What are you currently playing?

[happyninja42]

Wasteland 3.

Mostly just through the tutorial at this point. It's...ok I guess? The almost slapstic level of comedy, mixed with brutal post apocalyptic violence and gore, is a very jarring thing for me. I mean, what is it game? Am I supposed to be drawn into your grim, survival is hell narrative? If so, then don't give me a fucking, apparently semi-intelligent(?) cat with a cowboy hat on his head, named Major Tom, and redneck cultists dancing around in blood shouting "DELUUUUGE OF THE BLOOD!" like they were pulled from general casting on the set of Deliverance.

So there is a bit of a tonal dissonance for me, that I've yet to make peace with, but we'll see. The combat is fine, standard XCOM style grid combat with cover and stuff, nothing really new there. We'll see if this one is able to keep my attention better than most other isometric, turn based combat games.

 

[meiam]

I'm not letting them off the hook either. Between AC5 and AC7, Osea comes across as dangerously incompetent, horribly corrupt or both.

Either that or Belka is just that fucking good at getting away with shit.

I mean, I know the games are more like spiritual successors to games like Area 88/UN Squadron or Carrier Airwing but it's hard not to try to take it seriously when it acts like it wants to be taken seriously, and the grounded stuff clashes with the GIANT NUCLEAR DEATH SATELLITE (we only now just remembered we had) and BELKANS ARE EVERYWHERE(despite the horrible traumatic belkan war being within fairly recent memory for a lot of people) wackiness.

I never really took the story that seriously in AC game, always saw it more as a tongue and cheek take on top gun, not quite hot shots but not far.

 

[Dalisclock]

I never really took the story that seriously in AC game, always saw it more as a tongue and cheek take on top gun, not quite hot shots but not far.

Yeah. Now that I've unlocked Freeplay I'm going back to finish the branching missions I missed. I've done all of them but THE FOUR HORSEMEN is a giant PITA and by god I'm glad I didn't have to beat that on the campaign to proceed. I kinda want to beat it for the sake of completion but I'll live if I never do.

I also started playing Arcade mode and that feels a lot less tonally dissonant. Pretty much "You versus a bunch of other planes on a short timer, and as you kill baddies you get small time extensions and SW refills to encourage you to be quick about it". The fact the missions are pretty simple and fairly short also makes it easier to swallow in some ways.

I know it's basically a bonus mode but still a cool alternate game mode.

 

[happyninja42]

I never really took the story that seriously in AC game, always saw it more as a tongue and cheek take on top gun, not quite hot shots but not far.

Yeah. Now that I've unlocked Freeplay I'm going back to finish the branching missions I missed. I've done all of them but THE FOUR HORSEMEN is a giant PITA and by god I'm glad I didn't have to beat that on the campaign to proceed. I kinda want to beat it for the sake of completion but I'll live if I never do.

I also started playing Arcade mode and that feels a lot less tonally dissonant. Pretty much "You versus a bunch of other planes on a short timer, and as you kill baddies you get small time extensions and SW refills to encourage you to be quick about it". The fact the missions are pretty simple and fairly short also makes it easier to swallow in some ways.

I know it's basically a bonus mode but still a cool alternate game mode.

Ugh, you guys keep throwing me off with all this talk about AC. I keep seeing it, and then get instantly confused when you talk about fighter jets and military engagements, and not dudes in hoodies stabbing people in the butt.

 

[Dalisclock]

Ugh, you guys keep throwing me off with all this talk about AC. I keep seeing it, and then get instantly confused when you talk about fighter jets and military engagements, and not dudes in hoodies stabbing people in the butt.

Yeah, the two series having the same acronym doesn't help much. Though arguably both can be just as silly.

Especially if you replace "Stabbing for Freedom" with "Missles for peace".

 

[meiam]

If you want I can talk your ear off about armored core (AC) too.

 

[happyninja42]

If you want I can talk your ear off about armored core (AC) too.

 

[sXeth]

Would you also like some tales from my time on classic MMORPG Asherons Call?

 

[happyninja42]

Would you also like some tales from my time on classic MMORPG Asherons Call?

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Resident Evil 4 on Professional difficulty complete. It was still pretty fun, but I don't think I'll do it again for a little while; I preferred playing on Normal, where I don't have to be as constantly jacked-in. I'll probably do RE2make next; I left a save file right before the first boss, and it was fairly recently so I don't think I need to replay the first part again as a refresher or anything.

 

[Dalisclock]

If you want I can talk your ear off about armored core (AC) too.

Remember when FROM made games other then Souls and Soulsys?

Actually, most of us probably don't because Demons Souls is when people really started to notice them and then all their other series just feel by the wayside.

I am kinda curious if Armored Core is any good, but it's probably hard to get ahold of at this point. Though it would be hilarious if the painting in Dark Souls 3 DLC ended up having a bunch of Mecha in it.

 

[meiam]

Remember when FROM made games other then Souls and Soulsys?

Actually, most of us probably don't because Demons Souls is when people really started to notice them and then all their other series just feel by the wayside.

I am kinda curious if Armored Core is any good, but it's probably hard to get ahold of at this point. Though it would be hilarious if the painting in Dark Souls 3 DLC ended up having a bunch of Mecha in it.

Most of them can be found for reasonable price, especially the PS3 one. The soundtrack are hard to get hod of, few year back they release a set with all the soundtrack of the franchise and I'm still kicking myself for not finding out then cause now it's like 1000$ and I love those soundtrack.

It's a particular franchise, you need to like the idea of constantly tweaking your mech for quick mission (in most of them the longest missions last maybe 10 minutes). Not for everyone, especially some of the early one which don't use the analogue stick so 3D movement is a massive pain. The story are also almost always the same and mostly told trough mission briefing. It's unique and I hope it doesn't disappear, soul franchise success and AC5 being pretty meh might have killed the franchise though.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Remember when FROM made games other then Souls and Soulsys?

Actually, most of us probably don't because Demons Souls is when people really started to notice them and then all their other series just feel by the wayside.

I am kinda curious if Armored Core is any good, but it's probably hard to get ahold of at this point. Though it would be hilarious if the painting in Dark Souls 3 DLC ended up having a bunch of Mecha in it.

Armored Core is ok.

Definitely not my favorite Mech games as the movement just feels a bit too floaty (yes, you do also get the ability to float, but that's not what I mean) and firing your weapons just doesn't feel impactful. On the other hand, the 1v1 mech battles can be pretty fun when you're constantly boosting around each other and dodging swarms of missiles.

The main thing you will love or hate is how much customization there is for your mech and how much time you spend tweaking things depending on the mission is. You can be spending 20 minutes playing with different configurations to do a bossfight that takes 5 minutes, then lose and spend another 20 minutes completely changing everything about your mech before trying again.

 

[Dalisclock]

Most of them can be found for reasonable price, especially the PS3 one. The soundtrack are hard to get hod of, few year back they release a set with all the soundtrack of the franchise and I'm still kicking myself for not finding out then cause now it's like 1000$ and I love those soundtrack.

It's a particular franchise, you need to like the idea of constantly tweaking your mech for quick mission (in most of them the longest missions last maybe 10 minutes). Not for everyone, especially some of the early one which don't use the analogue stick so 3D movement is a massive pain. The story are also almost always the same and mostly told trough mission briefing. It's unique and I hope it doesn't disappear, soul franchise success and AC5 being pretty meh might have killed the franchise though.

That doesn't sound like a bad thing, honestly. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is MGS Peace Walker, where the missions were short but each mission let you tweak your loadout for the task at hand(Boss battles were treated as seperate missions so you didn't have to worry about being equipped for sneaking when facing a tank).

I can think of worse things, such as being told to prep for an Air to Ground mission, such as Ace Combat 5, then being thrust into a tough air to air battle with multiple elite enemies in a mission just after that where you can't change your loadout. Picked the A-10 before? Haha Fuck you.

Yeah, I'm still bitter about that.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Started on Spider-man PS4 finally. Web swinging is pretty great, but I do still need to get used to it. Namely, used to not getting really high up where there are no buildings and then getting confused why the web slinging button isn't working.

The combat is... okay. I think I need readjust how I see dodging, because it doesn't seem to work quite as well as in the Arkham games. I also just came from God of War, so I'm more used to just barely dodging attacks. Maybe someone can confirm, but it feels more like you have to time your dodges rather than just hitting the button at any time before an attack comes. I died quite a lot to Kingpin because of this. Dodging bullets feels great though.

 

[Chupathingy]

Finished Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Game on PS2. I played the PSP version back when it first released which was severely cut down, so it was nice to finally play the 'complete' version of the game.

As far as licensed movie games go this really is one of the standouts. The gameplay is very solid, the combat is often quite tense with enemies surrounding you and dealing high damage often. The controls can feel a bit floaty, and the game has some bad framerate issues in areas but both of these were quite common for many PS2 games. The Kong sections aren't quite as good as the Jack sections, but they do change up the pace.

Overall a very good game, with a distinct and solid playstyle.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Started on Spider-man PS4 finally. Web swinging is pretty great, but I do still need to get used to it. Namely, used to not getting really high up where there are no buildings and then getting confused why the web slinging button isn't working.

The combat is... okay. I think I need readjust how I see dodging, because it doesn't seem to work quite as well as in the Arkham games. I also just came from God of War, so I'm more used to just barely dodging attacks. Maybe someone can confirm, but it feels more like you have to time your dodges rather than just hitting the button at any time before an attack comes. I died quite a lot to Kingpin because of this. Dodging bullets feels great though.

Yeah, the dodging is different from the arkham type games and the problem I first had was assuming it worked the same too. People did seem to push these assumptions quite a lot before playing though. The way that helped me is to think of the spidey sense icon as not an auto-counter button to save your ass, but instead a very strong recommendation that you should dodge now or deal with the thing causing it to appear. Once you get an upgrade or two, it can be quite exciting to pull off perfect battles as it does require more skill, a bit closer to the juggling combat in a game like DMC or Bayonetta I think than Batman.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Yeah, the dodging is different from the arkham type games and the problem I first had was assuming it worked the same too. People did seem to push these assumptions quite a lot before playing though. The way that helped me is to think of the spidey sense icon as not an auto-counter button to save your ass, but instead a very strong recommendation that you should dodge now or deal with the thing causing it to appear. Once you get an upgrade or two, it can be quite exciting to pull off perfect battles as it does require more skill, a bit closer to the juggling combat in a game like DMC or Bayonetta I think than Batman.

Ah, good to know. I also need to get used to the lack of freeflow combat, and that the triangle attack isn't quite as useful as the grapple hook from Arkham. Man, I haven't played an Arkham game in years, yet it's stuck to me till now.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Ah, good to know. I also need to get used to the lack of freeflow combat, and that the triangle attack isn't quite as useful as the grapple hook from Arkham. Man, I haven't played an Arkham game in years, yet it's stuck to me till now.

The triangle move is only really useful for closing distance fast to keep up a combo of if you've accidentally flung yourself outside the battle from too much gleeful swing kicking (a regular occurrence to be fair). It has a use for speed stealth takedowns too, but yeah it doesn't help beyond that. It's crazy how the arkham games managed to condition a set of expectations and muscle memory over time that require effort to deprogram oneself from.

One other tip that has proven useful so far: enemies of all sizes (apart from most bosses) are incredibly weak to being webbed out of battle if they're next to a wall or knocked on the floor and you quick fire a couple of webs their way. It's the fastest method of lowering enemy numbers if you start feeling overwhelmed, which can also be a regular occurrence after certain plot points.

 

[meiam]

That doesn't sound like a bad thing, honestly. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is MGS Peace Walker, where the missions were short but each mission let you tweak your loadout for the task at hand(Boss battles were treated as seperate missions so you didn't have to worry about being equipped for sneaking when facing a tank).

I can think of worse things, such as being told to prep for an Air to Ground mission, such as Ace Combat 5, then being thrust into a tough air to air battle with multiple elite enemies in a mission just after that where you can't change your loadout. Picked the A-10 before? Haha Fuck you.

Yeah, I'm still bitter about that.

So every mission has a briefing before it where they say pretty much exactly what you'll do in the mission and what you'll face off against, every once in awhile there are surprise but those are supposed to be surprise. Once you accept a mission you usually get a bit of cash as an advance so you can buy some specific piece you'll think you need ("This mission will involve a lot of enemy with missile" so you buy some good missile defence). Once you get good you can generally just keep two or three main loadout that you just quickly tweak in between mission (like one for mission shooting lots of weak enemy, one for taking out other big mech and maybe one for aerial mission).

Imo there's 4 good jump in point:
AC2: The first one on PS2, still a bit janky (no analogue stick) but not too bad. Good mission and part variety.
AC:Silent line: Consider one of the best, amazing number of parts and missions.
AC:Nexus: The first game to start using analogue stick, this made combat more fluid and dynamic, you spend more time flying around.
AC:4. The first PS3 game, they completely overhauled the gameplay to be very focus on flying and boosting around, you spend most mission flying and using micro boost to dodge attack. Mission and part variety is pretty lacking sadly.