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Gaming / Re: 10 games for 2018

« Last post by Spectere on Today at 07:53:15 AM »

Even being sick with probably bronchitis (no idea what it is, but it's in my lungs and it wont go away, currently on week 3...) and multiple days where I had time to play, and just sat around resting, I still managed to complete the fucker.

Funnily enough, that's sort of how I managed to finish FF8 (original PC release) for my first time. I was off school for three days with the flu and when I wasn't sleeping, I was playing that. It was engaging and didn't have enough action and movement to trigger nausea or motion sickness. It was far from a 100% run, and I think I managed to beat it in around 30 hours. The dynamic leveling definitely helped.

Far as I understand, metroid fans typically gave samus returns a thumbs up. It adds a few odd things, but as a whole game I feel it's metroid how people like to play metroid. This ain't other M we're talking about. Also since it's a metroid game, it's short, so it isn't the biggest of time investments.

I love how Metroid games tend to take a super long time on your first playthrough while you're getting a handle on it, then your time quickly slips into the sub-hour range.

I know I've been saying this for a while, but I've been recently inspired once again* to start working on Zero Mission. I need to get my GameCube in a position where it can run GameBoy Interface (basically, a piece of homebrew GameBoy Player software without all of the awful timing issues and input lag) and then get to practicing. I've come to the realization that my PB, set in around 2005 and with minimal routing suggestions taken, is actually still pretty damn good. I think I could probably push my times into the top 25 if I started cracking away at it.

*A couple of my friends in Wisconsin do gaming marathons at their house. I participated in one (designed to help them get back on their feet after both of them ended up in serious car wrecks in a span of a week—during which we ended up becoming the first group to 100% clear Mike Dies, which was pretty cool) and was there last weekend when they ran Super Stigma Slam, benefiting Take This.

But yeah, I'd love to be able to participate in one of them. Strangely, I'm better at games at 33 than I was at 22, so I think I have a fair shot at getting a marathon-worthy run together.

But shit, that's all 10 games. I was fooling around with the idea november of 2017 as a way to get my ass to beat more games since I'll buy shit, and not play it, and I actually managed to do it. Never woulda figured.

Congrats! You've definitely got more dedication than me when it comes to beating long games.

If you want a solid short game to fiddle around with, give Minit a shot (if you haven't already). It's sort of like Half Minute Hero meets Zelda.

As for what to do next...iunno I got work in the morning. Might purchase sublime within the week maybe, my girlfriend is actually semi interested in working on python with me so that could motivate us both to work on it, and spend time together. Two birds with one stone.

Sweet.

If you have any questions, let me know. I actually just wrapped up a fairly involved Python project at work (using pygame, no less!), so I've gotten a pretty solid handle on it.

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Gaming / Re: 10 games for 2018

« Last post by vladgd on October 04, 2018, 12:40:02 AM »

1- earthbound
2- monster hunter world
3- smt nocturne
4- smt 4
5- south park fractured but whole
6- xcom terror from the deep
7- persona 5
8- deus ex mankind divided
9- metroid: samus returns
10- dragon quest xi



Funny the last post was september 4, and i finish it on october 4.

Watching trailers and stuff, I thought it was going to be like dragon quest "skyrim open world" edition, but no. It's dragon quest to a T.

Highly polished TRADITIONAL jrpg with a few modern things added in. Bit of a slow burn, but it starts to ramp up near the end of the first act. Final Fantasy may have started going down the shitter after 10, but at least I can recommend a dragon quest game in 2018. Like these types of games? It's a no brainer, pick it up.

~80 hours completion. I have no idea how I make time to do this anymore, but at least I can manage to polish off one of these monsters of a game in a month. Even being sick with probably bronchitis (no idea what it is, but it's in my lungs and it wont go away, currently on week 3...) and multiple days where I had time to play, and just sat around resting, I still managed to complete the fucker.

Ye gods, I forgot about Samus Returns. I still have that shrink wrapped. I've also been working on my Zero Mission speed game here and there (on GBA. I have a GameBoy Player but the input is just plain funky on that thing. I couldn't even get early Varia on it!).

The countering system was one of those things that worried me, honestly. While I haven't experienced it myself yet, it just seems very contrary to the way the games are traditionally played. While changing up the formula isn't necessarily a bad thing, Other M left such a bad taste in my mouth (seriously, that game is fucking awful, even if you try not to think of it as a Metroid game) that embracing any of its core feature set just makes me a little leery.

The Aion system makes me even more leery. It almost feels like they're trying to force combat on a series that generally didn't require it for standard map traversal. I'm going to reserve judgment until I actually play the thing (naturally) but I don't see that as a good sign.

Far as I understand, metroid fans typically gave samus returns a thumbs up. It adds a few odd things, but as a whole game I feel it's metroid how people like to play metroid. This ain't other M we're talking about. Also since it's a metroid game, it's short, so it isn't the biggest of time investments.


But shit, that's all 10 games. I was fooling around with the idea november of 2017 as a way to get my ass to beat more games since I'll buy shit, and not play it, and I actually managed to do it. Never woulda figured.

As for what to do next...iunno I got work in the morning. Might purchase sublime within the week maybe, my girlfriend is actually semi interested in working on python with me so that could motivate us both to work on it, and spend time together. Two birds with one stone. But also starting up another game...because yknow...get home, tired, watch youtubes for a little bit, then want to kick back and play something. Gotta have that side game.

We'll see, but goddamn I did something I thought I wouldn't even get close to finishing last year, and I got two months to spare at that. Quite pleased.

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Gaming / Re: 10 games for 2018

« Last post by Spectere on September 04, 2018, 10:03:18 AM »

Yeah, I've played through Human Revolution. Fantastic game! Definitely a worthy successor to the original. As for my feelings on Invisible War, JC Denton said it best: "What a shame."

Cleveland has a Round 1, so they're on Konami's e-AMUSEMENT network. One of the perks of that is that the latest versions of the supported Bemani games are pushed to the machine.

Konami did release a home version of IIDX a couple of years ago called INFINITAS, but it's a bit…underwhelming. First and foremost, you have to jump through hoops to play it if you aren't in Japan. Second, the initial song list was based on SIRIUS. You know, that thing that came after EMPRESS. In 2009. Sigh. It's gotten better with DLC, but I don't even think it even offers the same value as the old PS2 releases, to be honest.

If you ever do swing down here, let me know! I'm only about an hour and a half away. If you're willing to go a bit further (Columbus) there's an arcade down there with all day free play, and they have n-1 (i.e. the previous major release) for most Bemani titles. If you wanted to go there we could always meet somewhere (the Akron/Canton area would be ideal) and car pool the rest of the way.

Ye gods, I forgot about Samus Returns. I still have that shrink wrapped. I've also been working on my Zero Mission speed game here and there (on GBA. I have a GameBoy Player but the input is just plain funky on that thing. I couldn't even get early Varia on it!).

The countering system was one of those things that worried me, honestly. While I haven't experienced it myself yet, it just seems very contrary to the way the games are traditionally played. While changing up the formula isn't necessarily a bad thing, Other M left such a bad taste in my mouth (seriously, that game is fucking awful, even if you try not to think of it as a Metroid game) that embracing any of its core feature set just makes me a little leery.

The Aion system makes me even more leery. It almost feels like they're trying to force combat on a series that generally didn't require it for standard map traversal. I'm going to reserve judgment until I actually play the thing (naturally) but I don't see that as a good sign.

The hand cramp thing is a bit troubling, seeing as much of the reason I couldn't enjoy Monster Hunter on mobile is because of the cramped controls, haha. That being said, I have played plenty of Zero Mission (and Fusion, but Zero Mission was muh gaem) on my GBA SP without any issues, so…ehh, we'll see.

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Gaming / Re: 10 games for 2018

« Last post by vladgd on September 04, 2018, 12:25:20 AM »

I think the issue with halo wars, is I expected it to bend over backwards for me because...console rts on pc. But nah, it bested my drunk on olde english 800 ass. I'll probably try it another day, seemed competent enough. 


-For Deus Ex, I'd recommend starting with human revolution personally. I liked that game better, and the game takes place before mankind divided. I mean I'd recommend the first game over anything, but if you had to choose, human revolution is a great game.

-You tell me Cleveland has some beatmania, and they somehow pump out more? Why don't they just release a console product anyway. Downloadable game, make it have a "seasonal" dlc model, as that's what the game is with it's "styles" anyway. Get an external company to handle the controller (like any number of companies making fightsticks with arcade hardware) and PROFIT! I may have to make a drive down there for some IIDX purposes some day...'

-Dark Souls 3 is on my list too, except mine is literally still in shrinkwrap...never bothered with ds2, but I really liked the first game.

Getting used to my long hours, seeing the fruits of my labor in paycheck form tomorrow. I guess that'll dictate whether it's worth it or not. Less time for games, but I somehow managed to add another to the list...the day before dragon quest XI arrives...and I hear you've played some metroid in your time...

1- earthbound
2- monster hunter world
3- smt nocturne
4- smt 4
5- south park fractured but whole
6- xcom terror from the deep
7- persona 5
8- deus ex mankind divided
9- metroid: samus returns



Bought it on impulse after getting frustrated with halo, beat it 100% in about 12.5 hours. It was good, haven't beat a metroid since...zero mission, making it my fourth metroid.

metroid
super metriod
zero mission
samus returns

Yet to beat prime (I'd get to the end before the final boss and get too frustrated and quit), but I'm thinking of maybe digging up some old metroid games I've yet to complete to add on the to do list. I own fusion on gba, so maybe I'll find time for that in the future.

As for the game, I didn't really like it to start. The melee counter just made things slow, enemies are bullet sponges, and playing a metroid to stand, wait, counter, shoot....ehh. Then you get screw attack and wave beam, BOOM no more sissy countering required, just blast through everything. I haven't played all of the games, but I feel like this one has the most "invincible to normal attacks" enemies that I've experienced. You end up running away more than anything before you get the tools to deal with it, not entirely a fan of that design aspect.

There's also this "aion abilities" system, using its own meter which drops from enemies. Not to spoil all the upgrades or anything, but in later areas, you run into a lot of enemies that are immune to missiles and standard shot, and require spending this aion resource to down. It's not a deal breaker, but I wanna say this is the game where standard shot may be the least useful? I never use it on bosses sans "cough" the last boss when im out of ammo "cough" but maybe I was missing something. I didn't use ice beam much, and maybe that would have done work.

Visually the game looks great, gravity suit in this game is probably one of my favorite suit designs that i've seen in a metroid game.



On the same token while it looks great, and there ARE "varied" environments, it must be the tiles they use or something, but the entire game nearly looks the same. Areas are just...areas. No brinstar or phendrena, but area 5, or area 3...I get it's a remake of metroid 2, but they could have spiced that up or something. You see snow, and water, but, it's not like the past games where you feel like you're in a snow area, or a water area, it's more background noise.

And on the topic of noise, there are a few great tracks, but most of it wasn't too memorable. Which is a damn travisty, because I rank metroid probably number 1 for videogame music, period. Super metroid is a goty all years ost, metroid prime ALSO A GOTY ALL YEARS OST.

Still you do see remixes of a few old favorites from prior games.

I may have to give the ost a listen outside the game, because it's not too audible playing on a 3ds. Tracks like the one above are the exception not the norm sadly.

And yeah, your hands will hurt a lot playing this even on a new 3ds xl. I had to take multi hour breaks just to let my hands rest, and my hands ache even now typing this tldr of a post coming fresh off the game.

Been thinking of getting the game since it was announced, and im glad I got around to it. Getting a thumbs up from me m'boy!...just expect a slow ish start before it picks up.

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Gaming / Re: 10 games for 2018

« Last post by Spectere on August 23, 2018, 07:22:08 AM »

Yikes, if that mission in Halo Wars is that bad on PC I'd hate to see how it would play on console. Might want to just stick with Halo 2. Great game (except for Legendary—getting one shotted from full shields by snipers isn't my cup of tea).

Anyway, topic. I'm trying to honestly think of new games (for me, anyway) that I've beaten this year. Angels with Scaly Wings is a notable one, and that was over far too quickly. I finally did a full 300% run of Doom and Doom 2 this year (completing the entire game with 100% kills, items, and secrets on every level). Finally beat Doom 2016, and I started a fresh game on ultra-violence. That's honestly all I can think of at this time.

Ones that I'm thinking of playing/replaying include:

• Monster Hunter: World
• Doom 2016 UV (already mentioned that, but what the hey)
• Final Fantasy XV (really need to get back to that)
• Kinda thinking of replaying OneShot. I like that game.
• Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition. I beat Legend Mode already (for the second time, if you count the time I spent on the original game) but I still a lot of maps and challenges to get through.
• Horizon: Zero Dawn. I picked up the complete edition when I bought my PS4 Pro but haven't touched it yet (mostly thanks to HW:DE and, now, MH:W). I plan to get to it this year, though.

And here's a few that are on the horizon, either because they haven't been released or because I haven't established a firm timeline to get to them:

• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (I have a Humble Monthly key for it, so I might as well check it out)
• Dad of Boy
• beatmania IIDX 25 CANNON BALLERS (really need to haul my ass to Round 1…I mean, Cleveland isn't too far from me)
• Dark Souls III. I bought it at release, sank a bunch of time into it, and…stopped. :|
• Doom. Fucking. Eternal. Is it bad that I'm just as psyched for the soundtrack as the game itself? Doom 2016 has an absolutely killer soundtrack and Mick Gordon is scoring Eternal as well!

Also, one of these days I might get Battle for Azeroth. This is the only expansion I haven't purchased on launch and I'm really not in a huge hurry to play it. I've lost my love for WoW in a huge way, I guess. :< It might have something to do with having to play Warchief Roulette every fucking time they release a new xpac.

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Gaming / 10 games for 2018

« Last post by vladgd on August 22, 2018, 10:40:54 PM »

Not too entirely sure this is thread worthy, but maybe it'll start a small conversation or two?

Think I made a comment or two about wanting to beat 10 games I never beat before in 2018. Started a list back in November of 2017, and a few months into 2018 realized while having not been following said list, been doing progress enough into new games and some backlog games as well. Figured I'd use this is a place to keep track. I normally beat like 1-3 new games in a year, IF that, and it was hitting me I was getting a lot done, so I'm just going to truck along and finish this arbitrary goal.

List is in order of completion this year.

1- earthbound
2- monster hunter world
3- smt nocturne
4- smt 4
5- south park fractured but whole
6- xcom terror from the deep
7- persona 5
8- deus ex mankind divided

Thing is I work 50 hours now, so I have less time to use for entertainment, but im so close, and there's plenty of time left in the year. I pre ordered Dragon Quest XI, and that's a long fucker, so I want to finish something hopefully fun, short, and something I already own.

Was thinking Halo 2, or since I finished mankind divided recently(good game, but kind of mediocre Deus Ex game not really worth making a post about), Deus Ex Invisible War....then at work I remembered Halo Wars existed, and I bought it on steam around last Christmas. 15 mission pc port of a console RTS, I think I can do that in two weeks before dragon quest comes out.

Not sure I'll do another thing like this next year, but it's been fun. I usually go months between games, but it's been bam bam bam this year, and I've been enjoying it a lot. After I finish this personal quest, I might get back into multiplayer things like fightans/rts again. Till then, let's see how this Halo Wars is.

*edit*

Uninstalled Halo Wars soooooooooo fucking fast.

Mission 4 can suck my big fat dickkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Hey let's put a defend for x minutes mission early in the game, and it's harder than anything in starcraft/2 or warcraft 3 put together!

NOPE!

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Gaming / Re: Shin Megami Tensei

« Last post by Spectere on August 20, 2018, 02:57:26 AM »

Sublime has a very generous free trial available (I think it's just nagware) if you want to try before you buy.

To be honest, I wouldn't recommend sticking with that work schedule for very long. If it's physical work it will definitely take a toll on your body, and regardless of what it is it'll start to take its toll mentally. If it's something you can do once in a while, sure, but I wouldn't recommend making it a long-term thing. I've worked stupid shifts for several months straight during a couple of my previous jobs and I'm not exaggerating when I say that it made me feel dead inside.

I wouldn't recommend using that as a motivator, either. It can be tough to find a new job when you're only working 40 hour weeks. Adding an extra ten hours to that is only going to make it harder.

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Gaming / Re: Monster Hunter

« Last post by Spectere on August 20, 2018, 02:45:37 AM »

Decided to try out long swords. They're pretty fun!

I did an easy hunt just to see how greedy I could get. Turns out, I could get pretty damn greedy. I could dive in, do a decent amount of damage, and roll away.

I ended up getting further in the story as well, making my way to the Rotten Vale.

I've, uh, also figured out the format that the game's textures are stored in and wrote a quick and dirty converter. Here's some of the Great Jagras's normal map:

Hey look, a normal map! pic.twitter.com/xJrHFh3FdX

— Ian Burgmyer (@Spectere) August 18, 2018

The diffuse textures are compressed with DXT1/BC1 with 1-bit alpha (yuck) and the normal maps are compressed with ATI2/BC5. There's another format in play that I haven't worked out quite yet, nor am I entirely sure of the purpose of those particular textures. All I've sussed out so far is that the compression format in question each 4x4 block in 16-bytes.

And sure, I could have just wrapped the compressed texture data into a DDS wrapper and called it a day, but what's the fun in that?

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Gaming / Re: Shin Megami Tensei

« Last post by vladgd on August 19, 2018, 09:40:34 AM »

May have to do a rain check. Going to wait till my first salary paycheck then I'll snag sublime. Currently adjusting to the new hours, and 50 hours a week, aka standing up for 10 hours a day with no breaks, it's fatiguing. I'll get used to it, but it's going to take a few weeks at least.

It's crazy how working an 8 hour shift feels fine and I feel like I can do whatever after work. But a 10 feels twice as long, and I feel like I barely have any free time before I have to sleep and do the grind again the next day.

Figured I'd kill two birds with one stone, and make more money, while at the same time being a real motivator to get out of this dead end job I've been at for 10 years. Curious how it'll pan out in a few months.

10

Gaming / Re: Monster Hunter

« Last post by Spectere on August 12, 2018, 02:43:54 PM »

Yeah, I've been more or less skating through the low rank content. Even monsters that have always given me problems (hi, Barroth) have gone down relatively easily. Not sure if that's just because I have a lot more experience with these sort of games than I did when I played MH3 a whole bunch or if the game's learning curve is just that much more gradual, but it feels much better for me at least.

For now I've settled with the switch axe. I just really like how the weapon feels at this point. I thought I'd enjoy the dual blades since I tend to prefer mobility, but I've found that the only way to do any serious damage with them is to just stand stationary in demon mode, and that's really not feasible unless the monster is already stunned. It felt more like I was chipping them to death than doing any serious damage.

Shame to hear about the hammer getting nerfed. I wonder if the people I know who primarily used it just coped with it or if they switched off for MHW.

Tried to enjoy sword and shield, but hitting weak points with such a stubby weapon is impossible, I don't really get how people use that weapon.

I think that's my favorite part about Monster Hunter: the weapons are so varied that some of them just don't click for people at all, yet they all tend to be very effective.

I used the sword and shield when I was fiddling with the Xbox One version several months ago. For me it offered a good balance of attack, defense, and mobility. The main issue for me is that I'm bored to death of sword and shield in general when it comes to ARPGs. I also have a tendency to prefer dodging over blocking, so the switch axe fit my play style well.

Oh, I also took this opportunity to finally fiddle around with ShadowPlay. I've certainly has faster Great Jagras kills than this, but I think this is my cleanest one:

I've been recording almost all of my gameplay so far (two video files ended up getting corrupted, and I forgot to record a few minutes of some light multiplayer I did with a friend, but other than that all of the non-town stuff is there). If I end up doing anything nifty I'll at least have proof of it.

It is kind of odd that the video files turned out to be 1080p60, though. I set up ShadowPlay to record at the selected resolution at 60fps, so they should be 1440p. Similarly, a bit of Doom 2016 that I recorded turned out to be 1080p60 instead of 4K60. Gonna have to look at that.