What are you currently playing?

[The Rogue Wolf]

I played the demo for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City, a VR brawler. I like the aesthetic, and the voice acting seems on-point, but competent melee combat in VR requires walking a katana's edge, and this game kind of falls off. You're expected to parry or dodge attacks often, but the blows don't often land when or where you might expect them to- and with the ability to only take four to six hits (depending on which turtle), failure is sending you back to the beginning of the level pretty quickly.

Combat was easiest with Donatello, since blocking things with his bo staff is naturally easier than the other boys' weapons (especially Mikey's nunchaku).

 

[BrawlMan]

I played the demo for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City, a VR brawler. I like the aesthetic, and the voice acting seems on-point, but competent melee combat in VR requires walking a katana's edge, and this game kind of falls off. You're expected to parry or dodge attacks often, but the blows don't often land when or where you might expect them to- and with the ability to only take four to six hits (depending on which turtle), failure is sending you back to the beginning of the level pretty quickly.

Combat was easiest with Donatello, since blocking things with his bo staff is naturally easier than the other boys' weapons (especially Mikey's nunchaku).

When did this come out? I don't follow the VR trail, but I never heard of this game until now.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

When did this come out? I don't follow the VR trail, but I never heard of this game until now.

The demo's out now; the release date is just "2026" (don't overwhelm us with details, guys).

 

[laggyteabag]

I played the Marathon Server Slam, and I don't really think this game is for me.

This is my first extraction shooter, and the first thing that kind of put me off was how much time I was spending sitting in menus, looking through boxes, versus actually playing the game.

It kind of brought me back to DayZ and PUBG, and how much time you spending just meandering around the map not really doing all the much, only to have the most intense fight of your life when you finally find a player, but that balance is all off because it is only roughly 5% of your total playtime.

I think I just kind of struggle to find a purpose for myself here. I play a game of Call of Duty, and the objective of the match is to get 50 kills, or whatever. I play a game of Fortnite, and the objective is to be the last man standing. I play a game of Marathon, and I just have to find some stuff, I suppose? But all that stuff gets lost if I die, or when the season resets. Whats the point?

I gave it a try. I don't think its for me. I'm hearing some pretty mixed feelings online, and the Steam chart stats weren't exactly encouraging. I think Bungie still has an uphill battle on their hands. I'm uncertain if they'll make this one work.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Played Dear Esther, insofar as Dear Esther can be played. You walk down the one path until you reach the ending cutscene is what you do, and the closest thing to a challenge is triggering every voiceover by checking out every detour. So this is ambience and story. For ambience it's remarkably effective, even if desolation is like the easiest thing for any mod to portray. For story, I guess I could liken it to that modernist branch of literature that likes to consider and shuffle around elements of its plot without ever settling on the details. So it's desultory enough as it is, but unlike plainly reading say Auster or Borges or whoever, here I'm supposed to play through several times to fully experience every permutation. Adding to the disservice, the Director's Commentary flat out turns the game into a con, with the devs bragging about how thoughtless the process was and how haphazard the results are.

 

[Worgen]

Still playing Robocop: Unfinished Business. Its much bigger then I thought. I was expecting it to be dlc sized, but since its standalone I guess its full game sized. You do have the wandering around helping people with police stuff from the first one, but it feels less. I do think I prefer the main game since it really felt like you were going through 80s movie Detroit, but Unfinished Business has you going up a mega tower so most of the zones are concrete and kinda dull.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm doing a second playthrough of RE9 and a couple of things are standing out as kinda annoying. Like the chainsaw hopital room - the one in most of the trailers - and it being far more of a chore than cool. It's supposed to make you go 'hell yeah, Leon with a chainsaw', but most of the time it's impossible for you to get the damn thing. When it's still revving around on the ground you can't get it, but zombies sure can and they'll usually go right for it. Then when they're holding it they become spongey, and when you do get the ability to wield it Leon will randomly shove the chainsaw into a zombie's chest and just kick the whole thing away.

Grace's first encounter with the Girl is extremely aggravating and I wish you could just skip it. It's not scary and only serves to string you along. I don't find the Big Impervious Monster scary anyway, but later sections you can at least fight back.

There's some annoying animation invincibility going on with certain enemies. The Blister Heads are invincible while transforming, but even worse was a moment with the Blister Borne during the church fight, where it dropped down from the upper walkway and while it was still slightly crouched down from the landing I threw a throwable axe at it and it did nothing.

 

[BrawlMan]

Leon will randomly shove the chainsaw into a zombie's chest and just kick the whole thing away.

It's not really random, accept maybe on the harder difficulty. It will usually get stuck on a zombie after the fourth or fifth one..

Borne during the church fight, where it dropped down from the upper walkway and while it was still slightly crouched down from the landing I threw a throwable axe at it and it did nothing.

Suck that happen, but now you know that you have to wait for them to fully stand up if they're coming from a crouch.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Suck that happen, but now you know that you have to wait for them to fully stand up if they're coming from a crouch.

No, that's bullshit. Them being hunched over should not imply invulnerability. I know this is a big game and requires a lot of testing, but this should've been picked up on. Same with the Blister Heads; just a second too soon after they morph into being - and they're pretty much already standing upright - and you just wasted a rifle shot straight to the head.

 

[Dreiko]

Been playing Astral Chain. It is criminal how underrated this game is and it prolly will never get a sequel since Kamiya left Platinum. Not many games feel like they’re expanding my skill set as a gamer cause I play fighters competitively but this game makes you constantly control 2 chars at all times in such a fun way. Truly the ideal Jojo fan game and I’m not even a huge Jojo fan but I can still appreciate the style.

 

[thebobmaster]

One run through Slay the Spire 2, and I can already tell this is going to be just as much of a time sink for me as the original. I mean that as a compliment, because even in very Early Access, this is what I wanted from a Slay the Spire sequel in the best ways.

 

[Worgen]

One run through Slay the Spire 2, and I can already tell this is going to be just as much of a time sink for me as the original. I mean that as a compliment, because even in very Early Access, this is what I wanted from a Slay the Spire sequel in the best ways.

Finished my first run in Spire 2 also. It really is just the first game but better. The animations are really nice, I like getting pets, the new cards feel pretty good and enemies are nicely strange.

 

[thebobmaster]

Finished my first run in Spire 2 also. It really is just the first game but better. The animations are really nice, I like getting pets, the new cards feel pretty good and enemies are nicely strange.

And while later enemies can definitely be hard, I like the fact that they put effort into how they make them hard. It's not just "this enemy hits harder/has more health".

 

[Worgen]

And while later enemies can definitely be hard, I like the fact that they put effort into how they make them hard. It's not just "this enemy hits harder/has more health".

Yeah, they did a good job of mixing things up. So far it seems like bosses and such are a bit more fragile then they were in the first, but they have things that make you have to keep an eye out more, which is nice.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

 

[Gordon_4]

Pokemon FireRed

Now I bought these for me and my kids. For them it was a much easier way for them to experience some old school Pokemon games and for me it was a bit of nostalgia.

However, I've gotten two badges so far and I'm not convinced that there's more challenge here than in say, Sword or Shield. What there is, is a more artificial limits that reflect the era in which they are made. Take TMs for example; up until Gen V they were a one use item since the implication is you're downloading data into the Pokemon. Except, its now very widely known that data can be basically copied endlessly. I have also seen much complaints about maps in later games having lots of data on them; yeah guys that's because in 1996 we weren't all carrying around a cellular telephone and GPS tool in our pocket.

And there's just so many other QoL improvements: the move pools are largely garbage, they hadn't done the Special/Physical split for moves so basically all elemental moves are special which can leave you rather awkwardly putting moves on a Pokemon that give you STAB, but take a hit because they might be running off the shittier attack stat. HM moves are still a thing, which outside of Fly, Surf and Waterfall all basically suck then and suck now.


Now FireRed (and LeafGreen) are still good fun games, but to me they're not challenging in the way people insist they are. If its the first ever Pokemon game you play, it will be challenging because you're learning. When you're a rusted on fan like me, you know the ins and outs so all that's being tested is your patience. Which is perhaps true of all things.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

HM moves are still a thing, which outside of Fly, Surf and Waterfall all basically suck then and suck now.

Fly isn't even that good; it essentially wastes 1 PP on your opponent's Pokemon and gives them a free opportunity to switch in whatever they want without losing tempo.

Rest of the post: Interesting perspective. Never really thought about it that way before, but I definitely see it.

 

[Gordon_4]

Fly isn't even that good; it essentially wastes 1 PP on your opponent's Pokemon and gives them a free opportunity to switch in whatever they want without losing tempo.

Rest of the post: Interesting perspective. Never really thought about it that way before, but I definitely see it.

I like Fly because even if they do switch out or heal or something, you're basically protected until then so they can't pull shit like any of the powder moves (sleep/poison/stun) or other status moves. That and the other stronger flying moves either have garbage accuracy or do recoil damage. The only other good flying moves available in these games are Drill Peck, Wing Attack and Aerial Ace. People tolerate Fly because its a decent move to go along with its overworld utility. Same with Surf, and Waterfall after the special/physical split. The only time Cut has ever not sucked is when you give it to a pokemon with the ability Technician, which boosts every attack with a power of 60 or less by a further 50%, making a 75 power move. Flash is just....garbage from top to tail. Strength has good power but its Normal so it'll never hit anything super effectively. Make it a fighting move and we can talk.

 

[meiam]

Pokemon FireRed

Now I bought these for me and my kids. For them it was a much easier way for them to experience some old school Pokemon games and for me it was a bit of nostalgia.

However, I've gotten two badges so far and I'm not convinced that there's more challenge here than in say, Sword or Shield. What there is, is a more artificial limits that reflect the era in which they are made. Take TMs for example; up until Gen V they were a one use item since the implication is you're downloading data into the Pokemon. Except, its now very widely known that data can be basically copied endlessly. I have also seen much complaints about maps in later games having lots of data on them; yeah guys that's because in 1996 we weren't all carrying around a cellular telephone and GPS tool in our pocket.

And there's just so many other QoL improvements: the move pools are largely garbage, they hadn't done the Special/Physical split for moves so basically all elemental moves are special which can leave you rather awkwardly putting moves on a Pokemon that give you STAB, but take a hit because they might be running off the shittier attack stat. HM moves are still a thing, which outside of Fly, Surf and Waterfall all basically suck then and suck now.


Now FireRed (and LeafGreen) are still good fun games, but to me they're not challenging in the way people insist they are. If its the first ever Pokemon game you play, it will be challenging because you're learning. When you're a rusted on fan like me, you know the ins and outs so all that's being tested is your patience. Which is perhaps true of all things.

Do people claim early pokemon were challenging? You can breeze trough the game by only ever using your starter and having an insurmountable level lead over most enemy.

 

[BrawlMan]

I got back into Ninja Gaiden 4 and the free DLC. The DLC missions are fun, but you only get three missions, and the final boss is ass. It has stupid one hit kill you barely have half a second to react to. I had no choice but use items. I am not coming back to that mission anytime soon. The new weapons Yakumo and Ryu get are bad ass.

No Ayane in the DLC, but I am not surprised in the slightest. The Abyss Road is basically the Ninja Gaiden equivalent of Bloody Palace. There also new trial missions added to the game. Both of these can only be unlocked after you beat the DLC. So it's worth it to the DLC at least once.