What Video Game Are You Currently Playing?

[Master O]

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (GOG release)

[SGS Man]

@cyan0s1s I agree. The characterization and plot of DmC is a hot mess. That being said, even with the changes, I still consider it to be an outright better game than DMC4.

[SaladBadger]

3 hours ago, JudgeDeadd said:

I'm playing Doki Doki Literature Club, or more precisely, not playing it. Horror games like these just require me to be in a specific mood. So far the game deserves credit for being genuinely scary and disturbing, but on the other hand, after completing the first part damn near gave me nightmares, I've been putting off playing it, again and again.

I'm honestly surprised by this, I scare cosmically easy but I didn't find DDLC all that scary. Unsettling? Sure, but it didn't scare me that much.

[MrDeAD1313]

I picked up My Time at Portia this morning. Played a few hours of it and I'm enjoying it so far :D

[TabbiKatt]

Streets of Rage on my ex boyfriends er male acquaintances' old sega genesis. those stupid ninja girls always kick my butt at the end of round 5 :c

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

Keen Dreams.  I had forgotten all about the hilarious bug/exploit where if you get killed in such a way that Keen overlaps the edge of the level when falling, it counts as beating the level.

[Optimus]

Still playing BloodGDX, after I finished all episodes again, I decided to test some mods. For some reasons, I never thought of trying some of the good usermaps on anything other than Doom. I don't know anything about the community in Build games or Quake or other oldschool FPS I otherwise like. I went through Deathwish, then French Meat, Hostile Takeover, playing now Bloody Pulp Fiction. What I have seen so far is very good. Then I decided to look at to mapedit, watching tutorials and docs to learn how to map. All those years I have played hundreds of maps and did some lousy maps in Doom, but never thought of trying on my other favorite oldschool FPS. It's interesting to see the differences in what's available to map creators in Build games vs classic Doom. There are some really cool features in mapedit.

 

p.s. Anyway, BloodGDX is the reason I have so long to play Doom. And I am not even touching my Steam/Gog accounts :)

p.p.s. I mean, I bought Kingdom Come Deliverance a week ago and not even installed it..

[Nine Inch Heels]

Gave Diablo II: LoD another look a few days ago. Totally forgot how charming that game was, but I still retained a fair bit of my ladder-racing pace when I played offline just for fun. Can certainly recommend the game for its moody OST, atmosphere, and the combat isn't too dull either, unless of course you have a totally OP character going for you.

[Avoozl]

I finally finished Unreal the first time after I bought the game in 2013, took me 5 years on and off to actually bother to beat it. I still have the expansion to finish but I hear that it's much shorter than the main game so I guess it wont take me too long to bother to finish it.

 

Now I have reinstalled Max Payne 1 and am on a new playthrough of it, I can't remember how many times I've played this game but it would be too many by now.

[Lila Feuer]

I've finished Unreal five times, twice on Medium, twice on Hard and once on Unreal difficulty. I need to try the Epic-endorsed 'unofficial' 227 patch that fixes a bunch of bugs and adds a few extra stuff, off the top of my head including new difficulty modes (Unreal is now Very Hard and Unreal and Godlike are added), original weapon sounds (since the Gold version replaced them with UT's), and the decals from UT since they're nice.

[Cruduxy Pegg]

1 hour ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

Gave Diablo II: LoD another look a few days ago. Totally forgot how charming that game was, but I still retained a fair bit of my ladder-racing pace when I played offline just for fun. Can certainly recommend the game for its moody OST, atmosphere, and the combat isn't too dull either, unless of course you have a totally OP character going for you.

Laughs in iron maiden curse. (Too bad blizzard removed it, the bane of builds that only hold attack for most of the game)

[Lila Feuer]

Playing Blake Stone via BStone and ROTT on Apogee Throwback Pack (should've just called it the Apogee Shooter Pack) and still cursing the fact they made a stupid pointless launcher that breaks overlay support despite plugging into Steam to show you're playing. How do people take screenshots, let alone chat with anybody? Nevertheless, having a decent enough time on the highest difficulties.

Also playing Serious Sam 2, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, late game in F.E.A.R. 2, still early on in BUTCHER and Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon. All in all fairly productive month.

[Maisth]

Far Cry 5

[geo]

I try to avoid these topics, because I play so many and never finish them. Since I make games, my friend shovels me terrible games so I feel good about my own game making skills, because I can't do worse, even in a 2 day game jam. To be honest, even terrible games can be inspirational.

 

Other than that... the real games I'm playing for more than 15 minutes:

 - Final Fantasy 3 remake on PC (been playing it like 2 years now)

 - Lego Star Wars Saga (I hate it, but I need to finish it)

 - Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (my 3rd time trying to make it through, I haven't played it in a month and I've been at it maybe 6 months now)

 - Final Fantasy Legend 2, a lot better than the original, but wow they heap on the enemies to kill any sort of fun or joy beyond the first 2 worlds. I intend on wrapping this one up quick. Playing FFL1 and FFL2 back to back was a bad idea.

 

Now for the recent games that its just 1 and done. I played it and I'll probably never return:

 - Final Fantasy Legend, ran through it in a weekend. Maybe my 4th play through? I forgot a lot of stuff that would have helped speed up the final boss.

 - Metal Slug 3 on 2 player, played it with a friend, completed it... won't go back to it ever. The game was so awesome the first time through... the second time through was just tedious and I'm sure it would be worse with 1 player.

 - Super Cyborg on 2 player. Played it with a friend to completion 4 weeks in a row. Even on hard. Its like a Contra clone

 - Chaos Engine on 2 player... after playing through the previous 2 games with the friend, we tried this and never completed. Even plowing through tougher games... we just didn't have the energy to get far with this.

 - The Expendabros, played through it over the span of an hour. I had gone through it maybe 4 years ago. Its fun and free.

 - Doom... always Doom. The only game I need.

 - Played FTL last weekend for the first time in 6+ months. Amazingly almost beat the game even if I was rusty, but I've played so much FTL I'm never rusty.

[Chewyninja69]

14 hours ago, Maisth said:

Far Cry 5

As am I. What do you think of it, so far?

[Cynical]

Finally getting around to The Evil Within 2.  Finished chapter 3 last night; current assessment is that it's a decent game, but miles from the masterpiece the original was.  I miss Mikami's eye for great setpieces.

 

(Also, you guys who think DmC is better than DMC 4 are going full baka.  DMC 4 is the best 3D brawler ever made, DmC is awful.)

[Maisth]

7 hours ago, Chewyninja69 said:

As am I. What do you think of it, so far?

It's a pretty fun game, may be one of my favorite's so far of this year, both story and gameplay are a big step up from previous far cry games, hell it may be my favorite far cry so far.

[SGS Man]

Finally made my way to the 'Dante Must Die!' difficulty in DMC1 and DMC3. My previous experiences with this difficulty were in DMC4 and in DmC:DMC, both of which were fairly manageable due to how pathetic most of the enemies were in those games. It's extremely surprising to see how well-crafted the difficulty curve is in DMC1 and DMC3. Both require a fair bit of planning to complete, possibly due to the weapon and style choices you have to make before an encounter. It's genuinely a blast and I wish I had done this sooner.

 

Quote

(Also, you guys who think DmC is better than DMC 4 are going full baka.  DMC 4 is the best 3D brawler ever made, DmC is awful.)

 

I think Devil May Cry 3, Ninja Gaiden Black, God Hand, and Bayonetta easily surpass Devil May Cry 4. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, and the Wonderful 101 are just as good as DMC4, but all three of them have some significant design issues that weaken the overall game.

 

That being said, the main reasons I consider DmC to be a better game than DMC4 are that DmC is complete and the Definitive Edition fixed problems the base game had. DMC4 is straight up missing content and the Special Edition does nothing to remedy that (and arguably messes up more). The primary reason DMC4 remains relevant in the Character Action genre to this day is due to Dante's toolkit. The reboot doesn't really have a Dante gameplay-wise. While DmC does offer a more versatile Nero (reboot Dante) and the best Vergil, neither of them really compare to DMC4's, or even DMC3's, Dante.

[Cynical]

I need to play more than the first couple of stages in God Hand (especially because Mikami is probably my favorite Japanese game director ever), and I haven't played NGB, but I'd say DMC 4 smokes DMC 3 or Bayo, easily.  Bayo suffers from the same "I want the player to play exactly how I want them to" issues that Kamiya games always do (having to run down the pre-programmed list of combos with dodge offsets to keep them going because Wicked Weaves are everything isn't as cool as being able to go freeform in DMC 3 or 4), and it has trash pacing, cheap hits out of enemy-intro cutscenes, and bad boss fights.  TBH, I actually think Bayo pretty much sucks whenever you're not fighting Jeanne, Grace + Glory, or Fearless + Fairness, but I've never played a Kamiya game that I've liked.  DMC 3 is better than Bayo, but it also has terrible boss fights outside of A+R, Lady, and Vergil, and I'm one of those casuals who also really enjoys Nero's Devil Bringer.  Stuff like doing a ground combo (or aerial rave -> roulette spin -> repeat if he's flying) on an Angelo, seeing him block, jumping or enemy-stepping and then devil-bringering over him to immediately get behind him and punish him with a buster... that just never gets old.

[Woolie Wool]

MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries. I think the Hauptmann might be the best mech in the singleplayer game; it's faster, tougher, and more potent than an Atlas, has a smaller center torso than a Dire Wolf/Daishi, and can mount either three Clan LBX AC20s (think like a Doom SSG, but sized for a giant robot) or three Clan Gauss Rifles for whether you like your brutal murder at close or long range. The Trial of Possession hyped as this super-tough boss fight was a matter of clicking on Clanners and watching them explode (though I did lose a lancemate for the first time in the campaign). Aisa Thastus even charged at me directly and I just facerolled her in three hits. I also have two ER Medium Lasers, one ER Small Laser, and a Clan Streak SRM-4 for supplemental firepower (maybe I should replace them all with an ER PPC?).

[Grain of Salt]

"Doom 2"

[SGS Man]

@Cynical I see. I really like Bayonetta since its design philosophy is fundamentally distinct from DMC. DMC focuses on free-form combat and requires fewer moves per weapon. Bayonetta relies on memorizing input chains to maximize damage and reach dial-up combos. It also has much better enemies than any of the DMCs (even DMC1).

 

I have to disagree with the bosses aspect of DMC4 though. I only liked Berial and Credo, possibly because they reminded me of DMC3 bosses somehow. Berial is also only great with Nero (that Devil Bringer is a thing of beauty). I loved all the DMC3 bosses since even Gigapede, Geryon, and Doppelganger (which are some of the weakest bosses) allow for several stylish approaches (this is possibly aided by the fact that you can only bring 2 Guns, 2 Devil Arms, and 1 Style per battle, unlike in DMC4 where you have everything at your disposal). The only boss I really hate might just be Arkham due to the annoying, albeit narratively cool, second phase where you have no style and no DT.

 

I find most bosses in DMC4 (and to a greater extent the reboot) to be punching bags for you to style on. Only Credo (DMC4), Vergil and Hollow Vergil (DmC) put up a fight in any capacity.

[Reaper8888]

On 3/25/2018 at 11:57 AM, Ex Oblivione said:

Currently playing Resident Evil: Code Veronica X. First time in years, I'd forgotten about Alfred's laugh lol.

 

 

 

Ah, this brings back memories. Played a good amount of the original release on Dreamcast. It's a solid enough game, but not my favorite RE game. If I remember correctly it was the first RE title that moved on from the Raccoon City setting and prerendered backgrounds, two aspects of the first three games I really liked. 

 

I'm really looking forward to the official RE2 remake. Been waiting for a long time...

[Cynical]

1 hour ago, SGS Man said:

@Cynical I see. I really like Bayonetta since its design philosophy is fundamentally distinct from DMC.

Agreed, but the philosophical difference runs even deeper than you're giving it credit for.  It's a basic design philosophy from Platinum Games that shows up in all of their games except Vanquish -- in a presentation at GDC 2016, Inaba mentioned that he considers action games to be games that force the player to always be reacting to unexpected/surprising things that are happening in-game, while non-action games have the player causing things to happen.  Through that lens, you can see a common thread in all of their games that aren't Vanquish; the dodge-offsetters (Bayo, the licensed games, TW101, etc.) all have you run through your chain just to have something to do while you wait for the tell and hit "dodge", MGR frequently has you just standing around waiting for that parry opportunity so you can parry->zandetsu, etc.  Contrast this with DMC; if you're comboing someone and you're in a place where you're likely to have to react, you're probably making a mistake.  The goal behind the launch -> air combo logic, beyond just styling, is that it takes the enemy you're attacking out of commission and puts yourself in a position where you're largely safe from other enemies.  There's plenty of other games that work on similar logic; a lot of shmups have you moving one way to bait shots to a part of the screen where they won't be in your way later or speedkilling enemies before they can fire dangerous patterns, Doom tends to play more off of strategic movement patterns that defuse threats before they even appear than it does on reacting to individual shots, etc.  To me, at least, the latter style of game tends to come off much fresher and more exciting than a static "sit around and wait for event X" kind of glorified Dragon's Lair game, and it's why if every Platinum game disappeared tomorrow, the only one I'd miss a bit is Vanquish (where once you learn how to move around correctly and air-detonate nades by shooting them, it lets you be the aggressor, zooming around enemy lines and causing havoc instead of trying to react to individual shots).

[SGS Man]

10 hours ago, Cynical said:

To me, at least, the latter style of game tends to come off much fresher and more exciting than a static "sit around and wait for event X" kind of glorified Dragon's Lair game

1

 

That's an interesting comparison. I think it boils down to how one prefers the input-output correspondence to be. Platinum's games excel at being reaction-based, where every enemy is trying to destroy you and you have to make the most out of dodging and your combo-strings. This is probably why dodge-offset is a trademark in their games. The DMC games are more predictable due in part to their simple AI compared to basically every other character action game in the market. DMC's small but versatile move-lists make it more about free-form expression, rather than mastery of convoluted combat systems. This interestingly enough pushes the skill ceiling of all DMCs (even the reboot) to remarkable levels, surpassing all of its peers.

 

As for me, I don't really have a preference for reaction-based or prediction-based games. I think both have a place, and both are executed extremely well. This probably translates to when I'm playing Doom maps. A blind playthrough for me relies more on my reactions to the monsters, projectiles, and items than the strategies I have developed. While repeat playthroughs are more predictable, as I experiment with different approaches to the same map.

 

I think an argument can be made that modern Doom maps have adopted a more 'Bayonetta' approach to gameplay, where you have to execute one of the few long-form strategies the author has envisioned. Contrast this with older WADs, which are more predictable by design, but encourage variation in play.

[[McD] James]

Well, that's that for Hexen 2. I think I probably would have made it through everything without occasionally bringing up a walkthrough if I didn't find the combat so lacklustre, but I was kind of anxious to get it over and done with. I'll give it this much at least; it was definitely hard. The final boss battle was also pretty epic. Overall, it's just okay. I hear the expansion is an improvement. 

[Lila Feuer]

Expansion's more streamlined, more action heavy, but I'd argue it's just more of the same, just more to the point, but at least this time there's actually new enemies, weapons and such, unlike previous Heretic/Hexen expansion content.

[Manuel-K]

Still not done with “Fallout 4” and “Cook, Serve, Delicious 2”. And I've somehow managed to start “The Witcher 3”. All hope is lost…

[geo]

I pushed further in Final Fantasy Legend 2. Wow that game stopped being fun a long time ago. 3 - 4 hours of grinding to beat one of the later bosses, now I'm 3 bosses after that on the final boss. I will now have to do a boss loop which is grind to the boss, exit the dungeon and refill supplies and do it all over again! Enemies have been far too overpowered the past half of the game. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't always attack first. Not even like a pre-emptive attack, that's much worse. The party can be wiped out from that.

 

Other than that, I played 2 hours of Hammerwatch with a friend. I disliked the game at first, but then I got into it. Its still a super slow game. People would drop in and say "you're still on the same level?" How could he tell? They all look alike and they're needlessly long.

[Lila Feuer]

I like Hammerwatch, but yeah it could use more enemy variety and overall content. It does have a workshop though, and they recently made a new game that looks like it addresses most complaints, so that's something to consider if you like the original.