What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Lord Satori]

Hyrule Warriors (WiiU)

It's Dynasty Warriors with Zelda characters. Don't have much to add on top of Jim Sterling's review. (It's awesome.)

Same. Only thing is that I wish they put Vaati in. Kinda surprised they didn't add in young link for an interesting twist, but I can do without that.

[Battlesmurf]

Silent Hill Downpour, Snatcher (SCD), and Clocktower 2. The Silent Hill DP isn't as bad as I was expecting, already it seems better than homecoming and I made it through that one. I think having streaming buddies helps, too. Clocktower one aged a lot worse, but still managed to be creepy.

[iconoclast]

Strider 2

Been playing this a lot over the last few days. Last night I managed to put together a 20 million point S-rank clear; it's a little sloppy in a few places, but I'm still pretty satisfied with it. The game has some major issues imo, but aside from Volgarr, it's the only other action/platformer I've come across that's actually fun & interesting to play for score. That's always a huge plus.

[Jenseits]

Taiko no tatsujin!

Btw: would someone be so kind and tell me what this roughly means?
Thank you!

[KAI]

I'M PLAYING BATTLE GEAR 4 TUNED FUCK YEAH!

[NTSC-J]

Taiko no tatsujin!

Btw: would someone be so kind and tell me what this roughly means?
Thank you!

If you update to iOS 8, the game might not run properly, so hold off on updating. Once they get it worked out, they'll post a notification on the download page or in the app.

[Jenseits]

Thanks so much!

That is what i hoped it would mean because Input is a bit laggy

[ArmoredCore]

Just bought PierSolar on ps4. Loving it so far. The Lunar & Albert's Oddyssey nostalgia ^^

[Icarus]

R-Type Tactics and Disgaea (PSP).
But I'm not playing them on an actual PSP. :V



Also Final Fantasy XIV (PC), and The World Ends With You: Solo Remix HD (iOS iPad), which I'm checking on every so often while I leave specific pins to gain shutdown PP.

[KindGrind]

Dracula X on the PCE, just beat it tonight.

I'm going back for the bottom route!

[rapoon]

Icarus, that's awesome man! is it running ok?


playing the latest DkS2 expansion. good stuff!

friend let me borrow deadpool for 360. havent played it yet though.

[Icarus]

Icarus, that's awesome man! is it running ok?

With auto frameskip 1 on, works nicely. I only installed it for RPGs and strategy games - slow-moving games - and it's perfect for that. Saves having to lug around a PSP that only switches on when it's plugged into the mains.
You'll want to try it on any Apple device with at least an A6 processor though (iPhone 5+, iPad 4+, iPad Mini Retina), as lower spec devices probably won't have the power for it.

[rapoon]

Icarus, that's awesome man! is it running ok?

With auto frameskip 1 on, works nicely. I only installed it for RPGs and strategy games - slow-moving games - and it's perfect for that. Saves having to lug around a PSP that only switches on when it's plugged into the mains.
You'll want to try it on any Apple device with at least an A6 processor though (iPhone 5+, iPad 4+, iPad Mini Retina), as lower spec devices probably won't have the power for it.

I have an 3rd gen ipad, but ill check it out. it looks great.


on topic:

Just got Abyss Odyssey, newest release from ACE (zeno clash, rock of ages). its a gorgeous game. gameplay is a mix of castlevania and street fighter.
there are three starting classes, but throughout the game you find souls that belonged to other warriors and when you use the soul, you become that character which
changes your skin and offers an entirely different moveset. its a clever concept but i havent played the game enough the weigh in on whether or not
it translates into gameplay well (ACE is an eclectic developer but unfortunately their unique ideas don't always work).

[CIT]

Strider 2

Been playing this a lot over the last few days. Last night I managed to put together a 20 million point S-rank clear; it's a little sloppy in a few places, but I'm still pretty satisfied with it. The game has some major issues imo, but aside from Volgarr, it's the only other action/platformer I've come across that's actually fun & interesting to play for score. That's always a huge plus.

Just watched your replay. Good stuff! At first I was like, WTF how'd he get 20 million!?, but I saw that you played the PS1 extra stage too.

I like how you took care of Caduceus before he went went into his second form. I usually get knocked down at some point, and then I'm not quite fast enough to speed kill him in his first form.

If you like games like Strider 2 and Volgarr you have to check out The Adventure of Little Ralph. Another challenging, score heavy, arcadey action platformer.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death on PC is a guilty pleasure of mine. Sure, it's no Rogue Trooper and if you wanna play a better designed underdog FPS from the year 2003, there's always Chaser, but... I suck for that generation of middleware tech and the artistry on display here is something else. Somewhere near Anachronox and TrickStyle, Mega-City One looks moody as hell and high resolution flatters it. Game design is very primitive so far, but on Medium, with DISABLED auto-aim, it's not laughably easy. So to see more of depicted world (that I want to), I need to stay focused, which is all around engrossing enough to justify the admission price.
I can see how 2000 AD fans could have been disappointed in corny dialogue/voice acting, but I find it becoming. At least some of the actors sound like they are into it. The game feels, for lack of a better word, lively.
(There other things I like about it, but nothing to write home about.)
I'd like to try various multiplayer modes, but I doubt many people even want to remember the game.

Okay, there's something between TimeSplitters (by the way, all Story mode chapters can be played in co-op) and Ghost Recon to it. High rank earned in Arcade missions unlocks cheats usable in Story, whereas high ranks in Story unlock new Arcade missions.

Incinerating ammo is... peculiar.

The ragdoll effect is impressive for that-gen multiplatform game (assuming it looks the same on all consoles). Might be some trickstery.

[iconoclast]

Just watched your replay. Good stuff! At first I was like, WTF how'd he get 20 million!?, but I saw that you played the PS1 extra stage too.

I like how you took care of Caduceus before he went went into his second form. I usually get knocked down at some point, and then I'm not quite fast enough to speed kill him in his first form.

If you like games like Strider 2 and Volgarr you have to check out The Adventure of Little Ralph. Another challenging, score heavy, arcadey action platformer.

I think Mission 0 is kinda terrible to be honest, but I didn't want to skip anything. It's as if Capcom went out of their way to make a stage where you do nothing but sit behind the enemy's weak point and hold the attack button. And it's capped off with a fight against Hien that's boring because of his simple pattern, yet frustrating because the slowdown in that area can cause you to drop inputs and eat an attack you should have evaded.

I also got lucky against Caduceus. He almost never uses his laser attack that often, so I only had to evade a few lightning bolts and fireballs before I could kill him. There is a trick to the fight, though. I try to do as much damage to him as possible without letting him enter his second phase (I stop attacking when his health bar is above the "S" in his name), then wait for him to use that laser attack. It has a long recovery time, so if you use a boost, you can kill him before he flies away. It works almost every time (even without the sword upgrade), but if you're a little slow to get into position, he might get away with a couple pixels of health left.

Anyway, Little Ralph looks awesome (if a little long). I'll be busy with some other games for the next month or so, but I'll definitely add it to the backlog.

[rapoon]

Styx: Master of Shadows - this was released on steam ~24 hours ago. designed for one audience in mind: stealth purists (if any AC title or dishonored is your idea of stealth, dont get it).
i haven't put in too much time but from what ive seen, the level design is excellent (you're on a floating citadel) but controls and mechanics need a little bit of work.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Merely because I tend to choose playable females in games, I started my affair with the recent King's Bounty reboot from Armored Princess and it would keep crashing on me. So I gave The Legend a chance and it was the right thing to do.

I read the English translation isn't great, but the Polish version is rather witty. Some genuine childish flavour to it, that I haven't found in Armored Princess, reminds me of Lufia: The Legend Returns I'd also enjoyed lately.

Another thing of note is that the "cartoony" graphics don't really follow in 3D WarCraft's footsteps (unlike way too many games ranging from Dawn of War to Torchlight). That is all good for my money as well.

Too soon to judge the gameplay properly, but I already find it quite irresistible.

[ACSeraph]

Continuing my Metal Gear-athon between shmupping, last night I just finished up Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance HD.

My god. What a shitty game.

I played this way back in the day when the Vanilla version first hit and havent played it again since. I remember thinking it wasn't very good compared to the Solid 1 at the time, but not totally hating it. But this time all of its flaws were just too much to bear. Of course like twin the camera and general controls were pretty bad by modern standards, I was prepared for that. Keep in mind here I actually like Kojima's games, but the general stage design in 2 is horrid. Very little fun to be had; dealing with all the C4 just had me hanging my head in disgust with how crappy it was designed, particularly the bridge section before you fight the harrier. I don't want to play Where's Waldo in the middle of my stealth adventure game, jesus.

And damn even the characters are just grating; I didn't notice as much in high school. Is it just me or does Snake seem like he really wishes he wasn't there for the majority of the game. His (probably unintentional) poker face after Otacon's family issues/penthouse short story reveal was just classic.

Anyhow glad its over, and I'll never play it again. Glad to finally move on to Snake Eater, since that's where the Solid series starts to really shine and feel like a legit stealth game.

[EmperorIng]

Just watched your replay. Good stuff! At first I was like, WTF how'd he get 20 million!?, but I saw that you played the PS1 extra stage too.

I like how you took care of Caduceus before he went went into his second form. I usually get knocked down at some point, and then I'm not quite fast enough to speed kill him in his first form.

If you like games like Strider 2 and Volgarr you have to check out The Adventure of Little Ralph. Another challenging, score heavy, arcadey action platformer.

I think Mission 0 is kinda terrible to be honest, but I didn't want to skip anything. It's as if Capcom went out of their way to make a stage where you do nothing but sit behind the enemy's weak point and hold the attack button. And it's capped off with a fight against Hien that's boring because of his simple pattern, yet frustrating because the slowdown in that area can cause you to drop inputs and eat an attack you should have evaded.

I also got lucky against Caduceus. He almost never uses his laser attack that often, so I only had to evade a few lightning bolts and fireballs before I could kill him. There is a trick to the fight, though. I try to do as much damage to him as possible without letting him enter his second phase (I stop attacking when his health bar is above the "S" in his name), then wait for him to use that laser attack. It has a long recovery time, so if you use a boost, you can kill him before he flies away. It works almost every time (even without the sword upgrade), but if you're a little slow to get into position, he might get away with a couple pixels of health left.

Thanks for uploading the replay. It was great to watch you tear through the game and its bosses. It will give me good pointers if I ever get to clear the game. The Caduceus/Meio fight was superb.

I agree that Stage 0 feels off. It basically feels like the debug level where they were testing out all the game engine's salient features before they went ahead and made the REAL game.

[Mischief Maker]

I can tell you what game I WANT to be playing but suddenly can't: Devil May Cry 4.

I have it on retail DVD. Capcom included some kind of anti-copying securom on the disk. I just did a HD wipe and reinstall and my drive finally decided it isn't going to install off that disk any more. I mean the installer runs, and I can explore the disk, but the install wizard just hangs. It's always been the slowest install of all my games. For the record, I have many disks I run off this computer, both factory print and burned, and this is the ONLY disk that gives me any trouble.

Dare I hope against hope that someone has a solution to this mess?

[Obiwanshinobi]

Glad to finally move on to Snake Eater, since that's where the Solid series starts to really shine and feel like a legit stealth game.

You need to play Thief 2: The Metal Age in a dark room with headphones (EAX on).

[Jonathan Ingram]

Dare I hope against hope that someone has a solution to this mess?

Get a DRM-free repack, I guess? Works much better than normal off-the-disc installations in most cases.

[Mischief Maker]

Dare I hope against hope that someone has a solution to this mess?

Get a DRM-free repack, I guess? Works much better than normal off-the-disc installations in most cases.

Could you direct me to a DRM-free repack of DMC4?

Edit: I mean something legit, obviously.

[spadgy]

Just finished Valiant Hearts: The Great War. Utterly wonderful, and now has me ordering some World War 1 history books. Such a great game; the game play is perhaps rather light for a remix of the point 'n' click/adventure game, but in a way that compliments the style, and let me concentrate on learning from the game and thinking about what it tackles.

Pretty too, if a bit buggy.

[Jonathan Ingram]

Could you direct me to a DRM-free repack of DMC4?

Edit: I mean something legit, obviously.

Unfortunately, these things are illegal by their nature since they involve a person or a group of people tampering with the copyrighted information without the approval of the maker. A game gets hacked, the DRM removed, the bloat data trimmed, the installation process turned into a simple matter of extracting the archive into your desired directory. A mighty convenient thing as long as you don't mind walking the path of the pirate on occasion or two.

[broken harbour]

I"ve been stuck at home for a few days, so I was able to pour 40 hours in 4 days into FF-X HD and wrapped it. It was fun, but flawed. the story was interesting, remastered OST was incredible and the battle system the best FF I've played so far. However, the voice acting and animations were brutal at times, and I didn't like Tidus or Yuna as protagonists. Breaking the game at the end using the monster arena was good fun, but did make the last boss fights too easy. At 80 hours... it was a bit long for my taste, I generally like my RPG's to be around 40-50 hours unless they are like super interesting or something.

Not sure if I want to do FFX-2 next or not...might go play a bunch of shmups in my backlog first.

[Jonathan Ingram]

I"ve been stuck at home for a few days, so I was able to pour 40 hours in 4 days into FF-X HD and wrapped it.

Not unless you've acquired every Celestial Weapon, maxed out the sphere grid and pummeled the one true final boss Penance into the ground!!!

[broken harbour]

I"ve been stuck at home for a few days, so I was able to pour 40 hours in 4 days into FF-X HD and wrapped it.

Not unless you've acquired every Celestial Weapon, maxed out the sphere grid and pummeled the one true final boss Penance into the ground!!!

How about half the Celestials, maxed out the sphere grid for 3 characters and finished the story?

Eh, close enough, I don't have the dedication to do everything and spend 200 hours..

[Obiwanshinobi]

Brushed the dust off my flight stick and made some progress in the original Crimson Skies (PC). Still one of the best "lighter" flight sims out there. If they really "dumbed it down" for the first Xbox, that... was not necessary at all. The PC game was fairly playable with analogue joypad.

Now with the gizmo all set up, I'm considering trying to play Sonic Wings Assault and Pilotwings 64 with it, emulated.