What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Steamflogger Boss]

Does Legend of Dragoon play properly on a PS2 or in emulation? I remember hearing it does not work on PS2 and I've seen an emulator run have a game breaking bug late game. Fortunately I still have a PSX but it and Syphon Filter 2 are the only games I'd have that gives an excuse to play it.

Not sure, I play all PS1 games on PS1. I remember reading Xenogears and Grandia have issues on PS2.

[Blinge]

Valheim.. on my Guerilla/ hermit playthrough, I've sailed in secret back to the main continent and built hidden portals between my friends' land and my island.

This allowed me to emerge from the woods when they were out, pilfer some of their wealth, use their portal network to visit the trader and buy me a strength belt.
Now I should dream up some subtle pranks..

[Herr Schatten]

I decided to give Shantae (GBC) another chance.

I played through its successor Risky's Revenge a couple of years ago and enjoyed it quite a bit. While I didn't think it did anything really exceptional, the cute characters and Henk Nieborg's lovely pixel art kept me interested enough to see it through to the end. When the first game appeared on the 3DS e-shop, I bought it instantly, but somehow it didn't really grab me, and I abandoned it after just a few minutes, never to touch it again until now.

Yesterday, though, I decided on a whim to give it another go, and I actually enjoyed it much more this time around. I've played through the first dungeon (the one with the water stone or whatever it's called), and found the stage design there much tighter than in the sprawling outside areas. The boss fight, while quite easy, was nicely done, too. And while I'm not really impressed with the visuals of the backgrounds, all the characters are really beautifully animated, even if they are drawn in a much more cartoony way than in the sequel(s).
Mind you, I still think the game has some massive problems. My major complaint is that the point of view is zoomed-in too much, which results in many a leap of faith and frequent bumping into enemies you couldn't see coming. The small visible area also makes it very easy to get lost in some of the larger areas, as many scenes in them tend to look the same if you can only see a small part of them. And why the hell does the game have a day and night cycle? It doesn't seem to make any difference (so far).

I think I'll dabble with the game some more and see how long it can hold my interest.

Are there any fans of the series around that can pass judgement on the other games? How do Pirate's Curse, Half-Genie Hero and Seven Sirens compare? Are those worthwhile?

[Sumez]

Pirate's Curse is an enjoyable Wonderboy style game, and I think it's generally the fan favourite of the series?
It's mechanically solid, but lacking in certain aspects. It feels like the designers didn't have faith in their own design, and just littered the game with healing consumables you can use to negate any mistakes you make.
The game is a lot more fun if you just don't use them, but their very existance highlights an issue that I think exists in most of WayForward's games.

Half-Genie Hero, again, is mechanically solid, but feels almost absurdly lazy. They dropped the semi-metroidvania design with Zelda-like dungeons, in favor of a small set of more straight-forward levels, yet still force backtracking in a very annoying manner, where you need to go back and try to remember where you needed skills that you don't acquire until later.
It's a very short game, which feels strangely at odds with the insane amount of extra modes they built into it instead, most of them feeling like little more than a novelty. Kickstarter fluff at its best.

I guess it's not an awful game, but the way it constantly reminds you of "what could have been" is painful. It feels like no one on the team really cared about going all the way and making a really good game, and again that's something I think is true of a lot of WayForward games.

I bought Seven Sirens last year, but didn't get around to playing it. Maybe I should do that soon.

[floralcateyes]

File Sirens under "can be trivialized with the ridiculous amount of healing items available" as well. You can carry up to ten of each type of food item, of which there are many. These can be bought or picked up as monster drops. Afterwards, you can buy up to ten of each type of potion; two or three of those heal you.

Metroidvania again, rather than Half-Genie's discrete levels with backtracking, but the abilities are kinda boring. Half are of the "use in three or four specific spots then forget about" kind while the other half are still pretty contextual. The latter also feel pretty pedestrian, especially if you've played a decent bunch of metroidvanias. Didn't feel like the game really encouraged me to use those abilities anywhere other than the obvious spots, whether in the level design or in the mechanics of the abilities themselves.

Also felt less charming and more cloying than the previous games, but I haven't played those in a while so don't clearly remember their tone. Maybe my tastes have just changed.

[Sumez]

Sounds like a "good" mix of Risky's Revenge and Half-Genie Hero :\

WayForward really feel like they'd be able to make a really good game, so it baffles me that they don't even seem to try going for it, as opposed to just shitting out cookie cutter stuff.
You'd think Shantae is their primary IP that should get a higher priority, but it feels more like an excuse to draw boobs in bikinis.

[Marc]

I've go two of these on the PS4's hard drive. I guess I should play these before I start on the good stuff Metroidvanias (Bloodstained, Hollow Knight, Ori and the Blind Forest, probably some others).

[drauch]

Had my second foray into the crypts on main co-op world. The blobs are brutal man, we haven't got potions, so i think that's a must for next time. none of the other enemies are a problem. Although we haven't had to search long for Crypts yet, so i haven't experienced a lot of swamp misery.

Yeah blobs suck blob ass. I just gave up melee attacking them completely. It's bow or get poisoned to death. Even with potions (at least at this level) it's just a resistance, not a complete toxin decleanse, so you can still die quite easy.

I only encountered one Wraith while I was out there. Seemed kinda just like a harder version of the ghosts in the dungeons, just annoyingly floated around. Also those dudes that throw fireballs. I bounced the first time I saw one of those and never went near another.

[Blinge]

Sounds like a "good" mix of Risky's Revenge and Half-Genie Hero :\

WayForward really feel like they'd be able to make a really good game, so it baffles me that they don't even seem to try going for it, as opposed to just shitting out cookie cutter stuff.
You'd think Shantae is their primary IP that should get a higher priority, but it feels more like an excuse to draw boobs in bikinis.

Hm, I tried Risky's Revenge from when I needed a DSware game to hack my 3DS. I got to some forest place, found one 'dungeon'
I don't get it what the big deal is with the game, it seemed pretty meh. Her one hair attack is laggy as AF.

Valheim:
I've put a Ward under the floorboards of my mates' sumptuously decorated house. Oh dear, he wont' be able to open doors or dismantle things to find it as the ward stops this.

[Herr Schatten]

Thanks for the mini-reviews. I think I'll skip the two latest games then, but maybe I'll try Pirate's Curse at some point in the future.

You'd think Shantae is their primary IP that should get a higher priority, but it feels more like an excuse to draw boobs in bikinis.

I think you may be onto something here. I don't recall anything like it from the sequel, but in the first game there's an abundance of half-human enemy types with bare-chested or scantily-clad female upper torsos. I suspect that if I had been able to make a game when I was 14, it would have ended up looking much like this.

In the meantime I have finished the second dungeon. My initial impression solidifies. The dungeon was once again well-designed, with some nice puzzles and a decent boss. To get there, though, I had to navigate several very annoying overworld areas, fighting otherwise easy enemies which have silly amounts of hitpoints for no apparent reason. Those hitpoints even double at night time. What the fuck, Wayforward?

[Sumez]

Hm, I tried Risky's Revenge from when I needed a DSware game to hack my 3DS. I got to some forest place, found one 'dungeon'
I don't get it what the big deal is with the game, it seemed pretty meh. Her one hair attack is laggy as AF.

Erhh oops, pretty sure I was thinking of Pirate's Curse. I keep mixing up the two games for some reason. I haven't played Risky's Revenge.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if the two are pretty much interchangeable anyway.

I actually started playing Seven Sirens yesterday after the short exchange on the series, and it's pretty much as expected. Maybe a little better than I'd thought, but it's basically Pirate's Curse over again. A cookie cutter overworld, mildly interesting dungeons, super satisfying mechanics, awful boss fights, and some kind of fear of ever challenging the player at all.

I've been avoiding using the healing items (the billion ones you keep getting, as confirmed by floralcateyes), but then a few dungeons into the game you get a magic spell that heals you, and uses only a tiny bit of your magic meter that you probably won't be using for anything else anyway. And you're actually expected to use that same spell every once in a while to solve puzzles, too, so you can't just ignore it.

Among the game's best features is the snappy controls and super brisk pace. You can just zoom through the stage in a very satisfying manner, and everything feels very precise. But then the game also has absurdly long load times for god knows what reason (15-20 seconds!), and you'll often go through two loading zones in a row for various reasons. It's a real mood killer every time it happens, and makes you less likely to explore at your own leisure, or take a "quick" trip back to town to take care of whatever you want to do.

[Blinge]

Oh dear, that escalated.
PvP off means I resort to sinking a boat to try and kill both me and my friend.

[Marc]

Finally finished Horizon Chase Turbo's world tour with all Super trophies. There's some tournaments and endurance races still to go, but I think I'm pretty burn out on it now. Have to decide what racer I replace it with - off the top of my head, the pile of shame includes: Redout, Crash Nitro Kart, Wreckfest, NFS Payback, GRID, 80's Overdrive, and GRIP (picked it up on Swithh, played a quarter of it, then picked up again for X1X. Or was is PS Pro?).

Hitting the endgame with Jedi: Fallen Order, so need something to replace that. Think I'm gonna take a break from BIG games for a while though, I've been playing this since maybe early Feb? Think Pathologic on Xbox might be next - played ten minutes last time it was on Game Pass, turned it off, and picked it up as soon as it went on sale purely for the atmosphere.

I've a hankering to start Ace Combat 7 as well, though I've got Star Wars Squadrons un-played for PSVR

I am buying NO MORE games (that aren't ACA) or consoles (that aren't Intellivision Amico) this year.

[BloodHawk]

the pile of shame includes: Redout, Crash Nitro Kart, Wreckfest, NFS Payback, GRID, 80's Overdrive, and GRIP

I picked up 80's Overdrive on Switch when it was on sale a few weeks ago for around $2, and I actually ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would. There were some really good songs on the track list and it's a little more casual than most "retro arcade" racers released today. It did take me a while to figure out the trick to the very last race, but the game as a whole kept me entertained for several hours over the course of a week so for as cheap as it was I can't complain.

[guigui]

Finally finished Horizon Chase Turbo's world tour with all Super trophies. There's some tournaments and endurance races still to go, but I think I'm pretty burn out on it now. Have to decide what racer I replace it with

I remember having a very pleasant time with the Cars 3 game on the Switch. It is a quite decent MK clone, with some twists, challenge, and good control/gameplay.

[Stevens]

Was playing DOS 2 and just not having as much fun with it as I should have been. Wound up deleting it.

I believe it was guigui who suggested Atom to me a few months back. Going to start it today or tomorrow.

Also been looking at Fallout (fixt version) and Fallout 2 with the restoration mod.

Not sure what it is, I seem to prefer post apocalypse/Interplay Inexile for whatever reason. Except Torment Tides...that was reading a book. I like to read books, just not in my games.

[Sumez]

Coincidentally I just picked Wasteland 2 back up yesterday, and after a few hours I realised how god damn boring it is. I've already invested a lot of time in this game, so I really want to see it till the end.
But if a game doesn't even try to entertain you, what's the point in spending hours on it? It really feels like the people who made it didn't understand they were making a video game.

[Steamflogger Boss]

I beat a Wii game by Hudson called Help Wanted 50 Wacky Jobs.

[Vanguard]

Coincidentally I just picked Wasteland 2 back up yesterday, and after a few hours I realised how god damn boring it is. I've already invested a lot of time in this game, so I really want to see it till the end.
But if a game doesn't even try to entertain you, what's the point in spending hours on it? It really feels like the people who made it didn't understand they were making a video game.

That's how I feel about like 95% of WRPGs.

[null1024]

Man, Marc mentioning Ace Combat 7 reminds me that I should fire it up again.

Really, there's a ton of games I haven't touched in a while -- still need to get back to Mega Man Legends too. Also, nuDoom 1.

[Searchlike]

That's how I feel about like 95% of WRPGs.

Curious about what that 5% consists of. Most fun I've had with that genre is a semi-blind Ironman run of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines that, of course, I failed because of a game-ending bug.

[vol.2]

I finally, finally got a new steering wheel. It's just the Hori RWA, as I found it on sale last week and that's what I could afford and all.

I picked up Dirt Rally (1 not 2) on Steam, and I'm having a blast doing rally races in the snow in Sweden. I can tell it's going be tough to get my times to the top, but I'm placing about 5th now after a half dozen races.

It might not be the fanciest newest racing game, but the last one I bought was regular Dirt 2 back in 2008, so this looks pretty slick to me. I really appreciate the choice of 1960s cars as well, even though they are shit to drive compared to the 90s stuff.

One thing I'll say about the wheel though is that it's tough to keep mounted correctly. It won't fit on my desk, so I put it on my coffee table, but that's really too low down, and the pedal thing really wants to slide around. I'm going to have to get crafty with that shit over the weekend.

[Vanguard]

Curious about what that 5% consists of. Most fun I've had with that genre is a semi-blind Ironman run of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines that, of course, I failed because of a game-ending bug.

Let's see. VtM: Bloodlines is mostly good. I liked the original Wasteland even though I never played the sequels. Dragon Wars is cool. I don't think Deus Ex is the 10/10 masterpiece it's made out to be, but overall I liked it. It's been a while but I remember really enjoying the first STALKER game. Star Control 2 is great though IDK if you'd consider it a WRPG. Do roguelikes count as WRPGs? I'm a fan of a bunch of those.

[guigui]

Was playing DOS 2 and just not having as much fun with it as I should have been. Wound up deleting it.

I believe it was guigui who suggested Atom to me a few months back. Going to start it today or tomorrow.

Also been looking at Fallout (fixt version) and Fallout 2 with the restoration mod.

Not sure what it is, I seem to prefer post apocalypse/Interplay Inexile for whatever reason. Except Torment Tides...that was reading a book. I like to read books, just not in my games.

Atom is really just Fallout 1/2 in Russia, and with a smaller budget. Though the amount of care put into it by its small developper team is huge.
When it comes to writing, those were the best I found, along with Fallout New Vegas.

[Marc]

And that's Fallen Order done. Overall, a pretty decent slab of 90's feeling actions I'd say. I'd say I'm up for a sequel, but I'm honestly getting a little weary of overly-long games, I know I'm not their demographic anymore, but 20-ish hours on a campaign is about my ideal now. Final boss kept me occupied for around 40 minutes - was a decent scrap on hard.

I think I'll do a week focussed purely on AA/Capcom Arcade titles before my next 'proper' game. I've an inkling it's going to be Pathologic 2, and that I'll be bored senseless once the atmosphere wears off. The bit I did play reminded me of the Xbox Chtulu game, which, while clunky, was damn good fun back in the day.

[Stevens]

Atom is really just Fallout 1/2 in Russia, and with a smaller budget. Though the amount of care put into it by its small developper team is huge.
When it comes to writing, those were the best I found, along with Fallout New Vegas.

Played for a few hours yesterday, liking it so far. Left the base, got jacked, and hung out at the first village for a bit (opened the whole map there). Made my way towards my contacts city around daybreak.

Had one or two random encounters on the way - killed a lot of small bugs, but did get ganked by some wolves. Also made a pit stop at a gas station fort but thought better of it and decided to save that for another time.
Stopped as I reached the next city.

I like the day night cycle/passage of time on the over world map. Gives a nice sense of distance and scale. It's one of the things I wish Wasteland 3 had.

Also been crafting as much as I can for XP.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Trying out some more Wii games where there are barely any documented clears.

I had to restrain myself on another forum recently. Just no point in even engaging with someone (in this case a big pseudo-intellectual) that thinks JRPGs are "on a whole, freaking terrible video games". I'm not opposed to hearing other viewpoints but just saying something like that with no backing. I had this guy blocked before and blocked him again. Just venting here lol.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Only poseurs and scrubs play jarpigs, right?

Hating on an entire genre when there's a lot of variety within the genre itself is unfortunate and closeminded. There's also a difference between saying "I don't really enjoy turn-based games/JRPGS" and saying "they're all terrible". I don't particularly enjoy sports games or simulation games but that doesn't mean they're bad games. I also wish people wouldn't hate on all hori shmups simply for being hori when it's really not that tough an adjustment to learn compared to a very, but that's people for you.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Only poseurs and scrubs play jarpigs, right?

There was a line in there about "basic pattern recognition" insinuating all of them are the same, causing him to "tune out".

Dude has always been super weird. I think I unblocked him because he was participating in the same forum game I was at one point.

[HELLEPHANT]

Damn it, here I was thinking I was a [PRO SHMUPPER] until I rememberd I beat FF1 years back. Guess I was just a dirty pig all along