@“deepspacefine”#p140272 i just finished What the Golf? and played through one of the extra episodes. would really like it if the new game wasn't an apple exclusive lol
@“Mnemogenic”#p140276 I had never heard of these people. I’m on a big phone game bender bc I got a free 3mo Apple Arcade sub with my new phone. I’ll text tim and ask him to let the people play bad outrun
Started playing For the King II with a couple of friends. It‘s a sort of multiplayer board-game-like turn-based RPG. We’re most of the way through the third major quest right now. A few notes:
I’ve been playing the demo for Born of Bread, and dang is it a bunch of fun! Clearly it’s got big Paper Mario energy but so far it’s mostly just the presentation and the similar battle system— you’re 2D in a 3D world but there doesn’t seem to be any in game significance to that. But it’s clearly somebody’s labour of love!
@treefroggy when a villager asks for a ball in Animal Crossing, but they're in their house, is there no way to give it to them?
@“Karasu”#p140294 Before clicking: I really want it to be like those craft-themed N˚nt˚ndos (y*** don't @ me) except with everyone made out of bread instead of yarn or whatever
@“deepspacefine”#p140306 it’s not quite that, but I think it’s in the spirit of that. Finished the demo, and I think it’ll be a buy for me on that basis.
Rolled credits on Steambot Chronicles.
Have some thoughts, but they all pretty much boil down to: It‘s really close to a perfect game for me, not in spite of it’s issues, but kind of because of it‘s issues.
I know there’s more after the credits, and I‘ll also probably do a villain playthrough at some point, but I’m happy with how much I've played at this point.
An absolute all-timer for me.
Now on to Boku no Natsuyasumi 2.
It's not my first time playing, but it is my first time playing where I have any idea what anyone's saying.
Upon pressing start this game just makes me feel very warm inside.
Very excited to pretend to be a young Japanese boy on vacation for the next while.
@“saddleblasters”#p140298 that‘s interesting & rare, and definitely an oversight. You can wait outside their house or catch them next time they’re outside that day to bring them the ball. they won‘t leave their house so long as you’re inside it.
@mtvcribs oh man, two PS2 games I really want to play.
There's a great moment toward the end of Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails where, just based on the knowledge that this was a modestly-budgeted Japanese action RPG from 2012, I was expecting an upcoming series of boss battles to be recycled fights against the main four bosses from the middle of the game, and it turned out to be completely bespoke fights against previously established characters that I now feel embarrassed to have not anticipated I would eventually be fighting. Bravo, Falcom!
hacked Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 and it was somewhat engaging for a bit there in the middle but it left me with a terrible taste in my mouth. the story is dumb as bricks, a vague platitude about ambition vs complacency and the friends we make along the way. you are constantly railroaded into choices where you don‘t have the information to assess practically anything about them, and all outcomes are pretty bad. which is funny in an abstract way but deeply unsatisfying to play. it’s blatantly trying to be Grand Theft Auto in the future, but it‘s a shit GTA and a boring generic future. I haven’t played a GTA in probably 10 years and yet I missed the careful attention to slow-cooking progression in those games, the fun driving mechanics and physics, and the variety and inventiveness of the world-building.
for a game with punk in the title it is embarrassingly shy to come close to making any genuine political statement, viciously straddling the noncommittal mass media appeal line, and styling it in the HBO-drama cocktail of "cool stuff", sex and violence. it is reminiscent of Call Of Duty, using big words and big themes to frame a childish and masturbatory power fantasy. playing it, you are constantly reminded of the much better books, movies and even videogames it is tAkiNg InSpirAtiOn from, and you wish you were enjoying those instead.
for a game set in the future it has a distinctly old-feeling story that could have easily been set in the present. we are asked to believe that the character played by Keanu Reeves, a "rockerboy", would have been popular in 2013, and remembered fondly by old rockers in vinyl stands 50 years later. if this was referring to 1970 vs 2020 it would be believable, but 2077? his vibe would already be outdated and retro in 2013, let alone 2077. this is true of the rest of the world-building as well. none of the music in the radio feels particularly futuristic. the city looks like interactive concept art but while it nails _the look_ sometimes, nothing about it *feels* that futuristic. everything from the political factions, the world of gangs and prostitutes, and the corporations could be portrayed today with less gadgets and it would be exactly the same; this is less a statement about the slow and wavy road of progress and more a distinct lack of imagination on the part of the creators. there is a scene in an EDM club and Keanu yells something along the lines of "what the fuck is this trash?". everything in this game screams it was made by old people, or middle aged people who wished they were born twenty years earlier, and have for some reason set themselves the task of making something teenagers today will like. it has the spirit of an advert from the 90s.
I played 2.0, and if this is the fixed one I do not dare to wonder how broken the balancing and progression systems were in the original. I played for close to 25 hours barely upgrading anything, bumped into the final mission and realised I was playing it wrong. I awkwardly re-specd my character for what I thought the game wanted me to do and did a most of side content in quick succession. needless to say this did not feel ideal. I basically died in one shot for most of the game, and was essentially unkillable for the rest of it. all the specialisations, hacking and stuff aren't meaningfully integrated into the story. it feels like in Zelda, like they exist in a different realm, but unlike Zelda there are zero tutorials or in-game guides, so you always feel you're probably doing the wrong thing.
potentially interesting systems, like braindances (replaying memories) or certain powers, are rarely used to their full effect. stealth is a joke, with the vast majority of enemies facing the wall or an empty area most of the time. you never enter a room and a guy is looking at the door, it just doesn't happen. in this vast cyberfuture, not one guard is doing their job. so you can play stealthily, until suddenly you can't, or it's extremely annoying to, and then the game lets you know you made the wrong choice by making you repeat a sequence over and over again.
ironically the kinda throwaway side gigs are the best part of the game, presenting little stories in little areas, with clear objectives, distinct possible approaches and outcomes. one of them is a parody of Raymond Chandler. Keanu Reeves pretends to be the voice of the narrator in those novels while you investigate a martial dispute. the player character, V, constantly interrupts him telling him to stop, upset to have an attempt at literary flourish spoiling his bro-y shooty game. I wish he never stopped.
oh and the sex scenes are cringe af.
@“Tradegood”#p139836 Kids love them horror games.
@“treefroggy”#p140324 they came out after a little bit, but by then the ball was gone and I couldn't find it! oh well, maybe tomorrow.
i also want to say that discovering this game has balls randomly appearing on the ground was completely unexpected. wild world didn't really have anything "dynamic" like that for you to interact with outside, and I'd never seen them when watching other people play. I have a good idea of what some of the things I haven't experienced in the original game are, but I'm very curious what other "unknown unknowns" there will be.
Almost done with Alan Wake and I believe that it might be one of the most 2010/7th generation video games ever made
@“saddleblasters”#p140367 that’s why I love the original the most. Tons of stuff like that. It was very experimental, compared to now where it certainly knows what it is , for better and for worse.
@“saddleblasters”#p140367 like Froggy said, the original is still so special because of stuff like this. I loved playing Wild World and New Leaf as well but it’s pretty clear that immediately after that first one Nintendo decided to smooth out the experience quite a bit.
I am two stages into Nioh 2 and I think it is now my time to hop off the Nioh train. There are way too many systems and too few buttons on the controller. and it is simply not fun anymore. I feel like my fingers are playing twister trying to change weapons, items, stances and use yokai abilities. Bosses are somehow even more bullshit than the first game and I am longing for the elegance of something like old xbox Ninja Gaiden.
I'm tempted to try Wo Long, but I'm willing to bet it's somehow even more complex than Nioh 2.
I got around to installing a gdemu into my Dreamcast which has had a bad disc drive for like a year now. Had a good time channel surfing, and stuck with Super Runabout because of the sweet scenario options. The game plays kind of like a mission based Crazy Taxi with extra money being paid out to you for how much destruction you can lay out on San Francisco. Don‘t worry the people are safe you can’t hit them.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/gI8LuuD.gif[/img] 
[img]https://i.imgur.com/vnnnnw8.gif[/img]
@“seasons”#p140424 why are those mission subtitles so evocative