What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[broken harbour]

Playing more Wind Waker HD.

Now that the world has opened up more after getting the 2nd pearl, been doing some of the side quests. The cannon controls for the ship are terrible, nearly game-breaking in fact. You can't have your sail up while you equip the cannon, so if you want to take on another ship and sink it... good luck. It goes like this:

1) Sail to vicinity of ship(s).
2) Equip cannon, killing all momentum you built up sailing. (You come to a dead stop)
3) Miss the other ship a million times because its impossible to aim.
4) Get hit several times by other ship(s) that have near-perfect aim.
5) Re-equip sail in a desperate attempt to survive
6) Realize wind is blowing in the wrong direction and get annihilated by enemy ships.

I might be doing it wrong, but damn is it difficult to sink some of these enemy ships, they take several hits with the cannon and aiming is really finicky. I don't know how it wasn't fixed in the HD update when many other quibbles were changed.

[Stevens]

I haven't played WW, but those controls sound like a drag.

I forgot to mention after a certain point of the game, if you're in your airship, you can avoid battles completely if you choose to.

[mamboFoxtrot]

Well, if you had the sail and the cannon on at the same time you'd just blow by whatever it was you were trying to hit.

Anyways, pro-tip: Just waddle up right next to them and point-blank them. Their AI goes bonkers when you get close and they just kind point towards the sky and spin in circles. Or at least that's how I remember it.

[Tregard]

I've been playing Ni No Kuni with the Mrs. It's the only game in history where I get home from work and she actually asks if we can put it on. For that reason I love it.

It's also a nice change to go back to something family friendly. The game's a bit too willing to hold your hand (at least so far), but it's nice to get away from all the adolescent "edgy" bullshit that is Modern Games. I'm tempted to pick up a Wii-U off the back of it.

[Stevens]

I've completed Skies of Arcadia. I haven't played an RPG for the 1st time in over 15 years.

Thoughts -

- As stated above the encounter rate is fine, however I could see people complain (I'm not) that ship to ship combat can take a bit of time since it is all very cinematic as opposed to two ships blinking attacks at each other.

That said I would love to see Skies both remade in HD and demade into 16-bit.

- The entire game is well written and the main story is fantastic. The characters (particularly the main heroes and villains) are well written fleshed out individuals with distinct personalities and ethics. The minor characters are given just enough attention too.

The characters are likable and you care.

- The setting is unlike anything else I have seen, granted (imo) it was just a way to get more out of the hardware. However it worked and they crafted a truly amazing world.

- The

Spoiler

Gigas are all well designed and unique.

I didn't feel like I had fought them in other games before.

- AND OH MY GOD THAT MUSIC.

The bad -

Nothing is ever perfect:D

SOA suffers from a similar flaw as Grandia 2 - Special attacks >>> spells. Especially since the party shares SP in SOA.

9.5/10 - Not just one of the best RPGS on the DC but one of the best games on the DC period and easily makes my top 5.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I've completed Skies of Arcadia. I haven't played an RPG for the 1st time in over 15 years.

(...)

9.5/10 - Not just one of the best RPGS on the DC but one of the best games on the DC period and easily makes my top 5.

Even if you've never played a non-Japanese "RPG", the time is ripe for you to give Shin MegaTen Nocturne/Lucifer's Call a try. Who knows, you just might like it. Then there's BoFV: Dragon Quarter...

[soprano1]

How is the Gamecube port of SoA?

[Stevens]

Even if you've never played a non-Japanese "RPG", the time is ripe for you to give Shin MegaTen Nocturne/Lucifer's Call a try. Who knows, you just might like it. Then there's BoFV: Dragon Quarter...

I've played more action rpgs than the standard turn based type over the years, but this is a list of the ones I've finished as best I can recall.

Phantasy Star 1, 2, and 4. 2 needs an HD less difficulty remake even though that will draw the ire of some here:D

Miracle Warriors

Final Fantasy 1, 4, 6, and 7

Shining in the Darkness, Force, and Holy Ark. I've had Shining Force 2 for years and still haven't played it

Grandia 2 and Skies

My friend had been trying to get me to play Dragons Quest 8 for years and I was just never interested. Then my wife borrowed it to play and I thought I'd give Grandia 2 another go which led to me picking up Skies in a moment of opportunity. I've watched her play 8 quite a bit and have no desire to play it.

Thanks the suggestions OWS, I'm going to check them out.

Soprano - I believe the encounter rate is lower and there is some other extra stuff they added.

[broken harbour]

Anyways, pro-tip: Just waddle up right next to them and point-blank them. Their AI goes bonkers when you get close and they just kind point towards the sky and spin in circles. Or at least that's how I remember it.

This actually works, thank you.

[BulletMagnet]

How is the Gamecube port of SoA?

Mostly the same as the DC version, if memory serves, with a few extra side missions and such added - supposedly the encounter rate (which I personally found a bit high, though not enough to kill it) was adjusted as well, but I never noticed much of a difference. Supposedly the presentation isn't quite as good on the GC, but again it wasn't anything I noticed myself - in any event the real attraction on that front (especially after this many years) is the art direction, which hasn't changed.

[Mero]

Tales of Symphonia (PS3). This is my first Tales game, I think it's pretty good. Done about 45 hours so far, only had a couple of game overs.

[cools]

Clash Of Clans.

And Tatsunoko vs Capcom when the cab gets powered up.

[Ed Oscuro]

Somewhere around 51-52 hours into Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, level 46. About a level per hour then.

Part of me wants to buy the original game and start over for the moldy carrots money trick and the free 100,000 rift crystals from upgrading to Dark Arisen, but mainly for the infinite ferrystone. That said it's not a huge deal to just carry buy a few and carry more than one, since I tend to be loaded down with all kinds of stones, skulls, and other crap. Money is flowing fairly freely right now, especially when revisiting locations like Soulflayer Canyon with many 10,000 gold bags.

I've just been reading through this and most of it still seems to apply. Some of it I got by luck - I created a somewhat taller female character, using one of the defaults, instead of a big guy. My pawn is a pretty big guy (again one of the presets). If what's said about stamina use is true, then this makes the game much more tolerable. Other notes to add to that article: In Dark Arisen, I found a wight somewhere north of Gran Soren, probably near Hillfigure Knoll, and I've already gotten a load of dragonforged items (crappy ones, unfortunately) from escaping the dragon in the forests around West Gransys, just once. Good thing I saved my game. Many of the tricks this author mentions are pretty natural to get used to - it's a shame that some of this stuff couldn't have been more transparent and done better; Capcom really should have made more of just letting your pawn follow your playstyle, and less about the illusion of controlling them directly, which is awkward at best.

At the moment levels are coming more slowly, and I'm going out of my way to complete quests more. It doesn't seem like the game is running out of steam yet, even for freeform exploration; I've not even met the Duke. I'm pretty massively overpowered for where I am, but with a Magick Archer or other dagger class, it takes me a little while to whittle down most of the encounters. I have taken to using good support pawns - that meteor shower fire magic attack my recent hires have is amazing. It's knocking chimeras from 2 of 3 health bars down to dead in one attack, so it's great to have. I'm also getting some lucky drops too - Kunai at soulflayer canyon, plus some other good looking stuff.

One thing that's a bit of a pain is upgrading equipment throws off calculations about what to equip next - I've stopped selling gear, even the Rusted stuff, because what seems unimportant now might have a very useful final attribute when fully upgraded. If what I read in that article is correct, I will want to have a wide variety of equipment to harm and kill many different enemies in different ways.

There's plenty of room for replays - at the moment not only does the full version of the Witchwood sound tempting (the closed-off version is starting to seem kind of randomly bumpy and unexciting) for a new game+, but I also discovered that I missed out on the maximum reward for Escort Duty (I just got 100G from Symone, instead of the best item).

My basic strategy has been to switch vocations for Eagle and my main pawn, Muzz, whenever they max out vocation rank. It's worth mentioning that the best maximization strategy is aware that you gain different amounts of stats at different levels - 1-10 levels unlock stats at a certain amount, and after 10 you unlock more vocations. After level 100 all levels award far fewer stat gains, so you want to have the bulk of your build done by then. My main goal is to have a good assassin with some flexibility to play as a magick archer or other mage classes, and I'll probably put a fair amount of time in fighter type classes, even if max HP is far less than it could be. I'm not going to worry overly much about what vocation hits what level, though I'm going to start with fighter type classes instead of magick after I finish Ranger (I need to switch over from Magick Archer).

The game's design seems quite good from what I've played and what I've seen: You can have a good tank character with some impressive big attacks, but for the best DPS you need to pick a more traditional video game class cannon type character - magic or daggers classes. Assassins get the best rep because they have a good risk/reward balance; they don't allow you to attack from a distance like a normal mage - sure, you have a bow, but those are more special purpose tools. I spend a lot of time attacking minibosses with the bow, but it's good to regularly get in there and prove your mettle with the daggers. It also teaches pawns to be more aggressive and active, if what I've read still holds in Dark Arisen. The only downside is that a lot of the coolest looking armor seems to be for fighters.

[CStarFlare]

I wanted to like SMB, but this is the first time a game's aesthetic was so disgusting I had to put it down. That hospital stage turned my stomach. I don't mind silly gore, it's filth I can't take.

When I read this I was having a hard time figuring out what about the hospital stage was so bad, but I guess I just had a similar experience with Binding of Isaac. Gave it a shot today and I've been conflicted about it. I could do without the large amounts of fecal matter and urine, and the fact that collecting powerups for my naked abused child rewards me with deformities on his crying face is distasteful. I enjoy the game a lot, but I can't remember the last time I felt like a game was pushing it content wise. It's not to the point where I can't play it, but no matter how much I like it BoI is one of those games I'll never recommend to someone in real life. (I have a few of those, which I've considered unrecommendable for various reasons. I should make a list of them, or something)

But there's an expansion coming out in a few months and I'm kind of excited about that.

[mamboFoxtrot]

Honestly I can't make out much of anything from SMB's graphics. I'm more bugged by the fact that it somehow doesn't run at a consistent framerate (and also has input lag) on my laptop. I mean, if it can run AsteBreed on average settings, a 2D sprite game should be nothing, right? Also,

I find that I burn out and get frustrated a lot faster on games where you keep trying a short level over and over until you beat it. That kind of repetition, doing (and failing) the same thing over and over again

Anyways, I, for whatever reason, bought and completed a shitty Xbox Indie game called Ogre's Phantasm Quest. Basic gist of the game is that you can jump REALLY high, and jump even higher by using enemies' heads. Each stage has one or more giant ogres and/or giant boars wearing helmets, and you have to bounce on their helmets until they break, and then bounce on their head (or attack normally from the ground, but your ground moves are so slow that it's usually suicide) until they die. This ridiculous sky-high action is the only real reason I played this game, as everything else is pretty terrible. Nearly ALL of your animations are the laggiest things ever, the hit detection is spotty as hell, there's literally only two enemy types and two boss types copy-pasted across its 9 stages, and you're forced to grind at certain points to have any chance of survival, even when using the best equipment available. Graphically it's about on par with a Dreamcast game - not good at all but hardly offensive. The draw distance is wretched, though. On the upside, some of the music's pretty good. Oh, and I guess the player character meets a standard level of anime-girl kawaii-desu-ness if you're in to that. Just be prepared to have her one and only voice clip (which is thankfully inoffensive) drilled into your brain.

[CStarFlare]

I had to run SMB in windowed mode; it doesn't like my fullscreen resolution and seemed to ignore some of my jumps. Seems like a fairly common problem based on Google. After I did that it's run flawlessly and was great fun until Cotton Alley.

[Leandro]

I just bought a little pretty game on Steam - Dust an elysian Tail

Really pretty 2d game, I played 30 minutes, saved on some spot but I don't know if I'll start it again, lol

[Mischief Maker]

I just bought a little pretty game on Steam - Dust an elysian Tail

Really pretty 2d game, I played 30 minutes, saved on some spot but I don't know if I'll start it again, lol

Agreed that it's pretty, but the mechanics are ridiculously broken and the plot is cliche. I wouldn't bother.

[Blinge]

I wanted to like SMB, but this is the first time a game's aesthetic was so disgusting I had to put it down. That hospital stage turned my stomach. I don't mind silly gore, it's filth I can't take.

When I read this I was having a hard time figuring out what about the hospital stage was so bad, but I guess I just had a similar experience with Binding of Isaac. Gave it a shot today and I've been conflicted about it. I could do without the large amounts of fecal matter and urine, and the fact that collecting powerups for my naked abused child rewards me with deformities on his crying face is distasteful. I enjoy the game a lot, but I can't remember the last time I felt like a game was pushing it content wise. It's not to the point where I can't play it, but no matter how much I like it BoI is one of those games I'll never recommend to someone in real life.

Damn. I was recommending it left right and centre to any gamer friends without considering that at all.. maybe I'm less socially intelligent than I thought or my friends are all sick fucks. Someone did say it's too grim, that he can't handle the blood and poop, but I tend not to be affected because it's still in a cartoony style.

[trap15]

To me, it's not that I "can't handle it" or whatever, I just think it's really, uhh, distasteful? It's unpleasant and fairly juvenile. Not things I enjoy with my games.

[Blinge]

Lol definitely.

Don't get me wrong, I'm here for the gameplay, not the shitty art style.

[CStarFlare]

Damn. I was recommending it left right and centre to any gamer friends without considering that at all.. maybe I'm less socially intelligent than I thought or my friends are all sick fucks. Someone did say it's too grim, that he can't handle the blood and poop, but I tend not to be affected because it's still in a cartoony style.

To be fair I don't have many friends who are gamers outside of CoD or Skyrim. If I knew people who I thought would be into Isaac's gameplay I'd probably give it a recommendation with a caveat. Trap's right, it's distasteful in a lot of ways. But I was up until midnight playing it (Shmup experience is the best item against Mom's Heart) so I guess I consider the game's strengths to outweigh its questionable presentation.

[Squire Grooktook]

I don't really see anything particularly bad about Super Meat Boy's aesthetic, outside of the fact that it's not funny.

Binding of Isaac is in VERY poor taste though.

Shit aesthetics don't stop me from liking a game though. But Isaac (last time I checked, haven't played Rebirth) is a fairly clunky and broken game that loses its appeal very fast. I'd still take it over SMB though, instant respawns basically void any enjoyment I get out of gameplay. I feel like I might as well not even be playing, there's no emotion to anything.

[Ed Oscuro]

It's unpleasant and fairly juvenile. Not things I enjoy with my games.

how can you call something juvenile when it's SO DEEEP

brb, loading up Kato and Ken and Liquid Kids in my non-existent PC-Engines

[Strider77]

I picked up the retail release of Wolfenstein the Old Blood on PS4.... I know FPS, eewwww!

[Obiwanshinobi]

Gaming's either losing me, or something just as profound's happening to me that doesn't leave enough of... whatever gaming takes. I keep reading books, though, so maybe it's just a temporary oversaturation.

[Mischief Maker]

Ironcast. It's a cross between Puzzle Quest and FTL featuring victorian steampunk mechs.

Not to be confused with Ironclad Tactics, a disappointing cross between Plants vs Zombies and Magic the Gathering.

[ACSeraph]

I picked up the retail release of Wolfenstein the Old Blood on PS4.... I know FPS, eewwww!

I picked this up myself last night, but the DL didn't finish so I haven't tried it yet. I don't like most modern FPS games, but this one looks pretty good and more traditional rather than the usual AI partner bullshit that definies the genre these days. Im just hoping it isn't overly cinematic. I wanna point and shoot and watch Nazis get splattered, nothing else.

Aside from that I picked up Phantom Breaker Extra because it was cheap and I have a debilitating mental illness that compells me to buy every fighting game I see regardless of quality. It's amazing how bad this is given how fun and well made the spinoff Battlegrounds is.

[mamboFoxtrot]

Aside from that I picked up Phantom Breaker Extra because it was cheap and I have a debilitating mental illness that compells me to buy every fighting game I see regardless of quality. It's amazing how bad this is given how fun and well made the spinoff Battlegrounds is.

Eh, I didn't like Battlegrounds too much. From what I can remember, too much of the level design was just spawning in the same enemies over and over again, which felt really repetitive even by the usual genre standards. I didn't care for having to unlock basic stuff like special moves or double jumps either. The level-up system is also really silly in multiplayer co-op, as you have to manually quit the game every level to apply your EXP.
I did like air-throwing bosses as the ninja girl, though. I dunno, maybe if I bothered to unlock all the moves and did a "New Game +" run through I'd enjoy it more.

[ACSeraph]

I picked up the retail release of Wolfenstein the Old Blood on PS4.... I know FPS, eewwww!

I picked this up myself last night, but the DL didn't finish so I haven't tried it yet. I don't like most modern FPS games, but this one looks pretty good and more traditional rather than the usual AI partner bullshit that definies the genre these days. Im just hoping it isn't overly cinematic. I wanna point and shoot and watch Nazis get splattered, nothing else.

...aaaand I already hate it. Why the fuck does every modern shooter have to be a bunch of god damn gimmicky cinematic bullshit. I'm already doing some stupid melee only stealth shit 25 minutes in, and I'm already goddamn sick of it. I just want to shoot and kill. Isn't that what Wolfenstein is about? Isn't that what your goddamn trailer was about!? Fuck I hate modern mainstream games