The Official "What Are You Playing?" Thread (Post Screens)

[madmaltese★ 2,560]

3 minutes ago, Ramza said:

I didn't get too far in it, beat like the first 4-5 dungeon runs. I can vouch for it, the gameplay is very solid but it lacks the charm of Hades.

 

 

 

 

Yeah Hades is better and this doesn't have any of the story or characters or the fun of the 'Hub' world, but for anyone looking for a similar superb gameplay loop then this is a great choice.

[-GD-X★ 7,736]

hades was definitely a special game. i can't believe i even got the true ending. i have 0 patience for games with any kind of challenge. 

[Remij 4,676]

Started FF2 Pixel Remaster earlier today.  I played an English translation rom ages back, so I knew what I was getting into for the most part.  I'm having a good time working through it.  The leveling system is really different, and despite it's issues, I'm enjoying it because of that.  It's very interesting playing both FF1 PR and FF2 PR consecutively and considering how FF2 built upon and improved on the first game.  I've already done this with Dragon Warrior 1-4 on the NES.. and I'm enjoying doing it again with these Pixel remasters. The story and characters are far more involved than FF1, and you have dialog options and the ability to learn keywords and ask different characters about the different things you've learned.  It's very basic obviously, but adds a bit of dynamic to the dialog.  The world is quite a bit bigger and really wastes no time getting you into the thick of things.

 

You guys probably know and have heard about FF2's battle system at some point over the years, and most people dislike it and don't consider it very good.. and while that's true... they at least tried something different.. they just didn't quite implement it correctly.  

 

Anyway, as with the first one, it's nice to have the auto battle and speed up to make the grinding and leveling much quicker.  Same with being able to quick save anywhere in dungeons and save anywhere on the overworld.

 

Those improvements alone make the game much better.

 

I'm only a few hours in and this one is a decent bit longer than the first game.. and considering I know the first game by heart... this one isn't very fresh in my mind, so it'll take even longer I assume.

 

I'm still very happy with these Pixel Remasters.. and I can't wait to jump into the SNES games.

[Sabo 442]

13 Sentinels. I'm not a fan of Visual Novel games but I love Vanillaware's art direction so I was always curious about the game but just wasn't willing to bite on the game at full price. Fortunately the game is on sale currently for like 25 bucks and I feel much more comfortable giving the game a chance at that price.

 

Only played about 8 hours so far but I have to say I was expecting a much different experience compared to what I'm getting. I was lead to believe this was a VN game with a Tower Defense like combat system. I don't agree with either of those classifications. To me it feels more like a 90s Adventure game with a simple but fast paced SRPG like combat system thrown in. 

 

You have way more control than what you would get in a VN game and the way you use information and items to trigger different events is very similar to old Adventure games. This makes the story side of things a lot more entertaining to play through compared to a Visual Novel which are very static and tend to have very limited interaction.

 

As for the story itself, I know this game is like 30 hours long and I'm only about 8 hours into it so there is still plenty for me to see but... I think I have a pretty solid idea of what's actually happening despite the tangled web of mystery this game is trying to deliver on.

 

Spoiler

Not sure why I'm spoiler tagging this but just in case I'm right... We're not fighting a war against an invading alien force. Instead this is some kind of fucked up Civil War but instead of a North vs. South type of situation, it's Past vs. Future. Sounds crazy but there's been too much shit that's happened within the 8 hours I've played that has steered me into this line of thinking.

 

 I would love for the game to hit me in the face with a curve ball here soon to change my line of thinking because it seems like the mystery of the story is the main draw and right now I'm not feeling much of a mystery to it all.

 

Now onto the combat, sure, in combat you do have to defend a "tower" but the combat doesn't really play like a Tower Defense game. For starters, you can move units around very much like an SRPG. Unlike an SRPG though, your units have way more freedom in how far they're allowed to move on their turn. You don't have to worry about spending 2-3 turns positioning units in ideal locations. This freedom in movement helps give battles a much faster pace.

 

Also unlike a typical SRPG, your unit type isn't bloated and is way more streamlined and focused. You have 4 unit types, each type with clear strengths and weaknesses. You get access to all the unit types very early in the game as well so you know you have everything you need to tackle every battle in the game. I appreciate this because it helps me avoid the consistent issue I tend to get with your standard SRPG, I don't need to worry about training specialized unit types for the oddball situation that might require a specific team setup to get through efficiently.

 

The only thing I'm not liking about the combat is the way its presented. It's just boring to look at. Now I know Vanillaware always has to work with a tight budget so compromises have to be made but it's just a shame they couldn't give the combat side of things some more visual flair. The visuals just look very weak especially when compared to the Adventure mode side of things. But whatever, I find the combat fun so I can deal with it.

 

 

 

Edited August 13, 2021 by Sabo

[Delita 698]

I’m not going to say anything regarding your thoughts on where you think the story is going but I’ll just say the conclusion took me by complete surprise even when I literally had a dozen different ways I imagined this game was going to end and was still completely wrong.

 

 

Amazing game. 

[Ike★ 2,908]

13 Sentinels also has a banger of an OST  

[Sabo 442]

This game just hit me in the face with like 7 curveballs. I have no clue what the fuck is going on now LOL.

[-GD-X★ 7,736]

3 hours ago, Sabo said:

This game just hit me in the face with like 7 curveballs. I have no clue what the fuck is going on now LOL.

Yeah, just enjoy the wild ride. They nicely wrap up everything at the end, though.
 

 

[-GD-X★ 7,736]

My favorite track from 13 sentinels

 

 

 

[Sabo 442]

5 minutes ago, -GD-X said:

Yeah, just enjoy the wild ride. They nicely wrap up everything at the end, though.
 

 

That's good to hear because things are getting convoluted and I was beginning to worry if the story is going to be able to handle everything well.

[-GD-X★ 7,736]

34 minutes ago, Sabo said:

That's good to hear because things are getting convoluted and I was beginning to worry if the story is going to be able to handle everything well.

A lot of us dug the ending. There was someone who didn’t like it. I can’t remember who, though. 

[Mr. House 3,371]

On 2021-08-11 at 11:02 PM, Remij said:

Started FF2 Pixel Remaster earlier today.  I played an English translation rom ages back, so I knew what I was getting into for the most part.  I'm having a good time working through it.  The leveling system is really different, and despite it's issues, I'm enjoying it because of that.  It's very interesting playing both FF1 PR and FF2 PR consecutively and considering how FF2 built upon and improved on the first game.  I've already done this with Dragon Warrior 1-4 on the NES.. and I'm enjoying doing it again with these Pixel remasters. The story and characters are far more involved than FF1, and you have dialog options and the ability to learn keywords and ask different characters about the different things you've learned.  It's very basic obviously, but adds a bit of dynamic to the dialog.  The world is quite a bit bigger and really wastes no time getting you into the thick of things.

 

You guys probably know and have heard about FF2's battle system at some point over the years, and most people dislike it and don't consider it very good.. and while that's true... they at least tried something different.. they just didn't quite implement it correctly.  

 

Anyway, as with the first one, it's nice to have the auto battle and speed up to make the grinding and leveling much quicker.  Same with being able to quick save anywhere in dungeons and save anywhere on the overworld.

 

Those improvements alone make the game much better.

 

I'm only a few hours in and this one is a decent bit longer than the first game.. and considering I know the first game by heart... this one isn't very fresh in my mind, so it'll take even longer I assume.

 

I'm still very happy with these Pixel Remasters.. and I can't wait to jump into the SNES games.

Pixel Remaster boast some nice improvements, I've played FF 1-3. Auto battles is a life saver in those games. Mini maps are also surprisingly useful.

 

But really, if there's one thing that playing these ports reinforced is that I still don't give a shit about the NES FF games. FF3 was the most fun but still has some annoying moments and a lot of grinding.

 

I should have waited for IV and VI to come out instead of buying the whole bundle. 

[Delita 698]

15 minutes ago, -GD-X said:

A lot of us dug the ending. There was someone who didn’t like it. I can’t remember who, though. 

That was Twinblade. I thought the ending was great myself

[Twinblade★ 3,918]

1 hour ago, -GD-X said:

A lot of us dug the ending. There was someone who didn’t like it. I can’t remember who, though. 

 
It was me  I legit hated everything about the way it wrapped up. It practically ruined the entire game for me.

[-GD-X★ 7,736]

42 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 
It was me  I legit hated everything about the way it wrapped up. It practically ruined the entire game for me.

O damn! 

[Twinblade★ 3,918]

As great as the Metro games are, Chernobylite definitely feels more like the STALKER spiritual successor that i've wanted for a while now. Its the perfect game to play while waiting for STALKER 2.

[Sabo 442]

Finished 13 Sentinels. Yeeeeah... I'm with Twinblade on this one. I wouldn't say the ending ruined the game for me though but I can see where Twinblade is coming from.

 

As for me, ehh, I wasn't bothered that much by the ending. Mainly because I had already disconnected from the story around the 22 hour mark. Shit was getting so ridiculous I was literally laughing at all the reveals and explanations. I think this game found a way to cram in every Sci-Fi trope you can think of.

 

So while I may not care for how the story turned out I still oddly enough enjoyed the game for what it is. That's weird to say considering the story is the main point of the game. The experience was definitely... something LOL.

[-GD-X★ 7,736]

1 hour ago, Sabo said:

Finished 13 Sentinels. Yeeeeah... I'm with Twinblade on this one. I wouldn't say the ending ruined the game for me though but I can see where Twinblade is coming from.

 

As for me, ehh, I wasn't bothered that much by the ending. Mainly because I had already disconnected from the story around the 22 hour mark. Shit was getting so ridiculous I was literally laughing at all the reveals and explanations. I think this game found a way to cram in every Sci-Fi trope you can think of.

 

So while I may not care for how the story turned out I still oddly enough enjoyed the game for what it is. That's weird to say considering the story is the main point of the game. The experience was definitely... something LOL.

Yeah, the main story was messy lol, but I was invested in quite a few character arcs. I also liked how ridiculous things got   I won’t ever replay it, but I’m definitely glad I experienced it. 

[Sabo 442]

1 hour ago, -GD-X said:

Yeah, the main story was messy lol, but I was invested in quite a few character arcs. I also liked how ridiculous things got   I won’t ever replay it, but I’m definitely glad I experienced it. 

 

I might do another play through after some time has passed. I have a feeling the 2nd play through would actually be better than the first because I would be going into it with a stronger understanding of how the story works and the benefits of foresight. This would make the denser moments much easier to digest which could probably change my current opinion on the story.

 

Won't be doing a 2nd play through anytime soon though, got other games I want to play.

[-GD-X★ 7,736]

23 minutes ago, Sabo said:

 

I might do another play through after some time has passed. I have a feeling the 2nd play through would actually be better than the first because I would be going into it with a stronger understanding of how the story works and the benefits of foresight. This would make the denser moments much easier to digest which could probably change my current opinion on the story.

 

Won't be doing a 2nd play through anytime soon though, got other games I want to play.

Did you ever play AI: The Somnium Files? So fucking good! The Kagami inside joke maybe one of my favorite things in gaming  but the story is out there, yet feels right!