What are you currently playing?

[wings012]

Now with this, I have been considering that perhaps full 3D is not a direction for Pokemon should go in. Or at least, the Sword/Shield and beyond version where Pokemon are visible in the overworld. In fact, if someone from GameFreak held a gun to my head I would suggest thus: do with Pokemon and the HD era, what Castlevania: Symphony of the Night did with CDs and the 3D era. Keep the sprites, tart them up to 4K and use all that lovely space to make the biggest, most badass Pokemon game ever. Seriously if you took all the space required to make Paldea but scaled everything back to the Pokemon Black/White era look, you could probably fit three fucking regions on that Switch cart.

I haven't played the game but I remember having a lot of strong feelings for the trailer. I work as a 3D artist and was kinda triggered for various reasons.

I somewhat sympathize with the devs cause they have to somehow shit a game out every year to coincide with all the multimedia and merchandising that goes on. But I think they really do need to take a gap year or more to prepare for a new generation of hardware. Clearly they were just completely winging it all this time. Can't imagine what will happen when there's a hypothetical Switch 2 with the graphical capabilities of the PS4/XBOne generation.

It is Pokemon at the end of the day and I think if they get one game down pat, then asset/shader reuse will go a long way in making the next game less of a poo process considering their crazy short development cycles.

Scarlet/Violet's art direction just confuses me. There's a mix of buildings that look like they were ripped straight out of the handheld games and plopped down, and then there's some attempt at realistic looking stuff with reflections and shaders. One window has that cartoon light reflection painted on it, another has an environment map reflecting on it. One brick wall looks like it was generated from a real life photo texture with normal mapping, another just has plain flat hand drawn bricks. Like, what is going on? It feels like they hired all manners of outsource companies and slapped shit together with no QC/QA/Direction.

The brick thing.

3DS ass looking building.

I feel like they can't decide what their art direction is sometimes. There's these high res fabric thing going on with the character's clothes if you see it up close, but is barely visible for most part. Parts of the terrain look cartoony as fuck but yet you got these realistic-ish-styled terrain mapping. It's like they are trying to go for high fidelity, but they don't know what they are doing nor is the Switch really capable enough for it so it's just weird.

Sword and Shield at least looked coherent and I feel like they should've built on top of that...

I honestly would be fine if a mainline Pokemon game had lower key 3D graphics. Take Pokemon Masters for example. It is a gacha mobile game but the graphics I feel are quite nice. Though the more I look at it now and the more I'm suspecting the game of reusing pre-rendered or illustrated backgrounds so I'm not sure how practical it is to follow its style for a full 3D open world. Though I'm pretty sure the main lobby is at least modeled out even if the outdoor story backgrounds and battle backgrounds aren't. Sometimes stylized art is harder to mass produce even if it looks simpler. "Realistic"-styled stuff is easier to procedurally generate and also outsource to - and maybe that's the cause of the rather eclectic art direction of Scarlet/Violet.

I personally would love to play a GBA specc-ed Pokemon game, but with every region and 64 gyms or however the fuck many there are these days.

 

[Gordon_4]

I haven't played the game but I remember having a lot of strong feelings for the trailer. I work as a 3D artist and was kinda triggered for various reasons.

I somewhat sympathize with the devs cause they have to somehow shit a game out every year to coincide with all the multimedia and merchandising that goes on. But I think they really do need to take a gap year or more to prepare for a new generation of hardware. Clearly they were just completely winging it all this time. Can't imagine what will happen when there's a hypothetical Switch 2 with the graphical capabilities of the PS4/XBOne generation.

It is Pokemon at the end of the day and I think if they get one game down pat, then asset/shader reuse will go a long way in making the next game less of a poo process considering their crazy short development cycles.

Scarlet/Violet's art direction just confuses me. There's a mix of buildings that look like they were ripped straight out of the handheld games and plopped down, and then there's some attempt at realistic looking stuff with reflections and shaders. One window has that cartoon light reflection painted on it, another has an environment map reflecting on it. One brick wall looks like it was generated from a real life photo texture with normal mapping, another just has plain flat hand drawn bricks. Like, what is going on? It feels like they hired all manners of outsource companies and slapped shit together with no QC/QA/Direction.

The brick thing.

3DS ass looking building.

I feel like they can't decide what their art direction is sometimes. There's these high res fabric thing going on with the character's clothes if you see it up close, but is barely visible for most part. Parts of the terrain look cartoony as fuck but yet you got these realistic-ish-styled terrain mapping. It's like they are trying to go for high fidelity, but they don't know what they are doing nor is the Switch really capable enough for it so it's just weird.

Sword and Shield at least looked coherent and I feel like they should've built on top of that...

I honestly would be fine if a mainline Pokemon game had lower key 3D graphics. Take Pokemon Masters for example. It is a gacha mobile game but the graphics I feel are quite nice. Though the more I look at it now and the more I'm suspecting the game of reusing pre-rendered or illustrated backgrounds so I'm not sure how practical it is to follow its style for a full 3D open world. Though I'm pretty sure the main lobby is at least modeled out even if the outdoor story backgrounds and battle backgrounds aren't. Sometimes stylized art is harder to mass produce even if it looks simpler. "Realistic"-styled stuff is easier to procedurally generate and also outsource to - and maybe that's the cause of the rather eclectic art direction of Scarlet/Violet.

I personally would love to play a GBA specc-ed Pokemon game, but with every region and 64 gyms or however the fuck many there are these days.

Its just, there is so MUCH stuff in Violent and Scarlet. Like there's enough to have made two gens worth of games almost. Like the Academy itself could have been the fucking game if they'd expanded it, but its just....there.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I mean, doesn't Krato's crimes not really go that addressed. He indirectly killed hundreds of thousands if not millions on his quest for revenge against... essentially himself. That isn't even talking about those innocents he directly kills either for health, to complete a puzzle or for yuks.

Yeah, but Kratos benefits from the softening of time. GoW '18 coming out 8 years after GoW3 helped dull the actions of that game. And while his crimes don't get addressed as much as they should, from Kratos' behaviour in GoW '18 you very much get the impression that he knows how much he fucked up, and that he's trying to just stay out of anyone's business now. Also, both '18 and Ragnarok aren't shy about dunking on Kratos for his past.

Freya was annoying and for me half was her performance and the other scripting, but yeah what was in the game was less of an issue for me as what wasn't. I was really hoping we’d find out more about the aftermath of the Greek era, or at least something to flesh out the mythological connections for the couple centuries in between then and now. Instead we get dad of boy 2: rebellious teenager edition and a couple dream flashbacks of him with Faye, which is a blip on the time scale.

They tried to cram too much story in one game, because they wanted to end this arc with Ragnarok. As soon as I heard that before release I expected a lot of unfullfilled potential. I also figured something from Kratos' past would make a return, specifically the murder of his own family and how this would cause the wedge between him and Atreus. I mean, his dad killed his own sister. While it does get brought up it is only mentioned in passing and then forgotten, which sucks. Atreus still doesn't even know this big ass skeleton in the closet.

Also the boss fights. While more varied in Rag, they were still pretty tame by classic GoW standards. The dragon fight from 2018 was still the high point and that’s kinda sad as who knows when the next time we’ll see another one of these games will be.

I can't say I agree too much, at least in regards to the dragon fight. I never quite liked that one, felt too much like just you on a platform with a giant monster on the edge of the stage that you only get to hit occasionally. The Garm fight in Ragnarok felt like a better version of that, actually feeling like it was in the same room with you despite being the size of a building. I will say I enjoyed the Baldur intro fight more than Thor's, but the fight against Heimdal was fantastic.

 

[Silvanus]

Finished Oracle of Ages yesterday (on the Switch), which was one of the few remaining Zelda entries I hadn't yet played. Enjoyed it a lot more than Seasons. Though I'll need to replay Seasons at some point to get the linked game ending anyway.

Then I'll only have a few Zeldas left-- Four Swords Adventures and Triforce Heroes, then I think I'm done. Four Swords Adventures is tough to get hold of now.

 

[BrawlMan]

Yeah, but Kratos benefits from the softening of time. GoW '18 coming out 8 years after GoW3 helped dull the actions of that game. And while his crimes don't get addressed as much as they should, from Kratos' behaviour in GoW '18 you very much get the impression that he knows how much he fucked up, and that he's trying to just stay out of anyone's business now. Also, both '18 and Ragnarok aren't shy about dunking on Kratos for his past.

They tried to cram too much story in one game, because they wanted to end this arc with Ragnarok. As soon as I heard that before release I expected a lot of unfullfilled potential. I also figured something from Kratos' past would make a return, specifically the murder of his own family and how this would cause the wedge between him and Atreus. I mean, his dad killed his own sister. While it does get brought up it is only mentioned in passing and then forgotten, which sucks. Atreus still doesn't even know this big ass skeleton in the closet.

I can't say I agree too much, at least in regards to the dragon fight. I never quite liked that one, felt too much like just you on a platform with a giant monster on the edge of the stage that you only get to hit occasionally. The Garm fight in Ragnarok felt like a better version of that, actually feeling like it was in the same room with you despite being the size of a building. I will say I enjoyed the Baldur intro fight more than Thor's, but the fight against Heimdal was fantastic.

Story and character wise, I'm satisfied with what we got in the end. I know they couldn't get everything, but it's not worth getting upset over. Santa Monica could only do so much. Game is long enough as it is. I do agree that Ragnarok has better boss battles.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Playing God of War Ragnarok again, I got to the part where you're partnered up with Freya, and I was hit by how much I fucking hate this character.

First off, I don't think it's a very good performance. The actress herself is decent with a good voice, but her acting just doesn't fit the character. Feels like she's doing a stage performance where every word needs to be loud and enunciated for the audience members in the back to hear.

But what's worse is just how this character is written, how her redemption is written. It's just hard for me to grant this character any empathy when her biggest crime goes completely unadressed. That being her knowing how to break Baldur's curse, but actively withholding that knowledge to leave her son in a prison of eternal agony. The game seems to conveniently forget this. We even get a line from her about how she decided to leave Odin when he asked her to put the same spell she put on Baldur on him, and how when she saw what it did to her son it showed her how depraved Odin must be to ask her for this. Really!? B*tch, you knew how to break this spell, and you didn't, you just fucking didn't!

And then it gets even worse when later as Atreus you come across her big turtle house, with the turtle frozen near death in the perpetual blizzard. This was her first friend after being kicked out of her home, who gave her shelter. But due to her want to kill Kratos she just left it to freeze to death, eventhough this fucking turtle is like half a mile up river from where Kratos lives. And you couldn't take one hour out of you day to check up on this poor guy? It's never even brought up afterward - no Atreus once being reunited again with the gang telling her 'Hey, your turtle friend was near dead in the snow.' or her remarking on her shame for having neglected him. Nope, nothing. And then she even has the fucking gall to chide Kratos on his wolves having matted fur?! Wow, wow, WOW! Fuck you Freya!

And to think by the end Kratos is indefinitely partnered with Freya... Ugh. Why couldn't it have been Thrud, she's cool. Actually a DLC with Kratos and Thrud wielding Mjolnir going around kicking ass, sign me up.

But anyway, yeah, that's it - Freya sucks.

Tbh that kinda stuff I can let slide, it's more the sneaking suspicion she's likely an anti-vaxxer I can't yet shake. Possibly selling supplements through an MLM scheme on her influencer channels too.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Tower of Fantasy. Some F2P game full of anime girls, might be a genshin impact type game, but I wouldn't know cause once the in-game intro cutscene slows down time during a big Dino monster chase to let you choose between fleeing anime boy or anime girl and their name, it just displays "Unknown Error!" (The utter worst of error messages, a nonchalant digital shrug...bah!) message box when I click continue and that's it. That's all it ever does. No matter what tricks i try to trick it with. Ohh well. You tried, ToF. Or I tried. We both tried together. And all we gained is loss.

 

[BrawlMan]

Double Dragon Gaiden - Tried going for an unlockable boss duo: Linda and Abobo. Abobo is larger (but moves mostly quick running) and slower grappler character. He does damage, but he's a much bigger target. They both make a good battle duo. I nearly have everything unlocked. Some of the trophies are glitched unfortunately, and I don't know when a patch update comes out to fix that. I have to say, Linda is definitely my favorite of the playable mini-bosses. They have their own dedicated move sets, and not just boss moves thrown in from their AI counterparts.

 

[Dalisclock]

Pathfinder: WOTR

So I FINALLY finished Act 3 and it only took me 2 months to do it. Now, to be fair, there was like a week I couldn't play at all due to being on a camping trip and a number of other days I just didn't play at all due to exhaustion or time or whatever. That being said, Act 3 is really big. The game opens up a lot, with a much bigger world map then in chapter 2 and a lot more quests, both side and main, then the previous few chapters.

And I'm still enjoying it. My character is hitting stride, I've got my mythic power and my path(Azata) and all the characters that can be recruited are recruited, as well as all character quests done as much as they can be at this time. That being said, the Crusade mode has lost it's luster a bit. There's little reason to have more then one big doom stack of an army you move around the map with a mage general that can easily wipe the floor with most opponents and a majority of demon armies sit wherever they happen to be and just wait for you to come to them, where occasionally a mobile demon army will spawn and siege one of your forts on the way to your HQ. There's no real sense of strategy because of how most armies don't move and the ones that do move in very predictable paths when they show up and fighting them is pretty simplistic. Also any given fort is interchangeable with any other given fort you have and mostly they serve to slow the enemy down other then have some 4X building to confer bonuses for troop recruitment and such.

Ironically, money feels almost useless at this point. I have so much cash I don't know what the fuck to do with it because almost nothing I can buy is better then what I find on crusadet(two of my normal party members don't even use weapons anyway) and unlike Kingmaker, I don't need to continually spend my own money to keep the crusade going because I have a pretty good income just for my armies. In fact, I don't think I 've needed to spend any of my own money on the crusade mode. Also because I find so much loot and just sell like 95% of it anyway at the first vendor I see.

The main gameplay is otherwise still good and the plot manages to stay interesting enough. Sure, you're fighting demons and demons are almost always evil, but they also don't get along with each other very much so you get to see a fair bit of demons more then happy to fuck each other over and occasionally make deals with crusaders(you and your party) to do it. The writing is pretty good even if there's a LOT of it, maybe a bit too much at times. I do like the little councils you attending for crusade, where everyone throws in their advice for a given situation and some of them try to browbeat you into their viewpoint(looking at you Kitsune lady).

So onto Act 4!

 

[BrawlMan]

Double Dragon Gaiden - Tried going for an unlockable boss duo: Linda and Abobo. Abobo is larger (but moves mostly quick running) and slower grappler character. He does damage, but he's a much bigger target. They both make a good battle duo. I nearly have everything unlocked. Some of the trophies are glitched unfortunately, and I don't know when a patch update comes out to fix that. I have to say, Linda is definitely my favorite of the playable mini-bosses. They have their own dedicated move sets, and not just boss moves thrown in from their AI counterparts.

Update: I unlocked everything now. All characters, tips, artwork, and music.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Atlus Fallen. Hmm. Many thoughts are forming. Did make an unrelated gif from it to amuse myself tho.

 

[Worgen]

Finally finished Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Not to say its bad or anything, but I got distracted from beating it by Baldurs Gate 3 and then the Re-release for Quake 2. The final boss for Ratchet and Clank is so cool, it does not disappoint, its bombastic, huge, lots going on and hard enough to kill you. I'm still surprised that this game on the second hardest most is actually kinda hard, it managed to kill me a few times, which is more then most action games do at this point in my gaming career. But yeah, its really cool, looks fantastic on pc and runs quite well even at maxed out settings, there are a few shader glitches with certain reflections when you have rtx on and I did have a couple crashes, but it still ran well and I would recommend it if you are looking for the kinda 3rd person action platformer that really doesn't seem to get made anymore, especially with a big budget.

 

[Gordon_4]

Still on Pokémon Scarlet. I must say it’s nice to have a companion with relatable goals like Arven in the mix with the usual - although for me very endearing - pro battler rival.

But yeah I finished up Arven’s main arc last night.

Spoiler

All he wants is his very good and loyal boi back. Who can argue with that motive?

I also still adore having Koriadon around; even if design and personality wise it feels like one of their devs was watching ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and yelling “Write that down!” every sixty seconds.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Finished Oracle of Ages yesterday (on the Switch), which was one of the few remaining Zelda entries I hadn't yet played. Enjoyed it a lot more than Seasons. Though I'll need to replay Seasons at some point to get the linked game ending anyway.

Then I'll only have a few Zeldas left-- Four Swords Adventures and Triforce Heroes, then I think I'm done. Four Swords Adventures is tough to get hold of now.

Yeah I also liked Oracle of Ages more than Seasons, was cooler to go back and forth and see how the world changes across time than to change seasons on every screen. Though, I did like Subrosia a lot and I think that was Seasons. They are both pretty decent games though. I also need to get the linked game ending. I've owned the games since they released and I still haven't done this. I think I didn't even realize that it was possible when I was a kid, but I really don't have an excuse now.

I quite liked Four Swords Adventures as well. It's only a couple hours long, but I remember really enjoying it when I played it quite a few years ago.

 

[Absent]

Nothing. After a year-long marathon, I'm in my "Videogames? Pft! Who plays them? Pointless waste of time!" phase. Back to binging TV series and reading books on dracula, like a grown up !

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Nothing. After a year-long marathon, I'm in my "Videogames? Pft! Who plays them? Pointless waste of time!" phase. Back to binging TV series and reading books on dracula, like a grown up !

I do that on a roughly fortnightly rotation. WTF am I doing with my life?!? Uninstall everything, including the gaming platforms themselves, delete mod files, etc

Right! Now: Read, think, plan, focus, exercise, talk with your gf more, see friends, socialise, go out into the world, sort your brain out, find some sort of meaningful direction and drive...hmmm...I might just reinstall steam and give Solasta another go, they might have fixed that bugged quest...(they have BTW).

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Finally finished Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Not to say its bad or anything, but I got distracted from beating it by Baldurs Gate 3 and then the Re-release for Quake 2. The final boss for Ratchet and Clank is so cool, it does not disappoint, its bombastic, huge, lots going on and hard enough to kill you. I'm still surprised that this game on the second hardest most is actually kinda hard, it managed to kill me a few times, which is more then most action games do at this point in my gaming career. But yeah, its really cool, looks fantastic on pc and runs quite well even at maxed out settings, there are a few shader glitches with certain reflections when you have rtx on and I did have a couple crashes, but it still ran well and I would recommend it if you are looking for the kinda 3rd person action platformer that really doesn't seem to get made anymore, especially with a big budget.

That game is so fun. Was like the 2nd exclusive I played on the PS5 after Demons Souls remake. I feel like either because it’s so many entries into a franchise or it’s a mostly linear cartoony platformer it’s maybe dismissed or underrated?

Anyway I’m also on a gaming break until Armored Core 6

 

[meiam]

Play a few hours of ghostwire tokyo, they added new enemy and weapons, the enemy are a good addition because almost all the base enemy are the same and the new one are nicely varied. The new weapon are clunky to use thought, they made they an alternate mode of fire for existing weapon rather than just make them brand new. Its pretty nice that they supported the game post release, still feel like the game just feel just short of brilliance, which is a shame.

 

[Hawki]

Quick update on stuff:

Fire Emblem Heroes

Going through the game's paralogues since the main story has stalled (in the sense that one chapter is released at a time, so all I can do is wait for the next one to release). Don't have much to say, most of them are based on holiday activities (Christmas, Easter, whatever), don't offer much in terms of gameplay or plot.

Diablo IV

Spoiler

I'm still dealing with disconnection issues, but they're not technically as bad as they once were. I've completed Act II (finally), but like Act I, there's still dungeons I haven't done, still segments of the map I haven't explored, etc. The level scaling is still irritating, because no matter how powerful my toon gets (right now, somewhere in the 40s), the game will always keep up. I get why, given the nature of it being an open world game, but still...

Anyway, I don't have the time to give a step by step account of my activities in Scosglen (which, of course, has been ruined by contentious people who make enemies for life), but the bare basics are:

-I absolutely love the atmosphere, it's exactly how Scosglen should be based on everything that's been established over the years, even if this is the first time the games have visited it. Primal Celtic/Gaelic feel, the music, the atmosphere, the dire straits, etc.

-I've debated Lilith's motivations on the D4 thread, and so far, the theme has mostly remained true of Lilith rarely forcing people to do anything, but rather unlocking their inhibitions. Ariadnah puts her social Darwinism-esque goals into order because of Lilith. The other guy (forget his name) hates the Cathedral so much that he's willing to basically be bled to death and become one with a tree (long story) to get back at them, even in the knowledge that Lilith's goals are aided. I should add that while gore has never really been make or break for me in games (e.g. Mortal Kombat and Gears of War - the gore's nice, but it's icing on the cake), the amount of gore in said area, the entire landscape writhing with blood (vessels)...yikes.

-I don't have the time to go through every side quest, but there's two that stick out in my mind. One is where you help a girl complete a friend's bucket list (not literally called that, but that's what it is effectively), and I admit, it did get me in the feels, since she's still clearly dealing with grief, and there's no proper resolution. As in, her friend's list is complete, the quest ends, but it's debateable as to how much it helped her misery (again, this is Diablo IV, where misery is the default state for most people). The second is helping a barkeep who turns out to be a former mercenary who turns out to have done some pretty nasty things, etc. Again, it's not groundbreaking by the standards of most RPGs, but it's appreciated all the same, especially in a genre that has rarely put emphasis on story.

-Back to Lilith, there's a break in the usual motif of using people's own desires against them, namely when she plunges the soulstone into Yorin's forehead. I'll be honest, this entire sequence of events rubs me the wrong way. First, Eldhaime Keep being built above a soulstone chamber is just another repeat of Tristram, and as a Horadrim, Donan should have known that. Even if Lilith was never involved, chances are Astaroth would have started corrupting people eventually like Diablo and Mephisto did. Second, Lilith plunging the soulstone into Yorin breaks her former M.O. of never really harming anyone directly. Third, where'd they get a soulstone from? That's not a question that's hard to answer, since the destruction of the Worldstone would have resulted in plenty of shards (heck, that's the main plot in Immortal), but those shards should be inherently malignant, so how's this one meant to work?

-That all aside, the entire sequence with Astaroth is great. Cerrigar burns, you have a giant demon riding a giant dog demon with a boss fight that takes place across entire sections of the city (not complex, but it's fun), and by the end of it...again, Lilith's won, your character's failed, lots of people are dead, the Cathedral of Light has fled, Cerrigar is in ruins, so basically, everything's gone from bad to really bad. And while I've spoilt myself, the hints are clear in circumstpect - Act I had Lilith gain a key to Hell, Act II has her bargain with Astaroth to get her access to a place within Hell...it's all coming together, to use another Simpsons quote.

-Moving onto Act III, we get to the Dry Steppes. The inspirations here are a bit harder to put down - the Fractured Peaks clearly takes inspiration from Russian/Slavic culture, Scosglen is based on Scotland/Celtic/Gaelic culture, the Dry Steppes seem to primarily draw inspiration from northern Asia (e.g. the Mongols, sans horses or any settlements you'd expect from nomads), coupled with a bit of sub-Saharan African culture. We'll see if the zone grows on me over time I guess.

-So, I admit, I smirked the entire time when the player character reunites with a very drunk Lorath. Since this is an isometric game, the interactions have to be carried by the voice acting, and said voice acting is great, not to mention that we get what the game allows for when it comes to body movement and whatnot.

-Overall, the zone is fine, just don't have much to talk about. Ghuulrahn is an exception, given its aesthetic, both in the overlook and in the streets itself, not to mention the associated horror (e.g. you come across a journal of a prisoner being force-fed before the cannibals eat them). Still, the main issue is the constant disconnects. TBH, I think it's something wrong with my modem itself, but if so, there's very little I can do to fix it.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Nothing. After a year-long marathon, I'm in my "Videogames? Pft! Who plays them? Pointless waste of time!" phase. Back to binging TV series and reading books on dracula, like a grown up !

As a teen, my mother asked me why I would waste so much time on my video games. I asked her what was the difference between me sitting on the couch for three hours playing video games and her sitting on the couch for three hours watching a TV show. Complete and utter silence. First time I'd ever won an argument that soundly.

Anyway, just got past Korsica's boss battle. That. SUCKED. It's literally just a quick time event, which feels completely at odds with the rest of the game. The miniboss enemies have this problem as well. You don't fight them nearly as much as other types of enemies, so you just do not have enough time to get used to their parry minigames.

Still having a lot of fun though. I wish there was this much music in my life though.