(Archived 2022) The thread in which we talk about games we are currently playing

marlfuchs2

Was going to start a “Quake” thread but this thread is fine.

Shortly before moving I bought the Quake Collection and played through Quake 1. It was engaging! it’s interesting to compare it to modern FPSes and also compare each episode of Quake, as they all have different character because they were all designed by an individual (mostly). In terms of enemy design, the Quake Shambler and Ogre are really brilliant in how they’re used to create encounters and combat using the game’s somewhat limited palate of game design elements. It also has a lot of rough spots, but overall I really liked it.

I’ve also been playing some of the mission packs, with a goal to finish both before moving onto Quake 2. Here in the first mission pack, where you shoot wave after wave of identical space marines in a sci fi setting, it feels like the mold for the contemporary FPS was set. There’s also space lasers and robot scorpions.

I’ve also been playing Outrun for the Sega Genesis as a de-stressing game after work, I found out how to open up the secret menu to turn off collisions and I just do easy runs without any pressure. Turns out if you get each of the 5 endings, you unlock the credits! I had never seen it before.

GigaSlime

Shadow of the Tomb Raider was free on PS+ last month and Tomb Raider Definitive Edition was on sale, so I’m replaying the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy (replaying the first 2, anyway. Never got around to Shadow).

The first one is pretty good, definitely way better than the first Uncharted, but I can’t stop fixating on the horrific stab wound Lara has for the entire game. Like, first five minutes, she falls onto a rusty bolt that pierces straight through the side of her torso. It does a good job of establishing the tone they’re going for, but seriously, she should just be done. Every step she takes and certainly every jump should be crippling agony. What really gets me is, there’s a section about halfway through where Lara takes a nasty fall and her wound reopens (I don’t remember it ever getting dressed or stitched up in the first place and it certainly never gets a chance to heal!) and you have to make your way to a wrecked helicopter to find medical supplies. Almost immediately, Lara is forced to wade through filthy, waist-deep sewer water filled with trash and rotting corpses, and all I can think about is how it’s all just seeping in. At the end of all this, you don’t find any supplies, just a lighter, so Lara has to heat up an arrowhead and use it to cauterize the wound. FIRE ARROWS UNLOCKED

Cheddahz

i haven’t been playing a lot lately (thanks grad school), but i’m slowly getting through hitman 3 (2021) and the dubai map is a fun time (trying to get mastery level 20 before moving on) and after tim’s stream of wild arms 5 a week ago, i played a little bit of that and found the battle system to be a good time

Snowdecahedron

Played Touhou Luna Nights.

It’s a metroidvania that’s actually kinda linear, Metroid 2 style, set in the Touhou universe, which I know almost nothing about but it doesn’t really matter. The main gameplay mechanic is stopping time so you can dodge attacks and throw knives that will fly when time resumes. It’s a boring way to play but using this can make most enemies trivial if you want to, especially early. There’s also the “graze” mechanic from the main games: get close to enemies or bullets to get back HP/MP/timestop juice. The bosses make great use of this mechanic and are the highlight of the game for sure.

It’s short and on Game Pass so give it a try. If I didn’t convince you maybe this will!

Syzygy

They’re a doujin circle originally and have done a number of games in similar style, some of them free.

thiccnick

I’ve been playing Street Fighter II Super Turbo on Fightcade along with reading From Masher to Master by @pattheflip (I sub to your Twitch, so I hope that makes up for the fact that the book is free!). The Vice Reset video made me realize how much I miss fighting games, so I’m glad to playing them again! I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m living in the UK and my hitbox is back in the US. Luckily I’ll have it back in a few months! I’ve been using Fightcade, and the netcode is amazing. I’ll never go back to delay based (I played UNICLR and GBFV heavily, but stopped when CLR came out on PC and everyone I played with moved over, and GBFV’s netcode was too poor to play once pandemic hit). I’ve read a lot about Fightcade being toxic, but honestly it’s been fine for me in ST. People have been helpful because they can tell I’m new. I really like Super Turbo and I’m glad to be getting back to the basics.

I’ve also made some headway in SMT Persona 2 Innocent Sin for the PSP. It’s neat! I was feeling the need to play another JRPG after FFXIITZA, so I decided to give it a shot. I have 3 thoughts: the story is really interesting, and starts off strong! The encounter rate isn’t as bad as I was led to believe, but the battles are slow and so easy that auto battle has taken care of everything (including the first main boss)! Third, the transphobia in the armor store is the telltale sign that this is a Persona game, and I wish the series would drop it!

sabertoothalex

thiccnick I gotta get back to P2IS, if only to finally just finish it. I found anything having to do with combat and dungeons to be a complete slog. Everything is just so slow. It feels like there’s lag when you hit a button to when the thing happens and it’s just long enough to be annoying. Otherwise I agree on the story and characters, they’re great. Just wish I didn’t have to do the stuff in between.

That Persona 1 PSP though. That game moves and grooves.

Gaagaagiins

I’ve been playing Pathologic 2, and boy, when they said the Intended Difficulty setting is supposed to feel “almost unbearable,” they weren’t fuckin’ around!!

whatsarobot

beets Good question! I also really enjoyed Persona Q, and got to the last area but didn’t quite finish it.

If you’ve never played an Etrian Odyssey before, I’d say either IV or Nexus would be the best place to start, depending on what you’re looking for.

With EO IV, you’re getting the first 3DS entry in the series, so it retains more of the “classic” feel of the DS entries, before they started layering on all kinds of crazy subsystems. There are interesting class combinations to play with, without too many to be overwhelming, and it will be the cheapest one to buy (if you are buying).

With Nexus, you’re getting by far the most quality of life features, and a big sampler platter of worlds, classes and music from all the past entries in the series. It also has four difficulty options, which is more than any other entry. However, you’re getting an insane number of classes to choose from, so the very real paralysis that comes from Etrian Odyssey party building is a threat. Also it’s still pretty pricey (again, if you are buying).

Happy to answer any other questions you may have!

whatsarobot

yeso Brandish PSP remake is my other favourite example of Falcom’s power in the just-before-Persona-disease era.

rejj

I have been spreading my time across a few games recently, depending on how I feel at the time:

Yakuza 7
Path of Exile
13 Sentinels

Yakuza 7 is so deliciously stupid, I love it. I’d only really played Yakuza 0 before, so I don’t have any real nostalgia or reverence for the series. I probably have been missing out, it seems! Maybe a 2021 project can be to go back and check out more of this series.

Path of Exile has just recently had a major, yearly expansion released - and it is fun to blast through and see the New Stuff. I’ve always liked ARPGs, and in my opinion PoE remains the king of the hill here.

I only really learned about 13 Sentinels when it was appearing on a bunch of end of year GOTY style lists around the place. I recall seeing a tiny amount of coverage right when it came out, but I didn’t really pay attention and never thought to give it a look. The kicker was seeing it appear right up the top of a whole bunch of the guest lists Giant Bomb published, largely from somewhat interesting people who don’t just list 10 AAA games every time they are asked! I figured I’d give it a look, and I’m fully on board for the ride now. I’m about 30% of the way in, judging by the menus - and I’m keen to see what absolute bollocks the remaining 70% is going to offer me. Pretty Good Time thus far.

xhekros

rejj What amazes me about Yakuza is that while it’s incredibly stupid, it can go to a very serious extreme without losing its essence. It’s splendid to see how versatile the plot and the gameplay is in that sense. I mean, it’s terribly rare to see a game so focused in surviving just for yourself, then you play a minigame about recollecting cans and not feeling strange about it.

JoJoestar

Sooo… it seems I have finished the original King’s Field for the PlayStation, huh?

Fascinating little videogame. So raw and uncooked in its presentation, but very captivating if you allow yourself to look past that. Design wise holds up very strongly in my opinion, offering a sense of exploration, adventure and discovery few games manage to land.

Feels incredibly ahead of its time and funnily enough, despite the omnipresent comparisons with the Souls games as its “predecesor” and such, really feels a lot closer to western games like Prince of Persia, Ultima Underworld or System Shock, or Castlevania 2 and Zelda if we are talking about japanese games than it does with any of the recent FromSoft games.

SuperEffective

I’m addicted to Monster Rancher again.
I’m currently emulating Monster Rancher Advance 2 on my phone and going god mode by using save states.

I wish I could play the PS1 Monster Rancher 2 instead. Ideally, I’d like to invest in an original playstation 1 and a copy of the game but it requires the use of random CD’s to generate monsters of which I have almost none left.

There’s just something so magical about the way the game can build a relationship to the stupid monsters that you generate using CDs and I’ve yet to to find another game like it. Those little suckers really grow before your eyes. The monsters all look so damn weird too.

thiccnick

sabertoothalex I’m emulating so I am doing everything at 2x speed. I’ve read a lot of people complaining about frequent random encounters, but I think the problem is a little different. It’s random encounters, but the combat is 1. slow and 2. boring (same with demon negotiations). It’s a bummer because I love the combat in Persona 5.

I am interested in trying 1! You’re actually one of the first people I’ve come in contact with who has praised the game without the caveat “it’s dated” or something along those lines.

Nritter2

Man, I’ve been replaying Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, and I love this game so much. It makes me so sad that Capcom just like…. Gave up on new IPs.

The music is so fun and jammy, the art style is lovely, the animation is so full of personality, the characters are dumb and weird, the mystery hook is interesting, the puzzle game play is just fun enough and unique to keep it rolling. Like. It’s so good haha.

I really hope Shu Takumi is able to make a new game IP again or just like… Anything new.

whatsarobot

Nritter2 Man I keep hoping he’ll get the green light to do something with Ace Attorney on the Switch.

Or… anything. I’d play it.

sabertoothalex

Nritter2 I played this a few years back and ended up playing the entire thing in one sitting because I was so captivated by it. It’s an all timer for me. Top 5 ever.

Gey Poope

I’m playing Mega Man X4 and coming to terms with the fact that X is a cop/blade runner/human collaborator putting down an independence movement.

Nritter2 BELOVED game. Wonderful in every way. I’m excited for you ~~to be playing it for the first time!~~ oops, well, it’s definitely worth another playthrough! It made me cry far more than most games that have made me cry.

Nritter2

sabertoothalex I think this is my 5th playthrough? I’ve been playing two chapters at night as a decompresser from that days classes. So lovely

Syzygy

Gey Poope
Believe it or not the series does things with that eventually, even if they never have the daring to really, permanently cast X in villainous terms. And the whole canon is one of the triumph of AI and cybernetics over humanity, unto our extinction; it’s a funny subtext for something marketed to kids.

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