What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[BrianC]

I have been playing Shovel Knight, and I recently beat it on normal. Very nice game. I especially like the bosses. The game has a lot of nice touches to it, as well. The gold armor is hilarious.

I have also been playing Mario Tennis GBC. Almost complete (minus N64 transfer stuff. Still need to get the N64 version). All I need to do is beat Mario and Peach in doubles. Sometimes I wish I could hit my doubles partner with a racket when she misses a ball that goes right towards her.

[lilmanjs]

Hover Racing was the last game I played. I suck at it and can't even get past track 1-2, but I love it!

[Mischief Maker]

Etrian Odyssey 3.

I'm not sure if I like the game, or just like the mapping, as the dungeons in this game are really easy to navigate and beating up mushrooms and durians doesn't exactly feel like grand adventure to me.

[friedrich]

Metro 2033 Redux (PS4).

At the beginning I thought it was decent, but the more I play it, the more I like it. The atmosphere is really outstanding.

[RealPlumpBox]

Bravely Default. I am at the final boss fight for the "true" ending. Fuck this fight. I get killed so easy. I am grinding out levels at this point. Right now I am level 85. I may need to just do a better build, the problem is I SUCK at strategy like that and am not clever enough. I just try to tank it and also have one healer.

[broken harbour]

OK FF-X.... I'm getting annoyed, and now I'm torn.

First the good:
Story is actually kind of interesting
Most characters are likeable
Battle system is fun
Interesting environments
I like the sphere grid system, even tho it's a little tedious.

The Bad:
Dear god the lip synch is getting atrocious
Battles can be really unfair, seemingly at random. I had one encounter with 3 bomb's, all of which got to go first, each of them 3 times in a row, killing the entire party before I could have a turn... WTF?
Yuna is the most boring, quiet, unconfident, timid protagonist I've ever seen, I wish Lulu had been Tidus' main focus.
Speaking of Tidus, his voice acting and dialogue is grating.

I want to like this game a lot, but it's seriously flawed, not sure how this got all those awards years ago. Gonna stick with it, partly because I hope it gets better (pacing has improved now, I'm at the 12 hour mark) and because I hear a lot of people who didn't like X a whole lot really liked X-2.

[broken harbour]

And another thing FF-X.... let me save when I want, save points went out of style after the SNES/Genesis era.

[EmperorIng]

Ninja Jajamaru Kun Onigiri Ninpoucho Kin [SS]

I think I hate the game. It's going into the sell pile.

Resident Evil 1 Director's Cut [PS1]

Beat Chris's campaign last night. I am apparently "a real tough guy!" Fantastic game from start to finish.

Makaimura [SS]

Still trying to find a good strategy for stage 5. I don't think there is such a thing as a good strategy for stage 5.

[Bananamatic]

Battles can be really unfair, seemingly at random. I had one encounter with 3 bomb's, all of which got to go first, each of them 3 times in a row, killing the entire party before I could have a turn... WTF?

Where did that happen? I don't think it should be possible to die that fast
By the way certain attacks in the game delay the target's action further, so that might explain losing turns at times, I don't think any of the bombs have one though.

[Obiwanshinobi]

And another thing FF-X.... let me save when I want, save points went out of style after the SNES/Genesis era.

Nocturne and DDS1&2 would disagree with you... Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song, however, not necessarily would.

Dear god the lip synch is getting atrocious

If you're no stranger to internet piracy, there's the "undub" version (PS2 and emulation only I'm afraid) where the voice acting and lip synch are way more palatable.

[broken harbour]

Battles can be really unfair, seemingly at random. I had one encounter with 3 bomb's, all of which got to go first, each of them 3 times in a row, killing the entire party before I could have a turn... WTF?

Where did that happen? I don't think it should be possible to die that fast
By the way certain attacks in the game delay the target's action further, so that might explain losing turns at times, I don't think any of the bombs have one though.

It happened on the high road on the way to the Djose temple, it was pretty irritating, but only happened once so far.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Everything the bombs do is fire element. This actually applies to every type of bomb enemy in the game except for the one in Monster Arena. So if you have any Fire Ward equipment or even got the Nulblaze Shield after beating Lord Ochu, that battle is a lot safer.


Bravely Default: I'm up to chapter 3 Hard Mode. I've mostly been playing other stuff.

I got the platinum trophy for FFX HD and have a file in progress for X-2 HD(I'm nowhere near as familiar with this game as I was with X). Also playing Tales of Xillia 2, which is so much better than the first game. Beat Xillia 2 only on Hard Mode then upped the difficulty straight to Unknown for attempting postgame.

I've also got a fresh Symphonia Mania in progress(transferred Titles for the costumes which I'm using plus I still need 1 of Regal's titles to get the platinum trophy) I'm not understanding how people find this mode easy(but then I'm playing the PS3 version where it's based on the harder PS2 one).

Also have a NG+ on Mania with all sorts of grade shop stuff in DotNW that's on hold for a while.

[null1024]

Hover Racing was the last game I played. I suck at it and can't even get past track 1-2, but I love it!

Great game. Way, way, way too polished for a tiny 2MB Net Yaroze title. Almost a straight F-Zero clone, but the handling is very different.
Really, the handling drives me nuts [it's not bad, but a bit confusing, you have four side thrusters and you are practically made of inertia], and I've brickwalled on track 2-3.
Probably the only issue the game has is that the visuals are even more spartan than F-Zero X's, but the combination of limited available memory [the entire game is loaded into RAM] and needing to keep 60fps explain that. Nice soundtrack, too. Even has little training challenges and whatnot.

Could probably have been sold as a disc game [at least if it got a CD audio soundtrack and three more courses -- they're all about as long as original F-Zero courses], it's very featureful.

Ghegs yelled at me to play it.
thank you Ghegs

[Lord Satori]

(are you fucking kidding me? my internet cut out as I was posting and now I have to type it all over again)

Finished Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth today. Loved the plot-twist at the end, but I was disappointed that Cthulhu didn't appear at all. I wish there were more games like this that take place within the Cthulhu mythos.

[BIL]

I like to replay Silent Hill 1-4 in release order every couple years or so, when the evenings are long enough. This is the first of my little marathons when there's a new game in development, and by "in development" I mean "developed by Konami, not outsourced to Screensavers R Us in Darkest Rumpypumpyshire." Whats this feeling I don't understand!?, it fff ffeel g-g-g-good I don't pin any expectations on the new game and will happily bin it if it blows, but it's nice to see the series treated with some consideration again.

As always, went with Good+ and "Leave" for the first two games. As a great big weenie pussy I never thought of this as a necessarily downbeat series so it just feels right. One of these times I'm gonna get Bad+ and "In Water" and feel the sad 4 real :[

I can't deal with unflinchingly embraced self-obliteration right now.

Spoiler

SH3 seems to improve its standing with me over time. The CTRL+Vd chunk of SH2's south side smack in the middle always stings a bit, but the sweat that must've gone into the original material on either side... it's a shame neither this nor SH4 were given the generous dev time of the first two games. Both have some excellent original content that unfortunately gets dinged by production shortcuts. I hope the trend reverses with the upcoming game.

[Kiken]

XCOM: Enemy Unknown (360)
XCOM: Enemy Within (PS3)
XCOM: Enemy Unknown (iPod)

Yeah... XCOM.

[trap15]

As always, went with Good+ and "Leave" for the first two games. As a great big weenie pussy I never thought of this as a necessarily downbeat series so it just feels right. One of these times I'm gonna get Bad+ and "In Water" and feel the sad 4 real :[

First time I played SH1 I didn't bother to look up the endings, so I got the Bad ending. I gotta say, that was pretty traumatizing.

Spoiler

The thought of having experienced all of that crazy fucking shit while in a near-death coma after crashing your car is basically the most terrifying thing ever. My assumption is that he died after the game ended, which makes it only worse; that was his last experience ever. Cruel world.

[Ghegs]

Ghegs yelled at me to play it.
thank you Ghegs

I yell because I care.

For anybody interested in an awesome futuristic racer, read more here. There will be a competition soon.

[iconoclast]

I'm glad neorichie made that Metal Slug 3 thread because it made me want to get back into the series. Over the last few days I 1cc'd both of these for the first time (with one stupid death in each run preventing me from getting the no miss):

Metal Slug (8/10) - The original Metal Slug is still great by today's standards, but it is far too easy to clear because of how often the Metal Slug is available. As soon as you get into one you're able to wreck everything without much risk, and it completely trivializes at least three of the boss fights. I found the beginning of the final mission to be the most difficult part of the game because you have to deal with a couple of tricky enemy setups on foot before you make it to the Slug. It would have been better if every stage were designed like that.

Metal Slug X (10/10) - This most likely takes the crown for best run and gun I've ever played. Each stage feels perfectly balanced between on-foot action and Metal Slug action, so they fixed the biggest problem I had with the original. Enemy setups get progressively more difficult until you need to approach every encounter with a plan if you want to be sure you'll get through it alive, and most of the boss fights are great. The only thing that bugs me about the game is the final boss, because there are a few (seemingly) random elements that make the fight either easy or hard depending on how lucky you are. It's still possible to clear the fight without dying in the worst case scenario, but it is a lot more difficult than it probably should be. Regardless, the game is a masterpiece.

[null1024]

Shadow Dancer [Genesis].

Made it to 4-3 today! And then I died since I had no idea what the boss did.
also, I'd used all my continues against 4-2, holy shit, I never knew how close I kept getting to the end until I bombed the part I kept dying on

Spent a fair bit of time trying to remember how to go through each section in each stage [without bombing, natch].
4-2 is such a cool stage though, real shadow dancing action!!! Trying to keep track of all the shit is pretty boss. Actually managing to do it feels amazing.
Man, I love this game.

oh yeah, I also played a fuckton of Breakers Revenge [Neo-Geo/MAME].
That shit's fun. Mostly played as Tia. Started off by getting my ass handed to me repeatedly by a buddy of mine who was playing Sho, finally beat him after a bunch of mirror matches, and started to pick Tia after. Sho has some stupid properties regarding his dive kick [if he connects with it and has meter, it's pretty much a guaranteed super air fireball].

I like this game. It's not perfect by any means, but it seems solid enough.

[Leandro]

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey... I loved the original The Longest Journey so I decided to give this game a chance, seeing a cute ass on the screenshots helped. Started weak but it's getting better now with the "action" in Venice, a familiar location... Still very inferior to the original however, despite the pretty graphics

[BIL]

First time I played SH1 I didn't bother to look up the endings, so I got the Bad ending. I gotta say, that was pretty traumatizing.

Spoiler

The thought of having experienced all of that crazy fucking shit while in a near-death coma after crashing your car is basically the most terrifying thing ever. My assumption is that he died after the game ended, which makes it only worse; that was his last experience ever. Cruel world.

It's awesome - especially the way it hooks into the narrative easily as well as the now-canon Good, effectively giving the game a parallel storyline. I once saw a fan forum post suggesting the siren heard during the most violent dimensional shifts could be (warning a huge battleship "SH GEEKOUT" approaching fast)

Spoiler

the car horn blaring in a dying Harry's ears, as seen in the ending. Then there's the foreshadowing from Harry himself at the midpoint, quickly put aside for (seemingly) more pressing matters, his background as a writer with a no doubt active imagination, and a single father with the strongest of motivations in his daughter's safety. Instead of "just a dream" it makes the game "just a desperate man's dying nightmare," absolutely chilling.

So heavy. In all regards SH1 only gets more brutal and intense with age.

4-2 is such a cool stage though, real shadow dancing action!!!

Holy shit, how'd I never catch onto that. Should've been the round title. ^__^

NOW THAT IS SHADOW DANCIN' *STAB*

[ACSeraph]

As always, went with Good+ and "Leave" for the first two games. As a great big weenie pussy I never thought of this as a necessarily downbeat series so it just feels right. One of these times I'm gonna get Bad+ and "In Water" and feel the sad 4 real :[

First time I played SH1 I didn't bother to look up the endings, so I got the Bad ending. I gotta say, that was pretty traumatizing.

Spoiler

The thought of having experienced all of that crazy fucking shit while in a near-death coma after crashing your car is basically the most terrifying thing ever. My assumption is that he died after the game ended, which makes it only worse; that was his last experience ever. Cruel world.

Same here, and I got In the Water for my first blind SH2 run too. But probably my respect for the series was only tempered by how completely and utterly dark it was. Sad that the modern games version of dark is "Murphy killed everyone just because he's a dick!" with the alternative ending being "Murphy is Jesus!"

A huge part of me wishes that Bad+ had been the true ending of SH1 and 3 had been entirely original. Back before the series was a series and I first saw that I had always assumed it was the intended end.

[BIL]

A huge part of me wishes that Bad+ had been the true ending of SH1 and 3 had been entirely original.

I do think it was a big mistake to give the series a direct sequel - the anthology format of SH1 & SH2 leaves so much more to explore. Nerdfights over SH2's "real ending" will rage eternally, though I think the point (and brilliance) of them was to display four facets of a single, consistent personality. This is where DP went astonishingly off the rails.

I got IW first as well - from anecdotes I think many do, since the requirements lend themselves to a blind run more than the other two possiblities (similar with SH1, actually). I remember feeling resigned more than anything. A strength of SH2 is its knowing refusal to play up its subject matter - it's inherently dark, overwhelming stuff. When James privately remarks post-Brookhaven that he's got nothing left but his dream, he means it. IW descending like a shroud post-denouement merely affirmed him.

I always point this out to other fans who claim "he shoulda just done that to begin with instead of makin me waste ma muddafuckin time!"

[lilmanjs]

Syberia.
Love me some adventure games from time to time and couldn't pass up the sale to get both of the games in the series from gog for real cheap. I have the first one on Xbox and never have beaten it. Keep getting stuck, so hopefully this time around on PC I can do better.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

A huge part of me wishes that Bad+ had been the true ending of SH1 and 3 had been entirely original.

I do think it was a big mistake to give the series a direct sequel

Agreed. It was a series that benefitted far more from ambiguous endings I think, and didn't need any direct plot sequels. Silent Hill is the kind of town where using new characters each time actually works. I love SH3 as a game, but that's mostly because of how improved the combat and the game engine overall is over the first two games (far more intuitive blocking, melee combat that doesn't use the PS2's pressure sensitivity buttons to determine how you swing, life/stamina bars, improved range weapon aiming, tons of unlockable content, extra difficulty modes and more interesting bonus weapons). The plot is okay as far as direct sequels go, but it has nowhere near the 'oomph' that the first and second games had.

SH3 was also missing an unlockable riddle difficulty (the Hard mode is legitimitely hard and fun to solve, though the Shakespeare one will probably leave anyone unfamiliar with the works utterly confused) and could have used more endings...

[Obiwanshinobi]

Finally played some Boktai out in the sun. Although I found the artwork rather bland, on GBA in motion it looks pretty neat. Not like a SNES or MD game; rather like Diablo. Doesn't play "retro" either.

Then some Lufia: The Legend Returns on the train. Can't say much about the gameplay yet (except you can't walk diagonally and there's the dash button), but I like the writing (not ashamed to be just a jRPG).

[CStarFlare]

A huge part of me wishes that Bad+ had been the true ending of SH1 and 3 had been entirely original.

I do think it was a big mistake to give the series a direct sequel

The plot is okay as far as direct sequels go, but it has nowhere near the 'oomph' that the first and second games had.

I don't know about that. SH1 had a stronger premise, but SH3 left it in the dust once the characters arrive in Silent Hill. Some sort of plot guide is almost required to feel like you really "get" SH1; 3 is much tighter and more direct. I'd also argue that SH1 had the weakest supporting cast of the main series - I kind of forget Kaufman was ever written in, and the only problem with removing Cybil from the game would be deciding how to put a gun in Harry's hand. SH3's characters seem to have more purpose and a better developed.

It's kind of hard to argue that continuing the cult story was the right course to take, but on the other hand I'm not willing to pretend that I wish SH3 was something else. It's fantastic as it is, despite what it is.

The original Silent Hill's oomph lied in its presentation and original concept. But for me characterization and emotional impact have always been the things that set the best Silent Hill entries apart from other games, and the team did a better job of that in 2 and 3.

EDIT:

As for the topic at hand, I've been grinding Diablo 3. Patch 2.1 has some neat stuff and it was a nice excuse to start over fresh. Enjoying the hell out of playing with the new gems, at least.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Boktai makes me want the Metal Gear Solid GBC version and wish Metal Gear 1&2 GBA ports existed (I know about PS2 versions, but still).

[SuperGrafx]

Super Mario Bros on my top loader NES.

With a regular old school NES pad...those dogbone ones just don't feel the same.