Maidens of the Kaleidoscope

~Beyond the Border~ => Akyu's Arcade => Topic started by: theshirn on March 02, 2015, 05:57:04 AM

Title: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on March 02, 2015, 05:57:04 AM
why do you keep playing games go do something useful with your lives
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on March 02, 2015, 07:54:08 AM
no, instead I'm going to be playing shadow hearts covenant on stream semi-regularly and enjoying myself

also playing around with Super Mario Bros X for the MAGLX2 contest, but that's all I can say on that.  Yay crappy level designs! 8D
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on March 02, 2015, 01:00:14 PM
No that's silly someone mentioned Vagrant Story and I had to start playing it again time to relearn all the smithing stuff.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on March 02, 2015, 05:08:27 PM
Racing my friend on who can beat Tales of Symphonia 2, I'm playing the Wii version while he's playing the PS3 version so far I found out that having a memory card with ToS1 gets you some free stuff on the Wii version thankfully I kept all of my GC games, memory cards, and controllers so yay. So, far we're tied right now.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on March 02, 2015, 05:12:03 PM
I apologize for nothing Reddyne!

I just beat up this stupid golem thing that I could only damage with magic or counter splash damage and I still don't really know what to do in the workshop effectively :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on March 02, 2015, 05:35:47 PM
I apologize for nothing Reddyne!

I just beat up this stupid golem thing that I could only damage with magic or counter splash damage and I still don't really know what to do in the workshop effectively :V
I've been reminded of the following things that shouldn't spoil very much of anything but will hopefully dispell some ???'s about weapons and armor smithing since it's such a big thing:

1. There's an axe, sword, crossbow, spear, knife, 2 handed sword, and club all before the first workshop. NONE of them combine into anything useful. x.x

2. Shields are not nearly as complex as weapons. If what you get is better than the last one, do it. Early on I think it goes (lvl 1 shield) + (lvl 2 shield) = (lvl 3 shield). Later that changes to (lvl 8 shield) x 2 = (lvl 9 shield). You will eventually be able to put stat boost gems in them too.

3. Braveheart gems are fantastic almost to a fault.

4. At the start, the hilt barely matters. As you progress, the hilt becomes almost as important as the weapon itself.

5. Armor's a lot of whatever when smithing. If what you get is better than what you had, go for it. There's more cross-breeding than with shields in that you can go across armor types, but just keep plugging away to make stuff better. I wound up with a glove about 4 levels higher than the starting bandage.

6. Silver and damascus are super rare and tough to make from raw materials. Try to keep them as they are. This goes threefold for damascus.

7. WEAPON STRENGTHS AND TYPES MATTER. It's good to keep a couple weapons as back-ups because they're strong against a particular type. There's slash/blunt/pierce weapons, elemental affinities, and affinities for specific types of monsters. It also means that piece of junk hanging out in your inventory might be a mighty dragonslayer, too.

8. Your damage is the estimated damage plus 1-5. If you get an estimated NOTHING out of the first strike, keep chain attacks going and not only will you do damage but the damage will climb for each successful hit in a chain.

9. Both damage points and phantom points matter for maxing out effectiveness, but always repair your stuff when at the workshop!

EDIT: Oh and as a general tip, you can check the equipment setups of your enemies in the same room. I forgot exactly how to do so, but once you figure it out you'll know what enemies have equipped for armor/weapons and therefore who it might be worth picking fights with since they'll drop that same equipment. Some unique enemies also have uniquely named weapons, too.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The ⑨th Zentillion on March 03, 2015, 01:13:35 AM
no, instead I'm going to be playing shadow hearts covenant on stream semi-regularly and enjoying myself

also playing around with Super Mario Bros X for the MAGLX2 contest, but that's all I can say on that.  Yay crappy level designs! 8D

I can't wait to see where you place and when Raocow plays your level, man.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on March 03, 2015, 09:28:01 AM
I can't wait to see where you place and when Raocow plays your level, man.
aw ye, someone knows what I'm talking about <3

I was able to complete and submit the level after passing it around to some other talkhausers for feedback and everyone was super impressed apparently so maybe I'll actually do well despite never having picked up SMBX before.  (Then again, that among the list of generated level names I had was
PARANOIA
probably helped; I'll leave you to wonder what I did with that 8D)

Also in other news I've downed Turn 9 and 10 of the Binding Coil of Bahamut in FFXIV.  Finally, after a year of always being behind by an entire coil, I'm actually caught up and engaging relevant endgame raid content, yipee!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Spotty Len on March 03, 2015, 12:20:45 PM
I was able to complete and submit the level after passing it around to some other talkhausers for feedback and everyone was super impressed apparently so maybe I'll actually do well despite never having picked up SMBX before.  (Then again, that among the list of generated level names I had was
PARANOIA
probably helped; I'll leave you to wonder what I did with that 8D
I can hardly wait now. The first MaGL X had pretty good content, so the second one ought to be really good.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Phlegeth on March 07, 2015, 06:07:04 AM
I started playing Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;birth on the Vita to see what all the hoopla was about.  I'm only on Chapter 2 and Noire just joined the party and I'm loving it.  Neptune gets all the best lines.  She's really, really blunt.  I want to get to Heart White, the second she opened her mouth in the intro was awesome.  That intro was pretty cool.  It reminded me of Nanoha. 
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 07, 2015, 10:03:55 AM
White Heart is unfortunately the last CPU you'll meet.


Anyway, Hyperdevotion. English Ai is so tryhard, but I can't help but feel that's a better voice for her than her JP voice. Is Resta representing the Tales series? Is Ryuka's Nepgear's favorite?
EDIT: Wait, what? Resta's representing Agarest? Damn it, how did I not see that?!


Also making my way through all the Alfheims in Bayonetta. Probably will die hardcore if I try the Lost Chapter without all of the Witch Hearts collected, but most of the ones I'm missing are probably on Route 666.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on March 09, 2015, 05:15:41 AM
To those who were eagerly expecting MAGLX2?  I spent six hours today playing people's levels as last minute playtesting/showcasing in a private stream today (The entry fee was sending me your level).  I only played 16 levels but oh man they were all super great for one reason or another and I'm so hype for the full LP and results now.

EDIT: Deadline has passed.  The tentative level count is about 270 levels holy shit
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on March 09, 2015, 04:40:00 PM
Wau the Talkhaus has been busy. Once in a while I'll skip stuff Raocow plays because of lack of interest but Mario X stuff can get so creative.

Dork Souls 2 is seriously wrapping up for the final time. It's come down to co-op in Brume Tower and other places as the only area I've yet to go through is Eleum Loyce. I beat Fume Knight Raime on my first attempt and Sir Alonne on my fourth in a series of subpar performances. It's a rare occurrence for my co-op host to lose unless they're careless and even rarer for me to get whupped before they do should that happen. Yup. Time to hang up my min-maxing gloves.

Vagrant Story will only be getting the nod every so often with spring coming around. It has reminded me just how punishing it can be. 0 damage estimates all around. I still ace the smithing test, though.

Bravely Default is just about to hit Chapter 4. Just got Swordmaster and Ninja. I swear this game gets more and more fun the more the jobs open up.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sahgren on March 09, 2015, 05:01:32 PM
Picked up Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment while it was on sale. Unfortunately, the opening has ticked off my inner literary critic and my grammar nazi side wants to club whomever was "editing" the dialogue. Seriously, don't do an in media res opening when you can explain everything leading up to that point sufficiently in a 5 minute cutscene. Especially not when you actually proceed to explain everything in a 5 minute cutscene immediately afterwards. If they had done explaining first, stabby-murder-fun-time second, I wouldn't have spent the opening wondering what I had missed.

Edit: Also playing Space Hulk Ascension. I'm actually finding the game kinda scary, but more in the "I can lose my units at any time if I screw up" sense than the jump scare sense.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 10, 2015, 11:49:49 AM
So the Neptunia anime is getting an English dub. It sucks that a bunch of people (including IF!) couldn't get their original VAs, though.


Wyn is such a difficulty spike from Generia G. I wonder why... Maybe it's the soccer balls. I also love how whoever managed the VAs evidently forgot to tell Melissa Fahn there were a few scenes where she's supposed to be speaking in Purple Heart's voice instead of Neptune's.


I've finally won a tournament plane in ACI. Too bad it's only a Tiger II, one of the lowest-tier planes.

Also bought a model kit for an F-14D Zipang Super Tomcat, kinda regretting it due to all the paint I'm going to need, since anything that isn't required to be clear was painted the body color - including all of the stuff like landing gear, the cockpit, the engines... I'm half tempted to buy an airbrush, but I don't expect to be buying another model kit anytime soon, so it'd be useless afterward. Also, only recently discovered most of the hobby shops I knew about have closed up. fml


It feels strange to be playing a traditional Atelier game without a time limit...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sahgren on March 17, 2015, 09:38:21 PM
Atelier Shallie coming out made me realize that I never got around to playing Escha & Logy. Which is a shame, because it's turning out to be my favorite entry in the series gameplay-wise so far. On the plus side, I heard that Shallie has an annoying glitch, so this gives me something to do while they patch that out.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 19, 2015, 02:46:57 AM
Atelier Shallie coming out made me realize that I never got around to playing Escha & Logy. Which is a shame, because it's turning out to be my favorite entry in the series gameplay-wise so far. On the plus side, I heard that Shallie has an annoying glitch, so this gives me something to do while they patch that out.

More info on the annoying glitch:

After the main Shallie hits L40, the Growth system unlocks. They... forgot to translate the descriptions, and that's what's causing the glitch.


In other news, I just realized my kit doesn't use pins, either. I have to glue everything together.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on March 19, 2015, 02:24:03 PM
Oops I signed into Kingdom of Loathing tonight

Oops I found out that their current seasonal ascension path is Actually Ed The Undying.

I have missed you KoL.  And you especially, Ed.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on March 19, 2015, 10:42:45 PM
Oops I signed into Kingdom of Loathing tonight

Oops I found out that their current seasonal ascension path is Actually Ed The Undying.

I have missed you KoL.  And you especially, Ed.
god damn it don't make me do this man

god damn it
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sahgren on March 20, 2015, 01:32:11 AM
Oh hey, Atelier Shallie patch hit. Time to pick it up. I guess Shikkoku no Sharnoth can stand being delayed... again.

Edit: A movable camera, minimap, no time limit... WHO ARE YOU SHALLIE AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE ATELIER SERIES!?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 20, 2015, 08:25:29 AM
Oh hey, Atelier Shallie patch hit. Time to pick it up. I guess Shikkoku no Sharnoth can stand being delayed... again.

Edit: A movable camera, minimap, no time limit... WHO ARE YOU SHALLIE AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE ATELIER SERIES!?

Mana Khemia and Atelier Iris beat Shallie to the punch for minimaps and no time limit.

But yeah. Much like how Meruru was the easiest of the Arland trilogy, Shallie made it a point to be easier than Ayesha and Eschatology.

EDIT: I love how there's this Sheep of Fortune wandering around a certain map... It's essentially Blinking every which way. It's so fast!


In other news, Soldner-X 2 released on the Vita, free for owners of the PS3 version, so there's that. I'm hesitant to go into what appears to be the final mission of Hyperdevotion due to the massive backlog of other missions.


I thought 3 oz containers of paint would be not enough for some of this. Turns out, I'm going to end up only using around 3 oz total out of 14 containers of paint. Guess I will have to buy another model kit just to vent some of this paint.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Phlegeth on March 21, 2015, 05:16:03 PM
I need to play some more Atelier games.  The last one I played was Rorona.  And I still need to beat Annie.

But anywho, I started playing Gravity Rush.  I got it for Christmas, but it kind of got away from me.  Dunno why, it's really fun and actually uses the Vita.  That being said, I'm going to have to get used to the controls.  I flung myself off the edge a few times during the tutorial.  And I got a Phantom Brave flashback when I finished the tutorial.  I love the music for this game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Spotty Len on March 21, 2015, 06:35:41 PM
I'm playing Digimon Story : Cyber Sleuth, and it lives up to my hype quite pleasantly. I think the only thing I am not particularly fond of is the lack of AA, because the game is so beautiful it's a shame to see some pixels sometimes. They probably did that so the game could keep its constant 60fps, which is fair. Also, Vita compress screenshots like mad.

(http://i.imgur.com/xevhm3Z.jpg)(http://i.imgur.com/qAqwDIa.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Wut4GPs.jpg)(http://i.imgur.com/RyHlYd8.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/s91dBuM.jpg)(http://i.imgur.com/CfcgWWH.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/NkdRcSs.jpg)(http://i.imgur.com/21hjUzB.jpg)

Also, seeing Nakano Broadway and Shinjuku again after all this time made me scream of joy and wish I could go back there again. I know Akiba is in the game, too.

(http://i.imgur.com/f1Va9ld.jpg)(http://i.imgur.com/C3KU1AG.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/TU76Vbg.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/6MOM4eT.jpg)(http://i.imgur.com/eeBvEh8.jpg)

Also, this freaking guy.

(http://i.imgur.com/ojrbdK1.jpg)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 22, 2015, 08:12:46 AM
I need to play some more Atelier games.  The last one I played was Rorona.  And I still need to beat Annie.

But anywho, I started playing Gravity Rush.  I got it for Christmas, but it kind of got away from me.  Dunno why, it's really fun and actually uses the Vita.  That being said, I'm going to have to get used to the controls.  I flung myself off the edge a few times during the tutorial.  And I got a Phantom Brave flashback when I finished the tutorial.  I love the music for this game.

Annie was fun. If anything, though, it's a bit too time-restricted in the late game, especially if you're going for the true ending, since days pass insanely fast and without regard to Gathering or fighting while you're in the field. [Also, you should totally pick up Rorona Plus next time it's on sale  - it's a remake of Rorona to update it to Meruru's systems, which streamlines a ton of stuff, though it makes certain things much harder to do (e.g. you now have to break boulders in a single bomb throw to pass, instead of tossing a few bombs at it).]


Gravity Rush does have a huge learning curve for learning some of Kat's powers, but master them, and you can basically bounce from Nevi to Nevi, laying the smackdown on everything ever. Master the Gravity Slide (hold down the bottom corners of the screen, turn the Vita like a steering wheel to maneuver, drift by releasing one of the corners), and you basically have nothing to fear from any Nevi in range of that insane power kick.


Also, I love how this kit gives the option for which way the variable wings are set, but failed to set the decals to compensate for the changes (i.e. the flaps), so I have to risk FUBARing myself by cutting the decals themselves.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on March 26, 2015, 12:40:00 AM
Picked up Shantae: Risky's Revenge Director Cut version again after procrastinating on finishing it so, yeah collecting secrets and upgrades are fun.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on March 26, 2015, 02:47:59 PM
Just finished Child of Light.  Absolutely gorgeous visuals and music, you aren't playing this one for the story/characters let me tell you.   Pretty easy RPG but again, it's the atmosphere that you're going for.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on March 27, 2015, 03:09:39 AM
"Hey Sect, you're at the endgame of Xenoblade! Why not finish it?"
"Ehhh, I think I'll take a break, try some other games for a bit."

Welp. That was three months ago. But right now I'm working on Fallout New Vegas with all of the DLC. Pretty fun, really, especially Old World Blues.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on March 27, 2015, 03:11:09 AM
"Hey Sect, you're at the endgame of Xenoblade! Why not finish it?"
"Ehhh, I think I'll take a break, try some other games for a bit."

Welp. That was three months ago. But right now I'm working on Fallout New Vegas with all of the DLC. Pretty fun, really, especially Old World Blues.
OWB is one of the best experiences I've ever had in a game.  So much fun.

Pillars of Eternity came out today.  That basically sums me up for the next few weeks :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sahgren on March 29, 2015, 09:35:00 PM
Going more than a little stir-crazy waiting for Bloodborne to arrive, so I started a run on its spiritual predecessor, Demon's Souls. I suck at this game now.  :colonveeplusalpha:
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on March 29, 2015, 09:39:41 PM
Tetris: The Grand Master 3 - Terror Instinct

It's even more terrifying to actually play especially when you've barely picked up Tetris during the last several years of your life
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on March 30, 2015, 01:39:59 AM
Tetris: The Grand Master 3 - Terror Instinct

It's even more terrifying to actually play especially when you've barely picked up Tetris during the last several years of your life
You poor soul.  That game's nuts as HECK.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on March 30, 2015, 07:51:38 PM
Shovel Knight was 5 hours of genuine fun. I think maybe the bosses could've been a bit rougher as I managed to beat many using brute force and winning with 1-3 hits left, but so much of it was a joy with unique and fun gimmicks, memorable characters, and solid gameplay throughout.

It's Super Cheesio Brothers in Bravely Default now! The keystone stuff was a huge shock. I'm kinda miffed because considering the run up to this point, everything before this was the vaguely difficult but fair route. You were rewarded for having a diverse party setup that synergized well. Maybe you wiped once or twice to a boss, but changing your tactics a bit and a touch of prep saved the day. Now? Go go gadget utsusemi.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Tamashii Kanjou on March 30, 2015, 11:55:51 PM
Tetris: The Grand Master 3 - Terror Instinct

It's even more terrifying to actually play especially when you've barely picked up Tetris during the last several years of your life

Going to echo JQ here. What drove you to play TGM3, of all things? I know people went out and acquired it (and the first one) after what happened near the start of the year, so it's not that surprising if that's the reason. But yeah, good luck to you~ XD

As for me, haven't been playing that much, in all fairness. Pokemon OR has been it for now, as I'm very behind. I've got a lot to work through on Steam, though~
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on March 31, 2015, 04:28:58 AM
Going to echo JQ here. What drove you to play TGM3, of all things? I know people went out and acquired it (and the first one) after what happened near the start of the year, so it's not that surprising if that's the reason. But yeah, good luck to you~ XD
AGDQ drove me to hunt it down but I've always been somewhat curious.

That aside when it comes to 'infinite' style puzzle games I'm always fond of those that will really push the player and have huge room for skill as opposed to luck (contrast Lumines, Tetris, Puzzle League against, say, Bejeweled).

that said I passed my Rank 6 qualification exam on stream (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJVWvrxJVYA).  Even if rank 6 is still trash by TGM standards.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sahgren on April 02, 2015, 03:46:17 AM
Bloodborne acquired! Time to die over, and over, and over...

Edit: Ok, yeah. I was joking a lot less when I said that than I thought I was. The second boss has murdered me to the point where I flipped off the screen in an annoyed celebration after I finally beat it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Phlegeth on April 02, 2015, 07:42:34 AM
Super Mario 64 is on the WiiU VC!  It's still so much fun.  I've already got 26 stars and I haven't even entered the basement yet.  I've also collected 4 100 coin stars.  The only stage I haven't done it on is Jolly Roger Bay.  That beat my old record by 3.  I only ever did it on Whomp's Fortress once.  I don't remember fighting with the camera this much when I was little though.  I think I've just been spoiled by better camera controls though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Tsuken Yasashi on April 02, 2015, 07:51:58 AM
Spec Ops: The Line - Current upcoming Playthrough, Research for my Touhou Novel Series
Jade Empire - Future Playthrough
Ghost Recon Phantoms - FPS Time Waster
Dead or Alive 5: Last Round - Fighting Game Time Waster #1
Ultra Street Fighter V - Fighting Game Time Waster #2, Research for my Touhou Series Novel
Lost Saga - Fighitng Game Time Waster #3, Most my Online Friends play this game
Touhou 12: Unidentified Fantastic Object - Research for my Touhou Series Novel
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on April 02, 2015, 05:54:41 PM
Mega Man: The Power Battle, 1cc on all three courses, Buster only (with Protoman). A short and easy game, just choose the harder Robot Masters first. Most bosses have an easy pattern you can get into, but some can attack randomly and give more problems than they're worth.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on April 02, 2015, 10:55:48 PM
(https://41.media.tumblr.com/c98cbfff6205efedac80b0315c2f5e3d/tumblr_nm7ar18N1X1r8hguio1_540.png)

I hit 500 in TGM3

But about 58 seconds too late ;-;
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Spotty Len on April 02, 2015, 11:20:34 PM
You can do it.

Until the game decide you can't, then you have to beat it hard until it says "Okay, screw you, I'm putting more than max gravity."
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Molten on April 03, 2015, 08:32:31 PM
Oh boy, I've got a bunch of games going that I really need to finish. I'm currently on the last chapter of Fire Emblem: Awakening, the last fight(i think) in Devil Survivor: Overclocked, the second to last boss in Digital Devil Saga, I'm somewhere near the end of Final Fantasy X, I think I've massed the midway point of Shin Megami Tensei IV. And if that wasn't enough, I'm also playing Nosgoth, Payday 2 and a bunch of other games whenever I feel like it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on April 03, 2015, 09:13:54 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/9V94rT5.jpg)

I managed to have a kinda breaking run in BoI

Swallowed Penny + Humbling Bundle + Contract from Below + Blood Bank + 3 Roll Die room = this.

Also I have PHD; Bottle of Pills and 48 Hour Energy in the rotation. Yeah.

The run ended with me having 11 red HP; the Wafer; a Full HP Pill; and on the Chest I got Cricket's Body; Cricket's Head and Tech .5 which turned my damage from 'awful but rapid-fire and durable' to 'omg i am a touhou boss'.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on April 03, 2015, 11:47:24 PM
Well, I technically broke level 500 today in TGM3.  Thanks to playing 1-200 near flawlessly I ended up getting sufficient section times on each of those spreads, which means the game internally jumped over another 100 levels, and... yeah.

It scared me that I'm getting to the point where I can push the game fast enough on early segments to actually do that.  Not always, mind you, but I can.  The only problem is that once the game really starts pushing I have to basically go JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL and try to hold on as best I can, and while I'm getting better, near instant/instant gravity can cause Things to happen that can make a huge mess >:
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on April 04, 2015, 04:38:47 PM
I got the recent weekly bundle (difficult games theme) and I've been playing a lot of Wings of Vi. This game is awesome, especially the bosses
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on April 05, 2015, 08:46:29 PM
Hello, Rosenkreuzstilette. Goodbye, productivity.

...Well, not really. Completed it casually in two days, with continues and cross tanks. At least I didn't use any additional weapons except bombs for breaking blocks. ...Except for refights, even with weapons it's challenge enough already. Still, I'm interested enough to try playing through different levels now and again in the future to get better. Funny, since I'm actually not interested in original Mega Man and other games like it, but this one plays nicely, and its aesthetics make it pleasant to replay the stages.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Makedounia on April 06, 2015, 12:59:42 AM
I've been playing a ton of Rozenkreuzstilette as well. I actually started speedrunning it recently and I'm having a blast! My current goal for now is to beat the game in under 40 mins.

I've also been playing Etrian Odyssey Untold. I'm on my second classic mode playthrough since story mode wasn't really my cup of tea(I quit in the second stratum). I have a party consisting of Protector/Ronin/Dark Hunter/Troubadour/Alchemist and it's been working amazingly so far. I don't have any revive skills though so I'll have to rely on nectars. I could try to get medic's revive skill on a grimoire, but it's so luck based I don't think it's worth my time.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Phlegeth on April 08, 2015, 04:58:14 AM
I started playing The Witch and the Hundred Knight.  So Marisa and Etna apparently had a baby.  But no seriously, the main character is a witch who solves her problems by catching them on fire and swearing a lot.  How have I not played this sooner?  The gameplay is fun, you play as the Hundred Knight and it's rouge-type dungeon crawling.  And I like that you make combos by using five different weapons at the same time.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: pineyappled on April 09, 2015, 09:23:35 AM
I bought Pillars of Eternity but have p much no time to play this week. True suffering.

Also osu is doing a great job of grinding my tablet nibs flat o/
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on April 10, 2015, 05:53:00 AM
(http://41.media.tumblr.com/802e1a4439d820228dad36af3520904c/tumblr_nmkti7l62p1r8hguio1_1280.png)
RANK UP

Yes, I fell out at 241; that's because with the way internal levels work that was actually 441.  Most importantly getting those speedups, while deadly, also enhances your grade (While being too slow reduces it), so yeah, I just... have to learn to play with it.

Slowly, slowly getting better.

Also having to manually slow myself down sometimes actually what
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on April 16, 2015, 10:19:01 AM
blugh killing L99 Ancient Dragons in Hyperdevotion is murder - the only reasonable way I've found so far is to burn their MP off before attacking in earnest - and even then, if you're not already near the level cap with a ton of VIT or anti-dragon equipment, you get insta-gibbed.

Also, where are these damn Skeleton Clones for the trophy in Stealth Inc. 2? I presume it's in a part of the map I haven't uncovered yet, given I don't have the 100% map completion trophy yet, but the problem is that it's very well hidden - there are no further pathways on my map, so I have to scout every room in the game to find something I haven't already done.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sahgren on April 16, 2015, 11:24:06 PM
Just played through the fault milestone two demo. I need this game, like, yesterday now. The production quality in the demo is on a completely different level from any other visual novel I've ever read.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: HouraiHime on April 18, 2015, 05:43:27 PM
Recently beat Super Robot Wars Z3.2.

Pretty fun game for the most part. Only complaints are some of the animations being shorter and worse than the Z2 games, characters like Athrun and Luna being summon attacks, and the lack of good secrets like Hi-Nu and Nightingale.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on April 19, 2015, 01:51:09 AM
Beat Demon's Souls as Royalty class. Was Online the entire playthrough, so it was pretty much White and Pure White tendency.


I started a new character. Temple Knight, so I can't just cheese things with Soul Arrow and MP Regen early on. I do have some casts of heals to help early game, but it's still a bit more challenging due to having to melee. I'm planning to try for the platinum trophy in this run, so I'm going to be using duping to get the spells and equipment as well as following a guide to get the world/character tendency events, but I'm going to not exploit it for massive levels since I want to see how it plays out as a character that has to get close most of the time. Obviously this run will need to be offline most of the time to manipulate World Tendency, though I started online so I'd start one away from Pure White. Beat tutorial vanguard in this run, so I was able to see the death after and grab some more stuff. I already kind of screwed things up because I did the PWWT event in 1-1 after clearing it but forgot about the other one where the dragons are gone from the area at PWWT(well, I didn't, but after entering the Nexus after killing the one NPC in the execution ground, WT went down toward Black, so they were back). Should be able to get back to PWWT for world 1, but if not, I can just kill the red and blue dragon and be able to get the stuff.


Pure Black World Tendency sounds interesting, though it'll be a while before I can mess with it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on April 20, 2015, 05:43:04 AM
I am currently playing Monster Hunter Tri.

Lagiacrus is a bitch.

That is all.

(Seriously though, this game is surprisingly simple and yet fun, I've been having a blast playing Long Sword ever since I unlocked it, although underwater combat is shit.

Also Lagiacrus is a bitch.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Hyper Dunk on April 21, 2015, 02:57:07 AM
Gurumin. It got a release on Steam about a month ago and somehow I didn't find out about it until today.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on April 21, 2015, 03:55:45 PM
Ori and the Blind Forest.
The game is awesome. Visuals are beautifully drawn, music is really nice and platforming is great too. Controls are responsive and overall gameplay is really fluid. The fact that you are basically carrying savestates with you is a huge plus. And you will need them, because the game is really ungorgiving. All in all, i am having buckets of fun.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on April 22, 2015, 01:10:51 AM
Been playing the Birth By Sleep Final Mix section of KH 2.5 ReMIX.  Done Terra's and Ventus' stories so far, Ventus first(Proud mode), then Terra(Critical mode).  Both final bosses were hard for me, but Terra's was just OBNOXIOUS.  The only way I could win was about 75% Counter Hammer, 20% Twisted Hours(Counter Hammer filled the style gauge up REALLY fast, 2 counters in short succession were enough to fill it entirely), and like 5% Shotlock(I had the same shot the final boss was using AGAINST me, ironically.  Entirely unintentional).  Anytime I tried to go on the offensive myself I got either pointblank machinegunned(almost always instant death) or hit by this really long combo attack that, once you were caught in it, was unblockable since you didn't get any breather long enough to enter your Block frames(did like 85% of my max HP if I got hit by the whole thing, though it was more like 90%+ at first but I took so long to beat him that Exp. Walker leveled me up enough to gain a Defense Up, haha.).

Re: Ventus' final boss though, I REALLY liked how they did that at the end, it was really thematically satisfying.

Now for Aqua's story.  Not sure if I wanna go Critical again or if I'll stick to Proud mode...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on April 22, 2015, 07:38:46 AM
[...]The only way I could win was about 75% Counter Hammer[...]

That's actually how you're supposed to beat him.
AFAIK, it's supposed to symbolize the fact that Terra's recklessness was ultimately what caused everything that happened in his story, so since the final boss is basically the ultimate result of said recklessness, you're supposed to beat him using patience and precision by countering everything he does instead of charging forward.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on April 22, 2015, 11:57:23 AM
I suppose that explains why I had such a hard time,and it makes sense. 
I'm often quite reckless and 'no caution, offense only, final destination' like Terra in action-type games which is probably why I dont do as well as my overall ability would potentially enable.  Suppose I should keep this lesson in mind, huh?  Sucks what happenes to him even after all that though but well, actions have consequences whether you have learned or not from them already.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: OverlordChirei on April 22, 2015, 12:27:33 PM

Now for Aqua's story.  Not sure if I wanna go Critical again or if I'll stick to Proud mode...

Damn, I only did the entire game + the final episode on standard.

Both final bosses were hard for me, but Terra's was just OBNOXIOUS.

Ventus's final boss I found you can stunlock a bit before they just auto-counter you, so I just did that until finish with Sonic Blade. Terra's final boss I will agree with being the hardest. I think it took me about seven tries or something, and it really really forced me to learn how to get good with blocking.
(You wouldn't think that you could block those giant meteors, go figure)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on April 22, 2015, 01:30:45 PM
is it bad that I automatically tried because getting caught by them too much would kill me and their blast radius was too big to reliably dodge?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: OverlordChirei on April 23, 2015, 09:05:37 PM
is it bad that I automatically tried because getting caught by them too much would kill me and their blast radius was too big to reliably dodge?

The problem for me ended up being that they were too big to dodge, they were in fact just right to dodge... until you realize you have to dodge a stream of them which makes it notably harder.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Phlegeth on April 24, 2015, 04:03:18 AM
Got a PS4 and Final Fantasy Type-0 today.  They just give you all fourteen characters and have you go at it.  But due to a couple of mishaps near the end of Chapter 2 I got to play as everyone.  I like Nine the best, cause he's the strongest.  I used him mostly through the tutorial and Queen was fun too.  And I really like King and Sice, I might have to try them when I'm not being run over with a jet.  I didn't like Cinque or Jack that much though, too slow.  But I might put Cinque on my team on the basis that she sounds like Compa.  Eight looks like he might be fun to use too.  There's just so many options for your team.  I love it!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on April 24, 2015, 04:52:06 PM
Bravely Default is now mid Chapter 6 and I'm aching for that final class since it'll mean I get to really put together the most well-balanced team for handling a given situation and apparently now's about the time I should start grinding too?

I am also looking into getting a new PC somewhere down the line and am thus wiping out replays of old games. Realized I never beat Oblivion because of the wonky leveling mechanic. Decided to dump as many balances and work-arounds as I could into the game code. A few graphics mods here and some UI and weapons updates there, too. It's 9 years old and running on a 5 year old machine! Mod it until it almost falls apart!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on April 26, 2015, 11:07:01 AM
So I've gotten myself a new laptop. It's a convertible tablet/laptop.

Whelp, time to go back to 2008 and play osu! until my hand breaks again. Might have to freehand it most of the time, rather than use the stylus.

That and Littlewitch Romanesque and (lol) Huniepop (it's on sale?!). Now that I know the trick behind Tempero Ignis, I'm going to see just how fast I can grind spells out (even though it'll be impossible to outpace all the quests).

Also, really should work on continuing There Came An Echo, Infinifactory, the two Dynasty Warriors games... f- I buy too many games.

Also also, dying on the last phase of the final boss in Soldner-X 2 during the Bow Laser challenge (1cc the game using only the Bow, which has strange homing characteristics, and low damage vs bosses) is the peak of despair.

Also also also, NTDM in ACI. Almost all of my sorties this go-around is locking me into my QAAM Wyvern, since everyone and their dog are either flying FB-22 Strike Raptors, F-2As, or stuff that loads LASMs/GPBs.

EDIT: Oh hey, Ys VI is finally out on Steam.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on April 29, 2015, 10:32:07 PM
I've been sucked back into a game I was awful at before: Dungeon Crawl

I managed to get my first rune a week or so ago; and right now I'm playing a Merfolk Transmuter, who dabbles in summonings and worships a god of sacrifice [Sacrifice stuff to gain powers like a leap which causes a shockwave of energy; great for gapclosing; or the defensive passive of your sheer willpower causing enemies to falter and not attack sometimes.]

Then I found a Book of the Dragon. Which gives two very high-level spells. Dragon Form [Transforms you into a Dragon] and Dragon's Call [Summons allied Dragons for you for a period; this in particular is a Rank 9 spell; the ultimate spell for the Summonings School]

So once I get strong enough; I can turn into a Dragon and summon an army of Dragons to back me up.

THIS IS AWESOME.

I literally couldn't have asked for a better spellbook to show up for my character build.

Not that I'm not awesome already. I can turn into a tiny venomous spider and evade stuff; a beast made of ice and freeze stuff; or my hand into swords; while summoning a small army of those ice creatures.

Oh; did I mention my character sacrificed a hand to their god for power so all of this 'transofmring and fighting' is one handed.

It's hard not to get attached to characters which do well in Crawl. Which is dangerous since it's a true Rougelike. Permadeath in full effect and it dosen't pull punches/
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: チソウ タイゼン on April 30, 2015, 01:22:12 AM
Got myself a PS3 a couple days ago.
Now I can fully commit to playing (and beating) Ni no Kuni, Catherine, and FF13.
I also picked up the Kingdom Hearts mixes, and Valkyria Chronicles, and let me tell you, I am having a blast with VC. I wonder why this and FE are basically the only SRPGs I can get behind
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on May 01, 2015, 06:54:30 AM
A month and a half until Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward hits

And I'm still playing XIV.  Though these days it's mostly for raid nights with my free company.  We cleared Turn 10, determined Turn 11 was impossible with our party compositions (three casters), and have started on turn 12

so close to turn 13 I can taste it
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on May 01, 2015, 10:22:35 PM
Got the urge to get back on the DT2 train now that DT1 got a Vita re-release. Currently a little over 150 hours in, and just cleared the side tower of the final dungeon with a glorious victory over the mandrake kingdom and their guard of insane penguins and bears. Just two bosses to go until the postgame ending... I'm really starting to think I might clear this game after all. It's truly mind-boggling how much content this dungeon-crawler has.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on May 02, 2015, 12:32:59 AM
A month and a half until Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward hits

And I'm still playing XIV.  Though these days it's mostly for raid nights with my free company.  We cleared Turn 10, determined Turn 11 was impossible with our party compositions (three casters), and have started on turn 12

so close to turn 13 I can taste it

Speaking of which, I started playing ffxiv more kind-of seriously recently, although I can't actually pay for the monthly fee (a friend bought the first month for me).

The game is ridiculously solid like there's just so many small but fucking amazing things about this game that it's just mindblowing.

I'm currently at level 25 still, playing rogue so queue times take for fucking ever, but I'm loving this class so far, I'm just kinda bummed that I'll have to stop and go level a pugilist when I get to 30 so I can become a ninja. Although considering that lower level classes get a 50% bonus to experience this isn't gonna take that long lol.

PS: The one thing I hate about this game is that some character names are just fucking unpronounceable, like seriously "Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn"???? wtf

PPS:
Although I think the one thing I love about this game the most is that, sure, there are some pretty skimpy female outfits, but there are equally as skimpy male outfits so it evens out, which allows for things like this (http://i.imgur.com/FsoeZju.jpg) to happen.
(Link is slightly nsfw)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on May 02, 2015, 01:07:18 AM
Cross-class  skills are definitely a thing.  That said you technically only need to take Pugilist to 15 which maybe takes a couple hours and you get all their good cross-class skills in that time so it's really not that bad.

Also do you have a problem pronouncing Merlwyb keysmash?  <8D  (Mirl-vib Blow-fis-vin)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on May 02, 2015, 01:33:09 AM
Cross-class  skills are definitely a thing.  That said you technically only need to take Pugilist to 15 which maybe takes a couple hours and you get all their good cross-class skills in that time so it's really not that bad.

Also do you have a problem pronouncing Merlwyb keysmash?  <8D  (Mirl-vib Blow-fis-vin)

According to the wiki, I need to finish one of the story quests for the Gridanian Grand Company to unlock ninjas, but I took Limsa, do you know if that's gonna be a problem?

Also, Merlwyb's name is kinda pronounceable now (simply because they actually say it once or twice in cutscenes) but whenever I see her name (or any limsan name really) in non-voiced cutscenes I just go "get some fucking vowels man"
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on May 02, 2015, 02:28:00 AM
PPS:
Although I think the one thing I love about this game the most is that, sure, there are some pretty skimpy female outfits, but there are equally as skimpy male outfits so it evens out, which allows for things like this (http://i.imgur.com/FsoeZju.jpg) to happen.
(Link is slightly nsfw)
Subligars have been a thing since FFXI.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on May 02, 2015, 08:29:08 AM
According to the wiki, I need to finish one of the story quests for the Gridanian Grand Company to unlock ninjas, but I took Limsa, do you know if that's gonna be a problem?
It's not tied to any of the grand companies.  Sylphic Gratitude is one of the main storyline quests, and it's required for all the Jobs.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 02, 2015, 09:57:06 AM
So I've picked back up Akiba's Trip and DmC because of the sale (and because I saw that Video Games Awesome did DmC a while back, go figure). Otaku mode isn't as hard as I remember it, at least in the early game. Enemies dodge a lot, true, but I seem to recall them doing a lot more damage before.

Also, even after a year away from DmC, somehow I'm still good enough to get consistent SS ranks. And somehow I remembered that key you needed Enemy Step for.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: チソウ タイゼン on May 03, 2015, 02:51:55 PM
Got myself a PS3 a couple days ago.
Now I can fully commit to playing (and beating) Ni no Kuni, Catherine, and FF13.
I also picked up the Kingdom Hearts mixes, and Valkyria Chronicles, and let me tell you, I am having a blast with VC. I wonder why this and FE are basically the only SRPGs I can get behind

Sometime between this post and now, I also picked up Fallout 3, some cod game (it's for my little sister), Dork Soles, and the HD Metal Gear collection.

I finished the Tanker chapter in 92 minutes in MGS2-- notable because I was just plodding around in the PS2 version of it last week and had managed to rack up more than 2 hours without ever even reaching the end of it. So yeah.
dork soles is hard
i've died thrice in the noob dungeon (twice on the asylum demon) send help there is no hope for players of such little caliber as mine
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 06, 2015, 07:27:34 AM
> Nearly gets trainwrecked in the first chapter in Son of Sparda mode
> SSS Rank for the chapter anyway

SSS Ranking all Nephilim chapters is going to take a while, but completely not looking toward Hell or Hell - especially if those Frost Knights keep getting shields.

EDIT: Oh hay, Ar nosurge Plus is getting a US release (http://store.nisamerica.com/ar-nosurge-plus-limited-edition), with physical limited edition and digital regular edition. Still no sign of Ciel, I notice.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Suikama on May 08, 2015, 08:35:19 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/2mEPCrT.png)

wtf i thought i was playing isaac not hearthstone :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on May 09, 2015, 08:04:09 AM
If I hadn't of become such a PvP addict recently, I'd have probably pulled off my first 3-day Kingdom of Loathing Hardcore ascension today.

Instead I'm a PvP addict so I'm eating chez snootee foods hella-suboptimally and nightcapping with PvP adventures/gear instead of normal adventure gear.

But this is so fun 8D
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on May 09, 2015, 11:58:58 PM
Finally beat Fire Emblem Awakening after like two years of playing. Cleared on hard, lost three units (Gaius, Miriel, and Sumia-is is just me, or are speed-based characters way more fragile in Awakening?). Guess I gotta find a new 3DS game. Or just re-play all of the 3DS Castlevanias for the millionth time.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Skyknight on May 10, 2015, 12:36:05 AM
Currently dividing my time between Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker and Cafeteria Nipponica.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 10, 2015, 09:50:09 AM
So it's totally possible to go from perfectly immaculate God-Tier clothes to burning in the sun naked without a chance at retaliation if you get juggled into the air in Otaku difficulty by a certain annoying group of idols.

The big thing I'm going to miss during my upcoming vacation is the lack of my own PS3. I'm going to miss so much in terms of ACI sorties...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on May 10, 2015, 01:54:50 PM
Still playing Rosenkreuzstilette. Got past Cross Wall with Grolla just now.

...

I F***ING GOT PAST CROSS WALL WITH GROLLA! :toot: Been trying for hours yesterday, I pretty much speedrun the stage now. Only this morning did I come up with the strat that did the trick. With Spiritia it's laughably easy, by the way.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 13, 2015, 09:30:43 PM
With Destiny of Spirits getting killed at the end of June, I've been grinding out as much as I can since yesterday. Unfortunately, the game saved map data on the Vita, so since I didn't know that and deleted it completely, I have to start exploring the map from scratch again. Maybe the hardest part will be the final three areas, given that they're all four-battle zones with multiple bosses, and they're really damn powerful, at least for my sad state. I might have a ton of orbs to revive with, but if I want that trophy, I may need to buy more.

Plus, y'know, vacation and limited net access for the next three weeks is going to be injurious. I have no doubts it's possible, now that I actually have motivation to explore the map, but it'll be very, very rough.


Among the titles I'm bringing along for vacay are Conception II, Nep Re;Birth2, and Akiba's Trip. I don't think I'll get far enough to Plat any of them, (or hell, even beat Conception), but I have time. I have time.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mitsuhide on May 17, 2015, 04:41:05 PM
I have just completed Touhou 7 without using continues. I think it's the very first time in my history of gaming that I don't use a continue.

Also, got my hands on Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution on DS recently. It's fun, and I like that you can play as Mao Zedong, but I would have chosen different leaders for Germany and Russia, so that there are some more bad guys to play as (you know which leaders I mean). Unfortunately, it's a pretty short game, but highly replayable.

Apart from those, I don't have many more gmes to play. But I go back to Sid Meier's Pirates! every once in a while.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Phlegeth on May 17, 2015, 07:11:25 PM
I've been playing Shovel Knight.  I love it.  The music is great, the art is awesome.  The boss fights and stages are loads of fun.  Except for Propeller Knight and his stage.  Him and his stage can kiss the shittiest part of my ass.  The fight with Black Knight at the end of the next stage more than made up for it though.  That was crazy fight.  I've just got the last stage to do now.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on May 18, 2015, 05:05:55 AM
So I just found out the Binding of Isaac(Wrath of the lamb, not Rebirth) got a new update that adds a hard mode, eternal enemies, and some other stuff. Not that I even have Rebirth yet(waiting to get it on PS4/Vita whenever I actually pick one of those up)

Played a bit of it and didn't get too far because some of these enemy changes are ridiculous. It's not like I was ever good at Isaac, so obviously I die a lot regardless unless I get an OP build, but I'll try to beat it with all characters so that I can have 100% Steam achievements yet again.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on May 19, 2015, 01:49:49 PM
Bravely Default complete! Chapter 7 and the finale made up for the LOL JRPG stuff going on. I thought Mr. Final Boss's Disaster move was a bit cheap considering it hits the only blind spot between the templar and spiritmaster. Luckily the second time I got that far in the fight he decided not to use it. At all. Mr. Boss insisted instead upon using his instant death attack incessantly on a party covered in death immune equips. Agnes had everyone covered with M. Def. buffs anyhow when she wasn't covering BP battery duties.  With Tiz and ESPECIALLY Edea doing nothing but pumping out damage, and Ringabel just sorta hangin' out when he wasn't debuffing, things went smoothly. Everyone was neck deep in Buff Up buffs and an I'm-done-with-this friend summon was the last nail in the coffin. What fun! Can't wait for a US release of Second!

Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is all the nostalgic fun it's been chalked up to be so far.

Oblivion was dropped in favor of KF2. Same great co-op fun as the first with some rebalances and a fresh coat of paint. It's still early access and will need some more classes to really fill in the gaps left by the boss-buster classes.

Also I will get back to Hatoful Boyfriend sooner than later I swear.

SOON (http://fourjobfiesta.com/) 
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on May 20, 2015, 01:48:19 AM
I'm a little past halfway done with Link 2 The Past myself and it is indeed great fun.  The difficulty level is a smidge disappointing (or maybe I'm just better at video games XX many years later) though one way around that is to waltz up to Turtle Rock and do that way early on classic penultimate dungeon what's that :V
I suspect they expected you to already have
the blue mail
from the Swamp Palace before that one, which I just finished now oops.  Onward to the desert!  Or maybe the ice tower!  Just not the Lost Woods I ain't got time for that maze garbage I've played enough Zelda games to know the score.

SOON (http://fourjobfiesta.com/)
SOON (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJJjD-kZ4ck)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on May 20, 2015, 04:47:22 AM
SOON (http://fourjobfiesta.com/)
Not soon enough

Also I've been playing Devil Survivor 2 Break Record.  It's taken me a bit to get used to a couple of the voices but man Daichi's voice acting is top notch.  Now if I can just pull through the old scenario so I'm fully refreshed for the new scenario...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on May 20, 2015, 05:14:54 AM
I can't wait either. I am so doing RegChaos, Berserker Risk(assuming of course that RegChaos doesn't disable Berserker Risk like Classic did, though I don't see why it would). Doubt I'd do Natural on it too because I'd rather be able to get my berserkers stuff like Thief Agility, or Monk Strength, or Two hands, or a magic skillset to exploit the Gaia Hammer or Rune Axe with(I'm planning to play the original version anyway, so I would have underflow available anyway).

I just hope that RegChaos Berserker Risk doesn't end up with a 4 Berserker team.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on May 20, 2015, 11:54:08 AM
I can't wait either. I am so doing RegChaos, Berserker Risk(assuming of course that RegChaos doesn't disable Berserker Risk like Classic did, though I don't see why it would). Doubt I'd do Natural on it too because I'd rather be able to get my berserkers stuff like Thief Agility, or Monk Strength, or Two hands, or a magic skillset to exploit the Gaia Hammer or Rune Axe with(I'm planning to play the original version anyway, so I would have underflow available anyway).

I just hope that RegChaos Berserker Risk doesn't end up with a 4 Berserker team.
Oh are they adding new variations on what was done last year? I was just looking into doing something different since Team RNG got into a funk at times. It's more fun to play the game with a different team each time anyhow.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on May 20, 2015, 01:38:24 PM
Yeah, every year they !Mix it up with new/altered play options.  Like I think a few years back Random could give you dupes other than BERSERKER but that got changed.  With the new Chaos option, I wouldn't be surprised if they took out Classic mode.  From the pic on the main site Chaos mode looks like you can get any job assigned even if you aren't at that crystal yet, I can dig it. 

I just hope that RegChaos Berserker Risk doesn't end up with a 4 Berserker team.
The odds of that are quite low but oh bby.  Didn't Sulla get all the way up to Neo Exdeath with solo 'zerker?  Of course, at that point it's less playing a game and more running a simulation to get past, oh I don't know Sandworm for example  :ohdear:

...guess I should pop the thread up sooner rather than later huh?  I'm sure we can keep it active for the 11 days until registration and an additional 15 until we actually start playing  :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on May 20, 2015, 03:13:30 PM
Yeah, every year they !Mix it up with new/altered play options.  Like I think a few years back Random could give you dupes other than BERSERKER but that got changed.  With the new Chaos option, I wouldn't be surprised if they took out Classic mode.  From the pic on the main site Chaos mode looks like you can get any job assigned even if you aren't at that crystal yet, I can dig it. 
The odds of that are quite low but oh bby.  Didn't Sulla get all the way up to Neo Exdeath with solo 'zerker?  Of course, at that point it's less playing a game and more running a simulation to get past, oh I don't know Sandworm for example  :ohdear:

...guess I should pop the thread up sooner rather than later huh?  I'm sure we can keep it active for the 11 days until registration and an additional 15 until we actually start playing  :V
We can probably set it up once registration hits because then we can masterpost all the relevant information.

I will, of course, be streaming the entire thing 8D
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on May 20, 2015, 03:20:34 PM
Yeah posting once registration hits sounds like a thing.

PS: Preliminary work on drawing up a pattern for the blade for my chicken knife prop was done last night, which produced quite a bit of entertainment. The grip and cross guard were already cut and carved into shape so it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that this could be done sooner rather than later.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The ⑨th Zentillion on May 21, 2015, 01:47:56 AM
Definitely going to try out Chaos this year, especially if Classic mode isn't brought back, and probably even if it is. I completed, what THREE runs last year? But yeah, we should probably wait on making the thread until the 1st.

Speaking of Chaos, if it is what I (and looks like Triangles) think it is, it's going to be hilarious, because you'll be at the mercy of the RNG only once, instead of four seperate cycles. Bring it on!

...On other thread-related matters, I'm currently playing through Tales of Symphonia HD, having the Japanese track is quite nifty, especially now that the skits have voices! It's really too bad they didn't start bothering to voice skits in EN until later. Oh well. I've listened to the English dub plenty of times in the GC version, a change is nice.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 21, 2015, 02:39:17 AM
I'm slowly making progress on the world map in Destiny of Spirits - I believe I'm about 140 areas cleared (out of 504, fml), which isn't really helped by the lack of internet connection for a large portion of my time. On the other hand, I will eventually get to a point where I can fire off sorties about as soon as health recovers...

Not that that helps much when healing is real-time unless you buy it. I think I will get to a point where I have to rapid-fire 15-orb Continues (at 53-to-60 cents a pop depending on whether I buy 500 or 1000) just to keep pace.

The absolute murderous part about the red continents is that while usually, you only have either reinforcements or multiple battles, the hidden continents give you battles that have both - multiple battles with multiple reinforcements. And the boss levels? Two back-to-back boss battles. The suggested MO against these guys is to try to save them for their own day, and burn the hell out of any orbs you have to revive constantly.

Literally the only saving grace is that their levels are lower than those halfway across the map (in Africa for us Americans, natch).


I haven't even really gotten time to play Conception II, much less the other games I brought along, and even then I've been spending a lot of time grinding. Haven't even beaten the second main dungeon yet because lol the optional dungeons force me to clear them one floor at a time because lol SP use.

Also, Nep U released yesterday, but since I'm not commanding the vehicle, I can either spend three hours on a round-trip walk or two hours by bus to the nearest Gamestop (since I will be getting a physical edition), hope that our travels eventually stop nearby one that's selling Nep U, or just wait until I get home... many days away.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on May 22, 2015, 01:33:51 PM
So I found another way to even out the difficulty in Legend of Zelda: Link 2 Hyruleglyphics.....
Forgetting to pick up the post-dungeon heart containers :fail:

I am having quite a bit of fun using items in ways I probably should not, though I am definitely seeing why my friends recommend going back and playing the game on Hero (?) mode so it's a little closer to the experience of a sky high death counter of my youth.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Phlegeth on May 22, 2015, 06:30:36 PM
Also, Nep U released yesterday, but since I'm not commanding the vehicle, I can either spend three hours on a round-trip walk or two hours by bus to the nearest Gamestop (since I will be getting a physical edition), hope that our travels eventually stop nearby one that's selling Nep U, or just wait until I get home... many days away.

Nep U is fun.  I downloaded it yesterday and it's a blast.  The lack of aerial rave throws me off a bit cause I keep trying to chase them down after I throw them.  Uni, Vert, Blanc, and Ram are my favorite characters to play as.  Vert and Blanc are probably my favorite duo just because of Blanc's snark when she's in reserve.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mitsuhide on May 23, 2015, 04:27:49 PM
Got my hands on Final Fantasy VI for SNES, one of the "awesomest" games of all time!
...
It's OK I guess. The battles feel a bit awkward. Like they have that meter that gets empty whenever you attacked, but I don't like it very much. Feels completely unnecessary. Should've been like the first final fantasy, that has turns, and not this weird hybrid between the "normal" style and the Chrono Trigger battle system.

And why was the first boss fight so long? At some point it was just pressing A until you win because the enemy barely attacks you when he cannot perform special attacks.
I hope the game gets more exciting as it progresses. Maybe RPGs are just not my thing.

Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Makedounia on May 23, 2015, 11:11:12 PM
I'm on my third playthrough of Etrian Odyssey 3 and this time I'm going for 100% completion. I'm using a party of Hoplite/Ninja, Arbalist/Gladiator, Monk/Princess, Ninja/Buccaneer and Zodiac/Wildling. It's pretty much the same party I used on my first playthrough except my zodiac's subclass is different this time around. I was originally going to use my ninja as a TP battery, but decided to go with buccaneer which gives me access to eagle eye and pincushion.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 24, 2015, 01:27:41 AM
And why was the first boss fight so long? At some point it was just pressing A until you win because the enemy barely attacks you when he cannot perform special attacks.
I hope the game gets more exciting as it progresses. Maybe RPGs are just not my thing.

If I recall correctly, the first boss was that Whelk? It was intended to give you a tutorial on knowing how not to kill yourself on its attacks. You tried beating the counterattacking part, huh? I believe you do get a useful prize if you do so, but you were supposed to knock down the other part - it has less health, and more importantly, its death wins the battle.


I love that somehow I'm in the top 10 in the weekly ranking in Destiny of Spirits. I would have thought there would be more players trying to do the hell march. 206 cleared as I type.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mitsuhide on May 24, 2015, 11:27:51 AM
If I recall correctly, the first boss was that Whelk? It was intended to give you a tutorial on knowing how not to kill yourself on its attacks. You tried beating the counterattacking part, huh? I believe you do get a useful prize if you do so, but you were supposed to knock down the other part - it has less health, and more importantly, its death wins the battle.
Yep. Funny thing is, just when I got tired of attacking the shell and thought it might be faster killing the other part, the boss died. Also, I had to attack something, so when the Whelk hides himself in the shell I had no choice! But thanks for the reply. I hope its useful to me on the future.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on May 24, 2015, 12:12:38 PM
That's the kicker - you actually did have choice.  The ATB system actually does 'tick' when nothing's going on, so the boss would emerge again in just a couple seconds.  The ability to choose not to act (or, if you turned it to Active, to fail to act fast eough) is part of the nature of the ATB, especially since you can rotate between characters who have a full gauge to command whoever you want for priority.

(Also I find it interesting you're referring to the ATB as not the "normal" style and of hybriding Chrono Trigger in, when actually CT borrowed the ATB from FF.  It had been in the series since 4, and there is, as of now, only four main numbered games that definitely do not posess the ATB (Its presence in the MMOs is debateable, and its presence in 12/13 features some noticeable differences from standard, but it's there).  The lack of an ATB is actually the exception rather than the rule by now; even when 6 came out, the system was in literally half the games)

All that aside, guess who sunk down the like 75$ for Splatoon today?  (After shipping, taxes, etc.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Berzul on May 24, 2015, 12:57:40 PM
(Games you are going to play if your computer will work with them)

If I say I'm planning to try if it's possible for me to play LoVA, will that say anything to anyone? Like if anyone else has a feeling that this Japanese game will be never released outside? (Unless people will get interested in it somehow)

I'm going to see for myself pretty soon.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mitsuhide on May 24, 2015, 07:21:48 PM
That's the kicker - you actually did have choice.  The ATB system actually does 'tick' when nothing's going on, so the boss would emerge again in just a couple seconds.  The ability to choose not to act (or, if you turned it to Active, to fail to act fast eough) is part of the nature of the ATB, especially since you can rotate between characters who have a full gauge to command whoever you want for priority.

(Also I find it interesting you're referring to the ATB as not the "normal" style and of hybriding Chrono Trigger in, when actually CT borrowed the ATB from FF.  It had been in the series since 4, and there is, as of now, only four main numbered games that definitely do not posess the ATB (Its presence in the MMOs is debateable, and its presence in 12/13 features some noticeable differences from standard, but it's there).  The lack of an ATB is actually the exception rather than the rule by now; even when 6 came out, the system was in literally half the games)

All that aside, guess who sunk down the like 75$ for Splatoon today?  (After shipping, taxes, etc.)
Yeah, that makes sense. I'm not an RPG player, so I didn't know it was normal to have that system. The only other Final Fantasy game I played was the first one and that had turns, and other RPGs I played had them too, so I guess I'm not used to it.
I heard the villain is pretty cool, so let's hope I change my mind after playing it more.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on May 26, 2015, 02:45:08 AM
I'm on my third playthrough of Etrian Odyssey 3 and this time I'm going for 100% completion.
whyyyyyyy
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on May 27, 2015, 03:36:37 AM
Still sucking at Isaac Wrath of the Lamb Eternal Edition obviously. Did some more Hard Mode attempts. Beat the Eternal Mom's Heart twice, where one of those went to Sheol to try Eternal Satan, but I died before getting to him. The other one I took to Cathedral since I had gotten Dr. Fetus(which is a lot rarer in Hard Mode) and managed to beat Eternal Isaac, then got to the Eternal Blue Baby. I quickly died to it because I was at low health, but I had the ankh, so i got to try again with Blue Baby. I almost managed to clear but ended up dying near the end.


I really like what he did for Isaac and Blue baby's Eternal versions that are Hard Mode only. I really dislike Eternal It Lives though, and Eternal Mom doesn't seem too different.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 27, 2015, 11:53:08 PM
Playing Sine Mora without using the Capsules or subweapons is actually fairly hard. If you can't somehow recover your firepower tokens after you get nailed, you lose so much potential damage, it's ridiculous. Also, screw the instant death stages.

Getting close to 300 areas capped in DoS, I'm mostly getting blocked by Light and Dark elemental bosses, since the easiest way to deal with them is to wait until a day where the opposing element is powered up. That, and Condor gets the defense buff, which is so damn annoying.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on June 02, 2015, 07:57:12 AM
Quote
Even in this thread, F O E
And I've got Persona Q in my 3DS. Sheckles status: Kekkled.

I platinumed 3rd Super Robot Wars Z: Tengoku-hen yesterday. So I can actually go play something else on my trippoh if I want to. Not sure what, though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on June 03, 2015, 04:40:49 AM
After my roommate and his girlfriend singing its praises to me for like eight months I finally got my hands on a borrowed Vita and a copy of the game at the same time and got to play Danganronpa. I like it a lot, but I'm finding it kind of frustrating for a few reasons. I finished the fourth case earlier, and I'm guessing I'm just a few conversations away from the fifth.

Multiple personality disorder, check. Amnesia, check. Now all we need is for this to have all been inside of a computer simulation/dream/hallucination/drug-induced fantasy the whole time and the set of "worst plot devices ever" will be complete. The game seems to kind of think it's lampshading them and being clever, but that's not really worth as much as just steering clear of them. At least, I don't think it is right now, I'm not done so anything could happen. Still, lame.

I'm so tired of the big fat nerd always being a disgusting incompetent creep. Japan has to know who consumes a lot of their products, right? I kept waiting for the fat guy to contribute one positive thing, but nope, he's just a gross idiot who ruins everything and dies because he's so dumb. Greeeeeat.

All of the characters I liked are dead now, which is both good and bad for the story. On one hand it's great because it means I really want to see the villain go down, but on the other hand it's bad because all of the remaining characters pale in comparison to the ones who died earlier. Maybe that changes later, but there was a window there for a minute where my favorite character was the inanimate laptop, and that seems bad.

Some of the logic puzzles seem like they may have lost a little in translation. Maybe I just hadn't figured out the game's particular brand of logic yet, but there were a couple of debate sections earlier where I genuinely could not figure out which answer the game wanted me to use on which question because more than one of each of them referred to the correct answer.

Also, I think I really hate the Vita. My hands are apparently too big to hold it, because I can't easily press X without also hitting down on the right stick. This game doesn't make use of any of its various gimmicks (which does not bother me, honestly) so the touchscreens just keep getting in the way and causing me to accidentally skip dialogue when I try to wipe a smudge off. It's way too chunky and fragile-feeling to be portable, which makes it not really a handheld at all, just a tiny crappy console. Maybe I would feel differently if I played a game that actually felt like it was developed for the Vita and not just made exclusive for no reason, but this has not been a good first impression.

I mean, that sounds like a lot of complaints, but I still really like the game. It's extremely compelling, I can't put it down. It gets major bonus points for being an exciting new franchise, and for finding a great balance for a visual novel between reading and playing. The actual gameplay is a little on the simple side, I would have preferred a game that was a lot less on rails, but that would have been waaaay more complicated and I understand why it wasn't feasible.

I'm not done with the first game yet and already my takeaway is "I can't wait to get my hands on the second game, where hopefully they've ironed out a lot of these problems and polished everything up".
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on June 04, 2015, 01:29:53 PM
Oh right so I beat Link Between Worlds a bit ago.  Fun game but man I'll still stand by my assertion that the difficulty curve needed some help.  I beat the game with zero deaths this was most certainly not the case in LttP or Link's Awakening.  I did rather enjoy it, though I didn't get all the heart pieces or anything (and I somehow missed the final red mail oops) I did feel the need to take a screenshot of one particular moment of silliness..
(http://i.imgur.com/tbrrbar.jpg)
Who would even bother putting 1 lousy rupee in a chest??  I can chop grass and find 5 rupees  ::)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Berzul on June 04, 2015, 05:13:07 PM
The sloppy launch of the ever so awaited Moba game from Square Enix everyone was waiting for. I will try again tomorrow, It's always the case of logins in the first hours for every company, but they couldn't restore them up today soo....
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on June 05, 2015, 04:24:30 AM
FINAL FANTASY FFXIV

TURN 9 IS AN UTTER BITCH

THAT

IS

ALL

ALSO CERBERUS FOR NEVER EVER DROPPING MY ILVL120 NINJA BELT

AND EVERYONE FOR SUCKING AT T7 SO I CAN'T FARM OILS AND SANDS

although I suppose I should be glad that I'm frustrated at things like rng and people being bad and actual difficulty instead of "why am I playing this shitty game again" because ffxiv is anything but shitty

like seriously the wonders of the subscription-based world probably made me give up f2p entirely

(except pso2 pso2 is fucking awesome)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on June 05, 2015, 05:09:33 PM
FINAL FANTASY FFXIV

TURN 9 IS AN UTTER BITCH
If you were on Adamantoise I'd help you.

also I'm having the exact same feelings about Turn 13 right now augh
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 06, 2015, 01:54:47 AM
I love how the Fairy Fencer F beta opening lasted for all of one day before they filled up all the slots.

Anyway, I'm finally back home, which means I can catch up on all the stuff I missed in ACI. I'm debating on whether I should use my new L15 SP form on my Zipang, or if I should keep it for something better later on.

Neptunia Re;Birth3 (http://www.iffysonlinestore.com/neptunia-rebirth3-limited-edition/) is now available for preorder on IFI's store!

124 sectors left in DoS - a fair few of them already on their boss. Dear fucking god I'm scared of the red zones now. To make it in 24 days or less... It's a struggle, especially since I'm still waffling on whether I should spend the $35 to get 1k orbs just for revival purposes, or just to get back into the fray faster.

Also, picked up Nep U, just grinding up Lily while I'm ascending Neptral.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Validon98 on June 07, 2015, 12:39:36 AM
I've been all over the place playing stuff, but a lot of it has been Bloodborne. I actually beat the game last night, and
got the third ending, Moon Presence took me three tries, Gehrman meanwhile took me... a lot more
. I beat all of the bosses, optional and required, although I didn't do too much with chalice dungeons, so I might work on them a bit with New Game+. My Chikage+10 is not as effective on the bosses as I thought it would be, which is worrisome and probably means I need to invest even more into Skill and/or Bloodtinge. Or find better Blood Gems. Or something.

I've also been playing a lot of Smite over the last few weeks. It's probably the only MOBA that will ever hold my interest for as long as it has. :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on June 08, 2015, 06:54:00 PM
someone help me I beat etrian odyssey untold with five hexers
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on June 08, 2015, 09:32:11 PM
someone help me I beat etrian odyssey untold with five hexers
*Fistbump*

3 Dancer EO4 here.  Hell ye challenge runs.  (I've gotta try 5 medic yet)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on June 08, 2015, 11:17:13 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/h8AOTZt.jpg)
*high-pitched squealing intensifies* (http://i.imgur.com/h8AOTZt.jpg)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The ⑨th Zentillion on June 08, 2015, 11:21:49 PM
Finally getting off my ass and making some real progress through KHBBS. Terra's story? Done. Ven's story? Ugh, I'll let you know when I can clear the rhythm minigame... from the looks of it, the pattern's actually static, but that doesn't help where timing is concerned. Played just a little bit of Aqua's story for the interim. Can I make it to the last Episode before FJF starts and I put every second of my gaming time into that? Probs not.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on June 09, 2015, 12:09:23 AM
*Fistbump*

3 Dancer EO4 here.  Hell ye challenge runs.  (I've gotta try 5 medic yet)
idiotic sccs completed so far:
5 medics (eo4)
5 runemasters (eo4)
5 arcanists (eo4) (aargh)
5 survivalists (eou) (aaaaarrrgh)
5 hexers (eou)

why am I doing this
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on June 09, 2015, 12:12:59 AM
Finally getting off my ass and making some real progress through KHBBS. Terra's story? Done. Ven's story? Ugh, I'll let you know when I can clear the rhythm minigame... from the looks of it, the pattern's actually static, but that doesn't help where timing is concerned. Played just a little bit of Aqua's story for the interim. Can I make it to the last Episode before FJF starts and I put every second of my gaming time into that? Probs not.
Ah, another BBS player yaaaay.  I SHOULD be working on Aqua's story since I cleared both Terra's and Ventus's, but instead I went back into my Ventus clear file and was putzing around getting my head handed to me in the Mirage Arena.  Whoops.  Reminds me, I randomly made the Second Chance ability and need to turn that off once I've mastered the ability it's on since I intend to beat everything without it/Once More.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 09, 2015, 09:21:01 AM
> Levels almost everyone to level 99
> Beats all of the Quests that don't have a level requirement of 99
> Get Triple XP accessory
> Cry

In other news, the Operation Abyss LE came for me about 13 hours ago, and it turns out it's a fairly large box - much larger than their normal LEs, at least. That's because the artbook is an actual book, not just that stupid little pamphlet they usually have with characters and standard concept art. (Still haven't been able to play it yet, but meh.)

If I recall, the Neptunia animation is getting released on disk today. Fair warning to those who are going to watch the dub but haven't for some reason: Since they aren't going to give 5pb.'s VA only about three lines of dialogue (Setag had more than that, and she's intended to be a one-shot character), they had to dub Kihirirake! Gracie Star. The VA has a much deeper voice than even nao's current standard (e.g. Rave:tech ^_^ New;world), so it's a bit of a shock. (Frankly, though, I thought IF's was a bit more jarring, since I'm so used to her regular voice - the VA they had to bring in has a higher voice.)

413/504. I have almost the entire world map (save the red zones) either cleared or accessible. Too many Light and Dark bosses, though - and not nearly enough Light and Dark spirits on my end to really contemplate trying to fight some of them, even on an advantageous day.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: HouraiHime on June 10, 2015, 06:40:01 PM
Got Gundam Extreme Vs Full Boost a month ago and been playing that since. I suck terribly online. 
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on June 11, 2015, 04:50:07 PM
Is that Kamille from the Z3 portrait rip? I've seen that make the rounds on the internet. Angry Shinn is quite popular.

Anyway, I've been playing Etrian Odyssey 3 and Untold. I just hit 14F in Untold (Story Mode; feel free to point and laugh) but I'm working on a quest backlog. In 3, I'm on 2F because I'm not a veteran of the series. Also I haven't been playing long. I'm doing L/H/B/A/M, but I have other classes in storage soaking up exp so I can swap out if the need arises. I also have 10 Farmers designed to collect items. And I picked up a bunch of discoveries on the ocean.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 11, 2015, 11:59:23 PM
[attach=1]

...And this is (one of) the weakest of the Red Zone bosses. I'm screwed. (Though, really, the 2-battle double boss battles are pretty damn rough, too.)

EDIT: Oh, almost forgot. IFI is having a contest (http://ideafintl.com/updates/2015/06/10/1806.html) with copies of Nep Re;Birth3 - and a pair of Plutia's plushies! - on the line. The contest? Make a picture... using only the basic Paint applications (e.g. MS Paint), just like those ones they put on their Nep updates every so often!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Silent Harmony on June 12, 2015, 01:57:56 AM
Because my backlog of games is not overwhelming enough, I decided to borrow my friend's Wii. I wanted to play some of his Gamecube games most of all, but I forgot to make sure I had a memory card for them. While one is being delivered I decided to play Ocarina of Time on the virtual console instead. It's amazing how fun this game is to this day. I remember "helping" other people beat the game by reading a player's guide to them when I was much younger (I didn't know better). Luckily it's been so long since then that it feels relatively fresh, especially since playing it casually is nothing like watching a speedrunner break it over their leg.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on June 12, 2015, 02:55:05 PM
I made it to the 4th stratum in EOU. Guess I need to poke around Gladsheim before I can start doing stuff on 16F. I don't think I ever killed the FOEs in the first area. I should go do that, just for completion's sake. I ripped through the ones in the second area. Instead of trying to avoid them I just murdered their asses for exp. I was really overlevelled. I probably still am. Not for FOEs, but for regular enemies.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 12, 2015, 04:26:23 PM
Dunno what bit me, but I played Parasite Eve recently. It's funny to see an RPG where your STG experience comes in handy.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on June 12, 2015, 08:19:41 PM
Dunno what bit me, but I played Parasite Eve recently. It's funny to see an RPG where your STG experience comes in handy.
Parasite Eve is one of my favorite PS era RPGs, which is why I was disappointed PE2 went a more Resident Evil style of gameplay. I wish they'd come out with a third Parasite Eve game, though, that would be fun.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Phlegeth on June 12, 2015, 08:49:14 PM
Parasite Eve is one of my favorite PS era RPGs, which is why I was disappointed PE2 went a more Resident Evil style of gameplay. I wish they'd come out with a third Parasite Eve game, though, that would be fun.

There's the 3rd Birthday on PSP.

On topic, I've been playing Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2.  I'm near the end of my first playthrough.  I'm going for Vert's ending.  Even when I got the option to get the other CPUs Leanbox already had 50 shares and she joined right away.  I equipped Nepgear to her and she's even more of a powerhouse.  Not really looking forward to the Conquest Ending though, I don't really want to do that one.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on June 13, 2015, 02:31:32 AM
There's the 3rd Birthday on PSP.
That's an original IP that Square Enix decided to not continue. It is not Parasite Eve, at all. Nope.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on June 13, 2015, 04:47:15 AM
I've been re-playing Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow after trashing it repeatedly in conversation lately as the worst Metroidvania. Yeah, it is. It's not awful by any means, but it is the worst Metroidvania for a few reasons. I was enjoying it more in Julius mode, but my game broke and won't let me enter the last area, so I guess I'm just done without getting to see the one boss exclusive to that mode. Yaaaaay...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on June 13, 2015, 09:26:53 PM
I've been aware of; and wanting to try; Ahin Megami Tensei for a while.

What I wasn't aware of is that 4 was on the 3DS. [Or even existed].

So yeah; I'm gonna deal with some demons.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: SpeedySPCFan on June 14, 2015, 07:31:24 PM
I'm going through a few right now.

Phantasy Star Online 2 - it's an MMO. I'm never going to stop playing it. HELP
Max Payne - my brother has been asking me to play it so I finally gave in, turns out it's pretty fantastic.
Crusader: No Remorse - my PS1 disc broke so I've been playing the PC version they gave for free on Origin. Fun game even though certain parts are padded.
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries - my (almost) yearly playthrough of the game. Partly for fun, partly because I want to review it.

I plan to get to STALKER: Clear Sky and Ys II + Oath in Felghana soon. Clear Sky because I finished STALKER: SoC not a week ago and loved it in all of its quirky and buggy glory. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4-1ZRwYqik) As for Ys II and Oath in Felghana (remake of Ys III), Ys Origin became one of my favorite games after beating it and now I want to play the rest of the (good) games in the series.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The ⑨th Zentillion on June 15, 2015, 04:58:55 PM
Finished off Ven and Aqua's stories in BBS and also did the Final Episode... and unlocked the Secret Ep.

Heh, on Ven's story, as I suspected, Ice Cream Beat is static... it still took me a good thirty tries to get a good enough score to not game over. I was disappointed when I started getting good ranks but was still not good enough... then somehow, BAM, my winning go-around nets me a Fantastic. But yeah, with that roadblock out of the way, the rest was simple enough. The final fight gave me a little bit of trouble the first attempt, but I knocked it out the second time  - control stick spinning is A Thing... and the first fight I was spinning it the wrong way. Oops! :derp:

But now that that's done I think I'll put off the Secret Ep
I don't think my body is ready for Dark Hide yet
and FJF is coming up.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on June 15, 2015, 11:18:03 PM
Started back up on my FF Tactics A2 save. Not that far right now. Don't even have access to the Auction House or recruiting. I know about repeatable missions. Working on some other missions and crossing my fingers for halfway-decent loot. My friend has the strategy guide so I might need to bum that off him so I can know what the hell to do without needing to have the computer on making the room hotter. If it wasn't summer it'd be on more often.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on June 15, 2015, 11:49:21 PM
All you need to do is unlock the auction house and win all of them.  Then the game is effectively over.  It deserves no better.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on June 16, 2015, 07:44:17 AM
(https://40.media.tumblr.com/ddc9b6c162504216afc38a5ddff81aad/tumblr_nq0rj2fiaT1r8hguio2_540.png) (https://40.media.tumblr.com/ddc9b6c162504216afc38a5ddff81aad/tumblr_nq0rj2fiaT1r8hguio2_1280.png)
Cleared Turn 13 in Final Fantasy XIV.  It's over.  It's done.  The miracle does happen.  We even got the thing that let us craft this for our FC house so we took a hella screenshot.

And about three days before the expansion hits too.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: PX on June 16, 2015, 09:08:44 AM
All you need to do is unlock the auction house and win all of them.  Then the game is effectively over.  It deserves no better.
Yeah, I unlocked Auction House then stopped playing because the game was over
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on June 16, 2015, 12:12:52 PM
Only Lorule Castle is left for LoZenges: A Link Between Worlds. It's been enjoyable and the game's gimmick is probably the best in the series I've encountered in some time. Maybe it hasn't stuck as much because I played the original so many times? Or maybe my 30-31 year old self is slightly better at videogames than my 10-11 year old self.
All you need to do is unlock the auction house and win all of them.  Then the game is effectively over.  It deserves no better.
I found A2 at a local used games store that holds onto just about everything forever. I've never played it and the existence of the game hasn't crossed my mind for 6-7 years. I still feel as if I've beaten it already now.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on June 16, 2015, 03:22:53 PM
Quote
All you need to do is unlock the auction house and win all of them.
I'd rather play the game in my own stupid style than try to break it over my knee that hard and that quickly. I'm not saying anyone else should do what I do. Whatever you feel like doing, do it. And I'll go do my own thing over here.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on June 16, 2015, 03:35:31 PM
I'm a few hours into Danganronpa 2. It fixed a lot, if not almost all, of the problems I had with the first game. I'm having a hard time figuring out how this game could possibly fit into the continuity of the first one, but it seems to somehow. The first murder was ridiculously convoluted, almost to the point of being silly, but it just BARELY makes enough sense to work. That's a good line to walk I guess.

It actually has a likable, competent, non-comic-relief fat character! Way to go video games, you finally did it! And he was somehow also the least likable character from the first game? I don't follow, but good. Then he died, but whatever. Least he was there. Now if we can get a character who's likable, overweight, competent, AND a nerd maybe that dumb trend will be over finally.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on June 16, 2015, 11:44:48 PM
The first murder was ridiculously convoluted, almost to the point of being silly, but it just BARELY makes enough sense to work. That's a good line to walk I guess.

Holy shit, you've seen nothing yet.

The murders in this game make the first game solutions seem obvious in comparison.

You'll definitely love the game though, so many twists and turns.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on June 17, 2015, 04:00:54 AM
Holy shit, you've seen nothing yet.

The murders in this game make the first game solutions seem obvious in comparison.

You'll definitely love the game though, so many twists and turns.

Yup, I just finished the second one, and that holds true. It had me questioning how far the game was going to push the shenanigans a few times, but in the end I think it all tied together very nicely. I have a theory now about how the timeline fits into the first game too. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

And right at the end of the investigation I figured out a way around my biggest current complaint, which is how all of the fast travel points are way too far from most locations to save that much time. Then I realized that the d-pad makes you run super fast to the next location. Handy, wish I had noticed that earlier. No major complaints then. :) Even the capsule machine is now so fast that it's no longer the ludicrous busywork waste of time it was in the first game.

Although I am a little annoyed about how the game killed the social link I was working on during both murders so far, but that's just a natural consequence of the way the game works. No use being mad about that. I did finish Chiaki, I hope she doesn't die, but she is a little redundant in her role with Nagito and she is seemingly the easiest-to-murder person in the game by virtue of her narcolepsy. So yeah, that's a couple death flags, but neither of the "fellow detective" characters from the first game died, so maybe she'll be okay?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on June 17, 2015, 05:11:13 PM
You'll definitely love the game though, so many twists and turns.
5th case is stupid. Its resolution and reasoning behind it, is even more stupid
. What happens afterwards is awesome, tho.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 17, 2015, 09:11:10 PM
Time to blow the dust off the shotgun and the wrench (the latter mostly to make the damn game work).

Time to reinstall System Shock 2.

Shameful confession - the only time I completed the game was on Easy, just because I didn't want any hassle. Taking up Hard this time around. Let's hope early levels won't be TOO bad.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on June 18, 2015, 12:42:31 AM
5th case is stupid. Its resolution and reasoning behind it, is even more stupid

I disagree 100%, I personally believe that case 5 is fucking genius.

(Although I suppose that depends on how much suspension of disbelief you have, but we're getting sidetracked.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on June 18, 2015, 12:17:44 PM
 The patch for Heavensward is now downloading

why must I wait for tomorrow for servers to be up again

this is unacceptable

what am I even going to do with my life in the meantime
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on June 18, 2015, 12:29:11 PM
Link Between Worlds complete! A very nice and faithful remix of the original. It felt a bit short, but for a 3DS title? Awesome. They probably had to pack in the dungeons a bit which would explain why they were shorter, although there were always snippets of the dungeons that felt optional. Admittedly I got tuckered out towards the end and just wanted to get on with things which would explain why I would just get tiny bits done at a time for several weeks and then binged on like 4 dungeons in a single day. I got all the heart pieces and something like 80+ maiamais which was worth it but it got tedious looking for the last 1-2 in each area and I'll be darned if I care to look up a guide and spend 5 hours scouring the worlds for them all. Oh well. Still lots of fun even if it felt a bit watered down/simply redone in comparison to the original.

Next up is Majora's Mask 3DS. I will most likely play it through to the first APOCALYPSE then get scared, scream like a schoolgirl, then close the 3DS and leave it alone for 2-3 months. My mind draws a blank when I try to recall how to get through it and it was enough to dog the rest of my time playing it until I just gave up.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on June 18, 2015, 01:47:34 PM
Ye gods what have I subjected myself to...?  Currently binging on HyperDimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1, and it's a lot of fun, of grindy at times so far.  In the middle of adventures in Leanbox now.  Iffy is freaking ADORABLE when flustered holy crap.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: SpeedySPCFan on June 18, 2015, 02:09:19 PM
Done with STALKER Clear Sky, beat it in 3 days. It was buggy, good fun. And with that out of the way, I'm still playing what I was playing before, but now I'm working my way through DOOM 64 EX.

Ye gods what have I subjected myself to...?  Currently binging on HyperDimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1, and it's a lot of fun, of grindy at times so far.  In the middle of adventures in Leanbox now.  Iffy is freaking ADORABLE when flustered holy crap.
How bad is the grinding? I'm interested in the game since it seems pretty light hearted and silly, but I hear a lot about the grinding in it and I'm not so sure about the game with that in mind.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on June 18, 2015, 03:38:22 PM
So far was really only chapter 2(I am in 3 someplace now), but there is a method to make the grind there much less painful so it isnt so bad.  It'll be jarring, but as long as you keep your equipment current and stay a decent level you should be ok in the end.  Equipment is INCREDIBLY important, much more than levels,though you are slightly limited early on,it seems like it will continueto expand so it should turn out fine.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on June 18, 2015, 03:41:49 PM
The grinding's actually not that bad later in the game. In the first couple chapters it's terrible because almost nothing is worth any exp. Idea Factory is really weird about that, giving out Dragon Quest-tier exp and money early in the game and then later on you're getting hundreds of thousands. Life Rings are extremely useful, btw. They pretty much double your HP. Later on, once you have more, you can swap them out for something else. HP goes into 5-digits before level 99.

Still trying to play FFTA2. I JUST found out how you get the token shop in the auction house. Eight years and nobody told me this. You actually have to play a bunch of times, win or lose, before you can buy tokens. I imagine you can brute-force all the auctions if you buy enough 5s. Clan Points are a renewable resource, and you don't get less when you play a repeated mission.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Phlegeth on June 18, 2015, 03:45:23 PM
I'm still playing Re;Birth2.  Working on getting the Oracles and knocking out the faction endings while I'm at it. 

How bad is the grinding? I'm interested in the game since it seems pretty light hearted and silly, but I hear a lot about the grinding in it and I'm not so sure about the game with that in mind.

I think they handle grinding pretty good.  I mean as long as you're doing all the quests in the new dungeons, both story and optional, you never have to stop and actively grind.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: SpeedySPCFan on June 18, 2015, 08:28:11 PM
I think they handle grinding pretty good.  I mean as long as you're doing all the quests in the new dungeons, both story and optional, you never have to stop and actively grind.

Sounds pretty good, might I'll pick up some of the games on PC sometime if this is the case. I was worried I'd have to stop and grind all the time. Thanks!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 19, 2015, 12:16:03 AM
Day 1, reached Deck 3. Remembered I tried Normal or Hard back then and gave up because I'd ran out of bullets in robot-filled cargo bays. This time I used resources in a more optimized way and didn't have too many problems there. Looks like I'm set for the rest of the run.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: SpeedySPCFan on June 19, 2015, 12:35:19 AM
Day 1, reached Deck 3. Remembered I tried Normal or Hard back then and gave up because I'd ran out of bullets in robot-filled cargo bays. This time I used resources in a more optimized way and didn't have too many problems there. Looks like I'm set for the rest of the run.

System Shock 2 is a really easy game if you know what to put your points into and you can conserve ammo. The wrench is crazy strong so you can just smack most things with it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 19, 2015, 07:05:34 AM
I think someone's been using those Wormholes a bit too much - somehow we're at level 2910 right now. Holy fuck.

Anyway, I've completed the original world map in Destiny of Spirits and the first Red Zone continent - all that's left is the... other... two... continents.

Ugh.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 19, 2015, 07:17:24 AM
System Shock 2 is a really easy game if you know what to put your points into and you can conserve ammo. The wrench is crazy strong so you can just smack most things with it.

Between shotgun, assault rifle and grenade launcher, I don't think I'll have trouble with ammo. Using wrench does help a lot early on, though.

That said, I did some calculations and have no idea what I'll spend half of cyber-modules on. Getting Standard Weapons to max is a big investment, but other than that I'll only need Maintenance and Hacking, plus a bit of Research and Heavy Weapons. I guess I'll end up padding the basic stats. Which is far from a waste, thankfully. Really, the game's at its hardest near the start, when you barely have any skills.

How's Max Payne, by the way?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on June 19, 2015, 08:56:36 AM
(http://i.imgur.com/QDbjlGt.png)

I FULLY EXPECT THE SERVERS TO EXPLODE BUT THE HYPE IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE CONTAINED

(this is also what i'm gonna be doing for the next forever and a half)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: SpeedySPCFan on June 19, 2015, 02:56:23 PM
Between shotgun, assault rifle and grenade launcher, I don't think I'll have trouble with ammo. Using wrench does help a lot early on, though.

That said, I did some calculations and have no idea what I'll spend half of cyber-modules on. Getting Standard Weapons to max is a big investment, but other than that I'll only need Maintenance and Hacking, plus a bit of Research and Heavy Weapons. I guess I'll end up padding the basic stats. Which is far from a waste, thankfully. Really, the game's at its hardest near the start, when you barely have any skills.

How's Max Payne, by the way?

Get Standard Weapons to the point where you can use the assault rifle. Try to put at least 2 points into hacking. Maintenance should be pretty high too. Heavy Weapons, you only need the Grenade Launcher. Research is useless except for Deck 3. Later in the game, you'll have quite a lot of points stockpiled, and at that point, get the best Psi healing possible. It can heal half of your health while taking very little Psi energy, it's insane.

It's great so far, great presentation, great story, and fun gameplay.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 19, 2015, 04:58:08 PM
Research is useless except for Deck 3.

The bonus from researching organs actually mattered enough to cut the amount of hits respective enemies needed by one. The difference between 3 and 2, or even 2 and 1 in some cases, saved enough ammunition (and health) to be justified.

But yeah, having more than one point in Research is useless. Other researchable stuff isn't interesting enough.

Later in the game, you'll have quite a lot of points stockpiled, and at that point, get the best Psi healing possible. It can heal half of your health while taking very little Psi energy, it's insane.

Not doing that for the sake of challenge :)

That said, about the only thing I wish I would have done differently in early game would be getting 2 in Repair to get grenade launcher early. It'd help in grand total of three places at best, but still.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on June 19, 2015, 05:28:49 PM
Quote
and you don't get less when you play a repeated mission.
Turns out you do, but you don't get less and less the more often you do a mission. Anyway, the game hates me and won't give me the loot I need. I have a lot of bladed weapons but barely any staves or bows. It's weird and depressing at the same time. It's not like I need to graduate to rank 2 loot. And the damn law bonus gives me Barongs no matter what I do. I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS KEEPS HAPPENING.

I think I'm going to play SRW today.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on June 19, 2015, 09:24:03 PM
Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

More like "why is my only class above level 50 Fisher"
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: PX on June 19, 2015, 09:35:06 PM
Too bad MotK is too spread out in FFXIV to actual do stuff :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on June 20, 2015, 04:12:03 AM
Playing The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky it's something I need to get used to although I wish there was a better way to window mode the game oh well I'm enjoying it really on Steam,
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Phlegeth on June 20, 2015, 08:08:52 AM
I'm playing Saints Row IV, cause sometimes you just feel like smacking people around with a tentacle bat.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 20, 2015, 04:16:12 PM
Deck 4, ran out of standard bullets, even though I used them only when others would be overkill. Decided to swap shotgun for laser pistol's overdrive mode. Also, the wrench really should see some more use.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Silent Harmony on June 21, 2015, 03:29:33 AM
Ocarina of Time defeated. Biggoron Sword is borderline OP if not outright OP I swear.  :V

I don't really care about reading guides and getting 100%, so it's bye to Zelda for now and off to another Nintendo series.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 21, 2015, 02:07:15 PM
Finished the Hard run of System Shock 2. Used less than half of healing items. Ammo did need some careful use, though. But assault rifle is strong. Things were almost too easy.

Let's try semi-psionic build on Impossible.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on June 22, 2015, 02:53:44 AM
Finished Danganronpa 2. I liked it a lot.

I'm slightly conflicted about the overall resolution. It continued the trend of being carried out just well enough to not be completely ridiculous, but... I think during my thoughts on the first game I said something about how all the story needed was a virtual reality scenario to complete its suite of "worst plot twists ever". And here I thought they were doing so well not introducing any more total shit elements like multiple personalities (I guess I'm accepting it as a given that memory loss is just part of the premise now), and then that happened. To be clear, I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't love it.

I also kind of had the ending revealed to me pretty early by something Chiaki says in her social link. She says something about her father that calls back to something Alter Ego said in the first game, heavily implying that Alter Ego is her father. And for that to be true, of course she would have to be AI as well. For a while I was assuming she was an android, and the android being constructed in the Monobeast factory almost completely convinced me of that, but the fact that Monokuma had magic powers kind of tipped that it was a simulation. Watching her die was rough, but given that Alter Ego has died twice now and still seems to be around I'm willing to bet she isn't gone for good.

So yeah, I liked it more than the first one overall, and I liked the first one pretty well. The mechanics were a lot tighter, and while I didn't love the ending like I loved the ending of the first one, the smoother experience up to that point makes it the superior game in my opinion. This one definitely had a different ethos throughout much of it, where unlike in the first game where all of the cases are more or less solvable, most of them in the second seemed basically impossible with the clues presented at the start. The fifth and sixth cases were a lot more fair in that regard, but the first four were too much (for me, anyway) to figure out in advance. Once I got used to the fact that this would be a different kind of puzzle, though, that didn't really bother me.

So yeah, overall, B or B+. Wish I could say it was an A or A+, but it's not quite that perfect. That's okay though, the progression in quality is exciting. If they ever make a third one my money's on it being truly great. Glad I played, would recommend except for the fact that you have to use a Vita to play it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: PX on June 22, 2015, 03:05:02 AM
Chiaki was a real person and part of the Future Foundation, she was the one secret agent to make sure things went well. She's dead, just like everybody else
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on June 22, 2015, 03:17:22 AM
Chiaki was a real person and part of the Future Foundation, she was the one secret agent to make sure things went well. She's dead, just like everybody else

I don't think that's true, is it? Are you assuming that Monomi is a real person too then, presumably just disguised? I figured Chiaki's many lines about being "created to serve the Future Foundation" and the fact that she continued to appear after dying made it pretty clear that she was never a person. Her late appearances could be chalked up to hallucinations I guess, but she seemed to volunteer some new information.

And, for whatever it's worth, Wikipedia seems to agree with me.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 24, 2015, 07:07:30 PM
System Shock 2 on Impossible is done. Didn't use much psi stuff, actually, but some things are super useful. Had to learn to melee as many enemies as possible anyway. It was quite a scary surprise to learn that most bodies didn't have any loot all of a sudden. Plus low health meant pipe-wielding hybrids could OHKO me near the start. Still, the game didn't become much harder, but rather more INTERESTING. But there was still enough resources to feel comfortable, nothing impossible about it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Invidialbum on June 26, 2015, 06:15:08 PM
I'm playing Pok?mon LeafGreen right now.

Four badges, 19 Pok?mon owned in the Pok?dex, and I'm still level grinding for Koga since I underestimated how dangerous he actually was.
My current party is Dragonair, Raichu, Primeape, Starmie, Dugtrio and Charizard.

I'm also waiting for Terraria's 1.3 update to come out so I can subject myself to all the torture Re-Logic has in store.  :]
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on July 01, 2015, 10:18:23 AM
Oh wow. Neptunia Re;Birth3 is now out, and it has a bunch of DLC for it. The only one that's not free is one tailored to making Stella's Dungeon and XP grinding go faster. So we get all of the Makers, the Oracles, Iffy and Compa, Japanese voice, all three postgame content packs, and a bunch of items.

Too bad my LE's coming tomorrow (or rather, later today since it's past midnight).

Ace Combat is hitting 20 this month, so ACI is having a bunch of challenges to celebrate, as well as a tourney that has custom versions of the three Bone Arrows aircraft - Viper's Fishbed, Omega's Typhoon, and since Reaper is this game's Mobius One, he gets a Raptor.

(EDIT): I love how I can just walk into a 4P Pipeline room with a level 1 F-16XL (so I can get this stupid "kill 160 targets in the XL with 4AGMs") with 3 players around my MR and still wipe the floor with them score-wise. Granted, all three of them went air-superiority, which just makes it even stranger when we couldn't S rank it because of all the planes in the sky at the end of the sortie. Hell, I personally smashed up a few MiG-29s myself because I ran out of ground targets.

If you haven't yet gotten 100% in Destiny of Spirits, I'm sorry to say you've lost your chance. The servers have closed, and since there's no offline version... well.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on July 08, 2015, 08:59:45 AM
(https://36.media.tumblr.com/7ea4398212e520a32a68fb10af415c1e/tumblr_nr5ul7BzzI1r8hguio1_540.png) (http://41.media.tumblr.com/7ea4398212e520a32a68fb10af415c1e/tumblr_nr5ul7BzzI1r8hguio1_1280.png)

What's that?  Clear the new Heavensward raid within 24 hours of its release?

Yup.

shut up I know it's just story mode fight me
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: SpeedySPCFan on July 10, 2015, 03:22:34 PM
Right now I'm currently playing:

Max Payne, MechWarrior 2 (for the LP thread), MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries (for a review), 007 Nightfire PC (for a review), and, Ys: The Oath in Felghana. Max Payne I kind of ignored for a bit though I'll get back to it soon, and Oath in Felghana I've been playing like crazy for the past two days. Really good game.

I finished a few games I was working on though, namely F.E.A.R, F.E.A.R Extraction Point, Blood II, and SHOGO: Mobile Armor Division. Both SHOGO and Blood II have the same problem of the combat being insanely hard at some points due to awful balancing, and Extraction Point feels lazy as it repeats a lot of what F.E.A.R did, except worse. The original though, that game is fantastic.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on July 10, 2015, 11:06:59 PM
I bought The Guided Fate Paradox last night, and my friend loaned me the Dusk Sea trilogy of Atelier games. I asked him if he had Ayesha and if I could borrow it, because I heard the inventory's less frustrating (gathered mats have consistent quality so they stack). So he handed me that, Escha&Logy, and Shallie. Shallie doesn't even have a time limit. I hate how they're making some playables DLC. I might have to use the rest of my store credit on a PSN card.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: draganuv15 on July 11, 2015, 09:56:25 AM
Recently got Summoner/Scholar to 50 on Final Fantasy 14. Just need to run The Praetorium and I'll finally be able to do A Realm Awoken quests after over a month of playing and then try to force myself not to attempt A Relic Reborn quests.

Also been playing a ton of Crimzon Clover: WORLD IGNITION because haha my thirst for danmaku games will never be quenched (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZHzbd2gZ_8) (I'm pretty bad at it score-wise though but these things come with practice)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on July 11, 2015, 03:58:04 PM
...try to force myself not to attempt A Relic Reborn quests...

If it helps to convince you - don't waste your time. As soon as you get to heavensward content you'll be given better gear than your Relic Weapon Zenith, and as soon as you get to level 54 you'll get equipment which is on part with the Zodiac Weapon Zeta, which takes a few days of tireless work to get. I can say that because I'm currently going for my zeta for glamour :')

I mean, unless you don't have heavensward for some reason, at which point it's still better to try and get a few clear parties through coil to get you easy poetics and encrypted tomestones so you can get your augmented ironworks weapon/dreadwyrm weapon, both of which only lose to the Zodiac Zeta in terms of power and yet take infinitely less time and effort to get.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: draganuv15 on July 11, 2015, 04:22:52 PM
If it helps to convince you - don't waste your time. As soon as you get to heavensward content you'll be given better gear than your Relic Weapon Zenith, and as soon as you get to level 54 you'll get equipment which is on part with the Zodiac Weapon Zeta, which takes a few days of tireless work to get. I can say that because I'm currently going for my zeta for glamour :')

I mean, unless you don't have heavensward for some reason, at which point it's still better to try and get a few clear parties through coil to get you easy poetics and encrypted tomestones so you can get your augmented ironworks weapon/dreadwyrm weapon, both of which only lose to the Zodiac Zeta in terms of power and yet take infinitely less time and effort to get.

Yeah my plan was to get stronger gear in Heavensward and then maybe do relic stuff just to glamour it but I honestly prefer the look of a few things to the summoner Relic/Zodiac weapon anyway (Ona Ramuhda, Diamond Grimoire and the Expanse Grimoire being on the priority list for potential glamours/actual weapons). Last Resort and Apocalypse still look really good I just prefer the look of the Primal weapons and farming for those seems a lot more fun than slogging through that many quests/spending that much gil (from what I can gather buying everything required from auction to fully upgrade the relic weapon would be about 40 million+ gil which is too much. Also now someone who has been trying to get Longinus and has been doing stuff for over a year now and is only on Atma I believe.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on July 11, 2015, 11:54:58 PM
To be fair, you can complete the first stage of the Relic Quest extremely easily, and it's not a bad idea because hey, i80 weapon (Although you should be able to easily have someone fetch you an i115 from Ishgard).  It's also a great intro to level 50 content.  That said, if you did want to max it out, it's also only a fraction of the price anymore, because there's really no need at all to optimize the stats on it (it's glamour yo), so you can pay a fraction of that cost by using suboptimal materia.

Either way the game will have you rolling in gear during the 2.1-2.55 storyline so yeah.  I'm not sure when exactly it gives you weapons or at what level they'll be at but I know it literally throws you the old Soldiery gear and I expect it probably throws you an Unidentified Tomestone or something at some point anyway so
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on July 12, 2015, 05:08:22 AM
Fraction of the price and fraction of the time, yes, although if I'm being completely honest it's still a pain, especially when you consider Light is not acquired either from Heavensward content OR from undersized parties, which means you gotta deal with level sync and that's just ugh.

Plus the entirety of the Animus shit is like no thanks. That's 300 overworld enemies, 27 fates (some of which are really rare), 27 leves (not a problem but still) and 27 dungeons, of which a lot are unsoloable even at BiS status and have ungodly long queue times.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Validon98 on July 12, 2015, 05:56:11 AM
Funny people have mentioned FFXIV, thanks  my birthday I was able to pick it up and get right back on track with where I was when I sort of... threw in the towel. I somehow managed to finish all the pre-Heavensward quests I had left in one go, and so far things are going good. Not bothering with the relic weapon at the point I'm at (even if they made it so that books are not as easy to do, finding the stupid gems was pretty much a pain in the everything and I'm done with the long grind with relics), I just want to pave my way through the main story since I've started on this later than the people I usually play with. :V

Also, I didn't know they now threw Soldiery equipment at you in the post-Realm Reborn pre-Heavensward quests, but given Poetics is now the new lower standard tomestone-wise it makes sense. Kinda makes me feel like I wasted my time getting a full Solidery set (with a good amount of it upgraded too), but at least Poetics is easier to get now. ^^;
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on July 17, 2015, 10:23:04 AM
Low-tier Team Deathmatch is back in Ace Combat Infinity, which means one thing for me - getting ganged up on by everyone ever for somehow failing to get shot down after a rain of QAAM and MSL and who knows what else. I think I'll make videos of my next set of sorties tomorrow, just watching the madness of two dozen separate missiles on the radar at the same time. And since missiles only show up when you're actively targeted by them (or you shot them), well...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: pineyappled on July 17, 2015, 03:49:48 PM
Cole Phelps: Worst Cop Ever is alright. Click "doubt" instead of "lie"? Phelps accuses the widow of murder! Case where you find a bloody steak knife in a trash bin next to a supposed hit and run? You can inspect the stirring spoons at the wife's house but not the knives on the wall right above.  Catch the perp of a street crime? Shoot the fucker right dead
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on July 19, 2015, 09:02:06 PM
I've caught the TF2 bug again.

How do I topscore as fat scout? [Which is a lot better with the Eviction Notice buffs, if you punch someone you suddenly ARE a Scout]. Because it happened. I mean seriously. I'm not even using a Primary.

Also I played some Spy on defense on Dustbowl and got like a 5 man chainstab with YER and no starting disguise, including a medic. My Spy style is C+D with YER to find that golden opening. If I want to take down buildings I'll go Demo or Direct Hit.

Speaking of, having someone on your team saying 'They have 2 sentries near spawn' on that spot on Eygpt; walking there and just showering 4 pipes in from long range with a big arc, not knowing the exact location and getting both sentries and both engies feels good man. But I tend to be that guy who'll snipe down sentries when no-one else on my team can manage it/keeps trying to run into them. I even named a Direct Hit the Bunker Buster because I do that so often.

New maps are mostly cool. Except the KotH map. Far too small; spawncamping happens more than Nucleus; while people actually go for the objective because there isn't really anything of note on the rest of the map.

===

Also playing another weekly EU4 multiplayer game. In the pre-game everyone was crying because most people picked smaller nations and there was Aragon [East Spain] which in itself isn't that large but starts with Naples [Most of Southern Italy] under a personal union. I was playing the Papal States. Right next to Naples. I wasn't scared. I just made an alliance with Venice; we sunk their fleet to keep them separated; and we broke the Personal Union; significantly weakening Aragon. We also specifically struck when we knew Aragon was weak from another war. Now Aragon is wedged between Castile [Who hates them because these are the guys Aragon was at war with] and France [Who hates them]; with about half their power ripped away. Thanks to the Pope's intervention. And they can't easily go to war with me now in an attempt to get revenge. I don't share a border with Aragon. And even if they did go to war with me I'm allied with [AI] Castile now since they're happy with what I did; who does border Aragon and is larger. Not to mention punching me won't make Naples suddenly no longer independent.

Then Austria and a significant amount of the Not Holy not Roman Empire [Basically the parts which were not players] went to war against the Ottomans over Hungry and lost. They were low on manpower; so we went to war with the Not Holy not Roman Empire; which usually would greatly overpower us; and won that fight too and got more land. And if after the truce Austria wants to fight again to try and get the land we took back; they're also going to wade into a war with France due to Venice's alliances; and have to worry about the Ottomans taking advantage.

Yay for Vulture Pope. In the span of about 15 in-game years I've crippled one of the two largest player nations [Not much I can do about England] and won a victory against what is basically all Europe from East of France to Poland. Simply by striking at the right time and identifying my similar interests to the Venice player. To put the underdog-ness into perspective; combined we can perhaps muster about 40,000 troops. The HRE can muster probobly 150k+ combined, but they'd lost a lot of men. Also the game itself lasts like; 400 years. So I can do a lot more. And I've secured a mutral long-term alliance with Venice about how we carve up Italy as we take out our common foes. Basically I get the West coast and he gets the East; then we push North together.

Seriously people joked that I made Ethiopia relevant last game because I colonized Australia and Indonesia and became a major trade hub; able to direct trade to Spain or England depending on who curried my favor, while I never actually got involved in any major war; I could basically direct funds to a side; and the Eygptians dare not touch me and anger Spain AND England who both had interests with me. Now I'm actually in Europe and within 15 years as a small nation I've changed the balance of power drastically and won two wars I had no business winning usually.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on July 20, 2015, 10:24:43 PM
Neptunia Re;birth 2.
Apocalypse: The Saviour's Sorrow
. I was kinda unprepared. Mentally and gameplay-wise too. Whoever designed second fight, hates gamers as a whole. Super-tanky character which actually hits kinda hard and 2 really good aoe attackers. And all of them are fast too. Also as per norm for the bosses all of them regenerate hp every time they act too. And the actual scene afterwards is just ugh...
Fights before and after are complete joke compared to this.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on July 21, 2015, 01:42:10 AM
Really, though, with that route, you kind of deserve it if you haven't been going through the other routes.

So Topaz (the final boss in Geometry Wars 3) is beating me like a drum, but not as much as some of the other levels....
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mitsuhide on July 22, 2015, 08:14:24 PM
I'm playing Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. What a troll game! The cover and the menus have Snake's face, the intro scene has Snake for the most part, and the real main character, Raiden, appears for like 3 seconds in that intro.

Also, the game starts and you play the most awesome level in the history of gaming, a ship you have to sneak into in order to gather evidence of the existence of a new Metal Geaf able to overcome the rest of its kind. However, the Marine shio is raided but some terrorist, so Solid Snake is going to have a tough time in his mission.
Seriously, the first part is really fun and the setting is pretty interesting! When that is finished, you're thrown into the real thing. Having fun with Snake? Surprise! New protagonist! But honestly, if the gane was the same, but with Snake, it wouldn't have changed much.
To begin with the set up is a big facility over the sea, some disposal/environmental plant thing. It's composed by 2 main structures or "shells", with several hexagon shaped rooms surrounding these shells. The hexagons are conected by bridges and all.

It's orange and it's ugly. Not to mention the amounts of backtracking. Ugh, is rodiculous! I did everything I had to do in Shell 1, so I don't want to go back to it again because I need something to progress in Shell 2.
And the bridges are lame. I want to play something similar to the Snake wegment! I don't care if I'm controlling Raiden (although I'd rather play as Snake), but give me something like that!

And the bosses? I don't like them. Although that's maybe because I'm not used to the codec. In any other game you wouldn't have help telling you what to do, so I forgot the codec existed. However, Olga was fun to fight. I'm now fighting Vamp, and he's kind of boring. Most of the time you won't be able to effectively shoot him.

Also, I think I'm a bit spoiled because I played Metal Gear Solid 3 first, which is an awesome game. Glad they improved the mechanics as much as they did.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on July 22, 2015, 09:11:24 PM
I don't know how I managed to beat MGS2, back in 2003. I'm terrible at reflex-based gaming, which is why I stick to JRPGs, aside from being really into Koei's Warriors series and occasionally dabbling in Resident Evil, which I have beaten multiple entries of.

Anyway, I've been doing, uh...Atelier Shallie. And Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate. And I started up on Suikoden 5 (this is my 4th attempt or something at beating it) and I'm about to go play that now. Also doing Escha+Logy, but I screwed up and for some reason didn't save so I lost about 45 minutes of work and got really pissed-off at myself so I'm taking a break. At least I have a full party of six (I bought the Wilbell DLC because she should've been playable in the first f'ing place).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Romantique Tp on July 22, 2015, 09:18:22 PM
I've never been a fan of the outdoor areas in MGS2 but the indoor areas are fairly similar in design to those in the tanker chapter, MGS1 and Metal Gear 2. It's a good game but I think everyone agrees that it's probably the weakest canon game in the series along with Metal Gear 1.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mitsuhide on July 23, 2015, 08:52:43 AM
I mean, It's a good game! Just disappointing. And the indoor areas are not bad, just that you have to go through them a lot.
And I don't think it's fair to compare it to Metal Gear 1, as that one is in an k ferior system and... Well... I liked that one better than Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on July 23, 2015, 11:51:33 AM
Did my "once in a blue moon" run of RKS on lunch break (yes, I have big lunch breaks). Somehow, I managed to enter item screen when I had no health left. Funny enough, I could heal and continue playing just fine. Dunno if such bug is known or something, so I'll attach the replay if anyone's interested, it happened during Trauare's fight. (Said replay also has some moderately awesome playing along with a number of amusing fails.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on July 25, 2015, 12:40:00 AM
I beat Resonance of Fate this morning. I was grossly-overlevelled. Something like...179 on Vashyron, 220 on Zephry, and 235 on Leanne. Last boss has 99,999 HP and is immune to Full Scratch Damage on MGs, but you can still break his gauge and stun him, and he's weak against elemental damage and probably ailments. He also keeps having multiple mooks around, who honest to ghod deal more damage than he does. So now I'm on NG+, because I promised my friend she could watch the DANCING VASHYRON scene on an HDTV instead of on YT.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on July 25, 2015, 10:52:38 AM
I beat Resonance of Fate this morning. I was grossly-overlevelled. Something like...179 on Vashyron, 220 on Zephry, and 235 on Leanne. Last boss has 99,999 HP and is immune to Full Scratch Damage on MGs, but you can still break his gauge and stun him, and he's weak against elemental damage and probably ailments. He also keeps having multiple mooks around, who honest to ghod deal more damage than he does. So now I'm on NG+, because I promised my friend she could watch the DANCING VASHYRON scene on an HDTV instead of on YT.
Now go beat Neverland, lol. I'm only at Chapter 15 myself; I'm too busy trying to gather turquoise Hexes to get the awesomesauce terminals to the Arena.

Anyway, I picked Malicious Rebirth back up and am trying to get the No Repair and S Rank Clear trophies... and seriously, screw the Rebirth bosses. The Undead King saps Aura from you, the ground enemies don't give Aura, the flying enemies kamikaze; the Barbarian King does not want to stay still, and has a rather absurd Chain and Time requirement; the Iron King has an instant "fuck you" attack if you stay too close to it in its second phase and its Needles will kill you if you don't get the hell out of the way and interrupt him; and the Twin Queens are just one huge "fuck you" of the two latter bosses' plus two targets instead of one.

And then there's the Malicious.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Phlegeth on July 26, 2015, 10:50:00 PM
I started playing Final Fantasy XIV again.  I really wanted to try the new Machinist class.  I was still on the 2.2 storyline when I started and had to go through all that before I could play the class.  Now after spending a couple of days of doing nothing but story content, I put the story on hold so I can catch the machinist up.  It seems a little slow, but maybe that's just where I'm used to playing as a Monk and constantly moving.  I also like how the LB is basically Master Spark.  Not at all that useful, but still pretty cool.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on July 29, 2015, 06:37:15 AM
I just love how the boss of Chapter 14 literally dies in two waves because a single HG shot is enough to insta-gib all of the defense systems as long as the armor is fully scratched off - and given how powerful your guns need to be to handle the trash, it's all but certain that one wave of MG is enough.


In other games, fuck the Reborn Malicious. It's a difficult double boss battle in the first place, but when you get perhaps half a second to react to any of its first form's melee attacks (especially the bite), and the second form hits like a meteor even with Aura 3 and Royal Robe, well...

EDIT: Fun fact - once I S-Ranked the Reborn Malicious, I proceeded to the final boss, and completely wiped the fucking floor with it. It helps that unlike the RM, the target is very, very easy to cheese as long as you make sure it can't spawn anything else. Full S and No Repair clear, so that's one more game down.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on July 31, 2015, 12:56:11 PM
With my PC approaching its official retiring date, I've restarted Bioshock, which is the first game I played on it. Not only is the game back-to-front amazing, but it's held up so well. Maybe I'm just old but these 2007 graphics are AMAZING.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on August 01, 2015, 09:37:51 AM
Lost Dimension's good.  Really good.  It plays like Valkyria Chronicles in battle, customizes like Etrian Odyssey, and story/themes-wise is somewhere between Dangan Ronpa and Zero Escape.  It's not quite as good as it could have been but it's damn awesome.

And now I have to NG+ to head towards True End.  And maybe pick up a lot of those lore files I missed because whoops a lot of the game's story is not told during the actual game directly whoops
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on August 02, 2015, 12:05:42 AM
Tried out the Dungeon Travelers 2 demo. It's as fanservicey as I expected it to be, but the gameplay is better than what I was expecting. I may very well end up getting it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on August 03, 2015, 09:39:13 PM
I finally picked up an old; probobly 10th hand PSP at a car boot sale. [I'm no fool I asked them to show me it worked before I brought it]

And I also picked up Persona 3.

Do you know how long I've wanted to play Persona? Too long.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: PhoenixMaiden on August 05, 2015, 12:29:07 AM
Right now I'm playing Touhou Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil. Next I'm gonna play some Persona 4. It's been a while since I've last played it actually.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: ふねん1 on August 05, 2015, 03:00:47 AM
I've been going back to my Gen IV Pokemon games recently. After getting a 2DS, I finally have another system to perform trades with myself. And after sending a freshly caught Latias from HG to Pearl - over eight years after working the latter's Pokedex down to a handful of Gen IV mons, most I needed to get specifically from trading - I finally, finally completed the Pokedex and got my diploma for Pearl. That gold Trainer card looks soooo good, especially after being stuck on that ugly bronze color for all that time. I should be able to do the same for Platinum now. It's been so long since I put in all that work with Pearl, I kinda just want to get each of these games to the point where I can "retire" them confidently, like I did the Gen III games years ago (though I might replay HG anyway for kicks sometime).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on August 06, 2015, 10:20:13 AM
So I got a copy of Moe Chronicle (the Chinese version, with included English subs!), the spiritual sequel to Monster Monpiece, and I can see why it would be impossible to have an actual release in the US.

Holy fuck they don't even try to hide the fact that the only things separating this game from an actual H-game is depictions of female genitalia and sex. Hell, some of the trash mobs in the first area alone would give this game an AO rating if it were ever sent to the ESRB.


EDIT: Agh my luck blows today. My copy of IA/VT came in today, but since I swapped my work shift, I couldn't be there to pick it up, so it will have to wait until Tuesday.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on August 08, 2015, 02:04:03 PM
8 hours ago I impulse bought Fairy Fencer F and ended up deciding to stream it after laughing my ass off at the main character's introduction.

five minutes ago I finally stopped streaming

help me
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Dahel on August 09, 2015, 11:25:04 AM
After someone reminded me I had it, I'm replaying Gungnir on the PSP. And since it's that kind of game, I'm replaying from the beginning, because otherwise I would just get myself into an unwinnable situation. Time for some tutorials.

And after just recently 100%'d Neptunia Re;Birth 1, it's time to move to Re;Birth 2 before they drop the 3rd one to steam and increase my backlog even more.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on August 10, 2015, 04:58:00 PM
I'm on a Suikoden binge. Playing 4, 5, and Tierkreis. I wonder if there's a recruitment guide for Tierkreis that lists the characters in either alphabetical or acquisition order. Acquisition, separated by "now this happened, you can get these people", would be best. The only guide I've seen listed them in their star of destiny order so it's a bitch flipping through the pages (I printed it out) to find who I'm looking for. I'm not even very far, either. I can't even recruit Icas yet, since I don't have enough girls. I wonder what the lowest level possible for Jale to beat his mom in a fight is. Maybe you have to get lucky with paralysis to do it at a low level.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on August 11, 2015, 11:53:36 AM
I am done with Neptunia Re;birth 2 which is at 97%, because fuck Stella. Man, compared to Re;birth 1 that was a chore. Half the cast can be described as annoying brats, Awesomeness
that is Nep-Nep and the rest of CPUs
is not availible for a good portion of the game. Shuffling shares which is more or less mandatory is a pain in the ass even with Colosseum unlocked. To unlock True End you have to do it quite a bit. And you have to do it even more in the True End route to get all characters at 99 level trophy, since some characters are only availible in that route. And those characters aren't even anything special. Lily ranks grind is just tedious. And overall it's just... ugh...

Started Re;birth 3. And it's awesome. Because Plutia. Plutia alone likely outweighs anything bad that Re;birth 3 has. Why couldn't they add her via dlc to Re;birth 2 as they did with Re;birth 1..?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on August 13, 2015, 10:09:24 AM
It's always kind of funny when a game comes up on PS Plus that I've already 100% completed, as many of the Trophies immediately get shunted over to the Rare/Very Rare/Ultra Rare categories.

Anyway, finally got my copy of IA/VT Colorful, and immediate sadface when I learned that See The Lights was pulled at the last minute. I notice that particular module appears to have survived, though, so there may be hope for JP players through DLC?

So we're in the midst of Naval Team Deathmatch in Ace Combat Infinity, and my Wyvern is kicking all kinds of ass. I use it in a primarily A2A role, since SODs aren't exactly useful weapons against Aegis ships (since they begin as missiles, which Aegis' CIWS will obliterate if left unchecked). I have so many Attacker kills (and especially Strike Raptor kills!) that it's kind of absurd. I once had seven Strike Raptor kills in a single sortie, for cryin' out loud. SFFS will deal good damage, but if you use it, you have to move low and slow if you want the focused damage - which means hello, missiles! I've already mentioned SODs, and while GPBs are good against ships, it's also a weapon you have to fly completely straight for unless you're low and close, which puts you directly in my lock-on range.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CelestialFire on August 15, 2015, 02:48:07 AM
Currently playing Planetside 2, and its a really fun shooter, even though there's so much lag and low fps in large battles ;_;. I'm pretty much an noob right now, so I unfortunately have rather low k/d, but at least as an engineer I can repair vehicles and give ammo and some cover fire. Had an great moment where I was hitting a bunch of tanks in a MAX suit, and despite being my first time using it, many of my rockets hit the tanks.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Moogs Parfait on August 16, 2015, 11:16:52 PM
This eroge aimed at women was made by a friend of mine (She's the artist)

http://sugarscript.itch.io/cute-demon-crashers

I'm playing it despite being totally out of the target audience
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Suikama on August 18, 2015, 12:58:00 AM
>try out 100% orange juice

(http://i.imgur.com/zHrKoCW.png)

i literally have the worse rng in video games oh my god kill me right now
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on August 18, 2015, 03:41:20 AM
Professor Layton. All of their games are essentially "Hey look, Professor! Someone trampled a bush! I know that we have to escape from this giant death fortress with vampires in it, but that looks like a puzzle to me! Let's just take 10 minutes while the bomb counts down to our doom to have some tea and chat about it, does that sound good?"
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Tamashii Kanjou on August 18, 2015, 09:40:34 AM
i literally have the worse rng in video games oh my god kill me right now

That's 100% Orange Juice in a nutshell. You will fail dice rolls... a lot... and this coming from someone who is still stuck on
TOMOMO F**KING HELL!

Playing with friends is hilarious, though~ <3
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on August 18, 2015, 03:35:15 PM
That's 100% Orange Juice in a nutshell. You will fail dice rolls... a lot... and this coming from someone who is still stuck on
TOMOMO F**KING HELL!

Playing with friends is hilarious, though~ <3
I can say this to back up Tamashii's statement it is funny to play with friends on 100% OJ especially when RNG screws you over while your friends get even the worse end of the stick.
Story mode though... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE Tomomo and Popo............ HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on August 18, 2015, 07:18:13 PM
I'm playing Suikoden 3 again oh god help me I can't stop the Suikoden-ing. And I actually like it. I'm just annoyed that PDF doesn't go up as you level, and you still only have 2 armor slots (technically 3, but there are so few people who use shields that it's a blank spot for MOST OF THE CAST). I'm glad 4 and 5 fixed that with Head/Body/Hands/Feet. 5's a little weird because a lot of the accessories are kinda garbage or too expensive for what they do (50% status resistance item is worth every penny even if it's like 60k potch) and you don't really need to pack tons of healing items since you can just farm Magic Absorb rune pieces, which gives your healers infinite MP as long as they don't cast every turn and their attacks on the off-turns land. 4 is better, but the item crafting is so bad (it forces you to use trading to rank up all the materials and that takes a few hours if you're stupidly-loaded) and the Speed Ring, which is buyable, is pretty much the best thing in the game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mitsuhide on August 18, 2015, 10:59:25 PM
I'm playing Touhou 9 and Civilization IV
Touhou 9 is... different. I really like it! Pretty intense. i think.
And Civ IV is a great game too! Beyond the Sword has a lot of civs and leaders and some scenarios that come with it. There's a WW2 mod on it that is a bit overwhelming due to the sizes of sone countries, but it's good. It's just that they don't have Hitler, Hirohito or Tōjō. How can you not have a WW2 mod in a game like this and not have Hitler? They have Stalin though, so that's some accuracy I guess.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: DNAbc on August 19, 2015, 03:20:22 PM
Bought, became addicted to, and conquered said addiction of FTL in 25 hours. Was a bloody pain to beat the Flagship, I took like 5 times, first time was going in blind with default Kestrel A and not even getting past the first stage with its godforsaken 4 layer shields, and without drones and cloak to survive the broken weapons....yeah, went about as well as you would expected. Basically the first run was letting me get a hang of what the monstrosity is capable, probably wouldve been better if I didn't get scammed by loads of slugs events and lost my crew to bad micromanagement when I suffocated my shields operator. On the bright side, I think I unlocked layout B because of how noob I am and how many coincedences it took for me to even make it to The Last Stand. Its amazing, but I'll get to that later.

Took some notes, died a few times and again went for a second shot after reading some general tips (didn't cheat on knowing what the Flagship has on the next stages), because of luck and stuff and I realized I needed to prepare all I could, so I avoided all nebulaes and hostiles if I could, and went in (still with Kestrel A), and proceeded to arm myself with (I think) a charge laser thing and a missle launcher, bought cloak, hack and drones, didn't have enough power for them all unfortunately, and I still wasn't comfortable with teleports, so yeah, survived initial wave of triple missles and lasers just fine, but then I got royally screwed up my butt.

After this I was starting to doubt if the A layout is even suitable for the boss fight, because I was having so much difficulty amassing enough firepower to take on the boss, I started experimenting alot with the B layout, unlocked the C layout, Torus and the Stealth Cruiser along the way, was having loads of fun skirmishing enemies in the early. With that very simple autofire (target systems, bam, win) and fantastic anti-boarding airlock system, its a walk in the park to collect scrap and make it to the lategame, therefore I also attempted a few not very serious runs when encountering the flagship, but, while I do sometimes gain enough firepower to actually do damage (and avoid some of them) on these runs, the most Ive made it was always to the 2nd stage, and always I will get slaughtered by the drones. I tried a combination of hack+drone+cloak, but none of those worked. Besides, with scrap going into the additional firepower its often difficult to also be lucky enough to level up my engines and shields.

I've had one serious run with the red-tail, after all of these trials and resets, I was bloody determined too. I felt like I had to make a run for it when the star map revealed that I have a clear line of green sectors, meaning more peaceful encounters and less risky events. I happened upon a powerful (but very scrap intensive) fire beam and charge laser + teleporting bombs combo which means I can deactivate the shields and choke+burn the flagship, allowing me to constantly put pressure on their shields system and kill the crew who would otherwise be repairing the flagship, it went surprisingly well, even without upgrading drones, my upgraded shields and engines were barely enough to outlast everything but the missle barrage, but finally, very irritatingly, my fate was sealed when I got their entire ship on fire and was about the kill the rest of the crew, an inopportune missle deactivated my shields, forcing me to reroute power to my engines instead, but beams don't give two fucks about evasion, they care about me not having my shields only, and the AI rekted my ship, hard. I was fuming furious.

I thus took a break from the red-tail and tried out one trip with the Nessasio A, the beam was suprisingly nice, since it has about the same power as red-tail (abeit with more micro) and I am already pretty comfortable with cloak usage. I was one shotting ships and taking even less damage than I would from usual red-tail (since cloak is cloak, after all), and before I knew it I made it to the flagship again with a halberd beam and teleporting bombs, I actually don't remember very well how I lost this one, but I pretty easily rekted its first stage because beams are op, but I knew without killing off the crew I can't survive the power surge in stage 2, so I took a detour to a repair station and instead got ambushed by a rebel elite...mopping off the few hull points I have left as I exploded pathetically....yeah, that was stupid.

Final run was done earlier, I happened upon 4 mantises and I knew I had to make a boarding focused build. It was pretty fun  because I spent very little on weapons, I pretty much used exactly what I salvaged since I got a mixed bag of goodies, I got an ion bomb, two heavy lasers (pretty useless) and a small bomb, bypassing shields with ion and bombs is fun because I can then lock down their medbay as their crew helplessly cower in the might of my gold mantis boarders is damn fun while they are stationed to crush the cockpit and shields, oh, and did I mention I got money to invest in hacks, drones (defense AND hull repair) and engines and shields precisely because of how much I saved on weapons update? Things went pretty smooth, although phase 3 did give me some trouble because I lost 2 boarders during the first stage and isn't killing off the flagships systems fast enough, the power surge happened along with the triple missles and I got an oxygen breach, my teleporter was busted and my medbay is also busted, but they lasted long enough that I took the shields and artilery out anyway, so afterwards I just teleported back and leisurely repaired while my lasers were set on auto-fire until they killed the thing, I think I also sended in my boarders again though to bust their engines because dodgerate is a bitch and I ran out of missles.

tldr ftl was fun, worth the two tf2 keys
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: draganuv15 on August 20, 2015, 04:37:17 PM
Well a while ago I finally hit 60 with Summoner on Final Fantasy 14! Now to wait for everyone in my FC to get up to snuff so we can attempt Bismarck EX, Ravana EX and potentially try to run Alexander and get that Gordian gear. Though right now I'm mostly just focused on levelling Astrologian (I'm 51 right now) and getting Centurio seals so I can upgrade my Doman armour. Heavensward's story has actually destroyed me as a person though I wasn't prepared for literally anything that had happened and I paid the consequences. I've also given up on getting my relic weapon to any reasonable grade. It's at Atma now and i keep neglecting to do my books because busy work for glamour fodder.

Was actually thinking of making a thread for Final Fantasy 14 with 3.1 coming out in the near future, though I don't know how many people here play it and I also kind of have my own FC so I probably wouldn't join an MotK FC unless I made an alt.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on August 20, 2015, 06:41:01 PM
Was actually thinking of making a thread for Final Fantasy 14 with 3.1 coming out in the near future, though I don't know how many people here play it and I also kind of have my own FC so I probably wouldn't join an MotK FC unless I made an alt.
There's quite a few of us around, albeit I think split across several servers unfortunately.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on August 21, 2015, 06:22:43 PM
Time to blow the dust off a nice and moderately-old game named Nox. It looks like a Diablo clone at first glance, but actually is more of an action game that an RPG. I really like it, but it has one problem - it's fully predetermined, with practically no randomization at all. Still, it's nice to replay it again after all those years. I planned to do an LP for it, but screenshots end up being too big to post.Too bad, it's actually can be pretty interesting or funny sometimes.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: draganuv15 on August 21, 2015, 06:58:48 PM
There's quite a few of us around, albeit I think split across several servers unfortunately.
Yeah I imagined that being a case what with the forum members being from all over the globe, though it might be good to have a thread to talk about updates, share tips and stuff and talk about whatever things we happen to experience and yell about Esoterics/Gordian Part Exchanges.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on August 24, 2015, 04:29:05 AM
So much Labyrinth of Touhou because I like rpgs. However, what I don't like about LoT (and RPGs in general) is grinding. OMFG I spend around 3-4 hours at a time, walking back and forth and it gets booooring. Which is why I have youtube playing as well, so I don't die of bored.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on August 24, 2015, 08:40:50 PM
Completed Nox with all three classes. The routes are actually unique for each one, even though half of the maps are almost exact copies between all routes. At first the thought of going through the same places three times felt unbearable, but different classes successfully provide vastly different gameplay, so I had a lot of fun. Actually, I learned a few new things (or maybe they're old things I've already forgotten?) so maybe I'll replay this again someday.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on August 24, 2015, 10:42:15 PM
Was actually thinking of making a thread for Final Fantasy 14 with 3.1 coming out in the near future, though I don't know how many people here play it and I also kind of have my own FC so I probably wouldn't join an MotK FC unless I made an alt.

We could certainly do that! Even though we are indeed scattered accross servers it would still be fun to discuss between us.

I am definitely really really bad at making threads though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on August 25, 2015, 03:46:19 PM
So much Labyrinth of Touhou because I like rpgs. However, what I don't like about LoT (and RPGs in general) is grinding. OMFG I spend around 3-4 hours at a time, walking back and forth and it gets booooring. Which is why I have youtube playing as well, so I don't die of bored.
You thought LoT grinding is bad? Try Genius of Sappheiros where there is no leaked experience. I spent 100 hours of my life leveling up all 12 characters not because I was bored, but because EVERY character is mandatory to beat the Final Boss.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on August 28, 2015, 12:41:53 PM
Majora's Mask continues! I have put it down and picked it back up more times than I can count, mostly because I'll get lost or stuck and then whoops I won't play it for a week or more. When asked about how I should go about playing things, I was told to just use a guide if I want to find/do most of everything and have made a good bit of progress as a result. It helped me get all the fairies in the second dungeon, get through the golden skulltula swamp house, and get my power keg handling certificate. Now I'm of to face... THEM.

I am also playing Bioshock 2 since a replay of the first one went so well. While it deserves demerits for attempting to copy/paste much of the first, I do like the little sister defense segments. The camera research isn't as fun this time though.

Immediately after all of this will be Metal Gear Solid 5. I haven't played one of the games since Snake Eater. Should be an interesting romp.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: チソウ タイゼン on August 29, 2015, 02:40:02 PM
The only games I can attest to playing recently are Touhou and Persona 4.
I remember, now, why I stopped my Expert file on P4- being two dungeons behind on levels is basically impossible. I'm tackling the Secret Base at level 38-44 >_>

You thought LoT grinding is bad? Try Genius of Sappheiros where there is no leaked experience. I spent 100 hours of my life leveling up all 12 characters not because I was bored, but because EVERY character is mandatory to beat the Final Boss.

Oh jesus.

[looks at stage 10 save file]
[does not resume]
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on August 31, 2015, 04:22:03 PM
I've been meaning to play Pillars Of Eternity since it came out and got great reviews, but I've been too busy to justify buying it. I have a layoff week between contracts at work this week though, so I had to choose between that and finally starting Dark Souls. For whatever reason I picked Pillars Of Eternity, and I played it quite a lot yesterday.

It's an isometric RPG in the style of Baldur's Gate, hailed as the true spiritual successor to that franchise (because fuck Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate scion it was not). The system is sort of like Dungeons And Dragons, but not really. I'm ~4 hours in, and it didn't really hook me at first. The first hour was a lot of context-less world building and boring "wander around the woods and collect berries" RPG tutorial. But once the first dungeon kicked off I couldn't stop playing it. It reminded me why I love a great iso RPG so much more than a JRPG. The dungeons are small, but they're packed and diverse. Combat actually feels dangerous and skill-testing almost every time there's a fight, there's little or no grinding trash mobs.

Sometimes it goes a little too far in that direction for my taste, the area I'm in right now has tons of ghost enemies who can teleport instantly to right next to your spellcasters, attack incredibly fast and have a high chance to stun you on hit, leading to chain-stun situations where you basically lose the second one touches you, and they hang out with will 'o wisp enemies who can charm your guys with a high success rate and have strong ranged attacks that they auto-aim at the weakest member of your party every time. But I realized when I went to bed last night that I think I can just sneak past a lot of them and I've been being dumb and wasting resources by trying to fight all of them. That's what I get for playing at 4am I guess.

I still haven't gotten the hang of the rules yet, but they seem set up to force you to slowly bleed away health as you go from encounter to encounter even in the best case scenario. All characters have four different defenses, and all attacks target one of those four defenses. Getting them all to be high seems difficult or impossible, so you're always going to have one or two weak defenses on any given guy so you're ready to get shredded if you run into a mixed group of enemies, especially this early in the game when I don't have access to exactly what the enemy stats actually are. And the attacking rules allow for near-misses to graze and still hit for minimal damage, which means a decked out tank fighting a pack of wolves is still going to rack up lots of little bits of damage from grazes. At least it looks that way to me right now, maybe I'm just failing to understand how the combat works.

So Pillars Of Eternity cost me $45 on Steam, which seems high for a Steam game, and requires me to use an industrial-strength cooling pad that's a bitch to play with to avoid overheating my end-of-life laptop, but I think it's great so far despite the slightly slow start. The lore is a little too densely packed for my current fantasy tolerance levels, but I'm finding myself getting invested in the story anyway. Hopefully I can finish most of it during my week off, because this game is going to kill me if I stay up this late playing it during a work week.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: pineyappled on August 31, 2015, 06:46:13 PM
PoE is #1 on my will-probably-finish-someday list. I start a new character, play it for two or three days... then something comes up and I drop the game for a few months and forget what the heck I was doing and start over again.  At this point I've got three saves, none past Act 2. :toot:
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on September 01, 2015, 05:07:24 PM
Did a sort-of challenge run in Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis - no persuasions. A bit harder at first, but by the last third there still was a lot of money and nothing interesting to buy. Also, went through Rictor's path and used only 8 characters. Never had to use training. The setup:

- Alphonse as a Warlock (planned for a Dragoon, but there aren't enough dragons; didn't regret it, though - Fluid Magic is OP!)
- Eleanor as a Priest (maybe I shouldn't have abused Divine Radiance this time...)
- Lobelia the Angel Knight <3
- a Swordmaster (with Time Flux)
- a Siren
- a Mermaid
- a Fairy
- a Hawkman with a whip
- a chaotic ice-element dragon (who was, ironically, Snapdragon'd to make space for Lobelia)

Yeah, even though I planned this run as a challenge, I ended up breaking the game even more than before with just Fluid Magic + Time Flux + summon/Divine Radiance. Oh well, at least now I see how useful support classes can be.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Spotty Len on September 01, 2015, 06:25:24 PM
While everybody and their mother is excited about MGSV:TPP, I'm excited for another game that was just released : THIS BABY RIGHT THERE! (http://vgperson.com/games/touhoumotherreturn.htm) Return of Touhou Mother!

Considering how much I was stalking this translation project, damn I can barely contain my hype.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on September 01, 2015, 08:54:36 PM
 :o :o :o :o :o
Being as Touhou Mother is what got me started down this rabbit hole in the first place I am downloading this right the hell now.  I'd check every now and then to see if it was finished but always came away disappointed, mondo thanks for the heads up!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on September 01, 2015, 11:11:42 PM
Well, I had to drive all over town chasing down my roommate to take is PS Vita so I could play it, but I got Ultra Despair Girls: Danganronpa Another Episode. I've got less than four days to finish it before I leave town, with a Vita that's shared between three people. I've already whacked out my sleeping schedule playing Pillars Of Eternity, so I am willing to not sleep to finish this game. You're on hold, PoE. Nice try.

Edit:
Oh good, all of my least favorite characters from the previous games and nobody I like has made a cameo yet. Yaaaay?

Well, okay, Toko's pretty great. For some reason her skirt is slit all the way to the top, she's wearing sexy thighhighs, and she has a full-on panty-flashing spin kick. Can honestly say I didn't expect that. Genocide Jill is super fun to play as though.

Edit edit: Ha ha, Toko can transform at will by tasering herself in the head. Persona...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on September 02, 2015, 01:28:25 PM
While everybody and their mother is excited about MGSV:TPP, I'm excited for another game that was just released : THIS BABY RIGHT THERE! (http://vgperson.com/games/touhoumotherreturn.htm) Return of Touhou Mother!
Wow, I haven't checked it for a long and now it's released? Heck yeah! Time to make him pay for what he did
and maybe LP it just for the heck of it
. Thanks for the heads up.

Two more words: Fuck Konami!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on September 03, 2015, 06:05:20 AM
Played and beat Stasis. It's an interesting horror point and click adventure game, and not terribly long (beat it in around five hours). Very unsettling and gory, graphics aren't exactly "modern" but they do well enough, and some of the puzzles are fairly difficult to suss out, but it's fairly easy to recover from deaths. Not sure it's worth $25, so I'd wait for it to go on sale if you want to pick it up.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on September 03, 2015, 03:49:34 PM
I'm probably more than 2/3 done with Ultra Despair Girls, and I intend to finish it tomorrow or maybe tonight. Playing through a Danganronpa game in a few sittings has always been an emotional roller coaster, but this one is even rougher I think. The themes are even heavier than the other ones
the plot is basically about child abuse, and puts you in the middle of a huge-scale massacre of innocent people that you can do almost nothing to stop
. They cranked up the self-censorship and cartooniness even further this time, pixellating out the corpses as well as having pink blood, and I think it's good they did or I would probably not be able to play through it this fast.

As for the gameplay, it's fine but slightly choppy. There are some minor menu navigation complaints, and the game doesn't seem to really know what genre it wants to be. It seems to think it's a puzzle shooter or almost a survival horror game, with a lot of big mobs of enemies having obvious ways to take them all out efficiently by using the weirder functions of your gun like dance bullets and knockdown bullets, but there's often no real incentive to go out of your way to do that because ammo isn't exactly in short supply and Genocide Jill (who basically functions as a super move) is extremely powerful and can be used fairly often. And on top of that the enemy AI is slightly too fuzzy to really make for tight puzzle gameplay, since they, and the physics, don't behave completely consistently and nobody likes an unpredictable puzzle.

Danganronpa games are never about the gameplay though, so all of that is forgivable. The gameplay isn't actively terrible or anything, just a little unpolished, and the story is great. It seems to be tying up some thematic loose ends that I feel like the second game created, which have been the biggest thing bothering me about this franchise since I played that game. I haven't finished the game obviously so I don't know exactly how everything shakes out, but it's moving in a direction that I like.

Edit: Finished. A little later than planned because I got sick Friday and just slept all day.

Overall I can't really grade it, like all of the Danganronpa games. "Definitely worth playing but definitely highly flawed" is pretty consistent with the others. It doesn't really move the story forward so much as moving it laterally, so make of that what you will. But as much as Goodbye Despair is kind of an incomplete experience, Ultra Despair Girls sort of complements it at least.

Most of the loose ends got tied up, but there were a few things that right now I'm assuming are setup for future games and a few things I'm assuming are small plot holes.

Also, there is a literal ghost in this game. Like, a dead person haunts someone and gives them actual, story-relevant information. It is never explained away. What the fuck? Unless I'm forgetting something major, literal magic powers new to this franchise. Nagito's super luck in Goodbye Despair is the closest thing I can remember, and that can be explained away partly as coincidence, partly as cheating, and partly as the fact that he's in a computer simulation the entire time.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on September 08, 2015, 09:01:36 AM
So I've been playing UDG myself, and I've just gotten to the Criminal Girls shoutout. The one who makes the shoutout even calls it Motivation! Oh I enjoyed that... not enough to bother getting a Game Over or prolonging the minigame, but I enjoyed it.

Other than that, I've finally gotten a decent rhythm going in Moe Chronicle, in terms of how to combat enemy monmusus, though I am a bit annoyed that Aura Bonuses stop at 10.

With Soul Calibur: Lost Swords dying at the end of November, I'm just trying to get the last two trophies I need - beat the main story's Epilogue, and get a bunch of equipment accessories to wear all at once. The first one should be easy enough... where the hell am I going to find a belt accessory though?

And Ace Combat Infinity is bringing out the whole Wardog squadron out as reward planes (Edge for top 200, Blaze/original Wardog for top 1000, Chopper as a drop, Archer as a "S Rank 15 games as each type of non-Bomber").
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on September 08, 2015, 08:51:47 PM
Playing EU4; as Brandenburg.

Things going well. I vassaled then Annexed Brunswick; and I had Saxony and Cologne as allies.

I am winning a war against the Hansa and Pomerania quite heavily; and then suddenly:
'Poland has insulted us!'
Me: OK ._.
*Month passes*
POLAND DECLARES WAR! [With Lithuania in tow]
Me: Well; Austria got my back... and Austria drags in other HRE states too...
BOHEMIA DECLARES WAR! [With 4 decent sized HRE allies; and this one Austria isn't back me up. Also the states which followed Bohemia automatically don't join the Poland war]

Me: -_-

I'm decent at EU4 and might have been able to mop up the Hansa quickly [Probobly peaceing out for less than I aimed for] and then win ONE of those other wars. But I can't win basically 3 wars at once; fighting a total of 100k+ with a core alliance force of about 25k [And Austria+Other HRE guys who decided to follow Austria to help derping about and changing the Poland War numbers from 60k on my side vs 50k to 20kv45k somehow. Derpy disparate armies chargeing in on their own AI rarely works; both in EU4 and real life... easy for 25k Lithuanian stacks to wipe 6k HRE princes one at a time.]
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Makedounia on September 11, 2015, 08:29:54 PM
Got myself a copy of Etrian Mystery Dungeon since it was released today here in Europe. When this game was first announced I wasn't really interested in it, but now I'm really enjoying myself. Running a party of Protector/Gunner/Ninja/Princess and it's working pretty well so far. I'm also loving the new arrangements of the old EO songs.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Spotty Len on September 12, 2015, 07:14:41 PM
I just finished Return of Touhou Mother, and I miss it already. It was so good coming back to that Gensokyo. It was definitely the sequel Touhou Mother deserved.

I'll just say one thing.

Dude? That's nuts, brah.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on September 12, 2015, 08:23:17 PM
I just finished Return of Touhou Mother, and I miss it already. It was so good coming back to that Gensokyo. It was definitely the sequel Touhou Mother deserved.

I'll just say one thing.

Dude? That's nuts, brah.
That's a rule.

(I really need to play Return myself.  The first one was amazing.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on September 13, 2015, 01:53:09 AM
So I don't know how much LoLK increased the difficulty over the previous games, but I picked up DDC earlier today and pulled out a 1cc on Easy fairly easily. Maybe it's the extremely large amount of bomb and life shards available in DDC.

Picked up Xeodrifter, and though I've beaten the game, I have no bloody clue where the rest of the hidden stuff is. I think I'll just have to shoot at walls and hope to find one that's passable?

Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on September 15, 2015, 12:13:05 AM
An Ultraman fight after a fun and well designed dungeon with a flip gimmick?! Oh Majora's Mask, all is forgiven after I only had scathing comments to say about you for nearly 15 years. I'll be able to get all the masks shortly but will be following a guide for the majority of it since the Kafei and Anju quest is apparently a THING. After that there's not much left but wrapping things up. Don't really need to do ALL the little sidequests to be happy, just the big ones.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on September 18, 2015, 05:05:00 AM
I've been playing Pillars Of Eternity quite a bit. I have a lot of the mechanics figured out, but I still don't really understand it. Either I'm missing something or it has weird, weird difficulty problems. Some encounters just seem waaaaay too hard compared to the ones leading up to them. I have yet to find anything I just couldn't beat, but given how inexplicably durable enemy spellcasters are compared to how squishy all player characters are I've had some weird fights, often involved half of my guys getting instantly OHKOed by an enemy druid who can somehow cast three spells in the amount of time it takes me to cast one, can stand up to my whole team beating on them for like 45 seconds straight, and is usually part of a group. Are druids just the best class and they're that tough when you use one? Do enemies just cheat?

I've been finding my wizard main character to be a little underpowered based on what I'm used to from Baldur's Gate and similar. Magic Missile is nerfed to hell and back being lacking its instantly casting time (although it is relatively fast) and guaranteed hit rate, all of the Mirror Image-like spells have been reworked to only effect a small fraction of kinds of attacks rather than just making you immune to everything for a while, Haste has the drawback of dealing damage to you over time (although it's still good), Stoneskin doesn't even seem to be in the game or if it is it's higher level now, and summoning spells now seem exclusive to other classes. And on top of all that spellcasting modifiers are now drawn from two stats (Might and Intelligence, rather than just Intelligence) so you can no longer just crank up one stat and be automatically great at magic.

Encounter powers are nice for casters since they keep you from running out of spells after a few fights, but because of the nature of the combat system you need to rest pretty often anyway, so it's not really worth the tradeoff. The biggest thing they do gain is the safe zone at the edges of AOE spells that allow them to hit enemies but automatically miss allies. While that is nice, it doesn't feel like it makes up for all of the nerfs. Might be amazing if Spell Sequencer is in the game so I can do triple Fireballs, but I haven't seen any sign of it yet.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on September 18, 2015, 07:59:12 PM
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is underrated. And I was one of the people who thought as much for 15 years.

Trying out Wizardry 5: Red Needs Revenge For 20 Years Ago Edition Etrian Odyssey: Untold. The map stuff will take some getting used to but is fine. I've only done the first floor and haven't even gotten the main party yet, but have done a bit of scouting. My first instinct is that I want to almost completely readjust the party because of my instinctive aversion to HP draining moves. My second is that the party setup is limited to 5 so that you will always have a blind spot. If I respec people so that the party is Ronin/Protector/Gunner/Troubadour/Medic then I'm out most negative statuses and AoE attacks but have a lot in the way of DEEPS, buffs, healing, and even elemental attacks. I've scouted so much and I haven't even got the party together yet! Such is my fate.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Marron on September 18, 2015, 08:51:20 PM
I am playing Star Ocean: Second Evolution on PSP. I had already played the beginning long ago but never went too far, I don't know why, at the time I had some other games to do I guess. This time, I REALLY would like to play it through the end. I choosed Rena Side(Yeah, I prefer to play girls in video games, except the games where you create your own char), also she seems to be a fighter, which is a class I like a lot !
I wanted to play touhou puppet dance performance but . . . my computer crash every time I want to play it. It's like LoLK: if I play in high res, it will crash, if I play in low res, it works perfectly . . . *sigh*

Anyway, I also wonder if I should play puyo pop 20 th, it has been a while since I played it. Don't really know which character to main in fever, though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on September 19, 2015, 08:24:47 PM
Shadow Warrior, the 2013 one. A great game to show off what my new PC can do, and also the only new big name game I'm interested in. I'm amazed, actually - it has just the right blend of old and new style FPS features. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on September 20, 2015, 10:14:07 AM
God damn it, I'm being chased by the entire enemy team. Guys, wouldn't it be a good idea to pull them the fuck off of me?! Preferably by shooting them? We're in piston aircraft, for fuck's sake, and I'm making erratic forward movement. They're basically sitting ducks.


...Anyway, Titan Souls.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: fortytwoeffects on September 21, 2015, 05:00:23 PM
I have been playing a lot of Dark Souls and TF2 lately. I'm really excited for DS3  :D
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Romantique Tp on September 22, 2015, 09:01:39 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk11877QmuM
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on September 27, 2015, 04:26:19 AM
Playing Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 (Steam version) it's fun, but I think I'm doing a few too many things wrong and need to make sure I get a gaming controller for better enjoyment playing on keyboard makes things so wonky.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on September 27, 2015, 05:41:07 AM
If any of what you think is wrong is being strong enough for one dungeon then getting completely clotheslined by stuff in the next, don't worry.  That's normal.  You'll really get this driven home in chapter...2, I believe, with a certain boss battle that will PROBABLY utterly decimate you the first time or two.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on September 29, 2015, 05:01:25 PM
That's Idea Factory for you. You're either taking too much damage or none at all.

I got a Vita on September 3rd. I don't have any games of my own for it, but my friend was nice enough to let me borrow: Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus (TITS ARE LIFE ASS IS HOMETOWN), Disgaea 3 and 4, Demon Gaze (actually not that bad!), Nep Rebirth 1 (he left his Vita at my house by accident for a week so I played Rebirth 2 for a bit, too), Noiregame, and Persona 4 Golden (mostly for when my friend comes to visit in December, since she'll want to play that soooooo badly).

The week before I got a Vita I bought Etrian Odyssey Untold 2, and like a casual I'm playing Story on Picnic. I hope I'm at the end: Ginnungagap 5F. I just want the damn game to end so I can NG+ into Classic and make my own party.

I also got Super Robot Wars BX. On stage 33/48 of my 5th playthrough. I pound through these games like crazy until I can get 15 upgrades, because I don't like watching animations when my damage sucks and enemies have a chance to hit me. Thing is, in BX, there are some bosses which will still plow your bunghole at max upgrades due to how statistically-bullshit they are. I'm taking a break from it, though, because the perfect guide doesn't come out until Friday and you need to get ALL OF THE SECRETS in one playthrough in order to fight the true last boss and fill the scenario chart.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on September 29, 2015, 08:01:00 PM
I am playing Naples in EU4.

I get a notification that France has no heir. I investigate. They have no Royal Marriages; and a 67 year old king. They are friendly towards me.

So I enter a Royal Marriage with them and get the notification on monarch death I would enter a succession war with Burgundy; who is only allied with Sweden. Since I'm listed first; it means I would be the rightful claimant, so if Burgundy was to contest; they would have to deal with:

Myself
France
Castile [Aka: Most of central Spain]
Hungry
Milan [A large part of Northern Italy]

There is NO WAY they could win that war.

Of course, the 67 year old king has a kid a few months later. At the ripe old age of 67.

I was so close to having France as a slave. To specify; a country as a lesser partner in the personal union cannot declare their own wars and MUST join yours. They are basically a slave nation. They can fight for independance, but then they'd have to fight all my allies as well. After 50 years, you can intergrate them into your country proper.

Basically; getting a PU on France means I win the game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Hanzo K. on September 29, 2015, 08:22:00 PM
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is underrated. And I was one of the people who thought as much for 15 years.

Trying out Wizardry 5: Red Needs Revenge For 20 Years Ago Edition Etrian Odyssey: Untold. The map stuff will take some getting used to but is fine. I've only done the first floor and haven't even gotten the main party yet, but have done a bit of scouting. My first instinct is that I want to almost completely readjust the party because of my instinctive aversion to HP draining moves. My second is that the party setup is limited to 5 so that you will always have a blind spot. If I respec people so that the party is Ronin/Protector/Gunner/Troubadour/Medic then I'm out most negative statuses and AoE attacks but have a lot in the way of DEEPS, buffs, healing, and even elemental attacks. I've scouted so much and I haven't even got the party together yet! Such is my fate.

Ah, here's the thing though, if you're talkin' about the Highlander skills, don't be afraid of them.
Highlanders also possess an incredibly useful passive skill, 'Turning Tide'. This skill heals the party whenever the holder kills a target.
I usually always get it to at least 3/10 as a minimum before I start using stuff like Draining/Legion Thrust. So long as you have Turning Tide of a higher level than the Thrusts, and can kill multiple enemies with that single attack, you'll be fine! I can personally attest to easily recovering 100+ HP for wiping out the bulk of an enemy crowd.
Incidentally, Gunners also possess a way to AoE on their normal attacks thanks to their 'Vulcan Stance' self-buff, which also greatly improves the power of said attacks. and IIRC, Ronins possess a fairly powerful one as well, and they have a skill that sometimes instant-kills. Gunners also have Head/Arm/Leg Snipe, so that's binds sorted right there. You can pad out the party's lack of Ailments by clever use of Grimoire Stones as well. That's the beauty of Untold, you can cover your weaknesses, or bolster your strengths. Or even use an Enemy's Moves!
Ever wanted a Furyhorn's Baffling Step skill for yourself? You can with Grimoire Stones!

Want your Medic to use a Katana instead of a staff? Sure! Just have your Ronin make a good Grimoire Stone and toss it to your Medic! Boom, a Medic that not only can likely use Ronin Skills(Midareba? yesplz), but use the weapon that requires them too!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on September 29, 2015, 09:40:16 PM
I like my Medic with a ranged weapon, because they sit in the back. I think if you wanted a front-row Medic you'd probably need a grimoire for heavy armor or shields. It's easier to do in Untold 2 since you have multiple grimoire slots, thus you can have more than 1 type of out-of-class equipment.

I beat Untold 2, by the way. Finally. Ginnungagap 5F is the last area. I was level 63. Started up in Classic, now. Doing Landsknecht/Dark Hunter/Troubadour in the front row and Gunner and Medic in the back row. I'm stuck at 19F in Untold 1 because the FOEs keep spamming Curse on me and they're the "GUN IT FOR YOU" types so you can't just trail them as they walk their routes. And there's no accessory to decrease the likelihood of Curse, either. wtf. Dammit, I'm stonewalled. Well, I'll just keep playing Untold 2.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on September 30, 2015, 01:51:28 AM
(http://www.thegamescabin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/P4D-Theme-Song-Ann.jpg)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on September 30, 2015, 08:04:14 AM
P4DAN

Natch.

Before I submerse myself back into Inaba, I'm back in Moe Chronicle. The fight against the Legendary Monster Girl is a bit underwhelming - unlike the Region Leaders, this one's a straight-up damage race. No parts to destroy, weak to Water, but she can wreck your face with doublecasts if she gets mad. Anyway, picked up a succubus that apparently has never done what her species is known for, a golem that I'll probably only use once I find a decent enough job to replace the medusa I picked up earlier, and the Legendary Monster Girl herself - who is kind of sort of beaten out by her own descendant.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on September 30, 2015, 02:29:28 PM
Yeah, I've got a copy of P4:DAN set aside for whenever I get around to it. I'm not that excited to play it since I'm kind of burned out on retreading Persona 4 over and over, and I don't really like rhythm games.

My roommate, who is a much bigger Persona 4 fan than me, was kind of pissed about how half-assed the plot seemed at the beginning. That probably sounds silly, but neither one of us cares about the gameplay so that's all we got. Hopefully it picks up later.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on September 30, 2015, 10:34:42 PM
I like my Medic with a ranged weapon, because they sit in the back. I think if you wanted a front-row Medic you'd probably need a grimoire for heavy armor or shields. It's easier to do in Untold 2 since you have multiple grimoire slots, thus you can have more than 1 type of out-of-class equipment.

I beat Untold 2, by the way. Finally. Ginnungagap 5F is the last area. I was level 63. Started up in Classic, now. Doing Landsknecht/Dark Hunter/Troubadour in the front row and Gunner and Medic in the back row. I'm stuck at 19F in Untold 1 because the FOEs keep spamming Curse on me and they're the "GUN IT FOR YOU" types so you can't just trail them as they walk their routes. And there's no accessory to decrease the likelihood of Curse, either. wtf. Dammit, I'm stonewalled. Well, I'll just keep playing Untold 2.
I'm doing Dark Hunter, Dark Hunter, Dark Hunter/Dark Hunter, Dark Hunter

kill me

Also the FOEs on B19F are the best for one simple reason - their turning pattern means they're one of the FOEs you can get a preemptive hit on, and several of them are pretty near the stairs, making them perfect for farming as shiny for huge exp numbers!  They're pretty easy to avoid fighting - all of them either turn or are sitting in a corner and only face one direction, so a little watching means you can sneak past or get preemptive rounds (arm bind is your friend).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Validon98 on October 01, 2015, 05:09:32 PM
Been playing a lot of different stuff recently. Other than my almost daily forays into the wondrous world of Smite, I've finished up Mother, Mother 3, Ys II, and Live-a-Live within the last couple weeks (Live-a-Live I literally just finished like ten minutes ago). I'm working slowly on Return of Touhou Mother as well (Sound Battles in RPG Maker? More likely than you think, although I'm not sure if the system works perfectly or if it's a little buggy, oh well), as well as Ys: Oath in Felghana to follow up on being done with Ys 2. So a lot of RPGs and action RPGs as per the usual for me, I guess.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 02, 2015, 09:15:58 AM
Damn it, I haven't played any Persona 4 stuff after the original game and I've played so much Neptunia, so now all I hear from Chie is Noire speaking instead of, y'know, Chie. Also... Tomoe is Angie from Trauma Center, right?

Anyway, I've been trying to play Yomi, and get a feel for my main, Valerie. (Probably way too early to say I main her, but she's all I'm playing right now.) I've been slapping her Yomibot version silly, so there's that, but I'll need to learn the matchups against her eventually. High attack rate doesn't really mean anything if you can't outspeed the initial attack or get dodges up and running. Plus, her highest damage attack is only 21 damage but needs to be pumped twice just to do that.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Third Eye Lem on October 02, 2015, 09:44:56 PM
Anyway, I've been trying to play Yomi, and get a feel for my main, Valerie. (Probably way too early to say I main her, but she's all I'm playing right now.) I've been slapping her Yomibot version silly, so there's that, but I'll need to learn the matchups against her eventually. High attack rate doesn't really mean anything if you can't outspeed the initial attack or get dodges up and running. Plus, her highest damage attack is only 21 damage but needs to be pumped twice just to do that.
Man, I tried to play Yomi, and I'll admit I like Valerie too, but the last time I tried it I couldn't get a good feel for the rules. ^^;; Maybe I'll try it again and hopefully not suck at the tutorial.

I've been playing Golden Sun TLA a lot as of late, and by that I mean spending a gross amount of time trying to get the best equipment for my party. Hopefully, by the time I get everything and beat the last two bosses, I'll be done with this game series for good (Golden Sun 4 never ;~; ), and I can move onto other games...Like Gurumin! It's very old-school, I feel like it would fit in perfectly on the Dreamcast if it wasn't on the PSP/PC. Also, it's a redheaded girl fighting enemies with a magical drill staff. How cool is that?

I'm also looking forward to Transformers Devastation! I'm gonna be smart about this and NOT preorder it on Steam, I'd rather not get burned if it this ends up being another Legend of Korra. But if it isn't...Consider me on board! I love the TF franchise and eagerly look forward to bashing some Decepticon faces in.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on October 03, 2015, 09:08:35 AM
I'm also looking forward to Transformers Devastation! I'm gonna be smart about this and NOT preorder it on Steam, I'd rather not get burned if it this ends up being another Legend of Korra. But if it isn't...Consider me on board! I love the TF franchise and eagerly look forward to bashing some Decepticon faces in.

I hope this'll help you decide. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWkm-3nQxLA)

For myself, I'm on my third playthrough of Shadow Warrior. Still fun, higher difficulties get challenging, but fair. I'd describe the progression like this:


...I kinda dread the day I start Insane playthrough, but I'll do it. Without using EX mode. I did work out a good upgrade path, so it's not that much trouble. Won't even try Heroic mode, though. No saves at all is too hardcore with hour-long levels.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on October 04, 2015, 02:31:15 AM
I'm now pretty far into Pillars Of Eternity, and the results have been mixed. For a while there I was definitely thinking "This is it, this is Baldur's Gate III. It's the game we've been waiting for", and I mostly still feel that way, but in the last couple of sessions the flaws have been shining through pretty hard.

It's obviously an ambitious attempt to re-create a tabletop roleplaying experience, but it still has so far to go that it makes me question whether any game will ever actually pull a true simulation off, and whether it's even worth bothering to try. I just went back and did a side quest that I missed from earlier in the game involving infiltrating a corrupt lord's stronghold and overthrowing him. The game gives you like a dozen different possible routes to get into the keep, which is great, but once I actually got into his throne room and talked to him, the number of conversation options I had were shockingly low. After all of that nuance in physically reaching him, the only options I was given were basically "Die, evil guy!" or "Yes, I am evil too, let's team up and kill the guy who hired me". Maybe that wouldn't have been that surprising under normal circumstances, but after all of the effort that was put into his castle, the conversation felt almost insultingly simple.

Part of that has to do with the fact that I did this quest out of sequence, I recognize that. Most of the evil stuff this guy did could be attributed to a disease that's wiping out his people, and he's getting desperate and crazy trying to stop it. But at the point in the game that I am right now, I know what the real cause of the disease is. If I had my way I would tell him what I know and try to redirect his efforts to the actual cause. By all logic I should be able to make him my ally, but the game won't let me try, and that's sad. But even if I didn't sequence break this quest, I should still have more options. I should be able to brainwash him with magic or take him out in secret and replace him with one of my people in disguise, or something. If the game is going to give me ten different ways to get into his throne room, I want ten different things to do once I'm there. It feels like they took a ton of care for the first 95% of the quest, then just gave up.

Aside from that, which I feel like is a fundamental flaw with the way the game is built, I've been having a handful of smaller, more one-time problems. Like in the dungeon I'm doing right now I saved before a big fight (because the game almost invariably forces you to start story-relevant fights completely surrounded-although that's a different problem), died on a completely unrelated fight that I didn't see coming a little later, and reloaded. But once I reloaded everything had gone crazy. Upon loading I found that the game had somehow teleported my priest into a room on the opposite end of the map that I hadn't even explored yet, which was full of monsters that shredded him in like a second. That would be bad enough, but apparently encounters are written such that if you enter an encounter while you're also near hostile NPCs who aren't actually fighting you, like I was right before I saved, they'll immediately enter combat without any prompts or options. So not only is my priest gone, but I have to do an extremely difficult encounter without him, and I start that encounter surrounded. I can probably win with a few tries, but it's going to be a serious grind. This is the biggest bug (I'm assuming it's a bug?) that I've encountered so far, but it seems like a big one.

Also, I finally figured out what wizards are supposed to do in this game since nearly every single one of their spells is either nerfed into uselessness or level shifted upward. Turns out that the only spell that isn't nerfed, and is in fact massively buffed by the game's mechanics, is Grease (called Slicken in this game). This means that if I'm playing my wizard right he's just a crowd control machine who constantly knocks down big groups of enemies. No attacking, no summoning, no enhancements, just constant, dedicated crowd control. It's powerful, but it feels kind of lame. Maybe there's a DPS wizard build out there somewhere, I assume there is, but I have no idea how I would go about making one. So instead I'll just cast Grease five times an encounter with occasional Confusion and Sleeps thrown in for variety. Not incredibly happy with that, but it's better than just sucking like I was doing before.

So yeah, I like the game a lot, but the ambition of it is a slightly mixed bag. Is it the true heir to the isometric RPG throne? Probably. I'm not 100% convinced, but there's a lot of good stuff going on here, and relatively little bad. It's just that because most of it is so solid the bad stuff tends to stand out pretty hard, and much of it seems like it's a result of design decisions rather than just technology limitations or oversight, and that's not great.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on October 04, 2015, 04:07:06 AM
I'm going back to Disgaea 4 on Vita. Duping's a lot easier, although I'm nowhere near the point where I need to exponentially-grow Statisticians and Guardians. Hell, I don't even have a Puppy Paw Stick yet. Or access to a map that'll get me a level 1000 Nekomata . There's one in X-Dimension 1-1 that's level 600 so you can increase the enemy levels via the cheat shop, but to get there you need to actually go into the Item World and seek out that gate. And I've stayed out of the item world aside from your one mandatory visit. At the moment I'm giving Big Bang to all my characters. The Vita version has all the DLC characters (also the two new people from D3 Vita) without you needing to spend any money on it, so that's a lot of Character World trips. I moved my base to Holt Village due to Disgaea 2 nostalgia and just loving the design of that place.

The guidebook for SRWBX came out and someone scanned all the secret conditions, so I started over on my 5th run to see if I could get every secret in one playthrough. So far, I think I'm doing alright.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 08, 2015, 05:21:25 PM
You know, it's kind of funny how many people are super high school level butthurt over the fact that Rise's VA was unable to reprise her role in DAN due to previous engagements for voicework for Gears of War. I mean, seriously, guys.

Anyways, I'm back in Kingdom Hearts II, and Xaldin on Critical mode is such a pain in the ass. Killed his ass, though, so there's that.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on October 08, 2015, 06:13:05 PM
I still haven't played much of DAN, but in the first couple of chapters I didn't even notice a difference. It's all kind of a wash anyway given how weak the English voice casts in Persona games tend to be overall.

So for those who actually like rhythm games, how does P4:DAN stack up as one? Is it a top-form example of the genre like P4: Arena is for fighting games?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Spotty Len on October 08, 2015, 08:33:04 PM
I went back to Muramasa Rebirth. I remember stopping playing it because Danganronpa just came out, then I kinda forgot about it because I had so much games to play.

Now I can't stop playing it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on October 09, 2015, 04:13:00 PM
The mobage SRW, X-Omega (the X is the word "Cross", as is wont to happen in Japanese), came out, and it's free to download. Works fine on BlueStacks, if your mobile device is short on space at the moment or you'd rather play it on PC. If you do get on, PM me and I'll send you my friend code. It's a tower defense game, basically, where you get new units via a lottery, and of course the best units are all acquired by gambling with the harder-to-get currency. Aside from the language barrier thing it's not bad.

Quote
Rise's VA was unable to reprise her role in DAN due to previous engagements for voicework for Gears of War.
Huh, no kidding. Wonder if I'd catch shit here for thinking Chie's P4G and Fuuka's PQ voices are superior to the originals.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on October 09, 2015, 04:25:32 PM
Guess who wasted a lunch break to play RKS again. This time, despite no practice for months, I managed a 1CC, almost-buster-only and with lots of spare lives and cross-tanks by the end. Mastery doesn't fade easily, it seems!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on October 09, 2015, 04:56:38 PM
XCOM: Alien Explode campaign complete! Hope the second remake builds on the strengths of the first. Awaiting its release early next year.

Starting up Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes. Rescuing prisoners, sneaking across all of Guantanamo Bay Camp Omega, landing 45m headshots upwind, then making a huge mistake and blowing the whole thing. Going to get all the prisoners across all missions and then probably shift over for realsies. Just successfully extracted Glaz and Palitz. Heard I had a bit more work to do in the form of XOF patches, classified intel, and a prisoner in the anti-aircraft mission. I DID sneak a peak at the main game and it was 90 minutes of Boss's life HURTING.
Huh, no kidding. Wonder if I'd catch shit here for thinking Chie's P4G and Fuuka's PQ voices are superior to the originals.
Chie's original I liked because it captured her casual, flighty, energetic personality well. The original Fuuka VA sounds like she was dragged off the street and didn't even know what she was auditioning for. Any change was an improvement there.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on October 10, 2015, 02:30:22 AM
Chie's original I liked because it captured her casual, flighty, energetic personality well. The original Fuuka VA sounds like she was dragged off the street and didn't even know what she was auditioning for. Any change was an improvement there.
Chie is a weird one for me: I prefer old Chie's voice more, but the new Chie put better emphasis and stuff in her lines (even if her voice is kind of grating). Also, I actually didn't really notice a difference between the different Rise VAs, so good on her (apparently she's Ash from Hey Ash Whachu Playin'?). Kanji is another one that has a decent VA replacement (though, really, Matt Mercer is a poor man's Troy Baker so it's not a huge shift).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on October 11, 2015, 01:25:24 AM
Matt Mercer also takes over as Valvatorez in the Vita-exclusive content of Disgaea 4. I think it's just the Time Leap chapter, though.

I'm just being shitty at Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus because I suck at everything. I can't figure out how to stop from being damn-near infinitted every time the computer hits me (yes, I press X to tech out, then triangle to hit them out of the way, but I get literally no input time after that before the computer starts reaming my ass again). It doesn't help that they keep using their supers OVER AND OVER again.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on October 11, 2015, 02:19:48 PM
Shadow Warrior on Insane difficulty beaten. How hard was it? Let me update my difficulty list from before.


It wasn't all that hard, though, since I finally decided to use the sword as much as possible. Outside of select few kinds of situations, it's indeed the best weapon you have if you take the right upgrades.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on October 14, 2015, 02:25:09 AM
I just finished Pillars Of Eternity. I should think on it for a few days before I give a final opinion, but as it stands I'm left very unsatisfied. For me this playthrough was consistently marked by the feeling that this game is an unfinished experience. It would show so much promise in places, then just lose steam. Numerous times. And the ending railroads you through past a certain point, and I was NOT expecting the area that begins that process to be the actual last dungeon, so maybe that has a lot to do with how unsatisfied I feel. I didn't get to tie up some loose ends because I didn't know I would be forcibly funneled into the last boss fight. But I think think I had a ton of game left even though there were still some things I wanted to do. I'll get some distance on it and see if I change my mind, but I'm kind of mad at this game right now. A lot of stuff about it is at least very good, a few things are great, and a LOT of things seem like they turned out much shallower than they were presenting themselves as.

Actually when I think about it, just about every game I've played this year has given me this feeling to different degrees. Does nobody finish their games any more? ZUN does, I suppose. I still have him for complete, well-rounded, emotionally satisfying video game experiences.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 14, 2015, 12:12:45 PM
(Warning: lots of profanity ahead. Spoilered for those faint of heart.)

FUCK YOU AND YOUR DODGING BULLSHIT, VARCOLAC 1! Seriously, this fucker's GAF-1 can do DFM maneuvers - in a game without DFM, turn literally on a dime, and in the final phase, is constantly on your ass. If he isn't, he simply pulls the DFM countermove and meets you head-on - and if you fire then, he'll still do his physically impossible dodge move. Presumably you're supposed to gang up on him with a full squadron-ish, but it's a huge fuck you to people who can't do that.

Okay, now apparently this is fucking with me in other AC games, too - even with maxed out attack, speed, and homing, I'm constantly missing shots with the Wyvern that should connect in Ace Combat Infinity. I'm getting curbstomped by all the fucking whales who are packing 2000+ cost planes at max level. Seriously, how can you let a fucking Harrier II score seventy thousand points when at least two of you on my squadron are specifically anti-ship attackers?!


...Anyway. Chariot's a fun game, if a little stress-inducing in single-player during ice world because you get pulled off ledges really easily on ice, and you can't exactly anchor mid-air. I don't know what they want regarding some of those Trophies, though - I guess they want you to do it through the A entrance.

I'm tempted to pick up Corpse Party: Blood Drive, but I haven't actually gone through the prequel games yet. Should probably do that first, yeah?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on October 14, 2015, 04:07:18 PM
I'm tempted to pick up Corpse Party: Blood Drive, but I haven't actually gone through the prequel games yet. Should probably do that first, yeah?
That'd be a good idea, yeah. At the very least, you'll need to play the original game and know what happens in the final chapter of Book of Shadows.

EDIT: I'll clarify a bit: Blood Drive is a sequel to Corpse Party, and follows after the true ending of that game, which makes knowing what happened in that game vital. Book of Shadows is basically a collection of side stories or alternate routes, all of which should be unnecessary to know for Blood Drive with the exception of the final chapter, which is a direct follow up to Corpse Party and acts as the bridge between that game and Blood Drive.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on October 15, 2015, 04:36:10 PM
Labyrinth of Touhou. The first time I played it I gave up at Eientei Team battle massacre. This time around I'm more open-minded and grind-happy. Let's see how deep this rabbit hole goes.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on October 21, 2015, 05:23:52 AM
I'm playing Final Fantasy: Record Keeper, because apparently I don't hate myself enough. No point in listing my friend ID, if any of you play it (and if you don't, you're a better person than I am), because the game's been out six or seven months and nobody wants to rent a level 22. At least the week I chose to jump on is the week you can get Terra if you do the mission line. None of the MCs are available through normal play; you have to get them from the rotating events. So I guess it'll be quite a while before I can get Best Girl Aeris (since Cloud's the one you get automatically).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on October 21, 2015, 06:58:47 AM
Quote
None of the MCs are available through normal play;
Not quite.  There's a number that are available through standard play, although the majority of those are tied to high level Elite dungeons that will be ass to succeed at.  Oh well.

By the way spam Orbfest if you're new.  Get as much done as you can with Terra, but Orbfest is actually way easier than its listed difficulty would lead you to believe.  You don't even necessarily need to be able to fight through all 9 encounters on a difficulty; you can clear the first stage (just three battles, and two can be downed by a roaming warrior summon oftentimes, so you can blow all your abilities on the other one), then restart, and the only thing you'll miss out on is First Time/Mastery rewards... which you'll be able to get before long thanks to the craploads of EXP/gil/orbs you'll rack up.

(Also; 7Mad , if anyone plays.  Currently just have a Virus shared soulbreak though because I haven't gotten a character relic yet, but hey)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on October 21, 2015, 08:28:58 PM
Don't worry. I'll be fine. I've been doing Orbfest when I need to drain stamina to the point where doing a Core stage'll give me a +1 and a refill. The connection messes up a lot, though. Maybe if I tried playing with the computer off so the core box would only be transmitting to my iPod. Because when I use BlueStacks to play stuff (I don't see the point in playing vertical mobile games on a PC with a rectangular screen), the connection never hiccups.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on October 22, 2015, 02:46:48 AM
nobody wants to rent a level 22
Depends on what you have as your shared soul break, some aren't stat dependent IIRC.  Also 2nding Orbfest.  Couldn't tell you about connection issues as I'm on android phone. 

So I guess it'll be quite a while before I can get Best Girl Aeris (since Cloud's the one you get automatically).
You're in luck!  They added her as a bonus quest with this new event!  How far in is that dungeon from where you are now I have no idea but hey you can get her now!

Mine is QHyf (Luneth with Advance) but being maxed on followers might preclude adding so if anyone posts their code I'll add first.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 22, 2015, 10:20:46 AM
Back on the subject of super high school level butthurt; Mugen Souls is on Steam... but it's the US version, with the bathing minigame removed. There's this thread on the discussion page that's already over 300 posts regarding this one particular subject.

Also why can't I hit anything in Aerospace Hard anymore! Seriously, it feels like my Fighter + Homing L isn't actually doing anything useful in terms of this anymore on that map. On Adriatic and B7R I can wreck planes flying perpendicular to me just fine, but not on Aerospace...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on October 22, 2015, 07:25:08 PM
Quote
Maybe if I tried playing with the computer off so the core box would only be transmitting to my iPod.
Yup. Crashes less often.

Quote
but it's the US version, with the bathing minigame removed.
Was anything of value lost? The first Mugen Souls isn't very good, and this is coming from someone who actually likes IF games. Z is a lot better. Not that it's...amazing or anything. Hell of a lot more playable characters, though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 23, 2015, 08:05:17 AM
Was anything of value lost? The first Mugen Souls isn't very good, and this is coming from someone who actually likes IF games. Z is a lot better. Not that it's...amazing or anything. Hell of a lot more playable characters, though.
The main things lost is removal of the minigame (the spa just gives you the minigame's buffs outright now) and their related CGs (which include soaped-up characters, including resident lolis Chou-Chou, Welsh, Sharuru, and Bellaria). That said, a lot of people have a lot of hate for anything NISA brought state-side or for censoring in general (see the similar amount of hate they garnered when they brought over Criminal Girls: Invite Only and removed the voices and put pink clouds over the characters during Motivation), even if said fault lies with the Japanese crew inserting the data (which, I'm told, is a big part of the reason why the Sleeping Boss bug in Mugen Souls Z took so damn long to fix) or the QA crew somehow missing obvious and not-so-obvious bugs.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on October 23, 2015, 05:52:44 PM
Played the Indivisible (http://indivisiblegame.com) demo. It's pretty fun, it plays like a active time Valkyrie Profile, though it takes some getting used to the timing of attacks. The platforming to do the extra content after beating the demo boss is hell, though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Spotty Len on October 23, 2015, 07:04:53 PM
It's not even a demo, it's a prototype.

I really hope this project gets funded, I am fond of Lab Zero and they deserve every bit of help.

I wish I could get refunded on Mighty n?9 so I can give it to Indivisible.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on October 23, 2015, 11:19:27 PM
I'm playing Chain Chronicle. Don't ask me why. Probably something else to do during stamina downtime for Record Keeper/X-Omega. Speaking of X-Omega, they released a bunch more SSRs (highest-rarity), but no C/UC/R units. It's to the point where there's a larger unit pool for R/SR/SSR draws than there is for C/UC/R draws. You know, giving more incentive for pay2win. X-Omega really needs to implement something where you can spend friend coins to get either an R or SR, because as it stands, there's no reason to draw from that pool unless you're trying to do the mission series for "max out a unit's level cap 4 times via fusion on X number of units", since it's easier to do on a unit with a high pull rate.

Quote
see the similar amount of hate they garnered when they brought over Criminal Girls: Invite Only and removed the voices and put pink clouds over the characters during Motivation
Even setting aside the premise, I watched some gameplay footage of Criminal Girls and almost ran screaming from the room. Battle system does not look like my idea of a good time. Same thing with Conception, although I don't know if that game's actually controversial or not. I really, really hate child PCs in RPGs so I was never all that interested to begin with.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 24, 2015, 07:40:54 AM
I do agree the battle system of Criminal Girls is... awkward at the best of times, but I enjoyed the hell out of it, because having limited tactical options, despite having a large amount of them available (and having those options limited by the characters themselves) does appeal to me.

As for Conception II, the battle system is pretty simple. You control up to four squadrons (you and the girl you bring along, plus up to three squadrons of up to three Star Children), there's a facing aspect (enemies take more damage from certain sides, enemies who attempt a powerful attack make it obvious where they're hitting, getting backstabbed is very bad for you, etc.), but it lacks a lot of the... finesse? of certain other Atlus games. It's almost certainly controversial, though, given the game's heavy focus on the fact that the heroines and the hero have to have what is effectively G-rated sex to make the Star Children. Rarely, threesomes (though the children tend to be more averaged out for it). And you have to do that a lot, given that their max levels are based on the heroine's level, the humans level very slowly compared to their children, and for best effect, a large chunk of your main fighting squad ends up leaving the party forever after every dungeon foray since they hit max level and should be released.

Never mind that it's also a harem dating sim game, and you are encouraged by everyone, even the girls themselves, to raise your relationships with all seven girls.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on October 25, 2015, 12:24:25 AM
Yeah, I saw the battle system footage for Conception 2. Didn't seem like my thing. Not that it made me go "Jesus Yamato, how horrifying" like Criminal Girls, though. I was just thinking about that because my friend owns both games. He's actually fairly-normal and well-adjusted (and married, too), and like me, the kind of stuff in JRPGs that bothers people or causes them to have a hatedom doesn't affect him at all. It's a video game, he likes it, so he's going to keep playing it. Unlike me, though, he likes single-character ARPGs. I can't do those. They're so lonely. You meet all these people and you wish that some of them would join your party but they never do.

I'm still on my mobile game binge. I also DL'd Asdivine Dios. It was free, so I figured I might as well. I was poking around the App store for quite a while and it popped up on one of those "people who got this also got this" things. It's not that bad. Pretty much a classic JRPG on mobile.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 25, 2015, 07:11:33 AM
You know, I'm half tempted to buy Code: Realize just on the art alone, even though I'm pretty damn far from the intended audience. I might just wait for a sale, and maybe pick up the other two otome games on my radar? Also tempted to get Mugen Souls on Steam, never mind that I still haven't broken the game in half on the PS3 (or finished MSZ, for that matter).

Speaking of Mugen Souls Z, any advice on that challenge that requires you to break a Large Crystal? The best I can really do is smack as many of everyone I can into the thing, but I end up fragging the shampuru easily, even with level 1 characters.

While Indivisible is on my radar right now, a more pressing one for me is Muv-luv (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/muvluv/muv-luv-a-pretty-sweet-visual-novel-series), which is getting an English release through Kickstarter. They're almost at three times their funding goal, which is nice, but I kind of really want that pilot's jacket.

uhhh the dangers of being in sole control of my funds, and little to spend it on...

Anyway, I figure it's finally time to get the last main game trophy in Prince of Persia... if the damn thing didn't glitch out and not give it to me.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on October 26, 2015, 05:37:16 AM
Got around to beating Xenoblade Chronicles. It's super good.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on October 26, 2015, 05:48:35 PM
Playing 200% Mixed Juice, it's a blast so far in story mode haven't tried in Multiplayer mode yet since my friend and I are just going around getting cards and getting the hang of the 200% MJ mechanics it's a bit grind demanding though, but I'm used to it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on October 27, 2015, 08:51:40 AM
JRPG that I still haven't finished yet:
- Hyperdimension Neptunia Rebirth 2
- Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC
- Fairy Fencer F
- Xenogears

And soon, I'm adding Mugen Souls to my list . And now that Legend of Heroes SC is coming out soon, I have to burn through FC, *sigh*. And that doesn't even counting my let's play of Return of Touhou Mother.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on October 27, 2015, 08:53:23 AM
JRPG that I still haven't finished yet:
- Hyperdimension Neptunia Rebirth 2
- Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC
- Fairy Fencer F
- Xenogears

And soon, I'm adding Mugen Souls to my list .
Just wait a few years, that list will balloon to dozens of games.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on October 30, 2015, 01:34:52 PM
Waiting for Afterbirth.

It says it's out so I boot up BoI. Says it's installed.

Go into a run.

Turns out it's actually not active yet [It was pre-loaded or something]. Still; I won the run and had to work rather hard for the win. [I had to fight Carrion Queen with -Speed and base damage... ended up just relying on Leech]

Basically ended up with a lot of early HP and Old bandage [HP Up + Chance to drop a heart when you get hit]. Then got Leech. [Pet which attacks things and can heal you sometimes when it does]. I then proceeded to get a few shop items like the Map and played an arcade a lot because of Old Bandage. I then got Bloody Lust [When you take damage get a damage boost for the floor].

At this point I have a ton of HP; decent healing and a damage steroid based on getting hurt. I had Lard too so I was slow as molasses. I had a lot of money from my arcades and got Humbling Bundle.

Then I finally got a Devil Deal; got Brimstone but my rate of fire was garbage. I also got Contract from Below; basically giving me x4 drops. Then I got the Child's Heart trinket which makes health drop more often. This insane HP regen carried me to The Chest where I got Antigravity Tears and Strange Attractor.

What does this do with Brimstone? You fire it, it becomes a swirling vortex and THEN the laser fires. Except with Strange Attractor said vortex pulls enemies in.

The Chest got completely wrecked. I kept on healing due to all the hearts the enemies dropped/Leech/Old Bandage. My damage kept rusing until it hit the Lust Cap. And then Swirling Brimstone Vortexes did the rest.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on October 30, 2015, 03:03:10 PM
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the most addicting thing I've played in ages. The open world thing really gives you a lot of freedom to tackle things how you want. Sneaking about is satisfying and gives you lots of ways to accomplish your goals. It's also really tense and gives you the feeling that every meter traversed without being caught is well-earned. Missions feel like they take forever because of the tension, are satisfying to complete, and don't beat you over the head with anywhere near as much filler exposition, getting to the root of events, characters, and their personalities quickly. Enemy AI is good but not punishing and you are given a fair bit of leeway. There are enough surprises to keep you on your toes when dealing with them. Operating Mother Base requires lots of effort that pays off in spades. The number of gadgets you can make and stuff your buddies can do really adds a great deal of depth. Even just going around the base and boosting morale is great. Kiefer Sutherland does a... respectable job and even if you're on the fence or worse with his voice work, Boss doesn't need to spout a copious amount of exposition. The humor of the game is still present, too. The cardboard box is equipped as an item BY DEFAULT and the other nods and thoughtful nuances throughout really add to the fun. Oh and the intro is an hour long thrill ride, the soundtrack is solid (the loadout screen is a remix of the Peace Walker theme tune! YES!) and the visuals are flat-out gorgeous.

The only thing I don't like is that the iDroid interface can be a bit daunting. THAT'S IT.

Yeah it's a whole lot of gushing but man it's been a long time since I've been this into a video game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on October 30, 2015, 06:33:17 PM
Wow I've unlocked Lilith before some people like Bisnap who are renowned in Issac.

I'm surprised.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on October 30, 2015, 09:20:40 PM
Nope, LoT is too grindy for me. But I found a more interesting time waster instead.

Doom, the Roguelike
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on October 31, 2015, 03:48:37 AM
Wow I've unlocked Lilith before some people like Bisnap who are renowned in Issac.

I'm surprised.
I would have streamed Isaac tonight if not for the fact that apparently I... didn't preorder it.  I swore I did.  And I certainly don't have the money now ;-;

Doom, the Roguelike
DoomRL is possibly my all time favourite roguelike.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on October 31, 2015, 11:10:45 AM
DoomRL is possibly my all time favourite roguelike.

I'm not really a fan of the genre (magical all items usually needing identification being the main reason), but this one is comparatively simple yet no less enjoyable. Plus it did manage to keep the original's gameplay's spirit.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on November 01, 2015, 07:42:24 PM
I would have streamed Isaac tonight if not for the fact that apparently I... didn't preorder it.  I swore I did.  And I certainly don't have the money now ;-;

Interesting; if you want a fun seed; I'll give you one I just had with Lilith [And do it with Lilith for it's full absurdity]:

B9JY
VX0R

The first item is sack of Pennies. There is also a very early Maggie's Faith. There is a distinct lack of keys for a couple of floors. You want to make use of shops when you have 15 pennies; since there are two VERY good shop items that are new that I found this run. One in particular is completely absurd with Lilith.

Don't take the first Devil Deal; I didn't take it because Judas' Shadow was kinda pointless when I was going for my Lilith Post-stick.

Spoilers: I got Satan, Lamb and Mega-Satan in this run. That's the level of potential and absurdity. Both Lamb and Mega-Satan did not even deal damage to me or break mantle.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on November 01, 2015, 09:27:45 PM
Just finished Croc a few days ago. A lovely early 3D platformer, pretty easy and with rather simplistic gameplay, but absolutely charming audiovisually and simply very addictive. Too bad it's pretty short and the bonus world is largely disappointing. I'm cautiously approaching Croc 2 now and while the gameplay is somewhat more complex, I'm not sure if I enjoy all the changes. Going to the shop all the time is annoying, and so is repeating a level you just cleared merely to use a buyable item allowing you to grab a collectible.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on November 03, 2015, 02:48:43 PM
Triforce Heroes ahhhh!
Save the world and be fashionable at the same time!  I've been having a blast playing it, though never the single player mode (that probably plays a huge role in the mixed reviews the game was getting)  It's fun to play with a group of 3 in the same room or with a random person online alongside my sister, but there is definitely something to be said about the challenge of communicating when playing with strangers with the emotes.  Also all the fantastic outfits.  Win/win.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on November 03, 2015, 03:12:05 PM
Tried out the demo for Stella Glow. It's basically kind of like Ar Tornelico but it's a strategy RPG and the singing isn't nearly as interesting or actually are a gameplay mechanic and it's really not all that interesting to be honest. Oh, and the more interesting seeming of the heroines is the villain. So, I think I'm gonna skip it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on November 03, 2015, 09:26:15 PM
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/393297235583817902/826EC4D816DEA8A770D4D37C4A4A42D8F34AC207/)

Guys I think I broke Issac Lilith.

Oh and in The Chest I picked up Robo Baby and Dry Baby because my luck stat was insane from PHD+Lil Baggy. I was also Guppy with Hive Mind and BFF.

In two runs the only part of the Lilith Post-Stick I've not got are Boss Rush and Greed.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on November 04, 2015, 09:27:47 AM
So, Mushihimesama is getting on Steam on November 5, Superbeat XONIC is releasing next week, and SAO Lost Song the week after...

Too many games I want being released, right when I'm strapping myself for cash after succumbing to temptation and dropping 500 on that Muv-Luv pilot jacket and 100 on Guitar Hero Live. blarg :ohdear:

Also, Mass Effect 2 is on Playstation Plus right now. Probably not the best idea to get it without owning the first one.


Also also it's Naval Team Deathmatch time - and I get so annoyed when people drop in the selection screen when it turns out that the host made it a Piston Naval Team Deathmatch, and we have to recreate a small naval sortie from World War II. I still see way too many Zeroes and Lightnings, not enough Spitfires or 109s. I had a sortie where I was the only plane not in a P-38 -FA- in a field of seven (due to aforementioned drop).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on November 09, 2015, 06:23:41 AM
A couple of months ago I picked up a copy of Katamari Forever on a whim and I've been slowly playing through it. I love the original Katamari Damacy (as all good-hearted people do) and I like to revisit it every few years, but I had never played any of the sequels.

I've got to say, I'm not really liking Katamari Forever that much. I don't care for most of the new mechanics (except for the ability to jump, which is great, although the input method for it is obnoxious) and the level design seems like it's trying way too hard to give me a challenge. I don't want a challenge from my Katamari games, I just want to steamroll everything. I'm not playing these games to lose a bunch of times and gradually get better as I learn the best route for the levels, I'm playing them to see crazy designs and feel like a big man rolling over everything. The magnet powerups seem to make the stages a lot more route-based though since you kind of have to go through them in a certain order at the right times to do well.

I'm also not enjoying the soundtrack that much. It's mostly remixes of tracks from the first game, but the remixes have little of the charm of the originals. There's still plenty to like about the game (I love the Robo King's design and dialogue), but overall I don't care for it particularly so far. I don't know how much game I have left, since the original Katamari does just end out of nowhere, but it's been slow going up to this point.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Dormio Ergo Sum on November 09, 2015, 07:27:31 PM
Goodbye, cruel world. It was nice knowing you while it lasted. (http://i.imgur.com/NIg1wV3.png)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on November 10, 2015, 01:20:48 PM
Goodbye, cruel world. It was nice knowing you while it lasted. (http://i.imgur.com/NIg1wV3.png)
The irony that the game was released many other places prior to Boston has not been lost on me. One LP'er I follow posted a video of it, and one Steam friend of mine started playing it while I was 'stuck' playing MGS5. Both are British. Considering how many nods there are to the Revolutionary War in the game, it feels really bizarre. The time has come to end their imperial tyranny.

I HAVE WORK TODAY AND THEN RUNNING AND THEN I GET TO PLAY FO4 AND WALK AROUND THE RUINS OF WHAT'S BASICALLY BEEN MY PLAYGROUND/WORKPLACE FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS AAAAAAAAA. Maybe the traffic will have improved.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on November 10, 2015, 10:20:21 PM
I'm still waiting for it to finish downloading. I guess I could work on homework in the meantime...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on November 11, 2015, 01:12:53 AM
Straight outta Canton.
(http://i.imgur.com/QquSkPy.jpg)
YES! My town got namedropped! Nothing else matters 13/10 best game evar.
(http://i.imgur.com/8VDQeeq.jpg)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on November 11, 2015, 05:59:45 AM
Straight outta Canton.
(http://i.imgur.com/QquSkPy.jpg)
YES! My town got namedropped! Nothing else matters 13/10 best game evar.
(http://i.imgur.com/8VDQeeq.jpg)
My town is in the game.  :justasplanned:

Also, seriously, spending thirty to forty-five minutes designing my perfect husbando only for
him to die ten minutes later.
At least they know how to get you invested.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on November 11, 2015, 07:28:00 PM
You guys are all of 4 miles up the road from me. I will be mildly perturbed if BT only gets a single namedrop.

Also to hell with the haters. Yes it's a bethesdarpg.jpg but my imagination was trained long ago to fill in the blanks that fair-not-great graphics left. Crafting stuff is useful right out of the gate. I've barely delved into the game and still already have stories to tell about what happened. Also, they sold this game on just how MA it is and hoo boy does it feel like it fits. Stumbling right into Concord at the start, talking to locals who have inherited the accent that belongs to Massachusetts at large and not the focused, distinct Boston one, steep slanted roofs ready for snow, etc. Even stuff like the layout of the forests and the road signs that mark the town borders are all dyed-in-the-wool Massachusetts. I can appreciate that level of detail.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on November 13, 2015, 01:33:41 AM
I can see the dislike a lot of people are having for the game, and I don't think that it really should be getting the 9+ ratings that it has been (then again, I think the rating system really needs to be revamped because the bar is set way too low anyways), but there are things that I do like about the game such as the settlement system, and the power armor is both the best implementation of power armor in the series in my opinion (it feels less like a "pretty good" set of armor that doesn't do much and more like the war machine that it's always hyped up to be) and the worst implementation (you're given a set WAAAAAAY too early). Give me a week or two and I'll have a more concrete idea of what I think.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on November 13, 2015, 03:23:19 PM
I can see the dislike a lot of people are having for the game, and I don't think that it really should be getting the 9+ ratings that it has been (then again, I think the rating system really needs to be revamped because the bar is set way too low anyways), but there are things that I do like about the game such as the settlement system, and the power armor is both the best implementation of power armor in the series in my opinion (it feels less like a "pretty good" set of armor that doesn't do much and more like the war machine that it's always hyped up to be) and the worst implementation (you're given a set WAAAAAAY too early). Give me a week or two and I'll have a more concrete idea of what I think.
The power armor is balanced by a lot of things. You're given the basic set with no power source and no readily available way to resupply ammo. So it really feels like a privilege not to be abused at the start, but you're still given the chance to play around with it.

The settlement system is complicated but I'm still having fun with it. I've at least cleaned up Hometown USA and given the new residents some stuff. I'll probably keep coming back to it a lot. Even if the system is unintuitive (great, that corner wall is facing backwards by default, I can't attach a roof to it the right way, and I have no idea how to flip it), there's still a lot there and it's a great sidequest to keep yourself busy.

The gun/armor/general crafting stuff finally scratches my pack-rat itch. Collecting everything now makes perfect sense. Putting perks towards gunsmithing also pays off in spades from the start.

Stupid stories: I accidentally removed all the junk I had collected from the town cleanup operation from the workbench and wound up carrying like 700 lbs of stuff and got an achievement for that. I also took a mini-nuke to the face from a legendary raider well east of Hometown USA and got an achievement for that.

Finds: Right in Concord there's a sewer system with goodies to find. South of town there's some groovy equipment indicative of just how much you can modify basic weapons and an abandoned church with a bunker.

Bad stuff: I made my arms, gun, and Pip-Boy disappear by trying to pick something up while jumping. Hurrah, glitches! Also, I'm level 8 and I still don't know  how to scroll down the list of perks. Whoops.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Teewee on November 15, 2015, 09:08:03 PM
Been playing some Hyperdimension Neptunia Rebirth 3 lately. Am before the boss fights with
Anonydeath and Peashy
, but their specials always oneshot my characters. The first fight is bearable, but the lack of healing for the second fight makes it undoable for me.

According to a faq for the original game, Plutia's Meanie Face ability makes it so you dont get oneshot by the specials, but the event for it never came up in my playthrough. :/
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on November 16, 2015, 03:04:31 PM
Grind more. Neptunia games have really, really bad balance, and this is coming from someone who loves IF/CH. Either that, or check the free DLC and hope there's an OP weapon/armor in there. You might also be able to get some above-and-beyond gear if you run through all the non-story dungeons, avoiding all the enemies and picking up every treasure chest.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Teewee on November 17, 2015, 12:26:58 PM
Will do, thanks! : >
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on November 19, 2015, 02:56:52 AM
It's been a fun 10-11 months but....
(http://i.imgur.com/t0OViq5.png)
FINALLY DONE
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on November 20, 2015, 09:11:33 AM
Playing Afterbirth still. Working through Greed Modes.

Currently only have Judas [Not looking forward to 1 heart in Greed Mode. At least Belial should help out]; Blue Baby [Yaaay no red hearts] and The Lost [Not until I get that Mantle] to go for that. Well; them and the new secret character.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on November 20, 2015, 09:45:38 AM
So after almost a year of playing BoD Rebirth sporadically, i finally unlocked RPG.

Final stats that matter:
Deaths - 1027
Mom Kills - 210.
Since i have no idea how to check total time played on my Vita i can't say how many hours played, but i am guessing it's over a hundred.

I am not sure what was the worst part. Probably
The Lost Hardmode
playthroughs since it's was the cause of ~500 deaths total. Actually getting unlocked
The Godhead
took quite a bit of Judas runs since it has stupidly low chance of spawning. And the absolutely last secret that i unlocked that counted for RPG was Super Meat Boy. I somehow unlocked Super Bandage Girl in one of my normal runs. And to get SMB i had to suffer quite a bit until i got Dr Fetus, Sharp Plug and Pyromaniac (which i got in one of The Chest well chests.) as Isaac in one (final) run of the game.

And now i am playing Dungeon Travellers 2. Ignoring the fact that it's Not Safe for Any Public Place to play, the gameplay itself is kind of more or less standard dungeon crawling and reminds me of old EO games quite a lot. It does not have FOE, but aside from that it's really similar. The party level up mechanics, stupidly overpowered random encounters that result in you getting a total party kill, if RNG decides it does not like you today, prohibitively expensive revival items. It's all there. And i am having lots of fun playing it. My habit of almost never saving notwithstanding...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on November 20, 2015, 07:24:46 PM
It's been a fun 10-11 months but....
(http://i.imgur.com/t0OViq5.png)
FINALLY DONE
You can never be done with NV.  The closest you can come is taking a break. :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on November 23, 2015, 08:04:08 AM
So you might have noticed I picked up Superbeat XONiC and Drakengard 3 recently.

It's kind of crazy how similar the difficulty setup of XONiC is to Technika 3 - that is to say, schizophrenic as fuck.

And I'm honestly surprised Drakengard 3 only got an M rating. I'm also honestly surprised how much I'm laughing at the events in the game, even through nonsense like the censor screen during Five's death, Mt. Whatever, punching out faeries, etc.

Also totally salty about how Bamco didn't dub SAO: Lost Song.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on November 27, 2015, 09:25:02 AM
I'm suddenly back to Tales of Maj'Eyal, probably the most accessible roguelike around that's still mean enough to wreck me completely becasue I'm a bad and careless player.

My Berserker's finally done with all the lower level obligatory dungeons and begins his ascent up the Dreadfell tower. There's a vault on the second level and I foolishly decide to open it. It's full of orcs! Orcs are a major threat in this game, and so the place is swarming with extremely dangerous Pyromancers,  Cryomancers, Necromancers, Corruptors, Wyrmics and Assassins. I need to retreat and split them into smaller groups, which proves to be my downfall,  as after defeating a separate pair of cryomancers I got careless and waltzed right into an invisible Assassin Grandmaster.

BUT I had the one-of-a-kind resurrection item that brings me back to life in the same spot, I successfully clean up the remaining orcs and reach the tower's final floor. I swiftly encounter the boss accompanied by several monsters, including a rare ghoul. Preoccupied with the boss, I fail to notice that the ghoul is either a Temporal Warden or a Paradox Mage, and has put a Spatial Leash on me. I activate my Teleportation rune and promptly receive the immense Spatial Leash damage. Instakill.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on November 28, 2015, 08:36:28 PM
Decided to blow the dust off the IGA-style Castlevanias I played, as well as finally look at the newer ones. Started with... Simon's Quest. Yeah. Well, I never was among those that bashed it, but it seemed a bit too hard for me (though I thought that about other classic 'Vanias too). This time I found it actually really enjoyable! Just get used to the jumps and remember a few pointers, and then it suddenly becomes a pretty fun game.

Also, tried out the DS ones this week. Dawn of Sorrow is horrible in almost every aspect but music. The other two seem to be awesome, though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 03, 2015, 10:45:37 AM
I love how Black Lotus shows up, almost insta-nukes Kirito, and immediately decides "close enough" and joins at level 600.

What is her symbol supposed to be (aside from the logo for Lost Song)....?

Also, SSX and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is up on PS+.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 03, 2015, 03:57:54 PM
Decided to blow the dust off the IGA-style Castlevanias I played, as well as finally look at the newer ones. Started with... Simon's Quest. Yeah. Well, I never was among those that bashed it, but it seemed a bit too hard for me (though I thought that about other classic 'Vanias too). This time I found it actually really enjoyable! Just get used to the jumps and remember a few pointers, and then it suddenly becomes a pretty fun game.

Also, tried out the DS ones this week. Dawn of Sorrow is horrible in almost every aspect but music. The other two seem to be awesome, though.

As a huge Metroidvania fan, I agree that Dawn Of Sorrow is the absolute worst of the genre. I 100%ed it earlier this year just because I had never done it, and yeah, not fun. It's playable I guess, but there are so many games that do everything it does better. Like Aria Of Sorrow, for instance.

The other two DS Castlevanias are much better,  yeah. Portrait Of Ruin has some questionable design choices, but Order Of Ecclesia may be the best game in the series.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: OverlordChirei on December 03, 2015, 04:13:17 PM
As a huge Metroidvania fan, I agree that Dawn Of Sorrow is the absolute worst of the genre. I 100%ed it earlier this year just because I had never done it, and yeah, not fun. It's playable I guess, but there are so many games that do everything it does better. Like Aria Of Sorrow, for instance.

The other two DS Castlevanias are much better,  yeah. Portrait Of Ruin has some questionable design choices, but Order Of Ecclesia may be the best game in the series.

I didn't dislike Dawn nearly that much, but the other two DS titles are indeed better.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on December 03, 2015, 05:28:12 PM
I'm really enjoying Portrait of Ruin, actually. Both gameplay-wise (whips <3) and aesthetically. I found portrait worlds pretty interesting, and while I'm still yet to actually visit the second set, I'm not against remixing stages. I really like that approach, actually. (Yes, Harmony of Dissonance is my favourite of Metroidvanias. How did you guess?)

Order of Ecclesia, however, turned out a huge disappointment for me. It's hard in a wrong way. The glyph system is interesting but a bit unwieldy. That alone wouldn't be too much of an issue, but the enemy forces you're up against are sadistically hard as well. That pushes it a bit too far for my taste.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 03, 2015, 05:58:05 PM
I didn't dislike Dawn nearly that much, but the other two DS titles are indeed better.

I don't HATE it, on a spectrum of all games every it certainly doesn't land in the "terrible" category, it's just superfluous. Probably worth one playthrough, but not really worth revisiting unlike the others. When I replayed it I was really hoping that I was undervaluing it and that it would turn out to be an underrated gem, but... It didn't. The map design is just so tedious and lacking in momentum that I really soured on it. The bosses are mostly uninspired, the characters and plot are even stupider than I've come to expect, and the core mechanics are annoying. If I have one positive thing to say about Dawn Of Sorrow it's that the weapon system is interesting, but even that leans heavily on tediously grinding rare souls, so... Eh.

I'm really enjoying Portrait of Ruin, actually. Both gameplay-wise (whips <3) and aesthetically. I found portrait worlds pretty interesting, and while I'm still yet to actually visit the second set, I'm not against remixing stages. I really like that approach, actually. (Yes, Harmony of Dissonance is my favourite of Metroidvanias. How did you guess?)

Order of Ecclesia, however, turned out a huge disappointment for me. It's hard in a wrong way. The glyph system is interesting but a bit unwieldy. That alone wouldn't be too much of an issue, but the enemy forces you're up against are sadistically hard as well. That pushes it a bit too far for my taste.

Portrait of Ruin's greatest strength is certainly the variety of environments, but Order of Ecclesia did that to a lesser degree as well so it's become less unique than it was at the time. There's still some obnoxious grinding for skills, but it doesn't feel nearly as bad as in Dawn of Sorrow. Some of the bosses are memorable, particularly that shadow demon guy. And it may have the best Dracula fight in the franchise.

I found the sigil system in Order of Ecclesia to be extremely elegant, and not awkward at all. So maybe that's just a difference of opinion. As for the difficulty... That's certainly true and agsin maybe it's just a matter of taste. You wouldn't happen to be talking specifically about the crab in the lighthouse would you? :D Not the only hard boss in the game certainly, but I think it's the first hint about how tough the game is.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on December 03, 2015, 06:50:08 PM
You wouldn't happen to be talking specifically about the crab in the lighthouse would you? :D Not the only hard boss in the game certainly, but I think it's the first hint about how tough the game is.

No no no, the bosses are awesome (and I don't think that particular one is any hard, frankly). It's the stages that are my nightmare. Namely, Skeleton Cave completely broke my will to go on and I dropped the game after clearing it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 03, 2015, 07:01:59 PM
Huh, I've always had the opposite experience. I found the stages (with one late-game exception) to be fair and fun, but the bosses to be extremely difficult. Intetesting.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Romantique Tp on December 03, 2015, 09:50:41 PM
Skeleton Cave isn't even that hard.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: OverlordChirei on December 03, 2015, 10:19:53 PM
I don't HATE it, on a spectrum of all games every it certainly doesn't land in the "terrible" category, it's just superfluous. Probably worth one playthrough, but not really worth revisiting unlike the others. When I replayed it I was really hoping that I was undervaluing it and that it would turn out to be an underrated gem, but... It didn't. The map design is just so tedious and lacking in momentum that I really soured on it. The bosses are mostly uninspired, the characters and plot are even stupider than I've come to expect, and the core mechanics are annoying. If I have one positive thing to say about Dawn Of Sorrow it's that the weapon system is interesting, but even that leans heavily on tediously grinding rare souls, so... Eh.

Portrait of Ruin's greatest strength is certainly the variety of environments, but Order of Ecclesia did that to a lesser degree as well so it's become less unique than it was at the time. There's still some obnoxious grinding for skills, but it doesn't feel nearly as bad as in Dawn of Sorrow. Some of the bosses are memorable, particularly that shadow demon guy. And it may have the best Dracula fight in the franchise.

I found the sigil system in Order of Ecclesia to be extremely elegant, and not awkward at all. So maybe that's just a difference of opinion. As for the difficulty... That's certainly true and agsin maybe it's just a matter of taste. You wouldn't happen to be talking specifically about the crab in the lighthouse would you? :D Not the only hard boss in the game certainly, but I think it's the first hint about how tough the game is.

The glyphs were strange at first, but they grew on me. To the point where I grinded to Lv255 for absolutely no reason other than "the game just lets you".

Portrait giving me a wide array of things to play as with Johnny and Charlotte instantly clicked with me, as well as being a continuation of flipping Bloodlines of all things, just blew me away. Also fun fact about Portrait, there's only one screen in the entire game that has water, which is rather strange for a Metroidvania.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 04, 2015, 12:23:31 AM
No no no, the bosses are awesome (and I don't think that particular one is any hard, frankly). It's the stages that are my nightmare. Namely, Skeleton Cave completely broke my will to go on and I dropped the game after clearing it.
You haven't seen the Castlevania yet. My personal shit-list is the boss with enormous and monstrous shadow (I forgot his name) that have high attack power, great reach, small arena (smaller than Gergoth's one of my favorite boss in Dawn of Sorrow), and can only be hurt with Light. He always halt my progress in both story and boss rush.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on December 04, 2015, 10:47:14 AM
My personal shit-list is the boss with enormous and monstrous shadow (I forgot his name) that have high attack power, great reach, small arena (smaller than Gergoth's one of my favorite boss in Dawn of Sorrow), and can only be hurt with Light. He always halt my progress in both story and boss rush.
Well Blackmore can be a pain, but it's also weak to Fire. And if you have Nitesco glyph which is Fire/Light you can more or less laser spam it to death.

Still playing Dungeon Travelers 2. Currently exploring
Library Dungeon which is freaking huge
. From what i can tell i am somewhere near the end of the main game.
Party is Alicia (Dark Lord), Melvy (Witch), Grishna (Valkyrie), Ist (Dancer -> Mistress) and Tsurara (Kunoichi).
Kinda thinking about switching Alicia for Yae, since her unique skill is better, though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 04, 2015, 02:36:25 PM
You haven't seen the Castlevania yet. My personal shit-list is the boss with enormous and monstrous shadow (I forgot his name) that have high attack power, great reach, small arena (smaller than Gergoth's one of my favorite boss in Dawn of Sorrow), and can only be hurt with Light. He always halt my progress in both story and boss rush.

Oh shit, is he in Order Of Ecclesia? I guess I erroneously mentioned him earlier as being the most memorable boss from Portrait Of Ruin. Oops.

Yeah, I like that fight, but it's a bit much. And Gergoth is definitely the best boss in Dawn Of Sorrow in my opinion too.

Clearly I need to re-play Order if I can't even remember what bosses are in it. I loaned iut my copy and never got it back, so I guess I'll have to buy another.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on December 04, 2015, 11:25:19 PM
Am I the only one who finds Pokemon hard? (Granted it is Platinum but still)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 05, 2015, 03:39:39 AM
Well Blackmore can be a pain, but it's also weak to Fire. And if you have Nitesco glyph which is Fire/Light you can more or less laser spam it to death.
*sigh* I used Vol Luminatio against him. And damn, does it really slow.

Yeah, I like that fight, but it's a bit much. And Gergoth is definitely the best boss in Dawn Of Sorrow in my opinion too.
You could imagine how happy I am seeing its ugly self in Portrait of Ruin.

In Resident Evil 4 & 5, the best way to defeat Las Plagas and Majini is to stun it by shooting in the head or knee and follow it with physical attack. I tried the same thing against the Ooze in Revelations... only to get myself bitten. In the end, I spent a whole clip against one monster.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on December 05, 2015, 05:34:13 AM
Am I the only one who finds Pokemon hard? (Granted it is Platinum but still)
I usually end up making poor move choices and somehow end up underleveled at the same time and just cobble my way to victory because I'm bad at games, so don't feel bad, haha.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 05, 2015, 07:18:44 AM
On the Iffy front, they've announced a few ports for Steam for next year. The most interesting one, I think, is Monster Monpiece. Some people may recognize it as the first game IFI localized. Others may remember they had to do a bit of censorship on some of the artwork. The Steam version has to cut the multiplayer (a shame; if they had connectivity with the Vita version, I might have had motivation to get the plat), but in exchange, the censored cards are restored to their original glory.

There's also the other Nep games going from Vita to Steam, announcing the FFF remake, and the Blanc-oriented Nep game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on December 05, 2015, 12:28:17 PM
Playing another roguelike now, DoomRL this time. It's short (clearing the whole thing shouldn't take more than two hours if you know what you're doing), very sweet and based on one of the best games ever, which is a big bonus.

My best run so far (second difficulty level) cleared the first two episodes and reached Hell Level 2, where I ended up spawned dangerously close to some lava barrels, which were then promptly blown up by a Baron of Hell. I guess it was my fault for not immediately using one of my spare Large Medkits. My combination of a Tactical Shotgun with all the related perks, with a Missile Launcher for bigger threats, a self-regenerating Blue Powered Armor, and perks allowing me to collect up to 200% health without health decay, proved pretty survivable, but there are many other choices for a Marine. I might try one focused on melee or rapid-fire weaponry next.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on December 05, 2015, 01:25:06 PM
Playing another roguelike now, DoomRL this time. It's short (clearing the whole thing shouldn't take more than two hours if you know what you're doing), very sweet and based on one of the best games ever, which is a big bonus.
There's an achievement for clearing the game in like <10 minutes.  It's amazing just how smooth it can play at that speed too.  (man I love DoomRL tho; I've not been playing it nearly enough in recent months)

In other news, I got fed up with Amazon not yet having shipped my copy of Xenoblade Chronicles X, so I moved everything on my external to my spare, larger hard drive in the desperate hope that my old external would work.  It did.  Perfectly.  So I have that downloading while I head to work oh my god I'm so excited ahhHHHH
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on December 05, 2015, 06:30:13 PM
Just defeated Whip's Memory. ...Not impressed? I've done it the PROPER way - whip vs whip, no subweapons or healing items. Only cleared Dark Academy from the second painting set, so I had no special edge over him. In other words, he needed 88 hits while I'd fall from 4. He landed only one.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on December 06, 2015, 09:55:30 AM
There's an achievement for clearing the game in like <10 minutes.  It's amazing just how smooth it can play at that speed too.  (man I love DoomRL tho; I've not been playing it nearly enough in recent months)
Yeah, my first, clueless clear took under 2 hours, so I definitely overestimated the game's length and underestimated the "knowing what you're doing" factor. It was excellent fun, my only tiny gripe was that the bosses seemed a bit anticlimactic, at least on the Not Too Rough difficulty. I simply unloaded my BFG at them repeatedly and that's it. Especially the Spiderdemon couldn't hurt me much, despite me using a Nanofiber Blue Armor providing a mere 1 point of protection (my Red Armor got sadly destroyed during my panicked escape from the Mortuary). Also, in original Doom, the Cyberdemon had a ton of Lost Souls accompanying him, and the Spiderdemon's level featured a few Cacodemons and Barons. These bosses were alone in my playthrough. I assume the companion monsters show up on higher difficulty levels.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 06, 2015, 05:19:07 PM
In Resident Evil 4 & 5, the best way to defeat Las Plagas and Majini is to stun it by shooting in the head or knee and follow it with physical attack. I tried the same thing against the Ooze in Revelations... only to get myself bitten. In the end, I spent a whole clip against one monster.
I just found out that to stun Ooze, you need to shoot at both of its arm. It's not an easy task.

In episode 3, Jill and Parker fights against a Scagdead as a boss with infinitely respawning creatures. I temporarily got stuck there due to me forgetting to get rifle, the boss having an instant kill attack, and me not mastering the art of dodging. It took me maybe 10 retries to finally kill it.

In later episodes, Chris and Jessica ended up fighting against 2 Scagdeads at once. But they're still easier to fight with Chris due to his stronger weapon. Playing as Jill feels like playing Sanae's chapter in Return of Touhou Mother if it were a horror game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 06, 2015, 07:23:32 PM
Tried to hunt down my copy of Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia but the guy I loaned it to swears he gave it back to me. I can't find it, so I just bought another copy just now. So I guess I'm gonna play that again.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 09, 2015, 01:06:46 AM
Yes! Finally completed RE: Revelations, with zero death, on normal ahoy!

[attach=1]

Now I can go back to Return of Touhou Mother Let's Play. If I can defeat a whale-sized zombie, I sure as hell able to defeat the remnant of Team Touhou Mother.

In episode 3, Jill and Parker fights against a Scagdead as a boss with infinitely respawning creatures. It took me maybe 10 retries to finally kill it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 09, 2015, 06:17:44 AM
The BIT.TRIP just got released. It's basically BIT.TRIP COMPLETE on Sony systems.

Holy balls, insta-buy. I don't care I have COMPLETE, I don't care I have the entire thing on Steam, I'm buying the crap out of this. This should be a fairly easy Platinum for me, too!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Emelia K. Fletcher on December 09, 2015, 07:46:44 AM
This should be a fairly easy Platinum for me, too!
EXPLORATION / CONTROL
i absolutely adore the entire BIT.TRIP series - FLUX probably being my favourite with Runner2 being a close noncanonical second - and really wish it was more prevalent today still
(still salty about EXPLORATION kicking my ass and then CONTROL duplekicking my ass)

100% Orange Juice just got the Sham and Sherry DLC, and considering Sherry is a character who has every positive stat and an enforced "goes second in battle", she should be the good kind of broken and great fun to play against my good friends who hopefully have a high RNG bullshit tolerance at this point we've been killing each other over dice for fifty hours now jeez
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 09, 2015, 10:53:00 AM
Exploration wasn't too hard, really - it's just that you suffer insane amounts of damage if you miss a shot during the boss and it hits one of the shelters. Doing it on Hard in COMPLETE sucked balls, because if I remember correctly, you got thrown into Nether even if you were all the way up at Super.

I say The BIT.TRIP's a lot like COMPLETE, but it's a bit more like SAGA - that is, it's a bit laggy on handheld. I don't have a PS4 (yet), so I can't make any comparisons, but it's silly that a Vita's having trouble with a game from the Wii. (Also no soundtrack CD or bonus material, so I miss the Challenges - even if I could never complete FLUX Challenge 20.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on December 10, 2015, 07:57:36 PM
Playing Ironman Savoy in EU4.

I own most of Northern Italy; a massive amount of the Eastern Spanish coast [My newest aquisition; took it while Spain was busy fighting against one of their colonies who declared independence]; a bit of what is modern France [Never fought France for it. Fought other nations]; Normandy [I inherited it]; a significant chunk of South America and Australia; Northern Japan; and I have a significant amount of land in Indonesia; The Phillipines and a small trade outpost in China.

The game currently rates me as the 3rd or 4th strongest nation in the world. There's a massive Austria[It literally has invaded and ate all of Hungary]; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Ottoman Empire. We rank above France, Russia and Great Britian.

Savoy starts with like; 6 provinces. I now have about 60. And there's still about 100 years left in the game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 11, 2015, 05:08:37 AM
I'm a decent chunk into that copy of Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia I bought last weekend. Gotta say, once again I'm finding that the stages aren't too bad, but I find the bosses to be very difficult. I don't think I've died on a stage yet (although I've had quite a few close calls where I used a Magic Ticket to escape a split second before something killed me), but I've died many times to every boss, even the easy ones. Except Barlowe for some reason, I managed to get past him in one try even though I remember getting stuck on him for quite a long time the first time I played. Maybe I just subconsciously memorized all of his attacks.

I'm also finding that my 3DS is really uncomfortable to play on. I never consciously noticed it before, but my hands are way too big for it. Maybe I just don't remember how to hold it right. I don't remember this being a problem for any other Castlevania and I played them all on this device.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Delfigamer on December 11, 2015, 06:05:19 AM
Quote from: Epic Games
We’re excited to share the first details about Epic’s new game Paragon, which harnesses the power of Unreal Engine 4.
 
Paragon is the MOBA...
*facepalm*
First they want UT4 to cater to CoD/TF2 audiences, now they're announcing they'll stand against DotA and LoL. What the hell, EG?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on December 11, 2015, 05:29:08 PM
Two days of playtime into Fallout 4 with no end in sight. SEND HELP!

Yes the negative press on bugs, mediocre plot, and so-so voice acting is true, but if that's what you're playing for, you're missing out on everything else. The number of places to explore is crazy and each location has a story to tell, whether it's the enemies there, information found, or its layout. Each place is just different enough from any other to keep you busy and on your toes. Amongst the locations are a total of 30 different settlements - again each with a story - that can be cleared out for one of two different factions. The amount of building options for each settlement is ridiculous and the time you can spend on your settlers can be anywhere from 0 to WAY TOO MANY hours. I can spend hours on end simply reorganizing my trade routes to cover the Commonweath in a more efficient manner. It's an OCD nut's dream.

By the way, weapon and armor customization lives up to all the hype. No, you can't go too crazy, but the level of stuff you can do is still crazy. Wanna convert that rifle into a submachine gun with armor piercing qualities? Want to convert another into a sniper rifle? Can do! Wanna customize your armor so that it helps keep you stealthy and helps buff your melee capabilities? Aw yeah. Speaking of which, melee and unarmed builds are viable with the right setup. Considering that you will wind up at level 50+ if you spend any decent amount of time in the game, customizing your build is also possible.

In short, this game is a fantastic time sink. Some of it may be dry but holy hell the amount of stuff it gives you to do is ridiculous. The weapon/armor customization and settlement construction are both new but both real solid and rewarding.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on December 12, 2015, 09:02:38 PM
If anybody who plays FF Record Keeper on Global and wants an extra Boon RW, my friendcode's XqSB. I play on JP too but I've yet to get anything good. No, really. It took me 215 mithril to get one 5* weapon, and it was a fucking Magicsword (Ashe's Evil Slayer: 85/115). The White Mage Lucky Banner, Beginner Banner, and the first Vincent event Banner gave me ZERO 5* items. I did do a 1x for the hell of it on Squall's BSSB and got Laguna's Jacket. I also have Basch's Shield SB (the one that's Hand of the Emperor 2.0), from the FF12 banner that gave me the Evil Slayer. They're resetting the daily quest rewards to implement a new thing in JP so that's a lot of extra mithril I can get, plus there's an Orbfest on the 26th.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 16, 2015, 01:40:56 AM
So the Vita version of The BIT.TRIP is buggy as fuck. My brother's apparently buying me a PS4 for Christmas, so I might be able to net the last few trophies that way.

Or maybe I can tough it out and somehow beat Growth, Perception, and Catharsis.


Also, the Final Verse in Drakengard 3. Maybe it's because I've been playing way too many rhythm games recently, but I've done long chains of the final verse without even looking at the screen and simultaneously browsing the interwebs. Still not certain of the timing of the absolute final hit (though I think I know approximately "when"), so no clear yet.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 17, 2015, 08:09:17 PM
Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia 100% cleared with Shanoa. Can't remember if I've ever actually gotten 100% before, I think I gave up grinding for Mandrake Root for one of the side quests. Got in on like my third try this time though, so it wasn't too bad.

Dracula was probably the easiest fight in the game just by virtue of how much shit I had by that point. For being the last Castlevania game the Dracula fight is actually kind of lame, powerblasting by OP glyph combinations or not. Seems like he could have benefited from one more form at the end. Oh well.

Might clear it with Albus real quick now that I'm done. I don't really have much interest in any of the other new game plus modes.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: OverlordChirei on December 19, 2015, 12:41:52 AM
Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia 100% cleared with Shanoa. Can't remember if I've ever actually gotten 100% before, I think I gave up grinding for Mandrake Root for one of the side quests. Got in on like my third try this time though, so it wasn't too bad.

Dracula was probably the easiest fight in the game just by virtue of how much shit I had by that point. For being the last Castlevania game the Dracula fight is actually kind of lame, powerblasting by OP glyph combinations or not. Seems like he could have benefited from one more form at the end. Oh well.

Might clear it with Albus real quick now that I'm done. I don't really have much interest in any of the other new game plus modes.

Huh. I thought Dracula was actually kinda hard, but I think I went in at like Level 40 or something. This one is particularly strange because it's one of the few games where he only has a single form, and it would probably be a big issue for a lot of people if they didn't just hand you Nitesco.

Also, there's a neat little easter egg you can find if you defeat him with no damage.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on December 19, 2015, 02:16:49 PM
So i am playing Dungeon Travelers 2 Postgame. Having fun and all that. Abyssal Darkness was the most annoying so far with those Rainbow Assholes "Do your girls have more than 777 hp? No? They all die. And there's jack you can do about it" and overabundance of dark rooms everywhere.
Also the game starts to cheat with its monsters as well. For example Salamanders. You can Freeze them and they still can roast your whole party with Flame Breath. Which kinda goes against rules.
And then i made it to the "Treasure Hunter required" door. Looked at my roster and there's only level 22 Souffle and i was like "Well, shit". Technically i can reclass my Tsurara (Sniper) but that's 15 levels lost and kinda like her as sniper.
And i still need to grind my 2 SP and 2 MU to at least 50.
Oh, well. Time for some more grinding i guess.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on December 19, 2015, 02:30:17 PM
Continuing the topic of Castlevanias, I'm seriously enjoying Simon's Quest the more I play it. At this rate I'll memorize the whole map pretty soon.

Also finished Portrait of Ruin. I had a thought that it being the only DS metroidvania I like was due to a bias towards whips, but no, I find even other weapons to be easier to use than in Dawn of Sorrow. I wouldn't say the game isn't hard or frustrating in its own ways, but very smooth controls make it quite enjoyable overall.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 19, 2015, 08:21:25 PM
Huh. I thought Dracula was actually kinda hard, but I think I went in at like Level 40 or something. This one is particularly strange because it's one of the few games where he only has a single form, and it would probably be a big issue for a lot of people if they didn't just hand you Nitesco.

Also, there's a neat little easter egg you can find if you defeat him with no damage.

I only tried Nitesco on him once before deciding that jumping to hit his head every time wasn't worth it. I used Vol Ascia (the highest level axe glyph)+Vol Ascia+Arma Custos for most of the fight on the run that I beat him. Although I did switch to Vol Ascia+Nitesco+Arma Custos after he switched phases and just mashed out a shitload of glyph unions in a row. His bat summoning attack in the second phase is horseshit, so I wanted to skip that if possible (and it was). Vol Ascia isn't really worth it in the Dracula fight until you get the World ring for completing every side quest because the mana cost is so high, but after you do it becomes perfect because the arc makes connecting with his weird head-only hitbox a lot easier.

I certainly didn't beat him with no damage though because I wanted to power up Arma Custos (and I'm just not good enough to never get hit regardless), so I didn't see the easter egg. I'll have to look that up.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: OverlordChirei on December 19, 2015, 09:08:04 PM
Hey ccool, there's another set of 7x6 challenge coming up with no megasatan at the beginning. Think Gabe fares better with this one?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 19, 2015, 09:14:40 PM
I don't know, where is it described? Depends. If there's a similar enemy (which is to say, an extremely durable monster with a kill timer) on the first floor, or two of such enemies on consecutive floors at any point, probably not. If there aren't, maybe. Probably even.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: OverlordChirei on December 19, 2015, 11:24:29 PM
Oh my god I posted in the completely wrong thread. Ignore the post I made above this one.

Actually on topic:

I only tried Nitesco on him once before deciding that jumping to hit his head every time wasn't worth it. I used Vol Ascia (the highest level axe glyph)+Vol Ascia+Arma Custos for most of the fight on the run that I beat him. Although I did switch to Vol Ascia+Nitesco+Arma Custos after he switched phases and just mashed out a shitload of glyph unions in a row. His bat summoning attack in the second phase is horseshit, so I wanted to skip that if possible (and it was). Vol Ascia isn't really worth it in the Dracula fight until you get the World ring for completing every side quest because the mana cost is so high, but after you do it becomes perfect because the arc makes connecting with his weird head-only hitbox a lot easier.

I certainly didn't beat him with no damage though because I wanted to power up Arma Custos (and I'm just not good enough to never get hit regardless), so I didn't see the easter egg. I'll have to look that up.

When you beat any of the big bosses in OoE without taking damage, a blue chest pops up and you get a unusable medal item that serves as a "proof" that you beat them without taking damage. In Dracula's case, you go into the ending sequence the moment you do, so the chest doesn't appear until your go through all of it and reload your save outside his room.

You'll get the medal as normal, but when opening the chest, you'll hear Dracula say "Impossible... But I....!!!", as you obtain it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 21, 2015, 02:36:58 AM
When you beat any of the big bosses in OoE without taking damage, a blue chest pops up and you get a unusable medal item that serves as a "proof" that you beat them without taking damage. In Dracula's case, you go into the ending sequence the moment you do, so the chest doesn't appear until your go through all of it and reload your save outside his room.

You'll get the medal as normal, but when opening the chest, you'll hear Dracula say "Impossible... But I....!!!", as you obtain it.

Ha ha neat. Yeah, I think the only things in the entire game I got the medal for were the first boss and Wallman who doesn't even count as a boss.

I decided to do a quick playthrough as Albus because he blasts through the game incredibly quickly by being a massive glass cannon. He ends most boss fights in like 15 seconds or less. I'm a little stuck on Eligor though. Because Eligor's hitbox is so wonky and his attacks are so hard to read he's real trouble for Albus with his paper-thin defense, lack of access to a shield, and inability to heal. He can do monstrous damage since Eligor is huge and gets hit many, many times by all of his attacks and is weak to Acerbatus, but I just can't keep my health up high enough to outlast his stupid last phase. I'm sure I'll get it, I've come extremely close quite a few times, but this is the first time I've had any trouble at all on this run. Even Death got shredded in like twenty seconds

Counterintuitively, this extremely speedy run has given me time to appreciate how fucking gorgeous some of the backgrounds in the game are. The non-castle areas have some amazing backdrops like the sprawling mountain ranges in background of the mountain levels and above the water line in the ocean levels, and some of the underground cave areas have this amazing depth of field effect that makes them seem huge. It really makes me feel like the game's setting is this huge unexplored land where there's a crazy labyrinth of monsters around every corner and we're only seeing a tiny part of it. It seems exactly like the kind of country where Dracula's castle would be found.

The castle itself is almost a little bland in most places by comparison, but there are some amazing exceptions. There are quite a few places where you can see the night sky outside and they all have a similar effect where time is clearly going by at an incredibly accelerated rate outside of the castle. Clouds seem to be zooming by in the sky behind the parapets at hundreds of miles an hour, and in the clock tower you can see the sun rising and setting every few moments through the windows. It gives a strong impression that Dracula's castle is unaffected by the normal passage of time. I wonder if Shanoa will return from her adventure in the castle to find that hundreds of years have passed in the single night that she was inside? Probably not since the game allows you to leave and enter whenever you want with no consequences, but it's an interesting idea.

All of the Metroidvania games have detailed and appealing graphics, but in places this game is gorgeous in places. Makes me want to figure out how to rip these backdrops out of the game and hang them on my wall, low-res pixely aesthetic and all.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: OverlordChirei on December 21, 2015, 03:39:18 AM
Fun Fact: Those strange numbers on the bottom-right of Shanoa's pause screen that you probably never paid attention to or realized what they were? Those are attribute points. Getting 327 raises that particular attribute's damage by 1% whenever you use an attack of that kind... and Albus can get them as well, even though you can't see it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 24, 2015, 04:04:41 PM
I'm goong to be honest, Undertale's graphic still bugs me even to this very day. But is it as good as anyone's said? Time for me to find out.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 27, 2015, 02:09:22 AM
Finally beat Dracula with Albus in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Definitely the hardest fight in the game. Albus is a little too slow and awkward to safely evade Dracula's second-phase attacks, so hacking through his massive HP sucks. I did eventually figure out tricks to get around everything, but it took many, many tries. The biggest pitfalls are when he uses Destruction Ray into Soul Steal into another Destruction Ray, which makes you very likely to run out of magic to keep teleporting out of the way before the sequence ends, or his summoning attacks since the starting pose is the same for both but they need to be handled in a split second in different ways. With the wolves you need to stand back and snipe each one as it comes out or you basically instantly lose, and with the bats you have to immediately run to a very precise spot on the screen and crouch or you die in like two frames. I probably could have made this a little easier by grinding out a little more health and magic, but I don't like grinding.

I didn't beat Training Grounds (because there's no reason to, although his teleport would make it easy) or Huge Cavern (because it seems like it would be virtually impossible without Volicatus AND there's no reason to) with Albus, so I didn't technically 100% the game with both characters, but I got like 100% and 99%. So I'm done with this game now, time for a new handheld game. I'm probably going to start Phoenix Wright next. I've never played it before and someone gave me a copy a while ago saying I would like it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on December 27, 2015, 11:49:49 AM
I'm goong to be honest, Undertale's graphic still bugs me even to this very day. But is it as good as anyone's said? Time for me to find out.

The graphics are complete ass by today's standards but this game had a budget of only 50k and graphics were never its intention so I guess that's to be expected. Besides, the game does have some pretty aesthetically pleasing parts despite the weak graphics.

And yes, Undertale is as good as people say it is. Just make sure to go in as blind as humanly possible - and I do mean it, the game throws a curveball at you less than 5 minutes into the game.

You may not find the game's appeal in your first playthrough, most people don't, but stick with it, you'll see what everyone means soon enough.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: DungeonToaster on December 27, 2015, 03:31:47 PM
I lose control over my life long time ago.
Trying to beat QP Shooting - Dangerous!! on Normal.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: OverlordChirei on December 27, 2015, 04:54:35 PM
Finally beat Dracula with Albus in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Definitely the hardest fight in the game. Albus is a little too slow and awkward to safely evade Dracula's second-phase attacks, so hacking through his massive HP sucks. I did eventually figure out tricks to get around everything, but it took many, many tries. The biggest pitfalls are when he uses Destruction Ray into Soul Steal into another Destruction Ray, which makes you very likely to run out of magic to keep teleporting out of the way before the sequence ends, or his summoning attacks since the starting pose is the same for both but they need to be handled in a split second in different ways. With the wolves you need to stand back and snipe each one as it comes out or you basically instantly lose, and with the bats you have to immediately run to a very precise spot on the screen and crouch or you die in like two frames. I probably could have made this a little easier by grinding out a little more health and magic, but I don't like grinding.

I didn't beat Training Grounds (because there's no reason to, although his teleport would make it easy) or Huge Cavern (because it seems like it would be virtually impossible without Volicatus AND there's no reason to) with Albus, so I didn't technically 100% the game with both characters, but I got like 100% and 99%. So I'm done with this game now, time for a new handheld game. I'm probably going to start Phoenix Wright next. I've never played it before and someone gave me a copy a while ago saying I would like it.

Training Grounds with Albus isn't that impossible, but you basically need a bunch of levels to just overpower stuff before it can get to you, as well as abuse of Quadruple Ignis I-frames (which also has high damage). But yeah, no real reason to do it.

Dracula on Hard Mode is fun. Things like the Destruction Ray now fall down twice as fast :D
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on December 27, 2015, 07:05:43 PM
Now that I finished Undertale with the happy ending, I don't want to reset because then I would take all their happiness away  :(
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 28, 2015, 04:38:06 PM
The graphics are complete ass by today's standards but this game had a budget of only 50k and graphics were never its intention so I guess that's to be expected. Besides, the game does have some pretty aesthetically pleasing parts despite the weak graphics.

And yes, Undertale is as good as people say it is. Just make sure to go in as blind as humanly possible - and I do mean it, the game throws a curveball at you less than 5 minutes into the game.

You may not find the game's appeal in your first playthrough, most people don't, but stick with it, you'll see what everyone means soon enough.
I was never the one to consider graphic to be important, I could Cave Story with no problem (Besides, graphic intensive game melt my laptop). But Undertale's graphic bothers me. But as I play it, I begin to mellow out.

I'm a kind person, so I'll try to spare anything. Besides, it's more interesting to find a way to tame the enemies and bosses. I already know what XP stands for anyway and it's not Experience Point.
Flowey scares the fuck outta me.

Edit: This game has a Tsunderplane as an enemy, a tsundere plane wearing Yukari's hat. Best.Enemy.Ever!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The Greatest Dog on December 29, 2015, 08:59:31 PM
All this talk of Castlevania made me get copies of OoE and PoR myself.

Got no damage medals for every boss up to Dracula's castle this far. The last two bosses before that were made significantly easier just by using Vol Scutum and Scutum respectively, as they let you get in attacks for free when you would normally have to dodge. I dig it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 29, 2015, 09:56:33 PM
Yup, I never really used the shield glyphs, but I can see why they're great. They seem like they sort of clash with Arma Custos (which is easily the best support glyph in my opinion, barring Dominus Agony "skip every boss fight" cheese tactics") late game, but then again maybe not. I could see deliberately dropping to low health, then using a shield glyph to protect yourself so you can constantly spam Vol Ascia without risking getting one-shotted because of your low health. Not sure that beats dual Vol Ascia and dodging+Moonwalkers, but maybe there are some fights where that would be useful. Maaaaybe for Eligor's crossbow attacks?

I should do an all-medals run some day, but I'm horrible at fighting that stupid sand fish. I swear they just don't give you a big enough arena to dodge sometimes.



I've been playing Phoenix Wright on my DS since I wrapped up Castlevania. Not sure what I think of it yet. The obvious comparison is to Danganronpa, but I'm not sure that's valid. How do the court scenes actually mechanically work? Is there a hidden "health bar" that depletes when you do something wrong? Or is it more of a flowchart that ends in win or loss states? It's not clear to me yet how on-rails I am, or where the rails are. I can tell they're there, but not exactly in wjat way yet.

I like the game fine so far, but Phoenix has a bit too much of a mind of his own for my taste. I've had a couple of times so far where I chose a command for him and he executed it in a way other than how I was expecting, in such a way that I would have chosen another option if I knew exactly what he was going to do. It's not a big problem, but I've found myself getting frustrated with the game a few times because of that. And I kind of hate the sound design, the music is atrocious. Which is too bad, because when I turn it off I miss all the silly "objection!" exclamations too.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 30, 2015, 01:23:23 AM
Really, the best use of shield glyphs is defending against the bat summon during Dracula, as they just ablate off the upward shield.

So I'm finally getting the chance to play all of my PS4 games now that I finally have one, so my trophies are literally all over the place. Seriously, though, I really hope there's eventually crowd maneuver skills in Omega Quintet; I'm getting so tired of the 3 Horizontal and 2 Left skills only really capable of hitting one enemy because they're so spread out.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: OverlordChirei on December 30, 2015, 01:44:48 AM
All this talk of Castlevania made me get copies of OoE and PoR myself.

Got no damage medals for every boss up to Dracula's castle this far. The last two bosses before that were made significantly easier just by using Vol Scutum and Scutum respectively, as they let you get in attacks for free when you would normally have to dodge. I dig it.

At first, when I got Vol Scutum, I thought it was nearly useless because it protected at a really awkward angle, and at a much smaller size, but then I realized that it aesthetically matches with Melio Scutum, which you're supposed to pair it with in the end, which is pretty darn cool.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 30, 2015, 02:19:02 AM
I've been playing Phoenix Wright on my DS since I wrapped up Castlevania. Not sure what I think of it yet. The obvious comparison is to Danganronpa, but I'm not sure that's valid. How do the court scenes actually mechanically work? Is there a hidden "health bar" that depletes when you do something wrong? Or is it more of a flowchart that ends in win or loss states? It's not clear to me yet how on-rails I am, or where the rails are. I can tell they're there, but not exactly in wjat way yet.

I like the game fine so far, but Phoenix has a bit too much of a mind of his own for my taste. I've had a couple of times so far where I chose a command for him and he executed it in a way other than how I was expecting, in such a way that I would have chosen another option if I knew exactly what he was going to do. It's not a big problem, but I've found myself getting frustrated with the game a few times because of that. And I kind of hate the sound design, the music is atrocious. Which is too bad, because when I turn it off I miss all the silly "objection!" exclamations too.
Duh, the health bar is visible if your choice affect your health. In the first Ace Attorney, you have 5 lives. Second game onward, you have a health bar and the more important the question is, the more more health you lost if you're lost. Presenting wrong evidence when questioning the witness always costs you a live or 20% of your health. In Justice for All, you cannot refill your health after court. Woe to you if you enter court with 10% health left.
Ace Attorney is linear, either you catch the bad guy or you lose by losing all your lives.

commander, meet Cole and his Doubt where he will act like Bad Cop in Good Cop and Bad Cop routine.
I agree, the music is bad. Especially in second game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 30, 2015, 02:25:51 AM
Oh weird. I guess I haven't lost any health yet then, because I haven't seen a health bar. Fair enough.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 30, 2015, 03:37:01 PM
True Neutral complete...

Also, fuck Flowey!!! He's the only monster I couldn't spare!

I have a question. Without spoiling myself, can you still reset if you complete No Mercy path? Answer it with yes or no please.

Edit: Changed my mind, I'll unfuck Flowey... just as long as he stop making those creepy faces.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on December 31, 2015, 08:03:58 AM
Yes.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The Greatest Dog on December 31, 2015, 08:20:24 AM
All boss medals obtained. Eligor was the biggest obstacle???

No idea how you're supposed to handle the last part except for "Dominus Agony and pray he dies quickly". Didn't think of using light/dark unions though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on December 31, 2015, 12:55:03 PM
All boss medals obtained. Eligor was the biggest obstacle???

No idea how you're supposed to handle the last part except for "Dominus Agony and pray he dies quickly". Didn't think of using light/dark unions though.

I just jumped off of him every time he startes to move. It took forever and is probably still dangerous because of his tail, but it worked. I mean, sort of. I didn't get the medal. But yeah, his last phase is bullshit.

I believe there's also an exploit where you can hit him with Globus while you're still standing under his legs if you aim in the right spot or something too.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on December 31, 2015, 02:28:21 PM
I got Nep Rebirth 1, Tales of Hearts R, and Noiregame for Christmas, and also a $25 iTunes card that I used to get FF Dimensions and FF5, and 300 gems in FF Record Keeper. With two of my three 100 gem rolls, I got Squall's Cutting Trigger and a 5* heavy armor. I doubt this whale thing is going to become a habit.  I'm just surprised I walked away from the relic pull festival with good shit. I also got Lightning's Blazefire Saber, Vanille's Wyrmfang; OMG PARTY HEAL, and a couple of shared SB weapons, one of which is a light armor with 100 Def and Res. No Wall relic, though. Le sigh. I really wanted a Thyrus.

I want to see if I can beat Tales of Hearts R without using Hisui as my primary healer.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The Greatest Dog on December 31, 2015, 03:54:12 PM
I actually used Globus, as it deals strike damage and hit both his leg gems and bows in one convenient glyph. Unfortunately, when you're between his legs, it bounces back down once it hits the torso.

If I had the finger dexterity and reflexes of a god, I would have felt less dirty using Scutum unions every time he moved. :/

to be honest I could have used that to run past his legs with Rapidus Fio if I jumped off
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on January 01, 2016, 03:31:06 PM
Finally beat True Pacifist Ending on Undertale on New Year's Eve. I gotta say, the final boss the music were really really really kickass!

By completing Neutral and True Pacifist, I effectively know 2/3 of the story. The only mysteries left is  who is
the First Fallen Child AKA Chara? What happened to them? Are they really as sympathetic as Asriel said?
Buuuuut.....

Now that I finished Undertale with the happy ending, I don't want to reset because then I would take all their happiness away  :(
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on January 01, 2016, 10:32:50 PM
So, I went back and played Transistor again. I had just... stopped halfway through Recursion.

I was actually tearing up at the end now that this time I understood what was going on. I didn't understand the first time.

On the other hand... how easy the game was on Recursion really was a letdown. It might have been because I made some good functions; but even then, beating the final boss only Overloading once on the final phase? [Considering the way the final boss attacks makes it almost impossible to evade him I think not Overloading at all may be impossible. It might be possible. I'm sure a no-damage final boss is completely impossible however]

My function set was Jaunt() with Mask() [Spark() in the boss fight]; Crash() with Purge() and Void(); Tap() with Breach() and Get() and Ping() with Spark() and Load(). In passives I had a 2nd Void(); 2nd Mask() [2nd Jaunt() in the boss fight] and Bounce().

Basically Jaunt was... well... Jaunt. Crash amped damage from my damage skills while also stunning and applying a good DoT. Tap was what was really broken. Tap in itself deals good AoE damage around yourself and heals you. Breach changes Tap to a ranged AoE, and Get turned it into a vacuum. And if I killed something my passive Mask() would let me stealth for a breif time to recharge/reposition. Throw in a passive shield that occasionally recharges from Bounce() and I was hardly even taking damage.

And then Ping fires like a shotgun which explodes; basically letting me rapid-fire shotgunbackstab groups after using a Tap().

It was just absurdly easy. Which is a shame, because I absolutely love the combat system in Transistor. I was even using some limiters. I guess next time I should use even more.

... Or I can say 'let's do it fast who cares if easy' and speedrun Recursion if I want to play again. Or do some self-imposed stuff like No-Jaunting or No-Turn()
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Hibiki on January 02, 2016, 01:57:02 AM
Right now playing World of Warships with Kancolle skins. If anyone is interested, you can find them on Pravada. They have different skins and enchants. They're really cool and the staff are really helpful if you have any questions to ask
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Spotty Len on January 02, 2016, 02:43:55 PM
Just completed Axiom Verge.

When I started this game, I was expecting to play a 2D Metroid, and I wasn't disappointed. Instead of riding on some Metroid gimmicks, it introduced its own mechanics and had some downright awesome ideas.

I really wish 2D Metroid weren't dead now.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on January 04, 2016, 06:06:14 PM
I've been playing Cthulhu Souls Bloodborne, and it is good. Currently up to the Unseen Village, still trucking along with my trusty saw-spear and Ludwig's blade.

Please don't give me any advice about the game, I value my blindness. :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 04, 2016, 11:32:30 PM
I can't play Souls games, I'm terrible at timing dodges.

The Idol armor you get postgame in V Century is so OP compared to the best standard defensive equipment in early postgame, but you'll still get trainwrecked against the original DLC dungeons (and the bosses of the new postgame content) unless you're well into your triple digits in level.

Also picked up Astebreed. I'm probably going to regret it Trophy-wise and it's relatively short, but it was well worth seven bucks during the holiday sale.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on January 07, 2016, 04:53:53 PM
My friend brought Catherine with her on vacation so she's been playing it while she's here. I'm not touching it because it's not a JRPG/Warriors game, but I'm just sayin'. She managed to get the super-happy Katherine ending, and now she's aiming for the True Cheater ending. So while she's doing that today I'll probably just play the PSP version of Final Fantasy 2. I quite like it, even if the mechanics are weird and I keep getting ambushed despite not wearing any armor.

Quote
but you'll still get trainwrecked against the original DLC dungeons (and the bosses of the new postgame content) unless you're well into your triple digits in level.
That's unsurprising.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on January 07, 2016, 05:02:51 PM
Catherine is one of those guys I almost buy just about every time I leave the house. I played through it once and loved it, so I suppose I should just grab a copy next time I see it used. The price doesn't seem like it's going to drop any further and it's been a couple of years since I played it, so I think a re-play is probably in order.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on January 08, 2016, 04:58:43 AM
I've been playing stuff I got during the Steam sale. I've definitely got a lot of playtime to come eventually in all these games.


Ys: Ark of Napishtim finished on Nightmare + Catastrophe

Eryi's Action finished on Ex Mode quite a lot of times. Trying to get the No Death achievement for it, with my best run being 2 deaths, both on the water room in level 10.


Quite a lot of Mushihimesama as well. 1cc'd Original and Maniac on it, with not that high of scores due to having no spare lives on either. As for other shooters, also picked up Crimzon Clover, Danmaku Unlimited 2, and Judgement SilverSword Resurrection(despite having the last one on Eschatos 360 version).


I've started up Ys 1 on Nightmare but haven't played much of it. Haven't made it to any bosses yet.Obviously not playing Ys II until I'm finished with this one.


Not too far into Trails in the Sky(first one, will pick up second later on if I like this). I started on Nightmare which was probably a mistake for this unlike the Ys games  :ohdear:.

Also picked up Gurumin(which I've beaten on Crazy on the PSP version) and LISA, but I haven't started either of those 2 yet.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on January 08, 2016, 01:57:56 PM
Entering day 4 in Fallout 4.

It's more about ironing out a number of loose ends as opposed to anything else. I've run the course with Piper, Nick, and soon Curie with only Danse to go. Things are settling in and I may soon be done until the DLC comes around. After a while, certain pieces of gear that are a cut above everything else become the only things you use and certain missions begin to repeat in familiar locations. Still, exploring is always rewarding and if you play around with the settlements, you'll always have something to build up and scavenge for. The downside is that once you hit this stride, you're effectively invincible unless you boost the difficulty or charge headlong into dangerous situations. Mind you, it took 50-60 hours to do so.

The game does have its weaknesses around certain other things. It's true about the game being glitchy. Some quests are quite forgettable and will even repeat ad nauseam with your faction of choice. Characterization isn't all that strong or memorable most of the time. Melee combat sounds fun until one stray raider blocks 5 of your attacks in a row and counters with their own, making melee not only a cumbersome reliability, but really just not satisfying. On the other hand, you can pop them in the face once and they'll explode.

In the end, your enjoyment of the game still really does boil down to enjoying what it gives you. Exploration, settlement building, and weapon customization are all great places to invest your time and naturally lead into one another, creating a comfortable cycle of going out to a location, gutting it of enemies and supplies, building up your homestead(s) of choice, then prepping yourself for the next trek into the wastes. If that's your schtick, you'll get more than your share.

Also, after some 80 hours of playtime I am finally entering the Glowing Sea for the first time. It's deliciously haunting and atmospheric to the point that it rivals The Glow in the original. Even though I'm kitted to the gills I still went through some truly special prep to ready myself for it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on January 11, 2016, 03:08:09 AM
I was watching a playthrough of Sepia Tears. I think they made a Touhou reference. "That's alot of bullets" "She's the hardest boss in the game" "Parasol" "Red and Blue lasers"  "Attack that gradually gets harder" :V Yukari much?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 12, 2016, 10:06:48 AM
Symbol Attack Gains and Guaranteed Symbol Attack is amazing when paired together. Run into stuff, get XP and items as if you actually fought the battle. Obviously it doesn't work if you can't activate Destroy Symbols on the enemy, but it's so fun running roughshod over all of these Tough/Risky/Dangerous foes. All I need to do this run is get all of the Big Dungeon Changes, go kill some stuff for the rest of the Medals, and start the next loop.

Also uber-salty at the fact that the only thing preventing me from Platinuming The BIT.TRIP is a random drop trophy.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Akala on January 12, 2016, 12:17:56 PM
Just bought Downwell, damn this game is so much both fun and hard, I think I'll stick on this one for a while !
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on January 13, 2016, 02:17:49 AM
It's so weird playing Dungeon Travelers 2, where your party members are wearing clothes that are dubious for dungeon traveling, at best, and yet a ten year old girl gets into an actually pretty good argument about the nature of God with a nun.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on January 15, 2016, 03:54:49 PM
I'm getting close to the end of Phoenix Wright, but it's really starting to drag. I blame all of the scene transitions. The UI feels really outdated. I should be able to pick any location to go to from a menu, I shouldn't have to manually walk everywhere, especially at points where the only way to progress the plot is to go to a semi-random, non-obvious screen. Especially when there's trial and error involved.

In between working on that and getting bored with it I've playing Wario Ware DIY, which I picked up on super clearance for like $2. It's fun, the normal games are what they are and the game making software is at a nice level of complexity. I don't ususlly buy Wario Ware games because I get bored of them, but I've easily gotten my tiny investment back out of this one in like the two hours I've played it so far.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 16, 2016, 08:47:42 AM
For once, I've finally had the determination to play through an inFamous game. Second Son (and now First Light, I guess) is at a nice size of compactness, compared to frickin' heug inFamous 1 city; wallclimbing with either Neon or Video is so easy compared to Cole's mandatory slow climb; and I'm at least usable in console shooters now, so I don't scattershot everywhere.

Also, it's amazing how useful the Drill idea chip is. As long as you can go HDD, it doesn't matter much if you die - just revive them, reboot HDD, and instant full health and SP means you can dump literally anything you have on the enemy for free.

Why did I never use this until now.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on January 16, 2016, 01:35:39 PM
Hum-dee-dum. Still playing Dungeon Travelers 2 Postgame. After suffering through Conveyor Belt Hell a.k.a. Gear Castle got my ass kicked by
Maid-sensei
really hard. Turns out she's the God of the Gear Castle Realm. And it's kind of weird. While reaching her, did unlock the next dungeon, there was a standard message before the door i.e. "there's a boss behind this door, beware" instead of "the boss behind this door will eat your face, run while you can".
On the plus side the Tower is finally unlocked now. So, yay, i guess.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: pineyappled on January 20, 2016, 07:58:58 PM
Anyone playing Dragon's Dogma? Share your pawnfus.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on January 22, 2016, 12:02:06 AM
Anyone playing Dragon's Dogma? Share your pawnfus.
I'm on 360, so that's a no go for me.

I'm trapped in Final Fantasy XIV. Help.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on January 22, 2016, 07:24:34 PM
Giving up Fallout 4 until the DLC hits. Again, a flawed game but it's so engrossing and you get your money's worth. Now playing Wolfenstein: The New Order before going back to MGS5. Yes, it's a dumb FPS but it's a GREAT dumb FPS.

Sorta finished Chrono Trigger on the DS. Found a copy of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and I'm playing that now. Need my street cred up for when Fates gets released.

Bravely Second is due out in the US on April 15th. I found out less than an hour after the announcement was made. SOMEone else beat me to it by like 59 minutes since they had already digested the information and come to terms with it. Hype acquired and stockpiled.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on January 23, 2016, 05:48:38 AM
I've been playing a lot of Tobari and the Night of the Curious Moon on Steam.

Finished the first 6 worlds and have been trying to finish Ex, but these levels are quite very hard. I have made it to the boss though, but I haven't figured out the fight yet. The first part doesn't seem too bad, but the part after you get the final weapon.

For some reason, I got the Steam achievement for a no game overs clear when I cleared World 6 despite having had quite a bit of game overs(I never chose the give up option though, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it).


Still need to get a few of the moon shards in Ex, though I'm not sure if they're needed to unlock World 8. Considering how much World Ex is destroying me, I'm not sure how Vs. Desunoya will go. I have seen very little in the way of gameplay for that world, and it definitely looks tough.


Then there's the achievements for finishing the game in under 5 deaths, 100 deaths for Ex, speedrun achievements, no shopping achievement, and no damage bosses to try to get. I don't know if I'll be able to get them, but I'm going to try since the game is quite fun. I already have the no damages for the first 3 bosses, and I had the world 4 boss mostly figured out but just needed to pull it off, then stopped trying.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on January 24, 2016, 11:15:32 PM
Oneshot (http://oneshot.cu.cc/) is probably the coolest game I've ever played. It's like Undertale, but 100x better. I've only been playing for an hour and the game has already created files on my computer that contain answers to the puzzles in game  :o
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 26, 2016, 02:45:03 AM
Picked up Eiyuu Senki in the most recent PS Flash sale. I'm probably an idiot for going the challenge route and trying to take down India first.

Also, I'm imagining what could have been if this Arthur ended up being Saber (or maybe Caster, considering this one's Excalibur is Song Magic).

Also I redownloaded the Gundemonium Collection, and holy fuck I used to be either really stupid or really lucky to do some of those dodges in realtime, instead of being smart and casting Daath Whisper.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on January 26, 2016, 03:38:24 AM
Got to the boss of the Vs. Desunoya world in Tobari. That stage was definitely tough, but I don't think it'll be too bad to get through again. I put in quite a bit of tries at the boss, but none were successful so far. I'll come back and try to finish it some other time.

I'm not sure what the best way to defeat the evil staff roll during that fight would be for that achievement. I'm thinking maybe just destroying the boss's summons until I get that avoiding damaging the boss much so that she stays in the easier phase then try destroying it. Obviously that's not too good for actually winning the fight, but if I tried doing it during the later phase where there's  stuff that has to be destroyed with the Holy Staff ability since it can't be dodged,I'd probably end up killing the boss too early, Well, I'd need to actually make it to that point in the boss map first though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 27, 2016, 08:03:37 AM
Oh hay, The Witness is finally out.

Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on January 28, 2016, 01:34:11 PM
So i am climbing Tower of Bogomil in Dungeon Travelers 2. Reached 20F and after one of random encounters Monster Obliterator trophy pops. And second after platinum trophy pops as well. Now i am feeling all demotivated to continue and all that.
Why they decided to make trophies for this game more or less "Finish Main Story" + Monster Obliterator a.k.a. 20k monster kills, instead of the last trophy being "Defeat the final boss of the Tower" is beyond me, but oh well...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on January 28, 2016, 02:40:12 PM
Who needs trophies to play a game?  Beat it for yourself!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Moogs Parfait on January 30, 2016, 05:37:50 PM
I'm playing Evoland 2, which my wife got me for my birthday.

http://www.evoland2.com/
 (http://www.evoland2.com/)
First it was Zelda, then Chrono Trigger, then Professor Layton, then Touhou, and now it's Street Fighter and I am having a really hard time.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on January 30, 2016, 07:42:58 PM
One look and I need that game like...yesterday.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on January 30, 2016, 07:57:33 PM
One look and I need that game like...yesterday.

qft
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Moogs Parfait on January 31, 2016, 06:24:00 AM
Unless I'm in the second act of three it seems to be a 20 hour game.  I haven't binged a game in ages, I'm tired but feel... Good.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on February 03, 2016, 10:15:24 AM
So, uh... P4AU is free on PS+, as is the current version of Helldivers; GRID for some reason, even though the second game was PS+ much earlier. Gravity Rush Remastered is a thing that just came out yesterday, as was Megadimension Neptunia VII (got the LE on the way), and that Nitroplus fighting game.

Also Ring Battles in ACInf; they're so fun, when everyone's actually not dying all the bloody time and leaving me alone to try to get rings.


Also also, if for whatever reason you don't have either the PS3 or PC versions of Valkyria Chronicles, they're porting it over to PS4. For Trophy hunters, the list is literally just all of the commendations (aka the achievement list on Steam).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on February 03, 2016, 08:24:45 PM
Beat Neptunia Re;Birth 1.  Miiight have been a little cheap with what I did, whoops. 

Normal Ending get, now to experiment and see if my guess for how to get the True End is what I think it is.  Then of course there's all the DLC Colosseum fights to do, so that should be interesting to see how long it takes me to get through all that.

EDIT:  Oh right, True Ending achieved, it wasn't what I thought but what it WAS makes sense thematically so it's fine.  Anyway, I am doing something really silly and just beating up DENGEKI bears to level up to try to fight other things with just Neptune, Nepgear, and Compa.  This can't POSSIBLY be a bad idea!  = D

(I have died.  A lot.  Not to the bears, mind you, but to other stuff.  I will continue to do so til I break and at least get Iffy again most likely.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Moogs Parfait on February 05, 2016, 04:05:21 AM
I finished Evoland 2 and I can't recommend it enough.  I like a variety of challenge and it brought it in spades.  They didn't half-ass the alt game modes either.  It is a 20 hour game for $20 USD.

Note: Because I'm a scrub I had to lower the difficulty for the final boss ;_;
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on February 10, 2016, 06:49:33 PM
Huh. I just noticed there's a Touhou fangame on PS4. Quite a surprise.

Anyway, more The Witness. Blasted Challenge room.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on February 12, 2016, 01:17:29 AM
I've been playing Shoot Shoot Nitori: The Golden a lot this week. I didn't even realize it was out for a while and it took me forever to figure out how to pay for it, but I've got it now. It's really good. Like the first one but a little more refined and with a ton of playable characters. I think there are a bunch of mechanics I don't understand because the game seems a little text-heavy for a shmup, but for whatever reason these games don't seem that popular so translation might be unlikely. Definitely recommended if you like the first one though, the extra characters alone make it worth the reasonable price tag.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Monarda on February 12, 2016, 02:21:37 AM
Haven't had much options lately, since i've finished Valkyria Chronicles, the Ace Attorney Series, and my PC is hindered by 32-bit Windows, i'm currently only playing Touhou EoSD and PCB, Fire Emblem Rekka no Ken and Sacred Stones, starting up the Professor Layton Series, Bloodborne, a neat little PSP game called Gods Eater Burst, and simple stuff like League, i'm looking for a new Turn-Based Strategy Game, trying to order Table Top Sim and get mah hands on XCOM 2 for which i adopted the nickname "The Nue x Tewi Prank War" (Not made by me, just adopted).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on February 12, 2016, 07:02:37 AM
I've been playing Shoot Shoot Nitori: The Golden a lot this week. I didn't even realize it was out for a while and it took me forever to figure out how to pay for it, but I've got it now. It's really good. Like the first one but a little more refined and with a ton of playable characters. I think there are a bunch of mechanics I don't understand because the game seems a little text-heavy for a shmup, but for whatever reason these games don't seem that popular so translation might be unlikely. Definitely recommended if you like the first one though, the extra characters alone make it worth the reasonable price tag.
I did try to list the playable character and what they do in its forum.
The mechanics is simple, you shoot enemy, you collect items and treasures, you beat bosses and minibosses, gaining score is a little complicated. The best way to gain high score is to throw stuff. You can immobilize enemies and erase bullets by throwing things, what's more, you'll get a multiplier depending on the enemy if you kill them while they're immobilized. On the other hand, you'll risk getting shot down with no item. So, you'll need to find the best place and time to throw.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on February 12, 2016, 09:32:33 AM
I thought scoring seemed a little screwey, I keel getting only a nominly positive score due to tones of massive penalties. That sirt of makes sense, I guess. Is X still the only way to throw things? Actually nevermind, if you wrote about it somewhere I'll just go read it there. Thanks.

I did figure out in my last run that C does something now, in that it's now used to receive itens you bought in the store. I don't know if there's any more to that mechanic, but that's something.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on February 14, 2016, 09:30:12 AM
So I did something absurdly silly and tried taking down the superboss down the well in Escha and Logy. At level 60, with no optimized equipment whatsoever.

Longest hours of my life. Thank the gods I managed to net 1/2 MP Cost and MP Cost Cut on Treasure Grimoires, or it would have literally been impossible.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on February 15, 2016, 06:15:19 PM
I remember getting into a stalemate with the final boss of Digital Devil Saga because, while my party couldn't defeat them with the skills they had equipped, neither could the boss. I fought that boss for two or three hours before giving up, resetting, and rearranging skills. Easiest boss after that.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on February 16, 2016, 01:45:38 AM
I've been working on getting the achievements for Super Meat Boy (Steam version). After quite a bit of effort, I've managed all except for Impossible Boy.

I've managed to make it to 13/20 levels cleared before a death on my best attempt. It's not so much a matter of if it'll happen at this point, but when it'll happen since I have decent strats for most of the levels, and for 7-16x where I don't there's always the exit to map trick if I end up where I'll fall(not that it does any good for the saws).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on February 16, 2016, 02:17:47 AM
Reminding myself how much I suck at Tales games, finally continuing Tales of Graces F and was getting bodied by this boss that splits into like seven enemies later in the fight.  Eventuallywon but it took several tries.  Fun times though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on February 17, 2016, 07:24:57 AM
So there's a Piston Naval Team Deathmatch going on now, with planes from some thing called Sky Kid up for grabs.

Holy fuck it's so easy to rack up massive amounts of kills if you're playing defensively. I've had 14:1 K:D ratios in some rooms.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: NekoNekoRex on February 17, 2016, 09:20:48 PM
After playing grauitous amounts of Space Station 13 until I hate myself ive been trying to find ways to avoid playing it.

So far ive been trying to pick up DS games to fill the void. Got Bowser's Inside Story and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, and recently beat the main story of Etrian Odyssey. Hope to get more EO games soon as well.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Dormio Ergo Sum on February 18, 2016, 01:23:27 AM
Still spending way too much playing Dungeon Fighter Online and DotA 2, but I have picked up some other stuff.

Been playing Heroes of the Storm recently. It's nice as a change of pace from DotA, I guess.
I've also been using Diablo III as a break from Dungeon Fighter Online. Even I sometimes I get sick of grinding on an MMO and making very little progress, that's when I switch to D3 to grind in an instance and make very little progress. It's different, I swear!
Slowly going through Fairy Fencer F. The gameplay is about as bland as the other Compile Heart games and the characters seem fairly one dimensional. Why do I enjoy games like this?
Started up XCOM2, though I'll probably wait until I finish Fairy Fencer F to really get into it. All I know is that I killed a lot of my people in the first mission, so that was fun.

Once I'm done with Fairy Fencer F and XCOM2, I'll probably work on finishing FFXIII. I mean, I'm pretty far into the game I just need to sit down and finish it at some point. I'm still struggling to come up with reasons for why Hope exists.
Also looking forward to the international release of Monster Hunter Cross Ultimate. I'll probably pick up the inevitable Monster Hunter themed 3DS bundle when this drops just so that I can play it.

Other than that, progress on my backlog of VNs has slowed since I have too many things to play.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on February 20, 2016, 10:33:49 PM
Just started a game of Pokemon White 2 for the first time in a year. The nostalgia is getting to me.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on February 22, 2016, 06:12:45 PM
I got Project X Zone 2 and Resident Evil: Revelations 2 last Thursday (the 18th). Haven't put as much time into either as I'd like. My friend doesn't have REvelations 2 so no multiplayer funtimes until he does, and also we both need to beat the game first, anyway. Got a new phone at the beginning of the month, Samsung Galaxy Note5. Got $25 Googleplaybux for my birthday so I bought the remake of FF4TAY and a couple of cheap Kemco RPGs.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on February 26, 2016, 12:35:25 PM
"Mrgrgr!"
is back, and by that i mean that i just bought and currenly playing Bravely Second. Still in the Prologue, but
return of Edea
was glorious.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 10, 2016, 08:58:35 AM
I'm actually really freakin' annoyed by the fact that my desktop can't play Rabi-Ribi at normal speed with pretty much anything else running in the background. (Also, I'm moving in probably the most awkward ways through the game world.)

Deathsmiles comes out on PC tomorrow, get hype?

And Senran Kagura: Estival Versus comes out next week. Moar boobs for the boob goddess.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Makedounia on March 11, 2016, 12:41:49 AM
I finally got my hands on Etrian Odyssey Untold 2 and I am absolutely loving it so far. It feels tougher than the first Untold and the classes seem to be pretty balanced as far as I can tell. I'm playing classic mode on expert difficulty with a party of protector/highlander/dark hunter/sovereign/gunner and it's working really well so far.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on March 14, 2016, 02:32:46 AM
been trying to finish getting 100% on Tobari and the Night of the Curious Moon. I have every achievement for it except the one for clearing Vs. Desunoya.

I've gone through the final level at least 6 times on different sessions, then end up going through a lot of lives on the boss before quitting because losing constantly for a few hours gets annoying. This bonus boss is completely ridiculous. There's so much potential bad RNG to deal with in the fight whether with the summons during the final phase(Asukas that end up off screen are horrible), the boss using attacks that are pretty much undodgeable or unblockable if you're too close to her or during that one part where you have to use the speed ability to make a jump since you can't switch from Speed after using it unless it runs out or you get hit.

I've only survived long enough to destroy the evil staff roll once, which is really long enough to win the fight if the boss actually stays where you can hit her enough as well as not using certain attacks too much. I almost made it to the second shop in the boss area a second time, jumped down to it then hit something losing the last hit for that life(wonder if I would have won if I had been able to buy a health refill)

 I figure if I keep trying occasionally, I'll eventually manage it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on March 14, 2016, 03:08:25 PM
100 hours into MGS5 and I'm still having a ball. Yes, things have settled into a familiar pattern, but there's still plenty to do. Learning how to farm for materials has proven to be lucrative and repeating old missions with new ways to approach things is fun. I also have about 400 vacancies at Mother Base and the FOBs that will take me a few weeks to fill. Not thrilled that the plot can take a backseat for hours on end with no advancement but that's mostly because I'd never thought I'd say that about an MGS game.

Although I'm playing FE: Fates. It's an FE game and you sorta know what to expect and I like it. There's just too many crazy internet opinions about this game flying around. Enjoy these things for their merits and critique their shortcomings. Don't have some ridiculous grievance make or break things. I'm completing all 3 routes sooner or later.

Dark Souls 3 and Bravely Second are both coming out in the month. I won't be done with either of these games by then. Only the strongest shall survive!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 16, 2016, 07:18:14 AM
Ryouna is unusually somber at the beginning of Estival Versus (for good reason), which is so very strange. Then it very quickly moves to her being silly and requiring Ryoubi to casually smack her on the butt a few times. Freakin' Ryouna.

Also picked up Deemo: The Last Recital, but I now have no clue how to get more songs available, since I've already cleared all the songs I could reach (and that one in the treasure chest) on Normal with at least 70% accuracy. (EDIT: Aw, flux me, most of it is DLC for China regions?!)

Also, Illusion Alius III is a cheating little bunny. If she stunlocks you, you're basically dead. Lilith's probably worse, though, since she has that one attack that is guaranteed to not only drop you to 1 health, but make you unable to recover at all. Also, Nixie. Ugh. Probably shouldn't have let her steep this long.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Zerviscos on March 16, 2016, 04:42:14 PM
Welp here we go all over again...
(http://i.imgur.com/Qvjt44s.png)

I didn't like the other one with the dakimakura, 'cause I'm not into those, but I did like the one with the figs, but sadly, it got sold out fast.

Anyways, I chose this over Trillion God's LE this month. So I don't have any money to spare right now, since I'm waiting for whenever they announce a Persona 5 or Star Ocean 5 LE(I already skipped out on Trails of Cold Steel...but I'm regretting it), but if anyone's wanting to buy the Trillion God's LE, it's still up for pre-orders.

http://www.iffysonlinestore.com/trillion-god-of-destruction-limited-edition/

Thank God Idea Factory didn't do a Blanc + Zombie LE, or I would've been broke this month, 'cause I definitely can't resist the urge to buy both.

I'm also glad that out of all the publishers, Marvelous produces more stocks of LE/CEs more than other JP-localized company, so they don't run out as fast as others like NIS or IF.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 17, 2016, 08:51:31 AM
The thing about Marvy seems to be that their special edition is their basic edition.

Also, they had a daki in some of those?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Zerviscos on March 17, 2016, 12:01:34 PM
The thing about Marvy seems to be that their special edition is their basic edition.
I'm still seeing Shinovi Versus Let's Get Physical copies on-shelves and Corpse Party ones too. The one that ran out fast was the Trails of Cold Steel(It's XSEED but they're still Marvelous), but it's still in some places, but it's somewhat uncommon compared to the others.

I also like how Marvelous(along with their subsidiaries like XSEED) makes most of their games console/platform exclusive like Soul Sacrifice, Senran Kagura, etc. Idea Factory on the other hand, while I like their CEs and LEs, are practically "lying" about having an exclusive, when it's actually timed, and will most likely port to the PC via Steam, which probably started happening frequently ever since the Neptunia Re;birth series. While I'm not directly complaining, I'm just a bit saddened about the so-called "exclusives" and even porting spin-off games which I actually expected atleast those will be exclusive, eg. HD Noire.

Thankfully, Gust's Atelier series is also untouched for now. But Tales is slowly going there. I'm not really against it(I'd still like to have a bit of exclusives though), what I'm afraid is that digital will completely take over physical media and that's a nightmare for collectors like me.
Also, they had a daki in some of those?
The EU ver has them, so I assume the NA also has it.

http://estivalversus.com/projects/estival-versus-pre-order/

(http://i.imgur.com/NmfgTHD.png)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on March 17, 2016, 01:42:16 PM
I for one can see no downside to exclusives fading; more game for everyone!

Binged on Sonic Generations tje past few days, I beat the maingame and am working on the missions I skipped now.  Vector is a jerk and can go screw himself.  Stupid music notes.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: SlimeKid on March 17, 2016, 04:02:46 PM
Found trying out MGS1 to see how to plays out! I had MGS3 not too long ago, but thanks to my clumsiness, it's lost. Kinda been playing it on and off!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: liverwurt on March 17, 2016, 06:27:05 PM
Going through all of the Final Fantasies right now. Starting at VI.  :D
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Moogs Parfait on March 20, 2016, 05:43:33 PM
IV and V are worthy of a play through too
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on March 21, 2016, 11:58:04 AM
Going through all of the Final Fantasies right now. Starting at VI.  :D
I've been waiting for the rerelease of 9 via Steam for a couple of months now. It gets overlooked a bunch but its a favorite of a loyal group of fans and at least a few of the major staffers.
IV and V are worthy of a play through too
SOONnotreally (http://fourjobfiesta.com/)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on March 21, 2016, 02:58:12 PM
Divine Divinity, a sadly overlooked classic cRPG, often humorous mixture of Ultima VII and Diablo (as odd as it sounds; the Diablo part mostly refers to combat) with a very nice, detailed and developed world and significant interactivity. Superb music too. Sadly I was forced to restart the game after the first two days, when I realized that I picked an underhanded character class AND messed up skill distribution. It was probably still salvageable, but I didn't want to struggle too much. Oh well, the time invested so far was by no means wasted.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on March 22, 2016, 03:12:45 PM
Bloodborne. I suck SO much. ;-; But at least I'm getting a feel for the game now, and I feel comfortable now that I've restarted four times and looked up tips and tricks on how to start the game. It'll be a while before I think I'm gud enough to take on the Cleric Beast, though (that's how bad I am, and I'm strongly considering getting Father Gasciogne's help against it).

EDIT: Turns out that I just got gud, and beat Cleric Beast without Gasciogne and only using half of my healing items.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Failure McFailFace on March 24, 2016, 02:51:44 AM
Vainglory is the only MOBA that I play and exists on mobile devices.

It's fun. My LoL-playing friends say that VG is pretty much a simplified version of LoL.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mujie on March 24, 2016, 03:10:34 AM
I accidentally got into DOTA 2 and LoL because of some friends, after someone explaining how these games work I finally had an understanding a reason to play. I still end up feeding a shitton but it's the thought that counts
Who knew they were fun? cue "EVERYONE!"
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on March 24, 2016, 03:33:05 AM
I still play FF Record Keeper. Trying to not get so wrapped up in it and play regular video games but there's RL shit going on right now that's messing me up.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: jorjorbinks on March 25, 2016, 04:14:59 AM
I usually play TF2 for the sillinessand because im f2p scrub with the hats and taunts and whatnot.
I've been considering play LoL and DOTA 2 for a long time, but I've never gotten to it.
Although, right now, my current playlist consists of LOTRO. Finally found a few friends to play with. So that's great.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Spotty Len on March 30, 2016, 11:10:49 PM
I fell in love with Trails in the Sky, I think there is no other way to put it.

I am 20 hours in, and while I can understand people saying it is a bit slow, I have still been enjoying those hours a LOT. It has everything I ask in a RPG, I wonder why it took me so long to play this one.

And those empty chests are killing me.

Quote
(http://i.imgur.com/myy41Sp.jpg)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on April 01, 2016, 08:24:38 AM
So, uh...

I picked up Trillion yesterday.

Oh god why did I pick up yet another min/max game? Oh yeah, IF, that's why.

I think it says something about my chances when I learned about one very specific facet of how to deal a very specific kind of damage to Trillion in the actual fight, rather than through all the mock battles (where it doesn't ever apply) and the one major sortie we had during the tutorial (I'm pretty sure he didn't have what was necessary to make that apply).

26 billion in the first fight is okay, but considering that's all of 2.6% of its health, well...

Also, Range Seal OP in the first stage, since if you move correctly, no mob should ever get an attack off before you smash their face with your 3 range. (And preferably eat them afterward for the passive buff to attack per kill you should probably have. [Not literally, this ain't DDS.])

After some work, I upped my damage output to 100 billion for the sortie. 10% is a marked improvement, but now I'm a bit scared as to what's going to happen after the next Trillion sortie, since my Overlord is guaranteed gone after that. I have no doubts that I'll be able to at least up that to 150 billion; my doubts go to what I'm going to do with her dying strike. Binding him is almost certainly not necessary - not when I can dodge relatively safely now, both direct damage and additional time are tempting. Then again, ghost partner and skill learn speed up are both great options too...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on April 06, 2016, 02:41:26 AM
I seem to fluctuate between "got gud" and "got shit" in Bloodborne: it took me more than ten tries to beat the Blood Starved Beast, and while I've only tried Vicar Amelia once, I don't feel at all confident about fighting her. My concentration also gets shot when fighting enemies like the stalkers or the big heavy hitters, and my time in the Chalice dungeon has been disastrous.

A-at least the Plain Doll is supportive...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on April 13, 2016, 01:22:59 AM
Since I wrapped up Fire Emblem Fates I've been messing around with a borrowed copy of Mario Maker. I'm not really good at or into 2D Mario games at all, but I love the idea of the game and it's fun to just play around with. This is the first time a game other than Splatoon has ever been in my WiiU.

I was never good at Mario as a kid, and I can see that I haven't gotten much better with time. The jumping just feels so stiff and weird to me compared to, say, Crash Bandicoot. I guess I just don't have it burned into my mind like most people do and I can tell you it isn't easy to pick up if you're not used to it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on April 13, 2016, 12:32:13 PM
Dark Souls 3 is out. Prepare to get rekt. So far it feels like it combines all the strengths of the other games. A+ great work would die horribly again.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: NekoNekoRex on April 15, 2016, 08:10:07 PM
Just finished Ghost Trick. A DS puzzler with a murder mystery plot, made by the same guys who do Phoenix Wright.

It didn't think it would be more then just a cute little game at first but the game's plot really had hooked me by the end of it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on April 16, 2016, 06:36:24 AM
So Bravely Second came out in Europe and I didn't even know yet. In fact; I found out it came out in Febuary yesterday.

Ironically the NA release date. [Hey guys it's out in NA]

Mrgrgr....
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on April 16, 2016, 01:27:08 PM
It came out in Europe on my birthday which I was a tad cranky about but now it's finally in my hands  :V :V :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on April 18, 2016, 03:27:27 PM
Played (and beat) Stories: The Path of Destinies after seeing the Zaibatsu play it. It's pretty fun: you play a retired pirate as he tries to defeat the evil Emperor, only to inevitably die. But it's okay: you're actually reading a potential destiny in a book, and you learn something that can help you when you go on another path. I beat it in five hours, but I only got four out out twenty-four endings (as well as the True Ending).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on April 19, 2016, 01:36:55 PM
I hit the late game pretty hard in Fire Emblem Fates' Brithright route. Things got really troublesome with enemy placement, reinforcements galore, and units capable of one hit kill criticals. I played through two chapters in succession as one was real short. Then I got to the endgame and found out I couldn't save my progress. You start out surrounded and one of my characters took an unlucky 12% shot to the face which was enough for others to do him in via scratch damage. I also found out that reclassing the main character was a bit of a mistake due to legendary weapon craziness that I should have recognized from the start but wanted to play things my way. Whoops. I won in my mind. GG. Conquest route coming some time in the future.

Bravely Second is next and I look forward to cheesing it with characters dressed in silly outfits. My girlfriend and I are also debating whether to play Undertale or Final Fantasy 9 together. FF9 might be easier as I have some reservations about stubbornly dragging someone through the pacifist route in Undertale, considering how stupid I can be about them.

Speaking of which, I'm still playing Metal Gear Solid 5 and have tracked all of the times I got someone killed by accident. Fare thee well, sweet Running Lemming. I was going to knock you out until I walked into a mine which wound up taking you out. I wager you would have been sent to some far corner of the earth to die by my command anyhow.  :ohdear: :ohdear: :ohdear:
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The ⑨th Zentillion on April 20, 2016, 03:33:43 PM
KHUχ, KHUχ... and KHUχ, So this is what mobage madness feels like! Also, playing through Live A Live again thanks to the current LP of its Touhou parody on the board.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on April 23, 2016, 01:36:14 PM
Holy shit! Vanquish is so freaking awesome! Except I don't have PS3 or XBox and it's not available on steam, so I instead play Binary Domain. Hey, both of them have awesome American as the protagonist and the enemies are robots, so, it's almost the same right? Never thought turning robots into scrap metal would be so much fun, especially if the robots are huge (though it has the side effect of reducing my fps to single digit). It's been almost 2 months since I played a game that is not Touhou Fangame. Since I need to continue my LP tomorrow, and I can't play 2 games at a time, I ended up rushing through the game. Yeah, 15$ game, finished in 2 days. Not the best way to play.

I also played an awesome iOS game called Implosion: Never Lose Hope from the creator of Cytus and Deemo. It's a Hack-and-Slash with a robot as your character. It is awesome, but due to my iPad being almost 4 years old, it always crashes constantly. So, I ended up being afraid more of the game crashes more so than the enemies. A huge-ass boss? Think about beating it later, please don't crash before I beat the boss.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Glaceon Mage on April 24, 2016, 05:11:33 PM
Right now I'm replaying Dragon Quest VIII, little over 60 hours into the run and am on the post Soulstone treasure hunt.

I'm trying to beat Numen/God in VII, but grinding for UltraHit... And I have no Oomph/TwinHits either.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Validon98 on April 25, 2016, 09:33:41 PM
On one hand, I'm casually playing Puzzle and Dragons (having started it like about a month ago) ever so often and steamrolling things (except descended dungeons because ahahahaha no I can't do those) with a Verdandi team (and not mentioning it in the actual PaD thread because I don't feel like it).

On the other hand, I've been playing Final Fantasy XIV on an alt and slowly going through the 2.x content a second time on a mad dash to Heavensward stuff.

On the other other hand, I've gotten to Gate 4 in Distorted Travesty 3 and am slowly killing my soul through the insanity that is Mega Man-inspired hellish platforming. Though the bosses kinda go down really easily.

...God I wish I could play Dark Souls 3 though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on April 28, 2016, 09:24:53 AM
It's kind of amazing how much salt Iffy's getting from Hyperdevotion and Action Unleashed. People who don't like the chibi style, people who hate the translations, people who hate pages of DLC, never mind that's what happened during the Vita release...

It's so silly.

Anyway, Gemcraft: Chasing Shadows and Omega Quintet. I feel underleveled for the former and overleveled for the latter....
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on April 28, 2016, 06:15:44 PM
Re: Action Unleashed
That's Neptunia U, right?
I really want to like the idea, but I see one of the mechanics(the whole clothing destruction thing) and it's like "Why did you have to ruin a perfectly good thiiiiing!?"

(I'm aware that for other people thaf is either not a negative or even a positive, but on my end it's like whyyyyy)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on April 29, 2016, 03:53:03 PM
The real final boss of games like Dark Souls 3 doesn't come at the end of the game. It's you all along. There's so much freedom in creating a character with a specific kind of build that you wind up quitting your current run just so you can restart with something better or just plain different. In that sense, I've already had 4 permanent game overs. Hopefully a flat strength build will be enough to put the kibosh on my bad habits.

Also my girlfriend and I played through Undertale over the course of last weekend. I won't say it's perfect but we really enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on April 29, 2016, 09:17:39 PM
Re: Action Unleashed
That's Neptunia U, right?
I really want to like the idea, but I see one of the mechanics(the whole clothing destruction thing) and it's like "Why did you have to ruin a perfectly good thiiiiing!?"

(I'm aware that for other people thaf is either not a negative or even a positive, but on my end it's like whyyyyy)
Well, it's a derivative of those Senran Kagura games, so I'm not sure why it's surprising.

Free weekend for the Ghost in the Shell PVP shooter. It feels kind of weird to play, but it could be fun.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on April 29, 2016, 09:39:40 PM
I did not know it was based on Senran, having never looked into that series; hearing that and the bit I DO know makes it makes sense though.  I'm just not the target market which is fine.  Got my stockpile of Neps now anyway for a while, heh.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Drake on April 30, 2016, 02:38:34 AM
I've been playing Enter the Gungeon lately. It's pretty good; a roguelike top-down semi-bullet-hell with a really great theme and aesthetic. More bullet hell than Isaac, but more cover shooter than true bullet hell. Actually quite difficult and has plenty of content that isn't trivially obtained. Even the achievements are generally worth calling actual achievements. Worth the money I threw at it after watching a couple streams.

You can actually watch me play it for a little bit right now. (https://www.twitch.tv/drakeirving)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CelestialFire on April 30, 2016, 04:54:02 AM
I've went back to Runescape. I'm enjoying the new client, especially the new water textures and whatnot. There's this annoying input lag that makes me click on everything a bunch of times though (it existed in the old version too). The community is really nice: bunch of drop parties, lots of help if needed, etc. I really enjoy fishing, mainly because everybody just chats all day.

Sometimes, I'll go and play some TF2, but I'm not that good and I usually derp a lot. But it's fun!!!!!!!!!!!

There's also this game called Tanki Online that I play quite a bit, but for me it's a love/hate relationship because the battle chat is often toxic, it's quite pay2win, and it's mostly the same maps over and over, even though there's like 20 others that need some love. But the upsides of it are that its simplicity is its charm, and that it's addictive. I tell myself "30 mins then do other stuff so it can get done early" but that turns into an hour or more.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on May 01, 2016, 10:10:19 PM
Contemplating as whether or not i should buy bullet heaven 2 on steam

looks good but $9 is kinda pricey considering there's a 'free' version on Kongregate
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Teewee on May 02, 2016, 02:00:47 AM
Have any of you beaten Hyperdevotion Noire? If so, how balanced is it, compared to the mainline Neptunia games?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: yomichiyu on May 03, 2016, 04:39:37 AM
Been playing the Warriors Orochi series again. Not sure if that's a good idea since I have other games I need to finish/continue playing, especially Hyrule Warriors Legends (which I've played continuously since it came out). But on the plus side, it'll give me more reasons to persuade a friend to try the WO games. We're huge fans of the Warriors franchise but he hasn't play much games from it :V

Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on May 03, 2016, 08:11:41 PM
Looking for netplay co-op partners for some good old games - Doom 1/2, its megawads and other games on that engine, Build engine games (Duke Nukem 3D etc.), Serious Sam (original TFE and TSE), maybe even something on arcade/console emulators too.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Hope ♦ Metal on May 04, 2016, 07:41:14 AM
Contemplating as whether or not i should buy bullet heaven 2 on steam

looks good but $9 is kinda pricey considering there's a 'free' version on Kongregate
Well you'd get to fight more bosses (among other things, but this is the most important one obviously), but I can't say how difficult they are because I don't have the Steam version.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: NekoNekoRex on May 05, 2016, 11:49:56 AM
Bought the Carpe Fulgr bundle and have been replaying Recettear as well as playing Fortune Summoners.

On that note:
(http://i.imgur.com/y0EGwX3.png)

Fortune Summoners is absolutely adorable, it's also got really strong gameplay. It's an action platformer with pretty strong AI, and heavily reliant on stunlocking and comboing foes since they tend to be pretty devious and good at dodging (the tougher ones will stunlock you just as readily as you can them). The learning curve is tough and the game takes a lot of real skill to play (trying to button mash with your sword will just result in enemies dodging you and killing you), but its fantastic.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on May 06, 2016, 12:03:27 AM
help overwatch is fun I do not have the money for this
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on May 06, 2016, 02:48:27 PM
I did choose to buy bullet heaven 2

and the bosses are really hard

Which is good  :)

now i have to convice my siblings to play the game with me because it comes with local multiplayer
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Las Vegas Typhoon on May 06, 2016, 04:35:53 PM
For the past few weeks I've been playing a lot of Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide.

If you like Left 4 Dead then you should definitely get this game. There's greater melee focus and it's all around harder, but lots of replayability with the loot system and variety of weapon types for the 5 characters to choose from. One of my favourite parts is the Tomes and Grimoires you can pick up at the expense of healing items and maximum health to increase your odds of rolling good loot at the end. Maybe bring some friends if you want any hope of scraping by with such handicaps though. Also prior knowledge of Warhammer is entirely optional.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on May 09, 2016, 05:32:33 PM
I finally settled down on a few different builds to toy around with in Dark Souls 3. Namely, a pure strength build, a faith build, and a quality/luck build. The latter two are for down the road. I'm running my strength build right now.

I was invading as a Farron Watchdog and wasn't doing all that well. Sure, I'm a the friendliest invader there ever was and sure, I was gank spanked 2/3rds of the time without the host reciprocating my friendliness, but I lost like 12 times in a row. I was just hanging around hoping to not suck when I got pulled into one final person's game. I managed to get a 4 hit combo in with a broadsword, pushing the host back in order to buy my enough breathing room to strong attack bait parry into a weapon swap riposte with a heavy infused greataxe. The host panic rolled right off the only cliff in the stage. It felt far too professional and cold and I felt so bad that I swore off this kind of thing and stopped playing for the night. It makes me miss the bell tower guys from DS2 as well.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 10, 2016, 09:54:29 AM
Picked up Shadow Complex Remastered. It looks like you have to do early Foam skip in order to get the speedrun achievements, even with the Golden Inertial Element. Now if only I could manage the skip in the first place.

Also, tired of violating Trillion in the same way it violated me in my first run, so I picked up 999 and Hypertagmension.

(Also, Valkyria Chronicles Remastered is next week, so that's a thing. Just wish it came packaged with VC2 or something.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on May 15, 2016, 02:50:50 AM
Disgaea has an odd sense of humor, to say the least. But it's still great!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Hope ♦ Metal on May 15, 2016, 10:23:59 AM
The last thing I played was The Binding of Issac Afterbirth. (who even plays this anymore lol) I'm still pretty bad (after 137 hours in total) at it so I need to rely on good items spawning to make me OP.

I installed Thief 2 over a week ago. (who even plays this anymore lol) And I haven't actually played it yet. I think I need to install a patch thingy but I didn't do that yet so I can't play it yet.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Las Vegas Typhoon on May 15, 2016, 03:25:01 PM
I installed Thief 2 over a week ago. (who even plays this anymore lol) And I haven't actually played it yet. I think I need to install a patch thingy but I didn't do that yet so I can't play it yet.
Literally just yesterday I finished another run of its fan-made expansion Thief 2X, and also the base game before that. It's probably one of my favourite games ever and I only got into it around 2011.

For patches, you'll wanna get the latest version of NewDark (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141148) at minimum. If you're running a Steam copy, close Steam before changing anything.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on May 17, 2016, 09:37:45 PM
New Doom looks real awesome but my PC is nowhere near being good enough to run it. So I'm replaying Shadow Warrior on Insane instead. Both of them are reboots done right, after all. Also doing a proper playthrough of Serious Sam. Started with Normal, but definitely can see myself trying harder difficulties afterwards. I also wanted to play System Shock 2 on top of all that, but I'm in no mood for learning whatever pagan rituals are required to make it work on a newer OS.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Romantique Tp on May 17, 2016, 11:11:22 PM
The updated version of System Shock 2 that was released on Steam works on any modern version of Windows.

https://www.bundlestars.com/en/bundle/fps-heroes-bundle
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on May 18, 2016, 04:33:40 PM
I have a physical copy, thankyouverymuch.

Well, I do remember where I got all the fixes from, and Windows 7 shouldn't have any extra problems. I just postpone figuring everything out again until later.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on May 18, 2016, 07:47:56 PM
First run through Dark Souls 3 is almost complete! A pure faith build is up next and already in the works. Then comes a luck-based quality/bleed build. Then a pure dark/pyro wizard.

Send help.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on May 18, 2016, 08:05:41 PM
Meanwhile in Serious Sam: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

(Translation: Reached Dunes. Aforementioned sound now stuck in the brain forever. The final stretch of the previous level showed that Marsh Hoppers are SCARY. Game officially stopped pulling punches.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 20, 2016, 10:08:48 AM
Finished up the main story in MegaTagmension. I'm surprised, and a little saddened that the whole Magical Noirina thing was basically only one scene without a CG. I feel like she was trying to channel Uzume/Orange Heart, but failboated hard. (Also, Vert had a different VA this time, I think?)

Also a bit salty that the Backstage Talk and the Multiplay scenes were not dubbed (there's automatic JP voices, though).

I made a dry run of the Jason Bailey trophy in Shadow Complex, but the actual attempt is probably going to have to wait a day or two.

Progress on advancing my ADLER on the tech tree is proceeding apace, thanks to the 2nd Anniversary event resuming million drops. I'll have to put it through its paces, though, if I want to get decent parts on it. NTDM is on, but I'll probably have to play 1500 Restricted to avoid being in rooms with craft with 2200 cost.

The ADLER's MGP is absurd, compared to the MGPs of the three other craft with them. FOUR separate gun pods? Sign me up!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on May 20, 2016, 10:49:59 PM
NewDark patch for System Shock 2 works like a charm, so time to take a leisurely stroll through the Von Braun on Impossible.

And it seems that playing three games at the same time isn't enough for me so I've also started Max Payne on DoA. The best part is that I'm still doing pretty fine in all games.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 21, 2016, 08:44:11 AM
Oh man, I just brought out my ADLER for a brief NTDM sortie. My first sortie, I don't think anyone expected the Attacker to be the fleet defender, and they died in literal droves to my quad-MGP.

Then the very next sortie the room host saw what a threat I was, brought in a Mobius craft and completely trainwrecked my side.

I think I need to swap my advanced airbreaks for actual maneuverability in NTDM.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on May 23, 2016, 09:34:34 PM
More about Serious Sam. Metropolis is where the game finally unleashes the first multi-wave horde at you. At such points if you fail to handle the huge groups of enemies that are thrown at you properly then you're getting swept away, no questions asked. Thankfully, bullet hell skills can see some good use here. Well, seeing half a hundred harpies together sure made wading through all that worth it.

In System Shock 2, my jack-of-all-trades character have reached Deck 4 and feels pretty comfortable with all the weapons you can find by that point at his disposal. Impossible my foot.

EDIT: Ditching System Shock 2 run because, well, been there, done that, and it's not all that challenging past this point. However, I'll do something actually challenging instead - runs that focus on one weapon type only. Yes, that includes a pure Psionic build. Anyone here wants to see a Let's Play of those?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on May 26, 2016, 09:09:39 AM
Started Total War: Warhammer.

Playing a Imperal Campaign, and Successionists managed to rally and attack me with a larger army. I had ~1,200 men; they had ~1,700. I had more missile troops and a unit of Cavalry while they were mostly spears and swords.

I put my 3 units of swords out to take the brunt, and move my spears to the flanks as my swords get butchered. I start winning the flank battles [2 spears on each flank flanking] but my swords start to break and my missile guys behind them don't take long after...

Then my single unit of cavalrey, who have run around and killed their archers; slam in from the back.

The day was won... the enemy taking about 400 more casulties than we did. The cavalry unit alone killed 401 men.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on May 27, 2016, 04:22:54 AM
After trudging through the first act and two thirds of the second act of Ar nosurge, it's FINALLY getting really good, and I'm now excited about playing it again. And Turbo is now turning out to be a decent character.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 27, 2016, 08:04:55 AM
After trudging through the first act and two thirds of the second act of Ar nosurge, it's FINALLY getting really good, and I'm now excited about playing it again. And Turbo is now turning out to be a decent character.
You're certainly going to enjoy act 3. It's going to be a bit crazy. Really, I feel as though the first two acts are aimed more toward those who've played Ciel nosurge (which is basically worse than the minority everywhere but Japan) and already know exactly what everyone's going on about.

Anyway, since Amazon is awful at shipping cross-country, I'm still playing Omega Quintet. I honestly don't know whether it's good or bad that anything that isn't a chapter boss either gets wiped really easily, or it's so strong that if I don't take it down within a couple of turns, it's likely to wipe me. I think I'm en route to the true ending, but I've forgotten the exact requirements and I don't really want to check it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on May 27, 2016, 01:07:10 PM
You're certainly going to enjoy act 3. It's going to be a bit crazy. Really, I feel as though the first two acts are aimed more toward those who've played Ciel nosurge (which is basically worse than the minority everywhere but Japan) and already know exactly what everyone's going on about.
That wasn't the issue I was having, the issues I was having was, among other things, Turbo being a godawful character and his half of the story being pretty banal, the villains ranging from being frustrating assholes to being absolutely horrible people that shouldn't be empathized with (compounded by my roomie crushing on Zill (which she's probably doing just to annoy me)), and the crafting. The godawful, boring crafting.

Oh, and the obvious decline in quality and ~*~effort~*~ from Ciel nosurge to Ar nosurge. Ciel nosurge had pretty good character animations and at least attempted to direct scenes to be coherent and interesting to look at (though they sort of went overboard with the boob physics). Ar nosurge has some of the shittiest directing I've ever seen: staring at a single character while there's other characters reacting to a drama bomb off screen is the laziest and most wasted opportunity I've ever seen, and defies everything known about directing a scene.

Which really sucks, because there are some fantastic scenes that actually have good scene direction that actually sent chills down my spine, in particular
the scene after Turbo plays hide and seek with Nelo so that Nelo can prove a point about the crazy fourth wall shit, coupled with Nelo directly addressing the player in a kind of unnerving moment, and the scene when Turbo and Cass are getting help from Nay and Sarly to save the Sharl, and Prim is in the foreground staring at you.
That, and coupled with Turbo's character improving after they start having him stop being a complete moron and the honestly touching romantic moments between him and Cass
as well as actually going somewhere with the romance when Cass and Turbo affirm their feelings for each other after the reveal about what's happening to Turbo (which Tales of Symphonia did first but quite honestly they did a really good job with the sharing senses scene)
shows that they could have made this into a fantastic game that could have possibly given Ar Tonelico 2 a run for its money. But instead, they went all ~*~zero effort~*~ with the game, because I guess their technical juices were eaten up by Ciel nosurge or something.

Also, Prim. Prim is the absolute worst character. I thought that Zill was my least favorite character but no, Prim takes the cake and shoves it down her cakehole. I've been wanting to throw Prim off the side of the ship for a long while, and she's been getting worse about it.

That said, holy crap there's a sudden jump in the quality of the story in the last third of the second act. Shame the technical aspects don't jump up, but I'll take what I can get. Also, totally shipping Ion and Kanon.
And Ion and Nay. And Ion and Nelico. Basically, I want Ion to have a harem of cute girls, and I want her to stop crushing on me dammit, just get gayer.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on May 27, 2016, 05:55:47 PM
Final Fantasy X endgame is a goddamn busywork. Getting everyone's ultimate weapon involves Chocobo minigame, dodging 200 lighting in a row, playing red-light green-light with Cactuar, butteflies catching (yes that is a thing, who ever thought this was a good idea for minigame?), and basically capturing every enemy in the game. But getting it really pay off though. Who wouldn't want to two shot the final boss?

Back then, I usually wouldn't play a game if the main character is women. Even if I tolerate it now, I still got weirded out of playing Final Fantasy X-2. I don't know why, maybe it's because of the dress sphere part (basically job system with over-the-top costume).

Early in my Touhou-A-Live let's play, I discovered a Chinese Touhou Horror fangame called Ayaria Hazard. Horror is the last genre you'll expect from a Touhou fangame. I wonder, how fun it is to play a Touhou horror game?

The result: It's good, the arts are nice, the game is hard, the story is interesting (if you know what the hell they're saying, it's in chinese), but the control is lousy. You press up to jump, Z to interact, X to sprint. I got so used to pressing Z to jump that I often fail to jump. Also, pressing up and X simultaneously is really awkward. I can't beat the first boss Rumia, touching her is instant death and her danmaku is specifically set to stuns you. I really love bad ends, but seeing her eating me over and over is just... tiring. (Maybe that's why Mogeko games are piss easy)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 28, 2016, 07:01:50 AM
Also, Prim. Prim is the absolute worst character. I thought that Zill was my least favorite character but no, Prim takes the cake and shoves it down her cakehole. I've been wanting to throw Prim off the side of the ship for a long while, and she's been getting worse about it.
Prim's the Genom girl, right? It's very likely you'll be kicking yourself and/or shitting bricks once you learn why this is actually a thing.

(It's admittedly been a while since I've last played Ar nosurge. Really should pick Plus back up.)



Aaaaanyway, I'm very likely destroying my processor by playing Gemcraft: Chasing Shadows the way I am right now. Having gotten all of the unique field achievements, I'm starting to do Endurance runs. One of the major things to do before Endurance starts proper is to summon extreme numbers of enemies every single wave. Like creature wave cap numbers.

I think it's time I started using Bloodbound gems instead of Poolbound.



Anyway anyway anyway, it looks like Yomawari and Criminal Girls 2 are finally getting preorders set up through NISA and Amazon. Yomawari is getting bundled with htoL#NiQ, too, in case you haven't gotten it yet. Argh, I need more funds to funnel into games!

Obligatory link to what they have to change in Criminal Girls 2: Here. (http://nisamerica.com/blog/CG2) Like the previous game, they're doing some censoring (stuff like actual bondage, removing the voices during Motivation), but at least they're tapping the original artist to redraw the things they're going to have to modify.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on June 03, 2016, 07:05:03 PM
Had excellent fun playing Victoria II: Heart of Darkness these past few days. Although I managed to mess up nearly every single aspect of the gameplay (unnecessarily bled out in wars against the United Kingdom, played the Mexican War all wrong, missed out on the opportunity of colonialism, failed at industrialization etc), playing as the United States was very forgiving. I even got to intervene in South American conflicts and played a small part in the Great War. Having learned a lot about the game, I'm now ready to oppress underdeveloped nations, exploit the workforce and project my military power until great empires crumble and bow before our might.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 04, 2016, 08:11:41 PM
Can somebody remind me how hard the original F.E.A.R. is? Compared to what I already play at the moment, anyway.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 06, 2016, 06:01:51 AM
Well, this is interesting. The Legend of Zelda symphony (http://zelda-symphony.com/pages/schedule) is making another run. Going international, too.

Also, you can buy a Wind Waker off the site too (control over wind/tornadoes/people/statues not included).

Even though I went last year, I'm kind of tempted to buy a ticket for this one, too, never mind that it comes here mid-January.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on June 06, 2016, 06:01:19 PM
Can somebody remind me how hard the original F.E.A.R. is? Compared to what I already play at the moment, anyway.
I don't know what you play, but speaking as someone that is okay at best at shooters and a total wimp when it comes to horror, F.E.A.R. wasn't that bad.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 06, 2016, 07:51:51 PM
I don't know what you play, but speaking as someone that is okay at best at shooters and a total wimp when it comes to horror, F.E.A.R. wasn't that bad.

Well, I'm playing Max Payne on DoA among other things, and I consider it a strict but manageable and fun challenge. From what I've heard, you can die from just a few hits in F.E.A.R. on hardest difficulty. Which sounds like Max Payne on DoA, really.

Oh, yeah. I'm not all that big fan of horror. Tolerant of scares, but not so much of icky stuff. I guess I'll be fine, though I'll probably turn away whenever Fettel's mug is on screen.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 06, 2016, 09:08:09 PM
So I got two of my three packages today. One was not what I was expecting.

So I'm going to go play Atelier Sophie today, and not Valkyria Chronicles Remastered.

EDIT: So I just learned that the PS4's recording function only does the last fifteen minutes of use. So that's completely useless for me for what I was trying to do with it.

EDIT2: I just learned that you can obliterate the Batomys' radiators with one unit, in one turn, with no Potentials (though naturally only once per firing). God damn it, I should have figured it out once I noticed that the things were basically basins.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: チソウ タイゼン on June 12, 2016, 11:02:18 PM
when i'm not subsumed in fire emblem or league of legends i take a little bit to work on games that i'm making (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEDf6gcmljU&feature=youtu.be)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on June 14, 2016, 03:12:54 AM
Just finished playing Touhou Koumakyou ~ Scarlet Family. It's average, flawed, but still fun to play.

The story is simple, but stupid. Apparently Remilia wanted to fight Reimu, so she decided to visit the Shrine... by digging underground. But the Shrine entrance is sealed, cheeky bastard.
Also, the ending is very stupidly funny. All the past incidents? It's all Reimu's doing.

You play as the member of Scarlet family sans Koakuma. Your objective is to explore the underground network of SDM and break the seal to Hakurei Shrine. You starts with strength value of 3 and pitiful amount of health and you get more upgrade as you went on. You can also find common equipment that increases certain stats, character specific equipment that give them field ability to access more places (this should be equipped at all times) and one that gives strengthen their attack, and coins that you use to unlock the final area.

This game has some flaws. First, you can only save in your base, which is on the very beginning of the cave. Dying in the middle of expedition? You just lost half an hour progress, congratulation. You can buy instant teleporter, but early on, it's pretty expensive. Second, most dungeon can only be accesses by a certain person only, that's because most of them requires their ability. Items that you can get by backtracking by using later character are few and far in between. Third, small enemy variety. Last, lack of boss variety, this it Touhou fangame, I expected to encounter Touhou character, not a variation of Yukkuri.

At first, the game can be fairly hard due to the lack of strength and resources. But as you gains more money, health, strength, and equipment, you'll gain the resources and strength to do a long expedition and the game becomes much more fun. Like I said before, the bosses lack variation. The area bosses are just variation of Yukkuri. Bullet hell yukkuri, spider yukkuri, samurai-head yukkuri, and another spider yukkuri. It's only until after you get Remi's equipment that you finally get to fight Touhou character... And they're not exactly fun to fight.

Now, I'm looking forward to play the sequel and hoped they improved the game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 14, 2016, 12:32:14 PM
I wonder, should I start F.E.A.R. on hardest difficulty from the get-go, or should I go through all of them to study the game gradually? Considering that your ammo, enemy health and their amount don't change, I don't see much point in the latter.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on June 18, 2016, 03:55:00 PM
Well, they certainly improves Boho Youyoumu from the first game. Now you can save and heal from the shop, the teleport item are much cheaper, more collectibles to collects (although majority of them involves hidden path, at least I'm genre savvy), and actually we get to fight Touhou character from Youyoumu (PCB). Now I understand why Scarlet Family doesn't have much bosses: 80% of EoSD bosses are members of Scarlet Family, and we control them.

The enemies variety are mostly the same, with the addition of Spirits and Metal Kedama (like the one in Dragon Quest, rare, loves to escape, gives loads of money). Spirits are annoying, you see, this game has a gimmick: karma. The game doesn't want Youmu to be murdering fellow spirit (fairies and kedama genocide's still fine), so killing spirit increases her karma, higher karma means less strength and defense. But as long as you take care not to kill spirit, you won't get any karma.

The bosses in this game are hard. As expected, they all use danmaku. It's actually rather difficult to avoid danmaku in platformer, plus Youmu only got her swords to fight them, so that doesn't help. Youmu's rather fast movement speed and jumping momentum makes it hard to dodge, at least her hitbox is small though, that helps. Also, halfway through the game you get dash which allows you to graze them, that also helps. Why can I only adapt to Megamari in terms of platformer bullet hell?

 Anyway, just like Touhou, there are 6 bosses + extra. Letty is easy. Chen is probably one of the hardest boss, she bounces all over the room while spraying her trademark danmaku, her movement makes it very hard for her to pin down, and getting close to her means taking a bullet to the face. Alice is pretty simple, 2 of her pattern are easy to dodge, plus she moves toward your x and y position making her easy to bait and attack. Prismriver are jerks, they circle around the very large room while spraying and they all have separate (large) life bar takes takes a while to deplete even if I'm one shotting every enemies in the area. I won with barely any health left (I think only one pixel left). Since Youmu is our character, we'll have Yukkuri boss instead, it's a large target and don't use danmaku, enough said. The final boss ironically is not Yuyuko, instead it's the same yahoos like the previous game, Reimu. She's annoying, her attack is just spraying amulet in your general direction before she stops for 1 second. Circle strafing (in 2 dimension) works best, except unlike Doom Marine, she doesn't have BFG-9000, only her swords + store bought Kirisame sword, so fighting her is just tedious thanks to having to avoid for 80% of the time. In second phase, she adds big amulet into the mix, again, just circle strafe. Third phase is Fantasy Seal and its ridiculous homing, I find it much faster if you just tanks it and slash her face rather than dashing like crazy.

After tackling the main story, you can challenge the extra dungeon if you want to. This requires your karma point to be max, this essentially nuking your str and def. The extra dungeon presents the toughest enemies (made even tougher with nuked stats), their sheer numbers and danmaku can truly challenge you... if I can't cut down bullets and two shot enemies, but they can still takes nearly 2/3 your health bar. The extra boss, which is not Yukari but Sakuya is the hardest boss. She jumps around while spraying slow bullets to you that is easy to avoid but still enough to keep you from slashing her. But that's not why she is hard, she's hard because her attack takes 85% of your health, and that's with me having maxed HP, and she has ridiculous defense that my attack seems to take only 1 pixel of her health bar, and again, that is with me having nearly max strength. Needless to say, I can't beat her. I'm not going to bother with boss that takes 10 minutes to beat where five mistakes at best sends you back.

EDIT: Three games and they couldn't find other final boss than Reimu. That's it, I'm done. In Scarlet Family 2, Reimu is significantly weaker. She doesn't have Fantasy Seal and her bullets can be erased, I curbstomp her... badly. Seriously, look at this video. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kG0n30E_eA) (EX-Rumia version) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lYx7JCv7JE)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on June 20, 2016, 04:47:57 PM
Finished Max Payne. Not nearly as hard as I remember, but nicely challenging nonetheless. Managed to get through with an intuitive use of the limited savegames. Seems like the game is nicely balanced in that regard.

Tried out F.E.A.R. and will start it on Extreme soon. It's funny to see a game that was in slideshow mode on my old machine run smoothly at max settings now. I'd have to say the graphics are a mixed bag. Some things like lighting, shadows and bullet holes are impressive even now, while some other effects like dust clouds made of huge sprites look cheap. Maybe I got spoiled by better stuff, or maybe the astronomical framerate makes such things more obvious. Still, the game seems nice anyway. That AI alone sure makes it worth to try out.

Oh, also finished Shadow Warrior. I could barely find any good guides about it, so I'll make my own writeup about weapons, upgrades and enemies.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on June 25, 2016, 04:49:14 AM
I still play FF Record Keeper. Hit me up at XqSB if you want a Shout RW. That's about the only "worthy" SB I have. Still stuck at 2 medicas and neither of them are Curaga-level, no wall, no BSB, nobody wants damage RWs unless they're new, so...yeah. Festival tomorrow, though. I'm hitting up the first and fourth banners. After that I'm just going to stockpile mythril until probably the Shorthair Garnet event. Beatrix's SSB returns, and it's pretty much the best FF9 banner since the first one in the Beatrix event, and will not be topped in the Eiko+Viki BSB Event (the banners are too "balance of physical and magical" for a player who prefers one or the other). Golem Flute becomes Fairy Flute, Exploda gets replaced by Partisan (Def+Res Breakdown that's single-target), they add Steiner's SSB, and Amarant's "solid SB that hits one right down the middle" fist weapon is there as well.

I'm playing my PS2 a bit, too. It was in storage for a few months because I couldn't have too much nerdy shit hooked up while the house was on sale. It's nice getting back into PS2 SRW. I really missed that. I borrowed Tales of Zestiria from my friend and it's slow going. I might just give it back next time I see him. I just don't like it enough to want to beat it. Hopefully Berseria's better. I get my Vita back on Sunday. I let my friend borrow it while she was on vacation here.  So hopefully I can get some time in on that.

There's an SRW coming out on the 30th but I'll wait a while until I have the money for it. I'm not in a huge rush to get it, and I figure getting it a little late means some of the secrets'll be cracked, and unit data will be typed up (not from the guide, but from in-game) so I could do some planning in advance.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: NekoNekoRex on June 25, 2016, 10:20:53 PM
Lots of Don't Starve and Don't Starve Together. Logged about 50 hours combined last week, but at the cost of a burnout. 

Just bought Thomas Was Alone because "lol 3 bux" and enjoying it so far.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Moogs Parfait on June 26, 2016, 02:56:51 AM
I'm playing reading Highway Blossoms.  The characters are super simple, protag is mourning her grandad who raised her and she picks up Useless Pretty Girl on the road, but the plot is fun and it's just...enjoyable.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: hinanawiscarlet on June 26, 2016, 02:59:05 PM
Been playing Hearts of Iron 4 and postponing my Radiant Historia walkthrough because I have short attention span.
Personally I think it's far easier than the 3rd installment, because most of the thing is automated and abstracted to the abstract degree. The interface is also better, no annoying popups everytime you take someone's province. The icons are larger and easier to see.

Also, new member.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on June 28, 2016, 04:25:10 AM
Hopefully my quitting FFRK will stick. I can't do this gasha mobile game crap anymore. Pay-once regular RPGs are fine. They don't have gasha crap required for the best stuff. I was at this for almost nine months, and then I decided it was time I just didn't do it anymore. So...guess I'll get back to work on FE Fates. I'm a normal casual playing on normal casual, I don't care if it doesn't make me a real player or whatever. I'm too old to give a shit. Already planned out the marriages for Birthright and Revelation. Just need to get far-enough in Birthright so the marriagepocalypse will begin.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on June 29, 2016, 05:36:34 AM
Three words:

Zero Time Dilemma
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on June 29, 2016, 12:47:16 PM
Three words:

Zero Time Dilemma
Friday can't come soon enough. ;_;
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on June 29, 2016, 04:28:48 PM
UGH SAME
I order off Amazon for the Prime discount and because they got me Bravely Second on release day and now welp  :fail:
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on June 29, 2016, 04:38:38 PM
Three words:

Zero Time Dilemma

...Which opens up on steam in 23 minutes.

I actually mistimed it by about an hour because apparently Steam thinks that "1 Hour and 59 minutes" = "About 1 Hour".

Still though, in 23 minutes we get to see the (maybe) final result of Operation: Bluebird in action. I cannot be more hyped.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Cirnouli K. on June 29, 2016, 04:45:01 PM
Four years or so late, I've finally gotten the opportunity to play Skyrim to it's fullest potential (as much as I can with this garbage computer-)...

And it's just as fun as I thought it'd be, once I modded it into Oblivion and back (hah!). Mods truly enhance everything with the game, and I'm rather glad I spent the ten bucks on it.

Now to just get the DLC... What do you guys suggest I get first? Dawnguard, Dragonborn, or Hearthfire? Can't get all three just yet 'cause of money issues.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on June 29, 2016, 09:28:07 PM
I got Dragon Age: Inquisition yesterday. Holy shit, this first area (Hinterlands) is HUGE. And it still has the same issue as Skyrim/New Vegas where it's "SHEER CLIFFS EVERYWHERE" so the shortest distance between two points is a half-circle or something. Playing Female Elf Rogue, btw. I also have a female Qunari warrior. I've always wanted to make a parallel universe Yuugi in an RPG.

As for Skyrim, Dawnguard has a new companion who never loses their essential status (meaning invulnerable second target), so that's a plus.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 30, 2016, 05:29:39 AM
ZTD: I love how anticlimatic that first ending is.

Anyway, trying to get some traction in the Hard Skirmishes in VCR. Looks like Scout rushing will have to be a thing, since enemy Shocktroopers have absurd anti-personnel capability.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on June 30, 2016, 09:40:49 AM
At about 15 hours in, I am now done Zero Time Dilemma.

I will not even write spoiler tags here that people might accidentally see.

Because holy shit.  When everything starts coming together and getting revealed towards the ending, it is a ride.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on June 30, 2016, 12:00:16 PM
Only 15 hours?  I clocked over twice that for VLR....
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on June 30, 2016, 02:54:40 PM
Only 15 hours?  I clocked over twice that for VLR....
I didn't think VLR was that long, I managed to beat it in two days.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on June 30, 2016, 03:49:25 PM
I don't have my copy on me to check but I know my clear time was in the 30+ hour plus range. Maybe I'm just a moron at puzzles or something :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on June 30, 2016, 10:06:51 PM
I don't have my copy on me to check but I know my clear time was in the 30+ hour plus range. Maybe I'm just a moron at puzzles or something :V
It could also be that I played it obsessively over those two days: I checked the times I got cheevos, and, well, I'm not certain I actually slept. :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on July 01, 2016, 08:30:57 AM
I think the thing about VLR being longer is that they spend way more time in there with exposition, especially since the nine participants meet up together quite a bit. Plus, the rooms are more packed with puzzles in general, since you have the note safe puzzles to figure out along with the escape safe puzzles.

I kinda really miss that in ZTD.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on July 01, 2016, 08:34:46 AM
Well, I actually just re-finished VLR; and in review I actually took the same 19 hours of time to finish VLR as I did to finish ZTD, now that I've checked.

But yeah.  The lack of descriptive dialogue/monologuing is a drastic difference.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on July 01, 2016, 02:08:24 PM
I've also felt that ZTD's puzzles are shorter than VLR's or 999's, which is good since I kind of felt like they dragged sometimes.

Right now, I'm not quite done with ZTD yet, I'm nearing the end but... I need to take a break because I'm literally having bodily reactions (pounding head, shaking and constant chills down my spine) after a certain event in the game, which I won't mention to avoid any and all spoilers.

Still though, the fact that the game is legit giving me such large reactions speaks volumes of its quality.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on July 01, 2016, 02:21:05 PM
aaaaaaa MAIL COME FASTER  >:( >:( >:( >:(
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: notverycreative on July 02, 2016, 01:34:16 AM
I'm done with Global FF Record Keeper. 150 mythril and I went 1/33. Not only that, the 1 was a clone of an SB I have for another realm on a character who's better. So fuck that. I'm still playing on JP because you can't blank 11x pulls anymore. You still have a chance to get garbage, but my luck's been pretty awesome so far (SQUALL OSB) and at this point I'm just saving for the anniversary in September (well, they SHOULD have a thing for the 2-year anniversary like they did last year). So now I only have one mobile game that's making me waste my time, meaning I'll have more time for regular gaming. I'm so pissed-off right now, though, that I've lost my ability to eat and my eardrums are pulsing like they're going to pop at any moment. I'll probably feel better tomorrow but I'm not reinstalling this game.

Got my Vita back from my friend on Monday. Going to work on those games. Can't really play Dragon Age: Inquisition much because the wireless signal's really, really bad in my bedroom so I can't even log into PSN most of the time. I only managed to download the huge update patch by hooking it up to the TV that's next to the cable box. I should be getting a wifi booster this month, though. I've had days where I'd have to stand in the hallway just for my phone to register that it's on the internet.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on July 04, 2016, 01:29:02 AM
Ugh, I'm so lost in ZTD. I have a ton of things I don't know what the conditions for unlock are; a few areas that have passwords I don't know what they are; and two sections that I presumably have enough information to figure out, but I just don't know what that information is.

It's bad enough that I had to consult outside information for one particularly obtuse puzzle; I don't want to spoil myself with figuring out anything else.

EDIT: Okay, made some additional progress. Might still be blocked later, though?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on July 05, 2016, 04:36:39 PM
I think I might stop playing Dark Souls 3. It's a great game and it's worth multiple playthroughs and all, but it's just hard to know when to stop and why. When I got right down to it, the characters I had planned out had already won, even if I hadn't started these characters at all. My sword-and-board guy, my dedicated pyromancer, my paladin, my tank, my bleed build, even my joke character. I already know this game so much that it's been broken down into enemy and item locations, drop rates, and success chances to an optimized degree. If I am to experience anything new, it'll come through co-op and PVP. It's still great fun, but I just have other things I might miss out on if I continue this.         

Still playing Bravely Second and liking it a lot. I'd probably get more done in these if it weren't for life being busy in general. Same goes for this year's run of 4JF.

I have started The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky after watching reviews of it for a year plus. Highlights include Estelle's pissed-off face and her praising the JRPG gods for sewers and their tutorial-level-ness. The learning curve has already been surmounted and the whole thing feels like it'll be a fun romp.

On tap are XCOM 2 and Doom 2016. The first is because it's a great game while combining strategy and tactics. The second is just for 8 hours of catharsis.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on July 15, 2016, 03:16:04 AM
Just finished up a replay of Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut, my third completed run of the game. I always feel suddenly, like, put off, when a game I'm into hits the end and there's nothing more. Mankind Divided comes out soon, but I'd like to wait until it's completely completed and turned into whatever special edition, because I don't want to have to replay it to get to Season Pass add-ons or whatever. Those make sense in modular games with level selects and open-world titles, but linear(-ish) stories, not so much.

I'm also scrambling to find something to fill the void that finishing all story content (besides Daidouji and Rin's individual story modes, because they are the absolute hardest final boss battles in the game) in Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus has left me with. I'm itching for more, but Shinovi Versus is the only one on PC and it just came out, so it's not like the other ones are close behind to follow up. The gameplay's solid, but easy to cheese once you're used to it. I'm having trouble convincing friends to pick it up and get into the multiplayer against me, since it's just seen as "that ninja boob game" or what have ye, but I loved the single-player for having genuinely incredible story and characters. I haven't been actually invested in a game's cast like this in a long while. I'll likely start it up again and do some Hard Mode runs this time around, but until then, I'm listening to the soundtrack.

PAYDAY 2 is always a good standby, as well, and has been padding out my time in between other games, especially where LEGO Marvel's Avengers has rather underwhelmed me.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Cirnouli K. on July 15, 2016, 02:47:38 PM
All the games I wanna play require long update times, so TF2 (which is apparently running crappily on my computer now for no explained reason) and Warframe aren't an option. In addition, I'm playing through Skyrim again with an Unarmed Khajiit, Heavy-Armor build and although it's fun, it's a shame I can't really do much without abusing the enchantment system to some degree.

On the other hand, Nuclear Throne is looking awful tempting all of a sudden, and I recently got a charger for my 2DS again, so I can play SSB3DS and more Pokemon, OR I can try and complete my backlog of VC and Indie games. Shantae, MSF2, or play Shovel Knight again, or try and complete SMB3, LoZ Ages and Seasons.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Bias Bus on July 18, 2016, 05:31:00 AM
A loooot of Doom lately. Playing through the campaigns of Doom 1-2, Plutonia and TNT w/ the Brutal Doom mod attached.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MatsuriSakuragi on July 18, 2016, 05:47:49 AM
A loooot of Doom lately. Playing through the campaigns of Doom 1-2, Plutonia and TNT w/ the Brutal Doom mod attached.

Good god, I haven't seen you around in literal ages. Yo.


Anyway, I'm playing a mix of Overwatch, Dark Souls 3, Monster Hunter Generations, and I've been increasingly feeling the urge to pick up Pokemon Red again for my every-few-yearly nostalgia trip.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on July 19, 2016, 08:09:53 PM
7th Dragon III.

It started a bit slow and feeling kind of like an only semi-functional clone of Etrian Odyssey games, but it's definitely improved over time.  There's a few things I really like about it:

-You get three total parties by the midgame, with three people each, that can swap freely outside of battle and all get EXP/SP - so you can actually use every single class in a given playthrough without extra grind.
-Class design is actually fairly whacked out.  There's a class that is literally a children's card game anime protag - summoning monsters, playing traps, and literally managing a hand of cards while playing.  Some aren't as exciting as others but still, they're all actually fun to play and have a good chunk of personality.
-Portraits aren't bound to classes at all so that's cool.
-Your team members can hook up with each other.  Regardless of gender.
-Your team members can hook up with almost every major NPC in the game, it seems.  Regardless of gender.  'Cause every major NPC is apparently bi (A couple very forwardly so); and I've run into at least one minor NPC in a quest who became infatuated with another because of a resemblance to his ex boyfriend.  I probably shouldn't get so worked up over this detail but it's really refreshing.
-Cat cafe.
-I swear I fight more Dragons (FOEs/minibosses) than I do random encounters in many areas and that's nice.

It's generally fairly easy except for the major bosses who are pretty legit if you haven't done any grinding.  But it's overall pretty enjoyable and has come into its own.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Silent Harmony on July 23, 2016, 08:22:34 PM
The other day I finally got around to playing Undertale. Got the true pacifist ending.

Ok I'm not one for overhype but this game was worth the hype.
I seriously was tearing up multiple times.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Appren on July 27, 2016, 02:12:22 AM
I've been playing a couple of games, the original Devil May Cry, Xenosaga Ep. 2, and Furi.  Two great action games and one meh rpg. I actually had Xenosaga Ep.2 when I was like 6 and never got past disc 1. Furi is pretty much a blend of bullet hell, Tron, and afro samurai. Pretty great game.

Meanwhile Devil May Cry is well....Devil May Cry. It's great.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on August 02, 2016, 03:25:58 AM
Playing Wings of Vi still. Currently playing on a different computer though since the one I'm currently stuck with is completely unreliable.

I've finished Mortal Mode for the 3rd time.

First clear:  3119 deaths, 28:17:19
Second clear: 439 deaths, 04:15:44
Third clear:  403 deaths, 03:46:03


Started up my 4th playthrough, this time on Demon Difficulty. Took the Purified Modifier so that I'd start with all weapons since I figured it'd be helpful here. None of my Mortal runs used modifiers, though I might want to do one with Turbo sometime, or maybe even Demon Turbo if I get good. Doomed modifier is probably never happening for me though, I have no idea how you'd avoid damage in some of the sections, so dying in 1 hit doesn't sound very fun.

I'm currently nearing 200 deaths, and I'm only up the the 3rd boss on Demon. It's a lot harder due to the higher distance between saves as well as the buffed bosses and enemies, plus the higher damage you take. I don't think it would have been very fun if I had tried Demon Mode on the first run, but since I have some experience with the Mortal runs, it has been enjoyable so far. Can't wait to see what sort of buffs all the bosses get on this mode, I'm sure some of them will be quite a pain.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on August 02, 2016, 06:18:02 AM
Picked up Code:Realize because I'm in a mood for VNs (and apparently otome VNs at that?), Dungeon Travelers 2 (because this should have totally been an H-game), and Fairy Fencer F: ADF because I got the LE in.

Kind of surprised how the MeiQ LE has a boobie mousepad. (I really shouldn't be.) Really making me consider not buying the LE, guys.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Third Eye Lem on August 04, 2016, 08:05:37 PM
Been playing Disgaea 5 a lot lately. I'm in Chapter 5, but I haven't been able to make too much progress due to two things:

1- Paranoia over Icic-Hell's netherworld effect (-50% to ice resistance, ow)
2- Getting distracted by the EVERYTHING ELSE the game has to offer (seriously, item Worlds are actually fun to play through)

Here's hoping I can actually finish the campaign in a timely manner!

Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on August 09, 2016, 04:25:19 AM
Wings of Vi Demon Purified cleared.

3,214 deaths,  29:04:59 time


I expected a lot of deaths but nowhere near that.
Myougi 2
was ridiculous, a boss I consistently beat on Mortal took me over 400 deaths and was closer to 500.
Azurel
also took a lot of time and deaths, but that fight is an absolute buggy mess at times, and it's also hard enough without that. The final boss also took me way more deaths than I was expecting since the main hard things outside of the extra damage were just that it enrages sooner and the orbs are a bit more annoying to dodge. Not to mention the many deaths trying to learn the Demon mode additions(and I'm still not any good at some of them) I did figure out how to manipulate the final boss's AI to minimize the amount of orb attacks(nothing you can do if he chooses to appear in the middle though), but still took a bit of attempts after that.


I will definitely try to improve on this someday, possibly even without the Purified modifier.


I think I'll try beating Angel Hellspawn Turbo next. Angel may be the easiest difficulty, but Hellspawn is a permadeath modifier, but it gives you 400% health to help balance it as well as turning checkpoints into healing hearts(20 health for angel checkpoints, 40 for Mortal, 60 for the ones that are in all 3), also instant death stuff(on Mortal/Demon) will act as if they were Angel Mode by taking health and repositioning you. Turbo increases game speed by 25%, and none of the Hellspawn clears on the leaderboard have added Turbo.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on August 11, 2016, 07:40:24 AM
When I tell you guys "Aim for me!", I don't mean it literally, jeez. Yet another bout of fifteen missiles on my butt, apparently because I'm almost never hit. In comparison, guys in supposedly much better craft than I am get shot down all the bloody time. Had literally zero traction on these last few sorties because my team dies way too quickly and everyone focuses on me.

Doesn't help that we had some connectivity issues, and the ones I had before that were actually really good to decent all ended up with the host disconnecting.

Anyway, Furi. I keep trying to parry the wide area attacks instead of dodging for some obscure reason. EDIT: Also I really loved fighting The Edge, despite the rage inducing bits. It stresses the importance of divining at an instant the opponent's move, as he loves to feint and thwack you as soon as parry's on cooldown. Also there's this one bit in phase 2 that can let you instantly wipe his entire bar all at once.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on August 12, 2016, 09:12:51 PM
I managed to beat my first 'Dokkan Boss' in Dokkan Battle. In layman terms; it's a Superboss.

This specific boss was the 'Full Power Freiza' raid boss. After beating his first two forms on Stage 1; you can enter the Superboss stage and fight 3rd; 4th and then 100% power Freiza.

All three phases hit very hard, and can attack up to 3 times per round. The first phase is 3rd form Freiza and he's a TEQ type. 2nd phase is 4th form Freiza and he's an AGI type; and he gains the ability to prevent you from moving your characters around in turn order; making it harder to block his attacks effectively. Also; AGI beats STR; which is the type strong against his final form.

The final phase; which has 4 health bars; is the 100% Freiza. On top of the character lock ability he has; he also has a countdown mechanic; where instead of attacking he might countdown. After hitting 1; he can launch an instakill super attack. So you have to 'seal' his Super Attack consistently or he'll instantly kill you. PHY types are weak against STR types... but there are not many STR types who can seal super attacks at all. And I didn't have one of those.

After playing around with various teams a bit, I managed to find a good configuration and beat him 3 times in a row without resurrecting with Dragon Stones [Game currency which I've basically run out of farmable free ones of so rely on login bonuses since I refuse to pay for a game I generally play on the side while watching a stream/youtube]

Beating the Freiza boss three times allowed me to Awaken my own Freiza unit; who is farmed from the 1st stage. This awakened Freiza immediately proved after some testing to be a massive upgrade over the unit I was using of the same element. On a super attack; my old unit was hitting ~55k. The Freiza I got from this event hits 60k+ on super attacks without his passive proc. His passive gives him +70% attack on a high probability, letting him hit 100k+; even higher if he shows up with the right allied characters I have who provide buffs.

So yeah. Beat my first superboss and upgraded my team. Still haven't spent a penny. Yay.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chill Observer on August 21, 2016, 10:35:09 PM
I've been playing a lot of 100% Orange Juice on multiplayer lately. It's surprisingly fun despite the game almost entirely relying on RNG dice rolls and not getting killed by lowly mobs.

I don't main anyone, I always play a random character every time I play.  :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on August 23, 2016, 02:15:37 AM
So, I started playing Batman: Arkham City lately, and holy shit! Being the GODDAMN Batman is so freaking awesome! It's awesome beating around 20 bad guys without breaking a sweat, it's awesome taking down armed men with nothing but stealth and intimidation, it's awesome taking down most of Batman's rogue gallery in just one night. That game is so goddamn AWESOME!

The combat is simple but has depth in it. You have to be quick on your mind and hands, you have to prioritize which enemy to beat up first, and you may need to use gadgets to gain the upper hand because you'll fight more than 10+ enemies per battle and they will take a shot at you whenever they can. But it's awesome watching 10+ unconscious bad guy after the fight. I don't really like the Predator mode though, because all the enemies are armed with firearms and you need to use stealth to take them out, one slip up and you're dead. You got the whole Arkham City as your sandbox. It's small enough so that I can get from one end to another in just 2+ minutes at full speed (in fact, Zsasz sidequest forces you to do this), but it's also filled with many secrets, sidequests, and collectibles (namely Riddler's trophies). Most of the sidequests are interesting to tackle with the exception of Riddler, and AR challenges. It's amazing how an excellent game makes you want to keep playing instead of having to will myself just to play a 'certain game'.

You know what's funny? You won't believe what I said, almost every game over you make in this game is due to your mistake and slip up instead of the game suddenly decides to kill you with bullshit one hit kills just because they can and there's nothing you can do about it. I know I know, it's surreal.

(http://i.imgur.com/OXZYVZS.jpg)
I AM LOOKING AT YOU, YOU FUCKING DEER OF SHIT!

(http://i.imgur.com/sJCH25y.png)
And you as well! Seriously, who ever thought giving a boss 200 damage multi target attack and to be able to use it twice when my HP's all around 200-300?! I watched in horror and shock as I go from full HP to death in the span of 5 seconds. Truly, this game is just a pinnacle of fairness. Funny enough, all my bullshit deaths are due to thunder based attacks.

Okay, back to Arkham City, I recorded 3 deaths due to unfairness. One death is because in Predator mode, a bad guy decided to take a hostage, so I jumped down and attempt to stealth takedown him because I don't want him to shoot her, but Batman won't do that. Hey Batman, that guy has a gun trained on her head, and he will blow it if he sees you. So, the hostage lose her head and I have to start the segment all over again, but this time, I just straight up punch that douche's face and stomp on his dick, and it worked. The other two deaths are simply because The Riddler fucking cheats like a fucking fuckers! Even a good game still fall under the curse of unfairness.

To be fair, my other deaths are because of my mistake. I lost one of the last combat in the game because the enemies has armors, shields, and stun baton. So after I restarted, I began to play smarter and instant KO the armored enemies and Disarm and Destroy those annoying objects and I beat that segment with no trouble after that.

I would like to play Batman: Arkham Origin, but for some reason that I don't understand, I can't open that game anymore after I played Batman: Arkham City. And I can't play Batman: Arkham Knight because my laptop are weak (seriously, I can't play Rabi-Ribi without the game committing pseudo bullet-time during any spellcards), that game is porting disaster, It's so goddamn expensive, and I don't have PS4.

But strangely, despite me having a blast at that game, I feel... dull. Sure I love that game and I can't stop playing it, but part of me don't have interest playing it. Sure I'm not distrubing my roommate with all my screaming due to a 'certain games', sure that it's not as bullshit as that 'certain game'. Does that mean... I actually like that 'certain game'?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Hanzo K. on August 23, 2016, 04:02:55 AM
You're just still riding the waves of having just finished it for the most part(postgame content excluded), so that's probably it.
I mean, it's been a constant(anger-inducing) companion for some time, and now that the journey's finally over, nothing is the same.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on August 23, 2016, 04:19:38 PM
Have you played Arkham Asylum before it? It has questionable (read: terrible and cliche) boss battle design, but otherwise is amazingly atmospheric and is one of my top favorite games, period. Arkham City onwards very much actionized the series and toned down the atmospheric horror and puzzle-solving of it. I'd say if Arkham Origins isn't gelling with you, give it a while, and by that I mean back away from the Arkham games for a while and come back to it later. Jumping in with the expectations City gives will guarantee disappointment. Treating it as entirely its own game using the engine and assets of the Arkham games, however, will fare it much better. (Personally, I wasn't impressed on my first playthrough and totally loved it on my New Game Plus run. Same with Arkham Knight, which was completely an action game and like nothing else besides obligatory Riddles. You gotta know what to expect, none of the games are quite alike.)

(Don't bother with Arkham Origins: Blackgate, though. Think crappy low-budget Metroidvania aaaaaand that's about it.)

I also found it a good deal more entertaining to play with the First Appearance Batman skin enabled. It's low-budget and silly and thus makes a lot more sense for his early years than having badass armor he later discards for underwear that he later replaces with extremely similar badass armor.

Speaking of replays, finishing up Assassin's Creed III again. I wondered why I stopped playing after this one, and going through The Tyranny of King Washington reminds me exactly why; for once, they stopped being so agonizingly self-serious with the conspiracy theory patchwork plot and just went completely off the rails. Alternate history, there's superpowers, the Assassin/Templar conflict isn't even mentioned (those two names aren't even ever said), and ridiculously badass stuff that, for whatever reason, they didn't feel was worth ever doing again. Fine by me. It's a perfect finale, very unique among the series (and games overall), and really hard to top.

Plus everything they wanted to do with the story from that point on, they just, uh... didn't. So it ends up subjecting the AC series to the LOST effect (or the ME3 effect) of souring pretty much the whole thing from knowing the culmination of it all is "yeah we have no idea either, actually". At least I still get to transform into an eagle and punch Ben Franklin in midair. Video games!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on August 24, 2016, 07:51:14 AM
So after a frustrating time in Dungeon Travelers 2 (goddamn Wyvern Riders behind a one-way door in an Anti-Magic Zone), I've picked up Dustforce.

Oh dear god now I remember why I hated Dustforce back when I first got it. The fact that sloped corners have like five different behaviors depending on how you land on them and multiple different modifications they do to your momentum, jump ability, and other things...

Somehow I still have a couple of Red Keys.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on August 24, 2016, 10:33:04 PM
help I am playing eou2 with five sovereigns

just beat flame demon

heeeeelllllp ;_;
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on August 25, 2016, 01:29:22 AM
I have a buddy who's a huge fan of Psychonauts and insisted that I had to play it and that it's one of the best games ever, so I bought it a few days ago and have been messing around with it. It's... Pretty good I guess? The level of attention to detail is incredible, although the pacing and most of the mechanics don't do much for me.

Just now I got to The Milkman Conspiracy, which is one of the two things everyone talks about in Psychonauts. And yeah, it is really funny and interesting so far, but again the mechanics are kind of irritating and all of the crazy camera angles actually made me physically ill after half an hour or so and I had to stop playing. I hope I'm almost done with this segment because I'm not looking forward to much more of that. And given that this game is paced horribly I assume there's like an hour of rolling around with the screen spinning left to go...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on August 25, 2016, 02:55:41 PM
Bravely Second done! Not as good as the first but that's mostly in terms of music. A handful of little problems were easily dismissed by how much I was enjoying the new classes and characters. Now I'm out to finish Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia before DQ7 for the 3DS comes stateside.

Trails in the Sky is going to have to wait patiently as XCOM 2 proved so addicting that I pretty much rage quit my imperfect run for a new one. Alien Hunters DLC should be treated like endgame material.

I ain't afraid of no necropost, but I'm pulling double duty and posting my 4JF post-mortem here.

I am eating a whole lot of humble pie over red mages. They really and truly suck. Their magic damage falls to miserable levels before you even get out of world 1 and only gets worse from there. They (obviously) don't get any of the good knight-only weapons, and their hp is in the toilet big time. I thought dualcast was going to make a difference, but 2 times 0 is still 0. To wit, dualcasting Fira with the magus rod - a rod that boosts elemental magic - only dealt a sum of about 1k damage to a single target. About the only thing they proved good for was a low level heal bot and a magic ability to dump on my berserker to boost their stats for the rune axe.

Meanwhile, samurai is just a great class. The damage output with normal attacks isn't actually outstanding due to the limited number of weapons they get, but was really mitigated with crits. With good HP, heavy armor, and shields, they are solid tanks. !Zeninage was great for insane amounts of damage whenever needed. Also, !Iainuki was just plain broken. I stopped using physical attacks as soon as I got it, although admittedly that wasn't until immediately after world 2 Exdeath.

My other teammates were berserker and chemist, which I've covered before. Berserker is a dull but solid tank/damage class and the death sickle made a huge difference this time around. Chemist is great for mixing and having !Mix on two different characters made every win an inevitability. Shinryu was killed on a whim, and NED was taken out with one restart because he was clairvoyant with White Hole or whatever that crap is. Whoops.

Good to see that the donation total went so above and beyond what it was last year. Hopefully next year I'll have a good bit more free time to doodle around with the game.

PS: An unlimited source of 9999 damage to all targets on a hasted character is totally not broken.

help I am playing eou2 with five sovereigns
Man, I gotta get back around to the first. Right after OoE, then DQ7, then SMT4, then I need to restart because I am foolish and reclassed.  :fail:
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on August 26, 2016, 05:43:20 AM
I love how I can just use the brrrrt brrrt brrrrrt against ships and if my opponents don't realize I'm doing it (either because of ally distraction or they're all Attackers), I deal so much that I can practically melt nearly any one ship to slag in a single pass. Five machine guns with M level MGP and L level guns wrecks stuff like no one's business. I cannot imagine how crazy it would get if L MGP was a thing, or if I could get LL guns along with MGP.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on August 27, 2016, 04:47:01 PM
I pulled off two really stylish kills in Evolve by complete accident.

- I am Golaith. The enemy EMET is at low HP and flying away. I throw a rock into the air hoping to hit him out of the sky but miss since he runs out of fuel and starts to drop. I proceed to charge into him as he is falling and the charge carries him into the falling rock.

- I am Renagade Abe. We're wrecking the enemy monster, a Meteor Golaith, who's only Stage 1. I jetpack boost to close the gap and dodge his leap, and fire my shotgun at the same time. The monster lost a ton of health and died; so I can only imagine that I managed to time it such that a lot of the pellets were headshots. As both of us were flying through the air past each other at high speed.

Why do I do awesome things by complete accident?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on August 31, 2016, 07:43:03 AM
I'm getting way too tense in close matches in Overwatch. After two matches, I'm already tired. Probably doesn't help that it almost always ends up very close.

My store didn't get Project Diva X on PS4 today, so I'm going to have to go back tomorrow (today for some of you) and return the "reserve" Vita copy they accidentally gave me for the one I paid for.

Also, Dustforce. No clue how you're supposed to clear one of the Lab levels, at all.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on September 01, 2016, 12:28:25 AM
Half my game time is going to a replay of Dungeon Travellers 2, with a team consisting of a Valkyrie and a Enchantress/Magical Princess up front, and a Witch, Diva and Priestess/Sage in the back. It's very weird having most of my firepower be from magic users.

The other half, since I finally bit the bullet, is going to a very first, very blind (and I intend to keep it that way) playthrough of the original Etrian Odyssey. I haven't played any of this series before and I'm just up to B5F. Now that I've gotten into the groove a bit I'm enjoying it a lot, but this is a damn stressful game. :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on September 02, 2016, 07:07:00 AM
I'm actually kind of really salty that I've yet to see an PDX-exclusive Module. All of them I've gotten so far have been from f and F 2nd.

In other news, so many games I have pre-ordered are coming out in the next two months. hype?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on September 05, 2016, 12:42:05 AM
I didn't have many upcoming games to be excited for, especially with Mankind Divided... well, let's be honest, it just not being the second coming of Christ disappoints me on principle since Human Revolution set a ridiculous bar. Watch_Dogs 2 still excites me, but not as incredibly much as when it started, and Forza Horizon 3 was announced to close to release for me to be able to budget for it. However, NASCAR Heat Evolution is dangerously close to getting me to blow my entire budget because we haven't had a really good (serious, semi-realistic) dedicated NASCAR title in a decade. I'm waiting to see how reviews and such of that go, but it's surprisingly taken top of my wishlist.

For now, though, it's back to NASCAR Unleashed and GRID Autosport for my racing needs. I play a little of Autosport every week since it has weekly events, and Unleashed every time I want to recapture that feeling of bashing Hot Wheels together. For action games, I'm returning to PAYDAY 2, and trying out the Biker heist finally, I can safely say the level itself lives up to the very high standard set by its ridiculously badass music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxIdVoKtVqk), especially on the train-top battle of Day 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INoYNJSeK8A). Archer may be right; you're basically still on the train so there's no good reason to fight on top of it, but it still looks really cool.

Finally, I've gotten to replaying Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. The story missions are decent design, nothing overly exciting by the series' standards, but taking some time off from those and just going around rebuilding Rome, making investments to rebuild landmarks all pretty and exploring gorgeous ruins and underground lairs early Tomb Raider style is supremely relaxing. That, and, well, the Raiden costume (http://pywackett-barchetta.tumblr.com/post/149841371398/) makes the entire game better. Why be a blatantly conspicuous Assassin when you can be a time-traveling cyborg badass who can blow stuff up with a gun for an arm?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on September 05, 2016, 11:55:03 AM
So i am playing Rabi Ribi. It's a Bullet Hell Metroidvania.
Still in Chapter 1 and i decided to explore around a little. Found frozen palace and met 
Nieve
a bear-girl there. Who during the fight jumped around like a deranged rabbit while shooting all sorts of snow and ice based attacks at me. It was quite fun actually. Then
Nieve
asked me to find her sister, but as it turns out she was guarding Gravity Suit and i thought, screw finding your sister i can explore that underwater area now. Which i did.

And i found
Seana
there. I am not sure if you're supposed to fight her later, or she's just stupidly hard optional boss, but that fight really puts Hell in to Bullet Hell.
She starts the fight all nice and slow and non-threatening, but when you deplete 1/3 of her hp, she steps up her game.
Now her attacks greatly restrict your ability to damage her, since either she's above you shooting stuff at you, or her projectiles require almost pixel perfect dodging skills, or her projectiles chase after you aggressively and then explode into bullets.
Then at 50% she uses her "portrait attack" which is more or less Shou's Most Valuable Vajra, i.e. she floats to the center of the room, and starts spinning 4 directional lasers clockwise while shooting stars in random directions. Followed by an attack when she once again is above you shooting and raining stars at you, followed by some curvy lasers that require some precise dodging.
Then on her last 1/3 of hp she starts using attacks which i have no idea how to deal with properly and always take damage from them. She shoots 3 orbs at you, which home on you quite fast and then after some time explode into tight rings of bullets. There are no gaps in these rings. Likely there's some trick to it, but i was always hit either by the rings of bullets, or by the orbs. Or she fills bottom of the screen with fast moving bouncing projectiles, which also leave small trail behind them.
I think it took me more than 20 tries to beat her.

Then i went and fought
Nixie
-
Nieve's
sister, which is more or less a berserk version of
Nieve's
fight. It was so easy, compared to the hell described above i almost laughed.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: VIVIT on September 05, 2016, 06:52:38 PM
Shiren the Wanderer SFC is badass. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY8PTMCFwDM) (Heavy gameplay spoilers!)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on September 06, 2016, 01:16:01 AM
oh god I beat EOU2 with five sovereigns and now I've lost all vestiges of my mind :ohdear:

(http://i.imgur.com/HfGOXE6.jpg)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on September 07, 2016, 06:45:03 AM
So i am playing Rabi Ribi. It's a Bullet Hell Metroidvania.
Still in Chapter 1 and i decided to explore around a little. Found frozen palace and met 
Nieve
a bear-girl there. Who during the fight jumped around like a deranged rabbit while shooting all sorts of snow and ice based attacks at me. It was quite fun actually. Then
Nieve
asked me to find her sister, but as it turns out she was guarding Gravity Suit and i thought, screw finding your sister i can explore that underwater area now. Which i did.

And i found
Seana
there. I am not sure if you're supposed to fight her later, or she's just stupidly hard optional boss, but that fight really puts Hell in to Bullet Hell.
She starts the fight all nice and slow and non-threatening, but when you deplete 1/3 of her hp, she steps up her game.
Now her attacks greatly restrict your ability to damage her, since either she's above you shooting stuff at you, or her projectiles require almost pixel perfect dodging skills, or her projectiles chase after you aggressively and then explode into bullets.
Then at 50% she uses her "portrait attack" which is more or less Shou's Most Valuable Vajra, i.e. she floats to the center of the room, and starts spinning 4 directional lasers clockwise while shooting stars in random directions. Followed by an attack when she once again is above you shooting and raining stars at you, followed by some curvy lasers that require some precise dodging.
Then on her last 1/3 of hp she starts using attacks which i have no idea how to deal with properly and always take damage from them. She shoots 3 orbs at you, which home on you quite fast and then after some time explode into tight rings of bullets. There are no gaps in these rings. Likely there's some trick to it, but i was always hit either by the rings of bullets, or by the orbs. Or she fills bottom of the screen with fast moving bouncing projectiles, which also leave small trail behind them.
I think it took me more than 20 tries to beat her.

Then i went and fought
Nixie
-
Nieve's
sister, which is more or less a berserk version of
Nieve's
fight. It was so easy, compared to the hell described above i almost laughed.
Hey, you're already used to the first boss' attacks, you only really need to do slight variation to attacks you've already learned how to dodge. (Still took me way too long since the three of them were basically my last ones before endgame.)

That second boss, though... I think the hardest part for me in that fight is that she ascends to the top of her room for a lot of it, and forces you up there too. Probably helped for me that it had tons of lag because lol underwater with my processor.

I really want them to release it on PS4 already.

Anyway, I think I'm going to drop Dustforce. Even watching the SGDQ run of DX, I still don't understand how some of these gold keys are even probable to SS. I get too tense. Don't know what to replace it with. If I can wait a week, MeiQ most likely.

Also epic salt that they delayed Criminal Girls 2.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Candra Software on September 08, 2016, 05:34:54 PM
I've been playing King of Fighters XIV recently. Online play is average at best, so far. The best I can do is just mash Cr. B into Flash Kick with Kim.

I can't decide on what Steam game I should play next. My laptop can't handle Spec Ops: The Line.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on September 09, 2016, 06:41:21 AM
I'm kind of amazed there's not one poster who's commenting about Genso Rondo. I need to go through the tutorial again just so I can figure out how the heck I can bomb.

So I ended up dropping Dustforce for Diva F 2nd, which got subsequently dropped because my copy of Gal Gun came in, which will probably get dropped on Tuesday for MeiQ.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on September 09, 2016, 03:53:04 PM
Just finished Batman: Arkham Origin. Playing as Batman still goddamn awesome! But this game has a lot of problem. It's pretty unstable and buggy. It's completely playable, you can play it from start to finish without encountering bugs, but one bug could render the game unplayable, just like Touhou-A-Live I might say. The game crashes constantly when I played, using fast travel causes the game to load indefinitely during the loading screen and I need to wait around 2 minutes, and Alt-Tabbing to get it to work, so using fast travel actually makes you travel slower, and the FMV cutscene only runs at barely 10 frames per second, causing the cutscenes to be nigh unwatchable as the sounds and voice don't match the ridiculously cutscene. And then I tweak the game code a little, and voila! 60 FPS cutscene and fast travel that is actually fast. Game's still crashes constantly though.

Since I have experience in playing Arkham City, I breezed through the first few of the combat section, consistently getting A-S Rank. But as the game goes on, the combat become harder though. I don't like how if I and the enemy attack at the same time, chances are, the enemy will win. The only addition to the combat is Shock Gloves, and it is so ridiculously powerful. Using it basically breaks the combat because of its power. On top of dealing double damage, it also nets you 2 combo per hit (3 with critical), breaks through any form of protection, and when fully upgraded allows you to counter any attack that is not from big enemies. Armored enemy that requires stunning first? Penetrate it with Shock Gloves and watch as your combo goes sky high. Shield using enemy that requires aerial attack? Punch through it with Shock Gloves. Enemies with stun rod that needs to be attacked from behind? Punch through it with Shock Gloves. Why bother with Disarm and Destroy when Shock Gloves punch through everything and obtained much earlier than Disarm and Destroy?

Predator is still annoying. I think in Arkham Origin, you can only use Smoke Bomb as a defensive gadget, not offensive. Whereas I can takedowns 3 enemies at once using a Smoke Bomb in Arkham City, here, somehow enemies can still see me when I'm in the smoke and in the middle of takedown. I don't know if this a glitch or not, but I'm guessing its a glitch. There's only 1 new gadget in Arkham Origin, which is the Remote Claw you obtained from Deathstroke, it basically connects one object to another. When fully upgraded, it become so powerful that it eclipsed the other gadget and breaks the Predator segment. You can perform takedown without needing to close to the enemy. If the Predator maps has a gas canister, you can drag it to nearby enemy to cause instant takedown and immediately put the enemy into critical condition (You did just explode a gas canister into their face after all). And then you can hang enemy into the watchpoint if the enemy so much as to wander near it. I consistently got A-S rank in Predator segment after fully upgrading the Remote Claw. This game depict Batman's early experience in crime fighting and he's even stronger than he was in Arkham City.

Eventually, all good games must ends. I finished the main story, completed all the side quest (except Enigma because his sidequest is the longest and the most tedious), and having a good time throughout. But now, it's time to go back to less fun, and bullshittier game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on September 10, 2016, 03:53:52 PM
EO1 main game cleared. Party of Landspoon, Protector, Dark Hunter, Alchemist and Medic, all at 53. Pretty standard party I guess, but I had a lot of fun with it. I loved the 5th stratum twist. :D

Onward and downward to the postgame!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on September 12, 2016, 02:33:09 PM
After months and months of waiting for the price to drop I finally got ahold of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for cheap. I like the first game a lot and wasn't sure this one was going to click with me because the format is way different and the controls aren't really well-suited for a handheld, but I ultimately really liked it.

The episodic structure made it hard to put down and the constant change of venue (there are five smaller haunted locations rather than one big one) meant no mechanic every overstayed its welcome. It's  a well-paced, compact game without feeling unsatisfying. Totally recommend given that it can easily be had for less than $20 now.

My only major complaint was that it never really felt like it wanted to be a handheld game. I got used to the abbreviated controls but never really appreciated them, and there were a handful of times when the small screen was a problem in rooms with fixed cameras but a deep field of view where you have to run way into the background and can barely tell what you're doing. I can't help but feel like it may have worked a bit better as a Wii-U title, although I do appreciate the lower price point.

Luigi has so much more character than Mario. And this game did the unthinkable and made the fact that Luigi is a plumber plot-relevant a couple of times.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on September 14, 2016, 01:41:18 AM
EO1 main game cleared. Party of Landspoon, Protector, Dark Hunter, Alchemist and Medic, all at 53. Pretty standard party I guess, but I had a lot of fun with it. I loved the 5th stratum twist. :D

Onward and downward to the postgame!
I can only recommend against this.

Godspeed, Sapz. :ohdear:
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on September 14, 2016, 10:51:37 AM
I can only recommend against this.

Godspeed, Sapz. :ohdear:
Currently explored
the pit in 28F
and started on 27F for real. Also beat the
dragon
but I now have to swap out my Dark Hunter for a Hexer because
the drake likes to put up an ice wall and regenerate its health while laughing at me
. :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on September 15, 2016, 02:11:14 AM
Started playing 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors earlier because people kept telling me it was an all-time classic, and I feel like I HAVE to be missing something because I fucking hate it so far. I think I hate it more than I've ever hated a game in the first half hour of playing. The text speed is excruciating. The text scrolls incredibly slowly and it repeats text a lot. As far as I can tell there's no way to speed it up and no way to skip forward. No button seems to work and I can't find an options menu to speed it up. Has anyone played this before who can tell me if there's a way to make it actually playable at a normal speed and I'm just being dumb and missing it? Because if there isn't I don't think I can keep playing, every time I pick it up I want to tear my 3DS in half.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on September 15, 2016, 05:40:54 AM
English Estra in MeiQ sounds really familiar... If she is who I think she is, I might have subconsciously thought of it when I named the first Guardian Earthes.

Seriously, though, one of the major gripes I have with translators that translate too literally shows up in the first few minutes, when everyone was calling the city they were in "Machina City Southern Cross". It's probably because it's considered a holy site by the characters, but just Southern Cross after the first usage would have been perfectly fine. Also, very obvious As You Know bit, because how do you need exposition for a place you're not only in, but have stayed the night in?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: チソウ タイゼン on September 15, 2016, 05:58:36 PM
Started playing 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors earlier because people kept telling me it was an all-time classic, and I feel like I HAVE to be missing something because I fucking hate it so far. I think I hate it more than I've ever hated a game in the first half hour of playing. The text speed is excruciating. The text scrolls incredibly slowly and it repeats text a lot. As far as I can tell there's no way to speed it up and no way to skip forward. No button seems to work and I can't find an options menu to speed it up. Has anyone played this before who can tell me if there's a way to make it actually playable at a normal speed and I'm just being dumb and missing it? Because if there isn't I don't think I can keep playing, every time I pick it up I want to tear my 3DS in half.

Haaahaha no
You can only skip text in subsequent runs, if I recall

Its sequel does that, also, but you can at least advance the text early if you read fast.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on September 15, 2016, 06:02:39 PM
Haaahaha no
You can only skip text in subsequent runs, if I recall

Its sequel does that, also, but you can at least advance the text early if you read fast.

WHAT.

Okay, well, I guess I quit then. This is fucking excruciating. Thanks for the info.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on September 16, 2016, 07:21:47 PM
Dragon Quest 7 is out today for the 3DS and I think I need to up my JRPG cred. I hope to get through it, Etrian Odyssey Untold (restarted since I flubbed studying the game mechanics), and Shin Megami Tensei 4 before I retire the 3DS.

XCOM 2 is almost done and I really liked it but its learning curve was a bit odd just like the first. Oh well. Smooshing evil aliens in the face with a magic laser shotgun is fun.

My girlfriend and I got the Wii U up and running and within a 6 hour period we had started up new games of EarthBound and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD. Hurrah!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on September 18, 2016, 12:17:02 AM
Since 999 was such a bust I decided to re-play Persona Q. This time I'm playing the Persona 4 route (I played 3 last time) and on hard. Not sure I'm going to keep it on hard though, I'm grinding-averse and have been finding the enemy stats to be waaaaay too high. Lot of getting one-shotted. Might ease up a bit once I unlock more options to minmax my characters though, we'll see.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on September 18, 2016, 01:27:53 PM
Defeated the TLB of Etrian Odyssey after a day and a half of attempts and some team rebuilding (swapping the Hexer for a Troubadour). I was able to handle the three dragons fine but gave in and had to use Immunize for this last one for the sake of avoiding
Necrosis
.

Off to finish off the last part of the Compendium. I have the Volt Scale now, and I'm about six attempts into the Ice Scale. Just that and the Fire Scale left until 100%. :colonveeplusalpha:

EDIT: Okay, I can't be bothered anymore, so The End! Time for EO2.

My party will be the courageous CUTCRAB the Ronin, the wise GLOWBIRD the War Magus, the agile WOODBAT the Survivalist, the feisty BADBEAK the Gunner, and the amphibious HEXFROG the Hexer.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on September 21, 2016, 12:44:23 AM
Pretty classic EO2 party except the survivalist - they unfortunately got hammered with the nerfbat a few dozen times after EO1 and never really recovered.  People usually ran a dark hunter there.

Good luck!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on September 21, 2016, 07:07:58 PM
Honestly, I'm pretty much just playing with the classes I didn't get much of a chance to toy around with in the first game. I try pretty hard to go in as blind as possible and not do class research with things like this - part of the fun for me is figuring out what works and such as I go along. Usually I end up looking numbers up for what skills do etc around the postgame sometime, although I peeked early in EO1 after dumping a bunch of points into Provoke and becoming convinced it wasn't actually doing anything. It wasn't. :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on September 21, 2016, 09:09:04 PM
Since 999 was such a bust I decided to re-play Persona Q. This time I'm playing the Persona 4 route (I played 3 last time) and on hard. Not sure I'm going to keep it on hard though, I'm grinding-averse and have been finding the enemy stats to be waaaaay too high
I never found I needed to grind in PQ, but it's mostly because there are exploitable tools (Instant kills destroy random encounters throughout the entire game, and then Poison's just really solid).  If you don't do those though I can definitely see its balance being unfortunate; they really did make things too bulky to take on 'legitimately' otherwise in most cases.

Dungeon design's top notch though and there's some good writing in it though so hey.

Also: Ace Attourney 6 was fantastic for anyone who was worried.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on September 21, 2016, 09:55:31 PM
I never found I needed to grind in PQ, but it's mostly because there are exploitable tools (Instant kills destroy random encounters throughout the entire game, and then Poison's just really solid).  If you don't do those though I can definitely see its balance being unfortunate; they really did make things too bulky to take on 'legitimately' otherwise in most cases.

Dungeon design's top notch though and there's some good writing in it though so hey.

Also: Ace Attourney 6 was fantastic for anyone who was worried.

Yeah, I'm nearing the end of the second dungeon and have found that I'm not worried about combat anymore. I've got all of my shit set such that I'm not really ever threatened by identified enemies and can grind down bosses, so I should be more or less good to go. And my sustainability is only going to get better from here as MP-restoring abilities become more common.

Man, the dungeon design is addictive. The way shortcuts loop back really makes the game hard to put down. "Just a little deeper and I'll stop...". I enjoyed making the maps the first time, but I decided to import my map data and I'm also enjoying just blasting through floors as fast as possible.

As for the writing, yeah, it's interesting. Some characters (Chie, Teddie) are so two-dimensional and irritating that their mere existence actively makes the game worse. Others (Aigis, Fuuka, Ken) are much more likable and interesting than they are in their own game. Whether or not the fan service bits are really fun or really tedious seems to directly correlate to how much Teddie is allowed to talk, but when it's fun it's really fun. So far I haven't noticed much that's different from the Persona 3 run, but it's been long enough since I did that that I could just be forgetting stuff.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Teewee on September 21, 2016, 11:12:54 PM
Been playing the PC port of Conception 2, am near the endgame. I'm impressed at how well they managed to optimize that game; runs butter-smooth on my pc, even in fullscreen. Though after the latest update patch, I can only run it at a good speed when its in windowed mode :/ Apparently that widescreen fix caused a major performance drop, since my specs are too high for that to really be expected. :/

Also played some Tales of the Abyss for 3DS. Hoping Namco gets to porting it to PC; its fun on the 3DS, but I prefer to game on my pc. :v
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on September 22, 2016, 03:31:04 AM
Been playing the PC port of Conception 2, am near the endgame. I'm impressed at how well they managed to optimize that game; runs butter-smooth on my pc, even in fullscreen. Though after the latest update patch, I can only run it at a good speed when its in windowed mode :/ Apparently that widescreen fix caused a major performance drop, since my specs are too high for that to really be expected. :/

Also played some Tales of the Abyss for 3DS. Hoping Namco gets to porting it to PC; its fun on the 3DS, but I prefer to game on my pc. :v
I think there might be PS2 emulators that let you use an actual disc, so you could get the original version of the game and play it that way if I'm not wrong?  Not sure though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on September 22, 2016, 08:40:03 PM
I just managed to get an achievement in Europa Universalis that I wasn't even attempting to obtain.

'One Family to Rule them All' - Have your Dynasty on 8 thrones at the same time.

I was playing as Bavaria; a HRE semi-minor.  [5 provinces is generally a minor but the HRE is filled with states so small that you're actually a regional power; albeit one wedged between two majors]. Bavaria starts out the game with the same Dynasty as Denmark; who is currently heading the Kalmar Union. The Von Wittelsbaches. [Spelling?]

So that's 4 thrones. Mine; Denmark; Norway and Sweden. Usually; Sweden pretty quickly breaks free and puts it's own king on the throne however. This time, however; Denmark managed to keep Sweden under control.

Then they got their dynasty on the throne of Pomerania and Brunswick [Northern HRE states].

Then Brunswick spread the family to Wutturmberg's throne. [Near me]

Then, a neighbouring Theocracy; when it's archbishop died; chose the option for a successor of 'A noble from a foreign country'. With so many countries of my dynasty around, of course it picked one. And thus; without any actual effort from me at all to achive it; I obtained an achivement that is usually aimed for as Austria and the infamous Hasbsurgs; and only 1.5% of owners of the game have.

For reference; I only have 3 achievements rarer than that; and since this game's been around 3 years now [I should have 4 but I forgot to Raze Beijing before forming Qing :/]; it's a pretty good indicator of difficulty. [Or at least tedium]. One achivement that's been in the game since release has only a 0.3% rate of being obtained...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on September 22, 2016, 10:33:33 PM
Honestly, I'm pretty much just playing with the classes I didn't get much of a chance to toy around with in the first game. I try pretty hard to go in as blind as possible and not do class research with things like this - part of the fun for me is figuring out what works and such as I go along. Usually I end up looking numbers up for what skills do etc around the postgame sometime, although I peeked early in EO1 after dumping a bunch of points into Provoke and becoming convinced it wasn't actually doing anything. It wasn't. :V
You can generally get away with this attitude for the maingames of each, so go nuts! :V  It also helps tremendously that as you get farther in the games, the number of trap skills falls off pretty sharply, so you don't have to be as worried as long as you have some idea of what you want each character to do.  Of course, EO2 is a broken mess for a ton of reasons, but that shouldn't stop you.

mad hype for eo5 tho
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on September 23, 2016, 01:42:35 AM
I've been playing lots of NASCAR games from a decade or more ago, but since I'm still watching the current races so often and don't have the budget to buy the new one that's $60, I finally buckled and bought NASCAR '15 Victory Edition, which I went into knowing it's a crappy reskin of the same game from 2011, but still wanting something to fill in the gap. The presentation is excellent, the roster is accurate, a few rookie drivers and Xfinity Series drivers that weren't actually in that season got promoted to playable in the Sprint Cup (the game's only cup: most games only include this one as it's what most people think of when they think NASCAR, but a good few titles have also included the Busch/Xfinity Series and the truck races, which have their own sets of drivers and tracks), and there's a lot of attention to detail on almost everything!

And by almost, I mean the one point where they made no effort at all is the gameplay, primarily the AI. They awkwardly line up in a row and stay there the whole race. None of them attempt to pass. Or move. Or win. It looks like when I was a kid and had pack racing by just jamming the cars together and moving them all in one handful around the floor as one solid group. The difficulty settings are "they do nothing while you pass them and wait for you to win" or "they will forsake winning and go berserk, attempting to destroy you first and foremost". It's genuinely as bad as I was told, but I still wanted something stopgap while I'm waiting for other stuff to go on sale, so I'm mildly okay with it. There's gotta be mods or something to fix it up.

However, I did start up the first GRID again with a fresh career file, since my old one registers as corrupted. It's exactly as fantastic as I remember. If you're looking for an arcadey racing game with a little bit of everything, I'd highly recommend GRID 1. (GRID Autosport's still my go-to for more realistic motorsport.)

And a certain someone on here gave me Deus Ex: The Fall. Terribly constructed game but passed an evening well. It's a fine distraction as long as you don't pay money for it. Sucker someone else into doing it for you.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on September 28, 2016, 09:46:19 AM
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is out, and I've been playing it on breaks at work and stuff.  I can't say too much about it storywise as a result (I'm not even at the first real boss yet), but there's a lot of little gameplay changes from its predecessor, pretty much all of which seem to be for the better:

-You don't game over when your MC dies now (There's an option to turn this back on though if you want although it might be NG+ only).  Given how brutal the lack of defensive options is this is a godsend.
-Since you can save anywhere anyway, they just ditched the 'pay the coins to revive' bullcrap and you revive as though the battle never happened if you lose.  (This is plot tied, too, and it wouldn't surprise me if certain routes cause you to lose this benefit)
-Hama/Mudo skills no longer are just instant kills; they're damage spells that only become instant kills while smirking.  Makes them less of a 'win game' button lategame and also hinders them from being a raging RNG source throughout when used against you.
-You can pick which 'human' partner is teaming up with you as an AI ally, each with different skill preferences, and they grow with you.
-Smirk's not as insanely overpowering now, or at least doesn't feel that way.  Also appears to carry over between battles.
-STR is fixed, namely by making the things boosted by STR not also boosted by DEX like it was in 4
-For what is I think the first time in the series, magic can crit
-Demon negotiation is still random, but, demons will come to recognise you and be more friendly the more attempts you make (even over multiple encounters) so you can know it will all eventually pay out.
-Apps now have level unlock requirements, not just other-app requirements; so there's a bit more room to pick and choose your personal favourites instead of just solely zerging the obvious OP ones (Skill expansions)
-Demons don't appear to have as many inheritance limits, but instead have 'affinities' for skills that are visible and make them perform better or worse than expected with certain skill types

I feel like there's other possible changes too I'm just not thinking of or haven't seen yet, but the experience as a whole has been a much smoother experience than SMT4 was.  The game still feels hard, but it at least feels less 'cheap' hard and more 'surmountable' hard.

Also if anyone's curious where it fits into the plot or how linked it is to the original SMT4: It literally starts during the Neutral end, when the MC of 4 is about to head off to the final dungeons.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: NaCl on October 04, 2016, 07:52:19 PM
Currently I'm playing Rabi-Ribi. It's like Touhou, but with added metroidvania side-scrolling action and bunnies! Shit's super hard in Hard mode. I just can't get a good combo rank ever. It's more punishing than DMC!

I'm having a blast anyways. Totally recommended.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on October 14, 2016, 09:25:02 AM
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is out, and I've been playing it on breaks at work and stuff.

!!!

SMT gets so little promotion in the UK that I didn't even know this was a thing. Even looking at pre-release lists didn't show it.

That said; I can't play it until it's release in EU [Q4 2016 apparently]

In other news about expansions; Europa Universalis got it's most recent update with Right of Man. This is a massive patch. It changes the entire tech system.

It also added new features for the Coptic Faith [Read: Ethiopia and a few minors]; the Fetishish Faith [Native Africans]; the Ottoman Empire and Prussia/Brandenburg.

Naturally; I decided to play none of those and instead go play in Asia and mess around with the new tech system.

Turns out; despite the pre-release development dairys stating 'Colonialism will spawn in Europe'; turns out if you go out and discover America as; say; Korea or Japan, by 1500; you can actually steal colonialism from Europe.

I posted this on the forums and I've had devs congratulating me for discovering that and trying it out. They wanted to keep it as a bit of a surprise and see how long it would be until someone tried it and found it out.

It was about 2 hours.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on October 14, 2016, 04:04:41 PM
Finished playing Earthbound last week. It was as good as I remember it. I'll sing its praises from Highest Heaven until someone mentions the inventory system, which must die.

I thought I was done with Dark Souls 3 but I was wrong. I replayed it while going nuts with build calculations. Unsurprisingly, I wound up with a build similar to last time despite initial efforts to build something completely new. Co-op is still great and while my pvp record is mixed my parry game is spot on. *DUNNN*

On tap: Final Fantasy 9 and Xenoblade Chronicles X if I'm feeling cheeky. Still gotta get back to Trails in the Sky, which will probably start back from where I left off some time ago.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 20, 2016, 09:13:14 AM
I'm just glad I'm not tripping over encounters every three feet in Criminal Girls 2 - seriously, those guys were worse than Zubats in the original. Implementing Live2D into the game was a great decision by the devs; the odd difficulty curve, not so much. I got trainwrecked very easily by the Maze's boss, enough so that I had to grind rather significantly just to not get one-shot by its attacks. In comparison, both the boss of the Cell Block and Hellfire died pretty quickly (two or three attempts) and required only minor grinding (Hell Guard required me to Motivate the guard skills for Lily and Yurine).

Definitely go for poison against bosses. Hellfire's boss took around 900 damage from one poison turn - my party can only manage up to around 200 per turn.

Also picked up Rez Infinite. Never got to play the original PS2 version or the Xbox port.

I'm very tempted to pick up PSVR, but I'm waffling on this pretty hardcore.

Also, apparently Logy and Ayesha are in Atelier Shallie Plus?! Is this a new thing, or was this DLC in the original game and I'm just being a derp?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: NaCl on October 21, 2016, 12:23:07 PM
Nintendo Switch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5uik5fgIaI) seems cool. Never mind the cringy advert, the idea itself is pretty ingenious. This is what consoles should be, not just worse versions of the PC. The third party list is pretty huge. (https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/20/nintendo-wants-all-third-party-games-on-the-nintendo-switch/) I hope that Nintendo Switch will finally end the twisted era of console exclusives by challenging those very consoles in the business.

Any thoughts on this?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on October 21, 2016, 04:11:37 PM
I see Starbreeze Studios on the Switch third-party list, who's the current publisher for PAYDAY 2, so I'm interested on if that means any developments on that front.  And I'm able to smugly laugh and remember I have a battery and monitor for my Gamecube and used to bring it in the car on trips as it was. Mario Kart on the go's been doable for years, technically! Otherwise, I haven't really bought a Nintendo console in years and I'm putting all my eggs in the PC basket lately, so I'm not really the target market, but I am hoping this means price drops on the Wii U and no harsh discontinuation of support for it, so I can finally snag that and play... okay, let's be honest, LEGO City Undercover's really the big draw there.

Speaking of PAYDAY 2, sinking a ton more hours into that since the Hoxton's Housewarming Party update. Tons of free content including getting to set up a safehouse with virtual furniture. Video games should have learned ages ago; you can get me to play just about anything if you offer me the chance to be an interior decorator.

Also going through the career mode of Dirt to Daytona still. There's a reason NASCAR fans big into gaming generally don't mention any of the games since 2003; those games set a massively high bar the newer ones never came close to touching. They always have the Sprint Cup, but rarely anything else. The career mode of Dirt to Daytona is essentially an entire American stock car racing game that happens to include the Cup as the highest level of competition. Local dirt track racing, Modifieds, the Truck Series, and then the Winston Cup/Busch Series rolled into one "NASCAR Cup". The random elements that can occur make it hilariously, brutally realistic, from internal failure causing brake fluid to pour out on the track, to fans getting actively pissed off if you keep winning at lower-tier series I've graduated from (the debate over whether Sprint Cup drivers should be allowed in the Truck/Xfinity Series rages to this day IRL). It's a fantastic stock car racing game with plenty of fictional courses and vehicles that just happens to have a little bit of authenticity splashed in from a real racing series, rather than being a contract job to cash in on fans. And running it on Dolphin means a smooth framerate and clear graphics beyond what was intended back in the day, to boot!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on October 21, 2016, 09:59:34 PM
Nintendo Switch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5uik5fgIaI) seems cool. Never mind the cringy advert, the idea itself is pretty ingenious. This is what consoles should be, not just worse versions of the PC. The third party list is pretty huge. (https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/20/nintendo-wants-all-third-party-games-on-the-nintendo-switch/) I hope that Nintendo Switch will finally end the twisted era of console exclusives by challenging those very consoles in the business.

Any thoughts on this?

Nintendo's previous two consoles have been plauged by a lack of third-party games; so this is great to hear.

Just hoping we also won't get what happened last couple of gens:

Nintendo releases console long before Sony/Microsoft
Nintendo console is based around a gimmick
People wait for rest of gen
Sony/Microsoft release console that is far more powerful
Nintendo loses the arms race due to lack of power and has to make something else

Of course; a lot of this could be due to Third-Party support... or lack of it too.

---

Anyway; I've finally decided that Diablo 3 has come down to a reasonable enough price [Just over ?20 with Reaper of Souls] for me to give it a shot despite a lot of negatives said about it. I liked Diablo 2; after all; and I've been hearing for a while Diablo 3 has got a lot better since launch.

I'm not very far; just entered Act 2 [And I'm lv 21 already; playing a Barbarian]. Seems pretty fun so far; and I'm seeing quite a few ways to customize your playstyle and build. I'm currently running a massive AoE focus with the vaccum-stun; the roar which gives you fury; Cleave+Rupture and Whirlwind with a giant sword I got from a Treasure Goblin. I can also see a potential heavy fury gen build which spams shockwaves; or a single-target focus [Which I never really liked in Diablo] I'd try the axes but I've always found ranged combat awkward in Diablo since you have to hold Ctrl to stand still and actually throw instead of running to melee; and Ctrl is quite far away from 1234.

Trash gets cleaved down and blows up killing other trash. Harder stuff gets stunned, dragged in and Whirlwinded on. Managed to beat the Act 1 boss [Butcher] with absolutely no trouble. Perhaps I shouldn't have started on Normal, since I played Diablo 2 a while ago. Or perhaps Act1 is just easy.

I do plan on trying all the classes.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Teewee on October 22, 2016, 03:42:12 PM
Been playing some SMT 4 (the first one). Based on the gameplay videos I saw of it, I assumed it'd be really short. Maybe 20 hours long. Boy, was I wrong; I'm ~35 hours in, and probably no more than halfway through the game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 25, 2016, 04:08:27 AM
Goddamnit, Yomawari. Why do you have jumpscares? Damnit, I'm weak to those.

Anyway, got nearly all of my girls Knighted in Criminal Girls 2, just waiting on one. It's interesting to realize they changed the Knight system because CG1's Program Instructor got a bit crazy with it and took nine vials of the Knight drug to use on all of his girls. Still some tough battles ahead, and I desperately need to buy more items.

Also picked up Superdimension Neptune. Is this the first time they've actually had to censor a swear?

Also also Exist Archive. Haven't started playing yet, but from what I've seen, it's basically using Valkyrie Profile 1 and 2 as bases (no surprise, Tri-Ace).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: NaCl on October 25, 2016, 11:55:53 AM
I recently started playing Vindictus all over again (since hackers destroyed my previous account). I've quite enjoyed playing the updated Evie, both Scythe and Staff version, Scythe in specific! Maybe I'll try out the two new characters too, when I get the time.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on October 26, 2016, 06:41:05 PM
Playing more Diablo 3.

At the point before fighting a particular boss in a secret area that spawned; I was using four skills as my 'core' skills; on Torment 1 difficulty:

Ground Stomp - Wrenching: Stuns nearby foes and pulls them in to you; it also generates Fury
Threatening Shout - Intimidate: Deuffs targets with a damage reduction while giving more fury. Low cooldown. Also slows due to Intimidate.
War Cry - Charge!: Generates fury; increases your armor and that of allies. Fury generation buffed by Charge rune.

Whirlwind - Wind Shear: hile active; spends Fury and deals AoE damage while letting you move through enemies. Wind Shear changes this to Lightling damage and refunds some fury per target hit per tick.

Basically; I can perma Whirlwind. But my damage output isn't great aside from occasional spikes due to an item's passive which can only trigger when I'm hit. [Chance to hit all nearby foes with 1000% of your Thorns damage]. So I was tanking and dealing... alright DoT while waiting for procs; basically.

So I beat this secret boss [Greed] with difficulty; and it drops two legendary items:

A ring with the effect 'Increases Whirlwind Damage by 270%'
And a new weapon with the effect 'Whenever you cast War Cry or Threatening Shout; cast an Avalance and an Earthquake [Read; one of Barb's 'ultimate' skills] on your location.

My DPS  has shot through the roof. I killed Diablo in about 1:30; and an Uber in ~2 mins. On Torment. And I still have my Thorns spikes that can happen.

Looks like I need to crank it up a few Torments. I'm amazed that one boss dropped TWO massive upgrades for the build I was running.

I mean; my Whirlwind was doing ~270k on crits; now it's dealing 1200k+ [There were stat boosts on the items too]
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: triangles on November 11, 2016, 04:34:24 PM
WORLD OF FINAL FANTASY
This game was basically make just for me and that is  good

I get to be a smol and wear a moogle on my head and see the zany adventures of FF characters this is a pro game and the localization is on point A++
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on November 12, 2016, 06:12:38 PM
WORLD OF FINAL FANTASY
This game was basically make just for me and that is  good

I get to be a smol and wear a moogle on my head and see the zany adventures of FF characters this is a pro game and the localization is on point A++
I wasn't paying attention to that game until I saw a youtubber commercial recently. It's so weird for these chibi FF characters to have mature voices, but it's weirdly charming.

Finished Witcher 2, starting Witcher 3.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: ふねん1 on November 14, 2016, 05:23:28 AM
Been going back to the Pokemon Colosseum games lately, mainly to get started tying up some loose ends. I've gone through the stories of both games multiple times over the years, but one of the things that's been nagging me is that I've never completed the rest of the single-player content in either game (the Battle Mode challenges in Colosseum, and basically all the post-game stuff in XD). I've done everything but the Orre Colosseum in XD now, but I'll have to make a stronger team for that one since it's still kicking my ass lol. At least Colosseum's Mt. Battle challenges aren't as tough with standard story-mode teams.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on November 14, 2016, 04:17:31 PM
Started the Steam version of FF9 a little while ago and have gotten to Cleyra. It's as good as I remember it but hoo boy my mentality on how to play is a good bit different.

Also getting back into Trails in the Sky. I think deep down I crave a more engaging battle system but the localization is so fantastic that it outweighs any flaws that it has. On a technical note, I fixed a frame skip issue I had and that made things even better.

I think Dark Souls 3 is finally out of my system. Now, there a lot of well-earned die-hards for this series out there, but I have to be direct about this: I think Dark Souls 2 was the best of the bunch. At their core they were all very strong games but the nuances of each could vastly change the experience:

In Dark Souls 1, Dex-focused sword-and-board builds with 2 pyro spells ruled the day unless you were going for cheap super builds. Armor was encouraged to a ridiculous degree due to how insane poise was, and this was reinforced by how broken endurance was as a stat. Meanwhile, resistance was worthless. The lack of variety of both weapons and armor also led to a lot of overlap as people often used the same equipment. The chunky controls and weight made shields a big crutch because dodging always felt weird. Exploring was great and the world was well constructed, but you spent so much of the game just trying to get from point A to B that it felt like a chore. Covenants were also a chore and a half and you were damn lucky to know half of them existed at all unless you went straight for the guides. The nature of online play also went to great lengths to encourange invaders to play through the entire game without ever leveling up, allowing them to get all the great gear they damn well pleased and just steamrolled everyone. Even then, I missed invaders by the time I hit midgame because everyone seemed to disappear after Anor Londo beyond the DLC. Everyone loved the lore and locations and I can see why but I played through the game twice and the second time felt hamstrung by any changes I tried to make over the first. Oh and I found out in the very worst of ways that the Murakumo didn't agree with my playstyle. So much for those 15 levels.

In 3, a lot of the problems were fixed, but to the point of breaking in other ways or being over-corrected. Lots of new armor? SURE but armor barely does anything and poise may as well not exist. Mana meter instead of Vancian casting numbers? OKAY but now sorcs get their best stuff well past the halfway point of the game and the rest of their spells hit like wet noodles. Want lots of weapons? RIGHT but now all melee builds are best as quality builds or nothing. Swapping covenants a chore? GOTCHA but now all of the ones that automatically summon you might as well not work. Broken stats?  WELL endurance has been rebalanced but luck don't mean JACK. Invaders too well equipped? YOU BET but now they invade with 3-4 times as many estus charges and theirs restore twice as much. By the time I had finished all of my experimenting with the game and how it worked, I had only found 2 builds that felt like they were worth playing as. Time and again, I would quit a third of the way into the game because a character felt so lackluster in comparison to an alternative. Tank builds, bleed builds, poison builds, battle mage kinds of stuff, dedicated attack stat builds, and most caster builds all paled in comparison to others. The mechanics would poke players to the same conclusion of basic melee stuff with a handful of variations depending on situation, too. While I was no expert at PVP, people who ARE good have had complaints about player apathy regarding weapons and moves increasing over the previous entry. To top things off, the game also used the original as a heavy crutch for lore and only felt like it's own so much.

This leaves Dark Souls 2. Now 2 had plenty of faults. Areas could feel slapped together and game-y. The lore was weaker and rested few of its laurels on the great strengths of the original. Lots of enemies and bosses felt the same. But what it did best was builds. Nearly every last kind of character worked or felt rewarding. Sword and board could get you through the day no problem, but so could a lot of other things. Dual wielding? Much easier and encouraged by the game itself. Standard sorc? Yup. And hex mages were even more fun while being great for advanced players too, and this went well with more cast-restoring items. Tanks for co-op? Effective and rewarding. Heavy weapons? Just the right amount of punch for the slower moveset. Naked? DO IT. The weapon and armor typing got lazy at points (a lot of baddies were weakest to strike-type weapons) and some of the DLC really nipped casters in the bud, but everything else fit. Covenants now worked a lot better and made everything from structured honor duels to random invasions more readily available while also making these experiences worthwhile. PVP just felt so right in terms of mechanics. On top of it all was a revamped but not broken poise system and DLC that satisfied cravings of awesome areas, gimmicks, and bosses to explore and experience that the original didn't have in surplus. In the end, it's far from perfect but you could play as a dozen different kinds of characters and always have something viable and fun. And this showed. I put more time into DS2 than I did into 1 and 3 combined.

I dunno. People each have their own reasons for enjoying these games, and I really did enjoy all of them. Still, I'll have my fondest memories of DS2.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on November 15, 2016, 02:46:44 AM
A few months ago, I played and rage-quitted the only Touhou horror game called Ayaria Hazard because of Rumia. It's just recently that I got back to playing it again and finally beat Rumia... in half an hour.

Later on in the game, you get to control Reimu instead of Sanae. And Reimu is infinitely better than Sanae, she's lighter to control than Sanae, can attack, and is definitely tougher. Although she burns stamina really quick.

From what I gathered (I don't understand chinese), the story is as follows: Sanae got sent to some sort of facility by a portal. Unable to use her magic, she must avoid enemies that are trying to kill her and over a dozen Wrong Ends. Along the way, she encountered Reimu inside the facility, and they must survive together. Heading deeper into the facility, Sanae finds some crystal and decided to take it. Finally, after 3 stages, they finally escaped and return to Gensokyo.

One short level later, Sanae finds herself on the Bad Future of Gensokyo. Turns out that Sanae used the crystal she found to industrialized Gensokyo. Reimu is understandably pissed and tried to kill her. Thus begins the one of the hardest boss fight because she's faster than Sanae, touching Reimu is 1 hit kill, and the fights in 3 phases long. The fight ends with Sanae dumping Reimu inside a poisonous room. And then Time Travel happens and I lose track of the story.

After a complicated puzzles involving time travel and Sanae killing herself, Reimu permanently become the playable character. Her levels involves more platforming (to the point of the game becoming IWBTG and Megaman) and boss fights, lots of it. Reimu comforts the antagonist who looks like Akyuu, and despite winning the boss fight, the bad guy slashed Reimu throat. And then the game ends. What the hell just happened?

Luckily, I managed to attract someone who speak a little chinese to play it. So, I could understand the story a little better. It looks like the game took place in alternate universe, and the Reimu in that game is an alternate version of her named "Ryumu", when Sanae returned to real Gensokyo, turns out it was just a dream. The good news is that there is some there is some tsundere moment between Reimu and Sanae (yuri time!). The bad news: Remember that I said "Time Travel happens"? Well, it turns out that game also involves dreams, alternate dimensions, and time loops. Making the story even more complicated and making the game faux-Inception and Touhou: Higurashi edition.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on November 30, 2016, 04:34:10 PM
Ever since I heard the success of DOOM (2016), I've been looking to play a modern-classic FPS (Since DOOM is expensive and it could blow my laptop). Come Steam Autumn Sale and I found Shadow Warrior (2013), a modern-classic FPS with a sense of humor.

You play as Lo Wang, a chinese man (in Japan) with an ego and great one liner who happen to be a badass hitman. He is sent by his boss, Orochi Zilla to retrieve a katana called Nobitsura Kage from a yakuza. One screw up and demon invasion later, he must retrieve the sword while slaughtering demons with his katana, lots of guns, Ki power, and a snarky demon sidekick.

Unlike every other modern shooter which have regenerating health and 2 weapon limit, you instead have limited health (you do able to use spell to heal, but that's only up to 2/3 and can be upgraded to 4/5) can carry all your weapon at once and dashing. So the battle usually end up like this, you ended up large arena with horde if enemies, you dash around the arena while using everything in your arsenal to kill everyone.

You have Katana as your main weapon, it has an assortment of skills and can be upgraded to your strongest weapon. There's revolver which deals good damage, pretty accurate, but slow to fire. You can McCree'd it, still not worth it. There's SMG that is good for crowd controlling and can be dual wielded. There's Crossbow that can be charged if you want to make an enemy your wall decoration, and it can also fires explosive arrow. There's Double Barreled Shotgun which is just awesome, turn any enemy that is close to you into pile of gore, and it can fire all of its bullet at once. There's Flamethrower which is situational and I rarely use it. And lastly, there's Rocket Launcher, that can kill a miniboss in 3 shots and its ammo is really hard to find. There's also spells, but I never use it aside from heal because killing enemies with gun is faster than stunning them, and then killing them.

Your primary enemy is demons, the kins of demon who run up to you like a fangirl and tried to claw your face off... You have a Katana. There's one who shoots, one who fly and shoots, one who have shields and can mess with your view, one who explodes and produces mines, and minibosses!!! Very rarely, Yakuzas and military want to join in the fun. Since my skillsets are built around destroying demons, they maybe lasts... around 10 seconds. I decided to take it easy on them an kill them with only my katana. Dodging around gunfire while closing the distance with my dash, and then slaughter them all with just a katana? Now THAT is badass! The Yakuza do pick up their slacks in the last level by becoming demonic though. At least now I can use my full arsenal against them.

The game is pretty goofy. Wang himself is a snarky fellow who spout one-liners, and pop culture references. His demon sidekick, Hoji, is even snarkier than Wang. Commence snark-to-snark interaction. Also, there's an item called Fortune which heals you a little and gives you an advice, an obvious, witty, and laced with black comedy kind of advice.

The game has some cons though. The levels feels padded like hell. Most chapter takes 40-60 minutes to complete. While the location is varied and nice to look at, sometimes, they overstayed their welcome. There's healing in classic shooter. It costs nothing and heal considerable amount of health. Besides making Medkit redundant, it also breaks the game since you can just heal and run around for a while should your HP falls below comfort zone.

It's still a great game though and really worth its price. It's 10+ hours of non-stop action, demon-slaying, and spectacle.

Oh yeah, the game did brick my laptop once. I couldn't imagine what DOOM will do to my poor laptop.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Aldnox on December 02, 2016, 05:36:45 PM
I'm playing Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and DoDonPachi DaiOuJou as my two main games right now. Mushihimesama too, but not that much. Occasionally I play 100% Orange Juice.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: ShrineEsper on December 02, 2016, 11:53:49 PM
Well, I'm trying to keep up with BF1, but I've also got Dark Souls 3, the Witcher 3 and Binding of Issac Rebirth to get through. Also, there is Star Wars Old Republic to keep up and Jedi Academy to get through.

Well, looks like I have a full schedule for December.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: NaCl on December 03, 2016, 11:59:11 PM
Just finished Chrono Trigger! T'was gud.

Now, time to test out my new PS4 Pro with Final Fantasy: Boy Band Edition!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on December 04, 2016, 01:54:27 AM
I finally went ahead and got NASCAR Heat Evolution, and was semi-pleasantly surprised to find that it genuinely lives up to its title! As in, it's pretty much a straight port of NASCAR Heat 2002, except reskinned for 2016. And I mean down to the sound effects and lap times being completely unchanged. It's a very solid, classic arcade-style game, with very vibrant colors and newly remastered tracks and driver rosters. The new career mode is a shaky remake of 1/4 of Dirt to Daytona (as that game had you working through four separate series, including the Cup, whereas this is only the Cup), but it's perfectly serviceable. The one part that stood out to me as especially strange (besides a few in-game Twitter messages, including one from a driver that notably does not use social media) is the character creation, which allows you to create your own driver and watch them stand there doing nothing because there are no cutscenes and no animation for them besides standing there.

It has the luck of bringing back the series with the license for the 2016 Sprint Cup, and 2016 was far and away one of the best seasons of NASCAR-sanctioned racing in many of its series at once. I'd say for current fans of NASCAR, it's definitely worth a play on a sale if you haven't played Heat before or really want something up to date; for those interested in a stock car racing game, Dirt to Daytona is still far-and-away the better game just due to sheer amount of content and attention to detail. This is kind of a stopgap entry to be able to afford making a more expansive sequel, and there's a lot of weird issues and little problems throughout it, but the devs have been extremely cool (as you'd hope for the people behind Dirt to Daytona and Excite Truck) and worked really hard to fix things up where possible.

Also returned to Watch_Dogs, as I'm too cheap to buy the new one yet and it's hard to deny the basic power fantasy of manipulating a city like your toy for no good reason but your own entertainment, and still being hailed as heroic. As I've now finished all of the investigations and city-saving and turning-around-and-doing-the-crimes-I'm-also-ostensibly-preventing, though, all that's left is messing around and doing really dumb crap around Chicago that has nothing to do with anything but remains entertaining if you're that bored. So now the Vigilante is driving his car through the front door of bars, bailing out of the window, running up to the nearest table, challenging people to drinking games until they pass out, collecting the wagers, stumbling out the door, and immediately losing it all on a ball-and-cup shell game two steps away.

Did a quick replay of Tomb Raider 2013, too; it's still a striking change in tone from the rest of the series. Early Tomb Raider was scary, sure, but there was always a level of narm charm to it. All that mitigated truly horrifying situations was amusingly stiff animation and voice acting, as well as the sheer absurdity of the whole thing. It managed to put a chill down your spine when you ended up in over your head, but dorky dialogue ("Your perception of good timing is... bad!") and hilarious death scenes balanced it out. TR'13, for better or worse, does not have that. It takes the silly concept seriously, escalating from action movie to full-on grindhouse. The death scenes are pretty much universally gut-wrenching. I'm surprised I didn't recognize Camilla Luddington after watching so much Grey's Anatomy (and I still couldn't hear the similarity on this run, even knowing it!), but she manages some really guttural sounds that make Keeley Hawes' general "AAAAAAA" of the few previous games all the more ridiculous in comparison. Khary Payton and Robin Atkin Downes, however, were very hard not to recognize on a replay, especially as it consistently threw both of them at me as different characters with only slightly changed accents. Rise of the Tomb Raider was a fine follow-up and marginal improvement in terms of gameplay, but I'm disappointed in how flat in plot and expansions (zombies? Seriously?) it ended up being; as it is, I'd say TR'13 is an easy recommendation if you loved the dark atmosphere of early TR or just want an intense adventure to leap into.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 04, 2016, 03:10:19 PM
Since there's a Rabi-Ribi LP here, I decided to play it again (after a few months of failed GoS LP and NoR). Why is my laptop couldn't handle game with pixel art and lots of bullet anyway?

You play as Erina, a bunny-turned-human (who is basically Reisen with hammer and bunny suit) who wanted to be reunited with her master, Rumi. Accompanying her journey is Ribbon, a fairy who (dressed provocatively) leans close to the 4th wall and wanted to rescue her friends (though you don't have to since they'll get Stockholm Syndrome shortly and you'll get an achievement if you do that). Together, they beat up lots of girls, crazy fans, and cute creatures.

The game has 2 modes of gameplay: Metroidvania exploration and boss battle. The exploration is easy as crap, you can just defeat all normal enemies with just breathing. The boss battle on the hand, is way much harder. It's also the bulk of the gameplay. Like every Metroidvania, you got a large world (10 maps) to explore in any order you like. Any movement that is not jump must be obtained by getting the item. For the offensive, Erina have her Piko Hammer that wrecks anyone's day and Carrot Bomb, which is utterly useless aside from finding secret. Ribbon handles all your ranged options, this means that when you don't have her or she's out of commission, you're without ranged attack. She has basic shoot straight bullet which is her most useful attack, a beam that is good for comboing but causes you to be unable to see enemies' bullet, Healing Staff that only heals piddly 1 HP per charged attack, and many more. All of them can be boosted for a very strong attack and temporary buff. Every attacks requires either MP or SP, so you can't spam them nilly-willy. There's also hidden tech, an unlisted move that can be executed any time and incredibly useful for speedrunner. I only found 3, 2 of which is Quick Drop, and Reverse Wall Jump, Walk Jump without Wall Jump that is incredibly useful for sequence breaking.

You can upgrade their stats by finding a lots of items, and badges in the world and you can upgrade your gear on the shop. But this game actively punishes anyone who dares to collect items. You see, getting those items levels up the bosses. If you don't want them to kick your butt, you need to constraint yourself from getting them.
Also, one of the boss uses Hypercharged version of both Erina and Ribbon's items.
Maxing money is really simple, actually spending it IS the problem. By the time I reached the final boss, she's at LV 87.

Like I said before, boss battle are the bulk of the gameplay. There are a lot of character in that game and if you want to recruit them, you'll have to beat them first. There are 24 bosses in total (it's not spoiler because there's a menu for checking your stats against them). Basically, if anyone has a portrait, you will have to fight her sooner or later. Bosses will try to kill you by spraying a lot of danmaku at you. Fortunately, you do have a small hitbox, unfortunately, the game is platformer, not a shoot-em-up. They're also incredibly resilient it took me 5-10 minutes to beat just one of them. Piko Hammer is the fastest way to defeat them, but this requires getting close to them. Imagine point-blanking Cirno's Icicle Fall - Normal. Boss battle is ranked using Devil May Cry's esque Rank System. You need to be stylish and continually damage them in order to to gain rank, failing to damage them for a while or getting hit will reduces your rank. So you need to play as a bunny hybrid of John Rambo and Dante if you want MAX Rank.

Shortly after Erina and Ribbon begins their journey, they are menaced by UPRPRC member, a bunny-obsessed fan who tried to capture Erina and they comprised half the enemy roster. An hour later, they finally arrived at Rabi Rabi Town and Erina is reunited with her master (and we got a nice CG). So, the rest of the story is now Erina recruiting anyone important to help Rumi activating Stele for Erina and Ribbon to be able to go to the Other World (read: ours) to find Rumi's sister, Miru. First attempt: They didn't get far before they're being menaced by Illusion Alius (Dark Erina and Ribbon). They fight just like them, except they have moves that I haven't gotten yet, and cheats (You'll take randomly when you combo them and Dark Ribbon can blast charged attack 3 times). Those girls will become a recurring boss. Second attempt: They are menaced by something disgusting and irritating, OTAKUS. Their sprite looks hideous, their attack hurts and comes out instantly and randomly, and they're such a pain. Being harassed by Illusion Alius II is a much better aspect, despite she can use your full combo that takes away 50-75% of your health. Third attempt: They met and fought the final boss for a while before she sent Illusion Alius III at them. Last attempt: It's pretty much a boss only chapter against a creepy boss without your ranged attack (and the boss resists attacks from bunny), and a final boss with 3 forms. After many attempts, I achieve victory against them and get a happy ending... Or is it? 

There's still 6 unmarked boss in the Town folder.

As befitting of Doujin game, its music were all really good (with the exception of Boss 1 since it's just sounded too cheery and generic). They were so good the game even sell it as a DLC that is pretty expensive to buy. My favorite stage BGM is Inside UPRPRC (Damn, that name is so awkward to say in english. But it's full name pretty much translated to Rabbit Licking Club). Shame that it only plays at a small area that can be skipped. My favorite boss BGM is Sudden Death, boss BGM that is pretty much reserved for Illusion Alius.

There are a lot of achievement in that game. And I do mean a lot. There's achievement for sequence breaking, 0% run, item gathering, nonsensical achievement, to "You want me to do what?" Achievement. There's 3 separate achievement for game over for bunny's sake (one for dying, one for dying besides UPRPRC member) . No damage run is pretty out of the question for me.

Anyway, before I finished, I wanna ask a question: What's with Japan hatred with Otaku anyway? Doujin company sees otaku with nothing but pure hatred.

EDIT: I just found out something interesting. Rabi-Ribi is not made in Japan. Instead, in Taiwan. Y'know, the country that gives us great rhythm game such as Cytus, Deemo, VOEZ, and Hack and Slash on freaking iOS and Android. But still, that game does filled up with Japan tropes it's easy to mistook it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 12, 2016, 08:14:18 AM
Welp, I just took down my first Data Organization XIII member (Marluxia). Why did I do a Critical run. Oh yeah, Trophy. Thank god a quad-Reflega is enough to completely disable his desperation move and punish him as long as you time it right. I can already tell that Demyx is going to tear me a new one with that 30 sec/99 form thing from seeing NicoB, even knowing the Blizzard trick to force the form change on them. Larxene was a bitch to take care of normally, she's gonna trainwreck me.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on December 17, 2016, 09:31:03 PM
Yakuza 6. Very impressed by the story and characters, less so by the bosses/new fighting system (although it has its moments). I suspect this is because of the new engine which has also had the effect of massively improving the adventure mode aspect of things. Kamurochou feels gigantic now since everything is seamless, there are lots of buildings you can go inside and up multiple floors and so on (again, seamlessly, including shops and so on). Onomichi in Hiroshima is a great second city. Sidestories so far are top tier. There are probably less minigames overall this time but a lot of them are hugely in-depth, which is cool. Overall, not my favourite since the boss fights didn't have as much impact as usual, but pretty much every other aspect is really good, although I've gathered the story is divisive. I'm not going to spoil anything though. :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on December 18, 2016, 10:18:15 PM
Less so games I'm playing right now but what my Brother is doing:

He recently got into WoW. He just did his first LFR wing.

He got a 1.7% drop rate skin for his legendary weapon.

On his first run.

You can only loot the boss that drops it once per week.

His luck.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 21, 2016, 02:57:38 AM
When faced between the choice of either buying a game where you play as magical high school who looks oddly familiar to a person we know, a game about a cat-girl kicking ass with Kirby's power, or a game where you play Devil May Cry as a giant transforming robot (Well, I can't relate with Bayonetta since I don't have PS3), I chose to play.... A party survival horror with lots of corpse. In other words: Corpse Party.

The story is about a group of high school student and their teacher + a middle schooler trapped in a haunted school. The event is treated realistically: everyone ended up confused, and terrified out of their mind. They will have to reunite an find a way out from seemingly inescapable haunted school in another dimension if they want to return home to their family.

Tenjin A.K.A Heavenly Host Elementary School is probably the most dangerous haunted place in video game. First, the building is so dilapidated and dark its hard to navigate inside the building. And then, there's multiple alternate dimensional space of that school as well, so you may ended up not meeting your friends even if in reality you're in the same room as they do. Second, there's death trap everywhere ready to turn unsuspecting students into a pile of gore. Third, there are ghost children who will subject you to a creative death should you ever touch them. Fourth, the school is cursed so that it will possesses anyone should they ended up in despair, which is not all that hard to achieve if they are alone. Finally, even if you survive all that, you still need to eat and drink. There's absolutely none of that there. Even if you do find a water there, chances are, it's contaminated as hell and will kill you. And if you do ended up dying there, you get a grand prize of having to experience of pain of you death for all eternity.
Oh, and you get erased from existence as well. No one will even remember you. Oh well, at least your parents won't be worrying about you never returning home.

I believe that game is the first to start horror game on RPGMaker, where there is no combat, no EXP, no level. Instead, it's filled with exploration, creepy atmosphere, light puzzle solving, and occasional Bad End and instant game over littered on your path.

I once make a complaint about slow movement speed in a certain RPGMaker game. Well, the complaint also applies here as well. Combining stiff control and slow movement make dodging ghost a nightmare. Running in that game would be a game a game breaker. Thankfully, the school is decently sized. This game also employs manual save. You can only save in a lit candle, but those are mostly available in the far left and right corner of the school. This game is a visual novel, meaning you mostly spend your time reading a lot of text. Considering the limited save point, and a lot of unexpected Wrong End, you think maybe the game has something like... I don't know, a fast-forward or a skip function or something? There isn't any. So, prepare to mash button to get back from where you were if you happen to get blindsided by a Wrong End. Sometimes, even the game itself discourage you from getting Wrong End because of this. Imagine if Fate/Stay Night, a 60-80 hours monstrosity of a novel doesn't have those function.

In this game, the voice acting is really good. It can enhance the scenes with very disturbing amount of realism. The voice work really captured the emotion and what they experienced well. You will hear a very convincing scream of terror, scream of anguish, cry, and even raw scream of pure pain. I've heard scream of anguish in lots of anime, this is the first time I've heard scream that can be described as "primal scream of pure pain".

Even though horror in RPGMaker game won't affect me, there are few scenes that I admittedly creep me out. The first is when at the last part of chapter 1:
After a huge dispute with your friend and separate yourself from her, you find your friend hanging herself in a bathroom stall. She's still alive however, so you must frantically save her. Interacting her only makes it worse, so must go outside, find a bucket, and go back to her... only to find she's already dead. That scene shows that anyone can die and sometimes, there's nothing you can do to prevent it.
The second scenario that creeps me out is the last chase scene in the game. Not only it's scary, it's also the longest chase scene in the game and if you happen to get caught, you're fucked and the game will still continue for an hour until your inevitable demise.

Despite me being able to avoid most of the Wrong End, I somehow managed to get the worst ending on my first try. The combination of me fucking up the last chase scene and one character going full Yandere pretty much sends everything spiraling out of control. So I get back at the beginning of final chapter, succeeded the chase scene, got even further into the last chapter, go to the final place, reunited everyone, and... I got the last Wrong End in the game... what...the...fuck?!
To not get the last Wrong End, you have to get a notebook, which the game DOESN'T TELL YOU and collect its pieces (of which its easily missable) as well before a certain point in the game. Did I mention that there's no indication that you need those notebook or a hint that it exists? No! And my previous save point... Is basically at the beginning of the final chapter. So I repeated the final chapter 3 times (granted, the first one is my fault). I spent more time in the final chapter more than any of the previous chapter combined. And there's the reason of my complain of lack of fast-forwarding.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 27, 2016, 02:03:05 AM
At first I said I never going to buy Batman: Arkham Asylum. But here I am, enjoying it despite the gameplay being inferior to its sequels.

The combat feels a little slower. Batman can only use Batarang and Batclaw during combat instead of almost all of his gadget, even then, Using Batarang breaks your combo and Batclaw lacks its super awesome follow up. Instead of having 4 takedowns, Batman only has 2: Throw and Instant Takedown. Bottomline, only Batman's ability to punch bad guys in the face is unchanged. The enemy variety is radically different from the rest of the series. Aside from regular dudes, we have guys with knives (In the sequels, guys with knife can be attacked normally. In Arkham Asylum, guys with knives must be stunned first and their attack cannot be countered), guys with stun baton, insane guys, and Titan, a really huge guys that acts as a miniboss.

There's maybe a lack of enemy variety in the Predator section, but those section are sometimes harder than in the sequels. For starter, Batman lacks most of his stealth oriented gadget like smoke bomb, enemies are smarter (they can cover each other's back when sweeping the area), and there's a section involving hostages where you must not be seen and not take anybody down. But after 2 games worth of experience, I become more gung-ho in clearing those room and Batclaw can drop people of the ledges. There's this one section where I finished a Predator encounter by taking down 3 bad guys at once in a seconds. Like a goddamn Batman.

Unlike the sequels, Arkham Asylum only takes place in the entirety of the titular Asylum taken control by The Joker. The guards there are useless it's kinda funny seeing Joker escaping the moment Batman got a few feet away from him. At first, the guards managed to defend a few section of the Asylum. An hour later, almost all of the guard has been replaced by Joker's goon. Then, Joker released a bunch of lunatics. Then, Poison Ivy started tearing the place apart. At the end, the Asylum becomes a massive wreck with only lunatics and Batman populating it.

I like the atmosphere of the game. Arkham Asylum has all the atmosphere of a abandoned insane asylum, making it  feels like a horror game a little. But you're Batman, he instead use the atmosphere to strike fear on the heart of the enemies. Scarecrow and his fear gas makes a pretty scary encounter. But you're Batman, he just shrug those gas like it was nothing. The lunatics are literal madman who can come from anywhere and try to claw your face off. But you're Batman, he just punch them in the face. Killer Croc boss fight is very scary it makes me wanna quit game. But you're Batman, he just defeat Killer Croc by being one step ahead.

Bottom line is, I like Batman Arkham Series. Too bad I can't play Arkham Knight 'cause I don't have PS4 (That also goes for FFXV by the by).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on December 28, 2016, 01:43:33 AM
Asylum is absolutely my favorite of the series. Fun fact that destroys all challenge of the Killer Croc fight; if you ever replay it, just crouch-walk. You can move at top speed with hardly any sound produced.

Got Gran Turismo 6 for Christmas. Been playing a lot of it. Like, a lot a lot of it. It's extremely varied and actually does have a wealth of global content across all sorts of motorsports, unlike many racing games that attempt the same but instead just offer a paltry selection that doesn't do many things well. The karts have been the most fun by a long shot, though I find myself both excited and disappointed that the NASCAR events are especially incredibly difficult; sure shuts up people's irritating left-turn jokes, but one of my favorite motorsports to watch is one of the most difficult to enjoy playing. The original course designs are especially gorgeous, bringing back that sort of lavish corner-to-corner detail and exciting landmarks that classic arcade games used to have. Long story short, if I had picked this up earlier, I would've skipped a lot of underwhelming racing games before this.

Speaking of underwhelming racing games, one of the rarer/stranger gifts I got was Days of Thunder NASCAR Edition for PS3, a hasty port of a mobile game onto the console with the NASCAR license slapped on, to have something extra to pack in with the Blu-Ray. I expected total hilarious garbage. The models are poor, the tracks are incredibly inaccurate, and the physics are like shooting Hot Wheels across the floor out of high-powered cannons. However, it's absurdly fun. Cars launch around the track smashing into each other, and being able to recover almost instantly from wrecks and repair damage very quickly in the pit lane means that everyone gets back into the fray right away. It's absolute madness, a demolition derby that makes Talladega look... okay, it's accurate for Talladega, actually, but exaggerated for everywhere else to something less like NASCAR and more like a kid smashing toys together. The Gamestop employees when my mother went to pick it up were absolutely baffled that someone was purchasing it intentionally, but it's a very pleasant surprise.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on December 28, 2016, 01:37:54 PM
Asylum is absolutely my favorite of the series. Fun fact that destroys all challenge of the Killer Croc fight; if you ever replay it, just crouch-walk. You can move at top speed with hardly any sound produced.
Want to destroy it even further; Detective Vision. It destroy most of the attempts pf ambushing Batman. (And the fact that the game blares a suspenseful music the moment Killer Croc is out)


I love awesome things that are awesome. Well... Unless they make me cry like anime fan on prom night. Never touch a game like that without a 10 foot pole. This brings us to Transformer Devastation, a game where you play as a giant robot who can transform into cars with gameplay lifted straight out of Bayonetta.

Combat is challenging, but awesome. You're a giant robot beating up other giant robot with your wide assortment of weapons. The enemies surrounds you 5:1, but you do have the agility of a witch and bullet time. Still, one slip up and watch your HP goes bye-bye. Each character have different stats and their own unique special skill and ultimate attack, making each playable character feels and play unique. The weapons I mentioned about? Those are randomly dropped by enemy, so there's a mild RPG element as well.

In american game, you only use cars for chase scene or drive to the next objective (or by making it a fucking tank and play a tedious tank battle. Goddamn, how could they make driving a Batmobile sucks?!). In japanese made game? You can Car Fu with your transformed mode. Examples includes: At the end every combo, you get a chance to transform into car mode and RAM the enemy head on. This can be chained up to twice. By transforming in mid-air and holding the transform button, you'll do a ground pound. Reaching top-speed and attacking leads to a devastating dash-attack that breaks shield. You can still shoot and dodge roll while in vehicle mode. This can leads to a high speed chase battle with a boss where you seamlessly dodge their bullets and shooting back at them when in bullet time. God, that is so totally awesome. The enemies also able to attack with their vehicle form too of course: Like jet enemies who will do bombing run or skewer you, Car enemies who can ram you as well, or tank enemies who can spin around and bounce themselves.

The bad guys always have much more troops than the good guys. Aside from regular Decepticon mooks, they have Construction, a group of 6 construction based robots who can combine Power Ranger style into Devastator, a building sized robot with a drill for his arms. There's Insecticon, a group of annoying insect-based enemies. And there's Menazor, another building sized robot who wield a huge lightning sword. For the high ranking member of Decepticon, there a robot with triple form of ice elemental jet and fire tank, a blaster-based robot, and a Cassete robot. Although the Autobot is assisted by Grimlock, a Dinobot who can transform into a fire breathing, mook crushing dinosaur. Now the playing field is even. Although he is too slow to my liking.

I do like the boss battles. Aside from the cool concept of the Deception, the boss is decently paced, numerous in number, and is not a massive damage sponges (I'm playing on normal, so this might change on harder difficulty). That said, the boss can deal huge amount of damage in a short time, making the battle a damage rush. Even the Final Boss (all 2 phases of his) can be beaten in around 5 minutes. Compared that to the last action game I've played, Rabi-Ribi. The final final boss
Irisu
has obnoxious amount of health, absorb my HP with her every attacks, and spend 2/3 of the time being out of reach. It took me 15-20 minutes to beat all 2 of her phases.

I don't know much about the the animated series this game is based on, G1. All I know is that "Autobot is the good guy, Decepticon are bad. Autobot beats up Decepticon". The story for this is also bareboned as well. Megatron finds a massive weapon of destruction, Autobot spent half the story finding it only for it to be taken to Decepticon's hands.  Autobot commit an all out attack against Decepticon at the last few chapters.

Now it's time for the cons. The camera is absolute garbage. It doesn't auto move, it's too close to your body, and it's often doesn't show all the enemies, leading me getting attacked from offscreen or me frantically rotating the camera only to be attacked. It gets worse when you're fighting huge bosses like Devastator or Menazor or when you're fighting on a place with no floor. Steering vehicle with just movement pad can be awkward at times. And for a $50 game, it can be beaten in 5-7 hours, making me able to finish it in just 2 sitting. At least I got it during sales.

I do like the climax of the story. Megatron sends all of the Deception to stop us, making the last chapter a long battle royale. But you do have the rest of the Autobot fighting alongside you where as you're by yourself 90% of the time. This turns the final level into a joke as your teammates are pretty competent, killing enemies left and right without your assistance. The final boss battle with Megatron is the only time the game use QTE segment. There are 3 of them, one of which is for you and Megatron going JoJo at each other. Holy shit, that's the second awesomest thing I've seen after a nine-tailed fox and a huge 1000-armed buddha statue going JoJo at each other.

I admire Platinum Games. They can turn any genre and any franchise into a spectacle. This is the company who give spectacle into a third person shooter for crying out loud.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 29, 2016, 07:29:28 AM
Welp, that's Criminal Girls 2 Platinumed. Let's be honest for a moment here, having you fight the final boss eight damn times, followed by the postgame final boss another eight damn times is really irritating, especially since there's a major luck factor in for the postgame boss - if the Greeder has a chance to bestow the +2 ATK/MAG buff before you can destroy it or give a -2 SPD debuff to the enemy team, you're fucked, no question. You do get XP and CM for every time you win, so there's some incentive to go, but jeez.

Unrelated, NEKO WORKs is turning Nekopara into an OVA. (http://kck.st/2hq0kVF) Some crazy person has already filled in the 10k reward slot. It hasn't even been seven hours yet from this post, and it's fully funded.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on January 03, 2017, 06:41:15 AM
I just finished Albino Lullaby in one sitting after picking it up cheap in the last Steam sale. I fuuuucking haaaated it. I'm not going to go into great depth as to why it bothered me so much right now because I stayed up super late playing it, but basically it's not very polished and uses every annoying, time-wasting mechanic it possibly could have to make itself less fun for no reason. The art style is cool (although it kind of looks like ass on anything but very high-end computers), the monsters are interesting, but I would not recommend the game in a million years. This is one of those rare cases where there is absolutely no reason to play it instead of watching a Let's Play in my opinion.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on January 05, 2017, 10:07:13 PM
Well; that was an amusing experiment.

Blizzard added a new bonus effect to an item in Diablo 3; the Manald Heal. If you take a passive skill which can proc on a Lightling attack; you will deal 13,000 ~ 14,000 % bonus weapon damage as Lightling to the target you procced on.

Obviously; 13k%~14k% spikes of damage are pretty large.

So I did the completely logical thing and decided to combine this new item with the Firebird set; which; as you can probobly guess; works with Fire skills. Specifically; for every enemy you hit with 3 different fire skills in quick succession; you get a 3% DR buff and 120% damage buff. This... isn't restricted to Fire skills. Or even your skills. It's just a damage buff. And if you apply the 3 stacks to an Elite... you instantly get maximum buff stacks. 20. So 2,400% damage boost.

Which turns the Manald Heal procs into 13,500 * 24 = 324,000% damage spikes.

Which basically turns you into a glass cannon hunting down and nukeing Elites. Ironically despite the fact this build is oneshotting Rift Guardians it's so glass cannon and so useless against anything that isn't an Elite that it's actually performing worse than my old build.

At least; perhaps until I find a specific wand which lets me teleportspam and thus avoid fights and hunt down the Elite packs...

The gameplay is literally: Teleport around; pray you don't run into a pack of normal mobs; dump fire spells on Elites quickly and zap them so they explode instantly. It's **working** in Torment 7~8 and clearing fast there... but my normal build can clear T10~11 right now. In T9 this build just gets instajibbed if it teleports into a bad spot because Teleport is still cooldown-based, and it could legitimately also be a case that I blow up before I dump my fire spells.

Probobly a good/fun build for speedfarming bounties and such which are often or involve 'Kill this Elite'. Pushing GR's? Not so much.

I'm a blithering crazy fool who's first idea with a Lightling based item is 'LET'S COMBINE IT WITH A FIRE SET'. Although to be fair; there is not set which explicitly focuses on Lightning.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on January 07, 2017, 09:42:19 AM
So, i am playing Criminal Girls 2.
Some thoughts.
Evil Play wasn't a bullshit boss. Not all. And the boss after her was a pinnacle of fairness.
It's kind of funny, that the most efficient way to explore dungeons is to NICE BOAT everything.
Final Boss x8 is pure torture and that was an experience i wouldn't want to repeat any time soon.
Made it to the True Final Dungeon and it's actually fun. Everything still dies to The Boat and the skill is the most beautiful thing ever.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 08, 2017, 07:10:23 AM
As I've said, be prepared to eat another 8x true final boss if you want the Plat. Surprisingly, its moveset doesn't change very much - the only thing is swapping out Scar Whip with a stronger attack that hits fewer times (but still random) and a weak revival skill it will use pretty rarely for its more threatening adds. Oh, and you get no warning when Jealousy is incoming now. Good luck.

Evil Play was a bitch, but the only really hard part is getting around her +2 to all buff. I believe her appearance in Bloody Hell has her vulnerable to Poison...

That sandworm though. Unblockable Poison and Speed Down (well, yes, you can block the damage, but not the ailments) on its charge attack which it spams relentlessly? Ugh.

The best part about NICE BOAT is that you can almost guarantee its appearance, since Revival Brew S only heals 30 health. Oh, just killed her? Eat a NICE BOAT from her in exchange. Dropped her to single digits? ATK Boost X, eat max power NICE BOAT.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on January 08, 2017, 04:59:08 PM
Got reminded why I stopped playing XCom 2.

Long-range overwatch shot from a Stun Lancer? Yeah. I'll dodge past that and shoot the other Stun Lancer who I can flank and kill. Stun Lancers have bad aim.

*Overwatch shot misses*

Just as... wait; why are you panicing?

Why are you grabbing a grenade?

*Blows up his own squadmate and kills him*

Yeah. THAT'S why I stopped playing XCom2. Pure BS like that. At least this time it wasn't a dude throwing a nade up a building killing half my squad and a VIP through fall damage. *Crazed laughter*
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on January 09, 2017, 07:54:44 PM
Maybe one of these days I'll actually be into Trails in the Sky's battle system as much as its characters, but it hasn't come yet.

Anyway, trading in my Bracer guild badge for the PC release of Tales of Symphonia and Far Cry 4. Have started up Pokemon Moon and am well into Final Fantasy 9.

Got reminded why I stopped playing XCom 2.

Long-range overwatch shot from a Stun Lancer? Yeah. I'll dodge past that and shoot the other Stun Lancer who I can flank and kill. Stun Lancers have bad aim.

*Overwatch shot misses*

Just as... wait; why are you panicing?

Why are you grabbing a grenade?

*Blows up his own squadmate and kills him*

Yeah. THAT'S why I stopped playing XCom2. Pure BS like that. At least this time it wasn't a dude throwing a nade up a building killing half my squad and a VIP through fall damage. *Crazed laughter*
I had to learn to play XCOM like XCOM and not like Fire Emblem. Losses are okay and so are mission failures. Also, only very low level soldiers will ever pull this crap.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 10, 2017, 11:30:43 PM
Why are these multi-button presses in Future Tone so hard for me? I guess I'm too used to the console style, where the only multi-presses are those on the same position (e.g. left+square).

Also a bit salty that they use the original/Arcade version of the PV when they can, even if it was one that got a rework in F 2nd, like Melt or Magnet.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 12, 2017, 06:22:35 AM
I'm just saddened by all the salt on the PC port of Criminal Girls. NISA has said from the start that it'll be the censored version from when they released the Vita version, and various people have talked at length at why NISA's not going to be doing uncensoring for the PC version.

Yes, we get it; you don't like censorship in any form. You've brought it up many, many times since the Vita release. It's a thing, I understand. You could simply just mention it to prospective buyers, and then simply... don't buy it.


Anyway, bought it, and it feels like they used the JP CG: Invitation a bit more. At least, I don't remember the Engrish being that bad during the level introductions. Also already missing the touchscreens.

I'm tempted to go back on the Overwatch because Oasis map, but my body is not ready yet.

Back on playing Totori Plus, since aside from Sophie, that's the only Atelier game I've played, but not actually completed. I've finished up Fat Princess: Piece of Cake anyway, needed something to take my mind off of endless attempts to get a 5-gem, and potential 5-gems being ended because another gem crashed on top of the pile.

EDIT: Plugh just realized I double posted.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on January 12, 2017, 09:27:12 AM
Well. Criminal Girls 2 platinumed. I was kinda not in the mood doing the final boss 8 times fairly and after a bit of preparation i.e. Mizuki at 1 hp at the battle's start and stocking on some Group Remedies and Secret Rewards (mainly to activate Tsukasa -2 to every status) it was relatively simple. Harem in Hell. Hurray.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on January 12, 2017, 05:22:01 PM
Finally hit XXV-100 in Payday 2. And considering that I play the game solo, there's a distinct feeling after hitting level cap and going through Infamy (think CoD's prestige) the maximum number of times of "okay. Now what." I never thought I'd hit a point where I just... don't really have an excuse to play it. Still plenty of achievement runs and such, at least...

Gran Turismo 6 continues to massively impress. Made it to the Super class and now going back through the previous ranks with new cars and finishing up events I hadn't done. There's a weird feeling it gives me, with its mix of incredible cars and both fictional and real courses, that I think sums up my issue with racing games nowadays; there's constantly a feeling in too many of these titles where you can't help but notice what isn't there. When they get 3/4 of a real schedule, the omissions become painfully evident. When they get just a small sampling of a discipline, it makes you really want more. But GT6 actually manages a balance of original content where I'm never actually disappointed that something's absent. Nothing feels absent. It reminds me of that sort of vast, endless possibility I felt as a kid with a Hot Wheels city set up in the attic. Having Sega-style courses with beautiful forest tunnels and sweeping mountain ranges greatly helps, too, to the point of making a few of the real-life circuits stand out as seeming dull in comparison. (The N?rburgring remains absolutely gorgeous and ridiculously intimidating, though.)

That being said, I'm still getting really, really sick of Brands Hatch and Silverstone being in every racing game of any degree of realism that I play. The holding company is eager to license them, the UK devs love representing their home turf, and the non-European devs have to have something to cater to the UK audience, so they always end up showing up. (I do quite like Brands Hatch in F1 2013, though, for some reason; likely being the older layout from the 1980's so it's not the exact same course I always see.) I imagine there's similarly someone in the UK complaining about Indianapolis always showing up...

I also gave Need for Speed: ProStreet a try the other day. The sudden shift to on-track racing after the massive success of NFS Underground, Underground 2, Most Wanted, and Carbon was, I thought, the biggest contributing factor to its market failure. It was a pretty big shift in tone, but it includes an impressive assortment of circuits, including Texas World Speedway, which doesn't even exist now. And the DLC is still up a decade later, so props to them on that! However, it turns out people didn't like it because it was bad. It handles poorly, runs poorly, makes all the tracks (no matter how iconic and distinctive in reality) generic and unrecognizable, and adds a bunch of gimmicky garbage that doesn't work. So that's a shame.

Oh, right, and I tried Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, as well. I don't think I've ever sworn at and shouted at a game so much and still kept playing it that long anyways, at least not in a few years. Did eventually give up at the final boss fight, though. I'd like my controller to remain intact.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on January 16, 2017, 02:19:20 AM
I bought a game called The Legend of Dark Witch, thinking it's going to be good. After playing it for a while, I ended up not having a good opinion about it.

One day, the Syega (magic crystal used for magic) got stolen. It's up to Zizou Olympia, the titular dark witch to find the culprit by beating up 6 potential suspects. Yeah, classic Megaman bareboned plot.

The game is combination of Classic Megaman and Gradius power-up system. Like Megaman, you run and gun through the level and fight the boss, beating the boss will get you their weapon. Bosses are weak against a certain weapon. The game includes Gradius esque powerup. Every enemies you kill give you Tres (basically money & EXP as one) that fills your Enforcement Slot and gives you money. Once your EXP fill up a certain slot, you can activate a certain Enforcenent to make yourself stronger. The slots are Speed, Wing (glide), Line, Comet (both attack option, though those two don't differ much), and Power. You can use Tres to permanently upgrade your stats or upgrade weapons obtained from bosses. That the basic of it. Now let's talk the other aspect of the game... And how it frustrated me.

Unlike Megaman, your HP does not represented by a health bar, instead, you got 4 hearts as your HP. 4 hits and you're toasts. Better yet, in normal difficulty or above, there is no health restoration. Go clear a stage and its boss without taking more than 4 hits, ya? There is a max health upgrade, but it's easily THE most expensive thing the upgrade by far. The zero upgrade achievement should go screw a donkey.

The game heavily punishes you for taking damage. Taking even a single damage reduces your EXP by 25% - 100% depending on difficulty. Dying deletes all your Enforcement, nuisance in stage, incredibly fatal in boss fights.

Each stage has its own enemy pool. While the enemies are various, the problem is that very few of them poses a threat. Some of them dies in one hit, and I can kill them with ease the moment they entered the screen. Even if there's a tough enemies, I can mash the attack button to kill them fast. The only time they managed to hit me is that if they have advantageous position, took me by surprise, or if I'm clumsy.
Though there is one awesome enemy.

(http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/youreveryneetz/80171864/51118/51118_900.png)
Japan Everybody.

The camera is pretty crap. It gives you good view of what in front of you and above you. What it doesn't give you give you viewing what's behind you (read: Respawned enemies who are more than eager to backstab you) and below you (Bottomless pits). The camera also waits a view seconds before moving if you're facing the other direction. There's a section in a stage that have zig-zagging pattern.

The bosses are... meh. The bosses have regular health bar while you're stuck with just 4 hearts. I actually counted how many their attacks pattern are. Answer: 4. The final boss has 1. They make up for it by making their requires broad memorization, positioning, and agility to dodge, by agility, I mean putting at least one level on your speed. Dodging with your default slow-ass speed is almost impossible. If you are really good, you can parry any attack by tapping the movement just as the attack is going to hit you. I'm not good at fighting game, and I prefer to jump my way out of trouble. Like Megaman, the final stage has you fighting all 6 bosses before you can fight the final boss. Riddle me this: How the heck am I gonna fight 6 bosses with just 3 lives and 4 hearts? You hit them with their weakness. Hitting the bosses with their weakness will knock them and cancel their attacks. Their invincibility will be gone the moment they're recovered...

The sub weapons are also nothing to write about. Most of the are gimmicky and too situational to use. Besides, they draw their energy from the Enforcement Slot. It's much better to upgrade your basic shot instead. Dia Missile locks on to enemies and sends 4 missile to converge at their direction. It's range is pretty short, but the missiles itself is pretty good. Ice Divide shoots a veeeery slow ice ball that can be spread to... wherever the hell it wants. I rarely hits anything with it. Ground Impact sends a bullet from the ground straight up. There's rarely any enemies that well above my range. Bound Ring shoots a bouncing ring diagonally upward. Basic Shot LV2 can shoot diagonally upward. Circlecron summons 2 rotating bullet around you that can be shot forward slooowly. The boss its weak to is melee-oriented, so its okay I guess. Upper Tornado plants a small tornado on your feet. Damaging the boss with it requires you to get extremely close to her.

(http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/youreveryneetz/80171864/51405/51405_900.jpg)
Go straight down Goddamit!!!

Once you finished the game, you get a second character to play as, Riva. She handle a little differently from Zizou. Her Enforcement Slot are Speed, Dash, Cobalt Fire, Sword Rain, and Extra. Almost all of them are... unique. Since there's no dedication button for dashing, you instead dash by double tapping a direction, which is likely to accidentally do. Unlike Megaman X, her dash is uncontrollably fast, and dash jumping will send her flying through the stage lightning. Speedrunner could use this to quickly traverse the stage, but more often than not, it will send flying to nearest hazard or bottomless pit. Unlike Zizou, Riva's attack (Cobalt Fire) doesn't reach full screen. Sure it deals 2x damage and can be charged, but having a range of just a few feet means I have to get close and personal against enemies and bosses now. Sword Rain drop sword around her, the range is awkward and it can get stuck on high platform and low ceiling. Extra lets you fire off charged attacks without the needs to charge it for a while. Let's just say it's overkill for normal enemies and useless against bosses. I'm not playing as her.

There's some things I like about that game. The music is pretty nice. It's so nice it's sold as separate DLC that's twice as expensive as the game itself (it's also redundant since the game comes with built-in music player). The art style instantly makes me bought it. Riva has her storyline and different final boss*cough*Castlevania can't do that *cough*.

As much as the game frustrated me, I can't say it's bad. I'd rate it average -good.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on January 17, 2017, 02:14:52 AM
New Dangan Ronpa V3. Most of the way through. Enjoying it a lot so far, although naturally the last couple of cases will determine whether I like it as much as 2. I think the most interesting new thing is the
lying
mechanic and the slightly different flavour it brings to a lot of the story. It's not something you have to use often, but it's a really cool way of mixing up the flow of debates.

Will report back when done, probably near the end of the week. The cases are long. :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Hanzo K. on January 20, 2017, 12:25:12 AM
Legend of Dark Witch was actually made by a circle who started out doing touhou fangames, those games were called the Ma Danzan Cronica as I vaguely recall.
If you thought that game was punishing, you haven't seen anything yet. they are closer to MMZ than Classic Megaman though. which is to say, no special weapons, but you get a Z-Saber equivalent and special moves to make up for it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 20, 2017, 06:30:01 AM
Oh boy, Caster is still the meta gal. "You might know [Lu Bu] as the 'Tamamo Killer,' since he can kill me in one hit even if I Guard."

Also, Gravity Rush 2 just had early release.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on January 20, 2017, 07:52:19 PM
Alongside Gran Turismo 6, on Christmas, I was also given Forza Motorsport 4! A brand new, fresh copy. I already knew the DLC was all gone, the online servers shuttered, and support for the product entirely stopped, but I'd only played Forza Horizon before and never any of the core Motorsport titles, so I was very excited to give this a go. Better yet, it has the 2004 Monte Carlo Stock Car, which is Chevy's exact entry in the NASCAR Cup Series years ago, and both Sedona Raceway Park and Sunset Peninsula Raceway are original courses parodying known NASCAR circuits, so it covers that front decently well for me!

However, the actual gameplay is... lackluster? I dunno. It's decent. But it's not really anything more than decent. It tries too hard to be flashy and the actual racing suffers. If I were to compare them, I'd say Forza and Gran Turismo aren't really direct competitors and do cater to different markets. Forza pulls off flashiness and silliness and being a big budget game for people that just want to pick up a game with cars and aren't too fussed with what one they pick as long as it has a lot of content. Gran Turismo is painfully dated in graphics and audio (not helped much by outright porting much of it from the PS2 games) and is more a hybrid of RPG and racing game, but the driving physics are totally solid. A friend of mine said it sounded like GT was for car enthusiasts, by car enthusiasts, and the more I think about it, the more that's exactly right. It's a wonderful thrill to collect all sorts of historic racecars and obscure production vehicles and learn about these cars and drivers in lengthy bios, but if you aren't too interested in that in the first place, I can see where it wouldn't hold one's attention much.

In short, really not impressed by Forza, but I think that's just because I play too many games like this. It seems like it just coasts on Microsoft budget and branding and doesn't actually do much of note. (That being said, the first Forza Horizon is still a fantastic game, and the FH2 Fast and Furious spinoff was ridiculous fun.)

So the other day, I was looking for something peaceful and cute to play to relax. After searching for a few hours, I gave up and booted up Sleeping Dogs again, but I'm glad I did. It's more dated now than I expected, but touring around Hong Kong is still excellent fun; the worldbuilding in every little radio ad, storefront and street vendor makes it one of the more wonderful locations I've had the pleasure of visiting and revisiting in a video game. I love the little moments of characterization in the story, the brutality of triad warfare all the more heart-wrenching as it affects people you actually care about, and the comedy of the surreal spinoff additions turning the hardboiled drama into a cheesy kung fu flick or a supernatural demon rising. (The latter's actually where I first came across jiang-shi, too.) And when all that story is over, you can still cruise the streets, sing karaoke, buy furniture, and throw gangsters off of bridges into oncoming traffic. Fun times.

I also attempted to get back into Lego Marvel's Avengers, and I think the reason I much prefer Lego Marvel Super Heroes still (besides that game's inclusion of just about everything Marvel piled into one gorgeous and fun open world) is, well... the tone of the Avengers films, which I'm not too fond of anyways, really doesn't work with Lego. That happy-go-lucky silliness in these cute little towns and cities of people going about their day? Really does not combine well at all with screaming civilians banging on the windows of burning trains, major real-world cities recreated burning to the ground, and a young hero being brainwashed into an engineered killing machine. It gives me the same vibe as the films; it's so constantly, oppressively bleak that it's borderline unlikable. And that's a shame, because it fine-tunes a lot of gameplay stuff that didn't work well in Super Heroes. No matter what, though, it's still really fun to genuinely be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound as Hulk and others, and crash through traffic as Fin Fang Foom. It's just a lot of padding to get there, so the former game still impresses more.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on January 20, 2017, 08:21:57 PM
Dangan Ronpa V3 finished. I don't think I've seen such a mindscrew since MGS2.  :colonveeplusalpha:

Overall I think it was probably on a similar level to DR2. I felt the mystery cases were perhaps a little easier than in 2 (although maybe I just got better at figuring things out which is entirely possible), but the cast of characters was really good, with a bunch in particular really well developed, and arguably a new contender for most interesting character in the series (though I won't spoil who that is, naturally). There are also lots of entirely new significant tricks/gimmicks which make certain cases rather different to anything else before in the series.

I guess now I need to go through again and find the
ura routes
. :V

EDIT: I've been thinking about the game for the last few days and I'm starting to think it's actually better than DR2. Thing is, though, it's not going to be for everyone in the same way that DR2 was. Anyone could play DR2 and agree that it was better in just about every way compared to DR1, but DRV3 has some stuff that will divide people heavily on whether they love it or hate it. I can totally understand why people would hate the divisive stuff, but the more I think about it the more I'm coming to the conclusion that this is a twisted work of genius.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on January 20, 2017, 11:16:31 PM
Playing Pokemon Stadium with rental Pokemon only. They suck. Their stats suck and their movesets suck. It's a miracle if even two out of four moves are useful for anything. Can't even count how many battles I lost because of perfectly timed Thunder/Fire Blast/Sky Attack misses. Missing several Thunders in a row is especially fun.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on January 22, 2017, 05:34:21 PM
Currently playing Fate/Extella. I'm having fun with it: it's a simple, dumb Dynasty Warriors type game with neato husbandos and waifus, complete with a convoluted story by Nasu.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 24, 2017, 08:45:56 AM
Once you get over the initial entry barrier to Neverland, it's frankly depressingly easy. As long as you can get your Scratch Damage dealer up to whatever level gives them Full Scratch Rate 100% and Stun Rate 100%, you can stunlock single enemies brutally. Even the final bosses at the end are extremely vulnerable to getting stunlocked by that and the Direct Damage Gauge Break, and at that point, you probably have some of the Golden Guns already and are dealing significantly more damage than in the first zone.

The only real difficult sections aside from the initial grind just to survive are the areas that have mob zones (e.g. the park with the boatload of Neverland staff) and the occasional Blob monster that regenerates Scratch Damage to its parts to such a degree that the absolute first frame you can hit them with a Direct Damage attack won't be enough to break the part... and probably about five attacks after that.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on January 24, 2017, 04:54:43 PM
Playing Exist Archive. Made by tri-Ace. So, it's kinda like Valkyrie Profile, i.e. you run around 2d jump, freeze enemies and a bit later in the game can use frozen enemies as sort of cannons that shoot you in the direction of your choice.
Combat is more or less standard VP as well, you have up to 4 characters in your active party and when you press a button corresponding to that character they use one of their 3 attacks.
There's an attack phase when you attack enemies, and defense phase when enemies attack your doods and you can use defend command, that lets you reduce damage taken.
There are 12 playable characters and while i like some of them more than the others, the game game often decides to be an asshole and packs level's random encounters with magic resistant spiky bombs. And you are forced to use characters, who are good against those abominations, but suck at pretty much everything else.
You can freeze/run past enemies in the level of course, but then you won't be able to get that rare loot from the boss, since there exists a system, when you hit enemy in the air, they drop risk orbs. These increase drop rate, but at the same time when you are hit with attack you didn't guard against, there's a chance that your risk combo will break. Each risk orbs equals 1%. So at 100 risk you have really great drop rate, but any unguarded attack will break your combo.
Overall it's fun, but the repetitiveness of the gameplay and aforementioned bombs make it that i can't play it  for more than a couple hours.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 24, 2017, 05:40:56 PM
I've found that Gunners perform admirably at taking out those bombs. Taskmasters are decent at it too. You just have to avoid equipping attacks that have the user get close in. Those two classes are also excellent at hitting many enemies at once, which lets you get your specials off.

Also, at high Risk, it doesn't even matter if you guard. Any clean hit can break.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 30, 2017, 05:03:26 AM
Teleporting before a hit lands, unblockable attacks a la Lingering Will's constant charge, and Xbox HEUG health.

Who thought this was a good bonus boss, again?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Neovereign on January 31, 2017, 03:03:33 PM
Have been playing Lost Saga through the three companies it's been through. Gameplay, Mechanics, Characters, and Modes are really fun. Though the community, RNG, and some characters make things less so... With an item, most of your equipment can be redesigned into whatever your artistic skills can manage. I've seen many reskins into Touhou characters. Unfortunately, not many would join a guild for Touhou, and many of them are already in guilds.
Things are fantastic and simple when you're a low level, but get complex and heated when you're a higher skill level, where you're limited to similar level rooms, avoidable by being invited or making your own room however. Higher levels give access to more of the characters, rather than relying on luck for a quick random character.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on February 02, 2017, 06:28:07 AM
So I installed Kingdom Hearts Unchained x on my iPad.

Help me I've won five of the six HD Aqua medals in four days help I can't stop the grind because mysterious no AP costs I guess this week
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Raikaria on February 05, 2017, 10:38:08 PM
So I made a sort of homebrew Wizard build in Diablo 3; and even with me playing sloppily as all hell; I breezed through a T8 Rift. And by sloppily I mean 'Not using a costless spell which I can get off cooldown basically immediately that gives enemies a damage reduction debuff and gives me a 50% DR buff.'

Also I'm missing probobly the single most critical item for the build still because it just refuses to drop. And the gear isn't Ancient.

For anyone who speaks Diablo; it's a 5 Tal 3 DMO Spectral Blade build which plans to throw in Manald Heal once the darn thing drops.

Mostly because I refuse to be a sheep with my Wizard and play Archon. Archon is boring.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on February 08, 2017, 05:37:36 AM
I just realized (or noticed, actually) that there's actually still a way to judge the cue for the final hit in The Last Song, not just based on Mikhail's yammering.

So that's the main game of Drakengard 3 done finally; now just for the grindy bits.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on February 08, 2017, 02:04:30 PM
Re-reading Steins;Gate in preparation to read the two main fandiscs. After that is Chaos;Child. :D
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on February 23, 2017, 01:09:28 PM
After fighting to rip myself from the clutches of my mobile games I'm finally resuming Ys Origin(Nightmare mode of course).  Up to Khonsclard now, and MAN Jenocres was a jerk as Yunica.  I tried at Lv. 28 so many times but had no success.  Decided to gain two levels and while I had a hard fight I barely scraped a win first try.  Khonsclard so far has been handing me my head but when I get home from work I have a strategy I plan to try.  Then I can continue the ascent!

Probably gonna end up playing with all characters eventually but might drop to Hard for the remaining runs so I can hurry and finish up since I also have Ark of Napishtim to do afterwards.  (Catastrophe mode, naturally)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on February 23, 2017, 07:13:21 PM
I've had a rule against figure collecting for a long while. I'll casually pick up plush toys of characters I like, since they're soft and comfortable and don't break to bits when they fall off of a shelf or table, which is kind of a must for me. But more importantly, I'm a completionist. I like collecting full sets, burning through my games to 100%, and generally, if I get into something, I go all-in. Either that, or I pick things I specifically cannot go all-in to, such as my Daytona USA game collection which genuinely cannot be completed past where it is because I can't fit arcade machines in my apartment.

To cut to the chase, my mother got me Lego Dimensions for Christmas. That opens a whole new can of worms.

It has a Sonic pack, and it's been sort of a running thing that I get something Sonic-related every year. And I gotta say, it is basically the best thing the blue blur's been in since Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed. Okay, so he hasn't actually been in much of anything since then, but still! Despite being in yet another crossover event, his level pack focuses solely on classic Sonic stuff; they crack jokes about the entire series and a few internet memes, but the actual content only covers up to the Dreamcast era. One thing that stands out immediately is that the music sounds a bit off; it's actually new compositions mimicking the soundtracks for S1, S2, and S3&K, since the rights to those songs are held by the composer and not SEGA themselves. Makes it all the more awesome when the actual themes from Adventure roar in out of nowhere. (I was particularly excited to hear a certain track return from Sonic 4, especially since that entire game is basically swept under the rug now.)

It's a nostalgia trip, for sure, and banks pretty heavily on that, but it's definitely done with love, and makes all the more clear how much fun the writers, Roger Craig Smith, and Mike Pollock have with their roles. This is very, very clearly the main Sonic crew making content that just happens to be in another game, and if, unlike me, you have any impulse control, it makes for a fine Sonic game all in itself. The vehicles you can assemble with him are pretty smartly designed, too. Every vehicle/tool in the game has three different configurations it can be built into, and what starts as Sonic's racecar or the Tornado can be remade into classic badniks.

Playing it alongside her, my mother, a long-time fan who sunk many hours into the Genesis era before I was even around (especially Spinball), expressed sadness that playing as Sonic was now too fast for her. She thought it was her reflexes going out over the years, but no, Sonic's genuinely as ridiculously fast in this game as he's described in the manuals. The Sonic Adventure World (which of course there's an Adventure World for him; the entire term "Adventure World" is taken right from SA1) and the level pack are made for Sonic specifically, and you can blow through them at top speed no problem, but putting him just about anywhere else pretty much breaks the game's physics.  The gravity screws up and ejects him sideways across the sky, he can run up walls he's really not supposed to be able to, and bodies of water that'd usually require a boat can just be run across (though at least that much is intentional).

There's tons of cute little details, from Omochao giving increasingly tedious and useless information ("Move your legs to run!") to Sonic wearing a life preserver if he ever lands in water, and while these are all fun to find, they aren't the sole meat of the expansion. It's not just novelty. What'd be just minor fetch quests in other expansions are entire extra levels in this one; so far, I've found Sandopolis, Death Egg, and Metropolis Zones hidden across the map.

Of course, I'm only experiencing it from scratch now because the entire thing messed up, dumped my characters into an abyss, and corrupted my save on my first run. So while I'm hesitant to go all in... well, I've completed the main story now and picked up Nya from Ninjago. And Marceline from Adventure Time. And Chell, from Portal. And Unikitty, the Lego Batman Movie pack, and The Doctor are in the mail at the moment. I've loved exploring all of these places thus far, and the story definitely got better as it went, but I gotta give special mention to the Adventure Time world absolutely nailing the show's art style (for all characters; entering it makes any character cel-shaded), and the Portal level / adventure world being a pretty fantastic return to a setting I almost forgot I loved so much. I've kind of started geeking out over every single expression Chell makes ever, because we've never really gotten to see her emote before, or have anything close to freedom. Marceline constantly jamming out on her guitar and dancing when not given an objective is cute, and Nya... well, pretty much all of her animations are repurposed from Deadpool in Marvel Super Heroes and she's a samurai with ninja training and a mecha, which I think speaks for itself in terms of awesome factor.

On the side, I've been playing Ghostbusters: The Video Game, and as someone who found the movies pretty okay but not stellar, I'm quite relieved to find that the game is indeed very solid beyond just a fanservice standpoint, as well. They really put a lot of love into it, from a mechanical standpoint as well as a nostalgic one. It's filled the niche I've been looking to fill for a while of atmospheric horror that's not at all reliant on jumpscares and knows when to add some levity.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on February 24, 2017, 01:17:57 PM
For anyone who likes Dark Souls and similar games but actually likes having different character builds, covenants that make a difference, and stats that matter, Reddit is holding a 2 week long return to Drangleic (http://i.imgur.com/YozU0Wo.jpg) in order reinvigorate the online community. Emphasis is especially on people interacting so jolly co-op and spiteful pvp abound! Sure the level design is mediocre, the bosses are same-y, and the violence, depravity, and apathy regarding the fate of all creation is severely toned down, but at least you won't dump 30 hours into your stupid crappy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MKc9ejlUYs) tank build! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThMBbBFS41w&)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on February 27, 2017, 06:57:32 AM
asdf figuring out how to force the microcontroller to wait if there's a ping incoming is killing my brain


Anyway, picked up Malicious Fallen and La-Mulana EX. I seem to have this thing for killing major enemies on the border of death. Mostly because I'm going for the no-subweapon achievement, so I have to close in to ranges that are extremely high risk against certain bosses.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on March 01, 2017, 05:21:49 PM
For anyone who likes Dark Souls and similar games but actually likes having different character builds, covenants that make a difference, and stats that matter, Reddit is holding a 2 week long return to Drangleic (http://i.imgur.com/YozU0Wo.jpg) in order reinvigorate the online community.
And as much as I liked this for a few days it could never live up to the original release. I also realized that I had 500 hours in DS2. Hence...

Salt and Sanctuary is fun! I'mma play dis with a few different builds!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on March 16, 2017, 03:51:48 PM
Beat Nier Automata. It is good it is good it is good. Easily the best Yoko Taro game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on March 17, 2017, 03:13:15 PM
Breath of the Wild deserves every last bit of its Metacritic score. Just my impression of things some 8 hours in. It combines the best aspects of previous LoZ games, Elder Scrolls, Dark Souls, and even MGS5 to a lesser extent into one package. Exploration never stops being rewarding and yet the map is titanic. Like I can't say it's absolutely flawless, but when you're having so much fun who really cares about transient small imperfections?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 18, 2017, 08:11:18 AM
Speaking of NieR: Automata, I love how there's Schmuck Bait endings. The game won't stop you from doing something idiotic and suicidal, like removing your own OS chip (whose description outright states you will die if this is removed) or taking Jackass' (that's her name) offer to consume a certain fish for science.

Anyway, I've gotten stonewalled in Hell Temple, so I've swapped back to Ateliers Sophie and Shallie. I still haven't actually gotten very far in Sophie, despite having bought the LE and having bought Firis day one (why didn't Firis get a LE, though?).

Also Monster Monpiece is out on Steam (fucking finally).


EDIT: 832 MB patch. I have over 100 GB of space. "cannot download, not enough space" fml
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Lollipop on April 04, 2017, 10:21:29 PM
I bought Deemo a few days, and it's one of the best rhythm games I've ever played. The controls are good and the music is fantastic. I wish I was good at it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on April 05, 2017, 01:19:46 PM
It's time for Po town in Pokemans Moon! Mid-late game intrigue! It's also breeding time. I got my hands on a Ditto and I've been using it as a lazyperson's poke-clone machine. The results of this project have provided additional pokeys to ensure that I have one of each pokemon when I'm done with the game. Having additional pokeys has also proved fruitful for GTS trading.   

So far this studly pile of goo has sired:
- An owl
- A kitten
- An electric rodent
- An eagle and a vulture
- PUPPIES GALORE
- An anemone
- Fish and then more fish
- Two geckos
- Five previously extinct creatures
- Numerous dragons of different varieties
- A rock

Dunno why, but I find myself liking this one more than I did X/Y. Maybe it's the theme, or I like my team more this time around, or Team Skull, or breaks from past norms, I can't really decide. Speaking of Team Skull, they're the best team but I swear they show up far less and have far fewer pokemon than earlier games.

Also on the list of things I'm playing are more Breath of the Wild and what I hope and pray is my last playthrough of Dark Souls 3. Quality build was the correct answer all along.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on April 05, 2017, 04:05:15 PM
Payday 2's in the midst of their annual spring event, and this time, it's trying two things at once; tying up loose ends from plots super long ago, and porting classic levels from the first game. So, with one 'new' level out, a revamp of Heat Street, they're making canonically new scenarios that, in-universe, are just coincidentally similar to stuff from ages ago. Bain, your mission control, even has a random chance of mumbling "this whole scenario is just... way too familiar." It's bizarre, but effective. With the sheer amount of changes between the two game's mechanics, it's pretty much an entirely new thing as it is, and I'm genuinely surprised that I'm able to really enjoy what was infamously my least favorite level ever in the game it debuted in.

Been blowing through racing games between actual motorsports. I keep trying to get into Forza 4 again, but I'm just not finding it very compelling. The XP system, gradual unlocks, and gorgeous courses are very nice, but it feels like they're in place to compensate for generic and unsatisfying gameplay. Maybe it's just other games building on it since.

In any case, I ended up getting back into MX vs ATV Reflex again after enjoying a round of Monster Energy Supercross on TV; as someone who pretty much only pays attention to four wheels, I'm massively impressed with how ridiculously satisfying Reflex is to play. Every class of vehicle feels nothing the same, and having to angle your tires over jumps adds that one extra dynamic element to a racing line that I've been looking for. With stock cars on ovals, that dynamic element comes from your opponents, drafting, and having both low and high lines around the course. With endurance racing and high-powered open-wheel vehicles, it comes from tire wear causing you to slide around and have to improvise, then getting used to it all over again once you pit and get a fresh set of tires.

With motocross, that little extra something comes from having to consider your line vertically as well as horizontally. It's not just taking the corner, it's lining yourself up for the jump right after the corner, angling yourself to land just right after the end of it, and hoping not to slam into a competitor along the way. On a 360 controller, the left stick steers your bike left and right, and the right stick shifts your weight up and down. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's massively satisfying when you can find out just the right speed and angle to motor through a chunk of the track with ease; small sequences of bumps coasted through with the slightest shift back and gently easing the back tire over it, huge leaps taken with just the right turn to slide smoothly onto the end of the ramp ahead, stuff like that. It's really engaging, and those lines change with each different vehicle in the game. Plus, there's buggies and trucks for more standard four-wheeling dirt-racing competition.

Even for a 2010 game, it's also weirdly retro. The constant use of sponsors and generic screamo music (which I eventually shut off and replaced with some Skid Row) really brought me back to middle and high school, seeing the kids who drove their ATVs up in the woods coming in with Metal Mulisha hats and FOX shirts and all. Nails the style of it, at least, and while I'm pretty sure it's all fictional course designs, they're done well enough that if you have no idea about motocross, it seems realistic/plausible enough. Plus, they aren't afraid to exaggerate for the sake of fun; Omnicross brings every single discipline in the game together, and is an absolute nightmare to play on a bike with gigantic trucks bearing down on you, but that fragility pays off with tighter turns and smaller shortcuts. I'd highly recommend the game thus far. Runs beautifully on PC, too.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Zelinko on April 06, 2017, 12:31:33 PM
World of Warships (although kinda dropped down performance-wise due to machine parts needing to return from maintenance)
Warframe, Accidentally Trinity Prime is making me look again at the LobsterDoctor
C&C Generals Zero Hour /w Shockwave Mod.  A pity that  the last patch kinda broke some of the AI in General's Challenge.  Still let's me write my name in Particle Cannon Strikes on those derped out AIs

Also no Warframe thread?  No interest or it just get buried.

Remember Tenno are the youkai of the current era.  But possibly even more deadly.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: qMyon on April 06, 2017, 01:00:50 PM
World of Warships (although kinda dropped down performance-wise due to machine parts needing to return from maintenance)
Warframe, Accidentally Trinity Prime is making me look again at the LobsterDoctor
C&C Generals Zero Hour /w Shockwave Mod.  A pity that  the last patch kinda broke some of the AI in General's Challenge.  Still let's me write my name in Particle Cannon Strikes on those derped out AIs

Also no Warframe thread?  No interest or it just get buried.

Remember Tenno are the youkai of the current era.  But possibly even more deadly.

I play the former two, Warframe quite heavily. Picked up Octavia yet?

I dabble in both Star Trek Online and Mechwarrior Online as well.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Zelinko on April 06, 2017, 02:09:37 PM
I play the former two, Warframe quite heavily. Picked up Octavia yet?

I dabble in both Star Trek Online and Mechwarrior Online as well.

Haven't started on her quest. Been working more prime projects.  Had accidentally acquired all the bits to make Trinity Prime so leveling her.  Also it's awkward to work for Suda... I mean there is a strong chance in quest that she'll send the goon squad after me since I'm primary Loka for my syndicates.

MWO I need to get more into but I'm also kinda really waiting for the FedCom Civil War tech upgrade to drop before going in hard core onto it.  MRM Splatcats soon.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: qMyon on April 06, 2017, 02:40:35 PM
Haven't started on her quest. Been working more prime projects.  Had accidentally acquired all the bits to make Trinity Prime so leveling her.  Also it's awkward to work for Suda... I mean there is a strong chance in quest that she'll send the goon squad after me since I'm primary Loka for my syndicates.

MWO I need to get more into but I'm also kinda really waiting for the FedCom Civil War tech upgrade to drop before going in hard core onto it.  MRM Splatcats soon.

Hit me up in-game on Warframe sometime if you want someone to hunt mods/farm with. IGN is Scurry5.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Zelinko on April 06, 2017, 11:23:56 PM
Hit me up in-game on Warframe sometime if you want someone to hunt mods/farm with. IGN is Scurry5.

I'll shoot you a request. Zelinko on there.

Been in since Zephyr Soars and before Tethra's Doom
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on April 07, 2017, 07:23:28 PM
Oblivion. The game where stuffing multiple swords and armor pieces into a dead rat, and dragging said rat around, is a valid mechanism of loot management. As is beating your horse unconscious, so you can remove the items stored in its stomach. I'm loving it, especially considering every major aspect of the game can be significantly improved with appropriate mods (see: Better Cities, Better Dungeons, Unique Landscapes, OOO, Enhanced Economy etc). So much fun content, so many delightful absurdities arising from the game's complexity (even with most bugs eliminated by the Unofficial Patch). A story I particularly enjoy telling goes as follows:

Quote
I was just doing that quest with the two separated brothers and it turned out rather silly
After the brother in Cheydinhal stormed out of the inn as usual, I stayed there for a while longer to train my Sneak skill, then teleported back to Chorrol
I checked the quest marker and it was pointing just west of the Imperial Isle, meaning the idiot got himself knocked out on the way
So I stole a horse and rode out to meet him halfway
Somewhere along the road a bandit jumped out of the blue, so I dismounted, killed him and got on the horse again
"Stop! Thief!"
Cue a Link lookalike swinging at me with a big f***-off hammer because I mounted a horse he couldn't possibly know wasn't mine
I check his name and it's the goddamned brother
At this point the quest was ruined, so I reloaded
Escorted him back to Chorrol and this time everything went fine, except for the part where he ran off the road to fight boars, wolves and a bear
"I'm about to meet my lost brother, let's fight some fauna that could rip me open in a blink"
Eventually I followed him all the way to Chorrol, so he runs into the inn where his brother is, stops right in front of him... and turns around to chat with a random Khajiit
At this point I couldn't help but laugh

There were many more, of course. A jeweler walking face first into a closed door as I pocket her valuables? Check. The countess discovers me trespassing, immediately assails me, misdirects a blow and gets into a fistfight with her maid, chasing her into the castle hall, whereupon she's casually executed by her own bodyguards? Why not. That one time when I had to jump two meters in the air in order to avoid the guard's eyesight -- and picked the lock mid-jump, too? Priceless. NPCs calmly ignoring the fact that they've caught on fire after a nearby trap exploded? All the time.

I disliked Oblivion initially after release, but damn, after all these years, with all the mods and a less serious outlook, it's just such a barrel of fun.

EDIT: And a fresh one, from just a minute ago:
"There's no time to waste! Follow me!" *runs right into the very first trap of the dungeon and dies instantly*
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on April 08, 2017, 04:36:17 AM
Now if only that NPC said "Leeroy Jenkins!"...

Anyway, now that The Nonary Games is out, I've finally had the time to completely finish Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. The only thing I hate is that they're straight ports, more or less, so some of the graphics (especially for items you pick up) is shit-tier, and quite a few of the text boxes extend three or more lines, which the game doesn't keep track of, so in 999, for example, if you're not in Novel mode, and one of those show up, you just have the latter half of the sentence show up in the text boxes.

Also, Yooka-Laylee is gonna be out real soon - they've just sent out the PC keys earlier today.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on April 11, 2017, 11:07:43 AM
Finally finished the postgame of Dungeon Travellers 2. All bosses beaten, no level resets, no silver keys. Awesome game. Ready for DT2-2 next Thursday. :D
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on April 20, 2017, 11:58:41 PM
If you haven't played Persona 5 - what are you even doing with your life? Stop everything - yes, including drinking, eating, sleeping, cuddling with your significant other and related things - and go play it to completion. Right now.

But yeah, I just spent the last two weeks binging the shit out of my life into Persona 5 and I don't regret a single moment of it. Even if it was the PS3 version, I barely noticed issues, and the improvements made to the series made all of my major complaints with P3 and P4 either vanish completely or become so minor they'd just be nitpicks.

And I'm pretty sure Joker is now my favorite protagonist out of the three. In no small part due to the Final Boss.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on April 21, 2017, 04:06:50 PM
What I've been doing with my life is mostly DiRT Rally, as of late. I'd heard a lot of gaming news outlets report it as "the Dark Souls of racing games" and rant and rave about how relentlessly brutal and realistic it is, but, y'know, gaming media generally doesn't actually give a damn about racing games anymore, so they're an awful barometer of it unless they have an in-house specialist on it. Showing people careening off-track and slamming into walls isn't that good an indicator of difficulty when they usually drive so terribly that that's the case for every game. But I digress. What I think threw people off is that, unlike the majority of the DiRT series before it and much of the other mass-market games out there, DiRT Rally leans much more to the simulation end of things than it does arcade.

It's not that it's merciless, or cruel, or unforgiving. It's that it rips away the safety nets, all in good confidence that you'll be able to withstand the trial by fire and learn from your mistakes. There are assists you can turn on, of course, from stability and traction control to anti-lock brakes, but as with other Codemasters games, you're given a subtle boost in rewards payout for shutting them off. It lets you ease into making realistic parts of racing that you'd usually ignore a part of your muscle memory, at your own pace, from holding the handbrake during the countdown and letting go of it at launch to locking the camera views to the inside of the car. It's very satisfying to gradually gain full control of each part of the vehicle, and can pay off with slightly faster times. Importantly, though, a lot of the stuff that turned many other racing titles to a mocked "easy mode" are completely absent. There's no "rewind" or "flashback" feature. Resetting the car after a crash will cost you time. Damage incurred will have an effect on the car and cannot be rendered purely cosmetic. So on, so forth.

DiRT Rally's one of the few things I can point to as using modern gaming right. It debuted as an Early Access game with a sparse few stages (point-to-point rally courses), and took in feedback while gradually adding the rest of the content. It catered to a niche market, but welcomed anyone else willing to jump in. The one failing of this format is that the tutorials feel like placeholders; they're simply videos, albeit wonderfully descriptive and informative ones (I had no idea that altitude subtly affected engine power due to less air getting through at higher heights!). Still, that allows you to learn at your own pace in-game. Each of the game modes feels wonderfully refined due to this focus. The courses and cars are exactly enough to have variety without anything being unnecessary or extra. Six rally locales of wildly varying climates, three rallycross courses (with seven layouts), and one hillclimb course (Pikes Peak!). Vehicles from various ages that truly feel nothing the same; starting with a 60's Mini Cooper takes some getting used to, and ending up in a 2010's Hyundai briefly for an event felt jarringly easy in comparison with modern engineering.

I'm probably going on longer than anyone's particularly interested in, but suffice to say, the rally stages are smooth, beautiful, and punishing. The co-driver's pace notes are informative and easy to hear (I was pretty surprised to find out he genuinely is that easy to parse over the radio in real life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9guEy0_iPA)), and the HUD briefly shows on-screen illustrations of the severity of each approaching corner to go with it, SEGA Rally style. The framerate is smooth (if you change the anti-aliasing settings to CMAA), and while there's still a little bit of unrealistic balance to the car (it's much harder to tip over than it would be in reality, for fun's sake, and nearly every roll sees you back on your wheels), it feels pretty viscerally realistic. Everywhere from the rolling hills of Wales to the slippery ice of Monte Carlo is gorgeous, even though I get a weird vibe of 90's-esque brightness and color instead of straight-up realism. Personally, I prefer the vibrant color, so it works out.

I will say, though, much as I argue "it's not THAT hard", Rallycross is absolutely demolishing me. I cannot set a good enough time to proceed from the local, lowest-difficulty event no matter what I do. It's a shame, too, since you have to clear two difficulties of local rallycross to reach the FIA World Rallycross Championship, which is an abbreviated version of the actual real-world racing series down to its actual ruleset and a selection of its cars. It may not be particularly playable or fun for me, but it's at least gotten me watching the real championship, which is a treat so far. Having to adhere to the real-world competition rules instead of the rest of the game's fictional rulesets means that there's a few gimmicks stuffed in there I'm not too fond of in a game otherwise free of them, mostly lengthy qualifying and the mandatory Joker Lap (which requires you to take a longer, slower alternate route at least once during the race).

In any case, with new events generated each day and a very wide array of courses and cars, DiRT Rally really hearkens back to the days of Colin McRae Rally in terms of substance, not nostalgia. It's excellent for just booting up for a brief session and getting straight to hurtling down a course as fast as I can, with a remarkable lack of cruft or clutter. It's... if anything, I'd say it's very focused. If you know what you're doing and hit your marks, you'll have an excellent time, and if you don't know what you're doing, it'll teach you exactly what you need to know to make the most of it. Rather than unforgiving, I'd call it uncompromising. It knows the experience it wants to be, and it just wants you to be a part of it.

And when I'm not in the mood for something that requires all of my focus and attention, I've been booting up Lego City Undercover. It's got a few crashes and hitches here and there, but all in all, I am so happy it finally came to systems other than the Wii U. The PC port reportedly suffered plenty of issues upon release, but they seem mostly patched up now. Absolutely top-notch humor and much, much better design than most of the TT Lego games of late and of past. Plus, you know, getting to run around in an off-brand giant lizard costume and fight crime. Can't ask for more than that. Or, well, I certainly can't.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on April 21, 2017, 09:11:34 PM
Seconding that DiRT Rally is awesome stuff.

I'm playing DT2-2. I've been waiting a long time for this, and it's meeting my high expectations nicely so far. I was kind of worried they might make it a bit easier, but nope - if anything, it feels like it's gotten harder than DT2 after the first couple of chapters. Dungeon design is awesome, full of variety and fun gimmicks. If anything, the most impressive thing is that all the characters have if anything even more personality than before and I'm beginning to like some of the ones I wasn't a fan of back in 2. :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on April 26, 2017, 06:08:42 AM
Statik: Institute of Retention is kind of expensive for a game you can knock out in an afternoon depending on your puzzle skills, but it's a PSVR game that doesn't make me motionsick after a short period (since for once it's a game that has you sit still both in the game and in real life), and the puzzles are actually really good. Shit, that ending tho...

I've almost finished up A Rose in the Twilight, but for the two Trophies you have to explore for. I assume the Glass Room is intended for at least one of them, since the stained glass is apparently something I can interact with, but Egg Endurance Experiment seems odd, since you don't pop it by jumping off Clock Tower Upper Level...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on May 01, 2017, 01:00:20 PM
It's Elite Four time in Pokemon Moon! Pokedex sits at a neat 76% complete. The days of wonder trading being effective have long since passed and I am now printing up rare pokeys left and right to rule the world of the GTS. I never did settle on a good pokey for my 6th spot. Usually I have a rock type but that never happened. I wanted to try a flying or poison type but nothing really panned out there either. It's kind of sad because my own ridiculous rules removed the possibility of using some cool pokeys. Oh well. The starters are all great and oh man my magnezone is my best friend. If trading and leveling for evolution goes off without a hitch, I might get a Alolan living pokedex by the time Fire Emblem Echoes comes out.

I rage quit Dark Souls 3 because of PVP stupidness (which is the only way to quit). I'm starting Witcher 3 tonight with no expectations whatsoever. I tried the first one and just quit about 5 hours in because I had no clue what I was doing and the only quest I got after 2 hours in town was to get like 20 bear asses but I had to research the bears first which I found out was like 10 hours into the game and the bears themselves were 20 hours into it. Whoops?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Suwako Moriya on May 01, 2017, 01:28:13 PM
Picked up Kamiko (http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/kamiko-switch) this weekend. It's been a cute little romp so far. Not overly difficult, but certainly not trivial. Was absolutely worth the $5.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on May 03, 2017, 05:31:59 PM
So Trails in the Sky the 3rd is out.  :getdown:
Edit: And talking chests are back! Wooooooooo.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on May 05, 2017, 05:44:59 PM
Words
Now up to 83% but quickly running out of things I can trade for. Mass produced Goomies and Vanilites can only go so far. Still the end is in sight and all of it should be doable. Also screw the whole elite 4 garbage 20 pokeys all around level 54 while my 6 are at maaaaaybe level 50 with no place to grind? yah no I turned off that exp. share off 100+ hours ago pupper rockin it old school I'm cheating with the level 55-70 trades pokeys I got get rekt. 
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 07, 2017, 05:25:33 AM
I kind of wish they allowed you to make your own message at the end of Ending E instead of having to pick from a set of pre-programmed phrases. Then again, like half of the messages would be explicit in some form...

I wonder, just how many people have elected to grant their "hope" to another...?


Also, Dang It Ron Paul 2. I don't believe they explain the Rebuttal combo system adequately at the start, since players on Mean get kind of stuck if they don't check the controls or realize how the combo works (you can avoid using up the double-damage hit on a statement that will break on the next hit, which can give you an extra hit on further statements).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Validon98 on May 10, 2017, 07:09:13 PM
I started up a practice FFV run for FJF, since that's gonna be in like, what, a month or so? No 750 since I never really did a run like that, got Monk, Mystic Knight, Ninja, Dragoon, at the Library of the Ancients for the time being, and for the first time in all of existence, u-uh...

(https://i.gyazo.com/63ba33c18187a115f50ef2605cd71f29.png)

I got back-attacked... by Byblos. By a boss. I... what... huh... how...?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The ⑨th Zentillion on May 10, 2017, 07:43:10 PM
That's something that can happen VERY rarely with Byblos and I think Ifrit? The Ancient Library's got some weird encounter states...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on May 11, 2017, 01:50:57 PM
FJF
SOON

Also oh lordy the last 10% of the pokedex is so paaaaaainful!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mеа on May 15, 2017, 07:47:41 AM
It was a small, serendipitous moment that diverted my attention to the Azure Striker Gunvolt games this last half week. It's made by the same people that developed the megaman zero games as the system definitely shows, but I enjoy this game a lot more. The stage design is actually really fun, and the mechanics of the scoring system require the devs to be very conscious of the level design and it shows. The levels I've played through so far strike a good balance between being short enough to not be frustrating on doing perfect runs, but long enough to make it a challenge. They even split up the level into two halves to make memorizing the stages easier.

While I've beaten both games (and really excited for the 3rd game -- wth was with that ending for the 2nd game...) I'm going back to the first game to do all the challenges, which also means I have to get S+ on all the stages. So far I've managed to do that for the intro level (My First Sumeragi) and Media Tower (the one with Jota, the guy that uses the sword bits). Currently working on Biochem Plant, the one with all the fire and the bullet hell boss, and I'm already having problem with Act 1 of the stage, that part with the 5 guys placed on top of the destructible boxes. I enjoy that the game encourages some problem solving in trying to figure out how to maximize your simultaneous kills. Not looking forward to the boss. If you're going to do bullet hell, the least you could do is fix your hitbox.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on May 17, 2017, 02:17:27 PM
Haha! A 100% complete Alolan pokedex, and a living one at that. This game's all-stars were all 3 of the starters plus my magnezone. Honorable mention to the mudsdale, gabite, and shellgon I ran with for some time, plus Nebby toward the end of the game. Special credit also goes to my ditto, which probably produced roughly 100 eggs or so for trades and filling out holes in my pokedex. Seriously being able to get 5 Dratinis within 15 minutes and trading them for almost anything is as broken as it sounds. I benefited from some dubious deals but also gave great things away for little things just to save a spot of time.

All in all I think nearly everything about this game was a cut above X/Y. It could've used a touch of polish or balancing (~25 high level enemy pokeys in a row with no good grinding spots was NOT fun wtf) but every last aspect was an improvement. I could go on and on about it but there's no point. After I played Y I felt I was mostly done with the series. Moon changed my mind. I don't think there's much higher praise than that. Though maybe Y would have been more fun if I were ever satisfied with my squad.

And so ends the xxx hour tale of Huihui, a boy and his massive collection of pets, endangered creatures, murdersaurus rexes, and extradimensional aliens. A boy whose name means "underwear" in Hawaiian. Well done, kid.

Just in time for Fire Emblem: Echoes.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: pineyappled on May 20, 2017, 08:52:15 AM
I'm enjoying Tsuki ni Yorisou way more than I should (why are yuri-ge so universally awful) Luna-sama CUTE
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on May 20, 2017, 03:59:40 PM
Lately, I've been replaying Saints Row 2. It's been great fun, but... it is the PC version. I had held off playing it for a while since I heard it didn't have Steam Cloud support and I didn't want to rummage through my old machines for my save, but when I booted it on this one, it had them anyways. I started from scratch anyhow, and really enjoyed it this time around, too.

I've never liked the sense of humor in the Grand Theft Auto series, and SR2 still clings to that a bit, but is a little less afraid to be ridiculous. It's still weirdly grim and mean-spirited unlike its successors, but it doesn't linger on that outside of the main storyline and a few radio ads. Each of the games are distinct enough from each other that I find they all keep replay value; SR2 is a grim GTA-type open-world title with plenty of exploration and secret stuff to uncover, SR:TT is a ludicrously over-the-top third-person shooter, SRIV is a superhero game among the likes of Spider-Man and Prototype, and Gat Out of Hell is akin to IV but far more combat-heavy. They definitely got better at characterization over the years. SR2 just kind of expects you to recognize all the returning characters, with only the thinnest of recaps, whereas The Third was generally standalone and IV was a continuity cavalcade. The story is a pretty intriguing criss-cross of motivations and manipulation, but it does still feel a bit unusual to have a general overarching villain and only vague character archetypes where the later titles sacrificed plot coherence for character examination.

Aaaanyways. On the more interesting front, the PC port is bad. You might've picked it up while it was free recently, and it's still absolutely worth playing. The Gentlemen of the Row mod package is pretty much a must just for game stability, but it also adds a bunch of joke weapons and extra in-game storefronts that bring it more in line with the later titles in terms of ridiculousness (throwing fireworks, buying enemy vehicles straight out of the police impound, and a gun that fires chainsaws) compared to SR2's more standard gangland fare. The radio stations are a major highlight of the game, with everything from classic 80's hits to a gloriously unfitting easy listening station, but that leads to another issue with the PC port; the audio is weirdly chalky and heavily compressed. The port was outsourced to another company, and whatever the hell they did to the audio libraries, the original devs can't figure out how to fix. And they've tried! Repeatedly! Modders have at least cleaned up the radio audio, so Karma Chameleon can get stuck in your head perpetually in crisp high quality, but the rest is unsalvagable.

Finally, to tie this into racing games somehow, I will freely admit I'm both very impressed by SR2's demolition derby mode, being pretty much an entire PS1-era game of that genre, but, uh, I also suck at it. So.

PAYDAY 2's also gotten a heavy rework for single players, giving the AI perks and tripling/quadrupling the amount of enemies. I'm not having nearly as much fun with the game played this way as I used to, but I get what they were going for; multiplayer was fast and frenetic with swarms of enemies, whereas single-player had 1/4 of that going on at any given time and thus was a slower, calmer affair. Now they're boosting the speed, enemies, and team AI to make it a comparable experience. We'll see how it pans out.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 21, 2017, 09:01:56 AM
And that's NieR:Automata platted, and a second save file thrown into the database known as Ending E. Thank god for the shop that lets you buy trophies - I'll grind to get Inorganic Blade, Supreme Support Weapons, Naughty Children, and Transcendent Being; but you're not getting me to waste an hour for Not That I Mind... and god knows how many hours for Machines vs, Machines and The Power of Hate. (EDIT: In hindsight, Machines vs. Machines is probably grindable during the cult bit of Route B, The Power of Hate somehow I didn't realize meant A2's Berserk Mode.)

Supreme Support Weapons is a huge bitch to grind through, since you can't buy Pure Waters or Simple/Complex Gadgets. Unless you've been using Scanner a shit-ton, you won't have enough Gadgets, and you have to traverse the Flooded City a ton because the Pure Water spawn rate is shit-tier.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on May 24, 2017, 07:03:51 AM
I'm no Resident Evil fan, at all (I love RE4, but who doesn't?), but I let myself get talked into playing Resident Evil 7. I felt like I probably should if I want to have an up-to-date opinion on horror games, and... yeah, I didn't like it at all. It had a lot of good ideas but executed them very poorly by my reckoning, and I wasn't satisfied at all by the ending. I didn't like Resident Evil before and I don't like it now.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: pineyappled on May 24, 2017, 08:34:38 AM
http://puu.sh/vZPPC/5868b7dd3c.jpg
moving to canada IMMEDIATELY
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on May 27, 2017, 05:23:01 AM
When I'm bored, I happen to stumble across a metroidvania game starring a bunny girl with an absurd premise called Bunny Must Die: Chelsea and the 7 Devils. Rabi-Ribi is a wonderful game, so I'm thinking I could give it a shot. Bad idea. I haven't found myself raging at a game ever since the awful GoS.

The story is... Uh.... There's a feline world war, and there's a cat-powered thermomewclear plant. Then 3 days later, the power plant exploded, causing Bunny who just happen to be near it to grow a cat ear (on top of having bunny ear). Then, there a messenger who escorted her to the labyrinth in order to free her from the curse. Suddenly a wild rhino appears and stabs the messenger 24 times. Yeeeah... Whatever.

The game play is your standard Metroidvania. You run, you jump, you shoot stuff. You explore a huge open area with multiple paths. You can gain powerup and upgrade to increase your stats and allow you to traverse further. The main gimmick of Bunny is time power. She can time stop,  outright resetting if she dies, reverse time, slow down time, and stuff like that. This requires time crystal which you get from killing enemies and destroys Castlevania-esque lamps.  Bunny has 5 weapons which she can get from the lamps. Slyph Shooter, her basic weapon deals low damage, but extremely effective when used with spin attack (rapidly fire weapon in 360 degrees) and time stop. Faust Samurai, sword with great damage, low range, effective with spin attack. Black Wing, boomerang with average damage, medium range, and pierces through wall. Spike Hammer, huge hammer that FUBAR enemies, but very slow firing rate and can?t be spin attack. Last is Roppongi Missile, homing missile with very low damage and very extremely unreliable. You can only equip one weapon at a time however. You can stomp on enemies and bullet and laser if you so desired, this is required for puzzles. You can also parry attack by moving just before the attack connect like you?re some Street Fighter 3 bloke. But well, I prefer to jump my way out of trouble.

Now, let?s talk why hate this game, the controls. Simply put, it?s garbage. It?s kinda lagging and doesn?t feel right to me. Jump physiics are garbage as well. There?s 3 types of jump: standing jump, spin jump, and dash jump. Stand jump has great vertical reach but low horizantal range. Spin jump has average horizontal and vertical reach, allows spin attack, but doesn?t allow stomping enemies (A fact that gets me in trouble many times). While dash jump... You get the idea. Each types of jump is triggered depending if you?re moving or not when jumping. I don?t know about this at first and thought I was stuck until I learn about stand jumping. It?s awkward to use and may costs you a life in platforming section. Wall jumping is also finicky. You wall jump when you press jump when facing wall. I?m more like mashing the jump button when facing the wall and hope for the best. Sometimes, when I wall jump, I suddenly dash for no reason, causing me to plummet down and start from the beginning. All in all, it feels I?m less controlling Bunny and more like I?m dragging her sorry ass. I guess the controls can be mastered? But I don?t have time for it.

When attacking, you superglue yourself in the floor. It takes a while to attack, and it takes a while to resume moving (I think there?s half a second delay). Time stopping ability is kinda useless later on. Stronger enemy and bosses are obviously immune to it. They can still shoot your ass while time stopped while you are physically incapable of harming enemis when in time stop. DIO can punch a hole through a man?s chest when time stopped. Bunny can?t slice things in half when time stopped. Riiiiiiight... When fighting enemies and bosses, I just superglue myself to the floor, tanks hit and hope for the best, Also, the game keeps track of your total time (saving also add a minute to your time, although it?s more like 100 seconds though), number of tries, and deaths count. You will die a lot. Mostly due to combination of bad control  and occasional crap moment.

Okay okay, enough about talking negatives, now let?s talk about the positives: The story is... out there. The boss designs are kinda unique sometimes. There?s a giant photo realistic cat, there?s a Dracula wannabe who can kill you instantly by flashing (I call BULLSHIT!!!) , the music are pretty decent as befitting of Japanese game (Especially in the Metroid-esque final area.

The final boss, Chelsea is an annoying bastard with 7 phases. Some forms are kinda okay? I guess? But 3 of them just make me wanna rage! Undine Stream is a huge and very fast water beam. It bypass your invincibility. Fail to dodge it and you?ll get stunlocked by it and it can deplete 75% of your health. The only way to escape it is to parry continuously. But well... I can?t parry well. 5th form (I forgot it's name, reduces the arena to a very tiny series of platform. It?s the only boss which requires doing other things besides shooting them to damage them. Her last form is especially nightmare.  Vermilion Lord weaponized lag. If she uses it, you get stopped for a while and suddenly she surrounds you with bullet in 180 degrees (I can only fire at 90 degrees when on the ground or just suddenly whip out Undine Stream. Fortunately, you can restart to whichever form you lose at.

(http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/youreveryneetz/80171864/76375/76375_900.png)
Yeeeah... I ain't going anywhere unless I can parry it.

Get enough time powerup and you can play as Chelsea. Chelsea can?t parry, slower than Bunny, and she only has 1 main weapon. But her main weapon is an upgradeable machinegun. She can also jump really high and glide, bypassing some annoying platforming section. While she can only use 1 item at a time (unlike Bunny who permanently use hers at all time), almost all her item are fun to use, especiall the ladder. Wanna reach higher place? Place a ladder. Enemies are above you? Bash them with ladder! Bosses use bullet hell? Place ladder and camp there (Her fire rate increase dramatically when crouched or on ladder).  Ladder kicks a lot of ass. Her other item is just fun to use as well. There?s a locked door which requires puzzle or a key? Blow them with bombs! A spike which deals tremendous amount of damage? Break them which your shoes! Wanna find secret passage? Reveal them with Eye of Truth. Places too high to reach with your ladder? Space Jump! The only one that is useless is Vermilion Stop, her version of time power. Guess what she can?t do when she use it?

(http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/youreveryneetz/80171864/76719/76719_900.png)
Keep holding the shoot button and you win. Except the boss rams me out of my ladder and camp there until I died. Freaking Bastard!

Her final boss is against 3 bosses all at once which has 5, 3, and 3 forms respectively. I like her first final boss, Septentrion Pleilades, it transform into 4 japanese mythical beasts (Suzaku, Genbu, Byakko, Seiryuu) and what the hell is a Kirin? It?s really cool fighting a transforming boss. Except I hate its Byakko form! It moves waaay too erratically, and it?s too big and too fast to be dodged reliably. So I just damage rush it. And Seiryuu I guess it?s kinda bad as well. It?s crapshoot whether it decided to moves inside you or not. After the fun Septentrion fight, she fights Bunny. She fights mostly just as you would fight as her (Hey! I can?t spin attack with Spike Hammer!). And then she cheats. Her final form is just full of bullshit. She bounces all over the arena, stop time constantly, fire in 360 degress. The thing is: If she touches you once or damages you, it will be followed up with Heartbeat Queen which will instantly kill you. Because that?s what you needed after 7 phases of boss fight, right? RIGHT?!!! Back to Septentrion again I guess. Fortunately, you only have to take only 1 phase of the final final boss. The 2nd phase is unwinnable while the last phase is kickass time.

(http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/youreveryneetz/80171864/76812/76812_900.png)
I'm glad the game understand fairness as well as GoShit did.

So that was Bunny Must Die and Chelsea and the 7 Devils. It?s a unique metroidvania that is held down by it?s horrid controls and occasional bull. Well, if you want to play as a bunny in a metroidvania environment, play Rabi-Ribi instead.

Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 29, 2017, 03:29:52 AM
So, uh, Star Ocean 3 is out on PS4. I'm thankful there's no Trophy for "get all the Battle Trophies," but the one for 80% of them is gonna suck hardcore. I think I still have my Bradygames guide somewhere around here...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mr. Sacchi on May 30, 2017, 02:48:30 AM
I have been playing a lot of Fallen London lately, which is surprising considering how I remember giving this game a try some time ago and not really liking it. Amazing how the only reason I gave it a try at all is because its ex-main-writer wrote something for Stellaris.

I wonder if anyone else here plays it? It would be great to have someone to help me since I seem to be getting close to becoming a POSI.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on May 30, 2017, 03:33:16 PM
Recently, I finished up the career mode of FlatOut, a classic demolition derby game with some intense racing. It's likely best summarized as an arcade racing game with absurdly, unnecessarily detailed realistic physics, a combination that works bizarrely well, if frustratingly. It takes some very excellent car control to make it through an event even relatively unscathed. Mostly, though, I was powering through the end of it recently because a friend gave me FlatOut 2, and I wanted to get to it.

Now, FlatOut 2 is an entirely different beast, in tone, gameplay, and quite evidently in budget. You can tell this right from the opening music, as the original opens with a fantastic techno track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-2NJtWjBkg) from an alternative rock band based in Helsinki, with the rest of the game's soundtrack being similarly worldwide alternative bands, and the sequel opens with Rob Zombie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Dq6nlOUI0). And then the menus continue to Audioslave, Megadeth, and Fall Out Boy. Whether this is an improvement is up to personal taste, but personally, it feels more cohesive compared to the original's eclectic playlist.

Instead of just the off-roading cheap battered cars on small town roads and farmland, the sequel expands to starting with those (Derby class), before working up to racecars (Race class) and supercars (Street class, which seems like that's a little backwards an order on those last two, but hey). The focus is less on wrecking up the scenery for boost and more on the instant cash bonuses you get for dealing damage to opponents. It encourages you, a little more Burnout style, to bump, slam and bash any opponents off the road, but it's still tough enough to line up the shots that it takes serious planning instead of just frantic attacking. The physics are much more forgiving and the handling more in line with an arcade-style game, filing off the edges that gave the first FlatOut its character, but either way, it's immensely satisfying to deal with a frustrating opponent by nudging them into an oncoming wall at just the right angle to see the driver launch out of their windshield. It's just a nice little icing that you get paid for it now.

In short, it's a fantastic game that I'm surprised I missed this long, and really takes me back to 2000's car combat games in spectacular fashion. The 2006 musical tastes are all that obviously date it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Garlyle on June 02, 2017, 09:38:02 AM
I FOUND FROG FRACTIONS 2

WHAT IS GOING ON
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on June 03, 2017, 01:50:29 AM
Wait such a thing exists?  Oh maaaan.  Kinda have to see what that's like now.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 03, 2017, 02:06:05 AM
asdf I must be a masochist because I picked up Farpoint VR knowing it was basically a horror game, when I don't like horror. You'd think that after Yomawari and my "nope"ing out of it, I'd know better, but I guess not.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on June 08, 2017, 04:07:51 AM
Ys Origin Yunica Nightmare mode clear.  As usual it took me an unfathomable amount of corpses to make it but my stubbornness won out in the end.  For most of its attacks dealing like 3-5 damage each the final boss proved shockingly annoying.  Didn't help that I kept getting knocked into the unavoidable ~90 damage special attack in phase 3(didn't occur in my winning run). 

Fun ride as always, but I'm gonna wait to do the other two stories and most likely will drop a difficulty or two to save myself some agony.

Not out of the Ys woods yet though. 

/me glances at Ark of Naphistim*
 

Hoo boy.  Catastrophe mode, here I come.

("Glutton for Punishment" indeed.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on June 08, 2017, 05:54:56 PM
I'd never gotten far into Bunny Must Die myself, but I might try it out again sometime. If you want more bunny themed game, I'd recommend Pharaoh Rebirth + as well. It's not as good as Rabi-Ribi, but it's still worth playing.


Yunica is easily the hardest of the 3 characters in Ys Origin, so you probably could handle the other 2 decently enough even on Nightmare. Even the intended Expert character ends up being the not too bad in most places.


I've been playing so much Nuclear Throne. Trying to 100% the game, but it's so hard to get good runs going as some of the characters. I have Crystal, YV, Eyes, Rebel, Rogue, Horror, and Steroids at 100% unlocks. Melting is currently 2 crowns away from 100% unlocks(Crown of Guns which is a preloop crown and Crown of Death which is a postloop), but I still need Unstoppable, so I'll still have to play him quite a bit even after 100% unlocks.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on June 09, 2017, 12:29:45 AM
Hugo I imagine myself having fun with just for being different and the other guy I haven't played to see how I'd fare with him or to see what his gameplay feels like.  I've heard he's pretty broken though.  Yunica is BASICALLY the same as playing Adol in other Ys games(felt very Ys 2 later on when it was basically "spam fire magic at almost everything) which is why I originally went with her, but...after the literal nightmare of her route I might just want to take it easy for unlocks and stuff and maybe do Nightmare runs if I feel particularly like hating life.  I have enough Nightmare Ys games to keep me occupied just with Ark and later I need to pick up Lacrimosa.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 10, 2017, 03:47:35 AM
Moe Chronicle is coming to Steam. What is this black magic

In other news, picked up Ys Origin on Vita. Wow, the lag on that centipede boss...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on June 12, 2017, 12:00:58 PM
So, i finally picked up Freedom Planet. It feels like i am 10 again, playing Sonic on my Genesis 20 years ago and it's stupidly fun, amazing and exciting as it was back then. I am not sure if anything else needs to be said.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on June 13, 2017, 02:21:11 PM
My time with Fire Emblem Echoes on Hard was pleasant until I hit chapter 4 and deliberately started a new game because of the amount of raw screw-yous tossed in there. Since I know exactly what I'm doing now it'll probably take a lot less time to catch up to where I'm going.

I'm going to replay Pokemon Y next. The first time around didn't go so well but I feel so much more accustomed to modern pokemon now that I think it's worth a second try. I also wouldn't mind completing the pokedex. I got a copy of Alpha Sapphire to follow up on it as well.

Four Job Fiesta starts in a week!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 14, 2017, 02:49:53 AM
I'm surprised at how much I missed playing Wipeout 2048, now that I'm playing the Omega Collection. Zone Mode is still the craziest shit ever.

Anyway, picked up Horizon: Zero Dawn since it was on sale, and also picked up Dark Rose Valkyrie because Iffy; why not?

And I just looked up the trophy list for Ys Origin and am just now noticing there's no trophy for taking down the hopeless boss fight. Welp.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on June 14, 2017, 04:38:42 AM
With the release of DiRT 4, I dove headfirst back into DiRT 3 because I am cheap and 4's close enough to DiRT Rally that I can keep playing that daily for now instead. It has a very distinct, bright, vibrant arcade vibe to it, with energetic music and a mellow overall tone to it that makes it a very relaxing title when you're not actually in the heat of competition. The "extreme" vibe is toned down a good deal, even if it's still infamously, as admitted by the devs themselves, "dudebro"-ish at times. It manages to feel authentic in terms of actual driving (it's most certainly not a simulator, but the arcade-style gameplay feels real enough for, say, if you were recreating WRC highlights with Hot Wheels cars),and having a roster of excellent cars across various disciplines with storied histories (occasionally you'll even find Tanner Foust or S?bastien Ogier among your competitors), but it manages to still escalate things to a neatly silly degree.

Gymkhana is a major focus in this title, and it's applied to the game by way of essentially making it Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. What's usually a run across a course going through pre-defined obstacles and stunts - which, really, isn't much different from rally in the first place when you think about it - is now portrayed as, well, also that, but freestyle competitions see you set out in a large arena with various ramps, trailers, and such to drift around, smash up, and jump over to gain points and eventually a multiplier for more points and so on. This was divisive among fans that just wanted a rally game, but I find it fun, which is all I'm asking.

The locations are all beautiful, and none are restricted by basic reasoning. Cordoning off the entire Battersea Power Station to build a stunt park you can free-roam around anytime you want? Why not. Holding the qualifying rounds for a race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in its own parking lot? Might as well. Having powerful rallycross beasts battling it out in the middle of Tokyo except covered in dirt so it technically counts as not pavement? Sure. It throws casually ludicrous things at you, and they work because they're all improbable, but never impossible. That suspension of disbelief stays suspended when you're bounding gleefully over corners and hurtling down hills.

The Time Trials mode is where I spend my time now, with the career long finished besides a few tricky stunt events. The online leaderboards are mostly ruined by hackers at the top level, but recording a time in each event just for the sake of doing so is still fun, especially when there's varieties I completely forgot were in the game, like drift competitions and Group B.

Admittedly, much of what got me back into this was actually finally getting Horizon Rally for Forza Horizon 1 to work. I'd gotten the season pass, but it wouldn't download the pack from the link in-game labeled Horizon Rally... though it did download when I clicked a random Ford in the car list. Anyways, it's an expansion that takes an open-world racing game and reworks it into a rally game, with five new cars to match. The stages for it are really thrilling, with ridiculous camber and huge leaps, a fantastic sense of speed really making you feel just how powerful your car is, and how harrowing a high-speed off-road run can be. However, the extremely limited repercussions for damage (especially after getting used to a lot of DiRT Rally) can suck out that sense of edge-of-control excitement as soon as you plow into a barn at 150mph and come to a full stop none the worse for wear. Plus, the co-driver only speaks in SEGA Rally-style pacenotes ("easy left", "hard right") with no option for the full 1-6 system ("left 6, right 1"). That being said, it made for an excellent return to a game I hadn't played in a long time; it didn't take long to finish that particular excursion, but as part of the season pass and with more awaiting me in the open world of Colorado when I returned to it, it was a very refreshing welcome back.

Especially because, for a few fleeting moments, it made it far easier to forget/ignore that Horizon Rally's stages are mostly just parts of the existing game map with the road removed.

I apologize for being on such a rally kick recently; just seems to be what's working for me, and the recent NASCAR games aren't anything to write home about, so I haven't been playing those in between races besides Dirt to Daytona. I'll gladly extol the virtues of that one anytime, but suffice to say that recent sequels to it haven't impressed as much. Also, DiRT 3 Complete Edition and all DLC for Forza Horizon are no longer available for sale digitally, officially, so if you did have any interest in those, uh... it'll take some doing. At least DiRT 3's still available complete on consoles, on a proper disc.

Update on FlatOut 2, by the by; that 2006 soundtrack does not age well, and that alone is making it very hard for me to play in anything longer than short bursts now, but I really appreciate that each AI opponent has their own 'personality', racing style, and car choice. One driver that drove a tiny compact for most of the game and got battered around easily for it finally got sick of that and traded it for a gigantic truck in the last championship. I love that attention to detail about as much as I hate screamo, so I'm at an impasse here.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on June 14, 2017, 05:38:16 AM
And I just looked up the trophy list for Ys Origin and am just now noticing there's no trophy for taking down the hopeless boss fight. Welp.
There's a Steam achievement for it though...Weird.

EDIT:  Ok, Napishtim, the bullcrap hitboxes on these bosses can stop anytime now.  I don't mind dying when I actually HIT something, but when I'm VERY clearly not touching ANYTHING on the boss and I spontaneously take 200 damage...?  >:(  I can see how this was the first game with this engine with stuff like that.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Chaotic Phoenixma on June 15, 2017, 07:40:17 PM
Napishtim even has critical hits unlike the others in that system. Which is a pain for Time Attack due to it being RNG as well as yet another way to die in less hits.

Yeah, there's some differences in the Origin achievement and trophy lists.

Such as having a deathless run on the PS4 and Vita versions, even if it can be cheesed by exiting out instead of retrying then reloading your save.

Or only having to upgrade 1 character's blessings instead of all of them to max. That was a definite improvement since it's very high grind on PC if you didn't do it before they fixed the arena SP bug(which I'm not sure if it'd be in the PSN versions since they did use an older version for that).

Then they put in a trophy for reaching max level, which tends to take a while, and unlike Felghana's Steam version, there is no way to cheese it.

Nightmare arena is definitely a very tough one though. Steam only required clearing each stage regardless of difficulty.

Only having to beat Boss Rush Nightmare 1 time instead of 8 times is also a huge improvement.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on June 16, 2017, 12:12:41 AM
Speaking of Ark...

'Ark of Napishtim clear on Nightmare/Catastrophe mode.  It had some flaws such as some REALLY screwy hit boxes, and the final boss took me less than ten tries which means it was REALLY easy, but it was fun.'  The damage on the late bosses was REALLY absurd though.  You basically NEEDED the Emelas equipment in order to not instantly die if you took any damage, it was ridiculous.  Crits were pretty much a guaranteed OHKO from a lot of attacks.

Majuunun, on the other hand...that's going to be something.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: チソウ タイゼン on June 20, 2017, 10:13:20 AM
So I'm doing a bit of catch-up in Nier: Automata after failing to pick it up for the past 2 months and I'm pleased to say that the battle system is exactly as memory-sticky as one would say riding a bicycle is.
This is honestly the most fluid and fun brawler combat system I've ever touched in my life.

Persona 5, on the other hand, is getting the short stick as of late. Two months later and I'm on hiatus, having completed the fourth palace, and that's about it. While it's undeniably, more nice to look at than 3 and 4, and very fluid in its animations and jazz, there's just
something about the construction this time around. it's very hard to put my finger on but its organization is quite a lot sloppier than 3 and 4's. it feels like you're just meandering around, fighting the Villain of the Month so far, which is why the fourth palace owner, was a pretty welcomed change of pace for me.


Since my last posting in here (months ago lmao) I've completed the everloving heck of Atelier Sophie, and good lord
I think I picked a good Atelier game to start on because that was a great experience. I've never been so enthralled with a crafting system. Holding out for Firis to not be 60 dollars, though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on June 25, 2017, 04:06:14 PM
Wipeout Omega Collection and Redout. Both incredible in their own ways. I've been waiting for a long, long time to scratch this arcade racer itch. I actually feel Redout works best without opponents in a time trial kind of way where the focus is just to blaze through the tracks as fast as possible as opposed to the carnage in Wipeout which makes the races so exciting and vicious.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on June 26, 2017, 01:30:57 AM
After my Ys kick I started up on my long-previously-abandoned run of Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2.  It's as basic as I remember but it's proving fun nonetheless, mainly due to the amazingly amusing writing.

I look forward to seeing what I can discover in Stella's * Dungeon as I get her more equipment and can take her further, too.  Despite the minimal interaction it's proving intriguing for whatever reason.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mеа on June 29, 2017, 10:00:39 PM
The 2DS xl looks really great, in fact I think it looks a lot better than the 3ds xl honestly. And I don't think the 3ds xl looks bad, I never had a problem with it, the 2DS xl just looks so much better.
But having used the original ds, that hinge scares me.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on June 30, 2017, 12:22:28 AM
It's as basic as I remember but it's proving fun nonetheless, mainly due to the amazingly amusing writing.
Would you consider the sequel's writing an improvement to the first Re;birth? I tried giving it a go at the insistence of friends head-over-heels for the series, but I found the humor to get a bit grating fast. Might just be a personal preference thing; I've only heard one other person voice some of my concerns about the cast, but they were nearly the same exact conclusions.

But having used the original ds, that hinge scares me.
The L trigger is completely shattered in on my original DS. I do hope they've been made considerably tougher since then; even for Nintendium, that thing's pretty badly chipped, dented and battered.


On the usual rambling front, I've been mulling over what to pick up in the Steam Summer Sale, and man, it's actually been a really tough choice. I've yet to find anything that seems like an absolute must-buy. I still greatly love DiRT Rally, but sim-racing sites say that DiRT 4 somehow bungled the physics and it's a lot less satisfying a sequel. rFactor 2 has a great content list and mod support, but the demo's controls feel way too touchy. Need for Speed: SHIFT and SHIFT 2: Unleashed (yes, they dropped NFS from the sequel's title for some reason) seemed interesting for $8 together, but for some reason, EA just recently pulled all the free DLC for them offline. I tried a demo of SHIFT, and it keeps resetting my wallpaper every time it closes. (And besides, those are by Slightly Mad Studios, who went on to make the somehow-massively-unsatisfying Project CARS, so I probably shouldn't send money that way anyhow. SHIFT feels a bit better, though, because it's at least not pretending it's hyperrealistic and lying to your face about it.)

With all that bizarre inane nonsense getting in the way, I've found myself tempted by Automobilista, of all titles; there's no blatant demo for that, far as I can tell, but the Copa Petrobras de Marcas spinoff is free on Steam. After fidgeting with settings a bit (having to put it in windowed mode and then back to fullscreen to get it to boot, somehow), I've found that the actual setup in-game was near-instant. Presets for controls snapped right into place and rules were easily adjustable; within about a minute, I was behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi cruising around courses I'd never heard of in a Brazilian stock car series. The AI's competitive, the courses are quick to learn, the controls are responsive, and the tires are grippy; if you're interested in trying a racing sim, but also only have a 360 controller and not a wheel and don't want to pay money, this is the way to go.

I also recently restarted Far Cry 3. Being captivated by that wonderful intro again, I was thrust into a bizarre jungle world, and then into lengthy exposition. I began to loot the environment, and then quickly hit the cap of money I could carry unless I hunted a pig to turn into a wallet, and I couldn't shoot those until I crafted holsters to put my guns in by hunting goats, and I needed to find those goats on the map, and to load the map, I needed to climb one of the radio towers to-

I also recently uninstalled Far Cry 3

Finally, I still extremely highly recommend Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed. Excellent combination of hectic item racing and actual solid racing lines. I'm still finding new little tricks and easter eggs in this same game after five years of playing it.

Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on June 30, 2017, 03:28:17 AM
re: HDN Re;Birth2
I think the thing with the Neptunia games may be a personal preference thing as you figured.  I haven't played the first Re;Birth in a long while so I'd need to do a run to refresh myself on things to try to fairly compare but I think it's more likely that it's just not your cup of tea(which is fine of course).

The humor is a bit hamfisted(some characters occasionally calling the plot out on such things, such as IF or "Iffy" as she's often called) so if that sort of thing isn't your thing then those games are likely not to be to your liking no matter WHAT you try, unfortunately.

I WILL say that Nepgear is a much more likable main protagonist than Neptune though(primary protag of RB2 and RB1 as well as the games they are remakes of, respectively), and I can EASILY see how Neptune in general could grate  on peoples' nerves.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Rei Scarlette on June 30, 2017, 03:33:33 AM
Would you consider the sequel's writing an improvement to the first Re;birth? I tried giving it a go at the insistence of friends head-over-heels for the series, but I found the humor to get a bit grating fast. Might just be a personal preference thing; I've only heard one other person voice some of my concerns about the cast, but they were nearly the same exact conclusions.

Heya. I know I'm not the one you asked, so I'm just gonna smalltext this so it doesn't take up too much page room, and you can also feel free to overlook it if you'd like to, but I'd like to talk about that for a little bit. It might not be quite what you wanted to hear, but I still hope it'll be useful to you in at least some capacity.

As for your question - Is Re;Birth2's writing improved over the first one? eh... a little bit better, but not really. People generally agree the story is a little bit better, that much is certain. But they also hate a couple different aspects of it (with good reason), and the humor in particular is about the same as the other games. If you found the humor of the first one to get pretty grating quickly, you'll most likely run into the same outcome in the rest of the games. I run a small Neptunia community of about 400 people (not all of them are still active, though) and while most of us do love the games for what they are, we're pretty much all in agreement that Neptunia simply just doesn't "do" improvements, in general*. I'm by no means hating on the games, but it's always a lot of the same old, same old. And the writing is no exception to that, so if you weren't a big fan of Re;Birth1, I can't honestly tell you that Re;Birth2 might be better for you.

*editing this bit in: there were huge improvements from the very first PS3 game to the next one. I'm talking about a general lack of improvement afterwards.

Just to be completely honest about it all, everything is copypasted across the entire series. The same style of jokes, the same music, the same few enemies just in different colors. You'll go through completely identical areas multiple times per game, and you'll see them in every game. Neptunia is not a series that wants to better itself. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just a "don't fix what ain't broken, it still sells" attitude. So in my real, honest opinion - if you weren't a big fan of the first one, you may not enjoy the others either. On the other hand, someone who likes one of them will most likely enjoy them all, if they can deal with the same-ness of it. It's an extremely hit-or-miss thing, I think.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 30, 2017, 06:17:17 AM
There's also the bit about how Re;Birth2's translation basically came before Re;Birth1, since RB;2 and RB;3 is using mostly the original NISA mk2/Victory translation; while RB;1 is basically all IF/IFI because it's basically completely different from the original HDN.


Anyway, off the Steam Sale I picked up a bunch of games again. The two The Room games (fuck release the third on Steam already); got the two Moekami VNs (haven't started them yet); Ori and the Blind Forest; Please, Don't Touch Anything. Off the PS mid-year sale I got Infinifactory and Typoman. And recently I picked up Valkyria Revolution (a little salty that ragnite is now some magical/alchemical ore instead of petrol ripoff; also wtf walking tanks what is this Metal Gear) and am still running through Superdimension Neptune (got the True Ending; now for the grind to get to Delphinus and the Bad Ending), Wipeout Omega Collection (oh my god I am dreading the upcoming A+ races) and... something.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on June 30, 2017, 03:11:03 PM
All responses were very much appreciated there; thank you! Yeah, so it seems like it'd just be entirely out of my wheelhouse, then, which is a shame since I know a lot of friends love it and I really like a lot of the concepts. Hearing that Neptune gets replaced as protagonist at some point is honestly tempting in itself, because... yeah. Grating's the word. So if it settles into that and sticks with it, I'll likely hold off. Thanks! It does make sense that RB1 is the steepest rewrite, since the one part that did get me to burst out laughing was an abrupt event followed by a line something like "wow, this really IS a remake, that didn't happen in this game before".

On a separate note, it still greatly disappoints me that thanks to the magic world of motorsports licensing, almost all of the racing games I want to recommend this Steam sale are all gone from the store. Now even Driver: San Francisco got pulled. I'm still greatly enjoying DiRT 3, and I've settled back on that as my arcade-style racer for the time being; it's really satisfying challenging leaderboard times in vehicles I've yet to try, and even more so to take on time attack ghosts of myself from years ago and battle me for the lead. It's like a surreal battle-in-the-center-of-the-mind dealio.

Also, I've been watching Game of Thrones with my family lately, since they're really into it and I want to try to share some of their enthusiasm. I'm liking it, but I usually get really into a series when I have an interactive take on it, so I gave the Game of Thrones RPG a go. I heard it was bad. I knew it wasn't gonna be great. I just didn't expect it to be, like, intolerably slow and very poorly acted. More than anything, I put it down quickly due to a resounding feeling that they just didn't care about what they were working on; some pretty fantastic concepts were delivered in very slow, stilted, bland ways. Guess I oughta try those CiV mods instead. Guess I oughta actually play CiV ever.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Tamer Anode/Cathode on June 30, 2017, 03:51:50 PM
I picked up Project Highrise off of the Steam sale and I'm very pleased with it. I wouldn't really call it a spiritual successor to the Tower series, it's more focused on managing tenants and services rather than micromanaging 20-30 elevator schedules, but it scratches a similar itch.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The ⑨th Zentillion on June 30, 2017, 09:15:02 PM
After much osmosis and other sorts of secondhand interest over the past couple of years, I have finally gotten myself and started to play Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance thanks to the Steam Sale making it only 9 bucks. Not too bad, I only finished the prologue chapter, and it looks like I'm going to have fun playing it. Just need to get a better handle on the gameplay and how it controls, and I'll be stylishly slicing and dicing without remorse in no time.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on July 02, 2017, 12:02:34 PM
I think story-wise. RB2 is basically Mk2 with new side characters (and improved Conquest Ending) and RB3 is just Victory with new prologue and a post game to it. The story is basically the same (Nepgear's still treated as a joke). Meanwhile, Re:birth 1 features retelling of the first with new twists and turn and improves characterization and more playable from Victory. Although that game basically acts like a quasi-sequel to Victory. That is just my opinion though.

If you want a story filled with barrel of laughter and occasional meta joke, then Neptune is your girl. But she really can't act seriously without transforming. For example, in Rebirth 3, during a really serious moment after a shocking revelation, Neptune's reaction during the whole cutscene is basically "Huh?".

I completely memorized all the dungeon's map and all the basic enemies in Neptunia games. The characters asset, BGM, maps, enemies assets are all reused constantly. They're maybe, like 10-20% new assets every game. Even Megadimension Neptunia, the newest main Neptunia games reuses assets, which looks out of place when compared to the new assets.

In Megadimension Neptunia, there's a new mechanic in dungeon exploration in the form of destructible objects. You can destroy objects of varying toughness provided you have strong enough Power Bracelet. You can forget this mechanic in reused dungeon from Victory since there are no destructible object in Victory. Imagine my surprise when Superdimension Neptune ACTUALLY modifies the existing dungeon and give them new obstacle and objects to destroy (and in Dreamcast era's Virtua Forest, completely modifies the map to make them barren. Holy shit!).

In term of gameplay, there's very little change between RB 1-3. Rebirth 2 add 1 more character in the frontline and that's it. Rebirth 3 has a cool interface and revamped the SP system and encourages you to use it by turning late game enemies into tedious damage sponges.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on July 02, 2017, 12:54:08 PM
Crash Bandicoot N. Sanity Trilogy. I can't handle all this nostalgia.

Got the platinum trophy for Crash 1 last night, so 102% completion plus all relics at gold or better. The High Road was a goddamn pain in the ass. Gameplay is exactly how I remember it, with a few bonuses like playable Coco and time trials for 1 and 2. Really, really pleased with this remake (remaster?).

Back to Crash 2.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pergold on July 04, 2017, 12:47:55 AM
I'm playing World of Tank alot, trying to get that T-34. So close, yet so far...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on July 04, 2017, 09:11:22 AM
Crash Bandicoot N. Sanity Trilogy. I can't handle all this nostalgia.

Got the platinum trophy for Crash 1 last night, so 102% completion plus all relics at gold or better. The High Road was a goddamn pain in the ass. Gameplay is exactly how I remember it, with a few bonuses like playable Coco and time trials for 1 and 2. Really, really pleased with this remake (remaster?).

Back to Crash 2.
The trilogy is technically a remake, since they were basically built from scratch, but they want you to call it a remaster.

I forgot you have to do the multiplayer to actually get to max level in Wipeout 2048 (unlike the Omega Collection, which decreased the XP needed so you can get 50 with Elite Passes to spare). And everyone votes for Combat events, which has long since devolved to "stay near the finish line, run back and forth between the nearby pads, pray for Quake or one of the homing items".


EDIT: ZODIAC AGE!!!!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on July 14, 2017, 05:32:53 AM
I'm so paralyzed by indecision on what classes I want my characters to be. The whole thing about guns being slower for Balthier/bows being slower for Fran; but I don't know if I want Fran or Penelo to be my White Mage; Fran's probably suited to Red Battlemage, but for her shit-tier Magick; but she's shit-tier pretty much everywhere. I know I want Basch to be Knight, but not much else.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on July 14, 2017, 03:08:44 PM
I heard Need for Speed: Undercover was bad. I... you know, I can probably leave this post with just "it is". Most Wanted and Carbon built a fantastic reputation for EA Black Box, and ProStreet demolished it. Undercover buried the remains and The Run torched the grave (or, considering much of the problem was Michael Bay there, blew it up). ProStreet tried to be something new and failed really, really badly due to core gameplay just not working. The physics were horribly awry, just realistic enough to screw you over but not realistic enough to make any kind of sense. Undercover goes back to the style of Most Wanted. Sorta. By clumsily pasting the physics engine back in.

Now, I used to play Most Wanted a lot. I played it as intended on the Xbox 360, and I had a PC copy that I enjoyed messing up with trainers and mods. Screwing with the physics so that taxis launch across the sky and supercars can take corners without braking was funny. However, alarmingly, Undercover is somehow exactly that out of the box. Traffic spawns in on the map, realizes its not moving, goes from 0-60 in 0.1 seconds, and abruptly sails into the air. AI cars fly off of jumps and win by pinballing around on invisible walls. Penalties for hitting traffic are occasionally waived if you go faster and hit them head-on really hard. You don't ever once have to use the brakes until 2/3 through the game because the cars wildly slide around corners. It's a mess.

The stories in Need for Speed games are never good, but they really only have to be competent and corny. You have FMV cutscenes of people acting cool and tough and being really hilariously bad at it, but usually it's funny enough that you don't care. Undercover takes itself too seriously and seems to genuinely think its incredibly flimsy unfinished plot - which often, the cutscenes don't actually line up with the in-game events that come after, leading me to feel like they were recorded early in development and then the rest was rushed - is a masterpiece. That's tough with scenes like a close-up of a rival driver's lipstick as she calls you to say "Y'know the coyote chasing the roadrunner around the canyon? Heh. I love that stuff. Wanna be the coyote? 'Cuz I'll outrace ya, dawg. Be careful.~" It's absolutely abysmal, and that's not counting the disturbing attempts at flirting from the female characters, and that there only being one Asian woman on the entire cast is a plot point.

That being said, mostly, this game is like the obligatory mobile/last-gen console port in a big-budget series. It's superficially based on an interesting game even though it doesn't particularly work. It's clunky, but effective enough as a time-waster. The sale price of $2.50 seems about the bargain bin price it was destined for, and lives up to. I'm just very torn on whether to leave it a positive or negative review when I'm done with it, because it's not good and not at all even frickin' complete, but I've still had fun with it. It's like a terrible knockoff of Most Wanted, except officially sanctioned.

Anyways, I got it for -$1.90 thanks to bundle pricing in a bundle with Need for Speed: Shift and Shift 2: Unleashed. I really, really enjoyed Shift and heartily recommend it to anyone looking for something with semi-realistic racing that's still casual fun; I'll likely give it a big wall of text later, especially when I get into Shift 2 more.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: dosboot on July 15, 2017, 03:42:41 PM
Don't lecture me, but I'm playing Ax Battler for the Game Gear.  If you don't know, it is of poor quality.  It'd be hard to tell though without playing it, because it looks neat from the outside (for an 8 bit handheld game).  I'm sure this game has ensnared many people into playing for 5 minutes.

Youtube sample:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrM6yEbgyAs#t=4m49s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrM6yEbgyAs#t=4m49s)

I played it when I was younger, but never that much because it's hard to maintain steam playing this game.  The novelty of making it farther than I have before is half the enjoyment for me right now.  The other half would be that initial, cute surface appeal.

Ok, so what type of game is it?  It's a Golden Axe spinoff but the genre is very different.  It's kind of like a sidescrolling action RPG with two distinct structures: 
1) a simple 8 bit overworld with random battles where getting hit once or ends the battle, and
2) dungeon locations which don't end in bosses, but rather a treasure chest that gives you a key item. 

You can imagine the entire game structure from those two pieces, because it just cycles between them introducing a new town each time around.  Try to imagine games like Zelda 2 and the Gargoyle's Quest games, but stripped down into fewer components.  You even learn a new move/ability from a trainer in each city, a lot like Zelda 2.  The random battles are 1v1 fights against humanoid-class enemies, while the dungeons have the fodder monster enemies, hazards, and platforming.

~

A certain thought ran through my head every time I sat down to play this:

There is something appealing about playing old games that are in some sense "way too difficult" and "unfairly janky", but because they are so simple it's still a straightforward application of your brain and willpower to overcome their challenges.

Can anyone else relate to that?  Talking about this game is inevitably going to border on mocking it, but when I'm playing I feel more much sincere about why I'm playing and why I'm having fun.  It's like, "OK whatever, you can try to throw dumb stuff my way but I'll still figure out how to beat it and see more of the game".

Here's some notes about what it's like playing this game:

99% of the penalty of dying is the feeling "Oh for goodness sake I just died because I couldn't avoid damage in a janky dungeon and now I have to fight a dozen battles to get back there".
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on July 15, 2017, 08:37:08 PM
I'm all for death being a loss of time investment instead of majorly crucial resources, but that does sound like just a pain. I absolutely hear you on that thought, though, because it makes it feel like a real accomplishment to get through; the odds are against you in no reasonable way and you're still making it. For me, there's definitely a feeling with games I feel are unfair or irritating of "well, I have to keep playing because I want to be done with it and be able to say I finished it". It's excessively rare I put a game down out of frustration; it's much more common for me to stop completely if the game fails to hook me. Long dull exposition loses me faster than cheap deaths.

If you're still enjoying it despite all these flaws while still acknowledging them, and not just hate-playing it to see how it'll disappoint you next, then you're absolutely doing it right. I hadn't realized Ax Battler was a Golden Axe spinoff, too. And since it's Game Gear, obligatory "how many batteries have you gone through".

As far as myself, my tour through the recent Need for Speed games has been sidetracked by playing 1998's NFSIII: Hot Pursuit instead. With patches, it holds up really, really well. And on a base level, I'm amused that (in certain American copies of the game,) there's both the 1998 Chevrolet Corvette and the 1998 Indianapolis 500 Pace Car. The '98 Indy 500 Pace Car is a '98 Corvette, so a single reskin counts as a separate, functionally identical car (https://twitter.com/PywackettBarche/status/884275937055051776). I dunno why, but this amuses me. Also, the Australian version of the game includes a Ford and an HSV to cater to that market's Supercars series fans, and because everything else in the game is a high-end supercar and those are standard roadgoing vehicles, they are hilariously useless. (Luckily, all free DLC cars and all region-exclusive cars can just be copied out and pasted into any given version of the game and they work, so you don't have to choose if you can track them down.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: dosboot on July 16, 2017, 12:13:24 AM
I'm emulating, so no dumb batteries for me this time :)

The game reminds me of Dark Souls since it plays like a series of linear, very deadly challenges disguised as a game with a conventional RPG structure.  You're expected to die and repeat your dungeon runs, gradually getting familiar with all the enemy spawns and random battles.  Even though I feel the difficulty is poorly designed, it is still instructive (and oddly fun) to figure out what, exactly, makes a certain enemy spawn so difficult and if I can't trivialize it some way or another.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on July 16, 2017, 01:35:17 AM
Doom 2016 Arcade mode, also known as Dodoompachi. Been playing against shim, and it's been a long time since I had such fun with a scoring game. Extremely impressed with the mode, not to mention the game in general. This is pretty close to my idea of an ideal FPS, honestly. The extreme mobility combined with the quick and ultra-violenceaggressive enemies makes it a real thrill to play.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on July 16, 2017, 04:36:47 AM
Doom 2016 Arcade mode, also known as Dodoompachi. Been playing against shim, and it's been a long time since I had such fun with a scoring game. Extremely impressed with the mode, not to mention the game in general. This is pretty close to my idea of an ideal FPS, honestly. The extreme mobility combined with the quick and ultra-violenceaggressive enemies makes it a real thrill to play.
you left out the part where you're ranked #18 on the UAC, you bastard

that's gonna take me forever to beat :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: dosboot on July 18, 2017, 09:01:27 AM
I just beat GG Aleste for the Game Gear, which is a vertical shmup by Compile.  I've only played Compile's shooters on the SNES and Genesis before, and this was one was much easier.  After a few tries to make it through stage 3, I beat the game pretty easily by cruising through the rest of the game with a maxed out wide shot.  I only got hit once or so after that.   

And man I love some of the explosion sound effects in this game. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfwVz7X6U58#t=8m57s)

One thing that struck me is that it seems like a perfect recommendation whenever someone asks "what are shmups for a newcomer who doesn't want a ridiculous challenge" since it still has a fast pace, a variety of enemies, fun weapons and decent graphics.  Holding the fire button gives the fastest autofire and it's not too punishing when you get hit:  I think your main weapon doesn't power down (or perhaps not every hit?), and your special weapon loses 1 level.  Your special weapon never goes below level 1 though, and you even start with a laser so it's not possible to not have a second weapon active.  It's like, a lot of 16 bit games are only "easy" relatively speaking so when they get recommended I tend to be skeptical if any newcomer would actually want to dedicate themselves to them or not.  But GG Aleste is definitely one you can be done with in a couple days, and it looks and plays much better than Gameboy or even NES games.

There is a master system version of Aleste as well, but I think this one is a stand alone counterpart rather than a portable conversion.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on July 18, 2017, 09:46:23 AM
Recently, been playing tons of Copy Kitty. It's like 2D platformer shooter kinda like Mega Man game. But you can shoot in 8 directions (basic shot is kinda weak, tbh), kick things, do dive kicks and double jump from the start. Imagine Mega Man decided that not only he could copy bosses's powers, but some basic enemies' too. And then combine up to 3 of them into something big and flashy as well. Like homing/split/explode. Then there's some standalone more unique power ups and even more unique things you get during boss battles. For example
Blade Arikan's
boss battle is an awesome, fast-paced mirror match between 2
sword users
. Overall it's a great stress-relief and destroying hundreds of enemies with big explosions feels rather cathartic.
P.S. Trying for a no-damage (or whatever stage's damage threshold is) clears is really fun as well. Especially boss stages.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on July 22, 2017, 08:39:03 AM
I talked about how DOOM (2016) amazed me and inspired me to buy Shadow Warrior (2013) since I don't have good enough PC to run DOOM. Well, now that I finally have decent gaming PC, I can finally play DOOM. And damn its incredibly fun.

Once you finally get to play the game, you'll notice that the gameplay is really different from that of a regular shooter. Your default movement speed is noticeably faster than that of regular FPS. You carry all your guns at once instead of having 2 weapons limit. Guns don't need reload. And there's no regenerating health. So most of time, when you running low on health, your only option is to fight some more.

The enemies are much more varied. Instead of guys with different guns that dies in 1-3 shot. You have enemies from regular zombies, enemies that shoot, to big brute who tried to pound you. This prevent the battle from being too repetitive as you're going to fight more powerful enemy types in later levels.

I really like the weapons. They're all feel powerful, and fun to use. Even the basic pistol can one shot small enemies when charged. Aside from infinite ammo Pistol, we have Combat Shotgun, Plasma Rifle, Heavy Assault Rifle (assault rifle on steroid), Rocket Launcher, Super Shotgun (more powerful shotgun that consumes 2 round per shot and requires reload every shot), Gauss Cannon (very strong railgun-like gun. Consumes 15 energy cells), and Chaingun. Then we have Chainsaw and BFG 9000, the strongest weapon in your arsenal that got it dedicated button to equip it. The Chainsaw is essentially a get out of jail weapon. It one hit any enemies that is not a boss and gives you boat load of items. Its ammo is relatively rare though. Late in the game, you get BFG 9000. That thing rocks! You pull the trigger and everything in front of you is dead. Its drawback is that it can only carry 3 shot, its capacity can't be upgraded with ammo upgrade and It's ammo is the rarest. I really like all the weapon. Well, with the slight exception of Plasma Rifle. My favorite are the one that uses bullets (Heavy Assault Rifle and Minigun). You can also equip a mod that serves as the weapon's secondary attack if you can find a drone. For example, you can equip Combat Shotgun with either burst fire or grenade launcher. It can be switched with a push of a button.

There are a lot of upgrades in the game. Weapon upgrades used to upgrade mods that you obtain by killing enemies or completing challenges, Armor upgrades used to give passives found in (semi hidden) dead elite soldiers, and Argent Cores used to upgrades max Armor, Health, or Ammo. You can find runes in the stages to get its upgrades by completing its challenges first. 

When you stun the enemy, you can move close to them and do Glory Kill, which you kill your enemy in a quick and brutal fashion. It's used to gain health (and occasionally ammo). It's also damn satisfying to use. Enemies can also Glory Kill you if you died against a certain attack. Best not to die if you don't want to get humiliated by the enemies.

The level design are much more varied. There are some platforming involved in the levels, there are a lot of secrets contained in a level, and there are a lot of collectibles to found. Sometimes the level are linear, sometimes you're given a large environment to explore (and one level has you climb to the top of a tower using platforming). The battle arena are mostly a huge open space with many hallways, vertical incline and lots of pickups. The cover is sparse, so you have to move around the arena constantly, pick up item while fighting, and don't ever stop because stopping will get you killed fast. This makes the combat pretty exhilarating as you have to keep track of the enemies that comes from multiple direction (instead of in a single file), dodge their attack, and be quick on your trigger and feet.

Playing this game is a blast. It is pretty to look at, it is challenging, and it is fun.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Aya Reiko on July 23, 2017, 06:29:44 AM
Elite: Dangerous (w/ the Horizons expansion) is steadily soaking up my free time.  Overwatch and 100% Orange Juice taking up the rest.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Tengukami on July 24, 2017, 06:58:51 PM
Crash Fever. Never before have I found a mobile game more fun than some of the games I have on my laptop.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on July 24, 2017, 08:03:25 PM
Played through a few puzzle games in short order. Namely, The Talos Principle + Road to Gehenna, Magrunner: Dark Pulse, Portal 2 and The Turing Test. Somehow I spent much more time on the former than the remaining three put together; the base game is highly addictive, the expansion improves on it with even better puzzles, much better hub area design and a nice, cute story (a BBS for artificial intelligences? can't get much cooler than that). Tons of great, satiating content. Out of the other three, Magpulse was the best one. Even though it looks and feels like something from the early 2000s, the Lovecraftian storyline is preposterous and voice acting is beyond terrible, the mechanics of magnetic repulsion and attraction are just fun to play with, as is killing grotesque monsters by dropping explosive boxes on their heads. The final third of the game has Cthulhu watching your progress from the sky. Unfortunately you can't take him out with a well aimed crate of boom...

The other two games brought mixed feelings. The much hyped Portal 2 was indeed very amusing (I loved turrets and Cave Johnson), but much too simple and short. Ultimately it left me profoundly unsatisfied. It takes until halfway through the game for the puzzles to attain a level of difficulty higher than The Talos Principle world A, and quite a bit of what's left is just filler. The Turing Test was even worse in this respect, everything is easy if not outright trivial, around Chapter 5 a new, very promising gameplay mechanic is introduced, and yet the puzzle difficulty somehow manages to drop even further. The penultimate chapter finally employs some clever tricks that make you stop and think, but then the final one was clearly rushed, featuring superficially complex areas that in fact have simplistic solutions obfuscated by many barely used rooms and redundant resources. Despite this I really wanted to enjoy the storyline, but sadly all audio logs turned out to be muffled, lo-fi and frankly unlistenable for a non-native speaker like me. Come on, they can build AIs and send manned expeditions to Jupiter's moons, but can't afford decent audio recording hardware? Fortunately, the resident AI, HAL TOM, saves the whole experience somewhat with neat, perfectly delivered dialogue.

No idea where do I go from here.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Silent Harmony on July 25, 2017, 07:41:52 PM
Well my PC stopped working (signs point to the Power Supply Unit failing) and I don't want to spend money on it with a new semester and a vacation taking place within the next 3 weeks, so I've been mostly playing games on my cell phone again after a long time avoiding them. I currently am playing multiple games casually:

Puzzles and Dragons: Dusted off my old Horus account that I luckily still had on my tablet and transferred it to my phone (more memory). It feels to me like they have added a ton of QoL changes that makes the barrier of entry/early-game a lot better, which I am truly loving. Also after watching some YouTube videos it's a little easier for me to read the boards for combos, and having alternative strong leaders other than Horus definitely makes the whole experience a lot faster (since I'm not spending 30+ mins in a dungeon searching for 4 combos  :blush:).

School Idol Festival: I escaped Idol hell, only to get dragged back in. I played this game for a good few months some years ago, then dropped because it felt like I was heading to P2W. That said it still likely is very-much P2W, but like PAD there's plenty of QoL adjustments to satisfy filthy casuals like myself.
Also Aqours > Muse.  :smug:

LongStory: A surprisingly good OELVN that's LGBT+ friendly. Unlike a lot of OELVNs, mobile or otherwise, it's 100% drawn (including backgrounds), has a well-rounded cast of characters that have actual depth to them, and a great mix of an over-arching plot on top of the "dating sim" aspect (note that you can also play 100% aromantic/friendly as well). The first chapter's free, and the rest (2-7 + extras) can be bought in a $9.99 bundle which, if you compare to other OELVNs on PC, is a reasonable price. I'm finished chapter 3 recently and would recommend at least checking it out.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Kuriz on August 02, 2017, 09:19:13 PM
Man, down with the establishment. Imma play some Banshiryuu.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on August 03, 2017, 10:29:48 PM
Hm. Most of the puzzle titles I'd recommend are point-and-click adventure games, so I'm not quite sure what to posit from there.

Next up on the racing game rotation is Shift 2: Unleashed, the Need for Speed game that took itself so seriously, it dropped Need for Speed from the title. Luckily, the actual game isn't so grim, besides perhaps the overdramatic menus and introduction. It streamlines things nicely, taking out the Guitar-Hero-esque Stars for career progression entirely, removing the (barely existent) distinction between Aggression and Precision points, and altering bonus objectives to now just give you a flat XP reward. Gaining XP earns you levels, gaining levels unlocks career events. Very simple and encourages playing however you want (multiplayer and quick race events still count towards your total), with very few exceptions to let you jump ahead if you're gunning right for a specific tournament, and one major exception in the final career tier - GT1 - being locked off until you win the GT3 or Works championship.

There's two physics models here, and while you can change it to whichever you like, one is recommended to you after a minute or so of play at startup; I've been using the Experienced handling, which is much more like a sim than the first SHIFT. I'd call it "Project CARS, except satisfying". (Which is really how I'd sum up the whole game, but hey.) With Experienced handling on, I've found myself getting lodged harder into walls and spun out more easily; it won't bounce you back to the racetrack like the first game did. I keep expecting impacts to go a lot more easily than they actually do; I feel vaguely like Carl Edwards (https://youtu.be/MdznNZDG_WE?t=1m43s) on that. Still, it's not completely brutal, though the AI in higher-powered cars seem to have the ridiculous unwarranted level of aggression they do in PCARS. (I keep comparing them because, while EA published Shift 2 and Bandai-Namco published PCARS, they're the same dev team.)

The menus are outright obnoxious at first, overly cluttered and loud, but eventually, you get used to them, and the bizarre soundtrack theming of "orchestral electronic remixes of punk rock songs" is at least very consistent and distinctive. It's growing on me. The car selection is very, very nice, with high-end supercars and standard street cars from a ton of automakers. I was very happy to find that playing NFS: Hot Pursuit 2010 meant I got to keep a police Lamborghini Reventon from that game. I originally hesitated to pick this game up because two packs of free DLC had been removed from the online store; I hadn't realized that the Steam version actually just patched them in since they were free anyways, so the Legends and Speedhunters packs are there by default.

While the game has a lot of variety when it comes to courses and event types, I find those additions really help. Usually, racing games nowadays overextend by trying to do a bit of everything, and doing all of it poorly; this game has a good enough selection of everything it attempts that nothing feels underwhelming. Even drag racing, which is a straight quarter-mile course and thus doesn't change, has three separate locales just so you have varied scenery. Every course from the first game returns and seems to be remodeled to fit the new physics, so there's a bunch of road courses, street circuits, and ovals to battle on. And despite being a 2011 game, it doesn't restrict itself to courses that existed then; 2009's Silverstone International layout is available, and the Legends DLC means you can race course variants from 1952 to 1978, including Rouen les Essarts, which closed in 1994. It doesn't sound like much, but it's really awesome in practice to be able to race classic cars on courses actually designed for them instead of for modern cars.

It is a bit amusingly dated to 2011, though, much as having intentionally outdated stuff added helps balance that. The energy-drink dudebro vibe is very slightly present here, and Formula Drift star Vaughn Gittin Jr. narrates the game in place of the British crew chief from the previous title. He lacks the pattern of facial hair he more commonly wears now, too, which makes it feel off if you do know who he is. All of the rival drivers in this game are real drivers in their discipline this time (with the exception of the Standing Mile champions, Twins Turbo, who instead are supercar tuners rather than competitors). Chris Rado dropped off the map the year after this game, and actually grenaded the engine of the Time Attack car you can win from him here. Finally, and most obviously, the final championships you battle to get into, the real-world licensed FIA GT3 and GT1 championships, folded in 2012. So, it's absolutely a time capsule in that regard, and it came out at just the right time to capture the car culture of right then.

As with the first game, I haven't tried drifting yet. I do very much like the actual Formula Drift, though; a very good watch every now and then.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on August 17, 2017, 07:58:58 AM
I may have just accidentally lagged out five people at the same time in Ace Combat Infinity. My ADLER can literally throw out MPBMs like candy, which I guess causes a lot of lag because all the clients need to map out GINORMOUS EXPLOSION every seven seconds or so.

Picked Moero Chronicle back up because it's now out on Steam! Not that I'm going to be playing the Steam version all that much, since I still have potato-tier computers and you have to have either a controller or a physical mouse to deal with the Bumping Scratch. Just picked up Valkyrie in the post-game on the Vita version, just barely making it out at 0.53 seconds. I keep forgetting to retune my party to focus on physical attacks, what with one particular enemy being heavily magic-resistant and capable of amping the MDF of all of its allies.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on August 18, 2017, 11:55:50 PM
Finally stopped hesitating on picking up Mad Max. I'll likely give it a more detailed recap and rambling when I make more progress, but four-and-a-half hours in and having seen none of the related films, I gotta say: awesome car combat, ludicrous harpoon/grappling-hook use, gratuitous explosions, toppling a powerful corrupt warlord, and creative gameplay choices forced by limiting your resources? It's a better Just Cause 2 sequel than Just Cause 3 was. Finally, there's something else I can recommend to scratch that itch of cruising around and blowing stuff up.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on August 23, 2017, 06:35:19 AM
Well, that hurt. I just beat Guacamelee! STCE on Hard. 0% items. F me, Flame Face was the most ridiculous out of all the bosses. It's really Skeleton outfit or Alebrije outfit or nothing at that point, as you get two- or one-shot by basically every boss, and you desperately need the damage boost from skills or the general damage boost just to survive.

It's just too bad that I'll never "fully 100%" the game, since the DLC has a trophy requiring a second player.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on September 26, 2017, 08:22:30 AM
Jeez, it's been a while.

So I just finished Ys VIII; and just in time, since Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash and Blue Reflection both release tomorrow (or rather, released four hours ago). BPS will at least be a good cooldown off of Ys before I either start BR or get around to getting Nightmare Surpasser. ...Luckily, it appears that the transfer data allows me to upgrade to Nightmare with my faculties intact at least, so there's that.

I've mostly stopped playing on the Vita front now that I have a smartphone, but I've picked up Mary Skelter and am making... some sort of progress.

On the Steam front, I've hit a wall on Shenzhen I/O, so I'm now playing Silicon Zeroes... and sometimes the logic makes me loopy. Maybe it's the lack of sleep I've been getting since apparently having us do six days at fewer hours is a better option than reducing the deli hours.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Third Eye Lem on September 30, 2017, 04:48:18 AM
I just started playing Cuphead, and it's every bit of simplistic and deadly as the trailers showed. I beat Forest Follies just fine, had to learn to DOOOOOODGE against the Root Pack, and then hit a bit of a wall against the two boxing frogs. It took me a few tries to figure out the punch shots followed a pattern, but all of a few seconds to realize that the bouncing ball platforms on the Slot Machine pattern was the worst attack ever, so I just kept throwing myself at the boss until I got a run without that attack. ^^;;

And then I remembered how to DOOOOOOOOOODGE again when going up against Goopy's Tombstone. Remember to dash, friends!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: hellish_moon on September 30, 2017, 12:33:42 PM
Animal Crossing on GameCube, Kirby's Dreamland 3, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Brave Frontier, Terraria, Don't Starve, Cave Story and Project Diva 2nd.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Third Eye Lem on September 30, 2017, 07:36:44 PM
Brave Frontier
Do you wanna swap friend IDs? I purged a bunch from my friend list recently.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: hellish_moon on October 01, 2017, 08:32:18 AM
Do you wanna swap friend IDs? I purged a bunch from my friend list recently.
Sure!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Third Eye Lem on October 07, 2017, 04:12:22 AM
97383319
IGN: Lemmy
Leads include Regil, Shion and Zelnite. I also have a boatload of other units, but not all of them are powered up. Are you by chance in a Guild already?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on October 07, 2017, 11:39:18 PM
Redout, again. I might have posted about it before but it's such an unbelievable thrill ride. I've been going through all the time trials in Class IV with the handy companion app telling me which of my times need the most improvement and got some decent times on all the tracks now. I've also been playing around with the 1st person viewpoint which was initially extremely disconcerting but has actually helped me improve my times (as well as making the game feel even faster, because it obviously needed that).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on October 08, 2017, 12:52:10 AM
What with so many new racing games on the market bringing us such wonderful features as gutted single-player campaigns, clunky broken AI, and lootboxes (as well as me generally being cheap), I was quite grateful to have a friend find me a copy of an older one I'd yet to play, specifically Colin McRae: DiRT 2. One thing I've appreciated about the Colin McRae Rally / DiRT series is that there's pretty much no re-use of content or treading of the same ground; even going back to an older title, it's a brand new experience. The announcer and a few courses re-appeared in the far different demo-derby title DiRT Showdown, though.

I could go on and on about the physics feeling right, but if you've tried any of the DiRT games, you know they're generally consistent. DiRT 2 is arcade-style and rewards a well-thought-out racing line while also letting you go a little more aggro on the jumps and cinematically excessive on the drifts. You can set good times in modern-day cars almost completely sideways, but purists will be glad to know that a few secret cars behave far closer to the original CMR2 physics. What really sets DiRT 2 apart is a unique presentation; menu screens are diegetic and experienced from a first-person view as you move about your driver's RV, parked outside of whatever event you've just attended. You select events off of a map on your table or posters on your wall, customize cars in a tent outside (stickers accumulate on the interior view for each major event you win, and while it's no Underground 2, you can customize all sorts of silly things like adding fuzzy dice or making your horn play Greensleeves at top speed), and even sit through loading screens that track your flight to the next event. It doesn't sound like a game-changer, but it has a unique charm. You never really leave character the whole time; it keeps momentum.

Adding to this presentation is a unique tone, far more focused on having fun with your friends and partying than serious prestige. It caught a lot of flack at the time for "Americanizing" the series, and while I can't entirely see it for the full package, it does at least show in the driver roster. With no WRC license, the main drivers are pretty much entirely either Rally America stars or fictional. Still, something that gives it some personality is being able to impress, befriend, and eventually team up with other drivers, including those real-world rally stars. It's wonderfully amusing to hear Travis Pastrana joking "has Ken (Block) tried to sell you any shoes yet?" or Tanner Foust congratulating you on taking second in the rallycross races he invariably dominates. They bicker to you and among themselves mid-race, which could be annoying, but in my opinion, livens things up a bit and makes the cast matter again in a way I haven't seen a racing game do since the first GRID.

I can see where this alienated people at the time especially, though, from the very over-the-top energy-drink-fueled excessive style of this one. No subtlety here. Rally is a small portion of the game now, with Rallycross, Trailblazer (hillclimb), and Landrush (buggies/trucks) vying for attention, but the rally stages are still well-constructed and well-voiced (you have the option of SEGA Rally style "easy left, hard right" or 1-6 system "left 5, into right 2", which is very nice if you've learned the 1-6 system because the simplified instructions are less informative. Also, minor detail I love, the co-driver will shout aloud if you crash mid-instruction). The course designs range from reasonable, like winding Chinese countryside or sprawling Utah cliffs, to wonderfully excessive, like battling through a track built in Battersea (the next game would make this location open-world instead) or leaping and sliding through Shibuya's streets. It's all very much Hot Wheelsy, focused on having a good time above all else. Mix that with an excellent soundtrack (http://nfssoundtrack.com/dirt2/), smooth physics, and the gratuitous energy drink advertising making sense in hindsight when the two leading rallycross series are Red Bull Global Rallycross and FIA Monster Energy World RX, and you've got a great, surprisingly peaceful and cute title. It's just silly fun.

Minor notes of my own personal experience: It weirds me out that "Evan" is a voice option here and I'm graced with actual drivers saying "hey, Evan, nice win", but DiRT 3 and Showdown cut that name from the list and I was stuck as "Dude". Having played a ton of GRID, I appreciated a Ravenwest livery instantly unlocking for the game-starting Impreza when it found my old save. Also, the RV just got a jack-o-lantern when this month started: cute touch.

Digging out some older titles, as well, I've recently reinstalled Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2. My nostalgia has not served me well here, at least not on PC; NFSIII aged a lot better. Awkward floaty physics and some heavy RNG on pursuits make this less fun than it was back in the day... but as a kid, I really only played Be The Cop mode, so in a sense, the rest of this game is new to me. And that mode still holds up perfect. Ram supercars off the road until they stop? My kind of virtual police work. Still, it has a certain tone that later NFS games veered from that I don't know how to place. It's very much not afraid to be silly where it benefits gameplay, even if it contradicts itself. Going too fast in your Lotus Elise? The police will try to pull you over. Go faster? You're too much of a threat to public safety for them to safely pursue and you're home free. They see you still going? Time to call in the helicopter to drop explosive barrels in the middle of public roads and detonate any cars that hit them. It genuinely forced a laugh out of me when I got arrested and the "Busted" cutscene played out the on-foot police chase like a Scooby-Doo chase instead of anything serious. The NFS series past this point had some fantastic entries, but after Most Wanted was extremely successful and only accidentally corny, they kinda gave up on being intentionally silly for a good few years, and a bit of fun was lost in that. Most of all, though, I totally love that some songs on the soundtrack with extremely blatantly sexual lyrics were rewritten for the game to be about street racing and police chases, which is so dorky it's somehow perfect. (Plus, Rush was on it somehow, which never happened before or since to my knowledge.)

Also, it took me 15 years to finally notice the police have black-and-white cruisers and American accents no matter where on the planet you're supposedly racing. We're all living in Amerika, Amerika ist wunderbar.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: hellish_moon on October 09, 2017, 06:34:32 PM
97383319
IGN: Lemmy
Leads include Regil, Shion and Zelnite. I also have a boatload of other units, but not all of them are powered up. Are you by chance in a Guild already?
Sorry for the late reply haha! ^^"
My ID is 78642520.
I have a bunch of nice units, but I don't really use in them, because Cost is a meanie :")
And nope, I am not in any Guild yet!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 10, 2017, 05:45:36 AM
I love how Blue Reflection goes from school slice of life into something out of Drakengard into Exist Archive into magical girl anime in the space of a few minutes. And probably back and forth, if the back of the case is any indication. I'm not a fan of sub-only, but I did it for Nights of Azure, I'll do it for this. Also for the Rorona DLC costume. (Also I should probably get to preordering Nights of Azure 2?)

Also picked up Archangel for PSVR, but damn, do you need those checkpoints. If you aren't constantly looking in all forward directions at once, you're probably going to get rekt by everything ever because shields are basically how D.Va's Defense Matrix works except the stuff has to hit the shield. It wouldn't be so bad if the healer didn't only use her heals once per mission.

(Also kinda unrelated, but Code:Realize has an anime? And it's going to get dubbed by Funimation? wow)

Also also, I'm kind of surprised the lobbies for Peach Beach Splash are so empty... at least the non-Ranked lobbies. Haven't tried Ranked yet.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on October 10, 2017, 02:24:22 PM
Also also, I'm kind of surprised the lobbies for Peach Beach Splash are so empty... at least the non-Ranked lobbies. Haven't tried Ranked yet.

I wonder how many series fans stateside are now just figuring "I'll wait for the PC port", because seeing all the Vita games get ported after Shinovi Versus's success on Steam definitely has got me waiting on this one. All I know is it's got Ryōna (the character, not, y'know) and goofy outfits and giant Ryōna so I'm already pretty much pre-sold.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 14, 2017, 04:25:10 AM
God damn it, Koei, get some goddamn proofreaders for your English localizations. As much as I'm enjoying Blue Reflection, the constant typos are seriously irritating me. Didn't you learn anything from the translations of the Atelier series you did, or even Ar nosurge?

Also, Vert's VA is still strange to me. I'm still too used to her earlier VA. Also I think Noire has a different one too...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Spotty Len on October 14, 2017, 08:57:24 AM
At least it's not NISA, hah.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 14, 2017, 03:22:25 PM
At least it's not NISA, hah.
Even with their tendency to mess with translations, they'd be an improvement.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on October 16, 2017, 03:12:53 AM
Doki Doki Literature Club.  Go enjoy some time with cute club members!  Available free on Steam.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Kilgamayan on October 17, 2017, 04:04:47 PM
TAOIST ODYSSEY TAOIST ODYSSEY TAOIST ODYSSEY (http://kilgamayan.tumblr.com/post/166503627436/back-at-it-again-at-taoist-odyssey-ill-admit-her)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 19, 2017, 06:59:50 AM
And that's Blue Reflection done. I'm actually kinda crying right now. Now for the rest of the Trophies, of which I assume most of them involve maxing out the affection gauges of all twelve girls.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on October 27, 2017, 09:56:34 AM
Picked up Mary Skelter Nightmares. Started on Horror, because why not. Haven't played much yet, but so far it feels a lot like Dungeon Travelers: Creepy Pasta edition.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Red770 on October 28, 2017, 06:55:42 PM
Hey all, anybody interested in playing starcraft 2 this weekend and the next?

Just message me your battle.net account.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on October 29, 2017, 01:26:19 AM
And that's Blue Reflection done. I'm actually kinda crying right now. Now for the rest of the Trophies, of which I assume most of them involve maxing out the affection gauges of all twelve girls.
How was it? Review I read said it wasn?t so hot.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 29, 2017, 03:27:06 AM
How was it? Review I read said it wasn’t so hot.
It's an up-port of a PS Vita game, so there's a bunch of stuff that takes hits because of it.

If you're into magical girl transformation sequences, you get two of them for each character early in the game, then none afterward, not even with their upgraded weapons.

Combat can be pretty repetitive, especially once you get certain skills. Throughout, if you give any non-tank trash mob a turn, you're doing it wrong; and if you're doing all the sidequests between each chapter, literally only two bosses are any real trouble whatsoever on Normal.

There's only eight dungeon variants with only four or so rooms per variant which don't have real connections between each other (sometimes you'll go through one exit only to loop to the other exit, sometimes you'll be somewhere else entirely); four of the variants are just combinations of two variants. Even if you aren't specifically grinding for drops, you'll be wandering those eight places a ton. You also can only craft or upgrade your addons while in a dungeon, which was an odd decision.

Outside the dungeons, the only place you can wander around in is the school, so it sometimes feels pretty restrictive, even if you can go out with some of your girlfriends to a few places outside the school, a la the short interludes the Persona series took if you did a S. Link but didn't have enough points to actually upgrade the Link. Even with Fast Travel, Hinako moves kinda slow at school (admittedly, she does have a bad knee).

Artwork would have been a high point (all the art was created by the same person who did the Atelier Arland art); except that there's only a few art stills, and almost all of them during the credits.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on October 29, 2017, 03:31:19 AM
It's an up-port of a PS Vita game, so there's a bunch of stuff that takes hits because of it.

If you're into magical girl transformation sequences, you get two of them for each character early in the game, then none afterward, not even with their upgraded weapons.

Combat can be pretty repetitive, especially once you get certain skills. After that, most trash mobs are one-shots after that point; and if you're doing all the sidequests between each chapter, literally only two bosses are any real trouble whatsoever on Normal.

There's only eight dungeon variants with only four or so rooms per variant which don't have real connections between each other (sometimes you'll go through one exit only to loop to the other exit, sometimes you'll be somewhere else entirely); four of the variants are just combinations of two variants. Even if you aren't specifically grinding for drops, you'll be wandering those eight places a ton. You also can only craft or upgrade your addons while in a dungeon, which was an odd decision.

Outside the dungeons, the only place you can wander around in is the school, so it sometimes feels pretty restrictive, even if you can go out with some of your girlfriends to a few places outside the school, a la the short interludes the Persona series took if you did a S. Link but didn't have enough points to actually upgrade the Link. Even with Fast Travel, Hinako moves kinda slow at school (admittedly, she does have a bad knee).

Artwork would have been a high point (all the art was created by the same person who did the Atelier Arland art); except that there's only a few art stills, and almost all of them during the credits.
Are there any compelling reasons to play it?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 29, 2017, 05:14:13 AM
Are there any compelling reasons to play it?
Fanservice? There's occasional rainstorms during the course of the game, so you sometimes can see some of the girls with wet uniforms (and apparently the stuff's thin enough that you can easily see bras). Some of the DLC outfits are at minimum, kinda ecchi (modesty towels, middle-school style seifuku, school swimsuits, etc.). If you got Nights of Azure 2 with the DLC bundle, you can get some DLC to have the two leads swap outfits if you feel like it (though Aluche only gets the school uniform and Hinako gets the "literally only glowing pasties cover the nipples" Purification outfit). If you get Blue Reflection with its DLC bundle, you also get a Rorona outfit for Hinako.

It's pretty much that and the visual style, which, again, was done by the same artist who did the Arland Atelier trilogy.

EDIT: Also the soundtrack. Overdose (https://youtu.be/VMv4qufsWeU), the main battle theme; and the main theme (https://youtu.be/KbHp_BaYj-k), among others.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on November 06, 2017, 10:07:09 AM
Now that I actually have a reasonable idea on how to play Eiyu Senki (don't waste your money on healing troops - let them naturally regen; focus down enemies to reduce total enemy turns, even if it means you take more damage in the short term; etc.), I'm actually making considerable progress (for me, anyway). Still didn't stop me from ramming my face headlong into Gordion, winning on the last possible move, and learning you can't actually capture it until you actually capture the capitol.

(Also, I kind of hate that you can't really play the R18 version around other people because one character's running around topless.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on November 07, 2017, 02:40:35 AM
I recently finished Megami Tensei II (played I earlier) and SMT (chaos route), and have started on SMTII. Loving the world-building.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on November 07, 2017, 07:41:14 AM
So, Mary Skelter Nightmares. Its balance is kinda wonky. First you have a fighter girl and a red mage/bard/support girl. Then you get an archer girl and an utility girl, then shortly after you get your dedicated mage. That's your party. Later you start getting other characters, but they all have duplicate classes of your first five. Also due to me playing on Horror they all join underleveld compared to my main party. And there's really no reason to use them.
Also "utility" girl has such weird class choices. She has Blue Mage as one of her classes. She gets ALL the elemental skills and weird shit. At the same time she has Disaster Rune spell from one of her other classes. It's high random elemental damage to all enemies. When you first get it, it's just that. Damage with random elements. But as you level it up, not only it starts dealing more damage, the skill also starts to land on enemy weakness more often. When the skill is maxed it's transfromed into "Deal high elemental damage to all enemies with an element they are weak to".
Oh, ya. Your bard has differently named, but doing the same skill. Also your bard's class Poet has the highest TEC (read magic) of all her classes to the point that it's on par with your dedicated mage. Also she's stupidly fast.
All that translates into that at the start you're exploiting enemies elemental weaknesses and try to survive. Midgame and beyond you just melt everything with AoE. And mp isn't even an issue due to Massacre Mode restoring hp and mp and you misson control carrying virtually unlimited supply of mp restoratives.

Edit: Actually Disaster Rune is simply "do damage with element enemy is weak to". Huh.
And the most broken thing is Logic with maxed out Jail passives.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on November 07, 2017, 01:27:31 PM
(Also, I kind of hate that you can't really play the R18 version around other people because one character's running around topless.)
I would think that you wouldn?t be able to play the R18 version around others in general, no matter the state of dress of the characters during normal play.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on November 07, 2017, 01:44:09 PM
Azure Striker Gunvolt can't hide the fact that it's a Mega Man Zero clone and is too easy for it's own good outside of bosses but who cares when it's this fun?

Ni-Oh is out for PC and now I hope to get the Dark Souls fix that Dark Souls 3 couldn't address as well as I'd hoped.

Also Breath of Fire 3 with friends. Playing like I'm 14 all over again and hitting the second major grind wall WOOooOOooOO~!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on November 07, 2017, 09:37:40 PM
I would think that you wouldn’t be able to play the R18 version around others in general, no matter the state of dress of the characters during normal play.
Literally the only differences between all-ages and R18 is infrequent (and usually foreseeable) H scenes and two characters (the second's got hers mostly covered at least; from a distance, the fact that her nipples are showing isn't noticeable). Sure, you'd probably get weird looks playing a tactical RPG where only one character is a dude, but it's basically less-ecchi Rance at that point (and a few Vita games are a bit more mortifying to play in public, anyway).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on November 13, 2017, 03:05:59 PM
OH MY JOSH Nioh/Ni-Oh/Ni-oh/Knee-Eau is so much fun. Scratches that Dark Souls itch better than DS3 did. I'm just going in with a basic heavy armor and spear build for maximum survivability and zero skills, but the stance system rounds out combat so well that combat is never boring. All of the weapons have their own strengths and weaknesses and just feel so good when you use them right. Bosses are tough and of the die-a-dozen-times-to-learn-their-patterns variety that become so satisfying to beat. The equipment system is ridiculously complex because there's weapon/armor levels, bonuses, rarities, etc. that reward you with sticking with - and basically customizing - a good piece of equipment rather than just swapping stuff out.

I already have good stories of co-op, too! Someone summoned me and the two of us ran through the entire second stage, even beating its boss without either of us dying on the boss that took me 10+ tries to do alone! Oh boy!

Go play it, yes do, I halp, much fun hurrah!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on November 17, 2017, 06:12:49 AM
So Tokyo Tattoo Girls is basically shit-tier Plague Inc., as it turns out. Pick a girl (each has different attributes), pick a place to start, then wait for ages for shit to happen, with occasional interaction with your girl to put more tattoos on her and trying (and failing) to understand how the kit they give you works.

In better news, I've been playing a bunch of Opus Magnum. While the campaign is much shorter than your typical Zachtronics (at least, it feels a lot shorter because you have a ton more freedom than you would in any other Zachtronics), it's more involved with the gameplay and story interaction; and the new solitare game, Sigmar's Garden, is basically 2D western Mahjong with interesting twists (metals like lead or iron can only be combined with quicksilver, but only if there's no lesser metals out there, salt can be combined either with itself or any primary element, quintessence can only be combined with one each of the primary elements) and a setup the game notes is always possible to win from turn 1 (unlike, say, Shenzhen Solitare, which had at least a few starting hands that were unwinnable).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on November 18, 2017, 03:04:27 AM
Redout, yet again. Now that the new DLC has arrived with the Moon and P-A219 complexes (and another graphics upgrade for free), we have a staggering 50 tracks at this point. 60 if you include the boss tracks, which have all five tracks of an area chained together with teleporters for a mega-track usually around 4-5m in length for the fastest speed classes. Both new complexes are incredibly fun, and they feel like the fastest set of tracks in the game in terms of having a lot of sections you can take flat out if you get your racing line right. P-A219 (nicknamed the Party Planet) in particular is an absolute blast to play, with three of the five tracks being complete speedfests, one being a speedfest mixed with crazy tubes and a brutal chicane, and then Vishnu, the longest track in the game, acting as a railgun and firing you between planets (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LotMKbQ5W1A). It is SO COOL.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on November 19, 2017, 03:15:35 AM
So Tokyo Tattoo Girls is basically shit-tier Plague Inc., as it turns out. Pick a girl (each has different attributes), pick a place to start, then wait for ages for shit to happen, with occasional interaction with your girl to put more tattoos on her and trying (and failing) to understand how the kit they give you works.
I had a feeling that it was going to be a garbage game when I spent an hour trying to find anything on the game other than it had girls with tattoos and finding zilch.

Nioh on Steam. My computer is old, which means I'm playing on minimum settings which still looks really good, but I watched someone with an actually good computer play and it's a heck of a lot faster than what I'm playing. Also, it's hard, and sometimes not in a fun way. Other than that, it's good.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on November 19, 2017, 01:48:26 PM
Nioh on Steam. My computer is old, which means I'm playing on minimum settings which still looks really good, but I watched someone with an actually good computer play and it's a heck of a lot faster than what I'm playing. Also, it's hard, and sometimes not in a fun way. Other than that, it's good.
There's a bit more of a learning curve than Dark Souls, but a lot of that still transfers over. Carrying too much armor is bad for dodging and that helped a ton on the first boss.  Also Hino Enma is terrible without a paralysis charm but almost too easy with one. Equipment in this game is generally nuts and gives all sorts of boosts that help give you a leg up.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: myon on November 23, 2017, 02:28:36 PM
Snagged Cities: Skyline on the Steam autumn sale and gotta say, it's really pretty to look at. I suck at city management games like these but honestly, who cares? A city can be tens of thousands of zen gardens, no need for all that water and power and waste disposal crap.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 07, 2017, 04:51:32 AM
asdf wrong thread.

Anyway, Opus Magnum has a new mini-campaign with tiny spaces. God the spaces are too tiny for my brain.

Also, A Hat in Time on consoles! Now I can actually play it. (curse these two potato PCs)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on December 07, 2017, 02:45:39 PM
Got a Switch and Breath of the Wild last week. Beat Breath of the Wild last night. Sort of beelined straight to Hyrule Castle after getting the Master Sword and the Divine Beasts, and skipped the entirety of the dungeon.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on December 12, 2017, 08:44:39 AM
So, Mary Skelter: Nightmares and Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana are both platinumed. Both were not too hard, if a little time consuming.
Now i remembered that Metroid: Samus Returns is a thing and decided to dust off my 3DS (both figuratively and literaly).
But first i decided to load my 130 hours Fire Emblem Fates save just to see what fuckery i was up to a year ago. Well... I wasn't quite prepared for what i found indisde. When you have a lot of time and patience you can do some crazy stuff... Magic specced FCorrin with more mag than atk and Levin's Sword+2 with Swordfaire and a bunch of other weird passives was just a start. I looked at my roster with a mixture of bewilderment, horror and mild amusement. Maxed out Hinoka save for her mag as Spear Master.  Strategist Elise with Tome/Bow Breaker, Inspire, Tomefaire and Trample. But an award for pure wtf factor probably goes to Bowknight Azura with only 28 hp, but with maxed out str, skill and speed with Pavice, Aegis, Sol, Miracle and Vantage.

Now onto actualy Metroid: Samus Returns. It's GREAT. It's everything i ever wanted from 2D Metroid and then some.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on December 12, 2017, 05:37:34 PM
Been playing Dark Souls since last week. Parrying has become my second nature by now.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on December 13, 2017, 12:25:15 AM
Getting back into the groove of playing Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 on Steam on my true ending file, just right now grinding Chapter 7 for items and levels to fight one of the fake goddesses and it's a paaaaaaain.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 15, 2017, 09:39:39 AM
So I logged back into Ace Combat Infinity after nearly a month of inactivity (because curse six day work weeks), to find out that it's closing at the end of March. On the one hand, for this last stretch, it'll be fairly easy to generate credits to work on my final major project in ACI; on the other, I'm not even sure that this last stretch will be enough with the resources I have.

I also picked up Sky Force Anniversary, but goddamn this is a grind.

Also Rabi-Ribi. I'm attempting to go for a spikeless run, so now that I'm in the Library, this is likely going to be nothing but pain for the next couple of weeks as I slowly make my way to the true final boss. Why is it that quickloading doesn't revert the spike damage counter?!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on December 18, 2017, 06:39:54 PM
Playing Xenoblade 2. I'm really feeling it, albeit not quite as much as Xenoblade 1. That said, Xenoblade 1 had set a high bar, and X2 is still a rather good game (I wish it would be a tad less anime, though).

Also, Nia.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on December 19, 2017, 01:28:50 PM
Playing Xenoblade 2. I'm really feeling it, albeit not quite as much as Xenoblade 1. That said, Xenoblade 1 had set a high bar, and X2 is still a rather good game (I wish it would be a tad less anime, though).

Also, Nia.
Real talk: How painfully *~*ANIME*~* does XB2 get? I've followed the series in all its forms since Gears and there's been a lot of praise for the game, but some of the character designs aren't exactly reassuring. My weeb phase has been in decline for 10 years and my upper tolerance for shounen cliches and awkward fanservice doesn't stretch that far beyond Persona 3-5 anymore. When I see that the female lead is jailbait in booty shorts and a magic bra I'm partially worried that the story and feel of the game follows suit, even though I'm hoping its a game that stands well on its own despite some design aesthetics. The original Xenoblade was a fantastic and I'm hoping for that kind of ethos. Anyway, just curious to know if it stands on its own or if the game will tell me to embrace a maid fetish like Tora's every time I turn on the console.

Side note: Nia's part of the reason I'm still heavily invested in whether the game will be a good fit for another 120 hour romp or not.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on December 19, 2017, 03:30:25 PM
Real talk: How painfully *~*ANIME*~* does XB2 get? I've followed the series in all its forms since Gears and there's been a lot of praise for the game, but some of the character designs aren't exactly reassuring. My weeb phase has been in decline for 10 years and my upper tolerance for shounen cliches and awkward fanservice doesn't stretch that far beyond Persona 3-5 anymore. When I see that the female lead is jailbait in booty shorts and a magic bra I'm partially worried that the story and feel of the game follows suit, even though I'm hoping its a game that stands well on its own despite some design aesthetics. The original Xenoblade was a fantastic and I'm hoping for that kind of ethos. Anyway, just curious to know if it stands on its own or if the game will tell me to embrace a maid fetish like Tora's every time I turn on the console.

Side note: Nia's part of the reason I'm still heavily invested in whether the game will be a good fit for another 120 hour romp or not.
I?m in chapter 5 right now, and the story and characters are pretty great. There?s obvious twists, but they were so well done and performed that I really liked them, and even the most annoying of the main characters (the Nopom, of course) is rather charming. That said, I would have to say that the major flaw of the game would have to be the character design direction: the main characters look like they fit a certain aesthetic, but when you get the special optional blades they have completely different aesthetics becUse they?re guest designed. Also, there?s an issue where, when you transition, the game doesn?t wait for all of the textures to finish loading.

Also, there are a few times when it gets painfully anime, most starting at the beginning of chapter 5. There is a certain character that is vitally important to the plot that they seemed to have dumped all of the anime tropes into, and my glancing at comments on the inter webs indicate that everyone largely agrees that they don?t like this. Also, there is a few things with Tora, the aforementioned Nopom, regarding maids. As far as the main heroine goes, though, they typically don?t make a big deal about her outfit and her personality is refreshingly non heroine typical. The main character is noticeably younger than everyone else, but he isn?t a complete dumbass, just inexperienced and clever in his own ways.

EDIT: Also, side note, I wouldn?t really describe Pyra as ?jailbait?. I would put her as physically and mentally in adult years. Rex, Nia and Tora are all young, though I?m not sure if Nia is as young as Rex in spite of what he claims, and Pyra comes across as being the team mom (and the tiger as team uncle, and the dragon as team grandpa).

EDIT EDIT: There's one last thing that just occurred to me that is a flaw with X2. There's a fairly big disconnect with how the plot guides you from one place to another, in that usually you can just kind of ignore where you're supposed to go in favor of going somewhere else, but you'll eventually need to go to that place to trigger plot. For example
you infiltrate an enemy ship to rescue Nia, and you're supposed to escape through the hangar, where you trigger two boss battles. Orrrr, you could just walk out the way you came in, and leave the ship entirely. Or just use the quick travel to leave.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Silent Harmony on December 20, 2017, 07:14:21 AM
After not playing it for years after initially buying it, I finally sat down and beat Mirror's Edge (PS3). In the end I can't come up with a solid opinion other than "unrealized potential." When the game was good- the levels flowed, the enemies were mere obstacles- it was amazing. When the game was bad- eaten jump inputs, clunky forced combat, obscure paths while being bombarded with gunfire- it was outright frstrating and borderline unfun. Heck even the end was unsatisfactory with it being the first of a planned trilogy (that of course never happened). Overall a roller-coaster of a game that left me feeling "meh."
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on December 20, 2017, 10:20:58 AM
Still playing Metroid: Samus Returns. Made it to Area 4. Those "escape from
giant murder mining bot and its giant fucking insta kill drill
" bits were awful. You practically have zero room for error. Advancing wall of death moves kinda fast. The path is not always obvious, there are crumbling blocks to screw you further and i died like 20 times there. That was not fun. And then it was like: "Huuuuh? Where are you? Well, whatevs" then it vomits Space Jump upgrade at you for no reason and kinda just leaves.
Aside from that one segment the game is really fun. Personal GotY even.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on December 20, 2017, 03:49:40 PM
Lots of things!
Thanks for the input! I've probably pondered whether or not to buy this game more than I have any other in the last few years. It's gone back and forth a few times for sure. The long and short of things is that I'll most likely pick up a copy but I will also reserve the right to throw popcorn at my TV screen and wince when I feel like it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: dosboot on December 20, 2017, 10:51:32 PM
After not playing it for years after initially buying it, I finally sat down and beat Mirror's Edge (PS3). In the end I can't come up with a solid opinion other than "unrealized potential." When the game was good- the levels flowed, the enemies were mere obstacles- it was amazing. When the game was bad- eaten jump inputs, clunky forced combat, obscure paths while being bombarded with gunfire- it was outright frstrating and borderline unfun. Heck even the end was unsatisfactory with it being the first of a planned trilogy (that of course never happened). Overall a roller-coaster of a game that left me feeling "meh."

I'm a head over heels Mirror's Edge fan, but having unreserved love for it certainly puts me in a small subgroup.  I really like the feeling of flow as well.  There's a lot to the game's basic premise that wins me over though, which is where I speculate I differ from the usual experience...  just being a runner and having all these cool first person animations to take out guards makes me very satisfied when playing.  It's certainly operating on a level for me that I wouldn't expect going in. 

If you ever feel curious about completing the time trials I'd nudge you to do it.  I remember it leading me into some neat tutorial videos which then brought me down the mechanics/technique rabbit hole which was loads of fun.  The time trials are speedrunning-style challenges (but mostly using different levels from regular game) where you have to find a path to reach all the waypoints in a fast enough time.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on December 21, 2017, 08:24:03 PM
Thanks for the input! I've probably pondered whether or not to buy this game more than I have any other in the last few years. It's gone back and forth a few times for sure. The long and short of things is that I'll most likely pick up a copy but I will also reserve the right to throw popcorn at my TV screen and wince when I feel like it.
Slight correction to myself: the anime starts at the beginning of chapter 4, not 5, and apparently the maid fetish is genetic.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on December 22, 2017, 08:38:30 PM
I've entirely lost track of rambling endlessly in this thread, having missed the chance to freshly update my disappointment in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, my glee at the still-definitely-broken-but-fun-anyways Lego Dimensions, a rapid improvement in PAYDAY 2, and a sort of tepid response to NASCAR Heat 2 definitely being more NASCAR. Like, I like NASCAR. A lot. That's obvious. But I think we finally hit a point where I want a bit of a break from it, game-wise, at least while it's still doing the exact same tracks as the real series; when I was growing up, the track lists used to change wildly, with all sorts of fantasy additions and bizarre extras. Those don't happen for the NASCAR tie-ins anymore, unless you count those cars appearing in Forza and Gran Turismo where you can put them wherever. (I have been greatly enjoying Forza Motorsport 4 now that I've managed to get all the old free DLC working again, by the by.)

But mostly, as of late, I find myself turning, surprisingly, to Codemasters' F1 games. I mean, I guess it's not too surprising; I love the DiRT and GRID series, and Formula One is something I absolutely love conceptually. I mean, who wouldn't love a top-tier racing series with a prestigious history, touring the world in hyper-fast high-end machines, every driver having an astonishing resume behind them? But alas, the fandom rivalries and the imbalance among the teams (I'm more of a spec series kind of guy) make it tough for me to enjoy watching, having nowhere near as many passing opportunities as my usual preferences, and with aggression being more heavily punished with actual in-race penalties rather than just gaining you the ire of fans and co-workers. Really, you can sum it all up with Ferrari's president sneering "we don't want to play NASCAR globally" and NASCAR's Brad Keselowski decrying Toyota's dominance as "feeling like Formula One". Both series use each other as negatives, and it makes sense. They're very much opposites. But they're both awesome conceptually.

Anyhoo. So I got that Codemasters Racing Bundle despite already having most things in it; I've already had F1 2013 for some time as I was intrigued by the historic content. I'm gradually learning that each of these games is kind of its own strange mix, none of them really being a singular superior perfection of the formula (one). F1 2013 was my favorite for a long time, as it included the 2013 season, a nicely deep career mode, a brisker shortened career mode if you just wanted to hop right into the action, a challenge mode, and nicely in-depth tutorials in the form of the Young Driver's Test. Interestingly, how well you completed the tutorials affected your options in the career mode; if you finish most of them perfectly and make it clear you're used to this kind of game, you can hop straight on to a top-tier team. Really adds some nice stakes to it, and educated me nicely on a series I wanted to learn more about anyhow.

What really got my attention in the first place wasn't just the 2013 season, though. It was the inclusion of F1 Classics mode, which added an amalgamated 80's season and 90's season, with top-tier drivers and cars from those decades (as well as one Ferrari from 1976, which can only be used in time trials). These mostly still reuse the 2013 courses, but four historic tracks from those years that are no longer used in F1 were also added, in their classic forms, and you can mix and match the 80's, 90's, and 2013 seasons with any tracks in the game. They all have different HUDs and rosters and voicework. There's clearly a lot of love here. Some things are gimmicky (the KERS system, but that's just part of 2013's season, as is DRS) and some things are broken (using shorter qualifying rounds in career disqualifies you from most R&D upgrades for some reason?), but there's a lot to experience even as a non-fan if you're willing to learn.

The actual on-track action is exciting, but I gotta say, it's absolutely blown away by F1 2015. F1 2015 does also include multiple seasons, but only the 2014 and 2015 ones (which is much of why I skipped to it past 2014). They can't be mixed and matched. Where the rubber meets the road, 2015 is... to say it's smooth would be inaccurate. It's more that it nails the feel of it. You can feel the tires flex and move, you can feel the resistance of the brakes when you push just a bit too far; every single motion is FAR more detailed and immersive than it was before. The character models aren't great, the presentation is awesome but a bit thinner than before, but the actual racing is spectacular. Which presents a bit of a problem.

Almost all of the modes in previous games are just outright gone.

In exchange for far superior handling and gameplay, F1 2015 kinda skips... everything. No career mode, no customization, no challenges, no nothing. There is just racing. And time trials, if you feel like it. The racing, however, is genuinely good enough to be worth it, so it's in a weird spot as a supplementary game to an existing collection. It's a bit more classic-styled. All the appeal is in the core gameplay. And you know what? That's perfectly okay. I keep coming back to it for quick races over and over now.

F1 2013 was the last game in the series to have a full-on historic mode, though F1 2017 apparently brings back historic cars on the modern tracks. Licensing issues with the classic mode led to F1 2013 being removed from sale, so hopefully 2017 doesn't befall that same fate before I get to it.

Also, I'm enjoying F1 Race Stars a lot more now that I realize the career mode isn't actually balanced in a way that I HAVE to win every single event. I can relax a bit. Which I should, in a more cartoonish game where you're racing atop trains or launching over skyscrapers or watching Sebastian Vettel go by you at 215 MPH while leaning out of his car to wave to you and tauntingly shout "Byeeeee~!". It's still absolutely delightful in presentation but iffy on balance and design. Which, damn, I guess that IS accurate for Formula One.

Also, I'm extremely biased towards very much loving Mirror's Edge, but to be fair, I don't do much time-trialing there, despite my love of such modes in more vehicular forms. Plus, you can flip people off in midair. Can't ask for more.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Silent Harmony on December 23, 2017, 03:46:02 AM

If you ever feel curious about completing the time trials I'd nudge you to do it.  I remember it leading me into some neat tutorial videos which then brought me down the mechanics/technique rabbit hole which was loads of fun.  The time trials are speedrunning-style challenges (but mostly using different levels from regular game) where you have to find a path to reach all the waypoints in a fast enough time.

I tried briefly to do a time trial but couldn't; I am not sure if they required access to servers that have since been closed (at least on PS3). I may try again another time though, I have more console backlog thst I can get through while my PC is down.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 23, 2017, 10:23:19 AM
So I just recently learned that there's a new DJMAX game for the PS4. (Admittedly I'm four months late to the party.) Now this is a surprise, given that Pentavision, as far as I'm aware, dissolved back after Technika Tune.

The bigger surprise? Nearly all of their discography will be available; some of it through DLC, admittedly. All of the returning songs also get a full visual remaster.

The biggest surprise? It's getting localized.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on December 23, 2017, 09:29:48 PM
Dark Souls DLC stuff is horrible. The only good part is Artorias himself, but good luck surviving if you don't have the fast roll. Honestly, I'd just uninstall it if I could, but that's not an option for the PC version.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Third Eye Lem on December 25, 2017, 12:38:07 AM
Been playing Cuphead again...I find it amusing that despite Isle III being the hardest set of bosses and levels in the game, I was able to beat Rumor Honeybottoms surprisingly fast...But I honestly think it had more to do with luck than anything else. There's so much stuff onscreen, with the shrapnel bombs, the Bullet Beels, and the magic shapes she spawns, combined with the semi-random arrangement of the platforms, and the amount of time she spends just idling allowing you to score extra hits on her, that she could be very easy, or very hard...

Then again I had Lobber and Roundabout, so that helped speed things along a fair bit! :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on December 25, 2017, 01:26:46 AM
Playing my first Atelier series game... Sophie on my PS4 which I hadn't had play with since I bought it due to needing a converter, I do think this series is a hidden gem for me... I might try out Omega Quintet on my PS4 also tomorrow.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 25, 2017, 04:05:47 AM
Playing my first Atelier series game... Sophie on my PS4 which I hadn't had play with since I bought it due to needing a converter, I do think this series is a hidden gem for me... I might try out Omega Quintet on my PS4 also tomorrow.
Sophie's weird for me for some reason; I just can't get into it after you start being able to customize your cauldron. It's probably because I desperately want to min-max it, but I just don't have the mats for it.

(I really should get to finishing it, since the third game in the Mysterious series comes out in March...)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jimmy on December 26, 2017, 06:57:35 AM
I already found out about Doki Doki Literature Club already two months ago, but have been hesitant to play it until now.

...all I can say so far is that it blew me outta my socks multiple times already, and I'm not even halfway through it - total 7 hours of playtime and counting.

This game will destroy you. It will leave an ugly scar on your soul. It will substantially damage your sanity.

I regret so goddamn many life choices right now (_/_.)_
Like trying this game out on Christmas Eve...
My sins cannot be forgiven

One thing I'm absolutely fascinated by about this game though is just how terrifyingly gimmicky it is. So gimmicky it's actually legitimately creepy. And I do love that.
:V


protect sayori 2k17

Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on December 26, 2017, 06:41:45 PM
This year was the first Christmas where I didn't get anything Sonic-related as a present! To rectify this, as a lifelong fan, I immediately used my gift money to purchase Sonic Forces, and... wow. That was a mistake. It really IS as bad as everyone says. I'm used to still liking every Sonic game regardless of review outlet scores, but, like, I'm floored this got UP TO a 6. Lost World was at least dismissable as not my kind of platforming, but this is an amalgam of every bad thing about the 3D Sonic games. Overly chatty characters. Melodramatic cutscenes and overdramatic story. Random throwbacks to old games just to remind you that you liked those and that alone should make you like this. Horrid level design. The clunky momentum mechanics from Lost World. It is the polar opposite of Sonic Mania, which was a compilation of all the best parts of the 2D games. And to be perfectly honest, I prefer the 3D games, mostly because I suck at the original 2D ones, and this is not a better product. After Mania, Forces looks like an absolute joke. Like they learned their lesson and immediately slam dunked it into the trash (if not for these being separate dev teams and both games planned well in advance).

I genuinely have NO incentive to play this over just picking up one of my Sonic toys and kicking his legs around. No incentive, that is, except one thing.

The character creator genuinely is an actual friggin' masterpiece that gives you a real sense of ownership of one portion of this otherwise jumbled nonsense plot, I absolutely love my dapperly-dressed rabbit dude, and the clothing rewards actually are almost enough to make the bland, uninteresting, unrewarding levels worth playing. It is incongruously fantastic, and when I see my dude smiling at the end of a stage, I am very happy to see him happy. I wish him the best, but that includes wishing he was in a better game.

Anyways. I'll probably slog through more of that since it's short. If they legit go through with Super Sonic being paid DLC, they'll actually finally lose me as a customer after 22 years of blindly loyal fandom. Well. I guess I'll stay attached to Sonic Boom, since that's still damn good a show. Argh.

For the most part, I've been looping back to PAYDAY 2, after the excellent Reservoir Dogs Heist and Brooklyn Bank combo, and ACIV: Black Flag, because it was free and I forget I like the AC games so much. Christmas meant, among other things, I was given the Powerpuff Girls characters for Lego Dimensions. I have a lot of opinions on the reboot, and the recasted characters in-game do still sound wrong to me (ESPECIALLY because it's all the women and girls that got recast, with every male VA keeping their role), but this serves as a solid mix of nostalgia and the new stuff. I did openly cackle during one mission involving Mojo Jojo. This game got his character a LOT better than the reboot cartoon actually has, down to the overly verbose replies, which go on unnecessarily and use more words than is necessary, due to the inherent humor value in an unnecessarily long explanation that goes on longer than is needed, required, or most likely desired.

I'm also very much biased in amusement towards a mission that sees you helping a clickbait website, that, in lieu of any actual giant monster attacks, asks you to destroy a model city so they can take pictures of that and post it with misleading headlines later, such as "Only Oughties Kids Will Remember THIS City!". I can safely say I would not appreciate kaiju stuff at all if not for the original PPG sort of defanging the threat for me as a kid, so it's amusingly recursive that this ends up up my alley.

NASCAR Heat 2 continues to collect digital, proverbial dust. The career mode was picking up some speed last I checked into it. The short races were perfect for a before-work sprint; we'll see how well it holds up now that I'm back to a blank schedule.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on December 30, 2017, 07:09:39 AM
I'm still amused by the fact that EA got kicked so hard by the Battlefront II loot disaster, that they're selling the game on PSN for 42% off retail. (Really, though, I'm not getting it because I'm shit at aiming - just see my <30% accuracy rate in Overwatch.)

Anyway, slowly winding my way through Fate/Extella, in hopes of somehow getting to the point where Supreme Sovereign is somewhat possible. Picked up Escape Goat 2, Momodora, and Star Ocean 3 through the PSN sale (of which I'm already dreading to hell having to go through 4D mode and the bunny Trophy if I want that sulfur trioxide platinum). Also got The Caligula Effect, which is... strange, confusing, and was apparently updated a lot, if the tips commenting on "now NG+ is available" and "this one skill the tutorial told you about totally had to be learned, but now you have it by default" is any indication. I totally feel like I'm severely overleveled, if not for the sub-boss guarding a piece of equipment in a corner damn near boring me to death and having health equivalent to a scratch damage beef gate.

Also, I just learned that Wipeout 2048's multiplayer servers are going down around the same time Ace Combat Infinity's do.  :ohdear: :(

EDIT: Also somehow I just realized I bought La Pucelle: Tactics some time ago? I don't think I've ever played it...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jimmy on January 01, 2018, 12:15:48 PM
I firmly believe now that Doki Doki Literature Club has ruptured something deep inside of me... yet I keep playing it and hunt all the easter eggs hidden in there as well as trying to achieve the good ending.

I've never played VN's before, but I honestly need to say that, here in DDLC, each character's personality is elaborated to an extend where it feels like to me as if I (not the in-game protagonist, but literally me) were actually interacting with them myself while playing. The
first Act, out of four in total,
was a truly immersive experience, and its ending (about 5 hours in) pretty much had me clenching my heart and gave a hard time breathing... it was quite a painful hit. Everything afterwards then descended into a psychological madness, which, together with the end of
Act 1
, have engraved themselves into my memory and into my heart.

Maybe I've mentioned that once, but I personally am really amazed at the work that went into this VN: the characters' personalities, the artworks, the number of different routes
and the friggin fact that you can mess with the game files and the game still works as if all that was planned out (which it actually is)
.
Two years well spent, Mr Salvato :)


Now please excuse me while I go flood my screen with DDLC pets.


Also I just completely forgot: Happy New Year everybody!
rip me
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on January 05, 2018, 05:56:35 PM
Purchased Gal*Gun: Double Peace the other day for my PS4 during the online PSN sale and having fun with it! FFXIV is addictive... need to play Persona 5, Atelier Faris, and still need to get motivated to play Omega Quintet.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on January 06, 2018, 02:26:11 AM
I'm finding myself genuinely surprised by how unrepentantly, purposefully fanservicey Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit! is, mainly because Shinovi Versus was my introduction to the series and was decidedly not that. It's actually becoming a major detraction from it; I still like the characters and love the humor, but having the long, slow camera pans over their increasingly bared bodies - in full screen, mind you - happen mid-song and be completely unskippable, as well as having some 'bonus' scenes of such that 'reward' good performance that can't be skipped without a score penalty, just feels like the exact kind of skeevy the series usually jokes about being but isn't. There's no humor to the close-ups. No punchline.

Which is a shame, because the parts that ARE punchlines are genuinely funny, such as the judge of the competition being an absolute dead-on parody of Japanese cooking show hosts deliberately over-emoting for dramatic effect. Beautifully, excessively rendered scenes of food and the expressions it elicits from him are excellent, and I'm consistently laughing every single time. The actual rhythm bits are your standard generic portable rhythm game, pretty much exactly the same inputs as (at the moment, I'd say the superior) K-ON! Houkago Live! and other such titles, but they're done pretty satisfactorily, and the music's damn catchy. For once, though, I actually do feel shame playing it. There's no subversion in this one, and the sheer exaggeration of the interplay of sex and horrible, horrible violence is much of what made Shinovi Versus and the various manga series greatly enjoyable.

I still intend to get my $12 worth, and putting dorky garbage on everyone in the dressing room has filled most of that asking price already. I can safely say the niche of 'police ninja versus vampire Santa Claus in a cooking battle' is not filled by anything else I own, but I still was in this hoping way more for a show of Beat Bobby Flay than a convention video room you have to show your ID to get into.

Throughout the entirety of the Steam Sale, I wrestled with the question of whether I should pick up DiRT 4. I mean, people didn't much like it, but those same people also hated DiRT Showdown, and I absolutely loved it for being a ridiculous in-name(-and-dev-team)-only spinoff that turned a rally racer into a nitro-powered demo derby. The thing is, though, DiRT 4 tried to please both sides of the fanbase. The series is known for ludicrous, silly, over-the-top off-road racing, but also has a pedigree of enjoyably serious rally simulation (really more simcade than simulation, but more enjoyable that way in my book). After DiRT 3 really split the audience with a game that had both rally racing and gymkhana (as represented in a sort of 'stunt mode' that gave you Pro-Skater-esque combos for each trick), DiRT Showdown went full-tilt on the silly and DiRT Rally went full-tilt on brutal, unrelenting, hardcore rally. (It actually is kinda generous and relenting, just significantly less so than most other modern racing titles.) DiRT 4 has the misfortune of trying to be both, and it seems to keep the grounded, realistic style of Rally with the more arcade-style gameplay of 3 (or, at least, the simulation side of it is not well-reviewed). So I was mulling over whether to grab that still...

...and ended up playing Rally for an extremely long time again. I think that's 4's greatest misfortune, really, is that it came after a game that people aren't done playing. I did the Monthly Challenge today, all in one go, and that feels like the height of the game at its best. 24 stages, back to back to back. Damage accumulates across all of them, and you only have limited resources for repairing damage between runs. There are no redos, there are no flashbacks or repeats; once you start a stage, you must finish it. (You can still pause, though, of course; they haven't gone that far off the deep end. Cough, cough, Need for Speed.) If you total your car, that's it. Your run is over and you're booted right back to the main menu. The game's repetition of a few stages becomes pretty evident here (there's really only six stages in total, chopped up in different directions and pieces), but the changing conditions make up for it in my book. Once you're done, it becomes a waiting game; the leaderboards will total up, and when the month ends, you'll get your reward based on where you placed. It really captures the tension of a rally championship pretty excellently.

I keep getting tempted by other titles, but I do think DiRT Rally is pretty well cemented as my rally game for now. At least, the serious one; DiRT 3's still excellent for some silly hooning about and sightseeing.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 06, 2018, 08:34:40 AM
Bon Appetit! is a game that revels in its absurdity. Luckily, things get back to more grimdark (though not nearly as much as Shinovi Versus' Hebijo storyline) in Estival Versus.

Also I still can't beat Daidouji because fuck that beatmap and its impossible third segment.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on January 08, 2018, 04:50:08 AM
Also I still can't beat Daidouji because fuck that beatmap and its impossible third segment.

I am greatly relieved to read this because it instantly informs me you absolutely played it and I can trust you on Estival Versus re-railing. I will freely admit that I've only finished Asuka's story so far and passed Daidouji's song on about the fourth or fifth try, purely by helpless button mashing and Overdrive Star Power Secret Ninja Art usage (which isn't a gameplay mechanic they even explained that I saw) for the last bit. Despite playing on Normal. Where every previous chart was mind-numbingly, almost insultingly easy.

Guess I'll be snagging Estival Versus on the next sale, then. The massive library of DLC still worries me, but at least the crossover characters are finally available in all versions and regions.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 08, 2018, 06:37:24 AM
The Playstation entries seem to be on a kick of flipping from light to dark every game. While all of them save for Bon Appetit do get pretty dark at times, BA and Peach Beach Splash are mostly light-hearted romps. If the epilogue of PBS is any indication, 7 will be real dark.

It's kind of too bad it's stalled on the 3DS, since they wanted those entries in particular to be the real heavy installments.

I will note that it won't seem a lot like Estival Versus has rerailed for a while, since the game starts as a relatively light-hearted contest between the four groups.

...I think I should start playing BA again, try for the Platinum.... Hm.

Anyway, I picked up Rogue Galaxy. I've never played the full game, but back when it was first released I got two copies of the demo because I was evidently way too active on the official Playstation boards.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on January 12, 2018, 06:50:18 PM
Been playing DiRT 4 in place of Rally for a bit. Gotta say, I'm still conflicted on it. The team management elements are very strong, and the rally stages are definitely a major bit of progress (they're ALL different courses; no career mode rally event repeats a track, and all non-career rally events are on randomly generated courses). The music, however, is really drilling through my head; despite a massive, vast soundtrack, they only use TWO songs for the constantly visited, unnecessarily complex main menus. One of them is okay techno and the other is a slow, meandering vocal track with an ear-splitting jazz solo that utterly murders the flow of the game for me, especially when it overrides all other music the second you visit a menu. This is a problem no previous DiRT or GRID game shares, in my book.

While it takes some suspension of disbelief and reconfiguring of expectations - this isn't DiRT 2 or 3 or Rally and isn't trying to replace them, those games and their hand-crafted stages are still stellar - the randomly generated stages really give the game something to lean on, and something to look forward to on every play. You DON'T have the circuit memorized. That's not a question. It IS new. However, the randomization is made pretty obvious, through blander, PS1-style vague scenery and occasionally some pretty galling repetition ("left 5, right 5, into- left 5, right 5, into- left 5, right 5", my co-driver says, as I pass the exact same wall three times). If you're the type to still boot up classic Colin McRae Rally 2.0, this shouldn't dissuade you too much, but it doesn't have DiRT's usual wow-factor or over-the-top silliness.

There's the sliding scale of sim and arcade, of course, but I find it's a sliding scale of serious to silly I struggle with most. DiRT 4 takes itself seriously, with subdued, subtle menus and no real visual style besides "orange". I enjoyed Rally's subdued, smooth looks and focus on just getting you to the gameplay, too, but I do want style. I was one of the few who was overjoyed by Showdown's existence; I'll admit, it was the one I played first! (Aside from CMR2.0, that is.) 4 is a lot more relaxed to the point of seeming downright vegetative compared to 2's excess and 3/Rally's smooth refinement. It's still a happy game, though, and I respect that. It's entirely a matter of personal preference, but I find the use of real rallycross circuits, a training ground using the real DirtFish Performance Driving School, and realistic pre-made circuits for Landrush a step down from the absurdity of launching rallycross cars over the streets of Tokyo, turning Battersea Power Station into a stunt track, and... well, I never really liked LandRush all too much but it was cool to go wheel-to-wheel in Malaysian jungles. Still, Montalegre's ridiculously scenic both in reality and in the game, and the rally stages look very nice. It took me too long to realize that the Joyride mode uses a different DirtFish map than the tutorial; it's not just the little fenced-in area, it's a bunch of ludicrous ramp combos and shipping container tunnels like Battersea and Yokohama.

The Joyride events are kept to their own little corner of the game... and your progress in it does absolutely nothing to affect your main career progress, nor does it unlock anything. That kinda sucks because this is the most fun I've had in the game. I get why they did it - hardcore rally fans were furious that DiRT 3 required them to do stunt missions and gymkhana to unlock everything - but it seems a waste to lock the actual thrill-rides away in their own little corner.

As ever, in my endless quest to recapture the joy I had playing with Hot Wheels as a kid, DiRT 4 provides yet another different piece of that, this time the bit where you take them out into the yard or the beach or what have you and drive them along the hills and dunes of miniscule size. It's gonna take a lot of tweaking to get it just where I want it, but I am invested in how things turn out for my team of 1/64 Motorsport.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on January 18, 2018, 05:21:58 AM
I've been playing Enter The Gungeon on Switch lately. Roguelikes aren't my genre necessarily and I feel like I lose runs due to completely uncontrollable RNG waaaay too often, especially playing as the Pilot since his weapon is hot garbage so he NEEDS a good, versatile early gun with a decent capacity. Played some co-op too which is pretty fun, although there are never enough guns to go around and it honestly ends up being harder than single player a vast majority of the time.

After seeing it on basically everyone's game-of-the-year list I picked up Nier Automata Monday and I've been playing that. It's... okay so far, but there's a lot of stuff I don't like about it. I'm certainly engaged enough to keep playing, I like most of the core mechanics a lot, but I wish it was less empty, had less vapid sidequests, and had less backtracking between the great setpieces.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on January 29, 2018, 02:05:55 PM
Going through a handful of things but the newest/most involving is Etrian Odyssey Untold 2. I HAVE to play these games my way so I HAD to screw around with stuff and wound up changing Bertrand the protector into a highlander and Flavio the survivalist into a gunner. Just made it past the first stratum without much difficulty. I have a gmail draft covered in notes and a potential build path for each character. It'll probably take a bit more for the characters to really grow on me but I'm liking the improvements over the first so far.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Silent Harmony on February 10, 2018, 12:16:55 AM
For some reason I've been enjoying Skullgirls recently, despite my history of sucking at (and having no patience for) fighting games.

I mean sure I'm only 10 hours in, still struggle to chain together anything more than a 3-5 hit combo, and haven't touched anything above Easy bots and the tutorial/training room, but damn just the fact that I'm having fun in a fighting game is amazing.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on February 11, 2018, 10:48:26 PM
NASCAR Heat 2 got a 2018 expansion! It adds one new course, the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (road course / oval combo), and a new updated Cup Series roster.

It also forces you to start a separate save file for it, none of the content can be used online, the Roval layout is wrong (not really the dev's fault, it was changed last-minute, but it really doesn't help), the AI doesn't know how to navigate it, I got 105% perfect time score on my very first run on it, and the trophy is from the entire wrong event. So... that's $10 that I just shredded. I'm really wondering why I bother with these titles; the biggest plus isn't so much the roster or having the actual tracks nowadays (which they do), but the oval racing AI being accurate and competitive where most mainstream racing games that include ovals aren't made with an understanding of what makes it difficult and interesting, and usually only have a really paltry selection of samey ovals (Indianapolis Motor Speedway is terrible for stock cars, but tends to be one of three oval courses, so you really only get two worth using).

Adding to my "why do I bother with these more obscure games nobody plays" concerns; I finally buckled and bought Forza Horizon 3 and it's absolutely amazing. The PC version is impressively well optimized, and doesn't require an Xbox Live Gold subscription for online features, so after loving FM4 and Horizon 1, I finally can actually download paint schemes. This does not sound that important, but it is.

(https://i.imgur.com/2rynAKP.png)

Excuse me, sir, but you appear to be going 30MPH in a 200MPH zone, I'm gonna have to ask you to pick it up a bit.

I also absolutely love the paper-thin but well-thought-out excuse plots of the Horizon games. It's the exact sort of beautiful daydreams my old Hot Wheels city in the attic as a kid used to fulfill (no, I don't have the Hot Wheels expansion for FH3 yet but it absolutely got me to buy it); FH1 had you attending a car festival in Colorado and slowly impressing the other attendees as you steady win and pull off stunts and draw attention. You have (in-universe) celebrities to duel and, unofficially and not at all sanctioned by the festival, street races you can enter (a fine way to convince the automakers that the game doesn't encourage street racing... while also letting you street race their cars. Cake had, and eaten). FH2 did the same but you were famous now. FH2 Presents the Fast and the Furious had you get called by Tej from those films; the crew wants some of their old cars they've lost back, and as this massive car festival has everyone bringing their rides and you're known to street race, and you're right there, you're asked to find them and win them in pink slip races, a fine excuse to show off Nice and let you drive iconic cars from all the films up to 6. FH3 ups the ante a bit more and gives you more leeway to have crazy antics excused by making you the boss of the festival in Australia. In all cases, there's no police chases or doomsday scenarios or any real threat; just cars, roads, and fun times. It's refreshingly sweet.

All it's missing for flashback value is getting to kick traffic around, but the very fine vistas from the in-car view make up for that just fine.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Kaisou on February 17, 2018, 08:19:06 AM
I ended up getting Ikaruga on my laptop because why not and I just found out I have an incredibly bad problem of ramming headfirst into enemy ships. I dunno what is with me running into everything that I shouldn't run into, and I mean that in every game's sense; from Smash Bros to Mario platform games to Tekken to even Dynasty Warriors 8, as far as I could remember I would always run headfirst into danger subconsciously.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on February 20, 2018, 06:27:59 AM
why. why. why.

So do you guys remember the Mace in Ico? The challenge you have to do?

The ball got stuck on the lip of the cup.

*various expletives*

EDIT: wat. You can climb the cup. Okay, that reduces the rage factor. ...the Trophy didn't pop. That increases it greatly.

EDIT2: WHY DOES IT ONLY POP AFTER YOU CLOSE THE WATERFALL?!?!?!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on February 21, 2018, 03:51:13 PM
Trying to get into PUBG a little bit, or maybe just experimenting. I certainly get the hype but I dunno. The average game I play goes like this: Land in an area away from everyone else, collect some goodies, find out I'm literally a kilometer from the safe zone, sprint forever (and never find a vehicle when I want to) without any other players in sight until I hit a building just in the safe zone, repeat the previous two steps twice, then get sniped by MLG_Pro_Streamer who set up his sniper nest with better weapons and infinite ammo before I landed, finish in the top 20 every time.

I dunno I like the concept and I like how tense thing get but 15-20 minutes with no contact just to die almost instantly to someone I had no hope of spotting hasn't been fun. It might be my rookie strategems but I dunno how long I want to keep this up. I'm pretty good at hide and seek but bad at tag, too. My kill/death ratio in nearly every other similar game always hovered slightly over 1:1 and here it's probably permanently in the dumpster unless something happens. I figure running with a team might be more fun, but my old online game group has fallen apart and hopping on with a bunch of strangers isn't my style.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Kilgamayan on February 24, 2018, 01:36:11 PM
I've been kicking around with Ever Oasis (http://everoasis.nintendo.com) for the past couple of months, and it's been really cute and a lot of fun, if not the most challenging or least frustrating thing in the world. It's sort of a bizarre, tree-hugging hippie weeb combination of Recettear, The Sims, and a 3D Zelda. If you have a 3DS and no immmediate plans for it, you could do a lot worse than this game. (Also Esna is best girl.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on March 05, 2018, 01:13:44 AM
Shadow of the Colossus remake. Three playthroughs
and all the new secret collectibles
in, and I don't feel done yet. This has remained one of my favourite games since I played it on the PS2 12 years or so ago, and the remake does it beautiful, beautiful justice. If I had to pick one game to recommend unconditionally to absolutely anyone, it would have to be this. Godlike in pretty much every aspect.

I also spent a probably unhealthy amount of time taking screenshots. :V

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DW15zj7W4AQdGtB.jpg:large)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on March 12, 2018, 08:44:40 AM
Even in this thread, F.O.E., by which i mean i am playing Etrian Odyssey V. I've been EO fan for quite some time, and V is hella fun. So far made it to 3rd stratum. I am running Blade Master Masurao, Barrage Brawler Pugilist, Omnimancer Warlock, Hunting Hound Rover and Divine Herald Shaman. At times i am kinda regretting, that i don't have a pure tank i.e. dragoon, but with amounts of passive healing i have, i am mostly fine most of the time.
Also i decided to try to beat a Shiny!FOE i encountered. Well... My pugilist is now 4 levels higher than the rest of my team.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 12, 2018, 08:51:04 AM
Be proud you survived to kill it, at least. Take the small victories as they come.

On my end, I'm strawberry hunting on this mountain. The B Hearts are kind of out of my league right now, at least until I can stop bloody hitting the wrong buttons when maneuvering.

Also playing Into the Breach, and failing miserably at using any team other than the default. You'd think at least the team that can kick up damaging smokescreens can give me some success, but none as of yet.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on March 14, 2018, 01:45:10 PM
Even in this thread, F.O.E., by which i mean i am playing Etrian Odyssey V. I've been EO fan for quite some time, and V is hella fun. So far made it to 3rd stratum. I am running Blade Master Masurao, Barrage Brawler Pugilist, Omnimancer Warlock, Hunting Hound Rover and Divine Herald Shaman. At times i am kinda regretting, that i don't have a pure tank i.e. dragoon, but with amounts of passive healing i have, i am mostly fine most of the time.
Also i decided to try to beat a Shiny!FOE i encountered. Well... My pugilist is now 4 levels higher than the rest of my team.
The only thing holding me back from playing this is finishing EOU2. :V

Sounds like a fun bunch! The game has a lot of interesting classes. I've already done my homework looking at what's available. Having uh... 3 sources of passive healing (Animal Therapy, Appease Spirits, and hound-based auto heals?) is probably a bit crazy but if it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid. I think I'll need a designated healer for my bunch but I wonder what s/he'll do outside of that.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on March 14, 2018, 06:24:33 PM
Since there's a couple Etrian Odyssey fans in the thread, I'll take the opportunity to ask a question. So far I have only played the first game in the series. It was very enjoyable through and through, except I greatly disliked the post-game stratum (in terms of atmosphere it was fine, but horrible layout and gameplay). Based on this, what should be my next step in the series? Do I just go with Heroes of Lagaard and onwards? Do any later games include anything as hateful as EO1's post-game stratum?

* * *

As for something actually on topic, I'm currently playing two timeless classics:

In Championship Manager 01/02, I've spent several seasons trying to bring an unremarkable South Korean team to domestic glory, as part of a certain challenge. Having achieved that, I moved to Rosenborg who for some reason have fired their previous manager, despite finishing 2nd in the league. The Norwegian league is rather weak, so an easy title should be within grasp.

In Fallout 2, my latest creation is a character with Jinxed trait and Throwing as his primary combat skill. Also only 2 Charisma, since I figured NPCs would just get underfoot all the time, though I might recruit a meat shield like Goris later on. It's still very early on, so critical failures don't hurt much and the most significant combat threats (large mole rats in Klamath) are easily dispatched via spear to the face. There will be a massive boost in overall hilarity as enemies with firearms start showing up and I get my hands on grenades and an adequate supply of Flares. Heh, heh.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on March 15, 2018, 09:05:26 AM
Sounds like a fun bunch! The game has a lot of interesting classes. I've already done my homework looking at what's available. Having uh... 3 sources of passive healing (Animal Therapy, Appease Spirits, and hound-based auto heals?) is probably a bit crazy but if it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid. I think I'll need a designated healer for my bunch but I wonder what s/he'll do outside of that.
Pugilist was more or less an auto-pick. Playing EO without binds, where at later stratums normal enemies tend to be "bind or die" is not my idea of fun.
That's already a thing as early as stratum 2 with moles. And then in 3rd stratum it's pretty much "bind legs or you're in for a world of hurt". When you think about it, 3rd stratum is hard in general. I find 4th to be easier actually so far.
Masurao does decent physical damage + she has some utility with def down and sleep skills.
Warlock is more or less a standard mage, Still good at what she does.
Rover is basically an extra member you can't quite control + passive healing + some other things. Jack of all trades more or less.
Shaman just plain sucks early game, but around level 30'ish becomes super good. Heals, buffs and all that.

@ nav' i would go with EOU2. Postgame stratums tend to suck in any EO game, tho.
P.S. Don't pet the squirrels. =)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: dosboot on March 16, 2018, 07:15:10 PM
Since there's a couple Etrian Odyssey fans in the thread, I'll take the opportunity to ask a question. So far I have only played the first game in the series. It was very enjoyable through and through, except I greatly disliked the post-game stratum (in terms of atmosphere it was fine, but horrible layout and gameplay). Based on this, what should be my next step in the series? Do I just go with Heroes of Lagaard and onwards? Do any later games include anything as hateful as EO1's post-game stratum?

Etrian Odyssey 2: Heroes of Lagaard (the original) is my personal favorite because it was my introduction and I've replayed it so many times.  The EO series just tends to get better with each game and I think the improvement from EO1->EO2 is one of the bigger ones.  Use a skill guide to make sure you aren't being lied to about the skills, but I wouldn't think you have anything to worry about and I encourage you to continue!  You could also jump to EOU2 if that's more your jam.

To address specifically bonus stratrums: The bonus stratum of EO2 is hard as well, but I don't think it suffers from the same problem as EO1.  EO1 throws Iron Crabs at you from floor 1 which are way "out of level" for that floor and basically exist to make you use Thor or flee (both boring options).  The second floor of EO1's bonus stratum (the pitfall maze) is an interesting gimmick but it becomes almost immediately tedious to map and to fight those meatshield FOEs standing in your way. 

EO2's bonus stratum does include floors/challenges that go "above and beyond" the main game, but they didn't irritate me like EO1.  There are some tanky normal encounters (mainly on the first floor, but not nearly to the same degree as Iron Crabs --- you can manage them with any team).  There is a big show piece teleporter maze (which I liked!  YMMV!).  There's a long winding floor about mapping one-way passages with dangerous FOEs and encounters lurking about, and yeah it'll take multiple trips to get through.  These challenges all take time and persistence and the random encounters are usually not easy steamroll, so in a general sense the post game for EO2 may not be for you even though I'm arguing it isn't flawed, just extra hard.  But the main game is great!   (and again, a vast improvement over EO1)

Really when I look back at my memories of my EO2 playthroughs, the main thing I dislike about EO2's post game is that you have to shuffle back and forth between the start of the stratum and some "story game" quest location earlier in the dungeon in the before they let you explore it.  Not a big deal but it does slow down your momentum.

There's also a small "puzzle" or "mechanic" that isn't obvious at first for the first floor of the bonus stratum of EO2 that trips a lot of people up.  Before the player figures it out, they'll only be exploring about half of the floor before eventually wondering what they are missing.  I won't spoil the puzzle, but just keep it in the back of your mind in case you get stuck there and want to look it up.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on March 16, 2018, 09:46:25 PM
All right, thanks for your answers. @dosboot EO2 sounds like a good choice, but what do you mean about a skill guide? Does the game itself include false information about its own mechanics?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The Greatest Dog on March 16, 2018, 09:58:20 PM
Iirc, there are ambiguous things like skills only improving every odd level (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) but you're still allowed to put a tenth point into it despite not having any benefit to it.

Another example are the elemental walls in EO1, where level 5 would negate an elemental attack completely but 6+ would let you drain damage. However, only Level 5 would prevent the negative side effects of the attack, which could spell disaster against some bosses that use like, AoE ice attacks that also inflict sleep.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Third Eye Lem on March 17, 2018, 05:43:31 PM
Been trying to find legendary Rank 39 weapons in Disgaea 1, but so far I seem to have come across everything except the item(s) I want. Perhaps i should jump into those legendary items to increase my chances?

EDIT: Whoops, tag snafu
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: dosboot on March 18, 2018, 01:05:56 AM
All right, thanks for your answers. @dosboot EO2 sounds like a good choice, but what do you mean about a skill guide? Does the game itself include false information about its own mechanics?

The game itself just doesn't include enough information to completely understand all the skills, what they do, and when they start or stop becoming a useful investment.   I'm not saying you have to use a guide, because it's the same state of affairs that EO1 was in and maybe you went fine without a skill explainer!  The game does in fact do a fine job of describing the broad strokes of each skill description, and it does give you some idea of what each level up will do (but perhaps less detailed than you may like).  The information is also correct almost of the time, but not all of the time.  I just generally like to encourage people to think that using a skill guide will enhance their experience, rather than spoil it.

If you were to use a skill guide, you would know exactly how some of the unusual skills work and how much of a damage boost every additional skill point will do.  Thus you get to see where the weird soft caps or massive level gains are and plan around them.  You would also learn doing this research that there a few bugged skills and a few skills only worth investing in to satisfy perquisites and no more.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on March 20, 2018, 02:01:06 PM
Trying to get into PUBG a little bit, or maybe just experimenting. I certainly get the hype but I dunno.
Yeah how'd that work out for you, champ?
Pugilist was more or less an auto-pick. Playing EO without binds, where at later stratums normal enemies tend to be "bind or die" is not my idea of fun.
That's already a thing as early as stratum 2 with moles. And then in 3rd stratum it's pretty much "bind legs or you're in for a world of hurt". When you think about it, 3rd stratum is hard in general. I find 4th to be easier actually so far.
Masurao does decent physical damage + she has some utility with def down and sleep skills.
Warlock is more or less a standard mage, Still good at what she does.
Rover is basically an extra member you can't quite control + passive healing + some other things. Jack of all trades more or less.
Shaman just plain sucks early game, but around level 30'ish becomes super good. Heals, buffs and all that.
I think may actually plagiarize the crap out of that rover/shaman passive heal duo for when I start the game. With a chain fencer, deathbringer harbinger, hound rover, omni warlock, and herald shaman, I think the only major thing that I'd really miss is a revive spell.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on March 22, 2018, 03:18:52 PM
So it turns out you can only get up to 18/20 of the Barn Find cars in Forza Horizon 3 because two of them were only available for a real-life week each. 100% career completion is not possible if you did not play then. Argh. This is what I loathe about the modern online-gaming world; I hate event-specific lost-forever type situations. #Forzathon, an in-game event that cycles every week and gives you themed challenges and a rare car (unpurchasable from the in-game marketplace), quickly went from "cool! Variety!" to dread and good ol'-fashioned FOMO, getting me fatigued on a fantastic game because I felt like I compulsively have to keep logging in. (At least you can still buy those rare cars off of other players for a massive markup, usually.)

All in all, though, Horizon Australia is still a ludicrously gorgeous and, more importantly, fun place to be. Surfer's Paradise, Byron Bay, the Outback, and the Yarra Valley (all, of course, far closer to each other than in reality, creating a bizarre but awesome diorama-style effect; you know how you can see Hyrule Castle from anywhere? That, but with gleaming skyscrapers, floating balloons, mountain ranges, and coastline) are fantastically varied and offer genuinely different driving experiences. Surfer's Paradise has city streets, Byron Bay is a good mix of tarmac and sand, the rainforest is... well, rainforest, and the Outback is as you'd expect (with the plus of long highways and airfield runways making great drag strips). The additional locales don't just tack on new places; they actually offer truly new experiences. Blizzard Mountain lives up to its name (and, actually, despite being an expansion, it ALSO is visible far, far in the distance in the main map if you know where to look, and was visible before it was announced). Hot Wheels is 100% what you'd expect.

Like with the main game's very calculated, awe-striking first impression, Blizzard Mountain and Hot Wheels both go hard from the get-go; the former has you in a rallycross car (Ken Block's Focus because of course) being towed through the sky by a helicopter as soaring, beautiful music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXj8FM7lTrw) plays while the snow-blasted land comes into view, and Hot Wheels... well. Let's just say the Stunt Track Driver fan in me actively shrieked with joy at the sight of it. And by that, I mean all of me. I stood up at my computer and just stared. I will admit they both kinda plateaued a while after there, but it was well worth the price of admission. Blizzard Mountain scratched the extreme rally itch, while Hot Wheels was just the exact dumb, gleeful, over-the-top nonsense I always aim for. It's just... happy. I like that. (It's also mind-bending to have to try to keep actual realistic physics in mind while driving on giant plastic loops and jumps.)

I dunno how to put it, but the best part of the HW expansion for me was that it was very modern. Current cars, current music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN9I5fP2Te0), but still the same glee and silliness I loved in the late 90's. There was a feeling of "oh. Huh. It isn't gone, it isn't a relic of that era". That was nice.

I'm left wondering if I want to bother with Forza Motorsport 7. I'm very tempted. I quite like being able to choose driver outfits - this DOES matter to me, quite greatly - and I like the inclusion of the NASCAR content, old-school F1, Formula E, and the Ice Charger from Fate of the Furious (I don't know why, but I absolutely adore that car; the bulletproof riveted windows and EMP in the back probably help). But compound the issues of Horizon 3's online stuff with yet another game and keeping it all on asphalt tracks instead of allowing for total silliness and it's a bit less appealing. I grabbed FM6: Apex (it's free, and I quite highly recommend it), a slice of FM6's content for PC, and I really do like it. Was blown away by how a simple change like puddles can radically alter racing lines and strategy. But I've still not played every variant of only six tracks, so shelling out the cash for 32 seems a bit... needless.

Plus, I've been sinking far more time into Forza Motorsport 4. This is regarded as the fan favorite, and it's not hard to see why; a lot of stuff here hasn't been done as well before or since. Working your way from city cars to full-on Le Mans prototypes, with a vast repertoire of courses and cars catering to each. It's a game where you can be going bumper-to-bumper in priceless supercars one minute and be hooning a supertuned Nissan Leaf through the Alps the next. There's a whole lot of fictional tracks compared to the more grounded and (mostly) real-world roster of later titles in the series; I'm okay with not having Daytona (a 2.5 mile tri-oval in Florida) if I have Sunset Peninsula Raceway (a 2.5 mile tri-oval in Florida). I don't mind losing Watkins Glen if I get Fujimi Kaido (think Initial D and then stop thinking). It lets you take your journey as seriously or as stupidly as you like, allowing brilliant fine-tuning and teenager-doing-donuts-in-the-parking-lot horrors alike. Only thing it's really missing is oval racing AI that actually presents a challenge.

And this. It doesn't have this.

(https://i.imgur.com/6DLTJKc.png)

So, beyond that, mostly just some Lego Dimensions. Finally got Finn. I talk about dumb fun; little beats the joy of recreating that iconic scene in Mission Impossible where Ethan Hunt sneaks into an embassy with his crack team of experts, including a bass-playing vampire, a very fast hedgehog, a Powerpuff Girl, and some kid with a sword. As a game, it may not be polished, but it absolutely completely pulls off what it advertises, letting you kinda mash the whole toybox together in absurd fashion. And, honestly, I find the time/dimensional travel stuff fun to overthink, for a game not concerned with lore or continuity. (It actually makes the 2016 Ghostbusters story work brilliantly, seeing as how that series technically does revolve around battling beings trying to open rifts between dimensions to begin with.) And I will say, as I thought it was a next-gen exclusive thing, I was quite joyous when I found that on the Xbox 360 version, you still can use Finn to unlock a certain other character. Anyhoo. I think that about covers it since last time. Wall-of-text y'all again soon enough.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on March 22, 2018, 03:56:12 PM
Decided to start knocking out some of the random games I had on my "must play" shelf after beating Xenoblade 2. First game on the docket is Tales of Zestiria, known for being considered as kind of disappointing, and being in the same setting as the more favorably regarded Tales of Berseria. My current verdict is that the criticism is not wrong: there's things that I like about the game, and I don't regret currently throwing down 30+ hours on the game, but it definitely doesn't hold my attention like Symphonia, Abyss and Xillia did. It feels like a game that could have worked with more polish and development, but as of now is a very average game. Also, Edna is a best.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 23, 2018, 02:20:52 AM
ugh, 1175 deaths to get the Summit B Side. Screw cloud physics, seriously.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on March 23, 2018, 02:58:43 PM
Well, EO V main game cleared. Floor 25 is the best map. It has such a troll map design. It's awesome and i love it.
I respecced my Rover from dog to bird. And when i was on 24F i had a brilliant idea to see if i can take on Primordiphant at level 61. While it was a bit slow grind, i actually managed to defeat it. And then i kinda sorta did it again to get his drop one more time. Now i have best Pugilist fist, best Rover armor and best Masurao armor. I had best Warlock armor for a while. Also i burned one Formaldehyde to get best Shaman armor too. Now i just need to farm all the money to buy all this somehow and then i am sooooo ready for the postgame. Let's see if 6th Stratum is super annoying like usual.
Fun fact. Target Arrow and Armor Pierce do stack.

Edit: My first trip into 6th stratum went as follows: here i am minding my own business, exploring new floor. A wild Shiny!Dreamray appears! Shiny!Dreamray used Glacial Tail. It was super effective! I.e. my whole team is near dead and asleep. Next turn it used Glacial Tail again. Welcome to Game Over screen. "We all... fall down... together..." indeed.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Suwako Moriya on March 23, 2018, 04:50:21 PM
Floor 25 is the best map. It has such a troll map design. It's awesome and i love it.

i am sooooo ready for the postgame. Let's see if 6th Stratum is super annoying like usual.

(http://i65.tinypic.com/imp8vc.jpg)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: The Greatest Dog on March 23, 2018, 07:32:31 PM
Ah, I remember. I trained an extra Warlock just high enough to max out Invisibility or whatever it was, because trying to map that place out with random encounters is a LOT different than just navigating through it with random encounters.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on March 26, 2018, 12:36:02 AM
now I am on my 5 fencer run

it is so very bad please kill me
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on March 26, 2018, 01:55:55 PM
Just started EOU2 postgame and was just informed that the Golem does that 50% heal thing in like every game its in or something WHOOPS. Also gee I sure wish binds worked and lasted for more than 0 seconds pls gaem.

Also it took a year plus but the Switch is finally out of the box and hooked up and I'm so excited Mario is a blast and the Octopath Traveler/Octopus Atelier/Octothorpe Snarkier/Octodad Terminator demo was great and it's just the start and stuff and ohboy.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 28, 2018, 06:12:38 AM
Phew, that's one of the trouble trophies down (0.3% rarity!), and with only four days to go. Now for the hard part - getting at least Passes on any node I've bypassed; literally all of them demand I get first place finishes. I've had some good luck so far with finding people who are actually doing the good thing and fighting for their Passes. Them against someone who knows how to manipulate his craft to bounce between two adjacent Weapon Pads, it's not much, and sometimes I feel bad enough to go idle for a while, but they're too damn slow when I do. (First world problems, eh.)

EDIT: Oh. The servers went down a few hours ago. Barely grazed that bullet there, picked up the other MP trophy with basically none of my free time to spare.

Lydie and Suelle arrived for me yesterday, but I still haven't even gotten to Firis, much less gotten Plachta a body back. Then again, I wandered through Meruru without ever adventuring with either Totori or Rorona...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on April 02, 2018, 01:49:21 PM
SMTII, for real this time. Most of the way through (I would think), having just beaten
Abaddon
and committed pretty hard to the Chaos route. This feels extremely similar to the original MT2 in a lot of ways, particularly once
Makai
starts up. Story-wise it feels pretty different to SMT1 which was generally very fast paced - this one's all about the slow build and gradual escalation. I still am not entirely sure where this is going. :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on April 02, 2018, 02:22:46 PM
Anybody here have much experience with Xbox One controllers? Went to the Microsoft Store to maybe buy one and Forza 7; wouldn't you know, both were on display! However, pretty as Long Beach was, the trigger rumble just felt like... buzzing. Like it was trying to buffer my fingertips off. I couldn't get a feel for the road at all, either. That's a death knell for a racing title and wasn't my experience with FM6:Apex on my own home computer with an old 360 controller (the awful load times compared to my own copies of FM4 and FM6:A were baffling, too). So... like. Is that normal for those controllers? Did they have a faulty demo kiosk and just not realize it would make them negative amounts of money? Because I was gonna snap these up in a heartbeat if convention budget allowed, and it absolutely does allow, and now it doesn't seem too worth it compared to frantically trying to get my older 360 controllers connected again.

(No I'm not buying another wheel)

(Yet)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on April 03, 2018, 02:55:01 PM
SMTII over, with the world
inherited by the mutants and liberated from the rule of God
. Good stuff. On to SMT if!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on April 07, 2018, 10:02:14 PM
Well, Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth. Ameno-habakiri obtained. :getdown:
It was certainly interesting with Blade Master Masurao, Barrage Brawler Pugilist, Omnimancer Warlock, Flying Falcon Rover and Divine Herald Shaman.
Now i am thinking about doing NG+ with only map carried over and running a team of other 5 classes i haven't used i.e. Dragoon, Fencer, Harbinger, Necromancer and Botanist.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: dosboot on April 07, 2018, 10:23:30 PM
Congratulations!  NG+ doesn't scale up enemies right, it just lets you carry over stuff?  I haven't gotten around to EO5 but I would be inclined to do the same in your position: not give myself any "meaningful" advantages in NG+ so I can basically play through from scratch with different party ideas.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on April 11, 2018, 12:28:53 AM
my 5 fencer run has reached the final boss

the best sword in the game, incidentally, is the petra flyssa

lucky petrify proc on crystal dragon, get dunked :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on April 15, 2018, 05:51:17 AM
I got dragged into Warframe. God save my soul.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on April 16, 2018, 03:26:40 PM
Ni No Kuni 2 is like crack, I'm addicted.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on April 26, 2018, 08:11:03 AM
WILL: A Wonderful World is amazingly dark for the relatively light-hearted description the store page gives.

Gal*Gun 2 is (probably) arriving for me tomorrow, so I want to go full weeb and do a blind let's play if I don't end up getting distracted and play for five hours in one session.

Or get distracted by the elemental Irisviels that have just shown up in Fuyuki.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on April 26, 2018, 03:37:26 PM
Was given a friend's copy of Mafia III, so I decided to go back and give Mafia II another go; I'd gotten stuck on chapter 14 out of 15, so it might as well be worth retrying now that I know what I'm doing, right? And while the open world isn't really much of one (hardly any side activities and the ones that are there don't matter until very, very late in the game), a whole lot feels unfinished (you can't ride in taxis, combat outright sucks until they introduce countering halfway through the game, there's only one bridge to really let the faster cars loose on), and it's not usually my cup of tea, I gotta say, it's pretty solid. If you have a copy laying around, I'd say it's worth a go despite occasional frustration; seeing the game world slowly evolve over the years is absolutely excellent, the way the whole plot situation falls apart is impressive, and the ending... well, I said "that's it?" at first, but realized it was pretty perfect a few seconds later. All in all, worth a play if you want a decent third-person shooter.

I love games in historic settings. I love the idea of getting a feel for an era I was never part of. While Empire Bay isn't quite NYC, you get a sense of the global politics and nationwide tone pretty well. The music and cars tend to represent the era rather than the exact year, so there's some exaggeration and some anachronisms. As there should be. I absolutely love that kind of thing; drivers racing in series they haven't debuted in yet, landmarks that would've been torn down by then, little changes to make a place more iconically what it is now than necessarily what it really was. I loved L.A. Noire for a few choice rule-of-cool moments especially. I think we finally found my immersion-breaking limit, though.

It's "Ain't That A Kick In The Head" playing on the radio in 1951. Come on.

Anyways, as intriguing as Mafia III's demo was, turns out the game doesn't run great on a PC. Not just my PC, but PCs in general. The lower-tier visual settings don't sacrifice quality, which is very bad because it defeats the point of them.

I primarily enjoyed Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus for its plot, and kind of ignored the epilogue stuff after my first playthrough. Trying it after my second, though, it's a very nice gameplay loop of collecting and fighting and exploring. It's like a whole extra game. It's become my go-to for quick sessions or late-night play.

Still hopping between Forza Motorsport 4, Forza Horizon 3, GRID Autosport, and NASCAR Heat 2 for racing games, mainly, though sinking more time into Midnight Club: Los Angeles. I'm sure the difficulty scared people away back in the day, but it's really smoothed out now and I highly recommend it if you want classic 90's madcap silliness that isn't actively trying to be wacky, but also doesn't stop you from hitting the nitrous and launching yourself sky-high off a ramp and over the Santa Monica boardwalk. It's a very believable world, complete with Winchell's and lowriders and every AI being a named, voiced driver with their own trash talk. It genuinely reminds me a lot of Anaheim. Which considering that's as close as I've gotten to LA besides airports and freeways, I feel bodes very well. The freeways are mercifully less clogged, anyways, and even when they are, you get to use a power (not a power-up like an item pickup, something you can install onto your car) to make your car (or motorcycle!) invincible and punt traffic around like toys, which is MASSIVELY satisfying. There's also a Hot Wheels-y harmlessness to it; like Midtown Madness and unlike early Midnight Club, you can drive on the sidewalk at 200mph and barely ruffle anyone's hair as they conveniently dive out of the way action-movie-style, and you can smash shortcuts through malls or baseball fields or whatever seems remotely breakable and conveniently leap back out onto the road after.

It lives up to the name, because it pretty much is exactly the same giddy 90's racing game glee except with a modern setting and modern quality. (Well, modern for 2008.) Much like how Wolfenstein is classic 90's shooter stuff with modern quality. I think that's my jam lately. That sensation of what was good about then not being over.

Oh, and I did end up buying an Xbox One controller for my PC. Works quite nicely! Took some getting used to lightness-wise, though, especially with the triggers. Weirds me out that the trigger rumble is actually kind of at its worst with Forza, a first-party product. It was bad enough to turn me off of FM7 completely, but is at least more subtle on FH3. And glancing at old stuff, I'll note that DiRT 4 wore thin on me extremely quickly and I wouldn't recommend it, and the two Barn Find cars I missed in FH3 ended up coming back around on the rotation. For now, I'm gonna keep messing with these until I can figure out a good way to set up my diecasts again. Good to just kick back and enjoy the view (https://gallery.services.forzamotorsport.net/fh3/photo/4f42a1f1-a5a2-440d-a6f2-a4057c775899).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: aUsernameIsFineToo on April 27, 2018, 03:07:27 AM
Bought myself a PS4 along with Ys VIII, Super Robot Wars V, and Odin Sphere Leifthrasir. The questionable quality of the former's PC port and recent paychecks pushed me toward getting it and I have to say they're all excellent. With a decent TV and 5.1 sound system it's a significant difference from the desktop gaming I subjected myself to for the last 7 or so years.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on April 27, 2018, 10:48:48 PM
Disgaea 3 Return. I'm enjoying this a lot more than I expected to so far, given what I heard from some reviews and things. :V Halfway through the main game currently, so we'll, uh, see if I get anywhere with the postgame this time.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on April 28, 2018, 07:25:54 AM
So, 7th Dragon VFD.
True Dragon Hypnos
.
That's some pretty bullshit material.
Has lots and lots of HP.
Acts twice per turn (that's normal for bosses in this game, but still)
Normal attacks hit for 30-50% of HP of my party members (after buffs).
Spams aoe Paralysis/Confuse, while you only have 2 accessory slots and accessories has only 50% chance to negate ailment.
Single damage strong attack can pretty much one shot my healer (also it seems attack has a small chance to instakill).
Heals itself and then uses "guard or die" attack on the next turn. Said attack inflicts mass silence/bleed.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Tamer Anode/Cathode on April 28, 2018, 02:21:19 PM
Got back to Cities: Skylines and started a new one to take advantage of the newest DLC, city is currently at a stable 44k population although I kinda need to figure out what direction I want to expand in
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Mеа on April 29, 2018, 04:34:44 PM
Started playing Gunvolt again, the first game, and got a pretty high score that I'm happy about on the fire stage, 2.9mil. I'm planning on trying to get a rubbish recording setup for my 3ds later to record a run.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on May 02, 2018, 12:54:57 PM
Finishing up Super Mario Odyssey with some 600+ moons at the moment and some tail-end post-game content to go. This is the most fun I've had in a Mario game since 64. Like seriously the platforming is pretty spot on.

my 5 fencer run has reached the final boss

the best sword in the game, incidentally, is the petra flyssa

lucky petrify proc on crystal dragon, get dunked :V

GEE THANKS I'm not totally going to steal that tidbit for cheese later on.

Despite a couple lazy slip ups I'm rolling through the game and just hit the 3rd stratum. Everyone's armed to the teeth, I've got a ton of spare cash, and the legendary title stuff means the party is loaded for bear. I blitzed through the 2nd stratum boss practically by accident. I'm sure this'll come to a halt eventually. I mean, I quit EOU2 because the dragons are there to filter out anyone playing the post-game out of curiosity instead of determination to beat every inch of it.

All the super cool Switch stuff is a little ways off so I think I'm mostly playing Shovel Knight next. I got Thimbleweed Park too but games like this really test my patience at times. I picked up Nier: Automata on sale too and that's good so I've heard maybe??

ONE MONTH UNTIL SIGN UPS YA WEAPONS (http://fourjobfiesta.com/)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on May 02, 2018, 10:22:45 PM
help my 5 rovers are also up to the final boss

also 5 rovers is insanely strong, goddamn
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Tamer Anode/Cathode on May 17, 2018, 11:43:36 PM
Picked up Strange Journey Redux on Tuesday, playing on Expert fully aware of the horrors that await me
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on May 19, 2018, 05:49:42 PM
Picked up Strange Journey Redux on Tuesday, playing on Expert fully aware of the horrors that await me
Good luck. There's nothing but misery and death out there.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on May 30, 2018, 02:29:11 PM
(https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/youreveryneet/76738738/3045880/3045880_900.jpg)

So, I completed FFXV at level 101 in just around 60 hours. With 0 deaths no less, because I'm just THAT good. Heck, the few times I died is because of vehicular related incident like crashing my hybrid car/plane, or dropping my Monster Truck from a cliff. Even after I completed it, there's still stuff to do in-game like many bonus dungeons to explore, superbosses to fight, postgame sidequests, and many more.

Still, I think FFXV is best played as a slice-of-life starring 4 handsome dudes. It's relaxing to just spend your playtime driving around to continent, fishing in a lake, just sight seeing on Altissia, a beautiful city on the sea, playing gambling with monster, and looking at gorgeous dinner made by Ignis after a tiresome day in the camp.

[nsfw]https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/youreveryneet/76738738/3046084/3046084_900.jpg[/nsfw]

[nsfw]https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/youreveryneet/76738738/3045259/3045259_900.jpg[/nsfw]

Also, I went into the final boss battle wearing a Chocobo T-shirt and hat when you're supposed to wear a Royal Kickass Suit befitting for a king. Just because. I was busy laughing myself silly when I'm supposed to take the scene very seriously.

NSFW, because it's my subtitute for spoilering images.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on May 30, 2018, 05:02:20 PM
Also, I went into the final boss battle wearing a Chocobo T-shirt and hat when you're supposed to wear a Royal Kickass Suit befitting for a king. Just because. I was busy laughing myself silly when I'm supposed to take the scene very seriously.

Now THAT is some serious style.

On my end, I've had a bit of a break from racing games to mess about in... Crush Crush, which was recommended to me in the last Steam sale as something I had in my library but never played. This is true; I downloaded it for one cameo character but never booted it. A free-to-play idle-clicker dating sim sounds like a lot of words for things I don't like. But the game's actually funny and moves along pretty quickly! I'm actually liking the characters and constantly snickering at the dialogue (especially of one particular character that tilts things abruptly, awfully grim). Plus, due to Steam's regulations and stuff, the game's explicit content is sold elsewhere for $7 USD... which means I get to keep playing for free and not have to worry about it. All the better for me!

On a side note, with Danica Patrick having retired from motorsports and with Team Sonic Racing on the way, I'd highly recommend picking up Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed in case it gets pulled for licensing issues. The PC version especially has a good number of guest characters not owned by SEGA. I've been playing it a good deal again due to Danica's retirement (and just still liking the game), and I also picked up the Danicar that the in-game car is based off of... or, well, first the Danicar was made as a Hot Wheels car, then it was adapted to the in-game car, then the Hot Wheels car was re-released with a paint scheme themed after the game one. I was giddy to obtain it and it didn't take long to notice it's pretty starkly different.

(https://i.imgur.com/o9IvzL9.jpg)
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8322/8071669768_fb5491f408_b.jpg)

Still pretty frickin' cool, though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 31, 2018, 05:41:13 AM
Crush Crush moves pretty quick at first, but as with nearly all idle games I've encountered, it slows down massively later on. God, the waiting to get funds for the magic shit, never mind Karma and Sutra....

Then again, it's been quite a while since I've last played. Maybe it's gotten better?


So I've been playing Thumper. God, this game messes with my head.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on May 31, 2018, 03:09:47 PM
It's Four Job Fiesta sign up time! (http://fourjobfiesta.com/) Get your weapons ready!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on June 01, 2018, 07:11:11 AM
I am replaying Metroid: Samus Returns on Hard. Currently near the end of Area 5. And just now after fighting numerous Zeta Metroids i finally realised a thing.
That glowing red spot on its back during bouncing energy orbs attack looks suspiciously like a grapple point.
Whoop dee doo.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on June 01, 2018, 06:32:58 PM
I am replaying Metroid: Samus Returns on Hard. Currently near the end of Area 5. And just now after fighting numerous Zeta Metroids i finally realised a thing.
That glowing red spot on its back during bouncing energy orbs attack looks suspiciously like a grapple point.
Whoop dee doo.
The game is many things, but subtle is not one of them.

Don't talk to me about how long it took me to realize what I was supposed to do for the mining robot thingie's first phase.  I'm still kicking myself for that one.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on June 03, 2018, 01:00:18 AM
Crush Crush moves pretty quick at first, but as with nearly all idle games I've encountered, it slows down massively later on.

Sweet babies, you were not kidding

It is utterly bizarre to me to boot a game, look at my options, and have to come to the conclusion of "okay, I guess I can do stuff here tomorrow"
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 05, 2018, 08:16:10 AM
Because I don't want to bring up an ancient thread:

Overwatch 2nd Anniversary is going on now; among the new stuff is Competitive FFA Deathmatch.

There's so much salt (or rather Bastion, Reaper, and Brigitte) my internet actively hates me doing it. Eked out Silver, which honestly stunned me since I had so many deaths to actual Bronze players.

EDIT: What. Symmetra is getting another rework. Three launchable turrets instead of six deployable, teleporter is now an ability, her barrier skills are now folded into a 5k health barrier with massive size, beam no longer tracks and recharges on barriers, sphere explodes on impact....



...Anyway, picked up Xenoblade Chronicles. (Insert tired meme here.) At some point, I'm going to get a Switch, so I'm interested in picking up Blade Waifu Simulator, just for the accents (and T-elos; can't forget her); but I found this at a relatively decent price while I was picking up the Code: Realize duology.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on June 07, 2018, 10:46:30 AM
So, i after numerous attempts at trying to defeat Star Devourer in EOV with our tabltetop party (we made it based on sugestions during one of our tabletop gaming sessions, consisting of Harbinger, Dragoon, Fencer, Botanist and Necromancer) i finally gave up. The party always sucked at damage department, and considering how SD fight is basically one huge dps check, it's become apparent that it is more or less impossible with any setup i tried with these classes.
So, i think now i'll pick up Strange Journey Redux. When i first played the original on DS i gave up on Sector Eridanus. That place sucked hurd, so let's see if this time i'll actually beat it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Tamer Anode/Cathode on June 07, 2018, 04:28:44 PM
Still on Strange Journey Redux, just completed Sector F. MVPs so far are my Mad Gasser with Debilitate and Tetrakarn, my Koumochuten that's just a good all-around beater, and Kingu with Luster Candy for party buffs.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Validon98 on June 09, 2018, 09:13:28 PM
So about a week or so ago, I was finally able to get my hands on Genius of Sappheiros V and Devil of Decline W, and just finished the main game of the latter, a bit underleveled than usual too. It's... well it's different, has some similarish issues to the original (hey learning weapon skills is rough still because your element level never freaking increases at a reasonable rate), but still pretty good overall.

EDIT:

(https://i.gyazo.com/33a60156590ef67a809956912f4cb20a.jpg)

Since I don't want to double post, there's GoSV beaten too. Hurray!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 23, 2018, 02:29:56 AM
asdf why

My PS Vita's been having troubles recently; the left stick was some sort of screwed up. So I bought a new stick, installed it yesterday.

Nope.

So I took the whole left board out, sprayed it with contact cleaner.

It worked.

Now, though, the PS button is now fucked. argh

I just want to play my otomeges without spending yet another HDMI slot on my straining TV for a PSTV.


EDIT: So, anyone who was aware of early Overwatch character concepts might remember the cat with a jetpack. They've just kind of one-upped that with a hamster Tank. Complete with ball form, pinballing into enemies, and overall a bane for tightly packed enemies. 100 personal shields for every single enemy in a short range? Pair that with Graviton, and he can come in like an actual wrecking ball.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on July 05, 2018, 09:21:30 AM
Still playing Strange Journey Redux. Add it's kind of weird.
You have access to Womb of Grief, but demons out there are stronger than in "main game". As a result Womb of Grief is kind of fun and challenging, due to harder enemies, but then i go to the sector i am supposed to go for the story progression i am overleveled for it. Oh, well, it's still fun.
Edit: Just cleared sector D. Frost Cannon i got like at the start of Sector C is still the best gun in the game.
Edit Edit: Fuck Sector E. Going from confusing 2 layered mess, to confusing teleported maze, to 2 floors swiss cheese puzzle to the boss itself.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on July 05, 2018, 12:22:14 PM
So I roflstomped my way through the Etrian Odyssey 5 base game and now I'm doing the postgame stuff. I got maybe 3 rounds into the Dryad fight before seriously reflecting on my decisions. The killer attack debuff/defense buff combo that got me through basically everything up until now was basically ignored and 4 characters in my party were wiped in short order. I barely had the chance to fight back. I'm sure the answer to this problem is something along the lines of "use the tank class" or "status effects will save you from everything" but that sort of thinking leads to all sorts of problems. I haven't liked the tank classes in these games because it usually takes them 10 levels to get the same defense buff that the stat buff classes have access to by default. They get a bunch of tricks but it typically takes forever to reach and really haven't been enough anyway, so I don't have one and I ain't got time for training one up. The status effects option sure looks appealing and Harbinger = best class but this line of thinking tends to fall short right when I really need it. I have also reached the postgame using the Shaman and Rover's ridiculous passive heals and this is the first time it hasn't been sufficient. I dunno though.

The disappointing thing is that this is exactly what caused me to quit EO:U2. It's an important level cap boss hurdle that's probably addressed simply by using something I haven't touched on before or I didn't make use of some class/skill I just found too straight up dull to use before.

Edit: Aaaand I spoke too soon. Harbinger = best class!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sect on July 06, 2018, 03:57:36 PM
Completed as much of Berseria as I could before the final dungeon. It's a fun game! It's probably my favorite of the Tales games at this point, beating out Symphonia and Xillia.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Validon98 on July 06, 2018, 09:34:35 PM
At this point I've finished the expansion final boss in Genius of Sappheiros V, something I haven't even done in the original version of the game! And at this point I think I've come to the conclusion that GoSV is such a major improvement over the original, at least in my opinion, that it currently rivals NoR for my favorite of the SB games. A long way from original GoS being my least favorite!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Shizuko on July 16, 2018, 04:42:10 PM
Currently playing Odin Sphere Leifthrasir C: Guess I'm going to finish it tonight~ i really like this game, even if the gameplay isn't very original, the characters are very appealing (Velvet <3) and the story very catchy as well. Some soundtracks sound magical, too. I don't want it to end T-T
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Reddyne on July 23, 2018, 01:07:58 PM
So, i after numerous attempts at trying to defeat Star Devourer in EOV with our tabltetop party (we made it based on sugestions during one of our tabletop gaming sessions, consisting of Harbinger, Dragoon, Fencer, Botanist and Necromancer) i finally gave up. The party always sucked at damage department, and considering how SD fight is basically one huge dps check, it's become apparent that it is more or less impossible with any setup i tried with these classes.
This is exactly where I just stopped too. My  party experienced very few hiccups from one end of the game to the other, but just fell apart at the Star Devourer. Sure I could go bonkers by spending 10 hours rearranging things but I ain't got time for that. Still, this was my fave EO game and Harbinger wound up being my favorite class with Rover close behind. It was encouraging enough to inspire another shot at EO:U. And this time, I don't think I'll underestimate the power of a tank class. Still wanna make Arthur a hexer, though!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on July 24, 2018, 07:06:40 AM
More Strange Journey Redux.
Made it to sector G. Welcome to the Labyrinth of Illusions! aka FUN times ahead!
It's kinda hilarious, that i have Gate Search E and Unlock E, but haven't even found Unlock C & D and Gate Search D yet.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on July 24, 2018, 03:03:18 PM
Still playing Forza here and there, but instead of that particular usual rambling, I've been digging through the backlog a bit and recently finished up both Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition and Shadow Warrior (2013). For a relatively mindless hack-and-slash and for a throwback modern FPS, I'm genuinely impressed that both had some seriously interesting (or at least immersive) story moments. Force Unleashed is, like, so firmly okay for most of the game that it's a struggle to recommend, but I don't regret sinking the time into it now that I was able to do so with a graphics card that can actually render the sky (Intel chipsets cannot. For some reason). I'll admit I never did get to finish the proper in-game Sith ending myself since it was leaps and bounds above the rest of the game in difficulty (requiring me to actually have a plan of attack, unlike everything else). The Jedi ending battle was almost hilariously, comically easy.

Either way, you can boot up the DLC as a separate save, and it adds a very fun Jedi Temple level (bar one stupid non-puzzle that's just finicky) that I feel would've probably really improved the game were it included in the main title (though I enjoyed experiencing it as a finale after clearing all other stories), as well as two what-if levels that involve you, as a Sith Lord, derailing and destroying Star Wars canon. Not gonna lie, this is what got my attention... though it felt very Spec Ops: The Line, in terms of feeling awful for railroaded player actions and the only 'good' route being to stop, which became increasingly tempting throughout Tattooine. Hoth, though, got so ludicrously overkill that it wrapped back around to fun and funny even while existentially mortifying.

Shadow Warrior is... well, I got it for free in a giveaway a while back and skimmed over it. Gory remake of a raunchy FPS, sounds like a whole lot of words I don't like. However, where 1997's Shadow Warrior has a whole host of culturally insensitive humor (remember, this is three years before Deus Ex and its Rucky Money, and in this case it's absolutely deliberate) and constant raunchiness in a last-minute attempt to convert the game to match Duke Nukem's success, 2013 hews a bit closer to the original intent of a relatively serious story and setting that mashes a whole bunch of cultures and pantheons together. Playing on controller, I struggled with the controls a decent amount of the time, died from fall damage at least double the amount of times I died from anything else, and found some enemy types to just be a nuisance when I never put together what best exploited their weaknesses. The final boss is weaksauce and a whole lot of stuff isn't the most satisfying. That aside, those things stand out because most of the game is a magnificent battle of bullets and blades, that somehow manages to rein in the jokey tone without at all losing it. Like... I was reminded of Saints Row, where madcap chaos and genuine character development somehow co-exist beautifully. Lo Wang still makes constant Wang jokes, but they're now actually paced in a way that they're pleasantly surprising when they arise. Slashing through demons is viscerally satisfying. Slashing through demons in a spinning slash that heals you, moreso. Blasting an enemy shield away with a shotgun feels awesome, dueling a lead antagonist is great fun (I didn't realize those boss battles were added to the game and weren't even there at first), and boss battles are... well, I guess this is corny to say, but this is a game that isn't afraid to be video gamey. Locked doors you have to find keys to, big arenas for bosses, cool setpieces for the sake of them. It's all paced to never really allow any tedium, going full throttle pretty much the entire time and never really just asking you to backtrack or endure with nothing to immediately do. It's classic design sensibility with modern tastes, and as somebody who usually sucks at this kind of game, I still had an eff-ton of fun. Kinda sad it's over, especially as the sequel took a hard turn into online co-op... but hey, there's always New Game Plus!

On the obligatory racing game note, I've now hit Level 255 in GRID Autosport and I'm still having fun with it. Definitely one of the titles I've gotten the most long-term enjoyment out of, and I'd still highly recommend it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on July 24, 2018, 04:08:21 PM
Ooh, glad to hear someone else tried Shadow Warrior 2013. One of the few modern games that I care about and still play through once in a while.

That said, New Game Plus is nothing special. Just another playthrough but with all your stuff carried over from the last time. You can play on a higher difficulty, but I find it more interesting to start from scratch every time. It might be useful to unlock those "get all upgrades" achievements or play around with big guns for longer, I guess, but that's about it. Might be just me though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: dosboot on July 24, 2018, 09:21:34 PM
I too came at Shadow Warrior 2013 late (probably played it in '15 or '16), and was pleasantly surprised.  It doesn't go all the way back to 90s FPS design-styles where each level is a maze, pre-populated with enemies that can and will start moving around on their own, but it does manage to be very fast, very enjoyable "battle of bullets and blades" as you put it.  I rarely take a liking to modern shooters, but I did to SW 2013 which makes it very noteworthy in my book.  I think I even liked the campy humor too. 

I recall enjoying it so much at the time that I replayed Shadow Warrior several times to master all the difficulties.  My advice for anyone who does this is not to take the final, max difficulty too seriously (the one that removes all checkpoints, so if you die you have to replay the entire chapter).  In the final regular level of the game, the very last room is a huge arena battle against waves of regular enemies and mini-bosses teleporting in.  Great fun, but not a great showcase for the game's mechanical balance.  With so much happening at once and those cheap warping katana enemies biting off your health with no warning, you can't beat it consistently.  Or at least I couldn't, even with lots of practicing on the difficulty one step lower.  Any "normal" playthrough gets past that room because there's a checkpoint right before it to smooth out your luck, but when you suddenly are forced to replay, like, a 1+ hour long level for each attempt at that final room... well like I said don't take the maximum difficulty too seriously if you hit a wall.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on July 28, 2018, 10:06:44 PM
Morrowind content + Oblivion engine = Morroblivion (https://tesrenewal.com). You might say that playing arguably the best Elder Scrolls game on this particular engine is folly, and you would be right, but I consider this to be a rather unique way of reliving old memories. Oblivion's improvements like the superior combat and (to some extent) the fast travel system collide with instability, plentiful bugs and dubious design decisions. Bandits in dungeons sometimes fight each other before eventually turning on me. The faction system is implemented in such a way that makes Camonna Tong thugs attack me on sight, which can be problematic in places like the Council Club in Balmora. Early Ancestral Ghosts inexplicably have 170 HP - just barely less than a Golden Saint! - which makes low level excursions into ancestral tombs not worth the time and effort. On the other hand, the Staff of Magnus now has Absorb Health 25 points for 20 seconds, which means you're invincible as long as the spell isn't reflected back at you. Paralysis spells are very cheap to cast and last much longer than their base duration, as many creatures take a long time to get back up on their feet. Then there are the mostly harmless, hilarious bugs like prisoners in Fort Hawkmoth escaping their cells through walls and chatting with fort guards. Speaking of which, if two guards talk to each other, their dialogue consists entirely of "What say you?" uttered several times by both parties until one of them resumes their patrol and leaves.

The list of bugs and problems goes on, including frequent crashes to desktop, but while many would find this state of affairs to be unacceptable, I'm actually somewhat glad that an endeavor as massive as porting Morrowind to Oblivion exists at all and (mostly) works. Despite the many problems it's still fun and perfectly playable, and so I can see myself spending 50+ more hours on Vvardenfell. And hopefully, when I revisit the game again in a few years, the Tamriel Rebuilt recreation of mainland Morrowind will have been completed...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on September 14, 2018, 06:03:33 PM
Been having too much fun in Oblivion myself lately. Took me a few restarts before I understood how to play the game and not get steamrolled by the world's rubber-band leveling, but having quite a blast now.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on September 15, 2018, 09:57:23 PM
Still holding off on a Shadow Warrior replay/NG+ for a while, but I think I'll dive right back in when my rig is upgraded. I definitely think I'll hold off on going full-bore with the difficulty because hoo boy, yeah, that final room soundly whupped me before. I've found that when getting a bit stressed out and wanting something to just unwind with, the pack-in bonus Viscera Cleanup Detail: Shadow Warrior has been surprisingly soothing. It's nice to just... not have to think too much. It's a tad gruesome, but amusing moreso. There's no real high-stakes chaos (unless you purposefully add a timer) and it's just you and the mess you left in the opening level of Shadow Warrior 2013 proper. It's kinda nifty, having the repercussions and aftermath of something else you took part in. It might just be a matter of mopping and picking things up and tossing them in the incinerator and mopping more and then bloodying the mop too much and smearing the blood everywhere and hastily washing it off in a small stream and running back, but... it's just nice. Which "clean up the scene of a bloody gunfight" doesn't usually sound like.

Tried Forza Horizon 4's demo! It... didn't click for me. Like, it looks fantastic, but "you're a rookie and you're establishing your racing life at the Festival!" is not something I actually personally want right now. Not after I was just the boss of the Festival in the previous installment and was orchestrating cross-country rally races through the rainforest before connecting an entire archipelago with frickin' gigantic Hot Wheels track and launching supercars off into the ocean. The bar is too absurdly massively high and I already got *exactly* what I wanted more than I could ever want again. So... probably count me in when they announce some crazy expansion, but I can hold off for now. (The Bond cars look amazing, and I have a soft spot for the DB5 and the submarine Esprit, but I want crazy high-octane chases to use 'em in! I thought it'd be something more like FH2:F&F.)

So, trying to break free from Forza for a bit, I went back to Need for Speed: ProStreet, a game I got and then just... didn't play much at all, since I wasn't impressed by the kinda weird event format (you don't choose individual races; you go to Race Days that include several of them grouped, and progression is made by a different score that's calculated from your finishing position, time, and damage taken) and the random drops (yep, those weren't introduced in Payback, the best parts being absolute luck to obtain has been a problem since even the beloved 2005 Most Wanted). But, figuring that the alternative was that the disc just sat there, I figured I'd just play whatever seemed interesting, and it's growing on me. It absolutely feels like they just weren't quite done within the timeline, and it suffers from not being what people really wanted then. I skipped it when it came out because, to me, the NFS series was about street racing, and "take it off the streets to the track!" was "Oh. No thanks."

The music is pretty excellently done. What brought me back was actually hearing some of Junkie XL's original songs (https://youtu.be/eVwoSViYSvA) for it and going "oh, man, out of the whole series, that only got used in ProStreet?" (Mercifully, some got patched in to NFS2015, but that ended up equally infamous as "the one with no pause button".) Every style of gameplay is pretty heavily separated, and they're all an existing kind of gameplay from the series repurposed. Grip races are sorta like the URL races from NFSU2 but with nitrous, Speed races (the best part) are very old-school NFS1 style point-to-point events at ludicrous miles per hour, and Drift and Drag are about how they were in the Underground era. The thing is, all of these but Drift get gimmicky variants to break things up without actually adding more tracks (Speed has not just races but Top Speed Runs where your speed through various checkpoints is totaled up, Grip has Sector Shootout where you have to post the best time on each portion of the course, and Drag has Wheelie Contests that are functionally just drag races with the focus being style over speed). So a massive bulk of the game is hardly racing so much as some weird ruleset that shows up here and never gets used again.

Most of all, I feel like this game suffered from being something the fans didn't want and forcing an extreme sudden U-turn; if it had more improvement and support and if there was continuity from here, more of it would matter. The protagonist, Ryan Cooper, is repeatedly referred to by name specifically as Ryan Cooper and you are listed on leaderboards as Ryan Cooper and announced by the DJs as Ryan Cooper. Despite all this, Ryan Cooper doesn't even get a face or any lines; he just wears a helmet and gestures occasionally. The rest of the cast is similarly decorative. The DJs repeat their lines constantly. None of the cast from this game ever returned (except in the PSP version of Need for Speed: Shift, surprisingly), until out of nowhere, ten years after, NFS: Payback decided to bring back the Noise Bomb crew in a far larger role than they actually had in ProStreet (and actually have Ryan Cooper's ability to magically win absolutely everything ever and become Street King actually finally referenced by anyone!).

The other major failing is the arcade street-racing physics being directly plunked onto circuit racing, which... doesn't entirely work. NFS: Shift had more success with purpose-built physics for it, in my opinion, and Shift 2: Unleashed brought the concept of "Need for Speed with professional racing" to its apex. (The Tokyo course in those games is actually a direct recreation of the Tokyo Dockyard course from ProStreet, but the rest is original.)

All in all, it's mostly been a very intriguing time capsule, seeing the cars of 2007 (mostly; there are some concept cars included that bring the model years up to 2010!), a unique musical and visual style, and most importantly to me, some fantastic courses and locales across the world. There's definitely some value now, to going back and tearing around the highways of Tokyo (with the tallest thing in the landscape being Tokyo Tower, no Skytree yet!), the oval at Texas World Speedway (sadly, despite its history, a long-defunct course now that's just a massive asphalt grave for flooded cars), the Porsche test track at Leipzig (gotta force in that reminder that EA had the exclusive license to Porsche in there somewhere!), and various wonderfully chosen locales that very scarcely showed up again. A personal favorite is the Autobahnring; instead of the usual Nurburgring for Germany, they just close off the Autobahn and leave it similarly twisty and perilous, with ridiculous Talladega-esque banking that you're probably going to fall off of if you can't make 225mph.

It had a lot of great ideas that they just didn't quite flesh out yet. It's a shame that it's more a curiosity than anything in hindsight (it's honestly consistently pretty frustrating to play!), but it's an intriguing one, as they took a very big gamble and a lot of these decisions ended up lasting to later in one form or another. There's a lot of return to form - having set courses, the antagonist being just some guy who thinks you can't drive better than him rather than having a nefarious plan, a worldwide setting instead of just fictional Americana, a focus on just improving a small stable of cars rather than collecting them all - and a whole lot of newer stuff, like keeping the focus firmly in affordable cars, occasionally remixing the same few songs to fit different situations (which would become much more prominently the style of Shift 2: Unleashed), and naming the protagonist (which has yet to go over well even once).

Essentially, this would be the start of the end for the development team at EA Black Box, as they hastily turned back to street racing with the mediocre NFS: Undercover, and then made an attempt at a saving throw with the cinematic NFS: The Run. It wasn't bad, but, again, it wasn't what people wanted and it didn't really feel finished, so they rolled a 1 on that and went under, taking their Skate series with them (the greater loss between the two series, IMO, even if NFS has been completely rudderless in terms of figuring out what it wants to be since... but, granted, it was kinda like that before.)

If nothing else, I can be amused by now having two games that name Sears Point / Sonoma Raceway as Infineon Raceway, when it had that title for about a decade and nobody really called it that.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on September 20, 2018, 04:58:02 PM
Finally started up Europa Universalis IV for real (or not, we'll see; so far all my experience comes from Let's Plays, the wiki and some minor dabbling). It's generally recommended to start out with a strong nation to allow for some margin of error, so of course I picked a Native American OPM instead - Mikmaq. This playthrough is meant to be a learning experience and as such isn't Ironman; I have already reloaded a few times after some game mechanic caught me completely off guard.

It's immediately apparent that the lack of claim fabrication makes expansion extremely difficult for Native tribes, limiting your options to no-CB wars and slow colonization. Federations are another significant factor. Together with advancement and institution penalties, and the necessity to invest tons of monarch points into government reform, all this makes for some harsh conditions. I have currently reached a rather peculiar phase where almost everyone on the continent is completely out of manpower, but the intricate web of alliances, federations and truces means there's a lot of free land everywhere and no real way to grab it. Well, at least I have learned how to milk other tribes for money using the Humiliate casus belli. Time to build some native buildings. Do I go for buildings affecting tax modifiers, or rather goods produced in my tobacco provinces?

Or perhaps I should simply play as Poland instead.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on October 03, 2018, 08:25:13 PM
Started messing about in some of the F1 games from Codemasters again. I adore F1 2013 for its 80's and 90's content alongside the then-modern stuff, and allowing you to mix-and-match the carsets with different tracks from different eras, but didn't really do much in the other titles up to 2015 besides the challenge missions (since they don't repeat annually). I checked out F1 2014 some more, figuring that I'll likely be upgrading the video card a bit soon (actually, there's no video card in this set up, just some really good integrated graphics) and F1 2015, being their first jump to XB1/PS4 type biz, also includes the 2014 line-up. I figured I'd give the Season Challenge mode a go, as it wasn't entirely clear to me before what it was.

Turns out, it's a mode where you go through an abbreviated version of that year's F1 season, starting on a low-end/backmarker team. Out of your competitors, you choose a Rival to take on for a best-out-of-three competition; if you win against them, you get their ride. Thus, to win the championship, you've got to work your way up the ranks, choosing stronger opponents to take on and defeat to get their equipment.

It's Super Monaco GP. And it's fantastic. Combining the arcade-style easy-to-follow jump-in-and-play game mode with the realistic tracks and rosters and gameplay actually works phenomenally. I'm already replaying it on Hard and look forward to messing with the mode again in the other titles before 2014 (apparently, it got axed in F1 2015 onwards).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Naudiz on October 10, 2018, 02:47:00 AM
I don't play too many games, but a game/series that I've followed for a while now is The Binding of Isaac (Rebirth). It's one of the only games for which I've put forth the time and effort to get a 100% clear on the latest DLC. Something about the gameplay just keeps reeling me back in, and I'm craving the Repentance expansion.

Anyone else here a fan of TBoI?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on October 11, 2018, 01:55:32 AM
I don't play too many games, but a game/series that I've followed for a while now is The Binding of Isaac (Rebirth). It's one of the only games for which I've put forth the time and effort to get a 100% clear on the latest DLC. Something about the gameplay just keeps reeling me back in, and I'm craving the Repentance expansion.

Anyone else here a fan of TBoI?

I couldn't get into the aesthetics of it, but I've been playing Enter The Gungeon absolutely nonstop lately and it's similar. It's pretty much ruined my ability to play any other game, I can't put it down.  :D

Not that you need another game when you keep getting reeled back in, but if you want a similar experience with less edge and more ridiculous guns definitely check out Enter The Gungeon.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on October 11, 2018, 10:05:33 PM
Playing good old Doom all of a sudden. It's unbelievable how well this game still holds up (after 25 years!) and how it commands me to play it time and again. I picked up where I left off last winter, which was year 1996 of Doomworld's top 100 WADs. Currently plodding through Memento Mori (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqXPa62YUA4), a very good megawad for the time. Most maps are fun, though some have too little armor for my taste (that is, none at all), which does not mix well with hitscanners. Can't stop dying.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Naudiz on October 12, 2018, 01:21:25 AM
I couldn't get into the aesthetics of it, but I've been playing Enter The Gungeon absolutely nonstop lately and it's similar. It's pretty much ruined my ability to play any other game, I can't put it down.  :D

Not that you need another game when you keep getting reeled back in, but if you want a similar experience with less edge and more ridiculous guns definitely check out Enter The Gungeon.

Ah yes, Gungeon. I picked it up before a couple years ago and couldn't quite get into it at the time. It's still in my library, though; I should give it another go when I have a stretch of free time.
I've heard a lot of good things about it, though. Roguelikes/roguelites are typically well-done games, in my experience.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on October 12, 2018, 06:41:46 AM
Playing good old Doom all of a sudden. It's unbelievable how well this game still holds up (after 25 years!) and how it commands me to play it time and again. I picked up where I left off last winter, which was year 1996 of Doomworld's top 100 WADs. Currently plodding through Memento Mori (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqXPa62YUA4), a very good megawad for the time. Most maps are fun, though some have too little armor for my taste (that is, none at all), which does not mix well with hitscanners. Can't stop dying.

Classical megawads like MM1/2 and Requiem do seem to be quite a mixed bag. They have some really great level ideas (especially for the time and vanilla engine) and some incredibly lame ones. And personally, it's questionable whether it's worth suffering through the latter to see the former. That said, MM were positioned as wads designed mostly for co-op, and it shows in quite a few places. Still possible to play them alone but the difficulty can get pretty unreasonable sometimes. Guess they forgot to balance it for singleplayer, and multiplayer balancing was hit-and-miss those days (seriously, even the original is guilty of that, like extra CYBERDEMONS of all things).

EDIT: Oh yeah, I've played the classic PS1 Resident Evil games these days and... didn't quite like them. Extremely limited inventory space and, as a result, frequent backtracking just killed any interest that I've had.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on October 12, 2018, 08:11:31 AM
That said, MM were positioned as wads designed mostly for co-op, and it shows in quite a few places. Still possible to play them alone but the difficulty can get pretty unreasonable sometimes.
Oh, so that's the reason why balance seems somewhat iffy at times. There's usually more than enough ammo, but issues like a complete lack of armor or giving out ammunition for weapons that can't be found on the map stand out a bit. I initially guessed the maps were meant to be played subsequently, but that'd be strange for a compilation WAD.

That said, it's fun enough and I can get through the particularly deadly maps using a couple saves (heresy, I know). It's sort of my goal to (re)discover most of the classic megawads. Still easier than stuff like Ancient Aliens or Sunlust. If things become too hairy, I can always resort to watching UV-max runs. These days every notable WAD has a ton of LMPs and multiple Youtube videos available. Memento Mori itself has over 100 hours worth of demos on DoomedSDA!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on October 13, 2018, 04:32:23 AM
Ah yes, Gungeon. I picked it up before a couple years ago and couldn't quite get into it at the time. It's still in my library, though; I should give it another go when I have a stretch of free time.
I've heard a lot of good things about it, though. Roguelikes/roguelites are typically well-done games, in my experience.

It got a recent update that took it from good to great in my opinion. It increases the appearance rate of keys by a lot which makes runs a lot less random, and in return it adds some pretty deadly new minibosses and several new (and common) kinds of mimic to fuck with you. It's ultimately an easier game, but in a good way that feels more skill-based. If you haven't played since the update then checking it out again is definitely worth it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on October 13, 2018, 08:32:43 AM
I recently completed Valkyria Chronicles 4, and seriously, fuck these special tanks.

The main Rival tank doesn't give you the luxury of getting behind him and whaling on his radiator with Lancers, because his radiator's on his goddamn front hood, melting his turret; and the primary angled AT weapons (anti-armor Grenadiers and the one AT Ace sniper rifle) are both pretty poor at actually harming the bastard. Oddly, it seems like it originally had the radiator somewhere else; the squad only bitches about the radiator's location after we've already encountered it a few times.

The mega-tank of the game
is literally amphibious Batomys. Shred its defense turrets, and it's just waiting four turns to take the radiators out, one per turn because they don't want you to bring in a Lancer for each individual radiator and nuke it in a single go
. At least it requires Lancers and not literally any infantry unit with grenades.

It's strange to realize and confirm that Valkyria (in actual Valkyria mode, and not slugging around a full machine gun) are technically classified as Reinforced Infantry. Triple Shocktroopers don't do much to one's health bar, but a single Shocktrooper Elite with a Flamethrower (which ignore cover defensive bonuses) can shred that bar real damn quick.


Also, it's kind of hilarious how the Paragon levels influence damage. With high-grade armor, basically only Snipers, flamethrowers, grenades, turrets (mounted and tank), and direct hits with Lancers deal tremendous damage per body shot; headshots on your end are now even more vital than before (and with Scouts, often not enough even then), while enemies and your interception fire often still allow the runners to make it to their location, though if there's a lot of Shocktroopers, likely not.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Naudiz on October 14, 2018, 01:35:29 AM
It got a recent update that took it from good to great in my opinion. It increases the appearance rate of keys by a lot which makes runs a lot less random, and in return it adds some pretty deadly new minibosses and several new (and common) kinds of mimic to fuck with you. It's ultimately an easier game, but in a good way that feels more skill-based. If you haven't played since the update then checking it out again is definitely worth it.

Ohohoh. That sounds pretty promising. I'll be sure to check it out soon, then.  :V
Now... to set aside all of my obligations in the way!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on October 16, 2018, 08:46:27 AM
So, one thing led to another, and I tried out Skyrim. It's... actually pretty great! I'd even say it's a model Elder Scrolls game, really, with the usual upsides and downsides. And mind you, this is coming from someone who used to hate on it. Well, I also hated on Oblivion until I played it, and I can say that such hate usually comes from salty kids with old trash for computers just because they can't run it  :D
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on November 12, 2018, 02:15:24 AM
I've also been revisiting Doom since I got into WADs recently, and I'm most of the way through Hell Revealed with the conditions of UV, pistol start every stage and no mid-level saves (and no prior level knowledge obviously). I am slowly going mad but have eventually made it to map 26, which for my money is maybe the most difficult so far. Other contenders have been map 13, map 14, map 32 and maybe 23. While I am enjoying my time with this, I am definitely never going to play it again after I'm done with it. :V

EDIT: Oh, and I went through Atelier Ayesha Plus. Two runs, got all the endings. Good stuff, as expected. Escha and Logy Plus soon!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on November 12, 2018, 07:52:00 AM
Hell Revealed blind and no saves? That's impressive. How did you like map 24?
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on November 12, 2018, 11:14:39 AM
24 was tricky, but I didn't actually find it to be the hardest of the bunch especially considering how much other people had built it up for me. The starting section was nasty with all the cacodemons and revenants, but made easier with the invincibilities lying around, and then after that a methodical approach let you deal with each area in a relatively careful way. I almost died at the very end to the cyberdemons though, which would have been a pain after the 1 hour 17 minutes it ended up taking me. :V I guess one of the main things that made it less bad is that whenever something went wrong you could just go for a swim in the acid and regroup at the start, with a couple of exceptions like those last cyberdemons. I do wonder if part of its reputation is due to not being able to save on the original engine in the first place. Having said that, it was really fun.

At any rate, 26 is still giving me a ton of trouble. It feels like one of the few which have been consistently really difficult rather than just having a couple of super hard spots here and there (the blue room in the darkness is particularly horrifying).
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Hope ♦ Metal on November 12, 2018, 07:26:45 PM
While I am enjoying my time with this, I am definitely never going to play it again after I'm done with it. :V
Or you can later play it with Russian Overkill or something else that makes you OP and blow through all the places that gave you trouble playing normally.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on November 14, 2018, 10:07:49 AM
aaaaarrrrrgggghhh I forgot my phone at home today; RIP any good chance of picking up any extra Ribeyerolls (thank god my literal first contract was her) or any Contenders because I didn't actually turn in the dailies so I'm fresh out of contracts.

In other news, I just got a new PC that can finally play more than a third of my XBOX HEUG collection of Steam titles; so I've picked up Yooka-Laylee, Fantasy Strike, and Starcraft II for the first time in for freaking ever. Playing defensively in fighting games is not my strong suit, so I keep getting mashed up against Rook and Midori because lol Val's attacks don't have priority over MOTHERFUCKING NORMAL THROWS from them.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on November 15, 2018, 04:19:30 PM
And that's Hell Revealed completed. Never again. :V

30 was a pretty miserable experience (I eventually rushed through it in 1:49) but I enjoyed most of the rest, good stuff. For my money, 26 was the hardest map.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on November 18, 2018, 04:57:24 PM
I've got a new video card for my newer desktop PC (HIJIRI-PC), so I'm very excited to tackle my Steam backlog finally, as well... but the power cable for it isn't here yet. So it's back to my older, slightly more powerful laptop (SHINKI-PC) for a spot of Forza Horizon 4 now that that's out and about.

I am very conflicted about Forza Horizon 4. For starters, remember, I rambled about FH3 a lot because it set an implausibly high bar. A ridiculously high bar.

(http://compass.xboxlive.com/assets/59/73/59733191-802d-4574-98ae-7f417e0341e1.jpg?n=ForzaHorizon3_HotWheels_15_Web_story.jpg)

FH4 had to top that. The absolute perfect road trip video game, of exploring this absolutely gorgeous faraway land, a true feeling of going on an adventure halfway across the world, accompanied by a beautiful music score (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nusu7fzvHg) greeting you on the title screen. It was absolutely this sensation of escape, of a journey. FH4, understandably, decides not to continue that tack at all, having pretty much nailed it, and opts instead for a world where the Horizon Festival is your home. Everything's made significantly more cozy and relaxed, even as the roads are far more exaggerated than ever (the lessons in video game geography they took from the Blizzard Mountain and Hot Wheels expansions show here beautifully, in long lilting hills with sweeping roads banked like a Talladega Superspeedway commute but somehow feeling plausible). You're able to purchase a log cabin in the woods or a village home (or a castle, if you're particularly loaded), and each time you boot the game up (after the staggeringly enormous five-hour-long prologue, anyways), you're welcomed home and see your car in the driveway as, if it's been a while, the season changes before your eyes. The title screen music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xarC5jAiO7w) is more sedate; I'd jokingly described it through the ad campaign as "Animal Crossing with cars", but nah, that's pretty much what it is. Or rather, it's definitely an odd mix of those sorts of games with an MMO.

So far, so wonderful. However, where the core gameplay mostly holds up from FH3, it's the additions that pile up into actively becoming problems.

You're now able to customize your character! You aren't stuck with defaults; you still pick from the same character models, but now can dress them up. You can't buy clothing items you want, though. You get them through random drops. But you can also change their animations! You can't buy the ones you want, though. You get them through random drops. You can also change the sound of your car horn, like in 3! But instead of being unlockable... well. You see where this is going.

In the first Forza Horizon, everything in single-player was unlocked with in-game currency or by completing challenges, as you'd expect. The online mode gave you a "Wheelspin" - random drop - upon leveling up. By FH3, you were getting a Wheelspin for every level up no matter what mode you were in. With FH4, you're getting them constantly. They replace nearly all other methods of unlock, and everything is lumped into the same category, meaning that where before, you would be getting money or a car with each level up - always good! - you now have a 2-in-5 chance of those, and a three-in-five chance of getting emotes or clothes or novelty horns. So, essentially, even though they've added all sorts of wonderful cars and races and events, these are all absolutely gutted by the game's insistence on foisting absolutely useless trash on you in several-second-long slot machine cutscenes constantly. They've also added Super Wheelspins! Triple the reward, and higher chance of rarer items - did I mention there's omnipresent item rarity now?

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DsTLzyZU4AAwpHK.jpg:orig)

So, yeah. If you can't take that sort of thing - like I can't - the actual progression system is pretty much utterly destroyed by it. FH4 makes good on the promise for a shared open world (every hour on the hour, everyone on the map is offered a co-op challenge in the same place, and seeing everyone flock together to play is the best thing, like a cross between elementary school recess and a Nitro Circus show), and the seasons making major changes (most non-rally-themed missions are just straight-up borderline unplayable in Winter), but... the baffling insistence on this progression system really prevents most fun or sense of accomplishment. You no longer can progress by just picking whatever events you want, they're separated into categories that you have to individually level. You can't just do stunts in whatever car you want, they're separated into individual skill trees per car that you have to separately level. Everything is made to take agonizingly longer in the desperate hope of keeping you playing longer, and it just makes me want to stop playing, like... now. I'm not having fun. I can't even invite friends to play with the Game Pass free trial because there's a five-hour prologue before you're allowed online. There is so much greatness here that is actively stifled by poor design decisions that I can't imagine they actually wanted to make.

tldr; Forza Horizon 4 basically gutted 3 and made it a gacha game and I spent $40 on it and regret that

(I don't regret getting to drive the Bond DB5, the pursuit Jaguar from Skyfall, or the Hoonitruck though)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on November 20, 2018, 06:50:15 PM
Got my Switch last Friday and playing Labyrinth of Refrain lmao it has the charm and humor the Disgaea series has, but oh boy the game is a tad bit darker than usual especially certain stats and elements.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Deftera Ikari on November 21, 2018, 10:31:46 AM
Touhou  :3

Oh and I also play Terraria and uh......
I forgot
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on December 18, 2018, 01:29:08 AM
Forza Horizon 4 released its Fortune Island expansion, and it absolutely blew me away in its opening moments, getting guttural "oooooh"s from me at the severe weather, sheer cliffs, crazy jumps, and general wonderful choice of "rule of cool" design that I've so long missed in semi-realistic racing games. That being said, a few days later, I've, uh... finished it, to little fanfare. So. FH4 kinda still feels like it's desperately trying to catch up to FH3's enormously high bar, but as an MMO for some reason. That being said, if you do decide you want FH4, I'd say Fortune Island surpasses most of the main game with ease by ramping it up a notch, something I desperately wanted it to do, so as far as being what was advertised, it did a great job.

I'll spare you the usual wall of text on that this time, though, because something else got my attention. A series that friends have recommended to me for a long time, a particular entry that just hit PC (and which I purchased on launch day but I didn't yet have the equipment to properly play, turned out), and a director that was behind some of my favorite video game titles ever. I didn't know if it'd be my style, but I wanted to try it. And hoo boy, am I glad I did.

Yakuza 0 is one of the best games I have played.

...too hyperbolic? One I might regret after a few annoying sidequests in the post-game Premium Adventure mode from here on out? Maybe. Alright. One of the best I've played this year, then. (Can't even say GOTY because it came out in, like, 2015 originally.) I thought it'd be, like all too many prequels nowadays, a hamfisted attempt to ram extra stuff onto an older plot and force a new story to end up like the old one, an impermeable mess that doesn't stand alone, but this stands alone pretty perfectly (bar a few really forced things thrown in at the end, but the proper original story has ended by then). This was pitched as a great entry point for people who have been interested but didn't know where to start, and y'know what, yeah, having no idea what to expect, I had a blast. A wild swing in tone between serious main story events and ludicrous side events, everything being given Nichijou-level attention to detail and excess so every single action is either badass or hilarious, a plot that kept me hooked, and just straight-up satisfying gameplay.

Nearly every complaint I've had about games recently is absent here. When you buy the game, you have the whole game. The whole game. You have it. It's not split up in any way, shape, or form. There it is. You have it, and you can play it. The music is certainly not forgettable. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApreCAQiZ4w) There's actual brand names in there, but not a one that actually distracted from the experience for me.

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/k4XXXv6jJVT0JDD60B_4du6vSho18Cr9V0ehHailqohV_l4uL52q5XRKPobilVXLfa5VHgSsSjVxztB8ym9KX50Tm8A_N9tPHD0z3tNXIFT6Od9HwZiiNIrfeCvDaoqfYHiHL5Ymw26J9hcjSYgRSk3wdryTMgwwN0s1IIdjvRMYltEZXMzlv7DxXBne9YqCSXJVDhe-51PjE0tcDT_cVAsvuEut8ATm59LTEU7q7xIBNMzTUyYjsJ3u1Q5MrOpd9mkWwk-U9GT1FtQttTf7XrswNg1a9isR_XqOo0QzaMRzRPRkum98wUsbCOYmwBS_PnOKLR8EVaE7HWIm64vhkDMr4R2xkIUhOfFezzNt301Uik_sIIDBf_jS4dtONMoWYk6CnIaE3aKcP6ENCPqldG3I_0-0uXf8NeYb85zwUH9zXQwFWTXYZpK5x4qS8qANn1stqG-moAjye4ot_xqVYbzwNHZKLsxlmeOpV0KExaDXsypeK0wZuM69sodtXeBvZf-0qmd1E1TDbu7iMYy-6oF7FVXfmzM4ZqQiUYMb-Z7udWvT5eZgM1Fat5SpsfZ7UvbCoBl_PMy8BvRfE53t8uCc_pcXxIOJu7Q0XUTxOhO98wQjikfmGrx8WLGwkjYERBChIRCwrdQrX2DC7kMkgUSugQ=w1250-h937-no)

I might be a bit biased, though.

Anyways, heck, the inclusion of shameless Sega self-branding means you can straight-up play OutRun (I mean, there are more games than that, but most importantly, there's OutRun). The city feels lively and gorgeous. The graphics aren't just showy for showy's sake, they're absolutely goddamn beautiful and there's far less focus on making it look photorealistic than just... really good. There's an incredible sense of immersion, but a willingness to be old-school; the boss fights are unmistakably boss fights, with arenas made expressly for the purpose of them. It's not afraid to just be a video game.

That being said, it does manage to bring back a few old-school hassles along the way. No autosaving. A rendering glitch meant I had to shut off my Discord overlay, so no chat messages while playing (which was mostly fine, up until I got to the full hour of cutscenes at the end and came back to a whole bunch of "hey, you there?" pings). Inventory management (which thanks to an item box and various categories, isn't really a hassle, but I felt like having two complaints felt silly compared to a format of three). All that aside, though, it's just been... satisfying. Immersive. Refreshing to have none of the garbage and all of the fun. There's some tutorials and such I don't particularly like, but... I just finished this 33-hour game and immediately want to come back for more. I instantly understand why this series is beloved, and I eagerly await more of it. If you're even vaguely intrigued, I implore you to try it. And if you have a good rig, I implore you to also look at your options and tick the box to render cutscenes at full frame rate, because it makes the whole visual package look so much more cohesive instead of cutting to a seemingly pre-rendered cutscene at a different frame-rate every now and then.

With that said, I'm gonna go back to running my real estate firm by wandering aimlessly around town until somebody asks me for help and then direly hoping that in return, they are good at real estate and will help me, and failing that, I'm gonna go around looking for people in shiny expensive suits and breaking bicycles over their heads to take all their money and buy more businesses with them.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on January 21, 2019, 08:47:20 AM
Bought Hollow Knight. I am a huge fan of metroidvanias and this one is right up my alley. First impressions.
The controls are nice and responsive which is a huge plus.
Oh, hey that's some spikes and a section looks like you need some sort of wall jump. Let's go there, because why not. Turns out you actually can go there with some spike bashing. Oh, hey it's a boss. Let's fight it. YOU DIED. Let's try again. YOU DIED. Hm... How do i avoid a wall of vomit? The same way you use to get to the boss. After a few more tries i actually managed to beat the boss. Satisfaction +10.
UPD:
Soul Tyrant
can go die in a fire. The opportunities to hit him are so few it simply takes way too long for his 1st phase.  Fighting him right after
Soul Master
was probably not the smartest idea, but eh.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on January 22, 2019, 07:25:31 PM
Played through several classic/retro first person shooters in relatively short order. They were, respectively:

DUSK, a recent game that looks and feels like something straight out of the 90s. Generally reminiscent of Quake, it features an adequate variety of interesting enemies (although their 3D models could be better), excellent weaponry where every gun is useful and fun to fight with, good level design, overall nice audiovisuals, and Nyarlathotep. I liked the powerups too. Highly recommended.

Quake. Inspired by DUSK, I decided to give the old classic another spin. Long story short, the gameplay is as fun as always and there's few things quite as satisfying as collecting the Quad and frantically rushing onwards to eliminate as many foes as possible before the powerup runs out. Yet there are also flaws that must be acknowledged. Namely, some places feel rather empty and barebones, with very little in terms of decoration and whatnot. While most enemies are fun, some bring their own set of issues: dogs and human grunts are hardly ever used, for example, and the Death Knight is just an annoying bullet sponge. And the soundtrack never really grew on me; it sounds like an inferior version of Fallout music.

Next up were both official Quake expansion packs. Scourge of Armagon was the better of the two, pushing the difficulty level up a notch and finally giving more screen time to some enemies like the aforementioned humans or Vores. Map design was overall quite good, they were a lot of fun to explore, although I didn't like how they occasionally pull cheap tricks (looking at you, Flying-Mine-In-The-Face). While Dissolution of Eternity introduces some fun toys and features more eye candy, it's ultimately a worse game since combat is at best on par with vanilla Quake, usually easier, and multi-rockets make it almost trivial at times. Bosses were laughable, except the last one who's a sudden difficulty spike capable of one-shotting you at full health and armor. Meh.

Heretic is a 1994 game on the then-fresh Doom engine, replacing Doom's military bases and hellscapes with a fantasy theme. The graphics and music are spectacular and there are few games where everything seems to fit together so well. Levels themselves are likewise excellent, very atmospheric, the architecture going far beyond what Doom could offer, especially in outdoor maps. However, I do have some gripes about the gameplay itself. The crossbow's damage range seems to vary wildly, gargoyles taking anywhere from 1 to 3 shots at close range to kill, Sabreclaws anywhere from 2 to 5 etc. Items are neat, but too many Quartz Flasks make things rather easy, especially with the Enchanted Shield soaking up so much damage. And since weapon effects and muzzle flash (so to speak) are so prominent, you get very little visual feedback and can't tell whether the enemy is stunlocked or currently firing back at you. Lastly, most boss encounters are merely banal exercises in circlestrafing. These issues bog the experience down a little, but not enough to stop me from playing through all five episodes.

And finally, Project Warlock is another modern game hoping to achieve a retro look and feel. Sadly, this one appears to be a failure. While audiovisuals are once again excellent, the game owes much more to Catacomb 3D than it does to Quake, Hexen, Doom, or even Wolfenstein. Very little gameplay depth, poor map design take all the fun out of what initially promises to be an interesting experience. The game has an RPG-like system of stats, perks, spells and upgrades, but it's rather trivial and does not help things at all. I'd give this one a pass.

No idea what to do next. Perhaps an RPG for a change, so I don't oversaturate myself with shooters.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on January 22, 2019, 07:59:59 PM
And the soundtrack never really grew on me; it sounds like an inferior version of Fallout music.

My Quake version came from a bootleg multi-game CD that had music ripped out and I don't believe I've lost anything of value for my experience. Comparing it to Fallout music is stretching it, really. It's just repetitive noise that barely works even as ambience. You want good ambience - check out PS1 or N64 Doom.

Also, your Heretic summary pretty much sums up my problems with it (in addition to not being suited for pistol starts). The weapons just don't feel satisfying enough, with crossbow being the worst offender indeed. But I still keep the WAD around in case I want to play it with a good character mod like Samsara or High Noon Drifter.

(And I did look at Project Warlock but it failed to catch my eye since no saves is an instant deal-breaker to me.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: nav' on January 23, 2019, 07:57:45 AM
My Quake version came from a bootleg multi-game CD that had music ripped out and I don't believe I've lost anything of value for my experience. Comparing it to Fallout music is stretching it, really. It's just repetitive noise that barely works even as ambience. You want good ambience - check out PS1 or N64 Doom.
Heh, same here actually. Always played Quake without any music until now. It just seemed... appropriate, like the game's atmosphere is heavy enough that it doesn't need any music. Maybe next time I'll try with some death metal playing in the background.

(And I did look at Project Warlock but it failed to catch my eye since no saves is an instant deal-breaker to me.)
Honestly, the levels are small and simple enough that saving isn't necessary in the first place.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on January 23, 2019, 08:29:11 AM
Heh, same here actually. Always played Quake without any music until now. It just seemed... appropriate, like the game's atmosphere is heavy enough that it doesn't need any music. Maybe next time I'll try with some death metal playing in the background.

Interestingly, some old FPS games are pretty rich with ambient sounds and feel nice even without music. I'd still say that background tunes help with setting the atmosphere... but it's not the case for Quake that tries to layer ambience on top of ambience. Something more rocking like Quake II OST works pretty well though so yeah.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: theshirn on January 24, 2019, 12:57:27 AM
meanwhile I went back and 100%ed DOOM 2016 on Nightmare again

game's still good! :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on January 25, 2019, 03:55:21 AM
Ace Combat 7. On the one hand, I'm so damn glad it has (had?) AC5 bundled with Playstation copies, and ACI-type PvP multiplayer. On the other hand, I'm so awkward using the flight stick and even with the regular controller, I'm much worse than I was in ACI.

I like the PSVR campaign (https://youtu.be/-b7aHDY2neo), though.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on January 25, 2019, 05:16:03 PM
Having now wrapped up the Cabaret Club Czar subplot of Yakuza 0, with about 90 hours logged in the game, I have now begun Persona 5.

I am really liking having these very meaty, very stylish, very immersive games that I can just get lost in for ages
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on January 30, 2019, 08:33:19 AM
Oh, Hollow Knight, how i love thee. Today i made it to
Nightmare King Grimm
and after a couple hours or so spent on him i actually beat him. That was a blast. No cheap tricks (well, his attacks might seem like that at the start, but all of his attacks are 100% avoidable and punishable, but you usually have less than a second to react to them), just pure skill. That felt good. No. That fealt GREAT. Charms i used Grimchild (required), Mark of Pride, Unbreakable Strength, Unbreakable Heart. Also since i haven't made it to
the Abyss
yet, i didn't have invincibility frames on my dash.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: MewMewHeart on January 31, 2019, 12:52:22 AM
Kingdom Hearts 3 making me cry all the tears of happiness l can't put the game down and the graphics and faces are making me squeal in delight. Ah, but some of the gimmicks and stuff l have to get used to like the Shotlock system.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on February 06, 2019, 09:23:09 PM
Forza Horizon 4 might be a loot-obsessed, crash-prone, buggy mess, but hot damn, I've spent almost the whole last week not even leaving the garage screen and having an absolute blast creating monstrosities to rival my time in Need For Speed: Underground 2. Slapping rally lights to the front of everything, chopping out half the parts, and ending up with something that somehow performs better than before I took every tool in the shop to it... it's a blast! This is what made the previous Forza games so incredible, and it's far and away its strongest point; that's much of what made it so distressing that this title unsubtly nudges you towards pre-prepared special edition cars with all that stuff already done for you. That kinda guts half the game that way. Turns out, though, that some of the absolute best skills in the game are actually applied to cars that, in stock form, are pretty much utterly useless for racing... meaning if you wanna replace everything in it and make a sleeper car, more power to you. It'll be on even footing with the best of the best. In any case, even if you're just screwing around, you can end up with some wonderful before-and-after comparisons.

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/356570332079063071/542425228072976405/Screenshot_2019-02-05_13.59.28.png)(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/356570332079063071/542432405987000340/Screenshot_2019-02-05_14.51.57.png)

As the livery (which is not my creation) suggests, I'm still on Persona 5, and judging by how long this game apparently takes the average player to beat and my general cluelessness with RPGs... it's gonna be a while. I'm absolutely having a blast with the daily student life bit. Maybe not so much the, uh, actual RPG meat of the game, but I figured that. Still, the characterization is more than good enough to carry it for me. There's nobody I'm supposed to like that I actually dislike (though I'm feeling bad for Ryuji getting harassed by half the team at this point), and nobody I'm supposed to dislike that I fail to, which... isn't what normally happens in these sorts of games. Count me pleasantly surprised!

(Count me also pleasantly surprised that after playing Yakuza 0 and going right to Persona 5, one of the theaters in this game is showing "Like A Dragon", which is... the exact first game in the Yakuza series by its original title. Which did have a film adaptation by the same name. So.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on February 07, 2019, 08:08:19 PM
So, i think i am done with Hollow Knight for the time being.
Yesterday i did this.
(https://i.imgur.com/3X75Ylu.png)
I have 111% on my main save and what is left is Pantheon of the Knight, which i don't feel like doing at the moment. And Pantheon of the Hallownest which i feel like not doing at all.
Then there's speedrun 1 and speedrun 2, and that's more or less it. And while both of these can be combined into 1 run, i just do not want to do it as well.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Your Everyday NEET on February 11, 2019, 07:19:31 AM
How NOT to Make a First Boss of a Game by Your Everyday NEET

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/202114239509299200/544346466294956035/20190210215633_1.jpg)

Meet Awaritia Shinentai/Evil Rinnosuke, the 1st boss of Touhou Genso Wanderer. At first, he's just there, sitting on his throne. He'll summon a bunch of Rinnosuke Robos and he will constantly buffs them by doubling their attacks, defenses, and speed. You need to kill all of the robos fast before they overwhelms you. After you get close to his throne, Rinnosuke will starts fighting seriously, blowing you back to the southern end of the stage, and will summon his robos again. But at this phase, he will occasionally throws in area wide AoE attacks that will damage you and deals high damage. If you kill all the robos at this phase, he will summons them back again. But you can?t ignore the buffed robos as they can deplete you HP quickly. It?s really hard managing between robo mobs and attacking the boss.

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/202114239509299200/544349213648093202/20190210220023_1.jpg)

Should you manage defeat him, he will unleash his next phase. This phase is a nightmare. You start at the southern end of the area, and he?s at the northern end. You must get close to him before you can even damage him. But the boss is making it very difficult . He will throws area wide AoE attack every turn and dealing heavy damage to you, he can summons more mobs to blocks and damage you (And he will summon it without regards if I kill all the mobs or not), and he can inflicts nasty debuff like speed debuffs, decreasing my Power, and putting all sort of nasty traps all over the arena. Should get close enough to him to actually deals damage, he can and will nuke you with another AoE attack, but this time, this attack will throw you back to the corner, resetting your progress. Between his constant nuke barrage, the mobs, the debuffs, the fights quickly turns into a goddamn nightmare! Especially when he debuffs my speed. Holy crap! He just bombarded me over and over and over again before I could even get my turn.

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/202114239509299200/544351440089513984/20190210220540_1.jpg)
It?s goddamn difficult for all the wrong reasons. And the best part: Should you lose, you have to retry the dungeon all over again, losing all your level before you get another shot at beating him. And it took me 2 hours to get there. And let me remind you HE?S JUST THE FIRST BOSS OF THE GAME AT THE SECOND STAGE OF THE GAME! Much rage then ensues.

Fucking hell! Even game that I hated the most: Genius of Sappheiros actually KNOWS to ease up the players with very reasonable early bosses before putting up all the bullshit. This game doesn?t value the player?s time, the recent game I?ve seen that disrespected the player is YIIK (Yeek), and that game is basically The Room of Earthbound-esque RPG.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: KLH on February 15, 2019, 07:14:35 AM
meanwhile I went back and 100%ed DOOM 2016 on Nightmare again

game's still good! :V

Literally the best game I've played in more than a decade - the only other game I've enjoyed as much as DOOM 2016 was Battlefield 2142 from 2007.

Pretty hyped for DOOM Eternal (indeed the only game I've been looking forward to)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CyberAngel on February 15, 2019, 07:24:01 AM
I recommend you try the newer Shadow Warrior games in the meantime. And DUSK if you're into the classic stuff too.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: commandercool on February 16, 2019, 07:13:17 AM
So I got furloughed from work recently and have been playing tons and tons of Octopath Traveler while unemployed. It took a ridiculously long time for the game to click with me, honestly too long, but I've been powering through. Beat all of the main story last week and had to look up how to get to the endgame because it's frankly way too obtuse for me to ever figure out on my own.

The last boss
does that thing where you have to separate your party into two groups. Which was worrying to me, because I only really leveled half of the characters. My A team (Olberic, Primrose, Tressa, and Ophilia) is like level 70-75, and the rest are... like 30-40. I put the good characters in one group and the bad characters in the other and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't have to use the B team.

So I beat Fantasy Satan after a very long and drawn-out fight (preceded by a very long boss rush, which was easy but had no save points anywhere) and I was like "Okay, I guess the second team was just in case my main team died or something"... and then the camera panned up and revealed that I had only been fighting Fantasy Satan's legs the whole time, and his even scarier head was about to fight B team on the cliff above.

Needless to say, they all died in his first action. And I got a game over. And I haven't been able to save for like a few hours. And now I have to figure out what to even do with the rest of these losers and grind levels for them, which I always hate doing. I don't know what level I should even be aiming for, I reeeally don't want to re-attempt this, go through the whole boss rush again, and then lose again, but I also don't want to over-grind. Hmm...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: AzyWng on February 16, 2019, 07:30:58 AM
I recommend you try the newer Shadow Warrior games in the meantime.

You can also get Shadow Warrior Classic on both Steam and GOG platforms (Though I can't figure out how to change the controls on the Steam version.)

As for the game I'm playing now... Well, I dunno if this counts since it's a mobile game, but I've been playing a good bit of Space Marshals (Both 1 and 2). Basically, it's a top-down shooter with a lot of stealth elements and a space western theme, complete with cowboy hats and revolvers.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on February 16, 2019, 10:38:54 AM
If you're playing AC7 multiplier, please watch out if your enemy is flying any of these three planes: F/A-18, Su-33, X-02S; do not face your nose directly toward them during the initial engage.

Because goddamn I feed on the hatred of people who run headlong into my EML by rushing into the furball. Just as wonderful as the people who nail fools down (including myself!) with max homing QAAMs or SASMs.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 12, 2019, 09:32:39 AM
I had completely forgotten The Caligula Effect was published by FuRyu, so it amused me a bit when my (imported) copy of Crystar came in a few days ago, and my copy of Caligula Overdose arrived this morning.

(Please get translated, Crystar!)

Also I'm still plugging away at Death end re;Quest. At times I'm not sure what my level is supposed to be, because I get something like five levels off of an Entoma Queen, or wipe out an enemy Glitched Character in a single character's attack wave, but against standard mobs, I struggle a bit because I'm a bit too over-focused on trying to nuke things to notice exactly which nukes work on which enemies. Also not being able to save between a major battle and major cutscenes (with Dead Ends!) is infuriating. If you intentionally or unintentionally peg the Dead End, Game Over, go back to your last save; but we'll give you a small equippable stat token relevant to the Dead End, and your XP and gold from that battle as an apology.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on March 12, 2019, 05:58:10 PM
(As of a few days ago,) I have completed Persona 5.

As someone who doesn't really play RPGs, I have very many opinions about Persona 5. I'm reminded of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, another game that, with sheer charm, a vivid world, wonderful and lovable characters, and deep investment, tricked me into absolutely adoring an RPG just by virtue of being an amazing game overall and leaving me not caring about what it is. (It may also have been helped with this being a bit of a culture exchange with a friend of mine who is now trying a few racing games, and us both realizing that min-maxing vehicle equipment and party equipment is just about mechanically the same thing. So I may end up trying more RPGs... or at least more Persona.)

I will say that the story did begin to wear thin on me by the end. It certainly introduced characters and settings I loved, but also at one point spent an utterly laborious 40 entire minutes on exposition for something I thought was pretty easily revealed in three quick camera shots just before. The end is... a thing. I did appreciate the feeling of agency I had over my character; it feels surreal to see Ren Amimiya in the anime, a soft-spoken mastermind with a focus and goal, compared to who my character, Evan Barchett, ended up being; a deeply confused ball of fluff who just rolled with whatever it is his friends were doing, forgot his own master plan, and repeatedly blew off all his obligations to eat increasingly large burgers and go on dates. I am very interested in picturing how that testimony went.

The balance of Mementos, Palaces, and daily life biz really meant there was always a way to make some kind of progress, and I deeply appreciated that. There's a lot I left unfinished, but... it still took me 120 hours (and 13 minutes) to complete. Well worth $30, and it ran pretty great on PS3, barring some aliasing in 3D scenes and some artifacting during 2D animation clips.

Knowing what I know about it now, I can't say for sure if I want to want to play this again soon, but I'll keep watching the anime for now and see what I think about it. Been a wild ride so far for sure, at the least; it's definitely best enjoyed in game form, but they tried. Anyways. Great game, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Joker's appearance in Smash ends up like.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 19, 2019, 06:39:37 AM
So, uh... Apparently Moero Chronicle is happening on the Switch. How it got past the ESRB with only a Mature rating is anyone's guess, considering literally the first area of the game.

In other news, I don't know about you guys, but I'm all set to go play in SE.RA.PH again with Guadoface, Saberface, and lolitera.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: AzyWng on March 20, 2019, 04:43:51 AM
Recently got Convoy, a game that's kind of like Mad Max and kind of like FTL. Haven't played enough to really talk at length about what it's about.

Also purchased SYNTHETIK a week or two back - that one is a top-down shooter kind of like Enter The Gungeon only it's robots and reloading is a lot more involved and you have a level up and unlockables system.

Reloading has two parts - most weapons require that you "eject" the previous magazine/set of shells/cartridges before then reloading, and the reloading itself works on an active reload system kind of like Gears of War. Then there's the fact guns have recoil and overheating, both of which discourage spray and pray tactics through less accuracy and damaging you, respectively. Each "class" has its own unique active combat skill (unlike ETG where some classes don't have skills that directly aid in a fight) that lets each one fulfill its own roles.

I'd gush more about the game, but I don't really have my thoughts organized - just know that if you like guns and fast-paced, top-down style shooting (not the kind that Touhou provides, mind), this one might be worth a try.

At the very least, the expansion SYNTHETIK: ARENA is out for free on Steam, so give that a go to see how its gameplay is.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 27, 2019, 07:17:51 AM
Start playing Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists.

> Japanese voices only

fffffffffffff you better not do this shit with Lulua, (In all seriousness, though, the chance of this game getting a dub was basically zero from the start, so eh.)


Just beat the main story mode of Fate/Extella Link, and oh god I'm looking at the Extra Missions and it looks like max level is 150, because there's like three EX missions at that level. Well, at least the QP cost of raising Servants is lower than in FGO.


I'm plotting an Ace campaign run in AC7, since I actually have two days off work this week this time. Here's hoping I actually have something resembling energy, unlike last week. -_-
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: PX on March 27, 2019, 02:09:51 PM
They've stopped dubbing the Atelier series for a while now, cut costs for a series not selling too amazingly, not many people care for it and it allows them to localize the games faster

Also Nelke is comfy :)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on March 27, 2019, 06:35:04 PM
Just beat the main story mode of Fate/Extella Link, and oh god I'm looking at the Extra Missions and it looks like max level is 150, because there's like three EX missions at that level. Well, at least the QP cost of raising Servants is lower than in FGO.

Is the game more engaging and varied than the first Extella?  I played that and while basically mindlessly slaying swaths of enemies is cathartic sometimes, going through the same scenarios a bunch of times...isn't, and the gameplay was perhaps TOO simple, at least in the bit I played. 

Really hoping Extella Link fixes these things, unless Im just the wrong audience (which is also fine of course.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on March 28, 2019, 10:27:07 AM
They've stopped dubbing the Atelier series for a while now, cut costs for a series not selling too amazingly, not many people care for it and it allows them to localize the games faster

Also Nelke is comfy :)
*realizing I've never gotten around to playing Lydie & Suelle*

*learning it's Japanese voice only*

ARGH
 :ohdear: :(
It's the Familiar of Zero anime all over again...

Is the game more engaging and varied than the first Extella?  I played that and while basically mindlessly slaying swaths of enemies is cathartic sometimes, going through the same scenarios a bunch of times...isn't, and the gameplay was perhaps TOO simple, at least in the bit I played. 

Really hoping Extella Link fixes these things, unless Im just the wrong audience (which is also fine of course.)
It's still a bit of a button masher. Most combo enders are now Skills, so unless you're in the Master's territory or have Tamamo supporting you with her NP, you can't just spam the hell out of your high power options without at least some cooldown; but you can spam them consecutively if you need it. It's much easier to enter Moon Drive mode (just quell a bunch of enemies or pick up some sake) and Moon Drive now can generate NP charge (on top of having a full NP charge somewhere on every map and a 35% charge somewhere else), so it's so much easier to spam NPs.

Extella Maneuvers are replaced by the Rush mechanic. You can counter some enemy attacks of your own, or you can punch them in the face a few times and use specific Class Skills; which will trigger a button-mash Rush. Counter Rushes are basically tug-of-wars, while Class Rushes are basically single-target Extella Maneuvers which can get support from other allied Servants in the area.

Plants are relatively rare enemies now, so you don't have to constantly bounce around quelling the one bastard that keeps respawning well out of the way (plus, you now have a new Command Seal option to port over to most other Sectors), but now Shadow Servants (the new aggressor unit) often show up with other major Servants all over the place, even in Sectors you've claimed and were otherwise completely void of enemies.

Most Sectors now have their Aggressors available right from the start, instead of having to murder a ton of mooks just to get them to show up; and those that don't generally can be made so by taking other Sectors instead of just murdering everything in the Sector a bunch of times.

There's no longer secondary character missions, so there goes most of the repetitive mission grinding (but since one of the Trophies requires finishing the game in full, then replaying everything in the newly unlocked difficulty, well); but a disturbing amount of the game involves "enemy Servant is buffed! Take down the two Mana Pillars by capturing their Sectors!"

Honestly, I don't think the changes to the battle system made the thing much more complex. If you've played the Neptunia side games, it's basically the difference between Action Unleashed and MegaTagmension Blanc.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on April 04, 2019, 05:10:19 PM
Bayonetta.

...I feel like I can leave it there, really. But suffice to say, I say a lot (primarily about racing games) that you don't really realize you've been playing a bad game until you play a great one. I've never played spectacle fighters or anything like that, and as such, I am very bad at this game. Been playing through on Normal. Hooooooly hell, does this game set my new bar for action games astronomically high. It's got the spectacle for sure! Enormous setpieces and colossal foes and action-figure-esque constant gleeful excess that just ramps up and up and up until you're firing from the hip while riding a motorcycle down an exploding highway and powersliding to slow down time to go even faster. And that's the halfway mark. But, I never really paid attention to this sort of game because there's plenty enough setpieces in the other stuff I play for me to know full well that they mean nothing without good core gameplay. In that respect, Bayonetta excels. Graceful, easy to get hold of (mostly; the floaty platforming still proves a problem for me), and consistent. Plus, you can, y'know, just keep restarting and ignore your end-of-level rank... which I've been needing to do. You get better and better at each fight not from just getting bolstered by tons of RPG-esque upgrades (those are present if you want 'em, though), but from just learning the timing and actually improving.

I've been also playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider and now the dodge-kills in that game feel pitifully absurdly easy because I am now used to Bayonetta's timing instead.

In regards to racing games, of course I've got a few new ones in the rotation there. Project CARS 2 is much more simulation-oriented and thus not really for me, but I've been very much appreciating the deeper cuts of course selection there, such as historic layouts of modern-day Formula One circuits from back when they were just public roads cordoned off, and rallycross circuits in places like Daytona. I've played Daytona International Speedway in dozens of video games starting from when I was three, and I still never had tried the rallycross layout before last week. That's a nice extra.

More pertinently, I've finally come across a PC copy of Blur at a local flea market. You might not recall Blur, but you might remember it's horrendously ill-advised advertising campaign, with a TV commercial showing a cutesy mascot kart racer. One of the little characters, a tiny broccoli man, stares longingly across the fence to something more Gran-Turismo-looking, and it had a tagline of "play with the big boys".

Now, see, I complain a lot that the only racing game most people know and like is Mario Kart, but the only racing game most people know and like is Mario Kart. When your marketing campaign is "your favorite thing is for stupid baby morons, play a real game", you will fail. This, combined with being released in a window right alongside several other arcade-style racers (most notably the similarly-fated Split/Second), doomed it to the bargain bin and shuttered the development studio (eventually; they got exactly one more project in the 007 tie-in Blood Stone). Anyways. For extra irony points, the game most directly comparable to Blur is the later Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, and for good reason, as that was made by a good portion of Blur's staff. It's got realistic city courses and real licensed cars, but with tons of energy weapons and items and all. Any pretense of the game taking this very seriously was purely in the marketing and not really in the game itself; it isn't played up cartoonishly, it just sort of is. It's a video game. This stuff can happen. It's fun. End of explanation, as far as the game's concerned. I'm still only just starting out, but it's nicely hectic and arcade-style (not just in handling, I mean that each race is a short burst of total mayhem and plenty of things to get done in a few laps). I think I can safely say it's a damn shame this game got buried and I'll be quite glad to play a whole lot more of it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ranko on April 11, 2019, 07:52:54 AM
San Andreas and Smash Ultimate!
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: CF7 on May 14, 2019, 10:26:58 AM
I've been playing quite a bit of EO Nexus, while commuting.
My first team was let's make a bad team and spend 140 hours on the first playthrough. I.e. Hero/Princess/Pugilist | Zodiac/Arcanist. But somehow said team managed to 100% the game on Heroic.
My second run was let's make burst damage team and kill things fast. Highlander/War Magus/Nightseeker | Harbinger/Gunner. 5-6 turns boss kills for this team were the norm. I made it to the post game, killed Juggernaut at level 114 and kinda called it quits, since the team does not really have defensive options. I switched to Picnic difficulty for shit and giggles and completely melted both super bosses in 5 turns each at level 116. Picninc is Stupid (with a capital S).
My third team is let's go back to the basics with some oriental flavor mixed in. I am running Shogun/Ronin, Protector/Landy, Medic/Sovereign | Ronin/Landy, Ninja/Nightseeker. And despite my initial fears the team performs really really well. So far made it to the 10th labyrinth and it's been quite a smooth sailing.
Randoms are mostly handled by Ninja sleeping all enemies and then Ronin and Shogun murdering everything.
Bosses usually go like this. First turn Ronin starts in the front line, Shogun uses Great Warrior on Ronin, Ronin uses Vanguard, Medic uses Attack Order, Protector uses Front Guard, Ninja usually uses Bone Crusher. Second turn Ronin hops to the backline and spams Air Blade supported by the rest of the team (Star Drop from the Medic to reduced boss's defence even further, Twin Swallows from Shogun and the like). Repeat until the boss is ded ded ded.
I am not sure if i would go for a fourth run using the classes i haven't used in the first three runs, but that would make an interesting team of Landy, Imperial, Farmer, Suvivalist + some other class.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on May 23, 2019, 05:23:24 AM
I'd be a lot more forgiving of sub-only if the translation was actually really good. At least know your damn it's, its, and its'!

(In all seriousness, though, I'm looking forward to being back in Arland; or rather, back in the former Arls Kingdom, because Meruru is my favorite. Inb4 Witch's Tea Party was the canon Meruru ending.)


(Also also I'm apparently two months late to learn Crystar is indeed getting a translation, slated for August! I... uh... should probably get going on that playthrough.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on May 29, 2019, 11:38:54 PM
Got into Persona 3 for the first time lately. It's been a relatively merciful transition going to this from P5, with the only obvious downgrades being more finicky menus and the graphics being stretched (playing the version of FES that's available for download on PS3; I miss the Wii Shop Channel and companies actually making their older games actually reasonably easy to purchase, so I wanted to show that I appreciated them doing it and go for that. Also I don't have a PS2). A bit more hectic of a schedule lately means I haven't been able to blaze through as much of it as I did P5, but I also am not learning totally from scratch this time, so that helps. That's been my main fixation as of late. I definitely am increasingly understanding why my friends have loved these franchises for so long; it's not just excellent value for the purchase price, but they're also just wonderfully deep, wonderfully fun games with truly immersive worlds and great dialogue options.

Inversely, I wanted to get a 'popcorn game' sort of mindless explosion-fest for those times that I don't have much time to dive right in, and got a copy of Watch_Dogs 2. I loved the original, but... I kinda regret getting this one. The controls are way more unintuitive, the lovable cast of characters kinda isn't (at least not yet), and I think a bit of it is just that I've grown up since the first game's release and am more obviously unimpressed by and disappointed in the shameless attempts for shock value and ripped-from-the-headlines parody. It feels more like it's trying to be GTA-esque, and I've never cared for that style. Credit where credit is due, though; the game's aesthetic seeps beautifully into every single thing about it and is an absolute treat to behold, be it the map screen being your phone's map app, the absolutely trippy and stylish mission intros, or even just little things like the studio logo intro glitching out. Every moment about it has a clear visual design that's bright and colorful and wonderful. I just kinda wish there was more solid game behind it.

Project CARS 2 has lost my interest in its career mode for the most part due to an issue with tire temperatures (they're modeled for you, but not for AI, meaning that qualifying takes you 15 minutes to get a good lap in where the AI will get pole position in one go), but it's become my go-to for just hopping on for a quick race at a specific course or just mixing and matching stuff in fun ways.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on June 01, 2019, 10:17:33 AM
blarg I just spent something like five ingame months in Lulua trying to figure out what the hell they wanted me to do to a Craft to unlock the next story segment; turns out that instead of something normal, like getting a specific Effect or getting wacky with the Traits, or reaching a certain Alchemy Level to unlock something that would help, ?specific caliber of item? just meant a high Quality. I'm not entirely sure whether this game has a time limit, so wasting this much time wandering the world is... not great.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: AzyWng on June 01, 2019, 03:26:53 PM
Got Brigador recently.

Gameplay-wise, Brigador is a game where you obliterate cities with mechs. Tank controls (for the most part), a semi-permanent health loss system (shields are rechargeable from enemy drops, but armor cannot be regained at all), a stealth system that means charging in guns-blazing isn't the best solution every time (especially if you choose the smaller vehicles that have less health), fully destructible environments that open up a number of tactical possibilities, and a fair amount of weapons that let you blow things up in a number of ways.

Story-wise, Brigador is a game where you discover that civilians are worth $50 a pop and that you have to pay about $400,000 to see the terms and conditions of your own mercenary contract.

It's one of those stories where literally everyone is terrible. Not that this really affects the gameplay much, since the story and lore is told to you through flavor texts and the like rather than cutscenes.

All in all, I'd recommend, though the controls may take some getting used to and the gameplay can sometimes be outright brutal.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sheep on July 22, 2019, 02:47:55 AM
Uh ... lately I'm not even playing video games.
The most recent is Minecraft, which a week ago began to play it after years of not doing it.
A lot of things changed but the game is still fun.
I'll see when I have more time (or desire) to play another game.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on July 22, 2019, 06:50:45 PM
I'm still playing Persona 3.

It's really good.

...I know a lot of you knew that in 2006 but I'm taking my sweet time okay

And while I remember, Watch_Dogs 2 certainly picked up after my initial frustrations, but still never quite matched what I hoped for from it. It was still a fun time but I found myself just getting used to it when it abruptly ended. Only one single setpiece brought back what I really played the first game for. At least ridiculous outfits are always fun still.

(https://i.imgur.com/oN7jQct.jpg)

I also have recently sampled Red Faction: Guerilla Re-Mars-stered (the name is easily the worst part; the game's pretty damn solid. Destroy an empire. Here's a hammer. Smack things with it. Go have fun. I will have far more glowing praise when I'm not stuck on a weird turret autoscrolling level) and Driver: Parallel Lines (been waffling on this one a long time, finally tried it, and hoo boy yeah it's just worse GTA, never mind, please play Driver: San Francisco). Anyways. I will likely be back to ramble about Persona 3 specifically when it wraps up, which looks to be soon. (I quite enjoyed the first two of the movie adaptions, too; we shall see on the latter two soon.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on August 09, 2019, 10:05:05 AM
If you've played Girls Frontline and dropped it for whatever reason, it may interest you to know that EN is currently in a collab event with VA-11 HALL-A, aka waifu bartending simulator. It'll last the rest of the month, so if you want to give drinks to T-dolls, there you go.


Should I save money for a Switch, I wonder. With the increasing amount of games that have to be modified to release on the PS4 (for example, some IF games had to have some CGs altered; Omega Labryinth Life had to pull a Mugen Souls and lost its minigames; hell, it looks like Mary Skelter 2 isn't even going to show up on PS4), maybe it's a good time to save for a potential sale and maybe pick up some Switch exclusives I'm interested in.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: AzuraAzureA on August 10, 2019, 02:47:35 PM
smh my head you cant tell me to do something useful with my life what if i wanna just sit down and play more stgs instead  :V
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Sapz on August 11, 2019, 12:26:15 PM
Played through and finished Gnosia. Definitely the best space time-loop mafia simulator I've ever played, and considerably more emotionally affecting than a game that made me play over 130 loops has any right to be. Shockingly good, hope this one gets localized so more people can enjoy it.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on August 17, 2019, 08:35:30 PM
I almost didn't finish Persona 3 (FES).

To put it spoiler-free - which sadly makes this rather short, as much of what I absolutely adore here is the plot and excellent cast - the final boss has one extremely cheap move that can do a ludicrous amount of damage as well as cause status effects that, if you're unlucky, can full-heal the boss. I did not look forward to doing a whole bunch of grinding to be able to tank this, so I put the game aside, only occasionally jumping in and milling about.

...until a lucky drop gave me an item that could completely no-sell all status effects but poison, and I realized that I could just basically inventory-dupe it to make my full party invulnerable. What took me hours to fail the first time was a cakewalk the second go-round.

So, uh, it may have been a slightly cheap way to go about it, but I'm immensely happy with the result (maybe not the ending itself. I felt sorta like I'd been thrown over the handlebars, emotionally, like the ride had just ended and bucked me off without a moment to process it). Now I can finally agree with my friends that have been telling me I should play this for 13 years.

The same friends would tell me to also play Persona 4. I got Golden already, so I'm on it.

...with P5 taking up the first four months of my year, and 3 taking three more, maybe I'll finish this by December... and then we'll see if I NG+ anything or finally play other video games again.

Apropos of nothing, as I'm running out of new and interesting options on the racing game front, my list of complaints with Forza Horizon 4 strangely ticks just a bit longer with the Lego expansion, not because that expansion itself is a problem (it's honestly better designed than the entire game it's attached to and is a pure delight), but because they very noticeably heavily censored almost the entire soundtrack to be kid-friendly to rather ancient standards. It handily butchers every single station but Timeless FM (the classical station) with massive painfully obvious gaps in the lyrics ("Even the       finds love, the       finds love") that weren't there pre-patch. I get that it's due to company standards but good god it's annoying. Reminds me of early Need for Speed and Burnout, but at least NFS was clever with it or at least re-recorded the songs with lyrics about racing. This is more like when Beast and the Harlot was in Burnout Revenge as "Beast..." with the entire chorus removed.

To end on a positive note, DiRT 4 is far more fun than I initially gave it credit for and screwing around in Joyride mode is a blast as ever. The weight of the cars feels just right.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Jq1790 on August 18, 2019, 02:11:16 AM
"Oh look, my healer is Charmed.  Oh look, she fully healed the boss.

This is fine."  (insert dog in burning house here)

The frustrating thing for me when that happened on my first try with that fight was I almost turned it around and won DESPITE having to start over.  I think I got to like 10-20% HP on the second time through before I finally go too worn down.

Next day I went in and everything went as it was supposed to though so that was cool.  Still though, I KNOW the feeling.  I never found those status blocking items either so I had to just pray I didn't run into that.

I'm still bitter the PS3 never got P4G, relatedly...
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on August 18, 2019, 10:07:57 AM
Lowkey, I've never finished P3FES despite having blasted through P4 enough to get Izanagi-no-Okami. I think I stopped right after Ryoji left?

(Also, I own a copy of P5 that I bought on heavy discount, but I've never played it yet. How shitty am I?)

In SMT games, there is no such thing as a cheap strategy, considering all the bullshit they throw at you. Consider that P5 has a drop dead easy way to slay the Reaper - make him catch the flu. Also consider the only really reliable strategy to kill the Demi-Fiend in DDS relies heavily on giving your guys Null Sleep (nulls all damage while asleep) and putting them out whenever the foe is about to use Gaea Rage.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on August 18, 2019, 04:20:04 PM
Still though, I KNOW the feeling.  I never found those status blocking items either so I had to just pray I didn't run into that.

Sure sounds like you do because that was 100% exactly it. I just... not even ragequit, but despair-quit when that happened, though. Like, nah, I'm not even gonna wait until I get mad. Just pressed the power button and walked away. I got those status items by a total random saving throw at a friend's recommendation, as they explained that some Personas can be fused and get Heart items if you just randomly luck out. Never happened to me the whole game, but I figured, hey, I can make Abaddon, he's got a chance of producing a Tome of the Void which nulls every status but Poisoned. All you gotta do is get him to have it when he fuses, and when he hits max level, he'll produce the item.

...and, if you register him in the Compendium just before he hits max level, you can just keep dismissing him and purchasing him back and quickly farm as many as you need. So, I did.

It does not feel like the most satisfactory of victories since it required some chance, but it involved an actual strategy and the grinding necessary to get him to max level also got my party where they actually needed to be for the fight, so it worked out.

I'm still bitter the PS3 never got P4G, relatedly...

I bought this PSTV, like, three years ago.

Can you imagine how stunned I am that I finally have this extremely specific actual single use for it

(Also, the PSTV inheriting the Vita's ability to put a game on standby has nicely opened this up to being playable way more hours of the day because I can actually stop without having saved. Not that I don't still do that frantically and constantly, but picking up exactly where I left off is a real nice time-saver, especially where I'm actually busy lately unlike when I started P5.)

Lowkey, I've never finished P3FES despite having blasted through P4 enough to get Izanagi-no-Okami. I think I stopped right after Ryoji left?

(Also, I own a copy of P5 that I bought on heavy discount, but I've never played it yet. How shitty am I?)

Well if there's no more Ryoji, why even bother, can't blame you there

Hey, great to get in on the ground floor and snag something when it's cheap, but also, it being the title I started with, I'd obviously heavily massively recommend P5. And I'll keep that in mind, strategy-wise; if it works, it works! (I had no idea about the DDS one, that's pretty frickin' hilarious.)
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Ionasal kkll Solciel on September 12, 2019, 01:06:40 PM
So I just learned that Celeste has Chapter 9 out. Oh boy, it's kind of crazy, and apparently I'm not even halfway through yet. The two new mechanics introduced so far (jellyfish that you can use to glide, and pufferfish that explode if you're in a specific arc and also get pushed down if you hit them out of that arc) are pretty neat.
Title: Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
Post by: Pywackett-Barchetta on November 23, 2019, 08:27:55 PM
Since I last checked in, I've finished P4 Golden and, speaking of Celestes, started up yet another series my friends recommend, Danganronpa. I've played the first, second, and Ultra Despair Girls. (How do I have time for all this? Well, not having a job by the time P4G ended certainly opened things up, and by god have I needed an outlet, especially with motorsports season mostly over and icecross season not yet begun! So I'm just frantically plowing through the whole backlog.)

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc feels very much heavy on story and light on, well, actual gameplay, if you're coming into it expecting Ace Attorney or a point-and-click adventure game. It's a visual novel first and foremost, without much depth to the gameplay, but there's enough going on in it that it still feels like it matters that it's interactive. It is best played, not read or watched (doesn't help that the Funimation dub kinda butchers my top favs, anyhow). Absolutely fantastic atmosphere, characters, and setting kept me actively hooked even where I really, really did not like the last chapter.

Super Danganronpa 2 (yes, that's the Japanese title. I just like getting to call things "Super", it's fun) definitely, uh... well, let's be honest. Major improvement on the gameplay difficulty front, as in, it's actually pretty punishing, and Logic Dive is extremely fun. (Essentially, to come to some conclusions, you have to dive into your mind. On a snowboard. And basically play a Sonic 2 special stage in the middle of a trial. It's so stupid and so spectacular.) However, the cast is enormously more hit-or-miss. For me, it was almost entirely miss, and the ones I did like, uh, had a very bad time of it very quickly. But, I'm doing Island Mode in post-game and I'm finally able to catch up on their FTEs, and I'm starting to really like more of the cast, to the point where I went from despising most of the cast to not disliking anybody very strongly. Also, if you're the type to just tune in and watch, Chris Tergliafera, the voice actor of Gundham, has been streaming his own first playthrough lately.

And Ultra Despair Girls... dear lord. Where to even begin with that. I don't think I've ever so heavily enjoyed a game that I don't think I want to recommend. I absolutely loved the cast and the ending and yet I will freely admit that so much of it was brazenly uncomfortable to outright abhorrent that I feel like most human beings I know do not need to experience it. But it closes the circle on DR1 and DR2 in a very satisfying way, and the two lead characters do have excellent chemistry.

All this to say, I'm yet again late to the bandwagon on a series my friends like by an enormous margin of years, and thus I am standing here in a barren empty field of internet finally able to appreciate that the Naegis, Chihiro, and
a certain stabby stabby serial killer
are the absolute best.