What are you currently playing?

Proof Ninsuckdoodoo can literally take a crap and call it a game and people will buy it.

Also playing TotK. Not traditionally a Zelda player, but so far so good.

Yakuza 3 Remastered

Ranked up in Tekken 7.

Also, went and finished Mario Odyssey. Really had some great moments in that game.

Jedi Survivor - Liking it for the most part but not sure making it more open-worldy was a good idea.

Star Trek Resurgence - Made by people that know Star Trek, but a few too many technical issues need patching.

Portal 2. Figure may as well finally finish it and move on to The Talos Principle and Q.U.B.E. 2. The Portal Reloaded fan game is awesome too, but it can make your head hurt, fans always have to scale difficulty up to like 1% of the pro gamer population.

Been playing too many shooters, I keep expecting to get attacked halfway through a puzzle.

Shantae (2002)

first time playing the games, Decided to start with the first one since it got released on the PlayStation 4/5 this week.

Nice! If you can handle the the more dated older games, it's definitely interesting seeing how Shantae has evolved over time.

We did lose Jake Kaufman, the composer, after Shantae: Half Genie Hero though. He gave us some genuinely great tracks before he left. Reminds you of old school platformers, but modernized a little.

It's even gotten the budget for hand drawn cutscenes and actual voices nowadays. Makes me wonder if they'd attempt a Shantae animated spin off.

The Messenger.

Fun game, but the video details are killing my ADD. I could use native stretch and get the shimmering in backgrounds from improper pixel shapes, use pixel perfect mode which shrinks the image and adds black borders, or use straight 720P which completely fills the screen even in pixel perfect mode, but is nowhere as sharp as native res.

Decisions decisions.

Over 37 deaths so far past the Queen of Quills. With full upgrades, because how can you not grind a little with the reset crystal exploit.

They say this is an easy game, I guess I suck.

Originally posted by StyleTime
Nice! If you can handle the the more dated older games, it's definitely interesting seeing how Shantae has evolved over time.

The version that they released for the first game also includes a quick Save & Load system, So you don't need to rely on the one in game.

Looks like Shantae is back on sale on Steam.

Never got one because just not sure what to get. Half Genie Hero Ultimate is 15 bucks, that's still kind of pricey even on sale, Pirates Curse is cheaper, 10 bucks (Presumably without dlc), and Risky is 5.

I'll pay the 15 if it's the best of the bunch, would rarher pay more for a better game.

Ia story an issue, do you miss out by skipping games?

Originally posted by Kazenji
The version that they released for the first game also includes a quick Save & Load system, So you don't need to rely on the one in game.

Sounds like a good quality of life update. It is a pretty old game, so any modern convenience is welcome.

Originally posted by cdtm
Looks like Shantae is back on sale on Steam.

Never got one because just not sure what to get. Half Genie Hero Ultimate is 15 bucks, that's still kind of pricey even on sale, Pirates Curse is cheaper, 10 bucks (Presumably without dlc), and Risky is 5.

I'll pay the 15 if it's the best of the bunch, would rarher pay more for a better game.

Ia story an issue, do you miss out by skipping games?

But, each game is a separate story arc. The story isn't particularly serious or complicated either. It's somewhat of a lighthearted comedy series. You may miss some gags and references, but it won't impact the experience much. I'd say just pick which looks most fun.

As for what's best, people will debate that. The games genre hop a bit, and mechanics/art style will vary between titles. Of those three, I enjoyed Half-Genie Hero the most(mechanically, visually, AND soundtrack-wise), but it's more of a conventional platformer with Metroidvania elements. Pirate's Curse is a pure Metroidvania.

Shantae and the Seven Sirens has a very strong argument for being best in the series too, but it may be above your price point at 30$.

It seems to have figured out the best mechanics/controls, visual style, and design for the series imo. And expanded the story a bit. It took the best of all the previous titles, although Half-Genie Hero has a better soundtrack overall.

I guess it comes down to preference ultimately.

Its odd that they haven't put the first Shantae game on Steam. For those that don't have a PS4/PS5 go play it on a emulator.

Originally posted by StyleTime
Shantae and the Seven Sirens has a very strong argument for being best in the series too, but it may be above your price point at 30$.

It seems to have figured out the best mechanics/controls, visual style, and design for the series imo. And expanded the story a bit. It took the best of all the previous titles, although Half-Genie Hero has a better soundtrack overall.

I guess it comes down to preference ultimately.

Fanatical has it for 20% off. If Epic Game Store had it I'd use the Epic Coupon.

Looks like Gog once had a 70% discount, may just wait for a sale. In the mean time I'm about half way through The Messenger and enjoying every minute, definitely a top tier game a shame it doesn't seem popular. Shantae on the other hand is very popular, yet the reviews seem mixed, a lot of fans on Reddit or Gamefaqs claim it's "average" while others insist it's "decent", haven't seen too many rave about them like Hollow Knight or Shovel Knight.

But the art style looks up my ally, kind of reminds me of Guacamele a bit, think I want at least one game, and maybe more from there if I like it.

Originally posted by Kazenji
Its odd that they haven't put the first Shantae game on Steam. For those that don't have a PS4/PS5 go play it on a emulator.

Originally posted by Ridley_Prime
.. Or a Switch.

And if people don't have one of those too, PC on a it on a emulator.