What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Obiwanshinobi]

(during which he's totally invincible)

Is he? Your charged attack is the ultimate guard-breaker and it's still a tug of war situation, like all boss battles in Shinobi. You can keep replenishing your health to no end.
Furthermore, the pacing is up to your skills all the way through, unlike the final boss battle in Silent Bomber where you can't speed up the chessboard bit for shit, and then there's no checkpoint and if you die at the boss, you must repeat that lame, slow part.
Final boss in ZOE2 - now that's what I call poor.

[DragonInstall]

Sengoku Rance again.. This game is just so amazing for an h-game .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRaPh7FCXsU

The boss music always gets me pumped up. I can't believe the amount of effort that was put into this game, which is probably why it got a english fan translation.

Better than most modern rpgs I've played to be honest. 100x better than FF13

[BIL]

Furthermore, the pacing is up to your skills all the way through, unlike the final boss battle in Silent Bomber where you can't speed up the chessboard bit for shit, and then there's no checkpoint and if you die at the boss, you must repeat that lame, slow part.

You can clear Silent Bomber's chessboard quicker by pinning more bombs onto each piece, instead of killing them with minimal bombs. It'll have the effect of cutting down each piece's chances to regenerate after being blown apart.

RE: Shinobi - I love the Super level Hiruko fight (and it's true, that was a huge spike on the final difficulty). It feels so unfair it's almost comical, in terms of how much firepower is eventually directed at you (the game will actually slow down if you get enough talisman bullets onscreen - can't remember it doing that anywhere else). I can kill him consistently, though... the only complaint I have is that yes, the opening segment is pointless. Otherwise it's just a matter of herding the talismans effectively and keeping aware of his position. I don't use the camera center button much at all in Shinobi, fwiw - I keep a thumb on the right stick pretty much constantly during boss battles.

Here's a good Super Hiruko kill replay. I like how the player stuffs his gay slapping attack!

[ratlhead]

I'm in the same situation for years as you Mortificator. I can't collect final Oboro coin and unlock VR missions because of that Hiruko lunatic. Although i'm aware of one thing, you have to clear this in one try for help of scrolls or you'll face one hell of a tedious battle.

I memorized his attacks in second form from sound cues but randomness of paper summons and his location make it so hard to get behind with full tate and successfully attack. I just can't have enough stamina after 8-B stage (which you can skip most battles but brute at the top fucks your progress with a damn stomach press easily :p) to endure this tedious battle because of these reasons.

[Mortificator]

Regarding scrolls, there's a trick I learned over at GameFAQs that lets you keep them. If you die during a boss fight, you retry it with full health and one scroll, but if you pause and restart, you'll retry with the same number of scrolls you entered the arena with. The downside is that your health/yin/kunai will also be returned to the quantities they were at when you started the fight.

That's part of why I used Joe Musashi for my Super attempt (in addition to his freedom from Akujiki consumption for collecting the last Oboro coins). Yin's not a factor for him, he has infinite kunai, it's easier to skip fights when you have a sword that doesn't make you kill, and you can cheese-out the two-headed oni by standing back and chucking blades at them. Those advantages made it relatively simple to run through 8-B while keeping full health and grabbing the scrolls and coin.

Fell apart at the boss, though.

[BIL]

Yeah, allowing the player infinite restarts with their accumulated scrolls is definitely a big favour on Shinobi's part. I always thought how much nastier it could've been, if dying at Hiruko automatically booted you all the way back to 8-A. The shield magic will save your ass (while putting a dent in your score).

I didn't use Joe much beyond the novelty of seeing his Revenge design in 3D (no unique tate quips - booo!), but isn't his sword weaker than either of the two brothers'? Moritsune is the optimal choice for clearing Super in my experience - the faster Yin drain is completely offset by his increased sword power. You can afford to just swing away with the occasional guard-breaking boot, where Hotsuma needs to back-slash for decent kills. It took me several hours to make it through Super 8-A, 8-B and finally kill Hiruko first time around with Hotsuma, only to realise I'd not gotten either coin. Retried with Moritsune and did it on my first go.

Only downside is he has this really unnerving reverse camel toe when viewed running from behind. >_> Like MGS2 Snake's butt put through a car crusher.

[drauch]

Sengoku Rance again.. This game is just so amazing for an h-game .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRaPh7FCXsU

The boss music always gets me pumped up. I can't believe the amount of effort that was put into this game, which is probably why it got a english fan translation.

Better than most modern rpgs I've played to be honest. 100x better than FF13

Man, now I really want to get it. I've been meaning to check out the series but I still haven't. That and Lightning Warrior Raidy. H-games rule.

[Vexorg]

MONSTER TALE on the DS

Seriously, this game is fucking fantastic.

Gorgeous 2D pixel art and animation, multi-layer parallax scrolling backgrounds, great soundtrack ... I can't believe I haven't played this game until now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4gLleFUa0k

Now I'm going to have to find Henry Hatsworth ...

Hmmm... That one got past my radar, but I may have to track down a copy. Looks like the kind of game I'd enjoy.

As for Henry Hatsworth, I had it for a while, but had one boss I could never get past. A lot tougher game than it looks.

[Danza]

Sengoku Rance is indeed awesome.

I picked up Kara no Shoujo yesterday. So far I am really liking it. Murder/mystery VN, with some slightly more interactive elements such as investigating crime scenes for clues, going through evidence etc. Seems like brutal shit is about to go down though.

[EinhanderZwei]

I picked up Kara no Shoujo yesterday. So far I am really liking it. Murder/mystery VN, with some slightly more interactive elements such as investigating crime scenes for clues, going through evidence etc. Seems like brutal shit is about to go down though.

DON'T READ BELOW IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS

I've seen the CGs from that game, and holy shit is it twisted and gory...

(possible) SPOILERS END HERE

[mirkvid]

Finally playing Dead Space. Got it for like $10. Pretty good so far (Chapter 6). Haven't been shmuppin' for a long ass time tho. I need to get my act together and play my ESPRade pcb this summer....

Also FFIV on PSP. pretty great version imo. the graphics are really clean and the updated music rocks as well. Taking my time with this one as I've played every other version like a thousand times already.

[sjewkestheloon]

Playing Mass Effect 2. I really think this generation of consoles shines in its 'labor of love' titles. If your looking for super tight or ingenious game play, get outta here, but if you're looking for hours upon hours of someone's personal life-long fantasy, the current gen has got that. Maybe not everyone's cup-o-tea but it's hard not to indulge when the developers clearly DID!

sjewkestheloon> I've heard the Dragon Age games are crap (which I was disappointed to hear since I'm enjoying Mass Effect 2); I'd be anxious to hear your opinion when you have the chance.

I've not played the second at all yet but I have had a lot of fun with Dragon Age Origins. This is my fourth time through and I'm still having a blast. The combat is like Baldur's Gate but from a third person perspective where you can switch between your characters and issue commands. You can play it by pausing the game by holding a trigger and queuing up attacks for a turn at a time or play it more as an action game where the AI runs from an adjustable list (for example for Alistair if health is less than 25% use health potion).

The actual story is great and there are a large number of genuinely compelling choices with a number of consequences that affect your game experience. Some people have complained about this aspect of the game but clearly have not persued some of the more questionable paths. I plan on doing a playthrough soon where I do as little as possible for anyone to see how much carnage I can actually inflict upon the needy minions

The main thing that I like about the whole experience is the banter between your party members and the sheer amount of interesting dialogue that is written.

For the price you can get it now I wholeheartedly recommend it. Also get the Ultimate Edition if you want the DLC, otherwise you'll be spending a ton on a load of crappy 1-2 hour chunks. I have very few of them but have played them on a friend's Xbox and unless you have them all to do across a playthrough it comes off as a bitty waste of time.

[jonny5]

Asphalt 6 on my iPhone.

Pretty fun, but hard; still getting used to the controls. Jaw dropping graphics for a phone!

[Icarus]

Oboro Muramasa (Wii).
I'm in love.

[shmuppyLove]

Oboro Muramasa (Wii).
I'm in love.

Checked out some vids on YouTube

What are the controls like? (hopefully little to no waggling) Does it have classic controller support? Can I get by without knowing any Japanese?

[drauch]

^It's been released in the U.S. under the title Muramasa: The Demon blade for about 2 years now. And yeah, it has classic controller/gamecube support.

[Danza]

I picked up Kara no Shoujo yesterday. So far I am really liking it. Murder/mystery VN, with some slightly more interactive elements such as investigating crime scenes for clues, going through evidence etc. Seems like brutal shit is about to go down though.

DON'T READ BELOW IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS

I've seen the CGs from that game, and holy shit is it twisted and gory...

(possible) SPOILERS END HERE

Yeah the violence can be really brutal. Already have gotten 3 bad ends.. But so far I'm really liking this game. The artwork in it is really beautiful.

[ryu]

just had a friend over who owns a 3ds+oot3d. i was quite surprised when i played the game, the 3d effect was put to much more use than i had imagined. it adds quite a bit of depth and distance to the game and looks generally pretty cool.
you know when link grabs a chicken and walks around with it? with the 3d on it'll lose feathers that look like they're falling towards the player in such a way, that you imagine them to be coming out of the screen. i didn't expect the 3ds to be able to pull off such an effect.
that's the good part, though. the bad part is the 3d in this game is very tough and requires a lot of focus to be visibly stable, if you move just an inch you'll see everything double - often enough just moving your eyes will be enough to lose focus too. it puts a lot of strain on the eyes and it had mine actually hurting after a few couple of minutes.

we've also played some castlevania 64. we started the game out of some nostalgia said friend had for the game, having expected it to suck - bad it's actually pretty good and has only been getting better. the atmosphere in that game is just great. makes me wonder why i never see it discussed on the internet.

[CMoon]

...

Picked up Dragon Age Origins UE based on your recommendations (and a ton of reviews elsewhere.) I do enjoy the whole fantasy thing more than I should (this is like a running joke for me), and while I am really loving ME2, I prefer swords, sorcery and other fantasy faggotry way more than laser guns and spaceships, so I'm looking forward to it.

[drauch]

Finally got a couple of YS PC games thanks to Rancor. Just started The Oath in Felghana. Soooooo happy to finally own these games.

[Elixir]

Demon's Souls, again. I'm a beast, I can't believe how good my build turned out. If anyone has the Japanese or Asian versions, and is between 100-140, feel free to let me know.

[JJXB]

Finally got a couple of YS PC games thanks to Rancor. Just started The Oath in Felghana. Soooooo happy to finally own these games.

played oath in felghana on PSP. fun game. nice and engaging as an rpg and decent combat system.

[Van_Artic]

Blazblue: CS2

oh god i can't stop playing somebody help me D:

[mesh control]

Play Guilty Gear, that will help you.

[Zaarock]

Blazblue: CS2

oh god i can't stop playing somebody help me D:

This. Bought it on tuesday when it showed up on games on demand for 20e here, Learning to play Tsubaki eerily fast with basically no fighting game experience (well, I wouldn't consider VOOT similar). Great stuff, I don't like huge combos that much but the barrier burst etc. makes it manageable and more strategic.

[BIL]

we've also played some castlevania 64. we started the game out of some nostalgia said friend had for the game, having expected it to suck - bad it's actually pretty good and has only been getting better. the atmosphere in that game is just great. makes me wonder why i never see it discussed on the internet.

I've always enjoyed both of the N64 Castlevanias. Loved them at release and still enjoy occasionally replaying them now - a couple of levels are bland (mainly the first game's first stage) but the rest are often very clever, and as you say the atmosphere is superb.

[JJXB]

Blazblue: CS2

oh god i can't stop playing somebody help me D:

This. Bought it on tuesday when it showed up on games on demand for 20e here, Learning to play Tsubaki eerily fast with basically no fighting game experience (well, I wouldn't consider VOOT similar). Great stuff, I don't like huge combos that much but the barrier burst etc. makes it manageable and more strategic.

i'm a cs1 360 player myself. the 1.03 system data pack apparently brings the balance to cs2 standard. plus playing cs2 on psp is awkward with it's dpad

[DragonInstall]

Play Guilty Gear, that will help you.

This is the truth.

BB is basically a dumbed down version of GG.

Daisuke did say he plans to make another GG game... hopefully it stays true to the style of GG instead of the trash BB brought.

[null1024]

Sonic Pocket Adventure, just blazed through until I reached Aerobase, and then just lost from the sudden difficulty spike [the game was piss-easy until then]. Nice chiptune remixes though, except for the odd slightly off note and seemingly random octave switching.

[rapoon]

DDS - Finishing up all side quests so I can have extras in DDS 2. Fought Demi-Fiend. Arguably hardest RPG boss.
You must be completely maxed out to stand a chance and even then it's more about luck than "skill."

SMT Nocture - Playing on hard mode in first person. good times. "Hard" difficulty lives up to the setting.

I love all the SMT games. I really wish I could play and *understand* Soul Hackers. Gotta copy
sitting right here. =/

Splatterhouse (360)