What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Marc]

Driveclub VR. It's obvious to even myself, who generally doesn't have issues with resolution/frame rates etc that this pretty blurry, CPU cars are reduced from 12 to 8, and weather seems to be completely absent. And yet, I'm still pretty astonished by it. I'm aware there are better experiences out there, but as things like this go, PSVR is pretty easy and convenient to set up, and the experience here is still convincing enough to be worthwhile. DC ended up being probably my favourite driving game of the gen so far actually, despite its poor start there was a steady drip-feed of improvements and content, the Bikes expansion was brilliant fun, and VR support just tops it off.

[guigui]

Still playing Subnautica, almost to the end now.

This game is awesome. Everything was perfect to me : new universe (ocean planet), new gameplay (survival, swin around the ocean to find stuff, build stuff, and uncover the story), intense sense of immersion, scary moments, lost moments, regular sense of progression.

To be honest, this was a discover on par with the Souls series in my gaming experience. Also a little discounted on the EU PSStore, sale ends today !

[Stevens]

Picked up The Messenger after having it on my radar for a while following Stevens glowing praise.

Love it. It's been fairly easy so far, but the dialogue and gameplay is a lot of fun. Probably my favorite recent release since Figh'N Rage.

Glad you're enjoying it! Speaking of I just found out about Katana Zero:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrL3Qjv2jZI

I hate to sound like a commercial for Devolver, but it looks amazing. Going to pick it up tonight and spend some time with it.

[Marc]

Some Sega Racing Transformed. Had to buy another copy, as mine had vanished. I did have this when it was originally released, but don’t really remember having any strong opinion on it one way or the other, which is quite odd, as it’s bloody great. It’s fast, it’s mostly smooth, and the handling feels like a slightly tweaked version of the already sublime OutRun 2 when on the road. Boats are also fun, but I haven’t been a fan of planes in racing games since the over-rated Diddy Kong one; though swooping in low to transform over the Afterburner carrier is always a cool moment . The tracks are well-designed for the most part – there’s the odd issue with visibility which doesn’t happen with the best MK games – but it’s infrequent enough to be forgivable, and power-ups don’t seem quite as unbalanced, which is a big plus. The fan service really rounds off the whole package, and it’s a shame that Sega have opted to go back to the Sonic setting for the sequel.

Also picked up a cheap copy of Lords of Shadow. My disclaimer is that I’ve never gotten with the more technical tyre of 3D fighters – I’ve tried and bounced off of NG, DMC, and Bayonetta, but managed to have a good laugh with Splatterhouse. So far this seems pretty decent – combat has some difficulty to it without being overly punishing, traversal is fun, and even now it look stunning. I’m not sure I’ll sit through 20+ hours of it, but I’m somewhat intrigued for the moment.

My final buy was FF VIII-2. Jesus, the opening fifteen minutes had me convinced I was about to suffer my first ever gaming-related seizure.

[guigui]

Some Sega Racing Transformed. Had to buy another copy, as mine had vanished. I did have this when it was originally released, but don’t really remember having any strong opinion on it one way or the other, which is quite odd, as it’s bloody great. It’s fast, it’s mostly smooth, and the handling feels like a slightly tweaked version of the already sublime OutRun 2 when on the road. Boats are also fun, but I haven’t been a fan of planes in racing games since the over-rated Diddy Kong one; though swooping in low to transform over the Afterburner carrier is always a cool moment . The tracks are well-designed for the most part – there’s the odd issue with visibility which doesn’t happen with the best MK games – but it’s infrequent enough to be forgivable, and power-ups don’t seem quite as unbalanced, which is a big plus. The fan service really rounds off the whole package, and it’s a shame that Sega have opted to go back to the Sonic setting for the sequel.

I also had the best moments with Racing Transformed, great MK-like racing game in every aspects.

You say there is a sequel ?

[Blinge]

Finally time to close out my Elder Scrolls wanderings by starting Morrowind.

Okay yeah, definitely the birth of the formula.
Went Khajit, using the thieves guild + assassins as my litmus test for whether or not I enjoy the game.
I'm deliberately not going any further afield than I need to, just letting work take me where the thieves and main quest want.
So I've barely left Balmora or the opening towns.

Oh shit maybe I should go with main quest for a while, see if that takes me to a place with a new thieves guild contact and different work.

[Marc]

I also had the best moments with Racing Transformed, great MK-like racing game in every aspects.

You say there is a sequel ?

Sonic Team Racing is due out in July, I think. Sadly, what I've seen in previews has me concerned.
The team-based thing in particular has just seen Onrush flop hard, and I'm sad at the loss of all the Sega love outside of the Sonic universe.
I doubt it'll be garbage, it is still Sumo after all, but I'm expecting something closer to the original - was I found on about a level with the lesser Mario Kart games.

[Vanguard]

Finally time to close out my Elder Scrolls wanderings by starting Morrowind.

Okay yeah, definitely the birth of the formula.
Went Khajit, using the thieves guild + assassins as my litmus test for whether or not I enjoy the game.
I'm deliberately not going any further afield than I need to, just letting work take me where the thieves and main quest want.
So I've barely left Balmora or the opening towns.

Oh shit maybe I should go with main quest for a while, see if that takes me to a place with a new thieves guild contact and different work.

You don't want to play Khajit or Argonian in Morrowind. The best item in the game is a pair of boots, which they can't wear. It's available pretty early and gives a massive speed boost. It's an absolute necessity considering how bad the default move speed is.

[Blinge]

FUCK

ah sod it. i'm kinda used to it or just spamming jump now.

[AKRATEN]

Checking out Ninja Spirit - M72 hardware
Loved the tg16 version and happy to have the pcb.

[Vanguard]

FUCK

ah sod it. i'm kinda used to it or just spamming jump now.

You want to spam jump regardless. Also make an alteration and or restoration spell that costs 1 magicka and spam it as you hop around everywhere to train those.

If you're not gonna wear the BoBS then your alternatives to go fast are:

Constant effect enchant equipment with +speed or +athletics. This won't be affordable in the early game and won't equal the BoBS.

Use an alchemy feedback loop to make super duper speed potions. There's no real limit to how fast you can go with this method, but it'll take a bit of effort to get to that point. Also you'll have to periodically renew your buff with new potions unless you go all out and make one that lasts for literal months.

Give a trainer a million dollars to raise your athletics skill. It won't make you as fast as the BoBS but it's good enough if you can afford it. I don't know if this ever got patched out, but I know that you could deliberately lower your athletics skill with a curse and this would lower the training cost of raising athletics. If you damage your own skill down to level 1 you should be able to get it up quickly and cheaply. Then just cast a restoration spell and you're all set.

Create a powerful +jump or +acrobatics spell and get around that way. You should do this even if you are using the BoBS. Cast levitate just before you hit the ground so you don't die. Fall damage is reduced by your acrobatics skill so if you get that high enough you shouldn't need levitation. My experience is that an acrobatics of about 150 makes you totally immune to fall damage.

Edit:
Oh yeah, another tip. Luck is the best stat in the game. You can never raise it by more than 1 point per level, but generally you should do it anyway. iirc 1 point of luck is worth +0.4 to all skills. The HP gains from increasing endurance are not retroactive so raising it early is best. Ideally you want endurance and luck as your two stats you boost during character creation. If you're a khajit or argonian, speed and luck might be a better combo.

[Necronopticous]

Checking out Ninja Spirit - M72 hardware
Loved the tg16 version and happy to have the pcb.

Hah! Pablo, Eric, Joe, and I played all the way through Ninja Spirit a while back. Fuck that ninja pit at the end!

[guigui]

I also had the best moments with Racing Transformed, great MK-like racing game in every aspects.

You say there is a sequel ?

Sonic Team Racing is due out in July, I think. Sadly, what I've seen in previews has me concerned.
The team-based thing in particular has just seen Onrush flop hard, and I'm sad at the loss of all the Sega love outside of the Sonic universe.
I doubt it'll be garbage, it is still Sumo after all, but I'm expecting something closer to the original - was I found on about a level with the lesser Mario Kart games.

I saw release date of may 21th for Sonic Team Racing, Switch, XONE, PS4.
I'm also kind of afraid about the whole team thing, hopefully the game is still playable in solo and requires driving dexterity.

[Square_Air]

Been on a bit of a hiatus from shmups over the past few months, mainly playing 3rd Strike (Chun/Ibuki) and Smash Ultimate (Peach/Ness). The fighties have stolen me away for the time being.

I'm also playing Competitive Pokemon (Smogon rules) on Pokemon Showdown, but I've consistently done this for 5 years and think this game is bullshit, but I keep coming back because my soul is trapped in the vortex...

[Blinge]

Damn man how's Ness in this version?
You doing casual style items or have you got some more purist action going on?

[Square_Air]

Damn man how's Ness in this version?
You doing casual style items or have you got some more purist action going on?

Only purist, since I need all the practice I can get so I can try not to embarrass myself at the local tournament. I have a friend who's main game is smash and he's amazing, so I'm trying to do alright at keeping up. I'm at the stage where I can do great in most casual friendlies, but i'm pretty mediocre in the tournaments with 100+ people. I played hundreds of hours of casual 64 and melee when I was young, but I hardly touched brawl and completely skipped 4. I find ultimate to be more enjoyable than the last 2 games.

Ness is a THREAT in Smash 5, it's the strongest version of him IMHO. People are doing well with him in some regional tournaments down south in the US, his zoning game can be really oppressive if you're not prepared for it. People are arguing that he's somewhere between upper middle & low high tier.

[Blinge]

*KNOWLEDGE*

Haha thanks for all that, man!
I'm already like level 9 or something and chilling in Vivec City so I don't know if it's too late for stat mastery. I have let a rat smack me about in heavy armour to get 5 more points in END. I'll do it one more time with heavy/med armour on, see if i can get some more, before I want to get back to just playing the game. Fortunately I now have a pet rat in the store rooms for this purpose.

I have no restoration spell other than Blood of the North atm, which is what keeps me alive.
Honestly, I've had some speed ups during levelling, I don't know how I earned them, but with that the walk speed doesn't really annoy me.

Luck is a big tip, thanks!

In other news I'm also back in Skyrim because a friend challenged me to beat the game on legendary without any healing items or spells.
Which is frankly absurd. I'm trying to walk up High Hrothgar but an Ice Wolf rushes forward, has a basically undodgeable jump attack. It kills me in two hits, or 3 if I block. I tried to stunlock it with the shield bash but I do fuck all damage and run out of stamina too quicky. I tried running back to the village but it's faster than me!
I managed to lead one Ice Wolf back to the village by jumping on rocks/ sliding down a slope and waiting for it to catch up. Then I couldn't be bothered to do the same for the second wolf so I walked to Riften, stole a horse, fast travelled back and just rode up the mountain.

It's interesting how much the game changes when played like this. Also really highlights how garbage the combat is. I don't remember being this sluggish or unable to avoid hits.

[Immryr]

I also had the best moments with Racing Transformed, great MK-like racing game in every aspects.

You say there is a sequel ?

Sonic Team Racing is due out in July, I think. Sadly, what I've seen in previews has me concerned.
The team-based thing in particular has just seen Onrush flop hard, and I'm sad at the loss of all the Sega love outside of the Sonic universe.
I doubt it'll be garbage, it is still Sumo after all, but I'm expecting something closer to the original - was I found on about a level with the lesser Mario Kart games.

the original, ssar, is the best kart racing game ever imo. although i haven't played the latest mario kart, but having played played all the others i doubt it's as good as ssar.

[Weak Boson]

Just finished the Witcher 3

Spoiler

Got the bad ending and feel like pure shit

[Stevens]

3rd trip through Katana Zero. WHY IS NO ONE ELSE PLAYING THIS?

[Mischief Maker]

3rd trip through Katana Zero. WHY IS NO ONE ELSE PLAYING THIS?

I heard it was really short with low replay value. I'd love to find out the opposite!

[Stevens]

Well it is short there is no denying that. Replay value on the other hand is more a matter of opinion.

I think it has pretty good replay value - The stages are very arcade like and it is honestly fun just trying new paths through. You're given a large amount of freedom as to how you tackle the stages. It's fun to kill baddies in new and creative ways.

There are a few secrets also (some hidden keys which unlock...) and a TLB which I have not fought just yet.

If you play it once at $15 it will entertain you for four to six hours. If you wind up really liking it you'll play it again and get another three or so hours out of it.

Either way it's cheaper than going to the movies:D

If shooter like replay is what you're looking for though than yes, you will be disappointed.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Just finished the Witcher 3

Spoiler

Got the bad ending and feel like pure shit

FeelsBadMan.

Guessing you played it organically then? If you don't wanna play again, I'd check out vids on youtube.

[Jonny2x4]

While some patterns in the order did emerge, they didn't much resemble the ones Jonny2x4 claimed were in place. As you can see above, Blanka -> Guile -> Honda -> Ken and Chun Li -> Blanka -> Zangief were the most common, but I did also get Ken -> Honda -> Dhalsim -> Guile twice and Dhalsim -> Chun Li a few times. There were also odd one-offs like Blanka ->Ken -> E. Honda.

As much as I'd like to increase the sample size of my little experiment (or at least repeat it with more save states so I don't have to fight Blanka so many times), I'm having a hard time believing anyone else will really care... there are countless mentions online of things like Guile's invisible throw in the early versions of The World Warrior, but nothing about the order in which opponents are fought. One can understand, I'm sure, why I took the order to be random.

EDIT: After a little more experimentation, and after having watched a few other recordings of The World Warrior on YouTube, I was able to identify at least three unique, fixed progressions:

Dhalsim -> Chun Li -> Zangief -> Ken -> E. Honda -> Guile -> Blanka
Chun Li -> Blanka -> Zangief -> Guile -> Dhalsim -> E. Honda -> Ken
Blanka -> Guile -> E. Honda -> Ken -> Zangief -> Chun Li -> Dhalsim

Ken -> E. Honda -> Dhalsim -> Guile seems to be a fourth, but Ken doesn't appear to come up as your first opponent very often. Dhalsim or Blanka are far more likely to be first. (EDIT: The full fourth progression is Ken -> E. Honda -> Dhalsim -> Guile -> Zangief -> Blanka -> Chun Li. I'm still wondering where Jonny2x4's order came from. It might have been introduced in Champion Edition or Hyper Fighting.)

I think someone else brought up this objection already and it's possible I might had gotten the opponent order of SF2WW mixed up with that of SF2CE/HF. For some reason i remember getting the character select order (Ryu -> E. Honda -> Blanka -> Guile) during my Level 8 1CC attempts with Zangief a few years ago, but I can't replicate it now for some reason. Yet in SF2CE, I usually get the character select order no matter what.

Incidentally, one of the design documents for SF2WW does make reference to the character select order of opponents.

Spoiler

[Weak Boson]

FeelsBadMan.

Guessing you played it organically then? If you don't wanna play again, I'd check out vids on youtube.

Yeah used no guides at all (EDIT: actually that's a lie, I did google where to get some of the wicther gear sets because I really wanted to be a kitty cat witcher, but I didn't hedge any of my story choices.) It also didn't help that I stepped away from the game for a few months right before I completed the "final preparations" quest so probably my own fault if I wasn't really being a team player. Still...

Spoiler

The plan is to ambush the Wild Hunt. Their only objective is to get Ciri.

Ciri: I should walk right up to them
Me as Geralt: errrmm ????
Ciri: He doesn't believe in me... I can't go on.... *dies*



After a few hours of crying I read a little about the other endings and how they work, so I might see if I have an old save to replay the final mission since I did accidentally skip a cut scene.

In any case I'm looking forward to playing the DLC which I've heard is good.

[Steamflogger Boss]

You are definitely in for a real treat with the DLC. Some say it's better than the main game. Idk about that but it's good.

[DMG]

Ive been playing Shining Force III Scenario 3 lately, excited to finally finish it! Been playing the SFIII scenarios on and off for a few years now.

[Marc]

Got tired of waiting and picked up JPN Virtua Racing. Great port, well up to the usual Ages standard. Includes 'Arcade' (original) and 'Normal' handling models. Normal simply appears to be the Arcade tweaked for less sensitivity on the analogue stick, car doesn't twitch abouot quite as much. It's possibly tootweaked, I've used it once and set a time on the first course that I can't get within two seconds of on Arcade mode, but it's a nice option to have. Only one small gripe - the entire screen is just too bright, all looks slightly too bright in comparison to the original.
Still, nice to finally have a proper conversion - I set up the PS2 last week to give that version a spin, but that handling..... no.

Still plugging away at Sonic All-Star Racing. Aiming for three stars on all World Tour events, and doing OK up to the middle of the third set, apart from the Boost events - can't seem to master ANY of the handful I've attempted so far.

[ED-057]

Downloaded some Free! VNs from dlsite, as well as a Super Robot Taisen clone which features magical girls in lieu of mechs.

[Sumez]

It must be pretty cold?