Now Playing (Video Games)

[Riggatoni]

Not much of a gamer, but we have a Nintendo Switch, I love to play some things on that (Skyrim, Fifa 23, Breath of the wild, anything Super Mario related). My kids play all the time. Right now I really like Super Mario bros wonder.

I was a hardcore fan of strategic games in my teenage years (Age of empires II, Warcraft II/III, Starcraft, Heroes of might and magic III, Diablo, Baldur’s gate, Monkey Island series) and very occationly I play some of those, bit kinda tired of the same tactics the computer use on these games. Before that again, I loved playing NES/SNES/SEGA games. Good times

I would consider myself a gamer, but there are periods of time where I don't play anything (most likely because I spend a lot of time on one game when I beat or complete it). I own a switch, and I have Super Smash Bros Ultimate and LOZ BOTW, but I barely play on it. Right now I'm in that "period of time", but I'm going to try out Batman Arkham Origins when I get the chance. I

I have beaten Asylum and City, but I haven't really played Origins or Knight. The game was hated on by Arkham fans kind of, and while the game will never be as good as Asylum or City, it still looks pretty solid.

 

[Riggatoni]

Started playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PS5, and I didn’t even realize the game was set at Christmastime, so it’s especially appropriate.

I tried out the “performance with ray tracing” mode and was disappointed to see how much visual detail was lost vs. the standard performance mode, and I honestly didn’t notice any special lighting enhancement from it either, so I went back to the standard performance mode pretty quickly.

Otherwise it’s more Spider-Man goodness, but with Miles’ bioelectric powers mixed in to change things up a little. Figured I should play this one now that the sequel’s out so I don’t get too far behind (though I’ll probably wait for the inevitable GOTY edition with all DLC to get down to $20 before I buy the sequel).

I've 100% that on. I own it for PS4 Pro, since the PS5 era games don't look too intriguing yet.
I really liked it too, although it is slightly shorter than Spiderman 1 for PS4 (by an hour or two).

I'm looking forward to playing Spiderman 2 and the new Wolverine game when I finally buy a PS5.

 

[Jer]

Picked up a few smaller games on discount.

Got Kombinera for $6 -- the conceit of this puzzle game is that you control multiple balls simultaneously, and you have to make use of the environment to restrict the movement of certain balls in order to change their position relative to each other and ultimately merge all of them together to complete the level. Balls of certain colors are immune to specific environmental hazards, and when you merge balls together they inherit all of the immunities of the constituent balls. Those elements form the basis of the puzzles. Played through the first few dozen levels and it's pretty interesting.

Also got Akka Arrh for $12. This is the new Jeff Minter joint (the guy who did Tempest 2000, 3000, 4000, and Polybius, among others), and it's in a similar vein aesthetically, but the core gameplay revolves around setting up cascading combos to destroy lackey enemies in the background while you focus on shooting at tougher enemies that can come from any direction. If you fail to destroy any enemy quickly enough, it can dive down below you and start stealing your resources, which forces you to abandon your combo and go down to fend them off. I'm still getting the hang of it, but basically you drop a bomb that blows up slowly (like Missile Command), and every lackey enemy that gets hit by that explosion then explodes itself at the same rate and shape, and every enemy that blows up increases your combo meter, which escalates your score multiplier. If you have to manually drop another bomb it resets the combo, as does dropping down to defend your resources. Enemies that get blown up by explosions also give you bullets which you can fire independently without affecting your combo, and any tougher enemies that you destroy with bullets will trigger an explosion just like your original bomb did, which can help keep your combo going. I've only gotten through the first dozen levels so far, many of which are tutorials, but it already mixes things up by changing the size and shape of the explosions, having distinct "surfaces" where the explosions occur (so explosions will stay contained within the surface they originated on, which means you may need to start explosions on multiple surfaces and keep them all going to maintain your combo), and having tougher enemies shoot back at you (so you have to shoot their bullets), or having them turn into bombs that spin toward you in a spiral and also need to be shot. There are some power-ups too, but I'm still getting a handle on all of that. Pretty interesting so far, it maybe doesn't get you into that "flow" state as easily as Tempest or Polybius, but I'm enjoying it.

Also snagged Unpacking for $10, though I haven't tried it yet.

 

[LooseCannon]

Picked up BG3. Gonna try to finish FFVII Remake first, then dive into that.

 

[Vaenyr]

Going through Fire Emblem Three Houses currently. Gonna start Dark Souls 2 early next year, before FFVII Rebirth arrives.

 

[Riggatoni]

Going through Fire Emblem Three Houses currently. Gonna start Dark Souls 2 early next year, before FFVII Rebirth arrives.

I tried Dark Souls 3... couldn't even get past the first boss. Maybe I should've put more time in it, but It's a shame, since the game is fun and well made.

 

[Vaenyr]

I tried Dark Souls 3... couldn't even get past the first boss. Maybe I should've put more time in it, but It's a shame, since the game is fun and well made.

I started playing them chronologically. Played Demon's Souls (PS3 Version) last spring and Dark Souls 1 a few months ago. DS3 starts out rough difficulty-wise as far as I'm aware, but as soon as you get past that point you can farm souls and level up to have a bit more leeway for future encounters.

Common wisdom seems to be that your first Souls game is the hardest because it takes a bit of an adjustment on how to approach enemy encounters. The next ones become easier as you start recognizing similar design elements and traps.

 

[Riggatoni]

I started playing them chronologically. Played Demon's Souls (PS3 Version) last spring and Dark Souls 1 a few months ago. DS3 starts out rough difficulty-wise as far as I'm aware, but as soon as you get past that point you can farm souls and level up to have a bit more leeway for future encounters.

Common wisdom seems to be that your first Souls game is the hardest because it takes a bit of an adjustment on how to approach enemy encounters. The next ones become easier as you start recognizing similar design elements and traps.

Good advice!

 

[Onhell]

FINALLY finished Gears 5, ho-ly hell, it became a struggle at the end there. I would get stuck for DAYS on one section, pass it only to get stuck in the next, but finally got it done. I really enjoyed this franchise, if I can get my brother into shooters enough I hope we can play it in co-op.

Picked up a few games on discount and still not done, want to buy at least two more that rarely go on sale. Looks like I'll have a busy 2024 hehe.

 

[Riggatoni]

I've never played a Gears game but always wanted to.

FINALLY finished Gears 5, ho-ly hell, it became a struggle at the end there. I would get stuck for DAYS on one section, pass it only to get stuck in the next, but finally got it done. I really enjoyed this franchise, if I can get my brother into shooters enough I hope we can play it in co-op.

Picked up a few games on discount and still not done, want to buy at least two more that rarely go on sale. Looks like I'll have a busy 2024 hehe.

 

[Onhell]

I've never played a Gears game but always wanted to.

They are clearly designed to be better enjoyed in co-op, but I had a blast solo. In the first two, don't die, your AI companions won't save you, from the third on someone MIGHT come give you a hand lol.

Finished one of my recent holiday purchases, Narita Boy. In short it's Tron... you're Tron. This bad red program has taken over the "Digital Kingdom," and you... the good blue program has to destroy it. Like I said... Tron, with ABUNDANT 80s references and killer soundtrack. It was developed by a Spanish team, which explains the occasional grammar/spelling mistakes in the dialogue. Like... they'll say GrandMA and follow it up with "he told me" So was it supposed to say grandPA or she told me? Completely inconsequential to the greater story, but still bothered me. Came out in 2021 and it ends on a "to be continued..." no word of a sequel yet.

 

[Riggatoni]

They are clearly designed to be better enjoyed in co-op, but I had a blast solo. In the first two, don't die, your AI companions won't save you, from the third on someone MIGHT come give you a hand lol.

Finished one of my recent holiday purchases, Narita Boy. In short it's Tron... you're Tron. This bad red program has taken over the "Digital Kingdom," and you... the good blue program has to destroy it. Like I said... Tron, with ABUNDANT 80s references and killer soundtrack. It was developed by a Spanish team, which explains the occasional grammar/spelling mistakes in the dialogue. Like... they'll say GrandMA and follow it up with "he told me" So was it supposed to say grandPA or she told me? Completely inconsequential to the greater story, but still bothered me. Came out in 2021 and it ends on a "to be continued..." no word of a sequel yet.

Well, I will unfortunately miss out on the co-op Gears experience. Nobody I'm friends with would play a game that "old".

Narita Boy seems like a game I would really like.

 

[Onhell]

Well, I will unfortunately miss out on the co-op Gears experience. Nobody I'm friends with would play a game that "old".

Narita Boy seems like a game I would really like.

I'm thinking of getting Game Pass again in January, when I do I'll be more than happy to go co-op on these again. I also want to do Dead Space 3 in co-op.

 

[Riggatoni]

I'm thinking of getting Game Pass again in January, when I do I'll be more than happy to go co-op on these again. I also want to do Dead Space 3 in co-op.

Just the other day I was going to buy Dead Space 1 on the 360, but instead I bought another game. Kinda regret it now; I've never played a Dead Space game before.

 

[Onhell]

I've never played a Dead Space game before.

Definitely get them... all 3. The third suffers heavily from EA-ification, no necromorphs, chasing the co-op trend as well as MORE ACTION! But, it was still a lot of fun.

 

[Onhell]

Dipped into my recent Holiday purchases, procrastinating further on my back catalogue. I also decided to leave all the Casltevania, Alice, FEAR, etc for October. Therefore I knocked out Life is Strange: True Colors and the DLC Wavelengths in like a couple of days.

I don't know why I like these types of games so much. While this is by far their more... out there and heavy story, I think the first is still their best. It's the little things. Like... I know many didn't like the ending of 1, but to me it made sense. 2's endings were great, but I felt they could've done more with the jedi powers. Here... a bit of a nitpick, but... the graphics. Alex, the protagonist, looks great, as realistic mocap as possible, but the REST of the characters look... well... fake. Not Fallout 3 bad, but considerably worse than she does. It's jarring. The DLC is also a waste of time. Like LiS2, it asks you what decision did you make in LiS1, did you save Chloe or Arcadia Bay? Since on my only playthrough of the all three games so far I saved Chloe that's what I chose and kinda like in 2... it seems inconsequential. In 2 they don't tie it in until the very end and for like 2 seconds. Here, Steph, gets her "origin story" and apparently she and her friend, "Mikey" knew Rachel and Chloe back in the day and they are both still grieving the tragedy years later. Like... When? When did they know them? In LiS1 we only follow Max and Chloe and no other friends get mentioned. In fact, they make it seem like Max was the only one that was able to put up with Chloe. Is this something in Before the Storm and that's why I miss the connection?

Anyway, the main game is worth it if you like these type of games, the DLC.... not so much.

 

[Riggatoni]

Dipped into my recent Holiday purchases, procrastinating further on my back catalogue. I also decided to leave all the Casltevania, Alice, FEAR, etc for October. Therefore I knocked out Life is Strange: True Colors and the DLC Wavelengths in like a couple of days.

I don't know why I like these types of games so much. While this is by far their more... out there and heavy story, I think the first is still their best. It's the little things. Like... I know many didn't like the ending of 1, but to me it made sense. 2's endings were great, but I felt they could've done more with the jedi powers. Here... a bit of a nitpick, but... the graphics. Alex, the protagonist, looks great, as realistic mocap as possible, but the REST of the characters look... well... fake. Not Fallout 3 bad, but considerably worse than she does. It's jarring. The DLC is also a waste of time. Like LiS2, it asks you what decision did you make in LiS1, did you save Chloe or Arcadia Bay? Since on my only playthrough of the all three games so far I saved Chloe that's what I chose and kinda like in 2... it seems inconsequential. In 2 they don't tie it in until the very end and for like 2 seconds. Here, Steph, gets her "origin story" and apparently she and her friend, "Mikey" knew Rachel and Chloe back in the day and they are both still grieving the tragedy years later. Like... When? When did they know them? In LiS1 we only follow Max and Chloe and no other friends get mentioned. In fact, they make it seem like Max was the only one that was able to put up with Chloe. Is this something in Before the Storm and that's why I miss the connection?

Anyway, the main game is worth it if you like these type of games, the DLC.... not so much.

I like the narrative adventure game genre, especially from Telltale Games. I haven't tried many, but I've seen some videos online.

Right now I am going through the side quests of Batman Arkham Origins, since I beat the main game. I'm also playing the Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled, which are remasters of great classic games.

 

[Onhell]

I like the narrative adventure game genre, especially from Telltale Games. I haven't tried many, but I've seen some videos online.

I'm currently working my way through NEW Tales from the Borderlands. The characters aren't as easily lovable as the ones from the first game, but they grew on me. Also got The Wolf Among us a few months back. I like how relaxed they are. After the stress of Gears and Castlevania, it's nice to just play an interactive movie lol

Right now I am going through the side quests of Batman Arkham Origins...

I'm the same way. I try and do as many as possible during the main game, but depending on how hooked I got I'll do the side quests immediately or I'll leave them for achievement clean-up later. I have a few like that with the Bioshock series, Metro 2033, etc. I have the Arkham games on my wishlist so... One day lol

 

[Jer]

Kombinera got pretty hardcore after a few dozen levels — now it’s not unusual to have 6 different balls with 4 different abilities at the same time, plus some balls having inverted gravity that gets inherited or canceled out in a merge. Some of the puzzles require strong reflexes in addition to plotting out the path to success, and some also have optional crowns in really out of the way places where coming up with a solution that can move a ball through that spot is pretty difficult. I’m only about 1/3 of the way through the game, but it’s been a great value so far at $6.

I seem to have hit a bit of a wall with Akka Arrh around level 14, where I keep getting overwhelmed with enemies sneaking into my stockpile and robbing me blind. I think there’s a readability problem with enemies slipping past you, as I can only tell when I start hearing a certain sound that indicates one of my pods has been stolen. It’s also not at all clear to me how much damage I can take from bullets, which seem to kill me sometimes but not others. I wonder if a bullet hit destroys one of my resource pods, and that’s why it’s variable. Seems like there should be a clearer display of how many pods you have during a level, and some kind of visual and aural alarm when someone gets into your stockpile. Oh well.

Finished up Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which was good but short. (To be expected, since it was a discount title from the jump.) The plot had some major problems (waaaaay too convenient that the people closest to Miles just happen to have access to crazy technology that they could never reasonably afford), but I do give them credit for not throwing the businessman antagonist into any kind of combat situation with you, which would be the typical trope (“Ha ha, you think you’ve beaten me, but look at my never-before-seen power suit that I can final-battle you with!!!”). I look forward to playing Spider-Man 2, but I’ll wait for the inevitable GOTY edition to get down to $20 first.

Got Lies Of P for Christmas, which puts me at 3 Souls-likes in my backlog (the Demon’s Souls remake and Elden Ring being the other two, not to mention Nioh 1 & 2 for PS4 which I’ve basically given up on ever starting), so I figured I should play one of those next, and recency bias made me choose Lies Of P. Got about an hour into it, and so far it’s essentially an easier Bloodborne with a couple of very minor gameplay tweaks. Hopefully it will forge a more unique identity as I get further in, but I guess if you’re going to blatantly copy someone you might as well copy from the best.

Still plugging away at my Phoenix Point campaign, and I think I’m getting pretty close to the end. I’ve allied with the “humans first” New Jericho faction while still pursuing the legacy Phoenix Point research investigation, and New Jericho just finished construction of their command fortress which is now getting attacked by the Pandorans. I believe their fortress was the key prerequisite for their plan to reactivate the military satellites in orbit to eradicate the infected threat, and the completion of the fortress caused the other two factions to declare war on them, so that seemed pretty definitive. Finally captured a live Siren and developed some anti-mind-control helmets, as well as some virophage weapons that only hurt Pandorans, so hopefully I’ll be ready for the final fights.

 

[Onhell]

Got Lies Of P for Christmas, which puts me at 3 Souls-likes in my backlog (the Demon’s Souls remake and Elden Ring being the other two, not to mention Nioh 1 & 2 for PS4 which I’ve basically given up on ever starting), so I figured I should play one of those next, and recency bias made me choose Lies Of P. Got about an hour into it, and so far it’s essentially an easier Bloodborne with a couple of very minor gameplay tweaks. Hopefully it will forge a more unique identity as I get further in, but I guess if you’re going to blatantly copy someone you might as well copy from the best.

I have this on my wishlist, but it's also on GamePass. I usually use GamePass like I use Youtube, I'll play the game, don't like it, no worries, really like it to love it, buy it to support "the artist." Like I said in a previous post, next month I'm definitely getting GamePass, but I still don't know what plan to get. I think i'll go for "console," as I'll have access to more games over "core." The biggest difference between Console and "ultimate" is the ability to play online multiplayer and well.... It's not that I don't have friends, it's that we're all grown adults with lives LOL. So coordinating is difficult and to spend considerable more money for something I MIGHT use 4 times a year or so... not worth it. I can always change the plan for a month if a session is coming up.

Another one on my list that is on GamePass is Atomic Heart.... anyone play this one yet?