/arcade/ - vidya gaems and other gaems too

I played through the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy recently. I had the games growing up but never played them to 100% before.
Crash 1 was nowhere near as difficult as I remember and seeing people complaining about the difficulty online was kind of surprising. Like, Sunset Vista had this extremely intimidating aura in my head as a kid, but most of it is fairly straightforward platforming and it only took me a few attempts to get the gem. Once you get a good feel for the jump the game pretty much plays itself. There are only a few levels that rush you. It's such a good game, though. If I wasn't having wrist problems right now I think I'd start another file.
I didn't like the sequels that much. The first game had an incredibly simple story that was told almost entirely through the levels you play through, so reaching the lab at the end felt like a real journey. The switch to a hub world in 2 and 3 made the game feel more like something in an arcade, and the attempts to tell a more complex story just lead to a bunch of boring cut scenes. Not needing to one-life the level also turned gem collection into a chore. Crash 2 had tighter controls and some fun backtracking sections at least. I didn't like any of the vehicle levels or power-ups in Crash 3, but the platforming levels were still fun.

I technically finished Mario Odessey and now I'm trying to 100% complete it. The game's pretty alright. Visually impressive for Nintendo, great soundtrack as expected, solid game play. It's a really solid title. I liked the different worlds since they're much more unique than Nintendo's 2D Mario games. I think all of their 3D "openish" world games are much more unique. The moons are mostly boring with a lot of repeats, but if you're not trying to 100% it, it's not a problem. I'd say go for the unique moons like the challenge rooms. They're easy, but they're at least unique. Also, go for the minigame moons like the snow kingdom race. That's really how I'd maximize my fun.

I have a little over 500 moons with 499 to go + coin grinding and such. I don't mind it since I do everything a world at a time and if I can't find any new moons in like, 10 minutes, I'll look them up. I've found playing this kind of way with games maximizes the fun a minimizes waiting. That plus being able to pick up the game relatively quickly makes it easy to play. I play on a TV screen with a controller, too. I need that ability to play on the fly.

Anyways, it's a pretty good game, but not a masterpiece as some people say.

So many games finished in these weeks

>Sonic X Shadow Generations
A fantastic step in the right direction from Sonic Team. The levels are insanely well design, the gameplay is intuitive without being too sensitive, great music, great bosses. Makes me happy being a Sonic fan

>Shadow the Hedgehog
Oh no

>Ape Escape
Really fun game. I'd say it's on the same level as a good Rareware game. I'm surprised how much they got to do with the PS1 and the DualShock controllers.

Also, Ape Escape seems to be one of those games that has radical changes when it comes to region localization.
I ended up playing the American release [NTSC], and from seeing some comparisons, it seems like the European version had much better Voice Acting. But things like the UI seem much more stylized.
It is not Ace Combat 3 JP/Us and Europe tier, but there are differences here and there.
Which one would sushi pick?

Not a full video game, but I finished the Twilight Forest mod from Minecraft. It's a weird feeling, actually. I liked a lot of bosses, but didn't really like the huge castles and areas because it's super tedious and long to go through them. The best thing to do tbh is to skip these huge areas and go to the top of them by bridging or an elytra. The only boss I really had a problem with technical-wise was the hydra. It just wouldn't work when I fought it. It eventually worked, but not without a lot of pain. After that though, it was a cute boss fight. A lot of the boss fights are simple, but still very charming, like the ghast boss fight. You had to draw him in with a ghast trap and hit him when he's temporarily trapped. The biomes are also really nice as well. I'm going to have a lot of use for the flat biomes for sure. Finally, when I went to the final area to fight the final boss, I knew that it was never finished. The mod has been notorious for that. However, I really didn't mind, and even preferred it in a way. It may feel cathartic to some people, but I'm just glad I'm done fighting the bosses. I just fought all of them in a span of two days.

When I finally beat the game, there was a sense of completion that I usually feel for games that were in my backlog. It's an odd feeling. I knew about this mod, but never played it. I had no connection to it at all, but still, I think the fact that it's so old makes me feel similarly to those other games. I feel like I've completed a part of Minecraft history.

Been playing a lot of Quake recently. Mostly Arcane Dimensions. Very good stuff, everything from core mechanics to visuals is significantly improved, without going out of style. Many new weapons and monsters too, and the best thing is maps, those are heavenly good. I did finish it yesterday, and today gave a try to some standalone maps from Siteseer. Found this gem on 2-3 screenshots in the latest Black Fog Zine. Quite small, but very well made and with a nice final fight.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is probably the best mario kart i've ever played. All the cool technical stuff you can do while still being a relatively simple and streamlined process compared to Mario Kart DS or Mario Kart Wii is really refreshing and makes me more engaged in learning the game on a competitive level. Time Trials are really fun.

Just finished Burnout 1 for the PS2. Great game with very fun gameplay. I would usually just play music over it while playing. I found the game to be very lenient at times, so I never was stuck in one place for very long. There's very obvious rubber banding, but it's really good rubber banding (unlike Mario Kart for the N64) where the racers behind you will be close, but not too close and the one in front of you will slow down or screw up more often. I kept that in mind when playing since the goal was to have fun instead of challenge myself to become better. I had a lot of fun doing that and I even made the top scores for best lap and best race a few times. Overall, pretty solid game that I really enjoyed playing. I probably won't be playing Burnout 2 any time soon, but I know if I do, it's probably going to be just as good.

I just 100% Wario World. I didn't like it very much. Combat was good, graphics seemed okay, camera was mostly fine. Solid game in all those regards. Even though it was short, it didn't really outlive its stay. Still, man. I just didn't like it. I felt like I was inching through the game, honestly. I would spend like an hour on a small stage finding everything. I just didn't like that. I also felt like the game was pretty uninspired. The bonus levels weren't really in the theme, the hub and stages made me feel like the game was lifeless. Like, it does its purpose of being a place "outside" of the world, but it didn't really make me feel like I was playing a Wario game. Although, I've never really played one except for the wii version, so I guess you got me. Still, the Wii game had themed world while the worlds themes were kind of all over the place. Also, the wii game is much longer. I would say the combat was really boring, too. I didn't interact with it unless necessary, like the arenas, which I didn't like. Usually I like arena-style breaks from the main game, like in DK64, but the timer kinda ruined it for me. There were also really only a few moves, so it gets stale. Still, great moves that show Wario's character.

I actually liked a few things from this game, too. I liked the clown stage a lot because it was pretty difficult and was generally a theme I liked. I really liked using the glue balls to navigate through the stage. It got really difficult when flamethrowers were involved. I liked the haunted mansion because I just love haunted mansion levels. Enough said. I liked the snow level a lot despite there were two collectables on slides that you couldn't control yourself on when going down. I just like snow levels tbh. I thought a lot of the platforming was solid and the camera was really good for a gamecube game. Even though it shows the age, it really wasn't bad.

Still, I just didn't like the game that much. I'm glad it's over with. Sorry if the structure of this post was kinda weird. I don't want to type out a huge post about this game when honestly, I want to play other games. I thought this game was REALLY cool when I saw the demo on my collection of Ocarina of Time special edition for the gamecube. The one with flipped levels and had like, a blue side and a red side on the cover. So awesome. Now, I just think of it as a mediocre game. Not good, not really bad. Just not Nintendo's best. I'd be disappointed if I bought this for 40 or 60 dollars back in 2003. I can't even remember the prices. I'm glad to have finished it at least. : )

Disco Elysium.

>>2331
I have so many fond memories of playing Burnout 2's crash mode lol. I really wish they'd bring that series back.

Pirate Yakuza
It's fun; <3 the minigames

If you like DCSS, I also recommend Zorbus! Great and underrated roguelike

>>1738
Previous post was meant for this

>>1585
I wound up feeding my Hoi4 addiction today, so I tried out another mod. I love the variety of mods the game has to offer, but I have to admit I'm getting tired of asking myself, "Did anyone playtest this?" over and over again. It's not things like missing localization or general lack of polish that bother me; it's the almost complete absence of balance in so many situations.
I really need to play more games.

>>2449
Hah, I know how you feel. Which mod did you play? I typically stick to Kaiserredux but might dabble in others, especially Red Flood. I wouldn't say either of these mods are particularly balanced but Red Flood is really screwy whereas Kaiserredux at least has the Kaiserreich base to keep it somewhat reasonable for most nations. I tend to have a whole cycle of getting fed up with the various mods on the workshop, typically for minor annoyances that get under my skin.

To overcome my own HoI4 addiction I've been trying to be more consistent with following through on playthroughs and not just immediately starting another game afterwards (or when it becomes too boring/inconvenient.)

>>2449
I've always found hoi4 boring. The base gameplay kinda sucks for a strategy game. Without mods like kaiserreich the base game is just unplayable. Sadly these don't fix the watered down strategy mechanics.

>lack of polish
Well its a WW2 game and the poles didn't last that long.

>>2464
false poland had an insurgent underground state

>>2464
I've been trying to get more into HoI3 or other computer wargames since HoI4's inadequacies rag on me; but the combination of the varying narratives, LARP potential, map painting and general user experience makes it hard to put down. Most wargames are more pointed and specific, as well as having minimalist graphics so as to not distract from the gameplay. Base HoI4 is a total mess that I'm loathe to ever play, but regarding mods I'd hope to be able to take my country of choosing and resolve the game in a position of dominance with all the map variation that might come from that power's rise to hegemony.

The aforementioned inadequacies are the watered down strategy mechanics you mention: a completely nonexistent military hierarchy, zero attempt to simulate mustering/recruitment, lack of balance combined with poor AI resulting in the same strategies being employed over and over for maximal efficiency and minimal engagement regardless of situation. (I'm sure there's much more I could find if I spent more time thinking on it.) However despite all of this, the genre is rather slim pickings, and choosing between HoI4 or some of the more diehard autism simulators out there, it's not much of a surprise why people stick to and play HoI4 so much.

Another pet peeve of mine is HoI4's decision to turn anything mechanical into a build-a-bear minigame instead of actually engaging with the unique equipment each side was fielding at the time. Really rustles my jimmies that unless the player goes out of their way, there's no actual difference between what the Italians or Russians are fielding armor-wise. This was even true before the designers came into the picture so really it's just laziness on the part of Paradox.

>>2465
But we don't have any computer strategy games for insurgencies. It would be cool if that existed. Still Poland sucks. Its rainy and they drink bread.

>>2466
They play hoi4 because its watered down and accessible and suddenly military nerdism has blown up into something huge and mainstream. I do like the LARP potential, which isn't there with hoi3, but beyond that hoi4 is a trashfire. It seems like virtually every paradox game now is watered down to the point a chimpanzee could play it. Just draw a line here and click and your armies just magically do everything. Its a shame the game mechanics in hoi3 or vic2 were never really built upon but scrapped and dumbed down.

>>2467
I agree that HoI4 is both watered down and accessible compared to its peers in the genre, but I still wouldn't consider it to be a particularly accessible game in general. Unless you've got a buddy to hold your hand it can be pretty rough. The main conceit of grand strategy games is that they're often spreadsheet simulators, and the actual depth and complexity can only really be appreciated once you know all the numbers at play and how they properly engage with each other. HoI4 is terribly shallow once you know all the numbers, but for the average person it's still a lot to learn and keep track of. I consider it relatively accessible and that relative accessibility results in far more players than other games, but I'd hardly characterize the average HoI4 player (especially one with thousands of hours as is often stereotyped) as just being some normie getting into tacticool operator chic.

I also agree about the continual decline of Paradox. HoI4 in general seems to have been the pivot, its success likely leading to it being their keystone going forward, which is a horrible precedent and the results are clear as day. I think the issue is that they opt to throw random BS into their games to sell as new features rather than bunkering down, minimizing mechanical bloat and focusing on fleshing out the actual meaningful stuff.

Given your clear distaste for HoI4 in favor of other titles, I'd like to ask what sorts of games would you recommend?

Finished GTA 4. I really want to push it to 100% but the post game content is a little daunting and boring. Seems all the effort went into the amazing story that I have been coming back to for years. Maybe I will get back to it and push it to 100%. I want to 100% all the GTA games.

>>2463
It was called Collapsing World: Rise of Radicalism. TL;DR: The idea behind the mod was that society is collapsing everywhere at once, and most countries start off in a civil war or are on the verge of one. Sounded like something with potential, but I found it falling short of the mark.
>>2467
>>2468
Can't disagree about base hoi4 or its consequences. I had some fun with Vicky 2, even if I'm bad at it, and seeing what happened to Vicky 3 was just sad.
Anyways, moving on from Paradox fuckery, I recently finished Shadowrun: Dragon Fall. Big improvement over Returns, the Berlin Flux State was a great setting. Combat is still a little rough, but the companions were cool, and the plot was excellent - one of the better ones I've come across in a video game, with great plot twists.

>>2469
>post game content is a little daunting and boring
It feels like every open world game is like this.

>>2477
The only open world game that wasn't as bad is Saints Row 3 cause it is a very hand holding type of game.

>>2468
I only really play Vic2, Hoi3, stuff like Sins of a Solar Empire, and old school Total War. I think War on the Sea would have been a great startegy game if it wasn't for its trashy UI and lack of polish. It just seems that, wherever you look, genre games are more and more diluted to appeal to the lowest common denominator. I also really hate the culture that's built up around paradox games. The obsession with militeria and pop history mixed with politics. Its all very trashy.

I recently beat Dissidia 012. I adore this game, it greatly exceeded my expectations: I like watching fighting games, but most of the time i get frustrated trying to actually play them because the execution filters me. But something about this game just clicked with me. The story mode doesn't exactly ease you into it, but learning the mechanics as i went along was part of the fun for me. Mastering the movement and spacing for each character, playing strategically around my opponents moveset, watching old videos of competitive matches to learn about builds and combos and strategy, i've never had so much fun with a game like this. The story itself was very charming, all of the usual Final Fantasy tropes were there and the characters all had great stories and interactions with one another.

My least favorite part of the game was the rpg element. I think unlocking abilities as you level up each character is poor design for a fighting game: grinding at low level feels counter-productive because once you level up, you'll just have to unlearn all the habits you developed from playing with a limited toolset. Some characters dont even unlock the moves that their whole gameplan revolves around until very high level. Luckily it's easy to just download a completed save file if you want to skip grinding and get right to the fighting game part.

Even though i'm done with the story i don't want to put this game down any time soon. I guess the next step is playing online, which i haven't had the courage to do yet. Wish me luck sushi

i played morrowind for the first time. it was really good! i think the main quest becomes kind of irritating around the time you have to become hortator of the three houses but otherwise its great. i cant wait to play it again with another character and explore the parts of the world i didnt this time around, and especially check out tamriel rebuilt. i did a joke fanart.

>>2484
good luck sushi roll! i really want to play this sometime too.

>>2485
I love this image, thank you.

>>2485
I love Morrowind, but yeah the main quest can get irritating in the later stages. I've always just done the side questlines until I had enough reputation/levels to skip the neravarine and hortator quests.
>i did a joke fanart.
This is brilliant, sushi.

Finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It broke me emotionally but everything about it is so fucking peak. Music, gameplay, story, art direction, level design, I love everything about it. It's the first game of a new video game studio and I hope they make another banger after this.

>>2485
wwwwww that's great, saved

>>1585
I beat the first game I ever played to 100% completion for the first time, Sonic 2. It's my least favourite of the classic sonic games but still a lot of fun. The special stages get really tough around stage 5, especially with Tails following you.
I'm trying to beat Mega Man 1 next, but the yellow devil is kicking my ass.

>>2503
>>2507
>>2506
People that got offended by the success of that game are the most pathetic lol

More or less finished Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It was pretty fun, not difficult but not a cakewalk either. Didn't grind out all the gacha figures or ability powerups, or complete any of the minigames.

>>2509
And now I've beaten Megaman 1! A really challenging game but very satisfying to beat.
Does any sushi have a recommendation of what game I should try beating next?

>>2510
What's it about and why do people hate it? Is it just popular thing bad?
It does seem like the game just came outta nowhere

Just a prototype, but Shroom and Gloom.
A deckbuilder, but it's first person. Feels like it has lots of potential, in some ways I like it more than Slay the Spire which is the only other deckbuilder I played. Instead of just a battle deck you have an exploration deck of actions and items to use between battles as well. Bonus points also for running smoothly on my sucky PC, integrated CPU graphics. Hopefully they don't mess it all up for the full version.

It's free to test the prototype so nothing to lose on giving it a look if you like deckbuilders or roguelites.

>>2574
I try not to play early access games/demos and would rather wait for the full release but I will keep an eye on this, looks fun!

>>1585
I finished bubsy 1 this week. Trying to complete the collection.

Recently finished Phoenotopia Awakening. This game is kind of impressively frustrating, even as someone who likes challenging metroidvanias. The player character just feels so incredibly weak. Piddly jab, slow aerial, limited ranged options until mid-to-late in the game, and everything runs on a stamina bar that can take up to a full second to give you back a single attack.

On top of this, the devs expect you to play on the highest difficulty. Anything less is an "accessibility option". It's an interesting experience to play a metroidvania that does not give you any i-frames, and when you get tired of being ping-ponged across the stage because one of six enemies grazed your foot, the game itself will tell you "hey, maybe you should play on baby mode?". Eventually I just got fed up enough with taking half my health from a single bad interaction that I just turned on most of the accessibility options so I could finish the game.

I'm not any sort of game dev, but comparing this game's combat to other metroidvanias really highlighted the importance of giving players options. In Phoenotopia Awakening, the only option is "don't get hit", and the only way to accomplish that is to completely memorize the enemies' patterns, because this game hardly gives you any tools with which to adapt or react. That can be fun in its own right, but it wore me down very quickly after two or three bosses.

Outside of combat the exploration and puzzle aspects of the game were nice. The pixel art looks pretty good and all of the environments have their own person flair that makes them visually striking.The npcs are pretty lively and fun to listen to, and the towns feel bustling. Somehow I managed to complete the game with only 37% completion, so there's a ton of collectables if you're into exploring.

Just finished MGSΔ. I was a little conflicted about getting it because of how konami treated Kojima but Death Stranding 2 hasnt hit Xbox like MGSΔ has so i do figured why not.
Was it worth the 70$ price tag? No, i definitely regret getting it on launch, I've pretty much played MGS3 on every other platform that it got released for (including 3ds) so i would have much preferred waiting for it to be cheaper. I've bought games for that much before like Elden Ring but that game gave me my moneys worth and then some. Im probably gonna end up getting Silent Hill f when that comes out tomorrow too, i didnt get to play the SH2 remake since that is a PS5 exclusive so I'm pretty grateful SHf is coming to Xbox.

>>2583
You would have to be stupid to buy such a game. You should get the idiot award.

>>2584
Damn i knew it wasnt the best purchase but i dont think ive earned a whole award. Is the idiot award something you personally judge and give out?

I didn't want to play Portal 2 by the time I got to the later parts of the game, but I did want to finish it.
There was one puzzle where I admit I had to use YouTube to see what the answer was because I was truly confounded by the puzzle. It's the one where you're in that open space and there's this walled square in the middle of the map.
Overall, I did enjoy Portal 2, but I also want to share as well - Portal 2 kind of exposed my mind?
There's a theory in Psychology called "Internal Family Systems". Within this theory, there's no such thing as "Multiple Personality Disorder" because it's not a disorder to have multiple personalities, it's the norm. Within IFS, instead there is "The Myth of the Monolithic Self" which is the myth that people have a single personality.
The reason I mention the theory of IFS is because my experience of playing Portal was a bit unusual. I would at times, kind of try to think, but other times, when I feel too tired to think, I would run around aimlessly and wait for the answer to come to me. I would leave the problem-solving to my brain. I began to interiorly see that my mind has these components, that I can influence, but can also act autonomously, and that was pretty weird to realise. I think my experience of playing the Portal games was where I first received damage to my confidence in the unity and homogeneity of my personhood. Now of course, I know of IFS, but back when Portal 2 came out, playing this game was a bit jarring for me, and I didn't know why.
I think this is part of the reason why. Another may just be a sensitivity to horror, and the Portal 2 Universe is very dystopic. So I play the game a bit, and then get deeply depressed, and drop it.

I'm a bit sad that I saw the Portal 2 ending on the internet before blindly playing the game, so I knew what to do at the end in the final boss fight. I think I robbed myself of what would've been a wonderful realisation experience.
I enjoyed Wheatley's contribution to the story. Due to psychosis, I feel drawn to the idea that Wheatley and Glados were inspired by my "parts" (IFS concept). The idea that testing "feels good" in a kind of anxiety-based giving-in-to-the-OCD kind of way feels very relatable.
Nonetheless, I think I did enjoy the puzzles overall. Solving them felt good. I think, if I want to solve puzzles, I'll be sticking to The Last Campfire now, as that has puzzle-solving without a dystopic environment.

I just want to say as well, much like the guy that beat Super Hexagon, I'm happy to have finally beaten Portal 2. For years, I felt like the whole world has beaten this game except me, and so to finally beat the game is a relief.
To be fair, there is a multiplayer-campaign as well, is there not? And from what I've seen, the levels in the multiplayer-mode are designed completely differently from the singleplayer-mode. I suppose it's not until I've beaten that I can truly say that I've beaten the game. I have no social life for now though. Perhaps this is something that can happen in the future!
Also, there are mods for Portal 1 and Portal 2. Some mods are of renown. I won't be playing them however as in my current state, it would be wise to shield my mind from dystopic material.

To close, let me just say: I am pleased that I finally finished Portal 2.

>>2587
Interesting read. I'd love to play multiplayer with someone actually. I played maybe 40% of it a long time ago but we weren't smart enough to actually finish it. I love Portal 2 and also the OST is free online which is kind of Valve.

I kinda wonder if you'd enjoy the Sam & Max games or if you'd be frustrated with them. They're point and click puzzle games, so not exactly the most fun for people who like running and jumping, but the psychology of the characters interested me a bit, especially in the Telltale season 3 game that focuses on Max's mental state a lot. Unfortunately I played that entire series out of order which I don't suggest but I really loved the character writing.

As for the last game I finished, I don't play too many games that have a "finish" but probably YIIK. I know this is a really unpopular opinion but I like YIIK. It's not perfect by any means but it's not NOT fun now that they changed the combat so it doesn't take forever to kill one medium HP enemy.

>>2588
I'm open to Adventure games I would say.
At some point this year, I was playing Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. It's been in my library for years, owned and unplayed for over a decade, and I figured I might as well give it a go.
I enjoyed it I would say, I just feel bad about giving my time to videogames right now at this phase in my life. My present phase is one that needs a lot of work.
I suppose the plus-side in dropping Dreamfall for so long now is that I have forgotten a lot of what happened in the story, so I can start again with its prequel: The Longest Journey. I didn't know that I actually had both games. But yeah, as these games are classics in the "Adventure" genre, and I did enjoy playing one of them, I'm open to Sam & Max.
It's weird, you know, I didn't know that I had never played an Adventure game before until playing Dreamfall. I think the games I'd typically played were "Action-Adventure" games. I would think to myself "Of course I like Action-Adventure games - I loved Jak 2 on the PS2 after all", but after playing a "pure" Adventure game, I can see now why there's a hyphen. Adventure Games are really more of a PC experience I think. A "pure" Adventure game is new to me, but as I said, I had a pleasant experience, and so I'm willing to give it a go.

I think I would like Sam & Max. It looks good and sounds good to me.
YIIK also seems interesting to me. I'd be open to giving it a go some day.

Finished CrossCode!

I would not describe it as a purely comfy game, even though the majority of the game is. It deals with very serious and horrifying subjects at times. Not a good idea if you have trouble with existential issues/topics. But it's a real nice game all the same.
Only thing I disliked was some certain puzzle things, which the game itself acknowledges is a huge bother right before one of the last ones of that type. Most of the puzzles were nice, but some of them where essentially puzzle escort missions, and escort missions aren't really famous for being enjoyable in games. Ironically the game itself mentions in NPC dialog that it's valid to look up net guides for them.

Was a nice experience enough that I'm sure to pick up the DLC when that's on sale.

>>2590
Crosscode is one of my all time favorite games! God the story hits so hard at points. I'm really excited for Alabaster Dawn.

>>2590
I was really liking it up to the point where you get separated from all your teammates. I loved the feeling of just playing the in-game game with the npc friends. I want to revisit it but I totally forgot what was going on and what I was supposed to do next.