What Are You Playing?

Just finished playing Ghost of Yotei. As I tend to be a sucker for story driven games like these, I can say I enjoyed every moment. Doesn't stream too off from its predecessor should anyone here would expect the re-invention of the wheel. Their formula works and they are sticking with it. Other than some minor differences in graphics (Tsushima was beautiful to begin with) and a few mechanics that could be arguably stated to be different... It's ultimately the same. Instead of stances, now you have weapons to choose from.

Where it shines is the story, and gameplay. A lot of the boss fights I can say was very enjoyable. Some scenes that I can say I wasn't expecting to shine did in a very Hirasawa fashion... And that's a good thing. Collectibles aren't as repetitive as its predecessor, however they are still collectibles for those who seek completion. The stakes are not as high as its predecessor, but where it lacks in scale, it does add to emotion. One view going in this game that I had was asking how will they do a sequel that could top the original story. And in a sense they didn't, instead they went into a more common direction that put me in a place where there was space to focus in all the areas that needed to in the story.

Heavily recommend if your into story driven games like Horizon, Tsushima and Last of Us. I also recommend using the Watanabe game mode (adds the Lo-Fi Samurai Shamploo like music) :badbone:
 
After my negativity towards Silksong I want to make a positive recommendation:


Withering Rooms!

Apparently a single dev (no doubt he bought some assets and outsourced some other work) who made a game that's hard to describe or put into a box. 2.5d-sidescroller "roguelite RPG" with themes and mechanics inspired by countless prior works; Alice in Wonderland, Lovecraft, Silent Hill, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Clock Tower, Fatal Frame and more. It has different stats, level-ups, equipment-systems (armors, rings, amulets..), a sanity-mechanic, NPC questlines with some C&C, vastly different build options (magic, melee, ranged, even guns), exploration is great, story is interesting, nice atmosphere, beautiful music, much optional content, four different endings.

I'm surprised the game isn't talked about more, considering it mixes so many different systems, all of which kinda work well together and enhance each other, all developed by a single dev.

My GOTY 2024.

If anything of that description makes you interested in the game, I encourage you to check it out.
It even has NG+ which introduces new mechanics and a new ending.
I 100%ed the game, and the amount of content is more than worth the small prize.

EDIT: With Tormented Souls 2 less than a week away from being released (and which will probably the next game I'll play), and it being shocktober and all, I want to also recommend the original Tormented Souls, which is imo the best modern take on the classic Resident Evil formula, with a bit of Silent Hill mixed in. Fixed cam angles with tank controls and a beautiful old museum turned hospital. I thoroughly enjoyed the first 2/3rds of the game, especially the exploration, atmosphere and puzzles (which are a bit more on the tricky side compared to other modern games in the genre). Graphics are superb, voice acting and the main character are a bit wonky and the game kinda takes a dive towards the end. Still a fantastic game, even for the 20 bucks full prize, but it's 70%+ off regularly.

 
Currently playing, Dark souls 2, Battlefield 3 and 4, Need for speed most wanted (2009), God of war ascension (completing it), GTA 3, Assassin's creed 4: Black flag, Call of duty Modern warfare 2 (old one)...
Only new game i play is minecraft.
 
Sorry to report Tormented Souls 2 is disappointing.

After a promising start in the Convent with some interesting puzzles and good level-design, the game becomes completely unfocused (while still having linear progression), the clunky combat, which I usually like in Resident Evil-likes becomes unfair with too many fast and tanky enemies and the additional darkness mechanic (you can't fight enemies when there's a certain level of darkness), and on top of that this darkness mechanic is inconsistent: in some places where you'd think there'd be enough light to put away the lighter and fight, you can't, while in others which are almost pitch-black, you can. The boss fights are shit and most importantly the level-design also takes an absolute nose-dive, the back-tracking is insane, even for this type of game, and the puzzles reach moon-logic like Point and Click Adventures of old. And the story is worse than in the first game.

Good graphics and performance are about the only positives that come to mind at this point.
What a disappointment. I just want a good classic Survival Horror game, is that too much to ask?
Rhetorical question, of course it is in current year.

Still recommend the original though.
Suffers from some of the same problems, but to a way lesser extent, and in that one the positives far outweigh the negatives.
 
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Aazealh said:
Oh and I promised a friend I'd do "Hell is Us" too.
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I'm currently playing that game. I like it but the game could make some small changes to greatly improve my experience like having a mini-map or fast traveling between locations. My biggest gripe, specifically one that isn't "this game crashes" which it does a lot, is the amount of backtracking. Backtracking Simulator more like it.
 
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Aazealh said:
Minecraft came out in 2011.
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NO I MEANT, i'm playing it for now.. but i play alot of games currently, Dark souls 2, COD MW2 (old one with my friends), Max payne 2, The evil within 2, Assassin's creed 4 black flag..


edit : Max payne 2 was suggested by my big brother and he told me to complete the triology because it's a good story, i'm also gonna play Mad Max after it.
 
Espada said:
NO I MEANT, i'm playing it for now.. but i play alot of games currently
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That's clearly not what you meant, but it's Ok.

Espada said:
Max payne 2 was suggested by my big brother and he told me to complete the triology because it's a good story, i'm also gonna play Mad Max after it.
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The third game, while fine, is very different to the two previous ones and there's little continuity between them. You'd be better off playing Alan Wake next. Also, just to be clear, Mad Max has no relation to Max Payne. They're completely different stories.
 
I'm playing Salt and Sanctuary and I really liked it. Dark atmosphere, great map design, brutal blood effects etc. its just my type of game. Playing with a 2H sword build ofc
 
Aazealh said:
That's clearly not what you meant, but it's Ok.



The third game, while fine, is very different to the two previous ones and there's little continuity between them. You'd be better off playing Alan Wake next. Also, just to be clear, Mad Max has no relation to Max Payne. They're completely different stories.
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But Mad Max seems fun to me i guess, i know it's completely different stories, alright i'll play Alan Wake.
 
I finished Ghost of Yotei. Like with Tsushima before it, I really enjoyed this game. It's gorgeous, pure eye-candy, like you're playing in a painting. The combat is hella fun and killing people has rarely felt this good! The arsenal of weapons at your disposal is pleasingly varied and each weapon feels good to use. Movement, platforming, horse-riding, etc...it's a joy to play.

Where it falls short, however, is the narrative. It's a significant downgrade from Tsushima. Tsushima told a compelling story of how our traditions and values can often shackle us when we blindly hold fast to them, and so the protagonist has to wrestle with abandoning his society's code in order to deal with an overwhelming enemy that came to kill or enslave them. Yotei is just a generic revenge tale, with the same usual beats of how revenge is costly and how the protagonist must find another reason to live than just killing the people who wronged her. Stuff we've seen a million times before, and it isn't even handled all that masterfully anyway - the writing starts to unravel in Chapter 2 and falls apart somewhat in Chapter 3.

The bosses (duels) were also, like in Tsushima, pure trash. Another case of annoying artificial difficulty - you're de-buffed while the boss melts you with each hit. Make any mistake, and it's over. The movement in those duels is clunky on top. I should note that I played in hard mode though. The design is still shit regardless.

Despite the shortcomings, it's still a great game. Don't miss out on it!
 
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I finished Hell Is Us. It's not gonna win any game of the year awards, but I really enjoyed it. It was refreshing not having any sort of help from the game whatsoever, though figuring things out wasn't too difficult. Kind of immersion breaking, when you think about it (e.g. you read notes from a long-gone research team that was stumped while spending years trying to figure out the dungeon you're in, and in you walk and figure it all out in 10 minutes), but that didn't bother me too much. The environment design and the environmental storytelling are brilliant. The main narrative is so-so, and the game ends with many loose ends untied.

Combat was alright and not particularly challenging. Enemy variety could have used a lot more work. There are no boss fights, which I think was wise: the main challenge of the game is to figure out what the hell is going on and what to do; having difficult bosses to worry about as well wouldn't have worked for the game. The main attraction is the exploration, so play it for that.

If I had a main gripe, it would be the lighting. The number of times I had to run around an area or a dungeon over and over just because I couldn't see that one ladder in a shadowy corner...Maybe it's just my TV and brightness settings though.

Anyway, I'll be glad to play a sequel or a DLC!
 
Lawliet said:
Kind of immersion breaking, when you think about it
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You're not kidding. Honestly, in the real world, most of these puzzles would have been figured out by unsupervised kids. I laugh when I come across a piece of lore that's essentially like "we have spent 20 years trying to decipher this random dial." The cemetery puzzle is the peak example of this.


Lawliet said:
There are no boss fights,
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No, there are boss fights. The Terror boss you fight at the top of the spire? It is named and has a health bar, I was honestly surprised they put it in the game. That boss fight by far was the worst I have ever played in a video game. I say this as someone who likes this game.
 
Vampire_Hunter_Bob said:
You're not kidding. Honestly, in the real world, most of these puzzles would have been figured out by unsupervised kids. I laugh when I come across a piece of lore that's essentially like "we have spent 20 years trying to decipher this random dial." The cemetery puzzle is the peak example of this.
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Spot on and a great example :ganishka:
Vampire_Hunter_Bob said:
No, there are boss fights. The Terror boss you fight at the top of the spire? It is named and has a health bar, I was honestly surprised they put it in the game. That boss fight by far was the worst I have ever played in a video game. I say this as someone who likes this game.
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True, but I couldn't be bothered to count those since they're more of the same enemy you encounter all the time, but with a larger health bar and annoying gimmicks. And agreed, that boss sucked.
 
Vampire_Hunter_Bob said:
I spent 30 minutes just looking for the boss. In its chamber. I don't know how this could have been done any easier. Also, the build-up to the boss was amazing.
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Really? I found him right away. You just have to follow the screaming. Did you play with headphones on? I think you're meant to do it in 3D audio, so you can pinpoint where all the screams are coming from.

The annoying bit for me was how he kept running away and putting traps as you chase him.

And yes, the Spire was really cool. The dungeons and environmental design is where the game really shines.
Vampire_Hunter_Bob said:
Have you experienced a lot of crashing in this game? I have.
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It didn't crash once for me. Guess I lucked out. :ganishka:
 
Lawliet said:
Really? I found him right away. You just have to follow the screaming. Did you play with headphones on? I think you're meant to do it in 3D audio, so you can pinpoint where all the screams are coming from.
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I didn't play with headphones. I was chasing after the screaming sound effect for most of the fight. The bigger issue was when the train showed up.

Lawliet said:
And yes, the Spire was really cool. The dungeons and environmental design is where the game really shines.
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Yep! The entire spire section is just possibly the most evil/fictional place you go to in a video game. It's literally a murder factory! I also really love the Museum and the Library and Office of Primacy.
Lawliet said:
It didn't crash once for me. Guess I lucked out. :ganishka:
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It's so weird. I have to completely close out from my game in order to prevent this from happening (playing on XBox). Normally quick resume hasn't had an effect at all on playability. For example, my kid is playing Goat Simulator 3, and has roughly several hundred hotdogs on screen to the point that the game is lagging, and hasn't experienced this issue once. It's something just unique for this game.
 
Lawliet said:
The main narrative is so-so, and the game ends with many loose ends untied.
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I finally finished the game last. I have seen a lot of complaining about act 3, which I assumed was going to be overblown and I actually agree with the majority of people on this one. I had no idea I was even in act 3 until I finished the game.

Framing device: This may be my biggest gripe of the game, why even do it this way? I had hoped the interrogator was going to play a big role in the game, instead he just does nothing. They should have just told the story without the "retelling" framing device. Huge flop on the developers part.
Lawliet said:
If I had a main gripe, it would be the lighting. The number of times I had to run around an area or a dungeon over and over just because I couldn't see that one ladder in a shadowy corner...Maybe it's just my TV and brightness settings though.

Anyway, I'll be glad to play a sequel or a DLC!
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Lighting was a gigantic issue at the end. I was riffling the settings for any way to make the game brighter yet I couldn't.

Anyways, I liked the game a lot even with the issues that I had. I would absolutely play a sequel or DLC as well. Though seems unlikely.
 
Ninja Gaiden Black: I loved almost every minute of this one. I was a little apprehensive going in, because I'd heard it was really hard, but it wasn't all that bad (on normal difficulty anyway). I enjoyed the hell out of the original NES games, so I was really looking forward to this one and it didn't disappoint. Learning all of the combos and the individual tricks that made certain enemies a cakewalk once you figured them out was a lot of fun. Can't wait for Ninja Gaiden II.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent: The Xbox version of this game was the best reviewed, so I decided to go with that one over the Xbox 360 version, only to find out afterwards that the 360 version is the one considered canon. That's too bad, because I really liked the storyline in the Xbox version, especially the ending. I'll probably go back and play the 360 version when I reach the next Splinter Cell game on my list, but for now I'm moving on.

Gears of War: Loved it. I wasn't sure if it was going to live up to the hype around it from about 20 years ago (I remember my roommate playing it for weeks when he first got his 360), but I thought it was incredibly fun. Everything from the graphics to the gameplay to the voice acting was top-notch. I wish it had been about twice as long. Oh, and I loved that the guy who played "Terrible" Terry Tate in those Super Bowl commercials, Lester Speight, was featured prominently. Can't wait for the next one in the series.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin: Another solid Castlevania title. Not much more to say. I'm enjoying them while they last.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Haven't played a bad Zelda game yet and this was no exception. I remember you guys talking about it a lot when it first came out. Now, I finally got to see what all the hype was about. While not as unique as The Wind Waker, it was still a blast to play. It felt like a more "realistic" Ocarina of Time, which isn't a bad thing. I was a little worried going in that the Wolf Link sections wouldn't be as interesting or that Midna was going to be really annoying, but I didn't feel that way about either. Great game.

God of War II: I loved the first God of War, so more of the same/bigger and better worked for me. Clash of the Titans is one of my favorite movies from childhood (especially that Harryhausen Medusa scene), so it was really cool to see Harry Hamlin reprise his role as Perseus. As with most of the games I've mentioned, I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.

Tomb Raider: Anniversary: A decent remake in the style of Legend. I couldn't believe how old the first Tomb Raider looked in the Extras gallery comparing the original game's locations to the remake's. Hoping Underworld wraps up the reboot trilogy well.
 
I was looking for a game with good graphics for the PS5 and got recommended the Silent Hill 2 remake. I didn’t know much about the series but knew it was horror (I’ve done dead space and ailen isolation, so I thought I’d be ok), but holy crud is it terrifying. What I appreciate too is it’s not just a bunch of jump scares. The whole atmosphere of the game is sooooo creepy. There’s just so much suspense. I just got to a death row prison (whyyyyyy?) and have absolutely no idea where the story is going, but I’m just so intrigued that I can’t help but to keep pushing and find out what is going on. Any time Eddie appears makes me wish I could control James’s character and keep my hand on his gun just in case… (where are his parents?!)

Also it was interesting reading you all raving about the 2nd hollow knight. It might be time for me to redownload the first one and try to get further in it.
 
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Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, spoiler-free impressions:

I'm about 2h into the game, but I watched my son finish it over the weekend. This isn't a bad game, but compared with others in the Metroid series, it's quite middling. It's a pretty firm 7/10 in my opinion. I may write more impressions after I'm fully done with it.

That being said, it's really quite beautiful—both the environment designs and the tech side. It runs at a perfectly smooth 60fps throughout, and you can even dial it up to 120fps if you want to lower the fidelity a bit. But other than the visuals, I don't have much positive to say about playing it.

Prime 4 feels very disjointed, as if they fused 2 or 3 different game visions together, and the seams are all visible. The team behind this didn't have very many new ideas to glom onto what they dredge up from the previous games. And I get a deep sense as I play it that they didn't really understand what makes Metroid tick. This is definitely not the same Retro that shocked everyone with the translation of the series from 2D to 3D in Prime 1. Perhaps this team took notes from what the previous team was able to achieve, but they weren't understood.
 
I finished Super Paper Mario a couple days ago. Probably my least favorite of the three I’ve played so far. Like the other Paper Marios, I was pretty burned out by the end and just didn’t have it in me to “get everything.”

I wish they’d kept the JRPG elements of the first two games, but I thought it was a decent 2D (sometimes 3D) platformer. I’m guessing the change in playing style was mainly due to wanting to implement motion control stuff, but in the end there wasn’t much of it. It was also a little too easy compared to normal Mario platformers.

While it was pretty silly for the most part, I found the ending strangely moving. It was also nice having Luigi as a playable character. They seemed to shit on him less in this one, too.

My favorite part of the game was getting a star and transforming into a giant 8-bit version of the character from Super Mario Bros. That Peach sprite looks even worse super-sized. :ganishka:
 
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