What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[null1024]

Sonic R [Saturn]. Trying to control Sonic like he's running doesn't work. It feels so damn obnoxious. Getting the hang of it, and imagining I'm in an invisible hovercar.

Also, emulating in SSF on the PC because the Saturn version is a bit more expensive than I expected [$30?!]. I will probably just go grab Sonic Gems Collection in the future, which is all of $3, and the load times are supposed to be shorter. And it has Sonic the Fighters on it, hehe.

EDIT: woah, Gems is loads more expensive than I thought. Mega Collection is $3. Gems Collection is $15 and up. But, it's not $30, and that's what matters.
EDIT2: I'm playing Burning Rangers [Saturn]. Emulation of course, because I am still waiting for my copy to arrive.
Very pretty. It looks like a late-gen PS1 title, what with the transparency and lighting and other coolness. Although, it runs a bit crappily in SSF.

Getting a Japanese copy because I am too poor for the way overpriced US version
It is a shame I will miss out on the cool voice thing. I should probably get my Saturn chipped and just burn the US version, the price of a lot of US Saturn games is silly.

EDIT3: what the fuck was I doing when I typed this, there was an entire line of barely coherent words

[shmuppyLove]

Star Ocean: First Departure on PSP

Shit's awesome.

[null1024]

Got Sonic Gems Collection.
God, the SFX in Sonic CD are atrocious. They sound terrible [compared to the Sega CD version and the recent port by Taxman]. Also, US soundtrack. So, didn't play it past the first level.

But I've mostly been playing Sonic R [GC]. Got all the emeralds, and unlocked 2 of Eggman's robots. Once you get used to the control, this game gets stupid easy, I just need to find the other emblems to unlock the other 2 characters. Turned off weather first thing.
The lighting looks better on the Saturn version, and the not-transparent Radiant Emerald is disappointing as fuck. Sure, it's a port of the PC version, not the Saturn version, but that should have been put back in. Although, it would have been coolest if they combined them -- transparency and pulsating lights.

Oh, and I did play a bit of Sonic the Fighters [GC]. I thought it was just ElSemi's Model 2 emulator that was screwing up on Tails's stage BG. Nope, happens here too, some sort of weird Z drawing issue. Reached Metal Sonic, who made me continue twice, and then I timed out fighting Eggman. Gaaaaah.

[ArmoredCore]

Enjoying the shit out of "Rainbow Moon" on psn store. I'm surprised at how huge this rpg slash srpg (the battles are tile/grid based) is. The game world is ginormous ands feels alot like zelda. Simple mechanics to master, very hard to put down controller lol. Soldner-X Team out done themselves. 15$ well spent that feels like a retail priced game. I think they can do an action rpg similar to falcom Y's.

[Moniker]

Got Wizorb (indie breakout clone w/ light rpg stuff) for PSP Mini. Some odd infrequent framerate drops aside, perfect game for a handheld. Inspired me to go hunting for Metroid Pinball, but I think I sold it...

Edit: Finally finished Far Cry 2. Not a bad game, by any means, but kind of one-note. Mixing up your weapon load-out helps. Sort of a GTA in the Congo with far better core mechanics and far less variety.

[Marc]

I just picked up Wizorb myself, seems nice so far.

Also, Manic fucking Miner on XBLIG. Its an official conversion by Elite who are behind the iThing app, slightly expensive at 240 points but a game that I enjoy as much today as I did *shudder* 30 years ago. Fuck.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Xenoblade Chronicles (time to finish some of those unsealed games before unsealing more) and I still can't shake the feeling it's a PC game with some bizarre gimmicks implemented for the heck of it. Even the 16:9 aspect ratio (it runs bordered on a 4:3 telly) looks awkward (upper bodies of taller enemies are hardly ever on screen during combat and there's a number of visibility issues that wouldn't be there in a standard isometric view).
I enjoyed my share of Diablo 1&2, Dungeon Siege II and Guild Wars thus I don't have a problem with auto-attacking and such. The biggest problem is that I don't have any incentive to "master" anything about it. If my party gets wiped out by some creature, I respawn and move on, assuming there's a bit grinding to do if I want to stand a chance against it, but I'm following the story without breaking a sweat.
Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song barely has any story, but also has the "save anywhere" feature, huge world and quite hazardous exploration. In comparison, Xenoblade Chronicles feels like a walk in the park.

[Hagane]

Finished Mass Effect 3. Despite the improved system, the missions aren't as well designed as in 2 and it seems to suffer from KOTOR 2 syndrome (feels like they ran out of budget midway through development).

Started The Witcher 2, and looks promising. Much better than the mediocre first part. The 1LC difficulty mode sold me.

[sjewkestheloon]

Finally finished a normal route run of Persona 4 which was incredible. I have already started Persona 3 Portable and it seems to be just as enjoyable. Very odd games with a really fun battle system and entertaining boss fights.

Been playing a crap ton of Minecraft 360 with friends and I am currently crafting a giant jukebox which plays loops over various floors. You will be able to walk in a spiral up the tower and have the song change as to lower floors go out of range and the upper floors come in.

Also enjoying Dead Island GOTY edition. Feels very much like a zombie film and the melee combat is good fun. I can now throw zombies on the floor and then pop their heads by jumping mario style.

[Hagane]

I was going to try Dead Island and then I read that you don't really die, you just respawn after a few seconds. Is that true? Because that would really fuck up any kind of survival horror feel.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Figures, Xenoblade Chronicles can be played zoomed out after all. I forgot, probably because the aliasing almost hurts like that (and the visibility issues don't quite disappear). Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance didn't have such a draw distance, but looked better all around (on the PS2 back in 2001 to boot).

[sjewkestheloon]

I was going to try Dead Island and then I read that you don't really die, you just respawn after a few seconds. Is that true? Because that would really fuck up any kind of survival horror feel.

Yes unfortunately you just respawn a little way back and you lose a little money. Hasn't really affected me too much to be honest. My zombie film comments relate more to the fact that your weapons are constantly breaking and you have to make do with whatever is at hand. There are little pockets of humanity dotted about and you have no choice but to venture out for supplies, etc. It isn't groundbreaking and there are issues, but I have been having fun.

[Ghegs]

Well, I finished up Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit's racer mode with all Golds. The last event is a long drive through all the major places in the map using the fastest, Hyper-class vehicles. It brought back strong Outrun 2/C2C/OOA flashbacks and was very enjoyable.

I have zero interest in the police side of the game, so now I'm going to focus on the multiplayer and especially time attacking. If anybody wants to have a race, give me a call.

[EmperorIng]

I'm thinking of getting Die Hard Arcade for the Saturn with some of the money I acquired selling my DS games on ebay (I still have Ninja Gaiden DS up, if anyone's interested! More to come ), and I'm wondering if anyone here has anything, good or bad, to say about the game. It looks like a fun beat-em-up to me, and while I never played it in the Arcades (I remember the machine, but I didn't care about Die Hard when I was a kid! Yes, I was foolish then...), I'm always looking for non-shmup saturn games worth having.

[null1024]

I'm thinking of getting Die Hard Arcade for the Saturn with some of the money I acquired selling my DS games on ebay (I still have Ninja Gaiden DS up, if anyone's interested! More to come ), and I'm wondering if anyone here has anything, good or bad, to say about the game. It looks like a fun beat-em-up to me, and while I never played it in the Arcades (I remember the machine, but I didn't care about Die Hard when I was a kid! Yes, I was foolish then...), I'm always looking for non-shmup saturn games worth having.

I remember loving the shit out of this game in the arcade, but it's been years since I've played it. Been about 5 years since I've seen a cabinet with it. It was the only ST-V game I ever saw though.

Also, the game has fuck-all to do with Die Hard. It's just a retitled version of Sega's Dynamite Deka.

[BIL]

I love Dynamite Deka / DH Arcade. Got both the Saturn and PS2 versions - only discovered it very recently too, no nostalgia here. It's a Virtua Fighter-modeled beltscroller (sans scrolling), basically. Tons of combos and moves derived from a simple three buttons+stick system, with a really meaty sense of impact. Graphics and animations are pretty garish these days but the game has a deranged kind of goofiness that counters that. Get ready to kick a baddie in the balls ("guohhh!") before shooting him in the face with a rocket launcher. PS2 Arrange Mode looks like a decent PS2-era game, but tbh I prefer the gritty yet blaringly colourful STV graphics.

The sequel Dynamite Deka 2 / Dynamite Cop plays a lot smoother but is ultimately nowhere near as tight or intense... the enemies simply can't keep up with the player's free movement and much-increased speed (and especially the stupid "hyper mode"). Still a fun game but it'll quickly feel too easy. Really wish I could play the Naomi-only third game, Asian Dynamite, to see if it did any better.

As for me... Final DOOM via BDOOM. Feeling very spoilt. Too damn good.

[drauch]

^Yeah, I'm playing Final Doom as well right now. On the fucking level "The Hunted" that starts you in a room with about 20 or more trapped arch viles. Poppy carnival music starts playing, you exit the door, and the arch viles teleport around the map. And it's a maze. So brutal, but so awesome.

[shmuppyLove]

As for me... Final DOOM via BDOOM. Feeling very spoilt. Too damn good.

Is BDOOM freeware?

[Moniker]

Been playing Metroid: Other M. A lot better than I was expecting. Maybe not a great Metroid game, but certainly a great action-adventure title. The complaints about the damage to Samus's character were definitely overstated. At least as far as I've played (I'm guessing 20% or so).

As for me... Final DOOM via BDOOM. Feeling very spoilt. Too damn good.

Is BDOOM freeware?

AFAIK, you need to get the Doom WADs (essentially all the game data) from the commercial product. The Brutal mod is freeware akin to ips patches. I don't know the legality of the zDoom game engine, but it's pretty public and I don't think iD has complained.

[null1024]

AFAIK, you need to get the Doom WADs (essentially all the game data) from the commercial product. The Brutal mod is freeware akin to ips patches. I don't know the legality of the zDoom game engine, but it's pretty public and I don't think iD has complained.

The Doom engine has been GPL for ages now.
Getting the WADs is another story, but IIRC you can still buy them from iD.

[CMoon]

Man, I so much as boot up my ps2 with Digital Devil Saga, and suddenly it is 6 hours later. What is it with the SMT games?

[BIL]

Is BDOOM freeware?

AFAIK, you need to get the Doom WADs (essentially all the game data) from the commercial product. The Brutal mod is freeware akin to ips patches. I don't know the legality of the zDoom game engine, but it's pretty public and I don't think iD has complained.

Yeah, what Moniker said. I just torrented the WADs, since I actually own The Ultimate DOOM, DOOM II and Final DOOM in their glorious Big Box Windows 95 CD-ROM releases. And Wolf3D, Heretic Deathkings and Quake. All the classic iD stuff that nags you upon exiting to DOS. :3

^Yeah, I'm playing Final Doom as well right now. On the fucking level "The Hunted" that starts you in a room with about 20 or more trapped arch viles. Poppy carnival music starts playing, you exit the door, and the arch viles teleport around the map. And it's a maze. So brutal, but so awesome.

TNT has actually made me jump a few times. Monster closets, monster closets everywhere!

[Obiwanshinobi]

Slowly warming up to Xenoblade Chronicles. Too soon to be talking about an acquired taste, but I must praise all the hard work Monolith put in it to make sure the gameplay doesn't utterly suck. There's some admirable humility to it.
I mean, Nintendo knows a thing of two about making video games, but nowadays they have the "brand" and "prestige" to take care of. Good to see them publishing stuff that at least tries to be good without playing it safe.

[BIL]

Oh dear god... cut a Revenant in half with the minigun, then turned around to see its lower body running off into the distance before finally toppling over. I love BDOOM.

Related: a minigun on spinup is a lovely thing to have when opening unfamiliar doors!

[BrianC]

Really wish I could play the Naomi-only third game, Asian Dynamite, to see if it did any better.

From what I read at HG101, it's just a reskinned Dynamite Deka 2 with a revised power up system rather than an all new game.

[BIL]

Yeah, I definitely noticed it'd reused large chunks of DD2's levels... then again, my problem with DD2 is basically its powerup system and balancing, both of which are way too favouring of the player. I'd love just a plus alpha version of the same game. The Dreamcast port somewhat tries to do this with a few challenge modes, but it's not enough. There's also survival mode which eventually gets pretty insane and is why I still own it.

In DOOM news, man is TNTM4/ "Wormhole" the conceptually coolest DOOM level ever... I wonder if the Silent Hill team played this, the iconic Midwich Elementary does something eerily similar. "Haven't I been here bef-oohhh shit!"

[Moniker]

Is BDOOM freeware?

AFAIK, you need to get the Doom WADs (essentially all the game data) from the commercial product. The Brutal mod is freeware akin to ips patches. I don't know the legality of the zDoom game engine, but it's pretty public and I don't think iD has complained.

Yeah, what Moniker said. I just torrented the WADs, since I actually own The Ultimate DOOM, DOOM II and Final DOOM in their glorious Big Box Windows 95 CD-ROM releases. And Wolf3D, Heretic Deathkings and Quake. All the classic iD stuff that nags you upon exiting to DOS. :3

It's also worth mentioning that there are plenty of free fan WADs out there, if you don't feel like paying/pirating. Some are quite good (eg Ultimate Torment & Torture). The Brutal mod should be compatible as long as the WAD is more or less vanilla. Point being, you can try the experience totally free and clear, if you so wish.

[Moniker]

Thank god. I finally beat Metroid (NES).

There's a lot I like about it - the physics, general play mechanics, atmosphere, exploration. But there are glaring issues that prevented me from enjoying it as much as I'd like. Chief among these is the scarcity of powerup items. You really have to grind forever in order to restore your energy and missiles. If you aren't playing a hack that recharges your tanks whenever you continue, it's a massive annoyance. Enemies that respawn only give you an item about 1/4 of the time, and it's always 5 energy and not 20. Once you get screw attack it gets better, since you can go after larger falling and jumping enemies that drop 20s. Never found the wave beam. Finally there's no real great way to get a sense of where you are, apart from memorizing. There's a lua script for mapping, but that diminishes the exploration, since it gives away the entire map. Something like Zelda 1's minimalist mapping would've been perfect. The stage design is decent but not amazing. I imagine you could make a pretty great hack out of it, but overall, the product just seems unbalanced and incomplete.

Anyway, on my Metroid marathon, I've now finished:
Metroid, Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid Zero Mission.
As well as the SM hacks Super Zero Mission and Stardust (both highly recommended, especially the former).

On the docket: Metroid II, Other M, and the Prime Trilogy + Hunters. May also replay MZM on hard.
As well as SM hacks Eris, Ice Metal, and Redesign.

[FIL]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, again.

Trying for the pacifist achievement. Not sure I'll get it because somebody I Tranq'd was showing a dead icon.

[shmuppyLove]

Mr. Driller 2 - just got the PCB

It's got drilling, globetrotting, the life and death struggle for oxygen, and a dog that talks.

SUPER manly.