What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[AGermanArtist]

I got the Master Sword as per the narrative -

Spoiler

spoke to Deku tree and took instruction re the Depths from Josha etc

I know I could have much earlier, but ventured under the castle anyway and took on Ganondorf where I fell foul of the Gloom consuming my hearts, so now I've had to back off and farm Sundelions and now I'll have to replay the pre-amble to the end, which is something that's really pissed me off with this game - it's bad enough having to create meals and manage health (as you'd expect in a video game), but to have counter the Gloom as well is a fucking nuisance. If Nintendo were to carry on with this open world type of game, I'd advise against this and also anything resembling the Depths.

[Sumez]

Weird, to me the gloom effect barely ever mattered at all. It only has an effect when you take a hit anyway, and is never gonna damage more hearts than you are already losing. And most of the gloom environmental hazards I'd just wade through to get somewhre.

It only got in the way of me in a single colosseum fight (if you've found it, you know which one) where having brought just one healing item with gloom-canceling effects would probably have been a good idea.

You may have just sold me. Considering your general gaming, that's praise indeed.

A lot of it was compulsion. TOTK is definitely the sort of game that's not really my cup of tea, and especially early on it feels cumbersome due to how much it forces the building aspect on you (and the UI for it is really heavy, especially for Nintendo, who tend to be good at making every interaction feel fun) - but when you get into the game proper, that whole thing both feels more optional to at least do it at your own pace, and also less in the way.

Either way I'd be lying if I said TOTK isn't one hell of a game. If you like BOTW you'll like it. If you didn't like BOTW, it's not gonna change your mind. I did have a great fun time, and I'm happy the game exists. I doubt I'll ever play it again.

[AGermanArtist]

I got into a situation where Ganondorf was leaving me with only one heart to refill, so without a way to repair the broken Gloom affected hearts it was becoming a nightmare. I had step back and get Sundelions to make Gloom repairing porridge and take another run at the final gauntlet where I happend to corner him, managing to get a couple of flurry attacks in at the end which felt a little Sekiro-ish.
The credits just rolled. The final section was a pretty decent spectacle and a great ending to a great game. I doubt I'll replay it, though. It's a lot and at 195-200hrs I've had my fill and definitely my money's worth. Despite my complaints it's still a solid 9/10.

[Marc]

F-Zero 99, and it's fucking great.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Does half the grid not explode almost immediately? It does look cool though. Have they kept the vehicles the same as the SNES version? If so I can't imagine the yellow one (made of paper) or the green one (grinds to a halt when it hits something) are any use at all.

[Marc]

Does half the grid not explode almost immediately? It does look cool though. Have they kept the vehicles the same as the SNES version? If so I can't imagine the yellow one (made of paper) or the green one (grinds to a halt when it hits something) are any use at all.

You seem to take less damage from collisions, and they've altered the handling just slightly so you don't ricochet off of walls and opponents with quite such force. There are 'sparks' on the track, and when you've collected a full bar, you're next boost elevates you to an upper walkway that mirrors the course but is obviously far less busy. Uou also have an X-style spin attack which has a few seconds cooldown, but fills immediately after hitting a ramp, and boost works the same in that its now tied to your energy meter, so there's a great balance between all out aggression - because taking out an opponent refills your energy - but needing power in reserve toward the end of the race.

A grand prix chops 20 competitors per race, so the final three are a lot less chaotic, and its at this point it really shines.

Honestly, I was dubious, but it's absolutely brilliant. Two hours vanished in an instant this morning.

[Stevens]

I won't play it, but yeah that game looks bonkers fun.

[AGermanArtist]

I'm playing Grid Legends on PS5 and it feels like Project Gotham 4. This is a great racing game, it has a different feel to the OG Grid which was the last one I played. It has the genuine feel of a modern Sega racer. I could just see this in a huge feature cabinet. Unlike Forza 7, I'm drifting corners and as a result it just feels so much more forgiving and fun, and less sim-like. Visually it's quite arresting with some great effects and aside from Demon's Souls and Returnal, Grid Legends looks, feels and sounds like a 'proper' 'current' gen game on PS5 since a lot of my PS5 time is spent playing PS4 games from my backlog.

[Marc]

I'm playing Grid Legends on PS5 and it feels like Project Gotham 4. This is a great racing game, it has a different feel to the OG Grid which was the last one I played. It has the genuine feel of a modern Sega racer. I could just see this in a huge feature cabinet. Unlike Forza 7, I'm drifting corners and as a result it just feels so much more forgiving and fun, and less sim-like. Visually it's quite arresting with some great effects and aside from Demon's Souls and Returnal, Grid Legends looks, feels and sounds like a 'proper' 'current' gen game on PS5 since a lot of my PS5 time is spent playing PS4 games from my backlog.

I played the 2019 one, bur i didn't get on with it. Simcade wise, Driveckub was far more fun. I've hot this one in the backlog, interested to try it out now.

[AGermanArtist]

Have a look online. The PGR4 comparison seems to be thing.

[ryu]

I was having great fun with F-Zero 99 until I went and checked out the original on SNES for comparison's sake. Now it feels like a cheap knock-off that just doesn't hit the same. It plays slower and the tracks have been adjusted to accomodate for the higher number of competitors. The physics feel a lot less rigid as well. It really isn't the same when you play it back to back with a classic F-Zero title. :/ See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWFLQ1EeVzk

Still a lot of fun.

edit: nvm, it turns out the games are "the same" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrp0g9Jk0Hw. Although the SNES one still feels faster

[null1024]

The tracks are wider, the view angle is a bit different, and you don't really get to see much of the trackside scenery in F-Zero 99 vs on SNES since it's both further away and blurrier, etc. All of this contributes to the feeling that it's slower.
The aliasing on SNES also definitely helps sell the feeling of movement -- open up F-Zero in bsnes and enable hi-res Mode 7, you lose a lot of the sensation of speed.

[Marc]

Yeah, it prompted me to go back to the original and the difference in speed is immidiate. Still, I understand that the entire 99 thing just wouldn't have Bern viable without the few changes they've made, so it's all good.

[XoPachi]

I may have irresponsibly played TitanFall 2 all day yesterday.

[Sima Tuna]

I'm playing Sailing Era, a game which seems deceptively simple and repetitive at first (particularly when starting as Yun Mu) but eventually flowers open with dozens of characters, quests and oodles of secrets/discoveries to find. The art style is positively gorgeous. Probably some of the most beautiful art I've seen in a video game. The painterly style perfectly suits the relaxed, sedate pace of gameplay. The game exudes a lust for knowledge and wonder for discovery that few games can match. I never played Uncharted Waters: New Horizons, but I've heard many people express the opinion that Sailing Era is a modern update on the classic game. I started as Yun Mu because I like China's history and culture. Her start was very slow because you're given a tiny ship and expected to build a trading empire. Trading is, by necessity, rather repetitive. When trading at full efficiency, you spend a lot of time navigating menus and using your established trade routes to travel between areas of Buy Low and Sell High. I was becoming a bit bored of that, so I decided to set off on my own and do some exploring, and that's when the game really showed me how much "stuff" it has. I'm looking forward to finishing Yun Mu's story and moving on to the pirate character's story, as I've heard he can capture ships. Playing as a legitimate trader, one of the most challenging aspects is obtaining decent ships. The cost isn't exorbitant (not for a trading empire,) but the issue is finding some. You need a port with very high technology level and you need a way to travel to that port safely. Yun Mu's customized Guanchuan was my flagship for a long time, simply because I could not find anything better. But I did get a Galleon eventually and now I'm tearing up the seas. Still haven't found anyone who can sell me a Clipper. I finished the quest to unlock it but haven't found any of the parts needed or any ports with prebuilts to sell. So I've been rolling mostly with Guangchuan and Fuchuan vessels, with all the compartments ripped out to store more shit to sell.

I'm not going to "recommend" this game, simply because I don't know who would enjoy it. Combat is almost entirely opt-in. Trading is repetitive by its very concept. Most players probably won't care about the joy of discovering new ports or encountering new characters/quests. I don't think the average player will feel a sense of exhilaration when they discover an "Alpaca." But IF you like this kind of game, or if, like me, you've been hankering for something a little different, a little less violent, little more historical, with a sense of discovery... Might as well give it a shot. The translation is not good but it's not as bad as people say. If you have experience with shmups or with jrpgs then this is more than readable compared to those. As far as genre, Sailing Era is essentially just a jarpig based around ships and exploring shit. I wish more games were made in the age of exploration. There's something oddly addictive about Sailing Era, to the point that I can't seem to put it down once I start playing. Some of the activities could be considered "boring," but they are utterly absorbing in the moment of gameplay.

[Steven]

Finally done with Kara no Shoujo, Kara no Shoujo, and Kara no Shoujo. I'm not really sure what to say other than that the series became progressively worse with each game. The last game in particular just felt rather flat, as if the devs knew what they wanted as the ending but didn't know how to get there, so they sort of went through the motions of what they'd done before for a while before deciding to crudely fuse the parts they had together and call it good. The art is also very oddly inconsistent with the previous games. It's not a bad game, but nothing about it really felt right except for the music. Come on, Innocent Grey, I know you can do better than this.

[Lemnear]

Im near the end of Ridge Racer 2 (PSP/PS4/PS5), i've beated twice the "Ne Plus Ultra" MAX TOUR, Category: Special 1 (game stats says that only 1 person on 20.000 can beat it!) without the rewind, recorded it with my PS4, but i hate how the video is not a 60fps like the game is...and that can't record longer than 15min, so i've separated them in 2 videos.
I need to beat the last one, the MAX TOUR "Deus", Category: Special 2 (game stats says that only 1 person on 200.000 can beat it!!!).
The Special 2 category cars are far less maneuverable than the Special 1 , especially the famous Yamasa Raggio, and is odd, since is the last car the games gives you, complete with a video of a real live version of the car!.

So for now i'm only 1 of 20.000...but judging from the skill level of users here...doesn't sound like a big achivement...

[cfx]

I used to love Ridge Racer, but Namco ruined it as far as I'm concerned when they put nitro in the games.

I was looking at somve videos recently of that PSP Ridge Racers 2 on PS4, and it looks great but I know I'd hate it because of the nitro. And even if you just don't use it, the CPU uses it and as far as I know you can't turn that off.

[null1024]

I'm alright with the nitro mechanic, but it definitely changes the way the game feels a lot.

RR2PSP does it pretty well. A car going fast already goes faster, a car going slow doesn't get to just rubberband back to full speed [in fact, using nitro when slow is absurdly bad, you go slightly faster than normal and then you still need to accelerate up from when you activated it at], and the absolute best way to use it is so that it ends just as you're about to hit a corner that you're going to drift around so it builds back up.
The way of building it is totally artificial, but so is RR's entire handling model, RR2PSP's in particular [you've always been able to wrong-way drift around corners if you can manage the exit in oldschool RR since the car follows the track, but RR2PSP makes drifting an absolute sure-fire way to save yourself from hitting a wall].

[Lemnear]

I'm alright with the nitro mechanic, but it definitely changes the way the game feels a lot.

RR2PSP does it pretty well. A car going fast already goes faster, a car going slow doesn't get to just rubberband back to full speed [in fact, using nitro when slow is absurdly bad, you go slightly faster than normal and then you still need to accelerate up from when you activated it at], and the absolute best way to use it is so that it ends just as you're about to hit a corner that you're going to drift around so it builds back up.
The way of building it is totally artificial, but so is RR's entire handling model, RR2PSP's in particular [you've always been able to wrong-way drift around corners if you can manage the exit in oldschool RR since the car follows the track, but RR2PSP makes drifting an absolute sure-fire way to save yourself from hitting a wall].

Exactly!
And not only that, uphill you have to change down the gear or you will decellerate (Manual Transmission Only).
There's a program to give 60fps to a 30fps video? I hate how the PS4 records...
I'm near to beat also the Tour Max "Zeus", i suck in the first circuit, but i'm godly in the other 5...so the problem is all at the first race ....oh and the CPU Angelus Kid cheat a lot, if is not the first, it will unlock it's maximum speed from 390km (the same for all the Special 2 category) till 500km!!!
The trick to win the MAX Tour is to stock the nitros and use them all together, while you gaining advantage on every curves the CPU must spent their nitro to catch you.
Don't waste your nitro to surpass an opponent, they will use their nitro to avoid it, try to surpass them in every curves instead...and yes, they have ALWAYS at least 1 nitro available..use ONLY your third nitro, and use all 2-3 when you are at the last part of the track.

I was very tempted to turn of the commentator, but then he starts to compliment me alot :3
EDIT: is that ʍoquıɐɹ ǝɥʇ ɹǝʌo a subtle reference to Death Stranding?

[cfx]

Ugh, I forgot the awful announcer. That's the other imo very non-Ridge-Racer thing about the game.

My favorite is the lady in Rage Racer, followed by the guy in the original game. The lady in Rave Racer is ok, but she repeats a lot "C'mon, drive a smart race! There's a lot of racing ahead!" ad nauseum.

[null1024]

I am almost willing to pay money for someone to remove the Rave Racer announcers. They're so bad. "C'mon, drive a smart race! There's a lot of racing ahead!" is the actual worst, but none of the other voice samples are good either.
The RR2PSP one is unfitting, but not anywhere as annoying. They just hired the wrong guy.

The coolest one is the Rage Racer one by far. She's so cool. Everything about Rage Racer is so cool, except I still literally have zero idea about when the game decides to end a drift. Literally no clue. Sometimes it works just like in RRR, sometimes the game just locks you up around a corner. I've heavily leaned towards grip driving, but the problem is that on occasion, I'll still end up in a drift [with extremely high risk of locking up].

EDIT: is that ʍoquıɐɹ ǝɥʇ ɹǝʌo a subtle reference to Death Stranding?

Nope! Never played DS, had it as my location for years now.

[Lemnear]

Ugh, I forgot the awful announcer. That's the other imo very non-Ridge-Racer thing about the game.

Yeh, sound like if he was a last minute substitute from another race

My favorite is the lady in Rage Racer, followed by the guy in the original game. The lady in Rave Racer is ok, but she repeats a lot "C'mon, drive a smart race! There's a lot of racing ahead!" ad nauseum.

She is Reiko Nagase, the same in RR4, and RR7 ( i dont know the others, i've never played V or VI).

Rage Racer was my first 3D Racing Game ever played (thank you Demo One!). That "beep" sound in the menu...the voice, and that mood with a cloudy grey sky was so evocative and unique...and still unique till today!.

How many racing games got this aetstethic?:

Spoiler

Useless to say that i love the whole series...and i can't find anything around that gots this vibe.

I am almost willing to pay money for someone to remove the Rave Racer announcers. They're so bad. "C'mon, drive a smart race! There's a lot of racing ahead!" is the actual worst, but none of the other voice samples are good either.
The RR2PSP one is unfitting, but not anywhere as annoying. They just hired the wrong guy.

The coolest one is the Rage Racer one by far. She's so cool. Everything about Rage Racer is so cool, except I still literally have zero idea about when the game decides to end a drift. Literally no clue. Sometimes it works just like in RRR, sometimes the game just locks you up around a corner. I've heavily leaned towards grip driving, but the problem is that on occasion, I'll still end up in a drift [with extremely high risk of locking up].

EDIT: is that ʍoquıɐɹ ǝɥʇ ɹǝʌo a subtle reference to Death Stranding?

Nope! Never played DS, had it as my location for years now.

I've got the platinum trophy for RR7 and only later i knew that Rage Racer was the same series...and i've played ONLY the Demo One of Rage Racer...same for RRR in another Demo One. Discovered years later that was Ridge Racer Revolution !

Then i got Type-4 on PSC/PS4 and RR2.

I was predestinated, or heavily influenced since the begin...

For the drift in Rage Racer...i have no idea, if you lose grip for drift, then you lose velocity to regain grip...and the collisions are punitive.
Oh, and the camera if not in first person, turns slower than you turn making it a bit hard to use it.

But...i'm nearly obsessed with the series...it triggers my thirst of synesthesia! While i love Type-4 for it's total opposite vibe, is so chill.

Oddly when someone suggested me "similar games" they tend to nominee Daytona and Outurn but they are on a totally different gameplay and mood/aesthetic (SEGA Blue Sky).
And RR's Soundtrack (in general) are far way better than those imo!

[Sima Tuna]

I think it was Ridge Racer 3, or maybe 4, where they did the new millennium race with the song and everything?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt2s8_ym6qg

That's a very special moment in the legacy of racing games, and I love Ridge Racer for it. I wish the series could come back and fill that arcade/simcade niche. Single player, storyline racing games are not too common. At least not without being some manner of open world/radiant content model.

[XoPachi]

Why the fuck is this actually good? You're a knockoff! You're not supposed to be tightly and competently made! Where's the Bethesda shaming glitches, unnaturally stiff controls, horrendous optimization, and horrible track design? How DARE this game keep me hooked to a demo for 2 hours.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2506 ... _Prologue/

[Gamer707b]

I usually have 5 or so retro consoles always in rotation. Came back to the N64 and been playing Jet Force Gemini. Having a lot of fun with it. This isn't one that gets talked about much, but I put it up there.

[cfx]

My favorite is the lady in Rage Racer, followed by the guy in the original game. The lady in Rave Racer is ok, but she repeats a lot "C'mon, drive a smart race! There's a lot of racing ahead!" ad nauseum.

She is Reiko Nagase, the same in RR4, and RR7 ( i dont know the others, i've never played V or VI).

Is it? She is in the openings etc. but I'm not aware of anything that states she is the announcer. Then again, I had the Japanese games so if there's something in the English manuals explaining it's her I wouldn't know.

As far as I can remember, Ridge Racer V (PS2 game) is the only one without Reiko and has a girl named Ai <something> (I don't remember her last name) in the opening. That's assuming the circuit girl on the original RR is supposed to be Reiko.

I really wish RRV would have gotten rereleased somewhere, anywhere. It's largely like a remake of the original and is the last game without nitro. Unfortunately as one of the very first PS2 games, it suffers from whatever that frame buffer issue was where it has horrible aliasing and interlacing artifacts. Tekken Tag had that too in the Japanese version, but was improved for the western release; RRV got no such upgrade unfortunately. Apparently if you're into emulation it is possible to greatly improve how it looks though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlBGYYYtIes

Oddly when someone suggested me "similar games" they tend to nominee Daytona and Outurn but they are on a totally different gameplay and mood/aesthetic (SEGA Blue Sky).
And RR's Soundtrack (in general) are far way better than those imo!

It's probably because they were contemporary in the arcade and hence competitors. Also, I think it's fairly common for someone to like both though generally prefer one over the other.

I prefer Daytona, but part of that is the fact that with the PS3 version we got a console version that matches the arcade original in quality, something we never got with Ridge Racer.

A lot of RR's soundtracks I can't stand, but most every game has two (nearly always exactly two) songs I like and since you can choose the song for each race it's ok. Some of the songs I'd like if it wasn't for the mixes--I'm sure the effect is called something else, but that "stuttering" effect is like fingernails on a blackboard for me, I can't stand it. The song in the video below has what I'm talking about.

I think it was Ridge Racer 3, or maybe 4, where they did the new millennium race with the song and everything?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt2s8_ym6qg

That's a very special moment in the legacy of racing games, and I love Ridge Racer for it. I wish the series could come back and fill that arcade/simcade niche. Single player, storyline racing games are not too common. At least not without being some manner of open world/radiant content model.

The answer is right there in the image on the video; it's R4, or Ridge Racer Type 4.

There is no literal "Ridge Racer 3" though either Rave Racer or Rage Racer presumably counts as 3, depending on whether you are looking at console or arcade.

[Lemnear]

Why the fuck is this actually good? You're a knockoff! You're not supposed to be tightly and competently made! Where's the Bethesda shaming glitches, unnaturally stiff controls, horrendous optimization, and horrible track design? How DARE this game keep me hooked to a demo for 2 hours.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2506 ... _Prologue/

despite all the good reviews....i can't ignore the amount of plagiarism present in this even the color and font are stealed from Crash!

Where's the Bethesda shaming glitches, unnaturally stiff controls, horrendous optimization, and horrible track design?

I can't believe that a big part of Bethesda success is totally unintentional...this always gives me conniption (cit.)

She is Reiko Nagase, the same in RR4, and RR7 ( i dont know the others, i've never played V or VI).

Is it? She is in the openings etc. but I'm not aware of anything that states she is the announcer. Then again, I had the Japanese games so if there's something in the English manuals explaining it's her I wouldn't know.

As far as I can remember, Ridge Racer V (PS2 game) is the only one without Reiko and has a girl named Ai <something> (I don't remember her last name) in the opening. That's assuming the circuit girl on the original RR is supposed to be Reiko.

I don't know for sure, but was technically the only character in Rage Racer, and there's only one voice. On the wiki is stated that she appeared from the 3rd (Rage Racer) forward, except for V. For the first is unknown.

I really wish RRV would have gotten rereleased somewhere, anywhere. It's largely like a remake of the original and is the last game without nitro. Unfortunately as one of the very first PS2 games, it suffers from whatever that frame buffer issue was where it has horrible aliasing and interlacing artifacts. Tekken Tag had that too in the Japanese version, but was improved for the western release; RRV got no such upgrade unfortunately. Apparently if you're into emulation it is possible to greatly improve how it looks though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlBGYYYtIes

I've never played it yet, only through Ridge Racers 2 (PSP) now...but i knot that's not the same thing. I can't resist to the "horrible aliasing and interlacing artifacts"...

I think it was Ridge Racer 3, or maybe 4, where they did the new millennium race with the song and everything?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt2s8_ym6qg

That's a very special moment in the legacy of racing games, and I love Ridge Racer for it. I wish the series could come back and fill that arcade/simcade niche. Single player, storyline racing games are not too common. At least not without being some manner of open world/radiant content model.

I've loved those prologues before and after every race, the PCR Team and DTR Team are the best, one with an heart-touch ending (also if a part of it is in the Salvalou Team story) the other is totally unexpected from start to finish. The MMM Story unnerves me, i've hated every second of it XD.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Accidentally triggered Wall of Flesh in Terraria, was not prepared for it (hadn't remotely made an arena for it) and tried to warp out. Apparently instead of blocking escape/warp tools it just kills you if you use one. Welp, that's a thing.

Still, getting to the bottom of the world was pretty fun, though I'm not sure what to do with the chests I've found I can't interact with (they seem to be locked but no hint as to what opens them, guess I gotta come back).

Exploration's a lot better and faster when you build up a stock of Dangersense potions, or learn that you can keep a trap activator hotkeyed so you can equip it which immediately shows trap wiring in lit areas.

The activation requirements for Wall of Flesh seem a bit silly but I guess with everything in this game it's a bit chaotic (there's several bosses you can accidentally spawn woefully unprepared for by killing a specific creature). The main problem is that you're going to have a very bad time if you haven't got an arena prepared ahead of time, namely a wide open area with platforms so you can dash left and right usually, which tends to be the hard/tedious part of a lot of bosses. But you sometimes won't know that you'll need an arena (Eye of Cthulhu will just pop up when it feels like it at 200+ HP); so basically you meet a boss, likely get slapped by it, then go and make an arena where you know the boss is. Bosses don't feel so much like it's about getting good at them, but rather more of an RPG type aspect of preparing properly before encountering them, both in terms of equipment and the arena layout proper.

Exploration and crafting are pretty fun and the detection tools you can get to help find treasure, new NPCs, and so on help out a lot when you get them.

[BurlyHeart]

Picked up Grapple Dog on sale (about $5) and had a lot of fun playing through the first two levels. Haven't played a Mario-style game in a long while, so it was good to relax with and try find the different items. Has a time trial for each level if you're into that type of thing.

Music and visuals are good, though the music more than a bit reminds of TMNT. The intro was way too long too.

Good for relaxing into the night after some actions games.