What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Vanguard]

i think there's a special ending if you get several dungeons (or all of them?) to 10, but you get a regular ending iirc at 6. i really loved that game.

Yeah that's correct. You get a medal for completing each of the level 6 quests and an ending for getting all four medals. You get a better medal for beating a dungeon's 10th quest (they're called level "M" quests in game) and getting all four of those earns the second ending. A special 5th dungeon would be cool, but no dice. Still, the level M quests feel like a reward because even though they have the toughest conditions, your character is very strong and they're more of a victory lap than a real challenge.

[BurlyHeart]

Got a 1cc in Contra III The Alien Wars to go with my 1cc in Contra Arcade and Super Contra. I'll go back and do hard mode at a later stage.

Loving the Contra Collection so far and this is quickly becoming my favorite series of games. On to Hard Corps now, which doesn't seem as hard as I first believed. I guess that's something that can be said for all the games I've played so far.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Contra is a great series no doubt.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Sekiro - I've never actually played a Souls game before, my main experience with From software being King's Field and Armored Core. It's pretty good, the action element of perfect parrying ("deflecting") as a means of dealing damage to an enemy's guard meter ("posture") is fun. It feels a bit like Mega Man in some sense - a lot of bosses are trivialized when you learn they have a specific weakness to a special weapon that often runs on a highly limited ammo meter, so there's a huge focus on your "core", basic moveset. It's fun, and works, but it's not quite as interesting as other action oriented games perhaps where you can customize and make your core moveset much more varied by swapping weapons. In Sekiro you have one primary weapon the whole game, and its best moves consist of basic pokes and swipes during openings. No fancy combos or movelist to learn here. You do get some special attacks triggered with guard + attack (of which you can have exactly one equipped at a time) but many of them are of the slow windup, high recovery attack variety, or situational such as for punishing a boss's sweep attacks.

The camera is outrageously bad at some points though (a couple tiny room minibosses apply here, the camera freaks out and breaks lock on if your back goes against a wall), the difficulty will likely not be beginner friendly for casual audiences, and the game does have a lot of memorization in terms of learning attacks because your actual dodge has fairly limited iframes compared to something like God Hand or Bayonetta where they're quite generous (

Spoiler

Guardian Ape's jumping grab attack that triggers at 60% health is pretty much undodgeable unless you're already running away from it when it starts, if you're at close range it's pretty obnoxious to dodge it as the hitbox is ridiculous

). All in all, a fun game, with some genuinely frustrating elements (any small room minibosses where the camera tends to freak out combined with 2 fast enemies at once gets silly) but the good outweighs the bad, and the combat's tighter and better than most Souls games from what I've seen. Perfect parrying stuff is very satisfying.

[null1024]

Ridge Racer Revolution [PS1].
Unlocked the black 13th Racing car. Took like an hour of me screwing up my blocking before I got it. The thing had some weird behavior that I kept trying to predict [and failing to do so] while attempting to block it, and its ability to catch up with me seemed mostly based on whether the other opponent car was on screen or not, regardless of how fast I was or my lap time or anything.

What a wild ride. The machine is barely controllable with a d-pad because it's so fast and it turns so damn hard. Really should look into getting a neGcon, at least during a month when I'm not broke.
Clearing the reverse course races would be really easy with the car if I didn't constantly oversteer badly into the walls.
I beat Novice Extra with it, at least. Still took a few tries, but the machine is so stupid fast that I managed even after making a few dumb mistakes.
I was going to complain about the game not saving time separately for the extra cars vs the normal ones, but I guess I can just start a new save, it takes like 15 minutes to beat the three normal courses because they're really easy at this point.

Now I just have to unlock the other two supercars.

[Sumez]

Sekiro

I agree with all of this except from the parts where you called relying on deflecting "fun", and the combat tighter than the Souls series.

[Squire Grooktook]

Indeed. Bloodborne and even Dark Souls 1 are vastly "tighter and better" than Sekiro in terms of combat (and...everything else tbh) IMO.

That's not to say Sekiro is bad or a step back, so much as it is a step sideways that tries to be different (much needed, considering the milking) and thus doesn't benefit from the polished and smart game design of previous titles.

Go play Bloodborne/Souls, Roo.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Bloodborne is just so fucking good.

[Squire Grooktook]

It's a desert island game for sure. My favorite of the Souls series and one of my most beloved games ever all around.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I agree with all of this except from the parts where you called relying on deflecting "fun", and the combat tighter than the Souls series.

I'm not actually crazy about the reliance on deflect; it's fun when you've mastered it and learned enemy patterns, but there's a huge reliance on it as it's by far the best means of dealing with most enemies as there are far fewer enemies in the game with such massive posture that it's easier just to get a vitality kill on them. Deflect, Mikiri Counter, and Ichimonji Double for the posture heals are basically the key skills of the game.

You get very few i-frames on dodges or jumps; they're there but generally deflecting or getting the heck out of the way of stuff with a sprint is great. I also am not sure I like how deflecting can max out your posture meter (thus if you fail to deflect and normal guard you'll eat a posture break). I kinda wish deflecting had no posture penalty, or no penalty when you were above 50% posture.

I understand why they made deflecting the primary means of defense rather than the rolling in the Souls games as a means to set it apart. My Souls experience consists of like 15 minutes of DS2, so not super familiar with the series outside of footage, but the quick steps, the high speed sprint, and the deflect/Mikiri timing felt more intuitive compared to learning timing on Souls parries, and the deflection system of staying in someone's face gave me God Hand vibes of ducking and sidestepping, so I think that appealed to me.

I do wish there were more i-frames on dash though so that players could adopt either playstyle, similar to God Hand where you have a lengthy dodge that beginners will use a lot, and two more advanced dodges that are what experts use 99% of the time. Or how in Bayonetta you've got dodges, but eventually parrying becomes a possibility, and you can make dodge and parrying attempts. A system where deflecting was the optimal, higher end technique, with older style dodging being sorta viable but subpar woulda been cool. You can technically dodge a lot of stuff but the timing to i-frame through stuff is generally very slim, so generally the game is vastly easier when you focus on timing your deflects rather than trying to i-frame dodging through stuff. The majority of the fights are built around the deflection, with only a couple ones I can think of against larger enemies being more about staying the hell away from their attacks.

I also wish Perilous attacks were indicated with a different sound/colour - you not only have to not panic dodge/jump when the kanji flashes but you have to watch the enemy to see what kind of Perilous attack's coming. Less of an issue when you learn to watch the enemy and don't let your eyes get drawn to look at the Perilous symbol when it flashes. Most enemies only have a couple different Perilous attacks you can predict and learn so it's not a huge issue.

It's not a game for everyone though; it's got more in common with some of Platinum's beat em up titles than perhaps your average Souls game, mainly due to it being a single-player action game with minimal RPG progression elements and no kind of character customization or different classes/weapons to use outside of subweapons. Sekiro's much more limited in scope in that sense than a Souls game, but if you're someone who tends to constantly play with one specific build and use one specific weapon maybe it won't feel that unusual?

Bloodborne is just so fucking good.

It's the Souls game I want to actively try the most, but I don't own a PS4. I'll likely just borrow a friend's copy of one of the Dark Souls games for XB360 or something at some point. I'm currently playing Sekiro as it's been gifted to me by a friend. I just beat it yesterday (good ending), apparently the person who gifted it gave up on it and never cleared it so I'm feeling decently accomplished. Probably will play it a few more times in NG+.

[Ghegs]

...mainly due to it being a single-player action game with minimal RPG progression elements and no kind of character customization or different classes/weapons to use outside of subweapons. Sekiro's much more limited in scope in that sense than a Souls game, but if you're someone who tends to constantly play with one specific build and use one specific weapon maybe it won't feel that unusual?

I'm actually looking forward (to eventually getting around) to playing Sekiro exactly because of this. I have an aversion towards RPG mechanics and character customization, and have generally enjoyed more the Soulslike-games that minimize those rather than the Souls-games themselves. Though options for different weapons would be nice to have.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Bloodborne is just so fucking good.

It's the Souls game I want to actively try the most, but I don't own a PS4. I'll likely just borrow a friend's copy of one of the Dark Souls games for XB360 or something at some point. I'm currently playing Sekiro as it's been gifted to me by a friend. I just beat it yesterday (good ending), apparently the person who gifted it gave up on it and never cleared it so I'm feeling decently accomplished. Probably will play it a few more times in NG+.

I'd say it's worth buying a PS4 for but I don't know your financial situation of course. I'd prioritize it over playing one of the Souls games on 360 all day long. As someone who has played DS1 on PS3 and PS4 you reaaaally want the remastered version if only to avoid dropping to single frames in Blighttown. But also the DLC is included on disc which is also sweet.

Bloodborne like Squire said is a desert island game. It's my top game on the PS4 by a lot, the whole package is fantastic. The gameplay is smooth and fast and it has some of the MOST BRUTAL BOSSES in the franchise.

[Xyga]

Bloodporne then.

Must confess I have yet to play it, but it's the first time I've seen it called a 'desert island' game, which is quite the prestigious status.

[Marc]

I need to replay it myself, but it's quite a daunting thought - I definitely felt I'd hit my skill ceiling with it the first time around, and that was without the DLC.

[Ajora]

Strikey Sisters. It's a fun little Breakout-style game with magic spells, boss battles, and lots of things to do and collect. The cutscenes remind me of a comedic 90s anime along the lines of Slayers or Dragon Half.

[BurlyHeart]

Got my 1cc on Contra Hard Corps 'B' route with Ray (Research Centre > Ocean > Rocket Ship). Much easier 1cc than I anticipated.

Great game, possibly my favorite ever. It's just so damn cool despite a less than ideal control system.

[Mischief Maker]

Jupiter Hell, the fully 3D graphics-having sequel to DOOMRL.

Moreso than the graphics I'm really blown away by how smooth the interface is, this being a roguelike and all.

It's pretty sweet.

[ryu]

Beat Breath of Fire II last night. The dungeons in this were a chore for sure... too bad because the game improved on the first one in pretty much every other way. But why the devs thought huge dungeons with encounters literally every 2 or 3 steps would be fun is beyond me.

[DEL]

Currently playing the TOKI remake on the Switch. Classic Joycon drift kicked in (upwards). Gonna need to play the Switch with a remote controller, as I can see that all joycons are a CON. 70% of all joyCONs have this fatal flaw (or intended money-maker...?).
Anyway, managed:
427,300 ALL on easy and will work on a decent SCOARing Medium ALL with a remote joypad.

Regs,

DEL

[null1024]

Ridge Racer Revolution [PS1].

Well, I cleared all the races. It's kind of unsatisfying racing with the 13th Racing against a grid of totally normal cars. The machine is just too damn fast. Still took a few tries, but it was almost entirely because I'm turning way too hard some spots because lol digital controls. Occasionally, I'd get screwed up by hitting a jump really badly, flying into a wall, and just getting unlucky and coming to a dead stop since the car lands itself in just the right way to hit the wall like 4 times.
My winning run for the Extra courses wasn't particularly clean at all, but the car is too fast to not just pass everyone anyway.

Unlocked the 13th Racing Kid too, and now I just need to get the White Angel.
Was a bit annoying getting the 13th Kid, because it'd come up to me on the 2nd lap against the one corner I still ended up just drifting around despite the absurd grip level of the normal 13th, so I didn't really have much ability to get in front of it. I ended up just slowing my pace down so I could block it somewhere else on the course.
I had managed to get some absolutely brilliant and very clean laps against it, so it felt really weird to slow down to win.

[BrainΦΠΦTemple]

Been playing Blazing Chrome. I'm gonna have to do a no miss clear it on hardcore mode. i wasn't expecting it to be as rad as it is o.o

[BareKnuckleRoo]

EDF 2017, Insect Armageddon, 4.1

Going through these ones again before I pick up EDF 5. They're such classics, the definitive love letters to cheesy kaiju movies. Mechanically not super complicated in the easier modes, but strategy and weapon selection actually become very important and strategic later on in the harder modes. EDF 2025/4.1 is such a blast with Fencer, you're a high speed tank with piercing shots and ridiculous damage output that can skate around mowing down everything.

Insect Armageddon's the weakest game, done by a different developer. It's an interesting take and nice to have a dedicated sprint button, but the maps are pathetically small and the "objective" based gameplay railroads you around the map. The nice thing about the main games in the series is you were never forced to move specific areas on the map, there were no objectives, you could run around the battlefield however you pleased (avoiding giant robots and airstrikes of course). In this one, you regularly are forced to run to specific points and worse, to deal with anthills you have to physically run up and touch them, meaning you can't really go into a mission and play sniper style. Lots of areas are more constrained and have closer encounters compared to the original series too. It's a fun game and there's some nice encounters with a good amount of weapons though, but the grinding to actually get weapons by levelling up is actually more obnoxious and tedious later in Hard Mode and beyond than in the main games in the series, where you constantly gain health linearly and constantly gain new weapons every mission or so. Here it's entirely possible to go several missions in a row with zero new pieces of equipment for a given class because of how everything is locked into level tiers which then require spending money to purchase.

The AI allies who run around with you are decently intelligent, though it sucks to feel somewhat reliant on them (there is an unlockable mode where you're truly solo). The only major "what the fuck is with this design" complaint I had were the Wasps enemies. They have a grab attack that knocks you down and cannot be broken out of except if they're attacked by allies or if you get killed. Can't remember if they use this in the solo mode or not but this will kill you if your allies can't get to your position in time cause they're stuck behind a building or something. This doesn't happen often, thankfully, but it's sincerely annoying and means neglecting to revive downed teammates is asking for trouble.

Jupiter Hell, the fully 3D graphics-having sequel to DOOMRL.

On the one hand it's really fucking badass looking, but on the other hand part of the charm of DOOMRL was ascii mode. I honestly really enjoy playing a lot of Roguelikes in text mode and generally prefer it over graphical interfaces (can't stand Nethack's graphics option in particular). I guess it means I can use my imagination more, haha.

[soprano1]

Final Fantasy II (PSP version)
Last time I played this was the PSOne Origins version in 2003. The battle system, used later in the SaGa games is still obtuse, but it makes for some variety gameplay in this series. The new dungeons seem interesting. The Pandemonium song still sounds as impressive as ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbf2BcaKmT0

[BurlyHeart]

Anyone know if the Arcade Archives / ACA Neo Geo releases on PSN Japan have English versions (just like the Western ones have a Japanese option)?

[ACSeraph]

I bought Left Alive for 480 yen knowing full well what I was doing. I have a soft spot for kusoge with lofty goals. It reminds me a lot of the kind of games that D3 used to do under The Simple 2000 series.

I'm kind of enjoying the trial and error unforgiving stealth gameplay. Reminds me a bit of when I first tried out MGS on PS1. The combat is horrendous though, there really is no defending it. You can shoot enemies in the head and they don't give a fuck, it doesn't even stun them most of the time. Basic enemies also take a ton of shots to kill, feels like shooting RE zombies ffs. I could actually live with that if the game didn't force you into combat situations, but unfortunately it does. In stage two for example you're forced to fight your way out of a hospital. On my first attempt I carefully fought my way out, and by the end was completely out of bullets and support weapons. I suicided and decided to try just rolling all the way to the end on the stage EDF style and made it easily without wasting a single shot. That probably tells you everything you need to know.

Anyhow I plan to keep playing it and I'm enjoying it despite (because of?) the jank. With a little more budget and development time it might have been something really special.

[Flashman]

Just downloaded GTA 3 on PS4 via PSN, going for the platinum (which means 100% completion) just on my 18th failed attempt at the bloody paramedic mission, it’s driving me crazy I was about 15 when this game first came out on PS2, nice to relive the simpler times when there was nothing to do but play this for 12 hours a day

[Blinge]

lol ps2 era GTA gameplay is a complete shitshow so i'm not surprised!

[Steamflogger Boss]

lol ps2 era GTA gameplay is a complete shitshow so i'm not surprised!

There were some, uh, interesting ways to complete missions.

[Blinge]

Ah yeah that was the best bit.
I remember pelting salvatore's mafia with grenades from down the road ahahah.

[Flashman]

Well I finally got it, but it must have taken 30 attempts, I’ve 1cced certain shmups with less trouble

Ah ps1 and 2 is my era, was around for 16 bit but 32 bit was when I had my own money and no responsibility so I could basically buy any game I wanted. It’s rare I bother with a current gen game, last one I did was Red Dead 2, I really liked it but not a single thing was challenging (though a lot was tedious) mainstream stuff holds your hand too much these days. My PS4 mainly gets used for old Neo Geo arcade ports.