What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Khan]

Final fantasy type 0 on ps4, only 4 hrs in and I'm pretty bored of it....please tell me it gets better

[Immryr]

I've just started lost kingdoms on the GameCube. I'm about 3 hours in and just defeated the mystery woman in black for the first time. Pretty unusual game, reminds me vaguely of the kagero deception games the way you're running around on the battle field and hurt enemies indirectly. Definitely feels like a from soft game.

Final fantasy type 0 on ps4, only 4 hrs in and I'm pretty bored of it....please tell me it gets better

Nah it's just the same all the way through. Story is stupid, characters are unbearable and the combat is ok but repetitive.

[Blinge]

YOOO!!! Card Souls

Yeah she's a bit of a wall for new players. I've got a full LP of this game in the pipelines..

[Immryr]

really? I had no trouble with her. I have done the two side quests possible so far so maybe I have good cards for this point in game. the battle against her was very fun though. it's a big change having another summoner type person to think about and not just monsters, makes your positioning much more important.

[trap15]

Back to speedrunning J.J. Squawkers 1-ALL. Got a new PB today on stream, 9m23s. Really sloppy run, saved by some really insane item drop RNG.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecw7Y-Uu2NQ

Note the furious grappling hook action at 1m30s ;3

[Mischief Maker]

I finally beat the final boss of "Ironcast"- a game that mixes Puzzle Quest with FTL. I really don't feel like my skill had anything to do with the victory, more that the RNG happened to cough up all the best weapons and equipment and level perks and didn't ef me with the gem distribution during the fight. I played later games and died a few rounds in when the RNG was being cruel again.

The appeal of Puzzle Quest, at least for me, is getting the illusion of control over the dice through the match-3 game. I like Hand of Fate's 3-card monte game for the same reason. Ironcast gives you the ability to skillfully pull off a long chain and completely fill your ammo and coolant tanks, but still decide you only hit 1 of 3 shots because of invisible RNG. It's maddening.

Meanwhile you have games like Invisible Inc, and Spelunky, and Crypt of the Necrodancer where the levels are randomly generated, but player skill is in complete control of how well you navigate them.

So I'm ultimately and reluctantly giving Ironcast an overall negative review.

[Ed Oscuro]

Finished up the Hexen 2 expansion a while back, it's got much better architecture but engine bugs still let it down in a big way. Demoness is mostly good to play as - her default peashooter attack fires from the side so you can actually hit enemies from around a corner when they can't retaliate - but only her fourth weapon is also useful. The second and third weapons are useless, and straferunning makes the glide maneuver useless (and annoying to boot). Map progression was fine up to the staff-pulls-stone puzzle, which wouldn't work right, and another game bug which teleported me to an item I wasn't supposed to get also screwed up progression - I missed some of the fun areas and had to go back to them later. By this point, level progression was thoroughly screwed and I lost some items for progress later. "changelevel2 tibet#" mostly saved things, but man, what a mess.

I also played through The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Pretty game, shame about the story. The in-game written story snips were very well-written, and the player's monologues were also great. But things just went south after the house of portals puzzle (the first one I completed). Still, at $11 it wasn't badly spent. I also have one more achievement to hunt down

[Obiwanshinobi]

Everyody could use giving Nier (Gestalt) a chance, but it's the worst kind of game to pimp. Like, the game engine could take more stress on action (the tools are there), but they didn't even try to compete against, say, Ys in that respect, still less pure action games. I've yet to feel underpowered, or in need of my skills improvement. Unless harder (than default) difficulties or NG+ make huge difference, it's not a game I'd recommend for any challenge.
So the tech & presentation are on board, but what else is there? Can't be sure about the story yet, but I've had it with too many games praised for their storytelling to pay such a disservice back.
I think I've found certain kinship between Suikoden (maybe Shining Force as well) and Nier, however, thus the highest praise I feel it's fair to give Nier would be: if you liked any of the former, you just might like Nier too.

[Marc]

Daytona HD. The second course is up their with Sega Rally's first as an a ample of pure fucking brilliance. It still looks glorious to these eyes as well.

[ACSeraph]

^I love Daytona's visuals and style but I'm so bad at it. I can't get the hang of drifting at all. Is there any sort of technical guide or primer for a beginner getting more seriously into it?

[BIL]

In case it's of any help, Deca wrote something I found useful a few years back.

[ACSeraph]

Awesome that's a great starting point, thanks BIL

[Ghegs]

Have to toot my horn here, deca wrote an updated and very detailed guide to Daytona USA on Rolling Start a while back. It really helped me out, and my best time on Advanced is currently 02:58.60. And of course we have a time attack thread for the game.

We also have a Singaporean superplayer who has shared some tips.

[Squire Grooktook]

-Legend of Heroes: Trails In The Sky

Really loving this game.

The thing that really stops me cold in my tracks for most rpg's, is that there's always a filler zone where you need to grind, or back track for some fetch quest, or wander around aimlessly for an unclear objective. Sure the fully prepped dungeon crawls and boss fights and cutscenes might be fun, but when I get my hard earned break from college stuff, do I really wanna spend it walking back and forth killing the same dude over and over so that I can have some fun next weekend?

I've had no such problem with Trails. The pacing in the game is fantastic. You go from fun cutscene, to fun exploration, to fun cutscene, to fun battle, etc. at a practically manic pace. You could pick up the game for 30 minutes at any time and several cool things will happen.

Also the writing is great (so far, but I've never heard anyone say it dips, and rather it just keeps getting better). Feels more mature and polished then your typical jrpg stuff, with actually good pacing and character development. And it's just so sweet and warm that I've completely fallen in love with it. It's hard not to be charmed at the very least.

Although it's fun to play, the gameplay doesn't have a lot of tension like I usually prefer. You can save anywhere, so there's not a lot of tension in dangerous areas. If you die in battle, you can retry it endlessly till you win. Still though, the battle system has a decent amount of strategy both in (general tactics) and out (setting up orbment) of combat. Not as compelling to me as something like Fire Emblem though. It's fun and well paced but I think I'm definitely playing this one for the story.


-System Shock 2

Dayum. I really never expected this game to be such an utterly hardcore action rpg.

I love how all the attacks are telegraphed and dodgeable, and the random (?) respawning enemies hunting you at all times leaves a constant sense of tension as you explore. It's one of the few games like this where I feel that kind of awesome improv action I like in my shmups, when an enemy barges in on you and interrupts your carefully layed plans. It works both from an action and horror standpoint.

Definitely doesn't feel like a game where you can Doom/Quake it up, thanks to low ammo and enemies designed to hard counter certain tactics (fighting kamekaze droids without ammo or trying to approach a shotgun equipped hybrid out in the open). But it really does get you immersed: you really need to think and take advantage of the games systems on top of twitch skills.

Atmosphere and soundtrack are amazing too. I can't really empathize with anyone who advises turning off the music: the more fast paced tracks do a great job of getting you pumped up for the games combat while simultaneously setting a dark atmosphere, and when they finally break for silence, things become all the more disquieting for it. Not to mention the truly morbid songs like Ops 3, which are simply terrifying.

[Noid]

Currently playing the hell out of Metal Gear Solid V. I'm 85 hours in, and am currently cleaning up the Side Ops. Already S ranked all main missions, so the "hard" part is out of the way.

[copy-paster]

Playing Contra Hard Corps few hours ago, yet I found it's much harder than JP ver with one-hit-kill and more aggressive AI. Is it possible to clear the rocket and orbital route in US version?

[Obiwanshinobi]

Is the A.I. really any different, though?

[BIL]

Playing Contra Hard Corps few hours ago, yet I found it's much harder than JP ver with one-hit-kill and more aggressive AI. Is it possible to clear the rocket and orbital route in US version?

I've never found any differences in the US and JP versions beyond hitpoints and kanji. One-lifed all routes in both versions many times, with even the finickiest tricks working globally. What have you noticed? I might have to go back and take another look.

Also out of curiosity, what's giving you trouble in those routes exactly?

Have to toot my horn here, deca wrote an updated and very detailed guide to Daytona USA on Rolling Start a while back. It really helped me out, and my best time on Advanced is currently 02:58.60. And of course we have a time attack thread for the game.

We also have a Singaporean superplayer who has shared some tips.

I love this forum. ^__^

[Ed Oscuro]

I tried Daytona USA Deluxe last night, and it threw up an error. Probably need to download DirectX 9.0c in addition to DirectPlay. No UMA 2 love for now

I also cleared the east wing of Nosferatu, the semi-stinky old 2003 vampire hunting game which seems mostly Quake-like. Not too bad actually, but Windows manages to screw things up with the mandatory border, so the only thing I can see is the top of the character's face (luckily, that's enough to gauge health with). I rediscovered that this game is quite difficult unless played on Easy. The maze-like wings sour things considerably, which is a shame since there's a few good bits. Nothing's fun like watching your followers fall down the stairs, particularly Greg running full speed down the plank from the roof while whistling, and totally missing the landing. Listen and watch for the "Greg has died" notification a few seconds later

One thing the game does really well - the music cues. They cut in and out badly sometimes, but while they're playing, they're really good stuff, much better than most any non-triple-A game, console or otherwise, up to that time.

[copy-paster]

I've never found any differences in the US and JP versions beyond hitpoints and kanji. One-lifed all routes in both versions many times, with even the finickiest tricks working globally. What have you noticed? I might have to go back and take another look.

Also out of curiosity, what's giving you trouble in those routes exactly?

Hah yeah maybe it's just me, though I noticed the runners in first stage are bit aggressive in US ver. My troubles to these route, even I once clear these routes in JP ver (yet still use weapon cheats abuse) :

Rocket : all forms of Takedder Robo boss.
Orbital Elevator : the mid-boss in last stage.

[Squire Grooktook]

Tri-Transformy robo is kind of just a recovery hazard. First few times, memo hazards can cause you to lose a crucial weapon, which in turn drags out the fight pretty long and causes more deaths. Once you learn his patterns, he's not too bad.

[BIL]

GTR is pretty much all memorisation, yep (what a dick move, that crosshairs bombardment). Only the cyclops form's spear drag takes a bit of nerve.

The Doc's Ostrich Robot has two of the game's nastier random patterns, the slashing and stabbing options. Way trickier than anything the route's last boss has*... only deft maneuvering can see you through a worst-case setup. Very easy to panic-jump/slide and BLAMMO! His third pattern (chibi robo onslaught)'s a freebie, just focus fire on him the instant you see it coming and you'll nullify the lot while taking a chunk of his HP.

His second phase you've just got to stay ahead of him, getting your shots in where you can. Nothing random but it gets pretty tight by the end.

*they totally did the same thing on the Train route - DR.CRAB's rambunctious antics and deadly projectile setups are way nervier than Super Bahamut. And Claw Bahamut's a bigger threat than the Rocket final boss, too!

[copy-paster]

Thanks for the guide, man. These two bosses are almost-impossible to clear (for me, yes) and need to practice it heavily. I still prefer JP ver due to sub life bar and didn't lose all weapons when you die.

A bit question, is the orbit elevator scenario (in game contents) are truly first used in HC? Though I really like that idea and reused again in later Mega Man games.

[Stevens]

I have Daytona on the DC, it is a great port but the controls are pretty much shit.

It is still fun to play on occasion to mess around, but if I want to race it's either Le Mans or Hydro Thunder. Actually I wish Daytona's controls were as good as HT's.

[Obiwanshinobi]

My, is Nier full of surprises. The... driftng (either you know the one or no candy right now) came as a surprise as plesant as dashing in Blood Will Tell (once you get your leg back in the latter).
Once upon a time we used to take surprises in games for granted, but the medium got so genre-bound so soon that before we knew it, just bringing any surprise to the table could be the game's sellling point.
Not much has changed - derivative games have been good enough for us ever since the dawn of all gaming; heck, look at the shmups genre! - and yet, when a game like Nier comes along, we ride them boars like there's no tomorrow all over again.

[lilmanjs]

Fable
The original game in the series on the original xbox. It was $3 so I couldn't pass it up after all the fun I had with II and III. Interesting so far, but just have gotten out of training. Musical score is done well and the cutscenes are quite fantasy looking. As for not being much into fantasy games, Fable as a series has surprised me and been quite fun.

[broken harbour]

Fable
The original game in the series on the original xbox. It was $3 so I couldn't pass it up after all the fun I had with II and III. Interesting so far, but just have gotten out of training. Musical score is done well and the cutscenes are quite fantasy looking. As for not being much into fantasy games, Fable as a series has surprised me and been quite fun.

I played Fable Anniversary last year, it was fun, but a little clunky. Love the OST, I listen to it regularly.

[lilmanjs]

Fable
The original game in the series on the original xbox. It was $3 so I couldn't pass it up after all the fun I had with II and III. Interesting so far, but just have gotten out of training. Musical score is done well and the cutscenes are quite fantasy looking. As for not being much into fantasy games, Fable as a series has surprised me and been quite fun.

I played Fable Anniversary last year, it was fun, but a little clunky. Love the OST, I listen to it regularly.

Nice. I am looking forward to having fun with this along with Burnout 2 which I bought along with it. So far the music is really good and gets stuck in your head. I might have to search and find the OST.

[BIL]

Thanks for the guide, man. These two bosses are almost-impossible to clear (for me, yes) and need to practice it heavily. I still prefer JP ver due to sub life bar and didn't lose all weapons when you die.

Was inspired to revisit HC's elevator route this evening - I'm pretty sure it's the shortest and I always considered it the easiest, so it bugged me that I hadn't got Ostrichbot in the bag. Figured out a reliable method for the stabbing rods. Basically, as soon as Doc attaches to the left wall, cling to the ceiling right of center. The first rod will go flying offscreen, followed by the second - wait a bit, then drop down to the floor. That's two of their stabs used up, and both rods forced onto a pattern that's easily baited with a circling path.

So it's not really random at all, I was talking a load of balls. Wouldn't surprise me if there's a much more authoritative way to nullify them but it's a start.

It's easier to explain in video - uploading a nervous Elevator no-miss with shameless dependence on Sheena's homing laser at the last boss. It's been a while, my controller's dying, and my brain still thinks "change shot mode" is crouch+A like Alien Soldier. :[ You could easily smash up Big Magnum a lot quicker with direct C fire. Doc's slashing options are a lot easier than I remembered, I totally forgot they're harmless when not active. Then again I always used Fang, so maybe his bigger hitbox and slower slide change things. Here's the rod strategy:

Spoiler

I panicked and let go of the ceiling too early, causing the second rod to stay onscreen. You can wait a bit longer but eventually you're gonna get stabbed in the back of the head. As you can see there's a pretty good margin for error, even with my poor execution they end up taking an easy path. (the JP version is so much better for practicing stuff, with the stage select and hitpoints)

A bit question, is the orbit elevator scenario (in game contents) are truly first used in HC? Though I really like that idea and reused again in later Mega Man games.

Nakazato seemed to think so in blackoak's Beep! magazine interview translation. I wonder if it really was... I distinctly remember the first time I saw the orbital bombardment sequence, and its portrayal of immense distance with the shot vanishing from sight before impacting the planet.

SCAWY THOUGHT: I wonder if it had the same effect as Doc's mutation ray on those grunts earlier? Ah, things left unsaid and time left unwasted.

[ACSeraph]

Turns out my wife is secretly badass at Daytona USA

Sat down last night saying I wanted to try out some stuff you guys linked me and the moment the title screen came up she says, "Oh! I used to play this all the time in high school!" -> Proceeds to drift like it ain't no thang and dominates the course.

She's teaching me how to play now, I'm starting to basically get the hang of how things work.