What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[spadgy]

I recently cleared the PAL Bayonetta 2 for review purposes, but my lips remain sealed until release.

And I had a great laugh last night with my wife trying Octodad co-op mode. Brilliant silly fun.

And I think I already mentioned Valiant Hearts in a post above, but that still hasn't left my head. A true treasure, and a game I'll remember the feeling of playing for a very long time.

[Zaarock]

I will say that you don't NEED twinsticks though [especially since they are a fairly expensive bit of kit for just one game, unless you build your own]. You can play a mean game on pad, and with less motion required.

Actually, half or possibly more of the japanese tournament players on the XBLA version play with the 360 controller. Both control types have some small advantages in certain things. But yeah the controls aren't exactly intuitive without twinsticks even though they can be used well. Even with the sticks it takes some practice to be able to do basic control properly.

Still, it's disappointing seeing the VO series outside of japan slowly become something that just reminds people of figures or collector items instead of trying to play online or keep a local scene alive. Not that SEGA isn't the main thing to blame for that, heh. It's been four years since the release of the VO4 port now.

PS. that 3D bullet hell in VOOT(well, very close)

[Bananamatic]

Finished FF7 Crisis Core a while ago, went for a first playthrough on Hard mode

The storyline itself was pretty fun, but Normal mode is way too easy and Hard is just insane stat bloat(enemies do around 5 times more damage and have 3 times the HP) and the rest of the game are 300 repetitive short side missions(which were all just really short dungeons) that got boring around 30% of the way through

would not play again

[Immryr]

just started playing Metroid other m having bought it for £2.50 haha. I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. it doesn't exactly feel like a true Metroid game, but I don't mind.

[broken harbour]

just started playing Metroid other m having bought it for £2.50 haha. I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. it doesn't exactly feel like a true Metroid game, but I don't mind.

I found it kind of weird, I don't mind a talkative Samus, but moving in a 3D game with the D-pad is just wonky. Also, not being able to shoot missles and move sucks.

I still liked it tho, despite its imperfections.

[Immryr]

the combat feels a little reminiscent of silent bomber to me so far, I haven't felt any problems with standing to shoot missiles yet, but I haven't played too much of the game. I really like the implementation of the wiimote - which is very rare for me. I had massive problems with Metroid prime 3 cause of the wiimote, I never even got close to finishing it, same with okami.

[null1024]

Super Sidekicks 3: The Next Glory [Neo-Geo/MAME].
Holy fuck. This game is too much fun with friends. Matches go fast as hell, and the aggressively designed play [read: defending is a bitch; anytime the keeper is stunned, inputs are dropped; if you aren't controlling a character, they will just stand there usually] makes for a much faster pick-up-and-play experience, where focus is more on keeping your momentum to be able to score.
Defending effectively seems to involve an awful amount of fouling [it'd get called if the ref is on screen & facing play].

and those after-goal sequences
the crotch-shot to silly face gets me in stitches every damned time

Oh, and Neo Turf Masters [Neo-Geo/MAME].
I didn't know it was possible to get salty like that over motherfucking golf.
but holy fuck
It's excellent fun, fluid and gorgeous. Only issue is that explaining to people that the arrow doesn't match up with where the ball lands at 100% on the map is a pain.
well, maybe the inability to render slopes in the 3D view when putting is bad too, but that can't be helped

(enemies do around 5 times more damage and have 3 times the HP)

why is this a damn thing

Making the enemies more dangerous? fine
Needlessly making them take ages to kill? Fuck that noise.

Really, hard mode in games should be more of a "DON'T FUCK UP BITCH" sort of affair rather than a "oh god why is this thing dead yet" sort of thing.

[trap15]

Super Sidekicks 3: The Next Glory [Neo-Geo/MAME].
Holy fuck. This game is too much fun with friends. Matches go fast as hell, and the aggressively designed play [read: defending is a bitch; anytime the keeper is stunned, inputs are dropped; if you aren't controlling a character, they will just stand there usually] makes for a much faster pick-up-and-play experience, where focus is more on keeping your momentum to be able to score.
Defending effectively seems to involve an awful amount of fouling [it'd get called if the ref is on screen & facing play].

and those after-goal sequences
the crotch-shot to silly face gets me in stitches every damned time

Curious on your opinion of SS3 vs. SS2. I seem to recall 3 having some weird idiosyncrasies that I wasn't a fan of, but it's been far too long since I've played either. Need to bust them out next time some friends are hanging out, great games, always a fun time.

[soprano1]

null1024, any arcade or console basketball game you would recommend, something in the line of Super Sidekicks?

[Ruldra]

null1024, any arcade or console basketball game you would recommend, something in the line of Super Sidekicks?

Old as hell, but Looney Tunes B-Ball is my favorite basketball game ever.

[Obiwanshinobi]

just started playing Metroid other m having bought it for £2.50 haha. I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. it doesn't exactly feel like a true Metroid game, but I don't mind.

I found it kind of weird, I don't mind a talkative Samus, but moving in a 3D game with the D-pad is just wonky. Also, not being able to shoot missles and move sucks.

I still liked it tho, despite its imperfections.

Glad to read someone else's actually played it.

[null1024]

Curious on your opinion of SS3 vs. SS2. I seem to recall 3 having some weird idiosyncrasies that I wasn't a fan of, but it's been far too long since I've played either. Need to bust them out next time some friends are hanging out, great games, always a fun time.

Haven't played 2. I'll probably try it and see which one I like more.

null1024, any arcade or console basketball game you would recommend, something in the line of Super Sidekicks?

I was actually going to ask this question myself, heh. I'm new to these.

[BrianC]

I wouldn't mind recommendations on the arcade b-ball front either. Looney Tunes B-Ball is worth picking up? Is the Genesis Double Dribble any good?

I have been playing Professor Layton and the Curious Village and I'm enjoying it so far. Those puzzles are crazy.

[rapoon]

bouncing between dmc and metal gear revengeance. i just started metal gear, so i have no opinion so far.
almost cleared dmc. combat system is rich and fluid, although convoluted at times (i'm occasionally scrambling for the next sequence of buttons) but its wasted on poor level & enemy design (incredibly easy game on nephilim). i miss ninja gaiden II.

[Ed Oscuro]

Went through the rather slim content for Bedlam on Steam. Not really worth the money at this point in time. Probably won't ever be, the way it looks. Big open maps, poorly optimized. The story starts out interesting and they throw some interesting ideas out there, but there's also a good amount of stuff I'm not too impressed with. Highlight of the game is the heroine's quips.

[Imhotep]

Street Hoop and Hoops '95 are obvious choices for arcady B-Ball. I think they're fun, I haven't played them extensively, though.

1 on 1: One on One Government by Jorudan / Tecmo might be a candidate, I've yet to try it.

[SuperGrafx]

Some kind of Baseball game on the PCE CD ROM
Circa 1990 from a company called INTEC

Don't know about you, but I really enjoy the early PC Engine baseball games (Power League series, etc).
Very pure gameplay with some tight controls, and none of that time wasting bs animation and cutscenes from modern games.

[Mischief Maker]

I picked up Majesty 2 collection on sale at gamersgate.

I'm a HUGE fan of the original Majesty (with the expansion and its AI improvements), and it's always had a permanent space in my HD.

Majesty 2... isn't as good and I can't put my finger on why exactly.

Maybe it's the robotic way the heroes slide in straight lines across the map.

Maybe it's the way you have to nursemaid the AI with a whopping 5 types of order flags (in Majesty Gold I always tried to win maps without using any flags, just smart building placement).

Maybe it's how messy and muddled the your economy operates compared to the clear and straightforward interactions in Majesty Gold.

Maybe it's the fact that it never seems like more than 2 peasants at a time work on any single building, so the growth of your kingdom happens at a GLACIAL pace!

Maybe it's the way you manually organize heroes into permanent parties where in the original the heroes formed and disbanded parties on their own.

Maybe it's the way building placement doesn't seem to matter much, except for buildings that can only be placed in specific locations.

Maybe it's the way the engine makes my GPU breathe fire after a few minutes.

I give the game a negative review, and it doesn't even give me the satisfaction of a clear reason why. It's the perfect example of a game that copies all the mechanics of the original, but completely loses the spirit.

[null1024]

Curious on your opinion of SS3 vs. SS2. I seem to recall 3 having some weird idiosyncrasies that I wasn't a fan of, but it's been far too long since I've played either. Need to bust them out next time some friends are hanging out, great games, always a fun time.

Haven't played 2. I'll probably try it and see which one I like more.

and now I have played 2

this isn't comprehensive, and I've played 2 for about a third of the time I've played 3, but:
3 is simplified a bit from 2. The AI on your team in 2 seems to react FAR, FAR, FAR more [also, commits random fouls -- only time I've seen a foul from my squad in 3 is when I've done it myself]. Switching the controlled player in 2 is the absolute worst [it doesn't seem to sort based on who's closest to the ball]. There's more slowdown in 2 [3 has a bit, but it's not as harsh]. 3's a bit prettier ['dat grass]. 2's presentation might be a bit nicer. 2's camera is pretty bad, you're always riding up awfully near the edge of the screen. 3 keeps things more centered. In 2, both teams can move immediately after the whistle. In 3, the defending team has a pause. In 2, the keeper seems to actually catch the ball sometimes when you kick with a Shoot! prompt. I've never seen that happen in 3. Keeping in general is fairly bad in 3, which is actually something that 2 really does significantly better than 3.

verdict so far: SS3 > SS2. It's a more aggressive, streamlined game with a better view of the field and better player control over the team.

[cicada88]

Juggling many games right now.

Famicom / NES:
Metroid
Dragon Warrior 3
Akumajou Densetsu
Batman


PS3:
Ico HD
Zone of Enders HD

[Obiwanshinobi]

I doubt anyone can put their finger on whatever makes or breaks a jRPG for them, but Lufia: The Legend Returns has scratched the itch as far as I'm concerned. I think mostly the dialogue does it for me, but don't quote me on that. It's THE jRPG I'd been longing to play.

[null1024]

Time Crisis [Arcade/MAME].
I wish I had a GunCon so I could play the PS1 version with proper control. Currently using my mouse in MAME. This game ensures that I continue wondering why the fuck Namco used PS1 hardware when they had a board that put out nice looking visuals like this.
Maybe it was just expensive? All the System 22 games seem to have some kind of fancy input method, whether it be a wheel, flight stick, lightgun, etc, rather than ordinary arcade stick & button inputs.

Enjoying myself fairly well. All that talk in the Time Crisis 5 thread made me want to play.
It's easy enough to memorize, but I need to get faster, my splits are awful.

oh, and popped in Time Crisis 2 in MAME -- it runs, but only to a point [and frameskips like hell, but keeps fairly close to 100% most of the time], since System 23 emulation is rather preliminary and there's protection, can't really say I played it with how many issues it had [enemies that refused to actually get shot, the game stopped spawning enemies until I ran out of health once, and then a freeze to black screen eventually]

edit: apparently, the helicopters and the car have screwed up/no hitboxes when running Time Crisis in MAME
and I'm willing to bet a few other objects have incorrect hitboxes

so it's not accurate enough to really play...

[Ed Oscuro]

This game ensures that I continue wondering why the fuck Namco used PS1 hardware when they had a board that put out nice looking visuals like this.

I have a PS1-based arcade game (Flame Gunner by GAPS). It is a really pretty tiny board despite the 3D, and everything's self contained. Must have been pretty cheap to use.

[Mischief Maker]

I impulse-bought a weird experimental game called Kromaia this weekend.

The best way to describe it is a rail shooter without a rail. Lemme elaborate:

You have descent-style 6 degrees of control over your spaceship and fly through obstacle-laden zero gravity worlds from waypoint to waypoint culminating in an open arena boss fight. The thing is, before the boss, you should be homing in on the next waypoint like you're on a rail. The reason for this is the odd behavior of regular enemies. They slide in front of you and attack, like a rail shooter, and if you try to use your 6 degrees of freedom to avoid or dogfight them, they'll continue to slide back in front of you. Kinda like this comic. Ultimately, this adds up to a rail shooter where you actually are navigating the tunnels and obstacles that come your way. Also the enemy attack patterns are supposed to procedurally adapt to your playstyle.

That would all be fine and grand, but they put it together as a weird-for-the-sake-of-being-weird game and provide no input on how it's supposed to actually play. The instructions just say that the game defies expectations (technically accurate) and to just go with it. I imagine a lot of players walking away from this game in frustration because of that coyness.

[broken harbour]

A friend returned from Tokyo with a physical copy of Strider for PS3.

First of all, the game just installs on the PS3 HDD, which I thought was strange, it's like PSN download on a disc, but whatever.

I played for only a bit, but you have no option to control Hiryu with the d-pad, and using the analogue stick in a 2D game is not something I like, having said that, it's pretty responsive. For some reason, even though I'm decent at Strider 1 and 2... I supremely suck at this game, I keep dying before the 2nd checkpoint in the game.

[Hagane]

1CC'd Daimakaimura. It's nowhere near as hard as people make it to be. Random parts can be tricky and you are screwed if you pick a bad weapon up, but if you are careful it's a very doable clear. My best run was a no miss till 2-4 and 2LC, but I found the replay desynced because I pressed the savestate key (replays break as soon as you press that button, even if you press ESC as I did and load nothing at all). Next best is this one, (SM 4.2 64 bit). Not a great replay but not bad for a week or so of play.

[Doctor Butler]

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

I'm finally starting to understand how this series works.

Arc Sys mechanics always feel like arbitrary pagan rituals. Who needs footsies, when you can have four meters, right?

[Squire Grooktook]

1CC'd Daimakaimura. It's nowhere near as hard as people make it to be. Random parts can be tricky and you are screwed if you pick a bad weapon up, but if you are careful it's a very doable clear. My best run was a no miss till 2-4 and 2LC, but I found the replay desynced because I pressed the savestate key (replays break as soon as you press that button, even if you press ESC as I did and load nothing at all). Next best is this one, (SM 4.2 64 bit). Not a great replay but not bad for a week or so of play.

Yeah, a 1cc only took me a few play sessions. And you don't even need to memo much besides a few traps in the end game.

I'd recommend going for a 1lc next. It's similarly doable but pretty crazy intense and scary with all those random dodges you have to make.

[EmperorIng]

Juggling many games right now.

Famicom / NES:
Metroid
Dragon Warrior 3
Akumajou Densetsu
Batman


PS3:
Ico HD
Zone of Enders HD

At the very least you are juggling a lot of good games. Ico was one of the highlights of my gaming time this past year (first time!). Metroid is one of my favorite games; I tend to replay it once a year.

1CC'd Daimakaimura. It's nowhere near as hard as people make it to be. Random parts can be tricky and you are screwed if you pick a bad weapon up, but if you are careful it's a very doable clear. My best run was a no miss till 2-4 and 2LC, but I found the replay desynced because I pressed the savestate key (replays break as soon as you press that button, even if you press ESC as I did and load nothing at all). Next best is this one, (SM 4.2 64 bit). Not a great replay but not bad for a week or so of play.

Congrats. I on-and-off practice Makaimura, but I get the feeling that the game is too random to be worth putting in the effort for the clear, as opposed to its more manageable sequels (not that I've made it farther than level 3 in either Dai or Cho, though I've made it to 1-5 on one life in the original).

I'll look forward to watching your replay; I'm sure it will give me some valuable hints for surviving Dai.

[Squire Grooktook]

I think it's different for the Nes and Arcade versions, but IIRC Makaimura arcade is less about rng madness and more about abusing obscure ai loops and glitches.