The "What'cha Been Playin'?" Thread

[Gatordragon]

Now that my Summer semester is over, I'm back at my parents' house for a few weeks. My Xbox 360 there has been having some trouble reading discs, but some lens cleaner fixed that right up.

The last two weeks on my iPad, I've been playing mainly Blastron, Le Vamp, Banana Kong, Candy Crush Saga, and Metal Slug X. Through sheer determination and luck, I've beating the harder levels of Candy Crush Saga without resorting to paying my way through. They think they can squeeze money out of me, eh?

Le Vamp is an endless runner game with a twist. Instead of controlling the runner, you keep the path safe for him. The story is simple: A little vampire has been causing mischief in a French village and now he's being chased by an angry mob. You keep him from being caught by keeping him out of harm's way and feed him blood pigs to keep his strength up. I've played plenty of endless runner games, but this one is unique because it strays from the formula while still being charming.

Metal Slug X is an old school run-and-gun sidescrolling game. I'm sure some of the people here probably heard about the Metal Slug franchise. I have Metal Slug 3 and while I like the zombie level (you can turn into zombie that vomits a geyser of blood as an attack!), there's too few continues and the final level goes way too long (I have yet to beat it). Metal Slug X is much better; it has plenty of continues and it doesn't make me go "Oh my god, when does it end?"

On my Xbox 360, I've so far been playing Resident Evil 5, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, 'Splosion Man, and Serious Sam 3: Before First Encounter.

In Resident Evil 5, I just got through my first battle with Albert Wesker and his assistant. Wesker is a beast, man! The guy's so fast, he just dodges my shots and toys with me. The only time I managed to hit him was when I snuck up on him and took some potshots with my handgun. Good thing it was a timed battle because I was hopeless against him.

EDF: Insect Armageddon is third person shooter where you play as a soldier defending the Earth from Aliens and the giant bugs they created. It's light on the story, but the gameplay is solid and enjoyable. I bought it when I saw a clip of it on YouTube and thought it looked fun. The enemies are quite varied; with giant ants, ticks, spiders, wasps, robots, and ufos so far. Sometimes there are so many enemies on screen I wonder how I can beat them all, but I almost always win. It's also co-op, so I really want to bring a friend to play this game with.

Serious Sam 3 is a first person shooter I just downloaded from Xbox Live Arcade. I just started so I don't have much to say. If there's one thing I do know about Serious Sam, it's that there's going to be hordes of enemies coming my way. Just the way I like it. Bring 'em on!

 

[Magus]

Taking a break from the fighting games, let alone the ps3. Gonna fire up the 360. It's been quite some time since I've played any games on the 360.

Potential games that'll be fired up this week/end

Tales of Vesperia - I've had this game since I 1st got the 360, and still haven't managed to complete the game yet. I do remember enjoying the game. Just got hit by a dose of Tales of the Abyss syndrome (excessively long dungeons that wear me out). But I've been in the mood for some JRPGs as of late, and I figure ToV is a nice one to pick up and get back into.

Mass Effect - I love this series. I hold this series in the same stature as the Metal Gear series. Whenever I play the 360, I almost always have to play this series as well (still haven't beaten ME2, nor have I started ME3)

Borderlands 1&2 - My sister and her husband has been bugging me to play these games with them, and since I always play fighting games with her husband, I figured I return the favor a play these with them for some time.

Ninja Gaiden 2 - Like ToV, had this since I 1st got my 360. It's been a long time since I've played this game. For the most part I think I still remember how to play, but only time will tell.

Halo Reach - I always gotta experience this epic masterpiece.

Some games that I'll probably end up getting as well.

Assassin's Creed series (360) - Yeah, I own it for the ps3, and no doubt there's really no reason I need to get this for the 360 since it's the exact same game, but there are some games that I must have for both consoles.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary thingy - I'm still on the fence about this one actually. I dread the flood, but I've had some epic moments in this game.

Tales of Xillia (Ps3) - Been thinking about getting back into the genre.

 

[Viper]

I just started playing New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) and it's great!!! I've reached the half-way point in World 2 and collected over 3000 coins! Those Star Coins are kinda tricky to get, but it definitely adds to the fun!

 

[Wonderwall]

Still playing the multiplayer of The Last of Us and Dynasty Warriors 8.

 

[TitanicForce]

Wonder if I'm the only one playing Mario Golf and Mario Tennis on the N64. Still a couple of my all time favorites.

 

[GPRailroad8794]

I just switched up from my 64 and plugged my Gamecube back in a few days ago. Been playing nothing but Def Jam: Fight for NY and SSBM.

 

[defunctzombie]

Extraordinarily pleased at the moment, as the Pokemon Diamond I bought yesterday turned out to be filled with pokemon that I desperately needed including all the event legendaries (though I think its previous owner did some cheating, as there are three shiny Arceus in the one PC box).

Oh well, as long as I have Celebi for the Giovanni flashback, I am happy.

 

[copper20]

Pokemon Soul Silver (Still trying to train for Red)
Donkey Kong 64 (Just got to Fungi Forest)
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Actually taking a break from that game - still haven't finished the fire temple, and I may start another file so I can see Princess Zelda again.)

 

[Magus]

Street Fighter X Tekken
Didn't do anything major since my internet sucks. I went into trial mode. Got Ken up to 88%, Jin to 70%, and Hwoarang up to 65%. Jin is a fairly difficult character to use. While I'm getting used to it, linking his Special Step from his left right combo is pretty tough for me at the moment. Hwoarang's links are tough. Just trying to link 2 crouching light licks together seems to be pretty hard. And then there's trying to link his crouching light kick into crouching medium kick.

With all that set aside, I also did some customizing. I wish Capcom wasn't so money hungry with these costumes (2 alternate costumes? Really?) Namco Bandai goes all out with their customizing, and Capcom can only bring in 2 costumes (oh and colors that cost $). Anyway, ranting aside and that being my only gripe, I did some customizing. I tried to used Jin and Ken's suit costumes and make Dante, Joker and K'. I like the results, especially for Joker. For Hwoarang, I used his regular costume and just used the same colors.

Side note, I was watching SSF4evo's youtube page, and he has a SFxT playlist and someone in his videos made Hwoarang look like Sonic. Very impressive looking (TheZOMBIEDIVER, I think that's his name), and it's what inspired me to attempt my own customizing.

Going to start playing Tales of Vesperia in a little bit.

 

[Gatordragon]

Man, I played a lot in August. I beat Resident Evil 5 and now I'm going through the Mercenaries Mode. I think I'm nearly done with Serious Sam 3. If this game was a person, it would be a champion heavyweight boxer because this game kicked my butt too many time to count. I gave my friend a copy so he can get his butt kicked too.

I also played Halo 4's online multiplayer alongside my friend a few weeks ago. It's been a while since I played the multiplayer since my parents keep the Xbox 360 while I'm away, so I never bothered to renew my gold membership. I forgot how amazing Halo 4's online games are and also how good I am at Halo. Once I got used to the controls again, I was rippin' my enemies apart. My friend's also great at Halo as well; so we were kicking butt together. It was euphoria. Once I get the Xbox 360 in my home, I'm going to renew my gold membership and make time to play some more Halo 4.

On my computer, I've been playing Kingdom of Loathing. KoL is a browser-based MMORPG with graphics that consist almost entirely of stick figures and other crude black-and-white drawings. The simple graphics are entirely by choice and the game uses a sense of humor that is at times snarky, scathingly satirical, and loaded with pop culture references, including parodies of other RPGs. For example, the tutorial quest involves doing tasks for a talking bird known as the (wait for it) Toot Oriole. Meat is the currency of the realm, simultaneously parodying and justifying the RPG tradition of monsters dropping money when defeated.
There are six classes to play as: the muscular Seal Clubbers and Turtle Tamers, the mystical Pastamancers and Saucerors, and the moxious Disco Bandits and Accordion Thieves. I'm playing as a Seal Clubber and a Disco Bandit. I recommend the using the KoL wiki while playing the game is so huge and there's lots of good items and quests that are hard to look for without a guide.

On my iPad, I've been playing Plague Inc today. As much as I love games with plenty of action, I don't mind playing a game that's all about planning and strategy with zero action whatsoever. I named my disease Decimatus because it sounds threatening. I already wiped out humanity with all the plague types: bacteria, virus, fungus, parasite, prion, nano-virus, and bio-weapon. Now I'm playing on Brutal difficulty; where people compulsively wash their hands, doctors never go home, and sick people are locked in prison. I beat Brutal with bacteria no problem, but virus is kicking my butt. My strategy is to not evolve symptoms until everyone is unsuspectingly infected, but the virus mutates more than other plague types, so I constantly have to devolve any symptoms that it mutates. This costs disease points that I can use to make my disease stronger. Eventually, I use up more disease point than I can earn and I end up in a stick situation. I'll find a way. That's what the Internet is for.

 

[Neo Yi]

Nabbed Rayman Legends. My GOD, I'm only in the first world and my fingers are already in pain. This game is awesome.

 

[Gatordragon]

Oh baby, Rayman Legends is wonderful! I really liked Rayman Origins, but Legends is so much better. Better artstyle, better gameplay, more content, and bigger levels. The game's artstyle is as stylized as before, but has better detail and looks like an oil painting. A new addition to gameplay is Murphy the green bottle fly, who can interact with the environment with the press of a button. This gives the gameplay a puzzlesolving attribute to go with its 2D platforming. I'm almost through the first world, "Teensies in Trouble". When I encountered the dragons, I actually said, "Where's the Dragonborn when I need him?". I started playing alone, but then someone in the technology center wanted to play with me. It was fun to play with a buddy, sometimes I lost track of my character when the game gets fast-paced.

On my iPad, I've been playing Plague Inc, Plant's vs. Zombies 2, and Time Surfer among other games. In Plague Inc, I finally beat virus on brutal difficulty. I got PvZ 2 back in August and finally beat it for now. I like the new plants, such as the punch-happy Bonk Choi, the firebreathing Snapdragon, and the flatulent Chili Bean. I also like the soundtrack, especially the wild west area's music. Now I'm trying to get 100% completion; something normally don't do, but I enjoy this game enough to do it. I even made some avatars from this game that I'm going use here in October. Time Surfer is an endless slope-based distance game with time powers. If you mess up, you can rewind time and try again as long as you have enough energy. I never thought surfing from the end of the universe would be so darn addicting and fun.

In Kingdom of Loathing, I'm on my seventh main quest as a Seal Clubber; which is to undefile the Cyrpt (that's exactly how it's spelled). So far I cleansed the Defiled Nook that was full of evil skeletons. All that's left is the Defiled Cranny, the Defiled Alcove, and the Defiled Niche. As a Disco Bandit, I'm on my sixth main quest; which is to help the Deep Fat Friars rid their Copse of lesser demons from Hey Deze. As both classes, I completed my epic weapon quest and got my epic weapons for my characters. My Seal Clubber turned his seal-clubbing club into Bjorn's hammer and then into the Hammer of Smiting. My Disco Bandit turned his disco ball into the Disco Banjo and then into the Shagadelic Disco Banjo. I can only wonder how a disco song sounds like on a banjo.

 

[Anyone00]

I finally remembered to pick up a controller so I could give Dark Souls a try: the challenging boss fights you have to try over and over again to get it right is great... having to make my way to a boss fight and plowing through the same dozen or so mooks over and over again is beyond tedious.

 

[Luna]

I got the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix collection for PS3 on Tuesday...So far,I've watched all of the 358/2 cutscenes (and have all the trophies for that),and have started save files for Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and Re:Chain of Memories....
Right now,I'm playing the Re: Chain of Memories game...I just finished with Neverland on Sora's story...

 

[DarkAngel]

Mass Effect - I love this series. I hold this series in the same stature as the Metal Gear series. Whenever I play the 360, I almost always have to play this series as well (still haven't beaten ME2, nor have I started ME3)

Have been replaying the trilogy over last couple months. On ME3 now, about to start the end game. Hadn't played the Leviathan or Citadel DLCs previously, so that added a new element this time. I also find that each time I play, I find something new, even if in a small way, based on different decision-making. Regarding those DLC, enjoyed both immensely. Will probably finish the game tonight.

Picked up the Bioshock 1 and 2 (Ultimate Rapture edition) combo today. Haven't played 'em before, so I'm looking forward to it, once I've finished ME.

 

[RandomMe]

Ninjadoodle games. The "musical backlight" is always some video from Ashens.

 

[Gatordragon]

I've done a lot in Kingdom of Loathing. I'm on my eleventh quest as a Seal Clubber and my tenth quest as a Disco Bandit. The eleventh quest is called is an extremely long and rigorous one called "The Quest for the Holy MacGuffin". As you can tell by the title, it's basically one huge parody of adventure films.

Both my characters are also on a quest to slay their nemesis that they've been designated to by their guild. This is also a long one that's done in three parts. After I forged my characters' legendary epic weapons, I fought their classes respective nemesis in a dark and dank sinister cave. Naturally, my Seal Clubber's nemesis is an infernal seal named Gorgolok; because all seals in the Kingdom of Loathing are demonic hellspawn. My Disco Bandit's nemesis is the Spirit of New Wave, the genre of music that killed off Disco. After I defeated them, they escaped to their hidden volcano island where I must find them and fight in an thrilling battle to the death. Now I need to find a way into the island.

A funny thing happened today: a stinking Abyssal Portal opened up in the Distant Woods. When I adventured in there, it contained infernal scout seals (that looked more like winged worms oddly enough) that dropped new items when beaten. However I could only fight eleven seals before they ran out. It's implied there will be more scout seals the next day. Since October is coming up, I wonder if this will lead to a Halloween event. This game loves holiday events that give out special adventures and items.

 

[Gatordragon]

Well I finally completed "The Quest for the Holy MacGuffin" in Kingdom of Loathing. After spending many adventures across the kingdom, I finally find the MacGuffin in a pyramid in the Arid, Extra-Dry Desert. Before I could get it, I had to fight its guardian, a mummified Pharaoh called Ed the Undying. This was one of the funniest fights I had in a while because he really can't die. Every time I think I killed him, he gets back up, but with a piece of him falling off. It took seven consecutive adventures to finally beat him. In the end, he was just a pile of angry mummified body parts that I swept into a corner. He was like the black knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I took the MacGuffin back to the Council of Loathing, who are the people that give out the main quests. They put it in a crate and stacked it in a warehouse full of similar crates where no one will ever see it again. Even my character said that was pretty anti-climatic. To compensate they threw me a parade and all I got was a handful of confetti. Yippee. At least I opened up some new locations with neat items to find.

Now I'm on my twelfth main quest, the "Mysterious Island Quest" or "Make War, not... Oh, Wait". There is an island off the coast of the kingdom that is home to Orc Frat Boys, Smelly Hippies, and Pirates. The Council of Loathing has gotten word that the frat boys and hippies are on the verge of war. Taking advantage of the situation, they want me to go over there and start the war because nobody likes the sleazy frat boys or the stench-loving hippies. They don't care who loses or wins, but prefer it if they both lost. To start the war, I disguised myself as a frat boy and framed them for killing a hippy's pet ferret (in reality, the ferret jumped off a lighthouse because it couldn't being around the smelly hippies anymore). Apparently you can knock down hippies, light them on fire, steal their clothes and food, but animal cruelty is where they draw the line.
To get the best reward, I'm trying to play both sides of the Hippy-Frat Boy War. There's 1000 hippies and 1000 frat boys on the battlefield. To annihilate both of sides, I have to reduce them down to 1 man each and wipe them out at the same time. There's no counter on how many I kill, so I made a table to keep track. This is going to take a while, but it's fun being a manipulative wild card.

 

[copper20]

Finished up the Fire Temple on my Ocarina of Time cartridge, and did a thing or two in the water temple (Got a few keys, that's about it). I was thinking about starting a new file and trying to complete the dungeons in a different order - something like this:

Deku Tree
Jabu-Jabu
Dodongo Cavern
Forest Temple
Water Temple
Shadow Temple
Spirit Temple
Fire Temple

 

[Gatordragon]

I'm halfway through Kingdom of Loathing's "Mysterious Island Quest". I annihilated 999 hippies in the Hippy/Frat Boy War, and now I'm going to do the same with the Orc Frat Boys. I heard something neat will happen if I reduce the war to one fighter on each side. The six sidequests on the island pad out the quest, but also increase how many hippies/frat boys you kill in each battle. They also give out some sweet rewards, so I'm doing three as a frat boy and three as a hippy.

In Rayman Legends, I made it through three worlds. My favorite so far is Fiesta de Los Muertos because I like food levels and the Day of the Dead aesthetics.