The "Currently Playing..." Topic

Edit history:

arkarian: 2017-04-05 12:24:54 pm

2017-04-05 12:23:36 pm

red chamber dream

weirdly enough, i still enjoy dk64 in spite of, and sometimes because of those things. movement is so fun in that game, especially with kongs like lanky or tiny

Turtle

2017-04-05 02:36:52 pm

I like turtles.

DK64 sounds kind of like Sly 4.

2017-04-05 02:49:21 pm

red chamber dream

eh. i liked sly 4 more than sly 3.

sly 1 is still where it's at though. that game is an absolute classic

2017-04-06 12:39:33 pm

Dood Trigger™

Gloomy Galleon, dude, holy moly... who enjoys this. The normal controls in DK64 are already awful, and then there's the swimming. Collecting 2D sprites in a 3D underwater environment with poor camera control is kind of a massive slog.

Also starting in GG the game becomes extra obnoxious with the banana placement, small and golden. The first few areas are large and confusing, but at least you know you'll walk out of a room/mini-game with most things done. In the late game areas you often need multiple Kongs to set up one banana, or a banana has more than one challenge, which makes the game even more bloated.

I like the concept of Fungi Forest, switching between day and night at will. It has great atmosphere and music too. I'm sure in Banjo-Kazooie they would've done more with it than simply making doors open/closed if it's day or night. Click Clock Wood is a great example of how to design this kind of area... the way the environment changes makes logical sense for each season, and the stuff you need to solve is also part of it (like feeding a newborn eagle for a year). Plus the humor is on point... like when you save the beaver but the passage into his home is too steep to enter during Spring, so when the Summer rains flood the forest and you swim there, he says he's been waiting months to hand you your reward. But in Fungi Forest the most creative change is... an owl sleeping at night...

Crystal Caves tomorrow. I might be able to do Creepy Castle and the end game as well if I'm not too sick of it...

Gloomy Galleon, dude, holy moly... who enjoys this. The normal controls in DK64 are already awful, and then there's the swimming. Collecting 2D sprites in a 3D underwater environment with poor camera control is kind of a massive slog.

Also starting in GG the game becomes extra obnoxious with the banana placement, small and golden. The first few areas are large and confusing, but at least you know you'll walk out of a room/mini-game with most things done. In the late game areas you often need multiple Kongs to set up one banana, or a banana has more than one challenge, which makes the game even more bloated.

I like the concept of Fungi Forest, switching between day and night at will. It has great atmosphere and music too. I'm sure in Banjo-Kazooie they would've done more with it than simply making doors open/closed if it's day or night. Click Clock Wood is a great example of how to design this kind of area... the way the environment changes makes logical sense for each season, and the stuff you need to solve is also part of it (like feeding a newborn eagle for a year). Plus the humor is on point... like when you save the beaver but the passage into his home is too steep to enter during Spring, so when the Summer rains flood the forest and you swim there, he says he's been waiting months to hand you your reward. But in Fungi Forest the most creative change is... an owl sleeping at night...

Crystal Caves tomorrow. I might be able to do Creepy Castle and the end game as well if I'm not too sick of it...

2017-04-06 01:09:15 pm

I replayed the game once a few years ago. Dropped it at Crystal Caves lol

Good luck soldier!

2017-04-06 01:28:17 pm

Quote:

>Developed in part by Retro Studios with assistance from Nintendo
>Successor to DK64
>Playable characters include Donkey, Diddy, Dixie, Cranky, Lanky, Tiny, and Kiddy
>The rest (and I mean all) of the Kong cast makes either cameos or recurring appearances
>King K Rool and the Kremlings are back as the villains.
>KRool, this time around sporting some sort of evil CEO type costume, buys out DK Island to erect a "Kremling Kreation Facility".
>Animal buddies are back. All of them with one or two exceptions are rideable and function in different ways based on which Kong is riding. For example, Dixie Kong riding Espresso will allow them to leap rediculously high into the air, while Kranky Kong is able to whack Espresso with his cane to get a burst of speed. Every combination of Kong and Buddy does something different so it's worth trying out all the combinations.
>While trying to be more streamlined than DK64, Nintendo and Retro hope to bring back the familiar feeling of collecting and exploring DK Island
>Launching alongside series 1 of a new DK line of amiibo
>2018

That's all. See you guys at E3.

I hope that's a hoax

[quote]>Developed in part by Retro Studios with assistance from Nintendo
>Successor to DK64
>Playable characters include Donkey, Diddy, Dixie, Cranky, Lanky, Tiny, and Kiddy
>The rest (and I mean all) of the Kong cast makes either cameos or recurring appearances 
>King K Rool and the Kremlings are back as the villains. 
>KRool, this time around sporting some sort of evil CEO type costume, buys out DK Island to erect a "Kremling Kreation Facility". 
>Animal buddies are back. All of them with one or two exceptions are rideable and function in different ways based on which Kong is riding. For example, Dixie Kong riding Espresso will allow them to leap rediculously high into the air, while Kranky Kong is able to whack Espresso with his cane to get a burst of speed. Every combination of Kong and Buddy does something different so it's worth trying out all the combinations.
>While trying to be more streamlined than DK64, Nintendo and Retro hope to bring back the familiar feeling of collecting and exploring DK Island
>Launching alongside series 1 of a new DK line of amiibo
>2018

That's all. See you guys at E3.[/quote]

I hope that's a hoax

2017-04-06 01:34:42 pm

Dood Trigger™

Oh man... can you imagine an even more massive collect-a-thon than DK64 :(

2017-04-06 01:57:27 pm

part of me thinks it's believable. Nobody asked for Tropical Freeze and we got that.

The other part thinks Nintendo can't be THAT insane.

2017-04-06 01:57:43 pm

then I realize they totally can

2017-04-06 02:02:16 pm

red chamber dream

if it's real, i'll play it. i honestly do love dk64

2017-04-07 10:25:13 pm

Dood Trigger™

Finished DK64, 101%. Phew.

I don't mind Crystal Caves except that some of the golden bananas are really dumb. Diddy has this one arena style room where he has to kill some enemies under a time limit. It is crazy tight. But this area is fairly relaxing, especially if you take care of the stupid stalactite enemy ASAP (another thing that carried over to Banjo-Tooie... Hailfire Peaks!). After beating this level I went back to Fungi Forest to finish the second rabbit race. Cheated the crap out of it, courtesy of YouTube. How is this possible normally? This guy transcends rubberbanding, it's like he predicts all the shortcuts you're gonna take.

Despite being an end game area, Creepy Castle is probably the least trolly layout-wise... most Kongs' small bananas are concentrated in logical patterns, and warps are easy to memorize for once. Too bad Beaver Bother exists here. BOO Beaver Bother, booooo. It sucks!

Hideout Helm is cool. This place is mostly mini-games like the rest of DK64, but there's an urgency to it with the limited time and it's neat how you use all the Kongs. Plus the music is amazing. The final boss is also really fun. It's 20 minutes long but it never feels drawn out. Rare sure knew how to do final battles back in the day.

Banjo-Tooie next week! I don't know when exactly I'll get Yooka-Laylee because I want to see if I can find a physical copy. Will try to wrap up the Rare-a-thon until then. Tooie is massive as well, but Conker's relatively short. I might do both. Hey, I survived DK64 again, I deserve some games that are actually good now...

Finished DK64, 101%. Phew.

I don't mind Crystal Caves except that some of the golden bananas are really dumb. Diddy has this one arena style room where he has to kill some enemies under a time limit. It is crazy tight. But this area is fairly relaxing, especially if you take care of the stupid stalactite enemy ASAP (another thing that carried over to Banjo-Tooie... Hailfire Peaks!). After beating this level I went back to Fungi Forest to finish the second rabbit race. Cheated the crap out of it, courtesy of YouTube. How is this possible normally? This guy transcends rubberbanding, it's like he predicts all the shortcuts you're gonna take.

Despite being an end game area, Creepy Castle is probably the least trolly layout-wise... most Kongs' small bananas are concentrated in logical patterns, and warps are easy to memorize for once. Too bad Beaver Bother exists here. BOO Beaver Bother, booooo. It sucks!

Hideout Helm is cool. This place is mostly mini-games like the rest of DK64, but there's an urgency to it with the limited time and it's neat how you use all the Kongs. Plus the music is amazing. The final boss is also really fun. It's 20 minutes long but it never feels drawn out. Rare sure knew how to do final battles back in the day.

Banjo-Tooie next week! I don't know when exactly I'll get Yooka-Laylee because I want to see if I can find a physical copy. Will try to wrap up the Rare-a-thon until then. Tooie is massive as well, but Conker's relatively short. I might do both. Hey, I survived DK64 again, I deserve some games that are actually good now...

2017-04-07 10:28:14 pm

red chamber dream

i think tooie is kind of underrated nowadays. i like it just as much or more than bk. have fun!

2017-04-09 10:42:25 pm

Dood Trigger™

Little bit past halfway through Banjo-Tooie (52 Jiggies out of 90).

Holy potty mouth breegull, coming from DK64 this game is almost too polished. It's kind of ridiculous. From collision to textures to physics, everything is soooo smooth in comparison. You don't slide off platforms as easily, camera doesn't hate you as much (still pretty bad though... this is N64 after all). Night and day. Tooie still feels like a mini-game marathon sometimes, but the fact that the mini-game is coherent with the general theme of the level instead of warping you to a random barrel says it all. And this game is actually creative, characters and areas and moves and everything. Still impressed by how much they managed to expand from BK to this.

Also, even though the game is way too big, I think it has pretty good pacing if you know where to go. People complain about the backtracking, but there's always only a couple of things per world that you can't do on the first trip. Granted, Superbanjo cuts a lot of corners, but yeah. First time through I got Mayahem Temple and Glitter Gulch Mine 100%, only one Jiggy missing from Witchyworld, and 2 missing from Jolly Roger Lagoon and Terrydactyland each. Not a bad deal.

Really happy I found an easy strat for the Chris P. Bacon challenge... I used to do the speedrun method where you float on the water and pick the fish from a distance, which is indeed a great strategy... if you're good at aiming, which I'm not. Turns out that by swimming at the fish's level you can just spam eggs while looking in their direction.

Had to stop before Grunty Industries 'cause it's a pretty notoriously massive level. I'll do it tomorrow.

Little bit past halfway through Banjo-Tooie (52 Jiggies out of 90).

Holy potty mouth breegull, coming from DK64 this game is almost too polished. It's kind of ridiculous. From collision to textures to physics, everything is soooo smooth in comparison. You don't slide off platforms as easily, camera doesn't hate you as much (still pretty bad though... this is N64 after all). Night and day. Tooie still feels like a mini-game marathon sometimes, but the fact that the mini-game is coherent with the general theme of the level instead of warping you to a random barrel says it all. And this game is actually creative, characters and areas and moves and everything. Still impressed by how much they managed to expand from BK to this.

Also, even though the game is way too big, I think it has pretty good pacing if you know where to go. People complain about the backtracking, but there's always only a couple of things per world that you can't do on the first trip. Granted, Superbanjo cuts a lot of corners, but yeah. First time through I got Mayahem Temple and Glitter Gulch Mine 100%, only one Jiggy missing from Witchyworld, and 2 missing from Jolly Roger Lagoon and Terrydactyland each. Not a bad deal.

Really happy I found an easy strat for the Chris P. Bacon challenge... I used to do the speedrun method where you float on the water and pick the fish from a distance, which is indeed a great strategy... if you're good at aiming, which I'm not. Turns out that by swimming at the fish's level you can just spam eggs while looking in their direction.

Had to stop before Grunty Industries 'cause it's a pretty notoriously massive level. I'll do it tomorrow.

2017-04-11 07:26:57 am

Dood Trigger™

Finished Tooie, 100%!

Grunty Industries gets a bad rap. It's true that your time here is spent mostly setting up Jiggies and opening doors. I think it's a great level, though. Jiggy setup can get overwhelming, but you do most of it with the characters separated, and you can do one floor at a time, which helps segment the whole thing nicely. I mean, this area is... a building. With floors, a roof, an elevator shaft and stuff. Pretty much every new room has a shortcut to unlock. The place is massive, but not really confusing IMO. I did use a guide for Clinker's Cavern, aka the map that was ~~stolen~~ recycled from GoldenEye. I always get lost there.

Hailfire Peaks is another enormous level. Frame rate drops to 5 fps here sometimes (XBLA version runs a lot better). This level is cool, but very tiring.

Cloud Cuckooland, on the other hand, is a pretty relaxing and free stage... with the exception of stupid Canary Mary, of course. There is a trick to it, though, if you keep tapping the button moderately so the AI won't go too far ahead, and stay right behind her until the very end. Still took me a few tries.

The end game was easy, including the quiz. I had enough HP and perks to steamroll Grunty.

Starting Conker's Bad Fur Day in a couple of days. Saw this earlier:

Finished Tooie, 100%!

Grunty Industries gets a bad rap. It's true that your time here is spent mostly setting up Jiggies and opening doors. I think it's a great level, though. Jiggy setup can get overwhelming, but you do most of it with the characters separated, and you can do one floor at a time, which helps segment the whole thing nicely. I mean, this area is... a building. With floors, a roof, an elevator shaft and stuff. Pretty much every new room has a shortcut to unlock. The place is massive, but not really confusing IMO. I did use a guide for Clinker's Cavern, aka the map that was [s]stolen[/s] recycled from GoldenEye. I always get lost there.

Hailfire Peaks is another enormous level. Frame rate drops to 5 fps here sometimes (XBLA version runs a lot better). This level is cool, but very tiring.

Cloud Cuckooland, on the other hand, is a pretty relaxing and free stage... with the exception of stupid Canary Mary, of course. There is a trick to it, though, if you keep tapping the button moderately so the AI won't go too far ahead, and stay right behind her until the very end. Still took me a few tries.

The end game was easy, including the quiz. I had enough HP and perks to steamroll Grunty.

Starting Conker's Bad Fur Day in a couple of days. Saw this earlier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKAbetSJEBk

2017-04-11 04:46:51 pm

red chamber dream

yeah grunty industries is the best level in that game. i think people who don't like it just aren't paying enough attention to how everything fits together

2017-04-11 09:50:09 pm

Dood Trigger™

It's a big area and you have to set up a ton, but the layout makes logical sense. People talk about GI as if you enter a room and come out on the other side of the building like in Scooby-Doo.

Got Yooka-Laylee digital because I'm a weakling. Apparently physical copies won't be here for another 2 or 3 weeks. Bleh.

I'll still play through Conker before YL. Shouldn't take too long IIRC... this is a very linear game and there's no collect-a-thon-ing per se, you just grab money and move on to the next level.

2017-04-11 09:53:28 pm

red chamber dream

i can't wait to start yooka-laylee this weekend. i still have more than half of zelda to finish, but i can't help but start yl soon

Serris

2017-04-13 05:11:24 am

Beat final boss in Yooka Laylee. Overall the game is totally fine. Two thirds through the collectathon and I've yet to run into a REALLY frustrating minigame so that helps.

2017-04-13 11:42:04 pm

Dood Trigger™

Finished Conker's Bad Fur Day. Still the weirdest platformer I know.

This game has some great cutscenes and presentation, but what you actually do in the game is always very mundane and repetitive. The irony is that there's a huge variety of scenarios and levels, but each scenario gets old really fast. There's only one way to solve things, which usually involves doing the same task over and over (yes, game, I get that Conker is drunk and peeing on enemies, haha, can I not do this whole routine 14 times?). There's a lot of fetching and pushing objects. You can't get creative with moves or anything. Fall damage is nuts, you barely survive your own jump height. There's nothing to collect aside from lives and health, and almost every goal is mandatory. I don't mind the linearity because it's always exciting when you enter a new place, it's just that not even 5 minutes into a new area I'm already begging for the next part.

The late game levels are really good though. The whole war segment is amazing (except the stupid countdown part), and the mansion is pretty cool. Feels good to use the new weapons after 5-6 hours of the same old frying pan attack. Final boss is awesome too. Sucks that you have to endure so much crap to get there.

This is the kind of game that I like better the longer I spend without actually playing it, which is a weird thing to say, but it's true. I love the ideas in this, just not the biggest fan of all the repetition and stiff gameplay.

Starting Yooka-Laylee this weekend!

Finished Conker's Bad Fur Day. Still the weirdest platformer I know.

This game has some great cutscenes and presentation, but what you actually do in the game is always very mundane and repetitive. The irony is that there's a huge variety of scenarios and levels, but each scenario gets old really fast. There's only one way to solve things, which usually involves doing the same task over and over (yes, game, I get that Conker is drunk and peeing on enemies, haha, can I not do this whole routine 14 times?). There's a lot of fetching and pushing objects. You can't get creative with moves or anything. Fall damage is nuts, you barely survive your own jump height. There's nothing to collect aside from lives and health, and almost every goal is mandatory. I don't mind the linearity because it's always exciting when you enter a new place, it's just that not even 5 minutes into a new area I'm already begging for the next part.

The late game levels are really good though. The whole war segment is amazing (except the stupid countdown part), and the mansion is pretty cool. Feels good to use the new weapons after 5-6 hours of the same old frying pan attack. Final boss is awesome too. Sucks that you have to endure so much crap to get there.

This is the kind of game that I like better the longer I spend without actually playing it, which is a weird thing to say, but it's true. I love the ideas in this, just not the biggest fan of all the repetition and stiff gameplay.

Starting Yooka-Laylee this weekend!

Serris

2017-04-14 01:09:55 am

Handful of notes away from 100%, found a bunch more annoying minigames! Though nothing approaching some of the most notorious Rare minigames.

Edit history:

arkarian: 2017-04-14 11:46:03 pm

2017-04-14 11:45:56 pm

red chamber dream

just started playing yooka-laylee. the main overworld theme is fucking awesome, and also VERY similar to grunty's lair's theme. i think that's a great thing lol

still think isle o hags is the best though

Idkbutlike2

2017-04-15 10:26:42 pm

I've been playing Persona 5 almost exclusively for the past week and a half. It's been pretty amazing so far. Everything about this game is stylish as fuck, right down to the menus and interface. Atlus really stepped up the production value in this one.