What Are You Playing?

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Damn man, you're really pushing me here! The only Zelda game you've ever played was Phantom Hourglass?! I mean, wow. You really ought to play the classic games in that franchise. Same thing than above: they defined entire genres, if not the medium of video games itself.

Forgot to comment before, but I would go as far as to say that Ocarina of Time has become as influential to the "modern" era of third person gaming as Super Mario Bros was to side scrollers back in the day. Every AAA game that's not an FPS or sports title is fucking Ocarina of Time.

Been really enjoying Returnal after getting it as a bday gift and having a kinda "oh yeah heard this was okay..." reaction.

I've gotten to points where I'm just really frustrated/angry from the difficulty mixed with the roguelite mechanics, which I'm not usually a huge fan of, but I think running through the levels with reckless abandon ended up helping me get through it more than trying to think about what I was doing and ended up beating 3 bosses yesterday after sort of hitting a wall after finishing the first boss/area.

Yeah, I'm still hitting that wall, hoping to have a breakthrough; I too am becoming more reckless and just running through because other than grabbing health or a weapon upgrade I can really only lose ground before a boss or mandatory fight. If it doesn't happen for me soon though I'm going to refund this motherfucker on Amazon (returnal indeed =) and maybe wait for it to go on sale later if I'm interested in trying again. I do enjoy the nature of just jumping in and doing a run, but it's also ultimately kind of futile feeling and I'm not I love with the gameplay yet either.

I'm gonna pick this one during the week-end:

I don't remember how many times I did the original version of Quake but this is really cool, good news.
Plus it contains the expansions AND most importantly, the original soundtrack made by Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails.

Sounds like all the right things you want to hear and the trailer was good too! I'll have to check it out, especially since I already have it on steam.
 
Last edited:

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Forgot to comment before, but I would go as far as to say that Ocarina of Time has become as influential to the "modern" era of third person gaming as Super Mario Bros was to side scrollers back in the day. Every AAA game that's not an FPS or sports title is fucking Ocarina of Time.

Agreed! Didn't want to add too much to it, but OoT (along with Mario 64) basically defined 3D games and established principles that are still followed to this day.
 

Dar_Klink

Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
Yeah, I'm still hitting that wall, hoping to have a breakthrough; I too am becoming more reckless and just running through because other than grabbing health or a weapon upgrade I can really only lose ground before a boss or mandatory fight. If it doesn't happen for me soon though I'm going to refund this motherfucker on Amazon (returnal indeed =) and maybe wait for it to go on sale later if I'm interested in trying again. I do enjoy the nature of just jumping in and doing a run, but it's also ultimately kind of futile feeling and I'm not I love with the gameplay yet either.
Some points that made the game a bit easier that you may or may not know (I watched some dumb clickbait 10 THINGS YOU WISH YOU KNEW ABOUT RETURNAL to make sure I wasn't missing any major mechanics so some of these are from those some are from my own observations)
1. Regular healing items will give you a point towards overall health upgrade if you're at full health so try to save them for when your health is full and if needed only use the big ones so they heal you to full and you have the little ones around to give you upgrade points, you can also go as long as possible and then use the healing bed and then go pick up all the healing items after if you have a run with a healing bed
2. Sleeping at the ship heals you a tiny bit once per run
3. Get a weapon you're okay with and stick to it without opening chests until you get the proficiency up more and the chests will drop higher level weapons
4. The Tentacle vines only hurt you when you're pulled up to the ceiling where their mouth is so you can use them to get up to areas you could usually only get to with the grappling hook item
5. You can change the controls so R1 is dash which makes it so you can move the camera and dash at the same time since with circle you have to take your finger off the right control stick
6. You can turn auto-aim up higher, I don't feel too bad doing it since I don't like gun aiming in console games usually anyway
7. you can make the crosshair UI element bigger so it's easier to get the overload timing
8. After the house event you can get the astronaut figure which revives you once upon death
9. Annoying to do but you can farm ether by just starting the loop over and finding the Dark Souls dead body things and either killing the posessed version of the body or avenging them, don't worry about powering up other than maybe getting something besides the default sidearm
10. use the ether at the item generator at the ship area until it costs you like 10 ether so you can unlock more items to find
11. the Daily challenges thing will give you ether for completing it, although I had one bugged where i couldn't proceed in it and had to just quit which sucked.
12. traits on guns are really good and you unlock them permanently as you play more, there's some with a leech effect that heals you on dealing damage, some with extra homing energy balls or beams, stuff like that, pay attention to those so you get a weapon that works well.
13. Parasites that heal you at low health are really worth it
14. Post first boss is kinda an annoying plateau IMO, you really have to push through but once you get to the second boss you can teleport to him easily without having to redo the temple section
15. I put on auto-sprint which hurt me a lot at first but I got used to it, it was hard not to go flying off ledges for a while though

You probably figured a lot of this out already but the game is kinda vague in some ways that are annoying.

I've actually been taking a break because I had a really nice long run with great items get ruined by a really bullshit enemy that shoots auto-tracking projectiles that cause malfunctions(gives you a negative that you have to complete a task to get rid of) and has way too much HP AND can fly around above you/around obstacles. Kinda soured it after how much I had upgraded...
 

Johnstantine

Skibbidy Boo Bop
Picked up a few things when I got my PS5:

Returnal - Pretty fun game with great sound design and a wonderful score. Gets a bit tiresome, though.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Finally getting around to this. A few hours into ME1 and I can just tell I'm going to enjoy all of the games.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Agreed! Didn't want to add too much to it, but OoT (along with Mario 64) basically defined 3D games and established principles that are still followed to this day.

Yep, Mario 64 is the engine and Ocarina of Time the frame driving modern gaming still. It's kind of insane how little progress there's been outside of VR, frankly. Relatively speaking one could say it's been graphical and quality of life improvements since then.

You probably figured a lot of this out already but the game is kinda vague in some ways that are annoying.

I've actually been taking a break because I had a really nice long run with great items get ruined by a really bullshit enemy that shoots auto-tracking projectiles that cause malfunctions(gives you a negative that you have to complete a task to get rid of) and has way too much HP AND can fly around above you/around obstacles. Kinda soured it after how much I had upgraded...
Returnal - Pretty fun game with great sound design and a wonderful score. Gets a bit tiresome, though.

Those hints were helpful, particularly the sight and auto-sprint, which I immediately got used to. I tried moving dash as you suggested but liked keeping it in the "roll spot" ala Souls, then realized to that end I could move the melee attack to R1! I'm still hitting circle sometimes but when I remember I get some great dash and slash going from muscle memory. I think the constant and consensus with this game is its more tiresome than fun though. Maybe I'll get that Soulsy sense of accomplishment if I go on a major run, but I should probably be enjoying the process and journey along the way more. I don't know how much is really there to this yet, but it's feeling like a AA game being marketed as a AAA title because PS5 doesn't have a lot more to offer at the moment. I've been having more fun playing the Diablo II beta and SotC remake (which is still gorgeous, by the way).:shrug:

Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Finally getting around to this. A few hours into ME1 and I can just tell I'm going to enjoy all of the games.

I was pretty deeply hooked right away, as it combined some of my favorite elements of Star Wars and Trek in a heavy yet cinematic RPG package. Very engrossing, I wish they'd kept it up, actually. I don't think ME3 ended so definitively that everything thereafter needs to be a complete departure.
 

Dar_Klink

Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
Those hints were helpful, particularly the sight and auto-sprint, which I immediately got used to. I tried moving dash as you suggested but liked keeping it in the "roll spot" ala Souls, then realized to that end I could move the melee attack to R1! I'm still hitting circle sometimes but when I remember I get some great dash and slash going from muscle memory. I think the constant and consensus with this game is its more tiresome than fun though. Maybe I'll get that Soulsy sense of accomplishment if I go on a major run, but I should probably be enjoying the process and journey along the way more. I don't know how much is really there to this yet, but it's feeling like a AA game being marketed as a AAA title because PS5 doesn't have a lot more to offer at the moment. I've been having more fun playing the Diablo II beta and SotC remake (which is still gorgeous, by the way).:shrug:
Glad they helped a bit, I understand the overall feeling though, after losing out on that good run I haven't picked it back up again :troll:

It being a bday gift helped push me into it more probably since I didn't want to bounce off of an expensive game somebody else bought me and I did end up enjoying it more over time but 3-5 hours of good upgrades being lost in the blink of an eye sucked.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Returnal - After a few decent runs where I was very consciously preparing for the boss fight I finally had that breakthrough and then got pretty far into the second area. I might have got further but I kind of fucked myself trying to run & gun and ended up aggroing two Sentients I think I could have fought one at a time. Oh well, subconsciously I kind of wanted it to end so I could finish transferring my Nioh 2 save files from the PS4 to PS5 version, delete the former, and go to bed. I hate how this game holds your system hostage until the run is over or you lose everything; create a damn autosave feature!

Glad they helped a bit, I understand the overall feeling though, after losing out on that good run I haven't picked it back up again :troll:

They definitely helped, especially the life and weapon management advice. By the time I was ready to beat Phrike last night I had cleared every room (except the star room, fuck that), had a bar and half of life, a level 5 carbine, an astronaut and adrenaline leech (which ended up not being that useful in the fight, but was after; I should have just bought a health item =). I also managed to find 3 data cubes, lots of Ethers, and figured out how the Reconstructor worked, etc. It was a great run, but...

It being a bday gift helped push me into it more probably since I didn't want to bounce off of an expensive game somebody else bought me and I did end up enjoying it more over time but 3-5 hours of good upgrades being lost in the blink of an eye sucked.

...I sure don't feel like starting over after all that. But it shouldn't be so bad actually, once I got past Phrike I didn't really feel like it was my single-run upgrades keeping me alive so much as my weapon proficiency and my own improved self-preservation techniques. Once I started viewing the run more in terms of building what I needed for the boss, it all became clearer. I'm sure I'll want some different things for the next boss, so it's as much an opportunity to respec more efficiently as start over, and now that I know a little more how weapons work I'll be trying to upgrade the Hollowseeker's innate abilities since I think it has a lot of potential. I had a lvl 5 shotgun that had +4 bonus damage and that made all the difference for a while.

Nioh 2 Remastered - Remastered from, uh... last year, it's Nioh 2 on PS5! I never finished it, so this is a nice perk as I resume it and get my sea legs back (already died a couple of times pressing O instead of X to dodge =). It wasn't obvious I could upgrade this for free, because it was only offering to sell me the upgraded COMPLETE edition for $50 more, but you can and it's a nice thing most latter day PS4 games offer if you look hard enough (the system/store interface has some issues; I also had trouble re-downloading and starting the second weekend of the Diablo II alpha for similar reasons). As a matter of fact, the only publisher seemingly NOT offering free upgrades on PS5 is Sony, the company selling PS5 and presumably trying to increase it's value and attractiveness to consumers! Guess they're not sweating that and rather extract whatever extra cash they can from us suckers that already bought in.:shrug:

Shadow of the Colossus - Here's a game that doesn't need another upgrade, because the original art design is still gorgeous and combined with PS4 graphics you really don't need to up the quality of assets much more. Played hard mode, with "modern" controls for the first time, and as always it was a lot of awe-filled fun. Also kind of nice for me because you can play it in short pieces after work or in the evening, one colossus at a time, and still feel like you're accomplishing something and making progress, or go on late night runs to see how many you can take down in one streak. SotC, turns out it's a good game, folks! =)

Makes me curious how The Last Guardian runs on PS5 since that was the main knock on it, but I should really finally finish Ico instead.
 
Last edited:
No more heroes 3: The game that I wasn’t expecting from the series but could always use more of. I am enjoying it so far except for the lack of specific levels leading up to a ranked boss.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Nioh 2 Remastered - Turns out I was pretty close to the end when I put it down last time, only had three or four more missions and bosses left depending on how you count them. It was fun and my build is a pretty universally strong magic tank with light armor. Basically, I cast a bunch of buffs that make me virtually invulnerable and go HAM, using my movement to keep away otherwise, and once I get them down to less than a quarter life it's Yokai Shift time. Since it's all stuff I cast on myself I don't have to worry about tooling around, adjusting my approach for any of their strengths or weaknesses. It's not fool proof, but it cuts the difficulty of fights, or the length of time fights are difficult, in half. I usually save it for the second half when they get a little more challenging and whoops, now I'm invincible!

In NG+ mode, which you can conveniently switch back and forth with normal, I've switched to a magic lighting build using the Golden Boy set pieces. I haven't quite perfected it yet, it's much heavier so I don't have the ultra fast movement, rolls or ki recovery, but I can get all the lighting enhancing benefits I want and still medium roll by not using the heavier chest or leg pieces. The best part is I still have access to most of my old spells I used to tank, so I'll be adding all the extra lighting damage on top of that.

I'm strongly considering the season pass now because it's only $20 and I'd rather play that before going full NG+ endgame, if I ever do. The split staff also looks interesting, though I've been switchglaive all the way, with my old ultra long sword sitting on my back as basically a token for the duration.
 
Last edited:
Waiting for Melty Blood : Type Lumina and fullfill "True Weebness".

At the moment im playing Persona 4 Golden Week, its been years since last attempt to finish it, now its time to revenge and marry Nanako Chan (whats that sound? FBI !?? Na-Nani !!?? )

Next in the list are Neo TWEWY and Aliens : FireTeam Elite (damn...what a silly name.. geez).

And so on...until the promised time comes 01/21/22 , Elden Ring , Ooohhhh Elden Ring.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Next in the list are Neo TWEWY and Aliens : FireTeam Elite (damn...what a silly name.. geez).

Yeah, I figured it's probably crap like most Alien games besides a few standouts, like the classic AvPs and Isolation, but graphically it looked impressive enough from what little I've seen. Name is probably a result of them already using most of the sensible space marine titles already. Hopefully this is a better game than those despite the worse title.

And so on...until the promised time comes 01/21/22 , Elden Ring , Ooohhhh Elden Ring.

The next date circled on my calendar is September 23rd when Diablo II Resurrected drops, which should easily carry me until January and my new life playing Elden Ring. Until then it's the Nioh 2 Remastered DLC, which is fine so far, though the first boss was a bit of a retread of a Nioh 1 boss with a twist. I'm finding now that I've switched to a lightning build that more major enemies and bosses are lightning immune in the DLC. Oh well, in those cases I just switch to straight up tank mode.
 
Last edited:
The Halloween decorations were out at Dollarama, so that was enough for me to decide it was spooky times for gaming.

So I started with Fatal Frame 2 again, to help get myself hyped for the Fatal Frame V remaster at the end of October.

Hell yeah.
 

Dar_Klink

Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
For Returnal I finally beat the final area/boss which was getting frustrating because of how long I'd take to build up my health/artifacts/parasites/whatever and then dying before getting to him so of course the run where I just rushed through without meandering too much is the one where I beat it... now there's an endgame to get the TRUE ending which I might just look up on youtube although it's not anything too rough to do.

I just got really frustrated because I had an amazing run where I beat boss 2, stage 3, and boss 3 all in one go
Which gives you a false ending that then locks you out of stages 1-3 so I didn't get to redo them with the newer suit upgrades/exploration items. You unlock the ability to go back to them once you beat the last boss though and I had a stage 1 run where I had tons of health upgrades to go back and get and I accidentally went to stage 3 using a shortcut that I didn't know would take me there and lock me out of stage 1 so goodbye like 10 health items that I could have used to get my max integrity up

Either way, I enjoyed it but feel like 40 bucks would have been a fairer price for it lol
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Well while you guys were playing the latest PS5 titles I was beating 2019's best seller Control, which I enjoyed a lot. Somehow this picture perfectly sums up the game:

control.jpg
 

XionHorsey

Hi! Hi!
My wallet has been devoured by Love Nikki. Also been playing Shining Nikki and Saga Re:Universe. Need to get back to Saga Frontier though as that is one of my fall time favorite games.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Either way, I enjoyed it but feel like 40 bucks would have been a fairer price for it lol

That's about what I paid for it but I haven't touched it in a couple weeks and have been hooked again by Nioh 2 instead (a little more than halfway through the DLCs; they're fine). Today is my last day to Returnal it if I go that route...

Well while you guys were playing the latest PS5 titles

Yeah, I'm on the cutting edge with this shit; look out Nioh 2 Remastered, Diablo II Resurrected is right around the corner!

I was beating 2019's best seller Control, which I enjoyed a lot. Somehow this picture perfectly sums up the game:

Ha, just the color palette brings it to mind, yeah! I may have access to it through PS+ or Now. I've already passed on opportunities to try it, but not for lack of interest so much as the timing wasn't right. I should probably play Nier too while it's free on PS Now before November, but... eh.
 
Agreed, this might be my favorite Rogue-like, which isn't saying much because I generally don't like them and only beat the first phase of Hades himself once (but I don't even have half the power ups, so it must have been PURE SKILL =). I should get back into this one because it was fun and felt less repetitive than most of these (more than I can say for Returnal, which is cool but hard and kind of unfulfilling, so maybe coming to an eBay listing near you...). One problem is I'm super forward progress/goal oriented in my gaming, obsessively so, so it's hard for me to keep up my interest when progress is more of a process or cycle than a journey, if that makes sense. Like, I tried putting Demon's Souls back on for NG+3 to go for the Penetrator set and I might as well have been trying to play Super Mario Bros 1 for the umpteenth time. Just no drive to continue, and a couple days ago it was all I could think about. Ironically, I'm chomping at the bit to get back into Diablo II.
Yeah, I'm much the same with my gaming. But I think you should go back to it. It's worth it imo. You only need 10 successful runs for the credits to roll. I stopped then. To get the epilogue, you apparently have to play dozens more times, and I just didn't feel the need to go through that. Still, the game was worth it. I'd say give it a go.

---

So I've been really busy with a massive move, so the only thing I could play was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (thank God for the switch). Guys...I'm in love. This game is too damn good. I don't want it to end! Those crazies at Nintendo thought of everything. I've never felt so immersed in such a long time. You guys already know the ins and outs of this game and why it works, so I won't bother enumerating its merits here. But damn, what a delightful experience. If the other Zelda titles are as good then this might quickly climb up to be my favorite series.

The only downside I have is the weapon degradation. It's just dumb. I mean, every blacksmith in Hyrule needs to be fired. These weapons made of paper or something? They break too damn fast. A repair mechanic would have been appreciated.

Aside from that, great fucking game. I'm exploring every nook and cranny right now (finding Koroks is delightful, by the way), before I head on to the final encounter at the castle.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Yeah, I'm much the same with my gaming. But I think you should go back to it. It's worth it imo. You only need 10 successful runs for the credits to roll. I stopped then. To get the epilogue, you apparently have to play dozens more times, and I just didn't feel the need to go through that. Still, the game was worth it. I'd say give it a go.

Well, I didn't Returnal it to Amazon, but I probably should have because between finishing up Nioh 2 Remastered, which I'm not sure I even want to stop playing, and Diablo II Resurrected coming next week I just don't know when I'll have time. The lack of a mid-run save is a factor too. It was great at first to fire it up casually for a quick run and see where it goes, I'd totally do that between other game sessions, but that's the thing... successful runs hold your system hostage until completion one way or another. Is there a way around it yet, like the regeneration machine? I haven't tested, but they REALLY should allow you to leave and open other games mid-run without losing your progress. And you thought the Souls series' lack of pausing was unforgiving, at least you could turn it off! This is practically like an NES game. Do I have to take a Polaroid of the victory screen? =)

Actually, I find Monster Hunter World is the worst offender of this type. I wanted to like that game but you can't skip the numerous lengthy and tepid cutscenes and it won't even let me QUIT THE GAME during missions! Like, not just lose progress without saving, but "No, you can't turn me off, Dave." Talk about holding the player hostage, it's kind of unbelievable. Completely turned me off though, and it's otherwise supposed to be one of the greats, unfortunately.:shrug:

So I've been really busy with a massive move, so the only thing I could play was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (thank God for the switch). Guys...I'm in love. This game is too damn good. I don't want it to end! Those crazies at Nintendo thought of everything. I've never felt so immersed in such a long time. You guys already know the ins and outs of this game and why it works, so I won't bother enumerating its merits here. But damn, what a delightful experience. If the other Zelda titles are as good then this might quickly climb up to be my favorite series.

The good and bad news is BotW pretty much stands apart as its own unique experience, BUT, so would a lot of the other transcendent Zeldas if they weren't so imitated! I would most highly recommend Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past, and The Wind Waker. Those and BotW are pretty solidly in the top 5 with the original Zelda, but it's of course also the most dated despite being so far ahead of its time. There's plenty of other favorites beyond that, Majora's Mask, Link's Awakening, Twilight Princess, etc but the ones above are the major milestone games.

The only downside I have is the weapon degradation. It's just dumb. I mean, every blacksmith in Hyrule needs to be fired. These weapons made of paper or something? They break too damn fast. A repair mechanic would have been appreciated.

I'm one of few that actually liked that mechanic because it bolstered the survivalist vibe and forced me to use a variety of weapons for a change. Use whatever you got!
 
Last edited:

Dar_Klink

Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
Well, I didn't Returnal it to Amazon, but I probably should have because between finishing up Nioh 2 Remastered, which I'm not sure I even want to stop playing, and Diablo II Resurrected coming next week I just don't know when I'll have time. The lack of a mid-run save is a factor too. It was great at first to fire it up casually for a quick run and see where it goes, I'd totally due that between other game sessions, but that's the thing... successful runs hold your system hostage until completion one way or another. Is there a way around it yet, like the regeneration machine? I haven't tested, but they REALLY should allow you to leave and open other games mid-run without losing your progress. And you thought the Souls series' lack of pausing was unforgiving, at least you could turn it off! This is practically like an NES game. Do I have to take a Polaroid of the victory screen? =)
I beat the game but had to make it my main focus because of what you said (and also because in the process of moving I packed all my games except the disc in my PS5 :).

The game gets a little quicker in some respects with shortcuts to later levels so you can go 1->3 instead of 1->2->3 and there's a second half of the game where it's just 4 ->5 -> 6 or 4->6 and then after you "beat the game" there's the secret ending you get by redoing the levels but not having to do the bosses which means not worrying as much about your "build." I found these runs to be more manageable since you're basically just trying to find an object in each level and can run past everything to shortcuts to get to the other levels. I might actually re-sell the game now that I beat it though, can get some cash to put towards NMH3.

To help you with making the game less frustrating and make it more manageable sounding basically you beat the first boss/area, go to the desert, and you only go through the entire temple/tower section once, after you get to the boss and die you just have to get to the temple itself and there's a portal to the final boss area. After you beat that boss and go to the 3rd tower area there's a short cut from area 1 to area 3 so you can skip the desert. I got really lucky though and did a run from area 2's boss to area 3's boss without dying so I never had to start over and use the shortcut and go through all of area 3 again, which is one of the harder ones in the game IMO(or I just had bad weapons when I was there?).

The second half is similar in the sense that you have easy shortcuts after you beat the boss.

For a game that didn't really blow my mind I find myself talking about it a lot lol, it was fun and the story was interesting (even if a bit up its own ass in some ways).

I'm not waiting for Death Stranding Director's Cut to restart and beat that game since it's out in like 10 days and whenever my GF wants to beat Travis Strikes Again I guess I'll finally get NMH3 which I'm excited for but stuck waiting on my co-op partner.
 
Well, I didn't Returnal it to Amazon, but I probably should have because between finishing up Nioh 2 Remastered, which I'm not sure I even want to stop playing, and Diablo II Resurrected coming next week I just don't know when I'll have time. The lack of a mid-run save is a factor too. It was great at first to fire it up casually for a quick run and see where it goes, I'd totally due that between other game sessions, but that's the thing... successful runs hold your system hostage until completion one way or another. Is there a way around it yet, like the regeneration machine? I haven't tested, but they REALLY should allow you to leave and open other games mid-run without losing your progress. And you thought the Souls series' lack of pausing was unforgiving, at least you could turn it off! This is practically like an NES game. Do I have to take a Polaroid of the victory screen? =)
Haha, I can see how that would be really annoying. I'll avoid Returnal for the time being, then. If I recall correctly, I think Hades does allow you to quit midway and carry on when you're back. I think I did that in one run, it put me back right where I stopped. Not that I have much experience with roguelikes, but I heard from people who are that Hades is one of the more forgiving ones in terms of stuff like that.
Actually, I find Monster Hunter World is the worst offender of this type. I wanted to like that game but you can't skip the numerous lengthy and tepid cutscenes and it won't even let me QUIT THE GAME during missions! Like, not just lose progress without saving, but "No, you can't turn me off, Dave." Talk about holding the player hostage, it's kind of unbelievable. Completely turned me off though, and it's otherwise supposed to be one of the greats, unfortunately.:shrug:
Don't get me started on Monster Hunter World. That one was full of annoying crap like that. I mean, they had that stupid countdown at the end of your runs that will forcefully return you to the base when it hit zero. Like...why, Capcom? Why kick me in the balls like that? I missed my share of looting thanks to that stupid "feature".
The good and bad news is BotW pretty much stands apart as its own unique experience, BUT, so would a lot of the other transcendent Zeldas if they weren't so imitated! I would most highly recommend Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past, and The Wind Waker. Those and BotW are pretty solidly in the top 5 with the original Zelda, but it's of course also the most dated despite being so far ahead of its time. There's plenty of other favorites beyond that, Majora's Mask, Link's Awakening, Twilight Princess, etc but the ones above are the major milestone games.
Oh, I'm ready to dig into all of these. The only problem is getting my hands on them. Maybe I can get them at the Nintendo Online Store? I'll check it out.

Wind Waker in particular is a game I've been wanting to play for years and years but never had the chance. It will be a nice personal fulfillment to play that one. Kind of hoping they would give it the Skyward Sword treatment and release it on the switch.

The only issue I may have is how they hold up today. I mean, I wouldn't want to play a game just because it's "historically important"; it still has to be great even now. Ocarina of Time is famous enough that everyone knows how acclaimed it was, so I hope this one in particular will live up to its stellar reputation.
I'm one of few that actually liked that mechanic because it bolstered the survivalist vibe and forced me to use a variety of weapons for a change. Use whatever you got!
Yeah I could see how it works well for the game, but I wish it were just a bit more forgiving. A sword shouldn't break after 10ish swings! Part of me dies every time one of those beautiful Royal Broadswords breaks and I end up with an ugly Bokogoblin Club :ganishka:

If they had blacksmiths for repairing weapons at least...

I wonder how this feature will carry over to the next one, as it seems the most controversial as far as I'm aware.
 
Last edited:

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
For a game that didn't really blow my mind I find myself talking about it a lot lol, it was fun and the story was interesting (even if a bit up its own ass in some ways).

Yeah, I didn't Returnal it for the same reasons you're talking about it; for all our bitching, it's still kind of... alluring (but definitely up its own ass). Thanks for the new pointers, BTW. Maybe it'll make a comeback as my my palette cleanser for Diablo II.

I'm not waiting for Death Stranding Director's Cut to restart and beat that game since it's out in like 10 days

I'm enticed myself, Death Stranding was basically my 2019 GOTY. I was just looking tonight to see if there was a PS5 upgrade price for PS4 version owners, but of course not because grinch-ass Sony is involved with it. Of course, Microsoft being nicer isn't translating into me buying their systems yet. =)

Haha, I can see how that would be really annoying. I'll avoid Returnal for the time being, then. If I recall correctly, I think Hades does allow you to quit midway and carry on when you're back. I think I did that in one run, it put me back right where I stopped. Not that I have much experience with roguelikes, but I heard from people who are that Hades is one of the more forgiving ones in terms of stuff like that.

Forgiving, pffff! It should just be standard nowadays, like me not having to stick a quarter in the shit every time I want to play.

Don't get me started on Monster Hunter World. That one was full of annoying crap like that. I mean, they had that stupid countdown at the end of your runs that will forcefully return you to the base when it hit zero. Like...why, Capcom? Why kick me in the balls like that? I missed my share of looting thanks to that stupid "feature".

I can't even tolerate it enough to continue, and I had to start it from the beginning twice, which was obviously far more painful the second time. I actually find it completely bewildering to play, like, can I just hunt monsters as I please instead of doing the next unskippable tutorial mission? This is Capcom's greatest seller? It's interface has thus far made it unplayable to me, and I was hoping it would combine a bunch of my favorite gameplay styler into one great package.

The only issue I may have is how they hold up today. I mean, I wouldn't want to play a game just because it's "historically important"; it still has to be great even now. Ocarina of Time is famous enough that everyone knows how acclaimed it was, so I hope this one in particular will live up to its stellar reputation.

Well, they're still great, you just have to keep in perspective they aren't going to play like modern games; like a classic car that doesn't have power steering etc but can still blow more recent competition off the road. I don't think you'll have that problem with The Wind Waker in particular, though. Afterall, it's only going on TWENTY years old lol

Yeah I could see how it works well for the game, but I wish it were just a bit more forgiving. A sword shouldn't break after 10ish swings! Part of me dies every time one of those beautiful Royal Broadswords breaks and I end up with an ugly Bokogoblin Club :ganishka:

If they had blacksmiths for repairing weapons at least...

It's definitely not fun when you find something you like, but I think they kind of designed the slate of weapons with that in mind. You can get by with what you find as you go. That part's actually probably more realistic than most games where you can fight hundreds of battles with the same weapon without repairing.

I wonder how this feature will carry over to the next one, as it seems the most controversial as far as I'm aware.

I wouldn't be upset if they toned it down, they can find another way to make the variety of weaponry enticing.
 
I finished Tails of Iron recently. Lovely little metroidvania. Despite its gorgeousness, it's fucking brutal. Definitely not for frog-lovers.

Here's the trailer, for anyone who's interested.

I also finished Kena: Bridge of Spirits. Another gorgeous game. Took a while to hook me, but that eventually happened. Horribly unbalanced though, as in the boss fights are far, far more difficult than regular encounters. But it enjoyed it thoroughly.

Now I'm working my way through Far Cry 6...and I'm already exhausted. It's the same old, same old. Ubisoft is just an uninspired developer. It's still fun though. Looks stunning and runs smoothly. It's basically junk food.
 
Top Bottom