What are you currently playing?

[toxicitizen]

I can't stop playing Super Mario 3D Land!

 

First, I beat the main worlds. Then I beat the special worlds. Then I found out I could get up to five stars on my save file so I went back and replayed the levels where I didn't land at the top of the flagpole. And now I started replaying all the levels as Luigi for the final star.

 

[Mister Jack]

I think I'm finally getting the hang of XCOM.  For starters, I decided to prioritize satellites and satellite uplinks over absolutely everything else.  Excluding a few suits of armor, a MEC trooper, and a med pack, I didn't buy ANYTHING else except for things I would need in order to get more satellites.  I also skipped over laser weapons entirely because they just get replaced by plasma anyway.  Perhaps most importantly, I am procrastinating the hell out of the main story missions.  I haven't even done the alien base yet and I don't intend to until I've got the best weapons and equipment I can possibly have without advancing the story.  I lost the UK in the process but fuck 'em.  I feel like I might actually beat the game this time unless it throws a really nasty curveball at me in the later acts.

[toxicitizen]

I think I'm finally getting the hang of XCOM.  For starters, I decided to prioritize satellites and satellite uplinks over absolutely everything else.  Excluding a few suits of armor, a MEC trooper, and a med pack, I didn't buy ANYTHING else except for things I would need in order to get more satellites.

Yeah, prioritizing satellites is generally the way to go early on.

 

I also skipped over laser weapons entirely because they just get replaced by plasma anyway.

This isn't entirely necessary but it's also not a bad idea since it's a pretty linear upgrade with no downsides.

 

Perhaps most importantly, I am procrastinating the hell out of the main story missions.  I haven't even done the alien base yet and I don't intend to until I've got the best weapons and equipment I can possibly have without advancing the story.

Again, not entirely necessary. But that's the thing about EU: as long as you can manage your panic levels, there's basically no penalty for ignoring the story missions. But here's the thing, I'd recommend doing the alien base soon because:

 

1) It's the first main story mission, it's not that hard and doesn't expect you to have end-game gear. Putting it off for that long really isn't necessary.

2) The game has this weird, backwards difficulty curve where it actually gets easier as you upgrade your stuff. The first few months are definitely the hardests out of the entire game. So, basically what you're doing here is extending the period where the game gets piss easy and it might end up making it kinda boring in the long run.

 

I feel like I might actually beat the game this time unless it throws a really nasty curveball at me in the later acts.

Yeah, like I said, it's likely to only get easier going forward. You shouldn't have anything to worry about, as long as you play carefully.

[Mister Jack]

Since I started FFVII to see if I would want to take the plunge on FFIX's PC port, I figured I might as well finish FFVII.  The port is a mess, but I installed some mods to improve the experience.  First, I installed a mod to alter the controls so they'd match the original Playstation controls minus the O and X buttons being swapped.  Then, I installed another pack with a number of improvements.  Firstly, it puts in a new script for the localisation, which was sorely needed if you ask me.  The original translation left me scratching my head because I just couldn't understand the game's story, plus it was just full of mistranslations (Safer Sephiroth, anyone?).  It also upped the framerate on the battles to 60fps, which has the added side effect of making the standard attack animations play out faster.  Some of the menus were resized and repositioned too.  A subtle improvement, but appreciated.  Finally, the goofy looking field models of the original game were touched up to better match the battle models, meaning that Cloud goes from this

 

 

to this

 

Edited April 19, 2016 by Mister Jack

[deanb]

The models in FFIX are fine, though be nice to see a mod down the line slip in the HD backgrounds where available. It lets you set up custom controls too, so I've everything as default except like yourself swapping the   n    around to more conventional select n cancel.

One thing I'm still undecided on is that the default Title Menu button is "Continue", and this is different to what you'd expect. Turns out they've built in a sort of checkpoint system, and there's where "Continue" places you, rather than at your last save. It's annoying cos sometimes (especially in the World) you'll be placed a bit behind, but on the plus side it means if you're killed by a boss you start right up again in that room instead of having to go through the whole previous sequence again. E.g with Black Waltz 1 it took a few shots to kill him (I'm trying to Steal too often I think) but I just started right up at the waterfall each time instead of the Moogle, then the sleeping scene, waking scene, then heading to Black Waltz 1.

 

Just left Gizmalukes Grotto n got Black Waltz 3 Fight #2 coming up.

 

I'm playing it between sessions of ESO, which I've got a third character recently set up, mainly wanting to see the starting areas. My first in Vulkhan Guard is probably still the best purely based on layout. Crafting tables are pretty much right by each other, though I guess in Daggerfall the bank is right near the clothing n blacksmith tables, a shame the deposit box for daily crafting and the woodworking is so far away. It reminds me a lot of Guild Wars 2, though not as "pretty". Pretty much everything in it so far is Green.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

Holy Mother of God. Whoever decided to mix up the tempo of the gameplay in Murdered: Soul Suspect with the demons needs to have their soul ripped out and dragged down to Hell.

[TheMightyEthan]

Going into it I thought I was going to hate the demons, but I actually ended up not minding them too much.

 

Anyway, good mid-tier game, I enjoyed it enough to get all the achievements.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

They were annoying up until I got to asylum where two are in line of sight at the same time and I'm assuming it's a glitch but they keep seeing me through walls while I'm trying to wait. It doesn't help that I'm not sure of which are the a,b,x,y buttons in a panic as they're opposite to Nintendo and when I'm stood behind them and press the rt button it doesn't register a lot of the time so the demons turn round and devour me..

 

. I even looked to see in their was a set way on YouTube and it was just a load of people dying all the time and then skirting around them but I really want to kill the bastards now. I think I have plan for tomorrow but I gave up for today.

[toxicitizen]

Well, it was a bit of a grind but I'm finally done!

 

 

Think I've had my fill of Souls for a little while, though. Don't think I'll touch the game again until the first DLC pack comes out. Hell, I don't even feel like going back to finish Scholar of the First Sin. And now I can finally go back to Persona Q!

Edited May 10, 2016 by FLD

[Baconrath]

I'm going back through Trails in the Sky on Steam again except this time with a guide. I've already found some stuff I missed (like not getting caught by the monster on the farm gets you a few more points).

[Mr. GOH!]

I'm playing through Stellaris, the kinda 4X/grand strategy space empire sim from Paradox. It's pretty interesting and Paradox-y, though a million times more accessible than their other games. I'm really liking it.

[TheMightyEthan]

I'm playing Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, which I got for free from Games with Gold. It's really quite good, despite the obviously low budget, I really feel like I'm actually solving a mystery. I can't help but think that LA Noire could have benefited from some of the ways this game handles investigations.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

I'm almost playing DA: Inquisition. Decided on a male human Mage which took a lot of agonising in its own right, then head into the creator, take an age to make him look ruggedly handsome but as soon as the game starts he looks like a melted waxwork. Spent most of the day's game time restarting it and still not happy. May actually play something else and come back to this as it's got on my nerves now.

[Mr. GOH!]

Doom. It's demon-stomping fun.

[Mal]

Giving Bioshock Infinite another whirl. I never played it on max settings so this is a good time as any. I got to say though, I kind of do dislike the placement of loot/junk so early in the game (pre-baptism).

[deanb]

"He doesn't row!"

I should maybe replay that at some point, though Dishonered is higher up my list for a replay.

 

 

I'm now playing Just Cause 3 again, fun brainless game (though I think I might be turning my brain off a bit too much cos I did a mission last night I don't understand the latter third of). Only major issue is the controls are kind of all over the place depending on what you're doing at any particular time so you don't always get the desired result. The untethering is the most finnicky which can be an issue if you're wanting to say pull an AA gun to a new spot, then pull it to a newer spot but can't release the original tether as the "B to untether" rarely, if ever, works. It does work if you'r in a car (where it's down on the d-pad). Also the tethering can be like the first 90% of travel up a hill or tower will be over in seconds, but the final 10% is a bunch of tethering, re-tethering and then mis-timed Jumps which means you launch a parachute instead (because of aforementioned changing of controls depending on what you're doing at that exact moment in time).

 

Other than that it's fun to blow shit up and zip around the islands and turn the AA missiles against the enemy

[toxicitizen]

Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. I wanna play Link Between Worlds and felt like I should give LttP a replay first. I played the shit out of that game as a kid, so I was worried replaying it would be a little tedious and might even put me off of LBW a bit, but that's not the case at all. The game holds up incredibly well. It's also going much faster than I expected it to, I only started it last night and I'm already almost halfway through the Dark World (3 temples done). The dungeons are much shorter than I remembered, so I usually end up completing 2-3 back to back.

 

I have to say, it's pretty awesome replaying a game like this on my 3DS. The emulation isn't perfect (there's some slowdown at times, usually when 3-4 enemies come at me at once) but it's not a big deal for me. I still have Earthbound and Super Metroid to play but I really hope Nintendo will release more of these. Super Mario RPG would be an instabuy.

[Strangelove]

Fallout 4: Far Harbor. Great expansion, except that they force you to do some really lame Lemmings/building blocks style puzzles. They're godawful. I will never play this expansion again because of these puzzles. I can't believe this is mandatory to continue the main quest.

[Mister Jack]

I've been playing Stardew Valley to wind down at night and man is this game comfy.

 

[TheMightyEthan]

I've started playing Fallout 4 again since the Far Harbor DLC just came out and I never played the Automotron DLC.

[toxicitizen]

Wrapped up Link to the Past late last night and went straight into Link Between Worlds. I'm like 3 hours in and really digging it so far. Doing a replay of LttP was the right move, I think. I still remembered most of the game but a lot of the details would've been fuzzy whereas now I'm having a blast playing LBW and noticing all the similarities and differences on the world map.

 

I kinda want to play some more but it's past 10AM right now and I'm pretty close to passing out in my chair. I should probably get some sleep...

[Mal]

Gave the DOOM multiplayer a try. The demon mode is god mode which often comes with an one hit kill. It objectively makes it bad because it unbalances the whole game. Like shit man, half of my deaths were from demons. Some of the higher unlockable demons I can barely make a dent in their health before they fly across the hallways to kick my ass.

Edit: Otherwise, it is pretty run of the mill multiplayer.

Edited May 26, 2016 by MaliciousH

[deanb]

I've been passing smaller segments of time lately with Harbinger, one of the games from a past Android Humble Bundle.

 

It's a pretty neat ship combat game, though quite simplified and a lot of the tactics is in balancing out your fleets load outs. You start with one ship (which your starting ship choices expand as you level up) and a bunch of scrap and you progress through Sectors, gaining missions, allies and loot as you go and you can upgrade to have two more ships in your fleet, though your starting ship is the one that has to survive. Overall "campaign" is to make it through 4 systems, the furthest I've gotten is to the second system.

For a smartphone game (I think it might be tablet only though) it's pretty decent way of passing the time, though it could do with maybe some clearer indication of some buttons and functions. E.g targetting enemy ships I think you can have certain weapons fired to individual ships. Also the Mission screen is fiddly in that regard. Maybe. Also like FTL if you get a shit run of systems, such as a blackhole area (drains your hull), then a electro storm (drains shield) then onwards to an enemy stronghold in next sector and you're kinda fucked with no friendly base along way to heal up. It can be a bit slow between sectors at times too, which I don't know if that's the game or my tablet but not really had an issue on other games.

 

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fi.bugbyte.harbinger

 

(the screenshots show like races n such next to the screens but there's nothing like that in the game, it's purely ship-to-ship n no talking beyond getting missions)

 

It's also on Steam which seems a slightly tweaked UI but mostly the same:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/396480/

 

(one of the screenshots shows the enemy targeting system I mentioned)

[toxicitizen]

Started playing Trails of Cold Steel a few days ago. About 30 hours in now and I'm having a blast with it. It's a Trails game alright. Although the overall structure is different (it actually takes a few pages out of the Persona book), the core gameplay loop is very similar to Trails in the Sky where you explore a town and its surrounding areas and complete various jobs/quests there. Hell, the quests themselves are pretty similar with monster hunts and whatnot.

 

I'm on the 3rd chapter now and still no clue what the main plot is supposed to be about. I'm assuming it'll start to pick up in the next few chapters but this was expected after Trails in the Sky FC. The first game is taking its time to introduce the world and the characters properly and the second game is likely to be where most of the action happens. But holy shit, like I said, 30 hours in so I kind of assumed I was roughly halfway through. Then I pop into the game's OT on NeoGAF and someone informed me that I wasn't even 1/4 of the way through lmao. Some people are even reporting final playtimes of over 100 hours. What the fuck did I get myself into?! This one is going to take a while...

[Baconrath]

That one's on my wishlist but I still havent finished FC