What are you playing?

[PretentiousHipster]

Around 2/3rds done with Freelancer, but I think I'm done with it. I won't consider it beaten of course. The main missions are incredibly exciting, and I just love how in-depth the game is. There are so many planets and TONS of NPCs. They also include quite a few side missions. The repetition is what ruins it. The conversations with the NPCs only have slight variations, but follow the exact same script. There was a time where 3 side missions in a row were in the exact same place, with the exact same amount of enemies, and when they insult you, it's usually the same insult. They should have just focused on the main missions are it would have been a masterpiece if that was the case.

For the next PC game I will be playing Obsidian. Although the zelda series is by far my highest priority.

I'm 54% done with Red Dead Redemption. I'm playing it for around 30 minutes a day. I can see how much of a masterpiece it is on paper, but I can only play it in short bursts now as it's starting to overstay its welcome.

The Wind Waker is picking up, although I am having the same problem with its frustrating controls. I'm at Hyrule Castle so should beat it soon. Although I remember it crashing down quality-wise in the last few dungeons and the infamous part. I'm still loving the original Legend of Zelda. The difficulty progression is enough to keep it challenging, but not too big of a jump. Except with the fact that the third boss is the fourth miniboss. Dodongo was also a joke.

[marurun]

Despite some questionable art and technical design decisions, I'm actually enjoying the crap out of Bloodstained. It's a very flawed game, but it is a lot of fun to me. It triggers all the same dopamine hits for me that SotN did.

[noiseredux]

Despite some questionable art and technical design decisions, I'm actually enjoying the crap out of Bloodstained. It's a very flawed game, but it is a lot of fun to me. It triggers all the same dopamine hits for me that SotN did.

I loved ROTN. I loved Curse Of The Moon. I hope the Bloodstained series continues on!

[PretentiousHipster]

Obsidian is definitely avant-garde. It's fascinating. As soon as it answers some questions like 5 more questions appear... and then it gets weird. Apparently it makes fun of Myst at one point, but I never played it (Yea... I know) so it went over my head. If Myst is anything like this then I gotta get around to the series. I actually found the entire series in a thrift store too so will have to get around to it.

It literally just drops you in the middle of nowhere in the beginning. This is the first screen



Eventually you come across this which looks gorgeous btw



Finally, some questions are starting to be answered when you find a laptop in a tent. And yay it's FMV



Then it starts getting strange...





The best part about this? This is from maybe like 30 minutes of playing it!

[PretentiousHipster]

Marathoned through Red Dead Redemption. It had the makings of a masterpiece, but because of its frustrating journey with Marston being a yes man, and the absolute mess it is in terms of glitches, hindered the experience quite a bit.

I was going to play part 2, but I realized that I never downloaded it, and it's over 100 gigs! I then decided to try Outer Wilds. I'm almost speechless at this point, but I made some rough notes which I will provides some excerpts for right here:

It feels like a modernized point and click adventure, and honestly, it's one of the best of the genre that I've played so far. It utilizes modern gameplay mechanics into the plot and in-game world of a point and click adventure game, and it's somehow all the better for it, and this is coming from one of the snobs who prefers the classic stuff. This is simply because of how immersive this is. Even with the timer I still took my time and just explored every area I could. Any progress was good enough progress to me.

This also does the impossible. I ALWAYS ignore the lore and stuff like codex in video games. The gameplay gives me the plot that I need, and I always found myself bored going into the details of it. This actually made me vested in this. I took my time reading everything I could. The game makes it so that the only thing you earn is the knowledge of the in-game universe, and for the first time I wanted to know every detail of it.

I feel like this deals with the inevitability to death. This is personal, but I had a similar feeling with my first suicide attempt. At first I had this sense of dread and urgency. I gotta completely explore an entire planet before I die, or that all these people on the home planet will die as well. I kept panicking in the beginning that it was going to happen. It's a very scary experience. Eventually though, you reach a point where you overcome that fear, and you just accept that it's gonna come. You will look at the face the death, know that it's going to happen, and maybe even laugh at it. At one point I just ate marshmallows and looked at the sky, knowing of the impending doom and not caring at all. It was so cathartic at that moment that it made me cry, and I barely explored any of the game at that point. This is already one of the most emotional experiences I've had with a game, and I assume it's only going to get more cathartic and emotional.

I was playing 3 other games at once, with one of them being a masterpiece. I just stopped caring about them at that point. I only wanted to play more of this.

[PretentiousHipster]

For those who have played it, I've made it to the Giant's Deep and figured out what to do. I had to stop in the middle of it to take a break because it was one of the most intense experiences I've had with a game. Honestly, the sense of awe and wonder the in-game world makes is just astounding. Yea, the controls are garbage, but you do get used to them eventually. Stick with it and go past the control hurdle, and you will experience something really special. If it continues being this good, then will easily be one of, if not the greatest game ever made.

[Sload Soap]

I will second PretHip's recommendation. The Outer Wilds is a really refreshing experience. If you have Gamepass it's more than worth looking into.

[pook99]

Bouncing around between several games right now:

eat lead: return of matt hazard (xbox 360)
Pac man and ghostly adventures 2 (xbox 360)
house of the dead 2 (wii)
Pankapu (switch)
Comic Jumoer (xbox 360)
Mega Man: rock n roll (fan game)

Also plan on starting mario 3d world when I get some time, just bought a wii u yesterday, which I have never owned, and am really looking forward to finally playing this

[noiseredux]

Wii U is awesome. Welcome to the club, pook.

[PretentiousHipster]

Yea if anything the Wii U is the best way to play Wii games, and the eshop also has tons of gems. Good time to buy it now too as the games and consoles aren't too expensive, unlike the consoles before it. Hell the gamecube is quite recent but is already so expensive to get their first party games.

Going to the earth temple for The Wind Waker, and the game is becoming even worse. I love how everyone complains about how obtuse the first part, which is a fair criticism, but the same criticism applies for the Wind Waker and I never see it happen.

Let's look at the first Zelda for example. A temple is hidden in a bush here



Yes it's a cheap trick, but to be fair that bush does stand out.

Now, getting to the earth temple... Oh there's a rock in the way. I played Zelda before, I need power bracelets, now how the hell do I get them? I had to look it up. Oh it's on a fire mountain island. Great there's no way to get in, what do I do? OH! Ice Arrows, now how the hell do I get those? Oh I gotta go to an island and meet with a fairy, sure. Wait, how the hell do I get in that island? I need a song to teleport in. Makes sense I guess. How do I acquire that? I gotta get a song by going into a cyclone which your instincts always tell you to avoid, and then shoot the person in the clouds.

It was frustrating to do this, but I get games being obtuse. Hell, I love point and click adventure games, and the modernized one I'm loving now has its obtuse moments. It just pisses me off when people complain about how obtuse the first Zelda is, but ignore the one that is even more obtuse.

Not to mention the dungeon pulls off a Jabu Jabu Belly and is just as tedious.

The "edgy" atmosphere of Twilight Princess is ridiculous, but at least that one makes up for it by the gameplay, even if the wolf stuff is a worse version of Okami.

I'm not gonna make a video review of The Wind Waker, but it's most definitely going on my next iteration of my over/under rated games list, and will not get a high ranking when I finish my long-term project of ranking the games.