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

video games
2619

@“LeFish”#p79934 that was incredible to watch. i am more of a Sonic fan now than i was before watching that clip. if new Sonic games were like that, stage after stage, they'd all be heralded as modern classics.

2620

I just got the flippers in wario land 3. I‘m enjoying it.

I’ve hit a strangely broken level in SMBDX

In the original FDS super mario bros 2, as I mentioned already, it had expanded physics. for the port to Super Mario Bros. DX, they rebuilt the lost levels in the SMB 1 DX engine, while tweaking a few things to make it playable without luigi‘s super jumps or the super high rebounds in the sequel. Up to this point, it’s been really fun.

7-2 though, could have used some work.

Here‘s the original:

https://youtu.be/R4oV99xjDEc

here’s SMBDX, much, much harder:

https://youtu.be/sBIba1ytE-Q

the player in this video uses the baby rebound from koopa paratroopas, but my method works just as well and requires less setup. I do a running jump onto the cloud when its further ahead and then keep my momentum and jump up to the pipe.

But it's the latter half of the stage that's just so hard. I keep landing on koopa paratroopas, and instead of getting the post SMB1 excellent rebound physics boosting me up, it nerfs my jump and I die and have to start all over every time!!! I didn't know how closed I kept getting to the goal and dying each time!! The stage has no checkpoint so even though I keep dying on the very last piranha plant before the goal, I have to go back to the start and do the stupid pipe jump over the paratroopas again!!

The original Famicom Disk System version seems really fun though. and I like that my beloved squeaky momentous changing direction sliding sound from SMBDX actually originated there. That's really good attention to detail in design that modern rereleases just miss most of the time.

just for fun here's the snes version of this stage:
https://youtu.be/LzjrqgpAGzc

2622

@“sabertoothalex”#p79950 In my case, played normally and got B, looked at a guide to get A, and then did C just for the kicks. All over the course of one summer, which left me with a strong impression of the game. Good stuff.

2623

still chipping away at SMTV. in the 3rd area, enjoying how the scope keeps getting bigger and bigger. people love to just post straight up spoilers online? game's not even a year old you freaks!

God of War reboot abandoned. why that camera perspective? why such shooter-y controls? would be great with the usual third person action perspective.

found myself sucked into jedi fallen order. game's a sloppy, floppy mishmash of stuff from better games but it was going down easy until i got to >!dathomir and the bat boss!<. i can feel the reduced playtesting on this area versus the rest of the game.

2624

Picked up Garage: Bad Dream Adventure and it‘s truly odd. I don’t know how to describe it other than unsettling, but also alluring. I'm hoping someone here has played it cause I know that my gaming social circle would not touch this with a ten foot pole.

It's a point and click adventure game, but it really revolves around meter management:
You have a fuel gauge and an Ego gauge. Fuel runs out, you stop moving. Ego runs out, you can't communicate (Word lost) and eventually you won't be able to use your arms.

I've only played about 30 minutes to an hour and keep running out of fuel, but it seems like a very neat little game.

2625

@“KingTubb”#p80046 I‘ve played the first little bit, just trying to figure it out and made decent progress, then forgot to save. Haven’t gone back, but I intend to soon. I saw it recently got updated to teach how to play a little better, which is good!

2626

After some important consideration, I would like to offer an addendum to my above thoughts concerning animal games: the cat from Stray is also kinda ugly

[upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/le6nBVl.png]

2627

Yeah, I‘m giving up, this is the most rediculous level in history. if you don’t make it to the end without a fire flower intact, you can‘t get past the piranha plant before the goal, because:


  • - if you get close enough for the plant to spawn, you are on a falling platform which doesn’t give you enough time to wait for it to recede

  • - if you jump onto the pipe, the plant will be out, giving you 1 pixel to remain safe, nearly impossible with momentum.
  • - you basically have to shoot a fireball at the plant to get past or take a hit for the invincibility frames.
    • 2628

    >

    @“tokucowboy”#p80061 the cat from Stray is also kinda ugly

    It's got.... like...... person face....

    2629

    @“Gaagaagiins”#p80078 A sketchy-ass person face, too. I dunno, there‘s just something weeeeeeiiiiird about the design and I don’t like it. There have been tons of way cuter, way cooler and way better looking cat characters in video games:

    [upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/SxwRWvs.png]
    [upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/4tH93Xv.png]
    [upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/vn8WWFW.png]
    [upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/PO46dov.png]
    [upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/8LAK4Q1.png]
    [upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/Qp23gOb.png]

    2631

    @“tokucowboy”#p80082 [upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/yEQx4DH.png]


    2632

    Opening hour of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is good. Lots of cutscenes and then some exploration. There were 20 glowing trinkets to vacuum up immediately in front of me when the first exploration section opens. It’s Xenoblade….confident and good Xenoblade.

    2633

    @“LeFish”#p79934 I played a lot of SA2 growing up. I never understood why everyone liked it so much over SA1. I didn‘t like being forced to do the other character’s levels, and the way they changed the Emerald radar things to 1 at a time always bugged me. Then a couple years ago I went back and played SA1 and 2 back to back. They‘re bolth pretty dang good. I always gave SA2 such a hard time, but it really isn’t a bad game. Sorry, Sega of the 2000s.

    I still prefer the first one though.

    2634

    Can concur on the early game Xenoblade 3. The most heartening thing given my Xenoblade 2 trauma has been the whole crew of soldiers having a co-ed bath scene (as soon as they mentioned it my internal sirens starting going off) and it was totally fine. Shockingly fine. Almost Starship Troopers-ian. I'm kind of in pleasant disbelief at how much of a non-issue it was compared to the last game.

    Liking the child soldier vibes and literalization of the whole concept of war. Looking forward to spending a day with it.

    @"treefroggy"#p80087 Violence Island: Meowtroid Cat vs. Gato Roboto

    2636

    Xenoblade 3 smacks you with a scene lifted directly from Starship Troopers within the first hour.

    2637

    Bouncing back into SMTV after bouncing off it due to personal lack of time for a 100s of hours RPG last fall. Game rules. I know some people had some issues with DLC balance and pricing and etc, but luckily I didn‘t buy any of that and I’m having a blast. Feels very much like Nocturne 2 specifically, or at least feels like how Nocturne felt 20 years ago. Balance feels great so far, each boss is tough but feels doable without grinding. The writing and the translation for the demon negotiations is great if very online, the soundtrack is amazing, I love all the dumb platforming. Very much the kind of game that shows you a roof and you're like, I wonder if I can jump up there, and the answer is, well, not really, but they put some candy up there for you if you somehow manage to do it. Very much looking forward to sinking a good portion of my game playin hours into grinding this and then bouncing back to Dungeon Encounters, which I also loved but also did not have the time nor the headspace to finish last year.

    Other stray game playin thoughts:

  • - Dig Dug out next week on ACA. Do I own Dig Dug like 8 times already? Probably. Will I buy it again and grind the leaderboards for like 10 hours before becoming discouraged? Almost certainly.

  • - No, seriously, Dig Dug rules. It's the best maze game, by a large margin. It has a wild scoring system with combos and it rewards you for putting yourself in harm's way and encourages you to juggle enemies on screen and deal with them in groups rather than picking them off on by one.
  • - _Seriously, play Dig Dug._
  • - Been playing Monster Train a bit. The more time passes the more I like it and the less I like Slay the Spire. The runs feel much more memorable and unique. It feels like you have much more control over what you're building towards. My only issue is that low rolling in Monster Train feels _terrible_ and they have a few too many mechanics that allow a total wiff via bad draw order or bad rng.
  • - Been playing Gungeon as well, and after like 50 hours have unlocked Turbo Mode. This is the speed the game should have launched with. It's not harder really it just solves, or almost solves, how gosh darn bullet spongey everything in that game feels. And then there should have been an option to double it again from there in an actual menu and not a randomly rolled subquest line. Game is real fun but still feels like you spend half the game shooting a thing for too long and then half the game reloading.
  • - Gun Frontier gets a PS4 and Switch port on the 12th, so I've been playing a lot of it in MAME in the meantime. There aren't many games that are better than Gun Frontier, and I'm not sure if any of them are on the Switch.
    • 2638

    Finished yesterday “Earth Defense Force 5”. I launched anti-aircraft missiles at God's face. Earth has been completely vaporized. The last screenshot is a lame pun. 10/10. I love video games.

    2639

    I‘m also playing SMTV and really enjoying it. I’m finding navigating the world hard to parse since it all looks the same but I‘m really enjoying making demon pals. It reminds me a lot of Pokémon Arceus in that it has a large wasteland of a world that is populated by a thousand of the same enemy and there’s barely any story. I mean that all in a good way. You're just let loose and you go for a roam and see what you can find.

    It's another in defining a genre for the system; fairly rudimentary open world games that are really interesting but the Switch struggles to run. Also included are NMH3, Dead Prem 2 and Arceus. I love them.

    2640

    @“Chopemon”#p80206 oh yeah Arceus is definitely king of that “Open World with Platforming so Janky You‘re Not Sure it’s Intended” genre. An Owpjynsi if you will.

    2641

    Alright, ya got me. I‘ve got a little over a week of vegging out before starting a new job. I’ll be jumping back into smt v and trying dig dug!