What are you currently playing?

[Makar | 1,946]

Currently working through the King Knight campaign in shovel knight. I am done with the 2nd phase of the game. Didn’t realize how long it’d be. I know there are at least 3 phases. I’ve done the regular campaign, the plague knight one and the scepter knight one and enjoyed all those, but king knight’s might be the best by a good margin. I love the in game mini game they added called Joustus. It really adds another layer of fun to the game. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,533]

Oh shit I still need to do that one.  Totally forgot.

[G-type | 2,482]

haven't played a video game in a couple months... 

[Lynda Monica | 350]

I started up Fire Emblem Awakening for the first time a few days ago, and I'm not feeling it. I've been told it's a good place to start for series newcomers, and if that's the case then I likely won't ever appreciate Fire Emblem.

At the risk of sounding extremely biased, (which I don't really care if I do) I still think of Fire Emblem as that one Nintendo series that was "cool" to be a fan of when they first started being localized. The truth is that it's always been a really niche series despite how many games there are, and I've always felt an aura of "cool kids club" when it comes to fans of the series.

It's always rubbed me the wrong way, and having finally played one of the most popular games in the series for a few days now, I'm confident that the old Shining Force games are better in basically every way.

I'm aware that the story in Awakening isn't typical for the series, but I don't really care about the story in most games to be honest. I'd rather a silly one to a serious war story anyway.

What really irks me about Fire Emblem compared to Shining Force is how needlessly restrictive its gameplay is. It feels like so much of the game's "tactics" are based around doing the exact right thing, and there' almost no freedom to do things how you want.

Shining Force was a lot more generous about its margins for error, where not only were deaths not permanent, the damage levels weren't so insanely tight. Making a mistake and having things go a little out of hand was pretty typical in Shining Force, and it was a lot of fun trying to squeak out a battle.

There's next to no room to breathe in Fire Emblem, and while I get you're supposed to use strategy, it's simply unreasonable to expect a player to be flawless the entire stage without having to redo it a bunch of times.

At that point the "strategy" becomes trial and error, which makes permanent death a completely bothersome feature with no actual benefit to the game's enjoyment other than being smug for beating it.

I know that Fire Emblem fans will think otherwise since they're used to it, and clearly find some sort of satisfaction from it, but as someone with no investment in the series, I think it's gameplay ideals are horrendously outdated.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Lynda Monica

[Altrnte | 1]

I am finishing up the trophies for Spider-Man (2018). Next up will be Sniper Elite V2 Remastered. 

[Makar | 1,946]

On 6/21/2022 at 7:43 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

Oh shit I still need to do that one.  Totally forgot.

It’s been on my backlog for so long. I figured I’d finally get around to it. I’m almost finished and it has been a blast the whole way through. 

1 hour ago, Lynda Monica said:

I started up Fire Emblem Awakening for the first time a few days ago, and I'm not feeling it. I've been told it's a good place to start for series newcomers, and if that's the case then I likely won't ever appreciate Fire Emblem.

At the risk of sounding extremely biased, (which I don't really care if I do) I still think of Fire Emblem as that one Nintendo series that was "cool" to be a fan of when they first started being localized. The truth is that it's always been a really niche series despite how many games there are, and I've always felt an aura of "cool kids club" when it comes to fans of the series.

It's always rubbed me the wrong way, and having finally played one of the most popular games in the series for a few days now, I'm confident that the old Shining Force games are better in basically every way.

I'm aware that the story in Awakening isn't typical for the series, but I don't really care about the story in most games to be honest. I'd rather a silly one to a serious war story anyway.

What really irks me about Fire Emblem compared to Shining Force is how needlessly restrictive its gameplay is. It feels like so much of the game's "tactics" are based around doing the exact right thing, and there' almost no freedom to do things how you want.

Shining Force was a lot more generous about its margins for error, where not only were deaths not permanent, the damage levels weren't so insanely tight. Making a mistake and having things go a little out of hand was pretty typical in Shining Force, and it was a lot of fun trying to squeak out a battle.

There's next to no room to breathe in Fire Emblem, and while I get you're supposed to use strategy, it's simply unreasonable to expect a player to be flawless the entire stage without having to redo it a bunch of times.

At that point the "strategy" becomes trial and error, which makes permanent death a completely bothersome feature with no actual benefit to the game's enjoyment other than being smug for beating it.

I know that Fire Emblem fans will think otherwise since they're used to it, and clearly find some sort of satisfaction from it, but as someone with no investment in the series, I think it's gameplay ideals are horrendously outdated.

Maybe give fire emblem echoes a try. It’s a little different from the other fire emblems but in a good way. If you want a sillier but solid tactics game, I recommend drone tactics. And if you need a more freedom kind of tactics game, there’s always advance wars and Wargroove. 

[Gloves | 11,780]

Got the Platinum trophy for Deathloop, making this the second time I've completed it 100% (first on pc at launch). It's a super fun game so it was a pleasure to go through it all again. 

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

Currently in the process of playing Rhythm Heaven Fever for the first time. Really having a blast with it, super fun thus far. I'm glad I have a little bit of experience with other rhythm games, so it was very easy for me to get used to it.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,533]

@Lynda Monica Sounds like a Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre type of thing would be more up your alley.

[Lynda Monica | 350]

12 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

@Lynda Monica Sounds like a Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre type of thing would be more up your alley.

Don't worry about me. I tend to do really pissy write ups when I first play a game. Even in the time since I made that post, I'm starting to understand the appeal a lot more, and I feel bad about that post. A good rule of thumb with me is to take my first impressions with a grain of salt.

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,533]

15 minutes ago, Lynda Monica said:

Don't worry about me. I tend to do really pissy write ups when I first play a game. Even in the time since I made that post, I'm starting to understand the appeal a lot more, and I feel bad about that post. A good rule of thumb with me is to take my first impressions with a grain of salt.

 

Hah.  Well the important thing is you're having fun.

When I first played the two GBA Fire Emblems long ago, both of my playthroughs flamed out as my characters died.

Since then I played through all 6 DS/3DS entries with permanent death turned off, which is much more my speed.

[Estil | 1,265]

On 6/23/2022 at 1:15 PM, G-type said:

haven't played a video game in a couple months... 

I go through phases like that too sometimes...that's okay I got other hobbies I can fall back on whenever the mood strikes me, that's why it's good to diversify with that kind of thing.

[Gloves | 11,780]

Sat through Injustice 2 today. Really really liked it a lot. I've never been a comic guy really but I do like Batman a lot, and this game really took it up a notch from the first. 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

Still working on Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. I'm enjoying it, but keep running into the same problems with the restrictive nature of the levels. There is so much to see, but very little to do. I did thoroughly enjoy the giant robot rail-grinding section though.

[Lago | 221]

Nintendo Switch: Triangle Strategy.  I really like this game, but man some of the story sequences are long.  Still I'm a sucker for tactics games and this one plays like a refined Final Fantasy Tactics.

Nintendo DS: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney.  Still trying to figure out why I put this down so long ago.  My guess is I got stuck on some part and just gave up.

PS4: Mega Man Legacy: Playing through this with my kiddo.  We've beat 1 - 5.  Currently working on 6.  I absolutely spam the ever loving crap out of the save feature on this.  I still get frustrated at parts, haha.

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

Resident Evil 3 re-whatevered on PS5. I find RE games are much more enjoyable playing on easy lol

I never run out of bullets anymore

[NostalgicMachine | 236]

Mega Man X - X3

[Lynda Monica | 350]

I started going for 200% in Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. (Wii U version)

It's fun, but I also discovered how awesome Time Attack mode is. I'm falling in love with going for shiny gold times with no damage taken, even though it has no impact on your file's percentage.

I think Tropical Freeze is really growing on me.

[T-Pac | 7,550]

On 6/17/2022 at 7:07 AM, CasualCart said:

I've been playing the 2600 port of Gorf on-and-off this month.

I really want to make it through 4+ loops / missions to earn a "Space Captain" ranking, but I've only cleared 3 so far (which makes me a lowly "Space Cadet"...)

-CasualCart

Well - I finally cleared 5 loops of Gorf [2600].

Not to brag or anything, but that makes me a Space Captain and you should all be jealous...

-CasualCart

[TDIRunner | 2,741]

On 7/1/2022 at 7:07 AM, a3quit4s said:

Resident Evil 3 re-whatevered on PS5. I find RE games are much more enjoyable playing on easy lol

I never run out of bullets anymore

Same.  At this point in my life, I play games to relieve stress and games like RE are simply much less stressful on easy.  I like killing the enemies, and RE easy gives you enough ammo to kill almost everything.  

There are exceptions of course.  I will play games like BOTW on Master Mode, but the extra difficulty in BOTW makes the game more fun instead of making it more stressful.  

[TDIRunner | 2,741]

I haven't played anything through to completion in a while, but recently, I got the PSVR back out and played a bunch of old and new games.  I enjoy VR, but I can't play it long enough to try and complete games.  I prefer the games that are meant to be played in short spurts.  

With that said, I tried Farpoint for the first time.  I got the game along with the Aim controller last Christmas.  The game is really enjoyable, and surprisingly causes no motion sickness despite the fact that you actually move through the 3D environments instead of teleporting through them.  It just goes to show that if you get motion sick during a VR game, it might be the game itself and not you.  Some games are simply designed better and run smoother.  Farpoint has a pretty good story and the exploration and shooting is done very well.  When the first enemy jumps at your face, I about lost it.  Unfortunately, even without any motion sickness, I can still only play a VR game for so long, so playing this game through to completion might be a challenge.  It's definitely worth checking out if you have the means to play it.  

[NostalgicMachine | 236]

Legend of Zelda on the toploader, because I'm a nerd.

Love that de Chirico artwork in your avatar, TDIRunner.

[Gloves | 11,780]

27 minutes ago, Van Jackson said:

Legend of Zelda on the toploader, because I'm a nerd.

Ah hey, I'm playing that too!

[doner24 | 1,196]

Started my first game since 2020, Dragon Quest XI on the Switch.  Cool they they have an old school graphic toggle, which I’m playing with it on. 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

3 hours ago, doner24 said:

Started my first game since 2020, Dragon Quest XI on the Switch.  Cool they they have an old school graphic toggle, which I’m playing with it on. 

Has anyone played through the game in both modes? Is there any difference or is it purely aesthetic? I always thought this sounded like a really cool feature.