whatchu playing now

Fucking hate Tunic

I just started Shenmue and it’s AMAZING, I’m like 10 hours in and I can’t get enough

So many Sega games I wish I could play!

shenmue is so good.

i wonder what dreamcast emulation is like these days.

I used my $1 month of PC Gamepass. I played through Genesis Noir, 12 Minutes, and Norco. Genesis Noir is an abstract animated film that is minimally interactive. 12 Minutes is a time loop story that starts off OK but takes some ridiculous and not-thought-out turns.

Norco was my favorite, even if it was a little too wordy for my taste. (I gave up on Kentucky Rte. 0 because of its wordiness.) It takes the style of an early 90s point & click adventure, but it doesn't have many puzzles. Instead it's mostly world building, based on cyberpunk from its stylistic era. It also has the best "recap" method I've ever seen in a game: there is a menu that is a "mind map", with an icon for every significant object or character, where clicking on one brings up a dialogue tree of known details about that object; and as you recall the details, lines form between the icons to show the links you've made between them. Icons get highlighted when you get new information about them, which encourages you to go over the details multiple times, making sure you remember what's going on in the somewhat-convoluted story.

Shenmue has such a specific vibe. Game mechanics that on some level can be seen as objectively broken (actual time meaning you sometimes have to wander around for hours waiting for it to be evening, with little in the way of sidequests to keep you entertained) actually really add to the mood.

I played Shenmue very briefly, think it was on original Xbox, some time ago. I never really got into it for whatever reasons but it did seem quite special - might have another look. Was Shenmue II any better?

I am still playing a lot of VR trucking, and am parallel playing San Andreas on both PS2 and Definitive Editions and really enjoying both. DE is less fun for some reason, controls seem worse and some annoying glitches like see through textures are everywhere.

I like Shenmue II a lot but I played it first so ymmv.

Shenmue has such a specific vibe. Game mechanics that on some level can be seen as objectively broken (actual time meaning you sometimes have to wander around for hours waiting for it to be evening, with little in the way of sidequests to keep you entertained) actually really add to the mood.

wish I had more to repeat but tbh I just can’t stop playing Shenmue and every moment feels so special

Tile Cities, a small cheap little tile placing game.

Steam link

I can get Shenmue I and II on Steam, cool.

There's a III ??

Yes, kickstartered and by all accounts terrible.

Really love the latest Kirby game, has that attention to detail and non-hardcore puzzle aspect that I've come to love from Nintendo. Who knew a post-apocalyptic theme park setting was what that series needed!

Yeah my youngest is playing it at the moment and we've been doing some chunks co-op, gameplay's lovely but it's such a weird atmosphere, feels more than anything like a crossover between Kirby and The Last of Us.

xp I have heard accounts that Shenmue III is great! Like, when viewed along side the clunky Dreamcast aesthetic of I and II. Maybe it's considered terrible compared to other new games.

Multiple ppl over the last year have told me that Kirby's Air Ride is like their fav game of all time, I really need to get around to that.

hmmm i dunno man

air ride??? weird

maybe i was too old when it came out but that screams "childhood nostalgia verdict" to me

Had a dive into Assetto Corsa at the weekend. It looks incredible in VR, usually the FOV feels odd in some of these driving games for me but this seemed fine.

Not raced in a long time with realistic driving set up, which was evident from one spin out after another. It was fun though.

But damn the UI on this thing gives me a headache.

user flamboyant goon tie included said that WarioWare for GBA was amazing so I played through that this past weekend and it was really, really fun!!!

Oh I'm so glad!

I love that game. The sequels are not nearly as good for some reason. I think the GBA sequel was a "pass", the DS sequel was a "not bad" and every one after that (incl. the recently released Switch sequel) was a "hard pass"

what?? the wii one was the greatest party game, had so much fun playing that

yeah teh gba one obviously has to be a good single player game because thats all the gba is whereas the later ones are designed increasingly more as multiplayer games

that team also made rhythm heaven which is great

I am absolutely hooked on Vampire Survivors. On a whim I hooked up my fightstick and suddenly the game just clicked; now I’ve unlocked like 9 characters and a couple of stages. Perfect way to fill the time while listening to records (and just in time since I think I’ve squeezed basically all the juice I can get out of Forza 5).

it's so good, the clear GotY thus far

I have played a bunch of vamp survivors, it is a way of life

P1 Select, Michael Brough game, a bit like Imbroglio but not as complex. Good time-passer.

Thirding (fourthing?) VS. You can try it out here for free: https://poncle.itch.io/vampire-survivors

But then again, it's $3. Key to me enjoying it is buying the power ups for might -- I'd been hording my money to buy better upgrades but that led to unpleasantly hard gameplay.

The game is also getting updates (new weapons, stages, gameplay mechanics) roughly every couple weeks which is super nice

I played through Return of the Obra Dinn this past weekend and WOWWWWOWOWOWOW that was fun!

yes Obra Dinn, great game. One I've not managed to play with much success though, definitely should attempt again.

i just started it last night. i was worried i was going have to keep a notebook or something but then i saw that the game provides its own notebook which is in fact a core part of the game

Loved it but I need to wait till I have a bigger TV as I find it quite hard to parse what's going on! (I know that's partially the point, but...)

I should try to finish that.

vampire survivors is good!

this year's hades but with much better writing

haha. i played it for about 4 days straight a few months ago, really ruined my life but i had a great time

I'm currently running my life with it!

Ruining, even.

eve-ry-bo-dy-wants-to-ruin-their-world

*smooths groove*

There was a week where I couldn't stop watching streamers play it and I came very close to pulling the trigger but I'm glad elden ring took my attention/addiction before that could happen. Any highly repeatable game that has 30 minute gameplay cycles is a recipe for disaster

Been playing V rising in early access, it's basically a vampire-themed reskin of Valheim, shades of OG 1997 Blood Omen

A bit early to say whether it's actually good or just extremely addictive in the way that these "just 40 more stone and I can put a new wall section in" games are, but enjoying it so far

As someone who has hundreds of hours in Binding of Isaac, i guess it's not surprising that I have tens in Vampire Survivors.

Only problem is that I kinda dislike the game. I recommended it to a coworker a few months ago and probably ended up damning it with faint praise.

I think it's essentially videogame muzak -- something to play mindlessly while focusing on something aural.
But there's a long tradition in gaming for that sort of thing, so i shouldn't really complain.

That said, i still haven't completed the bone zone

Yeah, it’s not one I’ll probably come back to very often. It was more like a really weird week and vampire survivors was a big part of it

Oystein I have been obsessed with binding of Isaac for years now myself

so wait Vampire Survivors costs $2.50 and is super lightweight? Should I just buy this?

Yes

(I guess that depends on what you mean by lightweight. I was thinking more about the scale of the game, the tiny download, that kind of stuff. But if you meant lightweight as in the gameplay, it’s something you can play with one hand and coast through the first 10 minutes, if you’re killing time, or you can pay close attention and try to do the perfect run and get through 30 minutes