What game are you playing?

[Roguey]

Finished Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. Mixed feelings about it. It starts out simple, but definitely ramps things up, but some of the ways in which it ramps up difficulty are annoying, e.g. bosses that can only be hit and damaged by certain weapons, reinforcements, and large amounts of enemy units. Some of the final missions got so bad that I turned off combat animations and selected fast movement just to make it tolerable. I also didn't like how the only way you could buy new equipment was on combat maps, instead of having a separate screen for that in-between missions. You eventually get a traveling merchant unit but he's only for storing excess loot and selling items you don't need, not buying. I did like how he starts off as someone you have to protect from reinforcements that of course spawn at your homebase, but eventually becomes so hit-proof that he becomes a bunker and then a mobile tank after he gets enough level-ups for a class change. I had fun with it, but not so much that I'm particularly enthused about seeing how the series evolved.

Got some funny images out of it.

[KnightoftheWind]

I've been playing through Star Ocean Second Story R. Never played a single Star Ocean game before this point, and as a standalone experience it's a mostly competent JRPG with a somewhat unique real-time/turn-based hybrid battle system. You do not fight enemies in the overworld, but you can control your primary character's actions when in battle and assign two "skill moves" to the LR and R1 buttons, which use MP. For most of the time however, you will be mashing the attack button and I feel this system is overall not as good as a truly real-time or turn-based system would have been. I have had fun more or less with purely turn-based affairs like Dragon Quest XI, and if they were unwilling to embrace a fully real-time combat system then it would've been preferable to stick to something a bit more traditional here.

The game's story does an adequate job of keeping you interested, with many characters that you can choose to recruit to your party if you so desire. But you can only have a maximum of four members active during combat. The game tries to blend sci-fi with fantasy elements by having one of your main characters, Claude C.Kenny, the son of a general from some galactic military force and whatnot, be transported to a faraway planet in the beginning. This ends up being less like Phantasy Star, and more like a "fish out of water" scenario that gradually inserts more sci-fi elements as the story progresses. A massive twist happens later on which caught me off guard as well, and it was effective in getting me invested even more in the story. But despite the plot setting up interesting scenarios, I feel it doesn't flesh out it's ideas all that well. Some characters can be separated from one another, and the main character comments on this in a worrying tone only to be reunited with them not two minutes later. I also felt the romance was hamfisted and lacked subtly, but this is a JRPG so I didn't expect much on that front.

I am debating whether or not to finish the game, as I'm being forced to go through a "puzzle dungeon" of sorts and I can't stand puzzles in most games. The battle system has also gotten more annoying than fun the longer I continue playing, which is a problem that is present in many RPGs I find.

[Roguey]

Tried to play Turok: Dinosaur Hunter on the Switch's N64 emulator and gave up after completing the first level. The lookspring and flight-control-camera are awful, and on top of that there's a lot of platforming. Playing Nightdive's PC/Switch port would would address the camera issues, but not the platforming parts. Tendy64s were incredibly desperate for games if this is what they were praising as one of the greats.

[Irenaeus]

[Furin]

And we got our first ******



Followed by a couple of ****





@Furin

Thanks! I don't know how I missed this back when it was first posted.

Someone in the Steam group just posted about this game and linked to Synthetic Man's video on it. I'm looking into the game now and this is quite helpful.

Here's what else I've seen so far:

• most important human characters have been female (high confessor, main villain, purple “super god”, the mayor of Pwyll, the Pwyll harbormaster)

• a jarring amount of “they/them” pronouns used in dialogue to refer to people that should have a known sex (known to the speaker).

• at least one npc (so far) that has been referred to as both "he" and "they/them" in the same conversation. The npc in question is the first map-making academy scholar you encounter. Haven't seen the others yet.

• potentially unexplained diversity. From what I gather, there was some kind of cataclysm in the past, so it's possible ethnically diverse people got stuck on small floating islands together. Otherwise it makes no sense.

[1998]

And we got our first ******



Followed by a couple of ****





@Furin

Thanks! I don't know how I missed this back when it was first posted.

Someone in the Steam group just posted about this game and linked to Synthetic Man's video on it. I'm looking into the game now and this is quite helpful.

Here's what else I've seen so far:

• most important human characters have been female (high confessor, main villain, purple “super god”, the mayor of Pwyll, the Pwyll harbormaster)

• a jarring amount of “they/them” pronouns used in dialogue to refer to people that should have a known sex (known to the speaker).

• at least one npc (so far) that has been referred to as both "he" and "they/them" in the same conversation. The npc in question is the first map-making academy scholar you encounter. Haven't seen the others yet.

• potentially unexplained diversity. From what I gather, there was some kind of cataclysm in the past, so it's possible ethnically diverse people got stuck on small floating islands together. Otherwise it makes no sense.

I wouldn't focus on unexplained diversity in that case. No need, there are plenty of other issues you could highlight.

[Manny V]

Been playing Dungeonborne since this morning and I have to say it's great fun. Dark and Darker feels like **** next to it.

Have no people for it, but it does look a lot more polished and it already has one thing going for it: character creation. You're not stuck playing some weird looking dude.

I play with a friend from Australia (I'm American) and there hasn't been any latency issues really. Gameplay has been very smooth. They obviously spent a lot of time polishing this.

traitors

[Nemesis]

Every time I read Kalarion's Battle Brothers LP, I want to play BB. But then I remember I'm not as good as Kalarion and play something else.

[1998]

Finished this one, because wtf not



Now time to catch up on some AG games...

[Vergil]

Finished this one, because wtf not



Now time to catch up on some AG games...

Ugly foids getting in the way of the handsome fellas

[WhiteShark]

Finished this one, because wtf not

What did you think of it?

[1998]

Finished this one, because wtf not

What did you think of it?

Not the biggest fan it. It was an easy distraction, something light I like to play every once in awhile just to kind of recharge. But I generally don't like crafting or survival elements, so I am not impressed by that whole recipe crafting thing. I liked the combat though...

[Manny V]

Finished this one, because wtf not



Now time to catch up on some AG games...

Ugly foids getting in the way of the handsome fellas

bro we get it, you're gay

[KnightoftheWind]

As if the Soydur's Gayte 3 avatar didn't tip you off.

[Gunnar]

Playing Felvidek. Interesting visuals and competently done story. Dialogues using period language with a little bit of humor sprinkled in are fun to read at times. Not much going on mechanically but the combat works reasonably well.

[Roguey]

Finished Perfect Dark. A much more polished version of Goldeneye, though with an inferior, far sillier story. Surprisingly future-proofed with a widescreen option, which I appreciated. Unfortunately some of the levels midway become too confusing (Area 51 has non-obvious doors and to make matters worse, there's a 3 minute time limit) and the last boss was the absolute worst. I wouldn't have even bothered to try to beat it if not for save states since they expect you to do the entire level over again when you die. They almost had it though.

[Magick]

Finished Perfect Dark. A much more polished version of Goldeneye, though with an inferior, far sillier story. Surprisingly future-proofed with a widescreen option, which I appreciated. Unfortunately some of the levels midway become too confusing (Area 51 has non-obvious doors and to make matters worse, there's a 3 minute time limit) and the last boss was the absolute worst. I wouldn't have even bothered to try to beat it if not for save states since they expect you to do the entire level over again when you die. They almost had it though.

It's a fun game and was a step up on Goldeneye functionality-wise back in the day, with the secondary fires and various weapons, and gadgets.
I used to play multiplayer as Mr Blonde, and loved that Grinder/Reaper(?) Skedar weapon that both pewpewed and sawed people up.

The controllable rockets were fun, too.

[rusty_shackleford]

Finished Perfect Dark. A much more polished version of Goldeneye, though with an inferior, far sillier story. Surprisingly future-proofed with a widescreen option, which I appreciated. Unfortunately some of the levels midway become too confusing (Area 51 has non-obvious doors and to make matters worse, there's a 3 minute time limit) and the last boss was the absolute worst. I wouldn't have even bothered to try to beat it if not for save states since they expect you to do the entire level over again when you die. They almost had it though.

cheater

[Magick]

Finished Perfect Dark. A much more polished version of Goldeneye, though with an inferior, far sillier story. Surprisingly future-proofed with a widescreen option, which I appreciated. Unfortunately some of the levels midway become too confusing (Area 51 has non-obvious doors and to make matters worse, there's a 3 minute time limit) and the last boss was the absolute worst. I wouldn't have even bothered to try to beat it if not for save states since they expect you to do the entire level over again when you die. They almost had it though.

cheater

Me as a literal child managed that game.
Though I do hate timed missions.
Elvis was funny. My mate used to play him in MP.

Me as Chad Mr Blonde, (though in Goldeneye I played Boris lol). Can't remember what my mum played, probably just Joanna. It was a good game.
Fun to play against MP bots on max difficulty where they speed around and totally hax. Beatable though if you were good.

[wndrbr]

Finished Perfect Dark. I wouldn't have even bothered to try to beat it if not for save states since they expect you to do the entire level over again when you die.

cheater

Me as a literal child managed that game.

children have better fine motor skills, they are better at learning and memorizing, and they also have a lot of free time. Of course children are better at playing videogames.

[wndrbr]

Wait a minute. Roguey is also a manchild weirdo who is good at memorizing and has a lot of free time.

[Roguey]

Wait a minute. Roguey is also a manchild weirdo who is good at memorizing and has a lot of free time.

I have middle-aged motor skills and don't have the patience to replay the same segments over and over again. I have a backlog to clear and then a few RPGs to replay and then I guess I'll read more books.

[WhiteShark]

children have better fine motor skills, they are better at learning and memorizing, and they also have a lot of free time. Of course children are better at playing videogames.

Don't underestimate the advantage of experience. A child gamer may learn faster, but an adult who grew up gaming has already learned.

[Breathe]

children have better fine motor skills, they are better at learning and memorizing, and they also have a lot of free time. Of course children are better at playing videogames.

Don't underestimate the advantage of experience. A child gamer may learn faster, but an adult who grew up gaming has already learned.

Yes there are a lot of built-up transferrable skills. A lot more winning with smarts and prediction instead of reaction.

[Gastrick]

children have better fine motor skills, they are better at learning and memorizing, and they also have a lot of free time. Of course children are better at playing videogames.

Don't underestimate the advantage of experience. A child gamer may learn faster, but an adult who grew up gaming has already learned.

Also the experience of interacting with children and having been a child once and knowing how poorly they play at games. There's one where I had played it on and off for a year as a child and the farthest I could reach was the 2nd last boss, playing it again recently after not having touched it for a long time, I reach the final boss on my first try and beat him on my second.

[rusty_shackleford]

Just insult them while playing to throw them off, children and many adults don't know how to deal with that.

[KnightoftheWind]

I gotta say most JRPGs seem to be notorious in 'overwriting'. As in characters that repeat themselves constantly, just react to what's been said, or say nothing of value. The Ys games thankfully do not suffer from this issue all that much, even Ys VIII, but **** every other game I've tried as of late has characters babbling constantly about things even a young child could understand very easily. My brief time with the likes of Golden Sun and Fantasy Life on the 3DS has really illustrated how bad this phenomenon can get. Entire games are built around the most inane writing you could imagine, and nobody involved in these projects see fit to hire a proper editor to at least fix up the ****** writing?. I don't expect Shakespeare, but at least if you're going to give me a Cartoon Network-tier plot at least have it finish just as quickly as any episode.

[Vlajdimir Ermenović]

Brutal Doom. The tactical + realistic mode has done a great job at keeping the game fresh without losing what made it good.

[Element]

Replaying Mafia 1 after 20 years. It seems that the steam version has removed the music that would play when you're driving, although that's surprising since the music was from the 1930s. So far it's ok, most of my memories of it were quite correct - punishing combat, awkward vehicle steering, some good moments here and there. The story is far more contrived than what I remembered though.

[Oyster Sauce]

Just finished Carl on Duty: Black Cops Cold War. I can't ******* believe that they ripped off KotOR of all things.