What are you currently playing?

[happyninja42]

That is a perfectly valid declaration as well. But having said that, one wouldn’t technically know without having played at least one or two of their games either. That goes for any pretty much any game though.

Then again, value is relative and mileage may vary.

I'm talking about the value of the "discussions" which are page after page after page of nothing but "Gee, X boss was a pain in the ass" "Yes, I did this strategy" "Yes I tried this strategy. But good luck when you fight Y boss, he's an even bigger PITA" "I did this strategy on him." It's just combat tutorials, nothing more. And frankly after YEARS of seeing this same discussion about the same games, I find it really tedious. And considering in this thread, the entire thing can be resurrected by someone else saying "Hey! I decided to start playing DS1-3" and then everyone just posts about the same shit, AGAIN. And it turns the thread into nothing but a FROMs thread.

So yeah, I don't consider it a very "valuable" bit of content, it's more like a cancer that has overwhelmed the thread to the exclusion of everything else.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Eh, I got into them behind the curve and been trying to play them in order, so I'm JUST now getting to DS3(the only one I have left is DeS because I bounced off that one hard when I last tried to play it 5 years ago. At this point I might just wait to play the remake whenever I get a PS5). I enjoy them but at the same time, I usually take a long break before I play the next one because I know if I start a FROM game I'll be playing it for at least a month since I can only play on my weekends right now(Thanks COVID).

I'm probably a FROM Heretic to some because I've never even attempted to NG+ any of the games.

I could make a dedicated thread for my DS3 musings but I don't have quite as much to say about it as I did as compared to the Metal Gear series thread I did a couple years back. This is more my musings as I go through, but if I went Lore heavy, I'd definitely make a new thread just for it. Though at this point it would be probably like an essay of sorts going over lore and themes for the entire Dark Souls series since DS3 is heavily into callbacks.

I only played Demon's Souls on the PS3 and Bloodborne earlier this year. Both Platinum, only NG+ on Demon's Souls. Never played a single actual Dark Souls game but if they're anything like the others then I wouldn't have much interest on the lore, which seems to exist primarily in item descriptions and fan discussions.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I'm talking about the value of the "discussions" which are page after page after page of nothing but "Gee, X boss was a pain in the ass" "Yes, I did this strategy" "Yes I tried this strategy. But good luck when you fight Y boss, he's an even bigger PITA" "I did this strategy on him." It's just combat tutorials, nothing more. And frankly after YEARS of seeing this same discussion about the same games, I find it really tedious. And considering in this thread, the entire thing can be resurrected by someone else saying "Hey! I decided to start playing DS1-3" and then everyone just posts about the same shit, AGAIN. And it turns the thread into nothing but a FROMs thread.

So yeah, I don't consider it a very "valuable" bit of content, it's more like a cancer that has overwhelmed the thread to the exclusion of everything else.

Well they’re popular games to discuss, so naturally that will happen. I don’t see how it’s preventing any other games from discussion though. Like for instant the last page still had roughly half the posts about other games, and probably would’ve had more without your interjection that caused even more SoulsBorne discussion lol.

 

[09philj]

I got Hollow Knight for my birthday. It's great, a Metroidvania turned into a pocket Souls game, except with actually tight controls. I was a bit worried it would end up feeling repetitive but the areas are actually surprisingly diverse in terms of their platforming and enemy types.

 

[Dalisclock]

I only played Demon's Souls on the PS3 and Bloodborne earlier this year. Both Platinum, only NG+ on Demon's Souls. Never played a single actual Dark Souls game but if they're anything like the others then I wouldn't have much interest on the lore, which seems to exist primarily in item descriptions and fan discussions.

There's the layout of the environments to be considered as well, which a lot of information can be gleaned in combination with the other two. It does tend to be very cryptic thus leading to as much speculation based on the bread crumbs as actual information.

Though some people really do go nuts on this shit(Looking at you, Ashen Hollow) and it's implied(at least to me) that not all the information is 100% accurate.

I enjoy chewing over the lore based on vids(St Vaati of Vidya must be mentioned) and what I see in game I can totally see why a lot of people wouldn't enjoy that much.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I'm probably a FROM Heretic to some because I've never even attempted to NG+ any of the games.

I think the only one where it's actually really worth playing NG+ is Dark Souls 2. IDK about Scholar of the First Sin since I didn't NG+ that, but in the base game when you went into NG+ they added unique enemies into areas and even changed some of the boss fights, whereas all the other souls games just pump up enemy health and damage and leave it at that.

 

[Worgen]

I got Hollow Knight for my birthday. It's great, a Metroidvania turned into a pocket Souls game, except with actually tight controls. I was a bit worried it would end up feeling repetitive but the areas are actually surprisingly diverse in terms of their platforming and enemy types.

Hollow Knight is amazing, its like if Metroid and Dark Souls had a baby and studio Ghibli was the midwife. I liked it enough not only to get the art book but also the physical collectors edition.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I think the only one where it's actually really worth playing NG+ is Dark Souls 2. IDK about Scholar of the First Sin since I didn't NG+ that, but in the base game when you went into NG+ they added unique enemies into areas and even changed some of the boss fights, whereas all the other souls games just pump up enemy health and damage and leave it at that.

Is that different from bonfire aesthetics? That’s all I ever did for a few bosses that would continue to drop good loot.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Is that different from bonfire aesthetics? That’s all I ever did for a few bosses that would continue to drop good loot.

Yeah, bonfire ascetics just made all of the enemies respawn at a higher level. Going into NG+ causes areas to have new additional enemies (spawned as red phantoms).

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It's got some silly moments, intentional or not, but I prefer this game's tone over the first game.

I think the tone is all over the place and not fitting for a horror game in general. There's way too many characters, everyone acts dull or annoyed and talks in info dumps, nobody feels scared, too many things happen randomly or out of pure coincidence (the whole plot relates to the first game by sheer coincidence and nothing that happened then affects it) and the whole needlessly convoluted premise of designing a virtual dreamworld populated by nightmare fuel is wasted on a boring Midwestern town with zombies. Many of these things not being stupid per se, but making the game look stupid for being unable to come up with anything else. The first game, for all its purported ambiguity, managed to come up with more interesting locales and setpieces than the sequel - even though the sequel doesn't pretend for a second that the action could be happening in the real world.

I never had a glitch like that happen. Which version are you playing?

PS4. Tried looting a bin while crouching, fell through the street and into videogame nether.

 

[BrawlMan]

There's way too many characters, everyone acts dull or annoyed and talks in info dumps, nobody feels scared, too many things happen randomly or out of pure coincidence (the whole plot relates to the first game by sheer coincidence and nothing that happened then affects it) and the whole needlessly convoluted premise of designing a virtual dreamworld populated by nightmare fuel is wasted on a boring Midwestern town with zombies.

Minus the too many characters and the Midwestern town, what you're describing fits the first game more than the second. While EW1 had a slightly more consistent tone (not by much), the story had multiple issues. What we got was a less interesting version of RE4 in terms of story. Now Shinji Mikami was a never big story person and was always scenarios, set-pieces, and monsters first. Story and characters are either second or dead last. As much as I like Sebastian and Joseph, they completely clueless and left in the dark for most of the 1. Everyone else around them knows what's going on. Kidman was just Ada but boring and even less interesting. Yet, the sequel turned her around and made far more interesting and better version of Ada than Capcom could ever hope of trying. Almost no one acts scared much, aside from Leslie, and a few moments with Joseph in 1. 1 had better boss variety, but that is not exactly a good thing when some bosses show up with little fanfare, build up, or explanation and are only here for "insert boss fight now!" for filler. While EW2 has less bosses, I find them far more interesting the shit EW1 pulled off.

I heavily disagree on characters. There are not too many characters. I like O 'Niel. I love Yukio Hoffman, Sykes, and Torrez the unique dynamics they have with Sebastian. Steffano was great for a first act villain. Father Theodore picks up the slack, with Myra (Sebastian's wife hinted at Kidman's DLC in the first game) giving a more personal connection and conflict with the latter. I found myself caring for these characters fare more than Ruvik. I do like Ruvik for the record. Disagree with me all you want, but I had more fun with EW2 than the entire RE4-RE6, and RE7 combined. EW2 nearly closes all of its loose ends and gives Sebastian and Lilly the best ending they could have. I teared up. The guy suffered enough. I don't want Sebastian to come back for EW3. He left Krimson City with his daughter driving off in to the sunset. His character arc is done. There is nothing left for him. I would not mind if EW3 was about Kidman or completely different story. Either way is fine by me.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Minus the too many characters and the Midwestern town, what you're describing fits the first game more than the second. While EW1 had a slightly more consistent tone (not by much), the story had multiple issues. What we got was a less interesting version of RE4 in terms of story. Now Shinji Mikami was a never big story person and was always scenarios, set-pieces, and monsters first. Story and characters are either second or dead last. As much as I like Sebastian and Joseph, they completely clueless and left in the dark for most of the 1. Everyone else around them knows what's going on. Kidman was just Ada but boring and even less interesting. Yet, the sequel turned her around and made far more interesting and better version of Ada than Capcom could ever hope of trying. Almost no one acts scared much, aside from Leslie, and a few moments with Joseph in 1. 1 had better boss variety, but that is not exactly a good thing when some bosses show up with little fanfare, build up, or explanation and are only here for "insert boss fight now!" for filler. While EW2 has less bosses, I find them far more interesting the shit EW1 pulled off.

I heavily disagree on characters. There are not too many characters. I like O 'Niel. I love Yukio Hoffman, Sykes, and Torrez the unique dynamics they have with Sebastian. Steffano was great for a first act villain. Father Theodore picks up the slack, with Myra (Sebastian's wife hinted at Kidman's DLC in the first game) giving a more personal connection and conflict with the latter. I found myself caring for these characters fare more than Ruvik. I do like Ruvik for the record. Disagree with me all you want, but I had more fun with EW2 than the entire RE4-RE6, and RE7 combined. EW2 nearly closes all of its loose ends and gives Sebastian and Lilly the best ending they could have. I teared up. The guy suffered enough. I don't want Sebastian to come back for EW3. He left Krimson City with his daughter driving off in to the sunset. His character arc is done. There is nothing left for him. I would not mind if EW3 was about Kidman or completely different story. Either way is fine by me.

To add to the bugs list: I got stuck trying to climb to the top of a car after climbing up the hood, and the game also froze on the locker section (wouldn't let me back out). Also all the texture fuckups, and the canned animation fuckups, but that's fairly innocuous.

I think the story outline itself isn't terrible, but the cardboard characterization and bottom of the barrel dialogue/acting makes it atrocious. And laughable. I couldn't take any of it seriously and none of it left any emotional impact. It looked dumb and overdone from the minute the camera cuts to three different shots of Sebastian dramatically waking up at the bar, all the way to the corny ending (which is scored with 5 seconds of a shitty Duran Duran cover, for some baffling reason).

The tone is just a mess. There's too much sass and over the top bullshit for any of it to be effectively scary or touching. Nothing is properly set up, motivations make no sense and there's too many loopholes in the plot's logic for something so heavily dependent on technobable.

 

[BrawlMan]

To add to the bugs list: I got stuck trying to climb to the top of a car after climbing up the hood, and the game also froze on the locker section (wouldn't let me back out). Also all the texture fuckups, and the canned animation fuckups, but that's fairly innocuous.

You must be unlucky, I've only ever had two bugs: one where it wouldn't not let me out of one of the safe house (so I head to exit to title screen to reset) and some minor visual bug.

I think the story outline itself isn't terrible, but the cardboard characterization and bottom of the barrel dialogue/acting makes it atrocious. And laughable. I couldn't take any of it seriously and none of it left any emotional impact. It looked dumb and overdone from the minute the camera cuts to three different shots of Sebastian dramatically waking up at the bar, all the way to the corny ending (which is scored with 5 seconds of a shitty Duran Duran cover, for some baffling reason).

Disagree and that's an awesome cover of Duran Duran.

The tone is just a mess. There's too much sass and over the top bullshit for any of it to be effectively scary or touching. Nothing is properly set up, motivations make no sense and there's too many loopholes in the plot's logic for something so heavily dependent on technobable.

So basically RE4 is what you're describing, minus the technobabble. RE4 suffers more from this than EW2 ever could.

Everyone has a clear motivation that makes sense, even if it borders on some villains being insane. Stefanno wants to in STEM forever to make his "art", Theodore wants control of STEM to rule the world alone, the Mobius Leader/Organization wants to dominate the world through "unifying" everyone through STEAM, and Myra just wants Lilly back along with taking down Mobius permanently. Meaning she sacrificed herself to keep Sebastian and Lilly safe. Sebastian just wants his daughter back, O'Niel and Sykes want out of STEM, Yukio wants to help Sebastian save Lilly and is in on Myra's plan, Torrez is there for redemption and to get Lilly out, and Kidman is also there for redemption and to stop Mobius. Both Kidman and Torrez are in on the plan to get Lilly out too.What is there not to get? It's made pretty obvious unless you have not been paying attention.





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[Hawki]

I've started playing Battleborn.

I got it for, like, $5 years ago, but I stumbled across the fact that the servers were shutting down in January, and that it would take the singleplayer with it. Why, I have little idea. But anyway, decided it's now or never.

It's...okay. The humour is very hit or miss, more in the style of "say/do something random, and hope the player laughs." Which I did, a few times, and other times, not.

Truth is, I doubt I'll be able to complete it before the servers go down, because a single mission can take over an hour to beat (and I died, so I haven't even completed mission 1), but we'll see what time allows.

 

[Dalisclock]

I've started playing Battleborn.

I got it for, like, $5 years ago, but I stumbled across the fact that the servers were shutting down in January, and that it would take the singleplayer with it. Why, I have little idea. But anyway, decided it's now or never.

It's...okay. The humour is very hit or miss, more in the style of "say/do something random, and hope the player laughs." Which I did, a few times, and other times, not.

Truth is, I doubt I'll be able to complete it before the servers go down, because a single mission can take over an hour to beat (and I died, so I haven't even completed mission 1), but we'll see what time allows.

Seriously, why do taking down the servers disable the single player? How is that even SP?

It's the same question about why the last SimCity game had to be always online(and we saw how poor a decision that was for EA).

 

[SckizoBoy]

Meant to mention this ages ago (now a couple missions from finishing Act II), but I decided to try out the Japanese dub for Ghost of Tsushima and I honestly can't decide which script/acting is better. The translation is up in the air at times because of cultural and era-specific use of language etc., but it is really good (lip-sync issues notwithstanding).

Despite that, when I changed it over, the first thing I thought with Jin's first lines was: that's not Jin, that's Mugen(!) ¬_¬

Kazuya Nakai does a really good job, but the tenor of his voice is really different from Daisuke Tsuji (based on his roles, he doesn't quite fit and I would think that someone like Mitsuru Miyamoto would suit Jin's personality better) and on that alone, I think the English dub is marginally better.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've been playing a lot of Kirby's Dream Course. That's the mini golf game on the SNES. I'm always surprised, for such a small game (only four 2 player maps), how versatile and distinct every round and every match feels. The controls are tight and precise, it has some of the best goddamn physics the SNES ever processed and holds up beautifully to this day. For competitive multiplayer I like a game that factors in the other players and the competition is as much about reaching a certain goal as it is about fucking up the other player. I do wish there was a bit more variety or some kind of randomization factor.

 

[stroopwafel]

Dragon Quest 11 S. DQ11 is in my top 5 of favorite games of the last generation and I was really interested in the 2D mode and improvements to the game, espescially the orchestral soundtrack and DQ8 remix. The entire design of the game is sheer perfection.

Also been playing Morbid: Seven Acolytes. Fun little indie game that carries it's Bloodborne inspiration on it's sleeve.

 

[Hawki]

Seriously, why do taking down the servers disable the single player? How is that even SP?

It's the same question about why the last SimCity game had to be always online(and we saw how poor a decision that was for EA).

I dunno.

Having played some of the campaign, and one map against bots, the game's clearly designed with multiplayer in mind (including the campaign), but it's still functional without it. You share the same hero progression system no matter how you play, so maybe that's it, but even so, it's a shame.

Also, on the subject of multiplayer. One, it's clearly a MOBA (least the mode I played), and maybe things would have been different if that had been clear from the start (when Battleborn was being advertised, I was never quite clear as to what type of game it actually was). Two, matches have a 30 min time limit, so if you don't win by then, a winner is chosen by, as far as I can tell, a combination of core damage and kills. As someone who's played LoL matches that have gone up to an hour, frankly, this idea should be implemented in other MOBAs, or at least the option for it.

 

[BrawlMan]

I finished DMD with Vergil and unlocked the Super costume. I unlocked the trophy where beat mission 19 with Yamato only.

Played so more Bot Vice and I am at stage 17. After that, I think it's another boss fight and the final boss, and the game is finished.