What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[guigui]

Earth Defense Force 4.1

Oh true, this one's on my shelf too, played it a little but not enough for sure.

[WelshMegalodon]

Wasn't Apple II the original? The DOS versions of the early Ultima games were not the best versions. They were stuck with CGA graphics and a lack of music (though there are fan made patches that fix these issues).

That's correct. I think the DOS version of Exodus actually has a bug that makes encounters less frequent, making it even more difficult to level up your characters (and, perhaps more importantly, keep them properly fed). The DOS version of Quest of the Avatar is probably the best contemporary home computer version of that title, though.

The NES version of Exodus is Ultima reimagined as a Dragon Quest clone, the irony here being that the original Exodus clearly inspired the Dragon Quest model. I hear it's worthwhile in its own right, but one really ought to play the home computer versions. For non-purists, the fanmade "Ultima III Gold" release is probably the best version, as it contains a number of bugfixes and doesn't require disk swapping. In the C64 spirit, it also allows for a wide variety of cheats...

It adds mahou shoujo paladin-chan though so it's clearly the definitive version.

Ack! Shitty interpolation strikes again!

There are better options for playing as an anime girl on the Famicom, though all the really competent women seem to be stuck in fighters.

[Jon]

Make sure to check out Let It Die, if you haven't already, Guigui.

Also curious on what you thought of Bloodborne. Over time and after many playthroughs it's managed to become my favorite From Software title.

[guigui]

Make sure to check out Let It Die, if you haven't already, Guigui.

Also curious on what you thought of Bloodborne. Over time and after many playthroughs it's managed to become my favorite From Software title.

What, GungHo makes something else than PAD ? Not sure I wanna try it, after how hard it was to quit PAD.
I did not play Bloodborne yet, next one on my list.

[Jon]

I know, it was a little jarring seeing their logo pop up the first time for me too but they're just the publisher. Grasshopper Manufacture actually developed the game. It can hook you the way any good game can but I don't think you need to worry about it bringing out the unsavory, addictive tendencies that PAD did. I recommend giving it a shot at least but play Bloodborne first and for the love of god make sure you get the DLC.

[Immryr]

been playing hollow knight the past few days and enjoying it quite a bit. i don't usually jump on games as soon as they come out, and i wasn't paying any attention to this before release, but i just felt in the mood for this kind of game. it's basically a game with two of the most ubiquitous influences in indie games today: super metroid and dark souls.

the art style and music are really great, the world is your standard metroid type interconnected world where you unlock new powers which lets you reexplore old areas and find new ones etc, it has the typical souls mechanic where you drop your currency when you die and have to return to where you died to get it back. i've never died twice in a row without retreiving them yet so i dunno if you lose them permanently, but i assume so.

probably the most interesting mechanic is the health system which is sort of like estus, but very different at the same time. you have a vessle called a soul and as you hit enemies it fills up and you gain charges which can be used to heal. initially this makes it seem like it would make the game too easy as you only need a few hits on an enemy and you can get another heal off. when you're just exploring the world map it does work out like that, which is not a bad thing as you're going to be doing a lot of traversing of rooms and back tracking etc at times and this system encourages you to keep exploring. in boss fights it's very different though as to get a heal off you need to hold down the heal button for a fairly long time before the heal pops and during this time you're imobile and vulnerable. finding enough time to get a heal off can be pretty tricky. to add to this you also get spells/abilities which use the same meter as mana. it's a pretty well balanced system imo.

i do have one problem with the game though, the controls are a little slippy or imprecise and when you take damage there is an effect that cuts out the sound and sort of slows the game down for a split second. it feels way too extreme for my liking and has definitely lead to me being hit twice in a row by a boss a number of times so far. having said that my laptop isn't amazing for playing games on so i dunno if this is amplified and wouldn't be so problematic on a pc with a half decent graphics card.

-edit- a couple more quick thoughts: it has a good blend of metroid style naturalistic enemies which just seem to be normal fauna milling about, and bigger more aggressive enemies which seem like mid bosses at first. i like that.

the characters and what little i've seen of the story are intriguing so far. my guess is it's setting up to be something like

Spoiler

lovecraft's the outsider, or braid, where your character turns out to be a bad guy / doing something bad without having knowledge of it himself. but i may be reading too much into it.

[Immryr]

let it die has EXACTLY the same f2p bones as puzzle and dragons. you can definitely feel gungho's influence all over it. however magic stones in this game are mainly used for continues and increasing storage, it doesn't have anything as compelling as the gacha in pad, which is probably the main thing people spend money on.

the game is one huge grind though. i was playing it quite a bit before christmas, then i went home for a week and when i came back i turned the game on, played for about 30 mins and just thought "i have no interest in this pointless, endless grind".

it was fun for a while though.

[Mero]

Just spent the best part of 90 minutes fighting the true final boss of SMT:Nocturne. The MC got taken down to 20hp at one point

[Marc]

Yakuza 0: Yeah OK, so 'shite' was harsh, but it is a weird one. I mean, the main meat of it is fighting. But the fighting seems pretty loose and shallow - there doesn't seem much to it tactically, other than making use of the dodge button every now and again. The first one on one with Kuze was dire - I lost twice not because of the difficulty, but because of the shitty camera loosing track of him altogether, and I swear that on occasion it actually 'snapped' me into position so he could use a stomp on me. Haven't played Shenmue in a decade or more, but my memories tell me that there was more to the fighting there than here.

Yet somehow, going from A to B via the odd fight is strangely entertaining as of yet, the minigames are fun, the world seems far more vibrant than any GTA-style sandbox, it's the first game in years I've given a shit about the plot, and it's just about pulling me along with it, despite the fact that I couldn't explain why.

And props for actually including screen options on the coin-ops. Shame there are still no option screens for them but other than that they're done well.

[Immryr]

Is this your first yakuza game?

[Marc]

I've vague memories of playing a few hours of one of the PS3 ones. Not sure which. Got rid of the machine not long after 8 bought it.

[Squire Grooktook]

Juggling NIOH and Tales of Berseria right now.

Berseria: Great fun to struggle with a boss fight and then combo them to death in one go. Good times. Velvet may be overpowered as fuck, but damn if her super attacks aren't diverse and uniquely visceral as hell. Addictive to rampage through motherfuckers.

*headline "local girl is literally too angry to die (she just screams and hits people with big hand)"*

Nioh. Good stuff already. Basic combat might seem a little redundant to Souls at first, but it brings some interesting new things to the table with the three fighting styles for each weapon, Ki/Stamina Bursts (neat idea for a souls-like), and a dash that outclasses even Bloodborne's for feel-good(TM).

Also damn I wish I could have SPIRIT ANIMAL familiar in Souls to enter Hypa Modo with and do super combos.

[reckon luck]

Borrowed a 360, excited to try all the shmups and exclusives, and my controller doesn't work? I've been using this wired 360 controller with my PC for years, but all I get on the 360 is four blinking green lights. The internet is full of info on wireless controller issues, and wired-to-PC issues, but I'm not finding much of anything on wired-to-360 issues. Weird.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Try turning it on first and then plugging in once you're at the account login screen. I need to do that for my PS2 to 360 adapter, or it just flashes the lights.

Is it an actual xbox-branded 360 wired controller or the "Microsoft controller for Windows" version? I seem to recall reading about issues with those on 360, which is why I bought a straight xbox 360 pad when mine broke.

[Immryr]

still playing hollow knight. about 15 hours in, this game is much bigger than i thought it would be although i am taking my time and reexploring areas each time i get a new ability. having said that so far i've only gained two movement abilities. i'm still really enjoying the game, despite it's performance issues.

[reckon luck]

Try turning it on first and then plugging in once you're at the account login screen. I need to do that for my PS2 to 360 adapter, or it just flashes the lights.

Is it an actual xbox-branded 360 wired controller or the "Microsoft controller for Windows" version? I seem to recall reading about issues with those on 360, which is why I bought a straight xbox 360 pad when mine broke.

I tried your suggestion, no dice.

I bought the thing back in 2012, not sure what version. The sticker says 'Xbox 360 controller', while my laptop's device manager says it's an 'Xbox 360 Controller for Windows'. Either way, the internet says they're supposed to work with both PC and console. What the heck?

[Mero]

Just had a good run on Cleopatra Fortune, finished 55k short of 10 million.

3 perfects above level 90

[ZacharyB]

I bought the thing back in 2012, not sure what version. The sticker says 'Xbox 360 controller', while my laptop's device manager says it's an 'Xbox 360 Controller for Windows'. Either way, the internet says they're supposed to work with both PC and console. What the heck?

I have the wireless controller for the newer XBox 360. The four blinking lights on the console represent the four controller ports. There are corresponding lights on my controller, around the "X" button in the center. When my controller connects to the console, the four blinking lights turn into one blinking light as the console and controller "speak" to each other. Then the light stays steady on both. If the four lights continue to blink, it means the console is still searching for a controller. Have you tried a different port?

[reckon luck]

I bought the thing back in 2012, not sure what version. The sticker says 'Xbox 360 controller', while my laptop's device manager says it's an 'Xbox 360 Controller for Windows'. Either way, the internet says they're supposed to work with both PC and console. What the heck?

I have the wireless controller for the newer XBox 360. The four blinking lights on the console represent the four controller ports. There are corresponding lights on my controller, around the "X" button in the center. When my controller connects to the console, the four blinking lights turn into one blinking light as the console and controller "speak" to each other. Then the light stays steady on both. If the four lights continue to blink, it means the console is still searching for a controller. Have you tried a different port?

I've tried all 5 USB ports. I've also successfully used a wireless keyboard with the same ports that the wired controller fails in.

[BrianC]

I have one of the white Xbox 360 wired controllers for windows. I had no trouble getting it working on my Xbox 360 S. I don't remember doing anything special. I just plugged it in and it worked. I was also surprised to find out that it even turns on the system if the X button is pressed while it's plugged in.

[reckon luck]

I didn't know about the big-X-as-power-button feature; I can actually do that with this controller! ...then it goes right back to 4 blinking green lights.

I think I'm giving up. I'll just have to borrow some controllers too.

[Durandal]

Finally got around to finishing Thief 2: The Metal Age and DAMN does it hold up

They just don't design levels like Life of the Party anymore, because that level belongs in a fucking museum. It's a perfect nutshell of Thief in general, blending exploration and storytelling seamlessly as you get a glimpse of all kinds of lives in the City. The other levels also mostly range from good to excellent, such as First City Bank, Shipping and Receiving, Blackmail and Precious Cargo. The only bummers I find are the regular City levels like Ambush and Trace the Courier, which focus less on actual theft and exploration but more on slowly traversing large areas without being seen, something I feel Assassins in T1 did much better.
The game does show quite a lot of signs of being rushed, which is no surprise considering this was Looking Glass Studio's last game before they folded. Ambush and Trace the Courier reuse the same level for different purpose, Kidnap is an altered Lost City from T1, and Casing the Joint is near identical to Masks as Casing the Joint is just Masks with no access to the third floor and a rule to not KO or get seen by anyone. It would have been more acceptable if those two didn't precisely follow after the other.

Sabotage at Soulforge stands out from the rest of the levels as it focuses much more on puzzle-stealth á la Splinter Cell, where you can't exactly knock out all the guards and run around the level taffing everything due to the present enemy types and lack of resources to deal with every single one. It's different and brutal as all hell because of it, but still incredibly fitting as a final level and a closing chapter on the Mechanists, without being as in-your-face as a final level like Into the Maw of Chaos was where you were heavyhandedly tested in your skills with every single arrow type. With the main antagonist constantly taunting you throughout the level, it was also the level the writer working on HL2 admitted ripping off from. "What hast thou built... Garrett?"

Compared to Thief 1, the levels here focus more on stealing in levels guarded by humans as opposed to raiding tombs infested with monsters and other supernatural creatures. While I prefer this change in direction, I'm still able to appreciate Thief 1 for its focus on the supernatural as it in return makes Thief 2 stand out more on its own due to its focus on the mechanical. I think that if you're planning to make a franchise of games, giving each planned game its own identity and saving some things for later is a good thing.

Thief 2 throws some new elements into the mix: there are cameras which can spot you if you're not completely in the dark and trigger an alarm, combat bots are large hulking robots which shoot bombs at you and can only be disabled with water arrows in their boilers or two fire arrows to the face. Guards also tend to travel in pairs more often which makes knocking them difficult, and there are levels you have to ghost through. They are pretty well used. Especially Kidnap has some ANAL enemy placement with its enemies and cameras, but thankfully most loot doesn't require getting past everything.

Another thing I like about T2 is how instead of introducing new weapons to deal with new enemies, existing mechanics instead have their uses changed because of other new additions. Whereas water arrows were previously largely used to douse torches, now they're essential for disabling bots silently. Fire arrows were previously used to blow up burricks and zombies, but they're useful against cameras and bots too. Bots always have patrol routes, so placing a mine on their route definitely helps too. It's a good way of keeping things consistent and iconic without bloating the in-game universe with redundant and outdated crap. The Rope Arrow does get upgraded to the Vine Arrow, though.

Thief 2 is also an excellent example of videogame storytelling, primarily through its level design. While a cutscene plays before each level to give you the gist of why and what's happening around Garrett, the levels themselves provide an additional layer to the story. In the second level of the game you are really just prowling about for money, but already you are introduced to the Mechanists subtly. From letters you can gather what kind of faction the Mechanists are and the influence they have, while some enemies you will encounter for real later on are also subtly foreshadowed here in a disabled state. Some levels have their own little stories and mysteries, like the library in Casing the Joint/Masks.
The letters and notices are also well executed as a means of storytelling because not only are they concise, but also useful. They don't ruin the flow of the game with irrelevant loredumps and other trivia, but useful information on top of worldbuilding details, like some clues to a secret or a missing valuable item. Because the texts are useful to read from a gameplay standpoint and are engaging to read as well, the player is encouraged to read more. On top of which, you are told very little about the world by just the cutscenes, so if you want to know more you have to put some effort into it.

Contrast this to modern games where text documents only serve as a trigger for the next objective waypoint, is just an excuse to give the player a keycode to the nuclear reactors, or all the lore is tucked away in some seperate lore section of your journal most people don't even bother to read because it barely matters to the actual story.

It's kind of sad how very little modern developers understand games to the same degree Looking Glass Studios did. Thief 2 barely has any useless bullshit like RPG unlocks, it knows its own strengths and plays on them.

[Mischief Maker]

Unfortunately I've said it before and I'll say it again. You have not played Thief unless you played it with an Aureal 3D soundcard. A superior technology that was brought down by an underhanded frivolous lawsuit by Creative. Aureal won that suit but was bankrupted by the legal fees and ended up being bought by Creative who shitcanned the A3D technology for their vastly inferior EAX.

It slays me that 17 years later we still have inferior sound technology in our games!

[kaicooper]

just started ZELDA: WIND WAKER HD on Emulator..great game

[Sumez]

People are emulating Wii U already?

[soprano1]

People are emulating Wii U already?

I think he's just playing the GC version in high res graphics on the Dolphin emulator. But CEMU is a thing in development, if i'm not mistaken.

[Xyga]

But CEMU is a thing in development, if i'm not mistaken.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSNsx5dePVs
Give them a few weeks/months and it'll be actually playable.

Don't even get me started on how stupid this is.

[Shoryukev]

Parasol Stars - TG16
This game is just a blast, it's got its hooks in me BAD! Every time I get a game over and have to restart I get further and further, the ramp-up in difficulty seems to be very well balanced. The graphics and sound are really great for its time, and the controls are really responsive.

Zelda...Breath of the Wild - Wii U
I wasn't very excited going into this one, but it really caught me off-guard. I'm only 5-6 hours in but it has really impressed me so far, I haven't had this much fun with a Zelda game since I was a kid playing OoT. I didn't have fun with TP and SS annoyed me to no end, but my wife wanted BotW so I picked it up and I'm very glad I did.

[soprano1]

Don't even get me started on how stupid this is.

Who doesn't like having options?

[gbaplayer]

Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Started yesterday and i am only 2 hours into the game so far, but man i cannot wait to get home after work.