's just not an option. But he's genuinely friendly to pretty much everyone he encounters, unless they give him sass, which he will return in kind. But if you are not a hostile threat to him, he's quite jovial and fun to listen to. He seems genuinely happy to meet those various souls that he considers friends, or at least not enemies. I honestly feel like he's channeling The Dude from Big Lebowski, but just not a stoner.

Elysium is, at least in the base game, haven't beaten it yet myself so I've only heard that there are other areas that open up after, but Elysium is the zone right before the last one. You have another area, though it's much smaller in scope, after Elysium, and after THAT, is the final boss fight. From what I've seen mentioned in other threads, there's tons of stuff that unlocks after you "beat" the game, so it's not really the end, but in a way it is? But yeah, you are relatively close to getting out, if you are in Elysium. Theseus is a pain in the ass though. He's definitely the boss I have the most issue with, though to be fair, I'm usually doing resource runs, and not actively building for escape. Though I just unlocked the last Death Defy last night, so I'm going to try and focus on actual escape when I play tonight. I'd like to see what happens there, because I did get to it before, just got my ass whooped.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Dark Souls 3: It All returns to nothing....it all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down........

RIP Murder nun. She's a tough fight, I'll give her that, but at least she doesn't have that much defense/hp, so you actually get to see her health bar drop in big chunks IF you can hit her. The downside is that she's VERY good with her Scythe(apparently the Sable church is quite keen on teaching self defense to the sisters) and chop you to bits even faster. So yeah.....

Sis and Pa were one of my top three toughest in the game, along with Nameless and... a certain fire breathing beast. Not surprisingly they were each some of my favorites of the series, but Sis probably takes the cake in terms of presentation and the actual fight itself. Not the most inventive but just a good, well-varied challenge. I also liked how the level design turned out. Probably the best shortcut this side of Bloodborne.

Dark Souls 3: What happens in the RInged City stays in the Ringed City

Coming down to the end here. KO the Demon Boyz after hours of attempts.

Spoiler

Possibly one of the hardest mandatory(well, for DLC progression) boss fights in the game so far. Not even conceptually difficult, but there is a nasty gimmick in there that can cause issues if you co-op(or don't know the gimmick), a gank fight that almost requires co-op(or using the NPC phantom(s) provided) and some beefgating with some nasty hard hits, so the perfect shitstorm. Also, big fucking demons, who even prince lorian couldn't kill per the lore.

Beyond that "Joyful" confrontation lies the actual ringed city and I must say it's fucking gorgeous. And of course, like most gated communities, the locals don't want undesirable undead popping in to visit and man, once past the first bonfire the game totally makes it clear how unwelcome you are. I managed to push to the next bonfire before calling it. The painting was rough but it was bleak to start with. This is "Look at this BEAUTIFUL VIEW of this AMAZING LOOKING city. GET OUT!"

Soon I'll be done and you guys won't have to listen to my ramblings twice a week, thoug

I plan to do a seperate thread when I'm done where I ramble about lore and such in regards to this game.

Those guys were pretty tough too, but fun to drop in on in a wide open arena. Really let’s you know how small your stamina pool is.

Also, it kinda goes without saying but a certain epic boss fight can be missable, even though you might’ve already run into ol’ flamey. I highly recommend seeking him out before exiting stage-nothingness.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

DOOM (2016)

It's like Brutal Doom, except not as fun. That's not to say there isn't fun to be had with DOOM 2016, I particularly like the weapon upgrade system even though there's always one clearly better upgrade path to take. It's just that a third dimension does not make up for wimpier guns, less interesting levels, and less goretastic violence compared to Sergeant_Mark_IV's enhanced editions of DOOM and DOOM II. It runs well and has detailed graphics, but like the original the art style is fairly ugly to look at but this time has muddier colours so splattering everything with blood is less spectacular.

I think it might look to “clean” especially for enemy design at times, but I love how smooth it runs while having generally high quality texture work.

Also, it’s worth checking out the photo mode, if only to gain further appreciation for the technical prowess of the engine. Plus it’s fun to do fly-thru’s of levels as it allows full real time camera control and frame advancement.


OT, finally got the gold medal for An American Pastoral Scene in RDR2. Pretty much followed this guy’s tactics, but the shootout was completely random in targeting. I saved the video because I seemed to have gotten it done so much quicker than all my previous attempts somehow. FTR, even though the trophy guide may state it’s impossible to get gold via replay, this other guy apparently found a way. His colorful commentary towards the end says it all about how much of a PITA this mission can be; I’d imagine especially going that route.

Later on after riding up to Diablo Ridge to safely watch the authorities investigate from afar, I did some investigating of my own on the nearby Appleseed Timber Co. Never really took the time to watch them work, but was soon reminded that felling big trees can be a dangerous occupation. Riding over to the commotion I decided to help the crew raise a trunk that landed on a worker’s legs. Unfortunately the foreman had to let him go, but I gave him some compensatory cash for his troubles.

It also reminded me a story IRL of how my guardian was sawing a log and ended up getting thrown off when it sprang backwards on him after cutting through, and he got pinned under it. Luckily my dad was with him and was able to get him free, but it messed up his chest pretty good. Crushed collar bone, shoulder and a few ribs IIRC. AFAIK he made a full recovery though.

Anyways, if there’s one thing that keeps surprising me about the game it’s how much can be missed if you’re not around.



Yup, barely started chapter three and already missed most of this on my new playthrough for golds and I’ve still generally been taking my time with exploration.

 

[Dalisclock]

Sis and Pa were one of my top three toughest in the game, along with Nameless and... a certain fire breathing beast. Not surprisingly they were each some of my favorites of the series, but Sis probably takes the cake in terms of presentation and the actual fight itself. Not the most inventive but just a good, well-varied challenge. I also liked how the level design turned out. Probably the best shortcut this side of Bloodborne.


Those guys were pretty tough too, but fun to drop in on in a wide open arena. Really let’s you know how small your stamina pool is.

Also, it kinda goes without saying but a certain epic boss fight can be missable, even though you might’ve already run into ol’ flamey. I highly recommend seeking him out before exiting stage-nothingness.

I've heard Sis referred to as "A Bloodborne Boss who somehow made it into DS3". Considering you find her in a zone that technically isn't "real", I can totally see that. In fact, I was totally getting flashbacks to Lady Maria. Oh, Maria, I loved your boss fight as much has I hated getting pushed into the floorboards for 2 straight hours.

I'll check out old flamey, but I'm not guaranteeing I'll beat him. I have a friend who is stuck on the Gravetender and the Wolf gang and he keeps asking me when I'm gonna beat him, my answer so far has been "When I feel like it" but honestly after beating Nameless and Champ Teapot and Murder Nun and Demon Boyz, I don't really feel like I care for running down to challenge an out of the way boss guarding nothing interesting in particular. I think I only did the demon king because there's a bonfire right there and you fight him in a particularly morbid arena.

Also, somehow there's a Red Dead video in there and I'm not sure if that was your intention.

 

[09philj]

I think it might look to “clean” especially for enemy design at times, but I love how smooth it runs while having generally high quality texture work.

Also, it’s worth checking out the photo mode, if only to gain further appreciation for the technical prowess of the engine. Plus it’s fun to do fly-thru’s of levels as it allows full real time camera control and frame advancement.

It is very impressive on a technical level but it's got a lot of that vanilla DOOM blandness where all the levels feel very similar regardless of what textures are on top since everything's neatly constructed out of squares and right angles, and you haven't got the dynamic reactions to damage that Brutal DOOM has to spice it up. Plus it can't handle that many enemies at once so they're mostly quite bullet spongy which really gets in the way of letting you feel like you're committing real carnage.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Also, somehow there's a Red Dead video in there and I'm not sure if that was your intention.

Fixed above. Mobile computing does not do this forum many favors. Sometimes I’ll just hit return for a new paragraph and it’ll delete a big chunk of the last thing I typed/pasted. Maybe it’s my ancient 8 series phone though too.

 

[Catfood220]

So I started Final Fantasy 7: Remake on Monday and so far I'm loving it. Disclaimer, I have no real history of the Final Fantasy series. I played FF Tactics on the GBA, I played up to the open world bit of FF13 before realising that I was so bored and hated all the characters with a burning passion. I did play a bit of the original FF7 on PS3 but didn't really get on with it. And I have FF15 in my backlog somewhere, I picked that up last year and never started it.

So, I have no nostalgia for the original, this is all new to me. This game is absolutely gorgeous, one of the best looking PS4 games I've seen, the explosion of the Mako Reactor looked absolutely stunning. It doesn't always look great, the NPC's certainly less detailed than the main characters or the environment that surrounds them. The music is pretty and the combat is satisfying and crunchy. I like that you have to use all the weapons that you come across so that you can learn new skills, even if its worse than the one you're using. So far, the story mainly makes sense. Though, there is a terrorist attack and no one seems suspicious of the heavily armed group just wandering around the area. Mind you, would you confront the guy with a minigun for an arm. Every single female character wants to sleep with Cloud, despite him communicating mainly in grunts and demands for money. Though his first meeting with Aerith did make me laugh. Barratt seems to be auditioning for a Captain Planet remake, while Tifa with her exaggerated arm movements clearly wants to be a Power Ranger. But yeah, so far I'm enjoying it. We will see what happens next.

Before that I was playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales. I really enjoyed this too, it was like the orginal Spider-Man game, just more of it. Though you can tell this was meant to be a PS5 game as on the PS4 it is buggy as hell with texture pop ins, sound drop outs, glitches, freezes and good old crashes. But it was good fun like I say. Though it did amuse me that that they put a Black Lives Matter moment in there is a game which spends 98% of its time beating up and trying to kill its black main character. Also, it looks like an easy platinum so I will, ahem, swing back around to this at some point to get that.

 

[happyninja42]

Before that I was playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales. I really enjoyed this too, it was like the orginal Spider-Man game, just more of it. Though you can tell this was meant to be a PS5 game as on the PS4 it is buggy as hell with texture pop ins, sound drop outs, glitches, freezes and good old crashes. But it was good fun like I say. Though it did amuse me that that they put a Black Lives Matter moment in there is a game which spends 98% of its time beating up and trying to kill its black main character. Also, it looks like an easy platinum so I will, ahem, swing back around to this at some point to get that.

Yeah I did find the bugs odd, given how stable the other Spiderman game was for me. It wasn't game breaking, but it was definitely noticeable.

 

[Hawki]

I've started playing the Hivebusters DLC for Gears 5.

I'm miffed - far as I can tell, it's an adaptation of the Hivebusters comic series rather than being its own thing. And if we're judging it on adaptation faithfulness, then eh...

On gameplay, more of the same.