What are you playing?

[TheBlondeBass]

The classic video game thread! I'm always on the lookout for game recommendations, especially since...

1) I've just finished the platinum trophy for Final Fantasy VII Remake! The game does a lot of things right and a few things not so great. Overall a very satisfying game, but it's not one for everyone. Here's the quick rundown.

+ The combat system is super cool! Every character plays uniquely and flows well in their own way. Even Aerith!
+ Boss battles are really, really, really, really lovely. Tons of phases, interesting patterns to figure out, amazing music.
+ Hard mode is super cool in theory! (And mostly in practice). Disabling items turns it into a strategic action game, making you try abilities that you didn't need with a butt load of items in your inventory.
+ Character interaction is done super well, especially within the team.

- Mob enemies take longer than you'd expect, considering they're a lot less engaging than boss battles. Couple that with some areas that feel thematically like filler, and some of the most generic side-quests in the industry, and you get yourself some pacing issues.
- Hard mode focuses so much on having the right loadout, that it can pit you in nigh-unbeatable (or straight up unbeatable) situations. There's a single boss battle that took a while to unveil its new gimmick, that I was unable to deal with.

Spoiler: FF7 Strategy Within

Equip Pray if you're about to complete the Train Graveyard, or else you'll regret it.

- While bosses in hard mode are fun to fight, you need to have beaten the game to play it this way. This means you'll skip cutscenes and loathe playable cutscenes, making the pacing suffer even more than in the main game.
- Too many grunts/sighs!!

A solid 9/10 for me!

==============================================

2) I've fixed myself my N64 setup and I recovered 3DS and Vita from my parents' place, so I have a ton of exciting "new" ways to play. In-between FF7R Remake sessions, I've played a bit of the following games, and it's all great fun.

- Theatrhythm Curtain Call on 3DS
- Super Mario 64/Super Smash Bros on Nintendo 64
- Super Meat Boy on Vita

I can't find my Vita cartridges though...

Anyway, what are you all playing?

 

[Heat]

Im playing freaking Super Mario 3, but a rom hack of it. Its pretty fun, and i can say that i like this version. Is like the first time in 25 years i've said that i like a Mario game.

Other than that, i been jumping around Streets of Rage 4 and Doom 64. I dont play modern style games anymore... it sucks to be old.

 

[TheBlondeBass]

I'm interested to learn more about that Mario 3 hack. What's its name, what is it like?

 

[D-Volt]

I finally have a desktop setup in my room, so my friend has lured me into playing League of Legends with her. It's more fun than I expected, honestly. Not much of a MOBA guy, but it can be fun in short bursts.

I'm also trying to try out this new Crucible game Amazon put out today, but it doesn't seem to want to connect to a game without freezing. Maybe one day I'll actually get to see what an actual match looks like.

 

[Roager]

Been playing Xcom 2012 again, but with the Long War mod. But with the Long War Rebalance modmod. Is good.

Also Tetris because Tetris, and today that Orb Farm thing Jordan posted about because Jordan posted about it.

 

[bong264]

Ive been playing Gauntlet Legends because its become my mindless default game when I dont know what to play. I'm stuck at the dragon though and apparently the next world is supposed to be open so I can get the ice axe but guess not :T

 

[DeScruff]

Im on and off playing the Geofront fan translation of Trails from Zero (Zero no kiseki/The first Crossbell Trails game/whatever you wanna cal lit since it never got an official English name)
It looks and plays just like the Sky Trilogy, more then the Cold Steel games. I mean... It practically is "Trails in the Sky 4th" since Joshua and Estelle are notable NPCs, and the story certainly involves them enough. - Heck I'd say they are more central to the main plot then they were in 3rd!

Having just come off Cold Steel 3, there are some upgrades to the quartz system that I do kinda miss, but in other ways I think the old Quartz system was just better.

Spoiler: Trails games Quartz Tangent incomming

(Im just gonna refer to "Arts" as spells, and "EP" as MP)

Sky Trilogy! (And Crossbell games)
Every quartz has elemental values, and by equipping quartz on the same line, those values add up. The cumulative value of a line determines what kinda magic you can cast. (A basic fire spell may only need 1 Fire element... but a more advanced fire spell needs 3 Fire, and 1 Air element.)
So characters who only have 1 line are inherently better Mage characters since everything they equip will add up, giving them access to a lot of spells.
Characters with multiple lines... uhhh... Its cheaper to unlock?...and... Yeah they kinda get the shaft, but honestly characters with many lines tend to be bad mages anyway.

Cold Steel!
Quartz no longer have elemental values. You want a spell? You need to equip a quartz that gives you that spell. Everyone has access to every spell!
But that means your Mage now needs to balance between quartz that give them spells, and quartz that give them buffs.
Oh ho ho no! But your Mage gets screwed over even more.
So what are some of the "Buffs" that a quartz can give you? Well some quartz give attacks 10-30% chance to inflict status ailments or stat downs.
In the Sky games you could only equip 1 Ailment and Stat down at a time on a character...
In the Cold Steel games you can equip 1 Ailment and Stat down per line on a character.
So a character with 4 lines can fill up ALL their slots with "30% chance to inflict _____" - EACH one has a chance of PROCing, and they STACK.
Mix that with how characters with many lines tend to have attacks that hit multiple targets and... Frig
In Cold Steel 3, Juna has an attack that can often hit 3-4 enemies at the begining of a fight. And with my setup on her that attack that caused 30% chances of: Paralysis, Freeze, Petrify, Poison, Burn, DEF down, ATK down, SPD Down, MOV down. On top of whatever it already did.

Melee characters needed this kinda of a buff, but Jesus did mages get a big middle finger in Cold Steel, despite already having the disadvantage of having cast time and having the casting of their spells be canceled by certain enemy attacks.
Having multiple lines in Cold Steel is easily 100x more powerful then having a single long line. Even for mage characters. I'd take an additional Status ailment over absurd MP pools. As the character levels up their Max MP increases too. By the end of the game you have 1000 MP on melee characters
Sure, the higher tier spells cost 320 MP to cast, but you use them so infrequently, because their cast time is absurdly long, and you have plenty of ways to heal MP between battles... You end up sticking with the 80MP spells... or not using spells at all... So whats the point of the +2500 MP

 

[Scrustle]

Played through The Gardens Between, thanks to RiffRaff's generosity. It's very short, but I liked it a lot. The diorama style levels are very cool, and the mechanics of manipulating time to solve puzzled as you move forward and back through them is very inventive, and results in some very neat solutions to puzzles, although none of it is particularly hard in any way. I appreciate that though. I find I much prefer puzzle games that give me a new way to think, rather than just being really hard and frustrating. The general tone and vibe of the game is nice too. Has a very wistful and nostalgic feel to it. Very dreamlike. While it does creep up on being overly sentimental, it stops short of going too far, thankfully.

 

[RiffRaff]

I have video game ADD so I play like 50 games at once (and yes, I usually finish everything I start unless I really don't like it). Currently rouge-likes are dominating with me hooked back on Hades. I can't speak highly enough of that game. The combat is so fun and smooth and it's one of the very few games that I can say every weapon is really fun to use. Don't worry that it's in Early Access, it's a very worthy purchase. Seriously, get it. You can pet the dog!!!

I'm also playing Forager (cute time-waster) and some Nuclear Throne. I did start giving Moonlighter a second chance yesterday and I'm liking it much more second time around. We'll see if it holds up as I get to mid game.

On PS4 I'm taking my time with a hard run of TLoU in anticipation of part 2. Replaying it (would be my 3rd run in total) I have an even better appreciation for it. Such a masterful game.

On Switch I'm visiting my AC island about once or twice a week and playing Deadly Premonition for a little bit before bed.

 

[RiffRaff]

Played through The Gardens Between, thanks to RiffRaff's generosity. It's very short, but I liked it a lot. The diorama style levels are very cool, and the mechanics of manipulating time to solve puzzled as you move forward and back through them is very inventive, and results in some very neat solutions to puzzles, although none of it is particularly hard in any way. I appreciate that though. I find I much prefer puzzle games that give me a new way to think, rather than just being really hard and frustrating. The general tone and vibe of the game is nice too. Has a very wistful and nostalgic feel to it. Very dreamlike. While it does creep up on being overly sentimental, it stops short of going too far, thankfully.

I won a PS4 copy of that one through Dtoid (Thanks Wes!) and enjoyed it a lot too! I certainly add my recommendation to it as well!

 

[Heat]

I'm interested to learn more about that Mario 3 hack. What's its name, what is it like?

is called "Super Mario Bros 3 Mix" and its pretty good. It scratch that classic mario itch, all while being fresh. And while the character selection seems purely cosmetic, there are things i dont remember being in Mario 3, like ghost houses.... right? those are from Mario World?

But oh no, i got the new DLC for Civilization VI, so that's all im going to play for weeks again!

 

[sweaty dungus]

Siege, Disco Elysium, Doom Eternal. Once I finish the latter two, I intend to start Gears Tactics.

 

[Torchman]

I've been playing Persona 5 Royal. Just got to the part where Futaba beings to be teased. Maruki and Sumire are feel like natural fits with the original cast so far. That being said, it hasn't quite done enough to justify a full price to be honest (got it for 15 canadian due to a gift card from birthday). Dungeons are still relatively the same as are the SLs so lots of 'deja vu'. I know new girl has a Marie-esque sideplot from the trailers, haven't seen it yet though. So before you say I'm wrong just remember I haven't seen EVERYTHING.

I also bought a arcade stick recently, the Hori RAP4. Working on getting adjusted to it. Deciding to start with Gundam Versus since it's simpler (no motions outside of double direction tap for boost step) and I know it better. It... honestly makes a difference for that game. A big part of the gameflow for some characters is you have charge moves which are just hold down either melee or shoot until a meter fills. Being able to just rest a finger a little heavier to do that instead of a claw grip on a controller is so much nicer. Just gotta get used to movement with the stick and I'll probably be past where I was with a controller soon.

 

[Xeronio じゃない]

Having my ass handed to me by Final Fantasy Tactics: WotL. This game has balance issues, a lot of balance issues. Think I'll have to grind again. Fuck. I want to beat this game because the story, characters and presentation are so good, but it's certainly not helping me.
Also playing Ys Memories of Celceta on PC. Think I still prefer the simpler combat of Oath in Felghana and Origin, but the game is fun, though a bit easier than other Ys games.

 

[✨ Matt ✨]

I've been playing tens of hours of Project Zomboid. I'm getting to the point where I can actually stay alive for more than a week, haha.

 

[Parismio]

Hopped form AI Somnium Files back to FFXIV Shadowbringers baby! LET'S GOO!

 

[Scrustle]

Been playing El Shaddai today. I actually decided I wanted to revisit this game way back in January, but when I tried it back then, I found it ran like garbage, basically freezing for a second or so every time I hit something. So I dropped it because that made it basically unplayable. But on a whim I decided to give it another go today, and for some reason the freezing issue just disappeared. Nothing is different to how I tried it before, it just works now for some reason.

The game is still really cool though. It looks amazing. Art design is on a whole other level. Such amazing surreal environments, with a great sense of atmosphere and style that is unlike anything else out there. It really sells the idea that this is some kind of strange heavenly realm that humans can barely comprehend. It's like the whole game is just one giant flex from the art team. Gameplay isn't bad either, but pretty basic. Combat is good and responsive, and even though you don't have many moves, there's still enough to add a sense of variety and flow to fights to put it above the level of a simple button masher. The rock-paper-scissors weaknesses with each weapon type adds a little tactical element to fights too, although I've found it tricky to remember which way round it all goes.

I'm just really happy that I'm even able to play this game again too. It's one of those cult games that sticks in the mind years later, when the industry itself ironically tends to forget these games and leave them in the past. So without this getting any kind of re-release, not having backward compatibility anywhere, I was kind of upset that my old copy just wouldn't work anymore. So I'm relieved that's not the case after all.

 

[FakePlasticTree]

I've been playing Persona 5 Royal. Just got to the part where Futaba beings to be teased. Maruki and Sumire are feel like natural fits with the original cast so far. That being said, it hasn't quite done enough to justify a full price to be honest (got it for 15 canadian due to a gift card from birthday). Dungeons are still relatively the same as are the SLs so lots of 'deja vu'. I know new girl has a Marie-esque sideplot from the trailers, haven't seen it yet though. So before you say I'm wrong just remember I haven't seen EVERYTHING.

I also bought a arcade stick recently, the Hori RAP4. Working on getting adjusted to it. Deciding to start with Gundam Versus since it's simpler (no motions outside of double direction tap for boost step) and I know it better. It... honestly makes a difference for that game. A big part of the gameflow for some characters is you have charge moves which are just hold down either melee or shoot until a meter fills. Being able to just rest a finger a little heavier to do that instead of a claw grip on a controller is so much nicer. Just gotta get used to movement with the stick and I'll probably be past where I was with a controller soon.

“Dungeons are still relatively the same as are the SLs so lots of 'deja vu'.”
I don’t know why you’d expect them to be different. There is only really one social link that is different, in regards to dungeons, you can get through them much faster now with the grappling book where you can skip certain parts. That's generally what’s different about them apart from the boss fights which have changed, some have gotten s bit harder

 

[Torchman]

Yeah, I loved Persona 5, but I'm not sure I can justify buying a second copy of the game for what sounds like (admittedly really good) DLC.

Oh, Atlus.

I'm past Futaba now and yaaaaaa. Still not seeing the meat of Royal, Kasumi STILL hasn't had her awakening. The further I go, the more the decision of 'no compendium import' just comes off as a bad one.

 

[LaserPirate]

Now, if the whole thing got ported to Switch, that'd be a day one purchase. Having it be on a new, portable platform makes it easier for me to justify paying full price. Since the portability is suitably transformative to the experience.

Oh have I used this to justify many a full price purchase. Seriously though, a good portable experience is worth the investment.