What Are You Playing?
- Thread starter Walter
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Something I find insane is that there still isn't a proper standard for CRT emulation. It doesn't seem like it'd be all that complicated, but no one has really bothered to be beyond lazy blurs.
Castlevania 1, NES version (of course).
It's uh... paused, but I'll get back to it.
I've done the same. I think I'm half-way. Very nice game, the soundtrack sounds good. My cats likes the game too.
I was in the mood for old FPS these past days so I've reinstalled a modded version of DooM (the PSX version, the absolute best imo).
I need to redo Quake next but also Heretic and Hexen when I can.
I actually got a refund for it. Seemed pretty but shallow, to me. Wasn't in the mood for it. Used the money for Cult of the Lamb, which I've been enjoying in short bursts the past 2 weeks.
Oh my Void!
It's actually deeper than that, especially considering its backstory and themes. It also packed, at least for me, an emotional ending.
I hope you give it another chance one day
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Very well...
Stray - Uhh, I'd have more to say, but I'm stuck looking for the last passport of the Outsiders or whatever. I haven't gotten very far. Still love being a cat though, but yeah, I preferred when it was more of a linear obstacle course/cat simulator, like a 3D Limbo but you're a cat, than another "shallow" game.
Blasphemous - Started over on PS5, and damn I forgot how delightfully morbid and Baroque this shit is. It's like Catholicism bathed in blood. That is to say, off to a fine (re)start!
Well, that's good to hear, perhaps my fears are unfounded...
Yeah, I don't like the random blur and scanline filters that are basically just putting ugly shit over the screen. That's not the point! Even Blasphemous has them available despite not having originally appeared on CRTs, but that's almost better because it IS an artistic choice or imitation rather than an actual restoration.
I was listening to that video the whole day, the SotN V2 and Chronicles renditions were killer in the car. I could have got a speeding ticket.
Stray - Uhh, I'd have more to say, but I'm stuck looking for the last passport of the Outsiders or whatever. I haven't gotten very far. Still love being a cat though, but yeah, I preferred when it was more of a linear obstacle course/cat simulator, like a 3D Limbo but you're a cat, than another "shallow" game.
Blasphemous - Started over on PS5, and damn I forgot how delightfully morbid and Baroque this shit is. It's like Catholicism bathed in blood. That is to say, off to a fine (re)start!
Well, that's good to hear, perhaps my fears are unfounded...
Yeah, I don't like the random blur and scanline filters that are basically just putting ugly shit over the screen. That's not the point! Even Blasphemous has them available despite not having originally appeared on CRTs, but that's almost better because it IS an artistic choice or imitation rather than an actual restoration.
I was listening to that video the whole day, the SotN V2 and Chronicles renditions were killer in the car. I could have got a speeding ticket.
Bloodborne :) I think I'm in love. This game is so much fun and has such a cool design, from the weapons to the music and atmosphere. It's my second soulsborne game after Elden Ring. I tried Demon Souls (PS5) for a while after finishing Elden Ring but it felt clunky so I shelved it for Bloodborne.
Very well...
Stray - Uhh, I'd have more to say, but I'm stuck looking for the last passport of the Outsiders or whatever. I haven't gotten very far. Still love being a cat though, but yeah, I preferred when it was more of a linear obstacle course/cat simulator, like a 3D Limbo but you're a cat, than another "shallow" game.
That's still very early on. Hmmm...Still, I'd encourage you to continue. Like I said to Walter, the game is deeper than it appears, if not in gameplay then at least in the world and backstory. Being a cat is the very big cherry on top of that cake.
That's great! Now that you're back to it, I assume the Wounds of Eventide update automatically downloaded for you. This expansion has new bosses and the true/canon ending of the game (provided you meet the requirements to reach it). It should be a fresh experience for you then.
Bloodborne is just inspired game-making. I've said it before - and I still think this is the case even after Elden Ring - Bloodborne is From Soft's masterpiece. Everything fell into place and served the game's main vision. Few games can claim to have accomplished that.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Stray - Well, I got all the notebooks and see you do indeed return to the more linear, puzzly aspect, which I liked, but now I'm back in the slum doing more fetch-quest bullshit, which I don't. I just finished that though and am looking forward to the next major area. Funny thing is it'd been so long I'd forgotten how to run and kept trying to do it by pressing L3. I got all the way to the elevator that way juking my little feline ass off!
Neat! It was nice to experience the subtle depth of movement again with the directional attacks, sliding, grabbing, hanging, etc. It's fun seeing all these modern innovations in an... well, not even old-school package. They never quite made them like this. I'm also looking forward to finding that item that pays tribute to Miura, if I'm remembering correctly.
You're preaching to the choir... and by The Choir, I mean the highest delegation of the Healing Church which speaks to the cosmos through the left behind celestial Great One!
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Stray - Well, I got all the notebooks and see you do indeed return to the more linear, puzzly aspect, which I liked, but now I'm back in the slum doing more fetch-quest bullshit, which I don't. I just finished that though and am looking forward to the next major area. Funny thing is it'd been so long I'd forgotten how to run and kept trying to do it by pressing L3. I got all the way to the elevator that way juking my little feline ass off!
I can relate. I'm still trying to dismount horses in games with L3, because of Elden Ring. That put me in a lot of awkward encounters LOL.
Yeah, it's really fun to play. I bought the Castlevania collection that has Rondo and Symphony. Looking forward to playing them and seeing how much the genre evolved since.
I must have missed that tribute item. Will look for it in the next playthrough!
Amen, Vicar Griffith!
Goat
Foolish king
Is this a good topic to recommend games with a Berserk-y vibe (excluding FromSoftware's portfolio)? :>
If yes, go with Alundra (PS1) and Blasphemous.
The first one is a Zelda-like gem. A lot darker and harder than the standard Zelda experience, with dark and mature themes and an excellent art style. Can't recommend it enough.
The second one is a pretty much standard indie metroidvania. Its strong points are the art style and the inspiration, executed extremely well. Maybe weaker on the gameplay aspect, which is pretty simplistic, but extremely strong by the presentation PoV.
If not... sorry for the OT!
If yes, go with Alundra (PS1) and Blasphemous.
The first one is a Zelda-like gem. A lot darker and harder than the standard Zelda experience, with dark and mature themes and an excellent art style. Can't recommend it enough.
The second one is a pretty much standard indie metroidvania. Its strong points are the art style and the inspiration, executed extremely well. Maybe weaker on the gameplay aspect, which is pretty simplistic, but extremely strong by the presentation PoV.
If not... sorry for the OT!
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Yeah ! Alundra is a cool game. One of the two spiritual successors (with Dark Savior on the Sega Saturn) of Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole (I LOVE Landstalker too).
I remember getting it around the same time I got Panzer Dragoon Saga back in the days. Good times.
I remember getting it around the same time I got Panzer Dragoon Saga back in the days. Good times.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Stray - Well, it picked up once you get past the slums and I finished it the other day. Very nice little game in all sincerity, though I will say that while all the puzzles and solutions were pretty straightforward, executing them was confusing and unintuitive at times. Like, I literally had to remind myself of this fact once or twice and go against my instincts to complete a problem I'd figured out minutes earlier, so that was weird (it's like in old American Adventure games where the pixel you had to click, or the way you had to use an item with it, was seemingly in the wrong place and completely unlike how every other such interaction in the game worked =). At least it was consistent enough in this game I could get used to it and compensate. Other than that, being a cat ruled, the plot was nice, but I wasn't moved by it or anything and had some questions in the end. Like what happened to your cat buddies!? I thought they'd be waiting for you on the outside. Speaking of which, I think B12 should have made it because I don't think it really meant much to the cat to get out (other than access to organic food =). I feel like the last remnants of humanity expiring should have been a bigger deal but it sort of felt perfunctory. Maybe because they probably could have just been more patient opening the roof; there wasn't like any security bots or boss after you, which was anticlimactic (reprogram one of those cleaning robots to help!). Speaking of which, a final nerdy issue: will the companions be able to stand up to the relatively constant UV bombardment you've sentenced them to, or are they now all doomed to breakdown in the sunlight!? This is worse than the zurks! Speaking of which, what happened to that sentient zurk fungus and the giant eyeball in the sewer that wouldn't be affected by the open roof? See, this game needed bosses.
That WAS awkward, but so were the controls in general since they were cramming an awful lot on top of that old Demon's Souls interface. Then again, ALL modern games have awkwardly complicated contextual controls that are like learning their own language. It took me a week to become fluent in Horizon again after half a year abroad in The Lands Between. Rollerdrome or whatever's tutorial was like the Rosetta Stone; I'm not going to learn how to play Tony Hawk and Returnal simutaneously! Are these games being made for people with untreated ADHD? Am I getting too old for the games being made for today's hyperactive youth!? Whatever, get off my lawn.
I also to pick it up and play them back to back like a huge nerd.
If I recall it was something like "Miura's Gauntlet," from which he weaved the greatest dark tales, etc. Speaking of which...
Blasphemous - I think I'm catching up to where I was before, at least in the strength of my character if not my forward progress, I had a few more bosses under my belt but I've found a ton of bile flasks and upgraded him quite a bit otherwise, but I'm reaching that doldrum stage of these games where you keep having to cover the same ground looking for what you missed or what's accessible now after some other event or upgrade. Hopefully I won't hit a literal or figurative wall and lose interest, especially without Stray to provide a change of pace and palette cleanser if necessary (it was actually pretty nice playing them concurrently).
Fear the old blood.
That WAS awkward, but so were the controls in general since they were cramming an awful lot on top of that old Demon's Souls interface. Then again, ALL modern games have awkwardly complicated contextual controls that are like learning their own language. It took me a week to become fluent in Horizon again after half a year abroad in The Lands Between. Rollerdrome or whatever's tutorial was like the Rosetta Stone; I'm not going to learn how to play Tony Hawk and Returnal simutaneously! Are these games being made for people with untreated ADHD? Am I getting too old for the games being made for today's hyperactive youth!? Whatever, get off my lawn.
I also to pick it up and play them back to back like a huge nerd.
If I recall it was something like "Miura's Gauntlet," from which he weaved the greatest dark tales, etc. Speaking of which...
Blasphemous - I think I'm catching up to where I was before, at least in the strength of my character if not my forward progress, I had a few more bosses under my belt but I've found a ton of bile flasks and upgraded him quite a bit otherwise, but I'm reaching that doldrum stage of these games where you keep having to cover the same ground looking for what you missed or what's accessible now after some other event or upgrade. Hopefully I won't hit a literal or figurative wall and lose interest, especially without Stray to provide a change of pace and palette cleanser if necessary (it was actually pretty nice playing them concurrently).
Fear the old blood.
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The name of that item is "Crimson Heart of a Miura".
Happy to see that you enjoyed it at least. But you must be made of sterner stuff than I am because the cat curling up next to its non-functional robot friend really hit me!. Anyway, I think this game could use a DLC to expand upon some points and tie some loose ends, some of which you mention below.
Yes, that was an odd omission. I'm assuming the cat would just find them anyway post-credits, but they still shouldn't have omitted a scene like that, for closure at least.
I'm assuming they'll evolve to deal with it, as they have with other aspects of life in which they imitate humans already. What I wanna know is how they fucking reproduce? I mean, you have that quest where you reunite a father and son. Fuck me, this game is making me as "where do babies come from" as an adult!
Good point! I forgot about that completely. Bring on some DLC explanations, Annapurna!
That WAS awkward, but so were the controls in general since they were cramming an awful lot on top of that old Demon's Souls interface. Then again, ALL modern games have awkwardly complicated contextual controls that are like learning their own language. It took me a week to become fluent in Horizon again after half a year abroad in The Lands Between. Rollerdrome or whatever's tutorial was like the Rosetta Stone; I'm not going to learn how to play Tony Hawk and Returnal simutaneously! Are these games being made for people with untreated ADHD? Am I getting too old for the games being made for today's hyperactive youth!? Whatever, get off my lawn.
Wanna know awkward? Play Nioh and Sekiro at the same time. I did. Bad, bad mistake!
That's so cool! Can't believe I missed that.
Hmm. I'd usually just open up the map and look for any unfinished spots that will trigger my OCD. Usually, that helps with being lost.
I'm Vileblood scum. I'll offer that old blood to my glorious Queen.
Anyway, I'm going through a From Soft marathon with a couple of friends. We finished Demon's Souls in 2 sessions, and now we're at Dark Souls Remastered. Next we plan on going through Dark Souls III (yeah, we're skipping that adopted runt Dark Souls II). After that, no idea. Do we hold off on Bloodborne until we get some confirmation if it will be upgraded? Hopefully by the time we reach Elden Ring again, some DLC will be announced!
By the way, I wanna rely on your expertise once again, dear senior members. This time I'm asking about the Half-Life games. I never played them (go figure). Their reputations precede them and I know they were acclaimed during their time. Do they still hold up today? Should I add them to the list and play them after I'm done with Castlevania Rondo and Symphony? Please share your thoughts!
I haven't replayed them since they came out, but I'd say they should hold up. Half-Life has even got a fan-made remake (called Black Mesa) that was completed recently and that I've only heard good things about.
Goat
Foolish king
I would not hold my breath for that sadly, and BB always deserves a replay.
And... only angry reacts for skipping DS2!
It deserves a replay just for Majula's OST and for Vendrick. Stage 3 of Rondo of Blood so far.
Mother of clunk! Why is this dude such a tanky ass, awkward bitch? He only attacks in a straight line too...I hate him already
Otherwise I'm enjoying the game. Atmosphere and music, oh that music, are top notch. Stage variety so far has been cool too.
Mother of clunk! Why is this dude such a tanky ass, awkward bitch? He only attacks in a straight line too...I hate him already
Otherwise I'm enjoying the game. Atmosphere and music, oh that music, are top notch. Stage variety so far has been cool too.
Mother of clunk! Why is this dude such a tanky ass, awkward bitch? He only attacks in a straight line too...I hate him already
You should try playing the very first Castlevania next, on the NES. You'll love it.
The controls on those games are perfect. When you fail, it’s on you.
Yeaaaah...nah LOL
I'm improving, but he still controls like ass. Fuck, I'm getting original RE4 ptsd here.
I'm at stage 4, after much rage and struggle. I died to the minotaur because my character touched the frame where his axe's tip was; he didn't even attack me! Such bullshit, which to be fair is a thing that still exists in side-scrollers today, including Hollow Knight. I call them "allergies": "Oooh, I touched a bad guy, so I'm gonna melt like a pussy!" Ugh.
That soundtrack is wonderful though. I'm pausing just to listen to each one.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Well, it was no The Last Guardian, it also just didn't feel strictly necessary but was done precisely to get illicit that emotional response. So yeah, I'm just a hard-hearted bastard that way, spitting on bums asking for food, etc, "Stop trying to exploit my good nature, you filthy peon!"
I assume the scientist "father" either rebuilt/rebooted him or they engage in some kind of culturally encouraged adoption to create familial bonds.
Right? It just sort of comes and goes, like the light weapon. I'm not really complaining because it means those elements didn't wear out their welcome, but in some cases their was still some meat, or goo, on the bone.
Oh hell no, I can't even play Souls and Nioh simutaneously and I play Nioh with the Souls control scheme. I don't even like when dodge/dash is moved to X!
That's probably smart. I never use the map in this game for some reason and basically forget it's there. Maybe because I feel like I'm just playing the grimmest SNES sidescroller ever.
I will smash her to a bloody pulp with a giant wheel and laugh gleefully like a madman.
Now you're talkin'!
I would actually think Dark Souls II would be more fun with friends, especially with all the bosses and that unique NG+ with more enemies, traps, etc. The only thing is then you're playing Dark Souls II twice in a row.
No, didn't that opportunity already pass at the end of August? Yeah, I don't know why they don't just give it the DSIII 1080p 60fps treatment, but for whatever reason it's not happening. Maybe its exclusive PS4 code is too much of a mess, but modders have already gotten the frames that high at least.
Anyway, I would have done the first five in chronological order because everything to that point culminates in Dark Souls 3, aka Demon's Souls 5, Bloodborne 2. After that Sekiro is pretty unique and Elden Ring basically is the whole series in one game.
I thought it was already credibly leaked: Barbarians of the Badlands, 2023. No mystery as to what it's going to be about.
Half-Life is pretty dated at this point and will ironically feel like an old school FPS even though it was a game that revolutionized the genre; one might still recognize this today, but ironically its interactive advancements and cinematic presentation will feal like they're in a retro package. Half-Life 2 may be getting closer to that inevitable fate now but I think one can still recognize how remarkably special it was for the time and surprisingly modern still, and I've written at length about Half-Life Alyx; it's the best game you'll never play.
Stage 3 of Rondo of Blood so far.
Mother of clunk! Why is this dude such a tanky ass, awkward bitch? He only attacks in a straight line too...I hate him already
Enough of this revisionist "it was overlooked" history, just play SotN, it's one of the best games ever.
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You should try the original Resident Evil game on the PlayStation next. You'll love it.
