What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Marc]

Dug out the old PSP and installed CFW, just dumping a bunch of shit on there at the min.
Salamander / Gradius collections, Capcom collections, OutRun 2006, (which tells me there's no room to save, despite there being a 32gb card in....), Ultimate GnG, Taito Memories (WTF is Rainbow Islands Extra all about? FUGLY! And that new Legend of Kage......)any other recommendations? Got Castlevania, but tried a few different versions and it refuses to boot.

Also, how's PSP stuff look on an OLED Vita? Worth an upgrade?

[Sumez]

WTF is Rainbow Islands Extra all about? FUGLY!

Weird remix version, where enemies have been moved around, so you'll see the really late-game ones early on except they behave differently to match with the difficulty levels, and all the background palettes have been changed.

[Marc]

WTF is Rainbow Islands Extra all about? FUGLY!

Weird remix version, where enemies have been moved around, so you'll see the really late-game ones early on except they behave differently to match with the difficulty levels, and all the background palettes have been changed.

Actually, now I think about it, I had the MD version donkey's years ago and I refused to play that too. It was rare-ish then (around 2007 when the majority of my collection was sold off), I dread to think what it goes for now. I could have cried a few months back when I realised my AES stuff would buy me a modest family car outright these days.

Oh, Hotshot Racing added a new cup FOC. The tracks are really good as well, definitely a notch above the existing ones design wise. AI hasn't been toned down though, the dirty bastards.

[BrianC]

The MD version does have a mode to play the levels with the original music and enemies, but AFAIK, only has the good ending in extra mode.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Taking a bit of inspiration from some of Blinge's recent exploits in doing the King's Field games with Magic Only, I've been messing around to see if it's possible on another game where physical attacks are usually wildly preferable, Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. Specifically, the NES version that lets you hold far fewer spells at a time and doesn't allow you to just lay down energy fields and wait for enemies to walk into them up close as in the original versions. Normally, once you get a decent bow for everyone you can mostly just shoot your way through anything and everything, with spells mostly being important for healing, utility or buffs (Quick especially). The offensive spells I've always neglected but it'll be interesting to see how it pans out; preliminary tests suggest this should be doable, though I have yet to run into Zorns who have the Negate Magic spell.

[Blinge]

Is that even a good game?
I'm too intimidated by Ultima tbh. Number 1 was like pulling teeth.

Still I wanna dive back in one day.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Yes, it's got a richness of depth that's difficult to match, and is far, far less janky than the first three installments of Ultima. It's a huge step ahead even compared to Ultima III: Exodus (whose NES version I'm not sure I'd recommend).

Magic-Only is gonna be real tedious though. You can mop up enemies real fast with ranged weapon attacks, so it'll be rather different without relying almost exclusively on just shooting everything with arrows.

If you're going to get into it, play either the game with XU4, a remake that uses the original game files to add quality of life improvements such as enhanced graphics and more user friendly controls, or play the SMS or NES versions. The Commodore 64 version is good too from what I hear. The SMS is a consolized version of the original game that feels close in terms of interface, but loses the first-person dungeons. The NES port is the least authentic to the original and has several major changes, but it's a very port of the game that features simplified controls, making it more user-friendly for folks used to traditional jRPGs. The NES port will likely be the easiest game for the average person to get into, and has much the same feel of the PC version in terms of the exploration. Combat is simplified and streamlined, and dialogue in towns is also much simpler instead of a keyword-based communication system.

Read the manuals, all of them, prior to playing. I mean that, it flat out tells you this in the opening sequence if you haven't read the manual, so it's your own fault if you don't bother. For the versions based on the PC game, make sure you have the manual, the spellbook, the reference card, and the world map. For the NES version, everything's contained in one huge manual. It's all great stuff and well written. The manuals for the original versions are here under Documentation: https://paradroid.automac.se/u4/ and a decent copy of the NES manual's here: https://www.gamesdatabase.org/Media/SYS ... Canyon.pdf

The important thing is to not approach it from the sense of a traditional RPG. It's more of an adventure/exploration game with RPG elements for navigation and combat. Your goals are more abstract, and it's much more about exploring and discovering the world, and finding out just what you need to do to accomplish your ultimate goal of Avatarhood. But the manuals and interface make it clear enough that "find everything" is one of your major goals, and simply exploring and talking to people makes things much clearer. It's a game for people who enjoy a more exploration based RPG that's very open-ended with where you can explore.

Ultima IV is a great game to start with; the smooth edges that were in the first three are mostly gone, the story is essentially a fresh start with only one minor reference to Ultima I (explained in-game enough to understand for those who have not played it like when I first played Ultima IV).

As a side note: the NES version of Ultima III is pretty rough around the edges, but it's playable. Make sure to avoid the NES port of Ultima V though as it's possibly one of the worst games ever made, bordering on near-unplayability compared to its original version.

[WelshMegalodon]

IV is the most critically acclaimed of all the Ultimas, and is probably tied with VII as the most popular. While the C64 version does have slightly nicer graphics and music, it comes at the cost of the 1541's abysmal loading times. The Master System version is probably the best compromise between accessibility and faithfulness to the original. It even has FM sound.

As BKR said, it's quite unconventional as far as RPGs go, with a far greater emphasis on exploration and dialogue than combat - pretty much the antithesis of a hack 'n slash game. It's also extremely non-linear, with even your starting location subject to variation.

[vol.2]

IV is the most critically acclaimed of all the Ultimas, and is probably tied with VII as the most popular.

God, when did that happen? My experience of playing those games (in the 80s) was that people's reaction to 4 was kind of ambivalent. It received copious critical praise for espousing non-violence and moral behavior, but the Ultima fanbase reaction was a lot more mixed than that.

To me, III and V were the classic favorites (of Ultima fans I knew). I always liked VI myself though. VII was great, but I thought that it lacked some of the exploration of VI because the story was so much more focused. (which I guess was a good thing)

Don't get me wrong, I also enjoyed IV, but I thought it was really more high-concept and I didn't really think it played out as well as a result.

Bah, maybe I should replay it. Perhaps the past 30 years have turned up something I missed.

[WelshMegalodon]

I'm going to guess it was some time after a certain Internet personality named after a Final Fantasy reference did that video series on Ultima. To be completely honest, I also prefer III to IV, but I'm also biased as someone that came from the JRPG side of things.

[Mischief Maker]

And now I've played Batman: Arkham City.

Holy shit, does this game exist to throw back in my face all the jokes I told about Asylum. Gotham's supervillains are literally put in a walled off ghetto and slowly starved to death. What a shockingly grim game about a funnybook character. Even the running gag of Batman telling people in insanely dangerous surrounds, "stay here, you're safe now" is lampshaded hard.

Gameplay-wise this is a total improvement over 1. I don't know if it's because the camera zooms further away now than before, but in Asylum I was struggling to get a combo in the teens while in City I'm knocking back 40+ combos in random encounters like it's nothing. The dive-gliding is fun, but still not quite as fun as Saint's Row: Gat out of Hell, but here's hoping it's even better in Knight once that's done downloading. Besides the gliding, I found the open world nature of the game kinda eliminated the need for challenge stages, as I had as many combat and predator encounters as I wanted on-demand and earning XP at the same time.

In terms of aesthetics the music remains excellent, but the brown-o-vision visuals are a real letdown after the colorful Tim Burton look of Asylum. I just found the whole thing incredibly ugly.

Looking forward to playing 3 with the Adam West Batman skin and matching Batmobile!

EDIT: Also, why did they go to all the trouble to create a playable Catwoman then barely use her at all in the game?

[mgtn]

Currently playing Neo Atlas 1469 on switch. I spend about 40 hours on this.

[BrianC]

Been playing Touhou Spell Bubble. I like it quite a bit. Mix of Puzzle Bobble and a rhythm game with Touhou song remixes. Glad to see Cirno and Aya in game.

[Gamer707b]

Even as a huge Final Fantasy 7 fan back in the day, I was hesitant on playing the remake. I dont play rpgs anymore. But , so far Im really enjoying the remake. Took me a while to get used to the battle system and ironically, I dont think I can tolerate too much of turn based. Anyway, good game so far.

[Sumez]

Even as a huge Final Fantasy 7 fan back in the day, I was hesitant on playing the remake. I dont play rpgs anymore. But , so far Im really enjoying the remake. Took me a while to get used to the battle system and ironically, I dont think I can tolerate too much of turn based. Anyway, good game so far.

Once you're done, do yourself a favor and replay the story on hard mode. Maybe go for some achievements/trophies or something. They aren't all great, but they give you some good small-time goals (except from the dress BS).

The takeaway here is that when you're playing on hard mode you get to really appreciate the battle system and the boss fights, including the ones that just seemed chaotic and unfair on normal. It's really a lot better than it initially appears, and super satisfying. At the end I really missed having an even more challenging mode.

[BulletMagnet]

EDIT: Also, why did they go to all the trouble to create a playable Catwoman then barely use her at all in the game?

Double check me on this, but I seem to recall her originally being either DLC or a pre-order bonus or something.

[Blinge]

There's a sense of magic to wandering round Morrowind. Even with the janky ass combat, even with the fucking cliff racers.
Even with catching a disease from most enemies and not being able to deal with it for a long time.

[Ajora]

I bought Duke Nukem World Tour for a couple of dollars when it was on sale and played through Episode 5 over the course of two days. It was a great episode. Loved the soundtrack and the flamethrower in particular. Unfortunately, World Tour's controls and mouse aiming felt a bit floaty, which made aiming more difficult than it should have been. I wish they had used Eduke32 as the game's engine instead of this inferior version. I know that Eduke32 has partial compatibility for the episode, but there's still some stuff that doesn't work properly. I'd gladly play through this expansion again, just not with the World Tour engine. 

[Mortificator]

I bought Duke Nukem World Tour for a couple of dollars when it was on sale and played through Episode 5 over the course of two days. It was a great episode. Loved the soundtrack and the flamethrower in particular. Unfortunately, World Tour's controls and mouse aiming felt a bit floaty, which made aiming more difficult than it should have been. I wish they had used Eduke32 as the game's engine instead of this inferior version. I know that Eduke32 has partial compatibility for the episode, but there's still some stuff that doesn't work properly. I'd gladly play through this expansion again, just not with the World Tour engine. 

Those controls made me drop it before finishing the first level. There's some disconcerting mouse acceleration going on, and the new weapon switching system is awful. But I also liked what I heard of the soundtrack. BulletDam quickly made it onto my playlist.

[rapoon]

Control - SCP Foundation: The Game. Lot of a fun but doesn't run that great on the PS4 slim; real issue with texture pop-ins.

[Marc]

I bought Duke Nukem World Tour for a couple of dollars when it was on sale and played through Episode 5 over the course of two days. It was a great episode. Loved the soundtrack and the flamethrower in particular. Unfortunately, World Tour's controls and mouse aiming felt a bit floaty, which made aiming more difficult than it should have been. I wish they had used Eduke32 as the game's engine instead of this inferior version. I know that Eduke32 has partial compatibility for the episode, but there's still some stuff that doesn't work properly. I'd gladly play through this expansion again, just not with the World Tour engine. 

Those controls made me drop it before finishing the first level. There's some disconcerting mouse acceleration going on, and the new weapon switching system is awful. But I also liked what I heard of the soundtrack. BulletDam quickly made it onto my playlist.

I didn't find any issues with the controls (PS4), but I didn't think the design of those levels was anything like as good as the original three episodes. Last time I played it, I switched off on the Bridge level. Probably should go back and finish it off really.
Still thing the originals are some of the best levels of any FPS I've ever played. Hoping Ion Fury manages to capture some of this.

[floralcateyes]

Just finished Code Vein, a Soulslike that's more grimdark anime than dark fantasy. Took a couple of weeks of on-and-off playing. Haven't really changed my mind much from my halfway impressions, but I guess I'll add a few points:

* The game really is easier than Souls proper. A large and contentious part of that is how it really wants you to bring along one of the NPC buddies at all times. You can turn these off, but the game would probably still be more forgiving than Souls. Not necessarily a bad thing, a lighter Soulslike might be just what you need at the time.

* In my previous post, I said magic felt OP, but the game gets better about it later on. Enemies get tougher against spells. More and more of them have high-damage punishes that they only use when you're far away. And the game just feels better if, rather than pelting a boss with spells from afar and running out of juice halfway, you actually get in close to dodge, melee, and only hop back to punish with spells. Shocking for a Soulslike, I know. The ichor system, which lets you regenerate your universal mana pool by using melee attacks, works well with this rhythm. Ended up as a mage with lotsa powerful spells but who could only take two to three hits even from some non-boss enemies. Had a lot of fun with that playstyle.

* Level design's really the strong point of the game. One of my favorites is an area at around halfway through. Guess it's contentious, Squire said in the From thread that a lot of people hated that area and made them drop the game entirely. But I love how maze-like it was. Lotsa branching paths, lotsa hidden drops, lotsa that thing where the game shows you a preview your next destination but you have to go through hoops and loops to actually arrive there. Found it cool how they were able to make the area feel labyrinthian despite it being a high visibility area with very few walls to block your view.

Late game areas after that didn't quite match its heights (and I found one place pretty disappointing), but my other favorite was the very final one. Again, lotsa branching, twisting paths, but paired with hard-hitting enemies that usually appear in groups. Lotsa traps and gotcha moments. A major shortcut led to a hallway with what was probably the most crowded and frantic fight. You can easily avoid said fight after your first pass through, but it still adds tension and risk to using the shortcut, which I liked.

One of the game's highlights for me happened in this final area. Took a wrong turn, ended up in a fight I was not at all prepared for, then was faced with the choice of either retreating to the mistle (game's bonfire) or facing the area's midboss with next to no resources and no NPC sidekick (died at the previous fight). Chose to fight. Midboss itself was easy, and it's a shame the game only pulled such punches at the end, but it was a fun moment.

* The story is... I learned to tolerate it eventually but I really disliked it early on and never really enjoyed it. Squire found value in its earnestness, but I just didn't feel it was executed well at all. If you're a couple of areas into the game and enjoying the plot and characters, then good on you, hope you like the rest of it, you still have a lot of twists and plot points and character moments ahead of you. But if you find you can't enjoy it at all, don't be stubborn like me. Just skip the cutscenes. They contain practically no important gameplay info that you can't get by just quickly chatting with the NPCs at homebase or doing some light exploration. No reason to let one aspect of an otherwise good game ruin the whole experience for you if you can ignore it, etc.

Enjoyed it overall, though. Solid game with really fun level design in some areas. Not interested in the DLC, which, from what I've read, aren't really full-blown expansions packs like in Souls proper. But I'd be willing to try a sequel if one ever gets made.

[Ghegs]

^- Oh hey, I finished Code Vein myself a week or so ago.

I just got a big hammer and smacked everything, only used magic for pulling enemies with the cheapest projectile. Worked out well enough.

I didn't really mind the maze-like level design of that one area, but it could've been more varied visually. As it is, it's basically "white tower - white walkway - white tower" repeated 500 times.

Some random notes off the top of my head:

• The ability mix-and-match system was pretty neat.
• Quite a lot of drops and items, and I never used a single one. Just the basic healing item.
• A few times I felt like I was the NPC when I was keeping my distance in a boss fight and the companion character just went and killed him on their own.
• TONS of talky talky.

[floralcateyes]

I just got a big hammer and smacked everything, only used magic for pulling enemies with the cheapest projectile. Worked out well enough.

That was the other build I was considering. But I've never played a Souls or Soulslike game as a magic user, so decided to try it out.

The ability mix-and-match system was pretty neat.

Yeah. I said in the From thread that some people might not like how building a character requires much less commitment than in an actual Souls game, but I liked flexibility. Really benefited from it as a magic user as well: ended up rocking spells from a wide variety of classes. Probably less useful for mages who want to specialize in either light or dark magic, but I didn't really bother with that.

I didn't really mind the maze-like level design of that one area, but it could've been more varied visually. As it is, it's basically "white tower - white walkway - white tower" repeated 500 times.

That's one thing that could've been improved. If you really wanted to defend it, you could say something like "it's meant to look repetitive because it's meant to make you get lost" but... eh, excuses.

A few times I felt like I was the NPC when I was keeping my distance in a boss fight and the companion character just went and killed him on their own.

Happens a lot as a magic user lol. Especially noticeable when you're trying to regain your ichor by getting melee hits in, then your companion jumps in out of nowhere and kills the thing you're draining. To be fair, it mostly only happened with the weaker enemies that I could one-shot with a spell anyway. And the companion AI kinda showed its limitations for me later in the game. Got himself killed a lot in the last few areas and Depths maps. There's that one bug-like midboss-tier enemy that surrounds itself in a force field of sand that doesn't seem to damage you but drains your ichor (I think). My companion, Big Sword Dude, ran into melee range, then just kept rolling over and over again. Couldn't do a thing. Bit funny and sad.

And yeah, didn't appreciate the talky bits since I didn't like the story. I try to avoid skipping cutscenes, but maybe I should have done so here. But I enjoyed the game well enough despite that.

[Ghegs]

I just got a big hammer and smacked everything, only used magic for pulling enemies with the cheapest projectile. Worked out well enough.

That was the other build I was considering. But I've never played a Souls or Soulslike game as a magic user, so decided to try it out.

Me neither. Maybe I should try giving it a go one or these days, maybe even with Code Vein since it's kind of an easy game so it would be a comfortable "training game" in that sense. But I very rarely replay games like this anymore, I'd rather spend the time playing something I haven't before. I'm working my way through Jedi: Fallen Order at the moment.

[Sengoku Strider]

batman is at a point of such cultural ubiquity that a highly successful television showrunner genuinely thinks the character is where he'd like to unravel theology for the masses. i wouldn't be surprised if more children in america know more about batman than jesus, and like him better, to boot. i don't even want to open the can of worms that 2019's joker was w/r/t its insane critical reception. batman arkham asylum is this weird parasite that is just everything batman has done that is popular up to the point of its creation with no actual voice of its own - a thing of unbaked collected mythos, like if the bible was written with the intent to be sold at gamestop. this strange, oozing mess. the thing frank zappa is singing about, here. if a new one came out, expect it to also absorb all the stuff since the last one into its mass.

You can look at Batman as a contemporary incarnation of the horned god archetype, who shows up as a dark cthonic figure in many, many cultures.

Lifted from Wikipedia, because I don't have time ATM for real sources:

Sherry Salman considers the image of the Horned God in Jungian terms, as an archetypal protector and mediator of the outside world to the objective psyche. In her theory the male psyche's 'Horned God' frequently compensates for inadequate fathering.

When first encountered, the figure is a dangerous, 'hairy chthonic wildman' possessed of kindness and intelligence. If repressed, later in life The Horned God appears as the lord of the Otherworld, or Hades. If split off entirely, he leads to violence, substance abuse and sexual perversion.

In Batman we see all of this stuff. The 'objective' psyche here is the daylight world of the Gotham citizenry, which he protects from the wild lunacy of the night world outside its confines. An absence of fathering is literally his origin story. He's not hairy, his silhouette is wild and cape-y, but bats are certainly cthonic creatures which nest underground. And he's framed as an intelligent kind hero. The association made here with Hades - another expression of the horned god archetype - is really on point. Batman is lord of the back alley underworld of Gotham, whose criminals fear him more than any villain. Hades, as lord of the underground was associated with wealth (whence gold and silver come), and Bruce Wayne's wealth is his source of power.

The last part, the split off, untethered potential of the archetype, is reflected in his counterpart, the violent and perverted (in many ways) Joker. The rational protector becomes a trickster figure who is a dark perversion of the jester, a figure of amusement and fun. He is the warning of what happens when the barrier between ordered consciousness and the wild instinct-driven impulsivity of the unconscious beyond it is broken down. For Batman, his grounding is his unwillingness to kill, this is what keeps him from moving dangerously close to becoming his own shadow.

In his current portrayal, he taps into the capitalist technocrat ideal. He is free from labour, yet still able to grind around the clock. He is free from anxiety and emotionally stable, despite being saddled with grief & an ongoing brooding depression. He has transmuted that suffering into a strength, as it serves as an anchor which keeps him serious and on his toes while others allow themselves distraction. He is physically in control and unafraid in all situations, no matter the strength of his opponent. He upholds order and rationality. He is a master of deductive logic and technology, to such a degree that he is equal to a superhuman in nature, through means which an ordinary person might aspire and relate to. And he has turned trauma into intrinsic motivation expressed as constant and meaningful effort, perhaps the most valuable and desirable of all traits in a 24/7 grind culture.

[vol.2]

The last part, the split off, untethered potential of the archetype, is reflected in his counterpart, the violent and perverted (in many ways) Joker.

It's really so very dualistic, simplistic nonsense. But yeah, it's spot-on what Bats is portrayed as. That's why you shouldn't look to superhero comics for ethics. (although you could argue that they aim to teach them)

[Sengoku Strider]

It's really so very dualistic, simplistic

But that's exactly where folkloric & mythological figures like that derive their narrative power from. Their capacity to act as a clear embodiment of a concept, function or ideal. Making them more complex or nuanced takes that power away from them, rather than improving them.

[vol.2]

[Making them more complex or nuanced takes that power away from them, rather than improving them.

I'm familiar with the effect of appealing to the lowest common denominator.

It's satisfying because it's easy. Don't let that fool you.

[BIL]

I am A-OK with black/white ideals in my folklore and funnybooks. Real life is complex and discomforting, and often tedious until it's jarringly not. It's why I regard the dumb (direct) and gay (uncomplicatedly joyous/sorrowful) Batman and his ilk as valuable. He's an impossibly smart and buff man of profound tragedy, who bludgeons evildoers to make a future where starving bums don't murder parents in front of their children. Wow, and here I was bitching about mowing the lawn! JOB DONE

Marooned here in the wind-lashed straits of I R L, where the worst shit happens,

Spoiler

this is also why I find the likes of MovieBob so terribly amusing. I am a morbid sort ;3

"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” - Dutch Schaefer

"The climactic reveal of SMB3 is burned - no, seared - into my memory the way JFK's assassination was for my parents' generation... or the way 9/11 would be for mine a scant 12 years from then." - MovieBob

WTB domed president's brain exploding in his wife's face & thousands of burning pulverised corpses 3; Disney Corp PLS HALP