What are you currently playing?

[BrawlMan]

I've been playing Modern Warfare 3's (2011) Survival Mode. I am playing on the 360, and this and spec-ops are fun modes. Why didn't they bring these back?

I got Sonic Racing All Stars Transformed (360). I will more than likely play it tomorrow.

I got Diablo III (PS4 Disc Copy) on the cheap too, and fully installed. Can't wait to give it a spin later tonight. I wonder what class I should do first?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've been kvetching a whole bunch (AND I'LL DO IT AGAIN) about Silksong despite really really rather enjoying the game, and then again most criticism having to do with fixing what ain't broke, so here're some positive notes:

The thrill of discovery is very much present. You'll take on a fetch quest or explore some unassuming nook or cranny and inadvertedly kickstart a three course meal-sized adventure that may or may not be part of the critical path but it feels like something you genuinely discovered.

I'd say it is, for now, generally a much more linear game than HK, but there's still a full suite of what seem to me optional areas and biomes, and I've come across some impressive sequence breaking.

Each region gets a very distinct atmosphere and personality. Love me HK but many of the later areas - basically after City of Tears - feel a bit dour and samey, and the lack of color isn't very inviting. Here each area feels memorable and visually distinctive and tells a story about the place and characters you meet there. Although maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

For all the discussion surrounding the game's difficulty, or punishment, I've yet to become stuck in any one area or boss for too long. Though there's still something to be said about the power of coming back later (Hunter's Marsh).

The tools are neat even if I tend to stick to the same loadout, and then I usually hog them until I'm near death or I suspect the boss is. But they've definitely saved the day more than once.

Down-but-not-down attack aside Hornet's movements are generally fluid and intuitive. Sprinting and launching feel great, and the platforming is generally tight.

I think I've enjoyed pretty much every boss so far. Would like the option to replay them eventually.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Unrelated but I think I missed out on a boss, Moorwing, by going ahead and completing the first Flea request, which moves the caravan to the boss's arena and they're nowhere to be seen. Bummer.

Yep, that happened to me too. I wouldn't have even known I was missing it if I hadn't caught someone on youtube streaming the game.

A little detail I noticed early on is that the Bell Beast looks and attacks exactly the same as the little white crawler bugs from Deep Nest in Hollow Knight.

Oh, also that you can now heal while in mid air is a nice change.

 

[Casual Shinji]

So, right from the start the death mechanic in Silksong was odd in comparison to Hollow Knight. You don't have to fight your own shade in order to retrieve your currency, it's just a cocoon now that you need to hit. And when you do your silk immediately refills. Meaning that dying to an encounter can actually make it easier, because you can go in with an already full silk bar and then refill it by hitting your cocoon after you've ran out. Don't know if there's a penny that's gonna drop later though.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I have given a name to my pain, and it is 'the runback to the Last Judge'.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I have given a name to my pain, and it is 'the runback to the Last Judge'.

Sorry I don't wanna risk shitting on everyone's Silksong fun but are we, as a gamer society, still excusing boss run back in this year of our lord twenty twenty five? Why were we all celebrating when FromSoftware themselves cut that crap out around 6 years ago?

Why, yes, I am bitter. I'm already regretting my current re-attempt at Hollow Knight lol

 

[BrawlMan]

Sorry I don't wanna risk shitting on everyone's Silksong fun but are we, as a gamer society, still excusing boss run back in this year of our lord twenty twenty five? Why were we all celebrating when FromSoftware themselves cut that crap out around 6 years ago?

Lost Soul Aside had a similar issue with the end boss of Chapter 4. Thankfully, they put out a patch Friday where the checkpoint is at the actual boss and not two fights before it.

I decided to give Modern Warfare 3's campaign a shot. It's more or less the same as MW2, but a much uglier color palette. The graphical details are nice and pushing 7th gen consoles to their limits, but it looks ugly in many spots. It made sins I hate so much about gritty cover shooters from this era. Enemies and friends are hard to tell apart, and both can blend in the backgrounds. Especially when there is so much grey. Say what you will about MW1 and MW2, but they have actual cover. Yes, we get it, it's WW3, but that shouldn't make it look near close to Gears of War color palette.

Crysis 2 took place in a war torn/disaster in downtown NY, and it manages to have color without looking garish, nor fully muted either. Both of these games came out in 2011. Crysis 2 came out in the summer, and MW3 came out in November. There are cool set pieces, and Turbulence is my favorite mission so far.

 

[meiam]

Cleared the first dungeon in metaphor: ReFantasio. This game story is very strange.

I guess the main quest is to save the prince, who is a character you have no connection to. As secondary objective you want to make him the next kind, I guess, although that's mostly a side effect of needing to kill one of the main candidate for next king, who can't be killed so long as he's a candidate. That's... honestly not much of a premise, I don't care about the prince and don't see why everyone in the party is so dedicated to him. He's almost certainly make a terrible king, on account of having spent most of his life in a coma and his dad, the previous king, seemed to be A-okay with racism as a state religion.

The entire king coronation is quite bizarre, some giant rock, apparently the previous king (not quite clear if its actually him or just his face) is trying to pick the next king based on people feeling. It comes down to either the pope (who, as mentioned before, is head of a religion that has racism as one its core tenet) or Louis....

Louis is very strange, he's this ultra popular former military guy who is trying to abolish the nobility and racism. So the dev realized that it would probably make him pretty popular as a character. So to counter this, Louis spent pretty much every single moment he can making everyone (and especially the player) hate him, mostly for no apparent reason. It seems like he's already very popular, so it shouldn't be very hard to convince people he'd make a good king, but he's too busy trying to murder everyone to spend anytime actually raising his popularity. The first dungeon is about stopping his underling from destroying the capital, because... ? Why would they do that? Why not spend that energy exposing the dark side of the church/nobility? Heck, even if he's an awful asshole, why not manufacture a fake crisis (ie the one he's trying to create) in a way that wouldn't be linked to him, and then swoop in and save the capital.

I don't know if some part of the dev genuinely believing that racism and class are good things, and only an amoral asshole would try to bring them down or if its just really bad writing. Cause the rest of the game is "normal", ie racism is shown as a bad thing. It could have worked more if Luis was unpopular, but really wanted to bring down racism/class system, and so he had no choice but to resort to using underhanded method to try and make himself more popular.

 

[thebobmaster]

I will say that as the story goes on, Louis becomes a bit more complex, and the story makes it more clear that the problem isn't Louis trying to end racism, it's that his idea of how to do so is setting up a new form of rule where might makes right.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Fighting Owl, again, in Sekiro. I'm really starting to hate the camera and how it tends to get stuck in corners and unlock itself whenever the enemy moves behind a pillar. The best part is how they design bosses that can kill you in one or two hits with mechanics that automatically unlock the camera and spawn the boss in a random area. Half the time when I make it to the second phase I die while running around desperately trying to get the camera to lock on.

Also the story still makes no sense, how can I kill Owl in his own memory in the past when I'm going to kill him again in the future? And why is he stronger?

 

[BrawlMan]

Playing Diablo III: Eternal Collection for the first time. Playing as the female monk. The male monk is just Kratos with a beard. Still early in the game, but I am having fun.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Just beat Last Judge (thank you, poison caltrops) and will confirm the runback is the absolute worst part of this game so far. For one it combines two of the most aggravating elements of the game - flying enemies and 45° degree bouncing - while dealing with the occasional gust of wind. It's a full minute even if you do it flawlessly. But then you get to the boss and good luck lasting long enough to get a good read on each of his/her/its three phases.

I'm on hour 15 and have only upgraded my attack power once, and gained exactly one HP, but since you start off with 5 HP and bosses deal 2 HP damage, even if you just touch them, that means you die in an average of 3 hits.

Another thing is that I've found myself having to farm for shells/ammo, since I spend quite a few even by just running back to the boss room. This notion of having to farm anything at all in order to keep throwing yourself at the proverbial brick wall was never an issue in HK.

Hopefully the Last Judge ends up being the equivalent of the Ornstein and Smough mid-game skill check in DS (annoying runback included). I never had as big a problem as those dudes afterwards.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Sorry I don't wanna risk shitting on everyone's Silksong fun but are we, as a gamer society, still excusing boss run back in this year of our lord twenty twenty five? Why were we all celebrating when FromSoftware themselves cut that crap out around 6 years ago?

Why, yes, I am bitter. I'm already regretting my current re-attempt at Hollow Knight lol

Just beat Last Judge (thank you, poison caltrops) and will confirm the runback is the absolute worst part of this game so far. For one it combines two of the most aggravating elements of the game - flying enemies and 45° degree bouncing - while dealing with the occasional gust of wind. It's a full minute even if you do it flawlessly. But then you get to the boss and good luck lasting long enough to get a good read on each of his/her/its three phases.

It was fucking hell, but it did get remarkably easier, to the point of being a non issue, the last 4 or 5 times. There's a little shortcut right after you jump to the right platform from where the first armor dude is. From that platform you can jump to the left and hookclaw up the wall to skip a good chunk of that area. I also had the charm that allowed you to run faster, which helped. But anyone's first handful of attempts are going to be ghastly.

The Last Judge herself was actually another very decent hard fight. Her final (what is it?) two phases seem like a fucking nightmare, but with most hard bosses in this game the key is putting most of your attention on avoiding their attacks and then spotting their one attack that puts them within your reach. Which sounds obvious I guess, but I really had to make myself NOT fight the boss during the boss fight and just stay alive. It's slow, but it made things so much easier for me. I honestly found the Last Judge less aggravating than a certain optional boss behind one of the "music" doors.

Another thing is that I've found myself having to farm for shells/ammo, since I spend quite a few even by just running back to the boss room. This notion of having to farm anything at all in order to keep throwing yourself at the proverbial brick wall was never an issue in HK.

Yeah, this isn't great. I'm getting some Bloodborne vibes from that.

Also, the charm that magnetizes the rosary beads doesn't magnetize the shards, which is kinda lame, plus if the beads fall into spike pitts they break. The great thing about the charm in HK was that it magnetized your money no matter where it fell, it ALWAYS found its way to you.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Fighting Owl, again, in Sekiro. I'm really starting to hate the camera and how it tends to get stuck in corners and unlock itself whenever the enemy moves behind a pillar. The best part is how they design bosses that can kill you in one or two hits with mechanics that automatically unlock the camera and spawn the boss in a random area. Half the time when I make it to the second phase I die while running around desperately trying to get the camera to lock on.

Also the story still makes no sense, how can I kill Owl in his own memory in the past when I'm going to kill him again in the future? And why is he stronger?

Owl is not stronger in the future. In the past he has a freaking dive bombing magic Owl. In the future he is resorting to more shinobi style cheap tricks with the poison specifically because he is weaker.

I hear you about the cameras but I just found that much less of a problem than the Souls games because the enemies are rarely so much bigger than the player character and when they are there is usually plenty of space to maneuver things (which is how the Guardian Ape went from being a fight I detested to one of my favorite).

 

[Drathnoxis]

Owl is not stronger in the future. In the past he has a freaking dive bombing magic Owl. In the future he is resorting to more shinobi style cheap tricks with the poison specifically because he is weaker.

I hear you about the cameras but I just found that much less of a problem than the Souls games because the enemies are rarely so much bigger than the player character and when they are there is usually plenty of space to maneuver things (which is how the Guardian Ape went from being a fight I detested to one of my favorite).

That's what I meant. Why is he weaker in the future?

I'm actually finding the camera more annoying in Sekiro because you get pushed back when you parry and I'm so weak the fights take forever so that my chances of getting pushed into bad spots in every fight is pretty high. Also, Sekiro heavily disincentivizes disengaging from the enemy to reposition because you will lose all your hard earned posture damage really fast, so you are kind of forced into pursuing the fight into bad spots. Like yeah, it was annoying in Bloodborne fighting the Loran Darkbeast in the chalice dungeon, but it was one fight and was a lot more manageable with the camera unlocked.

It's probably mostly a me problem because I'm doing a stupid challenge run. I should probably use some of the 7 memories I have in the bank to buff myself, but I just don't want to!

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

That's what I meant. Why is he weaker in the future?

I'm actually finding the camera more annoying in Sekiro because you get pushed back when you parry and I'm so weak the fights take forever so that my chances of getting pushed into bad spots in every fight is pretty high. Also, Sekiro heavily disincentivizes disengaging from the enemy to reposition because you will lose all your hard earned posture damage really fast, so you are kind of forced into pursuing the fight into bad spots. Like yeah, it was annoying in Bloodborne fighting the Loran Darkbeast in the chalice dungeon, but it was one fight and was a lot more manageable with the camera unlocked.

It's probably mostly a me problem because I'm doing a stupid challenge run. I should probably use some of the 7 memories I have in the bank to buff myself, but I just don't want to!

He's weaker in the future (game present) because he's an old man, I don't think it's anything more complicated than that.

Not using every power up in a Souls game is just bonkers to me man but hey you do you.

 

[Silvanus]

I'm so weak the fights take forever

[...]

It's probably mostly a me problem because I'm doing a stupid challenge run. I should probably use some of the 7 memories I have in the bank to buff myself, but I just don't want to!

Well yeah, there's your problem. If you're intentionally hamstringing yourself, you can't really complain the marathon is too tough. And Sekiro is tough enough anyway.

OT: Silksong, & the free update for Little Kitty Big City.

Silksong is fantastic. Its brutal, and some choices seem a little over the top (2 masks from some heavy attacks, okay... but from contact damage?!). And the filthy water debuff in Sinner's Road / Bilewater can fuck off. But also, some of the absolute best bossfights, already a match for the highlights of Hollow Knight like Mantis Lords/ Sisters of Battle and Grimm. Specifically

Spoiler

Lace, Phantom, and Cogwork Dancers

 

[Drathnoxis]

Well yeah, there's your problem. If you're intentionally hamstringing yourself, you can't really complain the marathon is too tough. And Sekiro is tough enough anyway.

But I want to complain anyway!

Edit: Finally killed him! 3 bosses left this run, and now I never need to kill Owl again!

 

[Casual Shinji]

I think I just found one of my favourite boss fights from any game. Being challenging is easy, but being so charming that I don't even mind getting killed and trying again... Fucking bravo Silksong!

It's the Cogwork Dancers, by the way.

 

[Dreiko]

So seeing everyone going mad about Hollow Knight Silksong everywhere I felt I should check it out a bit, turns out it's a metroidvania, and those for me have the issue of always getting compared to SotN and leaving me somewhat dissatisfied. Still though, I decided to give it a try. But then I figured I might as well play the first game too, and as it turns out at some point in the past they had given it away for free on ps+, and it was the version with all the dlc too, so yeah I just jumped on that one for now.


Game is very cute but also has a lot of soul to it for sure (and not just the one you use to cast magic), the setting is super creative and I love finding all the lore bits. I didn't expect this much storytelling going in, more of a pure gameplay experience. So I'm quite invested. I got to the forest area in my first sitting, and just kinda...being lost and exploring until you find the guy that sells the maps is insanely fun. Also I like how the jumps feel, you can really manipulate them a lot, and the hits pushing you back a bit with each smack feel good. Also I caught glimpses of the other bug guy who I guess is your protag in Silksong, he had some I guess Sephiroth vibes to him where he's way stronger than you and is letting you chase him lol.


But yeah all in all it's fun. Better late than never. Haven't really played a metroidvania since Bloodstained and that was over 4 years ago so it's about time for another one.