What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Obiwanshinobi]

Sega, eh?

[Ghegs]

Turns out my wife is secretly badass at Daytona USA

Heh, that's awesome. Have her join in our time attack, we need some new blood.

I gave my wife a go in Daytona USA once, she refused to upshift to 2nd gear because "the first gear is fast enough for me"...

[BulletMagnet]

Turns out my wife is secretly badass at Daytona USA

The only way your life could get better is if she was also into Caladrius cosplay.

[null1024]

Quake [PC].
switched from DarkPlaces to QuakeSpasm since DarkPlaces had some glitchy enemy behavior [they'd get stuck in mid-air for no reason].
the E1 boss was oddly easy, I distinctly remember it being harder when using DarkPlaces, in QuakeSpasm I just made three laps around the roof and never got hit and then it died

E3M2 is driving me up a wall at the moment. It's all fine for a while, and then I get thrown into a tiny room with one of those shaggy fucks that shoot lightning.
Haven't done E2 or 4 yet.

fun things: skipping most of E1M6 with the easiest rocketjump ever to immediately grab the gold key at the start
I don't even know if I needed to rocketjump, I remember doing it unaided in DarkPlaces once.
starting to wonder why DarkPlaces is so recommended, it's really not good for playing Quake with, even if you can add all kind of fancy visuals

oh, and I dicked around playing Windjammers [Neo-Geo] with a guy I know, shit's great
was also playing some Ridge Racer 2 [PSP], and hot fuck I'm out of practice, I'm making some hilariously embarrassing mistakes
was doing time-trial on the RRR Intermediate course and smashed my previous run of it, even though I was sloppy as hell [also, it feels so wrong playing it with such a narrow turning radius, RRR's turning is super sensitive]
did a run that was almost perfectly better, and then fucked up constantly on the final bit, losing to my ghost for no good reason

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

Note the furious grappling hook action at 1m30s ;3

Oh man, that was way past cool.

and I really should get to putting time into this game

[Immryr]

i played a tiny bit of the plague knight expansion of shovel knight last night. just had time for the first level. it feels really different immediately. it will take a while to get used to controlling plague knight I think, but his moveset has a lot of options. speedrunners will probably have a field day with it.

[Blinge]

Ah man I'm glad you posted, didn't know it had arrived. =]

[Ed Oscuro]

Quake [PC].
switched from DarkPlaces to QuakeSpasm since DarkPlaces had some glitchy enemy behavior [they'd get stuck in mid-air for no reason].

Interesting, I'm gonna look this up. QAddicted recommends it!

Also, gonna try out the Zendar town map somebody made up.

[mastermx]

Playing MGSV TPP, Persona 4 Golden and Strider on PS4. But mostly been playing MGSV, Kojima done good.

[Ed Oscuro]

Got Call of Duty: MW3 on sale, playing single player only so far. Kind of wish they had ended this series at CoD4.

It's kind of astonishing how bad this single player campaign is in parts (second-highest difficulty level). There are some decent set-pieces, but a lot of this was already done just as well by the previous games, if not better. It just feels gratuitous at this point to play another guy in another special short mission who ends up getting shot in the face.

More importantly, the mechanics are really aggravating, and also inconsistent. Tons of fog, sand, smoke, and similar uniforms make it hard to see the enemies, who nevertheless will quickly shoot you to death through most visibility barriers. You sometimes can't simply sprint across an alleyway without dying. The waypoint funneling is really obnoxious - stray just slightly from the One True Path and you get cut down in instants, even when it doesn't make sense - why should I prefer the cover of a short rock to a moving tank, especially when the tank is closer to where I'll want to make my break later? Where are these mysterious assailants and why isn't the enemy nearly this good in close quarters? The edges of maps, which you get quite acquainted with if you're used to executing proper strategies, feel weird with strange slopes and player clipping that forces you back towards exposed bales of hay and barrels that you'd never hide behind in reality. Enemies are even dumber about this - my favorite was the guy who was well-hidden from my teammates by a milk crate, just before the sandstorm.

A good example of this game's capriciousness is in the Paris van chase, just after the catacombs. Early on, a tank rumbles on down behind you, and you're ordered to move to the back of the van, which you do automatically. At this point, you likely have nothing better than the LMG which is automatically provided. There's nothing obvious to shoot at, just the tank and alley walls. Two times out of three I simply died, for no apparent reason. The third time, aiming straight at the tank, I mysteriously survived.

Overall, it's just shit. I don't mind difficult enemies, but being funneled through one nonsensical choke point to the next so that I can watch sleepy medium-range enemies that don't notice me fall dead while the real enemy is unseen is not my idea of a good challenge or a good time.

[JBC]

Snake Eater HD on European Extreme. Pretty fun for doing those straight sneaking playthroughs. It'll end the game if you put an enemy into alert mode.

I've only cleared Virtuous Mission so far but it's been pretty cool playing Metal Gear the way it was meant to be. The game looks great too.

[Khan]

Guilty gear xrd on ps4

Opted to buy the US version since its in physical format as in PAL region you can only buy the game in digital format, anyway the game is pretty decent only played an hr or so online seems fairly dead in the UK although to be fair it was like 1am maybe everyone was asleep xD

[Ed Oscuro]

This is Dark Souls

[Blinge]

So my Romancing SaGa continues, and I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone really.
This is the original game on the SNES, a translation patch. I actually restarted because I dismissed someone from my party earlier and couldnt find him again when I needed him for a quest, looked it up and he wasn't anywhere the (lackluster) guides said he would be.

> As I understand it, every battle you win raises a hidden stat. That stat determines what quests/story you can do.
> So don't fight, or you'll miss out on quests and rewards.
> But good luck avoiding battles; enemies appear as sprites on the map and dungeons/badlands are full of them. Some chase you down, sometimes you're surrounded and have to fight through 10 battles to move 4 spaces.
> The battles are mostly easy, too easy, for most of the cast. Apart from times you'll know you're out of your depth if you meet a boss who one-shots your entire party.
>Some places can only be accessed by chartering ships, it's expensive, you have to fight to get money. If you're trying to travel the world and do as many quests as possible like me, you'll have to sail a lot.
>Some places are only available if you have certain characters in your party. I knew I had to get to Loban, I couldn't get there despite visiting all the adjacent areas, because I didn't have some dude called Gray recruited. I was checking everywhere he's supposed to be, but he wasn't there until later. Gah.

I guess a lot of this stuff is for re-playability, choosing different characters means you could have a different experience of the game every time. However I only want to play this once, and see as much as possible in that one playthrough. If I was a kid with one or two SNES games and a whole summer, I might've appreciated it more. Despite all that I kinda like it. o_o

[Obiwanshinobi]

I felt something of an itch to revisit Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song today, my PS2 being hooked up again (so we could watch Alexander Nevsky DVD on a CRT). It might happen tonight, even though at the time I took a break I had no clue where to go in search of any quest.

Last afternoon, however, I played Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand in the park (a perfect day for the job, sunny but nothing too hot to handle). Found the dungeon I explored today quite cleverly put together. You know those moments when Metal Gear (Solid) games can be pretty fun action-adventures? Boktai makes for some of such quality times as well.
Konami can go full mobile for all I care, if only they can still make something at least as good as Boktai, with or without Kojima.

[Blinge]

^ That'd be the remake of the one I'm playing now then. I'd be curious to see how improved it is mechanically.

[Obiwanshinobi]

If developing new special attacks during battles was an all-new feature, that's one huge improvement. Being neither a real-world gambler, nor much of one in video games (I know a person who falls for casinos in games all the time), I can only guess gambling feels a bit like it (only stronger) for the addicts.

[Lemone]

Twilight Princess on Gamecube. The Mrs. and I just finished Majora's Mask and Wind Waker before moving directly into this one.

I had already played the other two ages ago but she hadn't and I was amazed how much of the crazy "not possible without a guide" stuff I actually remembered in Majora's Mask - though certainly not all of it. After finishing Majora's Mask, I am now aware just how much I actually love that game and wonder why I had previously always shunned it in favour of Ocarina of Time.

Wind Waker was also the GC version and we played it on an HDTV and, while certainly jaggy, it still looked great. Every time we turned it on I had to comment on how much the colour and style still blew me away and likewise she always had to roll her eyes and laugh at me. Of course the sailing got to us at times but not as much as I had remembered or expected from hearing from others. The gameplay was still top notch and the atmosphere well crafted.

Twilight Princess has been a bit of an adjustment from the colour and cuteness of Wind Waker. At about 25 hours in, the wife has long since jumped ship in favour of Okami - which might actually feel more like a sequel to Wind Waker than Twilight Princess does. I came in blind on this game. I had never seen video, read reviews or even talked to anybody who had played it. All I really had was a few off the cuff remarks from people labeling it the black sheep (or just plain worst) of the series. So far, I actually really like it. It feels worlds different than the previous two but still has enough recognizable content to keep me feeling I am playing a Zelda game. And that's a great feeling to have.

[Blinge]

If developing new special attacks during battles was an all-new feature, that's one huge improvement. Being neither a real-world gambler, nor much of one in video games (I know a person who falls for casinos in games all the time), I can only guess gambling feels a bit like it (only stronger) for the addicts.

Not sure about developing, in the original a character learns new special attacks per weapon as they level up their weapon skill.

[CStarFlare]

Wind Waker was also the GC version and we played it on an HDTV and, while certainly jaggy, it still looked great. Every time we turned it on I had to comment on how much the colour and style still blew me away and likewise she always had to roll her eyes and laugh at me. Of course the sailing got to us at times but not as much as I had remembered or expected from hearing from others. The gameplay was still top notch and the atmosphere well crafted.

I had the same response on going back to WW as an adult. I was at a midnight launch while in high school and barely made it to the second dungeon - I just hated the sailing. But coming back to it (now that I have less free time, no less) the sailing isn't really that bad, and the game's art is fantastic. I burned through it, and actually did most of the optional stuff that required a lot of sailing.

I actually prefer the GC's look to the more detailed WiiU version, but obviously the remake still has largely the same style and still looks great.

[dink]

Rescue by Stern (1982)
It uses dual-joystick control, left for movement, right for fire and button to drop a missile.
Fast frenetic gameplay, gets absolutely insane in the later levels. A fun little game for killing half the night. (or day)

[Obiwanshinobi]

Wind Waker was also the GC version and we played it on an HDTV and, while certainly jaggy, it still looked great. Every time we turned it on I had to comment on how much the colour and style still blew me away and likewise she always had to roll her eyes and laugh at me. Of course the sailing got to us at times but not as much as I had remembered or expected from hearing from others. The gameplay was still top notch and the atmosphere well crafted.

I had the same response on going back to WW as an adult. I was at a midnight launch while in high school and barely made it to the second dungeon - I just hated the sailing. But coming back to it (now that I have less free time, no less) the sailing isn't really that bad, and the game's art is fantastic. I burned through it, and actually did most of the optional stuff that required a lot of sailing.

I actually prefer the GC's look to the more detailed WiiU version, but obviously the remake still has largely the same style and still looks great.

The sailing, if not particulary fun, is bearable until the serch for Triforce shards, when there is fuck all else to do but sail. THAT was, I believe, the most gash thing for anybody who gave that game a chance to be cleared fair and square.
I'm telling you, if exploration in Super Metroid was equally enjoyable as Wind Waker's sailing, the former wouldn't have scored its legendary status. Analogically, hadn't Metroid Prime been so explicitly hinting where to go next by default, way fewer people would have put up with its FPP 3D platforming 'till the end.

[Marc]

Lots of Driveclub. It's a brilliant racer that straddles the line between sim and arcade in just the right way. Cars can't be thrown about in quite the same way as, say, Daytona, but it's not as dry as Gran Tourism etc. Handling is solid and heavy with loads of oversteer, really fun to slide. I've blagged my way through the first two cups but it's starting to demand a little more now, the sort of game I've found myself running a dozen laps of favour rite tracks to improve my times by a few hundredths. Season pass is a tenner at present and there's aa huge amount of content so will probably end up picking that up. It's also nice to simply pick a cup, car and just fucking race, without the Dev trying to throw stupid 'cool' cut scenes at me.

Started Zombi, and while entertaining for the first few hours it just doesn't seem to be going anywhere and boredom is setting in. Kind of reminds me of Condemned on the 390 from what I remember. Nowhere near as difficult as I'd been lead to believe either.

Just trying to get the second loop on Renegade to push my score up on the leader boards a bit (currently around 217,000). Perfect ten minute stress reliever.

Will probably pick up the fourth episode of Life Is Strange later, not normally my bag this sort of game but have found this gently entertaining.

[evil_ash_xero]

Phantom Pain

[Weak Boson]

Baldur's Gate II. What a game! Infinity engine nostalgia is thick in the air, but this is also just a really fucking good RPG. Delighted to see that neutral evil alignment is providing some particularly sassy dialogue options.

[JBC]

I found lots of Tecmo games I wanted for my collection yesterday.

Fatal Frame 2 & 3 and every Ninja Gaiden for PS3 (Sigma/Razors editions of course).

[Mendeli]

Weak boson: Have you tried pillars of eternity yet? It´s the spiritual successor to Baldur´s gate and it kicks some serious behinds.

Other than that, I´ve been rocking some akumaju dracula on the x68000. Can´t shake the Castlevania musics out of my head now.

[Weak Boson]

Not played PoE yet but it's making increasingly rapid beeps on my radar. That said I have a backlog of these sorts of games so I will probably not rush into it. Like I own Planescape Torment but haven't played it (isn't that getting a spiritual sequel also?) and maybe Icewind Dales will jump up the list for the same reason. And all this at the end of many hours of BGII - what a time to be alive.

[JBC]

I'm a big Resident Evil fan & have a nearly complete collection. I've always been pretty curious about Operation Raccoon so I popped it in. I'm not finding it to be nearly as bad as it's reputation indicates. It's definitely lacking some polish in critical areas but I'm still having a bit of fun with it.

The music is pretty great & the voice overs are as deliciously cheesy as ever for RE. They did a good job of catching the feel of a Resident Evil title & the set pieces are good fun.

They throw a hundred lickers at you in a burning building at the end of mission 2 & it's a blast to try to fend them off while making a run for it.

With a bit more polish applied towards graphics & camera I think the game could have been much better received.

[Immryr]

Finally got around to playing some more plague knight today. The game feels a lot harder to me than with shovel knight. There is a definite learning curve with the new move set. It's things like landing on small ledges with an enemy on, or just taking out flying/hovering enemies which I'm finding trickier.

[Blinge]

I finished it yesterday, it's fan-fucking-tastic. I loved Shovel Knight enough already but a free update with a totally different character essentially gives the whole game an arrange mode and new story. Fuck yes.

Yeah Plague is definitely harder to control! Just keep experimenting with different bomb/case combinations whenever you're in a pinch.