bulbasaur

been playing hyper light drifter. i dig the artwork. should hold me over til no man's sky's released next week

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last.fm

bulbasaur

full issues of nintendo power are up on archive.org if anyone's feeling nostalgic

https://archive.org/details/nintendo...ort=-downloads

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last.fm

Terrapin_Station

Finally got around to playing Batman Arkham Asylum (it can take me awhile to finally get around to games, obviously, and I tend to play slowly; I buy games much faster than I can play them). Awesome game overall even if some parts of it start getting a bit repetitive by the time you get around the 50% mark (I'm somewhere around 60% now I think). The graphics, atmosphere and Batman universe care and affection that went into it easily make up for the grindier aspects.

Before Arkham Asylum I finally tried Elder Scrolls Oblivion and I friggin hated it. In my opinion the gameplay was awful, the graphics were awful, the AI and design were awful, etc. I didn't get very far into it before I said it wasn't for me (I don't have much patience with games any longer. If they're not clicking with me, I ditch them quickly. I'd rather replay something I love.) I probably shouldn't have bothered, as generally I don't care for RPGs, and I prefer third-person games to first-person. Oblivion is in the "to sell (or give away)" pile now. I own Skyrim, too. Hopefully I'll like that better. But I'm going to play through all of the Batman Arkham games first.

Oh, and before Elder Scrolls Oblivion I tried two different Hitman games and I didn't care for those, either. I had played one of the Hitman games years ago (either Silent Assassin or Blood Money, I'm not sure which one), back when I was still renting games, and I liked it. So I bought the HD Trilogy and Absolution. I played the first game from the trilogy and it wasn't clicking at all, so I tried Absolution--much better graphics, controls, etc. on that (not surprising as it's newer), but the gameplay just seemed like a chore to me and not fun. So I probably only got 25% through it and I ditched it. I'll probably try the other two games in the trilogy though before I give up on the series altogether.

A big part of what I didn't like about the Hitman games this time was the stealth aspects. It just seemed to laborious, too touchy, too "artificial" and too much like that's all it was. But it's a bit weird that I didn't enjoy the stealth aspects because just prior to Hitman I'd played the Sniper Elite series for the first time, starting with III and then going back and playing V2, and I loved both of those enough that I played through each twice in a row.

The Batlord

The Arkham games are some of my favorite of all-time. I'm a Batman fanboy and all the gadgets and gliding and ninja **** just make you feel like the biggest badass to ever have a butt. And just wait till you get to Arkham City. It doesn't have the atmosphere of Asylum or the brilliantly cohesive setting, but the improved combat system, sheer amount of area to glide around (you get to glide around far more than in the first game), and ability to play as Catwoman make it better in different ways, even if the original is superior in others.

And if you didn't like Oblivion then you won't like Skyrim. They have the same gameplay for the most part, just with a better and more fleshed out world. And dragons. Can't forget the dragons. But if Oblivion didn't appeal to you on a basic level then you can just skip Skyrim.

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The Batlord

Oh, and I'm playing Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 again, and it's still awesome. I am pretty lukewarm towards the animes in general, but in the context of a Dynasty Warriors game kicking ass with mobile suits is a ****ing blast. And with the ability to upgrade the stats of your mobile suits and give them special abilities, the gameplay actually has more depth than your average DW, even if the actual game is just as gloriously repetitive.

There's also far more replay value, since you can have different characters pilot different mobile suits -- so you can have Amuro Ray pilot Heero Yui's Wing Gundam -- but you have to unlock both the characters and the suits separately. You can also gather "plans" for your mobile suits during battles which allow you to build versions with better stats. There's just so much more to do than in any of the other DW series, and if you're a fan of these games it's like crack.

My current fav mobile suit is Duo's Deathscythe. It's a monster at close range combat, and with the right upgrades it can clear entire bases in less than a minute, or even a single attack if you're lucky. Enemy aces (the actual named characters) die like sheep even on hard (though if they get you you still lose half your health in two seconds), and if you land a musou attack on a stage boss it's a guaranteed one-hit kill (of course Duo's stats are maxed out and my current Deathscythe is nearly maxed out itself). The glowing green laser scythe is also just amazingly badass, and the gundam's design is ridiculous but black and lowkey enough to still be totally awesome. I might actually go and watch Gundam Wing at some point on the off chance that's it's good enough that I can fangasm all over Duo and his suit.

But the real thing that got me back into the game is that playing a DW game while baked off your ass is like magic. The bright, arcade-style neon colors, the hypnotically repetitive gameplay, and the overall feeling of being a golden god are just intoxicating after a good bowl. Got me half a dimebag and the day off tomorrow, so I'm gonna get ripped tonight and crack out on Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3. Might even turn off the sound and play some loud as **** Arkangel and Demolition Hammer while playing. I've done that sober and it's ****ing awesome.

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Terrapin_Station

Thanks for the comments, Batlord. Yeah, Arkham City sounds like it's going to be killer.

Key

I've never played the Arkham games but god damn, I've wanted to. Apparently the Telltale Games Batman is really good.

Key

Pokemon Crystal (Randomizer)

Downloaded a randomizer and decided to do a randomizer Crystal playthrough. This is going to be fun. I chose Marowak as my starter.

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

Oxenfree

I recently started uploading to my YouTube channel again, and I stumbled upon this one while looking for horror games to play through. I'm about an hour and a half in so far, and I'm really loving it for what it is. There are shades of Until Dawn, but it has a very heavy indie vibe, and the soundtrack is phenomenal.

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Key

If you're looking for some good horror that could be good for your channel, check out Layers of Fear. I recently did my first playthrough, and it's phenomenal.