What are you currently playing?

[EvilRoy]

Took a break from Death Stranding to pump through Hypnospace Outlaw, a game that was extremely weird, but not weirder than DS. Just like. Weird in a different way.

So if you've never played the game its basically intended to be a faithful recreation of the internet of 1999 - which it basically is. Not specific pages or places, but the general feel of the internet. Everybody has their own page with zero views, geocities style, with most of the content being highschool drama level productions or that very 1995 brand awful DnD remake-but-not kind of territory. There's even a few "definitely gonna fail" entrepreneurial websites with sickening autoplay jingles.

You are a mod, and its your job to police the hypnonet looking for copyright infringement, malware, harassment, etc. The game has bog-standard trolls, hacker-wannabe trolls, actual hackers, and people who are just kind of dumb. That doesn't sound exactly riveting I'm sure, but the primary gameplay is more or less acting as an internet detective. Somebody reports harassment, so you have to go find the harassment. You dig up unlisted/hidden/deleted pages, look for people being douchebags, and send the evidence in for judgement. If people fuck up enough then you can flag them for review and potentially get them banned.

At first the game is primarily entertaining through just being reminded of what the internet was like twenty years ago - its concerningly accurate speaking as a tremendous nerd - but as you play through the game it honestly becomes very fun just playing internet detective. Its very engaging sneaking into peoples hidden fileshares and private messages looking for clues as to why this or where that happened. Hell, you can fulfill a dorky childhood fantasy of sneaking into a hacker den and spying on all their shit if that's what you're into.

Depending on how into the internet detective kind of thing you are, there are some serious rabbitholes you can go down and learn about a larger kind of conflict that is going on . I wish I knew this when I started but you aren't beholden to assigned cases, so you really can just go for it and grind people down to a ban if you want. The game is reactive to what you do, so if you get rid of some people then they are gone, and that will change how things go.

Its short, but I'd say its worth a few bucks on sale.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

During Steam's Lunar New Year sale, I decided to pick up the remake of Resident Evil 3, and I've been playing that since then. It isn't long, but then again neither was the original game, and so far I'm enjoying it enough that I'd probably be willing to take a swing at speedrunning it, at least to the S rank marker.

While I can understand why a lot of fans of the original game would be disappointed by the remake, I don't have any real problems with it, except for Carlos with his weird dodge mechanic trying to deal with one-hit-kill-happy Hunter Betas. Right now I'm at the end of Carlos's second section, where he has to hold the hospital lobby against waves of invading zombies. It's action-horror at best, but it's pretty well done like Resident Evil 4.

 

[Gergar12]

Nice that you are still playing it. Wasn't sure. I do so as well.

Now outside of Spiral Abyss the game is not that hard, so choose characters you like and ignore the meta. Having a main dps is consequence of how expensive it is to properly outfit a character and doing it once and having that one out most of the time is just prudent until you can afford to improve the others. And having a sort of healing beside dishes is just nice.
I agree with characters >weapons, but for other reasons. Better weapons just give you better numbers. New characters give you new abilities and more variety in game which otherwise gets repitative.

There also seems to be a soft pity with increased rates after around 70 tries before you get to the guaranteed one after 90. So if you want to safe your pity 5*, you should stop considerably before that.

I also ignore the Tier lists. If a character is properly built and fits your playstyle, he or she is useful. Team composition, constellations and artefacts change the perceived strength additionally. Yes, that is even true for poor Amber.


Disagree. Got Jean early on which is one of my favourite characters and use mostly her and Xiangling as DPS, even if the latter is just a free 4*- And Jeans healing is till more than enough for basically everything unless i make some mistake.

Jean is good from what I hear I don't have her, but I have heard the optimum team for to be one cryo, one fire, one electric, and one water, and one archer, and one claymore, a spear, and or a sword is plus for faster attacks. This will enable you to take on any combination of enemies especially those annoying Fatui ones. Here's an example of what I am talking about.

4 Star( In theory as I only have 2/4 of those characters)

Fischl (bow, and electric), Chongyun( claymore, and cyro), Xingqiu(water, and sword), and Bennet(sword, healing, attack bonus, and fire/pyro)

5 Star (whale comp)

Ganyu(bow + cryo), Diluc(claymore, and pyro), Tartaglia( bow, sword, and spear-like melee, and hydro), Mona, or Keqing.

There is a fatui electric hammer who is weak to cryo, fatui fire gunner weak to water, fatui hydro weak to electric, fatui boxer weak to everything but wind, and fatui cryo weak to fire, and electric, as well as a geo fatui also weak to geo, but he's uber weak, and can't heal or tank like the hammer, or hydro fatui, or even the cryo freezing fatui.

Also, there are rocks best destroyed by claymores, electric crystals destroyed by bows, and those annoying range enemies that need to be best destroyed by the bow like ruin hunters, and wind eyeball things to a lesser extent. I am using a team of Diluc, Xiao, Xingqui, and Beidou, and yes I kill everything that doesn't fly or is a hammer fatui I still need a better temp composition. Also, I would recommend killing everything but slimes that uses water or hydro first due to their enemy team healing.

 

[Dalisclock]

Dude, you need to learn how to relax and recognise a joke.



I wouldn't call it a difficulty slider per se, though one of the hardest squadrons in the game IMO is fought in the mercenary 'path'.

If it's a joke, fine. It's just we live in a world where Qanon and Trump are things embraced by a major political party(regardless of how obviously awful and stupid they are) or you can run across shitbricks on the internet unironically joking about giving their political opponents "Free helicopter rides", so it's hard to tell sometimes where the joke ends and the crazy begins.

Though on the Mercenary path you also earn money like crazy so you can buy the better planes faster, which can make a major difference. It's why it's much easier to get S ranks by unlocking free play and using an advanced plane like an F-22 on early missions where you can easily sweep enemies from the skies, something you probably wouldn't have access to on the first time through(of course, nobody seems to notice the new guy showed up with an F-22 and a custom paintjob while everyone else is flying F-2's or F-4's)

 

[Dalisclock]

Little Nightmares 2. Cute adventure with a terrific artstyle. Just like the first it's worth playing for the animations alone. Also been playing Ys 9 which I've been enjoying a lot. I really like the setting of Balduq and it's inhabitants. Like every Ys game it shows it's budget compared to like a Squeenix production but it has an artisinal quality that is very charming. Also been playing the Nioh remasters and the high framerate and almost non-existent loading times make these phenomenal action-rpg's even better.

I really liked the first one, though the one bit in the 3rd DLC pissed me the hell off so much I didn't finish past that(I watched the last few minutes past that just to see what I missed, which isn't much). I'm looking forward to the 2nd for a while now.

I have to wonder, Do they explain why Six doesn't just force kill everyone in her path, since the first game implied she's got psychic murder powers when she walked out of the maw? I mean, as much as these games explain anything, which I'm sure isn't much.

 

[BrawlMan]

Did an arcade run on Normal in Streets of Rage 4. I got the S Rank and beat my overall score. I wanted to do a run where I can chill out. I used Cherry; she's my favorite fragile speedster in brawlers now.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Played some Mother Russia Bleeds. Just a couple of levels. It's a perfectly fine brawler as far as I can tell but nothing to sell it on beyond the hyper-violent retro-pixelated aesthetic. Every character plays and controls the same and co-op boils down to a rudimentary "I punch the guys coming in from the right, you punch the ones coming from the left". Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Satinavian]

Jean is good from what I hear I don't have her, but I have heard the optimum team for to be one cryo, one fire, one electric, and one water, and one archer, and one claymore, a spear, and or a sword is plus for faster attacks. This will enable you to take on any combination of enemies especially those annoying Fatui ones. Here's an example of what I am talking about.

At the time i use Jean and Xiangling and fill the other spots depending on situation and mood from characters that have high enough level and equipment (Ganyu, Klee, Barbara, Noelle, Amber, Diona). I probably could go and make a versatile team with Jean, Xiangling, Ganyu and Beidou but i am not sure i like Beidou all that much.

So far it works to adjust ream comp based on task, take Barbara for that fire plant boss, Ganyu for the Oceanide, Noelle for the geo boss and when farming crystals go for Jean+Sucrose for movement speed and Ningguang + Noelle for finding and actually taking them. Sometimes i just take a second fire on board just for elemental attack bonus.

I also plan to try out the geo combination with Zhongli and Ningguang somewhere in the near future but both are not really ready yet.

And yes, electro fatui were annoying before i got Ganyu. I usually didn't have Diona on the team when encountering them.

 

[MrCalavera]

Played some Mother Russia Bleeds. Just a couple of levels. It's a perfectly fine brawler as far as I can tell but nothing to sell it on beyond the hyper-violent retro-pixelated aesthetic. Every character plays and controls the same and co-op boils down to a rudimentary "I punch the guys coming in from the right, you punch the ones coming from the left". Maybe I'm missing something.

I feel like it owes its relative popularity to two things: One is the aesthetic you mentioned, with was elevated to popularity due to Hotline Miami's success. The other one was the long-lasting drought in the sidescrolling brawler genre, when it came out.

But now we have 'Streets of Rage 4', so you might just play that instead.

 

[BrawlMan]

Played some Mother Russia Bleeds. Just a couple of levels. It's a perfectly fine brawler as far as I can tell but nothing to sell it on beyond the hyper-violent retro-pixelated aesthetic. Every character plays and controls the same and co-op boils down to a rudimentary "I punch the guys coming in from the right, you punch the ones coming from the left". Maybe I'm missing something.

I've always been hesitant to buy MRB for a reason, and now I see why. I see no point in getting it with so many better brawlers out there now.

I feel like it owes its relative popularity to two things: One is the aesthetic you mentioned, with was elevated to popularity due to Hotline Miami's success. The other one was the long-lasting drought in the sidescrolling brawler genre, when it came out.

I know by the time MRB came out, the drought was starting to subside, but most of the brawlers that came out were either average or did not do enough with their concept. Way of the Passive Fist, a game described as 3rd Strike: Beat'em Up Edition. Other than parrying, there was not much else to the gameplay and it was single player only. I am the Hero, a decent game, but not one you'll be doing repeat playthroughs. Raging Justice was just bleh and whatever. Too shallow. Double Dragon Neon came out in 2012 and did not get ported to another console until just recently on Switch. Why they did not bother doing the same for PS4/XONE is beyond me. The TakeOver was still in early access, but came out in 2018. Fight N Rage came out in 2017 and got ports on modern console a few years later.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've always been hesitant to buy MRB for a reason, and now I see why. I see no point in getting it with so many better brawlers out there now.

Take my opinion with a pinch of salt, I don't usually play brawlers and wouldn't trust me to review them. I think the last time I played one was Cadillacs & Dinosaurs.

 

[Silvanus]

Completed the main story of Crash Bandicoot 4 (not bothering with 100%, which looks like an absolute nightmare). Now playing Little Nightmares 2. Just finished chapter 1 so far, and it's just as good and just as mega-creepy as the first, but the puzzles seem a little more involved and a little more demanding (which I welcome).

 

[BrawlMan]

I think the last time I played one was Cadillacs & Dinosaurs.

We need you to get up to speed, pronto!

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Take my opinion with a pinch of salt, I don't usually play brawlers and wouldn't trust me to review them. I think the last time I played one was Cadillacs & Dinosaurs.

Well, this is just my (and probably BrawlMan's) opinion, but Streets of Rage 4 is the best beat-em-up at least since the 4th generation, and potentially ever. It's certainly worth trying, though I don't think it has a demo and the latest Steam sale just ended. If you don't normally play beat-em-ups, I'd recommend waiting for the next one. Unless you have Game Pass, since last I checked it was on there too.

 

[BrawlMan]

Well, this is just my (and probably BrawlMan's) opinion, but Streets of Rage 4 is the best beat-em-up at least since the 4th generation, and potentially ever.

Agreed. SOR4 trounces over most nearly all of the 2D/2.5D brawlers that came out in the 2010s. The only ones that come close to 4's level are The Takeover and Fight N' Rage. I wish Capcom would make a new Final Fight game. It can be 2D or 2.5D; I do not care as long as it is good. With them focusing on their old IPs again, Capcom will hit the Final Fight franchise next.

 

[happyninja42]

Finished up the Fights in Tight Spaces demo.

It's pretty damn fun. The strategy of it is really neat, and it feels more fluid than the John Wick game which is similar, but also not in a lot of ways from what I saw. The motions of the John Wick title just seemed way too stilted and robotic to make me actually think I was watching a John Wick fight.

FiTS though, its pretty fun. The deckbuilding component tickles my fancy, and the strategy to using your cards to move yourself and your opponent around the map is really fun. It's pretty damn satisfying to set things up where you have 2 dudes shoot/punch each other instead of you, and then you come in and clean house. The cards are pretty straight forward from what I've seen drawn so far. Not sure if that's due to there being a small variety at this point in development, or just bad luck on variety when I'm getting choices. Still, it's fun. This deck that took me through to the end was very much about attacks that would push an enemy back a space, and I would then follow it up with attacks that had a reach of an additional tile, so I could pop them from range. If you like deckbuilders with tile/turn based fight choreography to them, I'd check it out.

To give you something KIND OF similar in theme at least, it's like Hand of Fate, but not real time Arkham combat. You build a deck, do events, use those cards to fight in the next match played out in front of you. You choose how you progress to a point. I'd give the demo a try, it's a fun bit of time.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I know by the time MRB came out, the drought was starting to subside, but most of the brawlers that came out were either average or did not do enough with their concept. Way of the Passive Fist, a game described as 3rd Strike: Beat'em Up Edition. Other than parrying, there was not much else to the gameplay and it was single player only. I am the Hero, a decent game, but not one you'll be doing repeat playthroughs. Raging Justice was just bleh and whatever. Too shallow. Double Dragon Neon came out in 2012 and did not get ported to another council until just recently on Switch. Why they did not bother doing the same for PS4/XONE is beyond me. The TakeOver was still in early access, but came out in 2018. Fight N Rage came out in 2017 and got ports on modern console a few years later.

Way of the Passive Fist is such a cool concept that the game has no idea what to do with.

 

[Hawki]

So I beat Crash 3, least in the sense of gathering all the crystals. Now, onto the gems.

Other thoughts are:

-Holy shit, this game is easy. Like, maybe there's challenge in the gems, but if you simply want to play through from start to finish, you can complete it in a few hours.

-So, weirdly enough, in Crash 2, N. Gin was the hardest boss, and Cortex the easiest. Here, it's flipped.

-So I'm not sure about the cutscene angle here - y'know, when the head floats in the void and mocks you. I listed my issues with Crash 2's story, but here, it's more "yeah, whatever." Also, apparently Cortex doesn't leave any guards inside the time twister, and is happy to let the bandicoots run around because...reasons? Also, it's kind of hinted in the cutscenes that Cortex is slowly losing himself to Uka Uka, but it's never explored.

-Really not fond of the gimmicks. The double jump only works if you do the second jump while you're going up, but it won't work if you're falling (no idea why). The fruit bazooka makes things way too easy in a lot of cases, as you can simply shoot out nitro crates for instance.

-Overall, my favourite in the trilogy is still 2. 3 is simply more of the same. That said, I'd probably still place it above 1, because if nothing else, it lacks the stiffness that 1 has.

 

[MrCalavera]

Agreed. SOR4 trounces over most nearly all of the 2D/2.5D brawlers that came out in the 2010s. The only ones that come close to 4's level are The Takeover and Fight N' Rage.

Opinion on River City Girls and that Battletoads reebootmake?

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Opinion on River City Girls and that Battletoads reebootmake?

Never played either, so unfortunately I can't say anything about either of them.

River City Ransom Underground was let down by back-loading its content, though; the trailers and combo videos may look impressive, but it'll take a lot of boring grinding to reach the point where you're even allowed to do half of those moves, and you simply aren't equipped to take on anyone at all with the basic 1989 moveset you start with, let alone the massive hordes the game throws at you on every screen.