whatchu playing now

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

my fav was the book/manga/anime series called The Legend of The Legendary Heroes
they made a PSP game based on it called - The Legend of The Legendary Heroes: Legendary Saga

will - how are you playing Tear Ring? fan translation + iso?

Finished Alan Wake 2. Was a little disappointed the game never went as gonzo in the late game as it did earlier on. And I feel like it went on a little longer than it needed to (idk what these reports about it being 18-20 hours are about, I was approaching 30 without trying to do everything). Also combat gets a little much in the late game, but thankfully you can crank the difficulty down at any time.

Overall, good shit. But yeah, shave a few hours off and throw in one more wild ass unexpected set piece at the end and it’d be perfect imo.

Has there been word if any DLC is planned? "Control" had some cool/weird stuff added eventually, iirc. Including a tie-in with "Alan Wake."

Finished episode 2! Thanks for the tips, there's a bit of a learning curve about when to actually use the ammo I've been saving up that I hopefully am reading better.

I wish the checkpoints were more frequent, though.

On the subject of Alan Wake 2, how does its scariness measure up to Control's AWE DLC (in which I was barely holding myself together)?

I haven't played that DLC, but AW2 is a lot scarier than AW1.

will - how are you playing Tear Ring? fan translation + iso?

― Nhex, Saturday, November 11, 2023 11:56 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

yup! the fan translation is very good and complete! i found it and many other translated games at a place called cdromance. put it on a big 2tb hd and plopped that big 2tb hd in my ps2 and plugged that ps2 into my 20" trinitron crt, surely the exact way sony intended me to

hah! good info

I'm also doing Alan Wake rn, in the middle of episode 4 where there is a set piece that is really something. Then I'm going to finally go back and beat Control. I got stuck on an early boss in that game (possibly the first one?) and got frustrated. I think easy mode is the way to go from here.

Control added some quality of life changes including an option for easier aiming at some point. Trying to nail some of those flying enemies was just a pain in the ass.

They also added the Assist Mode where you can't die.

I think I'm up to episode 4 of Alan Wake as well. Also, pretty certain I played the AWE DLC in Control, but I can't remember! The more I sit with it, the more I feel Control is one of those rare games I might one day play a second time.

I take it back, I just finished episode 3. This game is pretty wild, but one ongoing annoyance is that since it (so far) takes away all your ammo and equipment between episodes, it doesn't matter if I use up all my ammo and equipment, and yet, since I never know when the end of the episode is arriving, I'm always afraid to use everything in my arsenal.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R

I had no concept of the series until this came out. Remake of the apparently classic PS1 era JRPG done in the new HD-2D house style. Though sorta switched up. Backgrounds are 3D, characters are sprites.

Regardless it looks beautiful and is quite a pleasant thing to sink into. Combat is live, not turn based. Not a particularly sophisticated system, but fun and splashy. A whole host of non-combat skills and specialties like cooking, crafting, smithing to play with.

Really easy to boss the system if you look up guides, but that’s kinda made the game more fun in some ways. And the quality of life updates (haven’t played the original, but I’ve played old JRPG’s) make this a smooth ride.

Pretty tight! If you’re looking for some vintage JRPG stuff that feels good in 2023, I recommend.