What are you playing?

[MrAnthony2021]

Since I'm now rotating what games I'm currently playing I decided to start playing Skies of Arcadia again for the Dreamcast after not playing it for a month or so. Never played it before when it came out and since I have my Dreamcast out and hooked up I decided to pick it up again.

[Fiery Phoenix]

Residential Evil, the remake / remaster on GameCube (via Dolphin emulation)

Really enjoying, graphics really hold up well for a 20yr old game

[BigD]

Originally Posted by Anubis

Still playing Project X, trying to get to stage 2. (For RGL)

Last night tried bit new Lego Star Wars Game - Skywalker Saga on xBox. It is funny, I might actually play it more.

Project X is a stupidly hard game! I think I've got to level 2 but you die lose your power ups and you then don't stand a chance! It had great intro music though on the CD32!

[Legerdemain]

Originally Posted by BigD

Project X is a stupidly hard game! I think I've got to level 2 but you die lose your power ups and you then don't stand a chance! It had great intro music though on the CD32!

I find this intriguing.

I can not for the life of me understand where this thing with Project X being stupidly hard comes from. Rather, it is a quite predictable memorizer... and if you do learn the stages it is not that hard to recover after dying. Revised Edition shortens the stages, lets you start with stronger weapons and is an overall much more well balanced experience... but both games are nowhere near as hard as the majority of the classic japanese shmups. Try Gradius 2... or R-Type 3 (on the SNES). Or DonPachi, Ikaruga or Batsugun. Fantasy Zone 2 on the Master System.

Oh, dear.

[Twiggy]

Turbo Santa. Gotta get that high score!

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by Legerdemain

Rather, it is a quite predictable memorizer...

Well that answers it - memory games are stupidly hard. I can't cram all that in my brain for N games! The amount of repetition required makes me want to jump off a bridge.

[Nobby_UK]

Decided to give Witcher 3 another go:
but it has been (updated) f*cked.

[TCD]

Playing Quake 2 co-op with my wife. Q2Pro is a pretty good port for that.

[Karlos]

I've been playing a tricky strategy/RPG game with a strong element of chance called LevelEd303.

You boot your machine, start the editor. Make a change, and save. There is a random chance the save dialogue will lock the machine. If it saves, play the level in TKG. There's a chance the level has completely screwed the PVS data resulting in a confusing hall of mirrors. If that happens but you already have the git perk, you cast checkout -- on the directory. Otherwise you cast "commit" for XP. You rinse and repeat until all your stamina and enthusiasm are spent.

[Anubis]

Got sick last week, spent time watching movies and playing games.

PS5 - Ghost of Tsushima (Director's Cut) - Started playing and got hooked into story.l This game is really good.

xBox One - LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - this game has some good humor, for a change.

Arcades: Demon Front and Space Invaders '95: The Attack Of Lunar Loonies.

Amiga: Battle Island - started from first mission, finished mission 4

[manossg]

On the Amiga, Black Dawn Technomage and I am trying to complete Chip's Challenge, currently at level 81!
On the Amstrad having a nostalgia blast with puzzle bobble!
On the C64 the bear essentials and Rocky Memphis, both great games!
Just started Syberia 1, haven't played this franchise before, loving the atmosphere so far!

[malko]

These last weeks played "The Sentinel" on spare time (still does). Got 10% of the level codes. At the speed I am playing, it will take me a year or so to get 100% of them...

[TCD]

Originally Posted by malko

These last weeks played "The Sentinel" on spare time (still does). Got 10% of the level codes. At the speed I am playing, it will take me a year or so to get 100% of them...

Go malko! Go malko! (it might help to sprinkle in a round of Battle Chess or Worms to let off some steam )

[Legerdemain]

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge (Amiga)
While the presentation is impressive, the game has got some really big issues with balancing the gameplay.

Mario's Super Picross (Super Nintendo)
Thought it would be fun to go through the series, but after finishing Mario's Picross on the Game Boy I felt somewhat tired of it all... so playing through all of the puzzles in Mario's Super Picross will probably take a year or two.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (Playstation 3)
I love Falcom. I do not know yet if I love the later TLoH games (only tried some of the really old ones, and they are... charming), but this one is off to a good start at least. Got some 80 hours of jrpging in front of me, I guess. Lots and lots of talking in this one, yes.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by Legerdemain

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge (Amiga)
While the presentation is impressive, the game has got some really big issues with balancing the gameplay.

Ha! It's called "getting older".

No seriously dude, making blank statements in a forum is kind of missing the point of a forum. Provide a why so we can roast you and make fun of you

[Legerdemain]

Originally Posted by gimbal

Ha! It's called "getting older".

No seriously dude, making blank statements in a forum is kind of missing the point of a forum. Provide a why so we can roast you and make fun of you

Originally Posted by gimbal

Ha! It's called "getting older".

No seriously dude, making blank statements in a forum is kind of missing the point of a forum. Provide a why so we can roast you and make fun of you

Well, first of all the difficulty of the tracks is extremely varied, but not always in a logical way. Already on Easy there is a spike early on, after which it dips and then peaks again. Easy can feel so hard that one may think Normal will be a catatrophe... but Normal actually seems reversed in difficulty, at first.

The main problem is that the game loves to use some really stupid ai, with cars moving from side to side if the road. When the stages get narrow with different kind of roadblocks there is way too much luck involed in passing the narrow passages. If you happen to get a car in front of you moving from side to side the chances of passing are extremely small... and since you are very affected by bumping into other cars, slowing down to avoid the car in front of you is a hassle since you probably will have a car rushing through you affecting your speed and movement.

When the tracks get littered with shit it does not really matter if you memorize the tracks. Sure, you will increase your chances of succeding, but the luck factor shoots through the roof on some stages reducing the fun factor dramatically.

I love hard games, as long as they feel fair... if they feel fair it makes me want to keep on pushing forward, it feels like I just need to get better at playing. I do not feel that, too often, when playing this.

I love the presentation, I love the technical marvel, the graphics, some of the music. The feel of the car, it feels heavy and easy to control, is great. It is just thar the game is not all that fun to play.

Lotus 2 (the one just called Lotus) on the Mega Drive may be one of the hardest driving games I have played. Compared to the Amiga version it seems insane. The room for mistakes is minimal, some of the stages I had to spend days on learning and I have yet not beaten the game... but, thing is, I love it even though it is hard as nails. Why? Because it makes it so apparent that I am the one making mistakes...it never puts me in situations that can not be handled.

In The first Lotus on the Amiga, on some harder stages, it may be enough bumping into some cars at the start to know that you more or less are chanceless on that stage.

So, no. With more effort put into balancing the game it would have been more fun to play.

I guess Lotus is somewhat holy, with many people not accepting critique of whatever kind, but that remains to be seen. Thankfully the Amiga seem to lack the sheer number of untouchable titles that you stumble upon when discussing games on Nintendo consoles. I mean, those trying to explain why they dislike parts of classics such as Ocarina of Time, Super Metroid, Super Mario World and so on... they will know that they are alive, indeed.

[gimbal]

Making me read a wall of text now as a punishment eh. Alright I'll take it, I'll take it.

[Anubis]

WTH?!

That was more text then review for a game back then...

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Anubis

WTH?!

That was more text then review for a game back then...

gimbal literally asked for it

[Legerdemain]

I am broken.

I am the definition of TL;DR.

Tried to find ways around it while reviewing games "professionally", but I could not.