General Gaming What are you playing today?

[Phaseknox]

I started playing Strange Brigade, it’s a fun linear third person action shooter with light puzzle solving.

[brucoe]

I signed back up to the Elder Scrolls Online (subscribed for a year and bought all the expansions I didn't have) mainly because I need a game that I can play while going through dialysis, which can be four hours three times a week. I had recently bought a powerful laptop that's designed just for gaming, and my understanding is that the center I go to has wifi access for clients. Figure I'll install it on the laptop tonight, and hopefully I'll be up to speed by Friday's session.

[osxmatt]

I’m about 45 hours in to Elden Ring and feel like I’m hitting a wall, so decided to hop back in to Divinity Original Sin 2.

[BloodyHell]

Chrono Cross. I love this game, but its one of the worse remasters I've ever played. Backgrounds are terrible, framerate is disgusting, if you use the speed up then the movement through areas is absolutely terrible. Im going to continue trying for now, but I can't see myself finishing this mess.

[BloodyHell]

On 4/24/2022 at 3:10 PM, Phaseknox said:

Those are all good. Zestiria is the weakest, but it’s still not bad. If you like anime style JRPGs then you should enjoy them.

Yup. Zestiria is the last one I beat. It wasn't terrible, but definitely weak. Berseria is the next im playing in that series, but I need to get to Scarlet Nexus first. Also Y's 8. So it's going to be a while, especially with XBC3 coming, and rumors of FFXVI release being announced in May for this fall, its hard to find the time and will for that many JRPG's. 

And I havent opened GT7, and im also playing Dark Souls Remastered.

[Phaseknox]

2 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

Yup. Zestiria is the last one I beat. It wasn't terrible, but definitely weak. Berseria is the next im playing in that series, but I need to get to Scarlet Nexus first. Also Y's 8.

Tales of Berseria is quite good, it’s well paced with a pretty good story, cast of characters and battle system. Scarlet Nexus is pretty good too, but the last areas drag on for too long and the last few bosses are frustratingly difficult. Ys VIII is really good. It has an entertaining story, a colorful cast of characters, a fun real-time action battle system and great music.

[Phaseknox]

I started playing Shenmue since I was in the mood for a somewhat more chill game right now. It’s been 22 years since I originally played it back on the Dreamcast, and when I first started playing it now I was kind of wondering what I saw in it back then. It’s a lot of walking and talking with clunky and stiff controls, poorly written dialogue and laughably bad voice acting. I was starting to think that it was too dated to enjoy again now, but after a while it all started to click. I adjusted to its outdated graphics and gameplay, and started to find charm in its goofy dialogue and voice acting. Now I’m really into it, and finding it to be an enjoyable cinematic adventure game just like I did 22 years ago. I want to finish it and Shenmue II so that I can play Shenmue III which I’ve had in my backlog for a while now.

[Keyser_Soze]

2 hours ago, Phaseknox said:

I started playing Shenmue since I was in the mood for a somewhat more chill game right now. It’s been 22 years since I originally played it back on the Dreamcast, and when I first started playing it now I was kind of wondering what I saw in it back then. It’s a lot of walking and talking with clunky and stiff controls, poorly written dialogue and laughably bad voice acting. I was starting to think that it was too dated to enjoy again now, but after a while it all started to click. I adjusted to its outdated graphics and gameplay, and started to find charm in its goofy dialogue and voice acting. Now I’m really into it, and finding it to be an enjoyable cinematic adventure game just like I did 22 years ago. I want to finish it and Shenmue II so that I can play Shenmue III which I’ve had in my backlog for a while now.

 

Did you find that hidden shop towards the beginning with the gatcha machine? My friend and I discovered it after looking a a strategy guide. We had never seen it before then after playing it multiple times.

[Phaseknox]

13 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Did you find that hidden shop towards the beginning with the gatcha machine? My friend and I discovered it after looking a a strategy guide. We had never seen it before then after playing it multiple times.

I know of the two gacha machines in front of the Abe Store in the first area, and the two in front of the arcade in the second area. Where’s the hidden shop that you’re talking about?

[Biggie]

WarZone

Nintendo Switch Sports 

[Brian]

Finishing up Kirby

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Plan on messing with Switch Sports and probably some Triangle Strategy.

[dualhunter]

Played a bit of Star Trek: Elite Force 2 and Baba is You. I also started a new game + for Shadows of Adam (had to load last my save from a few year ago, but luckily the final boss wasn't difficult). I missed a few things last time and didn't have the DLC (and the new game + wasn't available at the time hence the need to fight the last boss again to unlock it).

[Phaseknox]

2 hours ago, dualhunter said:

I also started a new game + for Shadows of Adam (had to load last my save from a few year ago, but luckily the final boss wasn't difficult). I missed a few things last time and didn't have the DLC (and the new game + wasn't available at the time hence the need to fight the last boss again to unlock it).

Shadows of Adam is a great retro style pixel art turn-based RPG, I played and finished it last year. My only real complaint with it is that it’s kind of short. I didn’t know that it had DLC.

[Keyser_Soze]

In an attempt to find the store in Shenmue I was talking about with @Phaseknox I kind of fell down some rabbit hole of Dreamcast games.

 

In any case I was playing Shenmue and I probably played it for an hour or so but forgot how slow paced it was so I wasn't sure if I had actually found the shop or not. Controls were super clunky and it was looking kinda dated but I was using redream. I wanted to check out Flycast because that's one that is getting updated these days and it does look a lot crisper in that. However, I did not start it over.

 

And then I was looking and was like, wow they had more visual novels on this thing than I would have though. Anyone remember this perverse game?

Spoiler

 

In any case maybe I'll fiddle with this thing more in the future. 🤔

[dualhunter]

10 hours ago, Phaseknox said:

Shadows of Adam is a great retro style pixel art turn-based RPG, I played and finished it last year. My only real complaint with it is that it’s kind of short. I didn’t know that it had DLC.

 

Yeah, according to Steam I finished it in 19 hours the first time. There was an underground area that you couldn't return to at the time but I think that was changed later where I had missed somethings. The DLC adds a bunch of stuff including New Game +, it didn't seem that interesting so I had passed it over but I had a gift card to use so that was one of the things I got with it. New Game + puts you back at level 1 and makes the enemies stronger so even though I have end game gear, the early enemies usually take multiple hits and are able to KO party members.

[TheLeon]

Life is Strange: True Colors - I needed a change of pace, and so this recent addition to Game Pass was a welcome one. 

[Phaseknox]

On 5/1/2022 at 7:07 AM, Keyser_Soze said:

In an attempt to find the store in Shenmue I was talking about with @Phaseknox I kind of fell down some rabbit hole of Dreamcast games.

 

In any case I was playing Shenmue and I probably played it for an hour or so but forgot how slow paced it was so I wasn't sure if I had actually found the shop or not. Controls were super clunky and it was looking kinda dated but I was using redream. I wanted to check out Flycast because that's one that is getting updated these days and it does look a lot crisper in that. However, I did not start it over.

Shenmue is definitely slow paced, clunky and admittedly a little boring. Back when it first came out it was a technical marvel which is part of what made it entertaining to play, but now 22 years later it’s showing its age. And it’s realistically more of an interactive story than a game. In addition to moving your character around environments and interacting with NPCs, the only other real gameplay elements include short fighting segments and QTEs at certain points in the story. The story and overall nostalgia are what have been keeping me playing the most.

[HardAct]

On 4/24/2022 at 6:20 PM, crispy4000 said:

Loving getting back into the Xenoblade series with Torna.  Something about it just feels so right, again.  Maybe it's the lack of tutorial and gatcha, which slowed down the pacing in 2.

It's also the first Xenoblade I'm playing on my 4K TV.  Resolution is fine if I just pretend it's old-fashioned, like the Wii game was for its time.  Framerate holds up pretty well too.  But the depth of field in cutscenes pixelates the background... optimization was clearly important, but it's still very odd looking.  Hopefully they can address that, if they haven't already with DE and 3.

Took a chance and bought Xenoblade Chronicles 3 pre-ordered from BestBuy for switch. really hoping for a stable framerate and they fix the blurry backgrounds, etc. I may be asking to much but It's done. I hope the story can live up to XC2 ED, and this is a long wonderful ride, we shall see. I am staying away from spoilers, etc as much I can. I hope this is a homerun!

[gamer.tv]

Kirby is such a good pick up and play game. So, to answer the thread that - in ten minute bursts, over the past few days.

[crispy4000]

13 hours ago, HardAct said:

Took a chance and bought Xenoblade Chronicles 3 pre-ordered from BestBuy for switch. really hoping for a stable framerate and they fix the blurry backgrounds, etc. I may be asking to much but It's done. I hope the story can live up to XC2 ED, and this is a long wonderful ride, we shall see. I am staying away from spoilers, etc as much I can. I hope this is a homerun!

 

I've gone completely dark on XB3 now, and probably will until release.  The direction XB2 took by the end was so fascinating, I don't want to have any preconceptions about what they'll do this time.

 

I've already spoiled myself on Future Connected though.  Since I heard its inconsequential, ironically.  And I'm not going to replay the first anytime soon.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I've gotten back to Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, so I'll be playing more of that today. Maybe some Triangle Strategy.

[best3444]

24 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

I've gotten back to Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, so I'll be playing more of that today. Maybe some Triangle Strategy.

 

Did the visuals impress you when you fired it up?

[CastlevaniaNut18]

37 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Did the visuals impress you when you fired it up?

Yes, it look great on my OLED. But more importantly, it's fun.

[Brian]

5 hours ago, gamer.tv said:

Kirby is such a good pick up and play game. So, to answer the thread that - in ten minute bursts, over the past few days.

[stepee]

Got my XSX all set up in the bedroom to finally have some higher end gaming in bed so anyway I’m playing Sonic Unleashed and the opening is sweet. Man they must have spent more on that opening cg than they did on all the Sonic games since combined. Even compared to Generations, as good as that was, there is obviously a bigger budget, scope, and just more ambition here.

 

After this they seemingly decided to cut Sonic down into more simple streamlined world map and 3 acts kinda design with a tighter leash on its budget. I don’t know why they couldn’t have just done this without the werewolf part lol.

 

I assume 15 or so years later Frontiers will be higher budget and ambition again. But yeah this is such a contrast to say Sonic Lost World where a lot of the stages barely even have geometry at all, just a background.

 

Really sucks they couldn’t up the resolution to 4k in this too tho. I guess for this game 60fps is best if it could only be one, but this didn’t get a PC release so giving a way to play it 4k/60 instead of being stuck in 720p land forever besides emulation down the line would be nice. Sonic Gen mods don’t count either. 16x af and auto hdr definitely help but even just 1080p would be so appreciated here.

 

[stepee]

Oh and weird you upgrade abilities including speed in this? Also I didn’t know Sonic had a silly werewolf voice lol.

[best3444]

lol you and your Sonic fetish 🤣 

 

Glad you are all set for this gen now. You got everything you peice of shit.

[Keyser_Soze]

14 minutes ago, best3444 said:

Glad you are all set for this gen now. You got everything you peice of shit.

 

Still doesn't have his deck yet

 

[Biggie]

22 minutes ago, best3444 said:

lol you and your Sonic fetish 🤣 

 

Glad you are all set for this gen now. You got everything you peice of shit.

Piece

[stepee]

You know what I realized playing Unleashed finally is this would have done much better if they just didn’t have the weird werewolf thing, but they didn’t need to remove that gameplay element! Knuckles is perfect for the gameplay in those sections. I mean it would make perfect sense you could pretty much just replace the model. Billed as a 3D Sonic & Knuckles at least commercially it would have been received much better.

 

Not that it would have made it a great game, the werewolf levels are too damn long and I just played one of the worst boss fights ever and it was like the first boss. Also I wouldn’t want them to do it myself because weird shit like werewolf Sonic is why I’m here, but it just seems so obvious.

 

That boss though omg, it’s like a stage that itself is a 5 minute long quicktime event and then a boss that is a couple minutes long quicktime event, and if you die at the boss you have to start at the beginning of the level. Outrageously bad!

 

 

[stepee]

Jeeze I finally beat that shitty quicktime first boss in Unleashed. I tried several times and finally I actually switched off fps boost to beat it. At 60fps it’s just too fast you need to respond I couldn’t do it. I know it wasn’t designed at 60 but the reason it’s a problem is it’s too damn hard in the first place for how long and what it is.

[gamer.tv]

Wife was playing Witcher 3 on the Switch, so I started Doom Eternal. It was getting late so I only played about 15 minutes worth, but dear me, it ticks a lot of my dopamine boxes.

[Phaseknox]

I finished Shenmue, and now I’m playing Shenmue II.

[Biggie]

WarZone

Nintendo Switch Sports

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