What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Lemone]

I'm a big Shadow Hearts fan myself, though I'll submit that the series doesn't completely hit its stride until the second entry; I know DQ8 is well-liked by fans of that series, but it's obviously a lot more traditional than SH, so if you're choosing between those two it depends on whether you feel like JRPG comfort food or something a bit different.

As an aside, I liked a lot of what I saw of Rogue Galaxy, but I couldn't get past how dumb my AI allies were and how little I could do to fix that (the same issue turned me off of Ni No Kuni and is making me hesitate to pick up Yo-Kai Watch). Plenty of others seem to do okay with them though, guess I'm just particularly picky about that bullet point.

Thanks alot for the quick feedback! Ya, the party members could be especially annoying when dealing with enemies with shields. And really the shields and barriers in general as well as the enemies you had to jump to hit got stale. I realize these things add more to a monotonous battle system but, to me, it was really just one more button added to the mashing (attack, attack, attack vs. jump, attack, attack, jump, attack, attack). And I think the AI may be what has kept me from getting past the first hour of Ni No Kuni each time I have started.

[Vexorg]

I want to play Fallout 4 at some point, but lately I've had more and more issues with motion sickness on first-person games, and just from watching some Twitch streams I got pretty nauseous, so I'd need to figure out something for that.

You can hold down the top sensor button on the ps4 controller and it switches to 3rd person view, though I dont get any motion sickness from playing it in fps that actually would happen to me on older games mainly when I went back to half life 2 a few years ago that game definitely made me quesy

I would be playing on PC (I don't own a PS4 or an XBone at this point) but imagine there should be a way to do it there too.

[Mischief Maker]

Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space is one of my favorite indie games of all time, even though it had some fatal gameplay flaws that carried over to its sequel Weird Worlds. FTL seemed an okay substitute, even though its graphics were poo, its gameworld sterile, and the ability for your plans to succeed relied a little too much on the whims of the random number generator. When IS3:SoS popped up on the humble store yesterday, I bought it with equal parts hope and trepidation.

Much to my relief not only is it as fun as ever, but they fixed the major flaws. Yes, the 3D starmap is way more awkward than the old 2D one, but it also prevents the nebula from trapping you in a corner and turning the game into a "Where's the Hyperdrive?" hunt. You can totally explore 100% of the sector with conventional drives, even on a heavy nebula map now!

Further, enemy fleets start small (and manageable) and grow in size over time, while you have the option of upgrading any of your ship hulls to something nastier if you return to its homeworld. Overall the game runs smoother and feels less "gamey" in practice. I'm smiling from ear to ear!

If you want a demo, the original Strange Adventures in Infinite Space is now freeware.

[Leandro]

Playing Axiom Verge - PC. Money well spent, game is good! Awesome soundtrack, save the one section with a female chant

[kaicooper]

was playing Galak-Z
but now playing FALLOUT 4

[Obiwanshinobi]

[Redundant post.]

[Obiwanshinobi]

I went back to half life 2 a few years ago that game definitely made me quesy

Source game engine is reported to be particulary bad for people sufferning from gaming sickness.

Next up will be either Dragon Quest 8 or Shadow Hearts (with plans to play the whole series). Any help choosing would be appreciated.

I have a huge tolerance for traditional jRPGs and DQVIII was the first PS2 game I bought, but it didn't scratch that itch. GTA-sized 3D world seemed all the more hollow for it, i.e. not nearly as rich in stuff as I hoped. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song worked for me in this regard. Also, if not Japanese, King's Bounty: The Legend keeps giving.

[CStarFlare]

In the meantime, I've been playing mostly the Afterbirth expansion to Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Nothing too earth-shattering, but the new Greed Mode is actually quite fun, and there are a bunch of new items and a new boss fight (with some very Danmaku-like bullet patterns) added as well. I'm still terrible at the game, but enjoying it nonetheless.

The danmaku boss isn't so hard if you've got genre experience, heh :3

There' some real interesting stuff going down on the BOI Reddit page - it seems that some of the game's unlocks are tied to some sort of real-world scavenger hunt out in California. Pretty fun to watch people track down clues and work out the next step. Makes me feel like holding off playing until they get to the end of the game.

[Leandro]

Just finished Axiom Verge. What a game!

Spoiler

spectacular

[Hoagtech]

Just finished Axiom Verge. What a game!

Spoiler

spectacular

Ms Pac man tengen NES. The wife loves it so I get down.

a lot of that and Tetris lately

[BulletMagnet]

Just finished Axiom Verge. What a game!

Currently playing this myself, and liking a lot of it; the main 3 complaints I'd have are 1) Much of the combat seems to boil down to "find safe spot and keep shooting", 2) Occasionally an enemy attack will have an air of cheapness to it, and 3) A few of the items/moves (most notable the grappling hook) can be a bit finicky to use. Good stuff otherwise so far.

[Stevens]

My wife and I sunk about 200 hours into Borderlands, and another 100 into Borderlands 2. She loves that fucking game, I merely like it.

She started another character in 2, and asked me if I would play again cause she wanted to do some of the DLC stuff. I said sure, but she would have to grind the character cause I have zero interest in grinding anything anymore. I am now firmly in the school of press start, select ship (if applicable), dodge and shoot.

I'm playing the assassin. He is different than the rest of the cast, especially since I'm playing him as a melee based character. I maxed out the bloodshed tree as there is something oddly satisfying about your cloak time stacking with kills. It feels like a scoring mechanic. Fuck sniper rifles.

Anyways I picked her up to pre sequel for Christmas. Yes it means more Borderlands in my future, but she loves it, and that is OK.

[KAI]

I've been playing some games from Taito's Landing series (Top Landing, Landing Gear, Jet de Go!/2/Pocket), and I felt in love with them (that mix between simulation and arcade play it's just perfect IMO). I miss this Taito so fucking much

[Immryr]

played a little downwell on steam today. neat little game, although I couldn't get it working with either my ps4 controller or my usb Saturn pad.

[Opus131]

no idea why these mags are giving the game 9/10's it doesnt deserve that tbh.

Neither did Fallout 3, but games that generate hype is what keeps magazines afloat. All Bethesda games have been overrated, half-broken tripe ever since Oblivion, but people absolutely love this stuff for some reason and magazines have to comply or else risk go out of business.

[JBC]

Finally beat the first scenario in Resident Evil Outbreak. I had a lot of trouble! But then I started on the second (Below Freezing Point) & got it within three tries. Truly an incredible game, I can't believe it was & is still so overlooked. True challenge!

I'll probably be picking up a wireless receiver, the fan translation patches, & the Japanese editions to try online once I know what I'm doing. There have been fan servers up & running since last year :>

[Stevens]

Picked up the Balls of Glory Pinball Fx pack. Archer (love the show), Bob's Burgers (also love it), Family Guy (like it), and American Dad (zero interest).

The Family Guy and Bob's Burgers tables are really well designed. Neither suffers from a ramp that is near impossible to hit (looking at you Excalibur), great graphics and music, and fun missions. If I have a minor complaint it would be the BB's table is really bright in the daytime mode. Its night mode is really cool.

Archer is a really good table too, but at this point I like it slightly less.

It is designed a bit different (his car is towards the bottom right - upper area a little blocked - this is not a bad thing at all) and as a result it gets really hectic at times (also not a bad thing). Again the graphics, music, and voice are all top notch, but the table suffers slightly from ONE thing.

The ball seems to gravitate towards the left out lane on the manufacturers normal setting. Tweak the settings and it isn't as bad. Now mind you this might be because I haven't spent much time with it yet, or am nudging the table the wrong way when it is over there, but that is my initial impression.

Still fun though.

[cave hermit]

Been playing Nethack lately; Still working on getting access to the class quest levels.

Last game was going pretty darn well: Got lucky with fountain quaffing and got a wish on floor 1 (Got myself some greased, blessed, +2, silver dragon scale mail), had myself a nice stock of food rations, a unicorn horn, a cloak of magic resistance, things were coming along nicely. Then after stepping onto a new floor, I noticed a random egg lying on the ground. I immediately chose to eat the egg off of the ground. I then immediately turned into a statue because I had eaten a cockatrice egg.

[RealPlumpBox]

Fallout 4. Thats it until well who knows.

[LordHypnos]

I booted up the 360 with the intent of playing a little Lumines Live followed by some shmupping, but ended up still playing Lumines Live. This game is actually really awesome. The Qubed disc is definitely good value, btw, guys!

[BrianC]

I booted up the 360 with the intent of playing a little Lumines Live followed by some shmupping, but ended up still playing Lumines Live. This game is actually really awesome. The Qubed disc is definitely good value, btw, guys!

Funny thing is that I also played more Lumines Live than I intended when I booted it up to see what was included (since I only played a little bit when I first got the disc).

[LordHypnos]

I booted up the 360 with the intent of playing a little Lumines Live followed by some shmupping, but ended up still playing Lumines Live. This game is actually really awesome. The Qubed disc is definitely good value, btw, guys!

Funny thing is that I also played more Lumines Live than I intended when I booted it up to see what was included (since I only played a little bit when I first got the disc).

Yeah, it's quite addictive, for sure.

[Squire Grooktook]

Played a few more credits of Alien Vs Predator today. At this point, I think this masterpiece is going to be seeing time from me quite often, but my interest was piqued even more today when I saw this combo video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GgZTIqr4OA

Many of these strats are perfectly viable. Reversing your aerial motion, heat cancelling, and using back step to extend combos are all viable and amazingly fun strategies that add more depth and options to this already titanic game. Not only that, but whereas I originally thought that Predator Hunter was just a poor, experimental reskin of the Predator Warrior, it turns out that he has a completely unique play style that's just as engaging and clever.

I cannot praise this magnum opus enough.

[broken harbour]

Finished up Chrono Trigger a while back, a worthy game to be sure, but definitely not 'Best Game of Evar" material like many make it out to be. Like FF7, its a game that was revolutionary at the time, but is dated now, those who praise it as the best thing ever made are either blinded by nostalgia, or haven't played it in over a decade. Having said that, I liked it a lot, great OST, no grinding, and the combat system was simple yet really fun. Great bosses too. The characters felt pretty undeveloped but I guess that's par for the course on SNES RPG's.

Haven't had much game time since, played a little Sonic 1 on Genny, I loved it as a kid, having a hard time getting into it now, love that OST though.

[soprano1]

Finished up Chrono Trigger a while back, a worthy game to be sure, but definitely not 'Best Game of Evar" material like many make it out to be. Like FF7, its a game that was revolutionary at the time, but is dated now, those who praise it as the best thing ever made are either blinded by nostalgia, or haven't played it in over a decade. Having said that, I liked it a lot, great OST, no grinding, and the combat system was simple yet really fun. Great bosses too. The characters felt pretty undeveloped but I guess that's par for the course on SNES RPG's.

Haven't had much game time since, played a little Sonic 1 on Genny, I loved it as a kid, having a hard time getting into it now, love that OST though.

Define dated. I agree FF7 today looks like crap, but Chrono Trigger's sprite work still looks good today.
It's not the best game ever, but it might be the best RPG ever.

[broken harbour]

Define dated. I agree FF7 today looks like crap, but Chrono Trigger's sprite work still looks good today.
It's not the best game ever, but it might be the best RPG ever.

By dated I guess I mean it feels a little old and clunky. The inventory system seems a little haphazard, and at no time did I go "wow that's really cool" other than a few boss designs.

So what I mean is that it doesn't look dated, but feels dated. I don't know if that makes sense, but I can see why it melted faces in 1995, but it just doesn't have the same impact when played 20 years later, at least to someone who didn't play it back in the day. My 13 year old self (My age in 1995) would have snapped all the elastics in his underwear over it though.

[Immryr]

I don't know how anyone can call it the best snes rpg even. unless you haven't played treasure of the rudras that is.

[qmish]

i dunno
i played Chrono Trigger for a first time in life in 2012 or smth
was totally amazed, game was keeping me up to 6 am

[Xyga]

^ I think we shouldn't make the 'dated' mistake with any of those titles, because 'best' should always be put into context.

Try and imagine games today packing the same amount of creativity, novelty, and talent as those in their time, and you'll realize productions of that level don't exist anymore.
If they did, we would be playing our current gen consoles to death, not burning our cash into expensive retrogaming or saying "meh I can have the same game on pc when it's on sale".

We don't get a new era of SquareSoft excellence because almost everything has been done already, it's appliable to most of the video game industry and many other.
The 20th century had too many decades of good stuff, maybe we've used up most of the mojo and there's too little left to spend for making it through the 21st.

Abandon all hope for the rest of the century.
[/negativity]

[broken harbour]

^ I dunno, Eternal Sonata (2008) comes close to my favorite RPG ever, it did a lot of things right, and it had a really original premise, and a cool hybrid battle system, it showed you can still some new things with your standard JRPG recipe.

Having said that I haven't played any Xeno games, or Star Ocean, or Tales Series, so.... my frame of reference isn't as broad as others out there.

Try and imagine games today packing the same amount of creativity, novelty, and talent as those in their time, and you'll realize productions of that level don't exist anymore.
If they did, we would be playing our current gen consoles to death, not burning our cash into expensive retrogaming or saying "meh I can have the same game on pc when it's on sale".

I think it's actually more an effect that the quality of your average game today is so much better than 20 years ago. A rising tide lifts all boats after all....