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

I think I'm almost done with Signalis.

If you like survival horror, pick it up if you have the means. I've really enjoyed it so far. There's a couple things in the third act that have fallen a little flat, but on the flip side, the third act has a couple things that I find really inspired and intelligent game design. An example
>!Nowhere, the super spooky area in the third act of the game, does this subtle thing where doors don't line up. For example: you exit screen one on the right hand side and enter screen two from the right/bottom/top, not on the left as expected. Really disorients the player, and I see this as a positive!<
Having just replayed the HD _Resident Evil_ remake, I'd say _Signalis_ very competently brushes shoulders with that game and other glowing examples of the genre.

I finished the 100 levels of the battle pass for Rumbleverse. More people should play Rumbleverse. It's amazing.

Inspired by my ~ 10,000th listen to “16 hours of calming Xenoblade music” or somesuch Youtube video, I finally decided to boot up the remaster of the first game again on Switch last night. I made it about an hour into the game maybe two years ago and have completely lost all context for why this little blonde boy is wandering around this town. I picked up about 10 fetch quests, delivered a letter for a small squeaky yellow orb-like creature, and got completely owned by a bunny wandering in the grass just outside of town. Starting to think this game just might not be for me. Does it begin to feel less like an inane offline mmorpg as you progress? Does the combat “click” at some point? I can probably persevere if it means I get to drink in some amazing vistas, but I'm tempted to cut my losses and just declare the Xenoblade series an amazing suite of musical compositions that happen to have several video game adaptations attached to them.

Anyway, I eventually smashed that home button and decided to replay the first few chapters of _Bayonetta_ as Princess Peach. I know the original game is a few generations old at this point, but I'm still impressed with the Switch port! The resolution was a little rough, but the game felt just about as smooth as the PC version I've been playing.

I‘ve been working my way through an alphabetical list of nes/famicom games Ive moved from hard drive to hard drive over the years. Im trying to promise at least 15 minutes to each game just to get a sense of what the gameplay is like and what is potentially interesting about them. So far over the last month Ive made it to the letter “C”, the most recent game being Captain Skyhawk. I’m not sure if the game is too fast or too slow to me, or if its certain elements of the game that could either be sped up or slowed down. I do feel like the plane of vision is too close as enemies surprise me very often and I don‘t feel like I have the appropriate amount of time to react to them. I like the isometric design of the environment and how that almost makes the game seem like its not meant to represent a real place but something more akin to a Tron-like environment, which the thought of flying a fighter jet through cyberspace seems pretty cool at least. I don’t know the story of Captain Skyhawk but if that were the premise I would have been far more interested in it as a kid seeing it on the shelf at the Movie Gallery in my hometown.

I beat Rebonack in Zelda II

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs0epThTlpw

I made it to Twilight Town in Chain of Memes. I now see where this is going, since I'd played KH2 when it came out back in the day. I think the pacing of this game so far and the way they introduced Twilight Town and the atmosphere of said town are all incredible on the GBA. No wonder it was critically acclaimed at the time.

Just started Darkest Dungeon today and I am OVERWHELMED. I don't understand what any abilities do yet, besides sometimes damage and stun, and the loop of a single run feels very stressful especially when a combat is going poorly, but I think I see the appeal? If someone is a Darkest Dungeon fanatic, feel free to wash me with your cleansing fandom.

@“SCPTmatt”#p91760 @“Gaagaagiins”#429! we need you!

(fully expecting this post to get lost in the sea of cries for help that Our Gaags receives, but we can hope.)

I'm about halfway through a playthrough of Vandal Hearts, emulated on an Android tablet just using the touchscreen virtual buttons. I kinda love how easy it is to just play this while lying on the couch or in bed with a screen right in front of my face.

It's making me debate, as I'm not going to shell out for a Steam Deck, whether I should just play an emulated Tactics Ogre or if I want to play the new one on my PC...

@“SCPTmatt”#p91760 Oh oh oh oh me me me!! I'm a total Darkest Dungeon fanatic!

I think I wrote an excessively long post on here for someone else, who may have been further along, but I think it would probably still be useful. Let me see if I can dig that post up...

it worked!

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@“Gaagaagiins”#p91771 I think I wrote an excessively long post on here for someone else, who may have been further along, but I think it would probably still be useful. Let me see if I can dig that post up…

Good news @"SCPTmatt"#1304 , I'm the source of like 90% of the posts on this forum about _Darkest Dungeon_ (also _Darkest Dungeon II's_ current Early Access form), so I was able to find what I was thinking of easily. A string of posts begins [here.](https://forums.insertcredit.com/d/555-insert-credit-helpline/42)

I didn't re-read my posts but I did see that the other forum user had just started playing the night before they posted about it, so hopefully it will have some kind of value to you. You are also more than welcome to revive that particular discussion, quote particular things and ask more precise questions for what you're wondering about or unsure of, and ask anything else.

It's a beautiful game, I'm on record on this forum saying it's one of the best turn based combat system of that _decade,_ and I love talking about it. Please don't hesitate to ask anything! Someone else on here needs to like _Darkest Dungeon!!_

@“Gaagaagiins”#p91774 hey i‘m a huge Darkest Dungeon fan too. i just… don’t have anything all that useful to say about it! but there were a few weeks there in 2014 or whenever where my buddy at work and i would just trade narrator quotes at each other constantly, when the first game was (i think) still in beta.

heck of a game.

_**press this advantage**_, &c.

Just gonna put it out there once again that Darkest Dungeon II is a really exciting iteration on many (not all of them, but that may change once the game gets closer to a real release) of the first game‘s foundations, particularly the combat system’s core concepts just getting brilliantly overhauled, and made both more complex and more legible.

They got some really, really brilliant game designers over at Red Hook.

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@“Syzygy”#p91783 Bloodsoulsiro-Berserkagerogard-Matsunoloft

  • - Bloodborne
  • - _Demons's/Dark Souls_
  • - _Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice_
  • - _Berserk_
  • - _....?? Kagero: Deception II?_
  • - _Drakengard_
  • - Matsuno Yasumi
  • - _.....???_
  • Truly one of the most impressive compound words I have ever seen

    I started playing Mortal Shell yesterday after having it sitting on my PS4 for a while. It‘s pretty good! It doesn’t really reinvent the wheel, but what it does, it does competently and interestingly enough that I'm motivated enough to keep going through it.

    The different shells allow you to change up how you play to better suit your style in a way that I like that isn't just stat dumping on the player's side. Levelling each also allows you to further customize which I really appreciate. The way it handles items, having you not know the effects on first use, and getting better effects later on is something I'd love to see in more games too.

    >

    @“coffeentacos”#p91800 The way it handles items, having you not know the effects on first use, and getting better effects later on is something I’d love to see in more games too.

    That actually rules. There must have been a question on the podcast roughly about how to make items in games good, and well, here's an answer to that question for sure

    re-playing Cyberpunk 2077 for the first time post all the patches. guess what jerks, it's still good. VINDICATION

    I found out that Citizen Sleeper, which has long been on my list, is both on sale AND has two free DLCs (out of three), so it was time. I have to say I‘m not feeling the world as much as I hoped to, and I’m not quite sure why. The writing is good (despite quite a few typos which maybe JOTA could have fixed before adding content? This is a reader‘s game after all), and the characters are lovely. The setting is dystopian, but the way in which you encounter people is positively utopian - almost everyone needs help, is happy to accept yours, and wants to give you theirs. And it’s very easy to play over breakfast or when tired…

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    @“kory”#p91663 Does it begin to feel less like an inane offline mmorpg as you progress? Does the combat “click” at some point?

    Wow you indeed stopped very early. I think you should at least push to Gaur Plains {[the area that sounds like this](https://youtu.be/2UKoc4_C_Qw)} to understand the whole deal. That’s pretty much where the baby wheels come off and you get to see what the game is all about. You may still not enjoy the game, for sure! But then you’ll be certain you did not miss anything, and most of the battle mechanics will have been unlocked / taught by that point. Exploring the world and "going where you shouldn’t go yet" is a huge part of the appeal of the game.

    Xenoblade does keep an "MMO lite" aftertaste all the way through. Just like FFXII, it was heavily influenced by the success of Lineage and FFXI in Japan. But you don’t need to bother too much with quests in the first village for now. You are not meant to complete everything in each area sequentially. The game is extremely lenient with teleportation and letting you return to earlier areas at almost any moment.