What are you currently playing?

[Ezekiel]

Playing Resident Evil 2 again, in HDR and Atmos for just one playthrough. Gameplay-wise, I definitely prefer being at a desk with a mechanical keyboard and mouse, but then I have to use headphones or stereo desktop speakers and a monitor (which I prefer for general computer use). Sound and picture-wise, it's much better on my bed with a big TV and shitty controller. Using the mouse and keyboard feels really awkward on a bed, as does simultaneously aiming and walking with analog sticks. Felt much better in Resident Evil 4, maybe in part because you were stationary, or maybe it just had better default sensitivity. My dream setup for PC gaming would be a desk surrounded by speakers and a TV a few feet away. I've never seen a setup like that. They always use weird couch setups instead. Using a mouse and keyboard on a sofa will never not suck.

Haven't played it in a while. I just reached the garage and have already used three ink ribbons. That's when I got bored and turned it off. Using those ribbons feels bad, since I didn't die anyway.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Uninstalled Sekiro. Then hid it from my Steam library. Yeah, gonna be years before I play another of FromSoftware's try hard games. They used to be so much more fun before they fell victim to the whole "prepare to die" mantra.

Didn’t you get all achievements in Max Payne 3? Pretty sure that task easily exceeds anything in Sekiro.

 

[Ezekiel]

Didn’t you get all achievements in Max Payne 3? Pretty sure that task easily exceeds anything in Sekiro.

Slow motion made it relatively easy. The rest was just busywork.

My ideal third person shooter wouldn't have slow motion. Edit: Well, maybe it would. Does look pretty cool sometimes. But it's definitely easy mode.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Slow motion made it relatively easy. The rest was just busywork.

My ideal third person shooter wouldn't have slow motion. Edit: Well, maybe it would. Does look pretty cool sometimes. But it's definitely easy mode.

I like how it’s implemented in Horizon with the slide. Also Dead Eye in Red Dead can be fun, and almost essential for the No Damage requirements of some missions for Gold. In that game it’s basically the compensation for using free aim since targets are usually too small and far away without it, unless shooting from cover.


On topic, finally got through Hell on Mars in DOOM 2016. The last rune trial took me over an hour’s worth of attempts. I decided to take a break from it and finish The Evil Within. At chapter 7, and while it’s pretty good I’m more looking forward to the sequel. Also I’m not really keen on the upgrade system. Idk why a game like this really needs such a trivial feature to pad things out. The mechanics should focus purely on making survival horror feel good to play, not worrying about whether to add .15 seconds extra fire rate or being able to carry a few extra matches. Why do I need “green gel” for this shit?

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Went back in to Demon's Souls last night for some new-game-plussing with a replenished online service for the first time in months. Was in a rare, surprisingly cocky mood, basically wandering around in the Diggerland level in body form just begging for some sod to invade me...no doubt emboldened by recent game completion.

And whaddya know, some sly old sod did invade me.

So, being a chivalrous fellow, I awaited them in a large spacious room for them to make the first move, which they happily embraced. We danced the game of the footsies and after a few circles around each other, it was clear this person was not up to the task. As their health started getting dangerously low, they begun to run away, I assumed to heal safely, so ran after them with magic wand in hand. Except they never did heal, instead they ran straight to the nearest cliff edge and lept right off, like the sniveling yellow-belly coward they truly are! RETURN from whence forth and finish what you started, you poltroonish milksop!

Frustratingly never got another invasion after that too, for some reason. This remains unfinished business!

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Went back in to Demon's Souls last night for some new-game-plussing with a replenished online service for the first time in months. Was in a rare, surprisingly cocky mood, basically wandering around in the Diggerland level in body form just begging for some sod to invade me...no doubt emboldened by recent game completion.

And whaddya know, some sly old sod did invade me.

So, being a chivalrous fellow, I awaited them in a large spacious room for them to make the first move, which they happily embraced. We danced the game of the footsies and after a few circles around each other, it was clear this person was not up to the task. As their health started getting dangerously low, they begun to run away, I assumed to heal safely, so ran after them with magic wand in hand. Except they never did heal, instead they ran straight to the nearest cliff edge and lept right off, like the sniveling yellow-belly coward they truly are! RETURN from whence forth and finish what you started, you poltroonish milksop!

Frustratingly never got another invasion after that too, for some reason. This remains unfinished business!

They probably got distracted by a crystal lizard. The creatures have been known to make many an undead do crazy things.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

They probably got distracted by a crystal lizard. The creatures have been known to make many an undead do crazy things.

I wish it was mere crystal lizard greed, for that poor lily-livered fool's sake. But alas, no sparkly shines were there...they just flopped over the edge to avoid an honest defeat. Gutless swine!

 

[BrawlMan]

Idk why a game like this really needs such a trivial feature to pad things out. The mechanics should focus purely on making survival horror feel good to play, not worrying about whether to add .15 seconds extra fire rate or being able to carry a few extra matches. Why do I need “green

You're going to love the sequel. While using the same green gel, it gives you more even on the standard or harder difficult, compared to the first game.

I think the reason why is getting the implication that Sebastian is growing stronger, if ever so slightly, in the STEM system. You need the precious green goo to defeat The Evil Within! Or to defeat the Psycho Break! Depending on whatever region you live in!

 

[Dalisclock]

Went back in to Demon's Souls last night for some new-game-plussing with a replenished online service for the first time in months. Was in a rare, surprisingly cocky mood, basically wandering around in the Diggerland level in body form just begging for some sod to invade me...no doubt emboldened by recent game completion.

And whaddya know, some sly old sod did invade me.

So, being a chivalrous fellow, I awaited them in a large spacious room for them to make the first move, which they happily embraced. We danced the game of the footsies and after a few circles around each other, it was clear this person was not up to the task. As their health started getting dangerously low, they begun to run away, I assumed to heal safely, so ran after them with magic wand in hand. Except they never did heal, instead they ran straight to the nearest cliff edge and lept right off, like the sniveling yellow-belly coward they truly are! RETURN from whence forth and finish what you started, you poltroonish milksop!

Frustratingly never got another invasion after that too, for some reason. This remains unfinished business!

Normally Middle English(or Ye Olde Time English, as some would call it) doesn't work for me but in this case it was quite fitting and amusing. Well done good sir.

In other news,

Yeah, I think I'm maybe halfway done with Majora's Mask. I don't think anything in the game has been too difficult once I've upgraded my health by finding a bunch of heart pieces and I haven't died to any of the bosses yet(I've fallen down a pit in some of the dungeons). Most of the issues so far as trying to get time sensative things done in a 3 day loop before i have to reset. Notably, getting the Pimp(sorry, Gilded) sword is kind of a pain. You need to unfreeze the fire at the blacksmiths(either by killing the goat boss and melting the snow nearby or using something hot to melt the ice), pay them to temper your sword(which leaves you without a sword while they do it), come back the next sunrise, and then give them to gold dust to render the changes permenant to keep it from reverting with the next loop. Of course, getting the gold dust is a whole other adventure with itself because you have to go to the now unfrozen cave in goron town, get a big powder keg from the big goron, run the keg all the way over to the blocked entrance on the next screen(which is farther then it sounds) before it explodes, and then win the race to get the gold dust. Oh, and you need to have the forge forged and ready to insert gold dust on day two or else you're SOL. There's a lot of moving parts here and i had to do some of it again because i Started the process on day 2 which meant they couldn't do the sword for me in time. OTOH, I found out once you blow up the bolder once, you can just take the damn keg next time in your inventory and then set it where you want to detonate it, which is much easier. I still have to do the race like 4 times to win though.

So annoying side quest is annoying but at least I got my golden pimp sword. I also did the Ranch missions, one of which involved fighting aliens, which is weird but oddly a lot of fun. And then doing a milk run after that which involved fighting off bandits to get a cow mask(It does not turn you into a Cow the way the Goron and Deku masks turn you into a Goron and Deku, though that would be pretty wierd). There's still some outstanding side quests(like the bomb game and the deku game and the sword game and the swamp archery game) but I can do those anytime. I think I'm pretty much done with the mountains for a bit and can move onto the ocean.

This game is weirdly fascinating despite how annoying it can be at times. Especially thinking about how everything I do to help is gonna get undone the next time I rewind and I don't think I can save everyone even on the final loop. Poor Romani will still get abducted every night i don't go to the ranch to fight the aliens, the gorons will freeze, the poor monkey and princess will be trapped in the swamp, etc. OTOH, I'll go play the games, win the big prize and at the end of the day I get to keep the prize while all the money I paid them to play ends up being worthless to them because the loop resets anyway and presumably they all die after I rewind the clock. And I hope this doesn't create a new timeline every time I restart the loop but then again I'm pretty sure every new timeline is annihilated anyway considering the moon apparently doesn't spare anyone when it lands. Sorry, just musing over this. I don't think it was meant to be this deep but it oddly offers a lot to ponder. It feels oddly existential for a game made in a year out of recycled assets, while also being quite silly at times.

 

[Bartholen]

I've been mostly playing Binding of Isaac and Slay the Spire. I finally managed to beat Mega Satan with Keeper after getting within a hair's length of victory 3 times. Keeper is an interesting but massively unbalanced character. It uses money as health and can only ever have 3 max health, so in theory it should be really difficult. But it is in fact the opposite. Once you clear a certain boss with it, it gains possession of the Wooden Nickel, which has a 50/50 shot of dropping money when used. This in conjunction with some items that make the player character drop money when hurt, and an item that recharges your active item when hurt, can create a scenario where you'll generate health faster than you can lose it provided you can pick it up. So once you know how to play the character, and luck out with even one critical item, most rooms become a cakewalk. The Keeper's real weakness are really long boss fights like Hush or Mega Satan, because often you won't have access to enough healing to keep up with the damage you take. I've only got Mother left to beat, and then I'll have 100%'ed Keeper as well.

In Slay the Spire I feel like about the supreme grand emperor of dumbasses right now. At this point I've put probably something like 250 hours into it, and only now did it occur to me that you don't have to pick a card after every fight. I complained previously about the game diluting the player's power by flooding the card pool with inferior garbage, but it is in fact I who did that to myself. Pretty much after the first half of the first act you no longer have to pick up cards by any means, and can start aiming for a specific build by being more picky. Having lots of cards has benefits only with certain relics, whereas a smaller card pool means the useful cards recycle into your hand way more often.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Yeah, I think I'm maybe halfway done with Majora's Mask. I don't think anything in the game has been too difficult once I've upgraded my health by finding a bunch of heart pieces and I haven't died to any of the bosses yet(I've fallen down a pit in some of the dungeons).

Zelda games are not exactly known for their difficulty.

This game is weirdly fascinating despite how annoying it can be at times. Especially thinking about how everything I do to help is gonna get undone the next time I rewind and I don't think I can save everyone even on the final loop. Poor Romani will still get abducted every night i don't go to the ranch to fight the aliens, the gorons will freeze, the poor monkey and princess will be trapped in the swamp, etc. OTOH, I'll go play the games, win the big prize and at the end of the day I get to keep the prize while all the money I paid them to play ends up being worthless to them because the loop resets anyway and presumably they all die after I rewind the clock. And I hope this doesn't create a new timeline every time I restart the loop but then again I'm pretty sure every new timeline is annihilated anyway considering the moon apparently doesn't spare anyone when it lands. Sorry, just musing over this. I don't think it was meant to be this deep but it oddly offers a lot to ponder. It feels oddly existential for a game made in a year out of recycled assets, while also being quite silly at times.

I believe you can save just about everybody in a single cycle, there are just two quests that are mutually exclusive. I read a route a long time ago for a first cycle (just about)100% run that was pretty interesting. This is it, spoilers obviously, so save it for once you've finished the game.

 

[gorfias]

MX Unleashed came out for Xbox Gold. An OG Xbox title, it still plays terrific and looks good enough. I just messed around free style for about an hour yesterday.

 

[meiam]

Zelda games are not exactly known for their difficulty.

I believe you can save just about everybody in a single cycle, there are just two quests that are mutually exclusive. I read a route a long time ago for a first cycle (just about)100% run that was pretty interesting. This is it, spoilers obviously, so save it for once you've finished the game.

You can, but one of them is done within second of the world ending iirc so I don't think you can do everything and clear the game.

 

[Dalisclock]

Zelda games are not exactly known for their difficulty.

I believe you can save just about everybody in a single cycle, there are just two quests that are mutually exclusive. I read a route a long time ago for a first cycle (just about)100% run that was pretty interesting. This is it, spoilers obviously, so save it for once you've finished the game.

I was thinking more the major stuff. Purify the areas, save the ranch, stuff like that

While most Zelda games aren't bad, some of them are a bit hard. BOTW killed me quite a few times(every time I saw a lynel I pretty much fled or avoided it) and Zelda 2 makes a FROM game feel merciful in comparison.

 

[laggyteabag]

I just played Batman: Arkham VR, which is this cute little prequel to Arkham Knight, in, you guessed it, Virtual Reality!

Its mega short, but its also really well made, and quite effective.

Some of the player interactions are a bit wonky, and I had this weird bug with the audio, but having played all of the Batman games recently, it was great to see them in literal first person. The game also reuses a lot of the models from Arkham Knight too, which are just stunning, especially in VR. Definitely one of the best looking VR games that I have ever played.

If you have a VR headset, and a few $'s to spare, i'd give it a whirl.

 

[Drathnoxis]

You can, but one of them is done within second of the world ending iirc so I don't think you can do everything and clear the game.

It's a minute and thirty seconds left, so almost 5 minutes (in the original release) with the inverted song of time. Plenty of time to finish that and get to the final boss. The only problem is that quest requires you not to save someone else early on and so is mutually exclusive.

 

[Ezekiel]

Playing RE3 again. I didn't think I'd revisit it when I uninstalled it two years ago. Definitely worse than RE2, largely because they built the difficulty around the auto-checkpoints and infinite saves. Which also allowed them to add more of those scripted events that make it more of a movie game.

The over the shoulder camera in both remakes is made a bit pointless by enemies being bullet sponges anyway. How is the "tank control" shooting so much worse than putting twelve bullets into someone's chest? Even the heads take like five shots. Like I said, I would have preferred "fixed" cameras in full 3D environments, instead of pre-rendered backgrounds. Don't know why gamers want all games to look the same: having most of the character's back over one side of the screen. I even still prefer most of MGS3 with the "fixed" camera. Everybody just says MGS3 is so much better with the Subsistence camera, ignoring how well designed much of the original camerawork was and that the levels were built around it.

I've never played the original RE3, but I don't like the things Jill says to Carlos. So far. It doesn't make her look like a strong woman, it just makes her look like a shrew. The jeans and tank top are generic and bland, doubly so for coming out right after the previous game had the same kind of outfit for its female protagonist.

The lack of a classic soundtrack option is definitely felt. I never play RE2 with the new music. It's lacking in melody and utterly bland.

I finished RE2 again yesterday. Building up to RE4 on February 2nd, for that HD texture pack that a few people have been working on for about eight years. Played RE1 again too recently to give that another playthrough.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Everybody just says MGS3 is so much better with the Subsistence camera, ignoring how well designed much of the original camerawork was and that the levels were built around it.

The MGS camera was never good till you had free control over it. The levels were never particularly well designed around it, and the only reason MGS1 and 2 get away with it is because of the radar, which resulted in you spending at least 60% of your attention to the corner of the screen rather than the level itself. And MGS3 didn't even have that. You were stuck playing a stealth game where the slightest slip up (even sound wise) could cause 6 enemies to home in on you, and yet you weren't allowed to see like a regular-ass person, let alone a highly trained soldier. During an Alert you were pretty much just a headless chicken running around, because you had the eyesight of a baby.

Older Resident Evil gets away with it since those aren't stealth games, and enemies are generally slow moving and are telegraphed the moment you enter a room... and don't have guns. The camera in older MGS isn't even "cinematic" apart from a few instances, it's just an archaic left-over from the PS1 era. The locked camera in God of War 1 had issues, but even it was far better than the camera in MGS1, 2, and 3.

 

[Ezekiel]

Depends on which MGS3 area you're talking about. Some were small and others had huge fields of view where the new camera wasn't needed. Using the first-person view every so often wasn't complicated. The game did have items that emulated the radar, like the Active Sonar and Anti-Personnel Sensor. The simplistic polygons and textures are definitely prettier to look at from afar.

Playing RE2 and 3 with a controller for the first time makes me wish you could turn off the quick turn. The only decent control option is B, where you turn around by clicking down the control stick and moving back. But I frequently click it down by accident in alarming situations, which gets me hurt or killed. You can map the M/KB to your liking, but not the controller.

 

[Ezekiel]

There was an episode in Batman: The Animated Series where Batman realized he was dreaming. One of his clues was that all the writing was gibberish. He tells the villain that reading is more a function of the left side of the brain, while dreams happen in the right side of the brain, the creative side. Yet the dream in the opening of Resident Evil 3 shows advertising text and written pamphlets and stuff all over Jill's room. I know it's typical for movies, television and games, but it would have been cool if they made it all gibberish without even explaining. The dreams almost always look too real.