October Game Chat thread: the sequel to being naked

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > October Game Chat thread: the sequel to being naked

Twee or Jank? This poll is closed.
Twee	9	4.81%
Jank	26	13.90%
Goose	71	37.97%
Bowsette	81	43.32%
Total:	187 votes

[Edit Poll (moderators only)]

CharlieFoxtrot: Mar 27, 2007; organize digital employees

Animal Crossing!!!

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:39

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 9, 2024 19:52

Propaganda Hour: Aug 25, 2008; after editing wikipedia as a joke for 16 years, i ve convinced myself that homer simpson's japanese name translates to the "The beer goblin"

Accordion Man posted:

I'm looking forward to Deadly Premontion 2 and Bloodlines 2 the most next year.

Yakuza RPG, Watch_Dogs 3, ad Dying Light 2 will probably be fun too.

Oh poo poo yeah Bloodlines 2. Goddamn 2020 better not disappoint.

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:40

Gripweed: Nov 8, 2018

homeless snail posted:

wait in english? i've been playing the jp version for awhile

Yeah. Got it off the NA store and everything

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:43

oddium: Feb 21, 2006; end of the 4.5 tatami age

when's swery's england cat game

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:45

Yardbomb: Jul 11, 2011; What's with the eh... bretonnian dance, sir?

Deadly Premonition 2 or Bloodlines 2 will be mine, pretty sure on that already.

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:45

CharlieFoxtrot: Mar 27, 2007; organize digital employees

I'm sure there are people excited for that Avengers game somewhere

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:46

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

My games of the year are:
Outer Worlds
Death Stranding
the Surge 2
Untitled Goose Game
Mario Maker 2
Astral Chain

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:48

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

CharlieFoxtrot posted:

I'm sure there are people excited for that Avengers game somewhere

This, and Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, I am positive will be my two most disappointing games of the year.

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:49

Yardbomb: Jul 11, 2011; What's with the eh... bretonnian dance, sir?

The new Star Wars game actually looks cool so far, I'm sure it'll be disappointing if you buy into hype poo poo, so be like me and expect games to be neat at most, then feel nice if it's better and go eh if it's bad.

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:51

homeless snail: Mar 14, 2007

CharlieFoxtrot posted:

I'm sure there are people excited for that Avengers game somewhere

I was uh optimistic for it I guess, before they talked about it or showed anything

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:52

cheetah7071: Oct 20, 2010; honk honk; College Slice

What the heck's an Atelier? A megapost for copying/pasting whenever someone asks that. The RPG thread requested this and now I'm posting it here because the question gets asked sometimes here, too

Atelier is a series of JRPGs released roughly yearly with (as of this post) 20 (soon to be 21) mainline entries and a dozen spinoffs. The best words to describe the mood of (most of) the games are "cute" and "chill". They almost exclusively have low stakes like "stop the government from eminent domain-ing my small business" or "don't get fired from my job". You (almost always) play as a young woman starting her career as an alchemist. What this means in game terms is crafting. Lots and lots of crafting. You craft your own weapons and armor, you craft bombs to throw at the enemies, you craft healing items, you craft everything. The trend in modern games is to have the crafting be a fully-realized puzzle minigame where the outcome is shaped by the exact details of the items you put in. Besides the crafting, the gameplay is fairly standard turn-based JRPG fare, often with a subfocus on exploration. Some of the older games also have a time management component, of varying levels of difficulty. The games are also known for having kickass soundtracks and heavy lesbian undertones.

Most of the games are linked to each other in trilogies (or the occasional duology or quadrilogy). Generally speaking, you don't need to play a trilogy in order--they're designed to be playable individually (with varying levels of success). The series started on the original Playstation but it wasn't until the PS2 that the games started getting localized. The PS2 games are also huge outliers; in the PS3 era the series returned to its roots and the PS3 games are much more similar to the PS1 games than they are to the PS2 games. This means that the PS3 era is the start of the "modern" Atelier series. Thus, rather than talk about the series in chronological order, I'm going to talk about the modern games first and then go back to the older games.

Arland Quadrilogy (PS3/Vita/PC/PS4/Switch for the first three; PC/PS4/Switch for Lulua)

all

This is one of my recommended entry points to the series.

not

Dusk Trilogy (PS3/Vita, soon to be PC/PS4/Switch)

This is one of my recommended entry points to the series

Mysterious Trilogy (PS4/Vita/PC; L&S is on the Switch as well)

This is one of my recommended entry points to the series.

Secret (?) Trilogy (?) (PS4/PC/Switch)

Atelier Ryza: As of the writing of this post, this game is out in Japan but not in English. It's good, apparently. The main character's thighs have propelled the series out of obscurity.
Iris Trilogy (PS2)

know

Mana Khemia Duology (PS2)

Other stuff

not

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:53

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Yardbomb posted:

The new Star Wars game actually looks cool so far, I'm sure it'll be disappointing if you buy into hype poo poo, so be like me and expect games to be neat at most, then feel nice if it's better and go eh if it's bad.

The best way to play it will be to just pay the 1 month of Origin Premium Access.

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:54

Looper: Mar 1, 2012

nelke has such a powerful design i'm bummed the game's just a spinoff

# ? Oct 2, 2019 00:55

CharlieFoxtrot: Mar 27, 2007; organize digital employees

I said come in! posted:

This, and Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, I am positive will be my two most disappointing games of the year.

I have more hope in Respawn, if that game has even a fraction of Titanfall DNA it could rip

Edit: this but with lightsabers...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hi_N7XGnyg

CharlieFoxtrot fucked around with this message at 01:10 on Oct 2, 2019

# ? Oct 2, 2019 01:08

CharlieFoxtrot: Mar 27, 2007; organize digital employees

Oh hey a new trailer for it last week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfcAHfDuNzw

Dark Souls bosses (both monster and humanoid size) confirmed

# ? Oct 2, 2019 01:11

Big Scary Owl: Oct 1, 2014; by Fluffdaddy

This Star Wars game hasn't convincex me yet but maybe it's actually fun to play

# ? Oct 2, 2019 01:13

Instruction Manuel: May 15, 2007; Yes, it is what it looks like!

John Murdoch posted:

Well prepare to be spooked

pretty sure the goose would just drop it into the river and then get interested in someone NOT being annoyed

# ? Oct 2, 2019 01:16

homeless snail: Mar 14, 2007

cheetah7071 posted:

What the heck's an Atelier? A megapost for copying/pasting whenever someone asks that. The RPG thread requested this and now I'm posting it here because the question gets asked sometimes here, too

Atelier is a series of JRPGs released roughly yearly with (as of this post) 20 (soon to be 21) mainline entries and a dozen spinoffs. The best words to describe the mood of (most of) the games are "cute" and "chill". They almost exclusively have low stakes like "stop the government from eminent domain-ing my small business" or "don't get fired from my job". You (almost always) play as a young woman starting her career as an alchemist. What this means in game terms is crafting. Lots and lots of crafting. You craft your own weapons and armor, you craft bombs to throw at the enemies, you craft healing items, you craft everything. The trend in modern games is to have the crafting be a fully-realized puzzle minigame where the outcome is shaped by the exact details of the items you put in. Besides the crafting, the gameplay is fairly standard turn-based JRPG fare, often with a subfocus on exploration. Some of the older games also have a time management component, of varying levels of difficulty. The games are also known for having kickass soundtracks and heavy lesbian undertones.

Most of the games are linked to each other in trilogies (or the occasional duology or quadrilogy). Generally speaking, you don't need to play a trilogy in order--they're designed to be playable individually (with varying levels of success). The series started on the original Playstation but it wasn't until the PS2 that the games started getting localized. The PS2 games are also huge outliers; in the PS3 era the series returned to its roots and the PS3 games are much more similar to the PS1 games than they are to the PS2 games. This means that the PS3 era is the start of the "modern" Atelier series. Thus, rather than talk about the series in chronological order, I'm going to talk about the modern games first and then go back to the older games.

Arland Quadrilogy (PS3/Vita/PC/PS4/Switch for the first three; PC/PS4/Switch for Lulua)

Atelier Rorona: A wholesome, charming game about an apprentice alchemist saving her master's failing business from being bought out. This game is a very laid-back, relaxed experience if you just want to get to the end and make some anime friends, but a very frantic experience if you want to make all the anime friends because there's a time limit. That time limit is extremely generous to just complete the game, but extremely tight if you want to 100% it. Also, content warning, there are a few scenes that are uncomfortably horny about underage characters. Also apparently the PS3 version is terrible and you should never play it. This is one of my recommended entry points to the series.

Atelier Totori: This game dials back the charm compared to Rorona, but in exchange has a heartfelt story about family. This game has in my opinion the second-best writing in the series. It's a bit janky though--when Rorona got ported, it got a bunch of quality of life updates, whereas Totori is a straight port, so it's the oldest-feeling of the modern games. It also has the tightest time limit of any of the modern games, and is the only one where a careful player faces a realistic chance of failure. Consulting a guide or asking for help is recommended.

Atelier Meruru: This game has a sort of frantic energy to it. You play as a princess using alchemy to provide infrastructure to her kingdom. The new characters besides Meruru herself are all pretty boring but it brings back all the favorites from Rorona and Totori. This game has a similar time limit to Totori but is a bit easier so there's less risk of failure. Also Rorona is inexplicably turned into an eight year old in this game, a move which nobody liked.

Atelier Lulua: This game came out a decade after Meruru and is a long form apology for what they did to Rorona in it. Rorona is now in her 30s and is a mom, and you play as her daughter. The game is written as a slapstick comedy and the first half has some great cinematograpy contributing to the comedic timing (before they realized that doing that for the entire game would run them way over budget). This game does not have a time limit.

Dusk Trilogy (PS3/Vita, soon to be PC/PS4/Switch)

Atelier Ayesha: This game wins my award for best-written Atelier. The game is in turns cute, heartwarming, funny, and deeply moving. You play as a young woman going on an adventure to learn alchemy in order to save her sister. This game can be a bit confusing at times on how to proceed and has a time limit, so I recommend using a guide if you ever find yourself stuck on what to do next. This is one of my recommended entry points to the series

Atelier Escha and Logy: This is another fan-favorite for its lovable cast. You play as two alchemists starting their career in government work. This game has a time limit but failure isn't very realistic.

Atelier Shallie: I don't even know how to summarize the story of this one. Tbh I don't like it all that much, it felt too much like it was trying to rely on the appeal of the previous Dusk games while not having anything worthwhile of its own, or a very good understanding of what made them great in the first place.

Mysterious Trilogy (PS4/Vita/PC; L&S is on the Switch as well)

Atelier Sophie: A young woman begins to learn alchemy under the instruction of a talking book who is her future wife. Unfortunately for her, her village is filled with only boring people for her to be friends with. Fortunately for her, new, less boring people move in eventually

Atelier Firis: An open world Atelier. You can really tell that all the development effort in this game went into doing their best to make an open world game, and the rest suffers for it. I personally think they pulled it off, but everybody else on the planet thinks this is the worst Atelier by a mile.

Atelier Lydie and Suelle: A return to form, this game feels like it could have been in the Arland trilogy, writing-wise. It has a lovable, colorful cast of characters and probably the best gameplay in the series to-date. This is one of my recommended entry points to the series.

Secret (?) Trilogy (?) (PS4/PC/Switch)

Atelier Ryza: As of the writing of this post, this game is out in Japan but not in English. It's good, apparently. The main character's thighs have propelled the series out of obscurity.

Iris Trilogy (PS2)

Atelier Iris: I haven't played this game since I was a teen but it's probably boring and bad

Atelier Iris 2: I have replayed this game so I know it's boring and bad

Atelier Iris 3: This game has charming-but-boring writing, but an unusually engaging battle system.

Mana Khemia Duology (PS2)

Mana Khemia: I'm the only Atelier fan who doesn't like this game so it must be doing something good. Play it maybe, and then tell me why I'm wrong for not liking it

Mana Khemia 2: I have not played this game.

Other stuff

Atelier Marie: The very first Atelier, available to play via a fan patch for the PS2 version. The entire game is time management.

Atelier Elie: The second Atelier, available to play also via fan patch. It seems to be Marie but better.

Atelier Annie: A DS game and officially considered a spinoff, though gameplaywise it seems to be basically mainline. Unfortunately, that gameplay is trash. It's a shame too because the writing is legitimately funny.

Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists: This is a crossover game. It is not a mainline Atelier, it is a spinoff. The genre is townbuilder, not JRPG. Don't play it unless you've played so many Ateliers that you'll recognize a good number of the crossover characters

now thats horror

# ? Oct 2, 2019 01:18

ChickenHeart: Nov 28, 2007; Take me at your own risk.; Kiss From a Hog

Top 5 games of 2019:

EDF 5
EDF 5
EDF 5
EDF 5
EDF 5

# ? Oct 2, 2019 01:24

In Training: Jun 28, 2008

cheetah7071 posted:

What the heck's an Atelier? A megapost for copying/pasting whenever someone asks that. The RPG thread requested this and now I'm posting it here because the question gets asked sometimes here, too

Atelier is a series of JRPGs released roughly yearly with (as of this post) 20 (soon to be 21) mainline entries and a dozen spinoffs. The best words to describe the mood of (most of) the games are "cute" and "chill". They almost exclusively have low stakes like "stop the government from eminent domain-ing my small business" or "don't get fired from my job". You (almost always) play as a young woman starting her career as an alchemist. What this means in game terms is crafting. Lots and lots of crafting. You craft your own weapons and armor, you craft bombs to throw at the enemies, you craft healing items, you craft everything. The trend in modern games is to have the crafting be a fully-realized puzzle minigame where the outcome is shaped by the exact details of the items you put in. Besides the crafting, the gameplay is fairly standard turn-based JRPG fare, often with a subfocus on exploration. Some of the older games also have a time management component, of varying levels of difficulty. The games are also known for having kickass soundtracks and heavy lesbian undertones.

Most of the games are linked to each other in trilogies (or the occasional duology or quadrilogy). Generally speaking, you don't need to play a trilogy in order--they're designed to be playable individually (with varying levels of success). The series started on the original Playstation but it wasn't until the PS2 that the games started getting localized. The PS2 games are also huge outliers; in the PS3 era the series returned to its roots and the PS3 games are much more similar to the PS1 games than they are to the PS2 games. This means that the PS3 era is the start of the "modern" Atelier series. Thus, rather than talk about the series in chronological order, I'm going to talk about the modern games first and then go back to the older games.

Arland Quadrilogy (PS3/Vita/PC/PS4/Switch for the first three; PC/PS4/Switch for Lulua)

Atelier Rorona: A wholesome, charming game about an apprentice alchemist saving her master's failing business from being bought out. This game is a very laid-back, relaxed experience if you just want to get to the end and make some anime friends, but a very frantic experience if you want to make all the anime friends because there's a time limit. That time limit is extremely generous to just complete the game, but extremely tight if you want to 100% it. Also, content warning, there are a few scenes that are uncomfortably horny about underage characters. Also apparently the PS3 version is terrible and you should never play it. This is one of my recommended entry points to the series.

Atelier Totori: This game dials back the charm compared to Rorona, but in exchange has a heartfelt story about family. This game has in my opinion the second-best writing in the series. It's a bit janky though--when Rorona got ported, it got a bunch of quality of life updates, whereas Totori is a straight port, so it's the oldest-feeling of the modern games. It also has the tightest time limit of any of the modern games, and is the only one where a careful player faces a realistic chance of failure. Consulting a guide or asking for help is recommended.

Atelier Meruru: This game has a sort of frantic energy to it. You play as a princess using alchemy to provide infrastructure to her kingdom. The new characters besides Meruru herself are all pretty boring but it brings back all the favorites from Rorona and Totori. This game has a similar time limit to Totori but is a bit easier so there's less risk of failure. Also Rorona is inexplicably turned into an eight year old in this game, a move which nobody liked.

Atelier Lulua: This game came out a decade after Meruru and is a long form apology for what they did to Rorona in it. Rorona is now in her 30s and is a mom, and you play as her daughter. The game is written as a slapstick comedy and the first half has some great cinematograpy contributing to the comedic timing (before they realized that doing that for the entire game would run them way over budget). This game does not have a time limit.

Dusk Trilogy (PS3/Vita, soon to be PC/PS4/Switch)

Atelier Ayesha: This game wins my award for best-written Atelier. The game is in turns cute, heartwarming, funny, and deeply moving. You play as a young woman going on an adventure to learn alchemy in order to save her sister. This game can be a bit confusing at times on how to proceed and has a time limit, so I recommend using a guide if you ever find yourself stuck on what to do next. This is one of my recommended entry points to the series

Atelier Escha and Logy: This is another fan-favorite for its lovable cast. You play as two alchemists starting their career in government work. This game has a time limit but failure isn't very realistic.

Atelier Shallie: I don't even know how to summarize the story of this one. Tbh I don't like it all that much, it felt too much like it was trying to rely on the appeal of the previous Dusk games while not having anything worthwhile of its own, or a very good understanding of what made them great in the first place.

Mysterious Trilogy (PS4/Vita/PC; L&S is on the Switch as well)

Atelier Sophie: A young woman begins to learn alchemy under the instruction of a talking book who is her future wife. Unfortunately for her, her village is filled with only boring people for her to be friends with. Fortunately for her, new, less boring people move in eventually

Atelier Firis: An open world Atelier. You can really tell that all the development effort in this game went into doing their best to make an open world game, and the rest suffers for it. I personally think they pulled it off, but everybody else on the planet thinks this is the worst Atelier by a mile.

Atelier Lydie and Suelle: A return to form, this game feels like it could have been in the Arland trilogy, writing-wise. It has a lovable, colorful cast of characters and probably the best gameplay in the series to-date. This is one of my recommended entry points to the series.

Secret (?) Trilogy (?) (PS4/PC/Switch)

Atelier Ryza: As of the writing of this post, this game is out in Japan but not in English. It's good, apparently. The main character's thighs have propelled the series out of obscurity.

Iris Trilogy (PS2)

Atelier Iris: I haven't played this game since I was a teen but it's probably boring and bad

Atelier Iris 2: I have replayed this game so I know it's boring and bad

Atelier Iris 3: This game has charming-but-boring writing, but an unusually engaging battle system.

Mana Khemia Duology (PS2)

Mana Khemia: I'm the only Atelier fan who doesn't like this game so it must be doing something good. Play it maybe, and then tell me why I'm wrong for not liking it

Mana Khemia 2: I have not played this game.

Other stuff

Atelier Marie: The very first Atelier, available to play via a fan patch for the PS2 version. The entire game is time management.

Atelier Elie: The second Atelier, available to play also via fan patch. It seems to be Marie but better.

Atelier Annie: A DS game and officially considered a spinoff, though gameplaywise it seems to be basically mainline. Unfortunately, that gameplay is trash. It's a shame too because the writing is legitimately funny.

Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists: This is a crossover game. It is not a mainline Atelier, it is a spinoff. The genre is townbuilder, not JRPG. Don't play it unless you've played so many Ateliers that you'll recognize a good number of the crossover characters

# ? Oct 2, 2019 01:26

Red Alert 2 Yuris Revenge: May 8, 2006; "My brain is amazing! It's full of wrinkles, and... Uh... Wait... What am I trying to say?"

good post cheetah, i'm think I'm gonna end up getting Ryza when it comes out

# ? Oct 2, 2019 01:28

RBA Starblade: Apr 28, 2008; Going Home.

Games Idiot Court Jester

ChickenHeart posted:

Top 5 games of 2019:

EDF 5
EDF 5
EDF 5
EDF 5
EDF 5

EDF! EDF! EDF!

# ? Oct 2, 2019 01:34

Songbearer: Jul 12, 2007; Fuck you say?

So I'm being a Naughty Poster and just rushing right ahead without reading but in case it hasn't been mentioned or shown off, Pizza Tower looks loving awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lORa7n4xBQ

Love letter to Sonic/Wario games wrapped in a loving beautiful 90's shareware aesthetic. It's absolutely mesmerising and a blast to play. There's a hefty three-level demo to play on itch.io: Link here

I don't really like platformer games all that much but I'm a sucker for a good artstyle and this one makes me so nostalgic it's crazy. Look at that animation! It's so fluid!

# ? Oct 2, 2019 01:39

The Grey: Mar 2, 2004

Twitch Prime free games from Amazon this month:

Stranger Things 3
The Walking Dead: Michonne
Deadlight: Directors Cut
Serial Cleaner
Adam Wolfe (Episodes 1-4)

Anyone recommend these?

# ? Oct 2, 2019 01:58

Roth: Jul 9, 2016

Yardbomb posted:

The new Star Wars game actually looks cool so far, I'm sure it'll be disappointing if you buy into hype poo poo, so be like me and expect games to be neat at most, then feel nice if it's better and go eh if it's bad.

I feel like Respawn is trustworthy enough to deliver a fun single player campaign.

# ? Oct 2, 2019 02:26

Songbearer: Jul 12, 2007; Fuck you say?

The Grey posted:

Twitch Prime free games from Amazon this month:

The Walking Dead: Michonne

Adam Wolfe (Episodes 1-4)

Anyone recommend these?

I can chip in. Michonne is a decent, self-contained adventure game that uses The Walking Dead property well. It's nothing mind-blowing and if you're not aware of Telltale games, they're very much about the illusion of choice, but it's well acted and interesting anyway. Light puzzles, heavy dialogue, fairly short runtime. I like it.

Adam Wolfe is a charming but very low budget hidden object game series based around the titular character, who is sort of a paranormal investigator. There's some decent logic puzzles and the hidden object sequences are decent, the artstyle is easy on the eyes too. Story and voiceacting is pretty goofy but it's fun if you like the genre.

If I were to be reductive these are very much 6 or 7 out of 10 games but they're entertaining enough.

# ? Oct 2, 2019 02:53

CharlieFoxtrot: Mar 27, 2007; organize digital employees

# ? Oct 2, 2019 03:06

cheetah7071: Oct 20, 2010; honk honk; College Slice

In Code Vein is it possible to not wear armor at all? I'm fatrolling with the zweihander and it's unacceptable

Theoretically I could upgrade a blood veil to have reduced weight but the items that allow you to do that seem pretty rare and I don't want to spend one only to find out that there's better fashion right around the corner that I should have spent it on

# ? Oct 2, 2019 03:08

Regy Rusty: Apr 26, 2010

cheetah7071 posted:

In Code Vein is it possible to not wear armor at all? I'm fatrolling with the zweihander and it's unacceptable

Theoretically I could upgrade a blood veil to have reduced weight but the items that allow you to do that seem pretty rare and I don't want to spend one only to find out that there's better fashion right around the corner that I should have spent it on

The blood veils are what let you suck blood and are a core part of the game, so no you can't take them off.

Upgrade completely freely with Queen's Iron you can buy it eventually. The others seem to be a bit more limited but can still be farmed if need be.

# ? Oct 2, 2019 03:30

cheetah7071: Oct 20, 2010; honk honk; College Slice

Regy Rusty posted:

The blood veils are what let you suck blood and are a core part of the game, so no you can't take them off.

Upgrade completely freely with Queen's Iron you can buy it eventually. The others seem to be a bit more limited but can still be farmed if need be.

Yeah I was referring to the transformation items, not queen's iron. One of the transformations is reduced stats in exchange for reduced weight and armor is for weenies anyways so I was only worried that I'd find something better I'd have wished I spent the limited item on, but if you say they're not as limited as they look then I'll just use it

# ? Oct 2, 2019 03:32

Regy Rusty: Apr 26, 2010

cheetah7071 posted:

Yeah I was referring to the transformation items, not queen's iron. One of the transformations is reduced stats in exchange for reduced weight and armor is for weenies anyways so I was only worried that I'd find something better I'd have wished I spent the limited item on, but if you say they're not as limited as they look then I'll just use it

Oh well yeah, I'm not sure how limited some of the transformation items are. There are certain ones I've seen as enemy drops but not others yet.

I usually just put up with slow roll when I'm using a super heavy weapon though.

# ? Oct 2, 2019 03:34