What are you playing?

I started Scarlet Nexus. I've read some shitty reviews saying a lot of crap, so I was a bit reluctant because its a bit expensive in my country.

Fisrt 3 hours of game, for now seems great imo. I'm having the feeling this is another game I will get mad with steam's reviewers.
 
Ahhhhh Tomato, that is so damn accurate! :D

1 truly is a phenomenal game and it did so much, at a time when games were still fairly primitive. I had an absolute blast with it when I played it (already!) 7 years ago and the ground it broke is just awesome (female protagonist, "3-D," dungeons, vehicle play, just superb stuff.


On the other side of the coin, what you wrote also indeed applies to 2; I still to this day don't know why people love it to death, as it is a VERY poor game, when stacked against its predecessor and successors. It's still a 7/10 game, but there are a ton of flaws and I've always maintained that big/end bosses that rely on luck to defeat and little skill, show poor game design.

I won't post the first video I did (like with PS, above), but I will post the end video, as it shows the absolute absurdity that I had to deal with, with that end boss. Also, the worst-looking Dark Force of the whole series, far and away.


III is a solid game and super-underrated, but 4 truly is the best in the series; an absolute Sega classic and easily one of the best RPGs ever made.
Yup, looking forward to IV and one of the reasons I'm going through all the games is that the stories are supposed to tie in together. I heard you can play IV standalone but since this is one of Sega's premiere series, I wanted to go through the all the stories hoping that it makes the payoff in IV even better.

I've heard mixed things about III but I'm still planning on playing it, some people like you said it was underrated and that the generations system was a lot of fun. Without spoilers, what did you enjoy most about the game? Do you think I would ruin the experience if I used a Rom hack to give myself higher meseta/xp gains and just make it easier overall? I'm usually against that during the first playthrough but I just don't want to grind much anymore, haha.
 
lol I know what you mean about grinding! II is truly the only bad game for grinding (and the beginning of the first; once you add Odin, the entire game becomes less-grindy), as you have to spend a good hour+ grinding, before every dungeon. II's ending is also... something lol. I mean, the way its handled is well-done, but the premise of the ending? Eh... a bit ridiculous and over the top, IMO.

For grinding, Vay was like that too (for the Sega CD), but that game had a ton-more charm and variation than PSII.

III is the easiest game of the series by far and very little grinding needs to be done (this may be why many don't like it), but its graphics/art-style is absolutely excellent (a significant bump up from II and IV's is similarly a nice bump up from III), the soundtrack is superb and the story is completely different, but the way they intertwine things is fantastic (the continuity between generations is so well-thought-out) and you will go through the entirety of the game, trying to figure out how it connects to the rest of the series... until the end and, until IV.

For this reason, it is good to play them in order, as IV has a ton of call-backs and similar things that III does, whereas III and II do not give much homage to previous games (though in the case of III, there is a reason for it and you'll find out ;) lol). If there is one thing that I can say that III is definitely lacking, is that the battles don't last long at all. I mean, if you're grinding for 5 hours a day, you want quick battles, but III's battles literally can be over in 10 seconds lol. The macros return though, so the battle system isn't too different from prior titles (and the enemies look just as ridiculous as they do in II lol).

I just had a bathroom break at work and watched 5 minutes of my PSIII playthrough on YT and the battles are over, SO fast, it's ridiculous. For me, that's a good thing :). But yeah, there's a lot of good to be had in PSIII and it won't take you nearly as long as II. It also introduces my favourite character(s) (that's a hint/spoiler of sorts, but you will need to play both games in order to get it ;)) of the entire series and I love the amalgamation of Myau and Nei that they did (which, like the above, is a hint/spoiler, but you'll need to play to find out ;)). Everything is intertwined and called-back so well, it's brilliant.

Having talked about IV so much, I must elaborate on some things; it truly is an outstanding title and they way everything is culminated, amalgamated and connected... literally, nothing Ninty has EVER done, is as involved as these 4 games (and that's not a dig at Ninty; it's a testament to just how brilliant Reiko Kodama is) and that makes it truly-special. It is the only game of the quadrilogy that is heavy on sidequests (though not egregiously) and the depth and size is just something else... for a 16-bit RPG, it is phenomenal. Again, I only deem Lunar: Eternal Blue to be on its level (though Lunar is slightly better :D), from that generation.

EDIT* Forgot to add this wonderful pic to the post; it is of the major players of the series, from TVTropes:

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phantasy_star_20th_anniv.jpg


**FURTHER EDIT** I'll also show the PS part of my Sega tattoo, but won't now as it contains spoilers for both III and IV ;)

As for the subject of this thread, I got back to Burning Rangers (FINALLY) last night and the game is just so wonderful; wonderfully-presented, wonderfully-crafted and despite some graininess here and there, it looks fantastic for a Saturn game. I forgot all about the anime portions of the game and they are phenomenal, even with the dubbing.

If I get enough time tonight, I'm hoping to beat it!
 
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I just finished playing the demo of Tormented Souls and I am also going to get final game for sure eventually. It was quite a nice modern take on the classical survial horror in the style of Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil. It looks quite good and I like the art style. It does not bother me at all that the graphic is not state of the Art. In fact I even appriacate it. I am quite tired of the state of the art graphic because all games of that style look the same. The atmosphere is also quite good. If the final game keeps the quality of the game it is going to be a hidden gem for Horror Fans. The average modern gamer will go to ignore it though. It just does not have mass market appeal.
 
II's ending is also... something lol. I mean, the way its handled is well-done, but the premise of the ending? Eh... a bit ridiculous and over the top, IMO.
TAKE IT BACK!!

... well actually nvm... I can't really argue that it's ridiculous and over the top. But that's part of why I love it so much! Contender with a few others for my favorite game ending ever, even. 2 definitely has some serious issues (it was made in 2 and a half months, after all. Fun fact!) like you said, but it's still my favorite one just for completely nailing the aesthetic, setting, and tone perfectly to my tastes.

The whole series is great, though, and I do find it funny that a company specialized in arcade style games ended up making the greatest RPGs of all time (IMO) between this series, Skies of Arcadia, and Panzer Dragoon Saga. Only played through the latter earlier this year, and all I can say is WOW. Consumers in Japan really let this one down imo. The devs were apparently shocked it didn't break a million, and frankly I can't blame them after playing it.
I started Scarlet Nexus. I've read some shitty reviews saying a lot of crap, so I was a bit reluctant because its a bit expensive in my country.

Fisrt 3 hours of game, for now seems great imo. I'm having the feeling this is another game I will get mad with steam's reviewers.
The beginning is the worst part imo, so if you're already enjoying it then yeah I think you're gonna have a blast. Which character did you start with out of curiosity?
 
The beginning is the worst part imo, so if you're already enjoying it then yeah I think you're gonna have a blast. Which character did you start with out of curiosity?
I picked Kasane because it seemed to be the more complex character if we look at the narrative of thSHE WAS A WAIFU.

I'm in chapter 4, I just talked with
Yuito in the future and explained me everything.
 
TAKE IT BACK!!

... well actually nvm... I can't really argue that it's ridiculous and over the top. But that's part of why I love it so much! Contender with a few others for my favorite game ending ever, even. 2 definitely has some serious issues (it was made in 2 and a half months, after all. Fun fact!) like you said, but it's still my favorite one just for completely nailing the aesthetic, setting, and tone perfectly to my tastes.

The whole series is great, though, and I do find it funny that a company specialized in arcade style games ended up making the greatest RPGs of all time (IMO) between this series, Skies of Arcadia, and Panzer Dragoon Saga. Only played through the latter earlier this year, and all I can say is WOW. Consumers in Japan really let this one down imo. The devs were apparently shocked it didn't break a million, and frankly I can't blame them after playing it.

The beginning is the worst part imo, so if you're already enjoying it then yeah I think you're gonna have a blast. Which character did you start with out of curiosity?

Don't get me wrong, they executed it well (and the, "we destroyed our planet, so we're taking over another one," is eerily foreshadowing what has actually happened, 30 years later), but it's like a reverse deus-ex-machina, as it comes out of nowhere.

I think if it were another alien race, it wouldn't have been so perplexing to me, but to make it humans from Earth? It's a borderline copout (especially since they didn't pursue it in further games).

Anyways, one big positive from II are that the characters are rock-solid and you root for (most of!) them, as well the soundtrack is superb (which is the case for all of the quadrilogy). Dark Force (and to a lesser-extent, Mother Brain) being purely luck-based bosses however, doesn't sit well with me at all, especially since over-grinding can't even compensate. I mean, if there was an attack or an item or something to use to rebuff his, "attitude-changing," attacks, then I'd shut up about it, but you go the entire game, with enemies and bosses alike, without this issue, then the final boss becomes a crapshoot, luck of the draw: it's artificial difficulty, layered on top of an already tough game and long slog. And that's not an opinion! ;)

BTW, Dietsoap, I beat Burning Rangers last night! :D A wonderful game, I wish they made a sequel or made this a bit longer, but it is an incredible title, more-than worthy of being on of Saturn's best.

As I took out the disc yesterday, I admired how immaculate it was, then I remembered that when I bought it in 2008, it was factory-sealed still... Kinda kicking myself for opening it, as I definitely could've afforded another copy back then and kept this one sealed; it'd be worth quite a pretty penny today :(
 
I just finished playing the demo of Tormented Souls and I am also going to get final game for sure eventually. It was quite a nice modern take on the classical survial horror in the style of Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil. It looks quite good and I like the art style. It does not bother me at all that the graphic is not state of the Art. In fact I even appriacate it. I am quite tired of the state of the art graphic because all games of that style look the same. The atmosphere is also quite good. If the final game keeps the quality of the game it is going to be a hidden gem for Horror Fans. The average modern gamer will go to ignore it though. It just does not have mass market appeal.
I just checked this game out on YouTube and have decided to download the demo. It looks very much like Resident Evil 1 in the vibe it gives off. I can't believe this game is only $20 with how solid it looks. I haven't played it yet but just from watching gameplay footage it looks better than Resident Evil 5, 6, 7 or 8 which isn't saying much, but it looks like something that could rival the first 4 RE games in quality(within the scope of it being low budget, of course). I can't see myself buying it since I'm not big on horror games anymore, but there's something about it that looks intriguing.
 
heaven sword.jpg
Finished Ghost of Tsushima Iki Island and looking for some games to hold over until more Ghost Legends content and True Colors come out in the next 2 weeks. So, I never completed Heavenly Sword but have decided to give it a go on PS5 via PS Now. There are no improvements on the PS5 for this PS3 title, but its still solid for a game of it's era none the less. I'm actually surprised how decent it is given its age. The combat is sort've like a good version of God of War, the character and the sword are both interesting and the most essential part, the cinematic and story telling aspect is surprisingly enjoyable for a game that released in 2007 which makes up for the janky PS3 era combat and controls. It's interesting seeing how a game that released right on the cusp of when cutscenes became a somewhat functional and more integral part of video games during the early PS3/360 era still outshines much the cutscenes from games that came out during the last gen. This is the same person who made the Hellblade masterpiece, so it doesn't shock me that the cinematics are on point for a PS3 title, you can see the ground work of talent and creativity in the cutscenes of this game way ahead of its time. If you removed the cutscenes/story delivery it would just be another middle of the road interchangable hack n slash action game from an era when games weren't fully able to be deep art quite yet.
 
I just checked this game out on YouTube and have decided to download the demo. It looks very much like Resident Evil 1 in the vibe it gives off. I can't believe this game is only $20 with how solid it looks. I haven't played it yet but just from watching gameplay footage it looks better than Resident Evil 5, 6, 7 or 8 which isn't saying much, but it looks like something that could rival the first 4 RE games in quality(within the scope of it being low budget, of course). I can't see myself buying it since I'm not big on horror games anymore, but there's something about it that looks intriguing.

Yes that is true. It is a indy that is strongly influenced by the classic horror games of the 90s. As a big fan of that genre I really like it. The demo is really good and the graphics are also quite impressive for such a indy game.

@Heavently Sword I played it during the ps3 launch time and it is not a bad game. The controls are not perfect though and the sixaxis elements are just anoying aber it looks quite good has a nice atmosphere and the combat is fun.Not a masterpiece but a bad game.
 
Yes that is true. It is a indy that is strongly influenced by the classic horror games of the 90s. As a big fan of that genre I really like it. The demo is really good and the graphics are also quite impressive for such a indy game.

@Heavently Sword I played it during the ps3 launch time and it is not a bad game. The controls are not perfect though and the sixaxis elements are just anoying aber it looks quite good has a nice atmosphere and the combat is fun.Not a masterpiece but a bad game.
Yeah, even the voice acting and the controls feel like early Resident Evil right out of the 90s. It actually looks more Resident Evil than anything RE 5 through 8. I like the graphics too, from what I've seen on youtube so far.

Yeah, the sixaxis controls threw me off lol, I was wondering what the hell was happening as to why I couldn't hit certain targets and then the game told me to use sixaxis and it took me about 10 seconds to remember what that was. Lets be honest, all controls sucked on games back in that era, everything was janky and sloppy for the most part and even the ones that were smoother had framerate issues that made it feel sloppy. Also, it's hard for me to think of any masterpiece games from that era either, in fact when it comes to PS3/360 I cannot think of one. A lot of entertaining titles from that era but nothing like what we have in the current gen and last gen. I often feel like the PS3/360 gen was a lost era in the effectiveness of gaming somewhat. Before that era games were horrible at telling good stories due to the technical limitations and graphics that didn't allow us to cross through the uncanny valley into the realism we have with the last gen and current new gen tech, but those pre-2005 era games arguably had much better core gameplay from a pure entertainment standpoint, whereas the PS3/360 gen seemed to try and mix the gen before it with what was yet to come starting with the 2013 era. Many games left behind entertaining gameplay elements from the 90s and early 2000s but the cinematic, story telling and graphical aspects weren't quite real enough to take the experience of playing a video game to a whole new level like we started to get in the later half of last gen, perhaps around 2016 or 2017. While I'd argue that last gen 2013 and current gen 2020 games are overall by far the best and take gaming to a whole new level of depth and purpose as art pieces, I still find PS2/OG Xbox and older consoles more desirable than the PS3/360/Wii era overall if I'm just looking to play something that feels like primitive purely entertainment based gaming, even with the graphics being worse than PS3/360, the games were more fun I think. There's a reason I originally decided to walk away from gaming entirely in 2007 and it was because the new gen wasn't interesting at that time offering only improved graphics over the PS2/Xbox, it's now just starting to get really great these last few years. Look at some of the differences between 2014/2015 titles and 2016/2017 titles, its a staggering difference in realism ever since 2016.

Have you played Enslaved: Odyssey to the West? It's also made by the Heavenly Sword/Hellblade team from 2010 on PS3/360/Steam. Its also underrated and a solid entertainment title from that era.
 
No I haven't played Enslaved yet. That game slipped my attention completely. But it looks really interesting. Thanks for the advice. I think I am going to give it a try.
 
Finished No More Heroes 3 yesterday…I have more mixed feelings than I thought I would but overall I’m glad it was made and it was worth the wait. Don’t want to put my full impressions here yet, think I might have to wait a while and replay it again to get my full thoughts in order about it, but I’ll just say I think both the first game and Travis Strikes Again may remain my overall favorites of the series.

Not sure what I’ll play next…maybe I’ll get a new game next weekend. Daemon X Machina is one I’ve considered but not 100% on. But I do also feel like replaying the Deadly Premonition games back to back, especially with The Good Life hopefully finally being released soon.
 
I'll post some of my future Phantasy Star posts in the topic @Hiki made, but since I made some PSII posts here I'll finish up thoughts on my playthrough (just beat it!). I know, I know, it's a 30 something year old game, but I'll still put in some spoilers tags, haha.

So to follow up on my last post, the part where the game finally clicked to me was the end of the Mota(via) section after the boss fight where Nei died. It was cool how the story flipped over and you were wanted by the government, so all the enemies coming after you were security robots and such, but in the same environments you were in before (on the other end, same with the Biomonsters being wiped out and no longer on Mota). It sounds simple, but it did add some authenticity to the story, instead of the whole RPG thing where you get new enemies only when you explore new areas.

Dezo was a much better overworld to explore, since it was back to being a connected environment. The way Mota was sectioned off was driving me crazy, like I was being herded. I know that they wanted to have the canals be part of the environment since it was part of the story, but it made exploring very unenjoyable.

I also dug the vibe of Dezo as well, it felt appropriately raw, secluded, and indigenous (though there were still some robots that followed you). The dungeons in Dezo were much more manageable as well, or maybe I just got used to them at some point. I agree that the Dark Falz boss fight was kind of weak and random, and the Mother Brain fight was too easy. I did like the ending, it was *kind of* out of the blue, but if the origin of Mother Brain was never really known, then I think it actually works pretty well.

But yeah, the biggest flaws were the heavy grinding, Mota overworld, Mota Dungeons, and lack of backgrounds in the battle scenes. The 2nd half the game was night and day better than the 1st half of the game, too. If I play it again I might use a ROM hack to get XP and Meseta boosts.
 
know, I know, it's a 30 something year old game, but I'll still put in some spoilers tags, haha.

It's a 30 something year old game but some people never played this game so i think it's nice that you put spoilers tags, thank you for that. 😊

i never played the classic Phantasy Star games, i have plans to play this games.
 
I'll post some of my future Phantasy Star posts in the topic @Hiki made, but since I made some PSII posts here I'll finish up thoughts on my playthrough (just beat it!). I know, I know, it's a 30 something year old game, but I'll still put in some spoilers tags, haha.

So to follow up on my last post, the part where the game finally clicked to me was the end of the Mota(via) section after the boss fight where Nei died. It was cool how the story flipped over and you were wanted by the government, so all the enemies coming after you were security robots and such, but in the same environments you were in before (on the other end, same with the Biomonsters being wiped out and no longer on Mota). It sounds simple, but it did add some authenticity to the story, instead of the whole RPG thing where you get new enemies only when you explore new areas.

Dezo was a much better overworld to explore, since it was back to being a connected environment. The way Mota was sectioned off was driving me crazy, like I was being herded. I know that they wanted to have the canals be part of the environment since it was part of the story, but it made exploring very unenjoyable.

I also dug the vibe of Dezo as well, it felt appropriately raw, secluded, and indigenous (though there were still some robots that followed you). The dungeons in Dezo were much more manageable as well, or maybe I just got used to them at some point. I agree that the Dark Falz boss fight was kind of weak and random, and the Mother Brain fight was too easy. I did like the ending, it was *kind of* out of the blue, but if the origin of Mother Brain was never really known, then I think it actually works pretty well.

But yeah, the biggest flaws were the heavy grinding, Mota overworld, Mota Dungeons, and lack of backgrounds in the battle scenes. The 2nd half the game was night and day better than the 1st half of the game, too. If I play it again I might use a ROM hack to get XP and Meseta boosts.

The Cat(wo)men are among my favourites of the playable characters (Mieu and Rika as well), so Nei has a special place with me, especially since she shows a ton of personality, compared to the other party members in II.

A thread was made? Excellent, I'll head there :)
 
Starting up Intrepid Izzy, tonight; backed it back in 2017 on KS and the PC version was released last year, while the DC version came out a few weeks ago.

Hopefully, it can take me right to Lost Judgment! :D
 
ICO -- Been running through ICO again on PCSX2 emulator. I still have a love for this game! The atmosphere and tranquil mood is still incredible. Still holds up for me.

Call of Duty -- I just felt like playing some Team Deathmatch recently and I still like COD's snappiness...even if it does take up 150GB of my PS5 SSD :mad:

WWF No Mercy Invasion 2001 Mod -- been dipping my toes back into No Mercy Mods and checked out the WWF 2001 Invasion mod. The mods for this game still amaze me. I'm surprised no one has tried to do anything with it in terms of an unoffical Unreal remake yet, to be honest...unless they have and I don't know about it. But I like the fact that the community keeps modding No Mercy and continues making better up to date Wrestling games from a 20+ year old game than the actual big AAA teams are doing.

Shenmue III -- Doing another run on the side...I was gonna go for all side quests but bombed out on the fishing side quest in Bailu and decided to just keep on trucking...I still like this game and will continue to make no apologies for it. I just like hanging out in this world. Although I don't think I will ever get the Platinum for it. My lust for Trophies has died after that god damn grind for THPS1+2 and I can't be assed grinding some of the requirements. Namely 1k fish.

No More Heroes III -- Not feeling it as much as the first two. It's okay, but yeah, it's missing something. Hopefully it gets a PC port some day...frame rate is okay during combat but elsewhere, it leaves me desiring a PC port.

Tekken 7 -- And finally still plugging away at Tekken 7 online with my BAE, Xiaoyu.

Horizon Zero Dawn -- I tried going back to it now that they've updated it for 60FPS support on PS5...but after 40 minutes of playing and looking at the huge map...I just turned it off. I hate to say it, but I remember why I stopped playing it...it just bores the shit out of me every time I try going back to it. Fighting Robo Dinosaurs was cool at first, but got kind of old very quickly to me. The huge wasteland map is just a bore to explore. Even the story wasn't doing much of anything for me. I know a lot of people like that game, but every time I try going back to it, I just find it to be an absolute bore. Nice to see it running at 60FPS though.
 
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