What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[broken harbour]

FF-X/X-2 Remaster (I have this on PS3 but the PS4 version is supposed to be even better)

I hadn't heard this, how is it improved for PS4?

Supposedly better graphics, especially for NPC's, and the option for the original music. I loved the remastered OST, tho.

I'm just not enamored with the whole Dark Souls/Bloodborne thing... I just can't get into it.

[Squire Grooktook]

Keep trying, it's worth it once you crack into the delicious creamy center of Dark Souls.

[iconoclast]

Rise of the Tomb Raider
Completed this a while ago. It's just like the previous game, but better in every way that I can think of. There's a little more platforming, puzzle solving, and exploration this time around (thankfully), but there's still a lot of combat, which is pretty standard TPS fare. It isn't bad, but there is a LOT of input lag that makes it hard to aim. Hopefully they patch that.

Tomb Raider has become "Uncharted if it were good" to me, so I enjoyed this.


Transformers: Devastation
Platinumed this. This is a solid action game at its core, but it has some heavy RPG elements that nearly ruin it. Your characters have a bunch of different stats that level up up as you play, and you find tons of equipment that has to be upgraded (by synthesizing low-level weapons into your primary weapon). If you start playing the game on hard mode, you'll face a bunch of damage sponge enemies that kill you in two hits. Come back once you've found & synthesized a strong weapon and leveled your character up, and it will feel more like normal mode. This is the opposite of what I want out of my action games.

But like I said, there's a good game under all of the statz and loot. The combat is simple, but it's still enjoyable. There just isn't much depth to it. There's enough enemy variety to keep the campaign from feeling too repetitive, and all of the boss fights are pretty good. The game is very short, though. A normal playthrough probably only takes 4~ hours. There's also a challenge mode with 50 additional missions (like in MGR), but the game doesn't have enough content to justify that many. At least half of the missions feel the same - you just fight through a few waves of the same enemies and bosses you've already fought a hundred times in different orders. It was a slog to get through.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the ranking system is garbage. It's based on points, and finishing battles quickly without taking damage isn't enough to get SS-ranks (or even S-ranks, in most cases). The best way to earn points, by far, is to dodge an enemy's attack for Witch Time, then head shot them repeatedly with a low damage machine gun. Alternately, you can spam "Rush" attacks as many times as you can, but it's not as good as the head shot method. So just fighting normally & efficiently isn't good enough, you have to farm points with these simplistic and tedious methods. This game sucks, lol.

Maybe I'd be more forgiving of the game's flaws if it had a license I cared about, but Transformers doesn't interest me at all. When's Spider-Gwen?

[munchiaz]

Been playing the DLC for Bloodborne. Currently on the 4th boss, and I'm stuck. Depleted my extra blood vials tonight, so stopped playing for the time being. I'm also playing Stella Glow on the 3DS. Its a decent SRPG, with a slight dating sim element added on. I've been playing (and watching) YoKai watch as well. Glad to see it's finally been released in the states. The game is decent, but the story is kind of lacking, so i lose interest pretty quickly.

Lastly, I've been playing Imagefight on PCE, and legendary axe 2. Imagefight hooks you in so much, and before you know it you've lost over an hour of time giving it "one more try".

[Khan]

I've been playing (and watching) YoKai watch as well. Glad to see it's finally been released in the states. The game is decent, but the story is kind of lacking, so i lose interest pretty quickly.

I heard about this through watching the odorite Manako https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEVewu9sV3s , theres no pal release of any of the Yokai games which is a shame since the 3ds is region locked but from the videos I watched on YT the game looks like a lot of fun!

[Obiwanshinobi]

How do you access tate option in the PSX Namco Museum games that utilise it? I can't remember.
Baraduke brilliant as ever.

P.S. Rediscovered it - triangle button on those games' title screens.

[munchiaz]

I've been playing (and watching) YoKai watch as well. Glad to see it's finally been released in the states. The game is decent, but the story is kind of lacking, so i lose interest pretty quickly.

I heard about this through watching the odorite Manako https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEVewu9sV3s , theres no pal release of any of the Yokai games which is a shame since the 3ds is region locked but from the videos I watched on YT the game looks like a lot of fun!

Love that dance. The show is for kids for sure, but it still has appeal to adults. Hopefully PAL region gets a release. The game is now amazing, but it is fun, and the combat system is really unique.

[broken harbour]

Wrapped Yoshi's Wooly World,

Overall, worth your time if you liked Yoshi's Island, I wish it did more to distinguish itself from it's inspiration, but if you're going to copy something, copy something good. The level design, while short of brilliant, is still fun. I for one like the game's cutesy image, and as you'd imagine the game is pretty easy, I think I died a total of maybe 5 times during my entire playthrough, speaking of which, the game is rather short, only 6 worlds with 8 levels each, total playtime was under 8 hours. If you're some completionist and have to collect all items, unlock secret levels, etc, maybe 20 hours.

Normally I'd say wait until this game gets discounted, but it doesn't seem like this ever happens with Wii-U games, at least where I live.


Playing Resogun again, this time on PS4 instead of PS3... my god, this game is so good, not sure why the shmup community hates it. PS4 is definitely worth it for the higher frame rate and insane particle effects. Game also makes good use of your subwoofer. I find this game quite addictive.

[MR_Soren]

Been playing Dark Souls again. Trying a Cleric. Just rang the second bell. I had almost forgotten how much fun this game is.

[Tregard]

Playing Resogun again, this time on PS4 instead of PS3... my god, this game is so good, not sure why the shmup community hates it. PS4 is definitely worth it for the higher frame rate and insane particle effects. Game also makes good use of your subwoofer. I find this game quite addictive.

The shmup community hates it? That's disappointing. I played it a lot on my Vita the last time I was in China and really got into it. Far more challenging than Super Stardust ever was, and you really have to make full and careful use of your bombs, boosts and overdrives if you want to score well, particularly on the higher difficulties. It's an audio-visual treat as well. Shame the DLC modes never made it to the Vita, they look fun.

I'm playing Okami HD at the moment, trying to finish off the last few PS3 backlog games before I switch over to a new gaming PC. Beautiful game, but far too much text. I'm hoping it'll open up later and just let me explore the landscape. Making the saplings bloom and watching flowers, trees and blossoms erupt across the world never gets old. It's lovely how as you progress through the game you leave behind endless fields of flowers and rainbows and JOY. I was getting sick of edgy grim-dark bullshit.

[ACSeraph]

Finished Bayonetta 2 the other day (been saving it for a rainy day for a while now) and now I'm going back to replay Bayo 1 on hard mode. I made short work of both games on normal, but I think I'm still pretty scrubby when it comes to advanced mechanics and combat beyond offset. Any good primers on how to really get the most out of these games?

[Squire Grooktook]

^^^I enforce pseudo-1cc limits for each chapter. I restart the chapter if I die more then 3 times.

At the very least, you won't get a stone award playing like that.

[ACSeraph]

^I tend to be a bit disappointed if I die at all in a chapter. My arcade gamer side considers it a fail. I do intend to 1lc all of it eventually. But I feel like I'm not getting enough out of the combat. I feel like I'm always spamming the same stuff and not utilizing everything to it's fullest. To really enjoy the game in the long term I want to take the combat system to it's limits and really dominate my enemies.

[Squire Grooktook]

There's a video tutorial series called The Umbran Arts for the second game, that should give you an idea of where to start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqzztvoVngY

Myself, I'm just happy dodging and mashing buttons. More a fan of speed kills then long combos.

[iconoclast]

Dunno what to say about Bayonetta, really. The thing I enjoy most about both of them is going for Pure Platinum rankings, so I just try to fully chain each battle while not taking any damage. Both games have overpowered and abusable moves, combos and items, as well as an exploitable scoring system, so you might want to limit some things to make it more fun. I've never been all that into setting up long combos and such.

[NYN]

May I bring this to you atttention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOVVmm4KOm4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXl6XSEnLPY

I'm replaying Bayonetta atm and decided too to improve on my game, so I found the information rather usefull and overall neatly explained.
The first explains Dodge Offset, the second is about the scoring mechanics.

At some point it advices to reload the last checkpoint if damage is inflicted, just for Pure Platinum purposes.
Do you consider this some kind of 'save-stat abuse' or is it simply a legit technigue?

[iconoclast]

The worst thing about Bayonetta 1 to me (aside from the bad vehicle sections) is the way the scoring works. Angel Arms are worth far more points than fighting normally, so if you want to maximize your score, you end up in a loop of Angel Arm attacks -> Torture Attacks (to guarantee an enemy drops an AA, and also because TAs are worth a lot, too) -> Angel Arm attack, etc. with some regular fighting, taunts, and pistol attacks in between to keep your chain or build magic or whatever. It's simply not as fun as fighting normally, especially since Torture Attacks can be annoying with all of the button mashing and stick twirling.

Bayonetta 2 fixed most of the major issues I had with the original.

Do you consider this some kind of 'save-stat abuse' or is it simply a legit technigue?

I remember seeing a tweet from Kamiya a long time ago where somebody asked if this was cheating, and he said no. The game intentionally gives you these checkpoints, so it's legit. There's no reason not to use them unless you're doing a self-imposed challenge.

Pretty much every Platinum game is like this. Predetermined save points would be much better, especially if you take a big score penalty for using one. I don't think any action game does that, and they really should. Save points make scoring in single player games kinda worthless imo.

[NYN]

I can agree to your points about the original.
Exept maybe one thing: After trying to take the mentioned vehicle- shall we say-'interceptions' more seriously I can't find them all that bad (or maybe I'm just deluding myself for getting Pure Platinum on them?).
Are they necessary? No.
But from what I hear that's the bargain with Kamiya. Remember the first part from the battle with Mundus in the original DMC?
Riiight.

The 2nd lies still ahead of me, so I can't tell.

Funny though, the checkpoint system being 'official' makes it oh so clear.
To me, what started it all with these kind of action games was in 2001 Devil May Cry ( a bomb tossed into my lap).
The missions in it consideribly short but intense and all fun to play. Bayonetta set out to top it all, climax after climax, making it more elaborate in scale or whatever the intent. The checkpoints may be a trade-off on that part (come to think of it I take far more issue with the QTEs in general). I use them to improve, being beyond the limits of actually being able to abuse them.

[Squire Grooktook]

They would kinda ruin the game for me if it weren't for my willingness to indulge in self-imposed challenge on this occasion.

I hate hate hate short checkpoints. Kills tension, and by extension, excitement.

[soprano1]

Went back to MH4U a bit, but i think i'll start a new game of Final Fantasy IX soon.

[Opus131]

I'm just not enamored with the whole Dark Souls/Bloodborne thing... I just can't get into it.

Git gud, scrub.

[KAI]

Played Super Metroid for the first time in life, and I just cleared it. Loved it a lot. Fusion and Zero mission, here I go.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I'm playing Okami HD at the moment, trying to finish off the last few PS3 backlog games before I switch over to a new gaming PC. Beautiful game, but far too much text. I'm hoping it'll open up later and just let me explore the landscape.

It keeps getting better and better. I've only managed to complete it (on PS2) when unemployed, though, so I can't blame all the people who hadn't. Bought it for PS3 too, but me having problems playing anything this long nowadays, Ōkami is not a game I dare to revisit yet.

[copy-paster]

Played Super Metroid for the first time in life, and I just cleared it. Loved it a lot. Fusion and Zero mission, here I go.

Cleared on first playthrough? How do you found those routes? I haven't beat it for years

Anyway these two games absolutely the best, go play it! \(^o^)/

[professor ganson]

Stella Glow - so far it has the same charm as the Luminous Arc games. I usually can't endure so much dialogue, but it's too cute to skip.

[KAI]

Cleared on first playthrough

Nawp, took me one day and a half.
Finished Fusion a few moments ago. Not as good as Super, but I enjoyed the faster pace.

[munchiaz]

Stella Glow - so far it has the same charm as the Luminous Arc games. I usually can't endure so much dialogue, but it's too cute to skip.

Stella Glow has been really fun to play. I didn't play the arc games, but i may need to go back and play them. The game has some charm, and the SRPG system isn't overly complicated. I feel that some SRPG are overly complex, and require you to play at 100% at all times. I'm about 20 hours in, but i've taken a little break to play bloodborne. Now I'm playing Xenoblade chronicles X on Wii U. So far its fun, but there is a lot of information to take it. Will be playing this one for a long time

[Squire Grooktook]

I feel that some SRPG are overly complex, and require you to play at 100% at all times.

I recommend Fire Emblem if you haven't already. It's kind of an "arcade"-ish srpg. Fast paced as hell, and streamlined to the point that the result of every action is completely intuitive. Tense as fuck with perma death and lengthy missions too.

[Blinge]

Perma death in FE is why you'd probably need to be playing at 100% constantly..
The amount of times I fuck up and lose a character because I just skipped over a possibility, or wasn't looking with a broad enough view, or straight up forgot an enemy is there, is far too often. It's why I always sucked at chess, too.

Valkyria Chronicles is more forgiving I feel.

[Squire Grooktook]

I prefer the shmup-esque instant game-over/quit condition over getting strung out in an endless war of attrition like Advance Wars (not that Advance Wars isn't great). Your characters are pretty beefy, so someone dying is the equivalent to losing outright in any other SRPG. It's skill based game that demands you to play well, but it doesn't flood you with a bajillion worthless stats to figure out like some other games.