What Are You Playing?

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Griffith said:
I'm trying the demo on your recommendation and it's indeed very much like Seiken Densetsu, and aesthetically and sonically reminds me of Chrono Trigger as well. Not bad company!

Small update, I'm about 5h in, still having fun but the part I'm in is a bit of a grind. Once they unleash you from the tutorial section, it funnels your progress through sidequests which are structured around typical MMO-style quests, most of which are pretty boring. There's still the main story of course, but the sidequests take up an inordinate amount of your time. Looking forward to more, but whew, there are a LOT of throwaway quests in the early part of the game.

It's also worth noting that I played the game through this weekend with my cat in the same room. The cat who had to get radiation treatment this week and be isolated in a room (my office) so the rest of us don't get irradiated. So yeah, future back-of-box quote: "I braved an irradiated wasteland just to squeeze in a few more hours of CrossCode. And so far, I only feel slightly mutated." -SKnet's Walter

Well, I've explored a few options, one is a New SNES 3DS XL from amazon for $150 + Mario Kart, which is a hell of a deal

Get that. I really appreciated the bigger screen of the XL. And having some more power would be nice (though not a game changer). That being said, I get far more use out of my Switch than my 3dS (which is pretty much my son's console at this point). So that's up to you. Nintendo is clearly leaning away from the 3DS, now that it's about 8 years old.

BTW folks, how much would you pay a month for access to Nintendo's classic game library (whatever that is to you, from NES-Wii)? As in, what would you need included and then what price would be too high? :carcus: Nintendo must really be weighing that cash cow versus selling the same shit ala carte every time since it's hard to pretend at this point these guys are so quaint and out of touch they can't figure out the equivalent of email accounts when they've otherwise been innovators in the marketplace for decades, "How can you be so obtuse; is it intentional?"

The Switch Online thing is worthless to me. I don't play online games on that thing, and while I like their service model pricing ($20/year for all those games is a better price than $6-8 per title) I already have an NES Classic AND an SNES Classic (sitting side by side in a cabinet :zodd: ) to deflect inevitable future offers. The only thing it has going for it is the portability of those games, which is nice, but not enticing enough to me, given the above considerations. I mostly play docked anyway.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I finished Final Fantasy III yesterday morning. For an early 8-bit RPG, it was pretty awesome. I had a great time with it and am really looking forward to playing Final Fantasy IV again in a week or two.

For now, I'm playing Gargoyle's Revenge for Game Boy on my 3DS. I'm only an hour in, but so far it's a pretty nice action RPG in a Zelda II style.

Griffith said:
BTW folks, how much would you pay a month for access to Nintendo's classic game library (whatever that is to you, from NES-Wii)? As in, what would you need included and then what price would be too high? :carcus: Nintendo must really be weighing that cash cow versus selling the same shit ala carte every time since it's hard to pretend at this point these guys are so quaint and out of touch they can't figure out the equivalent of email accounts when they've otherwise been innovators in the marketplace for decades, "How can you be so obtuse; is it intentional?"

As someone who's trying to play a lot of their classic games, I would happily pay $20.00 per year for the opportunity to play everything they currently have on their various Virtual Consoles. However, the last time I checked, they only had a few NES games available. I'll wait it out and see what happens in the future.
 
Griffith said:
I'm trying the demo on your recommendation and it's indeed very much like Seiken Densetsu, and aesthetically and sonically reminds me of Chrono Trigger as well. Not bad company!

BTW folks, how much would you pay a month for access to Nintendo's classic game library (whatever that is to you, from NES-Wii)? As in, what would you need included and then what price would be too high?
I played the demo too, and while i had no problem running the demo (it ran nicely and smoothly) i checked if i can run it and it said that i'm just slightly lower than the minimal requirements. so i'm not actually sure if i would be able to run the game or not.

As for the nintendo question, if i could really get ANY game from any nintendo system from wii and past, then a reasonable price would easily be 5-15$ a month. ESPECIALLY if i could get them on my switch. There are a good number of games that i never got to play or never owned so considering the large library they have and how good their games are i think it would easily be worth it.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Walter said:
I have a mostly free weekend for the first time in a while, so I picked up something on the recommendation of a friend: CrossCode. It's an action-RPG in the vein of Secret of Mana, but with a huge MMO-like world. It's pretty solid so far (2h in). It definitely hits the right notes for the genre. Even things like the ground tilesets and layers of the textures are very SNES. I haven't played a game that feels as much like Seiken Densetsu 3 (sequel to SoM), probably ever? Anyway, check out the trailer:

Wow, obviously strongly inspired by Secret of Mana. Nice! I might get it when it comes to Switch, depending on your final review of the game.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Walter said:
Small update, I'm about 5h in, still having fun but the part I'm in is a bit of a grind. Once they unleash you from the tutorial section, it funnels your progress through sidequests which are structured around typical MMO-style quests, most of which are pretty boring. There's still the main story of course, but the sidequests take up an inordinate amount of your time. Looking forward to more, but whew, there are a LOT of throwaway quests in the early part of the game.

I don't think it's going to last between me and CrossCode then.

Walter said:
Get that. I really appreciated the bigger screen of the XL. And having some more power would be nice (though not a game changer). That being said, I get far more use out of my Switch than my 3dS (which is pretty much my son's console at this point). So that's up to you. Nintendo is clearly leaning away from the 3DS, now that it's about 8 years old.

Well, I tried fixing it myself and half the extra tiny screw heads, requiring a size #000 screwdriver, inside immediately stripped on me and won't budge even with a rubber band filling the gaps, which also immediately rendered this whole DIY endeavor not worth it. Looks like I'll continue making do or grab an XL. :ganishka:

Walter said:
The Switch Online thing is worthless to me. I don't play online games on that thing, and while I like their service model pricing ($20/year for all those games is a better price than $6-8 per title) I already have an NES Classic AND an SNES Classic (sitting side by side in a cabinet :zodd: ) to deflect inevitable future offers.

Yeah, but what if they gave you their NES/SNES Library for $5 a month? I might jump as high as $10 for everything pre-Wii U, but it'd probably actually be cheaper to just buy ala carte in the long run (how many of these 20+ old games is one actually going to play and how often), unless you've got the crazy collector gene and you're just saving yourself. IDK, it'd definitely be something Nintendo could take advantage of that not many could, especially if they brought on enough third party partners like Capcom (but then so could their rivals). I'm suddenly depressed by this idea of a Netflix-style future so hope Nintendo leaves it to Sony. =)

Walter said:
The only thing it has going for it is the portability of those games, which is nice, but not enticing enough to me, given the above considerations. I mostly play docked anyway.

It's basically how I use my Wii U then, but I can't/won't invest in it much further for obvious reasons. Too bad they didn't promise Odyssey for it too, I'd be in the clear since I care almost nothing for Smash. :guts:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Griffith said:
I don't think it's going to last between me and CrossCode then.

Well I would say that because they're sidequests, you don't have to engage with them ... but there's a suggested level cap on the dungeons that gate story progression. So it's either grind quests or enemies. I did both for about 2h and ended up a little bored before I was allowed to progress the story.

Now that I'm through the second dungeon, gotta say the puzzle design of those areas is pretty great. Reminded me of Zelda 3 and Lufia 2 puzzles.

Yeah, but what if they gave you their NES/SNES Library for $5 a month?

I genuinely don't care about it. Because I already have the games I actually care about in my back pocket, and I don't even play them that often.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Walter said:
Now that I'm through the second dungeon, gotta say the puzzle design of those areas is pretty great. Reminded me of Zelda 3 and Lufia 2 puzzles.

Just when I thought I was out... :guts:

Walter said:
I genuinely don't care about it. Because I have already the games I actually care about in my back pocket, and I don't even play them that often.

Well, there you go, everybody already has the Nintendo games they want and they're better off just reselling those to us on new platforms. BUT, what if I sweeten the pot with every N64, Gamecube, and Wii game you don't want to play!? :carcus:

Yeah, nevermind...
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Griffith said:
BUT, what if I sweeten the pot with every N64, Gamecube, and Wii game you don't want to play!? :carcus:

That'd be quite generous for the company that's re-selling 4-year-old WiiU games for $50 :ganishka: (you know, I actually bought Tropical Freeze for my son, who really didn't like it -- and neither did I -- so we returned it).

Again, I like the service model idea. I just don't think they'll ever be able to cook up an enticing enough package for me or ... really anyone who cared enough about those old games to seek out the NES/SNES Classics.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I finished Gargoyle's Quest earlier this morning. It was a neat little game for its time. I don't know if it's worth the $5.00 it goes for on the 3DS Virtual Console, but I enjoyed playing it.

Next up is Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge! For some reason, Castlevania: The Adventure is on the 3DS Virtual Console, but not its (from what I've read) far-superior sequel. They're both Konami games, so I can only chalk it up to Konami continuing not to care about its older titles.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Walter said:
That'd be quite generous for the company that's re-selling 4-year-old WiiU games for $50 :ganishka:

I'm still waiting for the price to drop on any first party Wii U game (like Mario Maker :sad:). Man, I shouldn't give Nintendo another dollar for one of their systems after this crap. I'm getting that used 3DS. =)

(you know, I actually bought Tropical Freeze for my son, who really didn't like it -- and neither did I -- so we returned it).

Me too, except the return part, sadly. I can't remember if I even finished the first one on 3DS, but yeah they were really unfun and counter-intuitive DKC games all told.

Again, I like the service model idea. I just don't think they'll ever be able to cook up an enticing enough package for me or ... really anyone who cared enough about those old games to seek out the NES/SNES Classics.

Well, they did already get many to buy those, so if they actually ponied up on their complete first party back catalog plus some big licenses that'd be pretty enticing. The thing is they'd have to really commit to the concept and platform, like even adding some new and/or exclusive games to it, for it to take off and be worth adding 3rd party lineups, "Capcom is coming to Nintendo Prime!" but I just don't see Nintendo going balls out with something so different from a model that's worked well enough for them so far. Maybe it just doesn't make sense for them and would be a disaster, but the potential is enticing.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I have three weeks to kill before Red Dead Redemption 2 and hoped to be playing Mario Odyssey this weekend and until then, but since my boss would only let me borrow his 3DS XL and not his Switch (I offered to buy/rent both for one price, but I think he just forgot the Switch =), so I picked up Metroid: Samus Returns and How to Train your Colossi The Last Guardian.

Samus Returns was interesting in that it felt kind of new and kind of dated, like the translation of 2D Metroid into 3D made sense, but it also shows the age of the system because I think a pure modern 2D sidescroller might have been more impressive than the sharp edged polygons of Samus Returns (I think Zero Mission had more natural looking landforms, this one looks more like Might No. 9 =). So far it plays well enough which is the most important thing, and I don't mind the melee counter either, might even learn to love it, just gotta perfect the timing. I've only just gotten the morph ball and charge shot but am going to enjoy this one at bedtime and see what else they can do with the 3D graphics to draw me in.

The Last Guardian was striking from the beginning, really dug the credits and music (reminded me of SotC and Evey Reborn), which brought me back to that Team Ico atmosphere right away. Then what brought me back to it was how the controls, even of your main character, feel more like suggestions. =) I literally feel like I'm sort of pushing him and the camera around in the direction I want them to go but they don't necessarily agree or are reluctant (the jump button being up sucks too), and Trico is a whole other matter where I'm just guessing and hoping he goes where he needs to. I'm not saying this is a bad thing either, because it does give the movement and action more weight, life, and dynamics when compared to a traditional controls like in Samus Returns. Aside from the engine, graphics and high concept, the game is otherwise bare bones when it comes to presentation and options so far. I'd like to find a way to make the control prompts go away or be less ridiculously obtrusive (it's a PS4 exclusive, does it need to show me the whole controller to tell which button to press, and put that in a giant box? =). The narration giving you clues is clever and Trico feels endearingly like a real animal for better or worse. Looking forward to more.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I finished Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge this morning. It was a really solid Castlevania title, despite the limited system it was on. I'm glad I gave it a chance. When I originally made my list, I left off all portable games for some reason, but that's no longer the case.

Next up is Final Fantasy IV. I've played this once before when they re-released it for the PlayStation with Chrono Trigger. It was a really bad port (the menus were unbelievably slow), but I slogged my way through it, because it was the only way I could play it back then. This time around, I'm going to play a fan translation of the game. I'm looking forward to it, since it's still considered one of the best 16-bit RPGs of all time.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
In order of current progress/playtime/interest:

The Last Guardian - This game is half frustrating and half amazing. The frustrating part is some of the control tics, but man it just thinks differently than most games even though it's essentially just room puzzles, etc. Reminds me of Breath of the Wild in that thinking outside the box of normal video gamey solutions will actually work and pleasantly surprise you, "Oh, he actually WILL do that, that's so... logicol but cool!" The Last Guardian: Logicool. :badbone:

Shadow of the Colossus (PS4 remake) - Gorgeous opening but somehow less impressive and of course stale as it goes along. I wasn't able to hack the modern controls at all so immediately switched to classic and felt at home. Messed a lot with the filters and brightness to better capture the look of the original, but might just stick with the default since this iteration was designed with it in mind. Anyway, games have come a long way because despite the modern makeover the awe doesn't quite translate. Though I still made sure to play until I could fly on the 5th guardian COLOSSI (unintentional =) because that's always a thrill.

Metroid: Samus Returns - I can see why Aaz got bored, it's good but kind of the same throughout so far, and I've taken out like a third to half the metroids.

Ico (HD) - I'm doing the Team Ico hat trick this week! Finally got around to this one after Walter first implored me to play it over a decade ago. I only got to the first save bench, which was a bit of an adventure in itself because I didn't bring the girl with me and when I went back inside she was being gobbled up by another shadow dude (I didn't know I literally had to hold her hand)! Anyway, I can already see where the other half of the Last Guardian DNA came from.

Mega Man 11 - I didn't even know it was out already until I saw the fucking Honest Trailer! Only tried a couple of levels late last night but it seems hard as shit. It looks and plays well enough, though I've got some reservations with the style and the time wrinkle, plus the whole endeavor at this point. We'll see, maybe I'm a delusional Inafune loyalist at heart "(Mighty No. 9 is better!" :ganishka:) I still shelled out the bucks, no questions asked, despite already having plenty to play, obviously.
 
Griffith said:
In order of current progress/playtime/interest:

Metroid: Samus Returns - I can see why Aaz got bored, it's good but kind of the same throughout so far, and I've taken out like a third to half the metroids.

Yeah that game is pretty monotonous except for boss fights and metroid battles. Even then the metroid battles get stale pretty quickly. I really think AM2R did better with the design of it's boss arenas.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Gamehowitzer said:
Yeah that game is pretty monotonous except for boss fights and metroid battles. Even then the metroid battles get stale pretty quickly. I really think AM2R did better with the design of it's boss arenas.

It's got some good, fun streamlining of the formula, particularly the controls, and I'm still chugging along before bed, but... everywhere looks and sounds the same, the metroid battles are too derivative, and even the music arrangement is so completely dull, quiet and unmemorable I can hardly recall hearing it! Gimme the Gameboy versions any day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=453temu5BIg&index=1&list=PL9EF3D31B7401330B


The Last Guardian - The game continues to escalate both the frustration, diving/swimming is the worst and the camera during some escape moments is the real monster, and impressiveness, going beyond the awe-inspiring moments of grandeur with the beast to tug at the heart strings. It's okay Trico, I'm fine, it's just a little dusty in here. :judo:

Ico - Got to the 2nd bench and the outside terrace, then got my first game over when I was attacked by bird shadows, tried to take out a small one first, letting a big one grab the girl, and then getting knocked over by a weird tentacled shadow before I could get her out of the hole. Sad. Back to The Last Guardian.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Griff, your Last Guardian review has me even more determined to snag a PS4 one of these days :carcus: Seriously with that and Red Dead 2 around the corner, I really need to pick up a used one pretty shortly.

I've inexplicably been playing Torchlight 2 this past weekend, a 6-year-old game that I never spent much time on. It came out in 2012, around the same time as Diablo 3 and Path of Exile had been ramping up. So it was just a flooded market for those kinds of games. But I wanted something I could listen to podcasts and play, and T2 (no, the other T2) is just perfect for it. Also, it seems to me that they'd added a whole new Act 1, because it's all new to me. It's the ideal realization of "no seriously, one day I'll play that Steam game I bought on sale" and 6 years later actually enjoying the experience.

Meanwhile, my son has been less and less interested in games these days. He gets to play them on weekends, and recently when I ask if he wants to play something, it's "Nah, I want to build legos." Which is cool with me, but his birthday is a few weeks away, and I've got Megaman 11 on the Switch already wrapped and ready to show off to him. So he'd better work up an appetite soon :mozgus:
 
Walter said:
Meanwhile, my son has been less and less interested in games these days. He gets to play them on weekends, and recently when I ask if he wants to play something, it's "Nah, I want to build legos." Which is cool with me, but his birthday is a few weeks away, and I've got Megaman 11 on the Switch already wrapped and ready to show off to him. So he'd better work up an appetite soon :mozgus:
Damn kids these days don't even like video games anymore. :ganishka: Lets be glad he's not obsessed with fortnite.

Stupidly hating on a game aside, I did finally pick up cross code. And aside from the really long sessions i tend to play of it *i'm fucking obsessed with doing every sidequest and chest hunting is hard!* i got through the Faj'ra temple the other day and since then i decided to take a couple of days break. I don't want to rush my way through this game!
*on a side note it's mostly been becasuse i've been kinda sick that i haven't played it again yet to be honest. Weather change head cold bullshit.*
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Gamehowitzer said:
Damn kids these days don't even like video games anymore. :ganishka: Lets be glad he's not obsessed with fortnite.

There are two kids on my son's bus that have Fortnite backpacks and matching sweaters. That game has barely even been out a year and it's already being merchandised to hell. What an insane phenomenon...

Stupidly hating on a game aside, I did finally pick up cross code. And aside from the really long sessions i tend to play of it *i'm fucking obsessed with doing every sidequest and chest hunting is hard!* i got through the Faj'ra temple the other day and since then i decided to take a couple of days break. I don't want to rush my way through this game!
*on a side note it's mostly been becasuse i've been kinda sick that i haven't played it again yet to be honest. Weather change head cold bullshit.*

Something about being sick and/or irradiated is what brings people to CrossCode :ganishka: Glad you're enjoying it. I haven't played in a few days because Faj'ra temple is so goddamned long. I thought I beat it, and then was told I was only halfway through :magni: so I put it down for a bit ... Still, as frustrating as some puzzles are, many are just brilliantly executed.
 
Walter said:
There are two kids on my son's bus that have Fortnite backpacks and matching sweaters. That game has barely even been out a year and it's already being merchandised to hell. What an insane phenomenon...

Something about being sick and/or irradiated is what brings people to CrossCode :ganishka: Glad you're enjoying it. I haven't played in a few days because Faj'ra temple is so goddamned long. I thought I beat it, and then was told I was only halfway through :magni: so I put it down for a bit ... Still, as frustrating as some puzzles are, many are just brilliantly executed.

:ganishka: Halfway to heaven. The second part of that dungeon is really the challenging part tbh. Also when you finally get to the top floor, make sure you don't overlook ANY room. That seems to be how they get everyone stuck XD just the design of the world in cross code is so confusing sometimes.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Gamehowitzer said:
:ganishka: Halfway to heaven. The second part of that dungeon is really the challenging part tbh. Also when you finally get to the top floor, make sure you don't overlook ANY room. That seems to be how they get everyone stuck XD just the design of the world in cross code is so confusing sometimes.

Yeah, it's a very imbalanced game, I've discovered. There's a lot of junk food, but too few meals, if you know what I mean. The game sorely needs an editor to call the shots of what they should include, not just what they could include. I get the impression they kept adding features during the open-beta portion of development and simply never scaled it back for full release to make a cohesive game.

Sigh... There's a lot to like, but I'd personally have preferred a more focused action-RPG than the sprawling MMO-style game that it ended up being.
 
Walter said:
Yeah, it's a very imbalanced game, I've discovered. There's a lot of junk food, but too few meals, if you know what I mean. The game sorely needs an editor to call the shots of what they should include, not just what they could include. I get the impression they kept adding features during the open-beta portion of development and simply never scaled it back for full release to make a cohesive game.

Sigh... There's a lot to like, but I'd personally have preferred a more focused action-RPG than the sprawling MMO-style game that it ended up being.
I get you. It really seems to be a cluttered and confusing mess at times while at others it's very clear cut and straightforward. It's easy to lose sight of your original intentions after 3 years of development.

I mean heck look at warframe, it's obviously a very polished game graphics wise, yet they still keep making huge changes and huge additions to the game. Archwing they left behind dead, and the lack of endgame content, they're very unclear on what they want warframe to be. Imagine if this game took longer to develop. Crosscode would be way worse if it took another year or 2.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Walter said:
Griff, your Last Guardian review has me even more determined to snag a PS4 one of these days :carcus: Seriously with that and Red Dead 2 around the corner, I really need to pick up a used one pretty shortly.

RDR2 currently downloading for later tonight! :badbone:

And I appreciate my take helped rekindle your Last Guardian interest. Re-reading my review I was struck by the measured and tactful tone when addressing the game's purported flaws... before going full FU mode in the follow up! :ganishka:
 
I played a bit of Bully (PS4). Played more than I originally intended. Im still in the first few hours. I just finished Halloween. I am in the mood to getting back into Buffy: Chaos Bleeds (PS2 / XBOX) now that Halloween is just around the corner. I have been meaning to play Fatal Frame / Project Zero 4 since July but I dont feel like setting up my Wii at the moment.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Branded_Rick said:
I am in the mood to getting back into Buffy: Chaos Bleeds (PS2 / XBOX) now that Halloween is just around the corner.

I couldn't get into that one, but the original Buffy game on XBOX was a pretty decent game and excellent adaptation of the show.


So, after a few days of Red Dead Redemption II I'm finally starting to get sucked in. Part of the slow start for me was there's just so much to learn/do that it feels like you're kind of stuck for a while (literally and figuratively in this case). It sure doesn't have the simple, instantly absorbing classic western action that begins RDR1. There's a lot of early tutorial missions and with good reason because there's so many contextual controls I still don't know what I'm doing half the time and need to rely on prompts from the game (it's basically been playing me =). This is frustrating because you literally can't move or run sometimes when you want, and they've crammed a keyboard's worth of control options into gaming's oldest living game pad design (this thing makes the control menus in MGS5 and BotW seem simple by comparison).

Now that I'm starting to get past that I'm beginning to enjoy the game much more. The standout mission so far was actually one where not much happens but you getting drunk with a buddy, but it's so immersive and unique it really shows you the narrative potential in this game despite still following the tired GTA mission framework (at least you can save without going to bed). It's very impressive all that they've crammed in here and how much depth there is to the interactions with the characters, animals, environments, etc. This game is designed for you to get lost and absorbed in over the long haul, but it's got such a steep learning curve I'm not sure that immersion will be fully successful (it doesn't help that I'm just sort of stuck doing community organizing stuff for the gang; it's a much more passive start than the forces driving Marston's mission). Right now I see incredible potential, but also the potential for diminishing returns on such meaty gameplay being put on a pretty old and relatively thin skeleton. We'll see how it goes; it's either going to be the best game ever or 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag. :ganishka:
 
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