What are you playing?

Bloodborne: Went to fight the final bosses with very little resources, yet in my arrogance I thought the first one would be easy. Never fought the second before, previous endings I got didn't require it. Had more trouble with the first one than I thought, so I went into the second figuring I was going to die and didn't have a chance.

Then I started to win.



So, that's the last ending. I'll do a strength build someday, maybe a New Game +.

Just five and a half weeks until Dark Souls 3.
 
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Playing a little Path of Exile to catch up to the new content, and I had forgotten how fucking brutal the bosses are in this game. I probably need to do some research on builds, but at this point I don't have enough passive resets to fix them all anyway.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
I'm back to playing more of Alec Mason: Worst Driver on Mars (aka Red Faction Guerrilla)

"Dammit, how did the EDF know I was in this vehicle?!"

"You knocked over three lampposts, clipped the side off a guard station, rear ended a cargo truck, and caused an entire billboard to collapse."

"To be fair, I was aiming for the billboard."
 
Factorio. I broke my rule about not buying Early Access games ever again, and bought it mere days after it released on early access on Steam. All I can say is apparently it's Monday now and I have no idea where the last 4 days went.
 


So I finished Birthright. It took me about half as long as Conquest, and while I could have spent more time grinding, there was no point beyond being a completionist. Every time I died in this one was due to me getting bored and cocky, and I never once had to rethink my strategies, because you could play the whole thing by inching across the map to victory. I started Revelations, and so far the storytelling is lazy. I'm hoping for it to pick up, but I think playing Conquest first may have ruined everything because none of my victories in Birthright had the same sense of "YES!!! FUCK YOU LEVEL!!!!!" satisfaction.
 
So my thinking was clearly Superior
You're playing Warhammer and FTL instead of studying, so I don't know what you even mean.[DOUBLEPOST=1457476262,1457476134][/DOUBLEPOST]Oh, also, the levels in Revelations so far, appear to be watered down versions of Conquest. :'(
 
Continuing my PS1 binge ...

Resident Evil 2: For the record, I beat this game a few times. Maybe not as many times as the original, but I played Leon-Claire and Claire-Leon. Did all the things. Got it?

I cannot fucking play this game now. I spent my morning commute again and again dying in vain on the way to the police station, and the one time I finally made it, my health was so low that the first zombie inside killed me. I've trying messing with the control settings, but it just makes it worse. I'd really like to play through it again as it was, but I don't know how long it's going to take to get use to this.

Tomb Raider: Conversely, I was terrible with this when I was younger, but tonight I played pretty well. The controls are also garbage, which I could fix if I was playing on Vita, but my wife wanted to watch this one, for nostalgia.

Controls aside though, the game still handles really well. The graphics aren't impressive now, if they ever were, but there's something still beautiful about the environments, just a matter of atmosphere perhaps. This was always my favorite of the old Tomb Raider games for the settings and those still work great. I'm kind of excited to see if I can actually get through the game as an adult.
 
Welp, since I need a Fire Emblem break, and I can easily play it on my laptop, I have thrown myself into Stardew Valley full force. I looked at pictures of people's farms online and am hit with inadequacy with my barely using a tiny corner of my land so far. But I am very excited about how big and awesome my farm will eventually be. I DON'T KNOW WHY I GET THIS WAY ABOUT HARVEST MOON TYPE GAMES! God help me if somehow a new Rune Factory ever comes out.
 
Lego Batman 3

You know, for a game called Lego Batman 3, it doesn't really have a lot of Batman in it. I don't see why they didn't call this Lego Justice League or Lego DC Heroes or something. And while it was funny to see the various designs on the costumes Batman or Robin would wear for certain puzzles, it got really annoying after awhile to have to switch them. Plus, there's really no open world like Lego Marvel Heroes had.

But it was still an incredibly fun game with some clever puzzles and good writing. Of the Lego games I've played so far, I think Marvel Heroes is still my favourite.
 
Lego Batman 3

You know, for a game called Lego Batman 3, it doesn't really have a lot of Batman in it. I don't see why they didn't call this Lego Justice League or Lego DC Heroes or something. And while it was funny to see the various designs on the costumes Batman or Robin would wear for certain puzzles, it got really annoying after awhile to have to switch them. Plus, there's really no open world like Lego Marvel Heroes had.

But it was still an incredibly fun game with some clever puzzles and good writing. Of the Lego games I've played so far, I think Marvel Heroes is still my favourite.
I think it was because the first one was exclusively Batman material, but rather than rename the franchise, they just expanded it to all of DC. Besides, isn't DC trying to make everyone Batman? ;) It didn't bother me because I LOVED what they did with Wondy in LEGO Batman 3. And the DLC with the Batman anniversary stages, the Arrow stage and the Man of Steel stage where they spent half the time making fun of Russell Crowe.

I agree with you about Marvel Heroes. I finished LEGO Marvel Avengers about a few weeks ago, and while it had a lot of what I loved about Heroes (in fact, some of the same, exact stages), and some improvements, I feel like I enjoyed Heroes over-all more than Avengers.
 

Dave

Staff member
I played a little solo Minecraft last night. Booted my game to 1.9 and started poking around. Found a cave pretty close to my base and accidentally fell down a hole that I didn't see. Landed in a darkened area with one two or three hearts left. I did know there was a spawner nearby because I could see the flashes. I put down a torch and found out the spawner was a creeper. I survived the firs boomer and even the second. But the third one I didn't see got me. Hardcore mode. Fuck.
 
I played a little solo Minecraft last night. Booted my game to 1.9 and started poking around. Found a cave pretty close to my base and accidentally fell down a hole that I didn't see. Landed in a darkened area with one two or three hearts left. I did know there was a spawner nearby because I could see the flashes. I put down a torch and found out the spawner was a creeper. I survived the firs boomer and even the second. But the third one I didn't see got me. Hardcore mode. Fuck.
Well, at least you didn't get a bunch of stuff built before you died horribly?
 

Dave

Staff member
Well, at least you didn't get a bunch of stuff built before you died horribly?
Yeah I did. I had built an entire village (this is where I really learned how to do it) and had all enchanted diamond gear. But I like the beginning parts of Minecraft and exploring better so it doesn't matter.
 
Yeah I did. I had built an entire village (this is where I really learned how to do it) and had all enchanted diamond gear. But I like the beginning parts of Minecraft and exploring better so it doesn't matter.
Ahhhh, I thought you had just started a new game.
 
I was going to really take a break from Bloodborne for a while, but I spent the morning (like, hours) reading a compehensive lore analysis. Lots of stuff I noticed and figured out, but also lots of stuff I noticed yet hadn't put two and two together with. I seem to most easily miss story details that are clued in by enemy behavior and placement, same as in Dark Souls. And like with Dark Souls, there are a couple parts where you get to be a complete asshole but don't realize it right away. Yay!

Despite my joke earlier about Final Fantasy Tactics being the wiser choice, I've actually put more time into Breath of Fire 3 since buying them. But damn if BOF3 can't get annoying. I got on just to get a cutscene out of the way, only to have the game go "Oh, you're enjoying me now? Well, here's a part you forgot about that you hated when you were a kid. Still enjoying me?" It's like Capcom was afraid people would like the game, so they had to throw in dumb shit here and there to piss of the player. I've actually begun longing to play 3DS RPGs that I've been three or more times already because a lot of modern game design avoids the kind of shot I see here.
 

Dave

Staff member
I'm at the last battle in X-Com 2. I just got to the base and am ready to assault. I have to go to a cookout, but when I come back it's alien-killing time. I hope.
 
I was going to really take a break from Bloodborne for a while, but I spent the morning (like, hours) reading a compehensive lore analysis. Lots of stuff I noticed and figured out, but also lots of stuff I noticed yet hadn't put two and two together with. I seem to most easily miss story details that are clued in by enemy behavior and placement, same as in Dark Souls. And like with Dark Souls, there are a couple parts where you get to be a complete asshole but don't realize it right away. Yay!

Despite my joke earlier about Final Fantasy Tactics being the wiser choice, I've actually put more time into Breath of Fire 3 since buying them. But damn if BOF3 can't get annoying. I got on just to get a cutscene out of the way, only to have the game go "Oh, you're enjoying me now? Well, here's a part you forgot about that you hated when you were a kid. Still enjoying me?" It's like Capcom was afraid people would like the game, so they had to throw in dumb shit here and there to piss of the player. I've actually begun longing to play 3DS RPGs that I've been three or more times already because a lot of modern game design avoids the kind of shot I see here.
I don't know what it is about the BoF series and "those parts," but man every game in the series has at least two or three (BoF2 and Jean's Castle/inside the whale, I'm looking at you).
 
I don't know what it is about the BoF series and "those parts," but man every game in the series has at least two or three (BoF2 and Jean's Castle/inside the whale, I'm looking at you).
"Yes, yes, I know you were having fun and all, but one of the level designers had a really weird idea and now you have to play through it to get back to the GOOD part of the game."

Didn't we basically have to perform liposuction on some royal bitch at some point?
 
"Yes, yes, I know you were having fun and all, but one of the level designers had a really weird idea and now you have to play through it to get back to the GOOD part of the game."

Didn't we basically have to perform liposuction on some royal bitch at some point?
I'm trying to remember, it's been awhile.

I know there was:
- The first hour or so, having to go back and forth between HomeTown and other places before any kind of flight/vehicle travel/warp
- Jean's castle, solving some mystery and having to put together a meal
- Getting the sickness out of the whale to use it as a vehicle, super-tough enemies and boss

And yeah, then having to go into that princess and kill the virus making her fat.

Makes me wonder how in the hell BoF2 is still one of my favorite SNES RPGs. Oh and on top of that stuff, the absolutely shit translation.
 
I don't know what it is about the BoF series and "those parts," but man every game in the series has at least two or three (BoF2 and Jean's Castle/inside the whale, I'm looking at you).
Inside the Queen in BoF2 is probably the worst bit of that game. "Okay... go inside and just fight until there are no more encounters. Done." The bad parts in BoF3 are probably training the guy to fight the other guy and the desert bit.
 
Inside the Queen in BoF2 is probably the worst bit of that game. "Okay... go inside and just fight until there are no more encounters. Done." The bad parts in BoF3 are probably training the guy to fight the other guy and the desert bit.
Yes, those, but also the princess having to wander around the castle until you find Honey and can escape. That's the one I was on last night and I ended up looking it up online because there was so little direction.

But the desert is by far the worst. It has a nice atmosphere, but the whole mechanic is ridiculous since if you're not doing it just right, you're already doomed. Realistic, yes, but not an enjoyable game experience.

I played Tomb Raider some more today and some of its ridiculous mechanics are getting to me too, but at least dated shit like this makes me really appreciate other games from the same time period that have aged a lot better.
 
Inside the Queen in BoF2 is probably the worst bit of that game. "Okay... go inside and just fight until there are no more encounters. Done." The bad parts in BoF3 are probably training the guy to fight the other guy and the desert bit.
Yeah I'd forgotten about that one until Null brought it up. Blocking traumatic memories and all that, I guess.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
I recently played LEGO The Hobbit and I gave some thoughts about how it related to the Steam controller in that thread, but I didn't say anything about the game itself. The only things I'd heard about the game going in had just brushed it off as "another LEGO game", "feels unfinished because it doesn't include The Battle of Five Armies", etc. None of them mentioned all the improvements to the formula that had been made over LEGO LotR and other LEGO games.

Very welcome improvements:
- Characters and items are now labeled with their abilities when selecting them from menus. No more guessing which of the unlocks can do what.
- Summon a mount from anywhere in the overworld. (Getting around LotR was a pain when having to do it on foot.)
- Levels can now be started at sub-chapters when being replayed
- and they tell you how many collectibles are found in each segment

For a series that could have been just cheap cash-ins, getting by on brand recognition alone, the LEGO games show effort to refine the formula.
 
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