What are you playing right now?

Labadal · July 2, 2017

Man, Valkyire Profile 2 is just as good as I remember it. I do like some aspects of the first game more, but this one is still a lot of fun. Exploration and graphics are great. Some of the puzzles are infuriating, though. Not hard to figure out, but annoying to execute. The combat plays a lot like the first game, yet it doesn't. 3rd dimension and all that, plus being able to move around.

I need to stress how good the game looks for a PS2 game. I love the backgrounds. I almost always mention Final Fantasy XII and God of War II as two of the best looking PS2 games. For me, this game gives them a run for their money.

Bartimaeus · July 2, 2017

Yeah, it's pretty child-friendly for the most part...right up until the end of the game, anyways - and that's not really "mature" in the normal sense (it's not violent or sexual or anything), but nevertheless, it might still qualify*. To be honest, I'm not sure that en eight year old will "get" Undertale, especially if they've played a lot of other games already, but I guess it doesn't hurt to try.

*

At the end of the game, you must either murder someone or see them be murdered - yes, you can totally avoid killing or hurting anybody up until this point if you want - which then sets off a pretty...shocking, to say the very least, 'final' boss fight.

Edited July 2, 2017 by Bartimaeus

213374U · July 2, 2017

Twitcher3.

After hating the vanilla gameplay of 2 (and the FCR2 mod which turns it into a left click-fest), I decided to go with an overhaul mod for 3 right off the bat. Having tried Ghost Mode and W3EE, I settled for School of the Roach. It's not perfect, but at least it does away with the MMO-inspired idiocy and combat and talents seem improved.

So far so good, but the tendency worries me for Cyberpunk.

Antonio94 · July 2, 2017

Currently I'm playing Persona 5, it's really excellent although the game's beginning is quite slow. But then the story gets better and better and it's really fascinating.

The music too, oh it's really good and literally I can't get it out of my head now.

Harry Easter · July 2, 2017

Leap of Fate. This is fun and the short story segments are very well written.

mkreku · July 2, 2017

What game has good combat according to you?

213374U · July 2, 2017

Games in general or just RPGs? For instance, for games in which the action revolves around swordplay and footwork, CDPR could take some notes from PlatinumGames, especially where responsiveness is concerned. I couldn't get into Dark Souls for other reasons, but the combat is excellent -- again, because it's so consistent and responsive. Any modern fighting game is going to have good combat because, uh, that's all there is to it. I guess what I'm saying is... the Japanese can really program fun and engaging combat?

But I suspect you are asking more about Western Action RPGs. In that case, I haven't played one in which combat truly stood out. Can you recommend any?

From what I've gathered they really wanted to move from a QTE and stat-based combat to more or less pure action, between Twitcher and Twitcher2. It's not a bad idea but the execution is lacking in W2 because attack animations are decided by the game as opposed to the player, camera focus is all over the place and hitboxes are unreliable, not to mention the hallmark of all mediocre combat design: stun/stagger and i-frames abuse. This means quen-roll-roll-backstab is the best tactic for any encounter. Boring.

Edited July 2, 2017 by 213374U

Tale · July 3, 2017

I finished Axiom Verge. I must have really liked it because I played through it nearly without stopping. But at the same time, I don't feel that it was too great. Just really solid.

Keyrock · July 3, 2017

I'm mostly playing HITMAN. I finished all the escalations, level 5, in the Hokkaido location , but there is one escalation I have yet to successfully get silent assassin on level 5. Level 1 tasks you with breaking into a safe and getting the contents. Super simple. Level 2 adds that you have to kill the facility director within a minute after getting the safe contents (you can't kill him before). Easy once you know the director's patrol route. Heck, with good timing you can kill him within a second or two of getting the safe contents, with a little preparation. Level 3 adds that you have to also kill a specific morgue doctor and both kills have to be done "ninja style", which means katana, shuriken, or accident. Not too difficult once you have shuriken unlocked as an item, though it does take some prep work. Level 4 adds extra guards in a couple areas. These guards are quite easy to silently pacify, after that it's the same as level 3. Level 5 is where they throw the big monkey wrench into the mission. Now, not only do you have to kill both the morgue doctor and the director "ninja style", but you have to do it while disguised as either a ninja or the motorcyclist (Think Kill Bill Vol 1). The problem here is that both the ninja and motorcyclist disguises are super conspicuous and anyone that sees you wearing them anywhere in the level (even places where no disguise at all would not be suspicious) will freak out (and insta-ruin any silent assassin run). Killing the morgue doctor is pretty easy since the motorcyclist disguise is in the morgue (hence why the disguise is so conspicuous, you are dressed as a dead man) and it's a secluded enough area to move around unseen if you're careful. The hard part is killing the director while disguised as the motorcyclist (or ninja for that matter). The director patrols exclusively in areas that have a lot of people around. A strat I used in the easier levels of the escalation was to poison some food he eats with rat poison, which sends him to the bathroom to puke his guts out, where I lie in wait and throw a shuriken into the back of his head. The problem is getting to the bathroom while dressed as the motorcyclist. There is a bit of ground to cover between the safe you need to break into and the bathroom and a whole lot of people along the way, plus I only have a minute to get there, so I can't be patient and cautious because I'll run out of time.

I've been giving this puzzle some thought and have come up with 3 potential solutions:

Before poisoning the food (but after killing the morgue doctor) I need to slowly and cautiously sneak to the bathroom dressed as the motorcyclist. Even with no time pressure this will be very hard since it's such a congested area. I can remove some of the guards along the route, but there are also a bunch of civilians in the way and I very much doubt I can pacify them all unseen and clear an easy path before putting on the motorcyclist disguise. Still, I think it's possible with patience and some distractions (thrown soda cans). Once in the bathroom I can change into a different disguise (likely security guard, since I pacify one and drag his body to a closet in the bathroom anyway) which will leave the motorcyclist disguise near the closet in the bathroom. I can then poison the food, wait for the right moment in the director's patrol pattern, steal the safe contents dressed as guard, run to the bathroom, change into the motorcyclist disguise as the director pukes his guts out, kill him, change back into a guard, then escape. The hard part is getting the disguise to the bathroom.
Find a way to alter the director's patrol route so that he enters a secluded area. I already do this by poisoning him to get him to go to the bathroom, but I need to find a way to get him closer to the morgue. I have not yet figured out a way to do this but I bet there are some cues from the main story mission I can use to get him to go somewhere else in the facility (likely the hospital area or his office). If I can figure out when the trigger is then maybe I can find a better spot to kill him along his new route.
Set up an accident along his current patrol route. I have yet to identify a potential trap to kill him in an "accident" along his normal route, but maybe I just haven't looked hard enough. If I can find a place to set up a trap he will walk into an "accidentally" die then the mission becomes easy since his patrol route is rather lengthy, so I can set up the trap disguised as a guard, cook, staff, etc, then disguise myself as the motorcyclist, wait until he's close to the trap, break into the safe, then wait for him to die as the motorcyclist, then change disguises and escape.

I'm going to figure this out. I need that silent assassin mission completion, I can't feel like a true, proper Agent 47 otherwise.

marelooke · July 4, 2017

Mostly Guild Wars 2 lately, Prey's going a bit slower currently.

Been wondering what set GW2 apart from other MMOs that it has been able to keep my attention and then I stumbled upon this video by Kungen (of Ensidia fame):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MNFWhCw8dg

He makes some really good points imho (we disagree about Black Desert Online though). Raiding has turned into such a singular focus that "the rest" of what constituted a MMORPG has pretty much disappeared from most MMOs. In GW2 Raids are just one of the things you can do when you hit max level and the loot you get from them isn't any better than things you can get elsewhere either. And "elsewhere" includes crafting. Moreover they're committed to leaving the level cap alone, meaning that all "old" content stays relevant. Net result being that they need to be more creative to keep players playing which imho can only be a good thing (ofc, not everything they tried worked out so great, but hey, win some, lose some).

Here's to hoping they can keep their identity even after a bunch of their major developers left. Guess we'll know when the next expansion hits (somewhere near the end of the year, I think)

Edited July 4, 2017 by marelooke

Malcador · July 4, 2017

Got that bug again in Deserts of Kharak so am giving that a rest for now. Not a bad game, only on mission 4. Probably not worth $18.

I think I will go back to nailing off Cosmonautica's story just so I can cross that off the list

redneckdevil · July 4, 2017

Replaying fonv.....my God i love this ****ing game.

Katphood · July 4, 2017

Finished Silent Hill 2.

Got the 'Leave' ending. Pretty sad.

redneckdevil · July 5, 2017

Nice!

the_dog_days · July 5, 2017

Replaying Gothic. I haven't touched it in years. Had to print out a list of keybindings just to remind me.

Tale · July 6, 2017

Dies Irae finally started getting good around chapter 6. I think the frustrating thing for me is that the bad guys are the most unsympathetic pieces of work I've seen in a VN. Painfully. Their very existence as characters offends me. It really is Fate/Stay Night for the super edgy. But it's around Chapter 6 that finally something starts getting done about all that.

GhostofAnakin · July 6, 2017

Do people have short memories? I'm honestly curious because part of what ruins any replays for me is basically remembering every single quest and every single outcome after I've played through before. So instead of any sense of awe, I end up reacting like, "And now he'll say this" or "And now this happens next".

redneckdevil · July 6, 2017

Eh it's a game I replay once a year or 2. The different choices and factions can help also and the game encouraging role-playing. I've put over 1k hours playing it and I might actually finally do a ncr one. Done everyone else.

Also dead money and old world blues...hell even the diary of the man in the caves. Damn can't wait to get Joshua's outfit. Dunno if I will end the dlc quickly or follow thru.

Katphood · July 6, 2017

Happens all the time with the Mario series, doesn't ruin the fun though...

Lexx · July 6, 2017

So what? I'm replaying the game like twice per year ever since release, and I'm still crazy about it.

Belle Sorciere · July 6, 2017

Sometimes I enjoy replaying games that I know backward and forward. I mean, sure, I know what's going to happen but generally I can also make different choices to change things up a bit.

Rosbjerg · July 6, 2017

For me, in this case, it's like reading a good book again - you know the story, but you really enjoy the craftsmanship and as you change through your life, the things you focus on changes as well. So the story kinda evolves with you, if that makes sense?

melkathi · July 6, 2017

I'm playing Rites of War...

Malcador · July 6, 2017

Journey is fun for some not the ending. I guess. I usually refrain from replaying long games as the knowledge of what's ahead murders any fun I am having now. But can be done even in adventure games and RPGs have different play throughs.

WDeranged · July 6, 2017

Bingo. Every couple of years I like to replay my favourite games, just as I like to re-read my favourite books. Each time you experience that world as a slightly different you.

Not to say the first time isn't the best. Usually it is and I often wish I could suffer a temporary amnesia to recapture that moment.

What are you playing right now?

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