The "Currently Playing..." Topic

2010-03-22 07:25:58 am

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Finally started Half-Life Episode 2 back up and finished off the Antlion bit. Running away from the Guardian was kind of annoying, but whatever hanging around with my Vortigaunt buddy made any annoyances worth while because he was an awesome dude. I also totally botched the later part where I could actually kill the Guardian and found myself with nothing but pistol ammo, made the 'mini Ravenholm' on the way to getting the car interesting. At least the part where I couldn't just hang back and let Alyx shoot everything. Getting a car in Half-Life 2 led to good things, so I can only imagine that "Riding Shotgun" will be pretty cool.

Also decided to give Chrono Trigger another go and good god is the beginning slow, like Earthbound slow. Forgot about that.

ryu

Edit history:

ryu: 2010-03-22 01:46:42 pm

2010-03-22 01:46:22 pm

Just catched a shiny Tentacool in Platinum. \o/

I'm 4 Pokemons short from completing the Sinnoh Dex. Gotta get my Pichu evolved to have some reliable Thunderwave user (3 of those 4 are the lake legendaries)

arkarian

2010-03-22 01:50:55 pm

red chamber dream

Quote from ryu:

Just catched a shiny Tentacool in Platinum. \o/

it's "caught". hard to tell if you actually did that on purpose though since you're not a native speaker.

ryu

Edit history:

ryu: 2010-03-22 02:01:25 pm

2010-03-22 02:01:06 pm

Quote from arkarian:

Quote from ryu:

Just catched a shiny Tentacool in Platinum. \o/

it's "caught". hard to tell if you actually did that on purpose though since you're not a native speaker.

Didn't do it on purpose. : / Dunno why I forget about that irregular past tense so often. :p

arkarian

2010-03-22 03:00:10 pm

red chamber dream

english sucks.

Da Dood

Edit history:

Da Dood: 2010-03-22 03:02:47 pm

2010-03-22 03:02:36 pm

Dood Trigger™

Starting Muramasa: The Demon Blade tonight. Who played it? Is it really just a repetitive (but pretty) new-style Castlevania game?

Poision Envy

2010-03-22 04:06:23 pm

Club 27 Goals

Da Dood I was reading about that game last night because it looked nice and I wanted to get it for the Wii, let me know what you think about it.

Toozin

2010-03-22 05:06:23 pm

Not impossible

just highly unlikely

It IS pretty repetitive, but I didn't find it boring at all for the duration since the combat is fast and fun, and there's a real constant progression of leveling up and gaining new swords. It's kind of like an old-school brawler in that the combat never really changes but it's too much fun to be a concern.

Also, epic boss fights are epic. Each character repeats areas (in reverse order, mind) but have totally unique bosses so it's worth taking them both through.

Da Dood

2010-03-22 10:53:47 pm

Dood Trigger™

Muramasa is a pretty dang good little game, more pretty than dang good.

Long post is long and descriptive for those who haven't played the game, so it's spoilerized for your viewing pleasure.

Repetitive? Sure. You cross room after room, just like Metroid and Castlevania, occasionally defeating enemies that block your path. The problem is that unlike Metroid and Castlevania, progression isn't linked to your mobility gear, so there's very little interaction with the areas you cross. Essentially you're just running from left to right until you trigger a fight or until you reach your destination.

It's okay, because the environments are OH SO beautiful. These are probably the most beautiful 2D graphics I've seen. The art is breathtaking, and every room and character is just full of personality.

Some rooms are peaceful villages where you can shop for many different items, or eat food, or talk to people. Most of the time they're empty, until a surprisingly intimidating exclamation point appears to send in some enemies. I don't know if I understand the requirements for fights yet, all I know for sure is that you can only escape a battle if you use a certain item. If you fail, you actually restart at the very room you died in, but you lose the experience points from that battle.

There are tons of RPG elements in this game. There's the old level up from experience, then there's forging swords, and millions of weapon attributes and accessories and tiny numbers you must compare as you equip your character.

There are two characters, I chose the girl, Momohime. I don't remember a single character name other than hers. This one is worse than Okami at that.

The fighting is my favorite part other than, you know, looking at the game. It's totally simple, but flashy and rewarding. You gotta wrestle with the controls for a bit, because you have to tap Up on the d-pad or stick to jump, but the combat is so weird and satisfying that I got used to that.

Basically there is one attack button, and the whole combat system revolves around it. You press the button to slash, several times to combo, and you HOLD the button to open a second layer of moves. Then it's all about tapping the d-pad or stick in a direction for a variety of effects. It's actually very easy to make any fight look good even if you just keep tapping dash directions and alternating with some sword combos.

This is a very enjoyable game. It's not the most inspired, but it's got enough for me. A little over 2 hours in, Act 3.

Muramasa is a pretty dang good little game, more pretty than dang good.

Long post is long and descriptive for those who haven't played the game, so it's spoilerized for your viewing pleasure.

[spoiler]Repetitive? Sure. You cross room after room, just like Metroid and Castlevania, occasionally defeating enemies that block your path. The problem is that unlike Metroid and Castlevania, progression isn't linked to your mobility gear, so there's very little interaction with the areas you cross. Essentially you're just running from left to right until you trigger a fight or until you reach your destination.

It's okay, because the environments are OH SO beautiful. These are probably the most beautiful 2D graphics I've seen. The art is breathtaking, and every room and character is just full of personality.

Some rooms are peaceful villages where you can shop for many different items, or eat food, or talk to people. Most of the time they're empty, until a surprisingly intimidating exclamation point appears to send in some enemies. I don't know if I understand the requirements for fights yet, all I know for sure is that you can only escape a battle if you use a certain item. If you fail, you actually restart at the very room you died in, but you lose the experience points from that battle.

There are tons of RPG elements in this game. There's the old level up from experience, then there's forging swords, and millions of weapon attributes and accessories and tiny numbers you must compare as you equip your character.

There are two characters, I chose the girl, Momohime. I don't remember a single character name other than hers. This one is worse than Okami at that.

The fighting is my favorite part other than, you know, looking at the game. It's totally simple, but flashy and rewarding. You gotta wrestle with the controls for a bit, because you have to tap Up on the d-pad or stick to jump, but the combat is so weird and satisfying that I got used to that.

Basically there is one attack button, and the whole combat system revolves around it. You press the button to slash, several times to combo, and you HOLD the button to open a second layer of moves. Then it's all about tapping the d-pad or stick in a direction for a variety of effects. It's actually very easy to make any fight look good even if you just keep tapping dash directions and alternating with some sword combos.[/spoiler]
This is a very enjoyable game. It's not the most inspired, but it's got enough for me. A little over 2 hours in, Act 3.

Opium

2010-03-22 11:19:28 pm

I thought Muramasa was a gorgeous game to look at, but it wore off fast. It was just so repetitive that I totally lost interest. The enemies got stronger, but so did your swords, so it just never really changed that much. I think I played it for about 4 hours before deciding I couldn't take it anymore.

arkarian

2010-03-22 11:30:49 pm

red chamber dream

you should check out wario land: shake it if you want beautiful 2d visuals.

Poision Envy

2010-03-22 11:55:17 pm

Club 27 Goals

Opium I don't think you'd enjoy playing WoW xD

nn12000

2010-03-23 01:09:12 am

Mister ...

Quote from Poision Envy:

Opium I don't think you'd enjoy playing MMOs. xD

Fixed, because every one I've played is the same generic grindfest.

Speaking of grindfests, I bought Secret of Mana via Virtual Console with my remaining 800 points. I'm generally not into RPGs, but SoM intrigued me for some reason every time I saw the title, so I figured "what the hell?" Only complaints so far is that you have to be near the edge of the screen for it to scroll, resulting in cheap hits from enemies you can't see, and the lack of knowing how much money/exp you're getting from enemies (if any). We'll see how long I enjoy it though. :\

Poision Envy

Edit history:

Poision Envy: 2010-03-23 01:25:37 am

2010-03-23 01:25:05 am

Club 27 Goals

There are some MMOs that are actually really good about keeping the whole grindfest down to a minimum. Wurm is a good example, but the only reason its not a total grindfest is because you are just constantly trying to survive. Idk if you consider things like Travian an mmo either, but thats not really grinding. But yeah, I totally get what you mean, but I think WoW has to be the worst, or at least second only to EvE xD

I tried out Cave Story today, AWESOME game so far.

tomatobob

2010-03-23 03:30:31 am

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Quote from nn12000:

Speaking of grindfests, I bought Secret of Mana via Virtual Console with my remaining 800 points.

I wasn't overly thrilled by that games, got to some weird forest maze a good while in I think, then realized I really didn't care anymore and stopped playing. It's not a terribly interesting game.

ryu

2010-03-23 06:19:47 am

Quote from tomatobob:

Quote from nn12000:

Speaking of grindfests, I bought Secret of Mana via Virtual Console with my remaining 800 points.

I wasn't overly thrilled by that games, got to some weird forest maze a good while in I think, then realized I really didn't care anymore and stopped playing. It's not a terribly interesting game.

Yeah. I couldn't get into it too, guess it's another overhyped childhood memory game.

Quietus

2010-03-23 07:04:58 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Currently playing: Bioshock - just starting to chase Fontaine. "More Adam than you can possibly imagine!" *Throws a giant something across the screen* aiwebs_011

Oh, and Star Ocean - Struggling with sticking with this. I love the original two (particularly two), haven't played the third (but want to), but this just feels like a chore. The battles feel slow and laborious, and the whole 'blindsiding' thing just seems like a silly attempt to spice things up - which failed. It all results in each battle taking much longer than it should do, and the bosses just feel like a grinding war of attrition. I think I'm going to shelve it for a while.

ryu

2010-03-23 01:53:45 pm

Finally got Estpolis (Lufia 2 DS) today. I'm 2 hours into it now and it's pretty awesome so far, basically being a regular action RPG with quite a bit of platforming puzzles, an epic soundtrack and lots of nostalgia for fans of the original game.

The visuals also impressed me. I honestly expected Estpolis to look like shit, being a DS game and all, but it doesn't. Character models aren't very detailed (don't think I've even seen a face yet), but everything else looks good enough for a handheld game. They also made use of the characters being 3D models now, so there's quite a bit more physical interaction between characters compared to the SNES original. Dialoges seem to be taking a rather joking approach in general. Too bad I can't read japanese.

Anyways, I'm going to catch Palkia and Dialga in Platinum now. Good thing they're not using the usual legendary catch rate ...
Uxie and Azelf were a pain in the ass to catch. :|

loafasponge

2010-03-23 05:01:09 pm

This statement is false.

Just finished PoP: The Sands of Time. Enjoyed the game and ending, although the last fight was disappointing. I had more trouble with some of the normal battles than the final one.

Da Dood

2010-03-23 10:01:13 pm

Dood Trigger™

Played more Muramasa, up to Act 4. About 4 hours in, Level 16.

I spent about 30 minutes trying to beat one of those hollow tree challenges with a crapload of enemies. I failed a lot, but I got to keep all experience points I gathered, and it was also in there that I finally got the hang of aerial combat. It's just so much fun when you hit enemies with perfect timing and dash to the next one without touching the ground. I really like the combat in this game. Anyway, I beat the challenge and got an Accessory as a prize, one that ups my defense 10%.

After that, there was a bit of backtracking until the next segment. Some new enemy types, including poisonous frogs. The game recycles backgrounds a lot. The forest is always the same forest archetype, the cave is always the same cave, etc., kinda like Donkey Kong Country games.

There's a "Library Card"-type item that takes you back to a save room if you use it. You can buy it in the shop, too. Great.

Stopped after beating the boss of Act 3. Nice fight. He works like a regular samurai enemy, what with breaking his sword to make him vulnerable, but of course he's faster and has a lot more health. I'm playing on the hardest setting available (Shura) since I started, but at least it's comforting to know that I can switch back to Muso at any time if things get complicated.

Played more Muramasa, up to Act 4. About 4 hours in, Level 16.

I spent about 30 minutes trying to beat one of those hollow tree challenges with a crapload of enemies. I failed a lot, but I got to keep all experience points I gathered, and it was also in there that I finally got the hang of aerial combat. It's just so much fun when you hit enemies with perfect timing and dash to the next one without touching the ground. I really like the combat in this game. Anyway, I beat the challenge and got an Accessory as a prize, one that ups my defense 10%.

After that, there was a bit of backtracking until the next segment. Some new enemy types, including poisonous frogs. The game recycles backgrounds a lot. The forest is always the same forest archetype, the cave is always the same cave, etc., kinda like Donkey Kong Country games.

There's a "Library Card"-type item that takes you back to a save room if you use it. You can buy it in the shop, too. Great.

Stopped after beating the boss of Act 3. Nice fight. He works like a regular samurai enemy, what with breaking his sword to make him vulnerable, but of course he's faster and has a lot more health. I'm playing on the hardest setting available (Shura) since I started, but at least it's comforting to know that I can switch back to Muso at any time if things get complicated.

nn12000

2010-03-24 02:07:24 am

Mister ...

Quote from ryu:

Quote from tomatobob:

Quote from nn12000:

Speaking of grindfests, I bought Secret of Mana via Virtual Console with my remaining 800 points.

I wasn't overly thrilled by that games, got to some weird forest maze a good while in I think, then realized I really didn't care anymore and stopped playing. It's not a terribly interesting game.

Yeah. I couldn't get into it too, guess it's another overhyped childhood memory game.

Believe it or not, I'm actually enjoying it. Aside from the crappy camera, that is. I got my party members, so now I just gotta look for someone to play with so they won't suck so bad. Seriously, they each got KO'd in their first battle. I have a feeling this is going to be very common until I can get them to decent levels. But otherwise, this might actually be the first RPG (that isn't Pokemon or Paper Mario) that I complete.

Gaius_4

2010-03-24 05:17:26 am

I think I'll be playing around on here for a while....

http://www.tetrisfriends.com/

I just need to get more comfortable with the controls (keyboard). Confused

Quietus

2010-03-24 06:17:37 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Quote from nn12000:

Believe it or not, I'm actually enjoying it. ... they each got KO'd in their first battle.

I don't suppose it was Spiky Tiger, by any chance? If it was, don't panic. He is notoriously difficult for that stage of the game. He's the only boss in the game that gives me any grief, evan after my usual level up whoring. The rest of the game is much more balanced.

tomatobob

2010-03-24 06:29:33 am

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Wrapped up Half-Life 2 Episode 2, should have done it last night but my actually good at the game time was used up in "Under the Radar" I figure it came to an end right about the time I finished my powerslide to the gate of White Forest well ahead of Dog. Seriously, right after I did the part where you have to take out that Combine auto gun I became some unstoppable bad ass, driving around like Steve McQueen, road killing zombies like it weren't no thang, smoothly alternating between shotgunning zombies and tossing barrels at them with pinpoint accuracy, and also being a scary good crossbow sniper. Aaannnnd then I hit Silo 2 and got my shit kicked in by the Hunters, then the Overwatch dudes that followed them, then the other Hunter, and the Overwatch dudes in the silo proper. It was pretty sad. Then I went on to air ball an impressive number of Magnussons in the Strider battle at the end, after a silly number of retries and one game freeze I just went to bed because it was getting silly. Came back tonight, and after a rough start, owned the shit out of those Striders and their asshole Hunter escorts.

Quote from nn12000:

I got my party members, so now I just gotta look for someone to play with so they won't suck so bad.

My impression is that this is the key to actually enjoying the game since all of the characters are totally void of any notable traits and are also terrible.

I guess on the subject of SNES RPGs, my replay of Chrono Trigger continues, getting to 12,000 B.C. I think I've figured out what kind of bothers me about the game at this point, it starts off painfully slowly, then you finally figure out your goal, and things pick up and you work your way to Magus. That fight has this great set up, flames lighting up as you approach to finally reveal this shrine with Magus doing his summoning thing, words are exchanged and this unbelievably epic music starts up, giving you a setting that makes a not very hard battle awesome. There isn't any other event in the game that matches the Magus fight on the awesome scale and you've still got a fair bit of game to go. It's hard to stay interested in what comes next, especially when what comes next is a lame boss fight against a giant lizard.

Wrapped up Half-Life 2 Episode 2, should have done it last night but my actually good at the game time was used up in "Under the Radar" I figure it came to an end right about the time I finished my powerslide to the gate of White Forest well ahead of Dog. Seriously, right after I did the part where you have to take out that Combine auto gun I became some unstoppable bad ass, driving around like Steve McQueen, road killing zombies like it weren't no thang, smoothly alternating between shotgunning zombies and tossing barrels at them with pinpoint accuracy, and also being a scary good crossbow sniper. Aaannnnd then I hit Silo 2 and got my shit kicked in by the Hunters, then the Overwatch dudes that followed them, then the other Hunter, and the Overwatch dudes in the silo proper. It was pretty sad. Then I went on to air ball an impressive number of Magnussons in the Strider battle at the end, after a silly number of retries and one game freeze I just went to bed because it was getting silly. Came back tonight, and after a rough start, owned the shit out of those Striders and their asshole Hunter escorts.

[quote="nn12000"]I got my party members, so now I just gotta look for someone to play with so they won't suck so bad.[/quote]
My impression is that this is the key to actually enjoying the game since all of the characters are totally void of any notable traits and are also terrible.

I guess on the subject of SNES RPGs, my replay of Chrono Trigger continues, getting to 12,000 B.C. I think I've figured out what kind of bothers me about the game at this point, it starts off painfully slowly, then you finally figure out your goal, and things pick up and you work your way to Magus. That fight has this great set up, flames lighting up as you approach to finally reveal this shrine with Magus doing his summoning thing, words are exchanged and this unbelievably epic music starts up, giving you a setting that makes a not very hard battle awesome. There isn't any other event in the game that matches the Magus fight on the awesome scale and you've still got a fair bit of game to go. It's hard to stay interested in what comes next, especially when what comes next is a lame boss fight against a giant lizard.

ryu

2010-03-24 11:21:13 am

Bought Shattered Memories on the day I got Estpolis. I played for about 2 hours yesterday and night and really like it so far. The atmosphere is tense enough, even without monsters. The sounds coming from the wiimote when you're closing in on an echo are really disturbing, definitely worse than the good old Silent Hill radio-static.

I've only encountered the first nightmare so far, but that was actually fun. I really liked how the whole scenario was all about reacting with the wiimote&nunchuck, done right it turned really easy. I felt pretty much invincible there.

Can't wait 'till the sun drops tonight so I can go on with the game. The therapist is a pretty cool guy too.

Guess I'll be on my way to Stark Mountain in Platinum now. Sucks I gotta take HM-slaves with me again.