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hanselthecaretaker

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While the ps4 pad is awesome, it has a problem with using thinner plastic for the dpad than the ps3 pad did.

It legit breaks easier basically. You won't notice it if you don't do games that require the dpad but if you play fighters you will go through a few of them.
What are your thumbs made of? I’ve put hundreds of hours on several DS4’s for fighting games and old school side scrollers and they’ve been no worse for wear. The only problem I’ve ever had with the controller itself was a drifting issue with the right stick.
 

Ezekiel

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Is the Dry Dry DOcks level broken in the PC version of SM64? There are no moving poles.

Super Mario 64 PC-Port 2020-10-24 8_53_53 AM.jpg
 

Ezekiel

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Oh, you have to defeat Bowser in the other level first. Don't remember that. Kind of dumb.
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Opinion?

Context: I thoroughly enjoy roguelites, Slay the Spire and Monster Train.
I've actually really been enjoying it. Its straight up a game that could exist as a true single player board game and play very well. You just roll dice and use the numbers to resolve challenges. The runs do tend to feel a bit samey though since there is a limited number of different encounters and each character tends to get similar skills aside from their heroic thing and a secondary. The progression is nice but feels the same for all the characters but I am early enough into it that I might just not be seeing things right. Its also kinda hard, haven't beaten the first dungeon yet. I really liked slay the spire and monster train also, I quite like this too, I don't think it will entertain me as long as those, but so far I've easily gotten my dollars worth out of it since its currently on sale for a dollar.
 

happyninja42

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Opinion?

Context: I thoroughly enjoy roguelites, Slay the Spire and Monster Train.
Ok so just loaded it up and trying out the starter dungeon, so far, the combat is more like Tharsis than StS. You roll dice, and then assign those dice based on value to counter hostile actions and obstacles.
 

Samtemdo8

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I have returned to the World of Warcraft with the Pre-Patch of Shadowlands.

We have now reverted back to level 60 Cap.

Using this opportunity to level up an Unholy Death Knight.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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Finally finished the CoD: WWII campaign I was borrowed.

Pro’s:

I haven’t played any CoD since BO3 but this was probably the most well presented and longest one I’ve played in the series, dating back to CoD4 at least. Good mission variety with a fun cat-and-mouse style tank fight and aerial dogfight. The under cover covert op was a welcomed change of pace that was just long enough. Did I mention it looks and sounds far better than any CoD before it? Really, they even nailed the bleak warlike color tones, but at the same time it’s an obvious knockoff from so many WWII movies. Typical WWII story with B list Hollywood talent VA’s, but it was well done for what it was and the pacing never dragged too much.

Now the Con’s:

It still feels pretty generic in terms of shooting enemies. Canned animations have gotten better but they’re still canned, and lack the punch felt in other games. Still way too many stupid, cheap deaths too. Take two steps *THUD* “You were killed by a grenade” or whatever even when there were no indicators present. I dropped it to Recruit not even half way through - on the level in the church tower where you need to provide sniper support and anything other than perfect headshots seems to leave you without enough time - and this crap still happened in places on most levels. They haven’t learned shit about good gameplay design in the last couple generations.

Also, while the cutscenes look pretty exceptional, it’s only because it’s one of the only games still using prerendered video. The transitions from them to gameplay are pretty noticeable and doesn’t do it any favors. There’s no reason for these types of games not to be using real time everything now. It also leaves a ton less GB’s to download and install, along with a seamless presentation.

Overall I doubt I’ll want to play any more of these until they improve in those areas, but it was worth going back to after some time away just to see first hand what’s been improved and what still needs improving.
 
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Dreiko

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What are your thumbs made of? I’ve put hundreds of hours on several DS4’s for fighting games and old school side scrollers and they’ve been no worse for wear. The only problem I’ve ever had with the controller itself was a drifting issue with the right stick.
It depends on the kinds of inputs the fighting games you play require, as well as the speed with which you gotta do those inputs. Also I'm prolly in the thousands of hours vicinity lol. I play guilty gear, under night in birth, blazblue and more recently granblue versus, outside of granblue all the other ones require a ton of inputs, especially the chars I play (Sin and Answer in Xrd/ Seth in uni/Bang in BB).

Especially things like microdashing and instant airdashing which require precise and speedy inputs and which you do dozens of times per match at a high level take a toll, as well as blocking low. One of my pads just doesn't register the down forward input at all any more and the other just freaks out entirely and is unusable. Thankfully the one that just doesn't register downforward still mostly works and since it has the Ragnarok sticker from valkyria chronicles 4 on it and it'd be a waste to not use it on other stuff. I still play other non-fighters with it, while I am on ds4 #3 for fighters. So far so good with it. (this is in a period of about 3.5 years, contrasting it with the ps3, I had the same ds3 pad for about 6 years and then I got another one when that finally gave out which still works, though the ps4 games don't allow it to work so I can't use it for ps4 games, and I actually played even more back then than I do now cause I was learning the genre)


Oh and my left thumb does have a decent guitarist callus that's been there permanently for years, though it's not like I press the buttons hard, it's just the friction from the speed that causes it. My right thumb has no place in fighting games, I use the claw technique (right hand using index/middle finger to hit face buttons).
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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It depends on the kinds of inputs the fighting games you play require, as well as the speed with which you gotta do those inputs. Also I'm prolly in the thousands of hours vicinity lol. I play guilty gear, under night in birth, blazblue and more recently granblue versus, outside of granblue all the other ones require a ton of inputs, especially the chars I play (Sin and Answer in Xrd/ Seth in uni/Bang in BB).

Especially things like microdashing and instant airdashing which require precise and speedy inputs and which you do dozens of times per match at a high level take a toll, as well as blocking low. One of my pads just doesn't register the down forward input at all any more and the other just freaks out entirely and is unusable. Thankfully the one that just doesn't register downforward still mostly works and since it has the Ragnarok sticker from valkyria chronicles 4 on it and it'd be a waste to not use it on other stuff. I still play other non-fighters with it, while I am on ds4 #3 for fighters. So far so good with it. (this is in a period of about 3.5 years, contrasting it with the ps3, I had the same ds3 pad for about 6 years and then I got another one when that finally gave out which still works, though the ps4 games don't allow it to work so I can't use it for ps4 games, and I actually played even more back then than I do now cause I was learning the genre)


Oh and my left thumb does have a decent guitarist callus that's been there permanently for years, though it's not like I press the buttons hard, it's just the friction from the speed that causes it. My right thumb has no place in fighting games, I use the claw technique (right hand using index/middle finger to hit face buttons).
Damn. I’ve been playing RDR2 for what feels like a second life in the last year or so and that’s *only* around 450 hours. Kudos to your fighting game dedication (and guitar playing) though!
 

Dreiko

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Some games are designed to be played with an arcade stick and require two buttons to be hit simultaneously for some tasks like grabs or specific mechanics so in that case you would be piano-ing the face buttons anyways, I'm just mimicking that on a pad is all.

I only do that for fighting games, it's not a general thing. Other games I play like normal.

Damn. I’ve been playing RDR2 for what feels like a second life in the last year or so and that’s *only* around 450 hours. Kudos to your fighting game dedication (and guitar playing) though!
It adds up when you go to locals weekly, though sadly covid has put a stop to that. But yeah back before it hit you could at minimum get a good 8 hours on a friday evening (well, from 6-7pm to like 4AM in some cases haha) and then add to that the time you play at home or online and so on. Fighters are a lot easier to get into when you have a community in a relatively close proximity to where you live since then it just kinda takes the place of going out but still kinda feels like going out anyways because you do get dinner and stuff there too. You just don't get drunk is all. On most days anyhow XD.
 
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Dirty Hipsters

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Some games are designed to be played with an arcade stick and require two buttons to be hit simultaneously for some tasks like grabs or specific mechanics so in that case you would be piano-ing the face buttons anyways, I'm just mimicking that on a pad is all.

I only do that for fighting games, it's not a general thing. Other games I play like normal.
The only buttons I have trouble hitting together on a controller would be the A and Y button, or the X and B button, and I don't see how playing claw would help with those 2. Hitting the other buttons together with a single thumb press is easy enough.

Then again, it's not like I play fighting games at a high level. Soul Caliber plays perfectly well on a pad, and I can't think of any combos that require really weird inputs in that.

I dabble in some Guilty Gear Xrd, but I mainly play Jack-O who doesn't have any really difficult inputs either.
 

BrawlMan

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Sayornara Wild Hearts - ............................

It's beautiful! Absolutely beautiful! I have not beaten game, but this a fun ass arcade endless runner! I think it is the best endless runner game ever made! From the soundtrack, the art style, and visual editing! Queen Latifah soft, but subtle passionate narration and commentary blends so well with the game. Addicting too. Collecting hearts, synchronized button presses, and the dynamic music are out of this world. It is definitely a pop album in video game form, and the best pop music I have ever heard in ever. Considering I don't like 99%of the pop genre; that is a lot coming from me. The game is described as a pop album, but there is plenty of other blends of genres: House, Techno, Rock, Electronica, and Hip-Hop. Do not sleep on this rhythm-runner arcade game! It's sale for $7.79 on PSN! I got it for $30, but that is because I wanted a physical version of this!
 
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Dreiko

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The only buttons I have trouble hitting together on a controller would be the A and Y button, or the X and B button, and I don't see how playing claw would help with those 2. Hitting the other buttons together with a single thumb press is easy enough.

Then again, it's not like I play fighting games at a high level. Soul Caliber plays perfectly well on a pad, and I can't think of any combos that require really weird inputs in that.

I dabble in some Guilty Gear Xrd, but I mainly play Jack-O who doesn't have any really difficult inputs either.
Xrd had faultless defense which is used a ton for dash break (blocking right as you dash, whereas if you don't FD you have some dash recovery you can be hit out of), blitz shield, rc and burst as well as some char-specific things if you use chars like Answer (like I do) or Zato where you gotta hold one button down as you hit the next one and let it go as the next one makes contact (negative edging) and you have some OSs where you hit two buttons with the grab input such that when you whiff a grab you get a button that's less bad to whiff than the heavy slash button is (it's pretty bad to whiff that for most chars) due to the way the priority system works allowing the weaker button to come out in situations where two buttons are input at the same time. Also when you're trying to tech what you wanna do is hold FD and mash a third button so you won't get hit by air resets. All in all there's a bunch of stuff like that. More char-specific things I'm prolly neglecting to mention too.

Soul Calibur is 3D so it's really not my ballpark but from a rudimentary understanding based on legacy experience with older entries in the seires, there's not much in the way of combos or special move inputs requiring multiple directions, it's more like repeated button presses and sequences with a directional normal here and there.


Oh and Jack-o's basic move inputs are simple sure but when you get to the instant airdash loops that incorporate her minions to string up combos then it gets pretty technical actually. Stuff like this:


This is the thing when some chars are touted as being "easy" because their inputs are not hard to do. Nobody's inputs really are hard to do compared to the actual hard things. Some inputs are just more easy than others.
 

Dalisclock

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Sayornara Wild Hearts - ............................

It's beautiful! Absolutely beautiful! I have not beaten game, but this a fun ass arcade endless runner! I think it is the best endless runner game ever made! From the soundtrack, the art style, and visual editing! Queen Latifah soft, but subtle passionate narration and commentary blends so well with the game. Addicting too. Collecting hearts, synchronized button presses, and the dynamic music are out of this world. It is definitely a pop album in video game form, and the best pop music I have ever heard in ever. Considering I don't like 99%of the pop genre; that is a lot coming from me. The game is described as a pop album, but there is plenty of other blends of genres: House, Techno, Rock, Electronica, and Hip-Hop. Do not sleep on this rhythm-runner arcade game! It's sale for $7.79 on PSN! I got it for $30, but that is because I wanted a physical version of this!
I would legit buy the soundtrack to this.

I need to get on that, actually.
 

Ezekiel

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Rainbow Ride is one of the worst 3D Mario levels ever. Forgot how tedious and nerve-wracking riding those carpets over and over is. But it's done now. Got all seven stars again in every level but the clock now.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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Alternating between RDR2 for the 100% (at 99.2% now with three challenges remaining) and Killzone Shadow Fall for a no deaths trophy run. It’s like ok but other than some of the better movement and aiming mechanics of the series, it’s just too generic feeling otherwise. Doesn’t feel nearly as satisfying as KZ2 or even 3. Probably stick it slightly above the original, but not without reservation.

I think the Cell SPU’s were responsible for much of what gave the PS3 games so much nuance and detail in terms of hit responses and weapon feel, let alone the “busy” nature of their presentation. They also excelled at audio processing as those games sounded much better than Shadow Fall too, aside from the soundtrack. Apparently the PS4’s audio chip was one of the big hardware disappointments, aside from the toaster CPU feeding it.
 
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BrawlMan

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Sayonara Wild Hearts I just finished. This a fun game people need to play. Getting gold ranks are hard though. So far only one stage I got a gold on. Nearly everything else is silver with a few bronze. I find the trophy support really weird as the getting trophies only involve figuring out the zodiaz puzzles in zodiac mode. I don't get why they only tied trophies to those and not the actual gameplay. Other than that, the game is near flawless. I found out last night that messing up on a section numerous times allows you to skip it, I wanted to enjoy each stage all the way through no matter what. Just heads up for those that did not know. Special thanks for Queen Latifah you talented woman!


On the other hand Outlaw Star seems to be taking its design completely seriously, which makes it dumb. Kind of like Dante from Devil May Cry...you know, the other one.
HAAHAHHAHAH........NO! Outlaw Star does have self awareness and is more like OG Dante than that wannabe (who's a weird combination of Nero and Dante). If you threw OG Dante in the Outlaw Star universe he would fit in just fine with the setting and characters. To the point that Dante would have so much fun picking at Aisha and her Ctarl-Ctarl pride, that would be laughing non-stop for days. Not to mention Dante would be kicking her ass with little to no trouble.