What game are you currently playing?

[Lamperouge]

Bayonetta on the Switch.

It's fun, but I haven't been blown away yet. The motorcycle segment got the closest to doing so.

[Eurisko]

Pool Nation FX 

Resident Evil 4

Sonic Unleashed

[Salamander]

SteamWorld Dig 2 - Well, this was a surprise; I expected not to be playing this until I eventually got a Switch, but a 3DS version suddenly came out, and here we are.  Having played it, I went back to review footage of the original to remind myself of how it played, and... in many respects, I was surprised by how much of the original carried over.  The sequel felt pretty fresh and new, but looking back, many of the same mechanics and enemies were present in the original.  So, what makes this worth playing, aside from just more of the same?  The answer is presentation.  The presentation of this game in comparison to the original is massively improved; that's not just in respect to the graphics, which quite apart from having more detail also exhibit a slightly refined style, but also the way the game as a whole is structured.  There are now fairly large overworld areas rather than just one flat surface, the major areas are interlinked here and there, and the plot has a multidirectionality which gives you not only frequently gives you the choice of where to go, but actually has opportunities for sequence breaking, for getting into areas long before you're supposed to.  The original was regarded as having a kind of do-it-yourself Metroidvania vibe created by your mining patterns; Dig 2 mines that vein deeper.  The plot is also more sophisticated than just a matter of digging to the end, with a couple of genuine surprises and one excellently-executed non-standard sequence.  The game is simply a great package, and I suspect it's a case of this being what the original was meant to be; SteamWorld Dig by more experienced developers and with a better budget.  The only drawbacks I could name are the ending coming with a slight anticlimax precisely because of the non-linearity; there being not quite enough resources in the game to buy everything; and the postgame trials being rather grindy (I've completed them all individually, but haven't the patience to get them all done in one go).

The Alliance Alive (demo) - There were reasons to be cautious.  The spiritual predecessor to this game, The Legend Of Legacy, was not well-received; and beside that, I'm trying to play fewer long RPGs in general.  In those regards, the decision to present a demo for this game in particular was quite correct; for, based on this, it looks like I am indeed adding another long RPG to my list.  It doesn't necessarily make a positive first impression, more or less just throwing you into the world without explaining the gameplay at all; but once you get to know it, it's actually rather pleasantly original, or at least, a pleasant recombination of existing ideas.  A grid-based positioning system; weapons which level up rather than your character levelling up, considerably reducing the prospect of grinding; weapon-based attacks doing the same, evolving based on how you play the game.  It's a curious and somewhat opaque battle system, but surprisingly easy to learn; perhaps, I imagine, hard to master, with what looks like a number of peripheral systems of questionable (but not unwelcome) use.  One wonders if it will all come together in the finished product.  The setting and story, on the other hand, I think are better-introduced, that being with elegant brevity; and the setting too is something of a breath of fresh air, for while it's once again not anything that hasn't been seen before, it's at least still unusual, and the gradual rather than epic introduction to the overall narrative is equally a break from the usual heroic fantasies.  High-concept setting, low-key beginnings, might be one way of putting it.  The full game comes out at the end of the month; on the list it goes.  Am I ever going to have time to get that Switch?

[Harkofthewaa]

Well I just ordered Doom 3: BFG Edition ( for the PS3) off of Amazon. When it gets here I'll get to RIP AND TEAR some demons.

[PC the Hedgehog]

Continuing my Kirby marathon with Planet Robobot. Dunno why it took me some time to get into it when I first played it; I mean, it's got the amazing Kirby gameplay with an awesome futuristic aesthetic, and the robobot gameplay, while not as cool as ultra moves or hypernova, doesn't negatively impact the pace of the game like they did. Should have it wrapped up within the next few days, just in time for Star Allies on Friday.

[BlueFlare]

I've been lurking some older Battlefield titles like BF2 and Bad Company 2 on PC. Surprised there's still somewhat active multiplayer in both. I really loved the Bad Company series back when they came out. Still love some BC2 online matches every now and then. Also, I tried to play Skyrim with some mods installed, but it messed up my PC for a bit. Had to give it a chop and unistall it. 

[Tails Prower]

At the moment I have two games in play at the moment, main game at the moment is Gran Turismo Sport and the other is Grand Theft Auto V and it's online game.

The news about a re-release of the Mega Drive collection though is making me think I should dust off my PS3 and have a remiss with some old classics.

[Blusolyn]

Recently I've been playing Tomb Raider Anniversary. Haven't played the first one in a long time so I'm playing it again. 

[Salamander]

Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth - I looked through my Activity Log, and yep, reliable as clockwork, I play an Atlus RPG and it takes me around a hundred hours to complete (completion here being judged by my standard metric of getting to the postgame superboss and losing).  Time, then, for another hundred-hour review.  Preface: Etrian Odyssey is a dungeon-crawler mapping-based character-customisation franchise, if anyone doesn't know that already.

• Races: Part of the customisation process in this title is that you can choose from one of four races with a different stat spread, and each race has exclusive classes.  However, very early on in the game, you unlock the ability to reset your character and have them take a class from a different race... but most of the classes seem to be best-suited to their default race.  So, I'm not sure what the point of the initial class-exclusivity or subsequent non-exclusivity is.  It seems like it would have been better to have races have more trade-offs in their stats and throw open classes to all races; as it stands, it seems like the only reason for the current system is so that they didn't have to draw class portraits for each race for each job.
• Localisation: Perhaps it's just me, but the localisation seems just a touch shoddy this time around.  Okay, almost all games have the odd spelling or grammatical error, or occasions where quest dialogue doesn't match up as well as you'd expect with what you're actually meant to do; but it's still disappointing.  My issue here is that the character dialogue in this game seems uncharacteristically... casual?  Certain mannerisms and words and phrases felt more reflective of online culture rather than medieval mid-fantasy, and in comparison to previous Etrian Odyssey games I've played then I found my immersion and suspension of disbelief broken by dialogue which seemed like it didn't belong.
• Food: I honestly don't remember that well what food did in previous titles, but in this game, it appears to have been... complexified in terms of composition and narrowed down in terms of use.  All food does in this game is restore health and tech points - but it can't be used in battle; just while exploring.  This makes it effectively worse as well as more limited than ordinary healing items; you can't even sell it.  Worse yet is how finicky food is to acquire.  Basic consumable ingredients can be found in particular areas in the labyrinth; but the best food comes from combining items through cooking.  This can only be done at special campfires, which are few and far between; and there are not many combinations, but which require multiple ingredients, many of them extremely rare or even limited in quantity, restricted to one-time events.  What this means is that you will rarely have the ingredients to actually make any worthwhile food items unless you specifically go out of your way to make special trips haring all around the labyrinth to pick up this food from this obscure corner, that food from that obscure corner, and so on.  The end result is that you just never use food.  It's a waste of time.
• Skill Transparency: The skill system in Etrian Odyssey games gives you a skill point for every level you gain, which you can then invest in a branching point-buy skill system.  Most skills can be levelled up, with general indicators of the ways they improve.  Do you get specific figures for how much they improve, or even how much basic damage or capability they have?  No.  In fact, there is no way to compare the relative power of differing skills except by buying both and using them!  Also, skill descriptions are frequently inadequate or misleading more generally - to the extent that if you want to seriously build a capable party, it's effectively mandatory to look up guides online which tell you the figures and percentage points for what each skill actually does.  This is a problem for the whole series, and since it's gotten to the point where people are now actually making transparency hacks just so you can see the figures in-game, it's really time for the games themselves to improve on this front.  Imagine if you were playing Pokemon and had no way of telling the difference between Flamethrower and Ember...
• Story: Easily the biggest disappointment in this title is the story - because it basically doesn't have one.  I got into the series through EOIV, and while it's been a while then I remember it having this surprisingly complex story with multiple civilisations fronted by various characters with their own agendas, with twists and turns and occasional unexpected boss fights against particular characters.  The next game in the series was Etrian Odyssey Untold, which remade the first game with more story elements and premade story characters (which is something of a trade-off with the character-building gameplay that's so enjoyable in the rest of the series, but I'll let it slide for a remake).  That seemed to me to bode well for the level of story in future titles; unfortunately, I'm now worried that the developers decided to dump story in future onto Untold remakes, as V has basically nothing; you explore the labyrinth for the sake of exploring it, and that's it.  There's a subplot with a couple of characters who show up now and again which ties into the third boss, but after that they're more or less out of the game.  What might be deemed the entire rest of the story is all delivered to you literally directly in front of the final boss door; and even within that, the final boss is literally just a contextless bad thing which it's not actually that big a deal if you defeat.  It's pretty bad and has made me reconsider my investment in future titles in the series; "because it's there" isn't really sufficient explorative impetus for me.
• Settings: My one disappointment in this game's locations and mapping is that there's no metamap, like the sea in EOIII (which I haven't played) or the sky in EOIV.  I really enjoyed having that larger, multi-level map, with its own unique features and obstacles, and the way it could be used to alter the way you entered new areas of the labyrinth; the third major dungeon in EOIV actually had multiple entrances which came out on different floors, for example.  In that regard, this game lacks sophistication.  Happily, the rest of the labyrinth is pretty great and probably my favourite of the titles I've played so far.  The first stratum is sadly generic, only a little enlivened by eventually good puzzles involving characteristic statues scattered about; the second doesn't bring much new to the table, either.  But the third stratum is a big improvement, with a surprisingly menacing theme for the first half of the game and puzzles which actually utilise the game's day/night cycle; and the fourth stratum does some really clever things with warps.  The fifth stratum is a new spin on relatively well-used themes, but again introduces some wild new navigation puzzles; and the postgame sixth stratum is wholly unique within the series and is a deeply satisfying puzzle maze which constantly surprises and upsets your assumptions.
• Classes: Classes and character-building may well be what saved this game for me.  The class selection is probably the most interesting in the series, and, from what I hear, one of the most balanced; every single class was attractive to me, and even though I've beaten the game I'm almost (but definitely not) tempted to replay with all the other classes just to see what it's like.  Supposing you actually look up a guide so you know what you're doing, there are some really unusual skills and combinations and ideas on offer, and gradually putting them together, skill point by skill point, building this complex set of characters you'll have by the endgame, is tremendously satisfying.  Also of note is that this game alone in the series removes the usual subclassing feature which lets you equip a secondary class, and instead uses a class specialisation feature where each class has two separate progression paths it can eventually take; it may be that this is actually less interesting and nuanced than the usual subclass system, but I definitely think it was worth a try, and it works well here.

Conclusion: Etrian Odyssey V is a good game, eventually, and while I'll research the next game in the series a little harder before I decide whether to purchase it, there's a good chance I'll invest anyway.  Good save, V.

Next on my list: As I continually anticipate the end of the 3DS, I continue my journey through DS-era titles I should've bought years ago with an upcoming round of Ghost Trick - for which I know one major plot twist but nothing else, so I'm quite looking forward to it.  But The Alliance Alive comes out next week...  Happily, while it is a JRPG, I understand that it's not even half of a hundred hours long, so this one shouldn't take me nearly half a year to finish...

[Lamperouge]

Kirby Star Allies: It's fun and everything checks out in the cute department, but I really don't like how easy it is. The level design is a lot less interesting than the games that came before, IMO.

 

Street Fighter 5: I basically just login and finish my Extra Battle challenges and then sign off. Sometimes I'll go for a few casual matches.

Dragon Ball Fighters: Game is fun and hype as hell, but I'm honestly perplexed on how I can get any better. Looking forward to Broly and Bardock next week.

[PC the Hedgehog]

Trying to get 100% on Kirby Star Allies. All I have left to do is finish Guest Star mode and the final 2 difficulty levels of The Ultimate Choice. Oh, and beat level 3 of Chop Champs.That game's kinda tough.

Oh, also downloaded the new DLC. Playing as Marx is AWESOME.

After this, it's looking like Golf Story will be my next game.

[BlueFlare]

I finally beat Majora's Mask 3D and feel very happy now that I'm done with it.  I'm still missing a couple masks and  have a big list of side quests to do, but I probably won't go back anymore. This game was so awesome even though pretty confusing and crazy (which is also good) at times and really tried my nerves in some places but in the end, I really loved it overall. 

[Thrippa]

Finished getting the Platinum trophy on Ni No Kuni (I despise gladiator tournaments, particularly when that's a completely added on bit of the game!) on the PS3.  Need to destroy 5 more ships to get the platinum on PS4 for No Man's Sky, and then I can start Aven Colony.  I've already got the extra trophies for NMS (added with an update), just need the last one for destroying ships - which I will probably get by blowing up a few more crashed ships, since getting attacked by and fighting 6 pirates who can make maneuvers that I can't is a good way to get killed.  Thankfully when I can locate a mission to fight pirates, it's a single ship; but like all missions, they tend not to turn up when I want them.

 

On the 3DS, I'm mostly Miitopia-ing, and on the Switch I'm alternating between ARMS party crashes and Splatoon 2.

[PC the Hedgehog]

Was wrong about Golf Story. It WOULD have been my next game, had the last batch of Shantae DLC not come out so soon.

Three new modes for $8 is an awesome deal. I've only played Officer Mode so far, but the gameplay and character interactions are so different that even one mode alone would have been worth the price tag. The new dialogue is a hoot, as if the characters are taking part in some kind of stage play. And of course, Squid Baron is the funniest of the bunch. Looking forward to the other 2 modes.

After this, Golf Story.

[captobvious42]

Pokémon Conquest. Don't know why, but I felt the urge to go back and play it. Its probably one of the few Pokémon games where I don't feel too bad about erasing the data.

[Solister]

Trying to finish the first Sonic Adventure using NullDC. I played (And almost finished) SADX 5 years ago and now I'm  comparing both version (SA is a lot better than SADX).

I'm also trying to finish Need for Speed Underground 2 too, but I would say I'm trying to finish this game in almost 3 years! Always for some reason I lost my save file (Formatted the PC and forgot to make Back-Up, moved from PS2 to PC, lazy...)

I also want to start playing Phantasy Star IV (Probably when I finish SA), but my life is kinda weird to have some time to play those games.

[Salamander]

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - As part of my campaign to play the best games that I missed from the Nintendo DS's lifespan before the 3DS's life finally comes to an end, I felt obliged to play the game some have described as the best work of Ace Attorney creator Shu Takumi.  Wow, were they ever right; this is a fantastic game I wish I'd played years ago.  ...Well, "fantastic story" might be a better way of putting it; and as a story it's right up my street, full of mysteries, twists and turns, and tricks; but it succeeds best not because it appeals to my personal tastes but because of good writing and taut plotting.  The cast of characters and sequence of episodes are intricately interconnected with never an irrelevant moment, no matter what it might seem like at the time, and the inspired decision to set the story over the course of a single night gives it an unputdownable pace.  I wish more of this could be brought, somehow, to Ace Attorney, which I find often tends to drag towards the end, to outstay its welcome; for Ghost Trick, while it was longer than I initially expected, I would probably have been happy for it to go on even longer.  So far as gameplay goes?  I suppose in the strictest sense it's nothing special, though once again it's well-produced and tightly conceived; you move about a jigsaw of junk with your ghost possession powers, creating Heath Robinson machines with poltergeistesque tricks that see objects rattle around and interact to achieve some initially remote aim.  Like the story overall, each scene is surprisingly intricate and well-considered, elements coming into play together in ways you might never have expected.  Having more gameplay per se than your average Ace Attorney I certainly think didn't hurt in keeping the pace going; story and gameplay are in balance, each never lasting long enough that you aren't left wanting more.  I see people in some places call for a sequel to this game; but for all that I enjoyed it so much, I wouldn't want that.  It seems to me that the vein is entirely mined out with this title; there's no farther it can be taken.  I only wish it were better-appreciated.  Remake or remaster, then?

[Axl.EXE]

Far Cry 5 is a blast, and semis were put by God into Hope County for the express purpose of ramming into cultist vehicles at top speed. If only the speed weren't capped on the PS4 version, you could probably send some of the smaller trucks into orbit, which did happen once (to me) when my boat spawned directly under a seaplane and flipped both. Glorious.

[dbzfan7]

Borderlands 1 right now. With Oasis now installed as DLC has no fast travel, which is dumb and sucks real bad. So at least now there is a form of fast travel with this mod. Before that it was Assassins Creed Brotherhood, but I needed a break after doing 1 & 2 back to back, with Cuphead between 2 and Brotherhood.

[Kittea]

The N. Sane Trilogy, more specifically CSB ^^ Despite how much I played and loved 1 and Warped I actually never owned CSB until I got my PS3 a couple of years ago. Still didn't get around to playing it even then but since getting the remakes CSB is the game I've been playing the most ^^ Actually finding it pretty difficult. I don't remember Warped being this difficult or even 1 if you ignore the gems at least. Still a lot of fun though ^^ Don't know if I'd call it my favourite of the trilogy yet. Will have to spend some time playing Warped but CSB is pretty great ^^

Also started playing a game called Celeste recently ^^ It's a precision platformer that kind of looks like Super Meat Boy aesthetically, albeit a bit more vibrant. Doesn't play much like it though. Like SMB this isn't a game I'm in any way good at but it's still a lot of fun to play ^^ I like a challenge even if I know it'll take me ages to overcome. I'm pretty stubborn persistent like that lol I've only played it once so far since it's the kind of game I like to play in one long sitting due to it's difficulty but I really want to get back to it. Just need the energy lol

[Biggs]

Currently playing the Resident Evil Remake. I don't have much experience with classic RE - I've only invested literally a handful of hours into the PS1 versions RE1 and 2 on our old PS3 and I never got round to beating them. To be honest I didn't find them that fun or scary, though decent - my first RE game was RE4 on the Wii and my next games were RE5, RE6 and RE Revelations after that so I guess they were a bit too different for me. Capcom have a Humble Bundle sale on so I picked up the HD remaster of REmake for Steam as I've been meaning to play it for a while now.

So far I really, really like it. I initially played about an hour or two on the "hiking" difficulty, multiple times with some googling on in-game items here and there, which is something I tend to do for a lot of games when I first play them just to experiment, get a good "feel" for it and know what I'm doing. I was unaware of the difficulty settings for the game at first thinking the "hiking" mode was equivalent to normal but it's actually easy mode (which I sussed out after a while given I was loaded with ammo and herbs), so I bumped it up to the higher difficulty. I gotta say it's a beautifully designed game, and a really dynamic one at that, what with certain pathways changing and becoming infested with new creatures, almost like the designers *knew* you were gonna go back with fresh inventory space to pick up those herbs you missed out on the first time - or Wesker restocking the safe room. I particularly like the way zombies in certain rooms will burst out into the hallway if you didn't deal with them the first time. I must say, I'd heard a lot about how this was the scariest RE game and to be honest... I don't find it that bad at all. It's certainly a bit scary, but honestly not as much as 4 and *especially* 7. But that's not a bad thing in any way - in fact it's nice just to play a horror game that isn't ridiculously scary because that's just exhausting and it allows you to appreciate the actual game more, of which I'm really enjoying. No doubt it will pick up a bit later on but I doubt it will be quite as unsettling as 7. It's certainly (and obviously) less of a twitch shooter than 4 onward but it's not devoid of action; there's just more emphasis on being a bit strategical on planning out your routes and clearing rooms optimally before dashing back to put whatever you've acquired into the item box. I absolutely love the defense item mechanic as well which wasn't in the original game, gives you an extra incentive to explore your environment and save ammo.

So overall, I'm loving it. If you're more of a modern RE fan like me this is the game to get you into classic RE (along with maybe 7 as well, there are clear design similarities between these games). More excited for the RE2 remake as well now.

[Thrippa]

Got the Platinum for No Man's Sky, and am about halfway through Aven Colony's trophies while 2/3 of the way through the (nine) missions.  Got the Labo Variety kit yesterday and teased the dogs a bit with the RC 'cars' - and drove one around in the pantry a bit to try out the IR camera.  Then I built the house and have been having fun playing with the basic keys (you start with three but there's apparently one other set based on an off-handed reference and the fact that there are pieces left to punch out of the 'house-D' page) and the critter.  The instructions are done a bit tongue-in-cheek, very clear, and you can stop/start, rewind, and speed up the progress, as well as rotate the pieces on the screen if you can't see well.  There's a section on each completed item to explain what it does and how it works, and suggest some other things to try, and I haven't gotten to half of the stuff yet, even for the two pieces I've built.  I'll probably do the fishing game next; there's an aquarium associated with it evidently.

[Tailikku]

continuing my questing in Fate/Grand Order, I have gained access to two 4-Star servants and two 5-star servants, which are very rare to extremely rare in terms of summoning them.

With the two four-stars, the first is Siegfried (CV: Junichi Suwabe), the Dragon Blooded Knight from Fate/Apocrypha where he was the Saber of Black.  His Noble Phantasm, Balmung, automatically applies the Dragon trait to his target and lets him slice them up as if they were dragons themselves, with the skill "Dragon Slayer" upping the damage against them.

The second is the Dress of Heaven, real name being Irisviel von Einzbern (CV: Sayaka Ohara), available as a Caster.  Her attacks involve use of magecraft with her Noble Phantasm, Song of the Grail, being a party-wide healer similar to Great Gospel.  It should be noted that her daughter, Illya, will be available in a future event based on Fate/Kaleid Linear - Prisma Illya.

The first five-star is recurring antagonist Gilgamesh (CV: Tomokazu Seki), the second Archer from the original Fate/stay night, and the Archer of Fate/Zero.  He is just as much a douchebag here as he was in both stories, with no moral anchor in the form of Enkidu.  His Noble Phantasm this time around is Enuma Elish, which is a laserbeam fired from his sword Ea, with many servants in the game having either a weakness to or strength against it.

The second of the two five-stars I was really excited about, Iskandar, King of Conquerors (CV: Akio Ohtsuka) and the Rider of Fate/Zero.  Having seen him in action in the anime and how much he bonds with young Waver Velvet as well as his attempts to peacefully defuse the Holy Grail War through alliances and his hobby of playing on the Sega Saturn (not joking on this, he buys a Saturn game for Waver in the anime as well as an artpeice showing him playing on it with the usual " セガサターン、シロ! " quote), I instantly fell in love with him as a character, knowing that he along with Gilles and Hassan were the few Servants that were based on historical fact.  In combat, Iskandar rides in on his horse, Bucephalus, alternating between his steed attacking or him swooping down with a swip from his gladius.  His Noble Phantasm is the Ionian Hetairoi, possibly one of the most powerful Noble Phantasms in the series, fueled by the power of loyalty and companionship between himself and his army during the conquests he once led from Macedonia to Afghanistan, forming a Zerg Rush of sorts where he and his army attack the enemy in a blinding rush of dust, steel, and animalistic fury.

In the game, there is currently an event going on that will end in a few days, called Fate/Accel Zero Order.  This event is based on the events seen in Fate/Zero, although Zhuge Liang, a Pseudo-Servant summoned in the body of Waver Velvet, is able to intervene with the Holy Grail War from the story to change the past of this singularity.  This event allows Iri to be added to the player's roster upon defeating the final boss, with an extended story that ends with a battle against Darius III, Iskander's archnemesis.  The summoning pool also adds Hassan of the Hundred Faces, the main Assassin of Fate/Zero, Kiritsugu Emiya, and Angra Mainyu as Servants.  In a few weeks the next main event in the game will be present as Camelot, which despite the name is actually set within Jerusalem during the Crusades.

[Ashwalking Bat]

While I haven't touched it in a week or so, I have been playing Elder Scrolls 5 Skyrim quite a lot. It's always been my go to when I want to get away from the reality for a while and delve into a realm of magic, dragons, and swordplay. If anything, Skyrim is a home away from home, in some sense, for me.

[Cobalt_Bolt]

I've put some more time into NeiR Automata for the next ending and I still enjoy that game just to see the ruins. I've also put some time into Project CARS 2 due to an exhibit coming up at the museum that I volunteer at. Breath of The Wild and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 have been rather slow as of late but I am still making some progress.