whatchu playing now

rime lost me when i got to the area with the bird idk why. will try again at some point maybe

it just wasn't quite puzzling enough

i'm downgrading rime from excellent to merely decent after finishing it. i liked the graphic style but could do without the tacked-on twist ending

OOT for N64. just played my first song on the Ocarina. so good!

the beta for Metal Gear Survive is out on Steam for PC. i downloaded it last night and played for about 5 minute. it's a trash cash grab. exact same level design as MGSV but with a few tweaks. somehow the controls feel worse! if i'm going to play MGSV again i would rather just play MGSV.

mgs survive feels like the videogame equivalent of the steve martin inspector clouseau to me - the animating spirit has departed, the only reason to continue is that a corporation wants to squeeze some more cash out of the intellectual property

otm. fwiw i found all the "fuck Konami" stuff during MGSV's release extremely embarrassing. imo this has always been a series driven half by creative impulses half by mercenary market forces. but the level of effort here is just the bare minimum, it feels like the polish that MGSV had (itself a lesser amount of polish afforded to Ground Zeroes) is gone, and the samey level design is especially saddening given what Fox Engine is capable of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCs0xxUS5as

seriously i would have the chance to rather buy the level editor.

finished mother 3. didn't go how i expected at all at the end but i'm satisfied. i enjoyed it quite a bit more than earthbound, it's both funnier and tells a weightier story

word is Meal Gear Survive is actually kinda fun? there is a single player campaign w a heavy emphasis on survival, something the beta didn't really get across (it made it seem like the game was a mostly multiplayer zombie wave battle). anyone playing this?

Nope. I also thought it was all about the zombie mode, based on a short video I watched. But then again I haven’t played a metal gear since MGS so it probably isn’t the best re-entry for me

not sure where you're receiving your 'word' but everything i am seeing and hearing suggests it's an abomination

If so, this would be the first instance in memory of an IP turfing out immediately after its primary creative force departed. And I'm shocked to hear it, if I may speak frankly.

fwiw it was developed by a number of Metal Gear veterans that aren't named Kojima:

Gakuto Mikumo (the mind behind Portable Ops' story ) : http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,470170/

Yota Tsutsumizaki( goes back to mgs3 and been moving up every since), Yota is also the director : http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,156850/

Cinematic director is a veteran of mgs, Masaya Kobayashi http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,44334/

Audio director also veteran, from mgs 2 days, Akihiro teruta: http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,124897/

Lead planner, Yuji Kaine, been with the team since peace walker on level design :http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,437601/

Same with Yu Sahara(who is also helping do level design again) : http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,377407/

Tsuyoshi Osada also has a variety of experience with mg as a franchise :http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,377406/

Atsuki Imada is another varied guy: http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,279853/

Lead programmer, Kazuhide Hatsuyama, been with KP since mgs3 :http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,156856/

lead player programmer, Kazuya Matsunaga, goes back to peace walker: http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,437611/

Lead npc programmer, Junji Maruhashi goes back to the skateboarding mini game on substance :http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,253899/

Lead gimmick programmer, Yoshito Ohara, a portable ops and peace walker vet: http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,377409/

Art manager, Mineshi Kimura, a member of the original mgs team: http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,57939/

Lead environmental artist is Jutaro Oue, who started off on twin snakes but became apart of KP: http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,134660/

Lead effects artist, Hiroyuko Tsuchida, also a twin snakes person but also ZOE.: http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,58000/

Lead UI artist , Akira Kanke, been on the main team since mgs4: http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,279846/

And on creature design Masahiro Ito the man who created the monsters and art direction of Silent Hill 1-3, as well as the Clocktower spiritual successor Nightcry : http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,51456/

They also got someone who is ex capcom and ex platinum who worked on revengence, Kenchiro Yoshimura: http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,88417/

Last but not least Of course there's producer, Yuji Korekado someone whos works traces back to Policenauts and then every metal gear solid game after(including PO and PW). http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,57952/

https://www.reddit.com/r/metalgearsolid/comments/7x3ypm/big_names_in_the_opening_credits_on_survive/

xpost just lurking on the bigger vg boards. i played the crap out of MGSV so im open to giving this a chance. iirc the DOOM beta wasnt very indicative of how rad that game ended up being.

the "beta" was released like 5 weeks ago

into the breach comes out in 5 days

now playing tales of berseria, because xenoblade 2 was just not enough anime

Night Trap (PS4)

id seen clips of this online and stuff over the years but never actually played the game. this was a blast! so much 90s/VHS kitsch here. i love the practical effects of the traps, the bad guys are always flung into a side room just off-screen that is glowing and emitting smoke. the game itself turned out to be really difficult - the house is always filling up w new vampires and if your captured ratio goes down too much you get yelled at by an FMV soldier with an amazing moustache.

so it's a tough balance of watching all the various stories going on. even though the "main story" is only 25 minutes long there is so much going on to keep track of, it's like a 1 1/2 hour movie happening all at once. the girls will have one storyline going while the main villains are plotting in the next room and then some other characters are doing things in other rooms on top of that. it's one thing to watch this on youtube but actually playing it a totally different experience. really experimental storytelling.

Into the Breach tomorrow! PC Gamer did a wee preview video showing a bit more of the gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwhglaEREz4

Looks great! And probably a steal at $15

Yup. I'm loving Slay the Spire atm.

went ahead and got Metal Gear Survive. it's turning out to be a lot of fun. it's very satisfying to fend off those zombies w a spear. also the story is pretty cool and the level design is all new so far (i was worried it would be the MGSV maps but these areas are new). not bad for a spin off game!

also the Steam demo for FFXV just released today, im currently downloading...

Final Fantasy XV demo on steam is really amazing. the game looks fantastic. the hair in these games looks like cotton candy or something i swear (at least ever since Lightning). this demo is so cool! its optimized pretty well im runing on a low-midrange system.

Still playing Link to the Past Randomizers over and over...

uuuuuuugh, i just assumed there was a mac version of Into The Breach (from makers of FTL) but there is not and uuuuuuuggh

nbd because a mac version is coming soon (from their website: "Into the Breach will be initially available on Windows. After release we intend to bring the game to Mac and Linux as well. As a small studio, we found managing that large of a release for FTL very difficult, so we’re going to spread it out more this time. We will consider the possibility of bringing the game to Mobile devices and/or consoles in the future, but it is not a priority at this time.")

curious to see what others think though

There's a post on Reddit explaining how to get it to run using Wine (as long as you buy the DRM-free version from Humble or GoG):
https://www.reddit.com/r/IntoTheBreach/comments/80nt36/i_have_successfully_installed_into_the_breach_on/

Evan, have you played Binding of Isaac (preferably the newest Antibirth+ version)? I didn’t think Isaac would be so good but I’ve been addicted to this for 2-3 months now. The replayability is amazing because of the randomizer and unlockables. Probably the best game I’ve played in 2-3 years.

I have! Well, whatever is the one that came out on Switch. I will probably become re-addicted to it once I revisit.

I do love seed based games. LTTP rando is a fan made thing where all the items get shuffled (per seed) among the same fixed map. It's done using a logic so you can't get stuck.

really enjoying Tales of Berseria so far! obviously gets the usual anime-as-fuck disclaimer but it's a fun button-mashy action-JRPG with great writing and a wonderfully over-the-top antiheroine protagonist. it's kinda refreshing to play a recent RPG with no open-world ambitions or sidequest filler, it's just all-in on the core JRPG experience and does it very well.

https://i.imgur.com/648D8IQl.jpg

Metal Gear Survive. recently i started growing potatoes so finding food is becoming less of a task. bummed that you can't bring a bow and a spear at the same time. i am one mission from getting clean water at my base but there are a ton of walkers between me and the goal and there is also a giant Evangelion-style abstract giant sky beast walking across the landscape. looking forward to more inter dimensional crazy shit.

the dunkey review was not kind to this

oh yeah people hate this game. then again people also hated FOB when it might have been secretly the best part of MGSV.

im at mission 7 now and so far it has been all new level design. there have been some rooms here and there that look familiar but they are always just part of a mostly entirely new level design. its an apocalyptic take on MGSV. everyone is going "lol zombies" but there are more like dimensionally damaged creatures. inter-dimensional demons. the glowing weak spot is great and arcade-like.

however Final Fantasy XV is just about to unlock on steam so...

people also hated FOB when it might have been secretly the best part of MGSV.

I lovedMGSV and racked up so much time on it but FOB mode not being something you could opt out of was unforgivable.

I’m now playing Yakuza 5 ahead of 6 coming out next month. It’s a lot meatier than the other games and 5 playable characters is the most ever - and I’m loving the 5 cities you get to play around in. I haven’t actually finished the story - have spent my time in minigames as per. I loved the idol storyline and dance minigames more than I expected to, ditto the baseball section. It’s a stronger entry than I would have thought and I like seeing how much they progressed the fighting mechanics since 3 and 4.

Rusty Lake: Paradise. I think it's step down from the other three RL pay games but still really good

Ohhhhh, yeah. Just remembered that the introduction of FOBs was the point where I went 'huh?' and failed to return to Phantom Pain. And now I'm realizing that like all my shit is probably gone as a result of persistent invasions.

'Slay the Spire' and 'Into the Breach' are both proving massively addictive.

can't wait for the into the breach port...

is slay the spire really good? it's already out on mac and it looks interesting tho potentially disappointing?

the PC port of FFXV is incredible. better performance than the benchmark or the demo. the game looks amazing. combat is lots of fun. i like warping around its a good mechanic.

some screenshots:

https://i.imgur.com/oOEaKxuh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bJjDh3bh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FpQ7sJih.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/azqqjImh.jpg

I love Slay the Spire, but its kind of up my proverbial alley. I've got an embarrassing 48 hours on it (and 35 hours on Into the Breach)

Are people looking forward to Surviving Mars?

more FFXV

https://i.imgur.com/0zV8Gmxl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NsTWF8Bl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Wkm8rVJl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/NVHXHRuh.jpg

this was taken by one of the characters. its from the middle of a battle. i tried to figure out what was going on lol. its like a Hans Bellmer photo montage or something.

I have finally, sadly, accepted that I don't have the time to learn how to play strategy/builder games like Surviving Mars - as great as it looks. It might just go on my list of "games I watch other people play on Twitch"

otm, i love board games in that genre but 4x video games are an order of magnitude more involved to learn and play

Yeah - but what I've watched of Surviving Mars seems oddly joyless. But maybe it's great if you get engaged.

finished Tales of Berseria last night, really good JRPG overall. some of the best & most fun character writing I've seen in the genre, and the combat system was enjoyable the whole way through. it doesn't have the visual or environmental wow factor of some of its peers e.g. xenoblade but it does everything else well.

next up in my JRPG queue is the first Trails in the Sky game, i think

xp in my experience every mars themed game, both videogame and tabletop, comes out joyless, i call this the Curse of Mars

lol

https://i.imgur.com/5vxrKexl.jpg

i just got to the 2nd map in Metal Gear Survive and am still am having fun. bow & arrow/battle axe is my current go-to loadout. this game may reuse a lot of MGSV assets but so far the world maps are entirely new. looking forward to see what they do with the jungle, not being tied to having the larger bases/outputs formula.

mission 14 was pretty incredible! one of the few legit reuses of an old map and it's for such a cool sequence. there are a bunch of cutscenes from this mission and the final one is a doozy.