What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Sumez]

Have anyone gone on about the terrible decisions in the otherwise amazing Final Fantasy VII Remake yet?

I'm late to the party, and I'm dying to vent.

[vol.2]

Do you think it'd be viable to beat the game under pseudo-1CC conditions where you play each map exactly once with one character, and then do it again with a second character, without dying? My opinion of the game would improve a lot if that were viable, but my test runs suggest you'd need tons of luck to make it happen. I did find that there are some cool strategies you can pull off by preparing ahead with items. You can cheese a lot of nasty fights with an inventory full of shuriken and Fighter is almost certainly better than Elf if you plan a route using trick dice and amulets. Seems like the most viable method would be Half Elf for the first loop and Fighter for the second.

It's been a minute since I played, but I think I started with the fighter on all runs and I wasn't disappointed with the results. I'm a creature of habit I suppose.

You're insight about the items is spot on, you can mitigate bad rolls in mid-late game by stocking up on stuff. I think it's just a lot harder in the beginning to recover if you have bad rolls. It makes it kind of a bad move to keep going in that case; better to start over.

Yeah, no matter how I think about it, the game just isn't properly balanced. I love it for it's charm, but the severe reliance on luck keeps it from being an early puzzle-rpg masterpiece.

I'd love to see someone hack the game and do a little redesign work. It really would take much.

[copy-paster]

Ridge Racer V (PS2)

Step back to RRT4 and it's more of less remake/reimaging of the original first game, but the handling is better than RR4. This and Ridge Racers 2 PSP are among my definitive arcade racer.

[Blinge]

ImunIdiot... I've been playing Let it Die.

They reel ya in with the cool suda51-ness and crappy JP screamo.. with the satisfying way that enemies fucking explode into showers of blood, fungus and concrete when you smack them with an iron hammer or pointblank their face with a nail gun..

Then you make it to floor 21 or something, whiff an attack, get wiped out from full HP, in one combo, by an enemy who looks like all the others, using the same machete you've seen countless times.
Uh oh! To get your character back with all the goodies, you've gotta bankrupt yourself.

Unless you give in, and spend premium currency.. or buy a pass to reduce the cost.
So far i'm staying strong.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Got distracted from Code Veronica for a bit, was showing off the first Resident Evil Remake. Great game, though Chris's 6 item slots is painful to work with short of lots of item collection planning. I'm very glad the the default became 8 / 10 slots later on, makes things a lot more workable and less obnoxious about having to run back and forth to item boxes to juggle plot items, ammo, healing, etc. Made it through Normal with an absolute ridiculous number of healing items and ammo left over, have to give Hard / Real Survival a shot next. Hardest part of getting through it without dying is always the first boulder. >_>;

One thing I can't seem to figure out is the timing for pressing the button to use defense items when set to manual mode. I always use automatic for that reason. Do you press and hold, do you mash, is it timing based? I can't figure it out.

Ridge Racer V (PS2)
Step back to RRT4 and it's more of less remake/reimaging of the original first game, but the handling is better than RR4. This and Ridge Racers 2 PSP are among my definitive arcade racer.

What did you think of RR6 and its focus on nitrous? I picked up RR5 not long ago, still been meaning to play it.

[copy-paster]

I haven't play post RR PSP so can't comment. V's tracks are only 7 with reverse tracks and they're on easy side (only few dangerous corners) but still a fun ride.

[Blinge]

Do you press and hold, do you mash, is it timing based? I can't figure it out.

Mash, I think. I played it on GC.. if there was an auto-mode I didn't realise I had it on.

showing off to whom? Twitch ?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Nah, just a local friend who'd only seen the PS1 games and not the remake. No capture/streaming hardware for consoles I'm afraid. The only one I think I've streamed is RE3, which is the one I am most familiar with by far.

[vol.2]

Nah, just a local friend who'd only seen the PS1 games and not the remake. No capture/streaming hardware for consoles I'm afraid. The only one I think I've streamed is RE3, which is the one I am most familiar with by far.

REmake is a great game. The higher level of difficultly in general and the added zombie mechanics make it tricky as hell. I remember the first time I realized I actually had to burn the zombie bodies to get rid of them.

I've also taken a break from Code Veronica.

Spoiler

I got to the Steve fight and died over and over like 7 times and just had to take a break. I can't remember if there's any reasonable strategy for that one.

Currently playing Discworld Noir, the late 90's game based on Terry Pratchett books. It's actually one of the best, if not the best adventure game from the tail end of the 90's that I have ever played. The graphics compare very favorably to other series that tried to make the sudden leap into 3D polygons. It's not perfect, but it looks a lot better than most; they stuck with mostly static 2D backgrounds and limited the corny 3D polygons to characters and cut-scenes where they could crank more quality out pre-rendered stuff. Not to mention that the writing is fantastic; it's not a Pratchett book either, it's an original story that is based on Discworld and Pratchett sort of behind-the-scenes directed it. If your into Pratchett, you'll love it.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I've also taken a break from Code Veronica.

Spoiler

I got to the Steve fight and died over and over like 7 times and just had to take a break. I can't remember if there's any reasonable strategy for that one.

Spoiler

There's a no damage strategy that exists, so it's possible to beat this part even if you're low on health, but the no damage strategy is unintuitive and difficult to pull off. Look up a no damage playthrough of the game and you can see the solution if need be.

Hint:

Spoiler

Run towards him at the start of the fight and circle around him to make him miss. Then proceed as normal.

I forgot Discworld Noir was a thing; there were actually a couple Discworld adventure games made if I remember correctly? Should play through it. I've been also meaning to play Starship Titanic at some point.

[vol.2]

I forgot Discworld Noir was a thing; there were actually a couple Discworld adventure games made if I remember correctly? Should play through it. I've been also meaning to play Starship Titanic at some point.

The first two games are adventure game play-throughs of about 3 of the books kind of mashed together. They are good, but YMMV depending on what you've read and how you feel about the way the material is handled. It's also somewhat difficult to get the sense of discovery because it's just a re-telling of stuff from the books. That being said, I would recommend reading the books first if you haven't done so recently because there are some holes in the games that the books will fill. The books are also just more worth-it in general, so it's better to discover the material first in that way.

Noir is a new story that can be played without reading any book, but is probably more interesting and fun if you have at least some exposure to Discworld.

I haven't played Titanic yet. I own a boxed copy that is just sitting in storage waiting for me to crack it open. Not sure why I have held off for so long, but I think it's rainy-day insurance or something.

Thanks for the heads-up about the RECV battle, I will check that out because I'm pretty frustrated about it.

[Imhotep]

I loved Discworld Noir (adored it even) back in the day. The German translation is great.
I haven't played it in two decades, but I'd guess it still holds up.

I've completed Grim Fandango for the first time last year (both games released close to each other and share the "noir" atmosphere), and while being great in stretches, the game loses steam after the (fantastic) second act.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Thanks for the heads-up about the RECV battle, I will check that out because I'm pretty frustrated about it.

From what I've gathered chatting with other RE fans, CV is generally regarded as the hardest, at least on a first playthrough due to janky, unintuitive elements that can cause you to miss items altogether (the Magnum is missable), as well as other sillyness that benefits greatly from trial and error learning to figure out what to do. Other people've had exactly the same frustration you have:

Spoiler

https://www.neoseeker.com/forums/1466/t ... teve/2.htm

You're probably supposed to figure out that you can't fight him, partly due to the closing gate hinting that you're meant to run, and partly because he's wildly faster than you are and insanely powerful. Even just escaping without taking damage is very difficult, as previously mentioned.

The first Tyrant fight is kinda jank too, honestly, with that instant kill if you're hit back into the flames, and discovering that you can't run past it even if you knock it to its knees. Despite how wide the pathway is, he's able to block it entirely, preventing you from running past him after stunning him.

[vol.2]

From what I've gathered chatting with other RE fans, CV is generally regarded as the hardest, at least on a first playthrough due to janky, unintuitive elements that can cause you to miss items altogether (the Magnum is missable), as well as other sillyness that benefits greatly from trial and error learning to figure out what to do. Other people've had exactly the same frustration you have:

I've heard that RE6 is worse. I refuse to play it because I know that I'll lose my shit too much on the QTEs. It's been described to me as one long unfair QTE.

But, yes, CV is certainly annoying and unfair all over the place.

Spoiler

The Nosferatu fight is also a pita. This time around, I just got incredibly lucky with the sniper rifle and took him out in the minimum shots right away.

[Lazy-Assed Prophet]

Ninja Master's, I like using the character Natsume, SNK has so many 2d fighters that I had no idea of this game until now. It's fun.

[Marc]

Got the Hylo Pro hack for the Neo ASP.
Capcom and most Final Burn stuff seems just fine, but sadly, Taito and Irem stuff runs like absolute ass, so looks like I’m still replying on Hamster for my R-Type Leo / Undercover Cops / Ray Force fix.

Whatever emulator is used for the classic arcade filter also randomly applies one of those aggressive smoothing filters, which I can’t seem to disable via the unit itself.

Still, there’s enough stuff on there to make it worthwhile – it’s basically rendered my CapCom HA stick useless and there are a bunch of shooters and brawlers I’ve never played before and probably never would if it wasn’t for neat things like this – playing some Hotdog Storm and a mid 90’s Sailor Moon last night.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I realized I hadn't had the chance to play the original Silent Hill before, having started at 2 and 3. The game is really slick and the dynamic lighting is a technical marvel for the time it was made. The combat's rough and the auto-aiming is less snappy and precise than Resident Evil's sadly, but fortunately Silent Hill 2 greatly improved ranged combat (melee sucked), and Silent Hill 3 radically improved melee combat.

I went out of my way to hunt for goodies and seem to have a wild amount of resources now. Almost 50 shells, 150 bullets, tons and tons of healing. And the hammer melee weapon is actually amazingly effective, unlike the knife or pipe which can't hit or stunlock worth a damn.

Then going through a perfectly normal door in the hospital, Harry's right arm disappeared from his model, taking his weapon along with it. I could try to attack stuff, but it wouldn't hit, because apparently the weapon's position is tied to the hitbox, and you could occasionally see his arm stretched out as if his hand were a million miles offscreen.

Someone else apparently had this happen on the digital PSN version except with Harry's left arm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rZMwfMx45I

Saving and reloading fortunately fixed it.

[BIL]

SH1's difficulty curve is pretty busted. Midwich Elementary is probably the toughest sequence, simply because your melee weapons suck and you've not built up a massive resource stock. Even then, judiciously gunning down Mumblers at safe distance will see you through (are you playing the NTSC-US version? JP and PAL shamefully censored the iconic demon children, swapping them out for a later enemy type - ptoo!).

As you say, the Emergency Hammer and a bit of rooting around will set you up for the rest of the game. You have to be really daft with ammo to run out in SH1, as in "deliberately fighting the infinitely respawning street hordes."

IIRC, "Self View" mode unlocks after a game clear. It's a quasi-FPV mode, causing the default "camera lock" button to instead perch the viewpoint on Harry's shoulder. If you set the camera controls to "Reverse," it'll be on by default, with the camera button instead zooming back out. I always play with it on these days - it's surprisingly usable, and it really illuminates SH1's formidable level of graphical detail. SH2/3/4's visual fidelity was an obvious quantum leap forward, but in terms of intricate fine-brush detail, SH1 very much set the standard.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I had a pretty sizeable stock when I was at the school during the Otherworld sequence, but maybe ammo is way less available in Hard mode? That or I was pretty aggressive about checking optional places for bullets.

However, I'm just on my way to the Lighthouse and I think I've missed the rifle; I've been seeing bullets for it but no rifle yet. Current plan is to assume I'll have to shotgun every major enemy and save all my bullets for that. I was able to hammer down the worm thing in the shopping plaza, and then just used the handgun to shoot down the flying moth later on, but when rifle ammo appeared in the streets between them, I foolishly assumed the rifle wasn't far ahead (because I found shotgun shells before I found the shotgun, assumed they might give ammo prior to the gun).

[BIL]

Easy to miss the rifle, it's just kinda lying out of frame in the background of a major event. Can't quite recall if it's vital, been a while. Good going killing the worm with the hammer, don't think I ever tried that.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Probably isn't, it wouldn't be the first time I've missed something in a Silent Hill game. I once missed the shotgun in SH3 because I completely forgot to get on like a 2nd or 3rd playthrough.

The first person view mode looks rad, I wish this was offered more! Any idea what the other options in the Extra Options menu do? Particularly curious about Weapon Control and Retreat Turn. Looking forward to having Run be the default on subsequent playthroughs so it's one less button to have to hold down.

The fact that the game silently auto reloads your gun whenever you raise it also threw me off, until I figured out what was happening. Weird that it even includes a reload option in the menu if it does that.

edit: oof, apparently I'm not the only one who's missed the rifle: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/19 ... l/52330153

Fortunately I still have an absolute boatload of resources compared to this poor chap and have like 12 drinks, 10 FAK, 4 ampoules, 100 bullets, 50 shells and so on. Reminds me of the first time I played SH3 or RE2 though, I had to redo both because I got to the end with basically no resources IIRC and sucked too much back then to get through. If I get low on bullets and desperate I can resort to HAMMERTIME with my massive health resources. I'm going to have to replay it because I suspect I've missed more stuff. I thought I checked what buildings I could enter in the resort area north of the lake, but I found multiple locked buildings that hinted at entry but no clues to get in, and just went ahead assuming backtracking might be needed later.

[TransatlanticFoe]

From what I've gathered chatting with other RE fans, CV is generally regarded as the hardest, at least on a first playthrough due to janky, unintuitive elements that can cause you to miss items altogether (the Magnum is missable), as well as other sillyness that benefits greatly from trial and error learning to figure out what to do. Other people've had exactly the same frustration you have:

I've heard that RE6 is worse. I refuse to play it because I know that I'll lose my shit too much on the QTEs. It's been described to me as one long unfair QTE.

But, yes, CV is certainly annoying and unfair all over the place.

Spoiler

The Nosferatu fight is also a pita. This time around, I just got incredibly lucky with the sniper rifle and took him out in the minimum shots right away.

You can turn the QTEs off in Resi 6. At launch I think playing on easy disabled them but they added an option in general because they are so numerous and sudden.

Doesn't really save it though. It's still generic as hell to play and, without co-op, normal difficulty is a pain due to how damage spongey everything is and how inactive your AI partner is (Sheva in Resi 5 at least being useful if you gave her an SMG). It's sort of okay on easy mode, is about the best praise I can level at it.

[BIL]

The first person view mode looks rad, I wish this was offered more! Any idea what the other options in the Extra Options menu do? Particularly curious about Weapon Control and Retreat Turn. Looking forward to having Run be the default on subsequent playthroughs so it's one less button to have to hold down.

IIRC, Weapon Control inverts things, so you hold the button to lower rather than raise the gun. Retreat Turn... I think that sets the 180' quick-turn to a button, though it's been so long, I can't recall if there's a button for that by default.

The resort area is a happenin' part of town. Fond memories of avoiding those Dogmen (*ruff*) patrolling under the streetlights, with that eerie lap steel-esque ambience. I wish SH2 and SH3 had featured similarly off-the-path areas.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Quickturning is in all SH games by pressing both strafe buttons (L1 + L2). I guess I'll have to play with it and see to confirm. It's nice to have these extra options, wish the RE games included this sorta thing. The closest you get is RE2 defaulting to the horrendous manual aim option, with auto aim being hidden as Type C!

SH2 and SH3 definitely feel more streamlined and encourage less street exploration for goodies. There's a huge incentive to actually explore the streets of Silent Hill in the first game for resources (which I suppose does go against the whole FIND YOUR DAUGHTER thing). Once you get in the town proper, SH3 only has one optional spot to check out (the strip club). SH2 is a bit more open but despite the game's much more powerful hardware, is a much denser game in terms of the distance you have to travel to get between various buildings of interest.

[BIL]

How I wish KCET had been given the same resources for their last two games. SH3 should've returned to SH1's side of town, north of Toluca Lake... and SH4 shouldn't have had to fold itself in half like a taco. 3; Their content is routinely superb, but real-world constraints are evident in a way SH1/2 feel comfily insulated from. I'd love to see "what if" augments of SH3 and SH4 from the original staff. (only the KCET SH quartet can make me pine like this )

(they did their best to justify SH3's town, with Crazy Lenny being locked up in Brookhaven, and the new content within those walls is authoritatively hellish. I like to think after SH2's dark, lonely abyss, they deliberately leveraged SH3's narrative for its seething Nightmare Brookhaven. It can't be Heather's place the way it is Mary's, but it certainly does feel like it's been definitively hijacked for the duration)

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Beat Silent Hill. No deaths, though in fairness

Spoiler

I had heard of the fridge monster before, and had the Ring of Contract well before pulling the Dagger. I note that if you pull the Dagger you can't put it back, so pulling it without the ring is death.

Final boss of Bad ending is silly and seems impossible to dodge the lightning, unless there's some trick I'm missing. Will replay and see about the other endings since I completely failed to do anything to trigger the good endings

Spoiler

in part because I thought the liquid was totally on the ground and not collectable, and I missed Angel's Bar despite looking for it, probably got distracted running from enemies, oops.

How much harder is Hard from Normal? Is it worth playing the next game as a Next Fear playthrough?

[BIL]

The first of the ending requirements you mention is one of gaming's most infamously impossible to get on a blind run. The second, yeah, those prowling dogmen make it powerfully tempting to GTFO. A big hearty chunk of game to see, there.

I seem to recall Hard putting a bit more bite into the early going - Midwich and early Alchemilla. Though once again, after getting the Hammer of Skull Crushing, melee eases up dramatically, letting you build a healthy ammo stock for the remaining bosses. Worth going with Next Fear, I'd say. There's some neat optional items associated with high-ranking clears, IIRC (I use that acronym a lot, discussing these games... getting to be time for my winter revisits, methinks!)

This reminds me of one of my favourite sequences from SH1 - immediately after the Worm fight, a mad sprint through the rainy, pitch-black nightmare streets, the road turned to bloody rust, most of the buildings replaced by grotesque skeletal windmills, a fucking army of winged and four-legged fiends hot on your tail - good times.

SH2's comparable interlude, the lonely dark wander from Brookhaven to the (now quite fearsomely foreshadowed) Historical Society illustrates why they're one of my favourite gaming double acts. The same concept - "A World of Someone's Nightmarish Delusions" - viewed from the third and first-person, respectively. SH1 is detached and terrifying, SH2 is doomily absorbing. Jeeze I wish I was near my PS2, now. Although it's not like I don't have a shit-ton of new stuff to play in the next twelve months.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I might do a new game on Hard to avoid the temptation to use bullet adjust. >_>; I tried running from the first fight on Hard, NOPE, I HAVE TO KILL IT, and got hit a few times. Saw that I was in Orange already, oof. Hard already is visibly going to be trickier it seems at least as far as punishing damage!

As far as the Extra options go:

Weapon Control - Press/Switch
Press all the way. Switch makes the ready weapon button a toggle.

View Control - Normal/Reverse
Normal unless you're messing with the view mode. You don't normally want to hold L2 by default. I don't dig view mode, mostly because it's so damn wobbly, sorry.

Retreat Turn - Normal/Reverse
Normal is stupid. When walking backwards, pressing left makes you turn right as you back up and vice versa. Reverse should be the default and is how the Resident Evil games behave (as do the later Silent Hill games if I recall). Good reason to have extra options enabled.

Walk/Run Control - Normal/Reverse
Not having to hold a button to run when you're gonna mostly be running is nice.

Auto Aiming - On/Off
Why would you turn this off? Auto aim off literally makes it harder than the early Resident Evil games. The auto aim in this game is iffy but it's far better than not.

[Blinge]

and seems impossible to dodge the lightning, unless there's some trick I'm missing.

Circle strafe sprint not work?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Nope. Neither did straight line running or running forward in a circle. I checked out a few runs that do the Good ending final boss no damage so apparently that's doable, but either the Bad ending boss has slightly different targetting, or there's some trick I was missing? Dunno. At most I could dodge 2 of the 3 lightning bolts but it felt like it was down to just resource tanking through it.

Spoiler

Cybil boss fight was even nastier. Seems if you react quickly you can dodge the gunshot by running around with flashlight off, but she hits incredibly hard, with one shot putting you in red, and eats an astonishing number of handgun bullets. I think I put like 80 in her on Normal? Then busted out the shotgun and fired another dozen times. Even when she tosses the gun away she's still dangerous since she basically does not stagger at all. Melee only would probably require something like Pipe or Axe, baiting her attack and swinging while walking backwards.