whatchu playing now

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.

as you progress in it please keep us updated to how you rate it! i've been meaning to play star ocean 2 for ages, heard it's "one of the greats" but i never got to it... wanna see if you have that experience with it as you play thru the R version. i might follow suit, or i might just play the orig, haven't decided

i got control back around when it came out but i got stuck on the first boss. but since i saw on this thread that they eventually added assist mode, i restarted the game. glad they finally added an easy mode for shitty gamers like me, i was enjoying the game before but just couldn't aim well enough to deal with intense combat without getting killed.

i played star ocean 2 around 2000 and didn't really like it? it was pretty boring and grindy, and i hated the blue hair style of anime. i didn't know about the gamebreaking stuff. people playing it should look up how to get the secret characters. there's like 3 characters you can get by refusing to join up with other characters.

Ha, think I may have just hit that aforementioned set-piece in episode 4 of Alan Wake. A taste of kickass things to come in "Control"!

btw, reportedly Alan Wake 2 did not break the top 150 in PS or Xbox sales for October. Maybe not releasing a physical version was a poor plan, especially right before the holidays. Can't exactly ask for Alan Wake 2 under the Hanukkah tree.

started on The Case of the Golden Idol. Its' a lot better than it looks.

I'll try Alan Wake 2 after I finally finish picking my way through the Resident Evil 4 dlc (I've only been playing 1/2 hour at a time, and put it down for awhile).

Taking forever for a lot of the games I want to drop down in price, even on sale. I did finally pick up a used copy of Dead Space remake for $20, that's my usual trigger price, but seeing shit like RE4, or God of War:Ragnarok, or Lies of P, or Lords of the Fallen, or Plague Tale Requiem, or Last of Us Part 1 on sale for $40+, I just can't do it. Most of those are not that old, tbf, but still.

Oh hey Alien: Isolation is ten bucks

started on The Case of the Golden Idol. Its' a lot better than it looks.

Believe it or not the DLC improves the presentation which was kind of jarring when I played it, but yeah, great detective game (which I actually prefer to Obra Dinn but I have bad taste).

ha interesting, think I'll definitely getting the dlc at some point.

I started Idol but I didn't really vibe with the puzzle system as much as Obra Dinn's. I may dig back into it though

I think I agree with Lee, although Obra looks and sounds amazing, I think I prefer the puzzle mechanic in Idol. I mean it's nothing mega fantastic, just more my vibe.

Red Dead 1 (PS4) and God of War: Ragnarok (PS5) dropped down to $30 at a few places, and that price point (with some store credit) finally proved enticing to me. I can now complete the backlog cat fort I've been working on.

Nice - I just finished "God of War: Ragnarok" last week, and it was a blast. The graphic details are absolutely insane. I actually started back in January, played for 30 hours (and wasn't even at the halfway point by then), then took a hiatus because it was a bit of a slog. Then I completely started over a few weeks ago using the "Give Me Grace" difficulty setting (where combat is not as hard). I realized a few things about my playing style, adjusted accordingly, and then had a LOT more fun the second time around: 1) I skipped almost all of the side quests, which mostly weren't interesting to me, and focused on the main story, and 2) I forced myself to mix up combat techniques to keep things interesting (and there are a LOT of options for combat techniques).

It was also more fun once I just accepted it as being the absurd mythology mishmash that it is, with an even more absurd mix of accents (Mimir = Scottish, Atreus = Californian surfer, Brok = backwoods southern, Freya = Nancy from accounting, etc.)

Red Dead 1 (PS4)

If you can get the version that comes with Undead Nightmare, that's probably the best DLC that Rockstar has done, I think.