What are you playing?

I'm not playing the game today, but its the third "birthday" of Horizon Zero Dawn, which has been one of the most unique and fun gaming experiences that I ever had. Really looking forward to the sequel on the PS5.

Season 2 in LA ended with a 6 game WS victory for us against the Red Sox. We ended up winning 107 games on the season.

However, my player is a rogue. He goes where he hears the wind calling and signed with his favorite team, the Miami Marlins to see if he can get them over the hump.

They finished with 92 wins last year and with my signing we have two starters with a 99 overall rating. All 5 starters actually hover around 90 which should give us many wins, hopefully. We have started 8-2 on the year so far.

One of the guys who was the bane of my pitchers existence when I was in the AL is now on my team. I thought that was funny.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

I'm not playing the game today, but its the third "birthday" of Horizon Zero Dawn, which has been one of the most unique and fun gaming experiences that I ever had. Really looking forward to the sequel on the PS5.

Awesome game.

Still playing Monster Hunter, the last monster is Behemoth then I'm moving on to Iceborne. My friends want me to just buy Iceborne instead but I don't roll like that, son. I don't want to get the new powerful stuff in Iceborne then come back and cheese the difficult stuff at the end of the base game.

On top of that, I've got the FF7 Remake demo waiting to be played (going to go for it tonight if I have the time), and I'm waiting on some deals on some Switch action games, namely Daemon X Machina (scratch that Zone of Enders/Armored Core itch- what happened to all the single player mech games?) and Astral Chain.

Companies I've been absolutely digging on this gen: Capcom (back to the glory days!) and Platinum Games.

I'm not gonna do the Ff7 demo. I'll just jump into the actual game when it happens.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

I finished Jedi: Fallen Order. Its a very good game, but an even better Star Wars story. In many ways, its like Rogue One, and would have made a good movie.

I did find it to be an extremely challenging game, and ended up switching from standard to easy mode about three quarters of the way through. I would have liked a difficulty setting somewhere in between those.

EDIT: The game has also apparently sold better than EA thought that it would. Its EA, so who knows, but this hopefully means that they'll be more likely to make more single player Star Wars games like this one.

https://screenrant.com/star-wars-jedi-fallen-order-sales-next-ea/

Fallen Order took from the Dark Souls combat system. Once I heard that in pre-release I knew it was going to have a challenge to it.

FF7 is 2020 GOTY. I'm just going to call it. Pretty sure it's going to make me cry.

"PhinishLine wrote:

Fallen Order took from the Dark Souls combat system. Once I heard that in pre-release I knew it was going to have a challenge to it.

I didnt ever play Dark Souls because I knew how brutally difficult it was supposed to be. A few guys I used to work with talked about it all the time, and their enthusiasm was like an anti commercial for me, lol.

I had hoped with Fallen Order that I'd be able to find a few simplistic moves that I could use regularly as long as I got the timing right, but i never did.

I spent the weekend playing Total War Warhammer II. I suck at that game. So frustrating and fun at the same time.

Finally finished my RTTS season with the Marlins.

My guy and the #2 starter both won over 20 games, the rest of our staff was abysmal though. One guy went like 5-17 and the other two hovered around .500

We ended up losing a wildcard game to the D-Backs.

I ended up signing with the Rockies in the offseason. I did it because I want to see if pitching at Coors increases my ERA, and I want to face the D-Backs a lot now lol

I just started Disco Elysium. Very interesting game. I just finished the quest, "Find Some Smokes". Very satisfying.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/final-fantasy-7-remake-is-standalone-length-endgam/1100-6475088/

A director at Square has stated that the FF7 remake is "...comparable in size to other mainline FF games."

Now to me, this instantly translates as 80-100 hours of play time, with the ability to level all of the characters to 99 and max out their stats. However, I'm going to guess that's not what he really means.

For a long time, I've been planning on waiting a bit on this one, and giving them time to work out the bugs before I jump in. For tradition and sentimentality, I also absolutely intended to buy a physical copy. However, with the situation as it is, I might end up buying a digital copy since theres 'no idea of when physical copies will be available for delivery.

Currently playing Final Fantasy on NES. It lacks a lot of the modern comforts of an RPG, but using a map online to know where the cities are really helps.

I record all these old games for youtube, talk a little and make them into "guides" more or less. It's not a thing I'm trying to cash in on at all, more a record of what I've beaten and if it ever helps someone else, that's awesome.

"AGuyNamedAlex wrote:

Currently playing Final Fantasy on NES. It lacks a lot of the modern comforts of an RPG, but using a map online to know where the cities are really helps.

I record all these old games for youtube, talk a little and make them into "guides" more or less. It's not a thing I'm trying to cash in on at all, more a record of what I've beaten and if it ever helps someone else, that's awesome.

While I am waiting for Baldur's Gate 3 to come out, I am playing Pillars of Eternity 2 on the PC. For what it is, I am enjoying it.

"AGuyNamedAlex wrote:

Currently playing Final Fantasy on NES. It lacks a lot of the modern comforts of an RPG, but using a map online to know where the cities are really helps.

I record all these old games for youtube, talk a little and make them into "guides" more or less. It's not a thing I'm trying to cash in on at all, more a record of what I've beaten and if it ever helps someone else, that's awesome.

My second ever RPG, after Dragon Warrior. I still remember going to Toys R Us to buy it 30 years ago. :up:

https://www.rpgsite.net/feature/9629-final-fantasy-vii-remake-faq-level-cap-new-game-postgame-missables-and-more-explained

Some FAQs about the FF7 remake that I found interesting. Based on this and others that I've read, it looks like the typical playthrough is somwhere between 30-50 hours (I usually take longer) and that it has a level cap of 50, which is not surprising, but still disappointing.

I spent three hours with the FF7 remake earlier, and so far so good. I'm still very much in the intro stages, and just opened up the ability to buy things from shops. I'm playing on "normal" difficulty, and it can be a real challenge. The first boss took me three tries to defeat, and even then I was nearly dead and out of health potions.

The gameplay is sort of a mix between FF15 and KH3, and the graphics sort of are too. I like the care that they've given to the members of Avalanche, to make them well rounded and likable. Well, with the exception of Barrett, who's basically an over the top walking parody. It looks like I'll soon be able to explore on my own and fight enemies to level up and earn gil soon, and I'm curious to see if your party members actually do much of anything in regular battles, since I've been mostly on my own for those up to now.

Six hours in to FF7, and I still feel like I'm in the introduction stages. Which would be awesome if this was a full blown realization of the full game that I expected to put 150 hours into. But I'm getting a little bit worried of how much real game there's actually going to be, after its done holding my hand and walking me through the start.

One thing that's a little weird is that some of the extended cutscenes (but not all of them) have an odd fuzzy, grainy appearance. I'm trying to figure out if this is an intentional choice by the devs, or if its something to do with my TV.

The boss fights in the game can be brutally difficult. For me, this is especially so because there are so few opprotunities to grind and level up. So you go where the game tells you and do what you're supposed to do, and if you aren't prepared to fight the enemies in the specific way that the game intends, you're in trouble. I had one yesterday that took me about an hour to complete, and I was forced to deplete my reserves of most of my items in the process. I like the challenge, but I'd also like to be able to get myself stronger as well.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

The boss fights in the game can be brutally difficult. For me, this is especially so because there are so few opprotunities to grind and level up. So you go where the game tells you and do what you're supposed to do, and if you aren't prepared to fight the enemies in the specific way that the game intends, you're in trouble. I had one yesterday that took me about an hour to complete, and I was forced to deplete my reserves of most of my items in the process. I like the challenge, but I'd also like to be able to get myself stronger as well.

I always grind out levels in RPG so I'm ahead of where I maybe "should" be, so I understand being frustrated with there being nowhere to really level up well for you.

"AGuyNamedAlex wrote:

I always grind out levels in RPG so I'm ahead of where I maybe "should" be, so I understand being frustrated with there being nowhere to really level up well for you.

Yeah, I'm right there with you. I always, always overlevel, so that boss fights aren't impossible when I come to them. And its not like they couldn't have included those kind of areas in the game. I'm at level 20 after about 20 hours played, and I've come across very few. And those that I have, the player is forced to completely leave the zone and then come back for the enemies to respawn. There are plenty of zones that you just walk through with little to no enemies and no NPCs, that they could have just made bigger, and included spaces where you can loop back around and keep killing the same things over and over if you want to to earn XP, AP, SP and gil.

Playing FFVII Remake. It's great. I am like 9-1/2 hours in (on normal difficulty) and suppose I have had three boss fights. The 2nd one was much more difficult, but I have yet to have to replay anything. I tend to like to play as Cloud, so I have to force myself to switch to other people to work on their Weapon abilities, use their ATB in a timely manner, and to be sure the enemies don't all focus on Cloud.

One thing I don't understand is that the Shinra soldiers clearly see cloud walking around with a sword ("Drop your sword" before a fight), but the general populace doesn't react (even after they know terrorists are out and about!!), nor to Barrett's gun arm or Wedge with a giant gun completely conspicuous (I think Wedge sucks so far by the way). Even on the train when Barrett gets into an argument with a Shinra Middle Manager, no one gives a fuck that this guy is a walking death machine. Only Aerith is like, oh I assumed you were a merc because of the sword.

"Stitches wrote:

Playing FFVII Remake. It's great. I am like 9-1/2 hours in (on normal difficulty) and suppose I have had three boss fights. The 2nd one was much more difficult, but I have yet to have to replay anything. I tend to like to play as Cloud, so I have to force myself to switch to other people to work on their Weapon abilities, use their ATB in a timely manner, and to be sure the enemies don't all focus on Cloud.

One thing I don't understand is that the Shinra soldiers clearly see cloud walking around with a sword ("Drop your sword" before a fight), but the general populace doesn't react (even after they know terrorists are out and about!!), nor to Barrett's gun arm or Wedge with a giant gun completely conspicuous (I think Wedge sucks so far by the way). Even on the train when Barrett gets into an argument with a Shinra Middle Manager, no one gives a **** that this guy is a walking death machine. Only Aerith is like, oh I assumed you were a merc because of the sword.

I really want to play that. I need to beat Spider-Man and God of War to justify those purchases first.

I just got to the twist in Spider-Man. This is one of the best Spider-Man stories ever. It is amazing how good they did in this game.

"Stitches wrote:

Playing FFVII Remake. It's great. I am like 9-1/2 hours in (on normal difficulty) and suppose I have had three boss fights. The 2nd one was much more difficult, but I have yet to have to replay anything. I tend to like to play as Cloud, so I have to force myself to switch to other people to work on their Weapon abilities, use their ATB in a timely manner, and to be sure the enemies don't all focus on Cloud.

One thing I don't understand is that the Shinra soldiers clearly see cloud walking around with a sword ("Drop your sword" before a fight), but the general populace doesn't react (even after they know terrorists are out and about!!), nor to Barrett's gun arm or Wedge with a giant gun completely conspicuous (I think Wedge sucks so far by the way). Even on the train when Barrett gets into an argument with a Shinra Middle Manager, no one gives a **** that this guy is a walking death machine. Only Aerith is like, oh I assumed you were a merc because of the sword.

I had the same thoughts regarding their appearance. They could have put a little effort into changing their appearance for some scenes, but that's not how Square usually works for FF games.

It took me quite a while to get the hang of switching characters during battle. The game really wants you to be Cloud, but at the same time functions better if the others do their thing first certain times. More than anything, I wish that I could get them to heal one another without me doing it manually. Its exhausting.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

I had the same thoughts regarding their appearance. They could have put a little effort into changing their appearance for some scenes, but that's not how Square usually works for FF games.

It took me quite a while to get the hang of switching characters during battle. The game really wants you to be Cloud, but at the same time functions better if the others do their thing first certain times. More than anything, I wish that I could get them to heal one another without me doing it manually. Its exhausting.

They really want you to switch and switch quite frequently. That being said, a FF12-like Gambit system would have been great here.

I beat it or normal, I'd give it an 8/10. I got tired of Midgar in the original game and was happy to hit the world map. Spending 50 hours in Midgar in this version was not my favorite thing.

Art direction and combat system is mostly superb though. Combat feels somewhere in between Inquisition and Devil May Cry. I feel like the dodge is pretty useless though. Also they only give you one Magnify materia (previously called "All") in the entire remake. It's the best materia in the game, so I get it, but giving out one more as maybe a reward to a special super challenging sidequest or something similar would have been quite welcome.