What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Ajora]

Having finished Doom 2016's spectacular single-player campaign on Ultra-Violence I've now started playing the multiplayer component. And, uh, it isn't very good. Weapon loadouts and experience levels feel way out of place here. This would have been so much better if they had just gone with a more straightforward arena shooter approach. What's sad is that you can tell a lot of effort was put into this, but it just doesn't click. I hope Doom Eternal will include a more traditional style of multiplayer.

[scrilla4rella]

After finishing DQ XI I started Star Ocean First Departure R on Switch. It's old and clunky but I'm still enjoying it. I'm a sucker for a good Motoi Sakuraba OST. The up-scaling was handled surprisingly well.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Honestly can't complain with Xenogears going into full boss rush mode. It's going to end up around 70 hours as is. If the second disc had the same pacing it would be well over 100.

[scrilla4rella]

Playing Xenogears in 2020 is like the most hardcore thing I've heard of. Right on brother!

[Marc]

Picked up Grip for the Switch as it was on sale for a pretty tempting £8.50. Played it on my son’s Xbox via Game Pass earlier in the year, and had enough fun in the opening races that I couldn’t really ignore it at that price. Not playing many ‘proper’ games though, I tend to forget about the Switch generally being weaker for cross-platform stuff, and sure enough it looks rough as hell, it’s not much removed from a decent 3360 title to be honest. Having said that, the frame rate is consistent (docked, not tried portable), and it’s pretty fast even in the opening races. It’s scrappy, but good raucous fun, and I’ve already put more time into it that Redout, which I’ve struggled to get into for some reason I can’t quite pinpoint.

Managed to finish the REsi2, like the original, IMO it got weaker the further away from the Police Station you progressed, but as I’ve mentioned I didn’t help matters by playing it in such short bursts – it took me some 3 months to finish a 9 hour campaign! I’ll play Claire’s B scenario, I’ve a weekend to myself coming up so will try and hammer through it then. I’m also definitely getting bored of bosses in non-arcade games, I just didn’t find anything interesting about them here.

[ED-057]

THE QUEEN OF BATTLERS 2

Nice soundtrack.

Not showing their names on the character select screen seems wrong.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Playing Xenogears in 2020 is like the most hardcore thing I've heard of. Right on brother!

Ha. Yeah I guess lots of people these days just can't stand old games or something. I read a post recently (not on here) about how some games from like 2007 are unplayable now. Just wtf. I think this is honestly a top 10 JRPG ever. Before anyone freaks out I am not talking about only on gameplay. I am talking about the whole experience of the game, most of which isn't exactly quantifiable per se. It's all about *gasp* having fun for me. My list for this is all over the place, but Arc the Lad 2 and Lost Odyssey are somewhere on it too.

[Xyga]

Sure it is awesome in many aspects, and terribly flawed too. It's been said enough that it was too ambitious.

Had the writing been more realistic in terms of development, focusing more on the central plot, treading less on secondary characters and subplot arcs so they could have actually crammed everything that matters into those two CD's, and polished the design, all in time and on budget, the game would have been a masterpiece.

What's sad is that Xenosaga doesn't make up for it, I mean 'Gears' is incomplete/imperfect, and 'Saga' isn't it either.

IMHO this is what remakes should be for.
Damned FF7 deserved an update because it's old and needs a good number of fixes, but not the full remake it's getting, a waste of resources and probably many aspects will disappoint like no overworld.
Xenogears however screams ideal candidate for a completed, finalized vision 'remake' by it's original key devs.

[Udderdude]

I feel like a finished, complete Xenogears experience would only be possible through fans of the game actually finishing the second disc as it was intended by modifying the damn thing and releasing a patch for it.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Sure it is awesome in many aspects, and terribly flawed too. It's been said enough that it was too ambitious.

Had the writing been more realistic in terms of development, focusing more on the central plot, treading less on secondary characters and subplot arcs so they could have actually crammed everything that matters into those two CD's, and polished the design, all in time and on budget, the game would have been a masterpiece.

What's sad is that Xenosaga doesn't make up for it, I mean 'Gears' is incomplete/imperfect, and 'Saga' isn't it either.

IMHO this is what remakes should be for.
Damned FF7 deserved an update because it's old and needs a good number of fixes, but not the full remake it's getting, a waste of resources and probably many aspects will disappoint like no overworld.
Xenogears however screams ideal candidate for a completed, finalized vision 'remake' by it's original key devs.

The whole game was worth it for the dialogue sequence that started here



Like man, outside of some of the gameplay clunk, which is easy to overlook I really don't have much in the way of complaints. Like I mentioned earlier I'm kind of glad for the way the second disc was, because of how long the game would have been. The writing could have been better, but damn, it's still really good for a video game because at least it's trying to be interesting.

Given that the Xenosaga remake that made it further than anything Xenogears ever did got canned I doubt we ever see something like that unfortunately. Xenosaga has KOS-MOS to help sell it, and they still didn't think it was viable now. Breaks my heart. It'd all get fucked now anyway, removing things crucial to the game that are deemed "archaic". I'm happy with this, and reading Perfect Works.

[Mortificator]

Like man, outside of some of the gameplay clunk, which is easy to overlook I really don't have much in the way of complaints. Like I mentioned earlier I'm kind of glad for the way the second disc was, because of how long the game would have been.

Same here. Trade-offs and refinements from the original germ of an idea to the final result happen during any creative project. If they mean the result isn't finished, no work is.

I think I'd go so far to say Xenogears was the most fleshed out realization in its genre of its time. It has more content than FF7, more than any prior Square game, and probably more than any prior JRPG.

[YoniArousement]

I've been playing some Konami Krazy Racers recently. It was my very first game I got for the Gameboy Advance back in the day. I don't remember why I chose it over plain 'ole Mario Kart Super Circuit, when I didn't know anything about who the characters were besides maybe Goemon. It had a pretty fun cast of characters from different Konami franchises.

The extra characters can be unlocked without too much trouble, most of them require a blue jewel to be collected during Grand Prix then they will be unlocked (you can exit the race afterwards and it will still count). Bear Tank is too good relative to the rest of the cast (he's like T.T. from Diddy Kong Racing in that regard) and Vic Viper seems to have the worst handling. I like how the items are contained in bells, and that the blue bells are speed boosts just like in Twinbee.

Here's hoping they create another Konami Kart racer on consoles, and bring back Sparkster.

[Jeneki]

Contra arcade 1cc (PS4 Arcade Archives hi score mode). So this game is hilarious at the end, it gives you a million points for the clear (compared to around 300k getting there) and 15 extra lives. But there's no second loop so I'm not sure what those lives are for, other than throwing a kegger sausage party.

This game is so wonky I don't think I'll push any further for score. I got used to lining up shots before I scrolled the screen into an enemy, so I didn't have to deal with the dumb way it rolls into diagonals.

[BurlyHeart]

River City Girls got a patch on PC, with consoles to follow. It apparently fixes some of the game's issues and changes the ending when you defeat the secret last boss. Been taking a break from the game lately - only Noize is holding me back from a no-food no-death run and need to practice fighting her more.

Fight'N Rage - Finished another ending with F. Norris, just missing the 1cc due to rustiness. 4 more to go!

Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 - ranked down 5 times in one day. Shameful! I'm super inconsistent and it's definitely a mental thing. But whatever, it was fun

Skullgirls - Practiced some of Cerebella's combos and attempted a bit of Parasoul. Great game. The soundtrack is fantastic, and the menu music is super chill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gemAqI1Qvo0

Koihime Enbu - I was recommended this fighting game due its footsie-based gameplay. I knew it was based on a adult Japanese comic or something, but the young age look-wise of the characters made me feel a little sick to be honest. Put me off playing and I'll be putting it up on ebay. M2 are in the opening credits, though I'm not sure the extent of their involvement (probably porting?).

[guigui]

River City Girls got a patch on PC, with consoles to follow. It apparently fixes some of the game's issues and changes the ending when you defeat the secret last boss. Been taking a break from the game lately - only Noize is holding me back from a no-food no-death run and need to practice fighting her more.

Fight'N Rage - Finished another ending with F. Norris, just missing the 1cc due to rustiness. 4 more to go!

I have been hesitating between those 2 BTA on the Switch. River City Girls sometimes gets a discount, but Fight'N Rage does not.
I'm just looking for a BTA that plays smoothly, rewards skills, not extremely difficult. Which one would you recommend ?

[Mischief Maker]

Honestly, get Fight'n Rage.

Gameplay-wise it's completely superior.

RCG's hook is purely the aesthetics, especially the music, but it plays so stiff and choppy in comparison.

Spoiler

And for such an aesthetically-driven game, the ending completely ruined it for me.

(I'll wait for someone to upload the new secret ending to youtube).

Also the latest PC patch broke the remappable keyboard controls mod.

[bottino]

Curiously, what kills Fight'n Rage for me it's exactly it's aesthetics and shitty character design; I wouldn't really mind if it were a platformer, action or even a STG, but for beat'em ups and vs.fighting games it becomes a deal breaker for me.

[Mischief Maker]

Curiously, what kills Fight'n Rage for me it's exactly it's aesthetics and shitty character design; I wouldn't really mind if it were a platformer, action or even a STG, but for beat'em ups and vs.fighting games it becomes a deal breaker for me.

Can't disagree with that.

Actually my favorite brawler at the moment is Speed Brawl, so who am I to judge?



Speed Brawl is like a cross between a fighting game and a Snow Bros-style arena platformer; in many ways the game I wanted Fairy Bloom Freesia to be.

Its biggest weakness is the lack of proper documentation, the developers intentionally wanted to keep that vague to generate some kind of social media hype around figuring out its systems.

The biggest thing they leave out is when you're charging up a dash attack, first you flash yellow for a stronger attack, then you briefly flash red and if you release at the red flash your damage is maximized. Using poles or pushing off walls instantly gets you to yellow, so it's a faster charge.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Its biggest weakness is the lack of proper documentation, the developers intentionally wanted to keep that vague to generate some kind of social media hype around figuring out its systems.

This is an incredibly, bafflingly dumb thing to do, especially for such a seemingly basic, key mechanic. And the thing is, the players who really want to learn the game will really appreciate having the game make you aware of additional techniques like in a in-game guide or movelist (and there will always be stuff to learn as far as nuanced stuff in terms of how/when to use moves that a manual won't cover), whereas casual players will ignore it and will never discover it for themselves anyways.

[BurlyHeart]

River City Girls got a patch on PC, with consoles to follow. It apparently fixes some of the game's issues and changes the ending when you defeat the secret last boss. Been taking a break from the game lately - only Noize is holding me back from a no-food no-death run and need to practice fighting her more.

Fight'N Rage - Finished another ending with F. Norris, just missing the 1cc due to rustiness. 4 more to go!

I have been hesitating between those 2 BTA on the Switch. River City Girls sometimes gets a discount, but Fight'N Rage does not.
I'm just looking for a BTA that plays smoothly, rewards skills, not extremely difficult. Which one would you recommend ?

I would agree with Mischief Maker, and would recommend Fight'N Rage. I would disagree about the aesthetics as I personally like the graphics and character design. The music is also fantastic. Gameplay wise, it has depth if you want to learn difficult combos, but they're not required by any means. It also has a lot of modes - Survival, Time Attack, Score Attack, Training on top of the Arcade mode. Probably my favorite beat 'em up to be honest..

[Marc]

Claire's B scenario in REsi2. It's an abrupt change of pace from the first playthrough for sure. Place is heaving with Zombs, and the Tyrant will not leave me alone. More Zombs is welcome, more Tyrant isn't.

Oh and Super Life of Pixel which is interesting. Some good ideas, backed up with the odd piece of terrible design. It's (currently) a flick-screen platform collect-em-up, but dying resets the entire level. Which is fine when they're single-screens, not so good when they're maybe 10-15 screens each. It occasionally does some really shitty things with the flick-screen format, like hiding a trap on the next screen that you couldn't possibly be aware of, so some levels have been very much trial & error. It's interesting enough that I'm going to continue with it for the time being, and the aesthetics are spot-on; the ZX81 and Atari 2600 levels were as ugly as you'd expect, while the Spectrum world looked absolutely glorious.

[Durandal]

Its biggest weakness is the lack of proper documentation, the developers intentionally wanted to keep that vague to generate some kind of social media hype around figuring out its systems.

This is an incredibly, bafflingly dumb thing to do, especially for such a seemingly basic, key mechanic. And the thing is, the players who really want to learn the game will really appreciate having the game make you aware of additional techniques like in a in-game guide or movelist (and there will always be stuff to learn as far as nuanced stuff in terms of how/when to use moves that a manual won't cover), whereas casual players will ignore it and will never discover it for themselves anyways.

It's something an FPS called DESYNC also tried to do, only that game went as far to obscure the meaning of basic user interface elements on top of not making it clear how key mechanics worked. Post-launch patches cleared things up a bit after most of the casuals got confused and the game failed to attract a significant fanbase of high-level players.

The average FPS audience member just isn't attuned to figuring out obscure mechanics. On the other hand, it's why something like Hellsinker can manage to find a place in the shmup fandom.

[BurlyHeart]

Re: River City Girls

Spoiler

And for such an aesthetically-driven game, the ending completely ruined it for me.

Spoiler

I literally just beat the secret bosses a few minutes ago. The game crashed on me three times and I had to look up a guide on how to avoid it :/

Plus the ending is awful. Disappointing after an enjoyable play-through.

[Jeneki]

I've looked at Ninja Commando a number of times over the years, and each time been a bit frustrated that I couldn't do the special moves. Is this one worth digging deeper into just using normal attacks? Or should I buckle down and concentrate hard on gettin' gud at the special moves before learning the rest of game?

Following up on this, my solution was to just not worry about those stupid 6-input special moves (and not play Ryu as he's the main temptation to use it). The charge-down moves seems strong enough for bosses and the side-attacks specials are not too bad.

[Ajora]

I've been playing Dark Souls Remastered for a bit. It's not so much that I find the game difficult, but more so I find that it has an extremely steep learning curve. But I respect that about this game. I think that far too many modern games hold your hand all the way through, and this is a refreshing change. It'll probably be a while before I properly get into it, but I absolutely love the environments and bleak atmosphere.

[guigui]

^ Yes, Dark Souls definitely is one of the best. Enjoy your first run, it is the best. The "From Software" thread is where you want to post your thoughts about your first run, only for the veterans to be jealous of you discovering the game.

[Blinge]

Duolingo.

I miss videogames.

[Immryr]

which language are you learning?

[Blinge]

Italiano..

but i'm actually concerned with winning diamond league...

[Blinge]

I just spent three fucking hours locked in mortal combat against someone..
I threw all learning to the wind and just spammed the same "story" in french repeatedly.
someone still passed me and got a lead in the last half hour before deadline.
i gave up, and they kept playing at the same rate....

was i just fighting a fucking bot