What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[shmuppyLove]

Final Fantasy X-2 HD (Vita)

Great game, and I never appreciated how deep the combat system really is, because at first I was super annoyed by it.

Once you figure it out though, IMO the game starts to play almost like a CCG where you have to know exactly what tools you're holding and build out your team according to a given situation. Very satisfying when a difficult boss suddenly becomes piss easy.

The Sphere Break tournament in chapter 3 had me raaaaaaaaaaging because I wasn't getting it. Then all of a sudden I did and won all 4 matches in a row lol

[Satan]

I rather enjoyed Metal Gear Rising Revengeance's Normal and Hard modes. Even more since I picked it up for £3 and had the deal sweetened with free DLC. I hear I can skip Very Hard and just input the Konami code for Revengeance mode, and may return to it after I get a bit into my next bargain pick up: Resident Evil 6, which so far seems to be the 'next gen' (last gen) Resident Evil we didn't get with RE5. I have a bunch of other stuff languishing on my shelf which I have to 'work' through *oh woe is me*
A lesson I learned about myself with the PS3/Xbox 360 gen is that I am better off buying an Xbox One and PS4 when the PS5 Xbox Two are released and pick up all the highly rated games super cheap and the consoles to play them on at knock off prices.
This shelf of shame as I look at it has at least eight games I bought at full retail on their release day and played for maybe an hour at most.

[Mortificator]

Various isometric action RPGs.

Terranigma: Pretty good, but with significant missteps. The magic system's terrible, and the later game has a dearth of bosses and an overabundance of world-building, which isn't as interesting here as in an active system like ActRaiser.

Secret of Mana: How did this goofy shit get such a positive reputation? Must be the co-op.

Final Fantasy Adventure: Predecessor to the above. More limited and derivative - a Zelda clone with Final Fantasy flavor - and yet a better game.

[lilmanjs]

Splinter Cell: Blacklist
I didn't really care for the fact that I had to install only 3gb worth of HD textures where as The Evil Within played earlier in the day took far less time and had 7gb to install. But anyways, I enjoyed this once I got to playing it. I'm thinking I might try and play this through to the end.

The Evil Within
I enjoyed what little I played of it. I'm not far into it due to the kids actually deciding to be inside most of the day yesterday. Looks like it could be a fun game if I can figure out how to not die over and over from the chainsaw dude.

[ACSeraph]

Final Fantasy Adventure > Secret of Mana

Agree completely. The combat is so much tighter in FFA.

[SuperGrafx]

Splinter Cell: Blacklist
I didn't really care for the fact that I had to install only 3gb worth of HD textures where as The Evil Within played earlier in the day took far less time and had 7gb to install. But anyways, I enjoyed this once I got to playing it. I'm thinking I might try and play this through to the end.

Ah, thanks for the reminder.
I somehow never got around to playing this one. Always enjoyed the earlier entries in the SC series, though SC: Conviction was a bit disappointing given how long it took to be released.

[broken harbour]

Metroid Prime and USF4.

Around the 10 hour mark in Metroid Prime, feels about 2/3rds of the way through, just made it to the Phazon mines area. Like alot of modern-ish games, this one is starting to feel a bit too long, the game is still great fun, but I feel like it should be over in an hour or two, but looking at some walkthroughs, I've got at least a few more hours. I'm not saying the game is too easy, but I just realized I haven't died once yet. Hmmm... wasn't this game criticized for having brutal boss fights?

Just checked out Omega mode in USF4.. which is hysterical fun. The new twist on old characters is a brilliant idea, even if it isn't really all that balanced, as it seems like Chun-li just destroys everyone now. And I welcome some of the new inputs for moves (some charge moves have been changed to quarter circle motions etc...)

[null1024]

Crazy Taxi [PC].
nearing the $10000 mark but I still can't reach it, gaaaaaah

[Satan]

Crazy Taxi [PC].
nearing the $10000 mark but I still can't reach it, gaaaaaah

That some going. My record's only something like $6500 with a S Rank

[JBC]

Growl. I've always loved this game in MAME but lately I've been playing via Taito Legends vol II. Man that first stage theme is killer & the title screen is one of the prettiest animations ever.

I love how ridiculous the game is with it's silly voice samples & excessive enemy count. I can't think of another 2D brawler that puts that many enemy sprites onscreen at a time. It gets even crazier when your animal friends join the fray. The hawks really crack me up when they start scratching at a dirty poacher's eyes

[Mortificator]

Final Fantasy Adventure > Secret of Mana

Agree completely. The combat is so much tighter in FFA.

I'm partway through Seiken Densetsu 3 now, and it's striking how this series abandoned action. If the character gets hit in FFA, it's because the player failed to get out of the way. In Secret, some attacks are still dodgeable, but others are just the enemy going "screw it, you will take damage now." And in SD3, there are virtually no attacks that can be avoided through player skill. The game's almost like a proto-MMORPG.

[Immryr]

played a couple of games I got for free through xbox and playstation subscriptions which surprised me in very different ways. played infamous first light, and went into it not expecting to like the game one bit. and in the game was basically exactly what I thought it would be. generic modern game #987397. the campaign was very generic, short micro missions where you need to kill x enemies or escape from somewhere or whatever - separated by story sequences, open world pissing about and tedious training sequences introducing new mechanics. however, despite all of this I actually enjoyed the game quite a bit. flying around the city looking for all the lumens and doing all the races while taking out Russians and cops was a lot of fun, despite the city being no where near as filly realised as gta 5. and once I had completed the main game I started enjoying just playing the arena mode which I found so tedious during the main campaign. all in all it was an enjoyable game, probably helped out by its short length.

on the opposite end of the spectrum was the witcher 2, which I thought I'd like a decent amount but ended up hating. it plays exactly like generic modern game #23495, tedious micro mission after tedious micro mission. I could have probably looked past this if the combat was any good, but it's really not. so flabby and janky.


annnnnd finally, this week has been dominated by etrian odyssey 3! this is my first experience playing EO and more or less first person dungeon crawlers in general. it's so good. got it on Monday and I've put in around 22 hours so far. really loving everything about it.

[BrianC]

Final Fantasy Adventure > Secret of Mana

Agree completely. The combat is so much tighter in FFA.

It's disappointing that the remake, Sword of Mana, took some elements from Secret of Mana and forgot about what made the game great in the first place.

[Mischief Maker]

Just bought and was disappointed by Star War Battlefront 2. I can't believe it came out a year after Unreal 2K4 and people were fine with such slow and stiff gameplay!

Not to mention the prequel shit bleeds over into games that are meant to be proper Star Wars. Oh, I'm battling the rebels for control of Naboo? Can't I just nuke the site from orbit?

[null1024]

KOF98 [Neo-Geo/MAME].

I love this game so much. Had some good matches with my friends, my biggest problem is that I keep expecting KOF2002 move properties.
and then if I go back to 2002, I'll expect to have 98 moves and properties, aaaaaaa

Also, is 98UMFE on Steam fixed [heard there were netplay and input reading issues]? I kind of want to get it.

[edit]
bought 98UMFE anyway

The netcode is UNREPENTANTLY AWFUL HOLY FUCK -- I just had a match that was played at literally half speed and dropped inputs like crazy.
Otherwise, it's been fine, I can play with my friends offline with no issues.

[Ed Oscuro]

speaking of unrepentant, I love the Jag DOOM ad in this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWynWjCMs6A (third bit of video, at 0:57 after shitty Kasumi Ninja spokesman) - "And how do you escape this eternal damnation?!"

[BIL]

Why has nobody modded that guy into the status bar with custom sound effects? Now there's taunts I would use!

[Ed Oscuro]

Preacher DOOM! Lo, the flock was guided back to the straight and narrow path, and the wicked were rent and broken on the chainsaw.

[soprano1]

Final Fantasy Adventure > Secret of Mana

Agree completely. The combat is so much tighter in FFA.

It's disappointing that the remake, Sword of Mana, took some elements from Secret of Mana and forgot about what made the game great in the first place.

Both have atrocious dialogue, although the first can be excused due to being an early 90's game.

[Ruldra]

Went to a family party and there was a kid playing Just Dance 2014 on the PS3. After watching a bit I decide to try it out. Proceeded to make a fool out of myself for the enjoyment of everyone around. No fucks given.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSvBikXAIMc

[Ed Oscuro]

Not what I'm doing right now, but I see that Double Fine have a series with John Romero talking about level design in DOOM:

http://techreport.com/news/27718/watch- ... vel-design

[BIL]

Timely! I've been messing about with Doom Builder again, trying to make the original three eps a bit meaner without altering the actual level architecture (while keeping it more SMB2 Japan than Kaizo Mario, ie restraint, ie not "LOL TEN CYBERDEMONS IN E1M1, OWNED ROFL"). Mostly just shuffling keys and locked doors around to funnel the player into tighter straits. Will enjoy these!

over two hours of run time

hory shiet! that's a lotta good stuff!

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Still playing Cabela's Big Game Hunter: Pro Hunts. The ultimate stealth action game.

I tried to keep the whole redneck video game thing going with Rapala Pro Bass Fishing but it just sucks. Really dumb game. Maybe it gets better later in the game but I don't see it happening. Cast and then play a really lame music rhythm game. The only that I thought was interesting about it was that it shows which types of lures work best on different fish. I remember Sega Bass/Marine fishing being pretty good. Guess I should try to find those again. I'd like to play something a little more realistic than those though. Fishing games are such a shitty genre. After doing some research I've found that there's probably not any good fishing games available aside from the Sega ones.

[Blinge]

Metal Slug 3. Going for emulation now rather than the steam version.. Made the final boss on one credit.. Unfortunately i lost a life and 30 grenades on the zombie clone chase because i didn't scroll the screen enough.
On final boss I lost my nerve and the tank, got killed by his yellow circle attack while trying to reposition myself because i hit jump once instead of spamming it. He was nearly dead n' all

I can taste the clear!

[Jonst]

^ nice one blinge! I'll expect to see this in the "I did it!" Thread soon!... Is 3 the longest game in the series?

[Obiwanshinobi]

Just bought and was disappointed by Star War Battlefront 2. I can't believe it came out a year after Unreal 2K4 and people were fine with such slow and stiff gameplay!

I believe SW Battlefront series was more Battlefield-like by design and as such wouldn't compete against UT directly (Tribes would).
Not to mention UT2K4 wasn't on consoles.

[null1024]

I remember Sega Bass/Marine fishing being pretty good. Guess I should try to find those again. I'd like to play something a little more realistic than those though. Fishing games are such a shitty genre. After doing some research I've found that there's probably not any good fishing games available aside from the Sega ones.

Sega Bass Fishing is on Steam [$7.99 normally -- wait for a sale or something or play it on DC, I guess]. I got it in the Sega Humble Bundle. It is legitimately fun, although I've spent most of the time that I'd play it by playing Crazy Taxi instead.

[KAI]

Brandish The Dark Revenant (PSP)
Monotonous, but I like it.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I remember Sega Bass/Marine fishing being pretty good. Guess I should try to find those again. I'd like to play something a little more realistic than those though. Fishing games are such a shitty genre. After doing some research I've found that there's probably not any good fishing games available aside from the Sega ones.

Sega Bass Fishing is on Steam [$7.99 normally -- wait for a sale or something or play it on DC, I guess]. I got it in the Sega Humble Bundle. It is legitimately fun, although I've spent most of the time that I'd play it by playing Crazy Taxi instead.

Sega Bass Fishing is on the Wii. You're likely to hear folks talk shit about the port, but such are the times we're living in.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

I bet the DC version is the way to go because of the fishing controller. Plus I've heard about people playing Soul Calibur with it. So absurd. I should get one and try to play Mars Matrix with it.