How busy are arcade like place these days? I haven't been to one in forever. I'm guessing now they just charge an entry fee and you can play all you want unlimited?
What are you currently playing?
- Thread starter Nick Calandra
- Start date
Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden.
A nice straightforward RPG with a unique aesthetic. So far this one seems to have let off the gas on the clown shoes that the first game had. I also miss the narrator from the first game, apparently people interpreted his voice as being bored but to me he just sounded like a GM speaking coy to keep his intentions hidden. The new narrator isn't bad, he just doesn't have any real unique character to how he's delivering his lines.
As with the first game, I really like how they handle "mana" in this game; instead of having a set number of mana for each character, everyone uses gems to use their abilities and you gain one gem every time a party member takes a turn, so you don't have to conserve your abilities when fighting random mooks and can just bust out the big guns so long as you save your gems for those abilities.
Overall, I think this series is exactly the kind of thing that would be good for introducing new people to turn based RPGs. It's straightforward and does a lot of things that I think would make it feel more user friendly to newcomers. I enjoy them as a relaxing change of pace from the more complicated RPGs.
A nice straightforward RPG with a unique aesthetic. So far this one seems to have let off the gas on the clown shoes that the first game had. I also miss the narrator from the first game, apparently people interpreted his voice as being bored but to me he just sounded like a GM speaking coy to keep his intentions hidden. The new narrator isn't bad, he just doesn't have any real unique character to how he's delivering his lines.
As with the first game, I really like how they handle "mana" in this game; instead of having a set number of mana for each character, everyone uses gems to use their abilities and you gain one gem every time a party member takes a turn, so you don't have to conserve your abilities when fighting random mooks and can just bust out the big guns so long as you save your gems for those abilities.
Overall, I think this series is exactly the kind of thing that would be good for introducing new people to turn based RPGs. It's straightforward and does a lot of things that I think would make it feel more user friendly to newcomers. I enjoy them as a relaxing change of pace from the more complicated RPGs.
So Im playing another mod for Halo CE called Halo Combat Revolved (because apparently the best use of my new RTX 3080 is to play a game from 2001 twice in a row).
The best way that I can describe this mod is basically Halo Combat Evolved Plus. Instead of being a massive overhaul, like the SPV3 mod, It instead takes the base game, and expands on it in small, but meaningful ways. It borrows a lot from later Halo games, by adding things like ODSTs, and the Gauss Warthog, and changing the HUD to be more like Halo 3's (and onwards), but it also adds some cut content from earlier builds of Halo CE, like the Gravity Rifle, and the Excavator shotgun/pistol thing. Some common-sense additions are made too, like making the Fuel Rod Cannon and Wraith tank usable, as well as adding in the Flamethrower from the multiplayer portion of the game.
There are also few additions and tweaks to the existing sandbox. For example, the Assault Rifle now has a scope, Hunters are no longer 1-hit KO'd by the magnum or Sniper Rifle, and Marines seem to have much more health. The sandbox is a lot more present, too - like the Shotgun and Ghosts are introduced in level 2, and Covenant Shade Turret emplacements are more common.
Overall, so far, this is probably my preferred way to play Halo CE. Im just about to hit Assault on the Control Room, which is usually where things start to wear a little thin for me, but at the moment, im really enjoying myself.
At the end of the day, though, this just really demonstrates the value of mods.
The best way that I can describe this mod is basically Halo Combat Evolved Plus. Instead of being a massive overhaul, like the SPV3 mod, It instead takes the base game, and expands on it in small, but meaningful ways. It borrows a lot from later Halo games, by adding things like ODSTs, and the Gauss Warthog, and changing the HUD to be more like Halo 3's (and onwards), but it also adds some cut content from earlier builds of Halo CE, like the Gravity Rifle, and the Excavator shotgun/pistol thing. Some common-sense additions are made too, like making the Fuel Rod Cannon and Wraith tank usable, as well as adding in the Flamethrower from the multiplayer portion of the game.
There are also few additions and tweaks to the existing sandbox. For example, the Assault Rifle now has a scope, Hunters are no longer 1-hit KO'd by the magnum or Sniper Rifle, and Marines seem to have much more health. The sandbox is a lot more present, too - like the Shotgun and Ghosts are introduced in level 2, and Covenant Shade Turret emplacements are more common.
Overall, so far, this is probably my preferred way to play Halo CE. Im just about to hit Assault on the Control Room, which is usually where things start to wear a little thin for me, but at the moment, im really enjoying myself.
At the end of the day, though, this just really demonstrates the value of mods.
Last edited:
I didn't realize there was a new version of Elevator Action. To be fair, the last one I played in an arcade was decades ago and I haven't been to a Dave and Busters in years. Hope you and your brother had fun.
Gotten some more time into Expeditions: Rome. I think I'm finally getting used to this games evolution on the system set in place by previous games. I'm in Asia Minor(Present Day Turkey) "liberating" the provinces for Rome so I can relieve my besieged allies further in. Since my legion is still fairly understrength and relatively weak, I can just march over there and break the siege but rather have to build up my forces by taking control of key provinces on the way there as well as statragic resources like mines and farms, which allow me to upgrade my camp and thus get better equipment and bonuses and such.
It's a pretty good idea for a core loop, along with legion battles and tactical missions. Notably one string of missions involves deposing the leader of the province, and this can be done by just going up and attacking him, but since he's hanging out in the middle of a temple complex, doing so is really bad form and pisses a lot of people off, so there are sneakier, more indirect ways to remove him without causing a massive scene. The game does give you dialogue options where you can use your authority as Legate(head of the legion) to consficate merchants goods and just try to take what you want by force, but I'm trying to avoid just getting into fights for no reason(since injuries can take a long time to heal and people are out of action until they do), and also I suspect doing that too often will cut off opportunities and questlines in the future.
Two things are stuck in my mind so far;
-I'm in charge of a legion but my characters I take into battle are pretty much all using Scavenged Equipment found or taken from Corpses. I've found schematic for better equipment and crafting materials but can't use any of it yet because I don't have an armory or a workshop in my camp and I can't build either of those yet until I can conquer more mines and tanneries and shit, which are currently in enemy territory. And I get that it's to push you into conquering more to upgrade, but the fact legionaries are subsisting off shit I've pulled off corpses and found in chests just feels fucking off to me. Rome wasn't at the peak of it's power at this point but it was damn well on it's way to conquering the Mediterranean and was a professional army by any means, so why am I equipping myself like a group of ragtag guerillas?
-The values Dissounce and associate Roleplaying is interesting and sometimes uncomfortable. So you don't seem to get paid in the game, all the money you get either comes from finding money, winning battles and apparently capturing money, getting it from quests and random encounters, or buying/selling. So there's only 4 resources you can buy or sell at markets: Medicine, Food, Denarii(Money) and Slaves. Yes, you get to play slave trader, and on one hand, it feels icky, but on the other, the historian in me knows why it's here, because Rome(and many other ancient societies) had slavery as a common thing and not talking about it would feel wierd and disingenuous to the time period. Hell, one of your starting party members is a slave to the PC(though very well treated and apparently is quite happy being a slave to a rich family) and the other is a former Gladiator who won his freedom in the Arena.
And generally the issue is just kinda there and you need slaves to capture(or presumably work) mines and farms you capture to upgrade your camp, plus you get slaves from won battles and some missions on the map. So you can't not engage with it and it makes the whole thing feel rather weird and kinda alien in a way and I know that's historically accurate but damn if it feels a different to have to engage with it instead of just being aware of it as part of history. It's one thing when it's Roman Slavery 2000 years ago, it's another when you're taking slaves as a Roman Commander in the present day of the 70 BCE setting. Slavery is an odious idea/practice and yet it was one so much of our history is built on.
Then again, in general the fact that everyone has these distinctly Ancient values which make perfect sense but feel wierd at times. Like the aforementioned use of the Legion to take people's shit just because you need it, something a lot of games gloss over, or the fact your characters treat Asia Minor as rightfully Roman, whereas the local Greeks clearly do not see it that way. As much as it's framed as "Liberating" Asia Minor from the Greek general who is opposing you in the area, it's clear they were there first, or at least, they've been there for the past couple centuries and you're the invader here to a lot of them. There's also such things as one particular encounter where you can run across a Woman being kidnapped by a man on horseback, being chased by a group trying to get the woman back. If you stop them, it's explained the young man kinapped her because he didn't want to pay the dowry for her and her father was "selling her", whereas the father argues that "He can't afford to take care of her if he can't afford the price of the dowry" and while you can pay the dowry if you have the money and chose to, if you try intervening on either side with force, both sides will be pissed at you for interfering with the courtship and family business and.....it feels wierd by modern standards, or at least, Western Modern standards. Like this is a very different culture and I don't know what the "right" action is supposed to be. Which I think is one of the things I find interesting how there's rarely a "good" or "evil" choice in any of these and it's just picking what you think is the best way to go.
Last edited:
The D&B is always busy. Keep in mind, this was during Wednesday night!
They still use cards. You can either get a card and put money on it, or keep the card you already have and recharge it with money. The money is converted in to credit points. I think the only time there is an unlimited option is for VIPs, but it's been way too long, and I don't remember all of the pricing list.
Me neither. The last time I played the game was on the Taito Collection Vol. 2.
Yes we did! We ate there too! Most places were already closed, so it was better to stick around, dine in, and then go.
It's the next game on my queue so good to know its good.
If you want more roman theme RPG, there's age of decadence. It's more like fantasy roman theme setting but its interesting with a big focus on RP. You can play the entire game without combat if you want.
Can you also take the corrupt ones out back and
Got back into F.I.S.T. Forged in Sadow Torch which is not only an unwieldy but also boring title, so I'm just calling it the Bunny Fist Game. And it's unfortunate this awkward title might cause people to ignore it, because this game is rock solid fun. It feels like the Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee remake we deserve, even if it's only in the visual tone and rather gorgeous 2D realism. It's funny how instantly eye-catching realistic graphics can be if you just change the perspective.
It's not perfect, the narrative presentation is quite wonky, but if you like metroidvania's dipped in juicey steampunk, and you want to beat shit up with a giant mechanical fist check it out. Seriously, this game needs more exposure, it's awesome and no one even seems to be aware of its existence. It's better than Metroid: Dread, dammit, go out and play this sucker!
It's not perfect, the narrative presentation is quite wonky, but if you like metroidvania's dipped in juicey steampunk, and you want to beat shit up with a giant mechanical fist check it out. Seriously, this game needs more exposure, it's awesome and no one even seems to be aware of its existence. It's better than Metroid: Dread, dammit, go out and play this sucker!
You can, but admittedly the game rewards you more for being corrupt. I fired two people the other day for drinking on the job if that helps. The cops themselves, in this game, are rarely inherently corrupt, In fact they will snitch on you and occasionally quit because they won't do your dirty work. Its up to the police chief whether or not he wants to do everything by the book or do things like crack heads at peaceful protests. Theres pros and cons. I think in a way thats kind of realistic. People always want such and such murderous cop gone, but its really a symtom. Somebody hired that cop, knowing full well how many eggs short of a picnic basket they were.
Its like that psycho cop, that killed some kid, and magically got sworn in as "the" cop for some small town and noooobody knows how it happen!
Sorry, wrong thread to get political, suffice to say - Yes, the game even has an option to have the mafia fake a crime call into dispatch and you can send cops to investigate at which goons take them out.
I got back into Dawn of War 2 for a bit. That makes 2 strategy games I've been let down by in a row. In the case of DoW 2 it's very simple: there's no pause function. The only thing that makes DoW 1's incredibly multitask-y gameplay manageable is the ability to pause and give orders to your entire army at once, survey the battlefield, deploy troops and use special abilities. I have no earthly clue why the devs thought it was a good idea to remove that function in the sequel, because the result is an incomprehensible clusterfuck. RTS games are hectic and straining on the mind already, but when said strategy is also squad-focused where it's more like controlling an entire squad of Diablo characters, my brain just overheats. Like, imagine if X-Com were real time without the ability to pause, that's what it's like. This issue is not helped by the fact that the graphics are far less readable at a glance than in the first game. I can barely fucking tell the units apart which is quite something considering the amount of people you control barely numbers in the double digits. Squad movement feels unresponsive and sluggish, important icons like stopping movement are insanely small, when ordering units to move you right click, but when using special abilities you left click... quite astonishing frankly just how many basics of RTSs this game manages to screw up completely. Not going back to it.
Last edited:
TIL Dave & Buster survived Covid. A bunch of strangers grabbing things in an enclosed space while drinking...
Last night beat my 5th (?) play-through of Sekiro. It is a joy to get some of these bosses on the first or second shot now.
Today I begin a week-long trip that involves a train ride and 3 plane trips plus potentially a lot of time to kill during the day so I'm bringing a Switch Lite I got off ebay and Disco Elysium and Neon White. The former is basically in lieu of a novel, is how I see it.
Last night beat my 5th (?) play-through of Sekiro. It is a joy to get some of these bosses on the first or second shot now.
Today I begin a week-long trip that involves a train ride and 3 plane trips plus potentially a lot of time to kill during the day so I'm bringing a Switch Lite I got off ebay and Disco Elysium and Neon White. The former is basically in lieu of a novel, is how I see it.
I have it and do want to give it a go someday. Any RPG that lets you talk your way out of combat also has my attention. Not that I hate combat or anything but finding solutions that don't involve bloodshed is nice.....or using sneaky methods that allows you to change the odds in your favor, such as bribing or sniping guards to avoid raising the alarm.
Any boss still give you trouble at all? I actually had more trouble with certain mini bosses on my NG+ run, like in late stage Ashina castle with that poison assassin, and Orin wasn’t exactly a cakewalk second time either. Another thing I love about Sekiro is it probably contains FROM’s best puzzle fight, which also happens to be the final boss. Once you learn what to do it quickly goes from frustrating to really fun.
I also still want to beat Demon of Hatred without the cliff cheese sometime.
I have
I hate that fight, hate hate hate it... it is basically how I feel about so many Elden Ring bosses- it is not fair or fun that this enemy with these moves is in this particular game. Demon of Souls makes you either run around like a maniac for ever or perfect the umbrella parry and I just don't want to, no thanks.
It's the only boss in Sekiro like that, though. Elden Ring goes ahead and makes that half the game.
Any boss give me trouble... no not really. There are a couple of mini-bosses that I "gave up" on but then just came back later.
Like the first time Hirata estate, there is a ninja guarding the Mist Raven prosthetic. But I just came back after leveling up and kicked his ass immediately. Same for the Headless- I tried to take on a couple before getting to the end, gave up, beat the final boss, then quickly went back and cleaned them all up.
The hardest non-Demon bosses for me before were Guardian Ape and Father Owl. But Guardian Ape (and consequently the Headless version) were fights I took down on the first try in this last play-through. Guardian Ape on first play-through felt like unfair cheap bullshit but then on the second play-through it became a favorite. The whole rhythm of both rounds really clicked with me for some reason and now it's an all-time favorite.
Father Owl is maybe the hardest main boss (and even that one is just optional for one of the endings) because it's practically impossible to make it fast- it is an endurance fight, having to deal with the firecrackers and the teleporting and all this stuff that you can't really shortcut very much.
I have not defeated Demon of Hatred without cliff cheese. I just don't care, either.
I hate that fight, hate hate hate it... it is basically how I feel about so many Elden Ring bosses- it is not fair or fun that this enemy with these moves is in this particular game. Demon of Souls makes you either run around like a maniac for ever or perfect the umbrella parry and I just don't want to, no thanks.
It's the only boss in Sekiro like that, though. Elden Ring goes ahead and makes that half the game.
Any boss give me trouble... no not really. There are a couple of mini-bosses that I "gave up" on but then just came back later.
Like the first time Hirata estate, there is a ninja guarding the Mist Raven prosthetic. But I just came back after leveling up and kicked his ass immediately. Same for the Headless- I tried to take on a couple before getting to the end, gave up, beat the final boss, then quickly went back and cleaned them all up.
The hardest non-Demon bosses for me before were Guardian Ape and Father Owl. But Guardian Ape (and consequently the Headless version) were fights I took down on the first try in this last play-through. Guardian Ape on first play-through felt like unfair cheap bullshit but then on the second play-through it became a favorite. The whole rhythm of both rounds really clicked with me for some reason and now it's an all-time favorite.
Father Owl is maybe the hardest main boss (and even that one is just optional for one of the endings) because it's practically impossible to make it fast- it is an endurance fight, having to deal with the firecrackers and the teleporting and all this stuff that you can't really shortcut very much.
Thought if give that there An Artful Escape a go, mainly cause I apparently had access to it already without realising. Had no idea Mark Strong was in this either, as the intro credits have recently informed me: he manages to elevate everything he's in somehow, even that Sacha Baron Cohen flop, The Brothers Grimsby. And the music doesn't sound so bad too. Effortlessly pleasant so far. Now lemme just finish this loaded spliff before I see where the rest this goes...
Last edited:
I think you're gonna attract the wrong fandom there and now I'm sorry I even wrote that.
I tested out my new HDMI converter on Mad World. Looks great and will test some other games later.
I played the human/elf campaign for Warhammer: Mark of Chaos. This game was basically Total War: Warhammer before TW:W was a thing (but without the 'sandbox' campaign). While the visuals and overall design are great, the combat feels more shallow than your typical TW game, and the duel system felt like an annoying distraction most of the time.
- Apr 1, 2009
- 14,505
- 3,454
- 118
- Gender
- Whatever, just wash your hands.
I went ahead and just bought it. Its quite good, does need some tweaking but its certainly within range of Starfox 64.
Yeah, that was not great gameplay wise. Really felt like a chore to play through.
I'm playing the Mount and blade Warhammer mod. It's entertaining but the ships seem to be a bit buggy, which can be a real problem if you want to go sea raiding. Still, charging into battle with your own chaos warband, dark elf raiding party, old world mercenary company etc is pretty dope.