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Hey, Talking Time, Whatcha Playin?

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
So, I previously thought Kero Blaster was PC-only (I'm a Mac user), but earlier today I saw it for $3 on PSN. Snapped it up, mostly having a blast so far. Only annoying thing is that if you Game Over against a boss, you have to do the entirety of the level leading up to it, but even if you do that's the only consequence of failure. I do wish the difficulty was a little more balanced between the levels and their bosses (bosses feel quite a bit harder than the levels to me), but overall the game is charming enough to overlook that sort of thing. I really like how all the weapons actually feel useful, too. Looking forward to more Kero Blasting tomorrow, even if I have to go through this whole friggin' Trayne Station again.
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
So, I previously thought Kero Blaster was PC-only (I'm a Mac user), but earlier today I saw it for $3 on PSN. Snapped it up, mostly having a blast so far. Only annoying thing is that if you Game Over against a boss, you have to do the entirety of the level leading up to it, but even if you do that's the only consequence of failure. I do wish the difficulty was a little more balanced between the levels and their bosses (bosses feel quite a bit harder than the levels to me), but overall the game is charming enough to overlook that sort of thing. I really like how all the weapons actually feel useful, too. Looking forward to more Kero Blasting tomorrow, even if I have to go through this whole friggin' Trayne Station again.
Oh yeah, we did this as a Fun Club game on the previous forum and I liked it a lot but had the exact same complaint. Everything would be fine then I'd be slaughtered by a boss.
 

Fyonn

did their best!
So, I previously thought Kero Blaster was PC-only (I'm a Mac user), but earlier today I saw it for $3 on PSN. Snapped it up, mostly having a blast so far. Only annoying thing is that if you Game Over against a boss, you have to do the entirety of the level leading up to it, but even if you do that's the only consequence of failure. I do wish the difficulty was a little more balanced between the levels and their bosses (bosses feel quite a bit harder than the levels to me), but overall the game is charming enough to overlook that sort of thing. I really like how all the weapons actually feel useful, too. Looking forward to more Kero Blasting tomorrow, even if I have to go through this whole friggin' Trayne Station again.
As a bit of a heads up, when you beat the game and unlock hard mode, it's actually a completely new story. You go to the same locations, but they've changed significantly too.
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
As a bit of a heads up, when you beat the game and unlock hard mode, it's actually a completely new story. You go to the same locations, but they've changed significantly too.
I appreciate that, thanks! I might have ignored hard mode if you hadn't mentioned this, but now I'll at least give it a look.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Oh yeah, definitely give Zangyou mode a look if you enjoyed the game. It's much, much harder, but in some very creative ways. It also has a completely different finale from the main game, with a whole new level and several bosses. As a huge Cave Story fan, I was initially disappointed by the relative simplicity of Kero Blaster, but it has since gone on to become one of my favorite games in the genre. Just filled to the brim with personality and unique enemies, plus the weapons are super fun to use.
 

FelixSH

(He/Him)
One more thing: Whenever you are asked if you are done, say no, until the game stops askimg. Or maybe the game asks if you want more, in which case say yes. I don't remember the phrasing, but just say whatever means "I want more".
 

Patrick

Magic-User
(He/Him)
So, I previously thought Kero Blaster was PC-only (I'm a Mac user), but earlier today I saw it for $3 on PSN. Snapped it up, mostly having a blast so far. Only annoying thing is that if you Game Over against a boss, you have to do the entirety of the level leading up to it, but even if you do that's the only consequence of failure. I do wish the difficulty was a little more balanced between the levels and their bosses (bosses feel quite a bit harder than the levels to me), but overall the game is charming enough to overlook that sort of thing. I really like how all the weapons actually feel useful, too. Looking forward to more Kero Blasting tomorrow, even if I have to go through this whole friggin' Trayne Station again.

Yeah, my run ended at the last boss for the very same reason.
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Wrapped up Kero Blaster's normal mode in fairly short order today (though I had to play the final level three friggin' times, come on), going to give Zangyou Mode a shot tomorrow. It's gonna be hard going from the fully upgraded laser back to the basic pea shooter, but it shouldn't take too long to start getting some upgrades in.
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
Opted to start a replay of the Dead Space trilogy, independent of the fact that they just announced a remake.

It still holds up pretty darn well as an RE4/Alien mash-up shooter, but it’s well past the point where it could be considered tense or spooky.

Has ominious spray painting ever been scary? Every time I see it in a movie or video game it always seems more ridiculous than threatening; especially when someone sees it fit to tag the walls with gameplay hints
 
So not a what im playing - but thinking about getting the contra and cv collections on sale. What options are there on these? These include japanese versions, so that Hard Corp is playable correct? Are there save states? What are the display options???????????
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
Yes, both include every region of each game included (or at least most of them), there are save-states and display options include pixel perfect, full screen (and both grey-scale and green-and-speckled for Gameboy games).

They’re pretty darn excellent compilations
 
Yes, both include every region of each game included (or at least most of them), there are save-states and display options include pixel perfect, full screen (and both grey-scale and green-and-speckled for Gameboy games).

They’re pretty darn excellent compilations
Any difficulty settings? I was thinking about the arcade comp as well for Haunted Castle and Gradius 2, but I want it completable by humans as well
 
Side note
Want Contra Collection 2:
Legacy Of war
C The Contra Adventure
Shattered Soldier
Neo Contra
Contra Wii Ware
Contra 4 - somehow
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
Any difficulty settings? I was thinking about the arcade comp as well for Haunted Castle and Gradius 2, but I want it completable by humans as well

Just what’s native to the games; save state abuse is the only way to make things easier
 
I happen to be playing the Castlevania Collection right now. Its great.

I can also confirm that save state abuse is necessary for some of the games. The Gameboy Castlevania games are hard.
 

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
So not a what im playing - but thinking about getting the contra and cv collections on sale. What options are there on these? These include japanese versions, so that Hard Corp is playable correct? Are there save states? What are the display options???????????
This is OK here but just FYI - we do have another thread that is for questions sort of like this.
 

Bongo

excused from moderation duty
(he/him)
Staff member
So, as long as I'm obliged to have my PC hooked up to my TV, I figured I would see if I can get Dolphin running in RetroArch. Well, one thing led to another, and long story short, I accidentally started another playthrough of Skies of Arcadia.
 

q 3

here to eat fish and erase the universe
(they/them)
I am having a blast with Gnosia though I do have a couple minor quibbles. One is that falsely claiming to be Engineer after the first day will have the game randomly generate past reports for you. Not a big deal on day 2 or 3, but I found out the hard way on day 6 when the auto-generated reports instantly got me "Definite Enemy" status. 😰 Granted, I'm not sure what the alternative would be. Letting you choose all your prior reports with the benefit of hindsight would be too strong, making every liar pick what they would report every night until someone claims the position would be too cumbersome.

Second, while I appreciate the game's LGBTQ inclusiveness, I am giving it a bit of side eye over the decision to make the most flirtatious character a one-year-old clone.

Apropos of nothing I vote that the term "waifu" be retired and replaced with the more inclusive "setsu."
 

Mogri

Round and round I go
(he)
Staff member
Moderator
Second, while I appreciate the game's LGBTQ inclusiveness, I am giving it a bit of side eye over the decision to make the most flirtatious character a one-year-old clone.
This is not entirely accurate, although you only find out at the very end of the game that she's two different people, and the flirty one is her mom.

Which, uh... makes more sense in context.
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
The Mr. Xs Nightmare expansion for Streets of Rage 4 is one of the most satisfying pieces of DLC I’ve played in recent memory
 
I am Playin' some more Etrian Odyssey 5, hit the third stratum when the classes' abilities get expanded. Was a bit overdue, had felt like I was just throwing points around aimlessly with a few of them. But the stratum theme feels kinda unusual, or else I have forgotten whatever similar one had appeared in earlier games. Looking forward to it. The second was also pretty cool!
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
Playing Paradise Killer, which I have dubbed Return of the JoJobra Dinn. Only about 90 minutes in but enjoying its bizarro neon world and intrigue.
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
Towerfall is a really good Bubble Bobble-y multiplayer game with some clever, easy to comprehend mechanics, I’m a fan.

It’s kind of weird that the single player content is… really unintuitive to properly access (it’s listed under “co-op” for one thing), especially since there’s no online multiplayer so making the death match mode front and center is definitely a choice
 

Adrenaline

Post Reader
(He/Him)
I have mixed feelings about Dead Cells. It feels nice to control, the graphics are cool, the setting is intriguing. But I've done fewer than ten runs and it's already getting really repetitive. I think playing Hades may have spoiled me on action roguelites.
 

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
I have mixed feelings about Dead Cells. It feels nice to control, the graphics are cool, the setting is intriguing. But I've done fewer than ten runs and it's already getting really repetitive. I think playing Hades may have spoiled me on action roguelites.

The early game of Dead Cells is pretty repetitive, but part of that is due to the fact that you start with very few items unlocked. Once you get more abilities, weapons, skills, and mutations, the game really opens up in terms of variety.

Granted, not everyone is going to want to invest that amount of time to unlock more stuff, but if that's something you're cool with, I'd say stick with it for a while longer and see how you feel with a bigger item pool.
 

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
Playing Paradise Killer, which I have dubbed Return of the JoJobra Dinn. Only about 90 minutes in but enjoying its bizarro neon world and intrigue.
I really liked this one overall. The music, the weirdness, the vaporwave. The dialogue is so poorly written, though.
 

Mightyblue

aggro table, shmaggro table
(He/Him/His)
Paradise Killer is entirely aiming for the early 90s Japanese PC exploration games like Snatcher, so I sorta viewed the general dialogue and presentation in that lens which worked for me.
 

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
I dunno. Maybe? There were definite oddities in the dialogue that were present as purposeful oddities, yeah, and those I had no problem rolling with. But a lot of it didn't feel intentional to me, either.
 

Yimothy

Red Plane
(he/him)
I’ve been playing Avalon Code on DS. I have mixed feelings on it, and may wind up giving it up. The premise is that the world is going to end, and the player character has been chosen to fill a book with things from that current world that will be recreated in the next one. In gameplay terms, this means you scan things into the book, which then allows you to manipulate their properties. For example, if you meet a fire-element enemy, you can scan them, remove the fire element from them, and stick it on your own weapon to attack them with. It’s a neat and interesting idea, but in practice kind of a hassle - opening the book and turning pages is too slow, and all the properties get mixed up so that if I want to do something specific I’m flipping through the pages (slowly) looking for the property I need.

Aside from juggling properties, you also level up the book by filling it in in more detail. Each screen of the game gets a map page, and non-dungeon ones start with half their points allocated. You get the rest by finding points of interest. In some areas this is easy - you look at the rocks in the field, or the shelves in a room. When you find something a little text box comes up describing it: “This rock hides hundreds of bugs” or whatever. On other screens it’s a straight pixel hunt. I got one in the middle of a field which said a single blade of grass brushed my leg. I actually kind of like having these things, and finding one randomly is sort of charming, but having it tied to levelling up the book sucks, especially once you get a special attack which is activated by the same button that you use to search meaning you can’t just mash the button as you walk around anymore. There are also screens where finding all the hidden points causes a tablet to appear which you can scan for a recipe for an item or weapon, so by not finding these things you are presumably weakening your character. The saving grace for this is that I suspect it’s all unnecessary. I don’t think the game tells you about this directly and I suspect you’re supposed to just find what you find and not worry about it. It’s not clear what benefit you get from levelling the book anyway.

Something I am liking in this game is its goofiness. The special attack I mentioned earlier is one that launches enemies into the air, and you can juggle them by pressing the attack button at the right time. Keep it up and they get higher and higher, with the view zooming out to show the whole area that you’re in, then the planet, then more and more outer space. It’s absurd and kind of a waste of time (it’s supposed to get you healing drops, but I find I take hits trying to do it as often as I get healed, and there’s almost no penalty for death anyway), but pretty fun.

I keep thinking I’ll drop the game, but I’m still coming back to it for now.
 
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