What are you currently playing?

[toxicitizen]

I didn't realize it at the time, but I think the reason I couldn't get into it before was because of how the overworld is just a picture with a cursor, rather than actually letting you control a character on screen.

Yep, that's the main reason why I refuse to play P3P. That and the removal of several anime and in-game cutscenes. The compromises made on presentation are a complete deal breaker for me. I'd recommend playing the PS2 FES version of the game instead but in that one you have no control over your party members during combat. It fucking sucks but it's pretty much a pick your poison situation.

 

P3 is in dire need a Golden-like remaster. Take the FES version and add the few actual improvements from P3P without any of the drawbacks.

[TheMightyEthan]

I agree 100%. I considered FES but the lack of party control is a deal breaker for me, whereas I can live with the Portable compromises. And I don't think the cutscenes are *gone*, they're just not fully animated anymore.

 

But yeah, P3G would be amazing.

[deanb]

So since I've been away from computer and I've had adverts pop up for them on Facebook I've been playing Final Fantasy Exvius and Final Fantasy Mobius lately. They're both mobile-only final fantasy games (as opposed to the other FF titles that are ported from the console releases).

 

Exvius is more akin to old-school SNES sprite looks with a basic storyline of crystals and such, you follow three main characters and flesh it out with "vision" characters that are a mix of original to Exvius characters and some past golden oldies (so I've a like Kefka, ExDeath, Penelo, Terra, etc in my party). You travel through areas mainly doing battles in a decent take on the turn based battling. You pick your characters moves and then tap them to activate, given some might boost magic n what not the order you play them will affect the battle outcome. You can also set folks on "Auto" for the easy battles (which for me is mainly grinding the daily quests). The individual party members level up gaining you abilities and you can "awaken" them to further increase their overall power (Though starting them at level 1 again). There's parts built for purposeful grinding (mainly to get new items), and events now n then (currently "Demons of Something" to get a Gravity Staff at the end of it). Some areas also unlock "Explore" mode which'll have you go around looking for items based on quests ("my kitty ran into the scawy fowest"/"I dropped my fiances necklace in the dessert" type things) or just to gather items in that location like iron ore n crystals n what not for forging items n gear). I find it's pretty well balanced in levelling up, unlocking characters, and the story and quests aren't exactly high calibre they're okay and the story characters have a bit of depth to them. I think it's a rather worthy effort.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.square_enix.android_googleplay.FFBEWW&hl=en_GB

 

FF Mobius is a tad more newer (I think it only just came out this week) and has 3D models though some really terrible lack of AA despite the fact I know my phone is more than capable of handling it so it looks a bit like an upscaled PS2 game. In this you play as one character (named after yourself) and you get "cards" with abilities and jobs to augment how you play each level. You tap to attack (it's also turn based) and get energy orbs to activate certain abilities. It's a bit random in what orbs you get (you can do things to augment the orbs enemies will drop but it's not really an art or skill) which can leave you fucked over in some cases when you're 1 orb short of using Blizzaga or what not. The cards you'll get are mostly based on the new enemies (I say new, but some of the models are definitely ripped from FFXIII so maybe some are from XIV) as drops at end of battles, but you can use your "magicite" currency and ticket drops to "summon" other cards which'll usually feature familiar faces such as a Yuna Cure card n Shiva Blizzaga n what not. You level up both yourself, jobs and the cards which all gets a bit confusing on setting up your characters. Oh and you get "seeds" at the end of battles to spend on levelling up your jobs in specific ways (e.g +5 damage, +100hp, + fire resistance etc). The story is a bit vague in it too, mainly a moogle following your around talking about a prophecy it half remembers about the "Warrior of Light" which is likely you. Exvius had a fair few patches to tweak itself (and pretty consistent content updates too) in early release so I'm gonna stick with Mobius a bit n see how it pans out. Given I'm now back home with a PC, PS4 n PS3 it might not fare well

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.square_enix.android_googleplay.mobiusff_ne

[TheFlyingGerbil]

Got to the shard collecting in Wind Waker HD but can't remember how to work out the locations in game so am going to resort to an online guide which I didn't need for the GameCube version. Pretty disappointed with myself.

[Saturnine Tenshi]

Besides Overwatch, I gave NMS a try to see if it works on my PC. The trouble became immediately apparent. But I do enjoy the concept. After about 3 worlds I can say that I enjoy the exploration the game offers.

[Hot Heart]

A bit late to the party, but I've been playing inFAMOUS: Second Son. I meant to get round to it at one point and it just so happens that a friend wanted to borrow Witcher 3 since he had no internet after moving and offered his collection of games in return. Since there's not much to do in Destiny at the moment, now's the perfect time to try and get through some other games.

 

It's been alright so far. Some of the navigation is a bit janky but I liked the open-ended nature of assaulting the various DUP bases and such.

 

Also, turns out killing birds isn't evil.

[deanb]

To be fair they're probably pigeons.

 

I've actually got Last Light to play, picked em both up for I think ~£15 from CEX (likely stolen off a lorry....). I should probably wrap em up before October..or September or whenever it is my bro is back in the UK. Can throw a few PS4 games at him to take to Oz, reckon Infamous will be up his street. Actually looking at my PS4 games (on disc) InFamous n AC:Unity probably the only games that'll appeal to him unless he's a hidden love of JRPG games. Considering he picked up a PS4 to play COD with his mates it's somewhat unlikely.

[Mister Jack]

I figured I shouldn't replay Deus Ex until they get out DX12 support and a few more patches, so right now I'm playing Mad Max, which I got super cheap a while back.

 

Do you like clearing outposts?  Then boy do I have a game for you.

 

It's not bad, but there are so many places to rummage through and clear out that it makes Ubisoft games look conservative by comparison.

[Mal]

I'm actually not sure which one to really start with but God Eater 2 Rage Burst comes with Resurrection which seems to be a remake of a remake of the first game. I've decided to go with the first game (Resurrection) in chronological order. Performance wise, it's all fine. 60 FPS and an alright option menu. There's actual mouse cursor selection in the menus! Some of them are rather janky though. Gameplay wise, it is clunky but I've only played the two tutorial missions. After a few weeks off gaming even my beloved EDF 4.1 was a bit weird so I'll give this game some time before I pass a informed judgement. One thing for sure though, it is no Ys level of tight gameplay... I think.

[MetalCaveman]

Starting with Resurrection is a good idea. \m/ \m/

 

Gameplay wise I'd say it gets way better after the tutorial, but the last time I played it, it was the PSP version , can't wait for my copy to arrive and see how it's changed. \m/ \m/

[danielpholt]

I started and finished Bound.

 

I'll keep this short. From a pure design point of view, the game is second to none. It's a work of art, a painting almost. Unfortunately the actual gameplay itself is just...boring. You're basically walking from point a to point b, theres no real challenge along the way and whilst the visuals keep you interested, there's little to make you really think about what you're doing. 

 

I hate to be *that guy*, but the game is short. I completed it in less than 4 hours. The game costs £15 on PSN right now. That seem's to be the going rate nowadays but if I had to buy it again, I'd probably wait for a sale. 

[Mal]

The in-engine cut scenes in Resurrection is just comical. It's pretty much just the character models moving. Whatever emotions the VAs are doing is lost in the progress. Not a big deal. It's tying the game play and game world together. I have purpose.

Additionally in the cut scenes and in other parts of the game you can see the influences of being on the PSP. Not to say it is bad but it's there.

 

Anyhow, I can see how the gameplay will get good*. It can be fast pace and have a lot of actions and commands you can do. It is just hampered by poor controller setup. On PC, the item and be bounded to the number keys while the orders can be their shift-# equivalent. Right now it is just clunky to use items and orders (Tab > Q or E to scroll > left click to use or press another button to change to orders). Combat isn't too bad though but the clunkiness is still there.

 

I honestly don't know how it will be on a controller but I just like the mouse to use to aim (toggled by holding Q with the gun selected) and to look around. My initial use of a controller is just sluggish in those regards. I also don't feel like experimenting to see how a bunch of stuff works either... I'm still finding stuff out with the KB+M configuration.

 

*Flying around with a giant spear is kind of awesome. Not to mention I can bust out my gun to wreck shit or maybe chew on something. I think I need to change my approach to this game... I should view it as a Symphogear simulator. Music would match too!

[toxicitizen]

Put a few hours into Attack On Titan and yeah, really glad I went for it. It's not the most amazing game ever or anything but I'm having a blast with it. They really nailed the feel of the omnidirectional movement, swinging about between buildings and flying all over the place just feels so good. It's your typical Omega Force game, so most missions so far just drop you into a large open map filled with enemies for you to kill. There are objectives to complete as well as optional side-missions but it mostly always boils down to "go there and kill a bunch of titans". That being said, the game does mix things up a bit to keep things interesting. Characters have different abilities and strengths, so you need to adapt your playstyle accordingly. I've also just started doing missions outside the walls. So, now I'm riding on horseback and omnidirectional movement is very limited in these wide open plains.

 

So yeah, definitely a fun game. Makes me optimistic for the upcoming Berserk game. Even if it ends up not being true to the source material (and let's be honest, it likely won't be), if it's this fun to play then I'll be there day one regardless.

Edited September 3, 2016 by FLD

[Hot Heart]

So, after completing Second Son, I moved onto inFAMOUS: First Light. I didn't have high expectations going in, but it's been pretty fun so far. I prefer Fetch's take on the neon powers (and the enemies she faces) and the city traversal is awesome; I haven't had that much fun getting around since Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.

[deanb]

After finishing Mankind Divided (gonna pop on for that story DLC and give a bit of Breach a spin) I popped back in to the newly patched Witcher 3, only took like 8 hours to download :/. Found it's reintroduced some bugs so figured I'd jump on to Fallout 4 since that's all DLCed up now too. Started a new character, was like "eh" having played much of the above. Figured I'd mod it, find out there's no workshop support, decided fuck it for now.

 

So I'm currently playing Pillars of Eternity. I'd started a game a while back, which turns out I'd not a clue on controls anymore and carried on getting killed in the dungeon I'd left myself in. So since I'd only lose a few hours I restarted. Which has worked out much better as it turns out I'd missed out on a bunch of party members so that has made things much easier. Still feel the combat is a bit clunky, built a bit more like DnD than other RPGs. So your mage is mostly useless as he can only do a couple spells per rest (And most his spells are AoE, or like fan aiming, which is horrible cos there's friendly fire in this game and most of your guys are crowded around the enemy with swords, and also since he aims at the ground not the enemy, the enemy has usually moved before his spell has fired off). The convo system is good old fashioned "based off your stats" stuff, rather than the FO4 "yes, angry-yes, sarcastic yes, no-but-yes". Though there's a lot of times where you'll have quite a few options you can't chose cos it'd require having picked a very specific vocation in character creation. Oh yeah, based on getting messed up in my earlier save, I went from my usual mage(which I'd picked as the halfling race too, so yeah not very punch friendly) to a big ass Godlike warrior. He's doing better. Get to use Might a lot in my convos

 

Also picked up Abysarrium on Android. It's a clicker game, but it's quite calming n relaxing type, you raise your own little coral reef and get fishes and things.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

I'm currently 454,133 taps in to Abyssrium. I've stopped tapping during the Song of the Moon boost though, as it was making my finger ends tingle. I'll probably stop when I get the sun fish as those are ace.

[TheMightyEthan]

Goddamn, Tharsis is hard as balls, and I've been playing on easy.  I had one run where I almost made it, but my guy ended up dying of smoke inhalation on the last turn.

[toxicitizen]

The announcement of Shenzhen I/O gave me the push I needed to go back and try to finish Infinifactory. I think I'm almost there and it should be doable since it's nowhere near as insanely difficult as the later levels of SpaceChem. But man, these games are so much fun! If I manage to finish Infinifactory soon I think I'll go back to TIS-100 and try to finish that too. I still want to finish SpaceChem as well but I'm pretty sure I need to drop another 20+ hours into that one so it's gonna wait a while longer, I think.

 

Oh and last night I went back to early levels to try and complete the optimization achievements, because why not, and it feels so good to realize most of your solutions are already optimal. In most cases, all I needed to do was increase the input rate to complete them under the required amount of cycles. 

[TheMightyEthan]

I liked in Space Chem how it rated you both on how fast you got it done and also how complicated your process was.  The engineer in me loved trying to distill my solutions down to the bare essentials.

[toxicitizen]

You'd probably love Infinifactory then. It's essentially the same game but in 3D. You're scored on efficiency (cycles to complete), number of blocks used as well as overall footprint (basically the amount of space taken by your solution). The footprint optimization achievements were harder than the efficiency ones and forced me to redesign huge chunks of my solutions. 

[Mr. GOH!]

I found Tharsis on easy to not be too ahrd after a few tries, although you can get totally fucked by the RNG, too.

 

It is nearly impossible for me on normal.

[TheMightyEthan]

I think Tharsis would be great as an actual physical cooperative board game in the vein of Pandemic.  The more I think about it the more I want it and the more disappointed I am that it's not a thing.

 

Barely related: Is it an RNG in the traditional sense, or is it actual physics-determined dice rolls?  Because the way the dice bounce off each other and that determines which side ends up is pretty convincing.

[Saturnine Tenshi]

I tried Black Desert Online, and it's basically the same old Korean MMORPG garbage from 1998 with some neat spins. The character creator is powerful, too. Rather than actually leveling or exploring, I find myself just training horses and running them back and forth between cities.

 

Oh, also replaying The Witcher 3. I wanted to replay with a heavy armor/strong attack build, and to correct how badly I screwed up the romances the first time around. This in advance of playing Blood and Wine.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Saturnine Tenshi

[TheMightyEthan]

I started Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE last night.  I'm not very far into it, I've only just finished the prologue dungeon, but so far I'm liking how it seems similar enough to the Persona games to appeal to me on that basis, but different enough that I'm not going to get myself burnt out on that series right before Persona 5 comes out.

 

This is me easing myself into JRPGs.  Until P4G I'd never enjoyed one (other than Pokemon, which I feel doesn't really count) since Tales of Destiny on the PS1.

[toxicitizen]

This is me easing myself into JRPGs.  Until P4G I'd never enjoyed one (other than Pokemon, which I feel doesn't really count) since Tales of Destiny on the PS1.

Ha, really? You've certainly picked some rather niche, very Japan-centric ones to focus on. Not that I disagree with your choices, I just never really thought of those as gateway games.