dr_st wrote on 2026-07-21, 07:26:

How are these aspects (special move input, kameos) compared to earlier MK games since MK9? MK9 also has the various 'tag' modes and chain combos, but maybe the implementation is different?

It's really quite uncomfortable to play using an arcade stick, since it makes heavy use of the block and kameo buttons as modifiers for moves and chains in combos. You really need to have a finger on both at all times. I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a workable layout, but I ended up just going back to the gamepad, which is what the game was clearly designed around using.

Compared to earlier games, I find it a lot harder to chain into special moves. Maybe the timing window is tighter... I'd have to go back and play X and 11 again to be sure. The timing doesn't match the animation, since it's more like the long chain combos of the older Tekken games, where you just have to hit each input one after another. A lot more characters also seem to have special moves where you tap back, down, attack, which feels very unnatural to pull off at the end of a combo.

Just finished Battlefield V single player on my modern PC.

I am playing COD & COD 2 on my retro rig.

Almost finished with Monkey Island II. The game is much shorter than I remember, but the humor still works 100%. That said, it has a lot of moon logic puzzles that I did not remember and found quite annoying. I still think the first game is far superior though. I will move on to the third game as soon as this is done.

Soulcalibur VI
I dunno what to think about this one. The story mode is a joke. The dialogue is awful, and enemies just sit there looking at you as you move around the arena. It feels broken. It sure does look good, though. The story mode also switches you from one character to another pretty frequently, which is probably the worst way to get you into a fighting game. I think it's kind of trashy so far.

Mortal Kombat 1
I kind of like this. I stopped struggling with the character-specific combo challenges, and now I like it. I still find the screen hard to parse, since everything is lit so "real," but it feels nice to play. I was surprised to find how easy the "tower" mode is to view the endings for each character; based on how grueling the tutorial and combo challenges are, I was expecting something like the brutal arcade versions of the older games.

One thing I really like about this game is how transparent it is. If you check the move list for a character, it will list properties like how many frames the move takes to pull off. This is crucial stuff, and it's cool that the game just tells you. It remove a lot of the trial and error, and the excellent tutorial, though sometimes frustrating, does a great job at explaining how to play the game.

newtmonkey wrote on 2026-07-22, 18:17:

Soulcalibur VI I dunno what to think about this one. The story mode is a joke. The dialogue is awful, and enemies just sit the […]
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Soulcalibur VI
I dunno what to think about this one. The story mode is a joke. The dialogue is awful, and enemies just sit there looking at you as you move around the arena. It feels broken. It sure does look good, though. The story mode also switches you from one character to another pretty frequently, which is probably the worst way to get you into a fighting game. I think it's kind of trashy so far.

Mortal Kombat 1
I kind of like this. I stopped struggling with the character-specific combo challenges, and now I like it. I still find the screen hard to parse, since everything is lit so "real," but it feels nice to play. I was surprised to find how easy the "tower" mode is to view the endings for each character; based on how grueling the tutorial and combo challenges are, I was expecting something like the brutal arcade versions of the older games.

One thing I really like about this game is how transparent it is. If you check the move list for a character, it will list properties like how many frames the move takes to pull off. This is crucial stuff, and it's cool that the game just tells you. It remove a lot of the trial and error, and the excellent tutorial, though sometimes frustrating, does a great job at explaining how to play the game.

Soul Calibur is still one of my most favorite games on the Dreamcast. I have the Dreamcast I bought when it came out and I still get on there every once in awhile to play this game. Super fun. I didn't even realize there were "sequels".

been playing eve online its very laggy on my budget pc the in game market is rigged some players try to scam, extort intimidate and harass at any opportunity but soon my paid access will be over and I’ll look for something that’s actually fun 🤣

clueless1 wrote on 2026-07-22, 22:08:

Soul Calibur is still one of my most favorite games on the Dreamcast. I have the Dreamcast I bought when it came out and I still get on there every once in awhile to play this game. Super fun. I didn't even realize there were "sequels".

I really like that one (along with the first game in the series on the PSX, Soul Blade/Soul Edge), which is why I'm so disappointed with VI so far. The "story" modes of those two games were great, so I'm not happy with the lame mode you get in VI, where you basically just read a bunch of awful text in between easy battles. It feels very cheap.

Master Of Orion 2, I can still play it after 30 years, you cant say the same for modern games that rely on internet connections to activate or continuously need.

Bloodborne

Finished my second playthrough. The map quality drops slightly near the end of the main game (e.g. Nightmare Frontier and Unseen Village). It's still pretty decent though, just not as good as some of the earlier levels. And it does pick up during the DLC areas. Anyhow, soloing all the Bloodborne bosses wasn't overly difficult, with a few exceptions.

The Shadows of Yharnam were certainly tougher due to it being a 3 on 1 fight. But you can use the pillar in the middle of the arena to strategically split them up. Ebriettas was also noticeably harder without a summon to distract her. She has some really strong attacks that can deplete your health bar in seconds. Fortunately, most of these can be avoided by circle strafing and staying behind her as much as possible. Ludwig was definitively harder to solo, as I had no one to tank his barrage of hits during the first phase, so I had to spend a lot of healing flasks there. But as before, I found his second phase to be somewhat easier, and managed to beat him eventually.

Lastly, the Saw Cleaver pleasantly surprised me. That thing is remarkably good for a starting weapon. During my first playthrough, I had switched to Ludwig's Holy Blade about half way through, due to its better scaling and higher base damage. But the faster attack speed of the Saw Cleaver and its extra bonus vs. beasts kinda make up for the lower stats. This time around, I kept using it until the very end, and it never let me down. Even the mighty Orphan of Kos was cut down by this basic weapon. No wonder it's so prominently featured on the game's cover art.

All in all, I really enjoyed my second playthrough of this awesome game. So weird that Sony never commissioned a simple PS5 upgrade patch, allowing Bloodborne to run at 60 FPS, and possibly offering a resolution boost as well. Thanks to mods and emulation, even my lowly RTX 3060 can manage that much.

And done. I unlocked the first achievement exactly 2 months ago on May 25. I ended up doing to endings because on the first one I failed to kill the Kraken before the main antagonist died.

Over all I liked the gameplay, the visuals, character designs, what accompanied invoking/casting the skills. I didn't encounter too many bugs. There was one in the late game where the game stopped giving quest rewards and sometimes it crashed to the desktop upon reloading a save. I also liked the story and lore. The writing of the dialogs bothered me a bit. The characters often sounded like quippy Marvel characters. Did Larian do this in BG3 too?

Either way, 162 hours in 2 months. I haven't been this addicted to a game in years. And somehow I did it without anything else in my life suffering for it. Normally I'm probably wasting a lot of time without noticing.