What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[null1024]

Quake [PC].

I'm on E2M1 right now, just cleared the first episode. Why is the first boss so easy?
- go upstairs
- do 3 laps
- win
Still, coming off of Doom, I really, really like Quake's more vertical map design [thank you room-over-room support and actual water] and its interesting enemies.

fall damage can go suck a dick though, especially since there are a bunch of required-to-progress large drops

shame about the awful player weapon variety and usage scenarios [in Doom, everything has its use, even the original shotgun when you have the SSG, even the fucking pistol [if you don't have the chaingun], in Quake, that's not the case at all -- you're using super nailgun, grenade launcher, and rocket launcher and then switching to the SSG once you're out of ammo for the rest]
they're satisfying as fuck though, I don't think there's an FPS gun I like more than Quake's grenade launcher, other than it's tendency to hurt incautious players

Oh, and I want to make Quake maps, but apparently there's nothing good for the task. I tried using TrenchBroom and it was one of the worst software experiences of my life. Just making a simple enclosed room was a world of hassle and it kept crashing on me.

[Shepardus]

Just started playing Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Really fun so far, I like the focus on parrying and how over the top everything is, but the camera is kind of wonky. I'm really terrible at the game (playing on Normal and getting killed all the time), though I'm gradually coming to grips with the mechanics.

[Satan]

It took a full play through on Normal for that game to click with me. Replay it on hard immediately after completion.

[mamboFoxtrot]

Yeah, the camera can bug out sometimes, especially when near walls. I don't know what issues you might be having with the other mechanics, but the two main things I got tripped up on when starting out:

- The Lock-On is only for the camera and certain sub-weapons. Otherwise, targeting enemies seems like Ninja Gaiden where you just press towards the enemy and hope for the best.

- To parry multiple attacks in a row, you have to re-press the direction. Once I figured that out, parrying seemed almost too easy. With some enemies I could just mash X and the analogue stick towards them and automatically cancel my combo into a parry without having to actually react to anything. I haven't finished the game yet, so I don't know how long that strategy will actually work out, or if it even works at all on higher difficulties.

- - -

I decided to give Star Fox Adventures another go. I've had the game since it came out, but never got past the first real dungeon. So far, the graphics and animations are actually impressing me, despite this being a 2002 Gamecube game being played on an HD LED TV through the Wii's AV cables. I forgot how ridiculously fuzzy Fox and various other characters and grassy areas were! The game also features seamless loading between areas like Jak & Daxter.

While things are generally solid and smooth, there are some unfortunate control decisions and other design issues. There's no option to un-invert the aiming weapons, and the reticle always wants to reset to the center of the screen, which makes trying to finely aim at something towards a corner of your screen a pain. There's only one shortcut button, and no context-sensitive item/Tricky command button, so you'll be bringing up the real-time C-stick menu for everything all the time. Sometimes it's faster than the usual Zelda pause menu, namely when the context actually works and snaps your menu to the right item, but other times not so much.

Combat with regular enemies feels like a waste. There's groups of enemies, but they almost never attack more than one at a time, so you're pretty much just hitting A until everyone is dead. Okay, sometimes you have to wait for them to stop blocking, but that's about it. It's also really easy to completely buy out the shop early in to the game, making currency feel pretty pointless. You also have to do some serious backtracking at times. It's like, c'mon ROB, beam me up already! Or at least auto-pilot the Arwing to come pick me up! I don't want to trek for five minutes straight back to Thorntail just to immediately hop in the space ship and fly somewhere else!

[Sir Arthur ahf]

NNK on the PS3, best jrpg I have played since FFXII/DQVIII

And I am including Xenoblade/The Last Story/FF XIII/Lost Oddyssey/ ....

Also Wonder Boy III en el "sistema maestro" (MD >>> Master System converter). Love Westone.

Planning my second run on Wonderful 101. Most ambitious hack and slash ever. Want to marry you Kamiya!

[Shelcoof]

NNK on the PS3, best jrpg I have played since FFXII/DQVIII

And I am including Xenoblade/The Last Story/FF XIII/Lost Oddyssey/ ....

Also Wonder Boy III en el "sistema maestro" (MD >>> Master System converter). Love Westone.

Planning my second run on Wonderful 101. Most ambitious hack and slash ever. Want to marry you Kamiya!

OMG YES! Wonder Boy III... one of the best games on the Master System.

Probably still one of my most favorite games of all time.... that also goes for other WonderBoy games as well like Monster World on the Genesis/Mega Drive

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Finally continued Tales of the Abyss (3DS version). Lowering the difficulty from Hard to Normal has made things a bit more fun now that I don't need to grind for hours just to do decent damage to bosses and have been going at a nice pace so far. I still want to see if Unknown is reasonable with all AD Skills available, 10x Experience, and Tutti Core, but I need to actually get to endgame, beat the boss needed to get Tutti Core(and look up how you actually steal stuff), then NG+ some in order to get the AD Skills in order to prepare as well as do the stuff needed to boost the skills with the chambers.

[ACSeraph]

Finished Dark Souls last week. Learned to hate-love it. I think the game has got a lot of issues and I can't at all understand its semi-mainstream popularity, but as a whole it's a refreshing adventure. Even having finished it I can't agree it's Castlevania in 3D, more like classic Zelda for adults.

Moved into playing the sequel on PS4. Seems like it breaks a lot of things that worked well in the original. The semi-permanent HP loss is fucking stupid imo, weapon durability system is annoying, new Estus system makes the beginning parts of the game more repetitive than they should be, the impact of equipment on character build seems to be far less important, and the enemy respawn limit is fuck-tarded. However despite all this is has a similar draw as the first one; the slow, quiet, contemplative exploration of a strange and beautiful world. The first game had many issues I didn't like but was able to forgive because the good is just so good, and I imgaine 2 will be the same case. Just at a glance though, it seems inferior to 1 in everything other than combat fluidity.

[JBC]

Legend Of Grimrock for iPad, which is just what I was looking for. I've made it three floors down & am dealing with the vicious spiders. It's awesome.

I went with a Minotaur fighter, Lizardman mage, Insectoid rouge, & Human fighter. Luckily I decided to apply the Headhunter attribute to my battlin' bovine & already found a skull for extra attack boost.

I've been brushing up on my dungeon crawlers lately & had started with Waxworks & Ishar a few weeks ago. Such an under appreciated genre these days.

[Blinge]

I can't at all understand its semi-mainstream popularity

Maybe..

Even having finished it I can't agree it's Castlevania in 3D, more like classic Zelda for adults

the good is just so good

[Immryr]

i've been giving my psp some love lately. just started playing Valkyrie profile lenneth, which has interested me for a long time. I've just finished the first chapter and I think I have finally worked out how to play the game...... I didn't realise that you need to level up the characters traits to up their hero level so I was spending all my cp on skills haha. didn't send anyone to asgard for the first chapter. I was tempted to restart the game but I think i'll just stick with it for now. it's a very unusual rpg, being able to fly from the beginning, 2d pseudo-platforming areas, levelling your guys up just to send them away...... so far the only thing I'm not into is how easy the combat and dungeons are. I just found the spell icicle edge spell and it pretty much one shots any group of enemies other than bosses.

also been playing gunhound ex, which is fantastic. the controls take some getting used to though. i've made it to mission 5 so far, but I have been replaying levels a lot before moving on to the next one as I eventually plan on doing a 1lc.

[Mischief Maker]

Star Hammer: The Vanguard Prophecy

Really good space fleet turn-based WEGO tactical strategy game. Not to be mistaken for its turd of a prequel, Star Hammer: Tactics.

Ships have an arc in front of them of varying size depending on their engine power, and you give horizontal movement orders by dragging out an arrow within the arc. While moving, the ship fires at any enemies within range of their multiple weapon batteries. SH:VP takes place in 3D space, but avoids the awkwardness of Homeworld and its imitators by limiting vertical movement to 5 different planes. You can also allocate energy levels between engines, weapons, and shields, and reallocate power between your six shields (including top and bottom).

Both sides have 6 different ships ranging from fighters to dreadnoughts, and each feels individual. A good way to use the frigate, for example, is to close in on the enemy dead on to hit it with your forward mounted stun beam, then next round turn to the side and pound the disabled ship with your broadside cannons.

I'm very impressed with this game!

[Immryr]

I've put a decent amount of time into Valkyrie profile the past couple of days. I'm current up to the black dream tower and the difficulty has definitely ramped up. The average encounter is even fairly dangerous, especially when there are wisps involved. The boss of this dungeon pooped on me, I dunno if I can beat it at my current level with this party set up.

Is it worth having two magic users in your party? It feels quite crippling at times only being able to use magic every four or so turns.

[Perikles]

Is it worth having two magic users in your party? It feels quite crippling at times only being able to use magic every four or so turns.

Ideally you should be able to use magic every turn by dint of the purple gems. I wouldn't advise using more than one magician at a time as it really cripples the offensive potential of the party.

I'd also recommend playing this game on Hard as you get much better equipment, effectively making the game easier (it's also the only way to get to the optional dungeon after playing through the game). And without spoiling too much: if you enjoyed the game you're definitely going to want to play it another time.

[Immryr]

How do you get so many purple gems? My Mage is typically waiting four or so turns after using something like heal or shadow servant. If I'm lucky I will get one purple gem a turn, but I don't always get that vs bosses.

[Stevens]

Lots of Zen Pinball when not dodging bullets.

I suck at pinball.

[Perikles]

How do you get so many purple gems? My Mage is typically waiting four or so turns after using something like heal or shadow servant. If I'm lucky I will get one purple gem a turn, but I don't always get that vs bosses.

The longer your combo, the more purple gems/magic crystals you'll get. It's imperative to create real chains of attacks, if you just mash buttons you'll get peanuts out of it. Do you play on Normal? I almost exclusively played on Hard and thus had the appropriate weapons to get decent combos early on, maybe that's the problem? In any case: if your wizard of choice has learned the familiar ability (the one that allows him to attack and immediately break any enemy's guard) it should be possible to get magic out at least every two turns unless you used Great Magic.

[Immryr]

She does have that skill, yeah. I didn't realise it broke enemies guards though! None of my guys have weapons which allow you to attack more than one at the minute, which limits my combo potential. I am playing on normal.

[copy-paster]

Last playing Adventures of Bayou Billy on my NES, this game made me SO butthurt! how the hell I can beat those fucking crocodiles in stage 1?

[Shepardus]

More Metal Gear Rising, I finished my Normal difficulty playthrough Monday night and immediately started an NG+ Hard playthrough, which I just finished now. The game's incredibly fun, a tad simplistic and there's way more regen options than the game really needs but I don't think cutting through enemies and performing Zandatsu will ever get old. Incidentally, cutting through enemies with the starter plasma cutter in Dead Space was my favorite part of that game too.

I want to get into Very Hard (and Revengeance after that) since I hear that the game really ups the ante in the higher difficulties but I may stop to do the DLC chapters first.

[null1024]

Valkyria Chronicles [PC].
Got it yesterday, it's $5 on Steam until tomorrow.
Actually very fun so far. The dialogue is awful though.

Half Life: Source [PC].
Also bought yesterday. Neat game.
Surprised I haven't bought this already.

autosaves maybe a little too often, so sometimes I'll end up in a bit of a really sticky situation and fuck-all health

[Ed Oscuro]

Half Life: Source [PC].
Also bought yesterday. Neat game.

Did you already own the original? Have you found / looked into mods for it? Is it buggy at all?

The major thing holding the community (and me) off of Source is that it has no compatibility with the oodles of great (or at least interesting) mods out there. I figure Valve already has my money and some somewhat polygonal skymaps and newer physics could be fun, but only if I could get it basically free.

[Immryr]

I finished up final fantasy type 0 today. What a stupid game. It was quite enjoyable mostly, but very frustrating at times, the characters were unbearable and the whole climax of the game is just tedious.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Made progress in Demon's Souls (opened up first shortcut). I agree that the world (architecture) shares the rare trait to be found in Ico and Thief II (Metroid Prime? Gothic?), making it feel more hand-made than usual video game worlds. I can tell it's a quality action-adventure.
Now, I doubt it would have that "real thing" ambience if it was completely linear. H-L2 looked pretty authentic, but - at the end of the day - just as theme park/set construction as countless games out there, from shmups to OutRun.

P.S. My bad, Ico IS linear. So there must be something else to it.

[null1024]

Half Life: Source [PC].
Also bought yesterday. Neat game.

Did you already own the original? Have you found / looked into mods for it? Is it buggy at all?

The major thing holding the community (and me) off of Source is that it has no compatibility with the oodles of great (or at least interesting) mods out there. I figure Valve already has my money and some somewhat polygonal skymaps and newer physics could be fun, but only if I could get it basically free.

Didn't own the original, haven't looked into mods for HL:S. Doesn't seem buggy.

[lilmanjs]

Painkiller: Black Edition
A fun FPS about killing off the devil's 4 main generals to stop a war. Not too far into it, but quite fun. Got sidetracked with Wing Commander III once again.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Painkiller: Black Edition
A fun FPS about killing off the devil's 4 main generals to stop a war. Not too far into it, but quite fun.

I've been thinking I should revisit Painkiller on our new TV, but few twitch FPS-ers can hold a candle to the first UT around here. Finishing Republic Commando or Halo: Combat Evolved seems more likely.

Demon's Souls and King's Bounty: The Legend keep reigning supreme.

[lilmanjs]

Pier Solar HD
Got flamed on the IRC for spending $5 on it. Whoops, a rebuy of a game I already spent a ton of money on to pre-order and buy a Genesis for and I get flamed for spending a little bit to see if it works on my computer? Wasn't expecting it to work, but it does! So onward I go trying to get back to where I was when the genesis started having problems. Game does look nice, and the pixel chars don't look bad in motion. Still pretty decent as far as I remember it.

[dunpeal2064]

I'm playing Cosmophony, an insanely difficult tempest/frequency hybrid. Last level alone has taken hours of practice, hoping to finaaly break through and snag the platinum.

Also streaming it at www.twitch.tv/dunpeal2064 if anyone wants to check it out!

[soprano1]

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. What have i gotten myself into?
Using Charge Blade, but want to try Lance...