Yeah the atmosphere is what got me hooked in the first place. I will admit they overdo it a little bit with the jump scares, but I think it does a decent job adding to the feeling of unease. The first couple times I played it I remember being VERY nervous about progressing to new areas. The flashlight shenanigans in the original version didn't help either. There's a VR version that I really wanna try, seems like it'd be a good game for it. Now that you mention it, I've definitely heard people say that about 64 being the "real" Doom 3. Kinda reminds me of the Code Veronica/RE3 thing. I'd like to play it on my N64 because original hardware etc, but I'm guessing the recent re-release is probably superior in every way.
What Are You Playing?
- Thread starter Walter
- Start date
Yeah it is, on N64 it's almost too dark to play.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I had super dark Doom 64 on my N64 but could never get into it. I haven't really tried to on PC but I know they updated it with some level(s) and perhaps even an item relevant to Doom Eternal.
Anyway, in addition to the ups and downs of Street Fighter V, I went on tilt the other night and tumbled down the ranks before getting over myself and climbing back up, I've been enjoying the classics on mySwitch Wii U. Namely, Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II' Turbo Revival, and Street Fighter Alpha 2 (my favorite).
SFII Hyper Fighting is the most nostalgic as the one I remember most from the SNES and is probably the best running SFII port for it. It's got all the character art, voices and sound cues I remember, plus the craziest speed if you want to turn it up!
SSFII Turbo Revival is a unique version of SSFII developed by Capcom for the GBA and features many "modern" amenities and new stages and changes. Basically, it's not a SSFII port so much as a new iteration of it like Ultra Street Fighter II or SFA3 Max. It's a lot of fun and nostalgia aside I prefer it to the SNES ports and even the HD ports frankly, because as nice as they look they still play like they're from 1991, whereas Revival's gameplay and combos have been refined somewhat so it feels a little more like it's successors.
My recent aim in Street Fighter Alpha 2 was unlocking Shin Akuma after the ability to do do was recently discovered, 25 years later. This was fun even if the most obvious difference is just the purple gi (which is actually my default ideal of Akuma). He has some enhanced abilities but doesn't seem to do significantly more damage or anything. I think he more kicked your ass if you got to him in arcade mode because his difficulty was set to like 11 out of 10. Anyway, that was fun, but I could replay this every day and it'd be fun.
Anyway, in addition to the ups and downs of Street Fighter V, I went on tilt the other night and tumbled down the ranks before getting over myself and climbing back up, I've been enjoying the classics on my
SFII Hyper Fighting is the most nostalgic as the one I remember most from the SNES and is probably the best running SFII port for it. It's got all the character art, voices and sound cues I remember, plus the craziest speed if you want to turn it up!
SSFII Turbo Revival is a unique version of SSFII developed by Capcom for the GBA and features many "modern" amenities and new stages and changes. Basically, it's not a SSFII port so much as a new iteration of it like Ultra Street Fighter II or SFA3 Max. It's a lot of fun and nostalgia aside I prefer it to the SNES ports and even the HD ports frankly, because as nice as they look they still play like they're from 1991, whereas Revival's gameplay and combos have been refined somewhat so it feels a little more like it's successors.
My recent aim in Street Fighter Alpha 2 was unlocking Shin Akuma after the ability to do do was recently discovered, 25 years later. This was fun even if the most obvious difference is just the purple gi (which is actually my default ideal of Akuma). He has some enhanced abilities but doesn't seem to do significantly more damage or anything. I think he more kicked your ass if you got to him in arcade mode because his difficulty was set to like 11 out of 10. Anyway, that was fun, but I could replay this every day and it'd be fun.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Street Fighter Alpha 2 (SNES version via Wii U):
This is where you end up when you're bored with one of your favorite games during Covid (and unless you're into obsessive-compulsive nerdy shit prepare to be bored yourself reading this =)! Now, these scores aren't legit arcade playthroughs (where I came out in the mid to high one millions, but I think two million+ is in reach), they're more "how high can it possibly go" experiments.
This all comes from the criteria for playing Shin Akuma, which is having the high score, named "KAJ," and then inputting a code on the start screen using both controllers. So, the idea comes from having an unbeatable score because I unlocked Shin Akuma only to lock him up again with my next high score.
Achieving a normally unbeatable score is easily done simply by requiring an extra round to win every match, but what about something approaching a MAX possible score? I went about this utilizing variations of easy difficulty, 5 round matches, max damage, and in the case of the top two all of the above plus save states (you only get one though, which is precarious sometimes).
You'll notice on the top score all that BS resulted in 30 perfect rounds and 30 super art combo finishes, including 6 grueling rounds against Shin Akuma (his difficulty seems static regardless of setting). The one below that is the normal Akuma score to unlock the Shin version, the biggest difference being a I didn't do the Super Art Finish in one round against Shin Akuma, to my regret. Plus, I thought it would be fitting and cool to have Shin Akuma himself on top.
The routine every round is you jump in doing heavy kick, then heavy sweep, back out as they rise up and at the last second go back in, which freezes them up 90% of the time, and sweep again, then repeat until you can end the round with a super art finish. You need to do this in under 10 seconds every time in order to get the max time multiplier in addition to your perfect vitality score plus the combo finish. So, it's not just a matter of your health remaining perfect, you don't have time to get blocked more than a couple times either and need at least 2 seconds for that finish to execute. I don't even know how feasible this is with normal damage; you'd have to combo them up for over half their life in a few seconds and finish them with a Raging Demon super art or something, but that's a level 3 super that would take a round or two to build up, so you ain't doing that every time (otherwise I would have for the 15 hit combo bonus).
I can do all this pretty reliably in real time in a straight run because it's on easy, like get perfect rounds 90% of the time, but when it comes to combo finishes I'm erroring on the side of the perfect health and time bonus unless they're dizzy (nothing worse them getting jabbed out of a perfect while you're inputting a super). As you can see, that 10% and the lack of consistent super finishes make for a BIG difference, about 2 million points total. That's because the difference between a Perfect and a 1 hit round can be like 150,000+ points.
Anyway, here it is, but it kind of sucks having the leaderboard all populated by unbeatable scores, so I'm thinking of deleting it, unlocking Shin Akuma with a relatively low high score (you need only over 50,000 by default, so you can just lose once you hit after a few rounds). But then, I'd also want to equal or best the top score here, which would require either consistently more hits on the combo finishes or perhaps... points accumulated during additional losing rounds. Yes, you can get more points by losing! You get a few hundred points for every hit you connect on in the game, so theoretically you could get more points by doing max damage to your opponent in two losing rounds every match... actually, you could theoretically get points infinitely by simply losing and continuing over and over because I don't think your score resets (of course the gains would be painfully miniscule, like a few thousand points per round, if you're trying to crack 6 million or something). So... maybe I'll just leave this version alone now and get my personal high scores on the original arcade version.
This is where you end up when you're bored with one of your favorite games during Covid (and unless you're into obsessive-compulsive nerdy shit prepare to be bored yourself reading this =)! Now, these scores aren't legit arcade playthroughs (where I came out in the mid to high one millions, but I think two million+ is in reach), they're more "how high can it possibly go" experiments.
This all comes from the criteria for playing Shin Akuma, which is having the high score, named "KAJ," and then inputting a code on the start screen using both controllers. So, the idea comes from having an unbeatable score because I unlocked Shin Akuma only to lock him up again with my next high score.
Achieving a normally unbeatable score is easily done simply by requiring an extra round to win every match, but what about something approaching a MAX possible score? I went about this utilizing variations of easy difficulty, 5 round matches, max damage, and in the case of the top two all of the above plus save states (you only get one though, which is precarious sometimes).
You'll notice on the top score all that BS resulted in 30 perfect rounds and 30 super art combo finishes, including 6 grueling rounds against Shin Akuma (his difficulty seems static regardless of setting). The one below that is the normal Akuma score to unlock the Shin version, the biggest difference being a I didn't do the Super Art Finish in one round against Shin Akuma, to my regret. Plus, I thought it would be fitting and cool to have Shin Akuma himself on top.
The routine every round is you jump in doing heavy kick, then heavy sweep, back out as they rise up and at the last second go back in, which freezes them up 90% of the time, and sweep again, then repeat until you can end the round with a super art finish. You need to do this in under 10 seconds every time in order to get the max time multiplier in addition to your perfect vitality score plus the combo finish. So, it's not just a matter of your health remaining perfect, you don't have time to get blocked more than a couple times either and need at least 2 seconds for that finish to execute. I don't even know how feasible this is with normal damage; you'd have to combo them up for over half their life in a few seconds and finish them with a Raging Demon super art or something, but that's a level 3 super that would take a round or two to build up, so you ain't doing that every time (otherwise I would have for the 15 hit combo bonus).
I can do all this pretty reliably in real time in a straight run because it's on easy, like get perfect rounds 90% of the time, but when it comes to combo finishes I'm erroring on the side of the perfect health and time bonus unless they're dizzy (nothing worse them getting jabbed out of a perfect while you're inputting a super). As you can see, that 10% and the lack of consistent super finishes make for a BIG difference, about 2 million points total. That's because the difference between a Perfect and a 1 hit round can be like 150,000+ points.
Anyway, here it is, but it kind of sucks having the leaderboard all populated by unbeatable scores, so I'm thinking of deleting it, unlocking Shin Akuma with a relatively low high score (you need only over 50,000 by default, so you can just lose once you hit after a few rounds). But then, I'd also want to equal or best the top score here, which would require either consistently more hits on the combo finishes or perhaps... points accumulated during additional losing rounds. Yes, you can get more points by losing! You get a few hundred points for every hit you connect on in the game, so theoretically you could get more points by doing max damage to your opponent in two losing rounds every match... actually, you could theoretically get points infinitely by simply losing and continuing over and over because I don't think your score resets (of course the gains would be painfully miniscule, like a few thousand points per round, if you're trying to crack 6 million or something). So... maybe I'll just leave this version alone now and get my personal high scores on the original arcade version.
Dar_Klink
Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
Playing the PSP version of Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together currently, really good game but I'm getting choice paralysis when it comes to what classes to mess with. All the stuff Matsuno wrote/is writing/inspired in FFXIV is what got me to finally go pick this game up(on top of Triangle Strategy being announced/shown off). Gonna actually go back and finish FFT: War of the Lions as well since I only started the game back in the PSX era and never finished it.
I've always wanted to play that, but never owned a PSP. I wonder what the PSP emulation scene is like...
Dar_Klink
Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
It's actually pretty good, I'm playing it on PPSSPP despite buying it online my PSTV(basically a non-portable Vita with an HDMI output and usb ports for controllers) since I thought "I do not have time anymore to not play these older RPGs without save state/speed up." Even then the game has a sort of save state feature built-in where you can rewind up to 50 turns.
Speaking of the PSTV, not sure if it's available still but it was a nice $40 spent since it can run all PSP games purchasable from the playstation store and it has a physical slot for Vita games, it's also easily hackable to turn into a little emulator machine although I haven't had the time/desire to go through that process yet.
Nice! Love that game. I wish they'd just release the PSP version on Switch so I could replay it. You should check out the GBA offshoot too if you haven't.
Zelda Breath of the Wild - This game is actually hard. I need to obtain more hearts and get better equipment because I can't beat boss called Waterblight Ganon. I think game has a little bit too big map. Or I need to get horse or smth.
Catherine Full Body - I'm progressing without problems, interesting to see additional story.
Animal Crossing New Horizons - This game is getting more fun the more I play it, especially with crafting. I'll see how good it gets later.
Then I'm waiting for my copy of physical version of Hades. I liked trailer, fast, dynamic rogue like with cool af music. Can't wait.
Catherine Full Body - I'm progressing without problems, interesting to see additional story.
Animal Crossing New Horizons - This game is getting more fun the more I play it, especially with crafting. I'll see how good it gets later.
Then I'm waiting for my copy of physical version of Hades. I liked trailer, fast, dynamic rogue like with cool af music. Can't wait.
Dar_Klink
Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
Ah yeah it'd go great on Switch, I almost want to look into hacking my Switch actually since the thought of PSP/PS1 era and below emulation that I can put onto a TV/take portable sounds amazing, them releasing a ton of stuff like that would also be nice.
I actually tried to start with March of the Black Queen but it wasn't fully clicking with me and I was in the mood more for a "FFT"(yeah I know in reality it's Tactics Ogre but that was my frame of reference
) style strategy game. I'd like to go back and get into it though at some point. I'll check out the GBA one after too most likely, the story/art/different routes has me pretty engaged.
I actually tried to start with March of the Black Queen but it wasn't fully clicking with me and I was in the mood more for a "FFT"(yeah I know in reality it's Tactics Ogre but that was my frame of reference
Yeah it's different, more akin to a Fire Emblem game of yore, but with a lot more complexity. I've never finished it myself despite putting some decent time into it. Worth noting that it's one of Miura's favorite games along with Vandal Hearts. A man of refined taste.
Vampire_Hunter_Bob
Cats are great
I'm stilling working through the mobile version of FFT. I'd love to see a remake or modern port of Vandal Hearts.Yeah it's different, more akin to a Fire Emblem game of yore, but with a lot more complexity. I've never finished it myself despite putting some decent time into it. Worth noting that it's one of Miura's favorite games along with Vandal Hearts. A man of refined taste.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
This is how I feel about Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max. It's like the ultimate edition of arguably the best Capcom fighter and yet it's only available on PSP/Vita. It's probably not the best or most balanced iteration of the game, that's probably still the arcade version, but it has the Reverse Dramatic Battle 1 Player vs 2 CPU Opponents mode that's like the funnest throwaway extra ever. Put that shit on PSN with online!
BTW, following up on my Street Fighter Alpha 2 insanity, I indeed broke that stupid score by about 300 and then 500 points respectively (current record: 5,636,400). Now the only question left is, forgoing an unbeaten run, if I have it in me to win 2 rounds and lose 3 enough times (more grueling than it sounds on easy with the AI being passive as fuck; I literally watched a double KO timeout!) to break 10,000,000 points and see how the game displays that. Will it write over your initials or glitch out somehow, or, even better, simply max out at 9,999,999? Because it doesn't record losses you'd essentially just have a max possible score with a 30 Perfect and 30 Super Combo finish stat line.
Yeah man, shit's a real game. I love that you basically have to use every type of weapon you find out of necessity (because if left to my own devices I'll just stick with the same shit). Go ahead and go down the horse rabbit hole; it's a fun and addictive pursuit in its own right. I think I pulled an all-nighter the first time I got into that alone, and I wasn't nearly done trying to maximize my horse situation.
Unfortunately it's a Konami game, so that's extremely unlikely under the current management.
Cross your fingers for a pachi-slot edition!
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods, Part II - So, it's even crazier than Part I, which was already Eternal on steroids, which is Doom on steroids. Because of that the pendulum swings between it being over the top fun or an overbearing chore. Endless demon killing is fun until you have to replay the same long sequence three or more times because you lost ten minutes in after getting stuck in a wall or something (happened to me a couple times in the last DLC). Anyway, I'm also not too thrilled with the first two level designs, they're pretty derivative and surprisingly plain for being the be all, end all here. Also, they're once again three times the size of regular Doom Eternal levels, so just split them up as such so it feels more like a proper Doom campaign and not just these endless level runs (maybe they're going for something less segmented, more immersive, but I'd rather they just stuck to the formula; it would have been cool to still have your hub station and access to everything there too). Anyway, hopefully the final stage won't disappoint, but I'm also kind if dreading whatever crazy crap they'll be throwing against the wall at the end.
Street Fighter V - I've been practicing on keyboard and a Hitbox the last couple of weeks, which is a lot of fun and obviously great for precision, but my first foray online showed I'm not quite ready for primetime on it. It's a nice change and really helps you understand the nature of the inputs and how to execute them better and cleanly. I naturally took on a more methodical, defensive and economical style, but I also miss the natural fluidity and freedom of movement of the joystick. So, even though I see the potential, I might just stick with the stick for the fun of it.
Update: Well, last night was the opposite, I felt a little out of control on the stick and craved the precision of the hitbox. I played pretty well online after making the switch too, was on point with my dashing and throw techs, but I really need to work on my inside mix-ups to level up and I'm terrible at switching from crouch blocking to Dragon Punch because of how the box handles simultaneous opposite cardinal directions (SOCD cleaning). Basically, if you hold back to block on the box the DP won't come out (a distinct advantage with the keyboard, which WILL do that, and I miss it =). This is especially pronounced with my left hand since I think it's actually the weakest link in all my hitbox play; it's just not as used to pressing buttons like this as the right. I need to retrain my fingers not to automatically block while crouching but to quickly switch between auto-blocking and offense. I got caught a lot either blocking so DP wouldn't come or or taking unecessary hits because I wasn't holding it anticipating a DP punish. As usual with the hitbox, the upside will be worth it if I can get used to instantly switching back and forth (something you really can't do on a stick), but I sure miss how the keyboard handled it.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 - I saved the best/worst for last. I decided to commit to seeing what happens if/when you break a 10 million score. I would play all five rounds, winning two and losing three, eventually winning the second and fourth with a Raging Demon super finish for max points, losing the last round and the match, hitting Continue, and then repeat.
I noticed during this that I started accumulating single points on the end of my score, so like 6489501, 6489502, etc. At first I didn't realize what this meant or how I was accumulating single digit scores, or maybe bigger scores that ended in 1, until I finally hit what should have been 10 million or over, except instead it was 9,999,912. I tried getting an extra hit on my combo finish to push me over, but same score. Lose and play more rounds? Score wouldn't go up. It was maxed, but why would the max be 9,999,912 and not all nines across the board?
Because I was wrong about something. I lost the match and continued again to confirm... 9,999,913. Fucker tracks your losses after all! All other points scored in Street Fighter Alpha are by even hundreds, so the last two digits are basically a death/continue counter kept within your score! The only way to get a score of 9999999 is to lose the final match 86 more times... Well, fuck it, I have my mission. 9,999,999 or bust! I just wonder what other surprises could be in store, especially if I go beyond 99 losses/continues...
This is certainly annoying, and no less so that the last 99 points, an amount smaller than the amount of points you get for a single jab, are going to be the most grueling. But, I do appreciate they actually track this, and otherwise enjoy discovering weird little shit like this on the margins when you really start pushing and exploring the boundaries of playing a game. I mean, I could have noticed this by merely being more observant of my score on any loss, but I wouldn't have known even hitting the max score threshold doesn't mitigate it (or that there even was a max score threshold). Anyway, 30 Perfect KOs, 30 Super Art Finishes, 99 Continues, and a maximum 9,999,999 point score, here I come.
Street Fighter V - I've been practicing on keyboard and a Hitbox the last couple of weeks, which is a lot of fun and obviously great for precision, but my first foray online showed I'm not quite ready for primetime on it. It's a nice change and really helps you understand the nature of the inputs and how to execute them better and cleanly. I naturally took on a more methodical, defensive and economical style, but I also miss the natural fluidity and freedom of movement of the joystick. So, even though I see the potential, I might just stick with the stick for the fun of it.
Update: Well, last night was the opposite, I felt a little out of control on the stick and craved the precision of the hitbox. I played pretty well online after making the switch too, was on point with my dashing and throw techs, but I really need to work on my inside mix-ups to level up and I'm terrible at switching from crouch blocking to Dragon Punch because of how the box handles simultaneous opposite cardinal directions (SOCD cleaning). Basically, if you hold back to block on the box the DP won't come out (a distinct advantage with the keyboard, which WILL do that, and I miss it =). This is especially pronounced with my left hand since I think it's actually the weakest link in all my hitbox play; it's just not as used to pressing buttons like this as the right. I need to retrain my fingers not to automatically block while crouching but to quickly switch between auto-blocking and offense. I got caught a lot either blocking so DP wouldn't come or or taking unecessary hits because I wasn't holding it anticipating a DP punish. As usual with the hitbox, the upside will be worth it if I can get used to instantly switching back and forth (something you really can't do on a stick), but I sure miss how the keyboard handled it.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 - I saved the best/worst for last. I decided to commit to seeing what happens if/when you break a 10 million score. I would play all five rounds, winning two and losing three, eventually winning the second and fourth with a Raging Demon super finish for max points, losing the last round and the match, hitting Continue, and then repeat.
I noticed during this that I started accumulating single points on the end of my score, so like 6489501, 6489502, etc. At first I didn't realize what this meant or how I was accumulating single digit scores, or maybe bigger scores that ended in 1, until I finally hit what should have been 10 million or over, except instead it was 9,999,912. I tried getting an extra hit on my combo finish to push me over, but same score. Lose and play more rounds? Score wouldn't go up. It was maxed, but why would the max be 9,999,912 and not all nines across the board?
Because I was wrong about something. I lost the match and continued again to confirm... 9,999,913. Fucker tracks your losses after all! All other points scored in Street Fighter Alpha are by even hundreds, so the last two digits are basically a death/continue counter kept within your score! The only way to get a score of 9999999 is to lose the final match 86 more times... Well, fuck it, I have my mission. 9,999,999 or bust! I just wonder what other surprises could be in store, especially if I go beyond 99 losses/continues...
This is certainly annoying, and no less so that the last 99 points, an amount smaller than the amount of points you get for a single jab, are going to be the most grueling. But, I do appreciate they actually track this, and otherwise enjoy discovering weird little shit like this on the margins when you really start pushing and exploring the boundaries of playing a game. I mean, I could have noticed this by merely being more observant of my score on any loss, but I wouldn't have known even hitting the max score threshold doesn't mitigate it (or that there even was a max score threshold). Anyway, 30 Perfect KOs, 30 Super Art Finishes, 99 Continues, and a maximum 9,999,999 point score, here I come.
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Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
I like the way Griff has been formatting his posts, so I'm going to do the same. 
Half-Life: Opposing Force - What's there to say? I loved Half-Life (who didn't?), so more Half-Life was awesome. Sure, your character is basically Gordon Freeman with a different name and different futuristic armor, but you're still killing aliens and government agents who want you dead. I really enjoyed this expansion. I only wish the other single-player expansions had better reviews. If anyone's played the other expansions and can recommend them, please do!
Half-Life: Opposing Force - What's there to say? I loved Half-Life (who didn't?), so more Half-Life was awesome. Sure, your character is basically Gordon Freeman with a different name and different futuristic armor, but you're still killing aliens and government agents who want you dead. I really enjoyed this expansion. I only wish the other single-player expansions had better reviews. If anyone's played the other expansions and can recommend them, please do!
Final Fantasy 7 Remake was one of the free game up on PlayStation + this month so finally picked it up. I was able to hold off as long as I did since I don't have that huge affinity with FF7 ( or FF in general) that so many gamers my age do (I was a Nintendo kid growing up....what can I say). Though I never played through the game, obviously I've learned a lot about it through osmosis. The game itself is really fascinating and I'm enjoying it a lot more than 15 , one of the few FF games I've played and didn't really enjoy.
Everything about this game is grabbing me way more, and even though I never played the original game, the characters legendary statuses still bleed through while playing (I can only imagine what long time fans of the game feel). The gameplay is really fun and engaging , I love the sort of pseudo real time/turn based system that lets you both play very actively while also strategizing. Also the fact you can switch between any of your party members on the fly and they all feel so different is really cool. Even more so than the gameplay though, it's just a really charming game. I love the renderings of the characters and their cheesy but honest dialogue. More so than just the characters though, EVERYTHING is beautifully rendered. The environments, the enemies, cut scenes, effects. This game has so much polish it looks pretty ridiculous. I'm playing on my PS4 but honestly feel like I'm playing a PS5 game at times. I'm only around chapter 8 but really looking forward to slowly working through more of the game.
That's a lot of praise I just gave it...it definitely still has some faults though. While the combat itself is fun, actually moving through a level (as beautiful as the environments are) can feel like a bit of a slog. I think it was around chapter 4 when you are taking the train to the second bombing run it kind of sunk in. We bail from the train and run down a train track for like 30 seconds, get into a fight, then run down a train track for another 30 seconds into another fight. This continued to happen (albeit outside the train tracks) with very simply "puzzles" and moments of " go up to this thing and push the x button" moments. Again, the environments are nice to look at and the fights that break up the traversal are fun, so it's more than made up for these grievances with its strengths in my book.
The main thing that's had me throw FF7 on a bit of the back burning however is my current obsession with Monster Hunter Rise. Man, I only just got into Monster Hunter with World and really enjoyed going through that game, the fact that I can lay in bed and play this one just makes that gameplay loop that much easier and more addicting. I am most certainly a MH scrub, there are a lot of systems in the game I still don't really understand and some more that I just ignore completely , but I'm slowly learning more things as well as getting the hang of combat more and more every day. For a long time I just assumed I must have been doing something wrong in lining up my wire-bug lunges with my attacks but after playing more and more, I just had to get better and better with my placement and have slowly become more and more deadly. Besides you slowly progressing as a hunter, the gameplay loop and progression is super addicting. You're constantly increasing your rank, fighting stronger and stronger monsters and getting cooler and better loot, This is surely nothing new to MH players, but with World being my introduction almost two years ago, I'm discovering a lot of these feelings for the first time all over again. Looking forward to meet up with my buddy back home in Canada this weekend and se who's made more progress this week as well as team up for some jolly monster slaying ;)
Everything about this game is grabbing me way more, and even though I never played the original game, the characters legendary statuses still bleed through while playing (I can only imagine what long time fans of the game feel). The gameplay is really fun and engaging , I love the sort of pseudo real time/turn based system that lets you both play very actively while also strategizing. Also the fact you can switch between any of your party members on the fly and they all feel so different is really cool. Even more so than the gameplay though, it's just a really charming game. I love the renderings of the characters and their cheesy but honest dialogue. More so than just the characters though, EVERYTHING is beautifully rendered. The environments, the enemies, cut scenes, effects. This game has so much polish it looks pretty ridiculous. I'm playing on my PS4 but honestly feel like I'm playing a PS5 game at times. I'm only around chapter 8 but really looking forward to slowly working through more of the game.
That's a lot of praise I just gave it...it definitely still has some faults though. While the combat itself is fun, actually moving through a level (as beautiful as the environments are) can feel like a bit of a slog. I think it was around chapter 4 when you are taking the train to the second bombing run it kind of sunk in. We bail from the train and run down a train track for like 30 seconds, get into a fight, then run down a train track for another 30 seconds into another fight. This continued to happen (albeit outside the train tracks) with very simply "puzzles" and moments of " go up to this thing and push the x button" moments. Again, the environments are nice to look at and the fights that break up the traversal are fun, so it's more than made up for these grievances with its strengths in my book.
The main thing that's had me throw FF7 on a bit of the back burning however is my current obsession with Monster Hunter Rise. Man, I only just got into Monster Hunter with World and really enjoyed going through that game, the fact that I can lay in bed and play this one just makes that gameplay loop that much easier and more addicting. I am most certainly a MH scrub, there are a lot of systems in the game I still don't really understand and some more that I just ignore completely , but I'm slowly learning more things as well as getting the hang of combat more and more every day. For a long time I just assumed I must have been doing something wrong in lining up my wire-bug lunges with my attacks but after playing more and more, I just had to get better and better with my placement and have slowly become more and more deadly. Besides you slowly progressing as a hunter, the gameplay loop and progression is super addicting. You're constantly increasing your rank, fighting stronger and stronger monsters and getting cooler and better loot, This is surely nothing new to MH players, but with World being my introduction almost two years ago, I'm discovering a lot of these feelings for the first time all over again. Looking forward to meet up with my buddy back home in Canada this weekend and se who's made more progress this week as well as team up for some jolly monster slaying ;)
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Good wrench in that game (eat shit Bioshock)! I never played the others, but I thought OP was pretty incredible at the time. That being said, switching your role from a scientist to a soldier felt a bit like they were missing the point, but it's not like Freeman was ever NOT a superhero anyway.I like the way Griff has been formatting his posts, so I'm going to do the same.
Half-Life: Opposing Force - What's there to say? I loved Half-Life (who didn't?), so more Half-Life was awesome. Sure, your character is basically Gordon Freeman with a different name and different futuristic armor, but you're still killing aliens and government agents who want you dead. I really enjoyed this expansion. I only wish the other single-player expansions had better reviews. If anyone's played the other expansions and can recommend them, please do!
Fervent Enigma
Loveless
speaking of Street Fighter, if anyone plays on PS and is down for a good fight, I’ll share my info. Here’s looking at you, Griffith. :)
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I like the way Griff has been formatting his posts, so I'm going to do the same.
I'm flattered to become a small part of your classic gaming chronicles here.
Mortal Kombat 11 - Back having more fun with Shang Tsung. Still holding out hope that Reptile gets in as a tie-in with the movie, but there's little word on anything about that or the game getting any new content really (Ed Boon/NRS may not even be fans of the movie). Even the Kombat Pack 3 rumors are old by now and I feel like despite the demand they've drawn a line on Reptile until MK12, so this was my last hope. Covid obviously isn't helping with developing new content either, so they may be happy they put out as much as they have under the circumstances.
Doom Eternal: The Unfinished Gods Part Deux - Finished this before I had to leave town for a while, and the last couple levels were pretty short and disappointing. Another Covid casualty apparently, though they're promising to add more later. Honestly, I think I've just had enough at this point.
Silent Hill 2 - Finally playing this classic after Aaz sold me on it in person in what feels like a decade ago. Playing on the road no less. It plays like Resident Evil on pills by way of Twin Peaks. Weird.
I play on PC and am currently far from mine while taking care of some family business. If you put up "a good fight" though we can be fairly confident you'd win, since I can't even claim to be medicore bouncing around the Bronze ranks (I'm only now good enough to realize how bad I am =). Some days I feel like I'm going somewhere and sometimes I feel like I can't beat anybody, though to the game's credit those down times usually precipitate growth and the good days feel like a real accomplishments.
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Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
My pleasure. Although, I just realized I forgot to use italics. I'd go back and change it, but I've come too far. That and I don't feel like giving my OCD the satisfaction.
Is it the first Silent Hill that you're playing to ?
I love this series so so much. Always had a thing for it... all the psychological side, that special atmosphere, etc... it's very interesting.
I've reinstalled Silent Hill 2 Director's cut and Silent Hill 4 - The Room few months ago, I really need to do them again.
Got the true ending and unlocked pretty much everything in Ghosts n' Goblins: Ressurection few weeks ago and now I'm playing to Monster Hunter Rise.
I most recently played SMT 4: Apocalypse. It was a good game and even though the combat system was amazing, the story was very weak (because of the lack of characterisation amongst the main cast). Strangely enough, it also has horrid level design. Not a single dungeon is memorable or fun to explore; especially when compared to Lucifer's Call (Nocturne if you live in NA). However, if you go the Anarchy route, you get to kill all your allies. Seeing everyone turn against you in the blink of an eye is memorable. I wish more RPG's did this.
Before that, I played Golvellius. It is a SMS game and is pure fun. Even though it has janky controls (and a plethora of strange bugs near the end of the game), I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys games from that console generation. Give it a go on an emulator and you'll have a bit of fun.
Before that, I played Golvellius. It is a SMS game and is pure fun. Even though it has janky controls (and a plethora of strange bugs near the end of the game), I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys games from that console generation. Give it a go on an emulator and you'll have a bit of fun.
How is Ghosts 'n Goblins: Resurrection? I was a huge fan of Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts. That game is one of my favourite SNES games of all time, easily. Shame it doesn't get mentioned much by people. Capcom were amazing during that era. Titles like UN Squadron, MMX and Super Ghouls are all the way at the top of the library.