What games are you playing now?

With some hesitation, I've started playing Nier:Replicant (XSX)

Only a mere two hours in the game, but it seems most of my fears about this version are true: it is a polished version of (imho) one of the greatest games ever created, but something vital was lost in translation: the original's soul, that was buried under a clunky rough surface. The remaster is technically better, but interestingly a more hollow experience.

If you are old enough to remember Alfred Hitchcock's groundbreaking Psycho in all of its black and white glory, and compare it to Gus Van Sant's colorized remake, you'll know what I mean.

Fantasy General 2 "prologue" is available for free on steam

Giving it a try, and was pumped at first, but the game was putting me to sleep.
Maybe it was just late

Oh man, I was this close to finishing the horse-back samurai boss in Sekiro, on my first try. So frikkin close. And I'll bet my future runs will not even be close. But I think I got the gist of it. All I have to do is really time those deflects. As always.

EDIT: Nevermind. Got him on my second try. Wasn't that hard at all.

Yesterday after finishing Order From Caos, I was looking through the games I'd not yet played, and saw the new version of Geneforge: Mutagen there, so I'm giving that one a whirl. Usually I avoid playing mages, yet I know I've not tried the shaper class before in this game, so I'm trying it on for size. Who knows, perhaps this magi will grow on me!

Originally Posted by xSamhainx
Fantasy General 2 "prologue" is available for free on steam

Giving it a try, and was pumped at first, but the game was putting me to sleep.
Maybe it was just late

I love the game. Get the full one, it's worth it and its campaigns are huge.

My only problem is that late in the campaigns, you start having too many units (for my taste). Imo, it starts getting a little too tedious.

At the moment I'm playing Total War Warhammer. I had bought this game a couple of years ago but my old machine didn't run it very well. I got a new computer this winter and it plays much better.

I'm also playing to Mount & Blades 2 to check what they have added recently and yesterdays, I started Astrox Imperium. Not sure yet if I like it. I didn't get very far. The game is certainly complex.

Sekiro is proving to be a great game. It doesn't have the atmosphere and world of Bloodborne, but it's the world is still very nicely designed. Still one step below Bloodborne in how tangled the world is. But I feel the setting of Bloodborne really leaves a lot of room for absurdist world layout.

The gameplay though, might be even better than Bloodborne. In Bloodborne I very quickly settled on a "spam attack as fast as possible", and hope to stunlock. At least for most enemies. For bosses it's mostly dodge and roll around and try to attack once in a while. While in Sekiro, you trade rolling around to deflecting, jumping and countering.

I still get pummeled to death by various bosses, but every once in a while I surprise myself (like the most recent fight with the Seven Spears samurai in the Ashina reservoir; who I defeated only in 3 tries.). But now I'm again up against one of those purple ninja that just keep taking me out. And I managed to deal one deathblow, and he has two. And I can't take him by surprise to get one free deathblow. So, this'll be interesting.

And I beat Lady Butterfly in Sekiro. Holy shit. It really took it out of me. I actually have pain in my arms from gripping that controller as long as I did. Took about 7 or 8 tries and it was a lot harder than what others are saying. I always ran out of shuriken ammo in the final phase. I was also on my last Seed that you use to dispel her illusions. So I don't know what I would've done had I ran out of them completely.

Before her fight, I also fought one of the Ashina Elite, the katana wielding dude that does the Ashina Cross, the fast two hit attack that you have a split second to deflect both slashes. Holy shit that was fun. After it was initially annoying as hell. That one also took a couple of retries since I could never time my attacks. Also, for that one I used my guide, otherwise I'd have never though of using the small poison sword to get his health down. Theoretically I could've won without it, but I don't think I could've kept up with the fast deflects needed.

Man, what a fantastic game, when you finally pull it off. And what a pain in the ass when you don't. I was cursing all over during my retries of Lady Butterfly.

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
And I beat Lady Butterfly in Sekiro. Holy shit. It really took it out of me. I actually have pain in my arms from gripping that controller as long as I did. Took about 7 or 8 tries and it was a lot harder than what others are saying. I always ran out of shuriken ammo in the final phase. I was also on my last Seed that you use to dispel her illusions. So I don't know what I would've done had I ran out of them completely.

Before her fight, I also fought one of the Ashina Elite, the katana wielding dude that does the Ashina Cross, the fast two hit attack that you have a split second to deflect both slashes. Holy shit that was fun. After it was initially annoying as hell. That one also took a couple of retries since I could never time my attacks. Also, for that one I used my guide, otherwise I'd have never though of using the small poison sword to get his health down. Theoretically I could've won without it, but I don't think I could've kept up with the fast deflects needed.

Man, what a fantastic game, when you finally pull it off. And what a pain in the ass when you don't. I was cursing all over during my retries of Lady Butterfly.

Seems like the type of game for sado-masochists…
I would never have the stamina to play a game where it is the default to need several retries per fight.

Originally Posted by bkrueger
Seems like the type of game for sado-masochists…
I would never have the stamina to play a game where it is the default to need several retries per fight.

Well, not really. It's about difficulty and reward. The more difficult something is, the greater the feeling of accomplishment. That's basically it.

But the game itself is fantastic, even if extremely difficult some times, and highly difficult most of the time. The mechanics are very fine-tuned, and the world is a pleasure to explore. Something most games do very badly. But, in keeping with other FromSoft games, it's very obtuse as to what you have to do, and when. So, after I feel I'm spinning in circles, I usually resort to a guide. And then my jaw drops as to how many things are hidden and never stated, and I wonder how do players that don't use a guide figure these things out. But I guess, since the official guide (a 500+ page book) is usually launched close to release, that could be it.

Anyway, as I said, it's a blast. But I have serious doubts if I'll be able to finish the fights I know are coming. If you have an issue retrying a fight 10 times, I've seen streamers retry fights 100+ times. How about that?

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
And I beat Lady Butterfly in Sekiro. Holy shit. It really took it out of me. I actually have pain in my arms from gripping that controller as long as I did. Took about 7 or 8 tries and it was a lot harder than what others are saying.

I've seen a lot of comments to the opposite effect, that she's one of the toughest bosses. Personally, she was easier for me that a lot of other bosses for whatever reason. But she definitely isn't considered easy by the broader community. One of the most rage inducing fights for me is considered trivial by many, so you never know. I won't tell you what it is so as to avoid spoilers, but I'll just say this: they attack you many, many times in rapid succession in an enclosed space. That may help you recognize it when you get there.

I'm currently shuffling between Paper Sorceror, Geneforge, Darkest Dungeon, and Tales of Berseria.
And co-op Vermintide 2 and Insurgency Sandstorm.

Can't seem to settle on anything.

I really didn't feel up to M&M7, so I hit pause (or likely, just cancel since it's so early in the game that restarting isn't a problem) and went truly old school with Might and Magic 2. I'm about 30 total party wipes in. It's definitely tougher than the later games in the series, even with the rather extravagant item drops even in Middlegate. This doesn't really balance out many of the monsters in Middlegate easily being able to wipe out a L6 party in one round, without any recourse for me. I think it's rougher than even 1. While 1 is tough, the monsters are more balanced early on, with fewer special attacks or abilities (like half my party not being able to hit the sucker because they're the wrong gender, or exploding and insta-gibbing half my party in one go) IMO.

Shagnak, I'm rocking my way through Geneforge: Mutagen right now, and having a great time. Get some! Actually Paper Sorcerer and Darkest Dungeon are also two excellent alternatives.

Bought Total War ROME Remastered today on Steam. It wasn't on sale but I still bought it. It looks and plays better then the original game and it's expansion pack at least.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
I've seen a lot of comments to the opposite effect, that she's one of the toughest bosses. Personally, she was easier for me that a lot of other bosses for whatever reason. But she definitely isn't considered easy by the broader community. One of the most rage inducing fights for me is considered trivial by many, so you never know. I won't tell you what it is so as to avoid spoilers, but I'll just say this: they attack you many, many times in rapid succession in an enclosed space. That may help you recognize it when you get there.

Hm, haven't seen anything like what you mentioned yet. So, another thing to dread.

I managed to kill the knight in the Senpou area, after only 2-3 tries. But I did know to use the Umbrella for dodging. Not sure how much of a difference it made, but upon previous retries using just the sword deflect, he always overpowered me. I liked and disliked the fact that in order to end the fight you need to make sure to deal the lethal blow in the right position to also kick him off the edge. It made it interesting, but I think I lucked into him being in the right position. I'm not sure I would've had the same response had I brought his posture down, and then needing to do it again, with 0 healing rounds available.

I also managed to kill the big catterpillar dude, in the temple. Again, the umbrella was overpowered for him. Otherwise, I might've had issues deflecting his 5-7 fast attacks.

And now I'm trying to see what else I can do, just to avoid going to Genichiro in the Ashina Castle. I seriously dread this fight, since I saw that there's effectively 3 phases. Holy shit.

I can't believe I managed to kill Genichiro in Ashina Castle on my 4 or 5th try. I only managed to reach his Tomoe phase 2 times. And on the second I somehow managed to do it, with only 1 healing item to spare. I really got good at the deflecting, it seems. Since I never even bothered to catch his lightning strikes and throw them back to him. So that's a shame. But, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. I'm so freakin pumped that I managed to beat him. Feeling amazing. What an awesome fight, when you pull it off. Fantastic. So pumped!

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
I can't believe I managed to kill Genichiro in Ashina Castle on my 4 or 5th try. I only managed to reach his Tomoe phase 2 times. And on the second I somehow managed to do it, with only 1 healing item to spare. I really got good at the deflecting, it seems. Since I never even bothered to catch his lightning strikes and throw them back to him. So that's a shame. But, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. I'm so freakin pumped that I managed to beat him. Feeling amazing. What an awesome fight, when you pull it off. Fantastic. So pumped!

I'm jealous. I didn't count, but it took me more tries than I can easily recall. I'm talking like 25+

Originally Posted by azraelck
I really didn't feel up to M&M7, so I hit pause (or likely, just cancel since it's so early in the game that restarting isn't a problem) and went truly old school with Might and Magic 2. I'm about 30 total party wipes in. It's definitely tougher than the later games in the series, even with the rather extravagant item drops even in Middlegate. This doesn't really balance out many of the monsters in Middlegate easily being able to wipe out a L6 party in one round, without any recourse for me. I think it's rougher than even 1. While 1 is tough, the monsters are more balanced early on, with fewer special attacks or abilities (like half my party not being able to hit the sucker because they're the wrong gender, or exploding and insta-gibbing half my party in one go) IMO.

MM2 is easily the toughest of the series. MM7 is my go-to when I feel the JVC-vibes.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
I'm jealous. I didn't count, but it took me more tries than I can easily recall. I'm talking like 25+

Jesus, that seems like a lot. Did you take breaks between chunks of retries? It's always weird for me with taking a break. On the one hand, I do calm down and can perform better after a break. But sometimes, I need a couple of tries just to warm up to the moves. So for me it's a delicate balance between being too relaxed and slow, and too frustrated and sloppy.

Anyway, I've obtained the Mortal Blade, and love the Mortal Draw move. Looks so cool, the black and red ink the slashes leave behind. Also, that Folding Monkeys fight was really out there. I enjoyed it, even though I got a bit annoyed of running after the monkeys.

And I'm turning off for the night. I'm so tired, and feel I've been living and breathing Sekiro for the past weeks. I'm 40h into the game. And now headed for the Sunken Valley. Am I about halfway through the game? The guides I once in a while look over, seem to suggest so.