What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[XoPachi]

Astro's Olsyroom on PS5, and it's fucking glorious. Peak Nintendo level glorious. It Feels wonderful, everything about movement and inertia is just perfect. Levelsvate small and open-ish, but with more direction than is usually present. Its just a really cohesive whole that had me smiling like a kid while playing.
I'm gutted I never booted up the VR game now, and I've just sold the headset and Series X to fund the PSVR2 that's on the way.

I played the shit out of that on my friend's PS5. I was surprised how full featured a game it is. I was so happy playing it. I love the PlayStation memories the game is basically all about. It's really nostalgic.

i'm not exactly some kind of high-level kart racer connoisseur, but the drifting/boost system in SSASR is almost identical to the one in CTR. in both games you want to spend almost all of your time drifting and boosting, even on seemingly straight bits of track. trying to stay in a power slide as much as possible while also doing the multiple presses required for max boost is a really engaging and tactile system to me.

i don't really see any similarity with mario kart wii beyond the obvious 'it's a kart racer with weapons'.

I dunno. When I think CTR, I think of it's intense resource management with building/keeping reserves and holding Sacred Fire. The boosting in CTR requires constantly timing the meter almost like a rhythm game and it's oddly...strict in it's handling for a kart racer for when you can enter and exit these drifts. I'm not sure how to explain it because it's always been a fairly odd quirk of the game. CTR is also a very aerial game with lots of jumps and incentive to do it often as you build more boost/reserves the longer you stay airborne as opposed to tricking off ramps for landing boosts.
That's why I compared AS1 it to Mario Kart Wii. Both games just require you to hold drift and that's the extent of driving. Your success just boils down to how tight you do it but they're both equally simple and way more approachable than CTR's insanity. You can drift boost more in AS1 than most MK games because the game is slower and handling is not as tight. And the bikes are pretty much 1:1 to MK Wii's bikes.

[Steven]

I loved Colors as a kid and like its presentatiom a shit ton but coming back to it now, I don't like it as much. Of the 3D Sonic games that I would still play, its very low on the list.
Its still decent tho.

I like Sonic Colors a lot, and it's slowly becoming one of my favourite Sonic games, but if someone was to say to me "I think Sonic Colors is shit" I'd understand. It is super messy in spots, and the recent port has a lot of problems that never got fixed. I have never played the DS version or the original Wii version, but I have been thinking about finding both of them.

I played Colors with the Japanese voice acting and text, but a few days ago I learned that the game's original language is apparently English and not Japanese, so I might play through again in English, as I always prefer to consume media in the original language if possible. I knew this was the case for Frontiers, so I played that in English, but it seems that a few Sonic games were originally written in English. The lip sync for Sonic 06 absolutely does not match the Japanese voices at all, so I am guessing that 06 might be the same way.

[guigui]

Agree that Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed is definitely on par with MK as kart racing games go.
Transformation were pretty good imo, except maybe for some parts with planes where the routes were very hard to see. Just follow some NPC and you'll quickly find optimal routes though.

I also like to think that the "transformation" part in MK8, where your wheels turn sideways and your kart reacts differently from the environment, is inspired by the transform mechanics in SASRT.

[copy-paster]

I've been getting filtered by NES Gremlins 2, one annoying thing about G2 is when you're about to jump on the pit sometimes you just fell through and there are some pixel perfect platforming going on too, also can't buy more than one item even though you have more points to buy another one. I want to like the game but the game doesn't like me.

[ryu]

I recently got to play PS5 for the first time. Watched a friend play the new intro to Resident Evil 4. Got to say the jump in visual quality felt rather low. At least I was less impressed than I was when I first played Bloodborne and made the jump from PS3 to PS4.
Is it just me?

[To Far Away Times]

I recently got to play PS5 for the first time. Watched a friend play the new intro to Resident Evil 4. Got to say the jump in visual quality felt rather low. At least I was less impressed than I was when I first played Bloodborne and made the jump from PS3 to PS4.
Is it just me?

I dunno. I like the look of the RE4 remake, the hair tech is absolutely amazing, and capcom's games always run great and are well optimized. The best looking game out there though is still The Last of Us 2, imo. It prioritizes the right things with the visuals, and the animation quality and animation blending is unlike anything I've seen before in a game. The facial animation is a clear cut above any other game.

[drauch]

Textures side by side are noticeably better, as is obviously lighting with ray tracing, but I don't think you're going to get blown away if you're still just viewing on a 1080P TV. And even then, we're to the point where you're not going to have that insane graphical jump with every console iteration, especially when you have all these revisions like 'plus'.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

I've been getting filtered by NES Gremlins 2, one annoying thing about G2 is when you're about to jump on the pit sometimes you just fell through and there are some pixel perfect platforming going on too, also can't buy more than one item even though you have more points to buy another one. I want to like the game but the game doesn't like me.

The platforming rubbed me the wrong way too, at first, but once it clicks, it's not too problematic. The collision detection is reasonable and consistent; just a bit more demanding than you might expect at first. I think the shop management, and having to carefully prioritize which items you want - especially for 1LC play - is a really compelling part of the game. I'd recommend sticking with it; it might be Sunsoft's coolest NES game outside of Gimmick, which is saying something.

[Sima Tuna]

the hair tech is absolutely amazing

the animation quality and animation blending is unlike anything I've seen before in a game. The facial animation is a clear cut above any other game.

I feel super old now, because I can honestly say I've never cared about any of these aspects of video games. You youngsters with your damn realistic games.

[cfx]

the hair tech is absolutely amazing

the animation quality and animation blending is unlike anything I've seen before in a game. The facial animation is a clear cut above any other game.

I feel super old now, because I can honestly say I've never cared about any of these aspects of video games. You youngsters with your damn realistic games.

I am super old, and I agree with you. The types of games being discussed are things that don't even register for me as I have zero interest in them.

And I guess that's why I have no interest in a PS5, because it offers me nothing. I wrote it in another thread, but once games stop being released for PS4, I'm out. I'll just play my backlog from then on, which is more games than I'll ever get to before I die anyway.

[Marc]

Frame rates are the biggie for me on PS5. Playing Dirt 5, with some gorgeous weather effects and track deformation, and 14 opponents, while still maintaining a strict 60fps is a big leap from, say, Gravel on PS4.

Will defo ve my last gen though.

[Marc]

Double pist

[cfx]

I'm lucky in that I can't tell the difference between 30 and 60 fps, and am not bothered by framerates until they go below 20 or so or just fluctuate a lot which is definitely annoying.

I once had someone try to explain specifically how to notice the difference betwen 30 and 60. I ignored the explanation as I'd rather remain clueless about it instead of become one of those people who can't play anything that isn't 60.

[Marc]

I'm lucky in that I can't tell the difference between 30 and 60 fps, and am not bothered by framerates until they go below 20 or so or just fluctuate a lot which is definitely annoying.

I once had someone try to explain specifically how to notice the difference betwen 30 and 60. I ignored the explanation as I'd rather remain clueless about it instead of become one of those people who can't play anything that isn't 60.

Up until a year or two back this was me. 30 doesn't bother me if irs stable, but I can't deal with fluctuations now. I think it was the Remastered Souls games that drove home how much better 60 feels. Playing DS3 after those could be rough.

[XoPachi]

I like Sonic Colors a lot, and it's slowly becoming one of my favourite Sonic games, but if someone was to say to me "I think Sonic Colors is shit" I'd understand. It is super messy in spots, and the recent port has a lot of problems that never got fixed. I have never played the DS version or the original Wii version, but I have been thinking about finding both of them.

I played Colors with the Japanese voice acting and text, but a few days ago I learned that the game's original language is apparently English and not Japanese, so I might play through again in English, as I always prefer to consume media in the original language if possible. I knew this was the case for Frontiers, so I played that in English, but it seems that a few Sonic games were originally written in English. The lip sync for Sonic 06 absolutely does not match the Japanese voices at all, so I am guessing that 06 might be the same way.

I don't think Colors is bad but I just find it's levels to be less interesting compared to what I prefer in a Sonic game. Aquarium Park and certain Asteroid Coaster acts stand out to me. But a lot of levels feel like an NES game instead of a flowing, organic Sonic stage. Lots of blocky sections. Lots of sitting and waiting on platforms. And it doesn't help that 80% of the game is in 2D which is massively disappointing for what it is. They never stopped doing this until their little Breath of the Wild ripoff. But Colors was the most egregious about it.

I do miss having that little double jump and it's water sections. Colors probably handled water the best in the series. And again, aesthetically it's one of Sonic's highlights. It's fun, exaggerated, festive, and is still unique in it's theming among his games. It's a lot better than more generic ancient ruins strewn about empty grass plains.

Up until a year or two back this was me. 30 doesn't bother me if irs stable, but I can't deal with fluctuations now. I think it was the Remastered Souls games that drove home how much better 60 feels. Playing DS3 after those could be rough.

I would never begrudge a game that runs at a smooth 30 if it suits the game and I am perfectly fine with a stable 60 in basically every circumstance.
But having a 240hz and a 144hz display is...spoiling. At least on PC I don't want to go below 144 now. lol

[drauch]

Ya'll crazy. The amount of hours I spent looking at RE4 remake Leon's hair at over 100 FPS 2K resolution gave me infinite chubs.

Graphics don't make a game and I don't overly care, 'natch, but I find it infinitely impressive how good games can look.

[Sumez]

Human Revolution: abilities are used at specific developer-intended points to create doorways or alternate routes
Prey 2017: level design is almost modular in the freedom you have to go wherever you want

This is probably the thing I liked the best about Prey 2017. Sure you'd have things like there's a locked room, and there are four different ways into it each employing a different specialty, and you likely invested in at least one of them. So at its core they are still just elaborate keys, but the ways they are actually implemented feels much much more organic compared to HumRev's repeated "Do you want to go stealth, action, or hackysack for this next section?", to which the answer is always "I'll do the same as I did with the last one".
Many of the things you can do with your skills in Prey usually aren't immediately obvious either, and you really have to be observant to discover some of the things you can do in the game. It's not exactly Super Metroid, but it's enough for it to feel less mechanical than how these games usually do it.

Speaking of Metroid...

I picked up Metroid Dread the other day, hoping for something to hold me over till Silksong (how many times have I said that now? haha). Man, do I feel bamboozled. I'm only a couple hours in but there's no sense of exploration and I despise the EMMI sequences. Not really feeling the overall aesthetic so far either.

Oh man I'm sure I could have told you this and saved you the waste of time.
Metroid Dread is a well designed game, but what they designed isn't a Metroid game. I've said this several times before, but I'll repeat it here - I don't understand why you make a game using metroidvania mechanics, if you're not relying on any advantages of the formula. There is zero exploration in Dread, you just spend the entire game being pushed along a linear path which conveniently provides you with all the upgrades you need to follow it.
Yeah, there are ways you can sequence break it, both intended and unintended, but those are so incredibly obscure that they don't affect a casual blind playthrough at all.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

There is zero exploration in Dread, you just spend the entire game being pushed along a linear path which conveniently provides you with all the upgrades you need to follow it.
Yeah, there are ways you can sequence break it, both intended and unintended, but those are so incredibly obscure that they don't affect a casual blind playthrough at all.

This sounds a lot like Metroid Fusion... It felt quite a bit more linear, with less opportunities to wander and explore than previous entries. Maybe because the hand-holding "GO HERE" elements were so overt.

[Steven]

Dread is basically just a bigger, longer Fusion that doesn't hold your hand nearly as much and actually has sequence breaks, although most of them actually waste time instead of saving it. I consider it a straight upgrade over Fusion in every way except the soundtrack, because although there are people that say that Dread does apparently have music, I sure as fuck don't remember it.

[ryu]

I'm lucky in that I can't tell the difference between 30 and 60 fps, and am not bothered by framerates until they go below 20 or so or just fluctuate a lot which is definitely annoying.

I sure can tell and 60FPS in games that consider cutscenes to be of importance looks as bad as ever. :/ I don't understand why developers won't at least throttle framerates down to 24FPS for cutscenes. Is everyone blind? Objects moving at 60FPS in games looks cartoonish as fuck, even at RE4R's level of graphical fidelity. I cringed at the first cutscene because everything about it felt off!

[drauch]

RE4 cinematics are a lot of times seamless into the gameplay since it's all in-engine. Why would you want the FPS to differ and instead be locked at movie speed? I get it when movies and shit are running at a higher rate than they should, aka adding frames and appearing unnatural, but not wanting a higher framerate in a modern game I don't get. I don't understand what's 'cartoonish' about that? Not being a shit, but maybe you're just not used to it? In something 3D that strives for a realistic look I can't imagine playing something now without adaptive sync and at least 60 FPS. Besides just the appealing look, it's way easier on the eyes.

[Sima Tuna]

Less than 60 FPS in a hard action game = torture.

For slow games, I don't care as long as it's stable.

[ryu]

RE4 cinematics are a lot of times seamless into the gameplay

I hadn't considered that. Yeah you're right, switchting the FPS around in that case would be awkward.

Not being a shit, but maybe you're just not used to it?

That's something I often wonder myself. Maybe that's all there is to it. But I imagine there has to be a reason movies haven't catched on to the meme. Wasn't there a book by influential film makers (researchers?) arguing that high framerates were detrimental to the experience? I don't think I dreamt that up.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Not being a shit, but maybe you're just not used to it?

That's something I often wonder myself. Maybe that's all there is to it. But I imagine there has to be a reason movies haven't catched on to the meme.

It's quite possible that's all there is to it. There's a lot of firmly entrenched things we do in life that are unquestioned because we've been told "that's how it's always been done", and it might be the whole "30 FPS is more cinematic" is one of those things and nobody's ever bothered to experiment and prove otherwise.

Apparently 60 FPS movies are a rarity though, as evidenced by this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_f ... rame_rates

I literally haven't seen any of these except the first Hobbit one, and it didn't stick out to me as unusual.

[m.sniffles.esq]

I literally haven't seen any of these except the first Hobbit one, and it didn't stick out to me as unusual.

The were special high frame rate showings, so if you didn't attend one of those, you just saw it at 24fps

Trust me, you know if you're at a high frame rate showing. It feels like you're watching a play performed by giants.

[XoPachi]

Dread owns.

Less than 60 FPS in a hard action game = torture.

For slow games, I don't care as long as it's stable.

That's about right, yeah.
I find it outright unacceptable for decently high APM games to be sub 60. Especially anything PvP.

[drauch]

Honestly, I think your take on games being faster and looking cheap applies to movies in a sense. One of the complaints of certain showings of The Hobbit at 60 frames was that it looked cheap, like a soap opera. Probably because we've been using 24 fps on movies as a standard for almost a hundred years. We're not used to anything else. By comparison, we've spent such little time with three-dimensional games, so that advent hasn't been as alarming on a whole, making it easier to digest imo. I wouldn't be surprised to see more movies in the future implementing it since some are already experimenting. Same with digital, like Michael Mann. Was hard for me to get past it myself, since everything looked 'off' and didn't have that same shot-on-film appearance. It's interesting to think about.

Don't want to detract more from the thread so I'll just say RE4 remake is the titties and I couldn't be happier with it.

[Sumez]

This sounds a lot like Metroid Fusion... It felt quite a bit more linear, with less opportunities to wander and explore than previous entries. Maybe because the hand-holding "GO HERE" elements were so overt.

Metroid Dread is literally Metroid Fusion 2, yes. I had the exact same thought.
In its defense, it does the Fusion thing better than Fusion, too bad it doesn't help it much.

[BIL]

I think the difference between 60fps and 30fps is felt as much - or more than - it's seen. I can tell instantly them apart at a glance, but aesthetically, I don't mind 30fps. At the controls, though, it's such a quantum leap in terms of responsiveness, and overall hand/eye synchronicity. I'll happily wait years to play a 30fps action/arcade game, if I know a 60fps re-release is likely. (not like there aren't a million and one other things to play)

Going back to my 999hr Bloodborne file (~30fps) after hundreds of back-to-back hours in DS1+2's PS4 editions (60fps 99.9% of the time) felt absolutely strange, at first; like a literal "playable movie." Instantly forgot about it after ten minutes of reinvigoratingly mortal street combat, but I've no doubt I would rack up another 1000hrs on a 60fps remaster in no time.

[ryu]

Weird take on Dread but I always loved how short 2D Metroid games used to be. It's got the same issue as the 3DS game for me in that I can't leisurely play through it in 1-2 evenings.