- Joined
- Jan 23, 2022
- Gender
- male
backtracking to Mesa world maps to open up the Gates since I beat the final Mesa Titan boss Shang Tsung a week ago. Pretty soon its going to be the Khaos Begins DLC stuff this month
What Game(s) Are You Playing at the Moment?
- Thread starter Master Kokiri 9
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2022
- Location
- Inside the walls
Other than slowly killing every overworld boss in TotK, I've been playing an old childhood favorite of mine-- Brave Fencer Musashi! Back in the day, people said it was Sony/Square's answer to Zelda, and while it never really took off (getting only one other game), it's still a beloved classic of the PS1 era of gaming.
It's also got some kick-ass music. It's the first game whose soundtrack I actually owned, just so I could listen to it whenever I wanted to!
It's also got some kick-ass music. It's the first game whose soundtrack I actually owned, just so I could listen to it whenever I wanted to!
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
I started a playthrough of Bejeweled 3. Currently using Zen mode. It's really helping my health situation, with the breathing effect. I'm also planning on starting a playthrough of Plants vs Zombies. God, I love that game. I'll probably play the original TTYD, and continue my playthrough of Ratchet & Clank as well.
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2022
- Gender
- male
ive been watching SIdescrollers on YouTube this morning and is it really true that Concord is dead? Stuttering Craig is a silly fool for actually going out and buying copies of the game
Guinea
Basically Tingle
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2022
It's as dead as garbage can be.
Bejeweled 2 I played a lot on Xbox 360. Listen to tunes I downloaded to the Xbox as I played for hours on end.
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Turo602
Vocare Ad Pugnam
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2010
- Location
- Gotham City
Finally got around to Sonic Frontiers and it's been really refreshing playing a Sonic game that dares to be ambitious again, even if it hasn't quite nailed it yet. While not exactly the Adventure formula, Frontiers is certainly worthy of the name because it feels so much more like an adventure game than anything prior and the open-world-like levels work surprisingly well for Sonic, even if overbearing at times.
Frontiers isn't just ambitious in its scope and gameplay ideas either, because its story has also been quite the pleasant surprise as a long-time fan, with many direct references to prior entries as far back as the Genesis and lots of lore implications. The characters, most notably Eggman, Tails, and newcomer Sage are given a lot of depth too and the stakes are treated with a seriousness that the series has long strayed from since Sonic Colors. While it never quite nosedives into the dark and edginess of Sonic the Hedgehog 06, it strikes a very fine balance between the deeper storytelling of the Adventure games and the more whimsical light-hearted writing of Sonic's more recent outings by keeping Sonic's optimism and never give up attitude at the forefront of every interaction.
There's a solid foundation here that could use tweaking and perfecting. The gameplay for instance just doesn't feel as polished as a game of this magnitude should and this couldn't be more apparent in the game's more traditional Sonic levels which don't feel as fine tuned or responsive as Generations or even Forces. Having proper control over your character is an essential element of any platformer and I just never feel that with Sonic, especially when certain actions and movements lead to inconsistent results which is most jarring in the traditional linear stages as the camera remains fixed, yet there's clearly something going on with it behind the scenes that causes Sonic to pivot in the wrong direction mid jump or not lock onto certain objects for a homing attack.
Combat is the biggest new addition to Sonic's repertoire and it works fine. I appreciate giving Sonic more combat options beyond the homing attack, however, I do find it a bit overdone and unnecessary. I think simplicity is the key to combat in Sonic. Being able to repeatedly attack, cyclooping around enemies, and the phantom rush all feel great and Sonic-like, but the real highlight is in the enemy and boss variety that have you in a chase or traversing on to get to its weak point. The more intricate and combat focused enemies would work a lot better for a character like Knuckles who can have a stronger combat focus than Sonic, and whose abilities would certainly lend itself well to Frontiers' level design and offer a nice change of pace to Sonic's rail heavy exploration.
There's so much potential here for the future of this series, especially for those who wish for the return of the Adventure style multiple playable characters. After 40 hours with the game, which should be wrapping up soon, there's lots of elements that work here for an expansive Sonic experience that can hopefully be broken up with different character playstyles and polished in the future because there isn't much variety here to warrant spending 40 hours doing the same stuff from island to island. Granted, you don't need to 100% every area to progress, but there's no doubt that scaling it back and honing in on the game's more remarkable qualities would have gone down so much better.
It's not a perfect game, but there's nothing quite like running at super sonic speeds through fields, woods, hills, and mountains to Sonic and the Black Knight's incredible Misty Lake on loop. It's the closest to the Sonic fantasy that we've ever gotten and for that alone, it's an easy recommendation to any Sonic fan.
Frontiers isn't just ambitious in its scope and gameplay ideas either, because its story has also been quite the pleasant surprise as a long-time fan, with many direct references to prior entries as far back as the Genesis and lots of lore implications. The characters, most notably Eggman, Tails, and newcomer Sage are given a lot of depth too and the stakes are treated with a seriousness that the series has long strayed from since Sonic Colors. While it never quite nosedives into the dark and edginess of Sonic the Hedgehog 06, it strikes a very fine balance between the deeper storytelling of the Adventure games and the more whimsical light-hearted writing of Sonic's more recent outings by keeping Sonic's optimism and never give up attitude at the forefront of every interaction.
There's a solid foundation here that could use tweaking and perfecting. The gameplay for instance just doesn't feel as polished as a game of this magnitude should and this couldn't be more apparent in the game's more traditional Sonic levels which don't feel as fine tuned or responsive as Generations or even Forces. Having proper control over your character is an essential element of any platformer and I just never feel that with Sonic, especially when certain actions and movements lead to inconsistent results which is most jarring in the traditional linear stages as the camera remains fixed, yet there's clearly something going on with it behind the scenes that causes Sonic to pivot in the wrong direction mid jump or not lock onto certain objects for a homing attack.
Combat is the biggest new addition to Sonic's repertoire and it works fine. I appreciate giving Sonic more combat options beyond the homing attack, however, I do find it a bit overdone and unnecessary. I think simplicity is the key to combat in Sonic. Being able to repeatedly attack, cyclooping around enemies, and the phantom rush all feel great and Sonic-like, but the real highlight is in the enemy and boss variety that have you in a chase or traversing on to get to its weak point. The more intricate and combat focused enemies would work a lot better for a character like Knuckles who can have a stronger combat focus than Sonic, and whose abilities would certainly lend itself well to Frontiers' level design and offer a nice change of pace to Sonic's rail heavy exploration.
There's so much potential here for the future of this series, especially for those who wish for the return of the Adventure style multiple playable characters. After 40 hours with the game, which should be wrapping up soon, there's lots of elements that work here for an expansive Sonic experience that can hopefully be broken up with different character playstyles and polished in the future because there isn't much variety here to warrant spending 40 hours doing the same stuff from island to island. Granted, you don't need to 100% every area to progress, but there's no doubt that scaling it back and honing in on the game's more remarkable qualities would have gone down so much better.
It's not a perfect game, but there's nothing quite like running at super sonic speeds through fields, woods, hills, and mountains to Sonic and the Black Knight's incredible Misty Lake on loop. It's the closest to the Sonic fantasy that we've ever gotten and for that alone, it's an easy recommendation to any Sonic fan.
Returned to DuckTales Remastered and beat the Transylvania level after beating the starting level and Amazon last time around. I think the game is great with all of its secrets and some mechanics that were pretty rare for its time like teleporting around levels. Also, I didn't know the game beat DKC to the punch with minecart levels.
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2022
- Gender
- male
Smacktalks on YouTube says that WWE 2K23's online stuff are shutting down at the end of this month. then next year, WWE 2K24's online stuff will shut down too probably
Turo602
Vocare Ad Pugnam
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2010
- Location
- Gotham City
Just finished The Final Horizon update in Sonic Frontiers. After a lackluster finale to the main game, this update provides an alternate take on the game's final island that let's you play as Amy, Knuckles, and Tails which was really fun once you get the right skills and upgrades, proving that this "open zone" formula would work so much better with multiple playable characters. Unfortunately, Final Horizon crams all this into one area which creates a lot of tedium around the map as progression is segmented between characters.
The update is also noticeably more challenging than the base game with various challenges having much more depth and tighter windows than before. However, the biggest challenge in this update is with the new Cyber Space levels that I tapped out on after S ranking 2 levels and completing all the objectives on a 3rd. The Cyber Space levels weren't exactly a highlight in the base game with how stiff and clunky the gameplay is, but they were short and easy diversions from the main experience that they remained mostly inoffensive.
From the 4 stages I've endured and spent way too much time on before deciding not to bother anymore, there were no checkpoints, new collectibles, and new objectives that you have to one shot in much more chaotic levels where either the ground is constantly crumbling, you're racing an impossibly fast hologram version of Tails, or have a bomb strapped to you with a very close timer, all while fighting against its clunky gameplay and diverting to complete stupid tasks that you have to repeat until you successfully complete the level because once again, there are no checkpoints.
If you want to waste time perfecting these stages, you can, but there is no real incentive. Having been burnt out in my 45 hours with the base game, it was fun exploring the land with different characters, most notably Knuckles and Tails for their flight abilities, especially Tails who is easily the most OP, leaving Amy as pretty much a less fun Sonic who can spin for longer air time. But I was most disappointed in the lack of any achievements for this massive update which made it so much easier for me to give up on those Cyber Space levels and not bother with getting 100% on every little thing.
The final boss, while an improvement over the embarrassingly long shoot em up fight of the original, with a surprise quick time event that differs from those in all the other battles that could lead to failure and make you restart the entire fight, is still quite weak. The boss's pattern is simple enough to read, but it becomes a never ending fight with its health constantly regenerating because what you're supposed to do is never really conveyed, and you're expected to perform very specific actions to progress the battle that were never really demonstrated in any of the prior Super Sonic battles.
While I mostly enjoyed my time with Sonic Frontiers and see tons of potential in what it's attempting, like most 3D Sonic games before it, it suffers from too many small issues that if ironed out, could lead to something truly special. That is if they continue to pursue this style of Sonic game in the future. I still don't get why after all this time, Sonic Team hasn't prioritized making Sonic's movement as smooth and flawless as possible.
The update is also noticeably more challenging than the base game with various challenges having much more depth and tighter windows than before. However, the biggest challenge in this update is with the new Cyber Space levels that I tapped out on after S ranking 2 levels and completing all the objectives on a 3rd. The Cyber Space levels weren't exactly a highlight in the base game with how stiff and clunky the gameplay is, but they were short and easy diversions from the main experience that they remained mostly inoffensive.
From the 4 stages I've endured and spent way too much time on before deciding not to bother anymore, there were no checkpoints, new collectibles, and new objectives that you have to one shot in much more chaotic levels where either the ground is constantly crumbling, you're racing an impossibly fast hologram version of Tails, or have a bomb strapped to you with a very close timer, all while fighting against its clunky gameplay and diverting to complete stupid tasks that you have to repeat until you successfully complete the level because once again, there are no checkpoints.
If you want to waste time perfecting these stages, you can, but there is no real incentive. Having been burnt out in my 45 hours with the base game, it was fun exploring the land with different characters, most notably Knuckles and Tails for their flight abilities, especially Tails who is easily the most OP, leaving Amy as pretty much a less fun Sonic who can spin for longer air time. But I was most disappointed in the lack of any achievements for this massive update which made it so much easier for me to give up on those Cyber Space levels and not bother with getting 100% on every little thing.
The final boss, while an improvement over the embarrassingly long shoot em up fight of the original, with a surprise quick time event that differs from those in all the other battles that could lead to failure and make you restart the entire fight, is still quite weak. The boss's pattern is simple enough to read, but it becomes a never ending fight with its health constantly regenerating because what you're supposed to do is never really conveyed, and you're expected to perform very specific actions to progress the battle that were never really demonstrated in any of the prior Super Sonic battles.
While I mostly enjoyed my time with Sonic Frontiers and see tons of potential in what it's attempting, like most 3D Sonic games before it, it suffers from too many small issues that if ironed out, could lead to something truly special. That is if they continue to pursue this style of Sonic game in the future. I still don't get why after all this time, Sonic Team hasn't prioritized making Sonic's movement as smooth and flawless as possible.
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
I decided to make a playthrough of four of my switch games, might make it five. That way I can be busy after my surgery. Paper Mario: TTYD, Metroid Prime, Breath of the Wild, and Legends Arceus. The 5th I might start is the N-Sane Trilogy. I plan on continuing my playthrough of Ratchet & Clank, Sly 2, and Plants vs Zombies when I can, I may have to put them on hold for a while after the surgery. I still have time to continue playing them though.
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2022
- Gender
- male
taking a break from playing Mortal Kombat 1 til the Khaos DLC story and fighters pack come later this month. I'm planning to be busy with Street Fighter 6 a little bit more for my Playstation 4 along with playing alpha protocol or at least Assassins Creed Brotherhood for my Playstation 3
Playing some Splatoon 3. The final Splatfest, the Grand Festival, has begun. I won some amazing matches tonight.
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2023
- Gender
- male
Yesterday I explored Megaman 9 and slots
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GrooseIsLoose
Slickest pompadour in town
Catching up on Immortals Fenyx rising