What are you currently playing?

[Johnny Novgorod]

Ico on the PS3.

I'm doing the under 2 hour speedrun for the Platinum. There's nothing super hard about it if you already know the game and use some overachiever's guide for reference, just in case. The problem is my perfectionism gets the best of me. I've replayed the first section until bench #1 for about and hour, over and over, until I could whittle down the first save to 4 minutes 48 seconds (first try was a little over 7 minutes). There're so many unpredictable variables between the Yorda and shadows AI, Ico's procedural movement cycle, the animations that long overstay button inputs and the mildly outdated camera/controls. It's too tempting to redo a section over and over until you get a perfect run and shave the maximum amount of seconds possible. Gotta be able to afford fucking up later on. Especially the last 30-40 minutes when I won't be able to save the game - and know my time - until I finish.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Ahh…ok as a cheeky subversion, but technically wouldn’t it be more appropriate to use whatever one thinks as “best” example in the genre? As in, GTA4 is a decent Saboteur-like or whatever.

Same thing with Souls likes. There are probably a lot of people who find non-Souls games better examples of that sub genre, but we never hear of people labeling actual Souls games themselves as “Souls-likes”.

But if you check lists of soul-likes (or doom-likes, or roguelikes, or diablo-likes, etc), be them history lists or top 100, chances are iterations of the originals aren't omitted.

It's for the same reason every fantasy novel that's come out in the last 60 years has been called 'the next Lord of the Rings', rather than 'the next [last book that was 'the next Lord of the Rings']'. Because that's the one that's stuck around in the public consciousness after everybody else has come and gone.

 

[sXeth]

Ahh…ok as a cheeky subversion, but technically wouldn’t it be more appropriate to use whatever one thinks as “best” example in the genre? As in, GTA4 is a decent Saboteur-like or whatever.

Same thing with Souls likes. There are probably a lot of people who find non-Souls games better examples of that sub genre, but we never hear of people labeling actual Souls games themselves as “Souls-likes”.

I'd call Salt and Sanctuary the best souls-like. Although that was also on the virtue of it being the best traditional Castlvania sequel in ages lol
(the sequel tried to do Mega Man, and also kind of open world, it didn't work so well)


Anyhow, Wayfinder got its servers de-hicupped, so been playing that. I semi-accidentally managed to get the shotgun, which is definitely more to my taste then the rifle.

Sea of Stars is out on Tuesday, so I've got a solid thing to do for my tuesday/wednesday "weekend"

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Mount and blade Warband (yes, the old one) Brytenwalda mod.

It is really well regarded as far as M&B mods go, but it is still oldschool mount and blade. A really cool concept as a game overall and the historical context in this one was a big pull for a lot of people, myself included, but aside from that it's still the same janky fighting and lack of any real connection with the world. It kind of occupies this weird space between strategy and RPG that makes you want it to somehow be more of both and a bit disappointed that it isn't.

Also, it seems that a lot of the enemies and tasks, after the first starter mission you do, are all pretty tough. Trying to build up your small band of peasants into into an experienced force is quite difficult when most of the enemies seem to be 20 strong bands of heavily armoured viking raiders. Luckily you do get a pretty decent amount of money for selling prisoners and you can bugger off to less viking infested areas of the country.

I don't know, maybe I should just buy Bannerlord, but if it's just M&B with better graphics it won't make much difference. Anyone here played Bannerlord and can compare the two?

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Fort Solis.
There is no...there isn't any...um, how do I put this lightly? why is there no bastard run button?? Even Telltale games coughed up the bear minimum of a begrudging stomp. But this bumbling airheaded protagonist refuses any speed above an aimless geriatric mosey. This feels like the shattering of an intimate unspoken contract.

Voice acting is pretty great tho.

 

[meiam]

Finished D4 with a friend. Blizz are really good at cinematic but the story toward the end is just complete non sense.

Inarius is treated really weird, he's trying to kill Lilith to get back in heaven. He stab, but doesn't kill Lilith, at which point she taunt him that now that he's killed her (?) Heaven still hasn't forgiven him... except he didn't kill her so he has no idea if that would be true. He just kinda give up 99% of the way to success.

You have a couple of ally in going into the final battle and one just kinda die in the most pathetic way possible and completely useless to the story, it really just feel like the writer knew there's suppose to be someone to die at that point but couldn't think of a good way to do it.

Lilith eventually reveal that her plan was to find a human champion to lead human against the evil, which really doesn't explain why she did all the horrible stuff she did. Her entire plan really doesn't make much sense, if she didn't spend so much time killing people for no reason things would have gone far better for her, she's really just evil because the story needed her to be. Anyway we kill her, but she's not dead anyway since demon just come from the dead forever, it really doesn't feel like you accomplish anything

I did like that the character made the much more sensible choice of trapping Mephisto, except the game spend a lot of time making you work together with Mephisto and I think that would have been a much more interesting story to pursue, maybe have some sort of deal with Mephisto. I always like my bad guy when they're more than evil for the sake of being evil and was hoping they were going in that direction. Anyway in the end one of your stupid ally that have never been nothing but a thorn in your side betray you and keep Mephisto, the game does an awful job at making you care for any of them.

Another ally make a deal with a tree where after dead his head will be hung from the tree, which everybody treat like it's a horrible fate... except who care?

Anyway, its an ARPG, don't think about it and just collect loot, it's just sad that they wasted so much effort to present the story so well just to piss it all away with terrible writing.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I wanted to give Into the Radius a bit of a rest before I finish it off, so I picked up Arizona Sunshine and After the Fall both on sale. The first game is definitely showing its age- lots of pop-in, kind of meh visuals, not much in the way of enemy variety- but it's still a fun and solid experience so far.

 

[Catfood220]

I played the demo for a game called Born of Bread. It is a turn based RPG which gave me serious Paper Mario vibes. In that the combat is definitely "inspired" by Paper Mario and it seems to have a sense of humour about it. I mean, the main character is made out of bread. The demo is a bit short, but it gives you an idea of what the game is about. It has my attention.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Continuing BF 2042 while I search for a Gamepass game to dig into.

What else can I say but:


The movement is so fast, that you constantly feel the need to hurtle yourself back into combat to get some easy kills, only to die to some rando who managed to see and shoot you first. Fast paced gameplay like this is just not a good combination for the team work oriented, large map, vehicle heavy gameplay that Battlefield is supposed to have. It is ridiculously disheartening to land some shots, chase down your opponent, then face them and realize they already managed to regenerate their health to full.

I also especially hate that were it not for the icons they put over enemies heads when they're spotted, I would have no idea who I'm killing or who I was killed by. Maybe I'll get used to it eventually, but this I think easily goes down as one of the worst changes a video game sequel has ever implemented. It's a perfect storm, not only does it have massive implications for the gameplay, but it looks like shit and is so clearly motivated by corporate greed.

There is genuinely not a single improvement in this game. Not one. The graphics aren't better, the sound design isn't better, the UI isn't better. Even the fucking music is noticeably worse. This game should just not fucking exist.

I'm so put down by this, I think I might uninstall and download a different Battlefield game instead.

 

[BrawlMan]

I finished Dead Space Remake NG+ Hard. I did all of the optional side quests, but not the marker fragments that nets you the alternate/"true" ending leading into Dead Space 2. I didn't care and just wanted to finish the game. I am going to have to pop in Dead Space 2 at some point, as I have a physical copy of the game. I'll pop it in the XONE someday.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Managed to speedrun Ico under 2 hours. That's Platinum #99. I'm gonna do Shadow of the Colossus for #100.

I hadn't played Ico (the HD remaster) in about 7 years and I think it holds remarkably well. There're a lot of cumbersome little details about movement, animation and AI that get on your nerves when attempting a speedrun with little to no room for error (there is some room but best to approach as if there isn't), but nothing I would say undermines the game at least nominally. I think it's still a hallmark of puzzle design, minimal/background storytelling (without the bullshit Wikipedia lore of something like Dark Souls) and, crucially, escort mechanics.

Timestamps:

• Old Bridge 04:48
• Crane 10:03
• Graveyard 15:42
• Windmill 23:27
• Stone Pillar 29:00
• East Arena 34:40 (arrival)
• East Arena 41:19 (departure)
• Waterfall 48:29 (arrival, before the piston/wheel puzzle)
• Waterfall 54:33 (departure)
• Water Tower 1:00:39 (skipped the Gondola bench)
• West Idol Stairs 1:07:42
• Main Gate 1:18:44
• Getting the Queen's sword (+11:28) = 1:30:12
• Finishing the shadow fight (+17:50) = 1:36:34
• Finishing the Queen fight (+21:43) = 1:40:27
• Arriving in Sandy Beach (+32:27) = 1:51:11
• The Watermelon Ending (+35:30) = 1:54:14

Game stops keeping time for you after the Main Gate save so I tried keeping tabs myself with a timer. I'm probably off by 30 seconds to a minute, give or take. Could've gotten a better time if I didn't play the final fight so conservatively, but I'm not going for any records here. Just happy to Plat this after so many years.

 

[Hawki]

A strange request. You could simply ignore Hawki whenever he gets on his soapbox about the subject.

Complains about me being on a soapbox, while quoting Falcon's own post, which is...him on a soapbox. Not to mention that he asked to drop the topic, which we did, but then immediately restarted it.

Come on, I expected this kind of BS from some people, but not you.

Speaking of BS:

It's for the same reason every fantasy novel that's come out in the last 60 years has been called 'the next Lord of the Rings', rather than 'the next [last book that was 'the next Lord of the Rings']'. Because that's the one that's stuck around in the public consciousness after everybody else has come and gone.

Ah yes, every single fantasy novel since 1963 has been called "the next Lord of the Rings." No exceptions.

Finished D4 with a friend. Blizz are really good at cinematic but the story toward the end is just complete non sense.

Inarius is treated really weird, he's trying to kill Lilith to get back in heaven. He stab, but doesn't kill Lilith, at which point she taunt him that now that he's killed her (?) Heaven still hasn't forgiven him... except he didn't kill her so he has no idea if that would be true. He just kinda give up 99% of the way to success.

Okay, I'm not even halfway through D4 (assuming each act is of equal length that is), so obviously you're in a better position of authority in some areas, and yes, fiction is inherently subjective to some extent, but this really comes off as having missed the point.

Inarius was never going to get back into Heaven. Based on his last moments, it's evident that he'd either deluded himself into believing he would (not out of the question, since Inarius has always been a narcicist), or that he was so desparate he was willing to go the full mile in the attempt. From an in-universe perspective, him killing Lilith wouldn't solve anything - Heaven was quite content to hand him over to Hell 3000 years ago, there's nothing to suggest from an objective standpoint that they'd welcome him back in. From a writing perspective, it's Inarius's lowest moment. Lilith points out, correctly, that Inarius has been leading the Cathedral of Light for decades, that he's done everything possible in an attempt to get back into Heaven's graces, and so far, he's been met with nothing but silence. It's telling from a thematic standpoint that Inarius intentionally altered Rathma's prophecy to make it seem like he'd be the one to kill Lilith ("a spear of light, piercing Hatred's heart, And he who was bound in chains would be set free"), when in reality, Inarius's 'heart' is the thing being pierced, and Mephisto is the one who's freed (in a sense). Also telling at his lowest point (literally and figuratively), Inarius sinks even further into Hell.

So, yeah. The entire sequence is done excellently IMO, since it works on various levels. Of course, if there's information I'm not privy to, feel free to present it. The idea that Heaven would suddenly welcome Inarius if he killed Lilith just doesn't ring true on any level, be it plot, thematic, or anything else, and if there is something in the game to suggest that, then, well, can't help but be surprised by that given the lore/story as a whole.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Finished D4 with a friend. Blizz are really good at cinematic but the story toward the end is just complete non sense.

Inarius is treated really weird, he's trying to kill Lilith to get back in heaven. He stab, but doesn't kill Lilith, at which point she taunt him that now that he's killed her (?) Heaven still hasn't forgiven him... except he didn't kill her so he has no idea if that would be true. He just kinda give up 99% of the way to success.

You have a couple of ally in going into the final battle and one just kinda die in the most pathetic way possible and completely useless to the story, it really just feel like the writer knew there's suppose to be someone to die at that point but couldn't think of a good way to do it.

Lilith eventually reveal that her plan was to find a human champion to lead human against the evil, which really doesn't explain why she did all the horrible stuff she did. Her entire plan really doesn't make much sense, if she didn't spend so much time killing people for no reason things would have gone far better for her, she's really just evil because the story needed her to be. Anyway we kill her, but she's not dead anyway since demon just come from the dead forever, it really doesn't feel like you accomplish anything

I did like that the character made the much more sensible choice of trapping Mephisto, except the game spend a lot of time making you work together with Mephisto and I think that would have been a much more interesting story to pursue, maybe have some sort of deal with Mephisto. I always like my bad guy when they're more than evil for the sake of being evil and was hoping they were going in that direction. Anyway in the end one of your stupid ally that have never been nothing but a thorn in your side betray you and keep Mephisto, the game does an awful job at making you care for any of them.

Another ally make a deal with a tree where after dead his head will be hung from the tree, which everybody treat like it's a horrible fate... except who care?

Anyway, its an ARPG, don't think about it and just collect loot, it's just sad that they wasted so much effort to present the story so well just to piss it all away with terrible writing.

The plot might not have made much sense but the climax and ending of the main campaign might have been the most fun I've had gaming all year. Just the spectacle of it, and melting all those baddies with my ice sorceress. I dunno.. it was just hella cool.
Granted I soured on the game immediately and sold it back to Gamestop, hahah. I tried season 1 and the whole true aRPG lemme grind up and level up kind of stuff but I just got way too bored. So I learned (or confirmed) that the aRPG life ain't for me but that specific part I did really enjoy for the sheer spectacle. The battle between the angel guy and Lilith is my favorite cut scene of the year so far.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Complains about me being on a soapbox, while quoting Falcon's own post, which is...him on a soapbox. Not to mention that he asked to drop the topic, which we did, but then immediately restarted it.

Come on, I expected this kind of BS from some people, but not you.

And I expected puns about soap from you.

To be honest, I didn't really read the argument you two had that closely because I don't really care about Overwatch. I just meant that you have a right to say whatever you want to say and if Falcon doesn't like it he doesn't have to read it or respond to it. Didn't mean to offend you.

 

[meiam]

The plot might not have made much sense but the climax and ending of the main campaign might have been the most fun I've had gaming all year. Just the spectacle of it, and melting all those baddies with my ice sorceress. I dunno.. it was just hella cool.
Granted I soured on the game immediately and sold it back to Gamestop, hahah. I tried season 1 and the whole true aRPG lemme grind up and level up kind of stuff but I just got way too bored. So I learned (or confirmed) that the aRPG life ain't for me but that specific part I did really enjoy for the sheer spectacle. The battle between the angel guy and Lilith is my favorite cut scene of the year so far.

That's what I mean when I say the presentation is really good but is letdown by a terrible story, it would have been really easy to just slightly redo the story to just be better while keeping all the great story moment, example:

Have the party actually make it to hell a little bit earlier and have the fight against Lilith right away, but instead of killing her, she just gets wounded and runs away. You start to chase her, but you know where she's going and instead you head to Mephisto palace. Once there you're blocked by Astaroth and Donam fight him while telling you to go on, he kills him but is wounded in the process (better to die killing his sons killer than from the scenery). Once at Mephisto's, you have the same little chat, except useless girl makes a point that actually, hell is very much on the losing side of things, the prime evil have attacked humans multiple time and lost everytime and now Mephisto is helpless, even his demon have betrayed him and sided with Lilith, and he has to ask human for help. Human are also constantly getting stronger trough technology and sheer number and now there's an army of human in hell killing all kinds of demon. So maybe Mephisto would like to switch to the winning side for once. Mephisto agree and they use the soulstone to fuse useless girl and Mephisto willingly.

In the meantime, Inarius and Lilith have there little fight, except Inarius actually kill Lilith, but in her dying breath she points out that Heaven will never forgive him. After she dies Inarius freaks out and start thinking that Heaven maybe will forgive him if he kills all human, and he starts killing his follower. You show up and then have to fight him as the last boss.

 

[Hawki]

Once at Mephisto's, you have the same little chat, except useless girl makes a point that actually, hell is very much on the losing side of things, the prime evil have attacked humans multiple time and lost everytime and now Mephisto is helpless, even his demon have betrayed him and sided with Lilith, and he has to ask human for help.

Um, what?

You can pull a "technically" and say that the Prime Evils have lost against humans in a sense, but that's one hell (no pun intended) of a technically. Dark Exile? Sure, the Prime Evils were each imprisoned, but all of these things ended up furthering their aims (e.g. Mephisto corrupts all of Zakarum), and that was after centuries of carnage. D1? Sure, Diablo is defeated 'technically,' but at the cost of the heroes' sanity, plus all of Tristram. D2? Sure, each Prime Evil is defeated in a sense, but it avails humanity nothing but a short repreive. D3? Yes, Diablo is defeated at the end of vanilla, but that's rendered moot by the end of Reaper of Souls. The entire thematic throughline with the Prime Evils (heck, Hell itself) is that they can't be defeated, that all you can do is buy yourself time, effectively. Every attempt to even seal the Prime Evils in soulstones has ended in disaster.

Even in the scope of D4 itself and nothing else, the Prime Evils have "won," at least in the long term. As I understand, it's one of the key drivers for Elias's motivations. Eventually, the Prime Evils will return, and when they do, there's nothing to stop them. Mephisto (as the Bloodied Wolf) outright states that he liked the world as it was (bleak, shattered hellscape) before Lilith turned up. Lilith is the threat to Mephisto, humans are nothing more than playthings sans their nephalem birthright, and that seems to have faded into the background).

Human are also constantly getting stronger trough technology and sheer number and now there's an army of human in hell killing all kinds of demon.

I'm assuming this is based on POD-theory; as in, you're entertaining a hypothetical that would have to emerge from the ending of ROS, since none of that is true in D4 itself, or in anything between D3 and D4. Humanity lost 50-90% of its number by the end of ROS, there's nothing in-game (that I've seen) to suggest that technology has improved. If you want to suggest that's how the story should have gone, okay, sure, that's a different issue, but there's no way D4 could exist as is if it did. You'd need a completely different game for it.

So maybe Mephisto would like to switch to the winning side for once. Mephisto agree and they use the soulstone to fuse useless girl and Mephisto willingly.

Alright, seriously, what's wrong with Neyrelle?

In the meantime, Inarius and Lilith have there little fight, except Inarius actually kill Lilith, but in her dying breath she points out that Heaven will never forgive him. After she dies Inarius freaks out and start thinking that Heaven maybe will forgive him if he kills all human, and he starts killing his follower. You show up and then have to fight him as the last boss.

Eh, could work. That being said, that comes more off as a repeat of Reaper of Souls.

 

[BrawlMan]

Loving Armored Core VI. The franchise that truly deserves the abbreviation, AC. From Software happily delivered on old-school, PS2 style, hot mech on mech action, mixed with plenty of new school. I am still on Chapter 1, but I am probably near the end of it. I do the training missions to get free stuff and upgrades that are better than what's sold at the shop.

While downloading AC VI at the time, I did some more boss replays in NMH III. The night before that, I upgraded the rest of Travis's stats and attributes, getting the trophy for it. I do find it weird this game is on XBOX ONE & SERIES and PS4/PS5, but neither are the first two games. Travis Strikes Again is on their respective digital stores, but neither 1 nor 2. Grasshopper and Suda should really get on that for those that care about the story, and don't have a Wii, Switch, nor don't play on Steam.

 

[jojithepainter]

Just finished Death's Door, I rate it a strong 8/10 (due to how the combat never really evolved but everything else is superb), and I'll most likely give that Quake 2 remake a shot next

 

[bluegate]

Playing through Dragon Quest 11 and ... ugh, it's a rather dull experience thusfar.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Um, what?

You can pull a "technically" and say that the Prime Evils have lost against humans in a sense, but that's one hell (no pun intended) of a technically. Dark Exile? Sure, the Prime Evils were each imprisoned, but all of these things ended up furthering their aims (e.g. Mephisto corrupts all of Zakarum), and that was after centuries of carnage. D1? Sure, Diablo is defeated 'technically,' but at the cost of the heroes' sanity, plus all of Tristram. D2? Sure, each Prime Evil is defeated in a sense, but it avails humanity nothing but a short repreive. D3? Yes, Diablo is defeated at the end of vanilla, but that's rendered moot by the end of Reaper of Souls. The entire thematic throughline with the Prime Evils (heck, Hell itself) is that they can't be defeated, that all you can do is buy yourself time, effectively. Every attempt to even seal the Prime Evils in soulstones has ended in disaster.

Even in the scope of D4 itself and nothing else, the Prime Evils have "won," at least in the long term. As I understand, it's one of the key drivers for Elias's motivations. Eventually, the Prime Evils will return, and when they do, there's nothing to stop them. Mephisto (as the Bloodied Wolf) outright states that he liked the world as it was (bleak, shattered hellscape) before Lilith turned up. Lilith is the threat to Mephisto, humans are nothing more than playthings sans their nephalem birthright, and that seems to have faded into the background).

So basically the Diablo story is that humanity is on a never ending treadmill of fighting the same enemies over and over and never really accomplishing anything? Kind of like how you are intended to play the game?