Games You Played Today ver.1.22474487139...

[Shahczyk]

Last night, I beat FFIX and had a pretty good time doing so. Around January each year I tend to beat a longer RPG, last year being Persona 4. I wonder what January of 2023 will hold?

I was trying to make the game as hard for myself as possible, reaching the final final (for real this time) boss with a level 48 party and just getting absolutely creamed, like, 9 times in a row. In the end I bit the bullet and got everyone to an appropriate level, which felt sort of anticlimactic with how manic I’d kept the pace all game. It sort of felt like I ruined the ‘run’ for myself at the very end, but sitting through that final pre fight speech was enough for me the first 5 times.

It was nice playing the game chapter by chapter each night just before hitting the hay. That’s before doing a 5 hour stretch yesterday because I kept thinking the game was just about to end, so I ended up sleeping at 6, whoops! I should expect this by now.

I think I started playing the game the same day I stopped reading Gravity’s Rainbow nightly so I guess it was the exact substitution for late night reading. I’m trying to get through a lot of longer works this year, and also to not go through things like a to do list, and this was a good game for both those things.

Might download XII later. I swear X used to be on game pass but I get pretty anxious about starting a massive game and then seeing it in the leaving soon category so I just never start. I should really download DQXI for the 3rd time but actually go through with it.

[slime]

got some good +R matches

[skelephone]

God yeah the whole Yotsuyu age regression thing has been uncomfortable and weird.

And this expansion is really into doing “what if both sides were wrong” politics stuff, particularly in the patches, haha. I think it’s hilarious that both sets of conquered peoples were terrorized by cruel, self-loathing women who were threatened by mean revolutionaries, and whom the game spends forever trying to redeem. At least with Fordola she’s written pretty convincingly re: “what would you be like if you were processing your many misdeeds, but also you were anime”. But double-beating that whole character archetype in the expansion–and then ALSO starting off the patch content with parallel redemption arcs–has been very strange!

[tacotaskforce]

When I want to be generous my read on the Yotsuyu arc was that there was very little good in her and that was all that was left after the castle collapsed, but as little as it was it was still there.

[Grandpa]

Didn’t wind up beating it just yet, but y’all were right, this last case in Trials and Tribulations is, so far, wild as hell and really makes the game. Looking forward to playing it after work today and maybe knocking it out.

[slime]

i think apollo doesnt hold up to T&T but definitely a great send-off for Phoenix and worth playing next

[moneygp]

Played another Heroes 3 random map except this time I did like 8 players instead of 2 and hoo boy

1. ran into the obligatory “developer with facial hair” character portrait

2. had maybe the most annoying possible map generated for me. It’s really hard to describe just in words

Each coloured section is its own completely mountained-off landmass that is only accessible through the portals (colour-coded). What this meant is that I spawned in the middle of like 4 other players and also in the middle of the main exit of a 4-way teleporter intersection while some of the AI players basically just had islands all to themselves. In terms of starting positions I think mine was actually not that bad because it allowed for a pretty wide range of quick-to-grab resources, but when it got down to the final 3 players it was just the most obnoxious possible game of whack-a-mole.

I think I might max out at like 3-5 players tops for my future games because the amount of towns that get spawned in an 8 player map results in the same problem I end up having with Civilization where it is no longer possible for me to pay attention or care about optimizing production/research at that scale in lategame.

[slime]

@moneygp

1. ran into the obligatory “developer with facial hair” character portrait

that’s adam Sandler

[Father.Torque]

This is how Mullich wins

[Annetts]

Wow Shenmue 2 sure blows when it’s not 2001.

Shutokou Battle is somehow better than I remember. Just raced against someone called “White Revolution” and won. I was then promptly defeated by the next competitor, “Spring Roll Itsuki.”

[alfred]

I never played Klonoa bc it seemed like one of those games 2010’s retro game people would put uncritically put on a pedestal, which is supported/exacerbated by the fact that it sells for literally 600-750 dollars on ebay. Well today I tried it & turns out the game is fine. Maybe i’m just in a good mood today but it at least seems better than like kirby 64.

[ticky]

omg I’m going to have to try this

[jsnlv]

From around 2001 to 2003, I was really into picking up demo discs from Target because it was a minimal expense that nevertheless got me the opportunity to try new games on my pristine PS2. I think I played the first bit of the second Klonoa game that way, and it seemed fine without really transfixing my attention. What little I remember of the Sly Cooper demo by comparison seemed like much more of a game that should have a lot more diehard retro enthusiasm, but I can’t remember any occasion on which I observed someone excited about Sly Cooper.

[Sakurina]

@jsnlv

I can’t remember any occasion on which I observed someone excited about Sly Cooper

I’ve seen them out there but they’re mostly ~25 year olds and it doesn’t seem to have permeated to older gamers

[ticky]

I played some Skate 3 over streaming on Game Pass, I’d meant to play this for years, having heard such positivity about it, and I’m not sure if it’s just the little bit of implicit Game Pass streaming latency but the controls did not work for me at all, I felt unable to complete even the most basic of manoeuvres. Not really sure what to think there!

[winkerwatson]

Sly Cooper 3D

[Polygonzo]

Arx Fatalis is pretty chill so far. I passed behind this lady working in a kitchen then snuck into the back pantry for loot and noticed a rat under one of the tables. Three seconds did not go by after crouching to observe the low poly critter when the lady comes up behind me, murders it with her foot and exclaims, “That must have been it.” A handy anecdote to ponder while getting lost in subterranean mazes/rummaging through endless rooms.

[Grandpa]

Goddamn, that last case in Trials and Tribulations is a real gut punch to bring to an end. Hell of a game.

Can’t wait to play Apollo Justice, the Miles Edgeworth games, and then I guess see how they maybe did too much of a good thing with those 3DS games (Layton included!) before finally playing the Great Ace Attorney games on Switch again.

Will I crash and burn trying to play all these games in quick succession? That’s the real mystery!yes I will

Oh god and I forgot about Harvey Birdman. That too.

[aggie]

Played Dungeon Fantasy powered by GURPS today, as I do every Saturday. Chauvini Bombassus went postering around the town of Aston in want of a labourer and found a guy named frickin’ Gormal. He’s normal and gormless. He can also carry 150lbs with ease.

We got an opportunity to visit the second level depths of the dungeon before any other adventurers and even mint a name for it. So it was dubbed The Chokehole, because there are bugbears in it and they like choking hapless fools straggling behind.
So our party went into these caves and we got good rolls on the way there so we didnt encounter anything. The trouble began pretty soon after we got into the dungeon… We ran into the goblins right away and Chauvini made a good impression on the goblins (Chauvini has great charisma) but our Fighting Man, Roy “the Boy” McCoy put the kibosh on the nonviolent approach pretty quickly.
The goblins were ignoring Chauvini and distracted by the rest of the party so Chauv got a chance to aim at the stalactites which Charlotte DeBuff - our wizard - saw perchance a roll of a perception.
Charlotte took a big hit and Gormal was garroted by a bugbear, but Chauvini’s crossbow shot was enough to bring a bunch down. This was enough to kill two goblins and also create a wall between Chauvini and the rest of the group.

The goblins ran away one direction, so Chauvini went in the other direction and came to a familiar room. There are spiders in the next room. Giant spiders. But Chauvini has the disadvantages Curious and Overconfident, so he went alone instead of waiting for his companions and there he almost met his end!

By the time the party arrived, Chauvini Bombassus was at -12 HP, paralyzed and unconscious. Roy and Charlotte were hurt during the rescue so our healer, Esther Ville, cast healing spells on the two of them.

Oh, the bugbear relinquished its hold on Gormal when the stalactites came down. Anyway, he carried Chauvini out and we returned to town for a week of rest.

When we went back, Chauvini was welcomed by the goblins as a celebrated guest, though Roy was considered a murderer. He had to stand trial. Esther was upset, because the trial involved a Goblin Spider Deity (big ass spider in the cave) and that’s pagan. In the end Roy went along and sat in a throne before the big spider. Our referee told us after the game that if he had moved he would have been killed but he passed his checks and a fear check led to feinting, instead of a moving reaction.
As a result of surviving the trial, Roy was forgiven for his crimes. We feasted on slorn (basically giant salamander) with goblins and Roy spent the night with six goblin ladies. It went horribly and Roy was jilted by them, too. The Boy has no luck!

Chauvini Bombassus earned 4 points
Charlotte Debuff earned 3 points
Esther Ville earned 4 points
Roy McCoy earned 5 points (MVP)

In the end we lost a lot of money! And accomplished very little! Cant wait for next week!

[DaleNixon]

GT3 in pcsx2 with a G29 continues to be pretty fun but also pretty blurry. I’m on a quest to find good shaders. I tried the game at native resolution, but it was so blurry I couldn’t really see on a 73" DLP from about three feet away.

Following the AI cars to find a good racing line is not a good idea. They’ll go straight into walls regularly.

Braking is abrupt and extremely effective. Is there even a reason to upgrade brakes in this game?

Liftoff oversteer is something you really don’t have to worry too much about. So I’m having to unlearn some real life driving skills to be competitive.

The Yaris race is some serious shit. How are all the Euro Yarii so much faster than my pink Japanese version with more HP?