Weekly Recommendations Thread: What are you playing this week? : patientgamers

[-] mohab@piefed.social 7 points 3 weeks ago

After 65 hours in Catherine: Classic, trying to beat Babel.

I love this game. It's one of those games I'll be revisiting and replaying forever.

Cut scenes still won't play on Linux, but the game works great otherwise.

I wish they release Full Body on Steam at some point. Or a sister game with a gender-flipped protagonist.

I respect Persona and Arena Ultimax is one of my favorite games of all time, but Catherine is my favorite Atlus game and, IMO, their finest creation.

[-] taiyang@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I've been holding out for a Full Body experience but might just have to emulate it at this point. Although missing out on cutscenes is a real shame-- when it first came out, my wife and I played the game and watched the scenes together and uh... was an interesting and tense situation. Lol

[-] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 weeks ago

I have just started Star Ocean 2 on PSP, it is confusing trying to figure out what is going on as nothing has been explained so far at all in terms of the different systems going on.

[-] taiyang@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

The skills system really calls out for a guide, it's really easy to misallocate points early game. Or at least that's my understanding; I did SO1 on PSP recently but uses the same system more or less and you can make life a lot easier with proper planning.

The recent remaster supposedly has better documentation, although I'm not sure I like it better.

[-] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 weeks ago

I went in wanting to play as blind as possible but after being thrown into combat with no tutorial what so ever and then absolutely no explanation of what anything is, skills, specials skills, skills sets etc etc I started doing some cursory searching. Then everyone is screaming about levelling determination fully first and so I had to go down a rabbit hole just to find out where to get that because everyone spoke as if you had it from the start, which you don't.

Even the guides for this game aren't super helpful to someone that has zero background knowledge on the game at all. I'm still not sure if I actually want to delve as deep into it as it seems is necessary but I'm going to out a few more hours in and try to not fuck up my characters in that time and see how well it clicks.

I heard the first one is even more painful! How did you find it?

[-] taiyang@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

I managed, but I'm a glutton for punishment. In the first one you can kind of go guideless as long as you know a few fundamentals: determination is most important as it gives more skill points and easily pays for itself - by endgame you easily have everything capped. Certain combinations of skills also become game breakers, like being able to duplicate items or pumping up exp gains, etc, but the game isn't that hard and if you want to do everything you have to run multiple times anyway. That holds especially true in SO2, apparently.

On that note, SO games use divergent path storylines but rather than being a "choose a faction" or something, it's dependent on party members. In SO1, it's basically three ways things pan out for certain arcs depending on who you recruited, with some members required for others. Luckily there was a flowchart, so blind-ish runs can sorta use that without blatant spoilers. It gets kind of interesting because certain mutually exclusive characters are related in unpredictable ways, so multiple playthroughs kinda reveal more depth... at least as far as a game originally made for SNES can be.

Luckily the game isn't that long so it wasn't much of a chore to do multiple playthroughs, especially with fast forward functions of ppsspp emulator. Doing it on original hardware might have been more of a chore, though.

[-] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 weeks ago

I am also to some degree but I think I went into this with different expectations, not expecting punishment and so therefore I was taken aback.

Thanks for the tips, I have read you can break the game within a few hours but that isnt what I'm really looking to do so I'm going to try and use a guide as little as possible and just look up specific points I need clarifying.

Apparently I inadvertently chose the more difficult character but the storyline differences does seem interesting. I'll see how well the game clicks over some more time!

[-] Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken

It's a side-scroller about (kinda sorta) American chicken fighting against Russian/North Korean/Nazi penguins and cloned chickens.

First impressions? It does not handle ultrawide resolution well. Even switching to 1920x1080 left me with a slightly cut off image because it just zoomed everything in to fill the screen. I had to play in windowed mode if I wanted to see the UI elements (inconsistent button selection when using mouse didn't change even then unfortunately). Not a great start.

While cutscenes and music are pretty good, the in-game presentation is... unique? I was initially rather mixed on it because the game combines 2 slightly different art style (simple for characters and items, more detailed for backgrounds) but I got used to it eventually.

Gameplay is also alright. It has jumpy-shooty sections, with bullet spongy enemies who like to surprise you on screen change and can juggle you with shots to death. The worst example of this is the final boss who has huge health bar, surprise attacks on screen change, directional shield and lesser mobs showing up throughout the fight. It also has no music for some reason.
Besides that there are also neat flying sections with not so neat camera. They serve as a nice palette cleanser between longer on-foot sections while being short enough to not get annoying.

Going back to music for a moment, it has an unfortunate problem - combat tracks reset every time you start an encounter, regardless of how brief pause was since the last one. You can move between screens, combat music still fading out, and the moment enemies show up the track will start from scratch instead of picking up again. Heck, during one of the last flying segments it can even reset between waves of enemies!

It's a decent game and I warmed up to it as I played but the minor annoyances did prevent it from ever feeling great. It's also pretty short, with story taking about 3 hours to complete so it's hard for it to outstay its welcome anyway.

DiRT Rally

I'm back at the state where I'm not really in a mood to play anything. I thought about starting Neverwinter Nights but I'm not sure about playing such a long game at the moment so I've been faffing around with couple different titles.

After spending hours in Colin McRae Rally 04, getting used to driving in this game is a little tricky. I'm sure I'll be able to do it if my mind goblins let me stick with the game for a while but the transition is a little rough. Good thing there's a bunch of gameplay settings to make it smoother.

I don't have much to write about yet since I just started playing. I hope it goes well and keeps me occupied for a bit.

[-] blackenedmind98@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 weeks ago

A bit of Pokemon legends z-a on and off and a replay playthrough of Pokemon Violet

[-] Onyxonblack@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 weeks ago

Pathologic Classic HD, Sprawl, and Yakuza Like a Dragon.

[-] Sonotsugipaa@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 weeks ago

The Farmer Was Replaced — I got this game as a gift on Steam to a friend because they asked for a Python crash course recommendation, as I was assisting him with the learning process (considering that the game doesn't use the real Python) I ended up playing it myself.
Some resources are surprisingly challenging to gather efficently, and my friend said that the in-game guide didn't explain basic procedural programming concepts (paraphrased) well enough; he's planning to start another run, with minimal assistance from me.

I'm not sure I should admit to such things on Lemmy, but I've also recently discovered the Peripeteia EA and I've played it a few times.

It's... certainly a game, minus "certainly" — it's full of bugs, the levels look unfinished (tbf, they are), the Funky Zone™ level is extremely hard if you don't know the routes by heart, and its gameplay and aesthetics are an acquired taste.

I really enjoyed it (excluding the last currently available level), but I also really enjoy "games" such as X3 or Halo 2 on legendary so my enjoyment doesn't really mean much.

[-] Dindonmasker@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 weeks ago

Been playing the new zelda breath of the wild VR mod so much! It's amazing! The dev of the mod has been really active at fixing most of the issues very quickly. I'm like halfway through the game rn.

[-] TheGPT@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

I am also doing VR this week. Finally got around to playing Half Life: Alyx and am quite enjoying it.

[-] Dindonmasker@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

Are you a big half life fan? Alyx was my first half life game and i really enjoyed it! I hope you're not too spoiled about it and can enjoy all of it first hand :)

[-] TheGPT@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

I am sure there are bigger fans than me, but I have played and enjoyed all the Half Lifes and expansions up to this one. I love a good cinematic game. I have also enjoyed a number of Half Life mods over the years; They Hunger was a great zombie-themed campaign for the original Half Life, with more story and cinema than most hobbyist creations.

[-] taiyang@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

I'm starting up... Pokemon White Version 2 completely out of the blue because RetroAchevements is beta testing their multiset feature and I'm a sucker for the Professor Oak Challenge grind. (It's pure madness, truly a waste of time grind beyond human comprehension, but it's also an excuse to binge watch stuff and keep my overactive brain in check).

As always I recommend RetroAchevements in general, though. Truly an endless supply of old stuff to do!

[-] Saffire@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago

Slay The Spire, Stacklands, Hades 1, and Terra Invicta.

[-] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

The New Horizons update came early so I was fixing up some hotel rooms! And delighting in being able to craft from my storage and being able to craft multiple items at once and being able to get resetti to remove swaths of flowers for me. I might have accidentally had the entire island be flowers.

[-] unicornBro@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago

Einhander for PS1

[-] TheGPT@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

I remember having a demo of that when I was young. It's a cool-looking game.

[-] unicornBro@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah I also had the demo with Ridge Racer 4, Jersey Devil, Tomba, and Tekken 3. I was finally able to play the full game on Duckstation. It runs well on Linux.

[-] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Finished the Alan Wake 2 DLCs. Enjoyed them very much. The first two Night Springs episodes I thought were kind of so-so, but the third one was great and really had Remedy stretch their creative legs and both flex some mixed media usage and fully signal that Quantum Break is a part of the Remedyverse, at least in spirit. The Lake House DLC was just an excellent little horror episode, amazing atmosphere and gameplay while also being a very sharp criticism of AI art, which while perhaps not subtle I can still agree with and appreciate.

I also played through about 70% of the first Banner Saga. I have very mixed feelings about this game. The art, music, story, writing and world building are all excellent. It's a very pretty game. I just... I don't really vibe with the combat. The way the turn based system works and the way the damage stat and HP stat being unified plays out just makes fights end up kind of... weird. It's very different from most games and I'm not really finding it that enjoyable. I haven't played it in a few days now but I might just turn it down to Easy and breeze through it so I can see how the story goes.

[-] RozumDoKapsy@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Started playing Ghost of Tsushima, taking it slowly and enjoying the views and sceneries

[-] sadie_sorceress@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago

just finished act 1 of Clair Obscure this morning. I'm still not sure how much i enjoy the gameplay but the story definitely has me confused and wanting to know more. The battle mechanics are cool but i feel like i'm too dumb to really be good at figuring out good synergies. so far i'm not a huge fan of the map exploration but it's getting easier to find my way around now.

[-] Quazatron@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

I'm finally playing The Talos Principle II. It has been in my waiting list for a long time. I'm a big fan of the original and I'm currently hooked on the sequel. It has everything I love about the first one, only in a much larger scale. The storytelling is spot on, the puzzle difficulty is tweaked to make it easy for beginners to get the hang of things but gets quite challenging later on even for hardened players. There's lots of new artifacts and mechanics to learn and some of the old classics like the laser connectors.

If you loved Portal and Portal II, this is for you.

[-] muxika@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Playing The Surge, a Souls-like sci-fi game with some fresh ideas for its time. The combat is like a button masher with combos and finishing blows, and dismemberment that rewards you with new gear. If you see an enemy with gear you want, you hack off their limbs and collect the gear, piece by piece.

[-] its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago

My roommate has setup modded New Vegas on the 360 so I'm going for an authenticly inauthentic playthrough.

[-] MrTHXcertified@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago

Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster. I started FF9 before but switched to 5 because of pacing. It's like each PS entry in the series got successively slower.

[-] faint_marble_noise@programming.dev 3 points 3 weeks ago

Playing Lies of P: Overture. I'm two bosses in and tbh, it have been a let down so far. Enjoying new reactive propelled weapon, though.

[+] lablakelydoink@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

[deleted]

[-] sadie_sorceress@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

Oh man, the song for the Ludwig fight is so awesome. It's been years since I've played but I still jam that track quite often.

[-] B0NK3RS@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Death Stranding 2

It's more of the same which is great. The game is gorgeous and so far after about 10 hours I'm really enjoying it. I can get lost for hours on a single delivery just walking and exploring everywhere :)

[-] RozumDoKapsy@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I'm trying to get into the first game. I was promised walking simulator and immersing myself in the game, exploration etc., but I'm little bit frustrated with the constant interruption of NPCs that need to talk to much. Hope it gets better...

[-] B0NK3RS@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

The start of DS is a little rough and it's probably a solid 4 hours to get going. One you do though its top tier walking sim. I'd recommend actually walking and avoiding vehicles as much as possible to.

[-] shlang@piefed.social 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Try to skip the dialogues

Patient Gamers