What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Shelcoof]

Man I've been hooked on Playstation All Stars Battle Royal since January. Every chance I get to game I play this game and just recently added Ni No Kuni in just to switch things up for a change. Which is a really nice cool down from all the action of All Stars.

If you look past the poor choice of characters for the roster and just focus on the game mechanics you'll be pleasantly surprised at how fun and balanced the game is compared to other competitive games.

[Mortificator]

Dark Sun: Shattered Lands. It's better than any of the gold box games.

How does Wake of the Ravager (the one I have) hold up to it?

I love that game, really thought it was special at the time. Played it many times over. Wake of the Ravager had a lot of bugs, but it was good too.

Wake of the Ravager's good, but it is a step down from the first one. Combat's more frequent while less meaningful, and you don't have as much freedom in where to go and how to resolve situations. I think a certain bug shows up if you import your party, so you kind of need to avoid that feature.

I want to see another Dark Sun game, or at least another post-apocalyptic game where people were knocked down to being psychic Conans instead of Mad Maxes.

[null1024]

Quake II [PS1].

If there was a control mode that was option B, but with left/right being strafe and L2/R2 being turn, that'd be ideal. Having up/down being on L1/R1 feels really screwy.

yes, I could just play the PC version but blah

[trap15]

Gal☆Gun [X360]

Waaaah, I love this game.

[KAI]

Rip the music please.

[trap15]

I really should, it's damn good.

[shmuppyLove]

Gal☆Gun [X360]

Waaaah, I love this game.

Join the club

[Ed Oscuro]

fuck you Hyde Bohr

Fuck you too, Square. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to require precise timed dodges when the original PSP analog nub can't even differentiate between backwards or forwards and side-to-side? Terrible camera doesn't help either. Anyway, if I ever decide to figure it out, I'm just that last fight away from beating Deadly mode in 3rd Birthday. Unfortunately the boss starts up a bunch of absurd rushing attacks from close quarters that I can't consistently dodge, partly because I don't know if it requires just a sidestep, or a side jump, or gaining distance plus a jump. On top of all that I'm supposed to be wearing my fingers out firing away like mad the whole time, or the job doesn't get done. Fuck Square.

[Moniker]

Torchlight 2 (PC)

Shelved it for awhile, then came back and decided to play only Hardcore Elite characters. Only way to play the game. So far not looking up builds either, so it's lots of fun seeing what skills mesh, and how to stat build, even in the very early game. Figure I'll play vanilla for awhile, then check out the Synergies Mod, which looks really freaking good. Apparently the guy puts out a new version almost daily.

Diablo 2, you've been replaced.

[Zaarock]

Cyber Troopers Virtual-On [XBLA]

Japan only release, cool stuff sega widescreen only display too. Otherwise can't really find anything to complain about, everything seems solid along with netcode. Feels weird after playing VOOT for years but very fun.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I suppose it's a port of the PS2 remake, much like NiGHTS. If so, it should have optional jump cancelling.

[null1024]

Cyber Troopers Virtual-On [XBLA]

Japan only release, cool stuff sega widescreen only display too. Otherwise can't really find anything to complain about, everything seems solid along with netcode. Feels weird after playing VOOT for years but very fun.

Does it have local splitscreen? That was the biggest problem I had with VOOT 5.66 on XBLA, no local multiplayer at all.

[Zaarock]

Nope, just system link and online. VO Force has splitscreen though, definitely worth getting if you're a fan of the series. At least all the games have good netcode. Also, you got deadly damage™

[CoolgyFurlough]

Thanks to the wonderful people on this forum, I am currently losing my life to Etrian Odyssey III. This game is absolutely amazing. I never thought that I would love turn based combat, but this game really makes it fun and interesting.

[Ed Oscuro]

Hyde Bohr went down like a bitch earlier. Turned out my initial impression a few plays back - just mash the jump + fire buttons together - was the correct course after all. lol square

I started up a new game for the hell of it, but fuck this, Insane is going to be too much. I tried the first (mini)boss opener for Mission 1, and it soaked up basically the full ammo reserves of the highest-impact shotgun (I'd say the name if I remembered it; it's gibberish, lol PAL area; it's modeled on a Benelli M4 / M1014 shotgun) and a couple crossfires before I could even get an overdive attack, and that did pitiable damage. OH BOY

I can't believe they want me to play 7 more times to unlock the infinite ammo cheat. And speaking of that, I find you can't activate them during missions, which kind of defeats the purpose...

Time to put this one to bed I think.

Good thing I just installed X: Beyond the Frontier!

[null1024]

Nope, just system link and online. VO Force has splitscreen though, definitely worth getting if you're a fan of the series. At least all the games have good netcode. Also, you got deadly damage™

Eek, I played Force against a friend, was dreadfully slow stuff.

Well, no point in getting VOOM for the 360 then. So glad that PS2 port exists.
I still wish there was a port of VOOT 5.66 to something that did have local split screen.

[Ed Oscuro]

Oh, for anybody who cares to compare notes: I got Lightning costume and Blaze Edge before finishing the game on Deadly, before episode 5. Got the Knight Armor (which is pretty goofy looking, not sure about durability) before the game ending. Blaze Edge stinks.

One thing I haven't tried is spamming liberation all over the place, which is something a pistol will help with apparently. Might have to try that out.

[null1024]

Dark Edge [Arcade/MAME].

I had to play it after reading the HG101 page about it.
I want to like it. It's a fully 3D sprite based fighter. That concept alone got me wet.

But, the controls suck [the jump button is especially bad, and a good 2/3ds of the control issues would have been fixed by having a free run button instead of a jump button, and just having normal 2D plane motion otherwise], and the camera is fixed in only one spot, so if a player is in front of another, one of them is being hidden.

Also, all the special moves take ages to come out, in a game where dodging projectiles is a simple matter of walking around them.

Oh, and charge motions for specials. In a 3D fighter. One where the easiest way to screw this up is to stand in front of your opponent so left and right keep switching. Blah.

and why are low hits done with the stick in neutral aaaaaa

It is mighty impressive visually though. System 32 power, 'twould have been amazing if there was a home system at the time that could come close to providing that kind of spectacle.

[KAI]

AM2's Cho Jikuu Yosai Macross (PS2)
So Arcadey, like a mix of Ace Combat and Virtual-On.

[mesh control]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. CALL OF PRIPYAT: S.M.R.T.E.R. MOD
So far, it's my favorite mod of CoP.
I think it's by the same team or person who did Misery.

Vanilla CoP is pretty slow and boring, mostly due to the size of the maps and locations mutants actually appear, making vanilla CoP feel more like a stop and smell the roses game. Urging you to explore a bit, without (as) many penalties. SMTER's enemy density, mostly attributed to random spawns makes the game a bit more intense. Random zombie outbreaks, encountering a pack of psydogs or a random pseudo-giant make things a bit more exciting. Tons of areas from Clear Sky and Shadow of Chernobyl are added too. I haven't visited them, yet.

There are more guns added, of course. Gun mechanics are tightened up, mostly due to increased damaged. Headshots are usually 1HKO, unless the enemy is a mutant or in an exoskeleton.



I tried playing the Complete mod, but vanilla is really, really boring. I ended up just spawning a bunch stalkers and bloodsuckers into a battlefield. Also Misery's forced difficulty became tiresome. Constantly worrying about eating and sleeping....bleh. It was pretty, though.


For some reason the bolt was replaced with a throwing knife that does no damage at all.
I wish somebody would make a mod that accurately simulates nighttime and add some sort of ambient glow.


GET OUT OF HERE, STALKERS.


Probably won't play for awhile. I've had bronchitis all week and I needed something mindless to do.

[trap15]

Gal☆Gun [X360]

Just SS rank cleared the tsundere girl. I still think Aoi's the best :3 Bunny-ear ahoge ftw

[Zaarock]

Nope, just system link and online. VO Force has splitscreen though, definitely worth getting if you're a fan of the series. At least all the games have good netcode. Also, you got deadly damage™

Eek, I played Force against a friend, was dreadfully slow stuff.

Yeah, it's a bit slower. But there is certainly no reason to play 1v1 in it, don't do that the justification for things being slower is the fact that there are four players which means a lot of shit going on anyway and putting more emphasis on teamwork and whatnot. Melee is actually stronger than before because it wasnt slowed down much at all.

Very underrated game in the west which is disappointing, online it has as many or more japanese players than VOOT and a lot of advanced techniques that people dont know

[Siren2011]

Oni by Bungie Studios (PC version).

Oh dear god. There is so much to say about this game. So much praise, a few faults, but definitely a leap in the right direction with the 3D action/brawler genre for its time. It basically integrates nothing less than furious gunplay with fluid martial arts.

First off, there are so many ways to handle nearly every situation in the game thanks to the superb level design, as well as so many subtleties and nuances, --both aesthetic and mechanic-- and a wide, non-restrictive, full range of motion move set in the vein of pure arcade 2D side scrolling beat 'em ups such as Cadillacs Kyouryuu Shinseiki (1993). Enemies are also brutal as all hell on hard mode (especially if you purposely deprive yourself of the hypos for added challenge), with an obvious rank separating the grunts you fight early on, from the intimidating gas mask wearing 2nd division of soldiers, all the way up to the monstrous and deliciously varied elite squad whose moves are extremely aggressive and always thinking 2 steps ahead of you, making it absolutely necessary for you to master the art of disposing of the smaller ones as a minimum prerequisite to survival later on. And they will even go out of their way to stand above your lifeless body to shoot your dead corpse with a smile on their face! Sometimes, they even shout things like "You lose!" and "How pathetic." in between your death and the spawning of the game over screen to further humiliate the player's pride. It's refreshing to play a game in which the A.I. doesn't seem to concede you anything or show even the slightest glimmer of mercy toward you. In all respects, it is the embodiment of everything great about Japanese gaming.

But despite these heavy burdens, astonishingly, it seems nothing in this game is insurmountable. Every move you will ever acquire has its vital function in the context of the many battles that await you. In some of my most seemingly hopeless, 10% health remaining moments in which I was tempted to purposely allow myself to die so I could start the level over with full health, I found myself harshly depriving myself of giving up, and in a beautiful instant when I was about to be grappled and pile-driven headfirst onto the hard floor, some deep seeded, insubordinate instinct within me pushed my limits forward. "I will NOT die here!" And in that instant, I ended up almost effortlessly using counter techniques I had never used before to overcome the odds without a second thought. Indeed, before that happened these same counter techniques were a mystery to me, their purpose seemed superfluous. I felt like an action hero from a movie! Few things are as great as this, as far as gaming is concerned, and once you look back on yourself from a few minutes ago and think "How stupid was I to think it was the end? lol! My determination proved this pessimism to be a hallucination! I actually made it out and proved the impossible possible!" This, my friends, is pure gaming magic. The game is PLENTIFUL with moments of revelation such as these, making the gradual building of your skills a steep climb than NEVER feels like grinding or gets old.

The story is almost as deep (emphasis on the "almost") as something like Ghost in the Shell, as the overall theme of the game definitely derives influences from a multitude of the greatest hand drawn, cyperpunk/cyber-crime drama anime of the 90's all the way from its visuals to its soundtrack (which occasionally, to my pleasurable surprise, contains string instruments. But it is predominantly pulse pounding techno-ish with a very noticable Japanese edge.).

Just a fucking adrenaline rush, is what it is. It has such a passionate following, that fans are STILL making highly detailed fan skins/texture packs for the anniversary edition. (Google it, I have no patience to bring up the link for you.)

My review is on the way. Expect great things, guys. This is a big one, and it deserves the most sophisticated analysis I can possibly give with my current level of intellectual powers and gaming knowledge (with is still wayyy more limited than I would like it to be, which is why I've been doing practically nothing but skipping college classes and catching up on playing games almost to the point of madness.)

P.S. Keep in mind that I have barely even scratched the surface of this game. I discover more about it literally every day I play, so it might take a while before I feel 100% confident enough in writing the review.

P.P.S. Skykid, no bitching about "this sucks about it" and "that sucks about it" until you play the game. I wasn't born yesterday, I know part of you wants to open a new tab right now and search the trailer with criticism already in mind. lol

[mesh control]

I never played it, but I had this taped on my wall when I was younger:

[Siren2011]

Dude, seriously. Get on that shit. You don't know what you're missing!

Also, I had an Oni T-shirt with Konoko on it (voiced by ADV's own, extremely talented Amanda Winn Lee) as a day-of-launch-purchase bonus at Fry's Electronics. Oh, AND I won the three only issues Oni comic books made for the sake of hyping the game (story is pap, though) by getting first place at a Street Fighter 3rd Strike tournament! I still have them, but the shirt mysteriously vanished a long time ago...I can't find it on Ebay anywhere. Ah, memories.

[Siren2011]

Heavy Metal Fakk 2 is next on my list after this and Metal Gear Rising. I would LOVE to revisit that game and actually play the full version rather than the mere demo. I remember being extremely impressed with the graphics engine (Unreal II?) almost as much as I was with the ability to wield a fucking sword in one hand, and an uzi in the other, with right and left mouse buttons controlling each respectively. Bosses were terrifying too when I was a youngin'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGTuNlQ2AYM

[Ed Oscuro]

HMF II uses the Quake III engine. It's an okay game. The opening boss fights in the barn or wherever are pretty stupid, but the game does some vaguely interesting things later on. The last area was pretty nice to look at.

I never played it, but I had this taped on my wall when I was younger:

Haha, I think 75% of young males of that age could say essentially the same thing - ogled but never played.

She looks kinda squat.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

They had a Sopranos pinball machine at this bar I went to. The machine was really dirty and the ball got stuck pretty bad a few times. Seemed like a cool pin though. Went back home and started back in on Forza Horizon. I think the Ascari KZ1 is really fun to drive. Sticks to the road really well.

[Acid King]

I've been bouncing back and forth between Shinobi and Kunoichi alternating levels. I've owned both for awhile but have yet to beat either of them. Last time I played Shinobi I made it up to the final boss and ended up setting it aside after a few dozen failed attempts. Never put much time in to Kunoichi before now. Right now I've left Kunoichi off on the speedboat level while I clear Stage 6A on Shinobi. I forgot what a pain the in balls this stage is. Really makes me appreciate the addition of the homing kick in Kunoichi, as the cylindrical shafts with the bottomless pits are irritating.

[AweOfShe]

I am absolutely hooked on Fire Emblem Awakening. Been playing it on my commutes to and from work (4 hours of commuting a day >_<).
Just hit Chapter 19, and at 42 hours. I have all the 2nd gen children, and am going through Supports with them.