What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

Erik Twice wrote: I know a streamer who used to say Grim Fandangon was her favourite game. Then she replayed it and she no longer thinks so because the puzzles are poor. Ultimately, it's a Schafer game and Schafer has proven that he's a fantastic writer but also a poor game designer. His games would make for better movies, Psychonauts is probably the best example.

I don't want to be too hard on him, because I really liked Full Throttle a lot. Like Grim Fandango that game created a great sense of location, and its characters were a lot of fun. That game felt like it was on more solid footing with its puzzle design, although they were simpler as well, and the real-time combat events are not the best. (Though not as bad as I'd heard.) And I think Day of the Tentacle is in a two-way tie with the first Monkey Island for my favorite LucasArts game so far. Of course in DotT he had Dave Grossman working with him, and the first two Monkey Island were mostly Ron Gilbert's babies.

Erik Twice wrote: Ultimately I don't think VtMB is one of the best games ever made anymore than Mass Effect or the newer Deus Ex games are. I think much of its critical appraisal is better understood when you consider what other games are also considered "one of the best ever made" and the fact that, for many, it was the first game of its structure, of its "maturity level" and the only one which was decently written.

I agree that it isn't one of the best game ever, but that's what actually making the expectation impossible. The game wasn't really good, but it showed glimpse of greatness. The atmosphere is really, freakin' great... the kind of vampire fiction that I wish I were in. Then the immersive feeling (at least at the beginning). True, other games are better, but that's because they're taking a much "safer" approach. Making a game with multiple solutions, for multiple characters (and genders) is very difficult. Deus Ex did it well, but it doesn't have to cover different clans and sexes. Mass Effect gave lots of dialogue options, but relatively poor variation of consequences. Witcher gave great consequences, but a lot of it comes from dialogue option (really, someone need to do something other than branching dialogue). Admittedly, in the end, VTMB didn't do any of these well, but it fired up my imagination.

We need more micro worlds game!

So Sekiro. Sekiro's real good.

In a weird way I think non-Souls players will have an easier time getting a handle on this one. The Dark Souls wait and bait playstyle is absolutely wrong here, and dodging like Bloodborne dodges is a trap because invincibility frames don't work the same way. You want to get in at all times, clash with them, parry constantly when not swinging, counter correctly, and never give any enemy a chance to breathe. It's real tense. Highly recommend it if you like Souls, Tenchu, Ninja Gaiden, etc.

I'm partway through another season of Tecmo Super Bowl on the custom 2017 ROM I've been playing. I'm 10-3 with the Saints but I'm destined for a wild card berth since I'm a game back of the Panthers and have lost to them twice. It doesn't help that the Saints' defense is garbage so most mistakes by me result in a 20+ yard gain by the other team.

What makes it more difficult is that most of the custom season ROM's are tailored to TSB veterans. The games tend to be "juiced" where, if you've been on a winning streak or the opponent has a terrible record or is coming off a bad loss/losing streak, the game hits you with all kinds of horseshit: inopportune fumbles/interceptions (kickoffs can be especially dangerous), strangely off-target throws, clairvoyant defenders and suspiciously psychic play-calling by the CPU. If I can weather the first half and go into halftime tied the second half tends to calm down a bit and I can usually claw my way back but sometimes the game just hates you and you're screwed no matter what.

I've also been playing Axiom Verge but I've stalled out after about halfway through. As much as I love everything this game does right, the one thing I think they fumbled is the lack of warp rooms for fast-travel between zones. It's a shame because I love the atmosphere and aesthetic but the last time I thought about playing I fired it up, looked at the tedious path I needed to traverse to get to the next unexplored area and was like, "Nope...."

Lately my son and I have started parallel games of Cuphead. I'm a Contra nut so this game is right up my alley and it gives me the same feeling as playing the brilliant Contra 4 on the DS. The decision to make bosses their own levels was inspired and it takes some of the sting out of dying over and over since you don't have to traverse an entire level to get to them.

I've just finished the first island and am currently stuck on the candy boss in the second area, but that's just because I haven't had the time to finish figuring her out. I've got the gumball machine, jawbreaker and candy corn down, and I'm about 3/4 on the leaping cupcake and the flying waffle due to the RNG. I still haven't gotten to her final phase but, again, I just need more reps.

Agreed on Axiom Verge. Fast travel would go a long way. I got pretty much to the end and got frustrated with the difficulty of an area and fell off of it.

Someone commented online about the iframes in SEKIRO and wondered where their dodge roll was, and I told them, "the dodge roll is in your sword as you strike your foe down."

I am fired up to try this one.

Dude you have no idea. Besides regular attacks there are 3 types that you can't defend - sweeps, grabs, and thrusts. You can dodge any by just getting the hell away, but ALL of them have a specific Big Shinobi Energy counter that lets you keep pressure on. Sweeps you can goomba stomp, grabs you can side step, and thrusts get the mikiri counter where you stomp their blade into the dirt and murder them. It's basically Ninja Punch Out and it feels INCREDIBLE.

Contra 4 is so good.

Sekiro is indeed lovely. Especially considering the setting. Tenchu is better if your looking for the Thief experience, but this provides a good middle ground. If I were to choose this or darksouls/bloodborne/nioh, sekiro wins out.

I've been playing Path of Exile for the last couple days, now that it has finally released on PS4.

There is a lot to like about PoE. Especially compared to Diablo 3. The story is far more compelling first of all. The game is also more challenging, not only because of enemies, but the choices you make in passive skills.

There is more and less micromanaging than Diablo 3. Less because one you choose a skill, that's your skill. But more in that how your gems are placed, which ones to choose, and what compliments your skills.

It's more complicated, but in a good way. I think I'll stay with PoE for a while. Diablo is fun for that mindless Skinner box experience, but this is a better game overall.

I think I even like this more than Diablo 2.

Yeah, I'm diving in when I'm done commuting for the year and I'm hoping to just go into it for like 30 hours in one week.

Wish I could play it along with you guys but I'm mostly avoiding spoilers.

Colorcrayons wrote: Sekiro is indeed lovely. Especially considering the setting. Tenchu is better if your looking for the Thief experience, but this provides a good middle ground. If I were to choose this or darksouls/bloodborne/nioh, sekiro wins out.

I've been playing Path of Exile for the last couple days, now that it has finally released on PS4.

There is a lot to like about PoE. Especially compared to Diablo 3. The story is far more compelling first of all. The game is also more challenging, not only because of enemies, but the choices you make in passive skills.

There is more and less micromanaging than Diablo 3. Less because one you choose a skill, that's your skill. But more in that how your gems are placed, which ones to choose, and what compliments your skills.

It's more complicated, but in a good way. I think I'll stay with PoE for a while. Diablo is fun for that mindless Skinner box experience, but this is a better game overall.

I think I even like this more than Diablo 2.

PoE...... man I am a loot game fiend - this should be right up my ally - but it totally isn't. Playing Tetris with your inventory was cute in '98. No excuse for that in this day and age. Not retro, or vintage, it;s just a really bad legacy design that had no business making it into PoE. Was non-starter for me - I'm not a fan of the materia like magic system either.

san il defanso wrote: I don't want to be too hard on him, because I really liked Full Throttle a lot. Like Grim Fandango that game created a great sense of location, and its characters were a lot of fun. That game felt like it was on more solid footing with its puzzle design, although they were simpler as well, and the real-time combat events are not the best. (Though not as bad as I'd heard.) And I think Day of the Tentacle is in a two-way tie with the first Monkey Island for my favorite LucasArts game so far. Of course in DotT he had Dave Grossman working with him, and the first two Monkey Island were mostly Ron Gilbert's babies.

I don't want to be too hard on him, either. It's just that...he worked so well on teams and so poorly on his "own". I respect the man, I just wish he could work on a team that made the best of him.

Colorcrayons wrote: Sekiro is indeed lovely. Especially considering the setting. Tenchu is better if your looking for the Thief experience, but this provides a good middle ground. If I were to choose this or darksouls/bloodborne/nioh, sekiro wins out.

I've been playing Path of Exile for the last couple days, now that it has finally released on PS4.

There is a lot to like about PoE. Especially compared to Diablo 3. The story is far more compelling first of all. The game is also more challenging, not only because of enemies, but the choices you make in passive skills.

There is more and less micromanaging than Diablo 3. Less because one you choose a skill, that's your skill. But more in that how your gems are placed, which ones to choose, and what compliments your skills.

It's more complicated, but in a good way. I think I'll stay with PoE for a while. Diablo is fun for that mindless Skinner box experience, but this is a better game overall.

I think I even like this more than Diablo 2.

I've kicked around trying Path of Exile, but its complexity is a bit of a turn off. But I'm learning hack-and-slash RPGs are good fits for me, so I'll probably make my way there eventually.

Speaking of ARPGs, Grim Dawn is on sale all over the place this week so I picked it up. I'm mostly playing on a lower end laptop, so my machine is a bit underpowered for it. I'll have to noodle with the settings to optimize it a bit better. Seems promising though.

In the meantime I finished the main campaign in Torchlight 2. I had fun with the Embermage, focusing on fire magic. I'll keep chunking away at the high level dungeons, but I also want to start another character. Darn fun game.

Colorcrayons wrote: I've been playing Path of Exile for the last couple days, now that it has finally released on PS4.

There is a lot to like about PoE. Especially compared to Diablo 3. The story is far more compelling first of all. The game is also more challenging, not only because of enemies, but the choices you make in passive skills.

There is more and less micromanaging than Diablo 3. Less because one you choose a skill, that's your skill. But more in that how your gems are placed, which ones to choose, and what compliments your skills.

It's more complicated, but in a good way. I think I'll stay with PoE for a while. Diablo is fun for that mindless Skinner box experience, but this is a better game overall.

I think I even like this more than Diablo 2.

Let's all jump on Colorcrayons!

I'm of a similar opinion of the recent previous messages. Where Diablo 3 gives you a little too much handholding, PoE doesn't give you enough and gives you too much shit to fiddle with.

My old WoW experience was that this sort of million-skills-to-tweak (old man raider) thing ends up with theorycrafters pointing you to The One Optimal Build. (if you must be a huntard, be a Marksmanship Hunter, stack crit to x, then stack attack power to y, etc). But if you don't GAS about maximizing damage/survivability/whatever, then why care if there are 100 knobs to twiddle? Bump up your stats in whatever way it feels good, as long as you bump something up when you level up.

However, my nephews really like PoE, and I'll try to get into a conversation about why they like it sometime.

San,

You should really try the Fate series for the hacking and slashing. Infinite dungeon levels as well. I like it a bit more than Torchlight 1/2.