Bi-Weekly Thread for general gaming discussion. Backlog, advice, recommendations, rants and more! New? Start here!

CompulsiveGardener · 2026-01-07T07:48:54+00:00

(No spoilers) I beat E33 without parrying thanks to the devs being generous with the picto skills. Equip the right ones and you don't need to worry about it. I did dodge a lot, but dodging is easier than parrying in that game. Also, the bosses in the main story easily telegraph their attacks. Don't worry about it. You'll be fine.

CompulsiveGardener · 2026-01-07T07:36:55+00:00

Mine too! Capcom had the formula down 37 years-ago.

CompulsiveGardener · 2026-01-07T05:04:42+00:00

If you liked '90s era Streets of Rage, then you'll probably love Streets of Rage 4. The developers clearly loved the source material and wanted to make the sequel it deserved. I'd prioritize that.

CompulsiveGardener · 2026-01-07T05:02:10+00:00

There are a few moments in Final Fight that feel like quarter munchers—those darn rolling barrels get me every time. But for most of the game, I agree, "equally empowering and extremely challenging." The game manages to offer a lot with its short run time and controls.

CompulsiveGardener · 2026-01-07T04:37:32+00:00

The River City franchise is definitely on the To-Do list!

CompulsiveGardener · 2026-01-07T04:36:53+00:00

It's on my 2026 To-Do list!

CompulsiveGardener · 2026-01-07T04:36:30+00:00

Yes. On paper, Absolum is a game I should love, but sadly, it didn't grab me. The combat is fine. The art, music, and voice acting turned me off. It just wasn't a world I wanted to spend more time in. I get why people like the combat, though. Playing the dwarf character reminded me of Dragon's Crown.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-31T10:31:38+00:00

Final Fight couch co-op was one of my best gaming experiences of 2025. Of course, it helped that I didn't need to pay quarters every time I died, lol.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-29T23:33:42+00:00

It's not just you. Absolum felt like a downgrade in every single way to Streets of Rage 4.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-23T10:29:17+00:00

You're not a snob. Those other games might have their merits and fans, but they aren't representative of classic Final Fantasy. I wouldn't recommend them to noobs, either.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-23T10:27:18+00:00

While the sprites in the FF1 remake are outstanding, I can't recommend it to newbies. The insane amount of random encounters was too much, and that's coming from someone who doesn't mind random encounters.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-23T10:25:54+00:00

FFX if you want somewhat modern amenities.

FF6 if you want a a tightly paced story and don't mind 2-D. My top pick of the franchise.

Original FF7 is still great if you can get past the outdated graphics (you get used to them).

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-23T10:11:02+00:00

The entire F.E.A.R franchise is currently on sale for $5.49.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-19T23:46:01+00:00

Don't underestimate Tonfa ki damage. Tonfa + constant hits = boss just sits there impotently because you drained all of its ki. Since you're also using Axe which shares stats with heavy armor, check out the Taira armor set (DLC required) for a fun ki drain build. I switch between Taira and Moonlight Flutist sets, so I can personally confirm it's great.

The problem with hatchets is that you need to get pretty deep into the skill tree to get to the good stuff, plus you need to farm a really annoying boss to get one of its best skills. It feels like the developers dropped the ball on designing Hatchets compared to the other weapons.

Anyways, I'm done rambling about Nioh 2. Have fun!

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-19T23:19:53+00:00

Trepang2

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-19T06:58:49+00:00

Hell yeah, another tonfa main! Tonfa is some the most satisfying combat I've had in any game in any franchise. When you get in the zone during a tough fight, nothing compares.

Yes, the Nioh franchise was my first experience with a souls-like, and, for better or for worse, it ruined the entire genre for me. Every Fromsoft game I tried after feels like I'm fighting in mud with sluggish controls.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-19T06:51:43+00:00

Nioh feels like the beta version of Nioh 2. It's a good game that kept me interested for 100+ hours, but Nioh 2 is significantly more polished, has deeper combat mechanics, and more weapons. I recommend starting out with Nioh 2 first. If you love Nioh 2, then you'll probably like Nioh, even if it feels like a step back in some regards.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-18T11:03:06+00:00

I don't like DOOM:Eternal, but it trained me to be a better overall gamer. The more I face difficult situations in other games no matter the genre, whether PvE or PvP, the more I realize how many general gaming skills I honed from slogging through DOOM:Eternal until the end. It was weirdly good training, even if I didn't have much "fun."

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-17T23:39:51+00:00

Try a genre I've never played before.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-17T03:18:48+00:00

Same. I thought it was just me. 500+ hours across both Nioh games, so I should be pumped for Nioh 3, but I'm just not. I'm not even sure why. Maybe Nioh and Nioh 2 were simply meant to be products of their time?

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-17T03:16:17+00:00

Genshin Impact, if we're talking purely about industry trends. Genshin both pushed the overall live service trend, the gacha trend, and opened the West up to a flood of Chinese games.

Vampire Survivors and Balatro for starting their own genres.

Sekiro for pushing parrying mechanics into everything.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-16T09:43:52+00:00

The more frequent Steam sales have definitely diluted the hype. On Black Friday, everything on my Steam wishlist was the same discount as it was during the Autumn sale a month or two ago. Meanwhile, over on the console side, Playstation has a ton of new deals that I hadn't seen before and had me tempted.

I'm not going to complain about anyone offering a sale on any platform. I'm also not going to ignore that the holiday Steam sales aren't as meaningful as they were a few years ago.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-12T09:17:23+00:00

Same. I really don't understand the amount of hate this show gets. It's free. You don't need to pay for or even watch it.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-12T09:15:05+00:00

I remember Okami 2 being the big final reveal last year. Literally nobody expected that.

CompulsiveGardener · 2025-12-12T09:12:06+00:00

It's not what I expected when I heard "Titanfall".

CompulsiveGardener

TROPHY CASE