What are you currently playing?

[BrawlMan]

Still working on Cyberpunk but also now Project Wingman, as you can see from the screenshot thread. On top of the run in Deeprock Galactic when I have vids to watch.

I finished my own cyberpunk action with Bot Vice. The last boss is surprisingly easy once you know his pattern. He only took me two tries. His last name is literally Lunatic. What a name. The game ends on a sequel hook and implies that Erin's dead partner, Roy, may not be so dead. In fact, Lunatic and the after credits imply that he faked his death, and that he's in on and funding the creation of destructive androids or cyborgs. This game came out in 2016, so the fact they have not made a sequel by this point is very surprising. Given DYA's website, they ain't working on a Bot Vice 2 right now. From what I've seen, these guys don't skimp on the details with their game and keep it simple. They got a survival horror game out in the vein of Silent Hill/Clock Tower, and another that comes out next year on Steam called Evil Tonight.

DYA GAMES

We make modern indie games with retro flavour! Creators of Evil Tonight, Viviette, Strikey Sisters, Bot Vice and Super Star Path!

dyagames.com

 

[Worgen]

I finished my own cyberpunk action with Bot Vice. The last boss is surprisingly easy once you know his pattern. He only took me two tries. His last name is literally Lunatic. What a name. The game ends on a sequel hook and implies that Erin's dead partner, Roy, may not be so dead. In fact, Lunatic and the after credits imply that he faked his death, and that he's in on and funding the creation of destructive androids or cyborgs. This game came out in 2016, so the fact they have not made a sequel by this point is very surprising. Given DYA's website, they ain't working on a Bot Vice 2 right now. From what I've seen, these guys don't skimp on the details with their game and keep it simple. They got a survival horror game out in the vein of Silent Hill/Clock Tower, and another that comes out next year on Steam called Evil Tonight.

DYA GAMES

We make modern indie games with retro flavour! Creators of Evil Tonight, Viviette, Strikey Sisters, Bot Vice and Super Star Path!

dyagames.com

I love the look of that game but I tried playing it before and didn't like the feel of the gameplay, the lock on thing ended up annoying me. I was expecting it to be more like Wild Arms.

 

[BrawlMan]

I love the look of that game but I tried playing it before and didn't like the feel of the gameplay, the lock on thing ended up annoying me. I was expecting it to be more like Wild Arms.

The lock-on can be a pain in the ass. Why are you locking on to the minor enemy all the way on the other side of the screen and not fucking boss in front of me?!

I don't know what you were expecting. The moment I saw the game play, I knew it would not be exactly like Wild Guns. If anything, it felt like a better Wild Guns, than the Wild Guns Reloaded remake done by Natsume. You can't shoot bullets, but you can block them with your Z-Saber (doubles as a melee attack), and your dodge roll has a lot more i-frames than you realize. I did not like how ducking is done by pressing up on the direction pad, so I changed it to the down direction. The problem with WGR is that Natsume made a lot of unnecessary changes that made it more difficult to play. Tying difficulty and stages to how many players are playing was stupid and a shotgun to the foot move. I have no idea what they were thinking with that one. The Switch version kinda fixes this with a new difficulty mode where it's even easier and you get access to all of the stages, regardless of how many players there are, but that just shows you don't fix what ain't broke in the first place.

Natsume did a highly better job with their Ninja Warriors Again Remake. Though its flaws are getting rid of the score for a time score (that you lose if you die even once and does not show up on the final result screen) and making the 2 players share the same life bar in co-op mode. I get why, but I feel that was boneheaded decision.

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[BrawlMan]

Played some Double Dragon Neon last night on Switch. Still fun as always.

HW: Age of Calamity I will be playing later today, and I am gonna test out my Turbografx-16 Mini.

 

[BrawlMan]

First time I played Lords of Thunder, and goddamn is this game metal as fuck! It's a horizontal shooter where you can buy upgrades, select whatever levels in any order, and 4 types of armor made of the 4 elements. Game is hard, but it so much fun.

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[BrawlMan]

I have to say, my favorite games on the T16 Mini are Soldier Blade, Galaga '88, Ninja Spirit, and Lords of Thunder. Solider Blade is a SHMUP with an easy learning curve, but still has a challenge. I wish it had co-op, but it's not big deal. It's pretty clear they had single player in mind. You can collect 3 power ups total, that double as hit points, but gimmick is using them as bombs sacrifices your hit points/weapon upgrade. So there is a huge risk and reward system at play.

Ninja Spirit is a ninja action-platformer. I like the game, but there are some inconsistencies with the difficulty. The game was originally an arcade game similar to Legend of Kage where you die in one hit. The T16 version has the PC Engine mode where you take 5 hits before you die. The problem is that certain enemies and bosses can still kill you in one hit! You are not going to know which enemy does unless it happens. So what's the point in giving me an easier mode? I don't know what Irem was thinking with that one. I do like how you have 4 weapons and you can collect power ups to upgrade them. Fun game, but can be frustrating in those apsects.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

With the TV being monopolized by the Boxing Day Test for now, I've picked up a few games on Steam from the sale to keep me going. Between gifts from my friends and my own purchases, it comes out to Streets of Rage 4, Doom Eternal, Dark Souls Remastered (so I can sunbro for a friend mainly), Resident Evil 6 (for co-op with the same friend), and South Park: The Fractured But Whole. Out of those, so far I've only booted up SoR4, which as someone who's played a lot of 2 and Remake, it's really good. Avoiding damage feels like it isn't totally luck-based without just having the panic-button side roll like in 3, and the combo system being needed to build up score for extra lives, which actually mean something, is a genius idea. I haven't gotten further than stage 3 yet, but if it keeps up this momentum, SoR4 could become my favorite beat-em-up ever.

 

[EvilRoy]

Finished Tales of Berseria. I was actually fairly impressed with the story after all was said and done - it felt like we were speeding towards an "it all went back to normal in the end" conclusion for a while, but after a little while there was some implicit acknowledgement of real consequences that would come out of the final battle and it was well addressed I felt. I never got any better at the battle system beyond getting a better understanding of special moves and actually paying attention to elemental weaknesses. Definitely a little low on sidequests, and I felt the equipment progression could have been a bit more impactful, but there was enough of everything that I didn't feel I was getting shorthanded.

Playing Hades these days with some other stuff mixed in. Right off the hop I have to say I'm blown away by the shear amount of VA in game. You periodically get "boons" [blessings] from Olympian gods [and others], which are styled as little one sided messages. After 25 hours and many complete runs I really expected to be about done with getting these, but they are persisting. Each god usually talks to you only once or twice per run, but there are like twelve gods so on a varied run you're gonna hear a lot of one way conversations. I think they might repeat eventually, but if it does then there is a large enough pool that I'm not hearing the same message often enough to note. Also, props to the writers for recognizing that basically all of these deities are, or have the capacity to be, tremendous tools. They get jealous of your attention, they get pissy with each other, they even refuse to pick sides in certain confrontations and just aid both sides to see who wins.

Justifying all the VA is the heavy story focus of the game - the gameplay is present and decent, but fundamentally you can really see most of the time and budget went into story stuff. Thus far I have seen only four worlds, with solid variability between eachother, but very samey room style. You wouldn't mistake one world for another, but within each world you're only going to see a few room types and a limited number of unique enemies. Since you're going to pass through ten or so rooms per world you see the same types of rooms a LOT. The story itself is interesting. Since the gods [Olympian and Cthonic [or something]] don't really operate as a cohesive unit, you see varying motivations for helping as you progress, and it developes well into an intrigue about why dear old dad is so opposed to your quest, and why others are supporting it.

Its a rougelike with a slightly different progression than I'm used to, which is worth mentioning. You unlock multiple, varying weapons as the game progresses (its a purchase to proceed situation, so you grind up certain bits and bobs from runs, then unlock them), but the majority of your abilities come from the aforementioned boons. Where this is weird is that while they generally up your power they have a habit of encouraging wildly different styles of play and are mandatory. You cannot pass up a boon like you can ignore a weapon or pickup in Binding of Isaac for example. You pick up a boon, you get three choices, and if they all suck then all you get is to pick your preferred flavour of suck. I have actually had runs buggered by this system where I was forced to drop another very desirable boon since two gods won't bless one weapon. I'm cool with this because I think that's a fairly true to genre - sometimes you just get shit on in rougelikes for no reason - but it is a departure from most of the rougelikes I've played where you have a bit more active control over your build even if that control is limited to just being able to choose to forgo a pickup completely.

 

[BrawlMan]

Finished Double Dragon Neon again, but on Switch for the first time. I managed to finish the game without using a continue, though I did lose a couple of lives in the final stage. The game is still fun, but all of the Stances and Sosetsitsu (special moves) are behind an RPG element that does not add much to the overall combat and should have been ditched. The most useful and practical stances and Sosetsitsu are Cyclone Kick, Power Gambit, Stunner, Absorber, and Knee Drop. This will get you through all the difficulties the easiest way without too much trouble. I mainly go with CK along with PG or Stunner. The Cyclone Kick does great damage and stun; especially after doing a perfect dodge, and upgrading it further kills enemies in a few seconds. Stunner is almost a boss killer in that when highly upgraded, most human sized bosses can't get a beat on you. All the other ones are near useless (more so harder modes), impractical, or situational.

Speaking of bosses, they are entertaining, but you really only get 6 bosses total, with 3 of them being against Skullmageddon. Out of a total of 10 stages. Mecha Biker and Skullmageddon are the stand out examples and most fun to fight. One boss fight is a giant tank that's a reference to one of DDII's, and the other is a Little Shop of Horror reference. The tank boss is meh and tedious, but less so if you know immediately what to do. Marian II is funny the first time, but once you know it's gimmick and have the proper upgrades, it don't take long to die.

It's strange that Neon has the the DD template and most of its moves, plays less like a Double Dragon game and more like a Capcom or Konami brawler. Shoot, there are ton of Konami references in this game, that you'd almost mistake it for a sequel to Violent Storm or TMNT. Right down to bosses flashing orange and their being health pick ups. A staple to most other brawlers, but before this game, Double Dragon never allowed you to pick up health items. You got a full bar of health when starting a new stage.

The game is still fun to play, but it's just a regular port with no new features. No online co-op for some reason.

 

[BrawlMan]

Will be playing Age of Calamity and later Zombie Army 4. I will be posting updates on the thread for the former.

 

[SilentPony]

Im replaying Dragon Age: Inquisition, 'cause it was like $5 on Steam and I never actually finished it or got very far last time, can't remember why. But one thing I've noticed is the dialogue assignment is fucked! Just walking through the world my party members make reference to events that haven't happened yet, or people we haven't met. I found some cultists dudes and Cassandra was all "Corypheus's minions are everywhere!" and I was like who? We haven't met that character yet. And then later Varric talked about Haven being destroyed and the archdemon dragon, before I had triggered that event. Sara referenced the Grey Warden Blackwall before I had met him. Its just kinda funny how sloppy the dialogue assignment is.

 

[meiam]

Im replaying Dragon Age: Inquisition, 'cause it was like $5 on Steam and I never actually finished it or got very far last time, can't remember why. But one thing I've noticed is the dialogue assignment is fucked! Just walking through the world my party members make reference to events that haven't happened yet, or people we haven't met. I found some cultists dudes and Cassandra was all "Corypheus's minions are everywhere!" and I was like who? We haven't met that character yet. And then later Varric talked about Haven being destroyed and the archdemon dragon, before I had triggered that event. Sara referenced the Grey Warden Blackwall before I had met him. Its just kinda funny how sloppy the dialogue assignment is.

Yeah Bioware got really bad at doing world dialogue, in Andromeda these almost always get interrupted by random stuff, like every time you pass by enemy your AI will tell you "there are enemy there" which is useless but also interrupt any dialogue ongoing which never restart, I think I've heard less than a third of the dialogue in their entirety. Chalk it up as one more things they can't do right.

 

[SilentPony]

Yeah Bioware got really bad at doing world dialogue, in Andromeda these almost always get interrupted by random stuff, like every time you pass by enemy your AI will tell you "there are enemy there" which is useless but also interrupt any dialogue ongoing which never restart, I think I've heard less than a third of the dialogue in their entirety. Chalk it up as one more things they can't do right.

What happened to them? I don't remember the mass effect trilogy or DA 1-2 being this sloppy. I mean those games had their faults, but the NPCs never spoiled the plot.

 

[Chimpzy]

Amid Evil

Imo Dusk still reigns surpreme among the throwback fps, absolutely nailing the 'feel' of Quake engine movement, but this is a decent effort. Inspirations are obvious, Heretic/Hexen and Quake, but I'm also getting vibes of Unreal and maybe even a little Daikatana. I like how it's split up into seven small episodes of four levels, each with their own theme, enemies, boss and sometimes the odd gimmick. It allows for a great variety in level design , not just visually, also in terms of navigation and exploration. Levels frequently have you looping back to earlier areas and passing over or under areas you won't visit until much later. There is a creative use of verticality and even some impossible space that makes levels seems huge, even though they aren't really that large when looked at from the outside. It's most definitely this game's strongest suit.

Weapons, however, are nothing to write home about. There's seven, but I really only use three or four of them. The mace that a fires metal (or ice?) spikes, the staff that firesexploding miniature planets, purple crystal thing that (somewhat unreliably) clear rooms. Respectively the shotgun, rawket lawnchair and BFG equivalents. Haven't really found a niche for the energy ball staff, energy wave saber and lightning trident that those other three can't also fill, sometimes better so. Oh, and the melee-only axe you'll never use once you get anything else. Honestly, if level design is where Amid Evil is strong, then weapons is where it's weakest. They get the job done and are fun enough to use, but kind of basic and mechanically uninteresting. Ok, technically all weapons have an alt fire mode, but it's only available when you've killed enough enemies and collected their souls to activate an uber state, so I really only used it against bosses.

 

[happyninja42]

Wife and I have been mainlining Immortals: Fenyx Rising for several days now. Now that' we've got a lot more time in it, I can say it is a fun little romp. It's definitely showing more of the AC/Ubisoft traits now, in particular the microtransactions, but they are easily ignored so it's not really a big deal.

The plot is very simplistic but, then so was Breath of the Wild. At least this game has more people in it that talk, so you can actually have something going on, other than complete silence, Link's various grunting noises, and the.....sounds that Nintendo decided equate to living creatures talking. "HHheeeeyayyyaaaaahhh!" "WAAH AHAHAHAA!" ....ok so...how does ANY of that equate to the actual words this person just said to me that you timed to that atrocious sound Zelda?!

So yeah, the dual narration banter is basically just sound filler, but it's insanely preferable to the alternative in my opinion. Fenyx talks, and is pretty amusing and chipper, at least the female VA, haven't heard the male so no clue. The quests are fun, and very often directly relate to greek myth of the appropriate people.

The various chests you can find in the world, with loot, well, they can be weird. And some of the quest rewards too. Like, there are Chests, Guarded Chests, and Epic Chests. They have increasing levels of loot in them, but it's not exactly uniform. For example, you might get a new weapon in a guarded or epic chest, or you might just get a skin for one of the weapons you already have. You get skins a LOT actually. Also, some of the quests, that were built up to be something epic. Fenyx freeing a being from mythology! Who says they will reward Fenyx with an item to help in the battle to come!! Allright! New weapon or armor! Sweet! What is it?! ......oh...it's a skin...on the armor that is really only good for gathering crafting materials....um...thanks I ...guess?

So it's got some worts, but it's still enjoyable. The controls work fine most of the time, though some of the physics puzzles in the vaults can be obnoxious as hell. But if you like BotW, and you like greek myth, and you also don't mind them making fun of how stupid and insane greek myth really is, then it's a fun game.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Finished Pyre. I quite enjoyed it. Actually, it might be my favorite of Supergiant Games' games so far (haven't played Hades yet), though it's been a long, long time since I've played Bastion and I do remember really liking that one. A lot of the characters were really appealing to me and I feel like there are a ton of character dialogue that I didn't see involving characters I liberated early or what might happen if I lose the liberation rights to certain other teams. I'm still not in love with the gameplay, but I'm definitely going to do another playthrough right away to explore some other story options.

 

[BrawlMan]

Started Zombie Army 4 and completed the first mission.

....Which ended in a boss fight with a Nazi Zombie wielding a fucking flamethrower! I am sold, and gonna try out horde mode tomorrow!

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Beat Streets of Rage 4. It's not super long, but that works to its benefit: it's replayable in that old-game/arcade way. It actually reminds me a bit of Devil May Cry, except in the form of an old-school brawler, with the fact that you can beat it easily with assistance, but the combo system and rankings encourage multiple playthroughs to really master every aspect of the game. The stages and enemies are nicely varied, the bosses can be a little frustrating but that's probably just inexperience, and the characters handle meaningfully differently enough that I'm already wanting to go through again with someone else.

In short: must-play game, especially if you like any 80s/90s beat-em-ups, or modern 'spectacle fighter' games like DMC. It's that good. And currently about $20 on Steam.

 

[Dalisclock]

What happened to them? I don't remember the mass effect trilogy or DA 1-2 being this sloppy. I mean those games had their faults, but the NPCs never spoiled the plot.

The impression I got was that bioware was good at doing what they did to the point management took it for granted but at the same time, kept putting the dev teams under increasing pressure, forced them to use software(FROSTBITE is the one I hear the most) that was not designed for Bioware type RPGS because Papa EA wanted it that way and more of the talented Devs left for more fulfilling work. We're seeing the result of years of talent loss and mismanagement in the last few games and it's unlikely the trend will reverse without some major work from above to fix the inherent issues.

 

[BrawlMan]

Beat Streets of Rage 4. It's not super long, but that works to its benefit: it's replayable in that old-game/arcade way. It actually reminds me a bit of Devil May Cry, except in the form of an old-school brawler, with the fact that you can beat it easily with assistance, but the combo system and rankings encourage multiple playthroughs to really master every aspect of the game. The stages and enemies are nicely varied, the bosses can be a little frustrating but that's probably just inexperience, and the characters handle meaningfully differently enough that I'm already wanting to go through again with someone else.

In short: must-play game, especially if you like any 80s/90s beat-em-ups, or modern 'spectacle fighter' games like DMC. It's that good. And currently about $20 on Steam.

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Excellent! Thank you for understanding and getting it! I noticed that Streets of Rage 4 definitely has some DMC style elements when playing. Ironic, because Devil May Cry itself was the 3d successor to 2D brawlers. So if anything, SOR is taking back what belongs to it. I never cared much for the term and I hate the fact that Yahtzee started it in his Mad World review (which was not a review, but a biatch fit about the Wii console itself!). Honestly, I prefer the term stylish action, but at the end of the day, throwing all the fancy terms don't mean anything. In their hearts, games in the ilk of DMC or God of War are beat'em ups/hack n slash and there is no shame in them. Hit me up sometime if you're available on PSN, will do co-op later. Note: My PSN has my old user name.