Games you are currently playing or recently beaten

[FreneticZetetic]

WCW/NWO Revenge (N64)
Mortal Kombat Trilogy (PS1)
McKids (NES)

All for upcoming Gaming Manual videos.
 

[renali]

Just finished BOTW...a bit underwhelmed with Gannon and the ending. Just got a ps5 but playing catch up with GOW 2018

[CastleVanity]

Just finished final fantasy IV (Super Famicom) What a nostalgia trip.

[twiztor]

just completed the original Crash Bandicoot on the PS1. Man, this game was WAY harder than i expected it to be. some really interesting concepts in this one, and i love the story of how they "hacked" the system to push the boundaries. but some of those levels are SO dark (dark as in lighting, not dark as in tone) that it's damn near impossible to see anything. and some of those 'running away from the camera' stages are so frustrating with the limited depth perception. All of that said, i enjoyed the game quite a bit.

[miketheratguy]

On 2/6/2023 at 4:28 PM, CastleVanity said:

Just finished final fantasy IV (Super Famicom) What a nostalgia trip.

That's my favorite one in the series, I must have gone through FFIV a dozen times. I LOVE that game.

[te72]

On 3/4/2023 at 10:18 AM, twiztor said:

just completed the original Crash Bandicoot on the PS1. Man, this game was WAY harder than i expected it to be. some really interesting concepts in this one, and i love the story of how they "hacked" the system to push the boundaries. but some of those levels are SO dark (dark as in lighting, not dark as in tone) that it's damn near impossible to see anything. and some of those 'running away from the camera' stages are so frustrating with the limited depth perception. All of that said, i enjoyed the game quite a bit.

Loved Crash when it came out. Still holds up fairly well, I recall the controls being very tight.

 

I started Valkyria Chronicles 4, and while it's a great game, I only got about halfway through it so far. Have a playthrough of BOTW solo lined up after that, and Cyanide & Happiness Freakpocalypse as well. Oh and Crisis Core at some point too...

[LeakyEyeLuca]

Inscryption. Saw a few folks stream Act 1 and was enticed to pick it up. Needless to say that Act 1 only scratched the surface of how deep this game went and i was not expecting it to go to all the places it did.

[CastleVanity]

On 3/5/2023 at 7:28 AM, miketheratguy said:

That's my favorite one in the series, I must have gone through FFIV a dozen times. I LOVE that game.

and yet I'm still learning from that game and i been playing this game for 30 years. ^_^

[miketheratguy]

33 minutes ago, CastleVanity said:

and yet I'm still learning from that game and i been playing this game for 30 years. ^_^

Every now and then I also learn something new about the game, which I still go back and mess with every couple of years. I recently learned that there are some free randomizers out there that completely shuffle all kinds of things about the game, from character skills to gear and item stats to even dungeon layouts (to an extent), all individually selectable by the player. I've been wanting to dive into such a thing but to be honest I almost think that I'm intimidated, lol.

[CastleVanity]

4 hours ago, miketheratguy said:

Every now and then I also learn something new about the game, which I still go back and mess with every couple of years. I recently learned that there are some free randomizers out there that completely shuffle all kinds of things about the game, from character skills to gear and item stats to even dungeon layouts (to an extent), all individually selectable by the player. I've been wanting to dive into such a thing but to be honest I almost think that I'm intimidated, lol.

Randomizers is not my field. I never touch any of those. It looks interesting but never invest into them. Zelda randomizers are always fun to watch.

[miketheratguy]

On 3/8/2023 at 11:02 AM, CastleVanity said:

Randomizers is not my field. I never touch any of those. It looks interesting but never invest into them. Zelda randomizers are always fun to watch.

The pure experience is always the best one but I LOVE the idea of a game having more or less infinite replay value due to the rearranging of various features. Every time there's a new release of FFIV I play through it so these randomizers really have my interest.

[StrykerOfEnyo]

I'm currently working on a video series where I play the trial for EVERY game on Xbox Live Arcade (that's available), and I play any owned games for longer. There are games I downloaded the trial, or I even bought on sale, but I never touched them for 10 years until now. I was already working on it for months, then they announced the closing of the 360 store in 2024, so now I've been rushing to get through them all. It's about 704 games, but around 100 of them aren't playable (I didn't buy it, or no trial download). I have run into a number of games that I want to be able to play after the store closes, some good, some bad, but it's been fun seeing what I missed out on. I love the DeathSpank games, Ron Gilbert worked on the first two and the humor is great. Assassin's Creed Liberation HD was one I waited on for a pricedrop for years, but I had to pay the full $20 before it got delisted earlier in 2023. I avoided playing it for years, and it's not that good, but it was impressive for a PSP game back then. Several games like Daytona USA and Crazy Taxi were fun, but there's not much to do. I remember how impressive they were in arcades back then. Costume Quest 1 and 2 were nice, and I played all the way through World of Keflings (9 hours), I couldn't stop. I need to get the DLC for some of these games too, before they get removed. Most stuff that is Backward Compatible is still available, but some isn't. I liked Dogfight 1942, a budget flight-sim and it has two DLCs for $3 each, but they'll be gone forever if I don't buy them now (I don't like the idea of modding my console to get free games, not right now, anyway). I few games are still on Steam, but there are others that I missed out on, like Earthworm Jim HD, that you cannot find anywhere today. I just wanted to share this. It's sad to see the store go away, but I can't imagine many are still buying games on the 360 itself. Most sales have been the exact same set of games for the last 6 years (Capcom, Rockstar, etc.), but I would easily buy more if there were more discounts. 

[CastleVanity]

Currently i'm playing Dragon Quest VII (3DS) for the second time in years. I don't know how long it's been since the last time i played it. But i did finish and beaten Dragon Warrior VII (PSX). I love this game.

[te72]

I started up a solo run of BOTW earlier this year, with a twist. Not using a guide, trying to find all the shrines and as many koroks as I can, naturally. Seems to fit the spirit of the game.

 

Now, the twist is, for every one I find, I do a workout set. I started small, and as things get easier, I push the weights or number of reps up. I've focused on pull ups, push ups, leg lifts, curls, squats, and presses. Basically, just as a way to alleviate couch guilt while enjoying my hobby. It's working out great!

 

Currently I'm up to 40 lbs on the weights, gonna try for 50 soon. Pull ups I do sets of 20. Getting into great shape, and I'm up to 109 shrines, and something like... 440 koroks in about4 or 5 months that I have been playing in my spare time.

[matrixman]

Late to the console gaming scene.  Gen X'r that played tons of Colecovision and Atari, wore out Sonic cart on Sega Genesis and then dropped out of gaming scene from college to 40s.  Well, college saw some PC gaming like Duke Nukem, Space Quest.  From 40's til now alot of classic gaming emulation - SNES, Genesis, some PS3. Now in fully committed back to console gaming in my nifty 50s owning every console gen now from X360/PS3/Wii/Wii-U to PS5/Series-X/Switch

My rotation:

Batman Origins (X360 gen on Series X)

Last of Us (PS5)

Resident Evil 2 (PS5)

Super Mario Bros (Switch)

I guess a great time to come back with all these beautiful looking remasters and remakes and able to pick older games up at $5-10.  Can't wait to check out the coming MGs and Max Payne remakes.

[StrykerOfEnyo]

On 11/2/2023 at 8:13 PM, matrixman said:

Batman Origins (X360 gen on Series X)

Last of Us (PS5)

Resident Evil 2 (PS5)

I got Batman Origins on GoG because the 360 version was selling for $30-40 used at least, if not higher. I got Last of Us Remastered (PS4) I haven't touched, and I got the Gold Edition of Resident Evil 2 but I haven't got to it yet. I often get a game on a good sale, but then I get tied up with work or other stuff, and then a year goes by:) I had to just say NO to playing COD with friends so I could play games I want to play. Doing COD multiplayer 3 hours every night gets me nowhere -- no achievements, no progress in other games, and my friends just yell and complain about getting shoot through walls. I'm not even getting Modern Warfare 3 right now. Thanks to not playing with others, I finally got through Mafia II (remastered), Mafia III, and I'm about to finish Shadow of Mordor (I stopped 4 missions away from the end, for some reason). I even gave up on Halo Infinite and trying to complete each season. It's been nice getting through some games I always wanted to finish. I even got Shadow of War installed and ready to go next. I bought all the content awhile back, when they had some big sales.

I do agree, it is nice getting several games for $10 with all the content, it just takes a few years:)

[StrykerOfEnyo]

On 10/28/2023 at 7:12 PM, CastleVanity said:

playing Dragon Quest VII (3DS)

I have always wanted to play Dragon Quest VII, I heard you can play it for 100 hours. I forgot about the 3DS version. That might be the best one to get. The PS1 version was hard to find back then. I remember looking for a copy at GameStops for a few years. How many hours do you have intro it, CastleVanity? Does it take a long time to get through? It must be worth it.

[ml0045]

3 hours ago, StrykerOfEnyo said:

I have always wanted to play Dragon Quest VII, I heard you can play it for 100 hours. I forgot about the 3DS version. That might be the best one to get. The PS1 version was hard to find back then. I remember looking for a copy at GameStops for a few years. How many hours do you have intro it, CastleVanity? Does it take a long time to get through? It must be worth it.

As someone who mastered all the jobs on the PS version when it came out, it can most definitely go over 100 hours easily. The 3DS version has some QoL like reducing the amount needed for mastering jobs even though I haven't played that version.

You can just play the original and cheat engine mastering jobs if you want to save time.

[CastleVanity]

4 hours ago, StrykerOfEnyo said:

I have always wanted to play Dragon Quest VII, I heard you can play it for 100 hours. I forgot about the 3DS version. That might be the best one to get. The PS1 version was hard to find back then. I remember looking for a copy at GameStops for a few years. How many hours do you have intro it, CastleVanity? Does it take a long time to get through? It must be worth it.

I'd say play either one. The PSX version is the most fun for me which is why i play that version because of the skills you can keep after you mastered a class as that carry over and they have OP Hybrid skill that break the game entirely. Also the translation is more accurate to the original. The 3DS version you can level up and master classes more faster. However, they have been rebalanced certain skills and most of them (Hybrid Skills) are not in the remake. Also you get more access to items and equips that not in the original and they are now easier to find. Again i say play both of them. Also, i cant say how many hours i played it because i always leave the game on when i play the game. lol! (500+ hours) normally it would be around 100+ hours.

[matrixman]

@StrykerOfEnyo>> I often get a game on a good sale, but then I get tied up with work or other stuff, and then a year goes by

Agree, same here.  So many great deals for me between online sales over the last 2 years and Gamestop that I have now combined 160 games to play.  

How did you like Mafia? I got that trilogy for like $15 as it looked good.

Last of Us is a great game.  Give it a try.  

[StrykerOfEnyo]

3 hours ago, matrixman said:

How did you like Mafia?

The Mafia games are good. I finished up some achievements in the Mafia Definitive Edition, which is a remaster of the original that came out on PS2, so it looks way better now. I beat Mafia II before and the DLC on Xbox 360, but I finished the Mafia II Definitive Edition on Xbox One X, but it was a bad port. Really disappointing, with glitches and bugs, and it didn't always run well. I like the game, and its playable, but it has issues. And then I finished up Mafia III that I started before. It's also very good, but it had many bugs at first. Many are fixed, but you do see a car glitch, or a mission doesn't work right sometimes. The story is good, and the mechanics are fine, but there comes a point where you are doing the same activities over and over before a target shows up. Then you keep doing it again, so it got a bit repetitive. It's still fun to play, and certain targets have different events that change things up, but you will see a lot of reviews that are a 6 or 7 instead of being higher. I did all the DLC for Mafia III and it was good, but several achievements didn't pop (like 4-6) so its annoying. The music is great in all the games -- lots of 50s and 60s classics. I was glad to finally finish them all. There are some things they did better than GTA back then, but they don't always have enough side activities, like in Mafia II.