What games are you currently playing?

[Rsandee]

KH1FM is an amazing game, but I'm a bit confused by what you mean with the "colosseum final battle". Most of the colosseum is end-game content, especially the Hades cup, the Ice Giant and Sephiroth. Not to give spoilers or anything, these things have nothing to do with the story of the game and I don't think there's a keyhole at the end of the Hades Cup. There is a boss fight against Hades and you get the best staff and shield for Donald and Goofy respectively.

I suggest you synthesize everything in the synthesis list first and then make yourself an Ultima Keyblade before even attempting this though. Sure, you could defeat Sephiroth and ge the One Winged Angel keyblade and try it with that, but I don't think you want to do the Hades cup all over again from scratch if you fail. You have 20 minutes to defeat 49 rounds including the boss battle, though if you fail you end up at the last checkpoint every 10 rounds, which corresponds to a bossfight.

Oblivion definitely has level scaling issues. Maybe you'd think this is cheating, but I finished Oblivion with a mod that always gives maximum skill point upon levelling. If you don't do this, at some point you can hit a monster for minutes on end without it dying and it just makes the game really tedious and boring. It's an amazing game but I agree that the levelling issues make it worse than it could've been.

[EdgyRabbid]

In my beyond good and evil playthrough right now and the goddamn factory is very hard to find$ the rest of the fucking game has been straight forward so what GIVES?

[eerieyuri]

Sorry about taking a while to get to responding; I was tired from writing my first post since it took longer and more out of me than I anticipated, thus leading me to not immediately want to continue. I appreciate both of you sharing your thoughts: for most games (though I suppose Sonic is one of those exceptions), I don't go out of my way to find what people are saying about them, meaning this kind of discussion is a great way for me to gain new perspectives I hadn't considered as well as better understand my own thoughts. I also just think it's neat and fascinating to talk about specific parts of games which we've both experienced.

Ah much obliged, so I noticed you went through the Sonic Adventure duology, I also went through those during COVID for the first, after, much like yourself, seeing it around and also being exposed to the OSTs. Though it sounds like you went a lot further than I did, as I only did casual runs of both titles, as I didn't really have the patience to grind out full completion...and when I say didn't have the patience, I mean I skipped Big's story cause I just couldn't get past the fishing mechanics.

Sonic Adventure 2 definitely felt like a well needed streamlining and refinement following the first game, though I don't know if I was too keen on the walker segments, they made sense for Eggman but I kinda wish Tails still had his own style. As for the tone, yeah I think SA2 probably is only beaten by Shadow the Hedgehog in try-hardness, but given the time period it came out, I think it tracks. Definitely a bit cringe, but contextually speaking, kinda makes sense and I think it definitely still has its own lasting legacy as a consequence. Completely agreed about the treasure hunting though, I get wanting to give players a challenge, but I think it felt very much like padding near the end.

Chao Garden I dabbled with but I think it's a whole different game in of itself what with the digital pet mechanics.

"...as I only did casual runs of both titles, as I didn't really have the patience to grind out full completion..."

I think the games are pretty fun going through only once, especially since it feels pointless to play for much longer past the end credits if you don't intend on fully completing the game, but I also do think Sonic games in particular are designed around the player gaining a greater understanding of the stage and being able to blaze past them faster. The extent to which I completed Adventure DX is well past how much I think anyone should play the game, because the games become frankly tedious and an annoying grind once you start having to complete objectives you don't find enjoyable. It's an even more severe problem with the Adventure subseries of Sonic than even other games in the franchise because of how many wildly different playstyles these games feature.

As I had mentioned, I used the animal glitch: while I don't feel particularly great using a glitch to "complete" a grindy section on paper, in reality, the guilt I may have felt was negated by being able to enjoy the rest of the game and feel like I could meaningfully experience everything since I simply do not find the Chao gameplay loop very enjoyable, especially for the amount the game expects of you to obtain all five emblems.

I think the way you played them was far more reasonable and is probably what so many people miss fondly from the Adventure games. There are definitely some issues gameplay-wise with the campaign of Adventure 2, but it's probably what people think of when they say they would like another Adventure game. There is a whole other side to the Adventure games I do not and probably will never miss, and that's ridiculously tedious completion criteria. Even in your experience with Adventure, since you were required to deal with gameplay styles you found thoroughly unenjoyable (Big the Cat), you ended up dropping the game altogether and never seeing it through to the end. You never said so, but I would assume you also dealt with other gameplay styles which were not very fun, but you were willing to tolerate them simply due to their similarity to Sonic's---platforming, ability to gain exhilarating speed through skillful gameplay.

If you ever have any desire to, you may want to consider revisiting the games' stages you did like, as I feel like there is a lot of depth to explore in the stages on repeat playthroughs which one isn't able to fully appreciate in one or two runs. It might be better to do so in stage select / trial mode so as to avoid unwanted tedium; some of the stages are legitimately fun to play in trial since they have different approaches and you can learn faster routes and perfect them. If you do so, I would advise against suffering through anything which starts to become tedious.

"As for the tone, yeah I think SA2 probably is only beaten by Shadow the Hedgehog in try-hardness, but given the time period it came out, I think it tracks. Definitely a bit cringe, but contextually speaking, kinda makes sense and I think it definitely still has its own lasting legacy as a consequence."

Well, I would say they continued to go with that uncanny edginess until it hit its apex in Sonic the Hedgehog in 2006, where the reception then caused them to pivot and never look back. Even with Forces, which predicated its plot on being darker than the prior modern entries after '06, the tone is relatively lighthearted and the characters still emote and talk as if they are in a video game world with anthropomorphic animals and not in the real world where there are permanent consequences (Sonic cracking jokes after supposedly being tortured, which the game glosses over as a small detail.) Sonic Adventure 2 is probably near the upper limit of "try-hardness" people would be willing to accept before it appears ridiculous as it does in Shadow and '06, especially with '06's plot-hole-ridden story that almost sounds like a parody if you aren't familiar with it.

I have to imagine the contrived edginess of most media at the time would've been really annoying if you weren't into it, but now looking back, there is something very fascinating about it. I do think the inclusion of some elements is nice in that they didn't feel a need to stray away from covering more serious topics in a children's platformer due to the phase the industry was going through at the time, but I agree that in some cases, it was just not done particularly well. I think edginess can add nuance in moderation, but most of its inclusion back then was anything but. In that respect, Sonic Adventure 2 probably had it better than many other franchises at the time. Jak & Daxter completely transformed its gameplay style to more closely resemble Grand Theft Auto 3, for example; although it's a good thing that the developers were able to do what they want and not limited to continue making lighthearted nonsense-world platformers when they did not want to, one has to wonder how much of it was simply following media trends of the time. A more obvious example of this was The Legend of Zelda, where the Nintendo team developing the franchise's entries pivoted from the cartoony aesthetic of The Wind Waker to the Western epic-inspired aesthetic of Twilight Princess. I think I prefer the aesthetic choices of Twilight Princess, but was it truly worth it when the developers had a different vision and were succumbing to industry pressure to make their game "edgier?"

"Completely agreed about the treasure hunting though, I get wanting to give players a challenge, but I think it felt very much like padding near the end."

The treasure hunting stages all took me longer than I really would like a stage to take in a Sonic game... in fact, I don't think I received any grade higher than a C for any besides Pumpkin Hill, where I somehow received an A on my first (story) attempt despite taking a while to find one of the pieces. I didn't like how Security Hall as Rouge had a time limit of 5:00 while the game introduced the mechanic of opening vaults without explaining how to the player, meaning I had multiple runs fail simply trying to learn how the vaults work so I could retrieve the pieces after finding their locations seemingly inside walls. I don't think time limits add much but frustration specifically when most players are realistically never going to be able to fulfill them unless they already know exactly what to do since the limit and/or its stipulations are poorly telegraphed. At that point, it just guarantees you will need to restart and removes any tension it may have added otherwise.

KH1FM is an amazing game, but I'm a bit confused by what you mean with the "colosseum final battle". Most of the colosseum is end-game content, especially the Hades cup, the Ice Giant and Sephiroth. Not to give spoilers or anything, these things have nothing to do with the story of the game and I don't think there's a keyhole at the end of the Hades Cup. There is a boss fight against Hades and you get the best staff and shield for Donald and Goofy respectively.

I suggest you synthesize everything in the synthesis list first and then make yourself an Ultima Keyblade before even attempting this though. Sure, you could defeat Sephiroth and ge the One Winged Angel keyblade and try it with that, but I don't think you want to do the Hades cup all over again from scratch if you fail. You have 20 minutes to defeat 49 rounds including the boss battle, though if you fail you end up at the last checkpoint every 10 rounds, which corresponds to a bossfight.

Oblivion definitely has level scaling issues. Maybe you'd think this is cheating, but I finished Oblivion with a mod that always gives maximum skill point upon levelling. If you don't do this, at some point you can hit a monster for minutes on end without it dying and it just makes the game really tedious and boring. It's an amazing game but I agree that the levelling issues make it worse than it could've been.

"KH1FM is an amazing game, but I'm a bit confused by what you mean with the "colosseum final battle". Most of the colosseum is end-game content, especially the Hades cup, the Ice Giant and Sephiroth. Not to give spoilers or anything, these things have nothing to do with the story of the game and I don't think there's a keyhole at the end of the Hades Cup. There is a boss fight against Hades and you get the best staff and shield for Donald and Goofy respectively."

I guess I meant the final battle of the first part of the Colosseum, then. From the point I was at in the game, the highest cup available to me is (I haven't checked to see if a new one appeared) the Hercules Cup. Ever since I wrote my thoughts on KH1FM here, I did go back and leave Hollow Bastion to take on what the game presented to me in the Colosseum which I had yet to finish, that being the Hercules Cup. I lost to Cloud on my first attempt, but tried again and survived him through cheesy attrition by dodge rolling and letting Donald and Goofy chip away at his health while I went in for two keyblade hits after his dive downward attack. Donald and Goofy would keep being knocked out but then eventually come back with full health bars to continue chipping away at his health. Later, since the Hercules fight is designed around only Sora engaging in battle (and Hercules seemingly being impervious to magic), I used a similar strategy to face Hercules---conserving magic for Cura and otherwise sticking to chip damage from my keyblade, not being too greedy with hits to avoid critical danger.

I'm not sure how helpful using later-game keyblades is, as I had been using the Kingdom Key (starting keyblade) until my most recent session, where I then thought it made sense to use the Olympian I had unlocked since it actually offered a substantial damage bonus. (The reason I was using the default is that I thought it suited Sora better and the keys I had unlocked through finishing the different worlds did not seem to offer very different damage from the starter; I could compensate through my other stats.) After completing the Hercules Cup, I started looking around some of the past areas since I had also unlocked a new color of trio move (I don't recall if it was yellow or grey, maybe yellow?) I thoroughly searched smaller areas, specifically Monstro, Neverland, and Wonderland. My original intention was to finish the main story after the Colosseum, especially since I don't plan on obtaining every trophy during this playthrough since I'm already unable due to certain challenge trophies such as finishing the game without using a continue. I want to continue exploring, but I'm worried that the game ends without letting me return once I finish the main story, so I've held off on continuing Hollow Bastion for the time being.

Is there any post-game which allows me to continue playing after the story? You seem to have alluded to one existing, and I think I would be able to enjoy the game more if I was able to complete the story now and then face new, harder challenges, rather than leaving the story frozen in the same state for many more hours. The Hades Cup you mentioned sounds like the kind of challenge I would be interested in upgrading my stats in order to face, but I don't know if one exists before the final boss or after. Similarly, the trophy list mentions synthesizing far more than 12 items, but my synthesis list has never gone past 12; of those 12, I've already synthesized nine from the rare materials I found in bonus chests in my latest backtracking spree. Thank you for your advice, by the way.

"Oblivion definitely has level scaling issues. Maybe you'd think this is cheating, but I finished Oblivion with a mod that always gives maximum skill point upon levelling. If you don't do this, at some point you can hit a monster for minutes on end without it dying and it just makes the game really tedious and boring. It's an amazing game but I agree that the levelling issues make it worse than it could've been."

I heard about that mod, and while I'm not using it, maybe I should have. I usually like to play around the intended design on my first playthrough (not to imply that I believe playing the game your way is cheating), but since this is a repeat playthrough, it's probably better that I use mods which fundamentally improve the experience. Even the developers have basically admitted that the level-scaling was too severe by changing it in the remaster. I might just end up installing that mod despite being in the middle of my playthrough; I haven't really gone too far into combat yet as I have yet to touch most combat-oriented quests. It would certainly make the world feel more dynamic by not facing the same few low-tier enemies for the whole game.

I remember the whole, "...hit[ting] a monster for minutes on end without [them] dying...," and... yeah... I don't really wish to revisit that. In the span of writing this, my stance has changed to fully commit to installing that mod for my next play session.

[Pirez]

Somebody on stream enticed me to play Megaman X : Maverick Wars.

It made me appreciate how much fan games have gone over the years. It's way too retro for it's own good.

Of course, it's still the pre-est of the pre-alphas, but it feels clunky, don't allow for customisation, does not recognize controllers, ignores lore, have no unique spin on the concept and reuse assets like its Christmas at Emmaüs.

And the worst part is : I shouldn't be such a geezer and criticize the game for it. It's still a huge effort to put together a game that is, ultimately, functional, by a group of fans.

[Rsandee]

Is there any post-game which allows me to continue playing after the story? You seem to have alluded to one existing, and I think I would be able to enjoy the game more if I was able to complete the story now and then face new, harder challenges, rather than leaving the story frozen in the same state for many more hours. The Hades Cup you mentioned sounds like the kind of challenge I would be interested in upgrading my stats in order to face, but I don't know if one exists before the final boss or after. Similarly, the trophy list mentions synthesizing far more than 12 items, but my synthesis list has never gone past 12; of those 12, I've already synthesized nine from the rare materials I found in bonus chests in my latest backtracking spree. Thank you for your advice, by the way.

Yes and no, there is a lot of stuff to do after you finish the story but you'll always be forced to re-load your save after you've beaten the final boss. There is no way to save your game once you've completed the game. You'll have plenty of opportunities to save your game before that happens though, and you'll be given a warning once you're about to fight the final boss. The Olympia keyblade is amazing, good choice! It seems you're about to find end-game keyblades, the first of which are in Hollow Bastion. There will also be an amazing keyblade in Wonderland once you've completed Hollow Bastion as this part of the story triggers new enemies and events in every single world (like the Hades cup), which is essential for the synthesis list. It is true, you need to synthesize every single item in the synthesis list in order to progress and synthesize the Ultima keyblade, if memory serves. No problem here is a webpage I found really helpful when playing this game myself: https://www.khguides.com/kh/inventory/synthesis

I heard about that mod, and while I'm not using it, maybe I should have. I usually like to play around the intended design on my first playthrough (not to imply that I believe playing the game your way is cheating), but since this is a repeat playthrough, it's probably better that I use mods which fundamentally improve the experience. Even the developers have basically admitted that the level-scaling was too severe by changing it in the remaster. I might just end up installing that mod despite being in the middle of my playthrough; I haven't really gone too far into combat yet as I have yet to touch most combat-oriented quests. It would certainly make the world feel more dynamic by not facing the same few low-tier enemies for the whole game.

I remember the whole, "...hit[ting] a monster for minutes on end without [them] dying...," and... yeah... I don't really wish to revisit that. In the span of writing this, my stance has changed to fully commit to installing that mod for my next play session.

I know exactly what you mean, changing game mechanics to your advantage feels very scummy. I started a playthrough of Morrowind some years ago that "fixed" the combat to be more like Oblivion and Skyrim, without endlessly missing your target and this feeling of cheating eventually made me quit the game. One day I'll figure out a way to properly experience Morrowind I guess but that game is not today. I think it doesn't matter too much if you don't start a new save and just enable the mod now, as long as you don't overlevel too much. You'll figure out pretty quickly when you should start minding whether you level or not.

[EdgyRabbid]

I’m playing good and evil rn and holy shit. The whole human trafficking plot line lowkey freaks me the fuck out . Like I’m just here with my mouth wide open while the X-rays of the humans show up on screen. Freaky as fuck

[Pirez]

Given the news about Silksong, I've crossed the rubicon and bought Hollow Knight.

I didn't expect being so sucked up in a game's atmosphere. Holy smokes is it engaging. 21 hours played in two days, one of which I was supposed to be working.

Now I'm stoked about Silksong. Here's a Hornet !

[neo]

I'm currently playing Final Fantasy 14 online. It is quite addicting. Well, I played it today, I'm mostly focusing on posting now. I intend to play it more, and on September 30th, I intend to play some Final Fantasy Tactic Remake. Also, my friend is dragging me back into Destiny 2, so some of that even though Bungie stonks are down.

[The Jonster]

Playing R3 on Dolphin ahhh the nostalgia

[Pirez]

Funny that, besides Hollow Knight, I recently setup a Dolphin emulator.

I used it to play Rogue Leader though.

[neo]

On the topic of Dolphin Emulator, I need to continue Phantasy Star Online with it. I'm just too focus on FF14. Addiction and all. Also has a very long story line. I'm in it for the long haul.

[Pirez]

Phantasy Star can be played online with the emulator?

[Magelin]

Playing R3 on Dolphin ahhh the nostalgia

I play R3 on PCSX2, personally And i noticed that Rayman Revolution is way slower and laggier than Rayman 3, probably because of the open world thing.
I'm replaying Deltarune a little bit... I also just remembered i need to complete MGS. I have too many games to play Oh, and i'm playing Brawl Stars on the side, too, after a pretty long hiatus. I don't really know what's going on, but i'm just happy i'm playing it, haha.

[neo]

Phantasy Star can be played online with the emulator?

It can be, you just need to use the private server. I can invite you to the discord for it if you like.

[Pirez]

I actually never played Phantasy Star, so I don't think you need to bother.

I'm just amazed that there is still a community for such an old game.

[neo]

I think some are just tired of live service games, so they prefer to stick to a game they know they can support themselves.

[Pirez]

Nothing beats a well-crafted single player experience in my opinion.

[The Jonster]

I don't really play online tbh. I'm definitely a single player person, maybe I'll play with friends and family though if I feel like it

[Pirez]

I've been into Overwatch for a while and enjoyed it. But if you're mid it starts getting stale after some time.

And I'm the middest.

[neo]

I enjoy multiplayer, but I agree that a good ol' single player game can't be beat. The game industry really wants to push live service, but look at it, it's turning upside down.