What's everyone playing?

[CJones]

Alright, getting back into Sekiro after about a week off. Beat Gennichiro and the Folding Screen Monkeys (that was annoying).  Fortunately I had already cleared out Senpou Temple, so these two fights were effectively back to back. Now I have to choose between The Sunken Valley or the Bottomless Hole. It looks like either way I'm going to be fighting these jackasses with guns. Took out the Snake Eyes in the Valley, so I guess I'll keeping going that way.

I’d say do bottomless hole first. There’s a very useful ability you’ll get eventually after beating a boss.

I appreciate the advice, but I keep getting my ass handed to me at the Poison Pool. If there's a good way to take these guys out without ending up in a crossfire, I haven't figured it out. So for now I'm pressing forward into the Gun Fort.

I love these Long Arm Centipede guys. They have got to be the easiest minibosses in the game. At least the one in Senpou had back-up. This one in the Gun Fort temple was a welcome reprieve from those ***holes with shotguns. God I hate those guys

[Variety of Cells]

Alright, getting back into Sekiro after about a week off. Beat Gennichiro and the Folding Screen Monkeys (that was annoying).  Fortunately I had already cleared out Senpou Temple, so these two fights were effectively back to back. Now I have to choose between The Sunken Valley or the Bottomless Hole. It looks like either way I'm going to be fighting these jackasses with guns. Took out the Snake Eyes in the Valley, so I guess I'll keeping going that way.

I’d say do bottomless hole first. There’s a very useful ability you’ll get eventually after beating a boss.

I appreciate the advice, but I keep getting my ass handed to me at the Poison Pool. If there's a good way to take these guys out without ending up in a crossfire, I haven't figured it out. So for now I'm pressing forward into the Gun Fort.

I love these Long Arm Centipede guys. They have got to be the easiest minibosses in the game. At least the one in Senpou had back-up. This one in the Gun Fort temple was a welcome reprieve from those ***holes with shotguns. God I hate those guys

A tip for the poison pool for when you want it:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Run straight to the opposite side of the area as fast as you can. Swing on everything you can, ignoring the enemies. There’s a statue there. Rest, and then tackle the pool from that statue. It’s soooo much easier. You can take out the two close gun guys fairly easy on their own without alerting the mini boss, and then solo the mini boss by luring him back to that area.  He’s a bit of a bastard, but beatable when he’s on his own.

[Russoguru]

I got Final Fantasy VII for Xbox one, because I have a genuine fondness for that game in so many ways. It's nostalgic, I love the music, the gameplay is great, it's very emotional, and I want to see what kind of achievements are in store.

[Variety of Cells]

I got Final Fantasy VII for Xbox one, because I have a genuine fondness for that game in so many ways. It's nostalgic, I love the music, the gameplay is great, it's very emotional, and I want to see what kind of achievements are in store.

I’m curious how the remake will be.

[CJones]

I got Final Fantasy VII for Xbox one, because I have a genuine fondness for that game in so many ways. It's nostalgic, I love the music, the gameplay is great, it's very emotional, and I want to see what kind of achievements are in store.

I’m curious how the remake will be.

Judging by what little footage/screenshots have been made public, it looks like it will be an action RPG, similar to FF XV. Which has me worried. XV wasn't a bad game, but it was a bad FF game.

[Russoguru]

I got Final Fantasy VII for Xbox one, because I have a genuine fondness for that game in so many ways. It's nostalgic, I love the music, the gameplay is great, it's very emotional, and I want to see what kind of achievements are in store.

I’m curious how the remake will be.

I still don't know when it's coming out so I'm not sure if it'll be on Xbox one and PS4 or just on the PS4.

[Variety of Cells]

I got Final Fantasy VII for Xbox one, because I have a genuine fondness for that game in so many ways. It's nostalgic, I love the music, the gameplay is great, it's very emotional, and I want to see what kind of achievements are in store.

I’m curious how the remake will be.

Judging by what little footage/screenshots have been made public, it looks like it will be an action RPG, similar to FF XV. Which has me worried. XV wasn't a bad game, but it was a bad FF game.

I liked XV more than I liked a lot of the recent FF games, but no, it was not perfect. I don’t think going back to turn based battles is the answer though. I’d take the battle system in XV over turn based grinding any day.

[CJones]

I got Final Fantasy VII for Xbox one, because I have a genuine fondness for that game in so many ways. It's nostalgic, I love the music, the gameplay is great, it's very emotional, and I want to see what kind of achievements are in store.

I’m curious how the remake will be.

Judging by what little footage/screenshots have been made public, it looks like it will be an action RPG, similar to FF XV. Which has me worried. XV wasn't a bad game, but it was a bad FF game.

I liked XV more than I liked a lot of the recent FF games, but no, it was not perfect. I don’t think going back to turn based battles is the answer though. I’d take the battle system in XV over turn based grinding any day.

Oh, I absolutely agree with you there. I played FF1, Dragon Warrior 1, Wasteland, Bards Tale, Ultimas 3 through whenever they switched to real time. We know what's going to happen, just do it. I liked the system they had for FFXII, where you essentially programmed the characters and could take over if something went wrong. I never did play FFXII:Zodiac Age, but seeing as how I liked 12 and particularly FF:Tactics, I probably would have preferred it.

And incidentally:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/uOg3WiYMN_Y" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/uOg3WiYMN_Y</a>

[Variety of Cells]

I got Final Fantasy VII for Xbox one, because I have a genuine fondness for that game in so many ways. It's nostalgic, I love the music, the gameplay is great, it's very emotional, and I want to see what kind of achievements are in store.

I’m curious how the remake will be.

Judging by what little footage/screenshots have been made public, it looks like it will be an action RPG, similar to FF XV. Which has me worried. XV wasn't a bad game, but it was a bad FF game.

I liked XV more than I liked a lot of the recent FF games, but no, it was not perfect. I don’t think going back to turn based battles is the answer though. I’d take the battle system in XV over turn based grinding any day.

Oh, I absolutely agree with you there. I played FF1, Dragon Warrior 1, Wasteland, Bards Tale, Ultimas 3 through whenever they switched to real time. We know what's going to happen, just do it. I liked the system they had for FFXII, where you essentially programmed the characters and could take over if something went wrong. I never did play FFXII:Zodiac Age, but seeing as how I liked 12 and particularly FF:Tactics, I probably would have preferred it.

And incidentally:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/uOg3WiYMN_Y" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/uOg3WiYMN_Y</a>

I enjoyed XII as well. Zodiac Age was pretty good. I hear it’s coming out for the switch.

[Variety of Cells]

Just picked up an early access game called Demon’s Tilt on Steam.  It’s a tribute to 90s video pinball games. It’s pretty sweet. If you’re a pinball fan I recommend it. It’s definitely a little busy and it takes a minute to get used to how the ball warps around sometimes. But the music is great, it feels good, and it’s addicting.

I keep one of my monitors in a vertical portrait orientation which works perfect for a game like this.

[Russoguru]

I got the Castlevania Anniversary Collection for Xbox one today. So far it looks really good. It feels strange to be playing Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge, which was originally a Nintendo game... for game boy. Bloodlines also plays and sounds just as great as it originally did on the Genesis.  It's also nice that you can save anywhere, which might make it slightly easier to get through Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse. The only thing that bugs me about this game is the music on the main screen... ugghh it does NOT sound good.

[CJones]

Making some more progress in Sekiro.

Killed the Great Serpent. Not sure what you're supposed to do with the Viscera, but I guess I'll find out. Beat O'Rin. Interesting fight. She's not that hard to parry, but she hits like an absolute truck, so one mis-time and you get ripped apart pretty badly. The trick where you can get a stealth blow on her has been patched out, so I had to beat her in a stand up fight. Still working on the Corrupted Monk. Sure wish there was somewhere I could buy more Snap Seeds.

Just beat the Guardian Ape. This was an ingeniously designed fight. I know he can be set on fire pretty easily, but I had better success when I ignored that and just wailed on him whenever I got the chance. The biggest problem I had was that leaping grab. The second phase was actually easier. You just have to be ready to run from the Terror Scream.

[Edward J Grug III]

Picked up a couple of games in the Nintendo Go Digital sale. Started playing Steamworld Dig 2 with my son who loved the first one. I think this one improves on it even. These are excellent games.

Bastion - There's a lot to like in this game - it's really polished and plays nicely. Looks great. And the narration is brilliant. I wish I was more taken with the gameplay though. It's fine, but not that exciting.

[Variety of Cells]

Making some more progress in Sekiro.

Killed the Great Serpent. Not sure what you're supposed to do with the Viscera, but I guess I'll find out. Beat O'Rin. Interesting fight. She's not that hard to parry, but she hits like an absolute truck, so one mis-time and you get ripped apart pretty badly. The trick where you can get a stealth blow on her has been patched out, so I had to beat her in a stand up fight. Still working on the Corrupted Monk. Sure wish there was somewhere I could buy more Snap Seeds.

O'Rin was touugh.  I ended up finding a way to cheese her, where I lured her to the other side of the bridge.  Once there, her program told her she was too far from her origin so she would slowly try and backstep back to her home, which made her easier to hit, and also much less likely to offensively attack.  Never could face her on her terms. 

But I had no option but to get gud against the Corrupted Monk, and completely memorize her attack patterns.  Well, no option that I knew about on my own any way.  There is an item that makes the fight much easier that I read about later, and it's not snap seeds.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Divine Confetti.  You do much more damage against ghosts when you use it.

Just beat the Guardian Ape. This was an ingeniously designed fight. I know he can be set on fire pretty easily, but I had better success when I ignored that and just wailed on him whenever I got the chance. The biggest problem I had was that leaping grab. The second phase was actually easier. You just have to be ready to run from the Terror Scream.

The Guardian Ape was the last boss I faced before heading down the final route, so I was leveled up enough that I beat him in one go (used one of my full health expendables, but still). 

[Variety of Cells]

Bastion - There's a lot to like in this game - it's really polished and plays nicely. Looks great. And the narration is brilliant. I wish I was more taken with the gameplay though. It's fine, but not that exciting.

Unfortunately, the trend of 'Great story, art, and chatacters, but mediocre gameplay' is only amplified in SuperGiant's later games. Except that I hear 'Hades', their new game in early access, is pretty fun gameplay wise.  It's a rougelike, twinsticks sort of situation I think, a genre I'm rather fond of.  Plus I hear, once again, the story and characters are great. 

Only thing is, it's only available on the Epic Games store at the moment, which I'm incredibly hesitant to download.  It's not like Steam is some great bastion of games (pun intended), but Fortnight sounds horrible, so supporting their store isn't exactly something I'm looking forward to.  Plus, having all my games in one spot is really nice.  I mean, it's nice that Epic are supposedly trying to give a bigger cut to inde devs, but... I don't buy it some how.  Seems like a scheme to attract adopters.  I think I'll wait until Hades is fully released, then maybe it'll stop being an exclusive.  Or if it's really that good, maybe I'll hear about it.