Currently Playing chat thread

[Squinty]

Quake 2 remaster on pc. Runs great. Appreciate the work they did with it.

[kazanova_Frankenstein]

Policenauts (PS1)

Only an hour in but absolutely loving the tone. Feels like a proper follow up to Snatcher.

It looks very much like it is going to reinforce my belief that the Metal Gear games are the worst titles Kojima ever put out.

[Zilnad]

Carrion

This has really taken me by surprise this afternoon. A Metroidvania in which you play as a hideous, Thing-like mass of flesh, skulking through the corridors of a research facility, trying to escape while eating people to regain health and evolve your abilities.

It's really strawberry floating cool. The way the creature moves, dragging itself around by its stretching tentacles, feels great and look gross. And the sound design is fantastic; the disgusting, wet and sticky squelches of this man-eating mass as it lurches through vents and hallways just makes my skin crawl.

[Godzilla]

Carrion

This has really taken me by surprise this afternoon. A Metroidvania in which you play as a hideous, Thing-like mass of flesh, skulking through the corridors of a research facility, trying to escape while eating people to regain health and evolve your abilities.

It's really strawberry floating cool. The way the creature moves, dragging itself around by its stretching tentacles, feels great and look gross. And the sound design is fantastic; the disgusting, wet and sticky squelches of this man-eating mass as it lurches through vents and hallways just makes my skin crawl.

It's a brilliant game. Basically The Thing but you play as the alien. The movement is so smooth and the flow of the game is very satisfying. The only negative is it needs a map, the lack of that takes it from a 10/10 to a 9/10 as it can get a bit frustrating. But for atmosphere, control and everything else its flawless.

[dmin]

Pillars of the Earth (Switch)
Haven't read the books, but I enjoyed the tv show a few years back. Four chapters in and it's... fine. The voice acting and story are good, but it's a little slow and the movement is cumbersome. Playing for the story rather than the gameplay, but don't think I'd recommend unless you have some interest already.

[Squinty]

Final Fantasy VII Remake. I got chills when the battle music kicked in fully. Clever bit of soundtracking.

Not bad so far. Combat was a bit hack and slash at the start, but the tactical stuff adds another dimension to that. It's a lot to juggle.

[Tomous]

Final Fantasy VII Remake. I got chills when the battle music kicked in fully. Clever bit of soundtracking.

Not bad so far. Combat was a bit hack and slash at the start, but the tactical stuff adds another dimension to that. It's a lot to juggle.

The combat is genuinely brilliant once it proper opens up.

[Lotus]

I don't have my consoles set up at the moment so I'm purely on PC. That being said, I'm playing on Dolphin and revisiting some Gamecube games. After finishing off OoT: Master Quest, I'm dabbling in these:

Mario Golf Toadstool Tour
I never really clicked with this compared to the N64 version, but it's holding my interest a bit more this time and I'm enjoying it. Just going through various tournaments with different characters, trying to unlock what I can and not take it too seriously.

Mario Strikers
There's not much depth to this, so it's best for the odd game here and there I think, but it's enjoyable enough.

Soul Calibur II
Picking up where I left off (probably years ago) in the Weapon Master mode and trying to complete that and unlock all the weapons, outfits, modes, etc. It still plays really well and holds up. Only frustration is when you fail a mission and it kicks you back to the menu - just let me retry straight away

After finishing Double Dash, I'm still playing most of these, but I'm also back on Lost Odyssey on 360 now.

Mario Golf Toadstool Tour
This is still good, but the Star Tournament is legitimately quite tricky, and you really have to be perfect. The idea of going through all the modes with all the different characters is too much to stomach, so I think I'll just look up what the unlockables are in this and how to get them, and then focus on doing that.

Mario Strikers
I've mostly given up on this. Again, I might look up any unlockables that I've missed, but it's just a very shallow game. The odd game here and there is fun, but any more it just gets repetitive.

Soul Calibur II
I've finished Weapon Master mode in the sense that I've done the final battle, but there are still a couple of dungeons or fights to do. The dungeons are so tedious though that I'm not sure I'll bother. Plenty of things to unlock still, so might chip away at those.

Lost Odyssey
I've got this set up again and have picked up where I left off. I'm about 52 hours into this, and I've encountered my first real block where I'm just too weak to really progress. Spoilered just in case - I'm in the Temple of Enlightenment and although I got to the boss, I got my ass kicked, and being forced to use Mack (who I hadn't really been using) was what really made it tricky. What that's meant is that my last couple of hours in the game have just been grinding and trying to level-up and up-skill most of the party. I'm pretty much there now I think, but the prospect of going back through the temple isn't exactly an appealing one. Determined to see this one out though, and I think I'm nearing the end of the game.

[Parksey]

Started Yakuza 0 and Paper Mario: The Origami King over the weekend.

The former has critical acclaim and is a bit of a darling among gamers. Yet I'm a bit nonplussed by it. I've spent more of the opening hours watching cutscenes and reading text. There's a lot of talking and exposition, and it's been quite a passive experience. I like the atmosphere and the world, but my engagement with it has so far just been running from A to B to kick off another cutscene. I'm aware I'm quite early on, and sidequests and distractions will open up.

The other thing that bugs me is what gameplay entails so far. It's cutscenes and brawling. However, the combat system seems really imprecise. The lock on is awful, as is any sort of crowd control with masses of enemies. Worth a crowd, it feels very much like hitting the air in front of you and hoping enemies are there. You can aim at one, but just have to vaguely hope you hit a few others. Avoiding damage is similar awkward and sometimes you'll dodge, other times you'll get caught. It's also a bit annoying how enemies don't play by the same rules. When I start a combo, they can guard/dodge after a few hits. Yet if I get hit by a combo, I have to watch the whole thing play out and remove my health bar?

I think of the gold standard of third person melee combat - thinks like Dark Souls and the Arkham games - and it pales in comparison.

Origami King is the opposite. A game that didn't really register for anyone and has had criticism of being a poor imitation of past games. Yet so far, it's been a joy to play.

[Tomous]

Origami King is the opposite. A game that didn't really register for anyone and has had criticism of being a poor imitation of past games. Yet so far, it's been a joy to play.

Origami King has a lot going for it-the environments, writing and soundtrack all make it an absolute joy to explore and play through. There isn't a lot of depth to the battle system and progression so if you're looking for that you're going to be underwhelmed, but that doesn't take away from it being a great game.

[aayl1]

I was also nonplussed by Yakuza Zero. Also throw in the fact that I'm over Japan's "Zany" humour and microaggression racism and it kind of killed any interest I had for it.

[Squinty]

That was the one I tried. I made it a few hours into it and then noped out of it. Are the other ones better?

[Cumberdanes]

Got a few things on the go just now, I’m streaming PS2 JRPG Shadow Hearts, I’m a few levels into GameCube platformer Scaler and I’m playing a little bit of Disneyland Adventure on Series X each day to hit the daily achievement quest on Gamepass.

On top of that I’m slowly chipping away at Grounded in co-op but we’ve got something of a brick wall just recently and progress has slowed tremendously.

[Robbo-92]

Polished off MGS2 this morning, so I'll be making a start on with MGS3 at some point in the near future. I've absolutely been loving playing through the MGS Master Collection, 4 out of 5 games down now, the length of them definitely allows replays to still be enjoyable as well.

[Squinty]

FFVII Remake. What is up with the pacing in this? The start of it was great. As soon as you get to the Sector 7 Slums, the game almost grinds to a halt. I have a bad feeling about this

[Rubix]

Just bought Doki Doki, not sure what to expect I know it takes a dark turn but so far it's boring AF lots of reading and choosing words! Sure this will be a purchase I regret but it was only £8.

[Zilnad]

It's free on Steam. And if you think it's "boring AF reading" I don't think the ending will convince you otherwise.

[Tomous]

FFVII Remake. What is up with the pacing in this? The start of it was great. As soon as you get to the Sector 7 Slums, the game almost grinds to a halt. I have a bad feeling about this

There's a lot of padding with the side quests that draw the game out. I think a lot of it is skippable though? Having said that, I did it all

[Ironhide]

Witchspring R (Steam)

It's all slightly too cute (main character, Pieberry is cute af) and Japanese South Korean but it's quite an enjoyable relaxed JRPG, apparently gets a little darker later on but I haven't played it for very long yet.

Music is a bit irritating though.

[Preezy]

I played a bit of FIFA23 last night and my lord how I pine for the glory days of PES5 on PS2