What are you currently playing?

Dalisclock

Making lemons combustible again
Legacy
Escapist +
Feb 9, 2008
11,228
7,007
118
A Barrel In the Marketplace
Country
Eagleland
Gender
Male
Were you playing the American or Japanese version? Still tough as balls either way, but the US version goes further. I highly reccomend you play the Japanese version of most of these games, since there are no achievements tied to any games in the Switch version. My favorite of the Classicvania is Bloodlines.
The American version for now but I intend to play the Japanese version next go around. And I'm looking forward to Bloodlines.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
26,689
11,191
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
I played The Takeover on PS4 again last night. I locked about 42% of the trophies. The trophies I unlocked recently were Action Jackson, both sides (unlock the good and bad ending), and beating it on hard mode. Hard mode is definitely hard, but cheap in some places. That goes double for some of the bosses too. I'll try to do the no life loss run, but I'm not making any promises to get that achievement.
 
Last edited:

Chimpzy

Simian Abomination
Legacy
Escapist +
Apr 3, 2020
12,189
8,435
118
Hopped into Monster Hunter again, since the 3.0 update went up, the second and supposedly last big free update. I'm kind of disappointed. It adds only half the number of monsters compared to 2.0, of which only one that's fully new to this game (tho it must be said Valstrax is super fun to fight) and not just a tougher recolored variant of an existing one. Less new armor, less new weapons, less new decos. All in all it's maybe 35-40% the amount of content from 2.0. Ok, it does add a proper final bossfight (tho really only a recolor of an existing boss with a greatly expanded movset) and an actual ending, which the game didn't really have before, and which I guess is where most of the 1.4gb size went to. I'm here to fight monsters and craft shit from their corpses, but sure, spend on more scenes of the waifu twins being moe.

I suppose I can't really complain that much. I had already mostly moved on to other games, just dropping in occassionally to see it there was an event going on, and at about 150 hours played for a €25 purchase, it's not like I haven't had my money's worth.
 

Trunkage

Nascent Orca
Legacy
Jun 21, 2012
8,684
2,879
118
Brisbane
Gender
Cyborg
Pssh, you use BULLETS?! Luddite! :p Biotics is the way to go baby!! Crush your enemies in a biotic field while you hurl the rest of them into orbit and out of the combat zone!

Seriously though, the various ways you could be ludicrous on toast as a biotic, made it where I rarely used guns in most playthroughs. And honestly the other tech powers were just as broken, when combined in a proper manner. Guns was a tertiary concern for me most of the time. Loved biotics in that series.
Yeah, all the adding clips into ME2 did was stop me using weapons. You've just made them unviable. Thats even after they depowered biotics.
Thank christ they fixed vangaurd
 

happyninja42

Elite Member
Legacy
May 13, 2010
8,577
2,981
118
Yeah, all the adding clips into ME2 did was stop me using weapons. You've just made them unviable. Thats even after they depowered biotics.
Thank christ they fixed vangaurd
ME 2 Vanguard was ridiculous. That's another one where guns were basically pointless. That surging charge + shield slam combo was nuts, and so much fun. I rarely pulled out the shotgun.

But pretty much in any of the 3 games, if you had enough biotics, you didn't really need to use guns much. Mook soldiers could easily be lifted and thrown out of the combat area, regardless of health. Warp would shut down most forms of regen on tougher enemies like krogan, and singularity coupled with throw...well..it's was explosively effective.

Loved biotics in that entire series.
 

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
26,689
11,191
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
Zero Team. I brawler I barely remember playing when I was about 4 or 5. It's made by the same team that did the Raiden SHMUP games. This is their only brawler. It does not have as much depth as say Streets of Rage, Final Fight, or TMNT & Turtles n Time, but has lots of charm. The charms and the weapon variety are the stars of this game. I am playing the PS4 version on the Arcade Archives label. It's on Switch too. This brawler supports 4 players and has online play. I wish I knew this came out sooner. The game was brought home for the first on Switch in November, and got a release on PS4 in December.



 
Last edited:

Chupathingy

CONTROL Agent
Legacy
Apr 3, 2020
212
140
48
Finished ending E of Nier: Replicant ver. 1.22, and I'm so glad this game got the love it deserved. Other than the lack of PapaNier and some inferior music remixes this version is basically an all round improved version of the original, and it was nice to see artbook material brought into the game. When they announced before release there'd be stuff from Automata included I was worried it would be really hamfisted and fanservice-y, but it wasn't, and instead just vaguely ties itself into Automata very lightly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

happyninja42

Elite Member
Legacy
May 13, 2010
8,577
2,981
118
Started playing It Takes Two with the wifey. Put in about 2-3 hours at this point.

It's pretty fun. It's a cute little game, with very low stakes. If you die, you just respawn immediately, and just try the various puzzles again. The only time you actually "die", is if you both die at the same time during a boss fight. Otherwise, if one person drops in a boss fight, they can come back quickly by spamming a button on the controller.

It's interesting so far. Basically each area of the yard/house, has it's own flavor of challenges, and you get a different item, unique to that particular map, to traverse them. One area, one of you gets a hammer, the other gets nails. You have to use them cooperatively to get through the puzzles. Once you are done with that challenge though, you lose those items, and get some new, entirely different things, that help you with the next series of puzzles. It's pretty fun to grief your partner by intentionally messing with them, and the game gives you AMPLE opportunity to do that.

The story is pretty cliche. Married couple, getting a divorce, kid is unhappy and wants them to stay together. Somehow magically ensnares the souls of her parents in dolls she made, and now they are forced to "work it out" to get home and undo the spell. You can see where it's going, though they might do a Mrs. Doubtfire at the end I guess, and have them still get a divorce, but work out their problems, so the family still stays happy, with no fighting.

The opening sequence leading up to the parents being put into the dolls was pretty funny. Because I'm me, and I'm biologically incapable of not riffing on things I'm watching (thank you years of MST 3K), I started dubbing in the little girl being in league with the devil, and going to do a sacrifice to fix things. Saying lines like "Ok well now to the sacrificial altar, and I just need to get Mupsy the goat, and bleed her upon the stones of suffering." at one point, the girl is looking around and I said "Now where did I put the Necronomicon?" and she actually grabbed a book and started rifling through it. :LOL:

It's an enjoyable game, especially if you enjoy messing with someone else. The two of you can get a lot of fun just goofing around, and giving each other shit.

I don't find it as engaging as I found Haven to be, and I suspect my wife feels the same. Haven't asked her yet, as the game is still pretty fresh to us. So far it's every romcom cliche made into a game, bickering dialogue, the literal manifestations of the things they argue about, becoming the challenges you have to overcome to move on. But still, it's fun so far. The puzzles are enjoyable, and pretty easy to figure out, even though the timing might be a challenge, it's not overly difficult. I'd say it's a good "baby's first video game" for a partner who you are trying to get into the hobby. Very low risk, low stakes, challenging, but not ridiculously so, and pulling off some of the timed puzzles that require you both to work in tandem, does feel good. Worth playing if you're into that kind of thing.

Oh yeah, and the split screen being vertical instead of horizontal. REALLY nice. It's amazing how much of a difference that makes for being able to see what's going on.
 

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
26,689
11,191
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
I played Zero Team again and I'm starting the notice the differences between all of the characters. Spin (the glass canon of the group) has an aerial rave when pressing up and attack, instead of the Shoryukens the male characters have. She also has unique and highly damaging air throw that is done by pressing jump first, and then attack in sequence. I find Spin and Big O the most fun and unique. Big O, is the heavy and oddly enough, has no wresting moves. He throws enemies far and his throws cause huge damage. Speedy, a blonde and blue palette swap of Ace is just a better version of the guy. Better speed (though slightly fragile), a better consistent multi-hit uppercut, and is more fun to use. Ace comes off as too basic; which sucks, because red is my favorite color. Zero Team could have really used a dash mechanic for the player characters. Yet certain enemies and bosses do. For a brawler in 1993 that's iffy and not the best design choice. There several brawlers before and during that year that already implemented that mechanic. Still a fun game.
 
Last edited:

hanselthecaretaker

My flask is half full
Legacy
Nov 18, 2010
8,738
5,905
118
I’ve been running the maze in Niflheim for the past three nights and the RNG gods are bending me over and and fu laughing at my misfortune. Can’t get the last fog anchor needed to open the final realm tear in the game. I wonder if it’s by design because the first two were maybe 25% odds, and my luck stat is on the higher side at 62 or 63. I read someone say that clearing the Valkyrie room first then going to the the high side outfield (the main room known to hold them) will guarantee one, but after a few tries still nothing. I guess I’ll just keep doing what I did to get the first two since it’s the easiest route, but this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

meiam

Elite Member
Dec 9, 2010
3,330
1,644
118
Expeditions Viking This game has been on my wishlist since it was released but since I'm a miser I was never willing to give asking price. I liked the idea of the previous game in the series Expeditions Conquistador but was put off by how unbalanced it was and how it expected the player to be a turn based combat genius. Viking fixes most of those complaints, being much better balanced and having much better onboarding. The basic gameplay loop is that of an isometric RPG: You do quests, recruit followers and follow the story until you get into turn based combat. It is all pretty functional and the combat, while not exactly XCOM levels of fluid and great, is surprisingly good. It is also a pretty reactive game in that you can actually lose a lot of fights and still play on but with bad consequences and your decisions are often remarked upon or come back in some way later. My main quibble so far is that the voice actors (who are really only heard in a few combat prompts and during exploration conversations between your followers) are absolutely terrible and it was the right call to avoid voice dialogue.

So yeah, it is on sale for like 9 dollars/euro on Steam right now and you can do a lot worse for an RPG/Turn based tactical combat game then this.
Yeah the expeditions game were pretty interesting, unfortunately they both have the same issue with the endingwhere the game force you to ally with a faction and genocide with the other one, in conquistador you even had to massacre some completly innocent village to put the blame on the other side. It's technically not the end since the games end when you go back to your homeland, but then you leave without really resolving the main conflict.
 

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
14,415
3,393
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
I just got ending D in Nier Replicant, I heard ending E was much shorter then the others so I will probably do that tonight.
Near the end of a hardest difficulty run in Streets of Rage 4 with Axel.
Just got Metro Exodus and so far am enjoying it but still only at the first stop.
Also, waiting for the Gara prime to be finished in Warframe.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
14,415
3,393
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
You can do it! It will be tough, so steel yourself.
I'm not looking forward to the last level since I know it will suck. Boss probably won't be too hard but the level will suck.
 

Baffle

Elite Member
Oct 22, 2016
3,459
2,746
118
Days Gone. I hope this isn't one of those games where it turns out you're the bad guy for killing all the monsters and mean people, because that's kind of my thing in this game.
 

hanselthecaretaker

My flask is half full
Legacy
Nov 18, 2010
8,738
5,905
118
Days Gone. I hope this isn't one of those games where it turns out you're the bad guy for killing all the monsters and mean people, because that's kind of my thing in this game.
*looks at avatar*. You don’t say…

Seriously though I think that’s kinda the point of this game. Reminds me though I’d like to play through Red Dead 2’s story as a complete asshole as it sounds like it carries a vastly different kind of emotional payoff, let alone making the gameplay more interesting.
 

Dalisclock

Making lemons combustible again
Legacy
Escapist +
Feb 9, 2008
11,228
7,007
118
A Barrel In the Marketplace
Country
Eagleland
Gender
Male
Yeah the expeditions game were pretty interesting, unfortunately they both have the same issue with the endingwhere the game force you to ally with a faction and genocide with the other one, in conquistador you even had to massacre some completly innocent village to put the blame on the other side. It's technically not the end since the games end when you go back to your homeland, but then you leave without really resolving the main conflict.
The biggest issue that annoyed me was that ending you get when you go home is based pretty much entirely how much money you come home with and nothing else.

Did you topple the Aztecs, establish friendly relations and trade with the new power you helped into power(rather then betray and enslave them) and thoroughly explore the region(including restoring and rebuilding a fortess)? Well, if you didn't bring home a ton of gold, then fuck you, you get the worst ending.

Seriously, King of Spain. WTF? I mean, I get it, it's closer to how historical Spain operated but since the game does allow you to write your own history of these events(even siding with the Aztecs to devastate their opponents) it feels kinda dickish that you get no credit for anything you did other then make money. Hell, you can even find the "City of Gold" and find the entrance to the Meso-American afterlife(and speak with one of their gods) but none of that counts.
 

Satinavian

Elite Member
Legacy
Apr 30, 2016
1,672
643
118
Yes, those were good games, but with some flaws. And yes, Vikings is by far the better ones of them.