What are you playing, stupid?

[max_cady]

I'm still playing a lot of games on the Xbox 360. Namely Metal Gear Solid V again. I've put a couple of extra hours to complete the leftover stuff (like side-missions and the those ubber hard missions to which I have three left to do). I'm 109 hours into it and the best part is that I got Quiet back after I replayed the Cloaked in Darkness mission 7 times!


I'm also having a ton of fun with Naruto: Rise of a Ninja. The combat is good but I swear that most of the AI sparring partners are oddly ubber dificult to beat (much more than the story missions), I mean not Dead or Alive 4 cheap, but it can get a little frustaring when they seem to connect their combos way more easily and pull off the jutsu signs a little easier. I little gripe I have that when you do Naruto's shadow clone jutsu, you can choose with buttons to press to do the entire sequence. The thing is you have to have pinpoint accuracy when pressing the button the instant it prompts on the screen. If you are a little nervous, you'll most likely miss one or maybe all of 'em.

[Barry the Nomad]

Been playing Rayman 2 again via the PS2 remaster, Revolution and...people think this version isn't any good??? This has become my like favorite version for improving everything I already love about the game. Visually, it looks goddamn amazing for what launched as a N64 game being put on the PS2, they really made the game look like a surreal, fantastical world here, and this is on top of already good, well-aged visuals. The level design changes are smart and the levels themselves look great with more detail, the new mechanics are likable (though I can see why some might not prefer them), and while I know of the stigma towards hub worlds, I really don't mind the one here, but it needs a map. The ONLY thing against this version is the framerate. I've read it's only at 30fps, which I don't really care about, but it has slowdown. Buuuut, in a slow-paced game like Rayman, I don't think the slowdown is as bad as in, say, Jet Set Radio Future. I've heard complaints about the loading, but every version of the game afaik has a lot of loading, and it's not like the loading here is /long/, just frequent. I can see how others would find these turn-offs, but they're not a deterrent at all for me.

I have only heard that the framerate is not as consistent as the Dreamcast version. Revolution has quite a few additions and tweaks, from what I've read, sort of like a director's cut. Sounds cool. Though, is Revolution the one that replaces the gibberish language with voice actors speaking english? I know some versions did, and that is the one knock I have against them. The nonsense language is far more endearing and funny.

[Moody]

^AFAIK, only the PS1 version forces it on you. I've heard the Dreamcast version has it as an option, unfortunately can't confirm, but Revolution has it as default and does keep the gibberish as an option (and they even recorded new gibberish for the new lines and some others). You do need to set it each time you start the game but it's not too much a bother.

And yeah, Revolution adds a lot of new stuff. New levels, bosses, a hub world, you can officially get the 1,000th lum, some new minigames, an ability store, new and enhanced visuals and animations; some people call it a straight up remake and I can definitely see where they get confused on that. It wouldn't surprise me if this is the version Ancel wanted to make but had to compromise.

[George]

Booted up Sleeping Dogs again on PC, was going to try and finish some side stuff. I guess I totally missed the 'Enter the Dragon' type mission they did. Very nice surprise.

[max_cady]

More Naruto: Rise of a Ninja. Just gonna finish off all the side missions before I head out to the final mission.

[CrazyT]

Finished Ori and the blind forest recently. I think anyone who's seen the game knows that it looks beautiful. But a lot of  times that came in cost of seeing whats going on, where the projectiles were coming from for example. You could say the game wanted to look good too much that it gets in the way of the gameplay sometimes. Emphasis on 'sometimes' because other than that, the experience was a very memorable one. It's a short game of probably around 6 hours, and finishing it felt really fulfilling. Its a rollercoaster with very good pacing. Never a dull moment. Never experienced a "metroidvania" game with a flow like this.

Im also at the final Story mission in Xenoblade X. I feel like ive seen so much stuff in the game that I didnt engage with yet, that the story feels like such a small portion of the actual game. There's level 90 enemies flying around that im not nearly close to being able to beat, yet im having difficulty with level 40/50 enemies right now. Seems like the actual meat of the game are the things beside and after the story. While the story has been pretty interesting, I think this is the type of game where you wont even experience 50% of  the game if you ignore the side stuff. Tho Ive already put 110 hours into the game so Im definitly gonna take a break after finishing the story.
 

[Tad]

Despite loving the attention to detail in those types of games, I never feel the urge to grind my way through them. Even as a kid, I'd use action replay to play FF7,8 and 9. Think 10 was the only one where I didn't really.

Ori is great though. Can't remember the last time I played a game in that style and enjoyed it.

[max_cady]

Finished Naruto: Rise of a Ninja.


It's a really great concept for a game based around the Naruto series. It's part open-world, it's part RPG and it's part fighting game. The Hidden Leaf Village is pretty big, with a lot of hidden stops and places to jump around. Characters from the series that you can learn moves from, characters to brawl with (be it Kakashi, Sakura, Kiba or Sasuke), a couple of fetch quests here and there. It's just long enough that the quests that the stuff you doesn't feel repetitive.


They all go a little cheap since of the big cutscenes are ripped straight out of the TV series, albeit a very abridged version since between Naruto's first stories (there's a sizeable chunk of story between Zazuba's story arc and the Chunnin Exams that's missing, but maybe it's for the best).

[Tad]

Replaying Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse

I don't care if you like adventure games or not, but please take a look at the artwork in this game. It's simply stunning. All but the characters are hand drawn and digitally painted by professionals that have worked on all sorts of projects over the years. It's very much like a Disney film in games.

Revolution Software (developers) hold a special place in my head due to growing up with their titles. It was their hit on the PS1 (Broken Sword, the shadow of the templar's) that made me see games can be so much more then just about gameplay. The story, the characters, the world and each game from them has had my attention the second it's released.

Yes, like all games, there's issues here and there, but they still bring a great quality title to the industry that deserves attention in my view. Can't wait for their next game

[fernandeath]

Mad Max and Yu-Gi-Oh Legacy of the Duelist (this one since it was launched, 5 months ago).

[max_cady]

I haven't touched my PS4 since Christmas and since I've played most of my Xbox 360 titles (Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 hasn't arrived in the mail yet) I decided to get back to Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree Woe and the Blight Below aka Dynasty Warriors with Dragon Quest characters.

[CrazyT]

Despite loving the attention to detail in those types of games, I never feel the urge to grind my way through them. Even as a kid, I'd use action replay to play FF7,8 and 9. Think 10 was the only one where I didn't really.

Ori is great though. Can't remember the last time I played a game in that style and enjoyed it.

Yeah Ori was great. Game sticks with you after you finish.

About Jrpgs. It really comes down to the combat system for me and how much it keeps me engaged. Its a problem with final fantasies because theyre battle systems are hit and miss and in the case of ff9 while good, really slow.

Xenoblade's combat system is I think a good fusion between jrpg turn based and western action Rpg's. Id say its jrpg meets dragon age. There's enough interactivity to keep it interesting, and yiu can mostly avoid enemies and run past em if they arent too aggresive

I finished that game today, and the ending was surprisingly good. Finally going on with Yakuza 5 now

[Tad]

So, I'm tempted to give Yakuza another go. Thinking of starting on Yakuza 4 as the others are quite expensive here now and I'm not sure if I'll like it just yet.

Do you think 4 is a good place to start? I've heard you get a recap on what's happened anyway...

[Phantasos]

So, I'm tempted to give Yakuza another go. Thinking of starting on Yakuza 4 as the others are quite expensive here now and I'm not sure if I'll like it just yet.

Do you think 4 is a good place to start? I've heard you get a recap on what's happened anyway...

I think 1 is a good place to start. Because, you know, it's the first game. Can't you buy it off PSN? Or just emulate it.

[Tad]

I was thinking that, but due to recent comments from SEGA of Europe about looking into bringing Yakuza to PC, I'm tempted to just hold off really.

It's a series that really could do with being on PC due to the sheer amount of them spread across 3 platforms too.