What are you currently playing?

[BrawlMan]

Yeah, but I need to keep that shit for the actual Boss fights and the Ivy monsters

Welcome to the world of survival horror. I hate to say it, but you gotta figure out how to save that ammo. I've gotten to the point where I can either juke most things or stun them without wasting too much regular ammo. When i'm playing as Leon, I never used the flamethrower on the g creatures aside for maybe one. Claire's fully upgraded Mac 10, can devastate their weak points fast.

And they just have that broken insta-grab attack if you come within 2 feet of them, and if you subweapon your way out of their grasp they have that curl-up arm sweep strike that'll hit you if you try to run past them. Really the only way to safely get by them is if they do their little parasite puke attack. They're really the only enemy type where trying to avoid them really doesn't apply and the game is just 'fuck you, deal with them'.

You can actually bait their grab attack and avoid it. There is timing and some skill to it, but once you know how to do it, you can get past them almost every single time.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

I played through the Resident Evil games again. The ones I enjoy playing through at least. The original RE2 and 3 were released for PS5 a while back for free, so I decided to give them a whirl again after decades. And then I was like 'Well, why not play through REmake again'. And then it was 'Eh, I'll go and play all the remakes.'

Now you've got me wanting to do some Resident Evil replays. Maybe I'll take another crack at RE:4 (or RE4), since Requiem's coming out soon.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Welcome to the world of survival horror. I hate to say it, but you gotta figure out how to save that ammo. I've gotten to the point where I can either juke most things or stun them without wasting too much regular ammo. When i'm playing as Leon, I never used the flamethrower on the g creatures aside for maybe one. Claire's fully upgraded Mac 10, can devastate their weak points fast.



You can actually bait their grab attack and avoid it. There is timing and some skill to it, but once you know how to do it, you can get past them almost every single time.

The problem with the G-creatures, for me anyway, is that they lack consistant damage input coupled with you getting magnetized into their grab attack. I remember unloading 4 or 5 shotgun shells into their shoulder and getting nothing, yet a grenade down their throat opens it right up. I always manage to fumble my way past that section (where you get the Queen and King plug) during each playthrough, but it never feels gratifying. I've looked up some hints online, but the overall advice seems to be 'yeah, they just suck, and you're just gonna have to deal with it'.

 

[BrawlMan]

I remember unloading 4 or 5 shotgun shells into their shoulder and getting nothing, yet a grenade down their throat opens it right up

That's the dynamic difficulty setting in. The better you do, the harder zombies and monsters are to put down. I never bother with the shotgun on G-Creatures, even when I have it fully upgraded. Grenades are always consistently powerful. It's pretty much why I like to hold on to them.

 

[Worgen]

Beat Puppet King in Lies of P. First form was either easy or hard depending on if I got too aggressive and he started doing this one combination of attacks that leave you no real way to attack him, seems like he likes to do it when hes ready to be stunned. Second form was a pain in the ass, fast with odd combos.

 

[Silvanus]

Finally platinum'd Hades, and have started Hades 2 on Switch (was worried it might struggle but it plays fine). 2 seems even better so far. Beat Chronos on about the 20th night; have yet to beat the surface path.

Also started a metroidvania called Skelethrone 'cos it was on offer, but it doesn't seem great.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Played an hour of Ball X Pit. It's not grabbing me in any way. Balls fly about randomly and my winning runs feel identical to my losing runs other than the fact that I manage to pass the DPS checks. My skills feel pretty much irrelevant. Setting up the town and collecting resources feels like a chore.

 

[Worgen]

Played an hour of Ball X Pit. It's not grabbing me in any way. Balls fly about randomly and my winning runs feel identical to my losing runs other than the fact that I manage to pass the DPS checks. My skills feel pretty much irrelevant. Setting up the town and collecting resources feels like a chore.

Ball X Pit is one of those roguelikes that I wish I liked more. I've put 7 hours into it and its neat, really nice music, I like the graphics, gameplay is pretty good too, but it just doesn't really grab me.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Finishing Islets. There's a lot to discover and love near the end of the game. Rather uniquely you gain the ability to shoot arrows and then walk across the trail of smoke they momentarily leave behind; these trails also work as barriers against projectiles. You also gain the ability to teleport short distances with your ship, which pairs wonderfully with bullet hell arenas and your homing attack. I'm not going to fault the game for being too short but I do wish these were introduced earlier. Some of these mechanics could carry a whole game, but are barely used here.

The other thing is the game is maybe a little too on the easy side (this is me playing on normal). It's simple enough to finagle your way through what are presented as complex platforming or combat gauntlets. The elements are there that in theory you need to be graceful and precise but in reality nothing's stopping you from just bumbling across while tanking more than a few hits.

 

[BrawlMan]

Cronos - I am in the last quarter of the game now. You do get more ammo the further you get, and the more off beat path/hidden areas you explore. There is not in-game map, but you can click your objective marker anytime to know what is the main or critical path. The hospital section is my favorite area of the game. The abbey is the final area. This game definitely feels like a better and actual spiritual successor to Dead Space, but stands on its own with time travel and psychological horror. Unlike Callisto Protocol.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Just replaying some classics yet again.

I beat Luigi's Mansion for maybe the 10th time. Is there anything more satisfying than opening a drawer and coins, bills, and gold bars go flying everywhere which you then suck up with your vacuum cleaner? It's too bad the sequels didn't live up to the charm, atmosphere, or polish of the original.

I'm replaying Paper Mario again and it's always amazing to me how polished the game is. Now maybe the intro is a little slow, and the plot is closer to your basic 'Bowser kidnaps Peach' setup than earlier or later Mario RPGS, but more effort has gone into making the characters and world feeling alive than almost any RPG I've played. Each chapter every NPC in the game gets new dialogue, even unimportant ones that never even play a minor role in handing out items or hints. In addition, Goombario will have comments on every person, screen, and object in the game that adds additional depth or humour. It's amazing how many RPGs get this wrong when the perfect example on how to do it right came out in 2000. I think the only other game I've ever played that update inconsequential NPC dialogue this much is Mother 3. Even TTYD doesn't quite live up to its predecessor in this respect.

 

[meiam]

I'm replaying Paper Mario again and it's always amazing to me how polished the game is. Now maybe the intro is a little slow, and the plot is closer to your basic 'Bowser kidnaps Peach' setup than earlier or later Mario RPGS, but more effort has gone into making the characters and world feeling alive than almost any RPG I've played. Each chapter every NPC in the game gets new dialogue, even unimportant ones that never even play a minor role in handing out items or hints. In addition, Goombario will have comments on every person, screen, and object in the game that adds additional depth or humour. It's amazing how many RPGs get this wrong when the perfect example on how to do it right came out in 2000. I think the only other game I've ever played that update inconsequential NPC dialogue this much is Mother 3. Even TTYD doesn't quite live up to its predecessor in this respect.

I tried replaying paper mario awhile ago, the game ooze charm, no question, but gameplay is pretty slow and doesn't really evolve over time so I ended up dropping after a coupld of hours. I'll probably try to power trough again.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I tried replaying paper mario awhile ago, the game ooze charm, no question, but gameplay is pretty slow and doesn't really evolve over time so I ended up dropping after a coupld of hours. I'll probably try to power trough again.

It's pretty simple, sure. TTYD improved the battle system definitely. For movement speed you can use the spin dash and jump before you slow down to get around quickly. You can also pretty much ignore most overworld fights, because the game is pretty easy overall, and can be broken with the right items and badges. Exploring the world is definitely the main draw for me.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Constantly getting bombarded by items by the AI in Crossworlds so that I lose nearly every race with my friends due to bullshit. I want to love this game, but it just seems to hate me back no matter what I do.

Also, how fucking early do the devs expect you to start turning in corners in this game? Even with a pure Handling setup I'm crashing into walls, going offroad or falling off cliffs at least twice per race.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Playing 8Doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure.

It's an indie metroidvania from South Korea that is ostensibly based on local folklore, though if you ask me it's just as seemingly a riff on Spirited Away. "Irritable girl journeys through purgatory to rescue her parents (well, one) and steps into a fantasy workhouse where gentle spirits shuffle around, the staff high-hands her and also there's a frog" should be copyrighted.

It's a bit on the cheap side (the lack of animations in menus is always a clear tell) and not very friendly to the player. Item descriptions are confusing, and the game kinda hides from you the stuff you do buy or pick up.

Difficulty seems unfair - you start off with three health drinks on you, which refill at checkpoints, but most enemies and hazards take a bigger chunk of your health upon hit than a single drink can heal. That doesn't seem right. Fortunately there's no contact damage and most enemies stun easy.

The level design is actually pretty good, and I like the overall aesthetic and the look of the characters. This game has one of the prettiest uses of grayscale I've seen.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I've started replaying The World Ends with You. I played through this a bunch of times, but according to my save file that was 15 years ago. Man, I didn't think it had been that long!

There's a couple really annoying things about replaying this game. First is that there is only one save file on the cartridge, so if you want to start a new game, you need to delete your save. You can still replay the game from the chapter select but there's issues with this. Mainly, that you are obscenely overpowered. I have the game set to the hardest difficulty, have unequipped all my clothes, set my level to 1, am using non-mastered pins, and near the end of the first cycle I still don't even have to think during combat. I don't even really understand why I'm so strong, stat buffs from food or something? You also meet most optional objectives and anything that requires an item to progress. So you can replay the game, but you don't get to engage with any of its mechanics.

Now I could delete my save, but I really don't want to because the item collection is grindy as heck and I spent a lot of time collecting everything and getting to 85% pin mastery (that sounds low, but getting to 100% is obscenely tedious and probably requires a guide). It sucks, but I guess I just don't get to engage with the mechanics anymore.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

(that sounds low, but getting to 100% is obscenely tedious and probably requires a guide).

And a second Nintendo DS so that you can actually earn social points. One of the original three methods of gaining pin XP was to walk around with the game started but your Nintendo DS in sleep mode. During that time, it would send out pings to other DSes nearby, and any that it got would give XP to your equipped pins, with a bonus if that DS was also playing The World Ends With You.

Thing is, certain pins can only be gotten through pin evolution using social XP, so now that nobody pulls out a DS in public anymore, there's literally no way to complete the collection except to painstakingly get the last few points for each social evolution using a second DS of your own. And I'm pretty sure even that might not be possible, because IIRC the game keeps track of the last few DSes it made contact with and won't contact them again right away.

I love TWEWY and I probably always will, but I'm amazed they didn't consider the future when they implemented that system. Thankfully, evolving pins is a lot easier in the sequel; they just need to be equipped on the correct character when they reach max level. Honestly, if you liked the original game, I can recommend Neo. Combat's fairly different and Rindo is a very different protagonist to Neku, but it's got a pretty good story of its own and the combat works really well once you start getting it.

 

[Drathnoxis]

And a second Nintendo DS so that you can actually earn social points. One of the original three methods of gaining pin XP was to walk around with the game started but your Nintendo DS in sleep mode. During that time, it would send out pings to other DSes nearby, and any that it got would give XP to your equipped pins, with a bonus if that DS was also playing The World Ends With You.

Thing is, certain pins can only be gotten through pin evolution using social XP, so now that nobody pulls out a DS in public anymore, there's literally no way to complete the collection except to painstakingly get the last few points for each social evolution using a second DS of your own. And I'm pretty sure even that might not be possible, because IIRC the game keeps track of the last few DSes it made contact with and won't contact them again right away.

Yes, I remember leaving my DS on all day one time when I took a trip to a big city to try and evolve a couple pins that needed that xp. I don't even know if I got enough to evolve any. It's so stupid. Also stupid are the pins you need to not play the game for a certain length of time to evolve. I don't think the game even really tells you which pins need which xp to evolve so you just guess, and make sure you don't get too much of the wrong xp. I have no idea what they were thinking with some of these mechanics.

I love TWEWY and I probably always will, but I'm amazed they didn't consider the future when they implemented that system. Thankfully, evolving pins is a lot easier in the sequel; they just need to be equipped on the correct character when they reach max level. Honestly, if you liked the original game, I can recommend Neo. Combat's fairly different and Rindo is a very different protagonist to Neku, but it's got a pretty good story of its own and the combat works really well once you start getting it.

That's actually the reason I'm replaying the game. I've had Neo sitting on my shelf for a year and I want to replay the original before I get to it.

 

[meiam]

I've started replaying The World Ends with You. I played through this a bunch of times, but according to my save file that was 15 years ago. Man, I didn't think it had been that long!

There's a couple really annoying things about replaying this game. First is that there is only one save file on the cartridge, so if you want to start a new game, you need to delete your save. You can still replay the game from the chapter select but there's issues with this. Mainly, that you are obscenely overpowered. I have the game set to the hardest difficulty, have unequipped all my clothes, set my level to 1, am using non-mastered pins, and near the end of the first cycle I still don't even have to think during combat. I don't even really understand why I'm so strong, stat buffs from food or something? You also meet most optional objectives and anything that requires an item to progress. So you can replay the game, but you don't get to engage with any of its mechanics.

Now I could delete my save, but I really don't want to because the item collection is grindy as heck and I spent a lot of time collecting everything and getting to 85% pin mastery (that sounds low, but getting to 100% is obscenely tedious and probably requires a guide). It sucks, but I guess I just don't get to engage with the mechanics anymore.

I know that must be heresy, but I'd love a remake that would just ditch the DS gameplay. Never really saw the point of the double gameplay at once, just felt like playing a bad DDR while scribbling furiously with the pen.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I know that must be heresy, but I'd love a remake that would just ditch the DS gameplay. Never really saw the point of the double gameplay at once, just felt like playing a bad DDR while scribbling furiously with the pen.

I've always wondered if it was a sort of stealth coop game with each person holding half the DS. I know I occasionally played it that way before my transformation into a misanthropic hermit.

Requiring you to switch your focus between two different screens with completely different gameplay styles is almost completely unique in gaming, though. Reminds me of a video I saw once where a girl would play two versions of Sekiro simultaneously using a controller and a DDR pad.