DON_MAC's recent activity

  1. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    DON_MAC
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    I'm not really one to make top lists, but if I were to make one for my top games, Into the Breach would be somewhere on it. Each round feels like a perfectly solvable puzzle, it's so satisfying to...

    I'm not really one to make top lists, but if I were to make one for my top games, Into the Breach would be somewhere on it. Each round feels like a perfectly solvable puzzle, it's so satisfying to play. It feels very slept on, at least in my circles, and especially compared to FTL which a lot of people rave about (but which never really captured me).

    Admittedly I haven't played it in a long time (and haven't tried Advanced Edition) but I still think fondly of my time spent with the game.

  2. Comment on A pill to make exercise obsolete (2017) in ~health

    DON_MAC
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    Equilibrium is the movie you're thinking of! (unless there's another one with the same plot)

    Equilibrium is the movie you're thinking of! (unless there's another one with the same plot)

    8 votes

  3. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    DON_MAC
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    Yes, I agree about Edgerunners! (I did mean the Netflix show) I have a soft spot for cyberpunk as well. Shadowrun (the games) is something I've seen around many many times before but never engaged...

    Yes, I agree about Edgerunners! (I did mean the Netflix show)

    I have a soft spot for cyberpunk as well. Shadowrun (the games) is something I've seen around many many times before but never engaged with, so maybe that's something to look into next time I'm looking for a new cyberpunk experience then!

    1 vote

  4. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    DON_MAC
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    I've been playing Cyberpunk as well for the past month, having wanted more of the world after watching Edgerunners. I agree that the world is a bit flat at times. Edgerunners had me more immersed...

    I've been playing Cyberpunk as well for the past month, having wanted more of the world after watching Edgerunners.

    I agree that the world is a bit flat at times. Edgerunners had me more immersed in Night City than the game has managed to thus far. I haven't had the issue with NPC T-posing though, I think that would have ruined the experience quite a bit for me.

    The gunplay/gameplay mechanics feel good to me as well, it's nothing revolutionary or anything, but it does the job and it's satisfying to blast some gonks and send some quickhacks their way. I didn't like how the melee felt during the tutorial though, so I've avoided that as much as possible.

    I think where Cyberpunk 2077 shines for me is in it's storytelling, especially in the more directed stories. Some of the major sidequests had me very invested (don't want to mention too much here to spoil your enjoyment) and that's what has had me coming back to play more.

    Oh yeah, and driving - I think most cars handle like crap. Another comment mentioned that motorcycles are easier to drive and I agree, so I mostly drive a motorcycle if I need to get somewhere and can't/don't want to fast travel.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games

    DON_MAC
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    Unicorn Overlord is coming out today, and the trailers gave me some Fire Emblem-vibes. But I haven't played Path of Radiance, so not sure how it compares. But it might be worth checking the...

    Unicorn Overlord is coming out today, and the trailers gave me some Fire Emblem-vibes. But I haven't played Path of Radiance, so not sure how it compares. But it might be worth checking the reviews if you have any of the consoles (looks like there will not be a PC port).

    There's also Wargroove, but I think it's closer to Advance Wars than Fire Emblem, so might not be a good fit for you.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    DON_MAC
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    Yeah, I've heard the same! Haven't gotten far enough in the story yet to unlock it, so no chance to see for myself yet.

    Yeah, I've heard the same! Haven't gotten far enough in the story yet to unlock it, so no chance to see for myself yet.

  7. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    DON_MAC
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    Played through Hell Pie which I though was a mechanically fairly fun and decent platformer, but thematically, I was not impressed. Leaned very hard into the gross aspect and missed the fun, I'd...

    Played through Hell Pie which I though was a mechanically fairly fun and decent platformer, but thematically, I was not impressed. Leaned very hard into the gross aspect and missed the fun, I'd say.

    During last week I watched Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. I thought it was amazing, but the ending broke me. I needed a few days to recover emotionally. I'm usually not that affected by the media I consume (perhaps in the moment, but rarely more), but after the ending I just walked around sighing at home when I thought about it.

    In the end I felt that I wasn't entirely ready to leave Night City, so decided to get Cyberpunk 2077! I've been wanting to play it for some time, and with 2.0 being out for some time and there being a sale, it felt like the right time. So far it's missing the magic that I felt from Edgerunners, but I'm ~5 hours so it's too early to say anything definitive yet.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    DON_MAC
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    Recently finished up Expeditions: Rome. I think it has quite a few smaller issues that annoyed me a bit while playing through, but overall I had a good time with it. The XCOM-like combat was fun,...

    Recently finished up Expeditions: Rome.

    I think it has quite a few smaller issues that annoyed me a bit while playing through, but overall I had a good time with it. The XCOM-like combat was fun, and the "overworld" parts of conquering some region using your legion was passable, and the story was engaging enough. I think my biggest issue was that the game play progression (but using your characters and the legion) mostly consisted of "number get bigger".

    I also think there was a bit too much waiting. If you want to craft a new weapon, or heal one of your characters, or refill your tactical items, you have to wait for an in-game day or two, and that means just standing in place and letting time pass (as I don't want to do a mission without my equipment and/or fully healed characters). So there was a lot of enter camp -> craft thing/heal character/assign some research -> leave camp -> wait for some time -> enter camp to get equipment/character.

    Some of the larger missions tended to have quite some wait time as well, as you watched both the enemy and your allies do all their movement across the map. Maybe I missed a setting for speeding that up, but it got boring quickly to watch NPCs shuffle around the map, but at the same time you want to know what they're doing so you can respond properly... Mostly an issue in the missions at the end of acts, other missions were usually small enough that it wasn't a problem.

    There is also a loot system in place, which I mostly ignored as I had more unique items than I could equip my characters with, so all the standard equipment got dismantled for salvage.

    It's easy to focus on the bad parts, but I played the game for 44 hours (completing every quest I came across), so there is bound to be some friction I guess. I think it could have benefited from some more focused game play parts, it feels a bit wide and shallow at times, but I had pretty fun with it anyways, both game play and story!

    I have neglected my steam deck this past month, so now I'm playing Roguebook on it. It can be boiled down to a Slay the Spire-like, but with enough twists to make it different. The map traversal is different, your party consists of two heroes, so position matters, and swapping places can have effects etc. I was never super deep into StS, but liked it enough, so my intent is to kill the final boss a few times and then move on, but we'll see!

  9. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    DON_MAC
    Link Parent
    Yes! I was a bit hestitant during the first few stages, but once I got into it I was thoroughly hooked. Agree that the boss fights were a bit of a letdown, and I wish there were more boss songs. I...

    Yes! I was a bit hestitant during the first few stages, but once I got into it I was thoroughly hooked.

    Agree that the boss fights were a bit of a letdown, and I wish there were more boss songs. I know you can change them manually, but would still have been nice with some more variety. But I think the relatively short length of the game worked in its favor here, the boss fights never got too repetitive before the game ended.

    I didn't really play much of the Leviathan mode though, just the story mode and all the torments, so maybe the boss issue is even more noticeable there.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    DON_MAC
    Link Parent
    Yeah, ancient Rome is always strangely alluring! I'd say that Expeditions: Rome is more like XCOM than Total War though, so keep that in mind if you chose to buy it.

    Yeah, ancient Rome is always strangely alluring!

    I'd say that Expeditions: Rome is more like XCOM than Total War though, so keep that in mind if you chose to buy it.

  11. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    DON_MAC
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    After playing mostly on my steamdeck during the end of last year, I've gone back to playing on my desktop, so I've been catching up on some shooters that I've had in the backlog. Metal:...

    After playing mostly on my steamdeck during the end of last year, I've gone back to playing on my desktop, so I've been catching up on some shooters that I've had in the backlog.

    Metal: Hellsinger: Probably my favorite of the bunch. A lot of people praise the music of Doom 2016/Eternal, which never really did that much for me, but I think the music in this one was a lot of better. It's probably because I had to pay more attention to the music to keep on the beat, and for me the vocals add a lot as well. The combat was not quite as good as Doom, but combined with the rhythm aspect I thought the final product was great! It's fairly short, but I felt satisfied with it towards the end, so for me it was long enough.

    Prodeus: Started off fairly strong, but didn't really evolve the gameplay that much as it progressed, so it got a bit stale. Felt mostly like an inferior version Doom 2016/Eternal, but it was ok.

    Roboquest: A fun roguelite shooter, but I think it has some issues with runs feeling fairly similar after a while. Sure, there are lots of different guns and a few different classes, but the interaction between items and abilities felt pretty minimal. Comparing to something like The binding of Isaac where combos can drastically change how an item functions, the combos here were mostly +X% damage, which stops being exciting after a while. But I had a lot of fun with it, it just didn't have the staying power I'd hoped for.

    To not burn out completely on shooters I recently started playing Expeditions: Rome but I'm not entirely sold yet... But I think the game is about to open up soon, so I'll likely play a few more sessions to see what it's about before giving a final verdict.

    4 votes