What are you playing?

red said:
im playing breath of the wild now. as a non zelda fan, i'm finding it pretty difficult..
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As a Zelda fan, BotW was a little too not-Zelda for me, I think. It's definitely different from most of the past entries.
 
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ShinChuck said:
As a Zelda fan, BotW was a little too not-Zelda for me, I think. It's definitely different from most of the past entries.
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I fully get that. They changed the formula in many ways but I'm still enjoying them. What I really want Nintendo to do now is just release Twilight Princess and Wind Waker on Switch. I'll be happy at that point.
 
Playing GP Rider so much 2 weeks ago, caused me to get back into SHO for a bit and I got SO into it that I went through upscaled videos on YT and have captured (almost!) all of the signage in the game, for making stickers and shirts for my car and for me to wear, respectively.

Already got my Birdland T-Shirt and Bird Bird (Genesis' version of Birdland) Raglan and am just waiting for the stickers to come in :D

I really want to start the Tanto Aru (Puzzle and Action) games for the GG, Genesis and Saturn that got a few years ago (Saturn one is the sequel), but not sure when I can get to them...
 
So I finally put some time aside to try Tanto Aru (the Puzzle and Action games, based in the Bonanza Brothers universe) on Monday and after putting it in my Genesis a few times, it wouldn't load. Finally did get the game to boot and... "This cartridge can only be played on NTSC (which NA is, but anyways) and European/PAL consoles," in a weird, green font that I've never seen before on a Genesis. :mad:

Pissed off, I ended up popping in Alien Storm and FINALLY beat that lol, it's a fun game, though I wouldn't quite call it a Golden Axe with guns like many say. Yesterday during my lunch at work, I discovered that you could use a Game Genie as an import device! I found the GG code on Gamefaqs, tried it after my day was done... and it didn't work. Tried it again with actually enabling the GG... and there was an, "input error," in the same green font :mad:. Tried ONE more time and it worked! Spent the next three hours tearing apart the game and then beat it! Such a fun and awesome game, the king of party games of the 4th gen, IMO. Also, despite being in Japanese, SUPER import-friendly, save for 1 mini-game and 1 mini-game only: the, "Hint," mini-game. Lost all my continues trying to guess and use Google Translate's camera option, but it didn't work. Then went through the game again, avoiding that minigame (you pick at random, but you can see what you're picking, so it's easy to avoid) and beat it no problem. There's also a VERY extensive 2 player mode with even more mini-games to pick from, so there is so much to see and do.

Then went to the washroom soon after and played the GG version while in there. I meant to just peek through it, but I ended up beating it in around 51 minutes lol: of course, downgraded graphics from the Genesis version, but otherwise it's almost identical, sans a 2 player mode. They also have a few different mini-games than the Genesis version as well, possibly due to being scaled down.

Genesis version gets a (rounded) 9/10 from me and the GG a (rounded) 8/10. Can't wait to get to the Saturn version next (Sandaharu, which is either the sequel or, as I see it, an amalgamation of Tanto Aru and Ichidant-R {the actual sequel}, though not sure).

EDIT** And that's now 11 games from the backlog, hammered out in 2023. Playing the stuff you bought in the past is fun! ;)
 
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Finally beat Tears of the Kingdom. I doubted it would, but I think it’s pushed out Skyward Sword/Breath of the Wild as my third overall favorite Zelda title. Have a few nitpicks with it, and that makes it real close competition, overall those issues are small and understandable though and so I mostly had a great time with it. Did all the lightroots and shrines, a ton of sidequests, probably clocking in at something around 140 hours total which is more than I spend on most games. I’m sure there’s a lot more side stuff worth doing, but as much as I enjoyed it, it’s a bit exhausting. Maybe one day I’ll return to it.

So while I’ve had things like Dusk Diver 2, Neon White, and Hi-fi Rush on the back burner, and even more recently Fatal Frame 4 and the Megaman Battle Network collection, I decided to go with something much more brief, revisiting a couple older games I remember really enjoying. Had forgotten I’d bought the rerelease of the Portal games on Switch some months ago.

Played through the first in just a couple hours, surprised how well I remembered some of the puzzles. Great, simple experience that still holds up with the writing and level design. I played 20 minutes into the sequel but started dozing off, thought I might start fresh tonight or tomorrow. I’d forgotten how much of an improvement 2 is.
My only gripe with these is that sadly the gyro aiming is not as fluid as Zelda or Metroid Prime. But when I tried playing without, it also felt neutered. If only it were a bit better.
 
So, I lied: Sando*haru is indeed a sequel, but a sequel to Ichidant-R: there is another Saturn release which is an amalgamation of Tanto Aru and Ichidant-R and that is NOT the game I have.

TONS more mini-games, more-difficult as well and only 2 that you need Japanese knowledge for (though both can be figured out with Google Translate, more-easily and one of them is easier than the other), with more, "levels," than Tanto Aru as well. You need to beat Hard to get the best ending, but I just don't have it to beat that level of difficulty lol, but I did beat it on Easy and then Normal. 2 player also throws a wrinkle into things, with items and other goodies.

These are indeed the Mini-game kings of the Sega consoles, just quality, well-made titles.

Sando Haru is arguably a rounded 10, but we'll see if I indeed review it that highly ;)
 
And I strangely have had quite a bit of time the past 3-4 days, so I have also beaten SF: The Movie and Baku Baku Animal! :D

SF's sprites actually look ok, but they animate terribly and they don't fit the backgrounds at all, which are quite good for being just FMV-esque images. The FMV does look superb though, I was amazed this was my Saturn running :LOL:

It plays like a SF game though, which is all that counts, but this is looking to be 6-7/10 game at best, one for the fans.

Baku Baku is just a wonderful concept for a puzzle game and it thankfully isn't too tough (or, my strategy for Puyo Puyo just also works well lol), though outside of multiplayer, there is not much to do (ranking mode is cool, but that would work better for Virtua Fighter {where the mode first appeared, IIRC}, as you can select other characters). Still, a solid 8-9/10 game as well.

That backlog is slowly dwindling :D
 
Triple post! :LOL:

Don't know if I got my mojo going or not, but Baku Baku got me in a puzzle game mood and I have FINALLY beaten Puyo Puyo on the Genesis! :D That was 2 nights ago and last night, I beat Mean Bean Machine on the GameGear :eek: . So now I have Puyo Puyo on the GameGear to beat, then all of the games I own from that series, will be done.

I think I will get 2 (for Genesis and GG), Sun for the Saturn and N/4 for the Dreamcast at this rate, as this series is quickly becoming a favourite...

And the backlog is down to 105 now :D
 
Got to the final boss in MM Battle Network. Others say it’s easy but I can’t help but find it disheartening because the stuff just before it will be really annoying to get through on each try. My first attempt only lasted 10-20 seconds. Really unsure whether I should go back and explore/grind for anymore chips or upgrades.

Decided to replay the 25th Ward now that a remake of FSR hasn’t been announced…I feel like the games’ story made a lot more sense this time but coincidentally, I was also trying these edible gummies for my first time this weekend. So I don’t know if that enhanced it for me or whatever lol. I think I did get more emotional during this late part in Tokyo’s chapters, probably because I better understood what was going on - and I wonder if his revelation about Red’s age and gender inspired Jeane turning out to be a dude in No More Heroes 3. In any case, I’m back at the very last part and not sure if I want to do the grind to all 100 endings.

Lastly now that I have Atelier Ryza 3 I’ve begun actually playing through the series. I’d played the first briefly, had worried I might not have enough time til the sequel came out, now here I am lol. Already a bit stuck, though - now I have to make this reaper scythe and have no idea where to get some materials; accidentally wasted making an ingot. I’m sure I’d got past here before so I feel like a dummy.

Did some art for both:

IMG_1011.jpegIMG_1012.jpeg
 
I never mentioned, but the next night (June 30th) I beat Puyo Puyo on the GG (somehow: was on a roll, I guess) and now the backlog is down to 104 :)

Have taken a break since then though: I played 1 1/2 hours of TXR2 on the DC though (while it sat paused for a little over 2 1/2 hours), to get the battery going, as I plan to beat a couple of DC games from my backlog (starting with Toukon Retsuden 4): It's nWo time! :D
 
I've been playing a lot of Diablo 4 lately. It's disgustingly addicting. Also getting back to fighting games thanks to SF6. Been trying to play it with a leverless controller. In the first couple of days it felt like I've never touched a gamepad before. Couldn't even jump properly. Anyway, both great games that I'd really recommend to anyone.
 
Just beat FFXVI. I've played a handful of the games in the series and have the kind of "nothing is sacred" mindset, so keep that in mind I suppose. Overall I thought it was pretty great! (but not perfect of course). I'd probably say it's an 8/10 or 8.5/10.

Pros:
  • Awesome set-piece moments. Probably makes the biggest spectacle of any game I've ever played. The Eikon moments are just insane amounts of fun. These alone were worth playing the entire game.
  • Great soundtrack, besides a few moments where they went with random sounding industrial metal/rock stuff.
  • I was very intrigued by the story and the world and to figure out where all of this was going. It's not perfect, but the high points really hit.
  • I had a lot of fun with the action combat and don't mind them going away from a turn based or hybrid system.
  • I liked the characters for the most part and I thought the voice acting was pretty solid, especially for a Japanese developed game.
  • Graphics/VFX/Lighting were all great and makes this feel like one of the first major "Next Gen" games (I know, 3 years into this gen, haha)

Cons:
  • To avoid spoilers, I thought the story lost a bit of momentum and the focus moved to a few characters instead of the ensemble.
  • The combat itself felt like it lost a bit of momentum, too. At a certain point I figured out a good set of abilities that I liked and just stuck with that, since new abilities didn't feel like they added much after a while.
  • While I'm getting a bit less patient to keep messing with gear/character builds as I become old and ornery, they probably simplified the RPG mechanics a bit too much, even if real-time combat can be less reliant on stats.
  • This is commonly noted, but the sidequest design was pretty weak.
  • This could be a tall order, but the regular quest dialogue animations and lip sync feel majorly behind the curve, and look even worse since the cutscene animations are so good.
A few general thoughts on the story (Major Spoilers):

  • The story took a huge dip for me after Cid died. It eventually built back up but it felt it took a long time to get there.
  • Jill was probably the character that I felt they abandoned most. After the Iron Blood chapter I thought the focus shifted away from her too much, or perhaps after the first Odin fight.
  • I kind of wish the story stayed a bit more grounded to the people of the different nations. The idea of Ultima wasn't bad or anything, but I definitely enjoyed seeing how all the pieces fit together with the inner politics and seeing the different Eikons for each nation.
  • It feels like they just kind of glossed over the whole thing where Ifrit "killed" The Phoenix? Maybe they understand that dominants can kind of lose control of their Eikons or something? And why did Joshua need to be all hooded and spooky in his visions and kind of avoidant?
 
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I'm late to the Final Fantasy XVI conversation due to been super busy IRL but this week I have plunged 25+ hours into it.

Overall I am enjoying it, the story and characters have pulled me in and there have been plenty of exhilirating moments. However... I don't like the gameplay. The stucture of the games navigation is horrible. I can't stand having to use a Menu (World Map) to transition to locations. The problem with this is it diminishes the sense of adventure, you don't tend to travel as when you select the location on the map you're pretty much there. Later you can go about your own way and re-visit locations but there isn't much point.

The sidequests are generic as possible, I find myself skimming the dialogue as i am not interested half the time. With FF I look forward to sidequests/mini-games which differ from the main game - Chocobo Racing, Blitzball, Triple Triad! FF hasn't utilised this well for years, sure XV had fishing but that's almost an industry mini-game trope at this point.

Then there is the combat, I'm not a Turn-Based Purist! I do enjoy Action-RPG's but XVI's combat has little variation:
Attack - Evade at right times - get Stagger Bar Half Empty - Use Tug Spell - Use Special Attack - Get Stagger Bar Fully Empty - Spam All the Specials - REPEAT. Every Encounter I have had has been like this. Because of the narrative way you obtain Elemental attack it is not utilised into the gameplay, so there aren't really any unique weaknesses for enemies.
For normal enemies I find I use Lunge - Attack - Ground Grapple (Using the grapple to evade incoming damage) - REPEAT. They have tried to introduce mages that can summon protect which measn you have to spam magic at them - the problem is that the games combat does not recognise elements.

I just find the gameplay really uninspiring, even navigating the landscape areas, there are too many invisible walls where there is no need for them. There is little effort put into seeing the enemies interact with each other like I have seen in other RPG's, nor is there any way to get a pre-empt reward.

For me the real pull is the story, it is compelling and I really have enjoyed my time with the characters. But as a game, it just feels very basic. I'll see how I feel upon beating the game but I can't see my opinions changing too much.
 
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