Author Topic: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E  (Read 282032 times)

Garlyle

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #600 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.
« Last Edit: September 28, 2016, 09:50:57 AM by Garlyle »

NaCl

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #601 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.

Raikaria

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #602 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.


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I don't even remember who put the above in my sig. [Wasn't me] Nor do I understand why I keep it here anymore.
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Reddyne

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #603 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.

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Ionasal kkll Solciel

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #604 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?
« Last Edit: October 20, 2016, 09:15:41 AM by Ionasal kkll Solciel »
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NaCl

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #605 on: October 21, 2016, 12:23:07 PM »
Nintendo Switch 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. 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?

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #606 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!

Raikaria

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #607 on: October 21, 2016, 09:59:34 PM »
Nintendo Switch 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. 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.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2016, 10:02:31 PM by Raikaria »


http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/tribute/
I don't even remember who put the above in my sig. [Wasn't me] Nor do I understand why I keep it here anymore.
Those two facts sum me up pretty well.

Teewee

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #608 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.

Ionasal kkll Solciel

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #609 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).
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NaCl

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #610 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.

Raikaria

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #611 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]
« Last Edit: October 26, 2016, 06:47:19 PM by Raikaria »


http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/tribute/
I don't even remember who put the above in my sig. [Wasn't me] Nor do I understand why I keep it here anymore.
Those two facts sum me up pretty well.

triangles

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #612 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++

Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #613 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.

ふねん1

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #614 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.
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Reddyne

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #615 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.

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Your Everyday NEET

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #616 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.

Your Everyday NEET

  • Part time Researcher & Let's Player, full time NEET, also an eel
Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #617 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.

Aldnox

  • EoSD addict
Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #618 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.

Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #619 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.

NaCl

  • Salty bitch
  • I'm very salty. Sometimes.
Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #620 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!

Pywackett-Barchetta

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #621 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.

Your Everyday NEET

  • Part time Researcher & Let's Player, full time NEET, also an eel
Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #622 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.
Spoiler:
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.
« Last Edit: December 21, 2016, 03:00:54 AM by Your Everyday NEET »

Ionasal kkll Solciel

  • Girl from beyond the 7th Dimension
Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #623 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.
Let's Play: BIT.TRIP FLUX | Let's Play: Malicious | Skyward Sword: Shieldless Final Boss | Skyward Sword: Boss Rush! | Ace Combat Infinity: Campaign in the X-02 Wyvern


Move eternally forward,
So that we may always be at your side.

Sapz

  • There's no escape.
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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #624 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
Let's fight.

Raikaria

  • Do Tank Girls Dream...
  • *
  • Of Floating Eyeballs?
Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #625 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.


http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/tribute/
I don't even remember who put the above in my sig. [Wasn't me] Nor do I understand why I keep it here anymore.
Those two facts sum me up pretty well.

Your Everyday NEET

  • Part time Researcher & Let's Player, full time NEET, also an eel
Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #626 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.
Spoiler:
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:
Spoiler:
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.

Your Everyday NEET

  • Part time Researcher & Let's Player, full time NEET, also an eel
Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #627 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).

Pywackett-Barchetta

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Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #628 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.

Your Everyday NEET

  • Part time Researcher & Let's Player, full time NEET, also an eel
Re: Games You're Playing Right Now Thread VI - Even in this thread, F O E
« Reply #629 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
Spoiler:
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.