The "Currently Playing..." Topic

2018-12-11 08:48:57 pm

Dood Trigger™

Finished Crash 2 with 72%.

Oof... yeah, this wasn't as great as I remembered. The platforming in general isn't very satisfying. It's sluggish and imprecise, and the hitboxes don't help. There was one sewer level, I think Sewer or Later (great name), that felt like the 3D version of those purposely difficult early stages meant to prevent kids from beating the game in one rental.

Plus destroying boxes isn't quite rewarding when you can't tell if the level is 100%able without some fancy secret gem. Bleh.

I'm glad I played this, but I'm 2x glad I only re-bought Crash 2 and not the whole trilogy as I intended.

I'll come back for clean-up% at some point before the end of the year.

I am interested in watching the speedrun, though!

Turtle

2018-12-11 11:18:55 pm

I like turtles.

The speedrun can even be educational as it mind-blowingly reveals how to grab the red gem early and bypass its respective backtracking segments!

Da Dood

2018-12-12 06:16:18 am

Dood Trigger™

That's actually pretty cool. I'll check it out.

Glenn Magus Harvey

Edit history:

Glenn Magus Harvey: 2018-12-12 02:15:17 pm

Glenn Magus Harvey: 2018-12-12 02:13:47 pm

Glenn Magus Harvey: 2018-12-12 02:12:23 pm

2018-12-12 02:11:39 pm

almost finished with Wyatt's story in Valdis Story: Abyssal City. I think I just got the final key item.

it's a 2D platformer metroidvania with a focus on combat and a very interesting story and setting; you are a fourth party in what appears to be a three-way conflict between angels, demons, and "ferals", in the ruins of a city stricken by the war between angels and demons. Very nice music too, also character build customization and crafting options.

Wyatt is the first of four playable characters.

note: due to item resource limitations, it is not possible to 100% all items/upgrades simultaneously.

Glenn Magus Harvey

Edit history:

Glenn Magus Harvey: 2018-12-15 04:17:07 am

2018-12-15 04:16:46 am

holy crap i think Valdis Story has THREE superbosses

I've taken down two so far. The last one is in a different league though

ryu

2018-12-16 03:54:30 am

really late but I just beat kiggdom hearts birth by sleep. feel kinda bad I never got around playing it on psp because the game is really good, the mechanics just need some getting used to.

Turtle

2018-12-16 01:18:44 pm

I like turtles.

They're really fun for dungeon crawling and grinding/farming drops - I just don't recommend taking too close of a look at the superbosses because those fights tend to expose the major balance issues.

ryu

2018-12-17 01:26:36 am

Never had trouble with them until the Lingering Will in KH2

Turtle

2018-12-17 06:49:12 pm

I like turtles.

Did you get around to Cavern of Remembrance? Org XIII data definitely wasn't trivial for me.

ryu

2018-12-18 02:31:53 am

oh i completely forgot about those

yeah KH2 endgame on proud mode just sucks

Da Dood

2018-12-20 06:52:17 pm

Dood Trigger™

Bought Street Fighter Alpha 2 (PS1) on PSN.

I used to own the SNES cart, which was a damn impressive effort for 16-bit... but it played a little slow (with actual load times and all), and it was missing a lot of animation frames and such. Playing a "proper" version of the game feels great.

After dabbling a bit with Ken and Sakura, I tried Guy and haven't looked back. He's so fun and fast. I've been watching tournament fights and they say he's low-ish tier, but I'm fine with his resources vs. the CPU. His speed and acrobatics are immensely satisfying to me. It also helps that he doesn't have a Shoryuken command, which isn't too nice on my thumb after a billion motions. Still interested in trying other characters like Rose and Sodom.

Taking baby steps as far as comboing... the buffers are crazy strict (at least for my fighter skill level which isn't very high).

Also, holy crap, this game looks stunning. Animations, backgrounds, poses. Maybe my favorite SF art style of all of them. Capcom used to be so careful with making their fighting games have a distinct look that's also hype af. Ken's background has to be one of the best in any fighting game... there's like 14 references there. I'm not as crazy about the music, but hey, better than Marvel 2 at least.

This might be the game that'll make me finally give in and buy an arcade stick... even if it's those budget brick ones that look like they'll break in a week.

Bought [b]Street Fighter Alpha 2[/b] (PS1) on PSN.

I used to own the SNES cart, which was a damn impressive effort for 16-bit... but it played a little slow (with actual load times and all), and it was missing a lot of animation frames and such. Playing a "proper" version of the game feels great.

After dabbling a bit with Ken and Sakura, I tried Guy and haven't looked back. He's so fun and fast. I've been watching tournament fights and they say he's low-ish tier, but I'm fine with his resources vs. the CPU. His speed and acrobatics are immensely satisfying to me. It also helps that he doesn't have a Shoryuken command, which isn't too nice on my thumb after a billion motions. Still interested in trying other characters like Rose and Sodom.

Taking baby steps as far as comboing... the buffers are crazy strict (at least for my fighter skill level which isn't very high).

Also, holy crap, this game looks stunning. Animations, backgrounds, poses. Maybe my favorite SF art style of all of them. Capcom used to be so careful with making their fighting games have a distinct look that's also hype af. Ken's background has to be one of the best in any fighting game... there's like 14 references there. I'm not as crazy about the music, but hey, better than Marvel 2 at least.

This might be the game that'll make me finally give in and buy an arcade stick... even if it's those budget brick ones that look like they'll break in a week.

arkarian

2018-12-23 07:22:36 pm

red chamber dream

finished south park the stick of truth. took just about 16 hours but it felt like a lot longer, which is always a good thing. i might jump right into the sequel ... got a whole week off ahead of me without much to do

now i'm finally dipping into smash bros, adventure mode seems pretty fun so far! i've already played more than i ever played smash 4

Da Dood

2018-12-26 12:04:59 pm

Dood Trigger™

Started Metroid: Samus Returns. First time playing. Probably my final game this year... depending on how long it is.

Just cleared Area 1 after exploring everything I could with my current upgrades. It's pretty great so far. I like the parry, it's free. Not sure if I'll get completely used to free aim (after like 4 Metroid games where you hold a button to aim diagonally), but it's been useful in situations where I feel safe to plant my feet on the ground.

I wonder how many upgrades are skippable, if any... even though the original M2 world is linear, most power-ups are optional and you can access every part of the map with early moves. In SR it looks like I don't strictly need Spider Ball because bomb jumping is so easy, but maybe there's a mandatory obstacle somewhere that I'm forgetting.

Also, hello Metroid Prime fanfare music. They couldn't do a little remix of the theme for SR, haha?

Turtle

2018-12-26 07:19:08 pm

I like turtles.

The music was one of the points that drew some ire initially, I think. It does seem to re-use quite a bit from Prime.

Not very many items at all are truly skippable IIRC. Last I knew the Any% speedrun route skips Spring Ball, but even that requires some tricks that I'm 99% sure are not dev-intended. That's one aspect where AM2R beats it out for me, because in that one you could ultimately get away with getting relatively few major items.

ryu

2018-12-27 02:42:06 am

I don't remember any music from Samus Returns. Wasn't it just ambient sounds for the most part?

Idkbutlike2

2018-12-27 08:44:03 am

The Chozo Laboratory theme was pretty good.

Da Dood

2018-12-27 06:25:40 pm

Dood Trigger™

Def wanna try AM2R after this.

Area 4 done in SR.

Still really like it, especially after getting Space Jump and Spazer. And Metroids are so fun to fight. A couple things I'm not a huge fan of...

- I don't know how to put this in less vague terms, but this game's areas don't have a very exciting flow so far. There are some gigantic rooms, with not much in terms of platform layouts, and I often spend a long time without finding new items (well, other than missiles). Area 3 in particular felt like it refused to end.

- Chasing Metroids gets old... and I don't mean the actual quest of killing Metroids, I mean literally chasing them when they leave the room mid-battle. I bet there's a way to defeat them before they decide to peace out, but meh.

Da Dood

2018-12-27 07:42:46 pm

Dood Trigger™

Area 5 done.

Okay, I take it all back, LOL. The game suddenly triggered super high gear mode. With Plasma, Screw Attack and Gravity Suit, I'm just breezing through these rooms. And I dunno if the Metroids here could even escape the rooms, but parry + Super Missiles seems to take care of them fast enough.

arkarian

2018-12-27 08:53:14 pm

red chamber dream

ooh i think i stopped playing after plasma, so it sounds like i need to jump back in soon

glad to hear you're enjoying. i was too, not sure why i put it down

Da Dood

2018-12-28 08:04:37 am

Dood Trigger™

Yeah, it's great fun. I actually finished it just now...

Clear time was 9:44.

That was awesome. I feel the same about SR as Fusion, I think... great game, but I wish it was less linear. That said, every aspect of SR as an action game is really well made... power-ups, set pieces, bosses. Parrying is fun and the free aim is an interesting idea. I'm too used to having a fixed diagonal aim by this point, but I appreciate how the combat often gives you opportunities to plant your feet on the ground and find a precise angle to shoot.

The boss fights are so good. There was one boss, the mechanical drill robot thing, that you'd think was the final battle if it wasn't so obvious that the game wasn't supposed to end. I enjoyed that one a lot, and all the Metroids (they're actually interesting to fight now, with proper patterns and parry counters and stuff).

Compared to OG Metroid 2... this is a more refined game, yeah, but I still like how you have more freedom to collect/skip power-ups in the original. M2 is also shorter, which I personally prefer. But of course, SR is a welcome upgrade in most areas.

IMO the presentation was good, if a little generic. The cinematics were pretty cool. There aren't many backgrounds that stand out, and I don't know if it was my game or the 3DS, but there was this weird blur effect on my screen that dimmed some of the color. Also, it's hard to understand why they remade 98% of the classic Metroid music and then just re-used Metroid Prime's item fanfare... which is the one piece of music you hear the most in the game. This is especially disappointing because they did such a great job with other themes. The Lower Norfair remix is amazing.

But yeah, loved it. I'll come back soon for the remaining 40-ish% I'm missing.

Yeah, it's great fun. I actually finished it just now...

Clear time was 9:44.

That was awesome. I feel the same about SR as Fusion, I think... great game, but I wish it was less linear. That said, every aspect of SR as an action game is really well made... power-ups, set pieces,  bosses. Parrying is fun and the free aim is an interesting idea. I'm too used to having a fixed diagonal aim by this point, but I appreciate how the combat often gives you opportunities to plant your feet on the ground and find a precise angle to shoot.

The boss fights are so good. There was one boss, the mechanical drill robot thing, that you'd think was the final battle if it wasn't so obvious that the game wasn't supposed to end. I enjoyed that one a lot, and all the Metroids (they're actually interesting to fight now, with proper patterns and parry counters and stuff).

Compared to OG Metroid 2... this is a more refined game, yeah, but I still like how you have more freedom to collect/skip power-ups in the original. M2 is also shorter, which I personally prefer. But of course, SR is a welcome upgrade in most areas.

IMO the presentation was good, if a little generic. The cinematics were pretty cool. There aren't many backgrounds that stand out, and I don't know if it was my game or the 3DS, but there was this weird blur effect on my screen that dimmed some of the color. Also, it's hard to understand why they remade 98% of the classic Metroid music and then just re-used Metroid Prime's item fanfare... which is the one piece of music you hear the most in the game. This is especially disappointing because they did such a great job with other themes. The Lower Norfair remix is amazing.

But yeah, loved it. I'll come back soon for the remaining 40-ish% I'm missing.

Turtle

2018-12-28 11:40:13 am

I like turtles.

Re:Area 3, it's actually notorious for being very tedious compared to almost every other segment. What did you think of Diggernaut?

Da Dood

2018-12-28 12:30:37 pm

Dood Trigger™

The chase part was okay... I failed it a few times. It was a nice change of pace, but maybe it ran a little too long for me.

The boss fight was amazing. It's pretty scripted but I loved it.

Turtle

2018-12-28 01:03:51 pm

I like turtles.

I didn't think it was so hot at the time mostly because I couldn't tell what the game wanted you to do when you bomb those specific weak points on his head during the last phase. Bad telegraphing. :(

The final boss fight was definitely more what I would hope to see more of in terms of new content.

Da Dood

2018-12-28 01:21:17 pm

Dood Trigger™

Yeah, that part wasn't too clear. I think I got it because I hit two of the blue lines by accident, died and noticed that there were three blue lines when I got back to that phase.

I liked how you basically had to use your entire arsenal during that fight.

Opium

2018-12-28 11:57:41 pm

I finally got into Hollow Knight. It's great but I wish the game gave you better clues on where to go next