[Khellendros]

Aptorian, on 22 March 2021 - 10:19 AM, said:

Before playing more Avengers I finished Journey to the Savage Planet. That is a VERY good game. Don't sleep on that one. If you're into 3D exploration games mixed with Metroidvania progression this is pure fun.

Also decided to boot up Streets of Rage 4 on a whim (Gamepass is a hell of a drug). Put it on easy and played through it in 2-3 hours. If it wasn't because I was having fun with the podcast I was listening to while playing I might not have bothered.

I remember enjoying these kinds of games in the 80s-90s but games like Double Dragon and Golden Axe worked back then because there wasn't much else around that looked or played better. In this day and age a game like Streets of Rage just doesn't have much going for it. You walk forward punching and kicking and throwing stuff. Over and over and over. The lack of variety and creativity in Streets of Rage 4 is disappointing. Maybe the nostalgia for old fans of the series is enough but I just don't see the appeal.

I actually had a lot of fun playing through Streets of Rage 4 with a friend (we played on the whatever-the-not-quite-hardest-difficulty level is). Funny thing is as a kid I never particularly enjoyed those side-scrolling beat em ups, but as a way to chill out with a friend nowadays it was really good.

[Aptorian]

I'm sure SOR4 is more fun with a co-op partner. I just found it antiquated.

Continuing my exploration of Gamepass, I played about an hour of Carto. It's a sort of 2D adventure and puzzle game, with the unique mechanic that you build the world as you explore, with map tiles you find around the world you build. How you place these tiles influence the progress of the game.

It's really cute but beyond the interesting gimmick it didn't capture my attention for long.

Also started Carrion. Now this is an awesome game.

The sales pitch is that it's a reverse horror game. You play as a horrible monster made out of tentacles and teeth, that evolves and grows as it rampages through an underground research facility.

I'm about halfway through and it's really cool so far.

[Maark Abbott]

Good lord some of the quests in MHW are silly.

There's an event on that gets you lots of rare stuff. One daily is often hunt a tempered monster. OK, so I'll hunt tempered Banbaro as he's pretty easy, doesn't do too much damage. Except...

I go in, and who else is there? Savage Deviljho and Rajang. Well this might get sweaty.

We bump into Savage Jho reasonably early, he beats Ban up a fair bit, lots of monch. Eventually Ban flees and I go the long way around to avoid running through Jho. I round the corner...

COME WITH ME TO MONKE LAND *parp parp*

[Aptorian]

Finished Carrion. That's a very good game that I'd recommend anyone to try out. I think it's rare that I play a game that has such an unconventional premise for a game.

I think the most pleasing thing about the game is that, though the individual combat encounters can be fast and brutal, the game is very generous with it's check points and health/biomass regeneration. It helps feed into the monster power fantasy as you stalk through air ducts and sewers planning your next gory ambush.

Started up Doom Eternal's Old Gods DLC. Damn it's brutal to get into, the opening level plays like the last levels of the main game. Got to retrain those combat reflexes.

Also started up Ori and the Will of the Wisps. This game is ridiculously beautiful and atmospheric. Compared to Doom this is like watching a Disney film.

[Sheve]

Aptorian, on 20 March 2021 - 03:06 PM, said:

What's that about? Is it player made story content?

I've been playing Marvel's Avengers. It just got a next gen upgrade and it was 50% off so why not.

So far I'm really enjoying it. The writers aren't going to win any awards but the story is good. Using Kamala Khan as the centre for the assembling of the Avengers is a great choice.

And if you liked the new Tomb Raider games you'll recognise Crystal Dynamics hand in this. Lots of pretty environments and action packed scripted sequences.

We'll see what happens when I eventually start running into the much panned gear bullshit and end game or lack of the same.

Was that about the Diablo 2 mods?
Its mostly quality of life stuff.
But they have made some changes to skills and items, to make many more speccs and items viable.
There is also a endgame Map system that is abit harder then other areas.

[Obdigore]

Malankazooie, on 21 March 2021 - 08:51 PM, said:

Been casually playing Assassin's Creed: Valhalla for awhile now. I will jump in and play a few hours and not pick it up again for another week. ... been rinse and repeating that. The AC games just keep getting bigger and bigger, although I don't think this one is a big as Odyssey. But damn, I don't think I've moved the story even to the midway point. You can spend complete sessions just running down all mysteries / wealth / encounters / items etc., in each section. I'm at level 236 now and I came upon a legendary animal and it had that red skull deal to indicate I'm not high enough level to fight it yet. I placed it in my bow sights and its recommended level I should be is 390. Cripes man, what is the level cap of AC Valhalla?

400, or it was until the river raids update which brings it up by like 6.

There's also 'mastery' levels that you start getting after 400 that just kind of slightly raise your health/damage/dodge depending on what you put it in.

[Aptorian]

Played a lot more Ori and the Will of the Wisps. This is as close to perfect as a game can get I think. It's ridiculously well designed and friendly to the player.

[Mentalist]

Aptorian, on 28 March 2021 - 06:26 PM, said:

Played a lot more Ori and the Will of the Wisps. This is as close to perfect as a game can get I think. It's ridiculously well designed and friendly to the player.

Get back to me once you beat the Worm

I enjoyed both Ori games overall, but that chase.... that was pretty evil.

[Aptorian]

Ah yes, the boss escapes. They soured my opinion of Ori 1 but so far they haven't been too grueling in the sequel.

[Aptorian]

Finished Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

Loved this game. One of the best games I've played. And the worm sequence wasn't all that bad.

[Aptorian]

Started up Narita Boy. I just defeated a boss with the body of He-Man and a TV-monitor for a head. His name was LORD VHS.

This game is weird and fascinating. It's a pretty rudimentary side scrolling hack and slash, the combat feels a bit too loose for my tastes but the aesthetics and world building is ridiculously good.

[Aptorian]

Played another hour and there's a lot of backtracking and running back and forth between the same screens to progress the story. Combat seems pretty one note as well.

[Maark Abbott]

RE savage planet, it was certainly enjoyable. Kind of short but never overstayed its welcome and had a lot of stuff to dKICK THE BIRB

[Aptorian]

Played a couple of hours of Outriders.

I'm veeery unsure about this game, which was also my expectation going in. It sort of feels like an off brand mix between Gears of War and Destiny. Not surprising since People can Fly worked on some of the Gears games - But the writing and setup feels so last decade.

Everything about it feels competent but not great. Slightly off some how. Like a copy with little of it's own soul. Yet, anyway. The gameplay is still opening up and I think it's improving. The devastator class I'm playing certainly feels powerful and fun.

[Traveller]

Playing Monster Hunter Rise on switch.

Got it because it looked like a lite version of MH, which I thought would be a good new game for my boy. But having not played MH, and not doing a whole lot of research, I misjudged it - he was quite put off by the amount of tutorial boxes for literally everything at the start, and now I'm playing it to justify buying it.

Shitload of stuff, only just realised you start with every weapon type - each of which has its own wire bug moves and combos. Don't know where to start really, so I've just picked a sword and shield or twin blades and set out doing village quests.

The quick menu is not great for me at the moment, trying to get some item during combat is way too hard and lack of a lock-on means I keep attacking off in the wrong direction and getting whacked for it. And there are bows and lances and God knows what else I haven't even tried yet.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 01 April 2021 - 02:53 PM

[Serenity]

^^ You can lock on to the larger monsters (from the Great Izuchi onwards) by clicking the right stick. Change the camera setting to 'focus' in the options if you want the monster in sight at all times. If you don't, use the 'target' option instead, then tapping L will turn the camera towards the monster. You can try it out in the training area, too.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Traveller, on 01 April 2021 - 02:52 PM, said:

Playing Monster Hunter Rise on switch.

Got it because it looked like a lite version of MH, which I thought would be a good new game for my boy. But having not played MH, and not doing a whole lot of research, I misjudged it - he was quite put off by the amount of tutorial boxes for literally everything at the start, and now I'm playing it to justify buying it.

Shitload of stuff, only just realised you start with every weapon type - each of which has its own wire bug moves and combos. Don't know where to start really, so I've just picked a sword and shield or twin blades and set out doing village quests.

The quick menu is not great for me at the moment, trying to get some item during combat is way too hard and lack of a lock-on means I keep attacking off in the wrong direction and getting whacked for it. And there are bows and lances and God knows what else I haven't even tried yet.

'"Monster Hunter Rise" Is a Horrible First Monster Hunter

"Monster Hunter Rise" is a streamlined experience, but that doesn’t make it accessible to new players.

[...] Unlike the Souls series, whose animation locked combat and giant enemies bear enough similarity to Monster Hunter to make this comparison, the Monster Hunter series doesn’t teach through failure. In fact it barely spends any time teaching at all, and Rise exacerbates that by streamlining the early game to get players to their first hunt as quickly as possible. While the bevy of quality of life improvements and new speedy mechanics means a much more frictionless experience for veteran players, to a newbie it’s akin to being tossed into the deep end of a pool when you don’t know that “swimming” is a thing people can do.'

https://www.vice.com...-monster-hunter

[Traveller]

Yeah I can agree with that.

It's not that the mechanics are difficult, or that it doesn't explain them (it does, but in box after box of text, rather than the more commonly used tutorial area to work through, with an additional annoying mechanic of not being able to close the text box without an added confirmation - every single time.)

It's more that there are all the weapons and gear seemingly available from the start, a bit like having a skill tree filled in at the beginning, before you know what is worth upgrading.

I'm a bit undecided about whether I like it or not. I'm going to just pick a weapon I like and go with it, and see how it goes.

[Serenity]

Traveller, on 02 April 2021 - 06:53 AM, said:

I'm a bit undecided about whether I like it or not. I'm going to just pick a weapon I like and go with it, and see how it goes.

I've gone with the Charge Blade, as I found it very satisfying in World, but the tutorial in Rise doesn't even tell you the most important instructions - how to charge your shield and then the blade. The only way I could find out how to do that, rather than stumble around button mashing in the hope of hitting the right combination, was to watch a YT vid.

I've always loved the idea of the MH games more than the actual playing of them, at least to start off with. But Rise, as with the others I've played, has got its hooks in after a few hours and now I'm loving it. I'm still utter shite at it, but it's so much fun, and it's so great to have MH back on handheld and have it looking so beautiful and running so smoothly even then.

[Traveller]

Serenity, on 02 April 2021 - 09:52 AM, said:

Traveller, on 02 April 2021 - 06:53 AM, said:

I'm a bit undecided about whether I like it or not. I'm going to just pick a weapon I like and go with it, and see how it goes.

I've gone with the Charge Blade, as I found it very satisfying in World, but the tutorial in Rise doesn't even tell you the most important instructions - how to charge your shield and then the blade. The only way I could find out how to do that, rather than stumble around button mashing in the hope of hitting the right combination, was to watch a YT vid.

I've always loved the idea of the MH games more than the actual playing of them, at least to start off with. But Rise, as with the others I've played, has got its hooks in after a few hours and now I'm loving it. I'm still utter shite at it, but it's so much fun, and it's so great to have MH back on handheld and have it looking so beautiful and running so smoothly even then.

Is the charge blade the one that separates into sword and shield and back into an axe? I had a go in training, seemed a bit complicated in an already overcomplicated system! I'm still hitting menu buttons accidentally during combat, and why are there 4 shortcut menus?! It's not a shortcut when you have 36 slots and you can't find a goddamn potion!