What are you playing on your Switch 2: Play Harder

I've managed to get a couple of Switch games (not including New Horizons) on the go for the first time in a while. Horace is the first of these and it's an absolute gem of a game. I picked it up on sale a few weeks back but now I've played it I'd have happily played full price, it's very similar to Celeste with its platforming but with minigames here and there and then the humour is right up my street with loads of good pop culture references.

Second game is Sam and Max which Balla has mentioned recently, I played some of this back on the Wii so there's no surprises for me so far but it's entertaining point and click fare. Both of these games however have taken a back seat over the last two days to Dead Cells which is on Game Trial this week. I figured I'd try and play through it in this week but I'm really liking it and seeing that there's DLC for it too I might have to buy the full game (definitely in danger of becoming a roguelike fan).

Just a wee warning on Dead Cells, while the gameplay is fantastic the story (if you could call it that) side of things is quite poor.

That's fine with me, besides Hades I hear the genre isn't known for its stories anyway.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

Happy Birthday Mas, Ryza is pretty much the only Atelier games I've not tried since Rorona so you'll have to let me know how you get on!

Rum wrote:

Happy belated birthday mas! Interested to hear about Atelier Ryza - one of my colleagues has put in over 80 hours into the first one but I don't really know anything about it.

Didn't know you played them Andy as not seen you mention it and I often say when one of these come out, I might try this one but no one ever lets me know if any good. As the series goes back to least the Saturn maybe further again, always been curious why so many of them.

I was going to get Ryza 1 but other things must have come out around the time that I forgot about it but knew it reviewed well and buzz around Ryza 2 due to it.

As Jan going into early Feb quite quiet this seemed the perfect opportunity to play a game in the series starting with what might be one of the better ones in the series, which I did this afternoon whilst I waited for The Medium to redownload.

Meaning I've only played about an hour, but I like the turned based combat system as it's still pretty quick, it's nice and colourful as I just saw some Ys IX & part from the characters the world looks boring grey, then Ryza herself seems a likeable protagonist that I get wanting her in SMASH by some.

Treesmurf wrote:

That's fine with me, besides Hades I hear the genre isn't known for its stories anyway.

True, it's more that some of the dialogue tries to go for a certain humour and it doesn't land (for me at least) most of the time.

Smurf's post seemed a good place to split the topic and start a new one without interrupting the conversation, so Smurf: feel free to change this title!

Treesmurf wrote:

Horace is the first of these and it's an absolute gem of a game. I picked it up on sale a few weeks back but now I've played it I'd have happily played full price, it's very similar to Celeste with its platforming but with minigames here and there and then the humour is right up my street with loads of good pop culture references.

Second game is Sam and Max which Balla has mentioned recently, I played some of this back on the Wii so there's no surprises for me so far but it's entertaining point and click fare.

Horace is one of the six games currently vying for my attention. I didn't at all enjoy the first bit I played (the pop culture references fell absolutely flat for me), so I must admit I picked it up last night expecting to junk it. I didn't, though: what I played spent last night focussed less on the Little England story (so far it's everything Buska would hate: old British bloke in a mansion is nice, his working class servants are irresponsible and untrustworthy. I say 'Buska', I hate it so far) and more on the platforming. I kind of enjoyed the platforming, and the basketball. Any game that has you throwing things at an animated moose head can't be too bad.

That said, I can't possibly compare it favourably to Celeste thus far. Horace is a chunky robot, and from that perspective the way he handles absolutely make sense; but he just isn't as fun to pilot as Madeline. That's before we get to the hideously clunky mechanic of throwing things which take ages to pick up, and not paying attention to all the cut-scenes being delivered in the same monotone or the art-style being less an improvement on what went before and more a straight rip. So: stay of execution for Horace, but I don't love it anywhere near as much as you do so far Smurf.

Sam & Max on the other hand is quality. I don't know how well it'd hold up on a replay, but it's great to see someone, anyone, playing it. It's genuinely funny! Between that, What The Golf?, and UGG, I think the Switch may be the funniest games machine I've owned.

I definitely wouldn't go as far as saying it's an equal to Celeste I just meant in terms of little areas that you have to make your way through where you'll likely die a few times on the way, the wall walking makes it feel different enough that it doesn't hidner it in comparison though. Story wise it's got a lot to do to get anywhere near Celeste and there's some really unlikable characters.

I do enjoy the humour of it on the whole though and for a Robot Horace is a very good character. I personally think everything being delivered in Horace's voice works really well too as it makes it more personal to being his story but I can totally see why you'd switch off from it. I just hope certain characters don't influence him too much going forward.

I only played the first episode previously so can't imagine I'll struggle to enjoy it, the other Sam & Max game I've played I played all the way through and loved it, some brilliant writing in that series.

The_Jaster wrote:

Treesmurf wrote:

That's fine with me, besides Hades I hear the genre isn't known for its stories anyway.

True, it's more that some of the dialogue tries to go for a certain humour and it doesn't land (for me at least) most of the time.

I see, haven't noticed much of note in the dialogue so far so probably not landing with me either. I felt like I hit a little wall yesterday so we'll see if I can push through the other side which I guess is what Roguelikes are all about.

Ah, you've got a lot of S&M to look forward to then! (Yes yes I know.)

I note that above I said that I had six games vying for my attention: that's like saying that there's six snails competing in the marathon. The two at the top of my pile are Raji, a decent enough action title (and we all know how I feel about action titles) with some fiddly platforming that crashed today; and Puzzle Quest, which has all the presentation quality and interesting dialogue of a mouldy towel. They're both playable enough, but neither's exciting. I really envy Smurf with S&MStW to play and his enjoyment of Horace!

I'm near the end of Horace now and it's brutal, perhaps a little too brutal. It has a weird world that is a little too open but doesn't really feel welcoming or good enough to warrant there being as much of it as it is. It's a very good game but if I look at something like Guacamelee, Celeste or something that lands between the 2 I don't look on it particularly favourably. I've got a couple more weeks of Masked Singer to finish it over, but I don't see me going back to finish it if I don't have something else as a primary focus.

As for Atelier, that's because I wouldn't recommend them. I believe Rorona improved with Totori, which in turn improved with Meruru, but Nintnedo ports have been poor or games that barely ran on the PS3/4 and the series hasn't had any major hit since then, hence the fact I've not picked up Ryza yet. There does seem to be a positive atmosphere around Ryza though so I'll be sure to pick it up when I get a chance.

Till now, I would have played on PlayStation where think the Ryza games especially 2 all the reviews etc are focused on the Switch version and does seem to run fine.

I'm not about 3hrs in, and it's still at the tutorial stage of this how do alchemy, this how you fast travel all that stuff but am liking it.

Chuffing hell, I really don't want to battle through Horace only to get stuck near the end. Even if the game gets dramatically better from hereon out, it's not worth that. What's the 'Masked Singer' reference though?

I mostly play it whilst watching the Masked Singer

That's probably where you've gone wrong Balla, need to try and guess that it's

Spoiler:

in a giant blob costume to fully enjoy Horace.

I am blown away by some people's ability to multi-task. No way I could split by attention between two screens! I even struggled with TWEWY's battle system...

I'm now back to playing Creaks, a really interesting and slightly creepy stealth-puzzle game from the people who did Machinarium; and I've given Tales of Vesperia another shot, this time in single-player since The Lady can't be bothered to sit through other aspects. It's much more enjoyable than Tales of the Abyss (my only point of comparison for the series) so far, partly because things are actually happening, partly because I like the main character this time (even if the rest of the party's a bit tiresome), and partly because it's pretty on the big screen and I'm shallow. Just got the barrier tree up and running, so I expect there's a long way to go yet.

I've been playing Tales of Vesperia too! I bought it again a few months ago because it was down to a tenner in an eShop sale. It will never stack up to Symphonia in my mind (based almost entirely on rose-tinted glasses, I suspect) but it's pretty good. The main thing sticking out to me at the moment is the pacing - it rattles along comparatively quickly.

Hooray! Although I wish I'd got it for a tenner than whatever it actually was. Where are you Rum? Let's talk about JRPGs and irk half the forum together. (I've not played Symphonia sadly.)

I'd personally say ToV is better than ToS which is like the Final Fantasy VII of Tales.

I dunno, Symphonia's story seemed less contrived to me, with more meaningful relationships between the characters - although Lloyd was a much more two-dimensional protagonist than Yuri. (Though Yuri isn't as fun a protagonist as Velvet from Tales of Berseria.) I remember getting to the point with Vesperia where I wasn't entirely following the plot because it got very wrapped up in its own lore, which hindered the storytelling.

As I say though, there will be an element of rose-tinted glasses to playing Symphonia - I was an 11-year-old who had never played an action RPG like it before, and to play a game with a plot featuring a lot of racism against various characters and big acts of betrayal was pretty new and shocking for me. And not dissimilar to FFVII!

Anyway, happy to wang on about Tales games when required! In many ways they're a bit shit but I find them quite comforting and pleasant.

I suppose in a way this is easier for me since I have less experience of the series!  (Although I do feel like the rest of the party are a bit two-dimensional thus far.)  Anyway I should probably get a bit further in before I pass any judgement - I haven't met most of the box art yet.

EDIT: Also played a bit more of Yoku's Island Express, and I don't know why the hell I gave it up last time.  My first response upon starting up the game was, 'Look at him!  He's so happy!'  Exactly the kind of game we need right now.

I am very glad you have returned to Yoku

Haven't played it in a while, but I'm sure I'll return to Reiginited Trilogy and start Ripto's Rage sometime. I really enjoyed 100%ing the remake of the first Spyro game. First time I bothered going for 100%.

Currently I've been playing Disgaea 1 Complete here and there. Feels close enough to the definitive version of the game to me. Only 30fps compared 60 on other consoles but it more than makes up for that as the game looks great in handheld mode whereas on other platforms you can see the jagginess on the characters. Apparently this wasn't the case on release, but there are a lot of quality of life improvements as well. The mechanics do still feel a bit rigid and basic compared to later games in the series, but personally I appreciate they've kept it faithful to the original.

OrangeRakoon wrote:

I am very glad you have returned to Yoku

Me too!  I'm probably 2/3s way through a minimum requirements run now, and really enjoying it.  Rest assured I'll have some stern words for whichever chump thought I should give it up last time around.

I've met Rita in Vesperia.  I like Rita.  Deadpan snarkers are My Jam. Meanwhile in Horace I fought through a bunch of dull platforming challenges that were really starting to get on my wick, and then I fought a really fun boss. Stop toying with my emotions Horace.

strictly speaking I'm playing this on PC, but whatever I'm playing Control! And I have a feeling this'll go down as an Andy wrongpinion because at the moment I'm really enjoying it.

There's a lot of style here, cinematography fans will enjoy what this has got to offer, and headphone users are in for a chill too because like Dead Space, this is a game that really takes advantage of the intimacy you get from headphones to deliver a spooky or three. It's not like there is loads of horror or jump scares, but I find something unnerving about it anyway.

It's definitely a bit abstract, in the sense that what's going on story wise is a little bit topsy turvey. You're very much thrown in at the deep end here, but for the time being I think the game is doing a good job with that.

It is Andy

I'm guessing your not playing the cloud version but on PC, can you use Ray Tracing?

I have max ray tracing on with dlss. It looks really nice, but I don't think you need it to get the main thrust of the game's vibe so as long as it runs well it would get a thumbs up from me on the Switch