What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Ruldra]

FF13: Lightning Returns Demo [PS3].

Dunno what to make of it. Is there really no way to move faster in a fight? It seems completely wrong to be facing an enemy and walk as slowly as she does.

I'm not too familiar with the mechanics (I played the japanese version of the demo), but the combat system seems to be much better than the previous games. People are killing the demo boss in a matter of seconds (while it took me over 5 minutes).

[MR_Soren]

I'm playing Bayonetta, and it's a really fun game. The combat is wonderful.

[BulletMagnet]

Dunno what to make of it. Is there really no way to move faster in a fight? It seems completely wrong to be facing an enemy and walk as slowly as she does.

When I played it the movement honestly seemed kind of vestigial, since whenever you attack an enemy she automatically rushes up to it, not to mention that whenever an enemy used a super attack the camera would zoom in on it and make it impossible to see where you're going. Maybe there's some aspect of it I'm missing...

[soprano1]

Pokemon X, for about a month now (good God, already?). I really want to get Bravely Default, but i can't find a copy anywhere. Wondering if i should get Tales of the Abyss? Is it a decent port? The original PS2 version didn't get a PAL release, like most Tales games.

[null1024]

Tales of the Abyss 3DS is pretty fine, other than a few depressing spots on the overworld where it slows to a crawl.
Oh, and rather late in the game there are a few polygon errors on certain structures [a handful of triangles will become invisible depending on your position].

Other than that, it's pretty much just like the PS2 version as far as I've heard. I only have the 3DS version, so I can't really compare the two myself.

---

I've been playing Super Hang-On [3DS].
I'm still terrible at it, but damn it's fun. Getting better.

[D-KMR]

Just finished Ghost Trick I cried a little at the end
Been hitting up Tokyo Jungle as well, super addictive, struggling to reach the 100 year mark because fucking Dinosaurs and Lions and Crocodiles and Pomeranians keep fucking me up around the 70 year mark or so.

[Ed Oscuro]

I guess we'll find out tomorrow if this is real. Wonder how many people are waiting with bated breath for Sanic's new and edgier genderswapped form? Before we talk about the endless opportunities there, though, I wanted to comment that it would be telling of Sega's mindset that they would model a 'Year of X' for their supposed top character, when the original was about the underdog second-stringer brother, whose year ended up being a "fiscal year of X" and a disappointment. (Although I'm not sure that was due to the Weegee stuff.)

[Marc]

Just picked up the Namco 360 comp. Man I used to beast Rolling Thunder for fun in my younger years, half an hour last night saw me progress no further than act 4. Still a tremendously fun game though, I've always much preferred it to Shinobi. Will be sticking with this till I clear it.

Meanwhile, the arrangements are mostly a waste of time, I can't be bothered with PacMan CE after playing the far superior DX, but Galaga Legions seems more fun than the DX version.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm real happy for you, Dark Chronicle, and I'ma let you finish -
but Dark Cloud has one of the worst intros of all time. ALL TIME.

[replayme]

Resistance 3. Never played any of the Resistance games before, but the post-apocalyptic setting for 3 really made it stand out for me. Plus the fact that it's been in my back catalogue for over a year, and I've never touched it.

Nearly bought GTA5 on PS3 today, and then came to my senses and cancelled. Still need to buy The Last of Us, alongside Zelda: ALBW. Because you know, priorities...

GTA5 can wait. I'm sure it'll be cheap by the time I get round to it.

[Moniker]

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (3DS)

Now that the waggle attack/roll/bisou is gone, enjoying it properly. Really good level design. The only thing that annoys me so far (bit of the way into world 3), is that when you have Diddy Kong on your back, it's pretty difficult to bounce off enemies for increased height. If you press jump a little before or after, the Diddy jetpack nulls out your vertical gain. I dunno, maybe it's a learning yer skillz type thing. I had some practice against those voodoo-type enemies with flat heads that take multiple bops to kill. The margin of error is pretty narrow, though. I feel like I'd like to play a mode sans Diddy, which, if I were motivated enough, I could make it a voluntary challenge. But he fully heals you just by busting his crate. And some of the collectibles seem to require jetpacking. *shrug*

[Ed Oscuro]

But he fully heals you just by busting his crate.

Interest piqued!

[Moniker]

I'm also suddenly interested in who exactly does the voice work for Nintendo characters. Because, broadly speaking, the only thing they know how to say is their own name. Mario & Luigi are probably easy enough. Just affect a tragically stereotypical accent as you say your own name. But Donkey Kong.. that's a big of magickry. Saying the words with the tenor of an ape, and simultaneously assuming the diction of a donkey... that's some true skill, there.

Whosoever does Link's emotive vocalizations deserves no Christmas bonus, mind you. I could easily put in a passable "Whaa," "Oooh," or "Ahhh," without breaking a sweat. The chap who does Epona certainly has a harder time of it.

[BrianC]

I'm also suddenly interested in who exactly does the voice work for Nintendo characters. Because, broadly speaking, the only thing they know how to say is their own name. Mario & Luigi are probably easy enough. Just affect a tragically stereotypical accent as you say your own name. But Donkey Kong.. that's a big of magickry. Saying the words with the tenor of an ape, and simultaneously assuming the diction of a donkey... that's some true skill, there.

Whosoever does Link's emotive vocalizations deserves no Christmas bonus, mind you. I could easily put in a passable "Whaa," "Oooh," or "Ahhh," without breaking a sweat. The chap who does Epona certainly has a harder time of it.

It's a him!

Edit: Runner 2 isn't listed. He does the voice in that game. It's actually not Mario-ish in that game, though, oddly enough, he used his Mario voice for Pac-Man Vs. It looks like Charles Martinet voiced DK in a couple games, but got replaced by Takashi Nagasako.

[LtC]

Dragon's Dogma.
Surpassed my expectations. It's a large, open-world game ... of fucking something. SotC with effort, WRPG with gameplay, etc etc

The combat feels a lot better than Souls, for sure. Boss grabs can go, though. Most big bosses just fuck around so that you can grab onto them. I prefer they attacked more often.

There are all sort of fancy level designs you could come up for the jump and ledge grab mechanic but I've only ever had to use it for the occasional oddly placed items. It lacks the fun levels of SARK DOULS as well. There aren't a lot of traps, just branches.

Framerate and save/load times are beyond shit. This forced me to downgrade from Hard to Normal. While dying is fun, it takes twice my PC boot time to reload a save and my console doesn't enjoy it too much. Don't get hit? Can't do that when the game's constantly running at 10fps and Mage/Sorc spells make your screen look like Vanquish with a Lightning Returns overlay.

The game should've had a PC port.

It's a fantastic game but it has loads of problems (Framerate, how damage is calculated, item balance, enemy placements not changing, etc). I didn't really enjoy it that much until post game and BitterBlack Isle. BitterBlack Isle definitely gets close to Dark Souls levels of fun.

Definitely DO NOT put the game on hard. It only makes the game more tedious in every possible way without adding anything satisfying. If you want the game to be harder and more satisfying there are plenty of ways you can restrict yourself to make the game more challenging and satisfying.

[Ed Oscuro]

Dororo uppercut!

Man, why did I have to screw up the slashes against the one enemy that had just page after page of Xs, lol

[Ruldra]

Definitely DO NOT put the game on hard. It only makes the game more tedious in every possible way without adding anything satisfying.

Does that tip also applies to Skyrim? I plan to play through that game only once and was thinking of raising the difficulty to maximum, but I fear it'd just turn enemies into damage sponges and make things really boring.

[CStarFlare]

Skyrim difficulty cuts the damage you do and boosts the damage you take. That's basically the only difference. If you want a difficulty bump I imagine there are mods that do it better.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Dororo uppercut!

Man, why did I have to screw up the slashes against the one enemy that had just page after page of Xs, lol

There's a sword that during slash makes every hit count as two somewhere. Helps invaluably at some point.
Use double tap rather than L3 for dash (a choice controls menu gives you). Once you get to dash, that is (end of the 1st chapter). I read L3-dashing in Blood Will Tell is bad for the thumbstick.

[Ruldra]

Skyrim difficulty cuts the damage you do and boosts the damage you take. That's basically the only difference. If you want a difficulty bump I imagine there are patches that do it better.

Not when I'm playing the PS3 version. Guess I'll stick with the default difficulty.

Thanks for the info.

[LtC]

Definitely DO NOT put the game on hard. It only makes the game more tedious in every possible way without adding anything satisfying.

Does that tip also applies to Skyrim? I plan to play through that game only once and was thinking of raising the difficulty to maximum, but I fear it'd just turn enemies into damage sponges and make things really boring.

I only put around 10-15 hours on Skyrim when it was released and I did play on hardest or one of the harder difficulties. Skyrim is different from Dragon's Dogma in the way that you don't have to be able to defeat everything, well at least most of the time. The game becomes incredibly unsatisfying when you realize you can just brainlessly meleespam everything. You can change the difficulty at any point so you can just change it to whatever you feel like once you got a good feel to the game. Playing on harder difficulty does require you to save often so if you play on a console you're probably just better off playing on default difficulty. I would also recommend not to get it on a console since you can't mod it nor can you access weapon/item/spell shortcuts so you have to go to the menu every time you want to change what you are holding.

By the way did you ever get to playing Dark Souls?

[Marc]

I'm genuinely puzzled as to how anyone can enjoy Oblivion or Skyrim. The floaty controls and shit combat, alongside identikit dungeons are fucking horrible. I'd really like to hear a compelling argument from someone that's played them extensively, but while Dark Souls, or even Dagons Dogma exists, I just don't get why these games get the time of day.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Action Fist! - basically an older indie attempt at a run 'n gun platformer. I say attempt, because while the author credits "Metal Slug, Contra, and mostly Gunstar Heroes", it really doesn't emulate them well, and the few ways it tries to be unique don't end up working well at all. It's cool that there's multiple difficulty levels and some unlockable characters, but the difficulties only seem to affect how much health you have. Enemy damage varies vastly, so even with full health you can easily die in a couple hits in some spots. You can't shoot diagonally though, and enemies damage you on collision (no throw or knife here)... most of the enemies are robots with jetpacks that are super manuverable.

But the real danger comes from the platforming, which seems to be what was focused on the most. None of the fights in the levels are very difficult, but suddenly levels with instadeath traps show up where you're expected to learn what to do, and keep dying until you do so (run across a pit of exploding bricks with some tricky jumps). Then there's the endgame which has multiple autoscrolling levels... feels like each level focuses way too much on the platforming with enemies as an afterthought. You're given infinite lives, which is even more insulting since it's like you're expected to die. Jumps are kinda horrible, they're way too floaty for a run 'n gun and your double jump doesn't reset horizontal velocity, so it's hard to quickly change directions. Heck, even moving from a standstill takes half a second because your movement isn't instant full speed, you have acceleration and inertia here.

Boss fights are okay, the last boss is a ton of fun to learn because it has 4 different forms you fight with no breaks, but it's frankly a massive fucking leap in difficulty from the rest of the game, and it's the only seriously challenging fight in the game too. I can see why some people got stuck here, it's way more demanding than any other section in the game, and if you die you have to restart from the first form. I like the difficulty here, but it makes it feel a bit silly with infinite lives, not very rewarding even when I did learn to beat it on my 10th or so attempt, and it's way too much of a difficulty spike.

There's a weapon system with 3 colours and shooting enemies of the right colour does more damage, but frankly you can ignore it since you can only carry two weapons at a time, and the shots are the same regardless of colour. A 3 way spread is the same whether it's yellow, red or green. It's also easy to accidentally pick up a powerup you didn't want since unlike Gunstar Heroes, if you pick up a new colour when you meant to grab the weapon, you won't drop your old one, it simply overwrites what you had. Then there's the fact that the first unlockable character when you beat the game can't even use the colour system and just has one standard 'element' that works equally well. The weapons are basically boring as hell, grab either a rapid or 3 way shot and that's all that matters, the 3 way shot makes life infinitely easier since you can't normally shoot diagonally (?!).

Shame, it feels like it coulda been better with more polish and slicker controls, but it's basically a floaty passable platformer with some run 'n gun thrown in, and a few decent boss fights. To be fair, he started making it in high school and only finished it in college, so it's probably a project he wanted to hurry up and get done, and it's amusing to play through once, but it's not a game I'd bother playing again. I basically agree with everything Anarkex mentioned in the comments on the TIGSource page for the game; it's a bad Gunstar Heroes wannabe that's amusing at first glance, but without any of the same quality. Too bad, it really could be better with some tweaks to the jumping physics and the weapon system.

[Ruldra]

By the way did you ever get to playing Dark Souls?

No, and it pisses me off. I have a whole bunch of games I'm dying to play (Dark Souls, Valkyria Chronicles, X-COM, Skyrim, among others) but I hardly have any time to play these days. I'm in a delicate situation in life at the moment and can't really sit down and play like I used to anymore. It sucks.

I really want to sort things out and get back to gaming, but it'll probably take some more time...

[Ed Oscuro]

Dororo uppercut!

Man, why did I have to screw up the slashes against the one enemy that had just page after page of Xs, lol

There's a sword that during slash makes every hit count as two somewhere. Helps invaluably at some point.
Use double tap rather than L3 for dash (a choice controls menu gives you). Once you get to dash, that is (end of the 1st chapter). I read L3-dashing in Blood Will Tell is bad for the thumbstick.

Good thing I'm using a 360 controller XD

Actually makes me feel better about that. Shame I don't have the third-tier shoulder buttons though - things woulda been nice. (Edit: I realized this is wrong; just gotta click the thumbsticks - having L3 and R3 numbered as if they were further shoulders always confused me.)

[BAD]

Been playing Monster Hunter 3 Tri. Got it for cheap and it was well worth it! Sucks that Nintendo took the servers down, but there is a project to get them back up and running. I've never liked the control in this series, but at least it's improved in MH3

Any hunters here?

[Jonathan Ingram]

Any hunters here?

Yes. We have a thread here.

[replayme]

Played some more of Resistance 3 and am now on Chapter 17. The game is quite creepy in places, and the mining town definitely did remind me of Ravenholme (Half Life 2). The only problem is that most of the game is like this, and whilst this is perfectly acceptable for horror-lite fans, I personally find a lot of the game's locales to be unsettling.

The game isn't quite a classic, and the Chimera scare and piss me off in equal measures. I also find the Resistance universe to not be as imaginitive as it should be, and the game suffers because of it. It's partly Resistance 3's lack of imagination, together with its unsettling horror feel, that I'll be glad when I finish it. 4/5.

[CStarFlare]

I'm genuinely puzzled as to how anyone can enjoy Oblivion or Skyrim. The floaty controls and shit combat, alongside identikit dungeons are fucking horrible. I'd really like to hear a compelling argument from someone that's played them extensively, but while Dark Souls, or even Dagons Dogma exists, I just don't get why these games get the time of day.

They're kind of a perfect opposite to shmups. There are hundreds of clearly defined goals no one pushes you toward any of them; you can wander around with no plan and find fun little distractions everywhere and don't have to worry about trying to hard to accomplish anything. It provides a different kind of grind than JRPGs but it's just as (more?) absorbing in a "let's just zone out and spend the night doing nothing" sort of way.

[broken harbour]

Found a copy of Battle Fantasia today for $8 so I bought it, not the deepest fighting game by any stretch, but for the price, why not? It's a bit generic, but I like the music and some of the character designs are pretty cool, like Face. Too bad the Xbox360 d-pad is so bad, time for a fight stick! I could see this game being a good gateway fighting game to get into the genre if you hate Street Fighter for some reason.