What are you currently playing?

[toxicitizen]

Finally gave Final Fantasy XIV a serious shot after buying it like 3 years ago. I'm still on a free trial account but I'm like 2 levels away from hitting the trial's level cap, so I'll be activating my key and free month soon to keep going. I'll also get the Stormblood expansion next week during the Steam sale, I think.

 

Anyway, yeah the game is actually pretty fun. I was curious because I kept hearing that the story puts recent single-player FFs to shame and that it was feasible to play solo for the most part. There's some forced dungeons that you have to run as part of the main story and I was actually expecting them be what killed the game for me. But they turned out to be the most fun aspect of the game by far, which really came as a surprise. Also I have my own chocobo now, so that's pretty cool.

 

This is the first traditional MMO I manage to really get into and it actually helped me understand why I could never get into WoW. Main story quests are clearly marked as such in FFXIV and at this point there's exp boosts to help you get through the first 60 levels faster. So you end up overleveled just by doing the main story, which means you're better off ignoring side-quests (unless they unlock something you want). IIRC WoW doesn't really have a main questline driving you forward, so I'd just end up doing side-quests aimlessly due to my completionist nature. It was boring as fuck and I could never stick with it for more than a few hours before dropping it. At the time I just kinda figured that MMOs weren't for me because CLEARLY everyone else was seeing something in WoW that I wasn't but I guess it's just WoW that wasn't for me because I'm enjoying the hell out of FFXIV.

[deanb]

Red Dead Redemption II

 

I'm mostly enjoying the meditative gameplay, the pretty vistas, and the slower paced missions.

 

But damn if the whole "your weapons are on your horse" bullshit wasn't driving me absolutely batty. Having to constantly bring up the weapon load out and pick your weapons. At the moment 90% of the time I'm going with a shotgun and rifle (unless I'm specifically hunting), but every goddamn time I have to load up the wheel, cycle past my ever growing list of weapons (including a "worn" one I picked up a while ago and seem to have no way to offload). Sure it's "realistic" but on the other hand my horse constantly jumps off little cliffs n picks itself up so I'm not sure they're applying the realism in the right places (and tbh I don't think in reality folks would be completely packing away their weapons each time they get on their horse).

 

Also not having a way to reset missions/checkpoints without dying. But dynamite thankfully only takes a few seconds to get there (and yeah for some reason I leave all my main weapons on my horse but always walking around with a few pound of dynamite, several throwing knives and hatchets, a lasso, lantern, and 20 cans of beans and cigarettes). The trillion methods of interacting also 1. aren't consistent ( to loot a body,  to loot a wardrobe being one example). 2. mean that I'm having to double check that I'm not about to blow a hole in someone cos they're stood next to my horse. (shotgun headshots are kind of grossly satisfying though).

 

On 6/21/2019 at 2:18 PM, Ultra TCP said:

Final Fantasy XV

I think I'm in chapter 10 now.

 

Really need to finish this game at some point. I got it when it launched, and got to..Altissa I think it is, and then they started with the events and a bunch of patching/updates/additions and such and I was like "okay I'll hold off until they're done". Which I believe as of Episode Ardyn the other month they're now finally done.

Generally agree with your assessment of the game though. Pretty, the bro stuff is pretty damn great (even if it's a bit of a bummer there's no females and means limited jobs/classes compared to other games). It's a bit weird, it feels like it might have been the last Final Fantasy game in a way (at least for a long while). It was announced back in 2006 (as Versus), and we're two years after that decade long development and not an inkling of a new game. If/when it is announced I'd kinda like an "old-fashioned" one, like FFIX etc(I know I'm biased) with the medieval-esque setting. XII(plus sequels) and XV both were modern/futuristic settings and it's felt a bit jarring. Like even with VII while Midgar is all quite modern, there's still like the medieval towns n stuff kicking about. I think I'd drop an openworld in favour of an overworld too; kinda miss the foot, chocobo, boat, airship progression.

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, I don't understand why it's constantly resetting your weapons, rather than just defaulting to whatever you had last. It never failed that I'd start a mission and get halfway through it and then realize I didn't have the gun I wanted.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

On 6/24/2019 at 3:38 PM, deanb said:

Also not having a way to reset missions/checkpoints without dying.

 

I haven't played this game in a while so don't remember exactly but If you press left on the d-pad and click on the mission you can restart the checkpoint/quit it.

[CorgiShinobi]

Devil May Cry 5 (finally)!

 

When I first booted the game, the color was all wrong and I basically had to get through the first steps with a deep neon magenta hue. The game seemed to want to use HDR, but even though my TV should support it, I've never got the set up right. Thing is, I didn't see an option to disable HDR in-game. I played around with settings and it wasn't until I messed with the display area (windowed, etc) that the settings went back to a non-HDR configuration.

 

Otherwise, fun game. I'm playing with the Switch Pro Controller and I used Steam to remap the buttons. However, I might go back to Xbox layout because it feels off to me. Slashing and jumping being the left and right button (respectively) is weird. It's my own personal preference, but I do keep finding myself using the Devil Breaker when I want to jump instead.

[danielpholt]

Mario Maker 2

 

I didn't really get into Mario Maker on the WiiU. I put this mainly down to kinda-absolutely-hating the WiiU as a console, and to some extent I think that's right. I'm certainly having more fun with MM2 than I did with its predecessor but I'm still hit with this niggling feeling that maybe the game just isn't quite for me. I love seeing some of the levels people have created, and don't get me wrong, Mario platforming is always fun, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm just not really good enough to truly get the most out of this game.

 

Some of that is down to the frankly piss-poor way Nintendo surfaces new levels to players (good luck getting anyone playing your level if you're not outwardly broadcasting it outside the game), and the slightly frustrating way you're thrown back to the front end of a level when you die (I know that's a staple of Mario platformers, I've just kind of moved past that now - Get me straight back into the action!).

 

That being said, it's still an endless stream of amazing Mario levels on a console that I can take with me, or play on a TV. Even if I don't love it as much as some, I'm absolutely certain that I'm going to put a fuck-tonne of hours into this one.

 

Apex Legends

 

So I'm the forums BR guy eh?

 

Yup, I'm still playing Apex. It's still an absolute blast. Season 2 hits in 12 or so hours, and I cannot wait.

[deanb]

Moonlighter

 

Still got RDR2 on the go on my PS4, but dabbling with Moonlighter as a "dip in, dip out" type game, got it as part of last months Humble Bundle. So far it's pretty much what you see is what you get, very close to Recettear (Capitalism Ho!) in you're managing a shop and exploring to get parts for your shop and make sure they're priced well. The battle "dungeons" are sort of Binding of Isaac style, procedural generated maze layout with various enemies.

There's several other currently inaccessibly dungeons which mentioned access to "adventurers" so I'd guess at some point there will come a hiring element to it as well. The backpack screen also has a calendar on it that so far doesn't do anything which I'd guess might be related.

 

So far it's some pleasant simpleness. 

[TheMightyEthan]

@deanb So you'd recommend it? I got the Humble Monthly for Hellblade, and I hadn't decided whether to play Moonlighter or not since that came with it.

 

On that note, I'm playing Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

 

It is so, so pretty. Some of the best, if not the best, characters I've ever seen in a game. It also has the best HDR implementation I've ever seen in a game, the colors are all fantastic and it really lets you see a lot more detail in the world, which is also fantastically crafted, at least as nice looking as God of War (although on a much smaller scale). The audio is also amazing, definitely play it with a straight stereo feed into your headphones, the built-in binaural audio is way better than any external surround sound processing. You really feel like the voices are whispering right in your ear.

 

The game design is great too, it really plays in with the hallucinations in a way that feels consistent and natural while also making good puzzles. I can't really go into detail without spoiling the mechanics, and the surprise the first time you encounter each one is worth preserving. Combat is fine, but it's also a really minor part of the game so fine is good enough.

[Mal]

Combat is not that minor of an aspect of Hellblade if you need to smack people rather frequently. It honestly distracted from the rest of the game. Play through to the end and see how you feel.

[deanb]

14 hours ago, TheMightyEthan said:

@deanb So you'd recommend it? I got the Humble Monthly for Hellblade, and I hadn't decided whether to play Moonlighter or not since that came with it.

 

Depends if anything I mentioned of it appeals. If you liked Recettear and procedural dungeon crawling then it'd be up your street. It's not the most complex of games, there's some hint of a story to it so far. It's 'free' so might as well.

[TheMightyEthan]

14 hours ago, Mal said:

Combat is not that minor of an aspect of Hellblade if you need to smack people rather frequently. It honestly distracted from the rest of the game. Play through to the end and see how you feel.

 

It doesn't feel that frequent to me, just a couple fights per area, with much more time spent exploring/puzzle solving, but yeah things could definitely change later in the game.

[danielpholt]

16 hours ago, TheMightyEthan said:

 

It doesn't feel that frequent to me, just a couple fights per area, with much more time spent exploring/puzzle solving, but yeah things could definitely change later in the game.

 

There's a section towards the end of the game where you're endlessly fighting off bad-guy after bad-guy and there was a point where I lost my shit with the game. The Hellblade apologist in me would say that was a deliberate choice by the developers; the frustrated player would say otherwise. I ended up lowering the difficulty (i believe) and powering through it.

 

All in all that was the only black mark on a game I otherwise absolutely adored.

Edited July 16, 2019 by danielpholt
Words

[Mal]

You see, I got through the enemy waves just fine. Towards the end they can barely touch me dispite surrounding me. That's the part I found damning.

 

Spoiler

Hell, I fought a good 20 minutes or more at the endless horde at the end where you are pose to give up. I think I needed voices in my head to just give up. 

Combat is such a chore. 

[Mister Jack]

I recently, uh, "acquired" the 3DS version of Dragon Quest VIII to play. With DQXI for the Switch right around the corner, everyone seems pretty hyped for this series but despite being a big fan of JRPGs I've never really gotten around to seeing what the fuss is all about. I know that the gameplay in this series is pretty basic and on the surface wouldn't seem like something that should still be this popular, but I assume it's one of those things where you have to play it for yourself to "get" it so that's what I'm doing. I'm a couple hours in and so far it feels pretty chill. For most normal encounters I just let the AI do their thing and only assume direct control for bosses. It's a little brain dead but also kind of relaxing. Naturally, I assume it's only going to get harder but we'll see.

[CorgiShinobi]

I don't remember struggling with the combat in Hellblade. I can think of two parts and one of them was very intentional.

 

First was the bridge leading to the final boss area. It restricts your movement and should you allow enough enemies to gather, it's hard to do crowd control.

 

The second is the spoiler, but not to toot my own horn, I recognized the design behind it...

and only kept fighting for my own amusement. The same amount and type of enemies kept spawning, and given the theme, I realized I needed to give up since there was no foreseeable conclusion. Though, to be safe, I did look it up since the game at the time had a few glitches that could affect in-game progress. I fought for almost half an hour until I had enough.

[TheMightyEthan]

Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition

 

Darlin, DARLIN, STAAAAAND by me, ooh stand by me...

[deanb]

The ultimate version (and so timely)

[danielpholt]

Mario Maker 2

70 hours later, and I'm still really enjoying what Mario Maker 2 has to offer. I'm bad at it, both designing levels and you know, Mario as a whole but even for the outright incompetent there's fun to be had. I've hit something of a creative wall with designing my own levels; but I think that'll likely come back once things calm down a little at home (Life eh?). And if it doesn't? I've got a game that will give me new Mario levels until Nintendo decides to make MM3.

 

Telling Lies

 

I'm only an hour in at the time of writing, but its got the same hooks as Sam Barlow's previous effort; Her Story. Only there's more going on? There's certainly more characters, and as such, more perspectives to sort through, more conversations to decipher and obviously, more notes to be taken. I made my way through Her Story in 2-3 sittings, I can't see that being the case here.

 

 

[toxicitizen]

I recently realized that 2019 has pretty much been the Year of Capcom for me. Things started off with Onimusha remastered and RE2 back in January, then DMC 5 in March and Okami HD at the start of the summer and I finally got into Street Fighter V a couple weeks ago. So I figured it was as good a time as any to get back into Monster Hunter World and at least finish the main story.

 

Well, turns out I basically picked the worst possible point in the game to stop because on top of having to relearn the game and refamiliarize myself with all the maps, I stopped at the quest where you finally go hunt Nergigante. And holy shit, that motherfucker can fuck you up. I had to farm a bit to get a new armor set and weapon because my old gear just wasn't cutting it and even then it still took me like half a dozen tries. I don't remember any other monster up to this point giving me that much trouble lol. Felt great to finally slay him, though, even if I mostly just got lucky. No idea how much more there is to go but I think I'm hooked again. Iceborne isn't coming out on PC until January, so I've got plenty of time to finish the story and do all the event quests.

Edited August 28, 2019 by FLD

[TheMightyEthan]

@danielpholt The creativity issue is why I bounce off of games like that. Anything I could make would suck compared to people who actually know what they're doing, and I don't particularly enjoy the process of making it either... The closest I can get is stuff like Opus Magnum, where you have a really well-defined problem that you're solving.

 

I've been playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses and holy shit do I love it. I've never played any other Fire Emblem game, so I don't know how similar those are, but this one is totally my jam. I love so much the social sim interspersed between the battles. I'm really not very far in, I've only done "mock" battles so far, but I love what I've been playing.

[MetalCaveman]

Senran Kagura Peach Ball. BEST GAME EVER.  Never been too much of a pinball fan, but this has been the perfect game to play at the end of the day, just relax, unwind and have fun.

 

Halo Master Chief Collection, going through Halo 2 on normal, still haven't finished CE on Heroic, thinking about streaming my attempts to complete Keyes and The Maw, if only just to give me a reason to go back and play those levels.  

[Mal]

Oddly enough... Cold Steel II. I need to return back to it as a refresher and to complete an optional-but-not-really sidequest for Cold Steel III prep. Not like I have to start from scratch either since I was doing this a while back before I lost interest and stopped. I'm just resuming where I left off... just before a rather hard mech fight. That guy is no joke!

[CorgiShinobi]

Control is my cup of tea, but man does the performance tank when a lot of explosions and particle effects happen. I play it on my PS4 Pro, but it also seems to have some issues on PC too. It does have motion blur and half the time I rather it didn't. Still, I love third person shooters with superhuman abilities. A lot of collectibles that expand on the Federal Bureau of Control and the crazy world/reality of it all. Especially the Threshold Kids... genuinely creeps me out.

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, the performance issues are the only thing holding me back from Control at the moment.

 

Well, that and the fact that I'm still neck-deep in Fire Emblem...

[Mr. GOH!]

Control, which has replaced FE3H as my GOTY.

 

I'm playing it on PC with an RTX 2070 and it is pretty, even at 1080p (4k won't work except at relatively low settings). 

 

The ray tracing stuff is neat, but the game play and overall design is excellent. Everything from the game play to the level design to the narrative all come together to make a great game.