The Bill's Now Playing Video Game Thread (Now with Bames)

[spacehamster]

I guess we can all agree on the fact that hand drawn pixel graphics are just the pinnacle of videogame aesthetics.

It's just aged incredibly well. Polygon graphics from the early 2000s all look like origami that someone puked on now, but everytime I go back to my old 16-bit games, I really think they still look good. I don't know what it is about 3-dimensional graphics, there's a pretty similar effect with older CGI movies where they looked awesome at the time, but now you go back and all you see is lighting errors and other problems.

[canon.docre]

Finally beat Blasphemous. Good god what a fucking game. Wanted to 100% it but I'm a bitch and can't finish Alcazar of Grief and one of Miriam's challenges.

This is the game that got me into the Souls-type games.

I dont really understand how a 2d side-scrolling platformer can be a Souls-type game. Because its hard? Because you have to use a dodge mechanic a lot? Ive played the shit out of Dark Souls 2, Bloodborne, and a bit of Blasphemous but "one of these things aint like the others"

I feel like "soulstype" gets thrown around more as a marketing gimmick if this is what counts.. but maybe I misunderstand the gameplay loop of Blasphemous and just didnt play it for long enough because I scurried back to Dead Cells, which is way more fun (to me).

[FVBTVS]

not sure if he meant that it is a souls-like but i think as a gateway to souls-likes i get how blasphemous might function in that way from what i played of it. not a metroidvania not a souls-like but something between the two? i played very little though 45 minutes to an hour. it let me get in over my head by not closing itself up and all its interconnected biomes were seemingly open to explore in the beginning. i was getting lost early on. it has a two death risk/reward mechanic??? boss centric???

is megaman the first souls game??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[Toilet Fleet]

Finally got the GTA pack for Switch and have been doing parallel save files with my oldest kid

She bails on every car instead of parking it which is hilarious and maybe troubling but ehhhhh

[Glub]

not sure if he meant that it is a souls-like but i think as a gateway to souls-likes i get how blasphemous might function in that way from what i played of it. not a metroidvania not a souls-like but something between the two? i played very little though 45 minutes to an hour. it let me get in over my head by not closing itself up and all its interconnected biomes were seemingly open to explore in the beginning. i was getting lost early on. it has a two death risk/reward mechanic??? boss centric???

is megaman the first souls game??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Yes. I meant as a kind of gateway. It was the first "You're going to continuously die" game I tried.

[The Bill]

It was the first "You're going to continuously die" game I tried.

When I was a kid, that was called the arcade.

[spacehamster]

Quick, name your top 3 games with diving sequences that don't suck.

Trick question: there's no such fucking thing as a diving sequence that doesn't fucking suck.

Anyway, I've decided I want to spend the next two weeks or so on a fluffy game that doesn't challenge my brain or my thumbs too much, so we're doing Horizon Forbidden West. So far it's... well, it's a Horizon game.

[The Bill]

Quick, name your top 3 games with diving sequences that don't suck.

Trick question: there's no such fucking thing as a diving sequence that doesn't fucking suck.

Wait now. I’m guessing you don’t mean swimming underwater in general. You mean, press “X” to dive, or jumping off diving boards, or just descending continuously underwater, or what?

[Eight Bit Alien]

Diving board managment simulators are huge in Europe. You have to go around to every pool in your precinct, and issue fines to people who have diving boards painted with scandalous colors. I've never played one but I remember reading that there's a huge mod scene for them in Poland and Hungary.

[spacehamster]

Diving board managment simulators are huge in Europe. You have to go around to every pool in your precinct, and issue fines to people who have diving boards painted with scandalous colors. I've never played one but I remember reading that there's a huge mod scene for them in Poland and Hungary.

I'm not talking about those, obviously, that would be culturally insensitive towards our Slavic brethren (particularly the Hungarians), and I would never do that.

No, I mean games with diving levels. The Witcher 3, all the old God of War games, Metal Gear Solid 2 had some goddamn egregiously annoying ones as well. And of course this post was triggered by having to suffer through the diving sequences in Horizon Forbidden West. Triple fucking bonus points when they're basically timed navigation puzzles where you have to swim through the disorienting corridor with intentionally floaty controls before the "oxygen meter" runs out.

I mean, they have a "map combos to one button" option in Mortal Kombat now, but nobody's thought of "skip all diving sequences because I'm not a blight on my species that should be shoved head-first into an oven" option in open world games?

[Eight Bit Alien]

I mean, they have a "map combos to one button" option in Mortal Kombat now, but nobody's thought of "skip all diving sequences because I'm not a blight on my species that should be shoved head-first into an oven" option in open world games?

[The Bill]

I see. You would hate a bunch of Shadow of the Tomb Raider shit because it has all of that plus eels and piranhas. I sort of hate it, but it also gives me anxiety, so I see that as a plus in a way. Witcher 3.. I used a mod to strengthen the crossbow underwater, so that helps a lot. Fucking Far Cry 3 gave me terrible fears with the fucking sharks or whatnot. That Mario 64 eel!!! Yeah, they aren’t great, but under water animals & monster freak me out, so I do sort of like them. In a stupid masochistic way.

Falling from that cage, into the water with that sea alien in Half-Life is still a dread maker.

[Eight Bit Alien]

The water-monster in the og half-life was one of the best "fun-scared" moments in games tbh

[Eight Bit Alien]

Actually wow a lot of water guys. The eel in SM64, water jason in F13TH for NES

[spacehamster]

I get really freaked out by basically anything that lives in water too, but my hate for this stuff has nothing to do with that. If anything, like Bill says, it should make it work. It's just always janky (or it feels that way because the game's trying to mimick what it's like to move underwater), you lose access to most of the game's controls and mechanics which makes it feel like some weird minigame, and it's always harder to see where you're going and what you're doing. It seems to be worse in 3rd person games - now that I think about it, I don't really mind the diving in Crysis, for example. But it's just always annoying and not fun, and I just want it to be over.

[spacehamster]

Anyway, I've decided I want to spend the next two weeks or so on a fluffy game that doesn't challenge my brain or my thumbs too much, so we're doing Horizon Forbidden West. So far it's... well, it's a Horizon game.

Annnd I'm sick of this game. The gameplay's exactly what I already did beating the entire first game plus the DLC, and I couldn't be less interested in the story. I'm going back to MGSV next, but the reason I never finished that was also because I lost interest.

[FVBTVS]

[FVBTVS]

i want microsoft to buy nintendo next

[The Bill]

i want microsoft to buy nintendo next

Never happening. I want them to buy EA. It some how makes so much sense.

[spacehamster]

I'm going back to MGSV next, but the reason I never finished that was also because I lost interest.

Well, this game rules. I sort of vaguely remember why I didn't like it back when it originally came out, but it's really stupid. The one thing I always said about MGS4 was that I just wish there was more of the actual game instead of 2-hour cutscenes, and this is... exactly that. It's the largest and most open levels in MGS4 dialled up to 11 with a few reasonably sized cutscenes here and there, just enough for it to let you know that it's still fucking weird, and stubborn design choices like "no, you can't start a mission from here, you have to get on the helicopter first because Hideo Kojima thinks that's more immersive." And I don't mean that negatively, I love this game.

[FVBTVS]

[THE KILL]

Ok, listen guys, I haven't really been paying attention to what's going on since the PS2 era apart from some indie and retro/ pixel stuff like Hyperlight Drifter, Blasphemous or Inside. I could borrow a friend's switch or PS4 or even buy a one of the new consoles. If there was one relatively big budget game from the last 15 years, which one would you recommend? Apart from GTA, that is, and RPGs and especially JRPGs, can't stand that weeboo shit. I've been hearing good things about Mass Effect? Is there a remaster of some sort? Caberpunk 2077 seems to be pretty playable nowadays, no?

[doomeddisciple]

I'm going back to MGSV next, but the reason I never finished that was also because I lost interest.

Well, this game rules. I sort of vaguely remember why I didn't like it back when it originally came out, but it's really stupid. The one thing I always said about MGS4 was that I just wish there was more of the actual game instead of 2-hour cutscenes, and this is... exactly that. It's the largest and most open levels in MGS4 dialled up to 11 with a few reasonably sized cutscenes here and there, just enough for it to let you know that it's still fucking weird, and stubborn design choices like "no, you can't start a mission from here, you have to get on the helicopter first because Hideo Kojima thinks that's more immersive." And I don't mean that negatively, I love this game.

I remember loving it up to a point a bit over half way where the ideas and missions got a bit repetitive and I felt like ‘oh this is where Kojima left the project’ - I reckon it would be fun to play again, I might revisit.

[doomeddisciple]

Ok, listen guys, I haven't really been paying attention to what's going on since the PS2 era apart from some indie and retro/ pixel stuff like Hyperlight Drifter, Blasphemous or Inside. I could borrow a friend's switch or PS4 or even buy a one of the new consoles. If there was one relatively big budget game from the last 15 years, which one would you recommend? Apart from GTA, that is, and RPGs and especially JRPGs, can't stand that weeboo shit. I've been hearing good things about Mass Effect? Is there a remaster of some sort? Caberpunk 2077 seems to be pretty playable nowadays, no?

There’s a Mass Effect remake the whole way through on PS5 but theres a lot of RPG elements in it.

The Uncharted remakes on PS5 cause they did a great remaster of the whole lot recently. Action/platformer & great production values throughout.

Last of Us on PS4 or 5 really great.

God Of War from the Norse era forward on PS4 or 5.

[The Bill]

Ok, listen guys, I haven't really been paying attention to what's going on since the PS2 era apart from some indie and retro/ pixel stuff like Hyperlight Drifter, Blasphemous or Inside. I could borrow a friend's switch or PS4 or even buy a one of the new consoles. If there was one relatively big budget game from the last 15 years, which one would you recommend? Apart from GTA, that is, and RPGs and especially JRPGs, can't stand that weeboo shit. I've been hearing good things about Mass Effect? Is there a remaster of some sort? Caberpunk 2077 seems to be pretty playable nowadays, no?

There’s a Mass Effect remake the whole way through on PS5 but theres a lot of RPG elements in it.

The Uncharted remakes on PS5 cause they did a great remaster of the whole lot recently. Action/platformer & great production values throughout.

Last of Us on PS4 or 5 really great.

God Of War from the Norse era forward on PS4 or 5.

A lot of what I’m about to write is off the top of my head and many contain RPG elements, but they’re not turn based or strategy, all action, baby. I’m also guessing they are available on the PS4’s store, some are actually PS3 era games.

Bioshock collection
Mass Effect trilogy
Dead Space
Red Dead Redemption 2
Resident Evil 2 & 3 remake
Batman Arkham Asylum, City, and Origins
Witcher 3
Resident Evil 7
Tomb Raider new trilogy
Uncharted 1,2, & 3 HD
Dark Souls remaster
Elden Ring
And mother fucking Skyrim, nigga!