What are you currently playing?

[Agema]

Nothing.

Seriously, I'm not playing anything. No games have come out recently I've been that interested in or have the time to invest in. I've got ongoing online stuff like Elite: Dangerous I go hot and cold on, and I'm in a cold phase. I've got a couple of games in EA there's no point me continuing without a new content update. There are no games I'm interested in replaying. Gaming seems totally dry. Barring a bit of one of those aforementioned EA games after a content update, I've played pretty much nothing for a month.

 

[stroopwafel]

Nearing the end of Ys 9. Balduq and it's citizens really started to grow on me and gave color to an otherwise somewhat monotonous setting. The simple yet flashy combat is also really fun and probably the best in the series. I really enjoy the direction the developers took by adding more story content than the older titles. Characters would also often give these kind of off-hand remarks that were genuinely funny and added to their personality. Their charm reminded me of Dragon Quest in a way.

Also been playing Cyber Shadow. Great game that recaptures what made the old Ninja Gaiden games so much fun but without much of the frustration. Getting those timings right isn't any easier though.

I'll probably also try Disco Elysium now that the definite version is out on PS5. Been wanting to play that game for a long time. Also still need to complete P5 Strikers and I also want to play FF12 Zodiac Age since it's the only FF I never really replayed'(only played through the original FF12 once like way back when it originally came out). That is, only if I can pull myself away from Everybody's Golf or Everybody's Tennis lmao. I'm also still playing the Nioh remasters. I always like to play a variety of games to not get bored by a single one.

Looking forward to RE8, Nier Replicant and SMT Nocture Remaster. Wish they make a remaster of Digital Devil Saga 1+2 since it's still my most favorite Atlus/'SMT' game to this day.

 

[BrawlMan]

Nothing.

Seriously, I'm not playing anything. No games have come out recently I've been that interested in or have the time to invest in. I've got ongoing online stuff like Elite: Dangerous I go hot and cold on, and I'm in a cold phase. I've got a couple of games in EA there's no point me continuing without a new content update. There are no games I'm interested in replaying. Gaming seems totally dry. Barring a bit of one of those aforementioned EA games after a content update, I've played pretty much nothing for a month.

Nonsense I say. Nonsense. Have you tried shorter games?

Here. You might be interested. It's on PS4 and Switch only.

 

[Sora383]

I just finished Persona 5 strikers and even though school and work is eating away at my free time I’ve been replaying ff12 on the switch. It’s not a super fantastic game but I’ve had the final fantasy urge for the past few months and it was on sale. Plus it’s battle style is kinda final fantasy 11ish and I have missed playing that.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Finished the “Truth” ending for MGSV. I’ve already seen spoilers of course, so basically already knew what all happened. I hadn’t seen much involving Quiet’s ending though, which I thought had a much better emotional impact. The game didn’t have to tell me to get off the chopper and follow her footprints, because I legitimately felt compelled to already. Plus that standoff with the fucking tanks, APCs, and gunship was intense.[/ispoiler]. Can’t wait to try completing all the mission tasks for that one.

Now working on getting Quiet back as pretty much any combat situation is made easier with her cover.

 

[SilentPony]

So I re-downloaded Skyrim, the special edition one, on Steam and loaded up some Mods. I'm gonna really try to get through it this time. The problem I run into is there's basically no difficulty, and a shit load of grind. Like by the time I reach Bleak Falls Barrows I'm invincible. I'll have a bow/arrows, a two handed axe, and health potions, all of which can be found in that first little bandit cave.
I never use magic beyond mage light because its just needless steps to the more efficient axe + health potions, and all challenge goes out the window instantly. Would have been better if like you couldn't use every single weapon and armor set from the start. I just gradually lose interest when oh look, an another bandit/foresworn camp filled with the same dudes I just finished hacking apart effortlessly, I wonder what will happen.

 

[meiam]

So I re-downloaded Skyrim, the special edition one, on Steam and loaded up some Mods. I'm gonna really try to get through it this time. The problem I run into is there's basically no difficulty, and a shit load of grind. Like by the time I reach Bleak Falls Barrows I'm invincible. I'll have a bow/arrows, a two handed axe, and health potions, all of which can be found in that first little bandit cave.
I never use magic beyond mage light because its just needless steps to the more efficient axe + health potions, and all challenge goes out the window instantly. Would have been better if like you couldn't use every single weapon and armor set from the start. I just gradually lose interest when oh look, an another bandit/foresworn camp filled with the same dudes I just finished hacking apart effortlessly, I wonder what will happen.

I really hope that potions will be far more limited in ES6. They need to take in game time to use, be far more limited and only heal over time. It makes no sense that something that's available everywhere also break the gameplay.

 

[SilentPony]

I really hope that potions will be far more limited in ES6. They need to take in game time to use, be far more limited and only heal over time. It makes no sense that something that's available everywhere also break the gameplay.

Its not just game breaking, its also world breaking. If everyone and their dog can make a cheap health potion with a few blades of grass and a flower petal, how is anyone ever sick or dying? There are multiple quests that involve giving health potions and its like dude, walk down the hill and pick some flowers.

 

[Dalisclock]

Finished the “Truth” ending for MGSV. I’ve already seen spoilers of course, so basically already knew what all happened. I hadn’t seen much involving Quiet’s ending though, which I thought had a much better emotional impact. The game didn’t have to tell me to get off the chopper and follow her footprints, because I legitimately felt compelled to already. Plus that standoff with the fucking tanks, APCs, and gunship was intense.[/ispoiler]. Can’t wait to try completing all the mission tasks for that one.

Now working on getting Quiet back as pretty much any combat situation is made easier with her cover.

Yeah, I felt "A Quiet Exit" was a much better ending then "The man who sold the world", because

1. A Quiet Exit has a really good climax(as you said) and the bit at the end was fucking great. Too bad the rest of her arc wasn't that good.
2. The Man who Sold the World makes you replay the entire damn first mission with like a couple changes at the beginning and end but there's like no point to making you do the entire thing again, especially with the fucking tutorial prompts still there and the forced helplessness bits, not to mention at best speed the mission is still like 30 min long. Seriously it could have been a cutscene and been far more effective for all it changed.

 

[happyninja42]

Its not just game breaking, its also world breaking. If everyone and their dog can make a cheap health potion with a few blades of grass and a flower petal, how is anyone ever sick or dying? There are multiple quests that involve giving health potions and its like dude, walk down the hill and pick some flowers.

That's a problem in ANY" game that has healing magic/items. I've lost count of the number of RPGs that have you run into a character who is apparently afflicted with Plot Disease. Because I'm sitting here with a FUCKING CLERIC OF HEALING, and a backpack full of healing potions, and this guard is slowly bleeding out, and I do nothing? Sorry but my friend got squished by a fucking KAIJU not 30 minutes ago, and I just CureA'd him a bit, and phoenix down'd the other one back to life. Why are you Soldier B, somehow beyond the scope of my abilities to heal?

That's actually a story oversight that annoys the shit out of me in games, and when a game actually accounts for it (like Divinity: Original Sin 2), I'm shocked and delighted.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Yeah, I felt "A Quiet Exit" was a much better ending then "The man who sold the world", because

1. A Quiet Exit has a really good climax(as you said) and the bit at the end was fucking great. Too bad the rest of her arc wasn't that good.
2. The Man who Sold the World makes you replay the entire damn first mission with like a couple changes at the beginning and end but there's like no point to making you do the entire thing again, especially with the fucking tutorial prompts still there and the forced helplessness bits, not to mention at best speed the mission is still like 30 min long. Seriously it could have been a cutscene and been far more effective for all it changed.

I actually skipped over the cutscenes til they got out of the hospital. At least that chase sequence wasn’t tacked on again, as that would’ve felt redundant on a whole new level. For the most part Chapter 2’s place within the overall game feels like they simply didn’t have time to structure it properly, let alone connect all the story threads. They added the Subsistence, Total Stealth and Extreme replay missions to make it feel more fleshed out, but they were really supposed to just be option selects for whatever missions were applicable to those modifiers. The kicker is they don’t even need to be played to continue the main story (mainly just there to “pass time” along with Side Ops, kinda like towards the end in PW and finding that one guy seven times...also like defeating Quiet seven times for her to return, I’ve read somewhere it’s possibly based on some kind of Japanese folklore).

Anyways, instead of Chapters they should’ve just called them Acts, with 2 simply being shorter. I’ve also read stories that Kojima kinda sorta made the horror experiment PT on the side with Sony, using resources designated for MGSV, and Konami only got wind of it through the press like everyone else. I don’t entirely blame Konami for what happened as it sounded like Kojima probably got too reckless with their funds and overstepped his position within, but in the end their decision to flat out fire him was too hasty. Perhaps a more reasonable course of Look, you can finish the game but we have to wrap things up soon and cap the budget here vs there, would’ve still worked out better all around. Chances are he would’ve left regardless, but maybe under not so caustic circumstances.

 

[Chimpzy]

Muramasa: The Demon Blade "HD". Just finished Momohime's side of the story, now started on Kisuke's. It's a fun enough action rpg, but I wish there was a little more meat to the combat, and it doesn't help that there is no difference between both characters' gameplay. But it does play very smoothly and looks awfully pretty, like all of Vanillaware's games, tho in this case I helped it along a little.

 

[09philj]

Well Disco Elysium: The Final Cut came out so I'm back in Revachol.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Finished the “Truth” ending for MGSV.

Man I wish I had the time and energy to get back into MGSV. Maybe next time I'll just ignore all the sidequests and go straight to the story missions.

OT: Been using the Holy Week break to play Valorant with my friends. It's just so not my kind of game, but I enjoy it purely because I miss hanging out with the guys. I've always hated this kind of recoil and spread mechanics. The TTK always varying between instant kill and 1.5 magazines to kill is so jarring. I wonder if the game will last beyond the pandemic, because it really does kinda feel like CSGO Lite.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Thanks to the PSN Play At Home thing, I'm giving The Witness a go. Not bad so far.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Man I wish I had the time and energy to get back into MGSV. Maybe next time I'll just ignore all the sidequests and go straight to the story missions.

OT: Been using the Holy Week break to play Valorant with my friends. It's just so not my kind of game, but I enjoy it purely because I miss hanging out with the guys. I've always hated this kind of recoil and spread mechanics. The TTK always varying between instant kill and 1.5 magazines to kill is so jarring. I wonder if the game will last beyond the pandemic, because it really does kinda feel like CSGO Lite.

It helped for me being in the long game mindset after pretty much exhausting RDR2. I took a long break from MGSV after Chapter 1 and made a point of finally getting through Chapter 2, and using the S rank guides from PowerPyx it went pretty quickly. It's also generally far more playable than RDR2 including wasting less of the player's time, believe it or not. Especially when going for the trophies.

 

[Drathnoxis]

So I re-downloaded Skyrim, the special edition one, on Steam and loaded up some Mods. I'm gonna really try to get through it this time. The problem I run into is there's basically no difficulty, and a shit load of grind. Like by the time I reach Bleak Falls Barrows I'm invincible. I'll have a bow/arrows, a two handed axe, and health potions, all of which can be found in that first little bandit cave.
I never use magic beyond mage light because its just needless steps to the more efficient axe + health potions, and all challenge goes out the window instantly. Would have been better if like you couldn't use every single weapon and armor set from the start. I just gradually lose interest when oh look, an another bandit/foresworn camp filled with the same dudes I just finished hacking apart effortlessly, I wonder what will happen.

Difficulty is one of the main problems with Skyrim. Yeah you can turn up the difficulty slider, but that just makes the game tedious as you whittle down the enemies massive health bar. Also the combat kind of sucks.

 

[Chupathingy]

Started playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Played HR back when it released and enjoyed but never got around to the sequel for some reason. It's pretty good so far, with solid combat and stealth that feels smooth, along with the usual nice atmosphere and soundtrack.

I also love that your boss, Miller, is voiced by Vernon wells, AKA Bennett from Commando.

 

[happyninja42]

Started playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Played HR back when it released and enjoyed but never got around to the sequel for some reason. It's pretty good so far, with solid combat and stealth that feels smooth, along with the usual nice atmosphere and soundtrack.

I also love that your boss, Miller, is voiced by Vernon wells, AKA Bennett from Commando.

Hope you continue to enjoy that one. It's got a lot of fun tidbits in it. Including a random sidequest that ended up being a really awesome story into itself, even though it starts out really vague. I'm a big fan of transhumanism and other cyberpunk tropes as in storytelling, so that game was just all kinds of delicious for me. Really should play it again now that I think about it.

OT: Kind of gave up on Lords of the Fallen. I just...I don't care. Nobody in the game seems to be able to convey any emotion, particularly the protagonist, so why should I? Tried The Surge, which is apparently by them, though I didn't know that when I bought it on a sale a while ago. It's...well it's Lords of the Fallen, as far as mechanics go, the basics of combat I mean. I'm having more fun with it, probably because it's scifi instead of fantasy, and I just enjoy that genre more. My character at least has emotions, and a vocal range beyond "indifferent growly disdain." Still coming to grips with the character advancement and gear system, as there are no stats that you boost, like Str, Int, Agi, etc. It's just your suit power level, which governs how many, and how powerful the implants you are using are. So I guess it sort of plays the role of Encumbrance in a way? But it's not just the armor pieces, it's the implants, which do the things like "give you more healing charges" or "give you health regen if you do a kill animation" etc. It also is something of a gatekeeper, as various systems are powered down, and you need to overcharge their circuit box to get them working. And often it's a form of map traversal. You activate a lift that lets you get up to a ledge, you open a door that leads to a new area, etc. So that's kind of neat. "You must be this level to ride" is a nice way to sort of inform the player "You really shouldn't go this way yet, this isn't the starting zone." *looks at the lvl 55 lock* "...right....moving on then"

The music that plays in the upgrade bay can go die in a fire though, I'm already sick of it, and I'm afraid it's the ONE song it's going to play the entire game...whenever I go in there.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Finally finished all 50 missions episodes in MGSV. I had more trouble with Sahelanthropus this time, but either found a good strategy or got a bit lucky because I was able to take him out completely with the ZHUK-BR 3 light tank in under five minutes. Floating boy didn’t even show up. What I did is run for the tank immediately and drive it ahead until the bend in the road, then swivel its gun 180 aiming at the mid section and flanking canisters. When he’s winding up an attack I drove the other way right past him (or underneath between the legs) up road towards the crest of the hill, rinse and repeat that attack pattern. Eventually it’ll catch fire which seemingly gains a compounded damage effect.

I’ll have to replay the Metallic Archea and Code Talker episodes in chapter 2 as I missed those S ranks, most likely by wasting time on continues. Just passed the 50% marker for S ranks overall, so thankfully the bulk will be cleanup wet work from Chapter 1. Also should be getting close to the 300 developments milestone.

Now for capturing the rest of the animals and digging into the rest of the side ops. Have 78 out of 157 done, but still a few key ops are hidden which should yield different items needed for trophies.