What are you currently playing?

[Chimpzy]

Back to backlogging, started Apotheon. It's a Metroidvania (ish) set in mythological Greece and toting an aesthetic that makes it look like you're playing across the surface of a massive black and orange Greek vase. That's pretty much all it's got going for it. It's as boilerplate a representation as Greek mythology gets. Movement is floaty and puppety, and the physics based combat is pure jank. The UI itself is ugly and kinda hard to read. Areas are way too big and annoying to navigate, including the central hub that connects everything. I guess I like the bits in the central hub where you have to find ways to bypass a guard or locked door, feels a bit like playing an adventure game.

I played this one years ago and reached pretty much the exact same conclusions. Tho I've noticed you didn't mention gamebreaking bug and crashes, so either those have been patched out since, or you were just lucky enough to now encounter any. Don't know if you're that far along, but I do remember thinking the Artemis boss fight was a cool idea, or at least at the time I did. Other than that, yeah, decidedly lackluster.

 

[thebobmaster]

Still playing Cassette Beasts. Probably will take a bit of a break from it, as it's one of those RPGs that can just be a lot with the various sidequests and main quests and exploration, but it's really good. One thing I quite like about it above even Pokemon is that for the most part, how powerful the monsters you capture are is tied to the PLAYER level. Leveling the monsters gets them new moves and some stat boosts, but the main stats are tied to the character level, so there's not really any issue with swapping monsters in and out as you capture them, and leveling them up to get them new moves is much less of a grind as well.

 

[Worgen]

Beat Tevi and started on the DLC. I'm really surprised by how much of the story I forgot, which was kinda cool since I got to experience some of it again. The story does have some issues near the end like the creators suddenly remembered they had to end the game at some point so a few plot points get done rather quick and there was a thing about a tainted heart or something that feels like it kinda comes out of nowhere since they talk about it like it was talked about earlier, but I don't remember it being mentioned, or if it was then it was quick enough that I didn't remember it and I remember that happening my first playthrough also.

Anyway, the DLC starts at the end of the base game, you keep all your stuff from the base game and the first boss is as brutal as it should be if you got past the main game. But, one thing that is cool, is that you can still go to all the areas from the main game (at least right now) and collect stuff you missed.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Posted my thoughts about Ragnarok on the dedicated thread, so I'll talk about Valhalla here.

It's almost comical how well the combat system of Ragnarok works in a roguelite setting. One of my biggest complaints about the main game was how they hardly ever forced you to use the many options at your disposal. In Valhalla, way more enemies are susceptible to specific weapons, so you have to switch between them more. But they also set you on a path to prioritize one weapon. It feels really nice to have the game choose which weapon for you to use, because I feel like they are all equally decent (unlike many weapons in say Hades 2). I'm trying out Runic attacks I never looked at in the main game for the first time, since that's all you're provided. I've only made a few runs so far, but it's a much better option for doing combat scenarios again instead of the stupid Muspelheim challenges.

One big problem I have though is PLEASE SANTA MONICA STOP WITH ALL THE FUCKING PATHS. What I loved about Hades 2 and Slay the Spire was getting into a flowstate. You're pressing buttons to access new areas or refill on resources without even consciously thinking. But in Valhalla, they return you to random hub areas that for some reason are incredibly complex for what is supposed to be a quick breather in between fights. Just put all the doors next to each other for fuck's sake, don't make me grapple four times just to check what my other option is. I mean, they went out of their way to make developing this harder, only for a worse experience (which I think is true for a lot of the main game as well).

 

[BrawlMan]

Red Star (PSP version). I am playing this on both of RG devices, and this game is awesome. I used to have the PS2 version back in the day, but sold it years ago. The PSP version plays just as good as the PS2 original, and is a 3D, run n' gun, brawler hybrid.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I played this one years ago and reached pretty much the exact same conclusions. Tho I've noticed you didn't mention gamebreaking bug and crashes, so either those have been patched out since, or you were just lucky enough to now encounter any. Don't know if you're that far along, but I do remember thinking the Artemis boss fight was a cool idea, or at least at the time I did. Other than that, yeah, decidedly lackluster.

I'd read the game was very buggy, so far all that's happened is I got stuck behind a boulder and had to reload a save... put me right back behind that boulder, but for some reason they let me walk through it. No crashes so far. Beat Artemis last night and now I wanna know if the other fights are indeed as bespoke, even if I think the game itself is kinda slipshod.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

RE: Requiem story completed.

Capcom nailed the endings, conveniently prompting the true one after the faux one which most people would reasonably have chosen first. Grace’s report was a nice touch, summarizing the history of the storyline thus far. The extras encourage replaying it of course, which I plan on doing (along with the Leon Must Die Forever thing) but will probably start RE8 as well.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I found out that not only does Armored Core VI: Tires of Scooby-Doo have a New Game+, it has a New Game++, and honestly I don't think I'm that invested in the game.

Instead I've decided to replay Control in preparation for the release of the sequel. Not that I'll be buying it on release, because I don't do that anymore, but it's the spirit that counts!

 

[meiam]

I found out that not only does Armored Core VI: Tires of Scooby-Doo have a New Game+, it has a New Game++, and honestly I don't think I'm that invested in the game.

Instead I've decided to replay Control in preparation for the release of the sequel. Not that I'll be buying it on release, because I don't do that anymore, but it's the spirit that counts!

yeah they're 95% identical anyway, not much of a reason to replay them outside of trying different build.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I'm starting to lose hope that Blue Prince will have an update that will fix its RNG issues. With how many complaints there were at launch about how much the RNG sucks late game, when you are just trying to solve puzzles, and how the game is just slow and kind of wastes your time in general, I was sure that the devs were going to come out with a QoL patch that addressed some of the main issues. It's been over a year now, though, and it doesn't seem like there is any intention to really improve the game at all outside of the odd bug fix.

It's too bad, because if there had been a patch that made the game less tedious to play I probably would have continued with it. I didn't get much farther than the credits and I still have my stack of notes sitting in a drawer. Oh well.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I'm starting to lose hope that Blue Prince will have an update that will fix its RNG issues. With how many complaints there were at launch about how much the RNG sucks late game, when you are just trying to solve puzzles, and how the game is just slow and kind of wastes your time in general, I was sure that the devs were going to come out with a QoL patch that addressed some of the main issues. It's been over a year now, though, and it doesn't seem like there is any intention to really improve the game at all outside of the odd bug fix.

It's too bad, because if there had been a patch that made the game less tedious to play I probably would have continued with it. I didn't get much farther than the credits and I still have my stack of notes sitting in a drawer. Oh well.

If they did make such an update, there would be think pieces and posts about how it dilutes the experience and even if it's an important, "something special was lost."

That game is a huge hit and I think they'd be crazy to change its core gameplay.

I say this as someone who every so often considers playing it, then remembers I hate the RNG, roguelite, "runs" aspect of such games and just admire those who have the patience to beat it.

 

[Drathnoxis]

If they did make such an update, there would be think pieces and posts about how it dilutes the experience and even if it's an important, "something special was lost."

That game is a huge hit and I think they'd be crazy to change its core gameplay.

I say this as someone who every so often considers playing it, then remembers I hate the RNG, roguelite, "runs" aspect of such games and just admire those who have the patience to beat it.

Even people who loved the game and ranked it among their top games of the year complained about the RNG of the end game. As you continue through the game, the relevance of the roguelite becomes less and less and you do get tools to mitigate the RNG, only they are awkward and tedious to use and require RNG themselves to set up. Really, in my opinion, as one of the biggest fans of roguelikes/lites on this forum, the roguelite aspect of the game is pretty weak and tends to clash with solving the meta-puzzles, which is probably 80% of the game's content.

It's actually more unusual for a hit roguelite *not* to receive a bunch of balancing and QoL patches after release. Cult of the Lamb had a bunch of updates and DLC, Noita had a ton of changes and updates including a major content update 4 years after release, Vampire Survivors had a never ending stream of updates, Darkest Dungeon had new modes that addressed some of the tedium of the end game. Heck, look at Binding of Isaac, it was created in an entirely new game engine at one point. The fact that Blue Prince hasn't had many meaningful updates is more evidence of how little of a roguelite it actually is.

 

[BrawlMan]

@Worgen, @NerfedFalcon, @Bob_McMillan, @Casual Shinji, @Old_Hunter_77, and @hanselthecaretaker2, I actually picked up GoW: Ghost of Sparta for the first time with my RG476H. Pretty good so far. I don't mind the shorter length, and simplified QTES. Some people actually complained about the short length back in the day for both PSP titles, but it was near impossible to do a 10-12 hour 3D action game of this caliber on a small handheld. I appreciate the short length, and rather not deal with the game with so much padding. The exact reason why I don't like replaying III.