What are y'all playing? ver 2.0

#1310

I will play in October. :smiley:

#1311

The beginning of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch) is indeed XCOM for babies. Now that I have unlocked the skill tree and more heroes I hope the complexity increases.

#1312

OK played a couple hours of Ys Seven, and itā€™s very different from the rest of the crew. Itā€™s strange that after Napishtim, the developers generally abandoned more rpgish elements like item using and inventory and stuff for Origin and Oath, but Seven actually has a ton of that stuff. Equipment, skills, skill levels, a FFIX like system where you learn skills from weapons, multiple party members, a bigger overworld that you actually have to travel through, tons of cutscenes and lots of NPC chatter that changes with events, all that stuff that one would think is more of a LoH thing than a Ys thing, but here we are. I like it, itā€™s fine i guess, but itā€™s definitely not as robust or as confident as the other Ys games on PC. Itā€™s got way too much fluff.

#1313

Unfortunately, the other modern Ys games (4 remake, 8) suffer from the same issues. Adding companions, loot and lengthy dialogue havenā€™t improved the series.

The first two Ys games are still fun. Try the PSP or PC versions of them.

#1314

Starcraft 1 and 2,funnily enough. 1ā€™s remaster and 2ā€™s coop mode has rekindled my interest in the game (and the esports scene) for the first time in many years. Catching up on all the campaigns now.

#1315

I have, and they are probably my favorites, II in particular. Itā€™s strange tho, even then the narrative was of a different, less relevant kind but still the dialogue and the general story were so strong, like genuinely solid early videogames fantasy characters and world. And even now, Falcom does good with its story telling in the Legend of Heroes games with super strong characters and world design, but where it feels like that translated into high quality but less ā€œdevelopedā€ text in Ys games (and also the recently ported Xanadu Next), with Seven (and the following games from what i surmise) it seems less of an effort is being made to use the know how of the LoH series in the Ys series, which is such a shame tbh. Perhaps the worst is that, unlike the other Ys games, this one feels like something of its timeā€¦ adequately contemporary with mild moves towards vacuous complexity that donā€™t add anything palatable.

For one, levels and weapon upgrades seem to be handed so freely that the quintessential Ys feeling of dramatic changes across hard earned weapon upgrades or character levels is lessened into oblivion.

#1316

my squad about to drop the hottest mixtape of 2017

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#1317

I was one of few that enjoyed the original Knack and its sequel, Knack II (PS4), is a great improvement. Combat has been expanded to more buttons, there is a skill tree, co-op special moves, and improved visuals.

#1318

Started Resident Evil HD, havenā€™t played a ton because, well, the game is kind of scary, but my impressions so far are extremely positive. Itā€™s strange to think that some of the things this game does would perhaps be considered super radical these days, but i wonder if they would be thought of as too progressive, or too regressive. Lots is said about the technical limitations that borne the design of this game, like the prerendered backgrounds, the door animations, the controlsā€¦ but playing it evidences a level of expertise and artistic agency one wouldnā€™t expect of a game whose historic conversation has been so much about its adaptation to its technical context. Playing it i can see that there is a deep sense of intelligence and machination beneath the limited inventory, the camera positions, the zig zaggying of the corridors, the limited sight you have of the enemies (perhaps finding yourself shooting at the camera relying on your conscious 3D map of the level to hit an unseen zombie). All of these things seem to me today as the works of true ingenuity and knowledge of horror, not really technical limitations.

#1319

Got into the closed beta for Age of Empires Definitive and Iā€™m reliving some memoriesā€¦ except this time Iā€™m a lot better at the game and the genre in general. Won two games in MP, surprisingly, and even more surprisingly by scouting the map and launching aggressive attacks. So much progress (and nostalgia!) for a girl who used to turtle every single game of this growing up.

#1320

Played a handful of LoH: Trails in the Sky SC, still impressed that these games manage such a good balance of JRPGness and a distinct flavor that puts them apart from the rest of the crowd. Itā€™s notable that iā€™m part of an audience whose experience of this is of a particularly intimate kind if youā€™ve been following the series, the company in charge of localization has a strong presence in its community and is probably one of the most visible companies of this kind, which has made it so the game carries a strong sense of being not just Falcomā€™s game, but also XSEEDā€™s game and i suppose in some significant way, itā€™s also Carpe Fulgurā€™s game, and itā€™s not always that you see this kind of mixing and turning be so open in conversation. Personally thatā€™s some of what brings me to this franchise (and Falcomā€™s games in general), they still carry this communal sense of passion that pushes people to make the games work for the rest of us who also like them but arenā€™t in a position to localize/translate them.

The game itself is, i guess, more TiTS. Combat is not particularly different, the interface is also nearly identical, the game even starts immediately after the fist oneā€¦ thereā€™s a sense that this is the second half of a bigger game, not unlike how the Baldur games are often considered two parts of one story. The writing is still very good, how quickly and confidently the game manages to change tone is still impressive, and iā€™m somewhat confident in saying that this is already stronger than FC. Anyway this shit is a fucking drug and legit the reason why iā€™m choosing to spend this two weeks vacation at home

#1321

The demo for The Octopath Traveler (Switch) is really good. I look forward to the Switch getting more niche RPGs.

#1322

http://streamable.com/7wqu0

@chapel uh oh streamable broke again

#1323

The video file is giving an error. My guess is they blocked us embedding the video for some reason. You can always make it a link instead.

Edit: Looking at it deeper, it appears streamable is blocking any embedding on external sites directly with the video file. That is why it isnā€™t loading above. There is a way to embed it with some changes to Discourse itself, I have posted a comment as such on their support/meta forum.

Edit 2: Iā€™ve disabled embedding of streamable links until it is fixed so you can still share your sicc clips! :heart: @toku

#1324

Monument Valley 2 (iOS) is short and sweet. There is almost no challenge but it still feels very rewarding to go through the M.C. Escher inspired levels. It got some bad reviews for only being 90 minutes long but the game itself is as good as the original.

#1325

A lot has happened playing games wise, just a short recap of what I played the last time I posted here:

Completed Game
The Legend of Zelda OOT 3D
Stopped Playing
Forza Motorsport 3
New Game
The Last Remnant Xbox 360
Currently Playing
Box Boy (11/22 worlds)
Etrian Mystery Dungeon (6/7 story dungeons, 48/74 side missions)
Kororinpa Wii (27/50 stages)

I donā€™t really have to go into OOT 3D. Everyone knows what a classic game it is by now. I have enjoyed it far more with the 3DS version and finally see why it is so loved. Iā€™m looking forward to Majoraā€™s Mask whenever I get around it.

Unfortunately, I also decided to stop playing Forza Motorsport 3 or at least take a break. Having done the races for the 4th year, achieving first except for the last race that was incredibly long and ended up becoming second just because of 1 race made me have enough. Itā€™s really unfortunate how they made the races such a drag, if only they were shorter and with less lapsā€¦

Iā€™ve started with the Last Remnant recently. Maybe not many remember it, it used to be an exclusive xbox 360 rpg released by SE with lots of hype. It was later released on PC with improved performance. Because my god, the game does have issues with its performance. Slow frame rate, long loading times, textures that are being loaded in front of you etc and the game crashed at one point. These problems became less of an issue after installing the game on the Xbox 360 hardrive. These are my only issues for the time being. So far, I am left with very good impressions. While the plot seems very clichĆ© (sister kidnapped, brother going ballistic anime style trying to find herā€¦yawnā€¦), the characters and writing are very decent so far. The game focuses on politics, the party members do not come over as brainless idiots for once, they plan ahead before taking actions. The party members involved are officers, marquee and veterans. The main character, while thinking with his emotions first, he does get things done at least. The tone and setting reminds me of FFXII a bit. The plot has not been revealed fully, leaving enough to look forward to. Iā€™ll go more into the gameplay the next time.

So, I have not been really playing much of Box Boy. While I have said so many good things about it, I feel my excitement decreased because the challenge is not increasing. Every time you start a new world, you are introduced to new gameplay mechanics, the levels have been very basic to get you used to them. But then I feel like I am missing the meat of the game. Hopefully it will become a bit more challenging soon.

And so, Iā€™ve decided to sink my teeth into Etrian Mystery Dungeon again. Most of you might remember me playing the game around the time it was launched (sep 2015), left the game a few times and continued with the same save file. Iā€™ve continued with the same save file again. Before, I felt like EMD was clearly weaker compared to the main EO games. This time, I feel like I finally get EMD. I now enjoy it almost as much as EO games. It has become so addicting trying to fully explore dungeons, stay there as long as possible, get all the loot alive and sell it to make big cash. I got so absorbed with the side activities, that I think I might be overpowered for the last story dungeon. Iā€™m looking forward to it!

Kororinpa is a weird motion based game that I started with a year ago without mentioning it on WYL. I wasnā€™t sure whether to continue with it back then. Iā€™ll go more into it soon.

#1326
#1327

Iā€™m playing Trails in the Sky the 3rd now, and itā€™s dramatically different than FC and SC. Itā€™s like half visual novel/half dungeon crawler. Weird game. Kevin is, of course, magnificent, as always.

#1328

Iā€™m aware of that, which is why iā€™m planning to jump onto Cold Steel after SC instead of waiting to finish 3rd.

Which will probably be a decade from now because SC feels like itā€™s gonna take that long to finish. Good thing i still have one more week before schoolā€¦

#1329

Either way, it makes no difference. TC is a self-contained story that ties up loose ends of the trilogy, and there are also some references to the Crossbell arc. I started Cold Steel 1 awhile ago. I like the setup of the military academy setting. Gives me a Persona feel to it.