I still really enjoy Phasmophobia and all the games which came out after that have similar mechanics/gameplay. The Dark Pictures games are all really great experiences. There’s also indie games like Little Nightmares and Dredge! Alan Wake, Outlast, Still Wakes the Deep… Honestly there’s been so many amazing ones which have come out. For days/nights where you want a lighter experience, the Observation Duty type games can be fun!
Not a puzzle game, but Noita throws you right in without any explanation or tutorial. Everything is trial and error to the point where people complain that you can’t figure things out without the wiki. Love the game though, one of the most unique games I know.
The Souls games never really held your hand either.
Hollow Knight, The Binding of Isaac and Elite Dangerous are other games I can think of that want you to figure things out.
I’ve played rescue ranger a couple of times, legit one incident I intervened in was some poor bastard running for their life across the entirety of Liurnia Lake while the invader was leading an angry mob of enemies chasing them
Night and Flame got a workout that day, lemme tell y’all.
I don’t really engage with the online mechanics in Elden Ring… Maybe I should? I’ve put hundreds of hours into the game otherwise. I rate and leave messages but I’ve never summoned help for co-op or invaded people except for Varre’s quest where I always just get obliterated by people who are way better prepared than me.
My favorite layout so far is on the Razer Wolverine V2 Chroma Xbox wired controller. It has x/y up between the shoulder and triggers, back buttons for a/b, so you can keep your right thumb on the thumbstick without moving it to hit face buttons a/b/x/y.
Yes! I love this controller, and I never see people talk about it. The mechanical click of the face buttons is so satisfying and consistent to press. Other controllers feel so cheap to me now.
How big is this controller? I have wide palms but shortish fingers. From palm to tip of middle fingers like 7.5”, which is low side of male hands, but 4” wide palm which is above average. Makes finding ergonomic controllers difficult. I can reach the middle of controllers without too much difficulty, but reaching lengthwise (eg the shoulder buttons) can be problematic (perhaps why I like the ps4 controller — it’s wide but squat; it just lacks usability with no back buttons, and it only pairs to a single device at a time). I guess a smaller Xbox style controller would work okay for me — is Wolverine worth a try you think?
The back buttons are near the middle so I’d assume it’s more comfortable for bigger hands, I think the v3 wireless version has the back buttons closer to the outside where the controller grip connects to the middle of the controller like the elites, I haven’t tried that style yet but I think that may be better for a shorter grip or hands.
That’s true, I’ve had mine 2 years and am seeing some up/down drift on the left stick. Not great on the quality but I have used it often, and I can’t find anyone else with that button layout.
I have been playing videogames since 1992. Went through almost every controller design possible. From the modern ones, I never liked the layout from the playstation so sticked to Xbox. At the moment I’m using a GameSir T4 Kaleid and absolutely loving it. Mechanical buttons and hall effect joystick are very nice. Since I’ve had it only for a year I can’t say anything about reliability. Most reliable Xbox controllers in order are Xbox classic controller S, 360, One. After that every single one is bad IMO. Series controller start to drift pretty fast, same as both elites. So at the moment my most favourite is the Xbox One controller 2nd revision (1708) also known as Xbox one S controller but if the GameSir won’t break for the next couple of years it will be the top one for me.
I hope more first party controllers will get a proper higher tier version with real reliable parts like everything hall effect and mechanical buttons…
Switch Pro controller for its asymmetrical layout + gyroscope (it’s so much better for aiming). I’d love to test a PS5 controller but symmetrical layout tend to hurt my hands (it was already the case for the PS3/PS4 controllers, so I have little hope for the PS5 controller).
I think the gyro and layout of the switch pro controller are good, but it just feels so cheap, and the buttons are way too mushy. Also doesn’t have analogue triggers. The d-pad is pretty terrible as well.
For fighting games, my own custom built stick. Put this together last year to replace the Hori RAP4 that had served me well for seven years until a button cap broke off. Super happy with how this turned out. It's much lighter, I like having a detachable cable. GP2040-CE supports Switch natively so I no longer need an adapter (and I can feel the difference in latency now), and Sanwa silents mean I can practice late at night without keeping anyone awake. And it just looks good, it's on brand for me.
For everything else that is not fighting games, 8BitDo Pro 2.
I also have a soft spot for the Wii Classic Controller Pro, I miss having gates on the analog sticks. I'd kill for a modern refresh of that with L3/R3, gyro, and USB instead of having to plug it into a Wiimote.
Oh man, after reading your comment I now have begun reading about the GP2040ce project. I got an empty wooden shell off AliExpress and have been wondering what to do with it for the longest time. They sell sanwa parts along with these generic Chinese encoders that I don’t care to bet on. This pico project looks like just the thing I wanna build
An Ubisoft exec described Skull & Bones as the first AAAA game. Given the generally unfavorable reception this game got, “AAAA game” has become an expression of mockery.
I think the comic is contextually true. What really irks me are games designed to be quick, fast paced and aggressive, stop you dead in your tracks. An example is the Battle Toads reboot (which is great, play it) has these enemies that have shields or you can’t hurt them until after they’ve done their thing, slows down an otherwise fast and fun beat em up. Another is DOOM Eternal, a game where you’re running at Crack addict speed, and then they put in this dude with a shield that reflects your whole way of doing damage. Really jarring to have that speed bump in your experience. It’s for sure a great game, but I think a poor design decision to make the enemy work this way.
I kinda disagree with your DOOM statement. I assume you’re talking about the Carcass or the shield zombies. They may stop your momentum when you first encounter them, but the game (for me) is all about recognizing each enemy in a flash and quickly dispatching them. It’s not like the shield is super hard to bust for the zombies, just a few plasma rifle shots and they blow up the nearby zombies too. For the carcass, a quick blood punch will one-shot them. Once you’re able to recognize the enemies and their weaknesses at a glance, they become part of your momentum, instead of stopping it.
I appreciate the advice, but I’m talking about the Marauder. I think tankier enemies in doom make it more interesting but the Marauder just has this “no, it’s my turn and you will wait for me to do my thing” energy. Just kind of stops you, when you should be continuing to have fun. I think you can balance powerful enemies while maintaining player agency.
Another is DOOM Eternal, a game where you’re running at Crack addict speed, and then they put in this dude with a shield that reflects your whole way of doing damage.
Marauders? I actually kind of like them, they provide a new kind of threat that you can’t just run over by unloading your weapons and quick swapping the gauss rifle. That said, fighting more than one at a time really does suck.
I think you’re hitting on a slightly broader problem. Any game where combat is the major mechanic shouldn’t have a situation where you can’t do any damage for any extended amount of time. The Yakuza series handles this well, enemies can block, but the moment they do you have attacks that can break the block immediately, and start damaging again. (Or you can skill up to that that attack.) As the game goes on, it gets more intricate, different enemies have different blocks that require different moves to break. The player character also has different fighting styles that have different block breaking moves that you have to keep track of, but if you know what you’re doing, you can break almost ANY block with one move.
Far far too many other games decide to arbitrarily create a mechanic where you can’t do any damage for a WHILE. It’s either the invincible enemy that you just have to spend 3 minutes dodging, which is boring and miserable in both action and even turn based RPG battles. Or they have a shield that you have to do some elaborate and rhythm breaking routine to remove the shield. It’s a miserable slog whenever they do that kind of thing. Back in the early 2000s The second game of the Xenosaga trilogy changed the entire combat design and added the thing I hate most, the RPG stagger. You can do no appreciable damage to any thing in the game until you figure out what combination of attacks cause a stagger. It could be a three move sequence involving two characters that has to be done in the right order, or woops! Start all over. If you didn’t give one of your characters a specific ability or attack during leveling, screw you, you’re basically fucked.
The players, rightfully, rejected that crap then and they got rid of it for the third game. Now, it’s everywhere. Every RPG I’ve played recently has that crap. I finally just put down FFVII Rebirth half way through and said, screw this, because it was so exhausting and miserable. Every battle becomes the equivalent of getting on a non-working escalator and your body still jerks because you think you’re going to start moving. I hate this trend and it’s everywhere as developers think, “this battle isn’t bossy enough.” “Add a stagger mechanic to make it last longer” “Brilliant old chap.”
I don’t know what disease is moving through the game development community that boss battles, especially, have to be a certain length. Is this a marketing thing? Is this being handed down from the publishing execs? FFXVI had 20-25 minute battles towards the end that were just repetitive dodging and a kaleidoscope of flashing lights. I could have just had a gummy and watched an old screensaver and it would be more memorable and less annoying.
Okay, I’m done complaining, but the long battle for no reason other than to make it feel like a boss, is, I think, an extension of the collect-a-thon, open world, sandbox mentality that just adds superfluous crap so they can say “This game is 44% larger than the last game we made, and will take you 215 hours to complete!” Who cares if it sucks?
Well said, although I haven’t played Yakuza, I think having enemy depth through their mechanics, while giving the player space to solve the challenge, is good gameplay. This is different from “well they’re invincible for now and you just need to deal with it.” Some games this is appropriate, maybe like Fear and Hunger, but definitely not when the positive experience centers around dealing damage.
Totally resonate with the FF rebirth experience. Although I think the game altogether as one piece is good and I finished it, I have a laundry list of complaints. I generally like the combat system but the challenge fights towards the end are just nonsense. You spent time investing in your teams abilities, but it boils down to enemies that don’t take damage, or get staggered (even from your ATB abilities) and then one shot your team mates just because you weren’t in control of them. Don’t even get me started on the Odin fight. It also feels really bad to slash at something as Cloud, and his sword just bounces off and he’s useless for 3 seconds.
As an aside, XVI seems to be well reviewed and liked by people but I just didn’t find it all that satisfying, I have yet to finish it even though I’m at the last act.
It’s interesting that we had reverse experiences regarding the recent FF titles. I think for me, it was because I played them very close to each other, and I probably would have been fed up by halfway through whichever one I played second. My gaming buddy mostly really liked Rebirth.
But they both had a slightly different version of this same issue, and my tolerance was pretty low by the time I got to Rebirth.
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