What are you playing right now?

This type of thread is almost obligatory in internet communities, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to have one here too.

As for me, I'm a bit crazy over Open Arena's single player right now. (I know it's just a frag fest with bots, but still better than waiting for a good net game online, and no cheaters to boot. Already creaming the AIs on hardcore mode!)

Well, currently I watch more than I play. ^^;

But I often play the "Streets of Rage Remake" these days.
Also played "Final Fantasy VIII" recently, but I finished it. So I am done with it for now.
I might pick up VII or IX eventually, when I am in the mood. But I am not sure... ^^;

Paragon-Yoshi wrote: I might pick up VII or IX eventually, when I am in the mood. But I am not sure... ^^;

I'm sure you've heard it enough times, but VII is a must. I like all Final Fantasy games, but if I were to recommend any, then go for VII, VI, X, and Tactics next for sure.

I've been playing Fire Emblem lately. Beat Blazing Sword (just called Fire Emblem for us since it was the first released outside of Japan) and I'm playing Sealed Stones right now. I'm loving the series, though keeping everyone alive can be a hassle. The fact that if someone dies they're gone for good though is a plus for the game to me, it adds a stronger want of protecting your units and gives more personality to the characters as well.

Currently I've been going crazy with emulators, though I'm still been trying to get a few to work... D: Rayman 2's being a jerk...>_>

Anyhoo, for the most part have finally nabed Shantae, so I've been playing that... Currently I got the Dribble and Golem stone, thanks to following a walkthrough religiously :'D I might have gotten further, buutt.... I have to admit I've also been indulging in nostalgia and have been playing me some Kirby 64 too...

Which version of Rayman 2? I never had any trouble getting my original Playstation disc of Rayman 2 working on ePSXe, and the N64 version works just fine in Project64 or Mupen64plus as well. (More levels and cleaner visuals, but less spoken dialogue. ;_;) You're not trying to emulate the Dreamcast or PS2 remakes are you? xD

Anyway, I'm still a bit pre-occupied with Open Arena, (Those AIs are pretty dang smart!) but playing Urban Terror with a friend too. It's also nice being able to play GBA titles on a emulator that actually works on Linux, VBA-M. xD I loved Zero Mission on my GBA-SP so much. :3

I've been just all over the place with what I've been playing lately. There was a speed-running challenge for Sonic games on another site recently (I won!), so I've played through the Sonic Adventure games again. In hopes of supporting WayForward, I picked up a few of their games, and I've been having some fun with Mighty Flip Champs (everything about the "?" levels strikes me as really being fun). For some reason, my memory of Super Adventure Island 2 was jogged, so I got that on my Wii's Virtual Console and have been making my way through it. I have an old N64 fighting game few people know about called Flying Dragon, and I tried a round of that since I was talking to a friend about it and the memories came a-floodin' back. I may try making a video of this one going through the ins and outs of the game.

I've also been playing through Phantasy Star Online in hopes of actually finishing it once. I've been playing a Force Newman Female, and this is the first time I've actually played a Force. This one has lots of Mind Strength, lots of Technique Points, and has a 30% bonus with the basic spells (which are the ones I use the most often anyway). The strategy is basically just to spam as many of those attacks as you can... which I am totally on board with! I've been progressing more quickly than I have in the past (probably because it's so easy to one-shot so many creatures), but... sadly the game is still a bit stale and repetitive. Humorously, I realized you could basically choose any NPC in the game, design your character to look like them, give them the same name, and basically "play" that character. Could be fun for the future.

Lastly, I've finally gotten around to making my way through Kirby's Return to Dreamland. I finished up the Normal Mode, and now I'm steadily working my way through Extra Mode. The level designs don't seem all that challenging, but the bosses are a lot of fun. It's also got a similar feel to Kirby Super Star, which is one of my favorite Kirby games, so I'm happy to see that flavor returning. The way they give you Super Abilities and then give you a ton of stuff to destroy with them comes off as a bit silly to me, but it's also really fun to wreak that kind of havoc.

I picked up a copy of Metroid: Other M at Gamestop for $10, but I haven't dipped into it just yet (if the above paragraphs are any indication as to why). Can't beat that price, so I might as well experience it once.

I think that's all I have to report for now.

Which version of Rayman 2? I never had any trouble getting my original Playstation disc of Rayman 2 working on ePSXe, and the N64 version works just fine in Project64 or Mupen64plus as well. (More levels and cleaner visuals, but less spoken dialogue. ;_ You're not trying to emulate the Dreamcast or PS2 remakes are you? xD"

I think it's moreso with finding a rom, since I don't own my copy on the N64 anymore D: Granted Project 64's less confusing to me than the ePSXe, but I still have troubles from time to time ;_;

Minecraft.

I've been revisiting System Shock 2, which everyone seems to hold in the highest of regards. The first time I tried it though, I despised it. However that was mainly due to the fact I was playing it with a first-person shooter mindset: yes the game is in first-person and you got weapons to shoot with, but ammo and resources are scarce and need to be managed wisely like a survival horror game. Even with this knowledge my second time playing, I still felt the game was too brutal for my tastes.

Now it's on Steam and this is my third time through, coming up to the part I was at when I gave up both times prior and I'm finally starting to realize why this game is so great: how well it blends the FPS and survival horror genres together, with a nice balance of RPG elements that let you develop your character into something unique to best suit your play style, while keeping you from being a master of all traits, so you really have to think about what stats and skills will work best for you.

It's always nice to give games a second chance and discover that the only problems were in your head the whole time

I know that feel, Nai. And since this topic went active again after... Wow, almost a year... I'll lay down what I'm playing.

Fire Emblem Awakening (my favorite in the series now) when alone and Soul Calibur or Smash Bros. when with some of my close friends: we suddenly got the fighting game fever.

Team fortress 2. Sometimes I like to play along with these annoying kids that pop up sometimes.
Scamming is way too evil for me to do.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengance, Luigi's Mansion 2 and Donkey Country Returns 3D.

How's the new Metal Gear by the way? I haven't had a chance to play it.

Well it is a spin-off and plays completely different from the canon Metal Gear games.
Stealth is still a possibility, but not a priority.

It is a great game tho, contrary to what other people might think.
Definitely worth checking out.

The story can be really freaky sometimes tho, even for Metal Gear standards.

Yeah, it does get a bit freaky sometimes, but it's a really impressive action game. I was blown away by it left and right while I watched my cousin play through it.

As for what I've been playing, I've been too busy with art to do much outside of five minute matches with Quake III bots, but I have been watching playthroughs of Deadpool's new game in a smaller window above GIMP, and Dead Space 3 on Youtube.

While I'm mostly rewatching Dead Space 3 for a refresher on the story, I've been pretty interested in Deadpool's new game. The comedy doesn't go over the top as much during game play, but from what it looks like so far, it saves all those golden moments for the cutscenes, and just the beginning's pretty hilarious. Might avoid watching the rest so I don't spoil it for myself.

I've been playing Fire Emblem Awakening during my Dallas trip. Along with some Game Boy Advanced emulators I downloaded on to my Kindle Fire HD.

I'm jelly, I had no idea there was a homebrew scene for Kindles. O: Still, sounds like fun. ^^

Also, did completely forget I was replaying Pokemon Gold; trying out a save editor to give me a water stone, don't like the thought of running through the game without a Vaporeon.

Steam:

Dust: An Elysian Tail - Second playthrough. Tough difficulty.
Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Unreleased. Will begin it once it hits the market.

3DS:

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers - First playthrough. Preparing to challenge the final four extra bosses.
Rhythm Thief - First playthrough. Attempting to ace each rhythm game to unlock the final post-story sequence.
Mighty Switch Force! - First playthrough. Cleared all 16 regular par times and will be tackling the bonus Incidents next.
Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Second playthrough. Aiming to clear it in under 2 hours.
Pokémon X - Unreleased. Will begin it once it hits the market.

Right now I am playing good old Everquest.

Ah, I remember my older cousins playing Everquest back in the day. And that's a lot going on at once Tekaramity! I can barely handle one playthrough of a game at a time. Currently replaying Pokemon Black whenever I can think too, my hobbies are keeping me more than distracted from serious game play right now. =P

That's a lot going on? o.o' Then, um, I run too many concurrent playthroughs of video games! DX To be fair, I don't play each game every day, and some days I don't play any games at all - that's more of an Autumn 2013 list than a day-to-day list. ^^''

Oooh, Black. Pokémon Black is my favorite from the series. Unless it's Black 2? Or Emerald? Or Silver. Heck, even Colosseum - I'm unsure! XD But Black 1 was phenomenal to my view & rekindled my deep enjoyment of the series.

What sort of hobbies are stealing your time & energy? :O Or, I should say, which hobbies of yours are hogging ya.

Just finished first playthrough of Wind Waker HD. My main problem with the game was fixed and above all the game is just naturally amazing. I think it's probably my second favorite Zelda.

I'm currently playing Pikmin 3 which is just fantastic. The game knows how to be an effective time sink though as everytime the day is about to end there's tons left I want to do which leads ne into playing another day and do forth.

Wow, I forgot Wind Waker HD was already out. O: It looks more and more amazing with screenshots and videos.

And I see what you mean now, Tekaramity! I thought you were putting time into multiple games everyday. =P

As for my hobbies, you can see by my deviantART gallery that I love digital art, pixel art, and animations. Obviously, art is a very time-consuming hobby and needs as much time as you can spare. Sometimes when I play a game for half an hour, I feel like I wasted time I could have spent on art instead. And if I wasn't broke right now, I'd be gutting and fixing up game consoles too, because I love electronics. There's also keeping up with and maintaining this fansite as well.

Mostly I'm into Final Fantasy 14 atm.
But if I'm not at home I'm trying to beat Shantae GBC on 3DS

Oh, how is FF14 anyway? I was interested in it but I'm always too cheap to give a $15/month online game a real go.