What are you playing right now? III

[Dynamithix]

D:

[JennyGenesis]

I'm playing through Mr. Smiley Head's Safari. I've only just started but I already on level 3! It has killer pacmans...



The chicken shoots egg bombs, and that is supposed to be barney if you couldn't tell.

Isn't that the chicken from Aqua Teen Hunger Force?

[MeechMunchie]

I playing one of those interactive movie things that WoF loves so much. The story is excellent, the manga art style... *grits teeth* ... bearable, but I loathe the format. They should've just made it into a choose-your-own-adventure book.

[Wings of Fire]

Which one was it?

[Dynamithix]

Bought Bully on Steam 'cause it was on sale.

I'd enjoy the game a lot more if the controls weren't so fucking dumb and somehow the port just feels bad.

The PS2 version was fun, the PC version... not really.

[MeechMunchie]

Which one was it?

Sorry, that should be visual novel. I'd call that a faux pas, except I've got no intention of looking like I know what I'm talking about here.

It was Katawa Shoujo/"Cripple Girls" (Act 1 - Demo Version), that one that was constructed from characters doodled on one sketchbook page by a 4chan members. It's about a teenage boy who discovers he has arrhythmia (his heart stops at the slightest overexertion), and gets sent to Yamaku academy for disabled teens. This isn't really what he wants since he a) found out about his condition at a very inconvenient time (no spoilers!) and b) He doesn't really see himself as disabled, so the thought of spending the rest of his education surrounded by 'cripples' is depressing in the extreme.

However, stereotype challenging feelgood teenage acceptance not too clichéd blabbity bloopity blah

I like Hanako. It probably says a lot about me that my waifu is the one with the hideously scarred face. Rin's a bit of a laugh though.

On a vaguely related note, a few playthroughs of Air Pressure left me so relentlessly knurd for the next 45 minutes I just went to bed.

You know what? Since I've only played three "interactive movies" in my life I may as well go into the third. It's Don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story. As you can guess from the title, it's more Western than Katawa and not as cripplingly miserable as Air Pressure (and also more than 90 seconds long). It's also the spiritual successor to Digital: A Love Story, which I never played but seemed to have a profound effect on everyone who did.

The basic idea is that you're a 38-year-old double-divorcee teacher who by some plot excuse of advanced school surveillance (it's 15 years in the future) is able to to eavesdrop on his students' web conversations. You're then faced with the decision with how much you want to interfere with your students' lives, and how comfortable you are about doing it. For me that meant answering pretty much every probing question with "I can’t make your decisions for you, what do you think you should do?". I prefer to give assistance rather than guidance... except I’m dating one of my students.

Probably weren't expecting all that, huh? Now I need to go play a game where I actually shoot something to assert my manliness.

[Wings of Fire]

I like Hanako. It probably says a lot about me that my waifu is the one with the hideously scarred face. Rin's a bit of a laugh though.

She's my favourite too, though I don't like playing half completed games so I'm waiting until they finally fucking get it done sometime this summer. It's definitely something I've had my eyes on for a while.

I'm currently playing Cross Channel which is probably the last VN I'll be playing in English as my Japanese is coming along very well. It focuses on eight teenagers who attend a school called the Gunjou Institute which the fictional government made to keep all the maladaptive kids out of society. There's this Adaption Coefficient test that all kids are forced to take, and at above 30% the government deems you a thread and forces you to attend. The main character has an Adaption Coefficient of 84% which is thought to be impossible. He's also a lolicon, sexual harasser, narcissist, sociopath and all round douche.

He invites the members of the club he's in, by lies and deceit, to attend a mountain camp where they all fall out with eachother. They go back to the city to find that humanity has been annihilated and they're the last eight people left alive. Also time is looping every week and the only person aware of this is a mysterious bicycle riding sailor costume wearing tomboy.

Also it's dark and bloody.





I like it because I like when people write well and fairly about psychological disorders.

Also I'm soon to buy Shogun Total War II, and I should probably get round to downloading the complete series of Sam and Max that I bought a year ago and can now run on this laptop.

[MeechMunchie]

Finished Don't take it personally, babe... I swear to God, I feel like crying right now. But I can't. DTiPB goes to great lengths to explain to you that it's not that kind of story. It's not about twists of fate and melodrama. It's just about... life. And life is confusing.

Even for people like me, who wouldn't normally touch anything resembling anime with a ten-foot barge pole, I'd still recommend it. It asks for genuinely taxing moral judgements, not black and white, nor even shades of grey; It's about personal conviction or restraint, how much you believe something. It had me pacing up and down my bedroom more than once.

I felt like these sort of descisions mattered because the characters were believable. By about halfway through I could recognise them by their posting style. Even the protaganist was believable, with his "weary teacher" mindset, which is a tough job when you're asking the player to step inside their skin.

It'll pull you in for a good couple of hours. When the end finally comes, you won't want to let it go.

...And you know what? They bloody well know it. One of the characters describes her experience when one of her favourite TV shows ended, and it's exactly how I felt. Damn, they're good.

I've played it a few times now, but the choices I made the first time ("Gentleman to the bitter end" - Kind, Professional & Helpful, in that order) carved out my own personal universe, and I prefer that one. Especially when I saw how mundane some of the other endings are in comparison. I've watched 'my' ending about six times now. Damn you, Kendall, you were right.

This game tries to say a lot of things, but it ultimately taught me that yeah, things don't always go the way you expect them to, but if it's better than what would've happened otherwise, who cares?

If someone reading this does give it a go, good on you. Despite all that, I can't guarantee that you'll enjoy it. I was able to get over my mangaphobia and see the story behind it. Some people just know for certain what they like and what they don't, and there's no shame in that. What I can guarantee is that if you do enjoy it, it'll have been worth the gamble.

You're probably wondering, good people, "Why the hell is MeechMunchie talking like a pussy/a weaboo/my therapist?". IT'S THIS FUCKING GAME IT MADE ME ALL SENSITIVE

Miscellaneous notes:

1. This may be the only game to feature convincing webspeak.
2. It also features '12channel', a decent 4chan parody.
3. Half of the characters are homosexual, and pleasantly so.
4. The creator says she tried to make the teacher seem creepy and horrible. I'm sure glad she failed there.
5. My favourite quote from the game:

Nolan: I think I love Akira.
Akira: :3
Nolan: OMG hes actually making that face right now

Oh, and I take back what I said about the format. It takes a while to get used to, but it's basically just like a cross between a scanning through a comic and reading a book. Facial expressions give more depth to the dialogue.

... Fuck. I know how ridiculous this all seems coming from me, but I don't think I've ever been left this emotionally drained by a game before. It's just too real. Though this might have something to do with the fact that I finished scrawling the gist of this post on a Post-it at quarter to 1 in the morning. Or maybe they're not expecting the person playing the game to be the same age as most of the characters ;)

GRAAAGH LOOK AT ME I JUST USED A SMILEY

[Wings of Fire]

Oh, and I take back what I said about the format. It takes a while to get used to, but it's basically just like a cross between a scanning through a comic and reading a book. Facial expressions give more depth to the dialogue.

Music is a big part of it too.

[Dynamithix]

I've been playing Beat Hazard and Dark Messiah of Might & Magic quite a bit.

Beat Hazard is really fun and Dark Messiah is quite good too. I should've bought Beat Hazard Ultra when it was on sale, kinda regret it now.

[Manco]

3. Half of the characters are homosexual, and pleasantly so.

hey look a game about these forums

[Crashpunk]

I've been playing Team Fortress 2, Spiral Knights, Jak and Daxter 1 and Minecraft

And I recently got a pre-owned boxed Mega Drive and been playing Sonic The Hedgehog

[Mr. Bungle]

I'm playing Brawl a lot with my brother, and Melee too, trying to unlock all the secret characters once again. Still playing Final Fantasy VI when I'm not tearing my hair out over Starfox 64.

[Spooce-aholic]

I played Warcraft. I didn't like it. I preffer Red Alert.

[Dixanadu]

I played Warcraft. I didn't like it. I preffer Red Alert.

Did you mean Starcraft? That seems more... in-tune with an RTS than WoW.

I prefer the old Red Alert games, before EA fucked it up beyond recognition. They totally ruined Tiberium Twilight.

I fucking hate EA.

[Wings of Fire]

Did you mean Starcraft? That seems more... in-tune with an RTS than WoW.

Please tell me you are joking.

[Dixanadu]

A Warcraft RTS? As if people weren't bored enough running around a horribly detailed landscape and having no social lives.

[Wings of Fire]

...The Warcraft RTS's came before the MMO and helped define the RTS genre.

[MeechMunchie]

I'd like to think he was joking.

[Wings of Fire]

It's the internet, I absolutely can't take that chance.

[Havoc]

Playing trough Abe´s Oddysee again since I never completed my previous playtrough.

[metroixer]

Did you mean Starcraft? That seems more... in-tune with an RTS than WoW.

I prefer the old Red Alert games, before EA fucked it up beyond recognition. They totally ruined Tiberium Twilight.

I fucking hate EA.

Tiberium wars and Red Alert 3 are still pretty good I think. I still find Tiberian sun to be my favorite, but the third games of both series are nowhere near as bad as the purist nerds make them out to be.

C&C4 isn't even a tiberium game as far I'm concerned.

[Havoc]

C&C4 is an insult to the entire C&C franchise. Maybe even the entire RTS genre.

[Dixanadu]

I barely acknowledge anything related to Warcraft, so the existence of a Warcraft RTS is news to me.

Red Alert 3 wasn't...well, serious enough I think. I mean, for god's sake the innuendo in some of the cut scenes were ridiculous. Game play wise, yes. The variety of how each faction build their bases was good.

I liked Tiberium Wars very much. The slow-down bugged me, but that was it.

C&C4 was utter shit. No harvesting!? Poaching tiberium fields from enemies and being in a mad rush to secure it was so fun!

Not to mention it ended all of a sudden.

Oh, and no Scrin. Gotta love them fuckers.

[T-nex]

I have a special edition of Red Alert at home. Metal box n all. I liked the game

ANyway i KNEW if I just waited, Terraria would be cheaper. So yea. 5€. Im taking it Wheeeee!

[Dynamithix]

Ha ha! I got it for 2,50€, Nex.

It was 2,50€ for a hour and then they either fixed it or they just raised the price.

Anyways, Terraria is good, but I can't get the multiplayer server running. I want to play with my friend.

[metroixer]

Red Alert 3 wasn't...well, serious enough I think.
.

It's a game where the soviet union is still in power while the chinese empire uses giant samurai robots as an attacking force. There is no room for serious in that situation.

[Dixanadu]

You forgot war dolphins and school girls with psychic city-destroying powers.

It wasn't the Chinese, either. Actually...I don't even think the word 'China' was even said in that game.

[Wings of Fire]

Giant robot SAMURAI?

Magical schoolgirls?

...Yeah, that's not China.

[Dixanadu]

The faction being called 'Empire of the Rising Sun' also eliminates all possibility that they're Chinese.

Also, George Takei!