The "What'cha Been Playin'?" Thread

[Jinbo71]

I finally completed the mirror Lightning cup in Mario Kart 8, and boy was it an ordeal. Kinda glad I don't have to worry about it anymore, though I still need to unlock all the kart parts.

And as I've always been throughout the summer, I'm addicted to Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. Leveling up my characters in order to face the cave in the "Confessions of the Creator" post-game story. Also, for anyone who asks, my best characters are Squall, Kefka, and Vaan.

 

[Magus]

Mass Effect 1
Crew is up to lvl 22 I think. The Infiltrator's not as great as I was hoping it'd be, but then again I'm probably just allocating my points in the wrong areas (especially since I've been trying to use the sniper rifle) not to mention the a.i. for my crew is dumb and get in my way. I've been tempted to start over because I miss my shotguns. Reason I'm not at the moment is because I don't want to do some of these missions again. Anyway, I'm currently on Feros and I can see where an infiltrator can really shine, but again, not exactly sure about who to take.

 

[Gatordragon]

I'm still trying to get through Don't Starve's adventure mode. Just when I think I'm winning, I get a harsh reminder of what game I'm playing.


Let's talk about my latest and most successful endeavor. The first world I started in was fortunately "Archipelago", where the temperate weather conditions allowed me to prepare for the harsher weather conditions of the later worlds. The biggest threat I encountered in the first world was an island full of killer beehives. A log suit and a beekeeper's hat were more than enough to protect me from their stings. After scouring the islands, I found all the components to build the Wooden Thing and teleport to the next world.


The second world was "King of Winter". Its endless winter is hard, but I was able to bring some warm clothes and a thermal stone I made on the first world. Plus, since I was playing as Wilson, I grew a big beard on the first world which will also keep me warm. With all these warm resources, I was able to stay warm periodically for two in-game days before I had to make a fire between each period. I tracked down three of the four Wooden Thing components and I felt unstoppable. I even survived encounters with several MacTusk hunting parties without getting hurt. Then one day I was hunting a herd of beffalo for meat and fur. Normally I'm able to kite these grazing beasts no problem, but all of a sudden the game started to lag and the beefalo kept catching up to me. I was headbutted so much, they broke my log suit and I started taking full damage. But that's not killed me. I managed to escape, but because my sanity was low from another incident, I was attacked by my hallucinations of shadow creatures. My health was so low, that one hit from a shadow creature did me in.


Now I'm back to square one. I made sure to get "Archipelago" again for world 1. There's five worlds I have to progress through. I'm going to be surprised if I even get to world 3.

 

[PrincessuKenny]

I've been playing me some Tomodachi Life recently. It's really addicting so far.

 

[Mister Mayhem]

Cohorts,

just beat daxter for the psp. this is the first game in the jak and daxter series that i played and i'm officially a fan now. i don't play a lot of platformers because of difficulty but this was just right for me due to the simple controls, frequent checkpoints, and easy to adjust camera. just like the uncharted games death never feels like a setback. some of the hovercraft missions were slightly annoying due to the time limits and all the obstacles in the way but i was able to get through them after a couple attempts. most of the environments didn't seem fit for driving missions but i guess they didn't want to make things to easy since the crafts controlled better than in most games.

while the humor is good the story felt like an afterthought and the few characters were only there to give you stuff and tell you where to go next. plot was simplistic and things really didn't start moving until the the game was almost over. i also usually avoid mini games but the ones in this were pretty fun. the increase in health for beating them were a little helpful but the unlock able techniques were useless. graphics were also very good and even though there weren't a lot of enemy types the stages were varied enough that it never felt repetitive. this game was way more fun than i was expecting so i'm going to pick up the jak an daxter hd collection and second psp game as soon as i can.

 

[Magus]

Mass Effect
Most of the side missions are completed. Only ones I gotta do are on the Maroon Cluster and Kepler Verge. Noveria was also completed. Virmire is next. I think my crew is at level 40 (ish). Comparing the infiltrator to the soldier, I gotta say I find the soldier class is more fun, heck, even the vanguard is funner than the infiltrator, but then again I guess I was expecting AI Hacking lol.

Ultra Street Fighter 4
Yea, kinda regretting buying this. Tried hitting training mode as Cody, and turned it off about 20 mintues later. Training mode music is so dull and makes everything boring. Although it's a bad idea, I see why some people play the CPU for practice. While training mode is robust and whatnot, it's just a chore to practice with no motivation (Try doing 10 reps of Cr.LP>Cr.LP>Cr.MP>Criminal Upper through that dull music.

 

[Gatordragon]

Recently I've been playing Awesomenauts and Eldritch.

In Awesomenauts, I've been learning how to play each character well in case the character I want to use in a match is already taken. I've been doing really well as Admiral Swiggins, Ayla, and Genji, racking up kills and aiding my allies to victory. I wasn't doing so good as the support characters such as Gnaw, Yuri, and Voltor. Then I looked up guides on how to play them and which upgrades I should buy for them. It did wonders. As Yuri, I became a bomb throwing, laser shooting force of nature that assisted in kills and didn't even die once! As Gnaw, my strategic placing of weedlings (organic turrets) in blind spots and raw power upgrades to my bite and acid spit made enemies retreat numerous times. In one match as Gnaw, I got eleven kills, zero deaths and took out the enemy's base on my own! Now I'm learning to play as Voltar and Skøldir effectively.

Eldritch is a Lovecraftian roguelike with graphics that are slightly better than Minecraft's. The lack of a sanity mechanic is pretty odd considering that eldritch creatures are said to drive people insane. The first dungeon was a little too easy; the enemies included cultists, fish people, and giant firebreathing eyes. The abundance of bullets and magic altars didn't help. Then on my second playthrough of the dungeon, I encountered a real challenge. While checking a cage, I found a shoggoth. Shoggoths are unkillable, many-eyed blobs that attack any living creature they see. It's slow, but it can open doors and climb stairs. I didn't even know it was there until I got up close to it. Miraculously, I didn't get hurt and I ran off hoping it forgets about me. This game has gotten a bit harder and fun now that I know that juggarnaut is after me.

 

[Magus]

Went back to playing games on the ps3. For some reason my xbox 360 keeps on overheating and shutting itself off.

Assassin's Creed 2
Picked up from where I last left off, which was heading back to Florence for a second time. Just reaching the tomb to eavesdrop on the templars conversation.

Mass Effect 1
Although I'm not gonna want to do it, but I'm gonna start this one from the beginning yet again for the sake of playing as a soldier just to get through the game so I can get to ME2.

 

[GWOtaku]

After an absurdly long hiatus I beat The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess last weekend. It's a good ending and the final act is pretty cool, but holy Triforce were the final battles of Skyward Sword ever a lot more challenging. The final fight in that took more than one try, & it was intense. The penultimate battle was just as good. With Twilight Princess I wasn't drawn in like that until the final phase of the fight, with the prolonged swordfight against Ganondorf. Make it tough, Nintendo! Seriously, we can take it.

Also: that fishing pole trick. Really? It's funny, but....really?

 

[Gatordragon]

I take back what I said about Eldritch being too easy. The first dungeon may have been a breeze, but the second one was no pushover.

After I acquired Dagon's soul from the first dungeon, the second one opened up. It was like some kind of underground desert tomb. With the gear I got from the first dungeon, I thought it would be no problem.

The first enemy I encountered was some kind of sand creature. It looked like that guy from The Scream painting. I killed it with one bullet, but it got back in a few seconds. I shot it a few more times before concluding it won't stay dead. Thinking fast, I tricked it into falling down a pit. Now I just try to avoid sand creatures like the plague or at least slow them down.

The second type of enemy I encountered was a lizard man. He spat acid balls, but I easily killed him with three stabs of a dagger (ammo started getting scarce). He was essentially a slightly tougher version of the cultists from the first dungeon.

The third type of enemy I encountered was the most interesting yet. It looked like a stone lizard man, but stood still. I saw it crumble a bit and thought a lizard man was going to break out of it, so I used an invisibility spell and snuck past it. When nothing happened, I didn't think much of the stone lizard and went about looting the room, letting my spell wear off. Then I looked away to to get some coins and BAM! The next thing I know, I was dead and the last thing I saw before the game over screen was the stone lizard behind me with its hands outstretched. That's when I realized that the stone lizards are the game's equivalent of the weeping angels from Doctor Who. What I mean by that is the stone lizards only move when you're not looking at them. Plus they're indestructible, so I better make sure I'm not fighting other enemies around them.

 

[Miyamoto Musashi]

Street Fighter games, I'm in the mood to play Street Fighter games

I'm probably the only one you'll see this coming from. I actually like Origins a bit more than City and Asylum. Then again, I never really thought Asylum was that great to begin with. Granted it is very glitchy, and it's the same as City, but I actually like that Deathstroke, Shiva, Copperhead get some time to shine. It's more of a character thing for me over a story.

I'm not really a fan of Asylum, it maybe great as a star, and to show what the developer can do, but as a start of a franchise and as a game it was not my cup of tea for a while

 

[GWOtaku]

Another part of the backlog struck down with Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Wii. Excellent fast-paced action game with difficulty levels to suit any player, stuffed full of Japanese folklore. Some grinding is involved for 100% completion, but I've seen most of the game in about 20 hours. It's made by VanillaWare, so the game is a gorgeous thing to behold. If Odin Sphere is a bit too complicated and too much of a grind for you, this will definitely suit your taste. Two thumbs way up.

Also started up Hero Mode in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. My collected items carried over, so it's way easier to upgrade items early. Sweet.

 

[deserteagle]

Destiny and NBA 2K14

 

[Mister Mayhem]

Companions,

just finished fire team bravo 1 for the psp and pokemon x main quest on the 3ds. the controls in fire team bravo were a lot better than i thought they would be and missions were different enough not to get repetitive. i also liked that it wasn't a requirement to kill every enemy before proceeding like in other shooters. i encountered some weird glitches every now and then with resp-waning enemies and enemies location not immediately appearing on the minimap. this was especially bad in the raider camp level but otherwise it didn't cause me too much of a problem. the cut scenes with the villains were well done and they looked between ps2 and ps3 quality in terms of graphics. unfortunately the actual graphics during game play was way too blocky and dark. overall it was a decent game but i feel it would have been better if developed for the ps3. i'm not sure if i'll check out the sequels.

i'm not sure where i would put pokemon x in list of favorite pokemon games. i think i liked platinum a little more but i don't know if i would put it ahead emerald or white 2. the presentation, music, controls and wifi service, etc are pretty much perfect but i didn't really like the story or characters that much. i hope gamefreak gets better writers but this one was one the least memorable ones. if they make a third version or sequeal i don't think i'll get it unless its drastically different. i've played them more than any other videogame title but i am getting a little burnt out on the series. i might wait to get omega sapphire so the experience feels a bit fresher.

 

[Gatordragon]

For the past few weeks, I've been playing Awesomenauts, The Binding of Isaac, Team Fortress 2, Don't Starve, Papers Please, and Duke Nukem 3D.

My Awesomenauts gaming has been in a slump. The only match I won recently was yesterday. It doesn't diminish my enjoyment for the game, though. While I may lose match, I still put up a good fight with whatever character I'm using.

I've decided to play The Binding of Isaac again. If I had the option to save my progress in the middle of these lengthy sessions, I'd be playing this game more. Its simple, yet grotesque visuals don't repulse me and there is a lot of that. If only it wasn't so sluggish on my laptop.

I'm still trying to beat Don't Starve's adventure mode. I was so close to beating it last time, but being unprepared caused my demise. I'm doing really well on my first world, but I need to make some warm clothes in case the next world starts off in Winter. If only I could find some Beefalo or at least their wool.

Papers, Please is starting to get exciting. The rules keep changing and I have to be more thorough with my inspections. I even have access to tranquilizer gun in case of a terrorist attack. I haven't missed a shot once. There's so many other things too. From taking bribes to covering for secret organizations, this game spices up the life of being a passport inspector.

Duke Nukem 3D is a pretty good old school FPS. For a classic, I'd say it's a rather run-of-the-mill old school FPS. The real fun comes from finding the secrets. Finding secrets nets you more weapons and ammo than you would normally find if you played it normally. This is good because I go through ammo like there's no tomorrow.

 

[Magus]

Batman Arkham City
I know I said that I prefer Origins over City, but I always feel the need to play games in chronological order. Anyway, this has been my go to game for the past week. Currently at Catwoman's house picking up her things.

Assassin's Creed 2
Still in Venice, getting ready to go see Leonardo.

Mass Effect 1
Turns out I didn't need to start a new save. This Shep is already setup quite nicely. I did the DLC mission which I have mixed opinions about. I thought the action was good, but due to the colors that were used in the complex or whatever it's called, it was hard to see what I was up against. I couldn't see the geth drones (?) until they got up close on me (nearly died 3 times because of it) because they blended with the color background. Anyway, I'll be doing majority of the side missions (again) before heading off to Noveria.

 

[cwjakesteel]

Mario Kart 8 and World of Tanks.

I would really like to play over the first 4 phoenix write games + Miles' Edgeworth's game but even though it's been 2 years since I've last played it the story is still so prevalent in my mind!

 

[Wonderwall]

Alien Isolation so far has been the go to game this week. I was previously playing Infamous First Light and Vagrant story before that but I've put those two on hold for now.

 

[dumbfoolkid5]

Been playing a lot of Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn, wish they dubbed the thing in English though. I really missed those voices.

 

[Magus]

Street Fighter 3rd Strike Online Edition
Probably my favorite fighting game at the moment. I tried playing as Ken, Yun and Dudley in arcade mode. Yun is real difficult to play despite having some fairly easy basic combos. Ken and Dudley on the other hand, while a little easier to use their hit-confirm combos are pretty friggin hard to land (especially the 2 cr.lk into super), but they are very fun to use (I can imagine Ryu being fun in this game as well). I challenged my brother-in-law for when he comes through for the holidays.

Been in quite the gaming funk so I've just been playing 3rd Strike only.