What Are You Playing?

[Halcian]

I've been playing a lot of Borderlands 2 with my girlfriend lately. I don't think I'd play the game by myself but the co-op turns out to be pretty fun trying to get the next best loot. Besides that I've been dabbling in my Megaman X collection for the PS2 (mainly playing MMX4), Call of Duty Black Ops 2, and some Castlevania Harmony of Despair from time to time though that game is almost completely dead, sadly.

[Rexman89]

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare any chance I get. But I also recently found a  PS2 emulator to play the berserk game and I spent hours leveling up the dragonslayer by cutting up great 3D renditions of evil spirits and possessed monsters (in my opinion) from the manga

[Delta Phi]

Picked up Child of Light a couple days ago on Xbox Arcade. Its the first thing I've played sisnce DkS2 came out and I'm really enjoying. It's a side scroller with a take on classic JRPG battle systems. Being a fan of pre-FFXII JRPGs it feels good to get my hands on it. It's nothing ground breaking, but definitely worth the money I spent.

[Walter]

You guys... Shovel Knight. It's fantastic.

It's also getting solid reviews:
Polygon: 9/10
Giant Bomb: 4/5
Nintendolife: 90/100

Aaz and I were Kickstarter backers, so I got my copy for 3DS a few days ago. I'm about 1.5 hours in, and having a blast--way more than I expected. It's a cut above all the other nostalgia-grab games I've played, because the game, art and execution stand alone as a great concept. Its retro look, sound, feel and the homages to several of the best NES games are just the icing on the cake.

Highly recommended for anyone who grew up on NES games, or are just looking for a solid platformer.

[Sankari]

I'm having a blast in Rome II total war , playing Caesar in gaul campaign DLC with some mods ( RTW I music, Sell your slaves, and Divide et Impera 9)

The campaign as the Romans is extremely hard. Cash is tight, and you have the whole of Gaul, Swabia, Iberia etc. against you.

Every time I conquer a town or defeat an enemy army, I loot and sell everyone as slaves ( trying to follow in Caesar's footsteps). 

Lots of people complain of the Siege A.I , but you're usually fighting with 1 army against 2 or more enemy armies, so it gets challenging and fun with the mods.

Once you conquer 30% of gaul , there's a game event where everyone revolts against roman rule, so it gets even harder

[Tama]

You guys... Shovel Knight. It's fantastic.

It's also getting solid reviews:
Polygon: 9/10
Giant Bomb: 4/5
Nintendolife: 90/100

Aaz and I were Kickstarter backers, so I got my copy for 3DS a few days ago. I'm about 1.5 hours in, and having a blast--way more than I expected. It's a cut above all the other nostalgia-grab games I've played, because the game, art and execution stand alone as a great concept. Its retro look, sound, feel and the homages to several of the best NES games are just the icing on the cake.

Highly recommended for anyone who grew up on NES games, or are just looking for a solid platformer.

That's great to hear, I am really looking forward to purchasing it and trying it out. I love older games like Mega Man, Duck Tales, etc so this looks like it's right up my alley. I'm conflicted on what system to buy it for, or to get it on Steam.

[Aazealh]

That's great to hear, I am really looking forward to purchasing it and trying it out. I love older games like Mega Man, Duck Tales, etc so this looks like it's right up my alley. I'm conflicted on what system to buy it for, or to get it on Steam.

I'd chosen 3DS as my reward platform myself, but due to localization issues (just like back in the day! ) those aren't available internationally yet. In his boundless generosity, Walter's gifted me a Steam copy so I wouldn't have to wait, and so I'm playing that right now. It's great, but I still feel that the 3DS is the platform this game was made for. The X360 controller just isn't the same! In any case, anyone with fond memories of NES games ought to play this.

[Sankari]

Bought Child and Light and the banner saga. Both of them have been a delight. I finished the banner saga once, but on my first playthrough, I didn't quite master the tactical bit, so I'm on a second run, doing much better with the strategy and tactics. I just wish it was a bit more open world, and you had more opportunities to customize your caravan and interact with your companions.

Child of light is a work of art.(the banner saga is well done as well, but the production values are a bit lower).

Now I want to get Shovel Knight. I saw a review and was convinced.

[Walter]

Beat Shovel Knight last night. Excellent game! I only wish the world was a little bigger. But I suppose it's just the right size for the scope of a downloadable game.

The devs said they'll be adding three new playable characters to it along with a gender swap mode, so that will elongate the game a bit. But a sequel won't be in development for a while. The devs (Yacht Club Games) have said they'd like to do something else first.

[Griffith]

Got the Zelda edition Wii U as a wedding gift and promptly got Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8 (with NSMBU as a bonus), and Shovel Knight for my Birthday. I chose the Wii U for Shovel Knight because I can play it on my big screen or choose to play it on the controller in bed like I would on the 3DS anyway. Plus, I got a new toy, gotta make good use of it. =)

[Aazealh]

Got the Zelda edition Wii U as a wedding gift and promptly got Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8 (with NSMBU as a bonus), and Shovel Knight for my Birthday. I chose the Wii U for Shovel Knight because I can play it on my big screen or choose to play it on the controller in bed like I would on the 3DS anyway. Plus, I got a new toy, gotta make good use of it. =)

Nice!

[Johnstantine]

Been playing a few games, actually. Most recently has been Injustice. Great super awesome story.

[Griffith]

Nice!

Yeah, I'm enjoying it,  though I pretty much have all I need for it at the moment. Any recommendations? Assassin's Creed 3 and 4 are very cheap on amazon, as is Deus Ex Human Revolution (Mass Effect 3 is temptingly so even though I've already played it =). I've heard good things about Nintendoland and ZombiU too. Any must plays that I'm overlooking?

[Walter]

Yeah, I'm enjoying it,  though I pretty much have all I need for it at the moment. Any recommendations? Assassin's Creed 3 and 4 are very cheap on amazon, as is Deus Ex Human Revolution (Mass Effect 3 is temptingly so even though I've already played it =). I've heard good things about Nintendoland and ZombiU too. Any must plays that I'm overlooking?

I've played both Assassin's Creed 3 and 4 and I'd have to say avoid 3 at all costs. 4 is a blast. As for Deus Ex, if you haven't played it yet, then hop to it.

Other than that, Pikmin 3 is the first game I'd get after Super Mario 3D World. And after that, Wonderful 101.

Would love to read your Shovel Knight impressions once you finish it 

[Griffith]

Alrighty, AC4 and Deus Ex, got it. Here's what else is in my cart if anyone wants to advocate for them:

Arkham Origins
Monster Hunter 3
Ninja Gaiden 3
Call of Duty: Ghosts (convince me =)

Other than that, Pikmin 3 is the first game I'd get after Super Mario 3D World. And after that, Wonderful 101.

I was afraid of that. I could have got Pikman free with Mario Kart but opted for the safety of classic Mario action instead. I thought NSMBU would be more fun for the wife too but it turns out those games AREN'T easy if you haven't been playing them for 30 years, as she put out. =) I think we'll stick to Mario Kart and 3D World and I'll look into opportunities for Pikman 3 later.

Would love to read your Shovel Knight impressions once you finish it 

I've been savoring it, doing a stage or two a day, but alas I'm at the finale. Predictably, I've loved it so far, Mega Man and Duck Tales are obviously huge influences but there's plenty other great touches from other games in there, and a unique sense of fun of course. I don't think the end will change my opinion much since I'm confident I figured out the story during the opening cutscene and the Black Knight all but confirmed it. I'll give a more comprehensive take after I'm finished though.

[Walter]

Arkham Origins

Universally regarded as the weakest of the three (and it wasn't made by the same team as the others).

Monster Hunter 3

Unless you plan on investing a few dozen to a hundred hours, and have some friends to play online with, I'd pass on this.

Other than these, you might want to check out the WiiU's virtual console. It's the only one that has Earthbound.

I'm confident I figured out the story during the opening cutscene

The game expects you to 

[Griffith]

Universally regarded as the weakest of the three (and it wasn't made by the same team as the others).

Yeah, I know... Counterpoint: I still get to be Batman again! The Dark Video Game Knight Returns. =) At $20 though I'm leaving my cowl hanging up.

Update - Not that I consider the source reliable, but this sure is coincidence:

http://kotaku.com/actually-batman-arkham-origins-was-awesome-1604864766

Unless you plan on investing a few dozen to a hundred hours, and have some friends to play online with, I'd pass on this.

I certainly will pass now, this was only a "So, I hear this is a big deal?" consideration. If you or Aaz told it it was super worthwhile I'd have been intrigued, but otherwise... meh.

Other than these, you might want to check out the WiiU's virtual console. It's the only one that has Earthbound.

WARNING: INCOMING RANT

I saw that, and I do have $5 free from my Wii U digital deluxe points and considered it, but after my 3DS virtual console experience (I wasted a lot of money on games I already have/have played/won't play again =) I've made a philosophical decision to only invest in digital content original to the platform or my play experience. Why waste the money/time/hard drive space otherwise? It would help if I got more value for my money, and use out of my Nintento Network ID, and was able to play my 3DS Virtual Console games that crossover on the Wii U and vice versa, but of course not. It wouldn't bug me if there was a real physical barrier other than the old fashioned concept that rather than paying for the license to the content on my account, I should pay for it on each individual device (even though that's almost an arbitrary, if not greedy, distinction at this point). I bought Mega Man 2 for my 3DS not too long ago, and I have to pay another $5 to add it to my account on the Wii U? Same thing with not getting digital rights, for flexibility and convenience, to games I bought hard copies of (I'd play a lot more 3D World if I didn't have to switch it out with Mario Kart =). What's the point of the ID then? So my Mii's match and I know how many times I've bought Mega Man 2? Nintendo is getting there with this stuff, and the stuff unique to Wii U is evolutionary if not revolutionary, but that gets undermined when some of the basics feel neglected or retrograde. It's frustrating to watch them inch along at their own pace, to come to the same conclusion, instead of just doing the sensible thing now ( and it's INSANE to me that they allegedly don't pay attention to what the competition is doing, that's some doomed to fail bad business practice right there). Especially when my account/devices aren't communicating about what little they are supposed to be on the same page about and it's like one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. /rant

The game expects you to 

Oh ho ho... Expectations: RAISED!

[Walter]

WARNING: INCOMING RANT

I saw that, and I do have $5 free from my Wii U digital deluxe points and considered it, but after my 3DS virtual console experience (I wasted a lot of money on games I already have/have played/won't play again =) I've made a philosophical decision to only invest in digital content original to the platform or my play experience. Why waste the money/time/hard drive space otherwise? It would help if I got more value for my money, and use out of my Nintento Network ID, and was able to play my 3DS Virtual Console games that crossover on the Wii U and vice versa, but of course not. It wouldn't bug me if there was a real physical barrier other than the old fashioned concept that rather than paying for the license to the content on my account, I should pay for it on each individual device (even though that's almost an arbitrary, if not greedy, distinction at this point). I bought Mega Man 2 for my 3DS not too long ago, and I have to pay another $5 to add it to my account on the Wii U? Same thing with not getting digital rights, for flexibility and convenience, to games I bought hard copies of (I'd play a lot more 3D World if I didn't have to switch it out with Mario Kart =). What's the point of the ID then? So my Mii's match and I know how many times I've bought Mega Man 2? Nintendo is getting there with this stuff, and the stuff unique to Wii U is evolutionary if not revolutionary, but that gets undermined when some of the basics feel neglected or retrograde. It's frustrating to watch them inch along at their own pace, to come to the same conclusion, instead of just doing the sensible thing now ( and it's INSANE to me that they allegedly don't pay attention to what the competition is doing, that's some doomed to fail bad business practice right there). Especially when my account/devices aren't communicating about what little they are supposed to be on the same page about and it's like one hand doesn't know what the other is doing.
/rant

Yeeeeowwch!   

Of course I can relate. Nintendo's backwoods understanding of modern digital rights is borderline offensive. Since they debuted virtual console on the Wii, it has failed to live up to even its meager potential in terms of lineup. And then once they began teasing us with account parity, it became even more of a slap in the face... I do think that the account linking recently instated across WiiU and 3DS will ultimately lead to sharing games, but it might be minimal at best. I just can't see Nintendo foregoing those extra sales for good will alone. That's just not how they operate unfortunately. Also, remember the 3DS ambassador program? Early adopters got a ton of exclusive games not yet on the platform. And some of them (including Metroid Fusion) STILL aren't available to the general public. That was almost 3 years ago. Why in the world are they still maintaining exclusivity on this?

But I still don't have the will to NOT buy Mega Man 2 on 3DS. And if I had a Wii U, I'd probably buy it there too. The dream of having all of my favorite Nintendo games in one place will never happen though...

[Griffith]

Yeah, I went through the same thing on the 3DS, "Oooh, I'm going to get all my old favorites in one convenient place," but that dream, or delusion, is dead (outside of my PC =). I just don't get it. If they could half ass those Ambassador games, why not everything, or at least more? Instead of worrying about porting these games with proper e-manuals, save states and such bullshit just develop a professional grade emulator for the roms and dump them all in the e-shop somehow* (*It should be possible if fans have been doing it for years on their computers, original manuals and all). Boom, instant super catalog! Then sell them each dirt cheap and create lucrative bundle deals. You'd have people buying the entire Nintendo library for hundreds, if not thousands counting all systems (obviously the more recent games would get more prohibitively expensive), just to say they have it! Sounds like a win-win if they can ever figure it out. Also, sounds like a pipe dream considering where things currently stand, unfortunately. Maybe someday.

[Walter]

If they could half ass those Ambassador games, why not everything, or at least more? Instead of worrying about porting these games with proper e-manuals, save states and such bullshit just develop a professional grade emulator for the roms

That's pretty much exactly what the Virtual Console is, though.

and dump them all in the e-shop somehow* (*It should be possible if fans have been doing it for years on their computers, original manuals and all). Boom, instant super catalog! Then sell them each dirt cheap and create lucrative bundle deals. You'd have people buying the entire Nintendo library for hundreds, if not thousands counting all systems (obviously the more recent games would get more prohibitively expensive), just to say they have it! Sounds like a win-win if they can ever figure it out. Also, sounds like a pipe dream considering where things currently stand, unfortunately. Maybe someday.

As I understand it, renegotiating the rights to some of those older games is difficult, leading to the trickling effect of their releases. Of course, that's less a factor for first-party games, which are primarily all people want to play anyway. Also with 8 years of virtual console now under their belt, I think Nintendo has shown how capable they are of giving people what they truly want.

[Alucard12]

Playing Dark Souls 2, character got corrupt, cried, now playing it on and off. 

[Walter]

Playing Dark Souls 2, character got corrupt, cried, now playing it on and off. 

Argh, that sucks! What platform?

[Griffith]

Beat Shovel Knight! Great game, like all your old 8-bit favorites distilled and mixed into a perfect blend. I don't know what praise to give that hasn't already been deservedly heaped, so I'll focus on my one major criticism beginning with the final boss, which was kind of a letdown (the first form was good, but I was hoping things were going to get way more over the top after that =). The bosses were probably the weakest part of the game. I loved the designs and all that, but they weren't that tricky or tough except for the ones with instant kill moves/environments (which I hated, but did raise the difficulty). In general I think it's more a matter of Shovel Knight being a bit overpowered, especially if you're fully upgraded by the end. Even if you're not, the life ichors, combined with infinite checkpoint restarts, are way too much of an advantage and should have been more costly or harder to come by. Essentially, the most powerful item in the game is infinite and free. Anyway, that aside, it's not like it wasn't challenging, it was otherwise all very cleverly designed, and overall its brilliant fun if you love your 8-bit classics. Glad I stuck around until after the credits. =)

[Walter]

I'll focus on my one major criticism beginning with the final boss, which was kind of a letdown (the first form was good, but I was hoping things were going to get way more over the top after that =).

I absolutely loved the team up function, and wished it was in other parts of the game, but I suppose that limiting it to that one fight heightens just how special a moment it is. But aside from that functionality, I agree that it wasn't a very fun fight. And indeed, most of the bosses are pushovers. It's also my one big criticism with the game: For as in love with 1980s-era game aesthetics as Shovel Knight is, the challenge level feels like 2010 or so. Thing is, the bosses all have a number of unique attacks. But they're dead in a few seconds, so they rarely get a chance to show any of them off. If they were about 1.5-2x tougher to take down, they'd have more of a chance to showcase their abilities, and perhaps make the fights more dynamic.

[Griffith]

Yeah, clearly a lot of effort went into each of them having a unique look, style and moveset, which was all great; the problem is that just about all of it could be countered by just spamming shovel drop. =)

They needed to hit harder, faster, and give you less opportunity to damage them back. I also would have enjoyed relics being more critical as weaknesses for each boss ("unless you're a master you can only beat that boss with the fishing rod!"). As it is, every relic is any bosses weakness, they needed some immunities. Basically, take even more pages out of the Mega Man playbook. Though, I like that they didn't just copy that, I just wish they made what they did do more impressively imposing. I should have been scared to fight the bosses when I reached the last checkpoint in a level, instead it just signaled a foregone conclusion as I looked forward to smashing him.