What video games are you playing now?

[TheCapsFan]

Currently I'm playing two games primarily:

The first one is Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion. I absolutely adore the world of Final Fantasy VII, but this is my first time experiencing the Crisis Core story, and I have to say, this remaster is incredibly underwhelming to me. It's important for me to try and keep the game in context - its design is primarily for a handheld system, and its gameplay revolves around that handheld focus, which isn't a problem for me - what I DO have a problem with is that all the animations are as boring as like they're still on the PSP. This is a remaster, they should have upgraded that! I also find the story to be very all-over-the-place, with little motivation for certain events happening when/how they do, which is probably the biggest disappointment I have with this game given how good the story in the original game + its remake are. The gameplay is fun though, and I think the materia system is implemented better in this game than in the remake.

On the flip side though, I've also been playing Hades!! And, what a blast I am having so far. Hades is probably the best roguelike/lite I've played - the way the characters all interact, and how that directly leads to your progression to the gameplay loop, is absolutely awesome. I've gotten to the third floor once, and have gotten to the second floor boss about five times, over the course of 20-ish runs so far. I can really feel the sense of progression even though I'm not getting too much farther each time. It's been real fun also to play around with the different boons each Olympian gives you and kind of pick and choose different combinations for each weapon, keepsake, and scenario. The music is also fantastic, and the game just feels real smooth and like I'm in control at all times. If I had to complain about anything, it's that I haven't found any way to unlock a "elevator" of sorts yet, and I don't think it'll happen at all given that the game already gives you a ton of help to continue progressing through the use of various upgrades. Oh well, such is the difference between a roguelike and a roguelite. Still a ton of fun though.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Pokemon Violet: 7 gyms, 4 titans, and 3 Star bases. With Amy's evolution into Tinkaton, the entire team is now at their final forms. Full team lineup that I'm actually able to give now is Quaquaval, Clodsire, Ceruledge, Lokix, Tera-Rock Kilowattrel, and Tinkaton.

Biomutant: Do not play this game. It kinda felt like it had potential at the start but once you actually get going it's just shit.

• The open world is both devoid of interesting stuff to do, and also filled with shitty copy-pasted collectibles that use the exact same basic-ass puzzle for rewards that're pretty much guaranteed to suck. Or if you're really unlucky, no reward at all!
• Combat is both boring and frustrating, with massive sources of damage from many angles that you're not really equipped to deal with, as well as a busted lock-on that'll just drop targets or switch to something else at complete random
• The story has absolutely nothing interesting going on, and the fact that nobody has actual dialogue means that most of them don't really have much in the way of character. Meaning that outside of the boring gameplay there's nothing to keep you interested to keep playing.
• The only things that hold any kind of charm are that some of the little furries can be kinda cute, and the narrator is kinda fun. But these things alone absolutely cannot carry such an utterly vapid experience.

TMNT - Shredder's Revenge: It's really good! I just started playing last night and it's just a really fun classic arcade beat-em-up with modern luxuries like an actually generous vertical range on your attacks. There's also a ton of charming little animation details that just make it a treat to look at and play.

On the flip side though, I've also been playing Hades!! And, what a blast I am having so far. Hades is probably the best roguelike/lite I've played - the way the characters all interact, and how that directly leads to your progression to the gameplay loop, is absolutely awesome. I've gotten to the third floor once, and have gotten to the second floor boss about five times, over the course of 20-ish runs so far. I can really feel the sense of progression even though I'm not getting too much farther each time. It's been real fun also to play around with the different boons each Olympian gives you and kind of pick and choose different combinations for each weapon, keepsake, and scenario. The music is also fantastic, and the game just feels real smooth and like I'm in control at all times. If I had to complain about anything, it's that I haven't found any way to unlock a "elevator" of sorts yet, and I don't think it'll happen at all given that the game already gives you a ton of help to continue progressing through the use of various upgrades. Oh well, such is the difference between a roguelike and a roguelite. Still a ton of fun though.

Spoiler

Always a pleasure to see people discovering how legitimately fucking incredible Hades is. What's your favourite weapon so far, do you think?

 

[ReturnofMCH]

Been playing fire emblem 3 hopes. Just beat chapter 6 of golden wildfire

 

[Sheep]

Finally finished the story mode of WoFF/FF Maxima after 3ish years! Probably going to pass on postgame stuff since it seems especially tough (and maybe go back to it later). Now I'm going to pick up Temtem and see how that goes. :'D The Switch crashing issue was just fixed yesterday so the timing is pretty good for me haha.

 

[TheCapsFan]

Still playing Hades. Got to (what I presume to be) the last battle a couple of times, but still haven't beaten it. I'm at about 30 tries so far.

Always a pleasure to see people discovering how legitimately fucking incredible Hades is. What's your favourite weapon so far, do you think?

I really like the versatility of the Spear, but I think the Bow is the most useful for its Special which gets a lot of really good buffs. Although the Shield is really fun to use as well, I'm not sure I know how to use it properly though. It gets some Daedalus upgrades that really change the way you use it.

 

[Norzan]

Been playing Tactics Ogre Reborn and just having a blast.

 

[Insanish Danish]

Started playing Persona 5 Strikers a few days ago now that I'm finally done with Persona 5 Royal (which I absolutely loved and have declared a masterpiece, for what it's worth).

 

[PokéSean]

I discovered the awards I get for registering Pokémon in Pokémon Violet and am registering more Pokémon and training Pokémon to somewhere between Lv. 65-75 in HeartGold.

 

[Okido]

Been getting back into Puyo Puyo lately. In particular, I'm playing a lot of Tetris 2 on PC, as well as a bit of 15th Anniversary on my DS. For the most part I'm just working my way towards finally getting every trophy/achievement in PPT2, but so far it's proving a bit more difficult than I thought, just because some trophies are locked behind online play and the online scene for that game is unfortunately so, so very dead lol. Either way it's just kinda nice to go back to my roots and pick up the series again.

Over the last couple of weeks I've also started a few games for the first time - mainly 100% Orange Juice and Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. I'm enjoying them both despite how bad I am at them. I also recently replayed Scribblenauts Unlimited again after 10-ish years and was pleasantly surprised to find that it's still a lot of fun.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Shredder's Revenge: Leveled 5/7 characters up to max in story mode, as well as getting lucky enough to join in an arcade mode run in multiplayer to score most of those achievements. I said this when I started but y'all this game is great. It's fun to play, of course. But also the amount of love and care that so clearly went into every inch of it is plain to see, and that makes it just an absolute delight.

Pokemon Violent: Completed the story. It was pretty good. I don't think the character writing quite lives up to Sword and Shield, but the overall experience of the story is much better. Still not entirely sold on the open world, but like, at least it's not hurting the experience? I dunno I was just never one of those people that was clamouring for open world Pokemon and this game didn't really do much to sell me on the idea as opposed to the classic format. At least the environments are more interesting than Sword and Shield. Still got some legendaries to catch, and whatever post-story content there is to experience.

I really like the versatility of the Spear, but I think the Bow is the most useful for its Special which gets a lot of really good buffs. Although the Shield is really fun to use as well, I'm not sure I know how to use it properly though. It gets some Daedalus upgrades that really change the way you use it.

The bow is incredibly strange to me. Because I'm not really a huge fan of its "stop and charge" gameplay, it feels awkward to me compared to most of the other weapons. But it also gives me terrific results and has my best clear time out of all 6 weapons. Figure that one out. In terms of favourites I'm a big fan of the simple unga bunga style of the Twin Fists. It just speaks to me. The secret Sword aspect is also incredibly satisfying, and a personal favourite because of it.

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

SMITE. Looks like the fire giant, Surtr, is 151% done with being constantly killed for power buffs after all these years and has decided to join the playable god roster this month!

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I've been catching up on the Switch Pokémon games I've missed, given that I only bought myself a Switch last September (IIRC). I've played through Pokémon Sword, Brilliant Diamond, Scarlet, and Let's Go, Eevee!, and currently, I'm playing New Pokémon Snap. At the moment, I'm in the post-game, improving my scores in previous areas and exploring the DLC areas. After I feel I've reached a satisfactory point in NPS, I'll start playing Legends: Arceus. I also have plans of buying Rescue Team DX at some point.

 

[Insanish Danish]

Put Persona 5 Strikers on the back burner and started playing Persona 4 Golden a few days ago. I'm really liking it! Not sure if any other Persona game is going to top the way P5R made me feel, but I'm enjoying it a lot regardless.

 

[Herbizarre]

Last game I played was UNO on the Switch. I really should be going back on Pokémon Scarlet, but instead I find myself loading up this game, going online and spend 20 minutes trying to win, only to get screwed over by the other opponents.

 

[PokéSean]

Am on Pokémon Violet and had replayed Gym puzzles but am also trying to replay Where In The World Is Mr. Walksabout. I also have unlocked to challenge Kofu. I will also try to rematch the Titans and the other Star Squad I defeated. In HeartGold, am training and expanding my dex.

 

[Lone_Garurumon]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Shredder's Revenge: Game platinumed! I did technically kiiiiiiinda cheat on beating Super Shredder without taking a hit, since I got it after I joined a 95% complete Arcade session where he was exploding as I joined. But I did manage it legit in a later attempt so I'm ok with that. Terrific game, 100% something to come back to.

Stray: So, when I heard about that cute game where you play as a stray cat in a city full of robots, and I did not expect anything near this level of story focus or creepy factor. Like it's a good game, I'm having fun, still very charming. Just not quite what I expected. I'm currently in Midtown, which seems quite late-game? Probably wrapping up the playthrough decently soon then.

 

[ReturnofMCH]

FE engage: I beat it last night so now I'm just doing skirmishes and grinding stuff.

 

[PinkThunder]

Chronno trigger

 

[Pyrax]

Been playing Control over the past week. Confusing to navigate at first (the map doesn't help) but I've gotten the hang of the Oldest House's interior. Currently putting off the main story for side missions and exploration (gotta get those Ability Points), been farming materials for the Service Weapon's upgrades as well.

 

[Strawberry Cupcake]

I'm getting back into Luigi's Mansion 3, I really love the game.. I just got distracted by other games. I want to be able to beat the game so I can take it off the list of games I need to finish.