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What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
I just beat Elden Ring last night. What a wild ride.
Congratulations! I am still in the first quarter of the game. How long did it take you? Was it very challenging in the end? I am struggling but everyone says the game gets easier as you go along (I suppose as you learn the mechanics better and optimise build/gear)
It took me 135 hours, but I was playing for near completionism, trying to ensure I finished every dungeon before beating it. I finished at level 155.
It does seem to get easier as you go, partly due to becoming overpowered with better weapons/gear, and partly due to actually getting better. I started a new character and beat Margit at level 10, after struggling to beat him at level 30+ on my first playthrough.
Got to max level (80) in Guild Wars 2, which is just the beginning of being an experienced player. I'll now begin exploring what L80 players do, and start checking out the PvP modes of this game. I also picked up Total War: Three Kingdoms and Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries on sales. Haven't really started playing those yet, though.
Have you been playing GW2 solo or have you joined a guild/play with friends? I’ve been playing on and off for 10 years now and playing alone is just sad for me for some reason after my guild died and my friends have moved on. Both PvP and WvW are tons of fun, though I’m not sure what they look like now after a while away.
Largely solo, but I did join a guild because some rando was spamming requests in-world. I was like "sure, why not", so now I hang out in their Discord, and occasionally ask for help in the
/guildchannel in-game. I don't actually do any active adventuring with guild members. Just got the occasional revive here and there.However, I expect to be engaging guild members a lot more once I dip a toe into WvW. Still honing my build(s), first, though. I can send you an invite, maybe, if you DM me your in-game name(s)?
I think that’s how I joined my first guild too, back in the day. I’m a part of a few guilds but they tend to be super-guilds with 500+ members that are advantageous just because of collective resources and headcount for events. Large Discord servers are kinda hard to get any sort of rapport built just because of the way servers are structured, which is why I still end up playing alone anyway. What server are you on? If you’re looking to get into WvW, maybe I’ll hop back in for a while to run it down.
Crystal Desert, I believe.
Oh, that’s a little unfortunate—I just transferred to Dragonbrand from Crystal Desert after nine or so years. If you’re interested in doing PvE content/expac completion, let me know and maybe we can play together.
Red Dead Redemption 2.
I got about 60% through it before caving and just using https://rdr2map.com/ to guide me from one spot to the next. I just HAD to finish those collectible quests before going further in the story and it was driving me nuts finding them organically, plus finding them without a map would've taken me ages, and I have a backlog to tackle!
Splatoon 3!
While my friends and I have mostly grabbed it as a fun casual(ish) group game, it always surprises me how much depth there is to the game. I've had a lot of fun trying out different weapons, figuring out gear setups, finishing the single player campaign, and amusingly having fun with the blockus-like minigame. Theres been a lot of QoL upgrades since splatoon 2, and 3 plays very smoothly for the most part. The motion controls take a bit of time to learn, but end up being vastly superior to the normal dual stick aiming. The only real problem is nintendo's less-than-stellar online service combined with the insistence on p2p connections.
I bought a whole bunch of games on sale in the past week or two, and it was mainly because they were super cheap.
With that being said, I do have a few small problems with the game. While the combat system is revamped from any Tales game that I've ever played (it feels like a more technical/strategic spin on beat-em-up gameplay, honestly, which I frankly appreciate). The only real problem I have with it is that the game feels super streamlined. I feel like I'm playing the first half of Final Fantasy XI. Everything is a corridor; even towns! To me it feels like none of the characters' motivations matter; they are just doing what they are doing because they literally have no choice. Once I saw that pattern it basically killed my interest because at this point it's basically just a long-winded RPG grinding simulator.
God Eater 3 - I'll be completely honest, I don't know why I bought this other than it was on a super steep discount. I can't stand these Monster Hunter mission-based action games with plots that basically don't mean anything, and the fact that there are so many examples to choose from is frankly insulting. Damn it, games industry, design some new f'ing games! And this same sentiment goes to the thousands of "Souls-Like" games out there (especially given that almost all of them tend to miss the details that I'm hearing the people who like these games actually find appealing).
Get in the Car, Loser! - I've mentioned countless times how much I love Christine Love's games, and I've been waiting for her to release this game for years! And then I pulled up her website again after a long hiatus and find it's been out for more than a year already! And It's on sale! Yes, I'll buy the bundle with the soundtrack before I've heard any of it, what do you take me for, a fool?
Much like her previous game, this game is absolutely not written for an audience of me, but so far that hasn't deterred me from enjoying it. I just kind of like everything about it, to be honest. The art takes a bit of getting used to, as does the dialog if you aren't around people who talk like they do, but It's actually really well put together and appealing. While this game does have a "VN mode", it's actually the least VN-like game that Love has made so far; it features regular, constant battles with demons, and combat is entirely in realtime. The battle system feels vaguely reminiscent to the original Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, where your actions are pulled from a deck that you build yourself. But instead of having your character level up, you level up the trinkets that let you act. Actions have cooldown timers, but you can freely switch between three pages of them, and after you pass the third page you activate a powerful sword attack that is capable of dealing 'stagger damage' which has a great deal of strategic use.
The thing I like the most about the game, though is how it uses music. It's technically diagetic, coming from the radio in the car you're taking on this crazy road trip. Each chapter starts with a musical introduction with a DJ narrating a kind of preview of what's coming up ahead and as you play it actively adapts to what's happening, weather you're cruising along the highway or in battle, and best of all the battle victory theme meshes with the battle song itself, so it feels like there's one continuous flow. This, along with the cyclical gameplay loop, really does a lot to draw you in and keep you invested in playing. Even though the road is littered with shrines you can stop at to save your game, the music loop really encourages you to play an entire chapter at once.
Tried my hand at Rimworld again. It's been years since my initial playthrough which I enjoyed it a lot. But I'm having trouble getting back into it. Idk, we'll see how long this attempt lasts. It's that early, early phase where I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do, and how to do it since I'm relearning the game.
On the JRPG front, I started Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. I played and beat it back on the PSP probably a decade ago now. There are some actual sequels (Trails in the Sky ends on a cliffhanger) that I've been wanting to play for a while, so figured I'd do a replay or the first installation via PC/SteamDeck. Definitely reliving my enjoyment of it; it's a nice casual JRPG with funny characters and dialog. It's not Earthbound by any means, but it also doesn't take itself too seriously. Keeps it light and fun while still having a compelling story. I'm not rushing through the game by any means, but I would love to have this completed by the end of the month so I can move on to Trails in Sky: Second Chapter!
Definitely the right week to refamiliarize yourself with RimWorld, given the new DLC on the horizon.
I bought the Royalty DLC earlier this year after a friend recommended it, but this is the first time I'm even using that one. Lots to familiarize and refamiliarize!
I have been investigating interactive fiction due to my interest in creating something in that area myself.
Twine games are generally short and fairly simple, with a literary, experimental feel.
There are a few commercial visual novels available to me via the Xbox Game Pass, such as Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa 2, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, and Zero Escape: The Nonary Games (containing two different games). I also got some games for free on it on itch.io and watched some on YouTube.
Regular visual novels don't interest me much, and even make me wonder about the source of their appeal. The idea of spending hours looking at a screen when most of my interaction is limited to pressing a button for the text to advance seems like torture, especially given that the writing in mainstream visual novels seems formulaic, predictable, and immature.
I played the first puzzles of Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, the introduction of one of the Danganronpas, and watched other people playing several visual novels on YouTube, such as Steins;Gate.
Nine Hours... is nice as a puzzle game, but the story is boring and formulaic (although not bad). The Danganronpa game was much worse, it felt written by an AI that was fed a bunch of anime cliches.
If I have to sit for 80K words mostly pressing
Aon the gamepad, the words that I'm reading better be top-notch, at least on par with an excellent regular novel. Dialogue and narration must be unique, moving, and intriguing, and progress at an enjoyable (and somewhat expedited) pace. That doesn't seem the case in most visual novels.This makes me think that the way people consume visual novels is very different from how I approach both reading and games. I can see how regular visual novels might be a relaxing experience for a lot of people, but that's just not how I function. I'm happy to consume other "lowbrow" content, even the anime forms of the same kinds of stories, but reading demands a lot of me, so I expect more from it in return.
I also downloaded some free dating sims on itch.io, and those are even more formulaic than the rest. Most that I found have female protagonists, and there are lots of yaoi and LGBT ones. Dating sims with heterosexual male protagonists are not as common. I assume that this audience is interested in eroge more than anything.
The best visual novel I tried, which I will complete, was the macabre Void of Desire. You can download for free (click in No thanks, take me to the download) for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android (either from the apk or the Play Store).
The writing in Void of Desire is above average, and the author creates an atmosphere that is both morbid and alluring, dangerous and suggestive. This game doesn't give the player many choices, but it is so well constructed that I don't mind, I'm entering a new and interesting universe and I'm glad for the ride. It kinda opened my mind to the possibilities of the medium, since I previously couldn't understand what was so appealing about mindlessly clicking the mouse for hours on end. Void of Desire is not technically impressive, but the way it uses text, sounds, and images is so delicate, organic, and engrossing, that I have no alternative but to dive deep into its creepy atmosphere. Update: after the first act it gets lazy and the ending I got was rushed and weak.
I also played the first 2 episodes of Telltale's The Walking Dead (which is on Xbox Game Pass), as part of this renewed interest in interactive fiction. There are salient flaws in this game, but I like it nevertheless. It was hard to overcome my boredom with The Walking Dead's universe at first, but being "free" on Game Pass was sufficient encouragement.
I think I'm gonna make a visual novel using Renpy. Seems easy enough :P
The thing about the Zero Escape series is that there are some aspects that are fairly mediocre about them, but they live almost exclusively for the plot twists that happen around the end of the second act. The first game is the weakest by far, but I'd still recommend it to get the full effect of the second game because there are aspects you likely won't understand entirely if you haven't played it, and I think that's a much better put together experience. One thing you have to understand about the series is that you aren't anywhere near done after the first playthrough because getting some endings will give you a key to unlock another path and a new ending.
I'm a little bit upset about what you said about the characters in Danganronpa. How dare you describe them so accurately! :P
Once again, though, the Danganronpa games get better after a while. That's most VNs to be honest. There's almost always an extended introduction phase, generally before there are any kind of stakes to be had. For games like Danganronpa they just exist for you to learn about the characters and their motivations, since those are things that will become important to the plot later. By the way, I would recommend playing them with the Japanese voices if you can for the simple reason that the first two games have Monokuma being voiced by the OG VA famous for voicing Doraemon. It's quite simply the best casting of any character ever.
If you're OK playing a game with a gay male protagonist where there are some short written but not graphically depicted sex scenes, I would also strongly recommend playing Echo Project's eponymous Echo. I think it might be more to your personal tastes. It's got a cast of very well developed and interesting characters that are beautifully rendered, and the plot has a lot of things to say about things; you'll walk away from it like it was an experience and not just a diversion. The one thing that you won't like about it, though is that it's not really an interactive experience. There are choices to make, but most of them are just a slightly veiled question of what route you want to go down, the occasional "pick a response and maybe get a different response before we move on*, or "Do the obvious thing to not die". Though there is one point in the game where the choice mechanic is subverted in a really interesting way. Echo is free on Itch.io.
One last thing - Itch.io is something of a haven for small-time LGBT creators. There's a lot of arthouse games that are loudly queer, with creators like Porpentine and games like EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER. I fucking love them for it, but because of that I don't think that Itch is a good example of the VN community as a whole. Japan has a whole bunch of VNs that are targeted towards straight men. And yes, many of them are eroge, but not all of them are.
Homoeroticism is not a problem per se, all love stories have the potential to be compelling to any audience. However, for such stories to work universally, they must be more than just "fan service", but rather strong stories in their own right. So yeah, if Echos is a great story that does more than feed into some kind of fetish or subculture, I certainly could enjoy it.
I actually have it downloaded already because someone (you?) recommended me in another comment.
I see you mentioned Twine, but have you tried any of the interpreter-based interactive fiction, like ones made with Inform 7? It's been a long time since I was into that scene, but there are quite a few classic games with a lot more interactivity than pressing a button. (And a lot of interesting experimental stuff.) I seem to remember IF Wiki being a good place to learn about them, and there's the Interactive Fiction Databse for finding games.
Thanks!
Yes, I looked into Inform. I think it's a great system. I opted out of it for much of the same reasons I opted out of Twine.
First, even though I'm interested in games that are mostly text, I also wish to use images and sound extensively. That is possible on Twine, but it's not as comfortable for a beginner since that's not its main purpose. I'm not sure how Inform would support that.
While Twine was basically made for branching, the visual passages system feels cumbersome for deeply nested dialogue with a lot of choices, states, and consequences. I would have to create so many passages that it would be difficult to understand, and I'm not even sure if my computer would be able to handle it since Twine is meant to be programmed visually instead of coded via text.
One of the main advantages of Inform is the parser, but I don't really wanna parse input. When I played text adventures as a kid the parsing was not appealing to me. It would make sense if the player could write freely in their words, but in reality, you end up learning sequences of words that function like commands with no more expressivity than clicking a button.
An actual JavaScrip/CSS programmer could easily extend and manipulate Twine to do what I want, and I assume the same is true for Inform (although not with JavaScript and CSS). However, from a cursory analysis, Renpy seems to have all the facilities for me to achieve what I want more easily, with accessible, beginner-friendly documentation.
Vampire Survivors sank its teeth into me pretty bad. I actually had a good 28 minute run in the Library, and then misstepped for a bit and ruined it.
I bought all the Rimworld DLCs and it made the game a bit more spicy, but still just Rimworld. It's a blast, but I still can't expand. Every humanoid on my map was dying from the wildmen to the prisoners, to my character getting gored by a wild muffalo.
I just bought everything Arkane has done, and started Dishonored, which has been interesting. Not my normal sort of game, but it's fun.