What game are you playing?

[General Reign]

Played Horizon Zero Dawn for a few hours. Mediocre open world AAA slop with no redeeming qualities. They managed to make robot dinosaurs stupid. Writing of a bad YA novel. Nobody ever shuts up in dialogue. Your character doesn't shut up outside of dialogue and narrates everything.

Nobody would have given a **** about this game if the protagonist was male.

What killed it for me was the entire misandry in the story and how women are angels. It was men that destroyed the earth so only women can be leaders as they're nurturing.

Yeah, plus the actual game just ******* sucked.

[BlueMemphis]

Essence of snip heat technique

I own Yakuza 0 but haven't played it, by all accounts it is likely to be my favorite of the series so saving it for after I beat yakuza 4 or 5. So only Y1+2 have been beaten so far.

I did notice a general downgrade in graphics and layout (little things like the bathroom at west park not being a seamless loading screen) because Yakuza 2 was a good looking game but didn't mind the regression, ps2 era graphics is my comfort level which Y3 definitely beats and the city remains interesting to explore which is what matters.

Think i'm about 2/3rds through now or approaching the end, Kiryu is returning to Okinawa and the plot behind the resort/military base has been revealed as well as the actors involved. Overall have enjoyed the story and pacing, taking care of the orphanage gives a wholesome personal motivation and your okinawa yakuza buddy grew on me despite the constant ANIKIIIIIIII. Was fun showing him around kamurocho even though jfc, 63k yen in restaurant bills? How the hell..? Mofo almost ruined me.

Got it for the judgement series, yeah word of mouth on those was to avoid it so was initially gonna give it a skip.
Good to hear the switch to TB combat isn't too jarring in LAD, seems like it would be a very skubtastic change.

[aweigh]

Essence of snip heat technique

I own Yakuza 0 but haven't played it, by all accounts it is likely to be my favorite of the series so saving it for after I beat yakuza 4 or 5. So only Y1+2 have been beaten so far.

I did notice a general downgrade in graphics and layout (little things like the bathroom at west park not being a seamless loading screen) because Yakuza 2 was a good looking game but didn't mind the regression, ps2 era graphics is my comfort level which Y3 definitely beats and the city remains interesting to explore which is what matters.

Think i'm about 2/3rds through now or approaching the end, Kiryu is returning to Okinawa and the plot behind the resort/military base has been revealed as well as the actors involved. Overall have enjoyed the story and pacing, taking care of the orphanage gives a wholesome personal motivation and your okinawa yakuza buddy grew on me despite the constant ANIKIIIIIIII. Was fun showing him around kamurocho even though jfc, 63k yen in restaurant bills? How the hell..? Mofo almost ruined me.

Got it for the judgement series, yeah word of mouth on those was to avoid it so was initially gonna give it a skip.
Good to hear the switch to TB combat isn't too jarring in LAD, seems like it would be a very skubtastic change.

1. Yakuza 0, Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2 form a trilogy and are intended to be played in that order.

2. Who is saying Judgment isn't good? Judgment games are great; though Judgment 1 is better than Judgment 2, the Judgment 2 DLC starring Kaito is one of the best stories the studio has done in years, easily on par with the best Yakuza.

3. I consider Y:LAD to be the best game in the franchise. Best characters, best story, best gameplay. Not much difference between brawling and turn-based to be honest. I have no sympathy for the people who hate that it went turn-based, they gave you Judgment for that and it's the best brawling in the franchise, even if you have to play it on 'Hard' to get what should be normal difficulty (but that complaint applies to Yakuza 5 and 6 as well).

[General Reign]

I tried playing Kenshi for about 30 minutes before I decided it's not my thing.

[rusty_shackleford]

I tried playing Kenshi for about 30 minutes before I decided it's not my thing.

Hopefully they'll add a game to the sandbox one day.

[General Reign]

It really feels like a game that would be suited to a LP but I stopped doing those due to how time consuming they get.

[rusty_shackleford]

Tried to play HZD some more to see if maybe I'm missing something. Had to fight some big bad boss machine that was hyped up, dropped a bunch of traps, hit it once with my arrow which does basically no damage unless you hit specific weakspots on enemies, then lured it into the traps and it blew up.

Yeah, I don't get it. Don't think I'll be trying again.

[General Reign]

Tried to play HZD some more to see if maybe I'm missing something. Had to fight some big bad boss machine that was hyped up, dropped a bunch of traps, hit it once with my arrow which does basically no damage unless you hit specific weakspots on enemies, then lured it into the traps and it blew up.

Yeah, I don't get it. Don't think I'll be trying again.

It's a normie game. If you like Ubisoft mindless games you will enjoy it. If you require more to stimulate your noggin it ain't there.

[Roguey]

Finished Metroid Dread, so I get to be in the "better at playing games than David Scott Jaffe" club.



Though not by too much. The last boss took me 2 hours to beat, with a break in-between to backtrack for more items. Overall I liked it, though at least three of those bosses were perhaps a bit too demanding for my tastes. I particularly liked the subversions and twists at the end.

► Show Spoiler

Pretty amusing how Metroid now refers to Samus herself to get past that silly "why is the series named after a species that went extinct in the third game?" issue.

[BlueMemphis]

Essence of snip heat technique

I own Yakuza 0 but haven't played it, by all accounts it is likely to be my favorite of the series so saving it for after I beat yakuza 4 or 5. So only Y1+2 have been beaten so far.

I did notice a general downgrade in graphics and layout (little things like the bathroom at west park not being a seamless loading screen) because Yakuza 2 was a good looking game but didn't mind the regression, ps2 era graphics is my comfort level which Y3 definitely beats and the city remains interesting to explore which is what matters.

Think i'm about 2/3rds through now or approaching the end, Kiryu is returning to Okinawa and the plot behind the resort/military base has been revealed as well as the actors involved. Overall have enjoyed the story and pacing, taking care of the orphanage gives a wholesome personal motivation and your okinawa yakuza buddy grew on me despite the constant ANIKIIIIIIII. Was fun showing him around kamurocho even though jfc, 63k yen in restaurant bills? How the hell..? Mofo almost ruined me.

Got it for the judgement series, yeah word of mouth on those was to avoid it so was initially gonna give it a skip.
Good to hear the switch to TB combat isn't too jarring in LAD, seems like it would be a very skubtastic change.

1. Yakuza 0, Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2 form a trilogy and are intended to be played in that order.

2. Who is saying Judgment isn't good? Judgment games are great; though Judgment 1 is better than Judgment 2, the Judgment 2 DLC starring Kaito is one of the best stories the studio has done in years, easily on par with the best Yakuza.

3. I consider Y:LAD to be the best game in the franchise. Best characters, best story, best gameplay. Not much difference between brawling and turn-based to be honest. I have no sympathy for the people who hate that it went turn-based, they gave you Judgment for that and it's the best brawling in the franchise, even if you have to play it on 'Hard' to get what should be normal difficulty (but that complaint applies to Yakuza 5 and 6 as well).

1) Well guess I've been holding on to Y0 long enough, allrighties i'll play that after y3 which i'll soon wrap up.

2) A recurrent opinion i've come across when looking up the Yakuza series and when pondering what games from the series to get as a complete neophyte to the franchise.
So in other words, random ign and gamefaq people, whose opinion might be worth little but in absence of any other info were all i had to go on.

3) ****, high praise considering how much you seem to value the beat em up mechanics, so if anyone should have been bothered by the switch, it would have been you. Guess i can see that as a healthy endorsement indeed.

So basically no such thing as a bad yakuza game it seems, talk about Sega getting hard carried.

[aweigh]

I own Yakuza 0 but haven't played it, by all accounts it is likely to be my favorite of the series so saving it for after I beat yakuza 4 or 5. So only Y1+2 have been beaten so far.

I did notice a general downgrade in graphics and layout (little things like the bathroom at west park not being a seamless loading screen) because Yakuza 2 was a good looking game but didn't mind the regression, ps2 era graphics is my comfort level which Y3 definitely beats and the city remains interesting to explore which is what matters.

Think i'm about 2/3rds through now or approaching the end, Kiryu is returning to Okinawa and the plot behind the resort/military base has been revealed as well as the actors involved. Overall have enjoyed the story and pacing, taking care of the orphanage gives a wholesome personal motivation and your okinawa yakuza buddy grew on me despite the constant ANIKIIIIIIII. Was fun showing him around kamurocho even though jfc, 63k yen in restaurant bills? How the hell..? Mofo almost ruined me.

Got it for the judgement series, yeah word of mouth on those was to avoid it so was initially gonna give it a skip.
Good to hear the switch to TB combat isn't too jarring in LAD, seems like it would be a very skubtastic change.

1. Yakuza 0, Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2 form a trilogy and are intended to be played in that order.

2. Who is saying Judgment isn't good? Judgment games are great; though Judgment 1 is better than Judgment 2, the Judgment 2 DLC starring Kaito is one of the best stories the studio has done in years, easily on par with the best Yakuza.

3. I consider Y:LAD to be the best game in the franchise. Best characters, best story, best gameplay. Not much difference between brawling and turn-based to be honest. I have no sympathy for the people who hate that it went turn-based, they gave you Judgment for that and it's the best brawling in the franchise, even if you have to play it on 'Hard' to get what should be normal difficulty (but that complaint applies to Yakuza 5 and 6 as well).

1) Well guess I've been holding on to Y0 long enough, allrighties i'll play that after y3 which i'll soon wrap up.

2) A recurrent opinion i've come across when looking up the Yakuza series and when pondering what games from the series to get as a complete neophyte to the franchise.
So in other words, random ign and gamefaq people, whose opinion might be worth little but in absence of any other info were all i had to go on.

3) ****, high praise considering how much you seem to value the beat em up mechanics, so if anyone should have been bothered by the switch, it would have been you. Guess i can see that as a healthy endorsement indeed.

So basically no such thing as a bad yakuza game it seems, talk about Sega getting hard carried.

Switch from brawling to turn-based might seem big at first but I found it barely changed how the games flow or how I enjoyed them. I always viewed the Yakuza games as JRPGs anyway, just with a real-time combat system. Y:LAD is also just... so ******* good. Everything about it is first class, and Ichiban is an amazing protagonist. It's one of the most life-affirming stories I've seen in a game in years, an antidote to the endless nihilism/deconstruction in Western games.

The turn-based combat definitely needs some improvement for LAD8, don't get me wrong. It ain't perfect. It's essentially a slightly more simplified form of Dragon Quest mechanics, and for the next few games I'd love for them to iterate on it, or even perhaps include more real-time interactions. For example in Y:LAD you take less damage from an enemy's turn/attack by pressing a button at the correct time, and each enemy attack has its own animation and unique timing so you're always feeling the attacks out for when to press the button. Usually it's the moment when the enemy attack connects but some enemies take advantage of the system and attempt to "fake you out" by mistiming their attack or ability.

There is also interaction between environment clutter and characters during the turn-based battles as they take place in the same spot where everyone was standing before initiating combat, and you can sometimes throw enemies onto the path of a car, or you can get hit and land nearby a pickupable weapon (this is an automatic action that your character does depending on his current job, essentially adds extra damage). Also, enemies flying through Smile Burger windows is just fun.

Little touches like that go a long way, and perhaps they can add a similar button prompt component to your own attacks for LAD8, or increase the complexity of environmental interactions, or something even more imaginative than just that. BTW, I keep saying "button prompt" but there is no onscreen prompt, you just have to press it, there is no visual indication onscreen though I *think* there might've been some GUI assistance option added in later via a patch. Would need to double check. No visual indicator makes it harder so you have to pay attention to when the enemy strike will actually connect as later in the game the damage mitigation can be very helpful.

As far as my personal rankings for the series goes it'd be something like:

1. Y:LAD
2. Yakuza Kiwami 2
3. Judgment 2 DLC: The Kaito Files
4. Yakuza 6 (has some references to the Yakuza/Kiwami 1/Kiwami 2 trilogy, as Yakuza 6 was made after).
5. Judgment 1 (has a slow start but it picks up).
6. Yakuza 3 (loved the first half of the game; I think possibly had the highest amount of funny side-stories?)
7. Yakuza 0
8. Yakuza 5 (Haruka-chan's game, nuff said).
9. Yakuza 4 (hardest one in the series, epic final stretch really cemented it for me and the only one I'd replay again on a harder mode).
10. Yakuza Kiwami 1 (only thing I remember fondly were the Nishiki scenes, the references and appearances from Yakuza 0, and Majima's gag appearance as a bartender serving you "fine booze").

Haven't played Ishin! yet, waiting for it to either hit Game Pass or reach -50% discount.

EDIT: Here's some what some of the "high-level" combat styles look like in Judgment 1, no spoilers so don't worry, it's just a side-story mook that has no bearing on the story of the game:


Judgment 2 introduced even more styles and mechanics but I couldn't find any good combo videos that weren't a spoiler so I picked this one from the first game. (Don't search YT for Judgment combo videos unless you want to get spoiled. Both games rely a lot on reveals and seeing the boss fights will spoil those).

[General Reign]

I started Punch Club for a low stress game to play between other games. It's pretty cool.

[Tweed]

Finished Tiberian Sun on the Nod campaign, playing Firestorm.

[KnightoftheWind]

Haven't played much else recently, but I am trying the PSX version of Doom courtesy of the "PsyDoom" port on Linux. Not only has this game made me believe in Appimages as a viable and 'ideal' method of using software on Linux, but the game itself has a really unique horror-style that sets it apart from every other version of Doom. Loud, bombastic metal tracks are replaced by sombre, atmospheric ones, and the enemies you fight are made more frightening to match. Well, they're the same in the looks department but they do sound more frightening.

There are some changes to level geometry as we;;, some rooms were made simpler from what I've played so far, but it makes up for this by incorporating a unique lighting system. Dark rooms are now really dark, and rooms with a more open ceiling give the impression that sunlight is shining through and illuminating a small part of the area. This is both a good and bad thing, and some rooms are made extremely dark because of this. Okay for a survival horror game, not so much for a fast-paced action one. Some doors seem to be illuminated as well to set them apart from their surroundings, giving the impression of a spotlight being shined on them. Helpful for getting around I suppose, and it sure beats the obnoxious yellow paint of modern games.

Overall I primarily enjoy the sound design of PSX Doom, I was never into rock and roll and I feel the music composed for this version does more for me, and is easier on the ears. A lot of the monsters in the game have less annoying sounds too, particularly the Pinkies and all the other enemies that recycle their sounds.

[General Reign]

PSX Doom was great minus the ****** controller. Playing it on PC modded was nice.

[BlueMemphis]

Majima everywhere: Shitposter Majima

Definitely consider Yakuza a jrpg aswell, albeit with fighting instead of turn based battles, hence my initial aversion to trying out LAD as it felt like a regression.

So far my own order of preference is Y1-2-3. I guess i do value the mini games and optional content a lot higher overall, hence why my rating, things like pocket racer was really up my alley and i liked bouncing between activities like that and then beating stuff up with a bit of story in between, made for a real cozy gameloop.
Y3's biggest let down for me wasn't the older graphics or the more restrictive levelling system, but the lack of good original minigames like with the hostess management minigame feeling like a step down from y2. But if i were to rate it purely on story and side missions? I definitely concur first half is top tier and makes you really like okinawa.

Judgement 1 combat looks sick af, no arguments there.

[WhiteShark]

I tried three different demos today.

Firstly, Lancer Tactics, an adaptation of the Lancer tabletop RPG. Lancer is a D&D 4E-inspired mech tactics game, so naturally it should translate well to the video game format. Indeed, the tutorial was faithful to the tabletop rules and seemed quite promising... but then an allied NPC literally said something like, "...because I'm GAAAAAAAY!" and when I went to start the first mission, I was confronted with this at character select:

► Show Spoiler

...and suddenly I lost interest in continuing.

Secondly, Shardpunk: Verminfall:
https://www.gog.com/en/game/shardpunk_verminfall

It's a tactics game in which you command a team of three humans and a robot across a series of levels while being harassed by a horde of skaven rat people. The goal of each level is to reach the exit. Like Left 4 Dead's zombies, the rat people are technically infinite, having a regular influx of reinforcements. It's a roguelite, but only in that you unlock different characters and upgrade paths for use within runs; nothing else carries over between runs as far as I can tell. Difficulty modes range from Very Easy to Very Hard, so I put it on Hard for the demo to see how it felt. I lost two of my humans and barely scraped through the first level after which the demo ended, so naturally I am pleased with the difficulty and looking forward to trying the actual game.

Thirdly, Banchou Tactics:

This was practically the definition of bare bones. It had a grid and each of my three units had a single special ability... and that was pretty much it. There were no terrain types, just open squares and obstructed squares. Everybody had 200~300 HP and attacks did 25~75, so it was quite spongey. There was a 'weapon quadrangle' except instead of weapons it was blood types, and this didn't make much difference; likewise there was facing, but I couldn't tell if back attacks had any bonus effect. The interface was clunky and there was no way to pan the camera around freely. The only four stats are HP, attack, defense, and SP (for using special abilities, I assume). The trailer showed three item slots but I didn't have access to those in the demo. The voice acting was very mediocre and the art isn't quite anime, which is unsurprising since the developer is based in Bangkok. The final product will need to be a big upgrade from the demo for me to be interested.

[General Reign]

That tactics game Vigilante(s?) is pretty barebones but is ok on higher difficulties.

[rusty_shackleford]

Firstly, Lancer Tactics, an adaptation of the Lancer tabletop RPG. Lancer is a D&D 4E-inspired mech tactics game, so naturally it should translate well to the video game format. Indeed, the tutorial was faithful to the tabletop rules and seemed quite promising... but then an allied NPC literally said something like, "...because I'm GAAAAAAAY!" and when I went to start the first mission, I was confronted with this at character select:

Not sure what you were expecting, this is the first page of Lancer:

[WhiteShark]

Not sure what you were expecting, this is the first page of Lancer:

What version are you looking at? That's page 337 in my copy. Regardless, I was aware that the creators and their discord have ****** politics, but the game was made independently:

Lancer Tactics is not an official Lancer product; it is a third party work, and is not affiliated with Massif Press. Lancer Tactics is published via the Lancer Third Party License.

so I had foolishly hoped it would not be incredibly homosexual. Alas.

[rusty_shackleford]

What version are you looking at? That's page 337 in my copy

https://massif-press.itch.io/corebook-pdf-free

[Roguey]

Finished Bound by Flame. Spiders took the foundation of Mars: War Logs and somehow made combat and writing worse (the music was good at least). I made a character maximized for damage and up until the middle of the game everything was too health-bloated, and then in the final area they deliberately made all enemies far spongier until you get an item that gives them back their regular stats. The final boss was such aggravating nonsense that I dialed the difficulty to the easiest setting and still died a couple of times. Setting and characters just weren't as interesting as War Logs. Also amused at how the "sacrifice yourself" ending is the one they wanted you to go for since that's the one that has ending slides compared to the very abrupt end of the "let''s just fix the world with me in charge" choice. I'll check out videos of the Edwen romance and demon path, but I won't be revisiting this.

[Emphyrio]

I got back into Wargame Red Dragon multiplayer, but then last game I got dogpiled by meme units as soon as I left spawn and it was so annoying that I don't want to play anymore.

[aweigh]

Finished Bound by Flame. Spiders took the foundation of Mars: War Logs and somehow made combat and writing worse (the music was good at least). I made a character maximized for damage and up until the middle of the game everything was too health-bloated, and then in the final area they deliberately made all enemies far spongier until you get an item that gives them back their regular stats. The final boss was such aggravating nonsense that I dialed the difficulty to the easiest setting and still died a couple of times. Setting and characters just weren't as interesting as War Logs. Also amused at how the "sacrifice yourself" ending is the one they wanted you to go for since that's the one that has ending slides compared to the very abrupt end of the "let''s just fix the world with me in charge" choice. I'll check out videos of the Edwen romance and demon path, but I won't be revisiting this.

i forget, did you play greedfall or are you working up to greedfall? i've only played greedfall (of spiders' games) and it was decent... ish. a good attempt.

[Roguey]

Finished Bound by Flame. Spiders took the foundation of Mars: War Logs and somehow made combat and writing worse (the music was good at least). I made a character maximized for damage and up until the middle of the game everything was too health-bloated, and then in the final area they deliberately made all enemies far spongier until you get an item that gives them back their regular stats. The final boss was such aggravating nonsense that I dialed the difficulty to the easiest setting and still died a couple of times. Setting and characters just weren't as interesting as War Logs. Also amused at how the "sacrifice yourself" ending is the one they wanted you to go for since that's the one that has ending slides compared to the very abrupt end of the "let''s just fix the world with me in charge" choice. I'll check out videos of the Edwen romance and demon path, but I won't be revisiting this.

i forget, did you play greedfall or are you working up to greedfall? i've only played greedfall (of spiders' games) and it was decent... ish. a good attempt.

Greedfall was the first one I played and I liked it enough to back to play the others. Just have The Technomancer left to go (not interested in their faery game and Of Orcs and Men was a co-development with Cyanide so not fully theirs)

[MadPreacher]

I'm doing a 769 start playthrough of Crusader Kings 2. I started as the ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

[wndrbr]

not interested in their Of Orcs and Men was a co-development with Cyanide so not fully theirs)

Cyanide aren't bad, or at least they weren't back then. You should check their Game of Thrones RPG, it's a very good sort-of biowarian storyfag rpg.

[Roguey]

not interested in their Of Orcs and Men was a co-development with Cyanide so not fully theirs)

Cyanide aren't bad, or at least they weren't back then. You should check their Game of Thrones RPG, it's a very good sort-of biowarian storyfag rpg.

I liked the two Styx games but I'm uncertain about Of Orcs and Men. Also have no interest whatsoever in Game of Thrones.

[boot]

Finished Wasteland 2. Was a drag the whole way through, the game never got good.

[Acrux]

Finished Wasteland 2. Was a drag the whole way through, the game never got good.

Were you playing the Director's Cut? It's better than the initial release.