What are you currently playing?

XsjadoBlayde

~it ends here~
Apr 29, 2020
3,216
3,354
118
Rachet, and Clank Rift Apart, and it broke my controller because of course, it did.
What type of broken is it? If it's the resistance to one or two of the triggers, that is apparently quite common but luckily easy and cheap to fix yourself, I did it for 2 controllers already with minimal effort and a helpful YouTube tutorial;

 

Gergar12

Elite Member
Legacy
Apr 24, 2020
3,277
794
118
Country
United States
What type of broken is it? If it's the resistance to one or two of the triggers, that is apparently quite common but luckily easy and cheap to fix yourself, I did it for 2 controllers already with minimal effort and a helpful YouTube tutorial;

I heard you need a special spring for the trigger. My R2 broke, and I went to the local electronics repair shop, and they said they couldn't repair it.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,571
4,374
118
Finished Spider-Man: Miles Morales and overall it was a super fun Spider-Man experience. The combat is absolutely superb with the venom powers making my balls tingle everytime. Good shit. I also didn't expect to take a liking to the invisibility, seeing as stealth in the previous game was bare bones and pretty useless, but in MM it just worked.

As for the story... eh. Could've been worse I guess, but it certainly doesn't land as well as the in Spider-Man PS4. The whole thing with Phin suddenly feeling horribly betrayed and wanting to destroy the Roxxon building and to kill Miles, and stubbornly not listening, made it pretty impossible for the game to try and create sympathy for her when she has her villain redemption moment. It smacks of the game forcing characters to be stupid so there can be a fight. And that fight didn't help much either since the amount of purple attacks that fill up the screen and cover the ground made it extremely frustrating.

So yeah, that final boss fight sucked, but thankfully the others were quite good. I really liked the fight against upgraded Rhino and Prowler, and bringing back the best boss fight from the previous game was not only highly appreciated due to how good that fight is, but it was also the funniest bit in MM.

Oh, and that Daft Punk outfit fucking ruled. I typically don't go for these kinds of Spidey suits, but that one was sick.
 

wings012

Elite Member
Legacy
Jan 7, 2011
853
305
68
Country
Malaysia
I've been replaying Crysis. Well, technically it's Crysis Remastered. It makes my computer chug like a ***** on high settings, the load times are awful and it still looks somewhat dated. What got remastered exactly? I know they added raytracing, but I don't have an RT card.

There's something janky feeling about Crysis. I do like how open the levels are compared to 2/3, but the vehicles are unpleasant to drive and regular human enemies feel rather bullet spongey. I swear to god they can tank headshots. Then the Ceph show up and those are so much worse. Fuck the last boss, that was highly unpleasant.

I've started on replaying Crysis 2 now, and it just feels a lot smoother and responsive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

happyninja42

Elite Member
Legacy
May 13, 2010
8,577
2,981
118
Finished Spider-Man: Miles Morales and overall it was a super fun Spider-Man experience. The combat is absolutely superb with the venom powers making my balls tingle everytime. Good shit. I also didn't expect to take a liking to the invisibility, seeing as stealth in the previous game was bare bones and pretty useless, but in MM it just worked.

As for the story... eh. Could've been worse I guess, but it certainly doesn't land as well as the in Spider-Man PS4. The whole thing with Phin suddenly feeling horribly betrayed and wanting to destroy the Roxxon building and to kill Miles, and stubbornly not listening, made it pretty impossible for the game to try and create sympathy for her when she has her villain redemption moment. It smacks of the game forcing characters to be stupid so there can be a fight. And that fight didn't help much either since the amount of purple attacks that fill up the screen and cover the ground made it extremely frustrating.

So yeah, that final boss fight sucked, but thankfully the others were quite good. I really liked the fight against upgraded Rhino and Prowler, and bringing back the best boss fight from the previous game was not only highly appreciated due to how good that fight is, but it was also the funniest bit in MM.

Oh, and that Daft Punk outfit fucking ruled. I typically don't go for these kinds of Spidey suits, but that one was sick.
Yeah that game was pretty damn solid. I agree with your criticisms, I had the same ones. I'm curious how it was for bugs for you? I had zero issues with the original spidey game, but MM definitely had some significant bugs. Graphically and audibly. The audio one in particular actually cutting out a character's entire dialogue during an important storyline discussion. I'd already had subtitles on, but if I hadn't, I seriously would've just been hearing a one sided conversation. It seemed to be unique to Prowler? As I don't recall it happening with any other characters, but it happened in 2 different sections/encounters with Prowler. I wouldn't say the bugs I experience (aside from that audio one) were a huge issue, they were mainly just minor hiccups in graphics that quickly resolved, but they were there, and not there in the previous spidey game. At least for me that is.

I wish that technocyber suit he gets had come in blue though. That bright red was just kind of jarring. Red's never been my favorite color, I prefer blues and dark purples that bleed into the blue, so that would've been nice. I could've RP'd playing i was running around a simulation in TRON xD
 

XsjadoBlayde

~it ends here~
Apr 29, 2020
3,216
3,354
118
I heard you need a special spring for the trigger. My R2 broke, and I went to the local electronics repair shop, and they said they couldn't repair it.
Ah, weird the repair shop would say that, maybe they didn't want to order in the stock or something? But the springs are cheap and seemingly easy to get online so far, depending on where you live I would have to guess, I got mine from ebay like these;



(Older generation playstation controller springs are less tightly wound so apparently last longer and is why these new springs seem more prone to snap, but mileage may vary)

Only tool needed to get in to the trigger (you don't need to even remove the triggers or most of the controller) is a tiny cross-head screwdriver like one from a small watch/jewelry repair set, I got one for just over a fiver on ebay too;


Overall saves a lot of money in the long run, and I still got a bag of spare springs for future repairs. They're tiny and fiddly though, so I wouldn't recommend trying first time while under the influence of wine and other distractions like I did. 😉
 
  • Like
Reactions: hanselthecaretaker

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,571
4,374
118
Yeah that game was pretty damn solid. I agree with your criticisms, I had the same ones. I'm curious how it was for bugs for you? I had zero issues with the original spidey game, but MM definitely had some significant bugs. Graphically and audibly. The audio one in particular actually cutting out a character's entire dialogue during an important storyline discussion. I'd already had subtitles on, but if I hadn't, I seriously would've just been hearing a one sided conversation. It seemed to be unique to Prowler? As I don't recall it happening with any other characters, but it happened in 2 different sections/encounters with Prowler. I wouldn't say the bugs I experience (aside from that audio one) were a huge issue, they were mainly just minor hiccups in graphics that quickly resolved, but they were there, and not there in the previous spidey game. At least for me that is.

I wish that technocyber suit he gets had come in blue though. That bright red was just kind of jarring. Red's never been my favorite color, I prefer blues and dark purples that bleed into the blue, so that would've been nice. I could've RP'd playing i was running around a simulation in TRON xD
I got stuck in scenery once or twice and I think I had to reload once when a prompt wouldn't apear, but no issues when it comes to the audio. I don't know if the glitches are different depending on whether you're playing the PS4 or the PS5 version (I was on the PS4).
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

happyninja42

Elite Member
Legacy
May 13, 2010
8,577
2,981
118
I got stuck in scenery once or twice and I think I had to reload once when a prompt wouldn't apear, but no issues when it comes to the audio. I don't know if the glitches are different depending on whether you're playing the PS4 or the PS5 version (I was on the PS4).
Mine was PS4, and it was also around release date, so they might've patched a lot of the glaring ones.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
26,692
11,192
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
Mine was PS4, and it was also around release date, so they might've patched a lot of the glaring ones.
I had the missing body, head only, glitch after completing the FEAST side quest.

I played some GG Strive last night. Giovanna was my first pick and I'm already in love with the character. I did a couple of mission trials and palyed around in training last night. I did Arcade mode, but I quit after the 4th fight because I was tired. I don't like how difficulty works in this mode. You automatically start on Hard, and drop based on losing a round or entire match. I know I was on Extreme when I quit. When playing again just early, I went from Hard to Normal for most of the run, only get back to hard on the last two matches. Why couldn't they just do a standard: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Expert mode? Or do the thing in SF3: 3rd Strike where you can choose a more difficult path in your arcade run? I hope they fix that.

I managed to get 8 wins in a row and was able to co-op with Axel (AI only) on the final boss. I played as Gio and the co-op with partner mechanic is awesome. I just wish that there was a dramatic battle mode a la Street Fighter Alpha 2. Arc System needs to make an update and have a Dramatic Battle mode. My brother and I would go nuts for that co-op mode.
 
Last edited:

Hawki

Elite Member
Legacy
Mar 4, 2014
9,651
2,173
118
Country
Australia
Gender
Male
Since my last post, I've played through Sonic Lost World.

Controversial opinion time, but I like it. Really like it. It's easily one of the best 3D Sonic games, and easily has a spot in my top ten.

I've actually started on Sonic Unleashed, and yeah, I can't say I'm fond of it. I really don't care about the Werehog stages, and the day stages have a problem where you kind of just blunder through them on your first attempt. Keep improving, and that's where things get fun, but it's fun that comes from repetition. Granted, that's arguably Sonic's raison d'etre, in that a key feature of the games is to keep improving yourself to the point where you can just blast through levels, but something like Sonic Lost World was fun from the get go. Unleashed? Not so much.

Also still playing WoW. I've actually got into it, sort of. Started as a writing supplement, but the writing I do...well, I'm not in a good place there. But that's a whole other kettle of fish.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
26,692
11,192
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
I decided to play some Final Fight again from the Belt Scrolling Action Collection. This time I played the game in my Final Fight shirt I ordered Tee Public about four weeks ago.
 

09philj

Elite Member
Legacy
Mar 31, 2015
2,154
947
118
I picked up Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown in the Bandai Namco sale on Steam. It's pretty and it runs well and the combat is arcadey enough to be easy to pick up and play, but with enough detail to play pretend that you're a real fighter ace. The story is... weirdly told to say the least, since you're a faceless silent protagonist but there are fully voiced cutscenes about other characters that happen between missions. I'm basically on board with the story but the flight is clearly the main focus and I'm enjoying it a lot so far.
 

Dirty Hipsters

This is how we praise the sun!
Legacy
Feb 7, 2011
7,887
2,235
118
Country
'Merica
Gender
3 children in a trench coat
Trying to get back into Warhammer Vermintide 2. Last time I played it was in 2018, but some of my friends recently got back into it, and there's been a lot of new content that's been released in the last 3 years.

I'm having tons of stability problems though. The game keeps crashing on me, telling me that I have corrupted or missing files even after I verify the integrity of the game cashe and it tells me everything is fine, and I keep having issues with the anti-cheat booting me out of games even though I don't have any background programs running.

I never had this many issues on my old system with an nvidia 980 graphics card, so I'm assuming it has something to do with the game not playing well with AMD since I'm currently using a 5700xt. At least the game makes it very easy to rejoin games in progress if you get booted out or crash, which is currently it's one saving grace.
 

Dalisclock

Making lemons combustible again
Legacy
Escapist +
Feb 9, 2008
11,230
7,007
118
A Barrel In the Marketplace
Country
Eagleland
Gender
Male
I picked up Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown in the Bandai Namco sale on Steam. It's pretty and it runs well and the combat is arcadey enough to be easy to pick up and play, but with enough detail to play pretend that you're a real fighter ace. The story is... weirdly told to say the least, since you're a faceless silent protagonist but there are fully voiced cutscenes about other characters that happen between missions. I'm basically on board with the story but the flight is clearly the main focus and I'm enjoying it a lot so far.
The story for AC7 is fine for much of the game but suffers a bit in the back half. The series is weirdly into you playing faceless mute who owns the sky but doesn't have a name.

Still, it's a lot of fun to play and looks really good. When you're finished, you might enjoy watching this. It's parody humor(and a lot of meme humor) but honestly enjoyed it more then the actual story when I replayed for the 2nd time. Especially the Pirate Torres arc.

If you enjoy it, grab the 3 DLC missions. They're meant to be endgame content but do fit neatly into the mission flow.
 
Last edited:

Catfood220

Elite Member
Legacy
Dec 21, 2010
2,098
357
88
So I've been playing Trails of Cold Steel for the last few weeks and I'm close to the end now, I've enjoyed the experience but I don't think its one I'll go back to again once I'm done. The reason for this being that glaciers move faster than the plot of this game. Yeah, I know it is the first game in a 4 game series and this is just setting the scene and introducing characters. And I have no problem with a 100+ game, right now I'm feeling a hankering to go back to Persona 5 Royal again. But the flow of this game is so stop/start, you start at Thors Academy doing tasks for people and some training and then you go out to do a field study. This usually ends with things going sideways and this is where the game gets really interesting and then just as it does get interesting, you are sent back to Thors to do more tasks that people are too lazy to do themselves and it completely kills the flow of the game. I started to dread going back to Thors because I knew it would be a good couple of hours before anything interesting happened again. Who knows, maybe I'm a bit burnt out on it and I'll probably get the urge to play it again after I've played the whole series. I just hope the second game doesn't follow the same formula.

Right, having complained in length about it, I do actually like this game and keen on seeing the end. The world in which Trails of Cold Steel is amazingly detailed with a lot of lore and back story from previous Trails games...I've heard that there are about 14 games before this one...and it is not shy about bringing you up to speed. Not only that but the characters are all well written and nuanced which is a rarity it JRPG's. And that's not just your classmates who you go on field studies with, but the NPCs that are dotted around the school and the town, many have their own things going on and don't simply exist to splurge words at you if you choose to interact with them. Most of the main characters have secrets, I really want to know what is going on with Emma and her cat before the end of the game. And some of the side characters have secrets going on too. Though, it does seem that everyone in this school is incredibly horny all the time. Most of the female characters want to jump the main characters, Rean, bones, including his own sister.

Like I said before, its on the field studies where this game is at its best because this is when stuff always happen. There is always a problem to solve and the main troublemakers in this game are the Imperial Liberation Front who may actually be the most inept or just plain unlucky terrorist group in all of gaming. They tend to turn up, do something, get slapped down by Class 7 and then fly off going "I'll get you next time, Gadget, next time". The final time you meet them, they get shot down by an off screen assailant. Now I doubt they are really gone, I doubt the game has built this group up just to have the whole lot of them go out like that. But it seems that after the first couple of encounters with Class 7, you'd of thought they'd be sure they weren't in the area before putting their plans into action.

So yeah, I like this game and am interested to see where the story goes in the other games.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

meiam

Elite Member
Dec 9, 2010
3,330
1,645
118
So I've been playing Trails of Cold Steel for the last few weeks and I'm close to the end now, I've enjoyed the experience but I don't think its one I'll go back to again once I'm done. The reason for this being that glaciers move faster than the plot of this game. Yeah, I know it is the first game in a 4 game series and this is just setting the scene and introducing characters. And I have no problem with a 100+ game, right now I'm feeling a hankering to go back to Persona 5 Royal again. But the flow of this game is so stop/start, you start at Thors Academy doing tasks for people and some training and then you go out to do a field study. This usually ends with things going sideways and this is where the game gets really interesting and then just as it does get interesting, you are sent back to Thors to do more tasks that people are too lazy to do themselves and it completely kills the flow of the game. I started to dread going back to Thors because I knew it would be a good couple of hours before anything interesting happened again. Who knows, maybe I'm a bit burnt out on it and I'll probably get the urge to play it again after I've played the whole series. I just hope the second game doesn't follow the same formula.

Right, having complained in length about it, I do actually like this game and keen on seeing the end. The world in which Trails of Cold Steel is amazingly detailed with a lot of lore and back story from previous Trails games...I've heard that there are about 14 games before this one...and it is not shy about bringing you up to speed. Not only that but the characters are all well written and nuanced which is a rarity it JRPG's. And that's not just your classmates who you go on field studies with, but the NPCs that are dotted around the school and the town, many have their own things going on and don't simply exist to splurge words at you if you choose to interact with them. Most of the main characters have secrets, I really want to know what is going on with Emma and her cat before the end of the game. And some of the side characters have secrets going on too. Though, it does seem that everyone in this school is incredibly horny all the time. Most of the female characters want to jump the main characters, Rean, bones, including his own sister.

Like I said before, its on the field studies where this game is at its best because this is when stuff always happen. There is always a problem to solve and the main troublemakers in this game are the Imperial Liberation Front who may actually be the most inept or just plain unlucky terrorist group in all of gaming. They tend to turn up, do something, get slapped down by Class 7 and then fly off going "I'll get you next time, Gadget, next time". The final time you meet them, they get shot down by an off screen assailant. Now I doubt they are really gone, I doubt the game has built this group up just to have the whole lot of them go out like that. But it seems that after the first couple of encounters with Class 7, you'd of thought they'd be sure they weren't in the area before putting their plans into action.

So yeah, I like this game and am interested to see where the story goes in the other games.
Oh I just download it, not sure when I get around to it but I'll try. I tried very very hard to get into the franchise with trail in the sky (once on PSP and once on PC) and could never make it far because there was just waaaaaaaaaay too much dialogue (you don't need 4 paragraph to tell us something that can be said in 2 line!) and the combat was a combination of complex and shallow which made battle drag on despite being really easy. So hopefully those were just because it was the first game and it gets better... maybe. I also like the idea of magic school RPG (really liked the mana khemia) but I'm guessing they don't do much with it.
 

Dalisclock

Making lemons combustible again
Legacy
Escapist +
Feb 9, 2008
11,230
7,007
118
A Barrel In the Marketplace
Country
Eagleland
Gender
Male
So I've been playing Trails of Cold Steel for the last few weeks and I'm close to the end now, I've enjoyed the experience but I don't think its one I'll go back to again once I'm done. The reason for this being that glaciers move faster than the plot of this game. Yeah, I know it is the first game in a 4 game series and this is just setting the scene and introducing characters. And I have no problem with a 100+ game, right now I'm feeling a hankering to go back to Persona 5 Royal again. But the flow of this game is so stop/start, you start at Thors Academy doing tasks for people and some training and then you go out to do a field study. This usually ends with things going sideways and this is where the game gets really interesting and then just as it does get interesting, you are sent back to Thors to do more tasks that people are too lazy to do themselves and it completely kills the flow of the game. I started to dread going back to Thors because I knew it would be a good couple of hours before anything interesting happened again. Who knows, maybe I'm a bit burnt out on it and I'll probably get the urge to play it again after I've played the whole series. I just hope the second game doesn't follow the same formula.

Right, having complained in length about it, I do actually like this game and keen on seeing the end. The world in which Trails of Cold Steel is amazingly detailed with a lot of lore and back story from previous Trails games...I've heard that there are about 14 games before this one...and it is not shy about bringing you up to speed. Not only that but the characters are all well written and nuanced which is a rarity it JRPG's. And that's not just your classmates who you go on field studies with, but the NPCs that are dotted around the school and the town, many have their own things going on and don't simply exist to splurge words at you if you choose to interact with them. Most of the main characters have secrets, I really want to know what is going on with Emma and her cat before the end of the game. And some of the side characters have secrets going on too. Though, it does seem that everyone in this school is incredibly horny all the time. Most of the female characters want to jump the main characters, Rean, bones, including his own sister.

Like I said before, its on the field studies where this game is at its best because this is when stuff always happen. There is always a problem to solve and the main troublemakers in this game are the Imperial Liberation Front who may actually be the most inept or just plain unlucky terrorist group in all of gaming. They tend to turn up, do something, get slapped down by Class 7 and then fly off going "I'll get you next time, Gadget, next time". The final time you meet them, they get shot down by an off screen assailant. Now I doubt they are really gone, I doubt the game has built this group up just to have the whole lot of them go out like that. But it seems that after the first couple of encounters with Class 7, you'd of thought they'd be sure they weren't in the area before putting their plans into action.

So yeah, I like this game and am interested to see where the story goes in the other games.
Just gonna leave this here then......

 

sXeth

Elite Member
Legacy
Nov 15, 2012
3,301
675
118
Yeah, I've found, having been made aware of this gaming design with that term, that when I see it in a game, I don't like it. I find it a tedium that I personally could just do without. It really irked me with Jedi: Fallen Order. Where I would pull up the map when I got a new ability/item that I knew unlocked areas, and would review a previous map. I'd see the various green doors and stuff....aaaallllll the way at the bottom of an annoyingly convoluted map, that I can't stand navigating anyway, just to find some doors, that will probably have nothing more than a new poncho/BD-1/ship skin. Or a small codex or something. I'd feel the enthusiasm to keep playing, literally drain out of me as I looked at the map.

So yeah, personally, not a fan of metroidvania level design. Didn't like it in God of War either, though I found it less annoying/tedious in that one. I guess because the various things that were unlocked, were like entire new areas with side quests, cool story missions in themselves, an entire new realm of the 9 realms to farm for equipment, etc. I knew it wasn't always just a minor collectible or something.

It tends to vary.

A) The upgrades need to be actually utility beyond simply a lock. Like a double jump, a grappling look, an air dash, wingsuit, etc. To take an awful example from a game I otherwisee enjoyed immensely, Salt and Sanctuary has one "ability" that basically just opens red glowing doors. And I"ve seen similar things about other examples of the mechanics.


b) Having a reason to go back through those areas. There should be some point to going back through those areas if they're set up to be retread. Zelda is (mostly) solid in this, as it usually either criss-crosses a central hub, or has the Dark World/Future/etc revisit where everythigns remixed. The first Castlevania Lords of Shadow, is one where I can recall some particularly egregious stuff. Like there'd be a double-jump up to an upgrade (for an ammo pouch or something) that you'd have to reload the level totally out of context to go back and get.


The first Arkham game in particular, had a ton of just .... padding. Wandering back through the grounds, maybe they'd throw a new combat encounter in. Outside of one or two mandatory spots the only reason to use half your gadgets was Riddler trophiest hat did nothing other then tick towards a platinum trophy achievement.
 

happyninja42

Elite Member
Legacy
May 13, 2010
8,577
2,981
118
It tends to vary.

A) The upgrades need to be actually utility beyond simply a lock. Like a double jump, a grappling look, an air dash, wingsuit, etc. To take an awful example from a game I otherwisee enjoyed immensely, Salt and Sanctuary has one "ability" that basically just opens red glowing doors. And I"ve seen similar things about other examples of the mechanics.


b) Having a reason to go back through those areas. There should be some point to going back through those areas if they're set up to be retread. Zelda is (mostly) solid in this, as it usually either criss-crosses a central hub, or has the Dark World/Future/etc revisit where everythigns remixed. The first Castlevania Lords of Shadow, is one where I can recall some particularly egregious stuff. Like there'd be a double-jump up to an upgrade (for an ammo pouch or something) that you'd have to reload the level totally out of context to go back and get.


The first Arkham game in particular, had a ton of just .... padding. Wandering back through the grounds, maybe they'd throw a new combat encounter in. Outside of one or two mandatory spots the only reason to use half your gadgets was Riddler trophiest hat did nothing other then tick towards a platinum trophy achievement.
Pretty much yeah, those are why I find them annoying, because most games don't make them anything more than a new key, to a new type of door. The wall run in Fallen Order for example...you can't really use that in combat, so it's purely just a new area unlock thing. The force push/pull you could totally use in combat sure, so that one at least had utility outside of just opening paths. And BD-1's slicing ability could be used in combat, but the time between when you unlock that ability to open doors, and when you get the unlocks that let you slice droids, is vastly different. And, you can actually miss them entirely if you aren't being diligent. Plus, they were often just not worth it I felt? Usually easier to just kill the enemies, than to try and let BD-1 slice them.

I mean I get the theory behind gating sections of the map behind various hurdles you have to meet, for things like difficulty zones and similar, I still don't think it's implemented very well most of the time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan