The "Currently Playing..." Topic

Edit history:

arkarian: 2018-09-25 08:21:28 pm

2018-09-25 08:21:14 pm

red chamber dream

i'm legit having a hard time playing horizon zero dawn because you can't zoom the camera out. i'm sure i'll get used to it, but man it's unpleasant. feels as if i'm playing resident evil 4, but it's like no, you're an open world game... let me fucking zoom out so i can see what's around me

tomatobob

2018-09-25 08:54:33 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Yeah it feels super zoomed in. I imagine that it's in part because if they zoomed out they'd murder the frame rate.

Makes dealing with multiple enemies harder than it should be.

Opium

2018-09-26 07:27:23 am

Good luck with HZD. This kid I work with kept telling me that I needed to play it because it was the best game ever, so I started playing it. Every day I would come in and tell him where I was at in the game. After a few days I started asking him when the game was going to get more fun because I was getting bored, and he kept telling me that it was going to take off at any moment. After a few weeks of this, he said that I was way past the part where it was supposed to be exciting so I just stopped. It's a total snore fest. There were some moments of combat that I enjoyed but they were separated by hours of boringness.

arkarian

2018-09-26 10:25:45 am

red chamber dream

ugh i'm feeling you so far. i was listening to this podcast where a guy claimed it was the best game of last year, way better than zelda

after playing for 10 hours, i have no idea what UNIVERSE people who prefer hzd over breath of the wild are living in

arkarian

2018-09-26 10:26:46 am

red chamber dream

honestly i think it's manchildren who think the story is interesting and that aloy is a good character

when it's literally just the same cookie cutter shit as any other open world game

arkarian

2018-09-26 10:26:57 am

red chamber dream

the combat is atrocious so far too

tomatobob

2018-09-26 04:37:16 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

At a certain point it becomes evident that Horizon is actually just a Ubisoft open world game but with inventory management.

Da Dood

2018-09-28 06:27:43 pm

Dood Trigger™

For this year's October horror month, I'm doing a full Blindvania marathon with a bunch of Castlevania games that I've never played.

- Castlevania 2 (NES)
- Legacy of Darkness (N64, all characters)
- The Adventure (GB)
- Belmont's Revenge (GB)
- Legends (GB)
- Chorus of Mysteries (CV1 hack)

Bonus Games If There's Time
- Kid Dracula (GB)
- Master of Darkness (SMS, famous Castlevania clone)
- Super Mario Crossover (as Simon Belmont)

About CV2... I'll try my hardest to explore the game on my own, but I am definitely using a guide for the dumb cryptic stuff. I also plan to get the best ending where you finish in under 8 in-game days, which I think at least compensates the guide thing a little.

I really wanted to do Haunted Castle too, but unfortunately MAME is frying my CPU lately. Bleh.

Starting Monday!

arkarian

Edit history:

arkarian: 2018-10-01 01:31:16 am

2018-10-01 01:30:58 am

red chamber dream

i started tales of zestiria. it's ... a tales game so far. i'm only a few hours in. nothing overly positive or negative to note yet

jrpg-wise i think i want to play ys viii next - looks like a lot of fun

Opium

2018-10-01 08:47:41 am

Good luck with Legacy of Darkness. I found that game to be too frustrating to control, terrible camera. I think there's only one thing I can think of about CV2 that you should need a guide for: how to use the red crystal.

I'm a few hours into Timespinners and really enjoying it. It's another SOTN clone like chasm, only fancier.

ryu

2018-10-01 11:12:06 am

Castlevania 64/legacy of darkness is one of my favorites. played the former with a friend and we had a blast

Da Dood

2018-10-01 12:42:07 pm

Dood Trigger™

Yeah, I've beaten the original CV64 a couple times, so if the controls and camera of LoD are like that, I'll be okay (even if it's not exactly ideal).

Da Dood

2018-10-01 06:06:47 pm

Dood Trigger™

Starting Blindvania with... Castlevania 2.

3 mansions beaten. Haven't used guides yet, but I already knew some things from reading/watching videos in the past (crouching with crystal equipped, Holy Water to destroy bricks... I also know there's something about a tornado later). Thankfully it's hard to dodge 30+ years of information about a game that's famous for being obtuse.

I'm enjoying it. It's a cool game, cryptic stuff notwithstanding. Definitely has its own style, even compared to the Metroidvanias. I already loved the music before I played this.

The mansions are kinda trolly... lots of dead ends and fake floors. I know Holy Water reveals fake blocks, but still. If I understand this correctly, time doesn't pass in the mansions, so you can farm and grind there with no punishment, right? I mean, to the extent that leveling up allows.

Currently I pRossess: Chain Whip, Rib, Heart, Eyeball, Blue Crystal, Dagger, Holy Water, Sacred Flame, Laurels, Garlic and L3. Hopefully the password stores everything.

Will continue tomorrow.

Starting Blindvania with... [b]Castlevania 2[/b].

3 mansions beaten. Haven't used guides yet, but I already knew some things from reading/watching videos in the past (crouching with crystal equipped, Holy Water to destroy bricks... I also know there's something about a tornado later). Thankfully it's hard to dodge 30+ years of information about a game that's famous for being obtuse.

I'm enjoying it. It's a cool game, cryptic stuff notwithstanding. Definitely has its own style, even compared to the Metroidvanias. I already loved the music before I played this.

The mansions are kinda trolly... lots of dead ends and fake floors. I know Holy Water reveals fake blocks, but still. If I understand this correctly, time doesn't pass in the mansions, so you can farm and grind there with no punishment, right? I mean, to the extent that leveling up allows.

Currently I p[b]R[/b]ossess: Chain Whip, Rib, Heart, Eyeball, Blue Crystal, Dagger, Holy Water, Sacred Flame, Laurels, Garlic and L3. Hopefully the password stores everything.

Will continue tomorrow.

Da Dood

2018-10-02 06:58:19 pm

Dood Trigger™

CV2 is done, and it only took me 30 days!!!! Well... 30 days in-game. Maybe like 6 hours IRL.

I enjoyed it overall. Probably my biggest complaint is that the environments get very samey very fast. And of course there's the issue with puzzles being obtuse, which at least shouldn't be a big deal in replays. But I dunno, this game often feels like I'm going through the same room over and over, and the action is really flat (either you mow through everything or you just damage boost because why bother hitting enemies 8-16 times?). But it's a cool game with its own identity.

I only looked up one thing, after I had all of Drac's parts and the Cross: how to enter the final area. That was surprisingly not cheap... I just didn't check that room for a long time 'cause I tried Holy Water on those blocks before and figured that was simply a shortcut. But again, I did know some key info before I started the game. Still glad I found other things on my own, like using the Heart on the Ferryman (the manual mentions that he'll take you somewhere "based on the body parts you have", so that was a good hint) and Flame Whip.

The only items I didn't find, according to the manual: Silk Bag and Silver Dagger. My last recorded password was: OV0K EQCV RT2S W3II

I'll do the good ending next. Gotta study the route a bit, but it shouldn't be too bad, right?

CV2 is done, and it only took me 30 days!!!! Well... 30 days in-game. Maybe like 6 hours IRL.

I enjoyed it overall. Probably my biggest complaint is that the environments get very samey very fast. And of course there's the issue with puzzles being obtuse, which at least shouldn't be a big deal in replays. But I dunno, this game often feels like I'm going through the same room over and over, and the action is really flat (either you mow through everything or you just damage boost because why bother hitting enemies 8-16 times?). But it's a cool game with its own identity.

I only looked up one thing, after I had all of Drac's parts and the Cross: how to enter the final area. That was surprisingly not cheap... I just didn't check that room for a long time 'cause I tried Holy Water on those blocks before and figured that was simply a shortcut. But again, I did know some key info before I started the game. Still glad I found other things on my own, like using the Heart on the Ferryman (the manual mentions that he'll take you somewhere "based on the body parts you have", so that was a good hint) and Flame Whip.

The only items I didn't find, according to the manual: Silk Bag and Silver Dagger. My last recorded password was: OV0K EQCV RT2S W3II

I'll do the good ending next. Gotta study the route a bit, but it shouldn't be too bad, right?
[hidden][img]https://imgtc.com/i/3WmglPf.png[/img][/hidden]

Glenn Magus Harvey

2018-10-02 09:55:05 pm

Simon resurrected Dracula only to kill him again.

Now you'll have to resurrect Simon just to keep him alive.

Quote from Opium:

I'm a few hours into Timespinners and really enjoying it. It's another SOTN clone like chasm, only fancier.

Any of y'all played Valdis Story?

Da Dood

2018-10-03 07:30:40 pm

Dood Trigger™

Haha, I never thought of it that way.

Okay, got the good ending in CV2. That was about a billion times easier than I expected. Move ASAP outside, grind as much as needed inside the mansions. All you need to know is the route, really. Finished in 4 days.

Starting Legacy of Darkness tomorrow. I'm gonna spread the four campaigns out just for a bit of variety (and to avoid getting 64vania burnout). So after I beat Cornell's story in LoD, I'll do The Adventure GB.

Da Dood

Edit history:

Da Dood: 2018-10-05 06:18:57 pm

2018-10-05 06:18:49 pm

Dood Trigger™

The Legacy of Darkness begins with Cornell. Finished his story in about 7 hours.

LoD is sort of the 'finished' edition of Castlevania 64, with new content and several changes. Most areas were redesigned to be more linear, which for me is a plus because the original had some really tedious mazes. And with more linear levels the camera tends to be less annoying as well. The only part that I felt was noticeably worse was the Villa/hedge maze, which has even more backtracking now (at least as Cornell). Also worth noting that there's a LOT more platforming in this version, and less combat. I enjoyed the platforming enough that I didn't think about the lack of enemies until after the game was done.

Power-ups and money appear more frequently too. It's nice being able to power up as quickly as in the classic games, but there was something about the rarity of these items in CV64 that made them such a big deal. Finding a power-up in the original was almost like finding magnum ammo in Resident Evil. And you really wanted to hold on to them because dying/loading a file takes your weapon back to Lv1. In LoD you rarely have to worry because there's always power-ups where you need them.

Cornell is fast, has a decent range attack, and a beast transformation that makes him stronger. The transformation consumes jewels, and you can't revert back to human form until you run out of ammo, which is kinda dumb. Cornell skips the Castle Center (with the nitro run), but he has to do all of Reinhardt's and Carrie's towers, plus 3 or 4 new levels that are exclusive to his story. The new levels are meh, honestly.

Cool game! Apparently most of LoD's extra content (Reinhardt, Carrie, costumes, Hard mode) is unlockable via Henry's quest. I'll do that after CV: The Adventure.

The [b]Legacy of Darkness[/b] begins with Cornell. Finished his story in about 7 hours.

LoD is sort of the 'finished' edition of Castlevania 64, with new content and several changes. Most areas were redesigned to be more linear, which for me is a plus because the original had some really tedious mazes. And with more linear levels the camera tends to be less annoying as well. The only part that I felt was noticeably worse was the Villa/hedge maze, which has even more backtracking now (at least as Cornell). Also worth noting that there's a LOT more platforming in this version, and less combat. I enjoyed the platforming enough that I didn't think about the lack of enemies until after the game was done.

Power-ups and money appear more frequently too. It's nice being able to power up as quickly as in the classic games, but there was something about the rarity of these items in CV64 that made them such a big deal. Finding a power-up in the original was almost like finding magnum ammo in Resident Evil. And you really wanted to hold on to them because dying/loading a file takes your weapon back to Lv1. In LoD you rarely have to worry because there's always power-ups where you need them.

Cornell is fast, has a decent range attack, and a beast transformation that makes him stronger. The transformation consumes jewels, and you can't revert back to human form until you run out of ammo, which is kinda dumb. Cornell skips the Castle Center (with the nitro run), but he has to do all of Reinhardt's and Carrie's towers, plus 3 or 4 new levels that are exclusive to his story. The new levels are meh, honestly.

Cool game! Apparently most of LoD's extra content (Reinhardt, Carrie, costumes, Hard mode) is unlockable via Henry's quest. I'll do that after CV: The Adventure.

[hidden][img]https://i.imgtc.com/1gWzpsR.png[/img][/hidden]

ryu

2018-10-06 02:02:48 am

I thought LoD was straight up the same game with a few new cjaracters and stages. Guess I should stop holding it off.

arkarian

2018-10-06 06:34:57 pm

red chamber dream

so tales of zestiria is pretty good so far. it might even be great. i love the combat system and how complicated practically everything is, lol

Glenn Magus Harvey

2018-10-06 06:37:51 pm

lol, magical nitro

Someone actually speculated that it doesn't make sense for that to be the nitro to blow up in your face, and it should be the mandragora that's the real explosive, while the nitro is used to detonate the mandragora. I forget how the reasoning worked.

Glenn Magus Harvey

2018-10-06 06:38:23 pm

Quote from arkarian:

so tales of zestiria is pretty good so far. it might even be great. i love the combat system and how complicated practically everything is, lol

I'm curious, do you tend to like or dislike how some modern JRPGs have really complicated skill systems?

Da Dood

2018-10-06 07:20:00 pm

Dood Trigger™

Yeah, the nitro thing is hilarious.

Finished Castlevania: The Adventure in about an hour.

Probably the worst Castlevania game I've ever played. So slow, barebones and annoying. Spike wall level refuses to end, then the final level has so many treacherous rooms. Losing whip power when you get hit is lame too. Bleh. I hope Belmont's Revenge is at least... average...

Starting LoD Henry tomorrow if I have the time!

arkarian

Edit history:

arkarian: 2018-10-06 07:53:53 pm

arkarian: 2018-10-06 07:53:16 pm

arkarian: 2018-10-06 07:52:57 pm

2018-10-06 07:52:47 pm

red chamber dream

Quote from Glenn Magus Harvey:

Quote from arkarian:

so tales of zestiria is pretty good so far. it might even be great. i love the combat system and how complicated practically everything is, lol

I'm curious, do you tend to like or dislike how some modern JRPGs have really complicated skill systems?

what are some examples? i'm not sure what types of games you mean. i do like some more complicated jrpgs, the problem is they require an amount of focus that i'm not always willing to give.

i'm not playing zestiria like i normally play jrpgs though. i'm not talking to every npc, not worrying too much about my equipment. just blowing through the game, skipping through a bunch of text, and it's been fun. there aren't many sidequests (yet?) though

basically there are too many tales games, and rpgs in general, and i want to have time for a lot of them

Glenn Magus Harvey

2018-10-06 08:17:02 pm

Quote from Da Dood:

Probably the worst Castlevania game I've ever played. So slow, barebones and annoying. Spike wall level refuses to end, then the final level has so many treacherous rooms. Losing whip power when you get hit is lame too. Bleh. I hope Belmont's Revenge is at least... average...

Spike wall level has music that sounds somewhat noticeably like Vampire Killer (especially in its harmonic structure). Which is quite appropriate because it is probably the most difficult level in the game, and the Vampire Killer theme showing up in the most difficult parts of the game is (or at least ought to be) a thing.

Quote from arkarian:

what are some examples? i'm not sure what types of games you mean. i do like some more complicated jrpgs, the problem is they require an amount of focus that i'm not always willing to give.

I just get the general sense from looking at skill trees and stuff like the sphere grid (which admittedly I haven't actually played) and other complicated JRPG mechanics that "ugh why can't y'all just make this simple and straightforward?".

Like, take FF4 to FF7 for example. FF4 just had people learning spells on level up. FF5 had job classes that you could switch around (though to be fair they were less complicated than FF3 which used "capacity" as a cost for switching jobs for whatever reason). FF6 had espers which each taught certain magic according to magic points, and then magic points for teaching magic, and then on-level-up stat bonuses, and then were one-use summon spells. Then FF7 just had an entire materia system, and something involving chained materia, and mastering materia, and miscellaneous stat boosts/debuffs from materia. These examples aren't hugely apt examples of "getting too complicated" and I can't remember off the top of my head which games I actually got that reaction to, but there are some more recent JRPGs where they talk about the skill system in the game and it's basically A Giant Pile Of Jargon and I feel like why can't it be any simpler.

Sorry, that was a bit of a vaguely-directed rant.

Quote from arkarian:

i'm not playing zestiria like i normally play jrpgs though. i'm not talking to every npc, not worrying too much about my equipment. just blowing through the game, skipping through a bunch of text, and it's been fun. there aren't many sidequests (yet?) though

basically there are too many tales games, and rpgs in general, and i want to have time for a lot of them

Heh, I don't think I'd be willing to play a JRPG without reading the dialogue. Not talking to every NPC sounds fine -- because talking to every NPC actually does feel kinda obsessive and annoying sometimes. But I generally play JRPGs for the story.

But yeah. Too many RPGs, too little time -- story of any RPG player.

[quote="Da Dood"]Probably the worst Castlevania game I've ever played. So slow, barebones and annoying. Spike wall level refuses to end, then the final level has so many treacherous rooms. Losing whip power when you get hit is lame too. Bleh. I hope Belmont's Revenge is at least... average...[/quote]Spike wall level has music that sounds somewhat noticeably like Vampire Killer (especially in its harmonic structure).  Which is quite appropriate because it is probably the most difficult level in the game, and the Vampire Killer theme showing up in the most difficult parts of the game is (or at least ought to be) a thing.

[quote="arkarian"]what are some examples? i'm not sure what types of games you mean. i do like some more complicated jrpgs, the problem is they require an amount of focus that i'm not always willing to give.[/quote]I just get the general sense from looking at skill trees and stuff like the sphere grid (which admittedly I haven't actually played) and other complicated JRPG mechanics that "ugh why can't y'all just make this simple and straightforward?".

Like, take FF4 to FF7 for example.  FF4 just had people learning spells on level up.  FF5 had job classes that you could switch around (though to be fair they were less complicated than FF3 which used "capacity" as a cost for switching jobs for whatever reason).  FF6 had espers which each taught certain magic according to magic points, and then magic points for teaching magic, and then on-level-up stat bonuses, and then were one-use summon spells.  Then FF7 just had an entire materia system, and something involving chained materia, and mastering materia, and miscellaneous stat boosts/debuffs from materia.  These examples aren't hugely apt examples of "getting too complicated" and I can't remember off the top of my head which games I actually got that reaction to, but there are some more recent JRPGs where they talk about the skill system in the game and it's basically A Giant Pile Of Jargon and I feel like why can't it be any simpler.

Sorry, that was a bit of a vaguely-directed rant.

[quote="arkarian"]i'm not playing zestiria like i normally play jrpgs though. i'm not talking to every npc, not worrying too much about my equipment. just blowing through the game, skipping through a bunch of text, and it's been fun. there aren't  many sidequests (yet?) though

basically there are too many tales games, and rpgs in general, and i want to have time for a lot of them[/quote]Heh, I don't think I'd be willing to play a JRPG without reading the dialogue.  Not talking to every NPC sounds fine -- because talking to every NPC actually does feel kinda obsessive and annoying sometimes.  But I generally play JRPGs for the story.

But yeah.  Too many RPGs, too little time -- story of any RPG player.

arkarian

2018-10-06 09:57:52 pm

red chamber dream

i'm the same way, but from the start i knew i wanted to just get through zestiria as fast as possible

it turned out to be fun, but i still can't wait to get to berseria