What are you currently playing?

[sXeth]

I bought Subnautica Below Zero not too long ago but I'm really having trouble getting into it. I gave it a few hours and have dropped it for weeks. I feel like the first game did a better job of pacing me through stuff and giving me things. I'm kinda sitting here knowing the next place I need go to is way too deep for me to actually reach. But I'm unable to build a base or anything. I guess I just need to aimlessly search for blueprints? I'm gonna have to look up a wiki and coordinates...

I replayed the first FEAR. Weird how a lot of newer shooters don't have gunplay that can hold a candle to such an old title. It also made me think of how long games feel nowadays. Back when I was a kid and my parents would restrict my playtime to weekends, on top of having to fight siblings for computer usage - shorter games felt a lot longer. Now I'm an adult, I do what I want and I can just spend the entire afternoon and evening finishing your typical short FPS campaign in one sitting. 6-8 hour games would've lasted weeks back in the day, but now it's just a day.

I'd put a big critique on both Subnauticas that the blueprint stuff was.... not the greatest.

I think the Prawn suits were the only ones that were reaally positioned in any kind of logically deductible place (out of the mission critical stuff) and then the rest are just kind of "well, look all over the last biome you unlocked or the top bit of the next one that you can only spend 90 seconds in for random metal bits"

 

[wings012]

I'd put a big critique on both Subnauticas that the blueprint stuff was.... not the greatest.

I think the Prawn suits were the only ones that were reaally positioned in any kind of logically deductible place (out of the mission critical stuff) and then the rest are just kind of "well, look all over the last biome you unlocked or the top bit of the next one that you can only spend 90 seconds in for random metal bits"

I definitely agree. I actually abused the fact that blueprints would 'respawn' and let me rescan them once enough time has passed to get most of my scans for the first Subnautica. Despite people insisting things didn't respawn in that game, they most definitely did.

 

[Chupathingy]

Playing through Turok 2, having fun, some things are better though some are worse. Most noticeably I've run into a weird situation. I've acquired the blue feather, placed it in the temple, grabbed the water talisman but the actual floor panels where I can use it are still blank. The jumping talisman worked, but this one won't and I'm not sure why.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Finally got around to playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales. I was waiting on it till I got a PS5, but seeing as that wouldn't be happening until the next ice age I just picked it up for the PS4.

It's more Spider-Man fun. Especially after having only played Mass Effect for the last two weeks, it was great to play something with actual action again. GOOD action.

The characters are not great though. The previous Spider-Man game had some character issues, but Miles Morales has little character that's actually enjoyable. There are some groaner cutscenes in this game. Now that I think about it, most of them are groaners.

 

[happyninja42]

Finally got around to playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales. I was waiting on it till I got a PS5, but seeing as that wouldn't be happening until the next ice age I just picked it up for the PS4.

It's more Spider-Man fun. Especially after having only played Mass Effect for the last two weeks, it was great to play something with actual action again. GOOD action.

The characters are not great though. The previous Spider-Man game had some character issues, but Miles Morales has little character that's actually enjoyable. There are some groaner cutscenes in this game. Now that I think about it, most of them are groaners.

Yeah any scenes involving the antagonists were really grating for me. They weren't the best written in my opinion. Yeah the overall story is pretty melodramatic but, I mean it's Spiderman, and just comics in general, they tend to lean towards the Soap Opera level of emotions and plot twists. Dramatic closeups of faces of people revealing "They were behind it all!! MMMuauuahahaah!" So I was ok with it in Miles. I'm biased to legacy stories I admit, but I did enjoy the hell out of that game.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Yeah any scenes involving the antagonists were really grating for me. They weren't the best written in my opinion. Yeah the overall story is pretty melodramatic but, I mean it's Spiderman, and just comics in general, they tend to lean towards the Soap Opera level of emotions and plot twists. Dramatic closeups of faces of people revealing "They were behind it all!! MMMuauuahahaah!" So I was ok with it in Miles. I'm biased to legacy stories I admit, but I did enjoy the hell out of that game.

It's not really the story itself - I actually appreciate how quickly they get some of the reveals out of the way - it's the acting and interacting between characters that feels not great. Like Days Gone-not great. Like it shows you how much work is put into games like this (with a lot of characters talking to eachother), and when a game lets it slip it really sticks out, like it does with Miles Morales. The actor for Miles is the same as in the previous Spider-Man, and in that game he was perfectly fine as were most of the characters, but in Miles Morales I'm just not feeling him. Which makes me assume the creative director/voice acting director for the previous game probably wasn't involved with MM because they're likely working on Spider-Man 2.

 

[happyninja42]

It's not really the story itself - I actually appreciate how quickly they get some of the reveals out of the way - it's the acting and interacting between characters that feels not great. Like Days Gone-not great. Like it shows you how much work is put into games like this (with a lot of characters talking to eachother), and when a game lets it slip it really sticks out, like it does with Miles Morales. The actor for Miles is the same as in the previous Spider-Man, and in that game he was perfectly fine as were most of the characters, but in Miles Morales I'm just not feeling him. Which makes me assume the creative director/voice acting director for the previous game probably wasn't involved with MM because they're likely working on Spider-Man 2.

*shrugs* I thought Miles himself was fine, it was a lot of the supporting cast that would occasionally irk me. And I don't mean the reveals and their pacing, I mean just the scripting and acting for the badguys. One is a stock standard Corporate Badguy, so cliche he might as well have been named Money McEvilpants, for all the subtlety they gave him. And the other villain her hypocritical anger at Miles' "betrayal" and "lying to her" about being Spiderman, when she's been lying for YEARS, actively funding and helping a criminal gang that is only after power, all for a personal vendetta got annoying. I actively groaned and rolled my eyes multiple times with that antagonists scenes, they were so cringey. Like, in concept, I get it, but execution, not so much. Left a lot to be desired for me.

 

[BrawlMan]

I cannot recall any other detail about that anime, to this day.

The movie was essentially, a truncated/abridged version of the TV series/manga that rushes through the first couple of arcs. It's good, but if you ever want the full picture, watch the TV series. And all the ways, Kenshiro makes guys explode. My favorite scenes from the movie:

TV Series:


​

 

[BrawlMan]

I finished Arkham Asylum. The game is not that long, if you don't bother to do all of the Riddler trophies. The game is a standard 6-8 hour action game with Metroid elements. I focused mainly on combat upgrades first, but got stealth as my 2nd upgrade, then armor and the batarang upgrades. Those definitely spice up the combat, and the ultra bat claw you get late game can break the combat and stealth when you know what you're doing. The boss fights are the weakest parts of the game. Either they copy the Bane fight, or it's fight mooks, wait for boss to open up/be vulnerable, rinse and repeat three times. The best section was with Killer Croc, since it was different from everything else.

The voice acting is top-notch with 3 returning actors from the Animated series. Conroy and Hamill are the top of their game as always, and it's sad that Arleen Sorkin retired from voice acting after this, understandable. She did get plenty of funny lines. I guess Arkham City is next, but I might play something else in between. I'm usually told that either Asylum or City is the best, and fans still argue til this day. I know Asylum has a tighter structure, yet City has better combat and more expansive. Guess I'll see.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Went back into Sekiro and after about a dozen tries getting back the feel for it, defeated Guardian Ape. The funny thing about this game is I almost always end up taking down bosses with just my trusty kitana, as my spirit emblems are typically wasted on prior futile attempts. My strategy for phase one was simply flank and slash as much as possible, staying closer as to avoid the stupid poison shit flinging, and then run when he does the roll. Usually an Ichimonji: Double will stagger him if not a flurry of slashes during recovery, which allows another follow up before he runs buckwild.

Second phase is kinda the opposite, as I learned it’s better to GTFO of there whenever he puts the head back on. I ended up kiting him to bait the dive for a jump counter and then ready to run again as he prepares to terror use. I didn’t need to resurrect but had used up my gourds. Might go back to farm in the village and upgrade a few more skills before proceeding in the story.

Also, going to make a point of finishing Wolfenstein: TNO and The Evil Within on PC to free up some space. My terabyte drive is in the red for remaining storage and those are both hogs IIRC, most likely due to the cringey Tech 5 engine.

 

[Chupathingy]

Finished Turok 2. Enjoyed it overall, but had some issues with it. The introduction of talismans led to needless backtracking, and all they do gameplay wise is unlock extra paths within the levels. Weapons were good overall, with the Cerebral Bore being a real standout, and the gore (and graphics in general) were well done. One thing I didn't like was how enemies in general felt more bullet-spongy compared to the first game, as it made the game feel less fast paced. I found myself kiting and back pedaling much more which isn't as much fun as simple run n gun. Also the levels, though well designed for the most part, used teleporters way too much.

 

[Mister Mumbler]

"Huh, I wonder how much of the campaign is left from where I stopped..."
*One Hour Later*
"Oh."
So I went back and finished up the single-player (couple of weeks ago now actually, to get a peek at my laziness in regards to posting). It is really great, though short, but it makes up for it's short time by getting the most out of the different levels (and ideas/setpieces within).

If you weren't aware, the guys who started Respawn Entertainment, and subsequently created Titanfall, were the guys who helmed Infinity Ward, during the development of Call of Duty Modern Warfare, and Modern Warfare 2 - so that might have something to do with it.

Titanfall 2 is a fantastic game - it is just a shame that the game was basically strangled on release, as it was released exactly a week after Battlefield 1, and exactly a week before Call of Duty Infinite Warfare. I have no idea why EA decided that releasing their game in between the two largest AAA FPS games of the year was a good idea.

Im just glad that Titanfall 2 was still good enough to stand out despite that, and it still manages to maintain a very healthy MP population.

Yeah, I remember reading about that way back before the first Titanfall released, but forgot about it until a video I watched mentioned it, though you can see a lot a MW2 in TF2 (the multiplayer menu and leaderboard in-game look like a modernized version of MW2's, as well as the short campaign). And honestly I expected the MP population to be the reason I would bounce off of it due to the high skill ceiling involved with both the gunplay and even just the movement system but I've managed to be able to hold my own rather well. I'm a little sad that you can no longer customize your titans as much as you could in TF1, but I understand why (all classes, both for pilots and titans, are visually distinct from each other, which is great).
Speaking of short campaigns, 1/2

 

[Mister Mumbler]

2/2

I don't give a shit about the multiplayer on that game,

(Not being mean or even judging, just found it funny)

but damn did I love the single player. They gave your mech so much personality that my wife and I just giggled at him from start to finish. I think my favorite bit is when You finally touch base with the rest of the military, and the officer tries to re-assign your mech to a "real pilot" and he literally grabs you, and shoves you in his chest protectively, like I kid clutching their favorite pet or doll, while politely telling her that you guys have reached almost perfect efficiency, and it would be illogical to sever the tie then. His attempts at figuring out to give a thumbs up. His dry humor and sarcasm. Just, such a great character.

Interacting with BT was the best parts of Titanfall 2. Love the single player as well. If a third game ever becomes a possibility, I'll actually buy it. My mom saw me play that game and she absolutely loved the robot mech. She laughed whenever he said "trust me".

BT is great and has a lot of fun moments, but I also really liked Cooper, and his arc from visibly shitting his pants in the escape pod ride down to the surface to calmly throwing sarcastic quips while the head bad guy has a gun to his head is fun to play. I think my favorite part is when you meet up with the professional pilots who acknowledge your skill as a pilot.

 

[happyninja42]

2/2

View attachment 3887
(Not being mean or even judging, just found it funny)


BT is great and has a lot of fun moments, but I also really liked Cooper, and his arc from visibly shitting his pants in the escape pod ride down to the surface to calmly throwing sarcastic quips while the head bad guy has a gun to his head is fun to play. I think my favorite part is when you meet up with the professional pilots who acknowledge your skill as a pilot.

Yeah Cooper was pretty fun. He had a lot more personality than you usually get in games like that. His banter with BT was especially delightful, as he also develops a strong love for the robot, along with you the player. When he starts understanding BT's sass, and responding in kind. When he starts trusting BT implicitly. Just really good chemistry in those characters.

 

[Offworlder]

I'm too embarrassed to say how many hours I have in Football Manager. But I bought Out Of The Park Baseball 2021 on sale recently, thinking it could be a more casual management experience for me. I've been consumed by it all over again. It's amazing how addicting spreadsheets can be.

 

[BrawlMan]

I'm too embarrassed to say how many hours I have in Football Manager. But I bought Out Of The Park Baseball 2021 on sale recently, thinking it could be a more casual management experience for me. I've been consumed by it all over again. It's amazing how addicting spreadsheets can be.

You have nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed. Like what you like. If you find funding it, more power to you. No one has the right to take that away from you. I'm not into those type of games but I get the appeal. Everyone's different.

 

[happyninja42]

I'm too embarrassed to say how many hours I have in Football Manager. But I bought Out Of The Park Baseball 2021 on sale recently, thinking it could be a more casual management experience for me. I've been consumed by it all over again. It's amazing how addicting spreadsheets can be.

My friend who literally makes excel spreadsheets for how to optimize his leveling investments in his various idle clicker games, would agree wholeheartedly with you.

 

[Gordon_4]

I’m alternating between my birthday presents:

Cyberpunk 2077 and Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

I’m enjoying the hell out of both.

I’m pleased to report that Mass Effect 1 combat no longer plays like total shit. I chose an Adept since they got NO weapons training to start and the gunplay has been improved to the point I can pull of headshots with a default sniper rifle on Eden Prime. The other weapons function very well and while accuracy does improve with ranks it’s not so debilitating that you’re gimped from the get go. Minor disappointment is you’re still waiting for Mass Effect 2 to get some classes iconic powers like Vanguard’s biotic charge or the Infiltrator’s tactical cloak but God only knows how those two alone would break some of boss encounters over the players knee. In fact I’m terms of gun fun, Mass Effect 2 may end up being relegated to last place for the hybrid classes and the Adept due to its shitty weapon restrictions - game balance my ass, BioWare.

Cyberpunk 2077 is probably my favourite new game so far this year, though I’ve just got it now so I don’t hold it against any poor sod who got it at launch week, found it was buggy as fuck and wanted to burn CDPR at the stake. But I’ve been playing a Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop campaign with my neighbour and while that is the richer experience with more depth afforded to players; 2077 has got its hooks into me so hard I may never play Deus Ex again……

……who am I kidding? I love Jensen, Malik and Pritchard too much to never go back.

 

[laggyteabag]

In fact I’m terms of gun fun, Mass Effect 2 may end up being relegated to last place for the hybrid classes and the Adept due to its shitty weapon restrictions - game balance my ass, BioWare.

What is that? You want to use more than two types of weapon? Blasphemy. You will use only the Pistol and the SMG, and you will like it.

On the plus side, if you are playing on PC, there is a mod that allows all classes to use 5 of the 6 available weapon classes at once.

Seems like the installation process is a simple file replace, too!

Kinda wish I used it when I was playing ME2... at least I had my trusty Sniper Rifle, though.

 

[Dalisclock]

Started playing Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse(and on Brawlman's advice, I'm playing the Japanese version). So far it seems to be an improved take on both the previous games. It go backs to the CV fairly linear assault on Dracula's Castle premise(complete with finding subweapons, whipping candles and finding wall meat), but it has the occasional fork in the road where you can choose to go one of two directions which changes what parts of the game you see(which is a more limited but welcome so take on CV2 Open World/Metroidvania approach). On the bright side, Trevor feels like he controls a lot better then his descendent Simon, except on stairs. The biggest foe in this game is the goddamn stairs, because it's extremely easy to attempt to ascend or descend any particular staircase only for trevor to plummet to his death(because trevor is apparently thick and interprets "use stairs" sometimes as "Plummet down bottomless pit".) In fact, if the platform you're trying to climb to is within jumping distance, it's often safer to attempt the jump then use the goddamn stairs.

Beyond that, there's a nice variety of stages so far and after stage(Block?) 3 I'm still a long way to the castle(having just boarded a spooky pirate ship full of ghost pirates/pirate ghosts/salty pale semen/I'm sorry I can't stop help me). Like you start in a ruined church, head into a town full of zombies and monsters, through a cemetery, eventually to either go through the woods or up the clock tower(does the castle have two clock towers in this game?). However, going up the clock tower results in your path being blocked by falling rubble and having to go all the way back down to take the other path but you get a partner as a reward.

CV3 has a couple of Partners you can recruit along the way, and you can switch with them at any time, but you can only have one tagging along at any given time. So I found Grant DaNasty(who may or may not be a Pirate porn star), Sypha the magic user and Alucard, but the path splits in two before you reach either Sypha or Alucard so you have to go for one or the other, apparently. If you have Grant and meet one of the others, you have the option to recruit the new person but grant will leave the party never to return(Legends say he put a boat on wheels and started prowling the roads with it to rob anyone he met. On a cold night if you listen closely, you can still hear pirate music and smell rum as he continues his eternal pillage of the Wallacian forest roads).

Other then that, the downside to playing the Japanese version is I can't read the dialogue when Trevor meets someone to recruit though I'm not sure it really matters much. Knowing the quality of NES game writing, I'm likely missing nothing important.