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[adamsapple]

Zodiac Age is a 7+ year old remaster of a nearly 20 year old PS2 game. The art style holds up really well.

The gameplay itself has become more relevant now compared to when it came out, when the whole gambit thing really got a bad rep "what do you mean the game plays itself?"

The script and voice acting is also better than 95% of the games that release today.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

update:
Replayed katamari reroll and we <3 katamari reroll as one should and finally got Fallout London to work, very excited to get in there

As one should, damn right. Katamari is one of my favorites, and I’d argue a perfect video gamey game.

The Spice of Life side quest in FF7 Rebirth might be the worst fucking side quest I've done in a long time. Not only is the terrain in Gongaga complete shit to navigate but plucking the mushrooms wasn't at all intuitive and it was near impossible to feel which side of the mushroom you should target first.

In fact, the whole Gongaga area makes me question Square Enix design choices regarding this remake. It's fun seeing them flesh out the world and making it a living, breathing place, but transforming a segment of the original game that was maybe 30 minutes long into a full fledged area that takes 10 to 15 hours to complete is just nuts. It's the same criticism I had in the previous remake when you explored Midgar. If SE didn't pad out the remake with all of these unnecessary side quests and changes to the original story the remake would've been finished by now, instead of taking 10 years to make.

The town of Gongaga is amazing and I like that they built it in the world considering how important it is to the story and characters. However, the sidequests and area surrounding Gongaga was the most difficult for me to enjoy because of how confusing the map was. It was pretty hard to get through, but the soundtrack helped a lot.

If you have been trying to 100% each area in order, I strongly recommend NOT doing that for Gongaga because it really takes you out of the story, come back later if you feel compelled to.

 

[Mr Hyde]

As one should, damn right. Katamari is one of my favorites, and I’d argue a perfect video gamey game.



The town of Gongaga is amazing and I like that they built it in the world considering how important it is to the story and characters. However, the sidequests and area surrounding Gongaga was the most difficult for me to enjoy because of how confusing the map was. It was pretty hard to get through, but the soundtrack helped a lot.

If you have been trying to 100% each area in order, I strongly recommend NOT doing that for Gongaga because it really takes you out of the story, come back later if you feel compelled to.

Yes, the town is really cozy and it's cool to actually get more info on the destroyed reactor and it's influence on the area. I like the world building, it's top notch, but as you say, the area is confusing and not really fun to explore. The lush jungle environment and the fantastic music helps a lot, I agree. I'm almost done with the area now anyway, only got the proto relic left, which I'm leaving for another day. Time to jump into the Tiny Bronco and get acquainted with Cid! Been waiting for him and to see how SE will portray him in the remake. My favorite character in the original game.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Zodiac Age is a 7+ year old remaster of a nearly 20 year old PS2 game. The art style holds up really well.

The gameplay itself has become more relevant now compared to when it came out, when the whole gambit thing really got a bad rep "what do you mean the game plays itself?"

The script and voice acting is also better than 95% of the games that release today.

When I played it at release the lack of a strong central story and the implemented (largely redundant) license system bugged the hell out of me. After getting lost in the world I gave up on following the story, instead focusing on hunts, finding loot, and whacking bosses. It was only later with quality of life speed/level cheats that I restarted the game and began to appreciate the nuanced story with it's many inspired characters.

P.S. Also, the gambit system has not been beaten in any JRPG I played before or since.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Zodiac Age is a 7+ year old remaster of a nearly 20 year old PS2 game. The art style holds up really well.

The gameplay itself has become more relevant now compared to when it came out, when the whole gambit thing really got a bad rep "what do you mean the game plays itself?"

The script and voice acting is also better than 95% of the games that release today.

FF 12 is so damn good and this remaster just makes it even better. It's a shame fans took a collective dump at it at release, would love more stories from Ivalice. FF fanbase is fucking garbage sometimes.

 

[adamsapple]

FF 12 is so damn good and this remaster just makes it even better. It's a shame fans took a collective dump at it at release, would love more stories from Ivalice. FF fanbase is fucking garbage sometimes.

It's my favorite FF game to go back to, a blast to replay as well. The Hunts and Marks full game wide sub-game is amazing.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Well, I am quitting Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for the third time. It's just... not fun. The first few play sessions had me hooked, but I realized I was not enjoying it. I won't bother to elaborate further. This will just have to be one of those games that I would like to have played, but do not want to play.

Back to Octopath Traveler, of which I am 80 hours in and currently doing chapter four quests for most of the characters. Then back to Trails through Daybreak. Then back to Blue Dragon. Each of these games truly brings me joy. Life is too short for anything less.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Reached Cosmo Canyon in FF7 Rebirth. I love how every area is distinct and has its own flavor, design and set of challenges. My only criticism is that every area contain the same type of objects to discover. Enemy intel. Towers. Divine intel. Life Springs etc. Would be more fun with area specific stuff to discover. Cosmo Canyon in itself is awesome. Majestic and mysterious, where scholars go to study planetology. Cool stuff. It's gonna be interesting to see how Reds little side story unfolds here, seeing as SE has so far included every bit of backstory and lore for all characters that was in the original game. It's a powerful moment so it's going to be exciting to see how it's done.

 

[Hrk69]

THE GOAT

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Zodiac Age is a 7+ year old remaster of a nearly 20 year old PS2 game. The art style holds up really well.

The gameplay itself has become more relevant now compared to when it came out, when the whole gambit thing really got a bad rep "what do you mean the game plays itself?"

The script and voice acting is also better than 95% of the games that release today.

This game is tied with Final Fantasy 9 as my favorite Final Fantasy

I haven't beaten the Remaster yet but going back to it now after playing it when it first came out on the PS2 made me appreciate the game more. The graphics have really aged well. Still looks amazing and remastering it makes the game look even better. The QOL makes the game easier to get through too

When it comes to JRPGs, I'm thinking of playing Metaphor ReFantazio when it comes out. Everything that's been coming out about the game makes me more interested in it

 

[Danjin44]

I just finished the post game dungeon in Trials of Man which was a nice surprise. The cool thing is you unlock 4th class for each character and the fight with Anise was fun but my issue was the actual dungeon itself, it dragged too long with lot of overused asset and instead of being colourful like main game everything was dark and purple which got little repetitive.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

I just finished the post game dungeon in Trials of Man which was a nice surprise. The cool thing is you unlock 4th class for each character and the fight with Anise was fun but my issue was the actual dungeon itself, it dragged too long with lot lot overused asset and instead of being colourful like main game everything was dark and purple which got little repetitive.

Yeah the Post Game was alot of fun. One of these days, I'll go back and do all of the characters stories (Well except for that annoying ass little girl)

 

[tommib]

Just finished Alone in the Dark with body type A. Moving to new game + with body type B.

Love how short the game is but hated the last boss fight. Total mess of a fight. The jank gets on full display there.

 

[nickplaysgames404]

The Sims 4, Fall Guys

 

[MikeM]

PC: Mass Effect Legendary Edition, going for the 100% on AC Origins.

PS5: Doom 1 and 2 remake or whatever just came out, AC Valhalla platinum.

Both systems: COD CW and MW2.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Just finished Alone in the Dark with body type A. Moving to new game + with body type B.

Love how short the game is but hated the last boss fight. Total mess of a fight. The jank gets on full display there.

I love the game but I still have not managed to beat the final boss on hard. I have not heard from anybody who has...

 

[diffusionx]

After I finished Sekiro I started playing Bloodborne yesterday. I still want to go for the platinum in Sekiro but just wanted a change of pace for a bit.

I played it back in the day but stopped pretty early in the game, I think the Gascoigne fight just wore me out (but I did beat him based on the trophies I have for it). But I beat him on my 3rd try this time around and have moved through the game pretty easily. It's fun though.

 

[simpatico]

Decided to check out the Redfall offline patch. At launch you'd get absolutely rolled if you tried to play solo. They certainly fixed the balance there as I'm kinda cruising. There's some good art to be seen in here. If you like Arkane locomotion and Borderlands mission structure, give it a shot. I'll actually take it over Deathloop in the current state.

 

[foamdino]

Finally made it past The Master in Tales of Maj'Eyal (and unlocked a bunch of things, I got the Ghoul not the Skeleton starting race unlock which is annoying). Feeling the itch to start on Caves of Qud this evening as a break from nearly 30 hours of only Maj'Eyal (many, many dead chars)

Question, I want to get into Atelier games as part of a jrpg rotation (sorry I cannot sink 100's of hours into Trails alone, I need a break from them) - I sort of want to start with Ryza 3 to have the most quality of life - will it be possible to follow the story enough or do I *really* need to start with Ryza 1?

 

[Mitsurux]

I'm curious how does Nino Kuni II run on the Switch? I already played and finished it on Steam but I was just wondering how the game is on Switch. BTW, I love the castle town building aspect in the game

Not that great really, it has to be using an uncapped frame rate, cause its all over the place. It spikes High when you begin fighting some of the cursed monsters on the world map, but then can bog down really bad in some towns and during fights will lots of effects and explosions.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Question, I want to get into Atelier games as part of a jrpg rotation (sorry I cannot sink 100's of hours into Trails alone, I need a break from them) - I sort of want to start with Ryza 3 to have the most quality of life - will it be possible to follow the story enough or do I *really* need to start with Ryza 1?

IMHO if you aren’t really wanting to invest in the series and just want the fastest, easiest game (based on your “QOL” comment), why not just play Sofie 2!

 

[foamdino]

IMHO if you aren’t really wanting to invest in the series and just want the fastest, easiest game (based on your “QOL” comment), why not just play Sofie 2!

Ah, by QOL I did actually mean, the game with the most "modern" feel (fast loading etc) - I can deal with complexity, but I have heard that the games get progressively more sensible with design choices and janky/weird stuff is ironed out in the more modern titles. Sofie 2 does look quite cool, so I'll watch a few vids and see if that or Ryza (I may start with the first one of those)

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Just finished Opus: Echo of Starsong on the Switch. It's a hybrid adventure/VN indie game with relatively simple spaceship management and some light on foot exploring and puzzle solving.

Great world building with lots of sci-fi lore and mythology to uncover, characters are well written (especially the main ones), and a bittersweet if not quite depressive story of hardship, belonging and self discovery.

The music is something else though since it's not just superbly composed, but it's also an integral part of the gameplay (highly recommended to use a pair of headphones). The art direction is also fantastic and speaks for itself imo.

Oh and the voice acting (I've used Japanese VA, but there's also Chinese) is so well done, and it makes the important narrative moments hit even harder.

Runs very well on the Switch in portable mode, and I think it took me 11-12h to complete my playthrough. Overall a very enjoyable experience and I will strongly recommend it to anyone who likes rich narrative games. It's also very emotionally draining so keep that in mind before embarking on the journey.

Did I say the music is really good?





I'm crossing my fingers for a possible anime or animated mini-series since it would make it easier for more people to experience this game's amazing story.

 

[adamsapple]

Continuing FF12 Zodiac.

-


I'm power-leveling through the game using steals to get over-powered equipment through the Trial mode unlike anytime I've played the game before. Gonna make an honest shot at Yiazmat and see how that goes.

Managed to get 3 Ribbons and 3 Maximillian (dood) armors from the Trial mode too.

 

[bender]

My buddy and I put a bow on our co-op run of Shadow of the Erdtree. We only have DS3 and DeSo to go in our quest to replay all the Souls games. As a bit of a break from Souls and a goof, we decided to start a run of RE6. I've never played it and he's never finished it. We started with Leon's and Pierce campaign.

-It's really fucking stupid, even by RE standards.
-I was quickly reminded of Kojima's Castlevania games in that character and environmental object proportions are way out of whack.
-The move sets at your disposal are seriously impressive.
-The act of shooting and bullets hitting enemies lacks any sort of satisfying punch.
-Movement and momentum feels really awkward.
-It often feels like it borrows from the likes of Gears, Vanquish, Stranglehold, COD, and whatnot except it does most of those things worse.
-Some of the enemy designs are the worst in the series (hostage spiders).

I think the move set available to your character in combat is probably why this game has fans but there is just too much wrong with it otherwise for me to like. I hope to finish it though as we laughed a lot...just not for the right reasons.

 

[Duchess]

Finished Deathloop. Enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to, and actually went into the game expecting it to be somewhat mediocre. In the end, I chose to kill Julianna and also myself, to permanently break the loop.

Am now returning to Prince of Persia. Not sure it's really for me; I've always struggled with these types of 2D games, and never got very far in things like Hollow Knight, Blasphemous 2, and the like.

 

[stn]

Bloodborne (PS4). Its my first run. Beat the shit out of the first major boss (first try), going to continue tonight.

 

[BadBurger]

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth

I had a PSP when I was young but I was too poor to afford many games. I missed out on a lot, including this one, and as the years passed I forgot all about it. I saw it on the PlayStation Store so I am all in now. Going to focus on this until I beat it. I need to wrap it up before the end of the month when other games I plan on playing begin dropping.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth

I had a PSP when I was young but I was too poor to afford many games. I missed out on a lot, including this one, and as the years passed I forgot all about it. I saw it on the PlayStation Store so I am all in now. Going to focus on this until I beat it. I need to wrap it up before the end of the month when other games I plan on playing begin dropping.

Make sure to check out a guide if you want to get the good ending or, better yet, play the game twice and don't use a guide until the 2nd run.

 

[Celcius]

COD BO Cold War

 

[Northeastmonk]

Traveling around trying to get end game weapons early on in Octopath Traveler 2. Curious to see who else did this? It’s either going to be difficult or it’ll break the game entirely. I read a couple things where people could break the game early. I didn’t pay much attention when this came out. I do wish money was easier to accumulate. All the stuff I want is like 20-50k.

 

[BadBurger]

Traveling around trying to get end game weapons early on in Octopath Traveler 2. Curious to see who else did this? It’s either going to be difficult or it’ll break the game entirely. I read a couple things where people could break the game early. I didn’t pay much attention when this came out. I do wish money was easier to accumulate. All the stuff I want is like 20-50k.

Godspeed, sounds like a fun way to approach the game

 

[laynelane]

I'm playing Tales of Symphonia for the first time. I've had it sitting in my library for a long time and am really happy I finally started it up. The characters are likeable, the world building is great, and the battle system is compelling too. I appreciate the addition of things like cooking too. The story is really where it's at for me, though. I'm not that far, but am really hooked by what's happening. There's also a lot of themes - both heavy and light-hearted - that I really like. Judging by what I've experienced so far, I'll be looking into other Tales games once I've completed this.

 

[Punished Miku]

Streets of Rage 4. Hit survival mode level 33 with Zan. My personal best. Achievement for getting to stage 30 was 0.63% completion rate.

 

[Synless]

Traveling around trying to get end game weapons early on in Octopath Traveler 2. Curious to see who else did this? It’s either going to be difficult or it’ll break the game entirely. I read a couple things where people could break the game early. I didn’t pay much attention when this came out. I do wish money was easier to accumulate. All the stuff I want is like 20-50k.

I learned from the first game to do this. When I jumped into the second I beelined directly to every strong dungeon to pilfer their shit. Bonus points for Ochette’s god tier catch’s if you can get them.

 

[foamdino]

I learned from the first game to do this. When I jumped into the second I beelined directly to every strong dungeon to pilfer their shit. Bonus points for Ochette’s god tier catch’s if you can get them.

Ochette carried for me as soon as I got headless horsemen from a cave in the sand dunes (I was pretty far in by that point, but the immediate power boost was amazing)

 

[Punished Miku]

Streets of Rage 4. Hit survival mode level 33 with Zan. My personal best. Achievement for getting to stage 30 was 0.63% completion rate.

Update, I texted my brother with the news.

Response: "That's cute. At one point I was #3 in the world." (Screenshot of level 93 cleared attached)

...

 

[Neolombax]

I think I'm done with Destiny 2. Although I have the annual pass, the way The Final Shape ended, it pretty much was the ending I wanted all these years.

Currently playing Borderlands 3, the whole DLC pack was on sale. Contemplating if I should get BL1 GOTY edition. I'm also playing Zenless Zone Zero, its a great game but I have no idea why I keep dozing off to it. Also playing Lego Star Wars on Coop with my son.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Update, I texted my brother with the news.

Response: "That's cute. At one point I was #3 in the world." (Screenshot of level 93 cleared attached)

...

I think I made it to 27 and the stage hazards killed me. Fortunately I was playing to unlock moves for Roo and that unlocked them.

 

[adamsapple]

Yet more Zodiac Age.

Beating super bosses and unlocking trophies that I never did 7 years ago lol.

I'm coming for yo' ass Yiazmat !

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Zodiac Age.

I tried Zodiac Age. I was very confused when I was in an area and the tutorials were teaching me how to use magic. I had no magic users. Maybe they didn't bother updating the design of the game to accommodate the zodiac changes.

I later played the original game, and that area is filled with monsters weak to magic. It seems specifically designed to teach you how to use your mage character. With Zodiac, your mage character might instead be an archer, like mine, so you literally have no spells.

That turned me off of Zodiac Age. It was originally an add-on for people who had finished the original game, and it shows. Maybe some day I'll try it again. I actually re-bought the game at one point to give it another go, but it's still sealed.

 

[Crayon]

Still on rebirth, but I've been distracted with Crusader no Remorse for several hours. I might make a thread about the charms of old convoluted control schemes.

 

[Crayon]

Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots.

I decided to playthrough this again since I had plenty of extra free time due to getting Covid. My last recorded save was in 2010. The game was better than I remembered. The redemption of two lame characters (Raiden and Vamp) is something I find awe inspiring. It had really been too long since I played this. There was some stuff that I flat out never remembered seeing.

Spoiler: Spoilers

I can’t imagine the impact the game would’ve had had it ended with snake killing himself. To me it seems like that was the original plan, but they backtracked on it sometime later.

I have a theory that

Snake died in the server room after the microwave tunnel. This thought came to mind when I played more recently. Snake was not at the wedding, and Otacon got choked up when he said "Snake had a hard life".

 

[Celcius]

Tekken 8
Looks amazing in 4K

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Dead Space Remake (...again)
Desperados III (...again)

They're both just kind of flawless versions of what they set out to do. They play like butter, look fantastic and have great sound design. DSR specifically is a joy to play. I'm focusing on maxing out weapons I don't typically use.

 

[OverHeat]

Tekken 8
Looks amazing in 4K

Guess I’m reinstalling it!!!!

 

[fart town usa]

PSVR2 has latched onto my face again.

Genotype: 2 hours in, really solid first person Metroidvania with a touch of survival horror.

Dead Hook: Doom-style roguelike but you have two clawchains and grapple around the arena while shooting and ripping enemies apart. Simple but fun.

Stilt: First person platformer. You are a small alien with stilts for legs. Movement will take some getting used to but it seems fun so far.

Arizona Sunshine 2: Last chapter. Solid linear campaign involving a bit of VR climbing and a ton of zombies to kill. You have a German Sheppard companion named Buddy and the AI is actually good. Easily the secret sauce of the game.

 

[fart town usa]

Still on rebirth, but I've been distracted with Crusader no Remorse for several hours. I might make a thread about the charms of old convoluted control schemes.

Do it. Crusader needs a RTTP. I'm only familiar with the Saturn version. Cool game.

 

[Duchess]

Well, that didn't take long - have binned off Prince of Persia : The Lost Crown, as there's just too much about the game that I absolutely cannot stand.

Will start something new tonight, from my back catalogue.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Well, that didn't take long - have binned off Prince of Persia : The Lost Crown, as there's just too much about the game that I absolutely cannot stand.

I’m curious if you bought it or just played it freely from game pass or something.

IMHO top 3 best metroidvania ever made.