What are you currently playing?

[Tabonga | 2,317]

I just played through Mushroom Quest and Mushroom Savior.  Pretty simple with only a few of the puzzles in either one of even modest challenge. It was nice to see some Sokoban based games though.

I am currently playing The Last Campfire - which is much more fun than I thought it would be.  Lots of exploration with a lot of puzzles - most of which are fairly simple so far but they are getting more complex - nothing insurmountable but they do make you think.  Slow paced game - but that is often what I prefer.

[Ultra_Kaiju | 11]

just finished Links Awakening on Switch and decided to go back and do the original TLoZelda on NES, then go through the series on each console. 

Just got the White Sword so really I'm just getting started. 

 

 

[hardstyletoaster | 50]

2 minutes ago, Ultra_Kaiju said:

just finished Links Awakening on Switch and decided to go back and do the original TLoZelda on NES, then go through the series on each console. 

Just got the White Sword so really I'm just getting started. 

 

 

Now I feel inspired to finally finish Link's Awakening on the switch. Don't know why I haven't yet, it's really enjoyable.

[Ultra_Kaiju | 11]

yeah I really liked it a lot more than I expected I would. 

I hope they redo A Link to the Past in that same style. Just use the same game engine and art style, I'd be happy with that. 

Then again I really like the original SNES version, ... pink hair and all. Lol

[hardstyletoaster | 50]

That's one I've never played actually but I'm getting something in the mail today that'll let me play it on my gamecube so I'm very excited. I should probably finish Windwaker first though.

[Webhead123 | 675]

I really should break down and buy the Link's Awakening remake. I can only imagine I'd enjoy it. The original is my second-favorite game in the series.

[Tabonga | 2,317]

I finished The Last Campfire and have started Banner of the Maid.  Nothing terribly elaborate so far - but the battles are challenging and some take a few tries to get things to work out correctly.  Some of the female characters  are certainly inflated* though.......

*

Spoiler

As Monty Python would have said "they have large tracts of land" !!!!!!!

 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

I'm still being bad and avoiding the backlog. Just started The Medium on XSX and it looks like it should be a good experience. Whittling away at Paper Mario and then hopefully back to Demon's Souls.

[Nintegageo | 582]

Raji. It's pretty presentation.

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

I'm currently playing Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen. I owned it on Steam for some time now and did stuff that made me quit. So instead I am working on all the side quests I am willing to do, as well as explore as much of the map as possible before I tackled the ongoing main story stuff.

Plus I am totally digging the Magical Archer class. Strider is my favorite basic class, but this somehow tops it. 

[Webhead123 | 675]

I've been trying to dedicate at least some time to clearing my backlog commitments. After getting a bit frustrated with Duck Tales, I thought I'd switch over to Sunset Riders. Great game that I really wish I had played more when I was younger. As a big fan of the Contra-style run-and-gun games, I would have eaten this game up for breakfast. I've still got a little more practice to put into it but I'm getting close to completion. I'm currently trying to learn Chief Wigwam's pattern.

What a great game. Wish I had some local couch co-op buddies for games like this one.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Webhead123

[a3quit4s | 4,097]

Wife and I were playing Chip N Dale on NES a couple nights ago. We played Doodle World as well sometime last week when I got it. Played Red Alarm on Virtual Boy a few hours ago to get a score in for the weekly challenge

[a_profile_name | 230]

Right now I'm at the middle of Zelda:OOA, linked game (finished OOS earlier). I know a lot of people don't care too much for them but I really feel like they are underrated. To me they feel like perfected sequels to Link's Awakening. I think they are not memorable because the only place where they did innovate over LA was in the whole "linked game" mechanic, and probably most people didn't buy the both games back in the day to get this experience, plus it's a very late release. Still, very enjoyable and I also really like all the thematic motifs in both.

[Webhead123 | 675]

5 hours ago, sg17 said:

Right now I'm at the middle of Zelda:OOA, linked game (finished OOS earlier). I know a lot of people don't care too much for them but I really feel like they are underrated. To me they feel like perfected sequels to Link's Awakening. I think they are not memorable because the only place where they did innovate over LA was in the whole "linked game" mechanic, and probably most people didn't buy the both games back in the day to get this experience, plus it's a very late release. Still, very enjoyable and I also really like all the thematic motifs in both.

Ages and Seasons are on my "2021 backlog" list and I've been meaning to play them for a long time, since Link's Awakening is one of my very favorite games. Is there any particular recommendation or advantage to playing one of them first? I know one is more action-focused and the other more puzzle-focused but is there an ideal order to play them in?

[a_profile_name | 230]

3 hours ago, Webhead123 said:

Ages and Seasons are on my "2021 backlog" list and I've been meaning to play them for a long time, since Link's Awakening is one of my very favorite games. Is there any particular recommendation or advantage to playing one of them first? I know one is more action-focused and the other more puzzle-focused but is there an ideal order to play them in?

First of all, know that these are very worthy inclusions for a backlog! For me LA was the most enjoyable in the franchise, so judging by that I'm sure you'll also like OOS and OOA.

There are a couple of differences to consider for which order to play them. There might be a couple of "spoilers" here I give as examples to illustrate my points, but really things that see in the first 1-2 hours of gameplay:

1.  As you said, Seasons focuses more on action and Ages focuses on puzzles.
2. The main overworld mechanic in Seasons is that you control the seasons, and the main mechanic in Ages is that you travel a couple hundred years back and fourth in time. So in Seasons you want navigate a specific are and then you need to change to summer so that the lake will dry, then change to winter so that snow will pile up making a bridge for you, etc.. In Ages, you talk to someone in the distant past who needs a map of some region in order to help you progress, but this region was only charted in the future, guess what you need to do...
3. Holodrum (the overworld in Seasons) feels much larger than Labrynna (the overworld in Ages). I think technically they are the same size, but Holodrum feels like it has more "random exploring" in it. In Holodrum you get "lost" because there are a million directions you go, in Labrynna you get lost because you while you know where you need to get, you don't know how to some specific obstacle in your way. One excellent youtube reviewer I saw put it this way: "Seasons is more about 'ooh, what is that? I wanna go find out' and Ages is more about 'wow, how the hell do I do that?'. The dungeons in each game also reflect these elements.
4. In terms of thematic motifs, I felt that Seasons has more of a hippie vibe and Ages has more of a mystery vibe.
5. Which ever game you play first, you'll keep your magic rings in the next. Some magic rings are badges with no purpose, some give you power ups. Some rings can be found in both games, but the most powerful ones are exclusive to only one of them, or exclusive to the whichever of them is the second one. Since most rings mainly affect combat, they seem to be more useful in Seasons. Also, in the second game you play (whatever the order) you can get more extra levels of upgrades (i.e. carrying capacity for seeds and stuff like that). This also seems to be more helpful in Seasons. So it's easier to do Ages first, and then start Seasons with all the rings that help in combat and an opportunity to get max upgrades.

So for your question (what order to play them) - I'd play the better one last. Which one of them is "better" really depends on you and what elements you like more. The second game you play will make slight alterations to the plot (only adding stuff) to tie up with the fist, so it'll be more enjoyable if you keep the best for last.

Personally, I went with Seasons first because I liked the thematic motifs of Ages better. This was a good choice for me, but more so because I enjoy the feeling of navigating the overworld in Ages better than navigating the overworld in Seasons (point (3) above).

[noiseredux | 232]

with all the recent hype about this new remaster of the Mass Effect trilogy, I've finally popped ME3 into my Wii U last night. I played the first 2 games YEARS ago, and enjoyed them at the time, but never finished either because I got distracted by other games.

That said, I think I'm in the right headspace for ME3 right now. It's the sort of game I'm in the mood for right now. And I quite enjoyed the little Genesis 2 comic book choose-your-own-adventure recap of the first 2 games that precedes the Wii U edition.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

The Not So Chubby Cherub

[Sumez | 2,949]

On 2/11/2021 at 12:33 AM, sg17 said:

I know a lot of people don't care too much for them but I really feel like they are underrated.

That's new to me. If anyone doesn't care for the Zelda Oracle games, that's because they haven't played them.

Oracle of Seasons is fantastic, and Ages comes close. Absolute gems. I think they are only marginally behind Link's Awakening in terms of quality, and LA might be my favourite game in the Zelda series, if not a tie with Zelda 3.

[Sumez | 2,949]

On 2/11/2021 at 5:36 AM, Webhead123 said:

Is there any particular recommendation or advantage to playing one of them first? I know one is more action-focused and the other more puzzle-focused but is there an ideal order to play them in?

Actually for that exact reason I'd recommend playing Seasons before Ages.

Seasons is the more "action focused" game, which actually has a few challenging boss fights, and makes you feel like you need to fight to proceed through the game unlike most Zelda games past the earliest few. And I love that about it.

But when you are playing both games as one long linked game (which you absolutely should, IMO, as it opens up new content you wouldn't see otherwise), there are a few things that carry over. Most notably you'll be able to get a stronger sword, which feels rewarding, but also would negate a huge part of that action aspect in Seasons. Therefore I'd play it first, to experience it the way it was originally balanced in terms of combat. It's not like it's a super hard game anyway.

I think it's worth noting, that although Ages is "the puzzle focused game", Seasons has no lack of classic Zelda styled puzzles, especially in the dungeons of course. Rather than two opposing directions, it just feels like Seasons has that aspect on top of the other one, which is why it's my favourite of the two.

I'm with @sg17 though, that I agree the overworld navigation in Ages is better. It's worth mentioning that the time travel mechanic in that game works exactly like the Dark World in Zelda 3. A mechanic that I loved, and was really sad to not see making a return in the sequels. So I was very excited for that when they made Oracle of Ages.
The mechanic in Seasons is more like Click Clock Wood in Banjo-Kazooie. You can only switch seasons at specific places on the map, and the consequences of each season aren't always predictable, so there's a lot of trial and error. It does have that experience of exploring more freely though, that sg17 mentions, which is always good.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Sumez

[Ausden | 323]

On 1/19/2021 at 12:11 PM, Ausden said:

Just finished "The Messenger". Great game, but damn there were a couple spots I almost lost it on.

Starting up DQ XI

Finished Dragon Quest XI. Awesome game that was hard to put down. A bit easy, but still fun to play.

 

Starting Transistor

[Sumez | 2,949]

On 2/13/2021 at 6:29 PM, Ausden said:

Finished Dragon Quest XI. Awesome game that was hard to put down. A bit easy, but still fun to play.

I feel like I've repeated this 100 times in various places, and pretty sure I've done it multiple times on this forum already, so it makes me sad that I'm unable to reach all the people who needed to hear it before they started playing.

"It's a bit too easy" is one of the most common criticisms of Dragon Quest XI, which is really unfair. Because if you're playing with the "challenge" setting called "All monsters are super strong" (which you absolutely should on your first playthrough!) the game becomes very challenging, but in a fair way that entices you to play extremely tactical against bosses especially, rather than relying on grinding.
Pretty much every boss fight in the game was an incredibly exciting experience for me, and hands down the most fun I've ever had with any turn based combat system in an RPG ever. And that's saying a lot.

It's not just an aspect of the game that becomes less bad thanks to that setting, it's straight up the best part about the entire game IMO.
The setting isn't obvious, and super easy to miss - so it's really the game's own fault that they aren't advertising it better.

Edited February 15, 2021 by Sumez

[avatar! | 1,811]

32 minutes ago, Sumez said:

I feel like I've repeated this 100 times in various places, and pretty sure I've done it multiple times on this forum already, so it makes me sad that I'm unable to reach all the people who needed to hear it before they started playing.

"It's a bit too easy" is one of the most common criticisms of Dragon Quest XI, which is really unfair. Because if you're playing with the "challenge" setting called "All monsters are super strong" (which you absolutely should on your first playthrough!) the game becomes very challenging, but in a fair way that entices you to play extremely tactical against bosses especially, rather than relying on grinding.
Pretty much every boss fight in the game was an incredibly exciting experience for me, and hands down the most fun I've ever had with any turn based combat system in an RPG ever. And that's saying a lot.

It's not just an aspect of the game that becomes less bad thanks to that setting, it's straight up the best part about the entire game IMO.
The setting isn't obvious, and super easy to miss - so it's really the game's own fault that they aren't advertising it better.

I am going to (sometime soon) restart the game (never finished it the first time) and yeah, it was getting annoyingly easy! So, explain how the "All monsters are super strong" behave? Does it make the challenge similar to DQ VIII, VII? I loved both As long as it's not actually frustrating I think that sounds good.

[Sumez | 2,949]

20 minutes ago, avatar! said:

So, explain how the "All monsters are super strong" behave? Does it make the challenge similar to DQ VIII, VII? I loved both As long as it's not actually frustrating I think that sounds good.

I'm not sure about the exact same differences, but I think it really just increases the damage output of every enemy in the game.

The result is that you're constantly fighting a battle just to keep your feet on the ground though, and it really makes a difference. There is a lot of random things in a fight which can often work against your favor, like skills that will just straight up kill a characters at full health, etc. But that is also why your characters, as a team, has skills to deal with that.
You will be reviving characters, buffing different aspects of them, and even switching out your active ones several times throughout the battle, and occasionally you will need to go back and prepare equipment to deal with some of the worst things a boss can do to you. Pretty much every single tool in your arsenal needs to be applied in order to stand your ground, which IMO is a lot more fun than having a lot of skills that you'll never need to use.
So in a boss fight, it feels like there's a constantly tipping scale of which side has the favor. Some times you need the full team to get everyone back into fighting shape, which might give the boss a chance to just knock you back down in the next round, but if you play smart enough you can win enough actions to give your characters the advantage you need to put the pressure on that boss for the next round instead (often using a variety of buffs). You'll need to take chances every now and then too, which might feel unfair, but also creates a lot of exciting tension.

I don't think it's really comparable to 7 and 8, as those games focus more on just getting your characters strong enough to survive encounters, and the combat system doesn't feel as streamlined in those games.
The combat system is "basically" the same, but in 11 they skimmed all the fat, making sure everything you can do has a purpose (unlike 7 where you have 40 different variations of "do damage to the opponent"). You also get some really useful tools in the battles that are completely necessary to pay attention to on the higher difficulty level.
For example the game will always show you how buffed or debuffed a character or enemy is in any particular stat, they always range from -2 to +2 at most, and it shows you when it is about to run out. And unlike the earlier DQ games, you get to pick a character's action only when it is their turn, rather than picking everyone in advance, which makes the game more tactical and less based on chance. Everyone still attacks once per round, though, so you need to pay attention to the marking around each character's face in the UI which tells you if they have had their turn yet. It is surprisingly important to stay aware of when a new round has started, especially when you start switching out characters, since the new character will never be able to act on the same round.

Edited February 15, 2021 by Sumez

[Ausden | 323]

I do plan another playthrough at some point and my goal is/was to put on some of the restrictions to make life a bit more difficult. Thanks for the suggestion 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

I dug a bit more into The Medium on XSX. It's a very cool game which is genuinely creepy at times (sadly it also has some cheap jump scares). At its heart, it's basically a walking simulator with light adventure/action/stealth elements, but some of the design choices elevate it above the standard fair. The Giger-inspired Spirit Realm is fantastic and the split screen stuff creates some cool tension. Also, the voice work, sound design, and music are all top notch.

Definitely not for everyone, but I love this type of B-movie, mid-budget game with a lot of heart.