CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

I'm ready go tonight. There's a party, alright. We don't need the raisin for joy, oh yeah. Tick down to midnight.
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DHerder222
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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by DHerder222 » Thu Aug 08, 2019 4:36 pm

I got Tokyo Xanadu for the PS4 the other day and thought I'd give it a plug. It's only $12 on sale right now, I think for another week or two. It's a simple but pretty fun game, and it might be a good fit for you Persona-loving folks. Even though it's an action RPG and not turn-based, the phrase I would use for it is "Persona lite." It's got otherworldly dungeons, slice-of-life downtime, even friendship gauges with your teammates. Heck, it even operates on a calendar like P5.

I'm only a small way through it, but I'm digging it so far. Worth a look if you've got an RPG itch to scratch.

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Bier_Engel
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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Bier_Engel » Thu Aug 08, 2019 6:29 pm

That's a game I've had my eye on. Is it $12 digitally, then? I might pick it up for the sale price, since my PS4 should have plenty of room.

That said, there's an EX version, I think? I'd have to look into the differences, but is it that one, or the normal one on sale?

Speaking of sales, I guess the Zero Escape series is being heavily discounted on Steam right now.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by DHerder222 » Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:21 pm

I wasn't clear enough - Tokyo Xanadu was the original Vita release, and Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is the PS4 remaster. So it's all the same game.

And yup, digital version is $12.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Bier_Engel » Fri Aug 09, 2019 4:01 am

Sweet. Probably not going to touch it for months, but I'll jump on that at that price.

E: PS4 version is $18... which is still a hell of a step down from $60, so that's downloading right now.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by DHerder222 » Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:48 am

Huh, that's weird. That's not what I paid. Does PSN ever change prices mid-sale?

e: Just realized it could be a Plus thing.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Bier_Engel » Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:49 pm

Yep. I noticed Plus discounts and I don't have that.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by DHerder222 » Mon Aug 19, 2019 6:39 pm

Let me know what you think of it when you start playing. I'm juuust about done with the first playthrough.

Any other games you folks can think of that have the kind of school/life sim elements Persona made famous?

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Bier_Engel
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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Bier_Engel » Mon Aug 19, 2019 6:59 pm

I've got a ways to go with Fire Emblem before I switch to something else. Speaking of, 3 Houses does have school elements...

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Delthazar » Sat Aug 24, 2019 11:34 pm

I'm catching up on Life is Strange 2 now that Episode 4 just dropped. Just wrapped up Episode 2, may as well move onto Episode 3 and just forget about sleeping tonight maybe

...fucking christ, yes, this studio and this series is known for its debilitating gutpunches, but holy shit we're kinda starting the show with a showstopper here huh
Spoiler for Life is Strange 2, Episode 2 :
THEY KILLED MY FUCKING DOG.

...

FUCK!

like that was barely after the damn episode title card, too. wasting no time here.

they did a pretty good job building some suspenseful paranoia around the grandparents without going too overboard, and wrapped around nicely to make 'em into pretty cool people in the end, though as usual I wonder if there's a worse failstate that turns Claire on you completely. they also continued to build on the mystery of the mother pretty well. no way that thread remains unresolved now; with luck, it'll feel a tad more complete than the business with Rachel Amber's mother in Before The Storm.

it was really nice to catch up with Chris and his dad again, though go figure, I ended up fucking that situation pretty royal at the end. maybe Episode 3 will touch on this some more 'cause fuuuuuuuuck if they just leave it there. looks like Episode 2 got me on the equivalent of Season 1 Episode 2's "Kate jumps" path again. (since the post-credits friend stats indicate y'all did better than I did, well, uh, my Chris got HIT BY A FUCKING CAR so if there's a worse way to fuck up Episode 2 I'd love to hear it)

speaking of stats, I also couldn't resist giving Lyla a call, even figuring it could get back to the cops (which it did - wonder if the laptop would do the same thing, and what would end up triggering the ending even if you're 100% on the down-low). Lyla's the best, couldn't resist the call, and I tried pretty hard.

...Daniel blamed me for Chris getting hit, refused to help with chores, and didn't enjoy his present, so given the tone and outcome of this episode I feel like I'm building a supervillain here
OKAY TIME FOR EPISODE 3 I'LL BE BACK

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Delthazar » Sun Aug 25, 2019 3:33 am

chriiist

...I'm gonna get some sleep and double back with Episode 3 thoughts in the morning whenever I wake up, then hit Episode 4.

all I'll really say for right now is that looking at these stats the amount of possible variables going into the closing couple scenes must be pretty wild, probably easily the equal of the big Max/Chloe/Frank scene in Season 1.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Falcon Critical » Sun Aug 25, 2019 1:43 pm

LiS Episode 2:
Spoiler :
It's been so long now that I'd forgotten about the doggo, yeah that was rough. I mentioned at the time that I fucked something up in Ep 2 that I wanted to go back and fix, and that was calling Lyla. I hadn't even realised it was an option, so when I saw it in the end summary I was like "fuck that I'm calling!"... and reloaded a save to make sure I called her.

Overall I feel Ep2 was the weakest, mostly because the character work in LiS is the stuff I come back for and though it felt real to tip toe around your grandparents I was missing characters to fall in love with.
LiS Episode 3:
Spoiler :
This one felt like the LiS I wanted, a cast of interesting outcasts and moments of calm and warmth amidst the shit blizzard of their lives.

I kissed Finn, and went in on their heist plan. I knew it was a bad idea, but I could tell that Daniel was going to do it regardless of whether I was there or not, so protective big bro mode activated and I went along to try and keep things from... well going the way they did.

I could have sworn that Sean was dead from that glass to the eye, and had kind of convinced myself that the Ep4 preview was Daniel grown up some years later. Glad that's not the case, I think at the time I was worried about the effect that Sean's death would have on Daniel and Lyla. After I went on the internet after Ep3 though everyone was convinced that Sean was alive, so I calmed a little haha.
Even though we have spoiler tags, I might wait to mention Ep4 till you're done.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Delthazar » Sun Aug 25, 2019 1:58 pm

okay, diving back a few months in time 'cause
cybersix wrote:
Fri May 10, 2019 7:09 pm
life is strange 2: episode 3
Spoiler :
i said fuck no to the heist. looks like finn is alive, cassidy is injured, and i am missing an eye.

at least I got laid :fingerguns:
I got the exact outcome you did, high five
Spoiler for episode 3 :
having spent time around mountain hippies this all felt pretty authentic, like I sorta knew all these people already. they even had a backpacking couple from europe. there's always one of those. definitely wasn't expecting a weed trimming simulator, of course. I enjoyed the unexpected challenge of trying to manage that while keeping up with the conversation simultaneously

Image

quick aside on conversations: I like how there's time-outs on some options if you wait too long, and everything will just keep flowing without you. Oxenfree did this, to the extent where you could actually go the whole game without talking at all; LiS doesn't really need to go to that extreme, and I doubt it would work if they tried, but it's nice to have and I've found myself doing it either accidentally or on purpose a couple times.

like Patrick over at Waypoint I also found myself super engaged with those Cassidy scenes

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evym ... video-game

it's so far back in the rearview mirror it may as well have been a different lifetime but yeah, all that nervous energy and super earnest cute-ass awkward fumbling, that's pretty much the only way that goes. I'd go a little beyond Patrick's header and say this is the only relatable scene of its kind in video games, not just the best one, at least so far as first times are concerned - I'm sure Shepard and Liara knew what they were doing

(another aside: this episode's use of nudity was extremely well handled, not just in those scenes with Cassidy, where the camera never focuses or lingers or draws attention to it at all, it just is, but also Hannah earlier on - nothing shouts out FOREST HIPPY WORKER CO-OP quite like someone occasionally going around topless on their way to the shower in the morning 'cause who gives a shit. little touches like that and like, using a damn tarp to collect rainwater, put me in the setting immediately)

anyway, this was a strong episode. I do wonder though how LiS2's road story structure is going to reintegrate some of these moving parts, or if it'll even try. there's pieces of this cliffhanger that can't just be left where they fell. I sorta need to know if Cassidy's okay - add to the list alongside Chris I guess - and I doubt Finn has much time if both he and Merrill survived. how effectively did I sabotage Big Joe's truck again? :pacdown
onto 4!

e:
Falcon Critical wrote:
Mon May 13, 2019 3:18 am
The collectables are getting nefariously tricksy now, holy shit.
man you ain't kidding. I think I managed two in Episode 3 and I missed them all in Episode 2. I've been better about the sketches at least.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Falcon Critical » Sun Aug 25, 2019 5:24 pm

Oh as an aside, something I almost missed in Ep3:
Spoiler :
There's a conversation you can overhear on one of the last days at the camp where the lady from the pair of tourists is talking to someone and basically saying that she's realised she's not that into tourist dude. She's not quite sure what to do because they're in the US for like 6 months or a year or something and she doesn't know whether she should tell him and go the rest of it alone or just kind of deal with it till they head home.

It's amazing that a complex sideplot like that is just kind of there without calling a whole lot of attention to it. Episode 4 does give you some answers as to where the rest of your Ep3 crew got to.

Sounds like I'm alone in kissing Finn, my poor cute stoner BF.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Delthazar » Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:20 pm

Falcon Critical wrote:
Sun Aug 25, 2019 5:24 pm
Oh as an aside, something I almost missed in Ep3:
Spoiler :
There's a conversation you can overhear on one of the last days at the camp where the lady from the pair of tourists is talking to someone and basically saying that she's realised she's not that into tourist dude. She's not quite sure what to do because they're in the US for like 6 months or a year or something and she doesn't know whether she should tell him and go the rest of it alone or just kind of deal with it till they head home.
hmm, I think I actually got the other end of that
Spoiler for episode 3 :
the other tourist whose name I've forgotten, drunk off his ass (probably for this raisin) was lamenting the possibility of her wanting to go south to wherever while he wanted to go north to Canada. but I wasn't quick enough to overhear the other conversation to get the full context - Cassidy just called it "secret girl talk"

it's a pretty complex character beat to just put there on the side, yeah. feels real.
alright so Episode 4 chat
Spoiler for episode 4 :
I enjoyed a lot of this one, though Episode 3 is maybe still the standout, Episode 4 nonetheless had a lot going on, probably the heaviest load since the opener. there's a lot to unpack here that might benefit from more distance and thought before I leap into analysis, but whatever

I was thinking before I started this episode that most of the race themes had faded after the first episode, so of course they come rushing back here. Like in Episode 1 this game is doing a very good job at getting me pissed at racists, which is kinda the whole point. So of course that has me being rather defiant and getting poor Sean beat up a lot. Refused to give Spanish lessons, refused to sing.

I like the dream flashback stuff with Esteban a lot. Those were maybe my favourite scenes in Before The Storm, even if maybe part of that was thanks to the heavier emphasis on Lynch-ass mystique and imagery as much as the character details for Chloe and William. Cool to see this device make a return. The Daniel dream was nice too. I think I prefer these to full-on playable flashbacks like before.

The big left turn into a cult subplot was... well, way way more of a left turn than I expected, I suppose. Felt out of place, maybe, like it came from another series. Cult stories are always hard for a bunch of raisins, they very easily settle into exactly one mode, one tone, one set of performances, usually with only one possible resolution, and most of the time the tropes overwhelm everything else and the whole thing falls into camp. It was better here than I'm used to see it deployed, and Jacob's end of that helps a lot (his backstory elaboration here is fucking dark) but yikes, I'm still not sure how to feel about it all. Jacob's setup for Haven's Point in your conversations with him in Episode 3 maybe weren't enough preparation? Maybe this is why I'll need more distance, or even a second run, before I'm totally settled on how I feel about it.

But as a vehicle for Karen's proper entry into the series I think it worked very well and was probably totally worth the narrative risk. The Karen/Sean scenes were kinda excellent, thanks a lot to the performance for Karen, which I'm glad was pretty nicely understated, even when the character was doing extremely not-understated things, like BURNING DOWN A TOWER or whatever that was, hell yeah

choices: I managed to escape the hospital without hurting anyone or turning anyone into an accomplice. didn't talk to Finn. didn't play the racist's games. took the ride with the trucker. tried my best to hear Karen out. explored as much of the compound as I seemed able (apparently you can attract Nicholas' attention doing that? I wonder how - using the fire extinguisher to break the door, maybe) which seemed to give me a lot of "Kate on the roof" style dialogue options in the showdown scene. everyone got out of the church alive, nobody got shot, the gun got left to burn with the church and not become a lingering Chekov/axe hanging over the heads of the whole cast for the rest of the series like last season :pac

both Cassidy and Chris are okay! not everything is dire, and that's important. I'd like to get a better idea of how the others are doing though. glad to at least have a little Lyla in the flashback.

also holy shit that Episode 5 teaser. :stare In retrospect, maybe I should've expected a shot like that, but I really didn't expect a shot like that. :shock

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Falcon Critical » Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:53 pm

Episode 4:
Spoiler :
I also snuck out the window without hurting or implicating anyone. Talked to Finn of course, he's my boy. We had a cute little conversation including Finn saying the line “you shoulda told me you were here, we coulda hooked up!”. I kinda wanted to bust him out too, but could see how that might not be practical. When talking to the FBI lady, I did also claim I planned the heist. Not entirely sure why I did that, but now that I skipped town perhaps that'll help Finn out. I had the option to tell Finn where I was going, which I didn't and regretted... but I reminded myself that I constantly told Lyla I couldn't tell her where I was so it was kinda like that. I wonder who of our friends we will ever see again.

Looking to avoid conflict with those fuckers who wake you up in the car I went along with what they asked me to say in Spanish, which ends with a heartbreaking 'Say "This is not my country" in Spanish' line. By not standing up to them however I didn't get in a fight with them and they didn't try to get me to sing. The overriding thought in my head through all this was "If I fight these guys they're going to potentially remember me, if I just roll over I'll just be another person they tormented".

After that I didn't want to get in the truck with the next guy, and walked the rest of the way.

During the Dad dream when he kept asking about Jenn, I had the opportunity to say "I kissed a boy" and dream-dad was a bit taken aback but cool with it. It was an interesting moment for Sean to try and parse out in his head.

I tried to continue to be standoffish to Karen, refusing her help for menial things... but there were two options I think that spun me around to "you mostly tried to understand Karen". When she sat down outside with me, I asked one of the three questions ("why ghost us?") and though her answer was pretty BS, I then had the option to storm back inside or ask for a smoke or just sit... and I just sat which was a nice moment. Considering the end of episode car ride, that was probably the right decision in order to strip away some of the huge tension between them.

When I got the option to call Jacob, I was saying out loud to my computer "WHERE'S MY CALL LYLA OPTION!?" Poor Lyla, it's been months now with no word.

Good to know that Chris is okay even if he gets hit by the cop car. Sean picked up the pistol in my playthrough at the end, but it was not visible in the subsequent scenes and I didn't get any options to use it. I asked Daniel not to kill the pastor.

There are some pretty great memes around Karen choosing to burn down that building as a distraction.

The drawing minigame with the fade out on the left hand side was clever. Sean needs to buy some sunglasses instead of an eyepatch... far less conspicuous.

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DHerder222
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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by DHerder222 » Thu Aug 29, 2019 4:24 pm

Do you folks enjoy playing JRPGs on Steam? I saw the first game in the Trails franchise is basically only available in the west on Steam nowadays, and I'm tempted to give it a try. But I've never played an RPG of that type on the PC so I'm curious for thoughts.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Thunderhead » Thu Aug 29, 2019 6:07 pm

If you've got a controller, there's literally no difference. I have the first Trails game on Steam, and my X-Box controller plays it just fine.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Delthazar » Thu Aug 29, 2019 6:15 pm

Any differences depend on the game. Some might get support for higher resolutions and other tech-y stuff versus their original console versions depending on who's doing the ports. Load times might be better, or definitely will be better if you're installing to an SSD vs. an older console's HDD. There might be patches for things that never got patched on consoles, or maybe new bugs entirely. A lot of NIS America's PC ports have been especially problematic, at least at first.

I vaguely remember there being a mod scene for the PC version of Final Fantasy XV, and hacks besides for all kinds of other things, though that's usually not much more than a curiosity.

Something like a Trials though would probably just be a straight-up port, yeah. They should play exactly the same if you're using a gamepad.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Bier_Engel » Thu Aug 29, 2019 6:18 pm

Let me know your experience once you start playing. I bought Trails of the Sky on sale but haven't started yet, nor have I played any true JRPG on Steam yet. I've been on the fence about buying the Steam controller.

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Delthazar
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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Delthazar » Thu Aug 29, 2019 6:23 pm

Steam has had native support for PS4 dual shocks for a while now, and 360/XB1 pads basically forever, so making the case for a Steam controller is getting harder and harder. Pretty sure Steam even supports the Switch Pro Controller by now.

But maybe this has also knocked Steam controller pricetags down into the basement.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by DHerder222 » Thu Aug 29, 2019 6:37 pm

Yeah, I just read some instructions on using a PS4 controller on the PC. I'm curious to give that a whirl.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Delthazar » Thu Aug 29, 2019 6:43 pm

One annoying snag (but probably an understandable one) is that not everything on Steam will display Playstation button prompts in-game just because you plugged in a PS4 controller. If it's a Steam game with a PS4 console version, maybe, but more often than not you'll be seeing Xbox labels no matter what pad you're using.

It's not impossible to get used to but it can take a moment, and even after several years I still sometimes forget or get tripped up by the X button since it's on both controllers in different positions.

I'm just glad that at this point all the major controllers use basically the same layout with minor positioning differences and different names for only like four buttons. A big leap from the chaos of the old days for sure.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by DHerder222 » Thu Aug 29, 2019 6:54 pm

Thanks for the heads-up! That's good to know.

Just while we're on the subject, it's weird that these kinds of games haven't migrated to the PS4 by now anyway. The console seems pretty port-friendly based on all the old titles we've been getting, and Trails was of course a PSP title to begin with.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by Thunderhead » Thu Aug 29, 2019 7:30 pm

I remember playing KoToR on PC back in the day, and using the kb/mouse to do it. It was a bit awkward at first, but worked just fine. As for Trails, I just fired it up, and it doesn't seem like the kb/mouse controls would be too weird. Still, you can pick up any cheap wired X-Box controller, plug it in, and be fine.

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Re: CF-WRUP V: Good play. Nice talk.

Post by cybersix » Fri Sep 06, 2019 7:34 pm

Life is Strange episode 4 chat
Spoiler :
Maybe I've played too many games with shitty plots, but I expected that Karen left because of something to do with Daniel's powers. Nope, she just decided that being a wife and mother was a decision she made because she felt obligated to, and decided to go do her own thing. Damn. Somehow, her trying to remember how you liked your cheeseburger was a nice touch. I tried to be understanding.

I sang for the racist dudes to avoid getting shitkicked. Feels bad. Took a ride with the trucker, since I figured it'd be unlikely that everyone I met in Nevada would be an asshole.

I snuck out of the hospital through the window, talked to Finn, and told him we were cool, bro. I also blamed him for the heist, so we'll see how long his good feelings last. Asked Daniel to wind punch the pastor out of the way of the door and then... dropped the gun I guess? I was expecting the chapter to end with Karen being shot.

Agreeing with Del that the cultish church plot was our of left field and didn't really seem to fit. They kind of hinted at why Daniel would like Lisbeth (surrogate mother figure, chance to atone for hurting Sean, gets praised for using powers, etc) but ultimately it's like YOOO SHE WENT TO A DOCTOR FOR HER INFECTED HOOHAA? WELL I DON'T TRUST HER ANYMORE.

Life Is Strange is really a series about dreaming about driving with your dad.