“I Just Think They're Neat.” Like What You are Playing

[Savathûn]

Maaaaaan Alan Wake 2 was something special. There’s just such a sense of creative joy to it where you kind of feel everyone was having a lot of fun making it. I hope that was true for the devs as well. I don’t know if there’s crunch culture at Remedy.

I still like Control more, but wow, what a great time. Can’t wait for New Game Plus and the extended ending!

 

[gahitsu]

Control is such a great game.

I know I'm many, many years behind the curve, but I recently started playing Breath of the Wild. I described it to my friend like Skyrim but with a sense of wonder and awe. Is Elder Scrolls my yardstick for every open-world RPG? Yikes.

 

[JBear]

After loving Zanki Zero for almost 80 hours so far, I keep wondering why nobody told me to play this game back when it came out. So, I am here to tell you to play this game.

I'm always down for a new dungeon crawler and this one's been sitting unplayed in my library for ages (presumably since some Steam sale) and I always sort of glance at it when it's time to play a new game but have never pulled the trigger. You are literally the only other human being I've ever seen talk about it, so I'd love an elevator pitch for what's grabbed you about it!

 

[Sarcasmorator]

Control is such a great game.

I know I'm many, many years behind the curve, but I recently started playing Breath of the Wild. I described it to my friend like Skyrim but with a sense of wonder and awe. Is Elder Scrolls my yardstick for every open-world RPG? Yikes.

Control is so great.

I don't want you to rush into it. But after BOTW, you absolutely have to play TOTK.

 

[madhair60]

After loving Zanki Zero for almost 80 hours so far, I keep wondering why nobody told me to play this game back when it came out. So, I am here to tell you to play this game.

It's probably because of the paedo stuff in it, which I believe was either entirely or mostly removed

 

[The-Bavis]

I'm always down for a new dungeon crawler and this one's been sitting unplayed in my library for ages (presumably since some Steam sale) and I always sort of glance at it when it's time to play a new game but have never pulled the trigger. You are literally the only other human being I've ever seen talk about it, so I'd love an elevator pitch for what's grabbed you about it!

I think it does a great job of using modern dungeon crawling with an interesting set of combat and other systems that have a lot to dig into. Just strong mechanics all around, giving me that tense should-I-return-to-base feeling without normally being too brutal. This is on the middle difficulty anyway. One of the notable mechanics is the Shigabane system that lets you become less impacted by events that kill you, which seems simple, but becomes a lot of fun and makes you handle some situations in some really odd ways to get the most out of it.

The story gets really bonkers and it definitely delves into some really dark topics, so that could be a turn off for a lot of people. I'm not exactly sure which stuff madhair60 is talking about, so not certain it's been removed, but the actual story/flashbacks does involve someone's experiences with that, so be aware. It also might be possible that they removed content of that nature since the basic scenario does have potential to lead that way... but it doesn't in the english version anyway.

 

[Mogri]

I’d have assumed Riggs

She’s my favorite at least so it stands to reason

She's mechanically the best character in my experience. I've gotten infinites on accident because of her.

I haven't unlocked the final character, but the game has no prevention against infinite combos, and they're relatively easy to enable with her.

 

[gahitsu]

Control is so great.

I don't want you to rush into it. But after BOTW, you absolutely have to play TOTK.

That's what I've heard!

I actually bought BotW several years ago, lost it in a move, and got salty and didn't want to buy it again. But then when Tears came out, and everyone loved it so much, I relented, but I'm only just now getting around to playing it.

 

[Baudshaw]

Currently replaying Fire Emblem: Engage on Maddening and it's a lot funnier than I'd expect it to be. Even if the story is campy, the graphics and map design is immaculate. I especially love how you can explore the map after you complete it, scouring for extra loot and stuff. And the Somniel! Imagine something like that in real life.

 

[Violentvixen]

Currently replaying Fire Emblem: Engage on Maddening and it's a lot funnier than I'd expect it to be. Even if the story is campy, the graphics and map design is immaculate. I especially love how you can explore the map after you complete it, scouring for extra loot and stuff. And the Somniel! Imagine something like that in real life.

Engage was extremely fun and I loved it. I did find the DLC storyline much more difficult than the main quest, I wish they had something between Normal and Hard for that.

 

[gogglebob]

9 Years of Shadows is a metroidvania's metroidvania, complete with some bosses that are straight up "if we had an opportunity to helm this franchise, this is how we'd do it". I thoroughly recommend it, though with the caveat that some of those previously mentioned bosses are aggravatingly challenging. Give me a mode where some of those monsters have about half their current HP count, and this would be GOTY.

(Give or take the fact that one of the final optional bosses appears to be currently glitched to all heck. I'm assuming that will get better!)

 

[Adrenaline]

It seems like nobody is playing Starfield, but I spent a few hours with it on Sunday and enjoyed it. It definitely has flaws but it's fun to explore a big sci-fi universe.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

I've been poking at a lot of things in the last few weeks. Nothing's getting its hooks in fully. This weekend alone I played some of:

FF XIII (time has been kind to this one; newer FFs make it seem more like older FFs by comparison)
FF XV (never finished on PC, but liked a lot; starting over and enjoying it again)
Alan Wake Remastered (third or fourth time I've tried to play this game, want to know the whole tale for AW2 and Control reasons)
Forspoken (been wanting to try this and finally combined a sale with a gift card to get it cheap)
Fire Emblem: Three Houses (stalled out on this after missing the offramp for the Edelgard storyline and being annoyed at losing my heaviest hitters, finally getting back to it)

Plugging at Pixel Remasters as well, and still putting in a little Final Bar Line and Vampire Survivors most every day.

 

[Second Duke Revier]

Finished the Star Ocean 2 Remake. I found it to be a pretty good action RPG, a very brilliant realization of tri-Ace's ambitious yet flawed formula.

 

[Paul le Fou]

The Case of the Golden Idol is some darn good detectivin'. I played through the base game back before traveling for the week, and I'm looking forward to diving into the DLC soon.

 

[Issun]

Lies of P is a pretty good Bloodborne so far. I've only gotten past the first boss but the game's systems are interesting without being too complicated. It's also a mite bit easier than Bloodborne but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Super Mario RPG Remake is a very good game, since the the original is a very good game and very little has been changed in the hour or so I’ve played. It’s strange to me that a game originally meant to teach kids what an RPG is needs an easy mode, since way more people know how the genre works now than they did (checks notes) 27 years ago!?

Why did they change Mack’s name to Claymorton? I never figured out the joke behind Mack’s name, but Mack is supposed to be a knife, not a sword. Also, was he always a little red guy on knife shaped pogo stick? How many times am I going to be shocked at finding out what a character actually is, rather than what my mind had allowed me to believe?

 

[Pombar]

I never figured out the joke behind Mack’s name, but Mack is supposed to be a knife, not a sword.

Isn't that the joke? Like the song, "Mack the Knife"?

 

[figcube]

Claymorton is a sword. The monster is riding on the hilt of a sword. Though who knows if the monster is controlling the sword or vice versa. Probably changed it to fit the theming of the Smithy Gang being named after weapons

 

[Bongo]

I like the joke inherent in the name Mack, but if he had been named Claymorton originally and Mack in the remake, I would not think it an improvement.

 

[Becksworth]

Some of the original translation changes aged worse than others (Frogfucius for example), so I'm not surprised they just went with a more accurate naming translation this time.

 

[gogglebob]

My understanding is that the translation team (or just Ted Woosley?) wanted to go full Duff McWhalen on any of the new characters, but only got it through on a couple of random dudes. Punchinello was to be "James Bomb", for instance.

 

[Octopus Prime]

SMDH at what we lost.
But if he was called that, I wouldn't inexplicably assign a New Zealand accent to him for some reason

 

[Violentvixen]

A Claymore is a type of sword, so maybe it's a joke on that?

I haven't played Super Mario RPG so just basing this on comments here, could be way off.

 

[Kirin]

Oh it's definitely that, yeah, it just switched from a knife pun to a sword pun. Presumably one closer to the original Japanese name based on other changes.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

also a pun that doesn't require knowledge of a nearly century-old song to get

 

[Beta Metroid]

How many times am I going to be shocked at finding out what a character actually is, rather than what my mind had allowed me to believe?

Have you seen Johnny Jones yet?

My understanding is that the translation team (or just Ted Woosley?) wanted to go full Duff McWhalen on any of the new characters, but only got it through on a couple of random dudes. Punchinello was to be "James Bomb", for instance.

So THAT'S why he says he's "Nello...Punchinello"!!! Very weird choice to keep that in after the whole "James Bomb" thing got rejected.

 

[ASandoval]

Another interesting thing is that apparently the name Claymorton comes from the original Spanish localization of the game*!

*According to brief internet research. Anyone feel free to confirm or deny that, but neat if true.

 

[ThreeTwo]

I love the idea of the head of the Goomba forces being named Goomhilde and wish it came with braids and a Viking helmet

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Have you seen Johnny Jones yet?