What are you playing right now?

Find myself tempted to test Wulf's Offline MP for GoW:A. Shame he didn't continue the project for mostly smoothing out the unrealized 'New Game Plus' (in actuality, CotG's Champs in the SP Campaign *then there is the reverse with Kratos in the MP mode*). Would draw out a shit ton of more to do with the game. The biggest issue. It is still GoW:A.

Got any notes on this? So it's the multiplayer for GoW:A except now singleplayer or what are you talking about?

The MP always had a SP mode. Wulf had done a video suggesting he found a way to enable playing it without PSN (thus without a code). Thus, Offline MP. As for playing the Campaign as a champ, that is another matter. Realizing what Papy failed to would be a tall order (and likely have a good deal of points where it crashes the game and needs a way to bypass problems).

In summary:

-He only made a way to use a Champion of the Gods (Champ) in the MP (as usual) to be used as you would without other players around (for pure Offline *not needing PSN*)

-He spoke of maybe someday trying to make it so you can play as a Champ in place of Kratos (no talk of using Kratos in place of Champs *and directly shoots down any hopes of Kratos using their tools*)

NOTE: This would still be a bit shy of what was spoken of early on (not just using a Champ in SP, but with alternate foe layout *a fun notion, but one that is better for an alternative mode and not forced with this one where you might want to take on the same set-up as Kratos or have Kratos for the new arrangement*).

Royta/Raeng wrote:

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.

Yeah I agree the Krauser fight for me was a highlight.

I'm 6 hours into Nier:Automata. I really don't like it. I've never eaten tofu but that's how I imagine the experience : tasteless.

I didn't think much of Nier Automata either. There are some interesting mechanics if you delve in to it (mechanics overviews are on YouTube that explain a lot of stuff I never realised on my own), but the combat just doesn't have the same feel as other Platinum games. It's hard for me to put a finger on exactly why.

When I was trying to get in to the combat, I remembered being disappointed that you are eventually massively overlevelled against most enemies in the early areas of the game, but the game insists on respawning the enemies every time you visit those areas. There's no point fighting them, because there's no challenge (you can kill them in 1 hit) and therefore no room to experiment/improve yourself, and the XP they give you is negligible by that point. I played on Normal difficulty, so I couldn't say if the higher difficulties change things up.

I may have totally misunderstood the character but I didn't like playing as 9S either. His physical attacks are much weaker than 2Bs, but he has the hacking ability which plays out like a shoot 'em up mini game. Hacking wasn't fun, but seemed much more efficient than trying to use melee attacks, so his part of the playthrough was a total slog for me.

>Nier
I’ve just finished the game (ending A). I think I am going to put the game aside for a while (or forever), given what you said about 9S gameplay… Even if the rest of the game was phenomenal (I doubt that), I find odd that so many people are ok with the first ten hours being trash (in particular when 10 hours are roughly a third of the game; I'm not counting all the ghastly side quests).

« Trash » might seem like a strong word. There are a few spectacular moments (the sum of those might be 30 minutes). But the rest is either uninspired or annoying. I was baffled by seeing some fans calling this game « art ». It seemed to be the complete opposite.
The soundtrack is often lauded, but I have the feeling of having heard all of it before, in various apocalypse or robots-related movies or anime (and I haven’t seen any anime in the last ten years). Sometimes the music is completely out of place. There are one or two good tracks though, and I admit there is some production value.

>Other games
I might play the arcade version of Ninja Gaiden. Soon. Along with a few of the oldest Capcom games (Makaimura, Final Fight...)

Beating Nier Automata was genuinely one of the worst experiences I had during the entire generation. At no point did I ever think the game went above being just “alright”. People are definitely free to like the game but I will never understand it.

I recall having to choose between Nier and Nioh at the time of release, and I choose Nioh due to Team Ninja being behind it. I remember a lot of people being estatic about Near a Tomato at the time, but more and more I hear less positive reactions making me feel it might've been a game that garnered a succes with a more casual audience (no shame in that).

> art
There can be bad art. In my studies I have seen plenty of bad art haha.

> ninja gaiden arcade
Very fun game imo, especially the grab-system though it isn't all that balanced. Still had a good blast with it.

> what are we playing
Dove back into Battlefleet Gothic Armada (such a mouthful). Still one of my favourite games of the last few years that was a total surprise to me. Good OST, fun missions, insane challenge, no mercy, adore it. Just started my first run on the highest difficulty setting and it's asking me to play at my best.

Alongside I'm derping around a bit in Nioh 2 on PC and FFX on PS2.

Had a go of the Knockout City beta last night - it's a 3v3 multiplayer dodgeball game for those that haven't heard of it. I really like it, had loads of fun and there's a surprising amount of depth to the gameplay. I suspect it'll die a horrible death if it doesn't launch as F2P or as part of EA Play (and by association Xbox Game Pass), but I hope it takes off. Will be a nice change to playing Rocket League, which is the only cross platform game my friends and I can play (and enjoy).

>Nier of Nioh
Do you want a solid game (flaws set aside) or glorified porn? You're just jerking yourself off no matter how you approach the latter (fuck about gameplay at best and Dynasty Warriors gone wrong at worst). There are indeed some cute tidbits here and there, but just tons of padding. Not big on all the talking, reading, etc. involved. The goofy endings don't do much for me, either. 9S and another character don't change up gameplay enough (and "2B" doesn't quite live up to all her android type suggests even by the end). Not enough interesting enemy design, either. Things are pretty basic. If they had a sequel where the gameplay side was expanded dramatically, perhaps it would have a real chance.

How have you been GMG?

> If they had a sequel where the gameplay side was expanded dramatically, perhaps it would have a real chance.
Not with Taro the hack being there solely to detract good gameplay from his games so he can add his quirky ideas and gritty Madoka-esque plots.

At least he's honest about being a not so competent game dev and admits he has no idea why people buy his stuff.

recent games:
I'll give Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth a run anytime soon.

>how have I been
Well enough. Trolling, teaching, working, etc.

>not with Taro
Yes, I'm afraid it is just as you say. He is only in it for few things (quirky gameplay formula change-ups, fetish apparel, nonsensical storytelling, etc.). Weird that he opted in for such a super casualized version of Bullet Hell (even for a HnS). Real shame the VH method for difficulty wasn't better foes with more intense patterns of projectiles, but instead 'no hit'. Bleh.

>no idea
Perhaps he should let a more competent gameplay (combat in particular) type take the reigns after Automata finally got some mainstream success for his works. Advising to keep the feel is fine, but clearly another is needed for the game side of things to not be shit.

Ninja Gaiden 2. Playing on Mentor for the first time on the 360. I'm really glad that it is backwards compatible on the Xbox One. I've been on and off switching from Dynasty Warriors 9, Shadow of Mordor, Shadow Warrior 2, and Yakuza 0.

Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix. I've just finished the main story on Critical and it's pretty intense in some spots, especially for a first run. The extra content should be even more difficult so I'm very excited about it. Difficulty aside, its mechanics are incredible. Now I understand why it's considered "the best action-rpg game".
Crit Lv1 is the way to learn this game and the best difficulty, it's much much harder than the run that I did and comparable to the highest setting in "pure" action games.

Just an FYI for any PC players who might want it - Titanfall 2 is on sale at the moment for an all-time low on Steam (£6.24 for me in the UK). I'm installing it now and gonna give it a play this weekend.

I got Pillars of Eternity 2 Obsidian edition for $20 on GOG. They sent me a promotion. Don't know why. Normally this is $80+.

Finished my FFV run, so now I'm playing Zelda: Oracle of Seasons. Just as soon as I saw those sprites, I was reminded of all the good memories I had with Link's Awakening as a kid. Really hoping to have fun with this.

Oooh, let me know how you end up liking it Phoenix. Curious to see your impression! You playing an original copy, or on an emulator?

Currently still playing FFX with some NGII on the side. Looking to buy Luigi's Mansion these days, seeing if I can't find it for a decent price. Anyone got any experience with that game?

Luigi’s Mansion is very fun. It’s sort of like a fun take on Resident Evil. Some puzzles, hidden rooms, new abilities that allow you to travel to new places in the house, collectibles, bosses, very cute etc I’ve only played the original GC version and the Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. Haven’t got to 3 just yet. Dark Moon is more episodic a la Super Mario 64...same level, you start over, but slightly different design. Still fun! Hope you can find one at a good price and enjoy if you do!

>impression

Already seeing new stuff like seeds and rings, and the season changing. Wonder what's the usefulness of the former two.

>original copy or emulator

The latter via my 3DS. I do own an original GBC, but I can't seem to find it.

> luigi
Cheers, sounds like a game I could be interested in!

> zelda seasons
Keep me posted man, haven't touched the game in ages so let me relive my childhood through you haha!

Dragon Quest Heroes 2. Really good game. Feels almost like an anime Dragon's Dogma.

Bought that Nier remake. Traded in a pile of shit and managed to shave off nearly $80. Only ended up paying around $20.

We have a public holiday here on the 26th so I might dedicate this weekend to it.

I'm playing Knack 2 on Hard. I've got the boomerang and I should be near the end of chapter 9. This game is pretty good and it's full of enemies that don't play around. Birdman was right and his guide is very detailed so now I know some useful cancels and how to use the flip kick to do different things.
I only wish I could use Knack's other forms but they seem NG+ related, I'd prefer to unlock them at fixed spots like in KH2FM.

Yeah you need to get almost every chest to get all the forms because the gems are random. Do this in your current playthrough then use them on very hard.

Royta/Raeng wrote:Keep me posted man, haven't touched the game in ages so let me relive my childhood through you haha!

Will do. Haven't had much time to play it lately, but I'll have some time to spare today and tomorrow.

Still not sure what rings do, or how to swap them. I've appraised some but I only have the friendship ring given to you at the start.

Also beat Level 2. A bit surprised that Link's Awakening Level 6 boss got reused here as a miniboss. Been ages since I played LA, so I'm not sure if he works exactly the same as he did in LA. And it took me more time than I'd like to admit to beat Dodongo, didn't think of throwing him into the spikes, I only threw bombs at his mouth.

I like how changing seasons gives you new ways to approach the overworld.

>KH2
>. Now I understand why it's considered "the best action-rpg game".

I have got to get to this asap.

> rings
https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/Magic_Ring

There's an absolute ton of them, some have special abilities and it can get quite cool in which you use them.

Went through some games to see what's worth keeping.

Metal Max Xeno is no more than level up to win. Couldn't touch an early boss even at level 20. It makes no sense. None of my tanks could scratch it and it could do hundreds in damage per turn. It got two turns! I wonder if there's some kind of trick but the game hasn't explained any mechanic. It must just be a level block. I can't be bothered.

Shadow of Mordor is going because I'm sick to death of captains who are immune to things. It's stupid. Removing my tools for no reason. Why should this loser be immune to ranged attacks?

Finally tried Kingdom Hearts. Only played the first one a little. Did not enjoy it at all. Will try KH2 later.

>I have got to get to this asap.

I don't know how I missed this. May I ask what got you curious to try it after all this time? Pretty sure you've at least seen SBK and maybe Infinity or 5does talk about it, so you should've known it was a good game for a while.

>Did not enjoy KH1

Sorry to hear that. Just to be clear, you're only referring to the combat and not the Disney aesthetic, right? If so, what did you not like about it?

>what got you curious
I've been curious to try it for years.

>Pretty sure you've at least seen SBK
We've discussed it before.

>so you should've known it was a good game for a while.
So I've heard.

> If so, what did you not like about it?
Don't have anything against the game. Just didn't enjoy playing it. Not really sure why.

>didn't enjoy playing it

I see. Wanted to see how you felt about the summons, since you think highly of CL's and IIRC that's partly why you wanted to see how it worked for V in DMC5 (correct me if I'm wrong).

Oh well. Hopefully KH2 can keep you hooked. Be aware that the intro sequence can feel like a drag, and that's putting it nicely. And I'm not sure why you'd do otherwise, but please do not bother with the story.

>that's partly why you wanted to see how it worked for V
That's right but now I don't care about that stuff.

>but please do not bother with the story.
I never do. You just kill bad guys in all these games. That's all I need.

Anyone play absolver?

I messed with it some, and it seems to have a great pvp engine in a dark souls way.
But the pve was trash. Just felt like enemies reading my inputs, having infinite stamina, and groups ganging up on you. The dodge is terrible, about a foot long, so when you get swarmed it is hard to get away.
Not to mention you block one wrong move and lose half of your stamina.
The move customization is similar to god hand, but it doesn't have direction inputs, you chain moves off of your bnb combo. Meaning if you want to sweep kick, you might have to press three to four buttons first, there are also hard limits to what you can equip in what slot. So you can't get very creative with the placement. Annoying.
I wish it wasn't so much of an RPG. Cool game but really rubbed me wrong.

I wanted to give it a shot and the spiritual successor whose name I'm forgetting has my interested, but Absolver's singleplayer just really didn't hold my interest. Mostly for the reasons you noted.

Played a little of FF12 Zodiac Age. Original PS2 version was my favorite FF game. ZA is a billion times better. Absolutely magical feeling I get with this game.

>Absolver
Hated it. Hate how stance changes when circling each other.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is really enjoyable. Low Rank is a lot easier than MH Tri but the additional content (weapons and monsters) and higher ranks are good incentives. I'm near the end of High Rank but I'm farming every weapon that I can upgrade so the game is always fresh.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts! I fucking love MH, playing Freedom Unite right now! I'm not a huge 3U fan, but it's still old MH, so there's a lot to like.

Playing FF XII. The IZJS version. A bit disappointed since I thought this was the same as Zodiac Age, but it doesn't have a second class slot, and spell que is a thing.

HotPocketHPE wrote:I'd be interested to hear your thoughts! I fucking love MH, playing Freedom Unite right now! I'm not a huge 3U fan, but it's still old MH, so there's a lot to like.

I've just written a post in the MH thread.

>but it doesn't have a second class slot, and spell que is a thing.
Gross.

@Birdman

Do you think it's still worth playing over the original?

If it's all you had.

But ZA is on all the consoles and PC.

Anybody tried out Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown? It released yesterday, included in PS Plus for those who have it.

I'm not much of a VF guy (was always a Tekken fan primarily) but I did enjoy VF4:E on PS2 and VF5 on 360. I think I still have them both somewhere. I remembered my fond memories of these games and was excited for VF5US, but I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed with the new title.

I guess the biggest compliment to pay the game is that the visuals are mostly pretty good. The game is essentially VF5 Final Showdown (the 2011 revision of VF5) but remade in the Dragon Engine used in the more recent Yakuza games. I was disappointed to see that there's no PS4 Pro enhancements, so Pro and PS5 players are getting a bog-standard 1080p experience. A bit disappointing for the "Ultimate" version of the game.

I knew from the game's marketing that they were focusing on multiplayer but the game is incredibly barebones for single player content. Arcade mode, a few types of practice mode, that's it from what I can see. Where is Quest Mode, or Kumite Mode (I think it was called)? I spent hours playing those. They weren't exactly complex modes either, but they added quite a lot to make the game feel like a good value package. I really wouldn't recommend this at all for anyone who doesn't want to venture online.

From what I can see, customisation is less expansive than in previous games... or at least it is if you haven't bought the "Champion Pack" DLC, which is obviously available at launch. I know fighting games are niche and maybe it's true that we'd have less of them without post-launch monetisation, but I absolutely hate stuff like this. I think the DLC costs about £10 and includes a bunch of customisation items, all of the BGM from previous games and playable VF1 character models for each fighter. This stuff should have been included in the game anyway, but especially so to make up for the absolute travesty that is the single player experience. It's not enough for Sega to have Sony throw them a bone by paying for the PS Plus deal, but they want you to pay for DLC too? For a game that a good portion of the player base are essentially renting? Nah, piss off Sega. I'll stick with the old titles.

It's all about the "eSports" with this one, then. I haven't tried multiplayer for myself yet but there's been a bit of a stir about the fact that the game isn't using Rollback netcode, which seems like its becoming more adopted by devs (and expected by fans). There are still FGC veterans giving the online praise though, so maybe the complaints are being exaggerated.

>tried out
No. If my sparing partner were to (he would not) and we had the time/opportunity (we don't) I would have liked to muck about a little with Kage (to see if I could do better than my youth) before transitioning to the grappler of the game (Wolf or whatever). See what the other 'King' is about in this system. Not sure who he could play other than some Bruce Lee homage type (no TKD user in that series comes to mind, so his Hwo focus wouldn't be rewarded).

Doubt he would enjoy RO being a thing (as with SE/SC *another series I'd have liked to play seriously as an adult now that I can actually understand them and do the moves in the movelist and beyond*). Pretty certain he would only want to play on levels that rule that out (as he used to force infinite stages in Tekken as he didn't want to deal with floor/wall breaks or just general wall pressure). We would have to be kids again to start up a new fighter at this point. Even just playing the newest patch of T7 seems like a pipe dream. I'm thinking those days are over. The chance for him to move back and get back to catching ass beatings is rather slim.

The other friend dare not even try (a former friend quickly realized he was wildly outclassed and wouldn't play). More is the pity we cannot even revisit DoA (really learning how to play). Sorry as the state of that series is. Only very briefly touched MvC and SF as an adult. Quite different (the latter way too much so *and input tax is too great an issue even now*). MK9 got a casual go (for the sake of Kratos mostly *barely got to use Rain*). Pity the GoW wasn't in a proper entry of SC (putting him on the PSP ruled out me ever sampling that). Would have liked for him to be in SC6, but by that point it would be Nu-Kratos. No winning as things stand. Also, no time for all that (remains true regardless).

Since I’ve been playing random stuff through Gamepass, I decided to play Dishonored again, which I haven’t played since it released. I’m really loving so much stuff about the game, but one major thing is bothering me: guards don’t wake up from being unconscious, unless another guard wakes them up. This seems...incredibly stupid. What’s the point of killing enemies if it has long-term ramifications when I can just knock everyone out, which is similar to killing them, and nothing happens?

I hate to constantly come across as a metal gear fanboy, but MGS2 did this way better 11 years before. Like c’mon guys. This is why I rarely touch other stealth games. Every time I try one it’s like I’m downgrading.

The "knockout" problem has been around for quite a while, and I think this isn't as easy an clearcut solution as one might think. MGS is a very clear 'room by room' game. You tranq someone, he goes out. You leave the room and that's that. It is also a more open-game in terms of backtracking etc.

Splinter Cell for example is 'one big area' without much backtracking. Knocking one guy out would basically put you on a timer for the whole mission. So it doesn't really fit, resulting in a knockout being just a non-lethal 'kill' of sorts. This does lead to the problem as you note, why even kill?

Some games try to play with different elements (good/bad multipliers, giving unique scenarios if you don't kill etc.) or having the game react different (KOs make more noise than kills). But it hasn't been solved at all yet.

Hitman played with this too. You had the cloroform in Hitman2. Use it and for about 5 minutes someone was knocked out. The downside was, when he woke up he would immediately raise the alarm and you were fucked. In Hitman Blood Money they changed it around, making it into a syringe that would just KO the guy for the whole mission, but it came in limited supply IIRC.

But yeah, it's still a pretty big issue. Since most stealth games are lineair it just sucks to be near the end and have a guard wake up 20 rooms back and raise the alarm.

> what are you playing
Absolutely addicted to Cities: Skylines right now on GamePass. Making one monster of a city haha.

I have never played dishonored without murdering every person in front of me.
They turn to dust, it is awesome.
I usually do full ghost lethal, but last play through I did more loud stuff and that is really fun.
Playing dishonored non lethally is so boring imo, you miss out on a lot of powers.
There are more non lethal options in 2.

>you tranq someone, he goes out
True, but guards wake up incredibly fast on Extreme and E Extreme, making it a game of time management and routing when going through rooms with bombs, and even stuff like the engine room. MGS5 is open world and still makes this work. Choking someone and them essentially being dead for the next 45 minutes to an hour while you take your time through the level is just lame to me. If the game is telling you from the get go that killing enemies causes “high chaos”, which will lead to a bad ending, npcs not liking you, and other things, then your brain goes to “oh, so I should be figuring out to play non-lethally”, but it’s not any harder or any different, so the reasoning for playing lethally isn’t there unless you just feel like it, which...I guess is reason enough since it’s a game, but it just doesn’t feel coherent.

>hitman
I need to play Blood Money sometime. I couldn’t get into the new ones though.

>playing dishonored non lethally is so boring
I just can’t get behind this being good design. Playing non-lethally in my mind should be something of a challenge run, or give you access to new content, not just be functionally similar and comparable in difficulty.

They do, but there's also a level of 'reset' going on in MGS that isn't there in other games. Guards will wake up and just go "huh, was probably just asleep", while other games if they wake up they raise the alarm. I can't comment on MGS5 though, that's a good point, since I haven't played that one. How does it handle sleeping guards? Say you are spotted by one and you tranq him, what then? Is it basically mission failed since he'll wake up later and raise the alarm?

> hitman
The new ones are very streamlined and for mainstream audiences. This is my basic rundown of the games:

Hitman 1: Two fun missions, otherwise a very janky third-person shooter with some horrible levels.
Hitman 2: where the concept really started, still some terrible levels and very lineair level design without the freedom you'll know from later entries.
Hitman Contracts: my personal favourite. Just enough freedom, dark mood, great level variety.
Hitman Blood Money: huge freedom, no guidelines, just a big sandbox where you can play around. Hard as shit too.
Hitman Absolution: 1 fun mission, otherwise a very generic stealth game.
Hitman Reboot: fun, but streamlined
Hitman 2: see above
Hitman 3: see above

> non lethal should be rewarded
Why though? Why do you feel that should be the case?

I get that stealth games by their nature lean more to the 'ghost' style of play (since that's where the initial skill check lies), but I can understand what Hedfone notes though: sometimes going ham with the abilities is the most fun. You also see this in Deus Ex:HR for example. Fantastic game, but most don't even touch any of the weapons or abilities since they just use stealth+camo and do that the whole game - not dabbling in the thousand of fun item/weapon combinations and just having fun with the mechanics.

So I'd say, give it a shot. Get all the murder abilities and try that.