[Morgoth]

Hades is still very much keeping my interest, I enjoy punching the dead until they are more dead, though I once more have started to hear the siren call of Warhammer Total War 2.

[Aptorian]

I'm still playing Persona 5. I'm around 75 hours in and a little over half way through the game, if the number of months and palaces is anything to go by.

I've gotta say, while I don't like 10 point review system, this is one of a very few games I'd say deserves a 10/10 score. It's a damn near perfect game in terms of execution.

[Mentalist]

Waiting for 2 games to come out next week, I found myself in a lull.

Picked up an indie metroidvania called Aztaka. 3 hours in, pretty decent so far.

[Mentalist]

I started "Vigil: The Longest Night".

It is soooo good. Horrible fleshy monsters, blood plague cause by human experimentation and trying to bring back old gods; and a satisfying combat and RPG progression system to go along with it.

Traversal abilities are un-related to your character build, which is good, I think- you get them from beating more bosses and advancing the story, instead of just grinding enemies for exp.

Not really getting the hang of block/parry, though- but dodge and counter generally work almost as well.

Before that, I played like 15 different demos in the steam festival. Might do a write-up later.

EDIT: Day 2 of Vigil. Once you beat the second "real" boss (the intro one doesn't count), the game does a twist, and then it really opens up.

Did not expect this. Curious how this'll pan out in terms of story.

Day 3: Spent most of the evening exploring a spooky harbor and derelict ships infested with Deep Ones.
The boss of the area is annoying AF, because it drains my Stamina, and uses Ice blasts. Had to do some grinding to max out my Stamina regen, debuff duration reduction + exhaustion durtation. Thankfulyl, those giant Deep ones are worth 400 EXP each, so it's not that much work to get those skills.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 17 October 2020 - 05:03 PM

[Morgoth]

I have now managed two runs in Hades where I beat what, so far at least, seems to be the final boss. Instead of feeling like I'm done, I've instead just gotten more focused on teasing out the story, and improving my abilities and the esthetic charms of the underworld. My last run, an almost pure Zevs Poseidon combo with the spear was unbeatable. I crushed everything without breaking a sweat.

[champ]

Morgoth, on 19 October 2020 - 03:30 PM, said:

I have now managed two runs in Hades where I beat what, so far at least, seems to be the final boss. Instead of feeling like I'm done, I've instead just gotten more focused on teasing out the story, and improving my abilities and the esthetic charms of the underworld. My last run, an almost pure Zevs Poseidon combo with the spear was unbeatable. I crushed everything without breaking a sweat.

I picked this up yesterday and spent a couple of hours in the world, absolutely loved it. My best run so far is with the shield but I only got up to floor 37, my dash and special had reflect on so it was pretty ridiculous zooming everywhere. Going to hit it up later. Very addictive gameplay.

[Morgoth]

champ, on 19 October 2020 - 04:18 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 19 October 2020 - 03:30 PM, said:

I have now managed two runs in Hades where I beat what, so far at least, seems to be the final boss. Instead of feeling like I'm done, I've instead just gotten more focused on teasing out the story, and improving my abilities and the esthetic charms of the underworld. My last run, an almost pure Zevs Poseidon combo with the spear was unbeatable. I crushed everything without breaking a sweat.

I picked this up yesterday and spent a couple of hours in the world, absolutely loved it. My best run so far is with the shield but I only got up to floor 37, my dash and special had reflect on so it was pretty ridiculous zooming everywhere. Going to hit it up later. Very addictive gameplay.

Aye, and the music is so good! I've taken to listening to it at work, which to be fair I've done with the soundtracks for Supergiant's other games too.

I think they've really nailed how good it feels to get a solid combo going. With all the boons, and all the duo boons too, not to mention all the weapon forms, it feels like there's an endless supply of crazy combos out there. Often it doesn't work, but you've gathered up resources anyways to improve your next run, and you progress the story too.

[Mentalist]

Not a whole lot of traversal skills in Vigil. Double-jump, slide and dash are all you get from basic bosses, and there's a couple of extra magic items that let you open colour-coded barriers; and using weapons in the air can potentially extend your jumps, so I guess it's all about working those combos.

I'd have preferred a dedicated dash button though, b/c the double-tap direction to dash is pretty finicky.

still, 20 hours of playing, and there's still new stuff to find on these maps, which is pretty impressive. A few areas with optional bosses as well, but they live in zones with really annoyig platforming and loads of spikes that want to murder me.

[Serenity]

Same for me in Cold Steel 1. Haven't had as much time to play recently but now 70 hours in and finally back to where the game started.

[Mentalist]

Beat one of the optional super-bosses and got the Air-Dash.

Been using Steam Forums for suggestions where to look for really tricky to find loot. The game is VERY stingy with new armour kits- armour pieces are basically best-hidden loot in the game so far. I have a million different rings and most of the game's daggers and axes collection; but armour is really tough to come by.

Though I did find a secret boss I could farm an entire armour set off of. This will be useful when I have to go back to the Ice Realm.

Apparently, one of my magic items can highlight any hidden loot on my map. Guess I'll have to do a re-run of old levels with this trinket active now...

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 23 October 2020 - 12:58 PM

[champ]

Morgoth, on 20 October 2020 - 09:02 AM, said:

champ, on 19 October 2020 - 04:18 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 19 October 2020 - 03:30 PM, said:

I have now managed two runs in Hades where I beat what, so far at least, seems to be the final boss. Instead of feeling like I'm done, I've instead just gotten more focused on teasing out the story, and improving my abilities and the esthetic charms of the underworld. My last run, an almost pure Zevs Poseidon combo with the spear was unbeatable. I crushed everything without breaking a sweat.

I picked this up yesterday and spent a couple of hours in the world, absolutely loved it. My best run so far is with the shield but I only got up to floor 37, my dash and special had reflect on so it was pretty ridiculous zooming everywhere. Going to hit it up later. Very addictive gameplay.

Aye, and the music is so good! I've taken to listening to it at work, which to be fair I've done with the soundtracks for Supergiant's other games too.

I think they've really nailed how good it feels to get a solid combo going. With all the boons, and all the duo boons too, not to mention all the weapon forms, it feels like there's an endless supply of crazy combos out there. Often it doesn't work, but you've gathered up resources anyways to improve your next run, and you progress the story too.

I loved the Transistor soundtrack, I haven't really had chance to listen to this one too much yet as I had the game on quiet when I was playing but noted for next time!!

It's absolutely nailed that "one more run" feeling too... Had to drag myself away a few times now otherwise I would have regretted it the next day.

I've done 13 runs and haven't got further than the Arena boss battle and that was because I had some ridiculous boons on the shield. Came across my first duo boon too. I like how it keeps teasing more and more depth to the gameplay. All weapons are unlocked and I can start to upgrade them now.

And damn I hate that Hydra... it's killed me on most of the runs tbh. Funny moment, I died to the Hydra and in my head I said "stupid Hydra" and Zag goes at the same time, "stupid Hydra."

Yep! Very addictive.

This post has been edited by champ: 23 October 2020 - 02:38 PM

[Mentalist]

Finished "Vigil: The Longest Night" . Got the good ending, but missed one quest, b/c I took too long to go and trigger the previous one in the chain (or maybe it's just a bug); and also a few early game items, so not the best result achievements-wise. The game's a ton of fun, though the last few dungeon areas got a bit annoying. The boss gauntlet was really fun, though.

Started NG+ and already finished Act 1. I love my sword build, but I have a feeling I'm gonna have to switch to either Axes or Daggers for a better DPS soon.

Gonna stick with the game for now, but if it starts feeling tedious, I'm gonna switch over to "Raji: An Ancient Epic".

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 26 October 2020 - 06:09 PM

[Serenity]

Briar King, on 22 October 2020 - 06:43 PM, said:

Serenity, on 22 October 2020 - 04:39 PM, said:

Same for me in Cold Steel 1. Haven't had as much time to play recently but now 70 hours in and finally back to where the game started.

I well remember that and the

Spoiler

additions to it

I'm just having an utter blast with it the series so far. Some of these battles are pure hell to make it through.

Yeah, it was brilliant the way they did that.

CS IV is out on PS4 tomorrow, although the limited edition I have on order is delayed for some reason. Not that I'm going to be needing it for a while!

[Mentalist]

GhostRunner is out tomorrow, so gonna check out the demo tonight and see if it's worth the pre-order bite.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 26 October 2020 - 06:10 PM

[Traveller]

Rebel Galaxy.

Keep going back to this, pirates in space.
Trading, mercenary missions, mining, pirate hunting, and just flying your own warship around upgrading and getting into fierce navy-style space scraps.

Hate to say but I'm finding it way more fun than NMS.

[Mentalist]

Pre-ordered Ghost Runner.

It is a 1st person precision action platformer where one hit kills you as you try to wall-run, dash and slide close enough to gunmen to slice them up with your katana.

I have raked over 100 deaths in each of the 2 demo/tutorial levels.

I am absolute rubbish at the game. I also kinda love it. Each combat encounter is a mini-puzzle of death. momentum is everything, and it's kinda trial and error, which should drive me insane, but it all looks and sounds so damn cool, I'm too stoked about how I managed to kill 3 dudes in a row (and how cool it felt) to feel angry about the 4th shooting me in the face and ending the run. plus reloads are instantaneous, so it's got that "I'll get them this time FOR SURE" feeling that makes you lose an entire hour in a blink of an eye.

[Morgoth]

champ, on 23 October 2020 - 02:37 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 20 October 2020 - 09:02 AM, said:

champ, on 19 October 2020 - 04:18 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 19 October 2020 - 03:30 PM, said:

I have now managed two runs in Hades where I beat what, so far at least, seems to be the final boss. Instead of feeling like I'm done, I've instead just gotten more focused on teasing out the story, and improving my abilities and the esthetic charms of the underworld. My last run, an almost pure Zevs Poseidon combo with the spear was unbeatable. I crushed everything without breaking a sweat.

I picked this up yesterday and spent a couple of hours in the world, absolutely loved it. My best run so far is with the shield but I only got up to floor 37, my dash and special had reflect on so it was pretty ridiculous zooming everywhere. Going to hit it up later. Very addictive gameplay.

Aye, and the music is so good! I've taken to listening to it at work, which to be fair I've done with the soundtracks for Supergiant's other games too.

I think they've really nailed how good it feels to get a solid combo going. With all the boons, and all the duo boons too, not to mention all the weapon forms, it feels like there's an endless supply of crazy combos out there. Often it doesn't work, but you've gathered up resources anyways to improve your next run, and you progress the story too.

I loved the Transistor soundtrack, I haven't really had chance to listen to this one too much yet as I had the game on quiet when I was playing but noted for next time!!

It's absolutely nailed that "one more run" feeling too... Had to drag myself away a few times now otherwise I would have regretted it the next day.

I've done 13 runs and haven't got further than the Arena boss battle and that was because I had some ridiculous boons on the shield. Came across my first duo boon too. I like how it keeps teasing more and more depth to the gameplay. All weapons are unlocked and I can start to upgrade them now.

And damn I hate that Hydra... it's killed me on most of the runs tbh. Funny moment, I died to the Hydra and in my head I said "stupid Hydra" and Zag goes at the same time, "stupid Hydra."

Yep! Very addictive.

The Hydra is all about quick in and out attacks, keep moving back and forth to make it miss it's long range attacks. Also, normally it alternates 1:1 between the melee head smash and one of its long range attacks, so if it just did the head smash you can get in close and do a bunch of attacks, and then dodge to the other side when it starts shooting, and continue the attack for longer. Unless you have the spear or one of the long range weapons, in which case just stand just out of head smash range and attack until it dies.

I've beaten the "final boss", or at least the final boss for now, you never know, a few times, and the game still keeps introducing new elements and story. It's a ridiculously deep game, with a never ending spiral of new additions. My favourite weapon so far is the gloves, with the upgrade that pulls enemies close with the special attack. It feels so satisfying and visceral. I had my fastest run with those and the feather, with some serious Artemis boons and quite a bit of chaos bonuses. The "final boss" melted in no time at all. Though to be fair, I normally don't get that far with them as the need to be close and personal makes it harder to dodge away from incoming attacks.

[Aptorian]

128 hours into Persona 5 Royal now.

I think I've beaten the original versions final boss now. I'm waiting to see what the endgame is/was supposed to be. Just normal life? And then the third Royal semester begins I assume. If there's an antagonist there, I can already guess what the plot will be but we'll see. I suspect I'll be way past 160 hours before I'm done. This game is a time vampire. Always just one more conversation, one more social activity, one more day.

I think I'm going to easily platinum the game, based on the trophy list but I seem to have missed some character development windows for certain characters/personas, which is frustrating. I think that I won't be able to progress the Teacher and Politican character storylines, which makes sense for plot reasons, sort of, but it bothers me that if I'd been aware of a cut off date, I could have focused on these two in prior school months. Thankfully I did max out the social link for two characters who apparently gate you story progress into the third semester.

[Aptorian]

I started the third Royal chapter of Persona 5.

It doesn't start very well. Too many forced days where you're made to seek out team mates and all you can do is repeat the same conversation. It's clunky and lacks style.

The premise of the post ending bad guy is also... Eh, I'm not sure I understand why they're fighting him yet.

[Malankazooie]

Started playing through the first few missions of that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 campaign. Just the campaign was one of the PS Plus games a few months back. I've read about the "No Russian" mission but never experienced it first hand. It happens pretty early on in the campaign. I guess it is one of the events that really kicks things off into roaring global warfare or something (not sure, having somewhat of a hard time following what the story is).

Anyway, I feel a little frayed after playing that "No Russian" mission. I mean, did I have to gun down the folks who were pitifully crawling along the floor, already wounded? I guess maybe a "mercy killing" justification can put the mind at ease and massage the conscience, but dayuum, that shit craycray.

Not sure if I will continue on with this campaign and finish it. COD:MW2 came out in 2007, or thereabouts, yeah? It feels dated, although I'm guessing they improved the quality of the graphics and stuff prior to releasing it to PS4. But it feels dated as far as game environment design and enemy AI. I could probably max the difficulty level (currently on the 2nd hardest level), but I'm guessing that will just make the enemies more bullet spongey and me take more damage. I literally picked up one of those street sweeper style shotguns and ran through a house full of enemies and face blasted every single one of them. There is the "friendly fire" component to some of the missions, so that keeps things a little bit varied, but not much.

About the COD:MW2 story, can someone explain what is the ultimate narrative that is being laid out in this campaign? Seems as if it just kicks off with a little bit of a tutorial (which most games have) and then it just starts going from mission to mission, jumping around to key flareup spots on the globe. Is it ultimately to prevent global conflict/destruction by tamping down these hot spots?