What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

Model switching between Quiet and Ocelot. Classic.

iguanaDitty wrote:

Erik Twice wrote: Yeah, I haven't played Contra III in years but man...I agree it's totally true of Battletoads. I know some people love it, I know it's not really what one would call "badly designed" per se but...yeah, it's not a good challenge. There's a lot of stuff in the game that kills you in one hit, or that requires lots of foreknowledge or simply punishes you to brutal degree for getting small things wrong.

Well this is where I get confused. I haven't played Dark Souls or Bloodthorne (not in my wheelhouse due partly to difficulty) but aren't they famous for one-hit killing or death trapping you if you get a small thing wrong?

While I haven't played the Dark Souls / Bloodthorne games, from what I've read about them I think you're on to something. My brain sticks Dark Souls into the "platformer" category because of that foreknowledge-through-repetition requirement.

A formative gaming experience for me was back in the college arcade. At home I used to really like games like Pitfall, Jumpman, Loderunner, Miner 2049er, and other console and computer platformers of that era. Anyway, this arcade had several sit-down Nintendo Vs. systems and you could play console-to-arcade ports like Excitebike and so forth. One of the games that they had was the Vs. version of Super Mario Bros., and I was glad to drop some quarters into that thing because I had fun with it and as we all know the game was really well designed.

But then one day I saw someone play the game who actually knew what they were doing. In an early level they jumped for what looked like no good reason--just jumped into the empty air. But a strange thing happened: they hit an invisible block and got a 1-Up. I swear, it was like I'd just figured out the identity of Keyser Soze or something. My coffee cup dropped to the floor and shattered in slow motion and my gaming world crumbled around me. I guess my reaction could have been one of wonder and delight at the idea that the game was filled with hidden bonuses like that. Instead I was appalled at what I saw as completely arbitrary bullshit. The game expected me to play over and over and over, randomly jumping like a spaz in order to hopefully bonk into invisible shit. No, I was not filled with wonder.

It's almost thirty years later and I still won't touch a platformer.

I started playing Dark Souls 2 Sins of the Scholar or whatever---it's on sale for 24 bucks if you have PS+, so now is a good time to buy it digital if you want it.

I... like it? But it's so much clumsier than Bloodborne I find it disconcerting. More importantly, it does a god awful job of introducing you to the game, even worse than Bloodborne. I'll keep playing it, though, the PS4 re-release is a HUGE HUGE improvement if only because it is 60 frames per second.

Dude, just get MGSV. You are so going to want to platinum it.

I now have access to a Walker Gear. It's a kind of mini-mech, sort of a cross between a Mad Cat and a Speeder Bike. On roller skates. This damn thing just encourages me to get rowdy. I swear if I take it on a mission, there's no way it's not going to end with everything exploding. I've actually kind of shifted gears...now that Mother Base is fully staffed and there's a waiting room full of guys waiting for a job, I've started going more lethal. I still carry my tranq pistol just in case I find a specialist or a high ranking medic or whatever, but I'm mostly using deadly weapons right now.

I have also finally hit the microtransactions...and they are lame. There are special high payout missions you can deploy combat teams to that are only available online. These things take like 20+ hours of real time to resolve, in contrast to the regular missions that are like 20 minutes. So you can buy these Mother Base coins to finish a mission immediately. Stupid.

Michael Barnes wrote: I have also finally hit the microtransactions...and they are lame. There are special high payout missions you can deploy combat teams to that are only available online. These things take like 20+ hours of real time to resolve, in contrast to the regular missions that are like 20 minutes. So you can buy these Mother Base coins to finish a mission immediately. Stupid.

They want you to pay money to not play the game? That's...new. Always outside the box, there, MGS.

I played DESTINY last night, and it's sure different. I leveled up a couple of times while on Patrol--that almost never happened in Year 1--you usually had to go back to turn in bounties for that. Also--you don't have to go to Earth to turn in bounties, you can do it from the Options menu, thank GOD. You can carry 16 bounties, and all your "story" stuff is now in Quest form, tracked separately, and well-labeled on the map. I went back into the Crucible and man alive I suck in there. Just suuuuck. I am not level 34, like literally every other player, but I don't know if that matters. I do think my guns are shittier--pretty sure that does. I think I totaled up about five kills in three Conquest games. I died about 70 times.

Trying to play SPELUNKY once a night too, to feed El Cuajinais' insatiable need to see me fall off ropes and die in other dumb ways while he kills Olmec.

I've got the new Destiny loading now...all 18gb or whatever it is. The new changes sound great. And after logging 45 hours in a week and a couple of days, I need a little weekend break from MGSV. I swear I hear the helicopter outside my house and I get the impulse to roadie run out there to it.

I did get to the part where Quiet's R-rated attire is explained...that's...not what I was expecting.

Having great fun with 4 friends in Guild Wars 2.

I've completed two missions of Ghost Recon Future Soldier. I went all-in on the Tom Clancy humble bundle, pre-ordering Rainbow Six Siege. Hopefully the PC version isn't a total disaster.

As for Ghost Recon, it's pretty fun. Basically Gears of War with Ghost Recon paint.

Ghost Recon rocked the cover system before Cliffy B even thought of Gears of War. Did you play GRAW 1 or 2? Is it like that ? I loved those games

I played a bit of GRAW 1. From what I recall, Future Soldier is way more fun than that was.

GRAW 1 is super tactical and not arcadey at all. You walk around s corner without doing Recon, you just die

So... playing Dark Souls 2. I just beat the Last Giant (super easy).

I just want to start out by saying that, since I have no nostalgia, Bloodborne is a way, way better game. The combat in Dark Souls is agonizing, at times, even if it is intentionally so. And the start... I get that Dark Souls/Bloodborne is supposed to be inexplicable and mysterious, but the lack of explanation in DS2 is inexcusable. Beginning Bloodborne combat at the first bits (villagers) is a bit clunky, again, intentionally, but it doesn't cross that line into simply annoying.

Beyond that, I see why people like Dark Souls more. There are more options, more builds. I can see that. But I'm not sure it improves the game that much? I guess it would require multiple plays, but I have 13 attributes or whatever and they're super confusing unless you have a guide... I don't know how big an improvement that is. OTOH, it lets you do a, say, a pure fire magic build. Bloodborne lets you do a heavy magic build but has no specific specialities and BB still makes you invest something in normal combat skills.

Anyway. DS2 is interesting and I get why the hardcore like it better. If someone here plays it and loves it i'd like to hear their thoughts. I like it so far quite a bit but I'm curious to hear what a real devotee thinks. I love that these games exist and I would hope that even people who hate this kind of skill testing, at times arbitrary bullshit (Legomancer comes to mind) could appreciate that there is still someone producing for it.

iguanaDitty wrote: Well this is where I get confused. I haven't played Dark Souls or Bloodthorne (not in my wheelhouse due partly to difficulty) but aren't they famous for one-hit killing or death trapping you if you get a small thing wrong?

I haven't played these games so I can comment, but the key point to consider is that one-hit kills are neither good or bad, they are simply useful or not.

The thing is, making the player repeat a whole section is a good idea to teach the player how to tackle the level. This is how Gradius or Castlevania or many other classic games work, they see you do it wrong and say "No, no, you still don't understand how this is supposed to work, try again" while giving the player tools to progress through parts they don't fully get yet. In Battletoads, though, you are often forced to repeat sections you do know how to beat and it has very little room to progress through newer sections of the level. So the issue for me is that Battletoads isn't a good learning experience.

Feelitmon wrote: I guess my reaction could have been one of wonder and delight at the idea that the game was filled with hidden bonuses like that. Instead I was appalled at what I saw as completely arbitrary bullshit. The game expected me to play over and over and over, randomly jumping like a spaz in order to hopefully bonk into invisible shit. No, I was not filled with wonder.

The game does not expect you to randomly jump in the hope you find a secret. Generally this kind of secret follow the principles laid in Xevious and specially The Tower of Druaga:

- Secrets are not randomly placed, they are placed where players are likely to find them. (Eg. The 1-Up in level 1-1 in Super Mario Bros)
- Secrets are in suspicious locations. (Eg. The secret warp area in level 4-2, which is hid behind destructible blocks that cannot be reached and seem to serve no purporse)
- Secrets will be found by a few players, which will then share the knowledge with others. (Pokémon is probably the most well-known game based on this principle. The fact that Tajiri wrote strategy guides for The Tower of Druaga is no coincidence at all)
- Secrets follow certain principles that build on the workings of previous secrets (Eg. the secret warp in level 4-2 is not something unexpected after finding multi-coin blocks in level 1-2).

Everyone who has played Super Mario Bros ends up knowing most of its secrets, they are truly well-designed.

It's almost thirty years later and I still won't touch a platformer.

That's quite sad :/

iguanaDitty wrote: Well this is where I get confused. I haven't played Dark Souls or Bloodthorne (not in my wheelhouse due partly to difficulty) but aren't they famous for one-hit killing or death trapping you if you get a small thing wrong?

I never answered this... Bloodborne and Dark Souls rarely one hit kill you. Usually it's between 2-5 hits that kill you, but you're right that enemies can stun lock you so one mistake can easily be your last. And fighting more than, say, two enemies is often a death sentence unless you're extremely careful---even if those enemies are "easy" normal enemies.

The difference is that death in Dark Souls/Bloodborne isn't terribly punitive. You drop the experience you had built up since you saved last, but you can get it all back if you get back to the part you died at without dying. You don't lose any items you gained and all world state changes you did stay (e.g. opening a drawbridge). And save points are generally located fairly close together once you account for shortcuts that open up. So the general game flow is trying to fight a number of enemy encounters---which are non-trivial because Dark Souls does not do harmless regular enemies---before you get to the next shortcut/bonfire/lamp checkpoint. Bosses are just an all out war of many deaths but they almost always have pretty generous checkpointing right before them.

So yes, it does superficially share some things in common with an ass-kicking game like Battletoads (what a shitty game), but by making check points very common and not punishing you much at all for dying it is a bit different as long as you don't take dying personally every time.

Back to flight sims for a bit. The one I use is DCS. Downloadable from their website for free (don't download through Steam for lots of boring incompatibility reasons). You get a free Soviet ground attack aircraft (SU 25T) to fly. Been playing on and off for a couple of years and can now land it without crashing into the runway. It's no arcade game, it's an accurate sim. Of course, you need decent graphics and a joystick (preferably HOTAS) to run it, but it is very good. Decided to buy the SU 25A, an earlier version of the same plane, but no autopilot or HUD, probably because I am a masochist. Either that or I like a challenge. The plane was used in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to some effect.

Got to fly through the Caucasus Mountains on a tightly controlled flight path.... deviate from it and its 'Hello, side of mountain what are you doing here?'. As the plane has no HUD, it's instrument only flying. Most of the flight time is spent looking at the instruments, not out of the window, including landing the fucker. To make it harder the mission has a crosswind which fucks with you while flying through narrow canyons.

Next mission, learn to shoot and fly without crashing. When I fire a huge rocket it is currently unbalancing the plane and causing me all sorts of problems (due to no auto pilot) which usually results in a spectacular crash into the side of a mountain. Need to sort this out as I am dying far too often. Tried taking out a NATO convoy of APCs yesterday. Fired all my rockets (in a panic, had about a 2 second window to fire) got one hit on an APC. Tried a flashy 180 hard turn to get back on target. Had some face to face time with the mountainside providing entertainment value for the NATO troops, entirely secure, down below, in their largely undamaged vehicles.

On a different note Fire Emblem Awakening is taking up some time on the 3DS. That's fun, but I get too attached to various characters and get totally pissed off when they die because of a tac error I made. Still, permadeath is the way to go, not the other 'namby pamby retreat from battle and reappear after the battle' bullshit.