What are you playing right now?

Been playing Hades lately. Really fun game, super addicting. Honestly, I think the main point of fun in this game is seeing just how overpowered you can get. Because some of the powerups in this game are downright obscene. To list a few examples:

- Dodge that allows you to deflect attacks on contact; So you can just dodge right into projectiles and enemy attacks, and then send their attacks right back at them.
- Deflector spell that deflects projectiles, and melee attacks on contact. Also homes in on enemies slightly, does big damage, and has light AoE.
- Deflect on attack. See above, but now for your attacks.
- Kill enemies with your weapon special to get back health. Hades doesn't have much in the way of healing, so this is VERY helpful. Although whenever I get this powerup, my playstyle turns into dodging constantly, and mashing Y.
- If you're out of revives, and in a combat encounter, your health starts regenerating. Cue a lot of stalling on my end...
- Explosive uppercut that makes the fist's uppercut damage all around you

There are a LOT more, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind.

Hades is really one of those games I hear everyone sing praises of, so I'm definitely interested. Down the line I'll play it for sure. Always loved the games from that developer so this is a no-brainer.

Just finished my Nightmare run of Doom 2016. It's a better game than I initially gave it credit for. Going back and using the skills I picked up from Doom Eternal was a gamechanger. From start to finish it's probably not as challenging as Eternal, but the first half of the game puts up a pretty good fight. Both games are guilty of getting easier as you unlock more weapons and upgrades.

As for what's next... well, I have a lot of options. I have a lot of action games in my backlog (I should probably make a list as this point), but I don't know if I want to force myself to play something if I'm just not feeling it at the moment. I bought a bunch of games in the sales while I've got the money, but I'm not massively excited to play any of them right now. I should probably stop doing that...

I'm thinking either another Urban Reign playthrough, or trying something new like Samurai Jack or Crimzon Clover. Maybe a little bit of each.

My vote goes to Samurai Jack, it's also pretty short. In the time it takes to beat Doom 2016 you can probably do SJ runs easily.

>Gradius 3
Gradius 3 is a religion in Japan, among the genre. An amazing game. Yet westerners STG fans don't even bother to play it. It is indeed a very hard game. The best Gradius I have played (I haven't touched the 5).

>Hades
Played it 30 minutes and asked for a refund. I figured I didn't want to put money in that at the moment. I've tried to enjoy a few roguelites but couldn't.

>Aleste
A huge specialist of the series left us a few months ago. Terrible news.

>Gradius 3
I might have sounded a bit harsh in my initial impressions. The steep difficulty leap when compared to original and its sequel just got me by surprise. I am still playing the game though. I went all out with my shmupping and got the old school seimitsu lever for my stick. Still wishing that Hamster would have included decent save states. Thankfully the edit mode is not a bad alternative.

Ocarina of Time 3D. Currently at the Shadow Temple. I've been liking it so far, I plan on doing a Master Quest playthrough when I finish the main game.

@Phoenix

How do you have time to play games? You have cases to solve, lad.

Oh, about that. You didn't heard the news? Something about presenting forged evidence in court and being disbarred...? I believe it's been two years by now since that happened.

Any other interesting events happen in the meantime? Or have you just been playing video games these whole two years off of the money from the Matt Engarde case?

I actually had to pay everyone's bill at Gatewater Hotel, including an expensive camera... Now I'm just a bad piano player.

As for interesting events, I guess I could say that I've been trying to tie up a few loose ends from my last case.

Finally finished playing Ocarina of Time 3D, just in time before my 3DS stopped working properly. It's very good for a 5th gen game. I have some minor nitpicks with it, like having to roll around Hyrule Field a bunch of times until you have Epona, it gets pretty tiring after a while. Another thing was that I didn't know how to get past the wooden spiked walls at the Shadow Temple, Fire magic was the solution, but I had used Fire arrows prior and they didn't work, so I spent a lot of time wondering what to do.

Other than that, I liked this game a lot.

I believe it's been a few months since I played Shinobi. Don't know why I stopped playing it all of a sudden, but I'm now at stage 4-A. I managed to kill the 3-B boss with a single hit, and I got my first S-rank in the game:



Of course, a lot can be improved from this, like taking no damage. Also note that I'm playing on Normal.

What did you think of Shinobi?

Played a couple hours of Binary Domain. Played it back at release but didn’t remember much about it, other than the terrible performance of the PS3 version. It’s pretty enjoyable so far, decaps result in enemies turning on each other, which can lead to a chain of decaps. Blowing off part of a leg lets robots get back up so you have to blow them off all the way to make them crawl. There’s quite a few different grenade types though I can’t really seem to figure out what some of them do.

You can carry three guns at once but you only actually get to pick one of them, since the AR and handgun you always have to carry, which is pretty lame. So far almost all of the options I’m seeing for the other slot is just another AR/HMG of some kind. The shotgun is sweet but it’s kind of rare given how much of a core weapon it is in these types of games.

I like that the resurrection/healing mechanic is an actual resource. My group was out of first aid kits and so was I, so I couldn’t revive. Another time they had first aid kits but both were also down, so they couldn’t come heal me. You can carry more through an upgrade(of course). Speaking of upgrades, this one is kind of weird. The “place upgrades into a grid as long as they fit” thing is always fine with me, but upgrading the guns just seems unnecessary. Dan’s AR is split into 7 upgrade types and each one looks like it has about 10 upgrades, which seems like overkill. Would like to be able to upgrade the shotgun or the burst AR.

And how a game “feels” is always something that comes up, and goddamn this game feels insane. Blowing these robots apart is insanely satisfying. I truly find this much more satisfying than stuff like Gears or whatever. Hopefully as I go on the game will open up a bit more mechanically, but so far I’m having a good time.

>Shinobi

Amazing game. If someone told me that a simple game like this one (in regards to the tools you get) would be this good, I wouldn't have believed them. Not only is your moveset small compared to every game I played, it also manages to make every single one of those tools useful, and also being an engaging experience from beginning to end (and the only game that comes close to this is the complete opposite of what I said). The Tate system was a joy, killing an enemy in one hit may sound broken beyond redemption at first, but it's not as simple as just starting a Tate chain and kill the boss, I had to be careful to not understimate the lesser enemies, otherwise I would either eat damage (and thus breaking the chain), or in some cases, I'd fall into lava or instant-death pits. Waiting for the right moment to start the chain proved to be the key, and not only for bosses, this also applied to some encounters with tanks or big foes.

Then again, I feel like I would've enjoyed the game a lot more if I used a controller (and currently this is something that simply can't be helped), the water stage in its entirety was a pain to navigate, as was killing flying mobs that just happened to be above insta-kill pits. This, among other reasons, is why I don't want to play the game on Hard just yet.

I don't have enough time to make a tier list right now, but as it stands, I'd place Shinobi on the second tier, just below RE4 and KH2FM, and above Viewtiful Joe and KH1. But as I said, I have no doubt that I will enjoy the game a lot more whenever I'm able to use a controller, preferably on native hardware.

Binary Domain is a really cool game. I actually WON that game in a Metal Gear Rising style-tournament haha, winner got 20 bucks of store credit. Still need to revisit it one day. How's the Xbox One X version? Or does it not have that one?

> shinobi
Even more interesting is that you don't really need all the tools. There's one player who'se very good (Kaz, but goes by many other names), that did a no-charge/no kunai run on Super. Absolutely crazy skill.

I'm still curious about the sequal. For some reason it didn't connect with me despite being mechanically 'better' I feel.

>Hades

This game made a great first impression, well not the story, I had to mute it. Terrible imo.
The game play...

But the game play wore me down quick. It just isn't polished or up to snuff.
Take the sword for instance.
It can do two different attacks based on how quick you attack after a dodge, I am talking milliseconds difference here.
It should be noted this game, like Bastion is all about dodge cancels.
Not knowing if you will get the quick slash or long uninterruptible stab because you attacked slightly too early after the dodge was infuriating.

Lots of small inconsistencies like that popped up the more and more I played it.

Game reminded me of GOW18. I get why people like it. It makes people feel cool, the builds are fun to make. But the cracks were too visible for me. Obvious cracks lke that in game design make me want to pull my hair out. So I just avoid those sorts of titles.

>binary domain Xbox version
Not sure, I’m playing on PC. The game looks surprisingly nice for being a 2012 RGG studio game. Although the fact that they didn’t bother to animate Dan running up and down stairs is hilarious.

It’s definitely a cool game. Not sure why we need FIVE machine guns, when the differences are negligible. The best part about the game besides the delimbs is the grenades imo. Frags, stickies, chaffs that cause in-fighting, EMPs to shut down most normal foes, just a lot of neat little things. Still really bothered by the fact that you can really only choose to take one weapon, since Dan’s AR and the handgun can’t be removed. The game unfortunately also suffers from “these are boss fights, so they must take forever” mentality. The whole squad element to be is just a giant whatever. It doesn’t bother me but it also is a really ambitious idea that just doesn’t work for a lot of reasons. Either way, really solid shooter.

>Hades
I played a few hours of it, to me it definitely seemed like the game was all about dodging.. Seems to be a thing in indie action games, like Katana Zero. The game also seems to have a grinding focus? Like you have to keep playing and dying to unlock permanent upgrades? If that’s the case then that’s a bummer for me. Not really my thing. Moment to moment the game itself seems alright though.

>Binary Domain

Played through this once a few years ago. Found it decent. One of the female characters is as ugly as sin. Like holy shit. She looks like a pig.

Beat BD. The “team” stuff is definitely horribly done, the more I played the worst it got in some ways. Your team constantly gets in your way and then their bond or whatever with you decreases when you inevitably shoot them. Any time I tried to issue a command I would always get “I can’t do that now” or something along those lines so I gave up even trying. Most of the responses you can give dont make sense either, not to mention the fact that it’s just one of those things where no decision making is involved(if they want me to go along with something or compliment me, why would I respond negatively?).

The mechanics have a solid foundation, but I really wonder what this could be with an experienced dev in the genre and a good budget. There’s not a lot of difference between the enemies and the overall approach to scenarios is pretty limited. Boss fights are kind of lame as noted. I noticed the melee does slightly different damage for each gun though, there’s something. Lot of improvements could be made in the arsenal and upgrade system.

I may try the hardest difficulty, but if the first boss is a massive damage sponge then I’ll probably drop it.

>ugly as sin character
She fits right in with most games made today.

Honestly when she first appeared on screen it was like a jump scare.

I played multiplayer a bit too but it required its own exp and equipment. Got destroyed constantly by the usual max level Japanese players. Dead before I could blink. And they kick you from games constantly.

Found it to be a fun game with a neat story, but not a title to really dive into the mechanics for. I remember that at the time there was a lot of confusion that this game was 'by the makers of Vanquish' as it was a similar setting and both were by Sega. 

The bosses are extremely spongey as I recall. Game does have quite a bit of endings. Remember being really surprised by the sexual stuff in there. It was quite in your face about it, even one character saying he recognizes another character from a porno.

Replaying Half-Life 2, I wouldn't call it a masterpiece by any means but I'm having a good time.

Good:

• Player movement is much faster than I remember, not Doom-level but you can still hear the echoes of the classic FPS games that inspired Half-Life.
  
• Gravity gun is so fun to play with. You can use random objects (with varying size, weight, sturdiness, and explosiveness) as weapons and cover, and even skip some sections by stacking them to climb up somewhere. Move turrets, repulse headcrabs, place mines, throw grenades back, drop your own grenade on the ground and propel it to send it farther, and probably more I haven't thought of.
  
• Weapon roster is solid. The shotgun, crossbow, magnum, and aforementioned gravity gun are all great to use.
  
• The game retains forward momentum pretty well outside of cutscenes, I haven't felt like the game was meandering at any other point.
  

Bad:

• Vehicle sections are pretty lame, the first one with the boat is definitely the worst.
  
• Turret defense section is similarly boring, not much to say here.
  
• First-person "cutscenes" kill the pacing in a few areas, unskippable unfortunately.
  
• Enemy design is nothing special, no obnoxious enemies but this seems like a huge missed opportunity to me.
  

I've played some Wild Guns Reloaded, which is a remake of the famous SNES game. It's a pleasant gallery shooter, but it is not very elaborate. Probably not worth your time.

I've also tried the demo of Windjammers 2, the "continuation" of the Neo-Geo game. It is a lot of fun (even though that's not the kind of game you could play for hours), and it makes me think that it might be a good idea to explore the sports games. Not the simulation games, but the most fun ones (not that the two categories are mutually exclusive).

I am currently working on improving some high score runs on P.N.03, and Sin and Punishment Star Successor, and playing some Resident Evil 4 on my Switch.

Star Successor in particular I find has a very in depth score system. I have this habit when I play to always fly around the sky and use the whole screen to avoid incoming enemy fire, however in Star Successor you score multiplier build drastically faster when you are on foot. The game actively encourages this with a jump button. Later missions though it becomes insanely difficult to dodge on a linear line, (at least for me). But I do love this dynamic in gameplay it is get frustrating when your high-score chasing.

Resident Evil 4 is always a good time. I recently acquired a CRTV and have been booting some of my old saves on the Gamecube. For some reason it is still my prefered version despite it having the least amount of unlockables / options etc.

>P.N.03 high scores

What region do you play?

Let us know your scores. Might motivate me to set up the GC again.

GameCube version of Resident Evil 4 does feel really good I think in large part because of the controller. The big "A" button in the middle just feels soo good to press while you blow heads off. Not to say that analogue stick is A tier. Interestingly enough I actually play Resident Evil 4 on my Switch with a GameCube controller (or the Switch Power A Cube controller I should say) and it feels really good to play.

I am in the process of unlocking everything for future quick runs. It baffles my mind that going throw a shooting game with infinite ammo and rockets can feel so fun and engaging.

Birdman wrote:>P.N.03 high scores

What region do you play?

Let us know your scores. Might motivate me to set up the GC again.

I play the NTSC North American version on original hardware. I am not playing on a CRT but on a 7 inch portable DVD player. I will post my current high scores on the P.N. 03 topic under action games. I will be doing a couple more runs today so hopefully I can make some progress.

One really fun I don't hear a lot but really recommend is a New Game Handcannon run, you basically start fresh with the Handcannon and only use it. Ammo is super scarce for it, but when you shoot things just explode. Really good run to tinker with the 'survival' part of the game! Highly recommended.

I might have fired it once or twice after unlocking then never touched it again.

How scarce is ammo exactly?

Magnum ammo is the hardest to come by in the game. Enemies rarely drop it and I think there are set crates that drop magnum bullets . I wish I had numbers but it is not very much.

Doing any sort of magnum run in Resident Evil 4 will probably make for a lot of dodging enemies and using your knife.

Can you uses the hand-cannon to rescue Ashley when she is trapped behind the curved bars in the castle?

My copy of Psyvariar Delta came in the mail today. It is a Switch shooter that looks insanely good. I am excited to give it a go. Ill write a little review on it in some time and let everyone know if it is worth getting

About to try Control. Not expecting much but it's free on PS+.

Maybe you’ll like Control. I thought it was pretty bad.

I tried playing Okami, but my PC isn't fast enough and my PS2 doesn't seem to be capable of running it (I just get that red screen telling me to insert a PS2 disc). Sorry, Birdman.

With my options being more limited, I decided to play MGS1.

Hope you enjoy it. If you do then you’ll absolutely have to play the sequels. Keep us posted with what you think.

>Maybe you’ll like Control. I thought it was pretty bad.

Hated it. Deleted.

>PS2 not running it

Other games working?

Infinity_Divide wrote:Hope you enjoy it. If you do then you’ll absolutely have to play the sequels. Keep us posted with what you think.

Will do. I have quite a lot of expectations for MGS2 and 3.

But this is also the first time I'll be playing a game like this, so I guess it's going to take a bit to get used to it.

>other games

Only KH1FM is able to get past the title screen. But it can take up to a whole minute to get from one screen to another.

I really didn't like Control when I played it. It kind of falls into the modern AAA narrative action adventure. Though no horrid it just didn't really have anything that stood out

Phoenix Wright wrote:I tried playing Okami, but my PC isn't fast enough.

Are you trying to emulate it, or are you playing the native PC version?

The former, I don't meet the requirements to run the PC version.

Has anybody ever played Quake 2? I have Windows 10 and I downloaded the Yagami source and I still can't get it to work.

I only played Quake 1 sadly. Have you tried "Q2pro"?

Not yet. I'm going to test it later. I'm using Steam for this.

Picked up 3D World for Switch, it’s as excellent as ever. Beat it in two sittings, doing the post game now.

The increased movement speed actually seems to make some sections harder. On one hand, some enemies and obstacles weren’t adjusted for the new speed, but now you actually have a reason to not be sprinting all the time.

It is truly mind boggling how many ideas this game throws at you in quick succession, while consistently being such a joy to play. Playing Odyssey really makes me appreciate this one more now than I ever did.

Speaking of Odyssey, that’s what Bowser’s Fury feels like in a lot of ways: big open area, lack of pitfalls, some platforming sections sparsely populated with enemies and hazards, etc. Granted, the actual platforming sections are significantly more engaging than Odyssey, but they still feel a little weak next to 3D World. BF at least has proper power ups rather than the gimmicks from Odyssey.

Also playing Max Payne 3. I really don’t find the game to be very interesting mechanically from what I’ve seen, yet I can’t stop playing it. Don’t have much to say about it at the moment.

Tried playing Blood. It seems really solid, but looking up and down too much gives me a headache. Maybe I have to mess with settings but it’s unplayable to me right now.

I'm playing RE4 on Professional (it's my second run, the first one was on Normal) and ZoE2 on Very Hard (those battleships are destroying me haha). Both of these games are pretty much perfect and very replayable, but it's no news to you. I've read their respective topics and thanks to your knowledge now I can appreciate them even more.

That is quite a pair of games to be playing! And yes, they are both nearly perfect and the gold standard in what they do imo. Enjoy.

Damn that's one hellava combination RedShot. Damn. Probably the genre's best of the era at the very least.

For the battleships, it helps to do them in reverse order so you can more easily avoid the lasers. You can also destroy multiple ships at once but it's a tad hard. If you take your time you can also nuke everything from range first but that's pretty long as shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_x-WMsr7S4

God such fantastic games. How'd you like the Krauser fight in RE4? So many questions haha! Would love to read your take on the games since you're only now experiencing them.

>battleships
I'll try to destroy them in reverse order. It's a bit difficult to evade those lasers and to kill the spawning enemies with a clear visual. I have to get better with the camera system and lock on.

>Krauser
I think he's one of the best bosses I've seen in this genre (would "action-tps" be a correct definition?). He's probably on par with some of the best bosses in MGS2-3. I like the QTE first interaction and I love the arena where you fight him and the final battle of course. Using the knife to go against his weakness after some firearm's stagger creates a great set piece and a memorable challenge.

Yeah if you're behind them you're pretty safe from the lasers. Note that the 'spines' that are in its front are the most dangerous. If those homing lasers hit you you're basically dead. So be careful. If you can get close you can nuke them pretty hard. You can also 'deadzone' most of them, stand near the laser-eye and use the vector canon there. It takes some practice to find the deadzone, but it's there, and allows for a free kill (using Vector on their eye-cannon kills the ship too).

> Krauser
Just Action will suffice I'd say, but yeah absolutely such a grand fight. Also loved the little QTE-talks you could have with him. Great to hear you enjoying the title man, I still remember playing an early build of RE4 at a con when I was like 14 and I had never ever played anything like it. Felt like the future of gaming (little did I know, it would never be surpased).