What are you currently playing?

[Worgen]

It is one of Guppy's items. It's Guppy. Guppy's dead.

I thought it didn't go with the rest of the set?

 

[Drathnoxis]

I thought it didn't go with the rest of the set?

The wiki says it does.
Edit: though maybe was changed in an update, I do seem to remember there being something like that as well.

 

[sXeth]

Then you have a game like Hotline Miami. That came out in 2011, and it is really difficult on your first time through. It gets easier on subsequent playthroughs, but they're still challenge there. I never played Binding of isaac, but I'm sure there will be a decent challenge, if I ever decide to pick it up.

Eh, if you've handled, to pick a few, Risk of Rain (1), Nuclear Throne or Enter the Gungeon (and any number of others likely, bullet hell roguelikes aren't my preference either), you've already done like a solid 2-3x on the difficulty curve.

It is very much a Dark Souls case, the game went viral and was of middling difficulty, suddenly being played by hundreds of bandwagoning youtubers and streamers, and they all said it was that difficult. The last bonus boss (in the 4th?) DLC was, but that was probably trying to hit the hype for difficulty, because he's difficult because he basically dumps the genres rules and does random shit instead of pattern attacks.

 

[BrawlMan]

Eh, if you've handled, to pick a few, Risk of Rain (1), Nuclear Throne or Enter the Gungeon (and any number of others likely, bullet hell roguelikes aren't my preference either), you've already done like a solid 2-3x on the difficulty curve.

I never played any of those either.

It is very much a Dark Souls case, the game went viral and was of middling difficulty, suddenly being played by hundreds of bandwagoning youtubers and streamers, and they all said it was that difficult.

Exactly why I rarely ever bothered with the bandwagon jumpers. Kind of the same with certain YT personalities claiming to be "Devil May Cry fans", but can't tell the difference between Dante and Nero on the E3 2018 trailer. Or most of them claiming how DMC and Dante are "overly edgy anime and too serious". They don't know thing one about the franchise, its pathos, or characters, but will say anything to sound smart and grab attention. Only to drop it and make shit up, hoping no one will notice.

 

[Worgen]

The wiki says it does.
Edit: though maybe was changed in an update, I do seem to remember there being something like that as well.

I remember it being one of those items that made me look it up so I didn't get it. I don't think it was part of that set, but maybe it was, I think I only managed to get the full set like once. If even that.

 

[sXeth]

I never played any of those either.


Exactly why I rarely ever bothered with the bandwagon jumpers. Kind of the same with certain YT personalities claiming to be "Devil May Cry fans", but can't tell the difference between Dante and Nero on the E3 2018 trailer. Or most of them claiming how DMC and Dante are "overly edgy anime and too serious". They don't know thing one about the franchise, its pathos, or characters, but will say anything to sound smart and grab attention. Only to drop it and make shit up, hoping no one will notice.

Nero's the one who wears Blue! I think.

Tbf, this knowledge is based off DMC (that one) and Devil May Cry 5, lol. I think I played the DMC 3 demo at one point but it had a single boss that I couldn't decipher how you were supposed to damage it so never really went into it.

 

[BrawlMan]

Nero's the one who wears Blue! I think.

Navy Blue to be precise. Vergil wears regular blue in DMC3, and as alternate color in 5.

I think I played the DMC 3 demo at one point but it had a single boss that I couldn't decipher how you were supposed to damage it so never really went into it.

Cerberus?

 

[Bartholen]

Disagree about Dead Cat. If you plan your run around it, its one thing, but it also takes away all your lives... if I remember correctly, so you have to rebuild your life bar and if you die it goes poof and if you died it was probably to a rough room so its probably just you having to die 8 more times in that room. The biggest problem with it, is that its easy to mistake for one of Guppy's items, which as you said, are good.

Dead Cat is what I'd call an "advanced level" item. It's absolutely not an auto-take, rather you have to learn to play around it. Examples of utility of Dead Cat are:

• Devil Rooms. Since you're likely going only with 1 heart container, you can just pick up devil items that cost 1 red heart for basically no cost. Because if you die to taking that item, you respawn with the exact same amount of health, and one more item.
• If you have enough access to Soul Hearts to carry you (like having the Mitre or the Book of Revelations), having only one red heart container won't matter much, especially when you get that red heart container back upon death.
• Playing as The Lost. It has no downsides, since you're not paying anything for it, and you die in one hit anyway
• Playing as a character with 1 red heart in the early game, like Judas. If you get the Dead Cat while at 1 red heart container, taking it has no downsides because you're still at the same level of health.

 

[Worgen]

Dead Cat is what I'd call an "advanced level" item. It's absolutely not an auto-take, rather you have to learn to play around it. Examples of utility of Dead Cat are:

• Devil Rooms. Since you're likely going only with 1 heart container, you can just pick up devil items that cost 1 red heart for basically no cost. Because if you die to taking that item, you respawn with the exact same amount of health, and one more item.
• If you have enough access to Soul Hearts to carry you (like having the Mitre or the Book of Revelations), having only one red heart container won't matter much, especially when you get that red heart container back upon death.
• Playing as The Lost. It has no downsides, since you're not paying anything for it, and you die in one hit anyway
• Playing as a character with 1 red heart in the early game, like Judas. If you get the Dead Cat while at 1 red heart container, taking it has no downsides because you're still at the same level of health.

I seem to recall it even getting rid of the blue hearts that the lost has. But, its also been a really long time since I played so I could be wrong. Even with those examples I would rather have any other item. Cause even with Judas there is a downside, you're not getting a better item. I'm sure there is some speed runner exploit of using being teleported back a room to skip things, but it still seems like a garbage run ending item here. Cause for almost any situation where its useful, it still leaves you fucked.

 

[sXeth]

Navy Blue to be precise. Vergil wears regular blue in DMC3, and as alternate color in 5.


Cerberus?

I mean, that was like 15 years ago. A demon, in a mining camp? I think. From my vaguest recollections of the demo, bullets did nothing, the monster essentially one-tapped you and 98% of the time was sitting outside any possible melee range

(for what its worth, the demo didn't tell any kind of controls or anything, so it was also basically random flailing)

But yeah, I played the more recent ones, spectacle fight is spectacle fighter, but the story was just kind of background nothingness to me. I'd assume maybe it'd make more sense in context of not starting on Part 5 (like Vergil was apparently supposed to be a much more known entity and not a random "and here's Dante's previously unmentioned brother". Though one could also argue that maybe they should take a bit of effort to setup things that occured 20 real time years ago on a game on a completely different platform as far getting new audiences goes.

 

[BrawlMan]

mean, that was like 15 years ago. A demon, in a mining camp? I think. From my vaguest recollections of the demo, bullets did nothing, the monster essentially one-tapped you and 98% of the time was sitting outside any possible melee range

(for what its worth, the demo didn't tell any kind of controls or anything, so it was also basically random flailing)

You were definitely fighting Cerberus. By the way, you were at the entrance to the tower, not a mining camp. The idea is that you're supposed to shoot all three heads, and shoot off the ice on them. Then go into a melee range after they do their ranged attacks. There is a corner exploit you can do where you stay in the very left corner, you can shoot at them and just whittle or hell down. It takes a minute, but it can be done. He's the very first actual boss of the game. Known to mess up a lot of first time players. Myself included. What didn't help, was that when DMC 3 first came out, normal became easy mode, and hard mode became normal mode. Capcom rebalanced everything with the special edition and made it more like the Japanese version.

But yeah, I played the more recent ones, spectacle fight is spectacle fighter, but the story was just kind of background nothingness to me. I'd assume maybe it'd make more sense in context of not starting on Part 5 (like Vergil was apparently supposed to be a much more known entity and not a random "and here's Dante's previously unmentioned brother". Though one could also argue that maybe they should take a bit of effort to setup things that occured 20 real time years ago on a game on a completely different platform as far getting new audiences goes.

Vergil has been established since the first game. By the way, in DMC5, there is a recap you can watch and it will give you a synopsis of each game, and the anime, before 5. Vergil gets mentioned twice. DMC1 and DMC 3.

 

[Bartholen]

Finished Warhammer 40k: Space Marine. I'd say it holds up decently well. It's got a solid combat engine, good graphics and animations, and the story (the little there is in the 6 hours it takes to complete) does its job. I can't imagine how the people who played this at launch must have felt like to wait 12 years for a sequel, since the game obviously ends on a setup for one. It captures the essence of 40k well with properly visceral combat and sound design.

The biggest problems with it are its length and lack of variety. These days this game would be laughed out of the room if it tried to charge 60 bucks for a 6-hour singleplayer with close to zero replay value. You can count the number of enemy types on like 2 hands, and the weapons are all pretty tired by the end. The environments are incredibly repetitive, being only either ruined cityscapes or impossibly grand industrial installations. If it weren't for its seamless mix of melee and ranged combat, this would be committing most of the cardinal sins of 7th gen third person shooters. Thank christ there's no cover combat.

I checked out the multiplayer also, which I surprisingly found a decently populated lobby for. Some psychotic russian hacker with 4000 fucking hours logged in this game was dominating everybody, so so much for that. It's got your typical 7th gen multiplayer level up systems with class unlocks and all, though it seemed that higher level players had a distinct advantage over low level ones with way deadlier weapons.

Looking back on it now, it's kind of fucking insane just how hard Halo and Call of Duty dictated shooters in the 7th gen. How many hundreds of dev teams were forced to split their effort 50/50 between multiplayer and singleplayer to get that sweet sweet CoD money, just for that effort to not be appreciated by anyone ever again? How many hundreds of man hours were spent on perfunctory multiplayer maps, gun models and balancing, only for all of that to end up chucked to the garbage bin of history and forgotten 6 months after release? Say what you will about the glut of insipid busywork sandboxes that dominated 8th gen, at least you can go and play those games 5 years after release and still get the full intended experience. As time passes the multiplayer mania of 7th gen seems downright psychotic. Let's not forget the dozens of failed MMOs from that time either.

 

[Bartholen]

Managed to pull off yet another seemingly impossible feat in Isaac: I beat Delirium with Tainted Lost. I lucked into exactly the right items that I actually had a degree of survivability. Man it feels great.

 

[BrawlMan]

If it weren't for its seamless mix of melee and ranged combat, this would be committing most of the cardinal sins of 7th gen third person shooters. Thank christ there's no cover combat.

Which makes the game age better than a majority of cover shooters in that department.

Looking back on it now, it's kind of fucking insane just how hard Halo and Call of Duty dictated shooters in the 7th gen.

Really, it was mainly COD. Halo did have some grasps back in mid 6th generation and early 7th generation (2006-2009), but once COD4 & Gears of War took off, that was no longer the case.

How many hundreds of dev teams were forced to split their effort 50/50 between multiplayer and singleplayer to get that sweet sweet CoD money, just for that effort to not be appreciated by anyone ever again? How many hundreds of man hours were spent on perfunctory multiplayer maps, gun models and balancing, only for all of that to end up chucked to the garbage bin of history and forgotten 6 months after release? Say what you will about the glut of insipid busywork sandboxes that dominated 8th gen at least you can go and play those games 5 years after release and still get the full intended experience

The problem with that is many of the 8th gen sandbox games are too derivative and boring in the other direction. I don't see myself and most others playing those 5+ years from now. Not to mention, many of them play like crap and only barely better than 7th gen sandbox games.

As time passes the multiplayer mania of 7th gen was seems downright psychotic. Let's not forget the dozens of failed MMOs from that time either.

Fixed. I called this crap out over a decade ago. Some people listened, while others were going about "get with the times", "gaming is more mature", and no wants "baby/colorful games!". Yet most of those people putting up those arguments were ignorant fools and insecure assholes who didn't know much about gaming or thought they knew everything. Obviously, there are people that have broken this habit, but it still pops up now, but in different ways. It's what I hate and find frustrating about most 7th gen AAA games that followed the COD/Gears of War mindset. Ugly and "realistic" colors palettes that make no sense. When most of the these games copied Gears, most of their respective worlds were not in an apocalyptic world. The same cookie cutter cover shooter gameplay, but worst. There's a reason why most of these clones never made it 8th gen consoles or on modern hardware. There's a reason games like Bioshock 1 & 2, Vanquish, and Bulletstorm age better than all of those crappy clones.

Let's not forget the dozens of failed MMOs from that time either.

History repeats itself with all of the "live-service" games, and publishers still have not learned shit.

 

[Dalisclock]

Finally finished Pathfinder Kingmaker last night.

So overall, I enjoyed it. I appreciate the feeling of having a little kingdom sim game in an RPG and the feeling of going from nobody to a monarch not to be trifled with over the course of 5 in-game years. I also kinda like the overall plot of what's driving the big events in the story and the particular event that happens in the final act where the fey world basically starts merging with the regular world right on top of my kingdom. Even the final section where I need to lift the curse placed on my myself and my companions by defeating shadows of past enemies before fighting my way back to my throne room for the final showdown

That being said, the game is a massive fucking time sink, and the final 2 chapters feel very fucking long. The House at the edge of time is basically full of bullshit enemies and puzzle traversal which kinda ruins the premise of going through an otherworldly mansion in an alien world and the final chapter had me going "I'm pretty sure I'm near the end". 5 HOURS LATER I finally reach the end and yeah. The ending feels very hard which it turn slows it down a lot.

Also, I'm kinda said that most of the decisions never end up mattering much overall. LIke before the final battle I see a lot of the characters I befriended instead of killed during various sidequests and conflicts, like the goblin, kolbald, mite and lizardpeople leaders, but that's about it. They don't really do anything besides show up in the final act and even stuff like letting goblins live in my kingdom as long as they don't fuck around too much doesn't seem to have any storyline effect. Like it would be amusing if I had to mediate some goblin dispute about who gets to knife each other or something goblinly like that(IDK what goblins do).

Don't get me wrong, it felt like it was worth it to go through it for me, but I have no urge to go through it again. At least not anytime in the near future.

 

[Bartholen]

Fixed. I called this crap out over a decade ago. Some people listened, while others were going about "get with the times", "gaming is more mature", and no wants "baby/colorful games!". Yet most of those people putting up those arguments were ignorant fools and insecure assholes who didn't know much about gaming or thought they knew everything. Obviously, there are people that have broken this habit, but it still pops up now, but in different ways. It's what I hate and find frustrating about most 7th gen AAA games that followed the COD/Gears of War mindset. Ugly and "realistic" colors palettes that make no sense. When most of the these games copied Gears, most of their respective worlds were not in an apocalyptic world. The same cookie cutter cover shooter gameplay, but worst. There's a reason why most of these clones never made it 8th gen consoles or on modern hardware. There's a reason games like Bioshock 1 & 2, Vanquish, and Bulletstorm age better than all of those crappy clones.

That has... nothing to do with my comment about team-based multiplayer being the dominating trend of the 7th gen, but fair enough I guess. Funnily enough, did you remember that Bioshock 2 had a whole multiplayer mode with unlocks and everything? Who's even mentioned it in the past 5 years?

 

[BrawlMan]

That has... nothing to do with my comment about team-based multiplayer being the dominating trend of the 7th gen, but fair enough I guess. Funnily enough, did you remember that Bioshock 2 had a whole multiplayer mode with unlocks and everything? Who's even mentioned it in the past 5 years?

Actually, it does have plenty to do with what you were saying. I was agreeing and adding on to your commentary. A lot of those games I mentioned at fell into the whole cover shooter trap, also had crappy multiplayer or multiplayer whatever just lifting stuff from COD or Gears, but nowhere near as good or as interesting. With certain cover shooter fans, the publishers, or journalists trying to justify how and why they need to be included in every single game, regardless if it actually needed to or not. The same fools that try to justify why every game needed to have dog crap brown and gunmetal gray color aesthetics. Even freaking Spec-Ops: The Line had a multiplayer, and most people didn't like it. Hell, the multiplayer was outsourced to a different studio, and had nothing to do with the developers who made the single player. Yes, I know BioShock 2 had a multiplayer, but still has a good single player. From what I heard, most fans actually enjoy the multi-player. I had no interest, but I'm happy to see that it did something right, even though it was playing follow the leader in the multiplayer aspects. The game has good single play to fall back on. Last time I heard anyone talk about the game's multiplayer goes around 2020, and that's about it. Though if I remember correctly Monty talks about it in his Bioshock retrospective from last year. BioShock 2 still aged better than Infinite. Yeah, let's remove the weapon wheel and give the character regenerating health shields, and strip down the level design even further. It will be great!

 

[BrawlMan]

I did another playthrough of RE4R, and I finally got the Striker and Ada charm. The first gives you an 8% speed increase, the other reduces prices on body armor fixing. It's kind of pointless for me now on the second option. I also got the achievement for killing the Garador with knife only. With that done, until the DLC comes out, I'm going to go to Street Fighter 6 and play that when I pick it up later this evening.

 

[Bartholen]

Did the first 40-odd minutes of WH40k: Boltgun (they could really do with some more original titles for these games, just saying). One word summary:

Chunky

Everything about this game: pixels are big and chunky. The environments are blocky and chunky. Same goes for the weapons. Sound effects especially chunky. Enemies explode into chunky salsa upon death. You feel big and chunky, but never clunky or slow. Yep, it's as good as everyone says it is.

I knew it was a sequel to Space Marine, but didn't expect it to be such a direct sequel, with explicit references to the game's events right in the opening cinematic.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Playing Fez for the first time. Chill game that makes your brain hurt sometimes.