Chatting about games

I looked up a lot of bow builds. They're all firing super moves at close range. The way I want to play requires always keeping distance. This game does not seem to offer that.

If you know something that could help in that regard I'd be willing to give it another try.

>Anyone played Path of Exile?

Play the diablo 2 remaster if you are going to play a top down loot game. POE is a garbage fire compared to the mastery that is diablo 2. So much better in every way.

I'm not really looking for a top down loot game. Just an RPG with long range options that actually work.

I'm not really familiar with them, and they are probably not what you were looking for, but perhaps games like borderlands for shooters and Divinity OS for turn based RPGs?

No shooters.

Divinity OS is great. Quit OS2 due to the trash armor mechanic the devs added to hurt status effects.

Going to try Titan Quest.

You are going to be disappointed by every top down loot rpg. They aren't for you i think, I feel like I have a good grasp on your tastes B Dog.

>I feel like I have a good grasp on your tastes B Dog
I'll go over some stuff. Tell me if you know anything similar I can try. I won't list turn-based right now as I don't expect the same type of gameplay in games where you can't move on the enemy's turn. All I want in TB games is good build variety.

For action RPGs, I love the ranged combat in Dragon's Dogma and Horizon Zero Dawn.
In both you can snipe, and even regular arrows have insane range (if ranger class in DD). Both have numerous arrow types. Corruption Arrows in HZD are a dream come true for me. Which is why I hated the DLC as it added an enemy state where they couldn't be corrupted and new enemies that couldn't be either.

Divine Divinity is good so far. With certain skills you can see and target enemies further away and even off-screen. Poison is really good but I need to learn alchemy to make my own because you have to apply it to your weapon. I've been able to kite everything so far. Creepy game. Freaks me out.

Kingdom's of Amalur was passable. Terrain is too flat though. No free aim though range was still pretty good. Easy to roll, lay traps and permanently keep the freaks away.

Dragon Quest Heroes 1&2 offer bow characters with insane ranged attacks. Even the casters are good for this. Free aiming.

I've looked into Outward but read the arrow cap is low and bows were nerfed at one point as they were too good. Don't like the stamina, hunger and thirst crap.

Wolves of Midgard looks decent, but the exposure mechanics (cold areas will eventually freeze and kill you) turned me off. Ranged looks good though. Maybe I'd try it for a low price.

Shadows Awakening had this thing where you had to transform into a demon and access the dead world to progress or hurt certain enemies. Hated that. Ranged wasn't that good.

Right now I'm looking into Elex. Saw some nice bow stuff. Might grab it on sale.

Eventually I'll get to Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Dragon Age Origins. Is Diablo 1 any good? You can choose a bow character from the start right?

Yeah not really sure unless you want to get into shooters.

Is Diablo 1 any good?

Plays like junk compared to diablo 2. In D2 you can pick a class(diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Amazon) that can specialize in bows or thrown javelins, and play fully ranged.

Birdman wrote:I'm not really looking for a top down loot game. Just an RPG with long range options that actually work.

Jagged Alliance 2, Temple of Elemental Evil, Silent Storm. Read more here: https://lilura1.blogspot.com/2020/09/What-RPG-has-the-best-combat-all-time-best-top-10.html

Also, here's a big write-up on PC RPGs in general: https://lilura1.blogspot.com/search/label/_Renaissance%201995-2010

Someone else read that first link and tell me that isn't trolling.

If you guys could decide whether post 6th gen consoles wouldn't have been a thing at all, or leave things as is, which one would you go for? For one, it would mean more games being made in less time, but you'd have to say goodbye to any 7th gen (and beyond) games that you love. Unless you think they could still produce a game with the same quality on weaker consoles.

And if you're wondering, yes, I asked this somewhere else. Just wanted to see what the people of this forum thinks about this.

7th gen consoles have some important games. Ninja Gaiden 2, The Evil Within and Vanquish are irreplaceable and they benefitted by more powerful consoles. There are obviously good titles developed for 8th gen consoles but they are less frequent on those machines. I'd say "let things stay as they are", even if I prefer the PS2 era and a faster development process.

Another problem of this age is the lack of talent among AAA directors. Old talents are almost retired and people like Taura (Astral Chain) are rare exceptions. Good action games can have a limited budget but not as low as indie games.

Besides 7th gen and even 8th gen having some great games, I think that more power can allow for better games. The problem is that when you combine the chase for graphics, cinematic qualities or just wide mainstream appeal combined with higher budgets, something's gotta give. And that's before talking about talents.

And by better hardware allowing for gameplay improvements - I think NG2 is a great example. We all know it's unfinished and has flaws, but this is an example for a game that used the extra horsepower for the gameplay (big levels with big enemy counts) instead of being a graphical showcase. Even on the 360 it struggled a lot, no 6th gen console would ever run something like it, even with significant visual downgrades.

TL;DR: more powerful hardware can be used to create gameplay experiences not possible on 6th or even 7th gen games, even if I can't think of too many examples that actually do it.

Hard to say. There was a pretty brutal interview with a designer of GoW2 who lamented the PS3, stating that they'd finally figured out how to get the most out of a console, only to then have to re-learn everything (joke's on us, they ended up just porting GoWII to the PS3 and modding it to hell and back to make GoWIII).

I think, personally, if I think really hard about it, I'd have prefered they'd stayed in the 6th gen, but not for the reasons you laid out. 6th gen games were pretty to look at, but not nearing the HD/cinematic levels the 7th and later 8th gen got, which is where a ton of the more casual consumerism came from that casualized and neutered so many titles.

6th gen just couldn't support that. GoW got close, but you won't get Uncharted or Last of Us on those systems.

Games like MGR:R, NGII and Vanquish could probably still work on 6th gen systems but require more expert knowledge and probably look fuck-ugly to compensate.

One flaw you'd get though is that after 5-10 years, the industry will reset anyway. People with decades of experience with the enginges will leave companies, only to hire new recruits that have to learn everything anew anyway. So the speed-problem will never go away I fear, it's a temporary solution.

I think I would let things progress, just because 7th gen and on gave us some great games and I fear the Pandora's Box of microtransactions, etc. would eventually still get opened in some form. I'm sympathetic to staying on 6th gen though, there are strong arguments for it.

Anyone interested in Astria Ascending?

Been doing some research. Looks like each character can have multiple jobs.

Check out this psycho's preview. Not for info but for a laugh. Aww look at him all 'concerned' over the females being hot and the 'racism' among fantasy creatures. For fuck's sake what a retard.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nintendoenthusiast.com/astria-ascending-preview-pc-nintendo-switch/amp/

Haven't read it, but it's still mind boggling to me how people get annoyed over video game characters not living up to their weird agendas, It's just an entertainment product... Don't they have better things to do with their lives?

Read another and found this gold.

"In practical terms, coexistence between different groups does require sacrifice, but it’s never a life-or-death consideration. Nobody has to take medication in order to stop being prejudiced against people who are different from them. Stories are powerful when they rhyme with real life. Astria is so fantastical about the concept of coexistence that it loses me on the relevance of its themes.

More importantly, the constant sniping and the fantasy racism was uncomfortable to experience in practice. Maybe the game has something poignant to say about racism in the second half, but that doesn’t diminish how much I dreaded advancing to the next cutscene."

Imagine being uncomfortable and dreading minotaur man hating on bird woman.

For fuck's sake. Sometimes I just can't believe there are retards who live and breath this shit.

Am I the only one who thinks this game is the epitome of "style over substance"?



The comparison might be unfair but why should I play this while I could become better at God Hand? I only see braindead enemies, style-switching juggle combos and too long EX actions.

I can't speak for the entire series, but I kinda felt the same when I played Y0 2 years ago, maybe I just didn't explore the combat enough, but I was simply burnt out by the end (not just by the combat) that to this day I didn't touch any other entry.

I tried to give Judgment a try but it quickly felt the same. I guess the real appeal of the series is the story and "Japanese wackiness", not deep combat mechanics.

GN1 wrote:I can't speak for the entire series, but I kinda felt the same when I played Y0 2 years ago, maybe I just didn't explore the combat enough, but I was simply burnt out by the end (not just by the combat) that to this day I didn't touch any other entry.

I tried to give Judgment a try but it quickly felt the same. I guess the real appeal of the series is the story and "Japanese wackiness", not deep combat mechanics.

Yakuza 0 has not the deepest mechanics but it can be an enjoyable action game, this Judgment seems a total involution. The "Japanese wackiness" was always present but not at this level. They want to cater to casuals and "weebs", not action fans.
3d beat 'em ups are almost dead and I'm sceptic about Sifu too, even if for different reasons.

It makes sense that after the series became more popular they made it cater more to casuals, but I haven't played enough to comment on this. Yakuza 0 had better combat or at least better AI?

Even before the rise in popularity it's hard for me to imagine that combat was the main draw of the series.

>but why should I play this while I could become better at God Hand?
You shouldn't. Now go play God Hand.

@GN1
> Yakuza 0 had better combat or at least better AI?
Normal enemies weren't amazing but they weren't completely inactive. Bosses shined more and bosses + minions could offer an interesting challenge (especially in Kiwami 1). Yakuza 3 was the hardest game in the series because enemies blocked a lot and you needed to use grabs, objects and everything else to crowd control.

> it's hard for me to imagine that combat was the main draw of the series.
A good story helped Yakuza but it was fun to play. It never was at the top of the genre, but it reached the right balance between an action drama and a competent brawler.

@Birdman
> You shouldn't. Now go play God Hand.
Haha, you are right. After finishing some challenges in GoW1 and KH2FM I'll go back to it.

I lost internet in Yakuza around the time Kiwami 2 came out. Too many titles that are too similar, with most of the draw being the amount of content(that I won’t ever play) and the craziness. Played Judgement for a couple hours and just shelved it. No interest in the series anymore, unfortunately.

As for the combat itself, it’s mostly good, but honestly nothing special. Yeah there’s different moves, styles, and whatever, but I want more from my combat than just “comboz and style”. Enemies are usually either braindead or obnoxious with no in-between, and the heat moves are way too long. The more games I play that I consider amazing, the less patience I have for games that don’t do much for me. It’s kind of an annoying way to live, but I can’t help it at this point.

> The more games I play that I consider amazing...
Yes, completely agree with this. I'm at the point where I might not even finish a game I'd say is decent. A "6/10" game isn't a bad one, but I find it hard to want to play that game when my personal 8s/9s/10s are sat there.

> Yakuza
My interest started to decline with Kiwami (1) after beating 0. It felt like such a regression, but it's hard to pinpoint exactly why when the games share a similar combat system. I played 0 quite early on in my "action game phase" so I thought the combat was amazing, but I don't hold that opinion now. I'd say it's decent at best. It's a "jack of all trades, master of none" sort of game.

> Enemies mostly braindead or obnoxious
Again, totally agree in the case of the Kiwami titles. There are some absolutely horrible bosses in Kiwami 1, and you can beat every fight in Kiwami 2 by spamming charged attacks as the enemies have no defence against them. Maybe this is to be expected when the combat isn't necessarily the primary focus of the game.

> Yakuza
3,4, and 5 are really it for me, and unfortunately each game became easier, had more depth and had less fights. When you get to 5 it has some incredible combat options but there is almost nothing to fight, and it is braindead easy.
I really hope the Samurai games get translated, they look awesome.
I enjoy the stories and found 7 boring to play, but the way they brought back Kiryu was pretty cool, even though i think after 6 he should have vanished.
I will play Judge Eyes 2 if it ever is on pc, a mediocre Ryu Ga Gotoku game is still better than most trash released today.

>The more games I play that I consider amazing, the less patience I have for games that don’t do much for me.
I feel the same way. I start so many games and quit within an hour. Then end up going back to replay games released more than 10 years ago.
It is sad that replaying a game for the 10th time is more enjoyable than the newest latest.
I am all mechanics for the most part and modern game mechanics are designed with a low skill floor, but also a low skill ceiling.
I miss titles that had a very high skill floor that required you to really devote time just to play the damn thing, then every boss would smash your face in, and require you to completely reevaluate every thing you thought you knew mechanically.
They used to all be like that.

I'm still finding out weird shit in Okami.

>the less patience I have for games that don’t do much for me.
>might not even finish a game I'd say is decent.
Totally feel this.

>I start so many games and quit within an hour. Then end up going back to replay games released more than 10 years ago.
I usually last more than an hour. Sometimes a week to give a game a chance but it quickly becomes clear what will not be on my 'replay forever' list.

Every good game I have played, I couldn't put it down. I think about it nonstop at work, I dream about it.
If I am playing a game, even if I like some aspects, If I don't have that draw to play it every waking second, I know deep down it isn't quality. It is trash.
This counts for replays too. If I were to load up a RE4 or God Hand run, it would consume me.
Those games are immaculate. Even though I have played them a dozen times, I would still be completely drawn in.
Because the mechanics and combat hold up forever, they are like chess.
Modern gaming is selling marvel movies, and we just want chess.

Hahaha.

That's exactly how I feel.

As I go about my business I think about possible things I could try in Okami, for example. It constantly plays in my head.

Some games might hook me for a while. But they usually have something that exhausts me. Struggling to get through BotW's open world, finish Astral Chain and I stopped playing Horizon due to the open world being a chore too. Even though all of these have elements I like.

In BotW I thought I'd be able to shatter an ice block then blow the chunks with a Korok leaf for a sort of shotgun blast. But the chunks vanish immediately. When I can be bothered to play it again, if my  current idea doesn't work I might quit. The game promotes what I'm thinking from what Ive seen, but some how I doubt it will work.

>Some games might hook me for a while. But they usually have something that exhausts me.

Absolutely same here.
These days though for me the exhausting aspects, usually open world bullshit, just burns me out  so quick.
I only want to play linear difficult action games right now.
I am so tired of map checklists and unnecessary loot.
I adore Nioh, but I have tried to play it 5 times each time I fall off because of the loot shit.
I will finish it and 2 one day, because I really think they are fantastic combat wise, but I am just not foaming at the mouth at all to play.

Been replaying RE5/6, Vanquish, Binary Domain, Lords of Shadow. Having a blast.
The only game I am excited for is Elden Ring. Nothing else moves me.

I was excited for deathloop. I love Arkane. Replayed PREY and Dishonored 1 in anticipation.
I couldn't put those titles down. Even though I have played Dishonored about 6 times.
Deathloop is fun, but a shallow husk compared to those games, and of course I dropped off after a day or two.

If modern games were at least unique, something like Shadow of The Colossus or Demon's Souls, that we had never seen before, I could over look shortcomings.
But no modern game is unique, every game is the same game with a different paint job and story.

Ghostwire at least looks unique from what they have showed. Have to give them credit, even though I think it looks bad. We will see I guess.

The things you have to say about astral chain tell me that game is probably not for me.
When you don't like a game I usually feel the same way.
I still have CL sitting here unplayed, I am waiting on finding a good CRT tv to experience it as it was meant to be seen.
Can't wait to dive into it.

>Astral Chain
If you can get through the story I hear there are combat challenges post game. That would be the only thing to look forward to. I'd never want to replay this campaign. Right now thinking about continuing makes me feel depressed.

S+ ranking it would be a form of torture interrogation. I would immediately divulge all secrets even if it meant throwing my country under the bus.

Aside from those special shield enemies, I'd say the combat is great even though I haven't unlocked all the moves.

What's really interesting is that subconsciously I was trying to mimic what I'd do in CL. Started with sword and bow, but mainly used bow, then when I got Axe he took over sword (axe being the closest thing to CL's bomb being able to set explosives on enemies).

The only real complaint I have about Astral Chain's combat is the special shield enemies that make an enemy completely invincible until you find and destroy them. If the post game challenges mix those in I'll quit forever.

Wow. You guys totally just read my thoughts, word for word.

I also am completely sick of so many modern trends. Open worlds suck, I hate all of them. None of them are worth a damn. Give me linear varied encounters. Nothing benefits from open world. Loot is shit. How can every game get away with even color coding things the same way? Do developers have no shame? Sifting through samey items is just obnoxious and does nothing for the game mechanically. I don’t understand how people enjoy that shit.

As for just knowing when a game is special, I think about this all the time. The first time I just kept reloading the city section in ZoE2 to get notes on weapons and enemies I knew it was a top 10 game for me. I would play other action games and just think “what are these sub weapons? Why are the enemies so lame?”. And I’d just boot ZoE2 back up for the millionth time.
Or when I got back in to TEW. I actually said out loud to myself “this is going to ruin shooters for me”. Surprise surprise, it did. It’s why I find stuff like Returnal and the new Ratchet to be total trash. No depth, details, or challenge. Just a bunch of modern trends wrapped up in a shiny graphics. Too bad they’re still turds.

Hate to be that guy too, but I haven’t loved a stealth game in years and years. How can I get into these new shit stealth games where all you do is crouch through grass and use x Ray vision, when MGS3 exists? The game put the rest of the genre to shame, almost two decades ago.

And then there’s all the specific design choices I hate. Im sick of iframe dashes being a substitute for a combat system. Im sick of traffic light parry systems. I’m sick of automated platforming. I’ve seen this shit all a thousand times. It wasn’t good to begin with, and it keeps getting worse.

With SoR4, I was constantly wanting to play while I was at work, or doing something else. I was stoked to move up the difficulties, and experiment with new tricks and characters. It was the first game in forever to get me excited to get high ranks. But it doesn’t have an iframe dodge for every character, so the sheep don’t like it.

I know this isn’t the vent topic, but you guys really hit the nail on the head for me. I went through my backlog a lot these last 3 years. I’ve uncovered a lot of amazing games, but I feel that well is really running dry. And that’s fine. I have enough quality games to last me forever.

>SoR4
Had my eye on this though these types of games I've never been into. How are the mechanics?

>open world
Always feels soulless. The only reason they litter them with collectibles is to justify bothering to go anywhere not the objective. The fact that you quickly gain faster travel options or just fast travel teleportation is almost an admittance by the devs that they know it sucks.

I feel worse when there are good mechanics trapped in shitty open worlds. Like Horizon's bow and machines are great but the huge world is terrible. Size for the sake of size. No distinct locations. Just one big blur where if you dropped me at any point I wouldn't be able to say where I was.

I like a decent amount of what you can do in BotW but the size of the map just doesn't make sense. Only really bought it to see what the fuss was about, have nothing on Switch, and it's lockdown. The videos of tech looked cool too and there's ideas I want to try. Don't imagine sticking with it long.

All open worlds have Ubisoft towers. Sick of climbing shit. Like you said, how can devs just constantly repeat stuff like this?

Is Super Mario Galaxy any good? Never been a Mario fan. Only looking at this one because it looks weird.

By the way haven't seen Roy recently. Did he go on leave or something? Strange. I don't recall authorizing that.

>Is Super Mario Galaxy any good?
100% it ages ago and loved it, but replaying it today it isn't anything special. The visuals and the music are great but the level design and Mario's movement are lacking. The levels are all pretty easy and large chunks of them can be skipped or trivialized by the (pretty floaty) long jump. Also the levels tend to be separated in various sections by the Launch Stars, making them seem more like a collection of mini-stages rather than full levels. The upside of this is that the game is pretty varied thanks to lots of gimmicks (which are well done, especially compared to something like Crash 3), but if you want pure platforming then you'll be disappointed.
Galaxy 2 fixes some problems of the first one (level design is more cohesive, more pure platforming, a bit harder in general) but it still remains pretty easy and shallow overall. Both are still decent games tho.
Also for the 100% completion in Galaxy 1 you need to basically complete the game twice, once as Mario and once as Luigi, with no changes to the levels. Galaxy 2 has unique stars and challenges instead.

>Did he go on leave or something?
He mentioned on Twitter that he went on his honeymoon.

> If the post game challenges mix those in I'll quit forever
I honestly can't remember any specific missions to tell you about, but I definitely wouldn't want to promise you that those enemies aren't in the postgame. I hope you enjoy it more next time you play, but it may end up being not for you.

> Crouch through grass and use X-Ray vision
Birdman mentioned Horizon Zero Dawn in an earlier comment, which is guilty of this (at least as far as I played). I really wanted to like this game but I just couldn't, the open world is a complete snoozefest. No 4k/60fps mode for PS5 is gonna save it from being boring. There are a lot of potential problems with open world titles but so many of them make getting round the game world uninteresting - if this element is boring, how can the game have any hope of being good?

> No distinct locations
Agreed, just the same rock faces and streams over and over. Pretty to look at, but can't give it much more praise than that. It feels like developers think that making an environment I might like walking through in real life makes it a good game environment. Their games aren't nearly as immersive as they think they are.

> SoR4
The "iframe dodges" of this game are the special moves. Tying it to a "risk vs reward" element is a pretty refreshing idea. @Birdman - I've never really been much of a 2D beat 'em up guy either but I really enjoyed the game. It's one of the best games I've played in the last couple of years. I can't remember how much mechanics discussion there was in the topic we have on here for it, but it might be worth a look.

> Enough quality to last
I've recently started playing a bunch of arcade titles using my fightstick and I can't describe how much more fun it is than playing 99% of modern games. I've been playing quite a bit of Marvel vs Capcom 2 and despite being an unbalanced mess of a game, it's loads of fun. Big roster of varied characters, customisable gameplay through assist types and team compositions, fun mechanics (and some pretty wild glitches), plenty of complexity and depth to keep you coming back. It's a game that simply wouldn't be made in 2021 (without major concessions), and that's a shame.

>Mario Galaxy
Any reason to replay? Scores or anything? Once you've collected everything that's it? I doubt it has combat mechanics that can be messed with.

How are the Switch controls? It was designed for the Wii remote.

>SoR4
Will look into it.

>reason to replay?
Not really. Galaxy 2 has a built in timer (don't think 1 has it), but it doesn't do anything. Also collectibles are absent, so there isn't even that. You'll replay levels a lot anyway thanks to comet challenges and green stars (they are different stars but set in the exact same level), but there isn't really any reason to redo a level you already beat, not even mechanics wise imo, since the game is so simple and linear.

>Switch controls
Don't know, but people say they are fine unless you are in handheld mode.

>How are the Switch controls? It was designed for the Wii remote.

I played Galaxy 2 on the pc emulator with a 360 controller, mapped the motion stuff to right stick it worked perfect. So I bet the switch controls are just fine.
I love Galaxy 1 and 2. They are the last platformers I enjoyed, hated everything since.

>SoR4 mechanics
Excellent. Play it.

>good mechanics in open world games
Always feels like a waste. Put these mechanics in proper levels and scrap the bland empty open worlds.

>Mario Galaxy any good
I love them but they might not be your thing. Mechanically they’re quite simple but the level design and variety is great. If you’re looking for a deep game to get into these aren’t it.

> Their games aren't nearly as immersive as they think they are.
People somehow get “immersed” by graphics and checklists. I get immersed in games by being challenged, making decisions, learning game systems, coming up with new tactics, and getting better. All of this stuff is too much for casuals, unfortunately.

>MvC2
Whatever happened with MvC:I? That game just completely came and went.

>hated every platformer since Galaxy
3D World is the last good platformer I played. Games don’t even have platforming anymore thanks to all the automated shit. Odyssey was the easiest game I’ve ever played. Ratchet and Clank isn’t even a platformer, I don’t know why it’s considered one. There have been some really great 2D action platformers at least.

> MvC:I
A mechanically good fighting game that's sadly (but understandably) been ignored by much of it's potential fanbase due to a pretty awful artstyle/presentation. Safe to assume a good chunk of the blame should be attributed to Marvel, who no doubt wanted their characters to resemble their MCU counterparts rather than the various comic book ones. People were very upset that the X-Men characters got cut, which is a shame given the crossovers began with X-Men vs Street Fighter (played it recently, still holds up). Might make an MvC topic in the "other" section, good series worth discussing.

Loosely related to the topic of MvC2 - the Sega Naomi was an absolute banger of an arcade board. So many good games on it!

> "Immersion"
Agreed - I'm immersed when a game, for lack of a better term, "demands" that I play it. It's so engaging that I don't want to put the controller down. Having pretty graphics is great but it really doesn't mean shit if the gameplay isn't fun.

>Excellent. Play it.
It's not that I don't believe you, but I need more info than that.
Watched a few videos and some combos but didn't feel like something I wanted to rush out and grab. Don't know why. I could never get into these types.

>Put these mechanics in proper levels and scrap the bland empty open worlds.
For me if the open spaces aren't gigantic spaces, like if you can more or less see or reach the boundary quickly, they're fine. Perfect example is Okami. A few bigger areas but you can mostly see the limits or come upon them pretty quickly. And there's lots of side paths/hidden areas.

>People somehow get “immersed” by graphics and checklists.
One absurd argument someone put to me for open world wastelands was that 'you can approach an objective any way you want'.

When I asked for an example, this was actually their answer. I'm not lying. They said you can ignore the main quest marker and do sidequests, collectibles. And I've heard this same argument many times since then.

As for how you tackle an objective, say, an open world enemy camp, I see that as more to do with what you're character can do than the world itself. There are some that offer use of terrain, stealth, or an object in the environment. BotW is like this. You could stealth kill while they sleep, shoot an explosive barrel, headshot with bow, use magnet to drop crates on them, or just run in and cut them up. Glide in from a higher point or just run in.

But only gliding in or shooting a barrel from range have anything to do with the world. The rest is the character's tools like any action game. Like how we all might choose different weapon loadouts in Bayonetta.

If anyone hasn't seen JoeTheButtons RE4 no item case runs, they are fantastic. It is basically pistol only olb/NUR. Brutal but got me hooked on RE4 again, which is always a good thing.
And anytime I play RE4, TEW is soon to follow...
The agony calls for me!

I'll look into those runs.

Any other action games of quality on Switch besides Astral Chain? Looked into both Hyrule Warriors games. Watched full movelists and not a single one I'd like to play as. As usual someone in the dev team doesn't realize bows aren't for shooting at the ground. There was a birdman that had some longer range shots but I'd have to play the whole game just using those and stopping the string.

Since my Japanese Switch version of Okami (only physical available and has English) is stuck in Singapore due to covid delays, I couldn't wait and just bought it digitally. Started a new game and love it. I already have so many versions over consoles. Wanted it on Switch because I can play it portable for when my wife kicks me out of the room.

Bayo 3's Kaiju focus will probably send it further away from the standard HnS direction (for better and for worse). I wonder if 'rage' will continue to be a thing. If it will remain as casual as the second with regards to item use as they relate to rankings. Designs are still quite shit (Nintendo's influence). Her appearance is meh. The VA is a bit off still. I'm sure there were other titles I was glancing at, but I've forgotten by this point.

Not sure if related, but RE Code Veronica X is free with gold now, and since this is also another game with lots of ports, which version is the best?

> ghostwire
I think it'll be decent, since Mikami is at least involved in some respect. It won't be Tango's best work I fear, but it does look very refreshing which is the least we can hope for I feel.

> astral chain
Fantastic game, but you really have to beat the campaign first. A lot of its content is locked behind you having all the Legions, and you don't get the last one until nearly the end of the game and it is mechanically the best one that offers the most combat potential. The 'devil trigger' also isn't unlocked until the second-to-last chapter which adds a ton of cancels to your loadout. Replaying the game afterwards and doing the 70(!!!!) combat challenges is very fun.

> S+ ranks in AC
Probably the easiest game to S+ rank imo of the genre, since it saves each individual rank. So if you get in Chapter 1: SSA and next time AAS, then your total is SSS, since it always remembers the highest ranks you got in its history. You also only have to get S ranks on fights, and only a (very) few puzzles which you only have to do once and are super easy.

> shield generators
They are there, but not too present. Pretty easy to mix and match them to death.

> legion usage
It starts to shine when you constantly switch, most are mostly used for their Cooldown abilities like time-slow with Bow and Voidbomb with Fists. Axe is great for the shield and mines. Sword is good for buffs and Summoned Swords, while also having Blade Mode etc.

> stealth games
Tried Styx?

> Mario Galaxy
Great title, mostly fun since it is just a huge collection of unique ideas. It isn't too challenging, but it offers a lot of fun creative level design that isn't easily matched. Really enjoyed 200%'ing it.

> I was gone
Yeah Honeymoon! Went to Greece (Athens+Meteora) and Crete. Great stuff!

> MvC:I
Bad reputation. MvC3 was the first game in the series that had unique style+models, instead of ripping them from other games, so when MvC:I went back to the budgetted track of just copying models from other games (badly) they dropped it. Paired with the infamously bad CE launch, dlc-practices etc. the game was dead on arrival. Ironically most MvC vets consider it to be technically the best in the series, but nobody really plays it since...who plays for fun? We play for money. And there's no money in MvC:I so people play SFV instead or Dragon Ball despite liking them less.

> Switch action
Ironically, Metroid Dread haha. Pretty fun for a few runs. Otherwise Ninja Warriors Returns is a great one too.

> CVX
IIRC the Cube version is the best one, but all other versions are very playable. It isn't the most loved in the series by any imagination though.

>Pretty easy to mix and match them to death.
Never want to see them again.

>legions
Only like bow and axe.

>Switch action
Bought Okami again.
Now I can play my 100% save testing stuff on PS4 and my Switch version in portable. Started a new file and love it. One of those games I can restart no problem. Eventually I'll have two 100% saves so I can test stuff whenever.

> legions
Personally, you're handicapping yourself greatly by just sticking to two and should constantly switch. Arrow is great for the slow-shot, while you unchain the Fists so that it's always on the field. You use Wolf for i.frames and Howl's stun, and then swap it out etc. Axe is the defacto DPS paired with Bow though, but the rest are great support.