whatchu playing now

would rather the game find other ways to make traversal fun besides listening to video game dialogue small talk. and anything actually important should be in cutscenes, agree on that

Dragon's Dogma is cool! Such a unique & quirky take on an action RPG. I'm very curious to see how the sequel turns out.

My favorite gaming podcast is doing a bonus ep this month on Majora's Mask, so I'm doing a playthrough of both N64 Zeldas rn. I've been zooming through Ocarina, the first time I've played it in...20 years, maybe? It holds up pretty well for like 90% of the time. That other 10% is pretty rough though.

finished the Yuffie side content for FF7R, really enjoyed it. never cared for her in the original game but she was a charming brat in this, hope she turns up a decent amount in later games. FF7R also made me appreciate how good Square are at skin textures, freckle game on point.

Just about done the "Burial at Sea" DLC for "Bioshock Infinite." I guess I respect them doubling down on the gibberish, and also tying it to the first game. Feels kinda like "Infinite" would have been a better second game, and the second game, with some extra work, might have been a better third game.

It's the 2023 Interactive Fiction Competition lads. That'll be my month of games.

― emil.y, Tuesday, October 3, 2023 3:22 PM (one week ago)

Anything catch your attention yet?

Playing Chrono Trigger at the moment, think I’m relatively close the end? This game was so hyped that I thought I was going to be blown away every 5 seconds. Instead, it’s been around 20 hours of entirely pleasant 16bit jrpg’ing and even though it hasn’t reached those lofty heights promised, I don’t feel let down at all so I guess that validates it to me as a great game.

Frog is such a cool dude.

I bought the first “The Legend of Heroes” game but feel daunted at the prospect of getting into that massive series. Might try Romancing SaGa 3 after this, or Dragons Dogma does seem interesting.

Also reading the Chrono Trigger thread on this board really makes you realise how much this place has changed

started starfield, it's aggressively 'okay'

sometimes you gotta spend a bit of time in a middling game to fully appreciate the good ones

I played Lords of the Fallen for a couple days and got a little frustrated with the swamp area (hard to figure out where to go and tons of difficult enemies, unsure if this is due to questionable design or part of the From Software tribute). I don't know if I've ever played a game with such a weird mix of polish and jank. The 'two worlds' mechanic with the lamp is really well done. Some of the jank is technical stuff that I don't care about and the devs are clearly fixing day by day, and some of it's around balance.

Judging by the daily patches they're clearly still working on the game. And I've been seized with the motivation to work on music instead of playing video games, so I'm going to honor that and come back in a few months when it'll probably be a great game.

Playing Kingdoms: Eighties and finding it charming. There’s enough variance to each level to keep it interesting after years of this series

sometimes you gotta spend a bit of time in a middling game to fully appreciate the good ones

― ciderpress, Friday, October 20, 2023 9:39 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

grew up w morrowind/oblivion/etc so it hits all those spots really well. definitely plenty of jank and is definitely not a 'next gen' title whatever that means. it's perfectly pleasant

Started Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, strictly for catharsis.

I bought Returnal months ago but I only just managed to get out of the first biome today.

^ that’s when it starts getting good.

After hearing all the hype for Alan Wake 2, I grabbed Alan Wake Remastered on Xbox on sale for like 9 bucks. Wanted something spooky.

This game fuckin rules. Get the cultish following it has. Totally pulpy but actually kinda intriguing story, wonderful atmosphere, fun references (a lot of Twin Peaks nods so I’m there for that), and combat mechanics that felt pretty hokey and simple at first but are revealing themselves to be actually kinda sophisticated and satisfying.

Good stuff. I bounced off of Control even though I recognized the artistry there, but I’m going to revisit knowing that it’s part of the same world and somewhat connected. And I’m jazzed for Alan Wake 2.

Similar boat, I bought Alan Wake in anticipation of the sequel, and will play it soon. But I also really loved Control and recommend giving it another shot. At the very least, there is one challenge or level in Control that is one of the best times I've ever had playing a game.

I was about to post about AW Remastered as I'm mostly in the same boat (though Control was my gateway Remedy), but it's been really rough for me, namely the unfun combat. I thought about bumping the difficulty down from Normal but apparently I can't do that without starting a new game.

Absolutely stick with it. I was in the same boat, got caught up in a few situations early on that were annoyingly difficult. And was equally pissed I couldn’t turn the difficulty down mid-level.

Look around, there are supply caches. If you’re in the same spot I was stuck on, with a cave nearby, head into it. Always follow the yellow notes for goods, they’re there to help. I will say it’s rarely a survival chore later on, you get pretty well supplied.

The combat feels really dumb at first, but once the arsenal starts to expand it’s actually dope.

And I will totally be giving Control another go after this. I didn’t dislike it, thought the combat mechanics were cool, just didn’t really click with it. I’m all primed now tho.

My main criticism of this game is Alan wearing a fucking hoody under a blazer. Maybe one of the most horrifying fashion trends in recent memory.

Still mostly playing Elden Ring (ng+ now!) and TotK, but I just downloaded Cocoon to my Switch and the Spiderman Miles Morales PS5 that has the remastered Spiderman. F-Zero 99 is a hoot too

I don't remember too much about "Wolfenstein: New Order" except that I thought it was OK, but I really enjoyed "Old Blood." It might be just a situational thing, these FPS deals; you have to be in the right mood. That said, I was going to roll right into "The New Colossus," which I'd heard mixed things about, but I think I'm inspired to try "Alan Wake Remastered" first.

Will be playing those same Wolfensteins soon, and curious how "The New Colossus" strikes you, since "Youngblood" was the one I've read the most criticism on. IGN called it "aggressively OK".

Now working through the newer "Prey", hoping I get better at avoiding the long reach of the mimics.

I've heard nothing but bad things about "Youngblood."

On the other hand, I've heard such great things about "Prey," it's been sitting in my never-ending backlog.

prey would be an unimpeachable 10 if the combat were better but it’s arkane and their gunplay is dogdirt

I've been moving house so had to put gaming to one side for a minute. When I finally plugged my PS in, I realise with serendipity that the last game I downloaded on PSN was Unpacking! It's quite good!

Alan Wake 1 was a wonderfully spooky and atmospheric action horror game. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Alan Wake 2 is something else though. Really going balls out, Lynchian weird. More of a detective, puzzle, maze game so far. Much scarier. I was thoroughly clenched up through a lot of the opening stuff. Does not hold your hand either.

Stunningly atmospheric. And you have no idea what kind of space you’ll end up in level to level. It’s a gorgeous game and the way light and dark is used is genuinely just… sick.

Very impressed so far. You don’t see AAA stuff like this outside of Kojima really. Big swing.

If anyone wants to jump directly into 2, I suggest watching a YouTube recap or something beforehand.

Thanks for the plug, loved Alan wake 1 on release, I’ll check out 2.

Just started getting into factorio. Reminding me of the first time I got into Civilization V and lost all concept of time/my regular sleeping schedule. Bastard of a time sink

Ok. I just played through literally the most bonkers ass sequence I’ve ever seen in a video game in Alan Wake 2. Makes me wonder wtf else is in store.

2 thumbs up, this is somethin.

Super psyched, gonna be a while, though. Especially if it's digital only (right?) I need a good sale.

Just started Alan Wake Remastered, seems cool.

Factorio still sucking my life away. The factory must grow

Anyone try Jusant?

I was about to post about AW Remastered as I'm mostly in the same boat (though Control was my gateway Remedy), but it's been really rough for me, namely the unfun combat. I thought about bumping the difficulty down from Normal but apparently I can't do that without starting a new game.

I hit my first spot where this occurred to me. Tbh, I see it as a failure of game design (even though this game is by and large cool as hell). Where I first got (briefly) stuck was after the introduction of flares. They're all, "use flares to subdue large groups of enemies!" I thought, cool, and did that. But what the game does not indicate is that the flares are limited, and there will be a *shitload* of enemies, in waves, and if you use up all your flares it's a real PIA. But of course, how would you know to conserve them? And there was no way to go back before the most recent checkpoint, which was of course past the point of no return.

Well, I know about conserving shit *now*, lol.

It's a neat game, otherwise, a spooky conflation of Stephen King (explictly) and Twin Peaks (sort of implicitly).

The Twin Peaks references are pretty overt!

I just reached and got stuck at the first combat encounter (3 enemies) after the cave, and I only have 16 revolver bullets. I was thinking that of just using the flares but reading your post now I guess I'll have to figure something else out!

Yeah the diner and police station are almost carbon copies of their TP counterparts, hehe.

I do agree that some early parts put you in some sticky situations, but it did teach me to poke around for supplies. Don’t think I was ever hurting for goods through the last 3/4 of the game. Even when they’d occasionally pull your gear after a level.

I think the part I was talking about is maybe post-cave? Once you meet up with the Kidnapper and have no gun. Somewhere in episode two. I think I have to start focusing on dodging and using the flashlight to stun and run rather than pause and kill.

Yeah, that Twin Peaks stuff is pretty overt, but iirc the game mentions Stephen King by name, plus some of his stuff, but so far not Lynch.

There was a funny gag early on where the lights in the station are flickering, and you think shit is about to go down, but then the staffer is all "man, changing these lightbulbs are a PIA," or whatever.

Dodging pretty critical. Awkward to learn at first but becomes second nature soon enough.

Also Leee you should totally be using a flare for that situation. Don’t be too precious about em, that encounter almost demands it. I was stuck in that spot until I found some flares.

OK, I'll try the stun + run strategy, and if I stay stuck on that part much longer, I'll flare them up.

Anyone try Jusant?

I haven't played this myself, but I heard that the movement for this was really good, sort of the climbing version of Death Stranding + walking.

I hit a couple of real pain in the ass parts of Alan Wake, escaping a bunch of shadow goons from a shed (I had no idea what the nearby spotlights were supposed to do, so eventually just ran away the best I could) and the bridge (which wasn't that hard, just annoying), and soon after the voiceover goes something like, "But the stories he wrote were fun. This wasn't fun." And I thought to myself, kinda on the nose there.

thanks to jimd i am know an steam deck owner and an ex ex gamer. i won't have much time for it so not going wild with purchases, last week i bought superliminal on sale. an excellent first person puzzler and a must play for fans of portal. the look & feel & atmosphere is very similar, the puzzle mechanic is different and not quite as much fun or as challenging but it's very good at subverting expectations and had some genuine lol / wow moments, especially at the end.

Re: Alan Wake, it's been a while since it played it (Xbox 360 version), but yeah, I remember that the combat was usually more tedious than fun. However, if you stay with it, there's a really fun segment that takes place at an outdoor stage, and Barry's comic relief is pretty welcome. Also, I love "Twin Peaks," but the references in the game weren't clever or anything and made me think "OK, I GET IT, YOU LIKE TWIN PEAKS."

I realize it's all just kind of dream logic, but why does Alan keep losing all his weapons? And eas the game originally released episodically?

The game is definitely worth it for the atmosphere, but the combat is kind of irritating. "Control" was a lot sharper on that front, but I suppose that makes sense.

geez i wish i had played this before the ps2 poll. i'm playing this game right now and it's so good. the creator of fire emblem left intelligent systems, made his own company, made two games (one ps1, one ps2) and it's just... damn it's about the best turn based console strat i've ever played. maps are SO GOOD. what's the name of the game will you haven't said it yet, i hear you saying. brace yourselves

it is called Tear Ring Saga Series: Berwick Saga: Lazberia Chronicle Chapter 174

ah yeah TRSSBSLCC174 is a good one

(jk i havent played it)

Good to see that we have always been able to rely on baroque Japanese titles.

Ponkotsu Roman Daikatsugeki: Bumpy Trot