whatchu playing now

i basically love the first game of every arc and think the 2nd is okay. they're consistently good at writing the rising tension parts of the stories but clumsy about raising the stakes imo

that ones less of a clean entry point than sky or cold steel, as the sky protagonists show up and complete the final bit of their character arc that was left hanging

― ciderpress, Friday, January 27, 2023 10:15 AM (six minutes ago)

trouble is I don't think I am gonna start with TitS unless it all comes to Switch (or conceivably, eventually, PS5?), I read at least one review that was like "you can start with this and the TitS connections will not completely throw off your experience" so it seems somewhat reasonable

yeah sure, outside of that one continuing bit its a new cast with their own story

also silby if you were asking about the actual gameplay: it starts off pretty basic but fundamentally sound in sky and then they add a new mechanic or two every game. the combat is on a grid (or a continuous plane in cold steel) but it still feels mostly like standard jrpg combat and not tactics, with the upside of making AoE moves/spells more interesting due to having different shapes/sizes.

characters have customizable spell loadouts kinda like FF7 materia or whatever that use MP, and then character-specific moves that use a separate fighting game style meter that goes up over time as you fight. you can spend 100% meter to do a big super move with a long animation, as in all good games.

Very interested in the Trails games but it seems like... a lot to start

sfw visual novel

Very interested in the Trails games but it seems like... a lot to start

― Nhex, Friday, January 27, 2023 1:36 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

trails in the sky is a low spec pc game from 2004 thats often on sale for 5 or 10 bucks, probably the best one to try if you have a PC. you'll learn pretty quickly whether you like the series' long-winded approach to story and worldbuilding

anyway, i started yakuza kiwami, speaking of long series. despite repping for yakuza 0 on here a bunch that was the only one i've played to date, correcting this now

I always knew I would need a pallet (no pun intended) cleanser after TLOU2, so I think I'm going to zip through "Guardians of the Galaxy," which I've surprisingly heard many good things about (often in reviews that begin along the lines of "you will be surprised to hear that GotG is good"). At the least I heard it was gorgeous to look at, so much so that Digital Foundry recommended playing it in fidelity mode rather than performance, and sacrificing 60fps for 30fps to get the most out of the space-scapes. Then again, they are really, really into stuff like ray tracing.

Yeah, I found it a fun, fairly breezy experience and it's totally fine at 30fps on PS5 compared to e.g. Spider-Man or Demon's Souls where the tradeoff just isn't worth it

TITS 1&2 are my favorites

I always knew I would need a pallet (no pun intended) cleanser

well if no pun was intended why didn't you spell "palate" correctly

it seems like the pun was intended

🤯

Shocked Face with Exploding Head

that would be a great name for a game

Doom iv subtitle

"Guardians of the Galaxy" is fun so far. I'm finding the learning curve a bit chaotic, coming off of Last of Us, but I imagine it will settle down as I settle in.

It's practically a rail shooter!

just started playing Detroit Become Human and holy shit the 3rd or 4th scene with the meth'd-up dad was really fucking intense. the gamer in me is curious about the other branching paths but it was so upsetting that i don't know if i can ever play that scene again

Final days of my ps extra sub
Stray - why does cat do human things? Kind of an update on the cinematic platformer genre, where animation mattered more than gameplay.
The Pedestrian - Mostly too easy but the yellow paint chapter was a mind warper. Last puzzle was a good idea but not worth the wait.

i played thief simulator, on sale for $3. i robbed house 110, then 111, then 112, then 113. i am invincible

I beat Inscryption; I'm not sure how much the weird wrinkles added to the game, as I think the deck building itself is pretty fun. Thankfully I now have access to the pure deck building game mode.

anyone playing hitman’s new freelancer mode ?

Vampire Surviviors on iOS, goodbye free time, social life etc.

Uhoh

I, too, have fallen to the scourge that is Marvel Snap

we should start fighting each other!

i'm four season passes deep, lord help me

yet to pay for anything, but just broke to level 1100...

i don't really get that game. i downloaded it and it was fun but i was winning like 90% of my matches? maybe they make it easier on you at the beginning to keep you hooked.

uh yeah, stick around and you will get your ass handed to you once you play long enough to get out of the kiddie pool

first several games on the season are mostly bots - i think it's still a lot of bots until you hit rank 30-40

yeah, I came to the same conclusion after blasting through my first twenty or so matches

"Guardians ..." is pretty well done so far, almost to a fault, because I keep getting distracted by the banter.

if you haven’t gotten to the Adam Warlock bits, just wait!

ooh i noticed i missed some Trails talk but now i'm not gonna read cos i've only played 1 and 2 so far

xpost I'm super early, like the first mission (giving Rocket to Lady Hellbender?). One reason I'm still so early is that I keep getting distracted by the dialog. (Also, the look of the game, which is pretty striking.) I did notice that during the first group battle, essentially the tutorial, I would lose track of stuff because I was listening or reading the subtitles. Sometimes I would forget that I was supposed to be doing things!

might want to try chewing gum while playing to balance it all out

Might as well.

I will say all the reviews of this were otm, much better than one might have guessed. Also a game I can already totally see myself replaying, since there are so many little details.

I don't know anything about making games, but there are some strange things afoot with "Guardians." Aspects of it (like the visuals and the like) are top-notch, but other things are weirdly janky/buggy. There's stuttering between scenes, for example, and I've had a lot of unresponsive on-screen prompts just kind of stay up indefinitely. Similarly, some of the character animations are A+, like Rocket, but others, like Peter, he just kind of stares ahead, unblinking. And then there are the usual teleporting characters, or the occasional odd gameplay design/choices, like the way the huddles break up the action enough that it's ultimately more fun to ignore them. Nothing game breaking or anything, just little things that keep cropping up in an otherwise great game.

Just met Cosmo, btw. Funny.

Finally finished Inscryption, probably the best $10 I've ever spent on a game. We're going to try Disco Elysium next as a couples game, and if that doesn't click we'll probably just go back and play Kaycee's Mod (the non-story/challenge mode that's unlocked after you beat the main game).

I mostly enjoyed playing Inscryption but the spoopiness of the story felt kinda undercooked and tiresome

think i'm getting near the end of red dead redemption 2. once i finish it, my reward is getting to buy the new monkey island game

we'll probably just go back and play Kaycee's Mod

I was able to beat it on level 1 but doing level 2 and reaching and dying to the boss left me utterly exhausted.

Yeah the game is certainly better than the story, but I enjoyed the 'in game' story elements a lot than the, uh, real world parts.

yeah I agree with that also

i bought xenoblade 2 and 3 using those 2 for $100 switch vouchers. rip my spare time.

lol see you next year, those games are pretty long
finally got over the early game "hump" of Fire Emblem Engage, the bit where you have all the tutorials, story setup etc and can finally settle into the game proper. this is usually the point where I know a game is for me or not, if I've been bitten by the bug to complete it.

I started playing Pokémon Emerald bcz it’s the most recent game I can reasonably emulate on a television (I’m not trying to fuck w dual DS screens) and I have gotten sooooo hooked on it

Also took a break from it today to continue my Psychonauts replay and it’s every bit as good as I remember

fuck yeah pokemon EMERALD!:D