What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Immryr]

Yeah it's a really great expansion, especially for free. The challenge levels are a lot of fun too.

[kaicooper]

finished MGSV
and now playing FIFA 16 sometimes

but mostly now buzy with SOMA game

[Strider77]

Space Ace at 5 AM no less.

[juonryu2nd]

Minarai Mahoutsukai Fuwaru no Bouken, by the Fortune Summoners dev.

Probably the most frustrating platformer I've played since Ancient Ship of Doom.

[Some-Mist]

gonna be playing armikrog during lunch today (once it unlocks). been waiting years for this :>


played for an hour and got about 9 rooms deep. already came across a buncha puzzles that I'm documenting on a private board

[BrianC]

Been playing Shovel Knight Plague of Shadows on WiiU and Xeodrifter on 3DS.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Code Name S.T.E.A.M.

Apparently this has sold really badly which surprises me because I've had a lot of fun with it so far. The whole thing is presented like a comic book, with nods to old-timey serials in its general setup. Excellent voice acting (Adam Baldwin, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton), characters from literature which are often completely nonsensical (a fact frequently referenced in game - of course the lion is friends with the scarecrow). The third person only setup for a turn-based strategy game really keeps you on your toes - you can only see what's in the characters' fields of view which leads to some nasty ambushes if you aren't careful. It also gleefully throws reinforcements in so you're rarely completely safe. The AI isn't too easily led either - a few times I tried to protect a wounded squad member by placing someone else in harm's way, but they will mercilessly pick off stragglers and sit happily in overwatch waiting for you to stumble past. Although once I did accidentally get three artillery spotters to spend the whole map focused on someone under cover, which was a bit simple of the CPU.

It's a really well done strategy title that's well balanced, so there's not really a wrong team loadout if you use the weapons you take correctly. And who doesn't want a game that features a giant mechanical Abraham Lincoln?

[Obiwanshinobi]

At my first attempt to play King's Bounty: The Legend (warrior class), I lost my savestate. So I started again as a magician, only to give up dozens of hours into the game when I found my playable character practically bankrupt.
Now I'm doing it all again (paladin class) because the game's THIS enchanting. Found (was given?) a resurrection scroll early on (do all paladins do, or I just got lucky?) and I'm trying to play it smarter (safer) this time around. Since playing this particular game safe boils down to protecting your underlings' lives, I find it fairly humane for a computer game.

[kaicooper]

Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance on PC with 4K - widescreen

[Ed Oscuro]

Duh, I feel silly. Found a new Half-Life mod called "Half-Rats," it's really rough and simple in terms of the demo level, but we'll see how it goes. I also played through the training area, and now I realized...there's been a way to beat some of the forced damage that was mocking me for years. When you're supposed to drop down onto a target area, instead just use the longjump module to get on top of the sign on the far wall. Easy and fast too.

It's been a while since I played Hexen II, but like this guy I wondered what Emperor Egg Chen was all about.

Then I watched the opening of Big Trouble in Little China...well, that's got to be it. Somebody at Raven misheard "Egg Shen" and named an area after the character. It starts small!

Also, a lot of DaS II.

[Khan]

Fallout New Vegas on xbox360

After pumping in like 150hrs into fallout 3 a few years back I thought id give new vegas a try finally, I already have the game on steam but much prefer to play on a bigger screen so opted for the 360 version.

50hrs in and level 19 and im still doing side quests. I figure I may try to rap it up now though getting by most quests easy enough only thing giving me problems this time around are deathclaws, in fallout 3 having a combat shotty I could nail one in a matter of seconds but this time around it seems using guns is a little weaker, infact melee is supposed to be quite op since you can learn certain power moves but I havent gone down that road and went guns. Havent met any real memorable chars yet however I did kill a person who raped a lesbian that made me feel good inside also nailed his minions too

[Blinge]

Find all the companions and spend a bit of time with them if you can bear leaving behind the lonewolf idea of Fallout games. They're pretty memorable characters, especially as most of them have their own questline once you have some affinity with them.

Yeah I can't remember much of Fo3 but Deathclaws seemed less of a problem. Essentially some areas in the Mojave are off limits due to them or Cazadores, until you're packing serious heat in the later game. Either that or you pop a ton of chems/ use explosives and traps.

Cottonwood cove is a really dumb area.

[broken harbour]

I put over 100hrs into Fallout 3, and loved the game. I actually found New Vegas to be superior, while my playthrough only lasted about 50-55 hours, I really liked the future-old-west vibe quite a lot more, and I still listen to the soundtrack to this day. Things I noticed, the NPC's were slightly less memorable, and the map felt a bit smaller but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I also found the game slightly easier, I had no issues with deathclaws personally, but I didn't crank the difficulty up at all.

Good choice.

[BIL]

AWW YEEEUH. Cleared my old topdown tank seek/destroy™ favourite METAL STOKER this evening, for the first time in ages. The ending seemed to hint at a second loop but I never bothered checking last time around. I wonder why... the default difficulty is certainly entertaining, but lacks real venom.

But BA-ZING: Turns out, not only does it include an excellent Hard loop, there's a cheat to skip straight to it on replays (a surefire way to earn my MUCHO MANLOVE ). At the "white noise" opening screen enter 1,1,2,2,L,R,U,D,Selectx3 then 1+2 for SHAWEET secret options menu with stage select (meh!) and loop select (YEEE). Ta GameFAQs! WTF is with PCE games and their conspicuously involved secret option inputs? Gunhed comes to mind.

This is exactly what the game needed... stage layouts seem identical, but everything attacks more insistently, with faster bullets and often denser patterns. Tightens the first loop's slack right the hell up - turrets rain flak and zako pursue relentlessly, with previously trivial corridors and midbosses now deadly trials. It's pretty rigorous! Made it to stage 6 of 7 before calling it a night, with many harrowing squeezes and newly urgent uses of previously superfluous special weapons.

There's also a third "Master" loop which seems to buff up enemy HP a bit much for my liking (Hard very sensibly only ups it a smidge). Glad it's there regardless, though. Nothing completes a good action game like extra difficulties with real care evident.

I love the ending's shockingly pointless and benign C̶Y̶B̶E̶R̶P̶U̶N̶K̶ NEO HARDBOILED SHOOTING twist, revealed with that most foreboding of phrases "to tell the truth." I could swear DECO were involved!

Spoiler

DISCOVERED THE EXTEND
DESTROYED THE ENEMY PLANE
TAKED THE VACATION

respect 2 devs FACE, I need to check out more of they stuff. Then again Granada was WOLFTEAM and god damn they kinda blow otherwise. >_> Onward with optimism! God bless teh ROMZ!

[EmperorIng]

I may have to check it out. Metal Stoker doesn't have too much press other than the ever-studious hg101 article.

[Ruldra]

La-Mulana update: I'm completely stuck right now. I've managed to get pretty far (6 Guardians down, only Palenque and Tiamat left), but it's been almost 10 hours of playing without any meaningful progress. I'm not giving up yet but I do need a break.

Spoiler

At this point I'm pretty sure I should be at the Chamber of Birth, but the entrance is closed and I have no idea how to open it. I have opened it before in the freeware version but I can't remember what I did back then. I'm considering re-visiting every area and checking every tablet again, because I'm missing something obvious.

Meanwhile I've been meaning to play Master of Orion for some time. Never really played a 4X game before so I'm looking forward to it. First game (medium difficulty, 5 opponents, playing as Psilons), spawned right next to ruthless Mrrshans (the warmonger race in the game). I know they're gonna attack me eventually so I'm beating them to it. Amassed a small fleet and sent it straight to the enemy homeworld. The first war begins.

Spoiler

[trap15]

respect 2 devs FACE, I need to check out more of they stuff.

They were really great. Nostradamus, Money Idol Exchanger, and Zupapa! all come to mind when I think of them, all very good games (though the latter two wear their inspiration on their sleeve).

[Squire Grooktook]

Nostradamus is really great, yeah.

[Perikles]

Then again Granada was WOLFTEAM and god damn they kinda blow otherwise. >_> Onward with optimism! God bless teh ROMZ!

Well, Sol-Deace/Sol-Feace is a pretty cool game (I like the former more for its better framerate, the absence of flicker and even the beefier soundtrack), so there's that. That quirky WOLFTEAM fetish for elongated extremities and joints finds his culmination here, aside from the memorable presentation it also stands in favour of a few exciting boss fights. Very good stage design throughout, with the fifth one being a particular preciosity. Mania difficulty throws out a formidable amount of bullets. I would definitely recommend it to an avid 16-bit lover such as yourself. And let's be honest: we all love El Viento deep inside, don't we.

I have to play Metal Stoker more extensively myself. Tested it for a couple of hours a while ago and was pleasantly reminded of the Metal Gear MSX games - it felt more like a strategic operation for me than the blistering, immensely aggressive Granada. Will play it thoroughly the next time I bust out my PCE!

[Obiwanshinobi]

FZ Senki Axis (SharpX68k version) is an okay game. I had some fun with Arcus Odyssey (MD/Genny version) of late as well, if only singleplayer.

[Khan]

Find all the companions and spend a bit of time with them if you can bear leaving behind the lonewolf idea of Fallout games. They're pretty memorable characters, especially as most of them have their own questline once you have some affinity with them.

Yeah I can't remember much of Fo3 but Deathclaws seemed less of a problem. Essentially some areas in the Mojave are off limits due to them or Cazadores, until you're packing serious heat in the later game. Either that or you pop a ton of chems/ use explosives and traps.

Cottonwood cove is a really dumb area.

So far ive found Boone, Raul & Veronica but instead of taking them with me I get them to join then order them to wait in town and then go solo I just feel like I'd rather kill enemies solo without any help as its more satisfying though im aware there are some companion quests which can only be done when you form a party with them. Anyhow I've just found the brotherhood of steel bunker so doing some searching for them as I found some power armor that I cant use without training and most likely I would need to help them with their problems before they grant me access to some of their sweet ass weaponary. I've also been using the sniper rifle and the gauss gun which I swiped at the BOS firing range and man these guns are beast! pretty much downing anything in a hit or two.

Anyhow I decided to pre-order Fallout 4 on ps4 as it was only like £38, will be interesting to see what they implemented this time around and we have a dog as a companion too.

[BIL]

respect 2 devs FACE, I need to check out more of they stuff.

They were really great. Nostradamus, Money Idol Exchanger, and Zupapa! all come to mind when I think of them, all very good games (though the latter two wear their inspiration on their sleeve).

Nostradamus is really great, yeah.

Ah, that's right - totally forgot about Face's noted arcade work. Knew I'd heard them mentioned here... been meaning to suss out whether Money Idol Exchanger's PS port is worthwhile.

And let's be honest: we all love El Viento deep inside, don't we.

I will proudly go to the gallows professing my appreciation of El Viento! during the lifebar-slummier bits, I just pretend waify Annette is a rugged charge-shotting mecha who'll shrug off the odd bit of flak ;3

Sol Feace/Deace are most definitely on my radar, among several others - lately I like to just follow you around the forum taking notes.

I have to play Metal Stoker more extensively myself. Tested it for a couple of hours a while ago and was pleasantly reminded of the Metal Gear MSX games - it felt more like a strategic operation for me than the blistering, immensely aggressive Granada. Will play it thoroughly the next time I bust out my PCE!

Stoker's got a really good mix of methodical creeping and freeform battling - st3's fraught confines were reminding me precisely of Metal Gear, while st4's multiscreen gunwall and its merciless onslaught are straight out of Senjou no Okami II. Hard mode also highlights the large boss roster - lots of varied, imposing metal behemoths to take down. HELL LABORATORY's eightfold boss chamber always felt unfortunately casual on Normal. Lives up to the stage's name on Hard, with death looming large over each fateful doorway.

But yeah, definitely a comparatively regimented variety of topdown tanking seek/destroy™ compared to Granada's more open-plan action. Ultimately I prefer that game's faster, wilder ethos (and nothing in any other tanker I know of matches the kinetic joy of its BLASTER BOOST*). Still, heartily recommended for lovers of the form, especially knowing about its selectable difficulty. Just the sort of arcade-quality console action I treasure.

*

Spoiler

YEEEEEE BOI THEY SEE ME BOOSTIN' (I miss Enhasa ;-; )

[Obiwanshinobi]

As those of you who gave the original Super Monkey Ball a proper chance should know by now, Main Game is properly coin-op-hard... and yet Expert makes for possibly the single most towering difficulty spike I've encountered in any arcade(-like) game to date. You think you have ever felt brutalised by a video game?
Makes me wonder if F-Zero GX, hard as it is, harbours any such steep slope to scale.
...
I want to play it now (not Expert, let's get real here), which is the kind of urge I hardly ever feel towards any game anymore. Sleep deprivation be damned. I no longer live the fantasy much improvement can be made in this current state of mine, but I'm so not done with Super Monkey Ball for the time being...

[mamboFoxtrot]

Yeah, I mentioned the whacked difficulty curve however many months ago it was that I posted after playing Super Monkey Ball the first time. It's not just between the three difficulty modes themselves, but also the stages within. Advanced Stage 15 kicked my shit in, and upon clearing it, I was pretty surprised at what a joke the next several stages were by comparison. My biggest issue when starting over after a Game Over isn't getting through the hard stages again, but going through the all easy courses to get back to what killed me.

Honestly, I think the easier Advanced courses should've been put into Beginner, so that it'd have more than 10 peasily stages to its name, and then the easier Expert courses can be plopped into Advanced.

- - -

I co-oped the Autobot side of Transformers: Cybertron Adventures for the Wii with my sister recently. It's a decent-enough rail shooter / lightgun game / whatever the fuck you want to call these things, but there's no getting around the fact that we mostly just shot the same four enemies and two pieces of rubble for 3-ish hours. Oh well, still worth the 6 bucks I paid for it.

Kinda surprised to see it mentioned in exactly zero of the discussions on the genre I found when Googling for other games of this type for the Wii.

[Obiwanshinobi]

My bad, I meant Expert, not Advanced (already edited my post).*)
Easier stages are there for you to take a breather when you play on a real cab in the arcade. I think every longer (than 5 minutes) coin-op game has got "relaxing" parts like those. If Beginner had more stages, it would take longer to beat, which wouldn't be "fair" by arcade standards (the harder courses give you more game per coin as a reward for your effort).

*)I know why the mistake; been just reading this review and it seems difficulty levels in 2 are named: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. It has to be said - Advanced of 1 doesn't infuriate me (neither does Expert, but it's clear to me I'm not ready for it yet; the difficulty spike is incredible rather than harmful).

[kaicooper]

play Metal Gear Solid 1 on PS1 emulator
HD+Reshade+Extream Textures

[tribal_war]

Finally playing new little king's story on vita. Never get around to picking up the wii one and I'm enjoying it so far.

[Immryr]

I finished cave story last night. I had fun with it although it was a little easy on the whole. The final boss rush was great.

Today I've been playing ys oath in felghana for the first time. Absolutely loving it so far, the boss fights are especially great and surprisingly tough. I'm playing on normal difficulty and the fire snake took me an hour of straight restarting before I took him down.

Really loving having a custom firmware psp.

[JBC]

Like a cur basset in a pack of purebread Doberman pincers, Gun Survivor 2.

[Blinge]

I finished cave story last night. I had fun with it although it was a little easy on the whole. The final boss rush was great.

Edit: Okay shinobi, it's spoilered. I thought my post wasn't specific enough to reveal story but you're right, it does spoil surprises.

Spoiler

Did you save Curly and get the best ending?
Was the final boss the Doctor/ Undead Core or Ballos?