What are you currently playing?

[The Rogue Wolf]

Elden Ring: Royal Knight Loretta down. The "roll backwards, jumping heavy attack" strategy wins the day again, thanks to the reach of the Bloodhound Fang. (I did a remarkable amount of damage per hit to such a visibly armored character, given that I only had the Fang up to +1 at the time.)

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Got together with friends and played Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. One player defuses a bomb while another flips through a manual and walks the player through the defusal (without looking at the screen). The instructions are deliberately overcomplicated and designed to confuse each other as you ask for more information or dictate what to do in each case. We had a lot of fun with it, and it's just as entertaining whether you're playing the action hero or the computer nerd.

Elden Ring: Royal Knight Loretta down. The "roll backwards, jumping heavy attack" strategy wins the day again, thanks to the reach of the Bloodhound Fang. (I did a remarkable amount of damage per hit to such a visibly armored character, given that I only had the Fang up to +1 at the time.)

Another thing I learned a little too late about hte BHF: it has a sweet follow up attack if you press R2 right after using the special attack (Bloodhound's Finesse). L2, backflip, R2 is a killer combo.

 

[BrawlMan]

I did an arcade playthrough as Max in Streets of Rage 4 on Very Hard. Great times.

 

[Agema]

Back playing Ostranauts in Early Access - had to start afresh after the intervening months of updates killed older save files. Full release probably later this year.

Set in the solar system in a few decades time, where Earth has been cut off from space due to orbital space junk. Start with a heap of crap around an asteroid, scavenge to pay off your debts and build a decent spaceship, do stuff. I kind of like what they've done here, trying to build a detailed, working space environment full of characters going round doing stuff, especially with such a small indy team. UI is very clunky, but strangely satisfying.

 

[Worgen]

Been playing more Clair Obscura and I got to the point where Gustave apparently gets killed, which wasn't expected. The story is still quite interesting, but the combat is getting annoying. Not because its bad, but I'm in a zone where I drop frames in combat, which shouldn't be an issue, but the ui framerate seems too be tied to the framerate of the game, so when it drops, it makes it harder to do the battle attack actions and dodge/parry. I have tried messing with settings but haven't found what I need, plus so far it has only really happened in this one area and not all battle... zones? have it happen.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

When a boss kills you in DMC 3 you have to restart the whole level. F*** that Dark Souls type shit, I'm out.
Well that's the third DMC game I tried and couldn't get into, I guess I just missed the window of time when it would have clicked for me. I'm just gonna appreciate what the franchise has contributed to the genre from a respectful distance.

Part of it is also maybe hack 'n' slash combat has lost its appeal a bit.

On the radically flip side, I saw the Talos Principle 3 was announced, and that the first one is on Switch! That game always looked neat though I don't trust myself to have patience for first-person perspective puzzle games.
What I wonder is- how connected are the puzzles? I'll have to do some research. Because I think I could dig a puzzle game on Switch if I can play it in small doses and not have to remember a lot of stuff in between the puzzles. Like, can The Talos Principle be play for a couple of hours every 3-4 days, if I don't care how long it takes me to eventually beat it? Or would I pick it up, not remember where the f anything is, and put it away?
(Mostly rhetorical questions but obviously if anyone has experience with this I thank you for your input in advance)

 

[BrawlMan]

When a boss kills you in DMC 3 you have to restart the whole level. F*** that Dark Souls type shit, I'm out.

You picked the yellow orbs for continuing add a boss's door didn't you? I should have mentioned this, but you pick gold orbs to continue right on the spot. You can only get up to 3 gold orbs though. I know it doesn't matter much to you now, but I figured I should at least let you know.

 

[Worgen]

Part of it is also maybe hack 'n' slash combat has lost its appeal a bit.

Ehh, to be fair, DMC games are on the harder end of the spectrum for those type of games. Aside from DMC 2 which is easy and sucks.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Sorry to hear DMC3 didn't work out for you either.

On the radically flip side, I saw the Talos Principle 3 was announced, and that the first one is on Switch! That game always looked neat though I don't trust myself to have patience for first-person perspective puzzle games.
What I wonder is- how connected are the puzzles? I'll have to do some research. Because I think I could dig a puzzle game on Switch if I can play it in small doses and not have to remember a lot of stuff in between the puzzles. Like, can The Talos Principle be play for a couple of hours every 3-4 days, if I don't care how long it takes me to eventually beat it? Or would I pick it up, not remember where the f anything is, and put it away?
(Mostly rhetorical questions but obviously if anyone has experience with this I thank you for your input in advance)

For the most part, puzzles in The Talos Principle are fairly disconnected from each other. As long as you remember how each item that gets introduced works, and it's not like any of them are all that complicated, you shouldn't have a problem with taking a break and coming back to it. The only thing, as far as I know, that actually requires you to set things up across multiple puzzles at once is collecting the stars, and generally speaking that's the kind of thing best left to the extreme puzzle game fans.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Another thing I learned a little too late about hte BHF: it has a sweet follow up attack if you press R2 right after using the special attack (Bloodhound's Finesse). L2, backflip, R2 is a killer combo.

Seriously?? I didn’t lean on that special move, particularly with enemies/bosses with big AOEs who turn a close encounter into a battle of patience attrition, but man did it feel sweet to pull it off when it worked perfectly weaseling into enemies with cheesy combos that most builds either tank or roll through. Also perfect for enemies that like to keep their distance and wait for you to fuck up your attack timing. I think this move is one of the reasons the BHF is considered one of the best weapons in the game, innate bleed damage AND an attack that i-frames you into close quarters combat with devastating results!

 

[BrawlMan]

I was in the mood for some nostalgia, and decided to play Ultra Street Fighter IV on PS5. This game is still so much fun to play and look at. As much as I like SFV now, IV still looks so much better and has a consistent art style with character models. I decided to play as Sakura and do an arcade run. I managed to finish Seth off with an Ultra Combo. UCs can be a pain in the ass to do some time, depending on who you're playing as, or if you have an actual arcade stick.

My only problem with this game is there are not many bonus modes, and no survival mode for whatever reason. Something they brought back in V, but went missing again in VI. I heard 3Ds has one button/touch screen supers. I might get the 3DS version for cheap to add that to my collection and play the game on the go.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Seriously?? I didn’t lean on that special move, particularly with enemies/bosses with big AOEs who turn a close encounter into a battle of patience attrition, but man did it feel sweet to pull it off when it worked perfectly weaseling into enemies with cheesy combos that most builds either tank or roll through. Also perfect for enemies that like to keep their distance and wait for you to fuck up your attack timing. I think this move is one of the reasons the BHF is considered one of the best weapons in the game, innate bleed damage AND an attack that i-frames you into close quarters combat with devastating results!

I think I was either in the snow fields or the Haligtree when I discovered the L2 finisher. Didn't I feel like a sucker.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Back to my regular Metroidvania programming: started playing Blast Brigade vs The Evil Legion of Dr. Cread.

A little bit like Omega Strike (but better), it's a twin stick shooter that lets you switch between characters on the fly while apeing '80s action movies and Saturday morning cartoons. Your regular rifle has a cooldown while every other gun you pick up has limited ammo. You unlock the usual movement upgrades like mid-air dashing and engage with the typical suite of mechanics this side of Hollow Knight, like having to get your money back after death and a limited space for equipping charms that grant buffs and perks. Plenty of save points, though fast travel is comparatively limited.

It's a solid B so far. The dialogue and voice acting are cheesy though you can make the argument that's the point, given the '80s aesthetic. It's a Russian game too though surprisingly lacking in jank.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Sorry to hear DMC3 didn't work out for you either.


For the most part, puzzles in The Talos Principle are fairly disconnected from each other. As long as you remember how each item that gets introduced works, and it's not like any of them are all that complicated, you shouldn't have a problem with taking a break and coming back to it. The only thing, as far as I know, that actually requires you to set things up across multiple puzzles at once is collecting the stars, and generally speaking that's the kind of thing best left to the extreme puzzle game fans.

Thank you!

I'll hold off on buying it for now until I either run out of other things to play/watch or maybe I'll take it on my next plane trip, or the price drops.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I think I was either in the snow fields or the Haligtree when I discovered the L2 finisher. Didn't I feel like a sucker.

To be fair, the game really doesn't bother to tell you much of anything let alone what exact button combinations do.

 

[Worgen]

Back to my regular Metroidvania programming: started playing Blast Brigade vs The Evil Legion of Dr. Cread.

If you are into Metroidvania's then Tevi deserves a look. Its kind of a bullet-hell metroidvania, mostly bosses and it works really well.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

If you are into Metroidvania's then Tevi deserves a look. Its kind of a bullet-hell metroidvania, mostly bosses and it works really well.

I've heard good things about it and have the devs' previous game, Rabi-Ribi, in my backlog. I'm just kinda put off by the whole loli thing.

 

[Worgen]

I've heard good things about it and have the devs' previous game, Rabi-Ribi, in my backlog. I'm just kinda put off by the whole loli thing.

Rabi-Ribi is also excellent. They are working on a sequel to it right now. I don't think they are loli, but I gave up trying to guess anime girl ages when the main character from Grenadier was said to be 16.

 

[thebobmaster]

Rabi-Ribi is also excellent. They are working on a sequel to it right now. I don't think they are loli, but I gave up trying to guess anime girl ages when the main character from Grenadier was said to be 16.

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[Zykon TheLich]