What Are You Playing?

I completely dropped Metroid Prime 4 after around 3 hours. It’s a waste of everyone’s time. Instead, I’ve been playing Into the Radius 2 (VR), and it’s exactly what I hoped it’d be, though it’s still in early access (I couldn’t wait).
 
I finished BioShock last night. I'm feeling under the weather today, so here are my somewhat jumbled thoughts about it.

Let's get the bad out of the way first. It crashed. A lot. I was finally able to stabilize it by running it in Windows 7 compatibility mode and disabling full-screen optimizations. That was near the end of the game, so it colored my experience a little bit. Also, I knew a little bit about the twist that comes 3/4 of the way through, so that kinda sucked. That's not the game's fault, though. :void:

That being said, I found the game itself very enjoyable. While it didn't do anything crazy with the FPS/RPG formula, it did what it did well. The graphics were great, the audio was amazing (I'm a little hard of hearing, but the voice-acting was clear and top-notch), and the gameplay was fun. I loved the exploration that it encouraged; I searched just about every damn nook and cranny of Rapture and most of the time I was rewarded for it.

Overall, I found BioShock to be a pretty satisfying experience. I'm looking forward to the sequels.
 
Rhombaad said:
I finished BioShock last night. I'm feeling under the weather today, so here are my somewhat jumbled thoughts about it.

Let's get the bad out of the way first. It crashed. A lot. I was finally able to stabilize it by running it in Windows 7 compatibility mode and disabling full-screen optimizations. That was near the end of the game, so it colored my experience a little bit. Also, I knew a little bit about the twist that comes 3/4 of the way through, so that kinda sucked. That's not the game's fault, though. :void:

That being said, I found the game itself very enjoyable. While it didn't do anything crazy with the FPS/RPG formula, it did what it did well. The graphics were great, the audio was amazing (I'm a little hard of hearing, but the voice-acting was clear and top-notch), and the gameplay was fun. I loved the exploration that it encouraged; I searched just about every damn nook and cranny of Rapture and most of the time I was rewarded for it.

Overall, I found BioShock to be a pretty satisfying experience. I'm looking forward to the sequels.
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yo I also finished bioshock recently. I also finished infinite. both are really good, but also really different. I feel like infinites story dropped the ball after a certain point and I really didn't care for the cod stuff, but bioshock one was perfect, and I loved it beginning to end. I like how different they are, cuz that makes them uncomparable to each other, which made them both age better in the long run. I also felt like the frank Fontaine boss fight was too easy. I played both of them on the original Ps3 and didn't have any issues aside from one softlock in infinite. I also liked the running theme of a false utopia. both were easily 10 out of 10.
 
I finished Metroid Prime 3: Corruption the other day. It was pretty damn great, even though my wrists are still recovering from the Wii controls. :ganishka: At first they were a little awkward, but once I found the exact right way to sit with the Wiimote, all was well. (I started playing Halo 3 afterwards and the switch back to a standard control scheme took a little getting used to; I kept wanting to lift my Xbox controller to look up and down.)

I was a little skeptical when I heard they were introducing voice-acting to the Prime series, but it was actually pretty good. Samus was alone most of the time, as she should be, so it still felt like the core Metroid experience.

I'd also heard that Hypermode kind of nerfs the game, but I thought it was implemented in such a way that you didn't have to abuse it if you didn't want to.

Going from planet to planet felt a little like Mass Effect (only a little :void:), so that was cool, even though it was just a replacement for the elevator rides in the first two games. Still, it gave Corruption a grander feel, which contributed to the nice way the trilogy wrapped up. Making Dark Samus the antagonist felt natural, too, especially considering that she's the titular Metroid Prime (didn't realize that until I looked up the best endings of the first two games on YouTube; gonna have to go back and earn those endings myself one day).

Overall, I had a blast with the Metroid Prime trilogy. I'm still planning on playing 4 one day, but I know it's going to be a step back from the first three based on Walter's review and what I've seen around the net. I can always cleanse my pallet if I have to by replaying the originals.
 
Rhombaad said:
Overall, I found BioShock to be a pretty satisfying experience. I'm looking forward to the sequels.
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I finished BioShock back in 2010 or so, and what I remember of that experience is how the different gameplay systems could stomp all over each other, creating a truly cacophonous scene.

Like: Finding a character lore dump recording, which started auto playing, then I ran into a security drone which was honking horns and alarm bells at me while shooting bullets. As I ran to escape the drone, turned a corner and caught the eye of some of those crazy drug-addicted mask wearing dudes with knives, who were screaming at me. At that point I had low health, so I got the heartbeat sound effect and the heavy breathing (I think?). All of these sounds are stacking on top of each other, and all the while, I still had the lore dump recording talking at a normal volume.

That's the experience that I remember with BioShock. I'm really glad that games have progressively stopped doing the whole "story dump in a recorded message that plays as you explore the level" thing.

I've been playing Escape from Duckov, which I initially thought was just a joke game that's parodying Escape from Tarkov. Maybe that's how it started, but it turned into something pretty incredible. I fell into it after playing Into the Radius 2 and read that Duckov provides a quicker fix for the non-VR interactive aspects of the game. That's proven pretty true. It's an extraction game. If you don't know about that genre, it's about infiltrating a dangerous place (in this case a post-apocalyptic, duck-themed world) and grabbing all the loot you can, shooting things with a... well I like to think of it as Cannon Fodder-esque shooting mechanics. Then hauling your heavy gun and ammo filled bag back to base to sell and optimize your loadout for the next mission. It's quite adducktive.

 
Ugh. I hated the way they handled lore dumps. I ran into that same scenario or ones just like it constantly. It’s one of the main reasons I had the Natural Camouflage Gene Tonic on, so I could listen to the audio recordings without getting attacked in the middle of them. Stopping to do that every time you came across one really interrupted the flow of the gameplay.

I’m experiencing something similar with Halo 3. The characters often talk during lulls in the shooting, but sometimes they’re having important discussions in the middle of an insane firefight. There have been several instances where I’ve had to search for a transcript online because I’ve missed some important detail.
 
I just started freezing in place to listen to them lol. The placement of those should have coincided with natural lulls in the gameplay instead of being treated as missable collectibles in firefight arenas. Still I'd rather suffer occasional jank like that than an overall middling experience like Infinite.
 
The Dragon Quest VII Reimagined demo was really fun. It’s my least favorite game in the series, but I admired how they turned the full fidelity character art into the actual graphics, so I had to give It a free try. Runs perfectly on the Switch 2, as well.

I find it amusing that the DQ purists are upset how this version streamlines the opening, which is an infamous slog. Yes, some scenes were removed, but as a result, instead of 2-3 hours before your first fight, it’s about 30 minutes. Big improvement, in my opinion.

Also, I encourage you to switch the voices to Japanese, unless you like the arbitrary decision to make everyone in the world sound like they’re British.
 
Espada said:
But Mad Max seems fun to me i guess, i know it's completely different stories, alright i'll play Alan Wake.
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The Mad Max game is fun! It's basically Arkham Knight but in the wasteland.

I just bought a bunch of games that were on the end of the year sale including MGS: Snake Eater, Ogre Tactics and the first three Dragon Quest remakes. Should keep me busy for a while :guts:
 
I finished Halo 3 yesterday. Basically the same game as Halo: CE and 2 in a prettier package with a couple gameplay additions, which isn't a bad thing.

I enjoyed the main campaign, but it was way too short. Halo 2 felt brief, but this one flew by. I think I played it for about 8 hours over two days, so I'm glad I got it on sale for $2.75 on Steam.

I think I used the new items feature twice; I kept forgetting it was there. Turns out it wasn't really necessary to beat the main game. :ganishka: I don't know what else to say, except that I wish it had been longer and I'm looking forward to playing the next games in the series. :shrug:
 
Rhombaad said:
I finished Halo 3 yesterday. Basically the same game as Halo: CE and 2 in a prettier package with a couple gameplay additions, which isn't a bad thing.

I enjoyed the main campaign, but it was way too short. Halo 2 felt brief, but this one flew by. I think I played it for about 8 hours over two days, so I'm glad I got it on sale for $2.75 on Steam.

I think I used the new items feature twice; I kept forgetting it was there. Turns out it wasn't really necessary to beat the main game. :ganishka: I don't know what else to say, except that I wish it had been longer and I'm looking forward to playing the next games in the series. :shrug:
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I remember beating Halo 3 the night it came out, man that was a good day! You're right, it is very short. Hope you enjoy Reach!

Walter said:
From what I understand, after Halo 3 and Reach, that’s pretty much it, man. Bungie moved on to Destiny and 343 picked up the pieces.
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Don't forget about Halo 3: ODST!

GroovyGooberUWU said:
yo I also finished bioshock recently. I also finished infinite. both are really good, but also really different.
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You should play Bioshock 2 =)
 
Started Dragon Quest 11 around December 9th. Still playing it! Slow and steady. At the end of Act 2. I’m no hurry. :) Beyond that, the Nikkiverse!
 
I finished Metroid Prime 4 and while it's not a bad game, it has too many issues and it is very boring after the first half.

Map design is way too linear, you go from one hallway to the next without needing to think.
There is no challenge in the puzzles. You just activate some mechanisms and the puzzle auto-completes itself. All for the visual spetacle.
The desert is almost completely barren, aside from some shrines with very generic puzzles.
The hunt for Green Crystals is a chore.
New Power-Ups are lame and not utilized enough.
NPCs that talk too much, with terrible and spoilerish dialogue.
Sylux story is ridiculous.
Scan Visor somehow got worse, there are more things to scan but it now takes more time, there's much more useless info and things aren't color coded anymore.
The bike is underutilized. I thought they would at least put you to race against some aliens or something but instead you mostly just use the bike for traveling through the desert.

The things I liked were the atmosphere, the art direction (which is fantastic), the soundtrack (also excellent) and the bosses, which honestly are the best in the Prime series.

Overall, a 6.5 game.
Like I said, not bad, but it's not very good either.
Definitely a game with troubled development and it seems that Retro was forced to do some things against their will.
 
Played Silksong until mid Act 3. I finished Hollow Knight and put down The Radiance, but my earnest need to complete the final hours of Silksong are over. Very smooth and difficult game.

A few months back I played and finished Assassins Creed Odyssey. Late to the party on this one. Had a blast, although I must admit I was going through the motions most of the game.

Ghost of Yotei was about as polished as it could be. Although the narrative felt very naughty dog in recent years, I found myself trying to do every little task.

Finished Claire Obscure. Very unique game. The story lost me a little more every act. Felt like I was playing as an npc equivalent to the Matrix. Like, as a character Neo walks by and never interacts with. Definitely felt the subversion of expectations. May blow some away from a narrative standpoint, just didn't quite trip my trigger.

Started Rise of Ronin and will play this until ReRequeim drops.
 
Finished The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass yesterday. I was skeptical initially of the touch-screen-only controls, but they were surprisingly intuitive and easy to use.

I loved the Wind Waker, so it was nice to return to that particular Zelda's world. While not as visually pleasing as the GameCube title, the cell-shaded graphics were still pretty great. It was a lot of fun sailing on the open seas, even if it was on the SS Linebeck and not the King of Red Lions. The dungeons were fun, the humor was great, and the touch-screen puzzles were pretty cool.

The only negative experience I had was having to return to the Temple of the Ocean King and go through the same obstacles over and over again to get to the new areas or search for spirit gems and treasure maps. Even then, it was done well enough to not get too bored.
 
I’m currently hooked on Disco Elysium. It’s very dialogue heavy, but also a very engaging role-playing, detective game. There’s no combat or anything of the like, but I find myself enjoying it a lot. The writing is pretty much beyond your average game, and the dialogue options range from clever to hilariously unhinged. It reminds me of the classic Fallout games in many ways. I appreciate how your decisions aren’t acknowledged by the game with a marker or a line like “X is going to remember this” like a lot of other modern games stupidly do. Something as innocuous as a clever quip you say to a character can come back to bite you in the ass later. And the themes of this game: addiction, political ideology (communism, fascism, liberalism), and the psychological, and social impact of capitalist oppression, the past and memory, psychoanalysis, self-consciousness, empathy, etc…that’s a lot of heavy stuff on offer.

Anyway, I’m glad to tick this game on my list, like I did with Outer Wilds before it. Some stuff out there you just gotta try out, I suppose.
 
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