What Video Games Are You Currently Playing

[logboy]

watching my brother play god of war : ragnarok.

dull and unengaging so far. seems like it's desperate to disguise how small it is? if it is big, it's currently the biggest tutorial i've ever seen.

[T3551ER]

Just Cause 4 - mainly bc it just went up on PS Plus Pass or whatever TF it's called. Pretty fun, mindless with excellent traversal mechanics. But, also, could see how this could get ultra repetitive. Perfect for blowing off steam/not caring too much about actually getting through it. 

Gravity Rush Remastered - midway through the first game. Fun little indie PS game, has a very anime feel in terms of the story etc. plus a fun mechanic. 

Oneechambara Origins - pretend you're playing Dead Rising but instead of being based on sort of third person shooting it's based on hack n'slash (e.g., Ninja Gaiden, DMC and Bayonetta). Bloody, borderline hentai, mindless fun with combat that is slightly jank but also probably deeper than it looks on first blush. Again, free on PS Pass and I went ahead and shelled out 10$ for the extra levels etc. cause GD it's FUN.  

[onecaseman]

8 hours ago, logboy said:

watching my brother play god of war : ragnarok.

dull and unengaging so far. seems like it's desperate to disguise how small it is? if it is big, it's currently the biggest tutorial i've ever seen.

They have a massive hidden section you can easily miss around mid-game that is worth exploring. I would not say the game is small, but it's also not true open world.

[logboy]

14 hours ago, onecaseman said:

They have a massive hidden section you can easily miss around mid-game that is worth exploring. I would not say the game is small, but it's also not true open world.

my initial impression was that it was using a series of zones as sections, like uncharted, to control exploration. now it's moved to a desert with skeletal caves, and it feels like it wants to be zelda.

[Enthusiast]

Just finished the main story of God of War: Ragnarok. It's at least as good as the previous game. I love the combat and the exploration, but most of all listening to Mimir's stories and conversations. The voice acting is superb. 

It's hard to beat Sony's big triple A story driven games for entertainment.

 

 

[usagi]

played through Stray in the last couple of days and loved it. many feels were had. it was apparent from the off that this wasn't going to just be feline equivalent of goose simulator but it delivered well over and above to be a genuinely moving experience. people who hate on it (thankfully a small minority, it's received a lot of love) have no soul.

cuddled my catters extra hard afterward.

[T3551ER]

12 hours ago, usagi said:

played through Stray in the last couple of days and loved it. many feels were had. it was apparent from the off that this wasn't going to just be feline equivalent of goose simulator but it delivered well over and above to be a genuinely moving experience. people who hate on it (thankfully a small minority, it's received a lot of love) have no soul.

cuddled my catters extra hard afterward.

My daughter (much to my wife's chagrin - she hated it) repeatedly asks for us to play "cat game." I loved it an even on playthrough like 20 I still am movef by it (particularly  the ending). Lots of depth to the story/world building, particularly if you take the time to deviate from the main quest. Sad, beautiful game. 

[usagi]

5 minutes ago, T3551ER said:

My daughter (much to my wife's chagrin - she hated it) repeatedly asks for us to play "cat game." I loved it an even on playthrough like 20 I still am movef by it (particularly  the ending). Lots of depth to the story/world building, particularly if you take the time to deviate from the main quest. Sad, beautiful game. 

yep. the start and the ending will pull on your heartstrings every time, if you have any.

if you think about it and digest it a little bit more, it's actually a fair bit less sad than it seems on the face of it.

Spoiler

the city is opened, the zurks are destroyed and the sentinels are shut down. so the companions can live in peace and flourish and go beyond their walls, and the cat can revisit anytime it likes.

the flash at the end hints that B12's consciousness has been absorbed/copied across even though its form has been destroyed.

the cat almost certainly finds its pals/family again because the whole area is not really that big in diameter and - if you trust this guy's number-crunching - it returns to the surface in close proximity to its home.

 

[T3551ER]

12 hours ago, usagi said:

yep. the start and the ending will pull on your heartstrings every time, if you have any.

if you think about it and digest it a little bit more, it's actually a fair bit less sad than it seems on the face of it.

  Hide contents

the city is opened, the zurks are destroyed and the sentinels are shut down. so the companions can live in peace and flourish and go beyond their walls, and the cat can revisit anytime it likes.

the flash at the end hints that B12's consciousness has been absorbed/copied across even though its form has been destroyed.

the cat almost certainly finds its pals/family again because the whole area is not really that big in diameter and - if you trust this guy's number-crunching - it returns to the surface in close proximity to its home.

 

Spoiler

That video totally made my day, thank you!!! . I absolutely appreciate that the devs thought through this (I believe that it's not just happenstance - the fact that the cat looks to the right seems intentional/a nod to this - plus everything about this game screams meticulousness.). 

The flash bit that suggests B12's consciousness has been uploaded - totally missed that and that, maybe, makes me even happier! Such a noble final moment, glad there is a glimmer (no pun intended) of hope. 

I think my overall sadness with the game is more about what it's saying about us as a species right now. It's a total reflection on how what we do now may play out if we don't change. I also find it chilling to see so many of our human foibles played out by the AI's - I know the game is as much a commentary on society as it is now as the future, but to see AI carry on our oppressive tendencies, addictions, etc. was just.. I don't know, it's like, man, we can even fuck things up for a future intelligent species, long after we've perished from the earth. 

I guess on the bright side (ok pun intended) the ending of the game really is one of hope. The city is open, sun has returned, and there is the opportunity for real change. 

Also, I can't shake the desire to see what's up those steps at the end. Like I desperately want to see more of the world outside the city. I know it's less than unlikely, but I'd love to see a game that explores that world if they ever do a Stray 2.

 

[usagi]

agreed, that theme is a big part of the game and colours it throughout.

personally I'd love to see a sequel or expansion, but it has to make sense to the devs to do so. story-wise, it could wrap up there and be perfect. the studio really exercised good judgement in how they crafted this game and planned it out (i.e. it didn't sink to total feelgood fanservice or meme-level content) so I trust their judgement when it comes to making a sequel or not.

[Milwaukeeeee]

https://www.chronophoto.app/game.html

[chronical]

On 1/22/2023 at 12:31 PM, usagi said:

played through Stray in the last couple of days and loved it. many feels were had. it was apparent from the off that this wasn't going to just be feline equivalent of goose simulator but it delivered well over and above to be a genuinely moving experience. people who hate on it (thankfully a small minority, it's received a lot of love) have no soul.

cuddled my catters extra hard afterward.

I'm so tired of hallway simulators that I didn't even give it a try and I fucking love cats

[usagi]

that's sad.

[T3551ER]

12 hours ago, usagi said:

agreed, that theme is a big part of the game and colours it throughout.

personally I'd love to see a sequel or expansion, but it has to make sense to the devs to do so. story-wise, it could wrap up there and be perfect. the studio really exercised good judgement in how they crafted this game and planned it out (i.e. it didn't sink to total feelgood fanservice or meme-level content) so I trust their judgement when it comes to making a sequel or not.

I'm with you. In some ways the end is sort of that "it's the mystery that endures" thing. Although ofc I want more, it's probably better that my mind sits on precipice and wonders what's past the top of the stairs than actually knows. But, lol, ofc I still want to see it, even though I know it probably wouldn't match my imagination. 

Also, agreed - it's pm a perfectly self-contained game with a perfect ending. I'm more than happy with it as it is. 

[onecaseman]

Elden Ring update: Defeated the Raya Lucaria dungeon. Rannala was easier than Radagon for me. I went back to the Roundtable, and the guy said to go to the end of the game, and I was like lolwut. Before he told me there were five bosses to kill, and I've only killed two. So gonna roam around and try to find what to do next.

[GORDO]

Currently grinding camos on MWII and playing a couple warzone solos sparingly.

[usagi]

I've picked Subnautica back up. I really cannot get into this game properly tbh. deep water phobia aside, it's just not my thing to be going around hoovering up shit and crafting and just fucking around as a means of advancing the story, it feels awkward and weird to me. there are so many prohibitive constraints on the early game (e.g. simply nightfall itself) that you can easily just get into a pointless loop of just living day after day around your habitat and doing nothing. finding it hard to get satisfaction from this game.

[usagi]

^ lol just as I said that I managed to build my first Seamoth and now the whole game has changed.

[TubularCorporation]

I've got a cart of River City Ransom out for early delivery today.

[onecaseman]

6 hours ago, usagi said:

^ lol just as I said that I managed to build my first Seamoth and now the whole game has changed.

yeah I bailed on this one pretty quickly. Kept dying. Had no idea what to do.

[usagi]

Dead Space remake drops soon and it appears to have all the right signs on it.

[usagi]

^ 6 chapters in now, and it is amazing. they've reworked a lot, so much so that it'd be a new game if it didn't retain the same basic ideas and story as the original. missions flow and interconnect differently but follow the same broad goals as before. there are new sideplots and new characters that integrate well. the ship layout is much more interconnected and feels like a more realistic (dead) space that you traverse through, rather than a sequential series of individual levels connected by a tram. you can backtrack to explore new areas and the clearance system makes it so that doing so usually rewards you. areas don't stay cleared and you can encounter fresh enemies, making for a constantly tense time. the combat is still fun and satisfying and varied, and there are some cool new mechanics. oh and it looks great of course, though Callisto Protocol was superior in that department (if only CP had had equally good combat...)

I do have some nitpicks. the new sound design: flatter and less rich compared to the original. in the original you could stand in a hallway and hear/feel the icy silence and ghostly whispers with the mix so well-tuned that they blended seamlessly. here it's much less subtle, there are voices practically in your ear saying sPoOpy things like "self-inflicted ocular injury". ok cool. some of the new voice acting from secondary characters is subpar compared to the original. the new Hammond in particular is really flat and boring compared to Peter Mensah, and the new Kyne doesn't have the manic delusional edge to him that made you wonder if he was going to go crazy on you or not (counterpoint: the new Mercer is fantastic). also, some of the running animations are a bit funny, like Isaac's head and shoulders wobble like a child running to the toilet in need of a poo. lastly, and probably the only example I have found so far of a reworked mechanic that is actually worse: the contact beam, weapon of choice for high risk/reward players, no longer makes sense to me.

that's a longer paragraph of whinging compared to the game's merits (in classic snotty idm fan fashion) but overall those are pretty small issues. this is a really fucking good remake.

Edited January 28, 2023 by usagi

[onecaseman]

Elden Ring update: This game is long! Beat Radahn and found the eternal city. Finished Ranni's quest, but that one fucked me up. Basically didn't get any runes from it. I need to do Siofra Aqueducts next, but everything has been fucking me up lately even at level 71. I was OP for like five minutes, and now the opposite.

[T3551ER]

Played all weekend on the Switch. There is no updated texture. There is no updated controls. You have to (if you don't have a N64 controller) go into the console settings to switch the buttons/layout to work properly. The framerate dips exactly as it did in the original when there are 4 people throwing proximity mines and everything is blowing up. There is no voice chat. You have to find people via friend codes because there is no lobby/matchmaking. It is fucking fantastic. 

The audience for this shit is going to be so niche because unless you are an OG player and are willing to push past the barriers to entry (specifically, the controller remapping, having to work around the fact that there is no lobby/matchmaking nor any chat feature), you will hate this. It probably doesn't help that Graslu007, the current Goldeneye World Champion and true guru of all things Goldeneye is shitting on this because it's not as good as emulators already available on PC (I'm not going to argue that point). 

For those willing to push past what are, yes, some annoyances, what awaits you are a replication of the feeling you got when you sat in a smoky dorm room, playing this shit until your eyeballs bled and the nighttime sky turned into day. I can not describe how awesome it was to slip back into this shit and, although this is weird, the fact that it janks and jerks the way the actual original game did has made the experience all the more pleasurable. Do I want the Xbox remaster that was in works? Of course. But this is truly a wonderful gift. 

Some additional caveats: I played exclusively w/ east coasters as I know cross region play is fucked. I experienced probably 6-7 slowdowns in 4-5 hours of play. that's it. I lost a lot because still was fucking w/ controls have to re-memorize the maps, etc. but it was NEVER due to netplay.  People who didn't play back in the day don't realize that 007 is a head game - yes, you have to be precise with your strikes, but it's as much about playing the high-speed chess game that is Goldeneye. Knowing where your opponent is, knowing exactly what their health is looking like, using the diagonal strafe to increase speed to close the distance between you and the power weapons (and knowing at a glance / calculating how far away your opponent is) is a completely lost art in the era of modern gaming. 

 

 

[ambermonk]

Good ol' Goldeneye...how could I forget. Pretty much spent all of my free time back in 7th grade playing that classic. I remember the unlockable "No Radar" cheat was a thing in splitscreen multiplayer. Although I wasn't that fond of the explosions, since they'd linger like fire for a few seconds and still damage you if you got too close.

As for particular missions, I remember Mission 16 where you have to cover Natalya while she's hacking the central console was arguably the hardest section in the game, since infinite badguys would continue pouring out until she was finished. Sorta reminds me of the Entanglement section from HL2 where you have to wait for Alyx to disable the barriers inside Nova Prospekt.

And the music...the Aztec and Egypt secret missions have some of the best. (Tempting to post the YTs here, but there's another thread for that.)

Edited January 30, 2023 by ambermonk