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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 got into Stardew Valley a month and change ago and woooooow it is exactly what I was looking for in a game. Nothing especially bad can happen, you get to grow things and raise animals and decorate your house and make friends with people. :D Low stakes high enjoyment fun (including actual puzzles!).
Stardew is top tier for me. I've been playing for years and there's a ton of stuff to slowly explore and discover.
Stardew Valley is truly an amazing game. I grew up playing Harvest Moon, and while those were always fun, I didn't realize the potential behind it. In fact, I tried replaying some of the old Harvest Moon games and I just could not get into them - Stardew just nails what I want out of that genre of game so perfectly. My partner and I recently started a local coop farm and that has been so much fun, especially because she isn't into as many games as I am so it's a nice way to share one of my hobbies.
On a related note, if anyone has any recommendations for games that scratch that Stardew Valley itch that go beyond what Harvest Moon does please let me know!
You might try Graveyard Keeper. It's not as good as Stardew but I found it does scratch a similar itch. It has some funny dark humor, lots of strange social puzzles to solve and a bunch of interesting crafting. Single player only though.
What about Rune Factory 4 Special?
The whole Rune Factory series is made by the same company as the original Harvest Moon (now Story of Seasons in the West) series but with more RPG focus. Farming still plays an important role but you could play it as just an action RPG too. It often goes on sale on Steam, and should here soon during the large Summer Sale.
Main reason I didn’t suggest RF5 is that the move to 3D was not kind to the game and resulted in really sparse areas, towns and limited NPC interaction. They seem to have gotten things turned around, in a good way, as the spin-off of Rune Factory looks amazing. (Was recently announced as Rune Factory: Project Dragon)
Me too! Been having a ton of fun with it though I find myself using the wiki a lot. Have you gotten a blue chicken yet?
I have! My first two chickens were blue :) I think my favourite animals are the rabbits though, they’re adorable.
And yeah the wiki is invaluable, there are several things I’ve looked up that I’m sure I would not have been able to figure out on my own (usually because I was trying to figure out why a similar but incorrect solution wasn’t working…).
Try Medieval Dynasty! It has light survival mechanics (the first 3-4 hours of game play are survival-ish, but after that you have enough resources that the survival aspects can be largely ignored), but it's mostly a farming/city builder/simulation game. You can have a wife and kids and neighbors. It's so relaxing and it's got a decent story too.
Takes in-game years of hard work just to save up for something like a horse or cow, multiple in-game days to build a big barn, but it's soooo satisfying once you finish something or get that horse. Love it so much.
Been playing a lot of Diablo 4 and TotK. I've been enjoying the creative and open-worldness of TotK, while enjoying the overall art and general vibe of Diablo 4.
I think TotK is a more polished game at the moment, which I think is to be expected from games like Zelda where it's strictly single player.
My biggest gripe with Diablo 4 is that you're in this big open world with other players like a MMORPG but there literally "community feel" yet. I ask for help on the server I'm on when I get stuck but there is never any response to help, or communication in general.
I'm talking into the air, it feels like. lol
I've been playing the same set of games, and agree with your feelings regarding D4's sociability. Yeah, the other people are there, but I get the feeling that anyone social is in a... clan? guild? whatever they call the thing. And those will presumably form outside the game. That said, if we wanted to start a loose Tildes group thing I'd be down.
So far I've gotten a summon-focused Necro to 30, and am really pleased with how viable a summon-specific build is. Aside from getting absolutely wrecked by the Butcher, I've been going with only summons beyond my base and core skill, and my skellies and golem are doing a great job of things. I do really wish I could have 5 abilities rather than it being capped at 4; with the skellies and golem taking up two slots, and my ult taking a third, I only have one slot left for an escape ability instead of the corpse tendrils/corpse explosion combo I'm drooling over. I may decide that the golem just isn't worth it in the face of that beautiful CC/AOE combo.
Hello fellow D4 fan. What class(es) are you running so far? Thoughts?
Yeah, the lack of games with game names kinda limits community building/questing for a purpose. It also doesn't help that the majority of players seem to be on consoles, which chat less. Of course the game hasn't actually launched yet, so you're limited to people that paid extra to get early access and are focused on early progression instead of community. I think it's just too early right now.
That said... Anything in particular you're stuck on? Just popped Lilith on my main last night and finished the first capstone dungeon, off to Nightmare difficulty I go.
Currently have a lvl 40 barb and a lvl 12 sorc! I just get stuck on the main bosses tbh. I don't follow any builds on maxroll or other guides because I think part of the fun in D4 (and my favorite part of D2) was experimenting with "non-standard" builds. Like with my barb, I'm doing frenzy/double-swing. My strategy is to get my crit hit/chance, attack speed, and fortify all really high, and with the end goal of being able to maintain the berserker buff, to just be a no-hold-barred, tanky build. It does make bosses challenging (so far) because to maintain my buff I need to constantly be hitting to maintain the frenzy buff. That and my gear is lacking, as I think most peoples are in the early game. But I'm having fun being one of the few people running a frenzy/double swing/steel grasps!
Honestly, it's so early the guides are barely useful as people still figure out what works, what doesn't, and adapt to patches.
There's also a lot of holdover from previous Diablo games. Every single Sorc build is still trying to shove teleport down your throat when it's barely useful vs normal evade and having it on your skill bar just makes you lose one more skill you could be casting.
Also on that D4 train. I agree on the lack of "community feel", but I think that will get better as more people are levelling and getting past the msq. I know personally I've just been jamming around various dungeons and stuff, taking my time and enjoying the ride, but I also have friends who mashed out the msq in a couple days. I just got my horse and I'm like "huh, I guess I'm into the main story now?" lol.
One gripe I have is that balance patches are going to be coming soon I think, which is a good thing but it also means some of the stuff i'm learning now will be almost meaningless. As a sorc it seems like dps goes from fire at the weakest to arc at the strongest, but the cc of frost makes it a bit more meaningful. Early game I had almost a full set of fire legendaries and going from that to a completely fresh arc build was like night and day. Would love to see some balance brought in to help right that ship, but it feels like I'm learning bad habits at the moment.
I still can't figure out how to get the horse! I just see that I need to complete the Danen(not sure on the spelling here) Mount quest, but I don't see the option to complete it anywhere. lol
Have to complete Act 3 first.
ohh, okay. lol. I'm on the tail-end of A3 currently.
I've been on TotK as well. I have a slew of older consoles that I regularly still use too so I've been playing some Last of Us on PS3, which is incredible. Kicking myself for not playing it earlier.
I just finished the Last of Us series on HBO. I don't know if my heart can take that type of tragedy! hahah
Just started Diablo 4 yesterday and am loving it. As a longtime D2 fan, I feel like it strikes a nice balance between D2 and D3. Though I'm still low level so maybe that'll all change at endgame haha.
I agree about the lack of a community. I'd be happy to add you (and anyone else) to my friends list so that we can party up in game. Let me know if you're interested.
I've also been playing Diablo 4 and I really enjoy the graphics and art style. The game play is simple but engaging, and it's enjoying to look at stats of items while working up the levels. However, I completely agree it's just like you are playing the game in parallel of the community, but not WITH the community. It's like you are a ghost. Sometimes, I appreciate that I'm basically playing single player, but other times it just feels a little soulless. My two cents.
I think that's a really good way of putting it, playing in parallel to the community vs with it. There are some nice moments when you hit one of the events with a random person, but then you go your separate ways and it's just passing people as you do your own thing. Hoping that gets better as people get leveled up.
Final fantasy XV. Its not bad, I played through pocket edition a few years back. I like it but I'm on a stealth mission that's kicking my butt.
You played FFXV pocket edition before, and now the "full" edition? I've only played the full one and can't really imagine some parts of the game with the pocket graphics, like the capital city among others. How do the experiences differ in your opinion?
Pocket Edition is definitely more streamlined and linear, but overall it's honestly pretty similar to the main game. Magic works a bit differently, but I like how it works more than the full version honestly.
I recommend it. It's a 20 hour romp and a genuinely fun time.
I'm working my way through the FF VII remake/dlc, with XV on the backburner. Never got around to it when it came out, but I'm excited to dig into it when I'm done with VII.
A bit late but that was my intro to the entire FF franchise, so I liked the whole thing. I then started working my way backwards from there. That said I can't imagine experiencing the whole game on a small screen.
To be fair I played it on my TV using my Switch :P
I started playing Spiritfarer the other day as a way of coping with the passing of my dog a few days ago, and also a divorce of a marriage of 19 years.
On the odd times, I've been playing Doom 2016 (I need to finish it to free some space on the HD), Spiderman (got it as a father's day gift last year and I've been putting it off, also need to free some space on HD), and I'm trying to improve my game on Tetris Effect.
Sorry for the edit, forgot to put some thoughts about the games.
I'm still early on Spiritfarer, but it's quite beautiful (both visually and thematically). I'm not big on managing games, but as far as it goes, it's very laid back, much like stardew valley, but more story oriented.
Doom 2016 I guess everybody knows. I enjoyed it until about halfway into the story, but I'm actually a bit jaded on it now, it's becoming a chore, and I just want to finish it more because I'm getting close to the end, and I'd feel terrible to just drop it at this point.
I'm enjoying Spiderman, minus some of the side missions / challenges, specially the taskmaster ones. But the story is good, actually makes me want to get into Miles Morales afterwards.
Tetris is something I just am always playing sometimes in whatever platform it's available. I discovered Tetris Effect a couple months ago and fell in love with its gimmicks. Too bad I suck at Tetris.
Picked up Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri recently and have been enjoying that quite a bit. Playing many of the older games really shows how much our UIs have improved over the years, but the core gameplay holds up very well!
I loved SMAC so much back in the day, but returning to it was rough; I'd completely forgotten how UI was back in the day. So many dropdown lists with 12 options...
I've been playing a lot of rimworld, but on the easiest difficulty lol. I enjoy the community building and trading aspect of it more than the combat and disasters. Might not be the right way to play, but I find it fun.
There's no "right way" to play Rimworld, or really any single player game. If you enjoy playing that way, the haters can become human leather hats for all I care.
After a lot of time excited for the System Shock remake, I'm glad to report that it's turned out great. That is, except for this weird semi-game breaking bug I've run into in this single cyberspace section (Maintenance level) where the sounds suddenly stop working, then the framerate plummets, then the game simply crashes. It's an optional section, hence semi-game breaking, but just strange and frustrating that there's nothing I can do about it.
EDIT: It’s not an optional section, I don’t know why I thought it was. I sort of just kept trying until it worked.
HROT also got its official 1.0 release! I'm looking forward to getting to it once I'm through with Shock.
I’m so glad to see that the remake has gotten such a positive reception. Hope they patch that bug soon!
I haven’t bought it yet (Diablo IV pulled focus for me), but I’m excited to dive into it in a few weeks. I’ve been waiting for it for a long time now.
HROT is one I need to jump into, just haven't yet.
The new System Shock is next on my list; I played the original for the first time back in 2020 and very much loved it, so while I'm usually a patient gamer, I ended up picking up the new release immediately.
Need to finish what I'm currently playing first, then comes SS
I hacked my 3DS following the shutdown of the eShop so I've downloaded a ton of games from series I've never played before. I've played a bit of Dragon Quest VIII and I'm quite enjoying it. The only JRPG I've played is Pokemon and I've been told this is a good next step at getting into the genre.
DQ8 is an amazing time. I got pretty far playing for like 30min-1hr before bed each night if possible, but put it down a little while ago. Definitely need to get back into it.
I've been getting back into SWTOR the last couple of months. Been actively enjoying the game more than I have in past years. I've been finding it fun diving back into the Star Wars universe and discovering new things in the game that I hadn't done before. It is nice to see that all these years later, they are still adding content to the game and trying to make improvements. My biggest concern is the economy and the massive inflation that exists in the game. I know BioWare is taking steps to try to combat the inflation, but I feel like it may be far too gone to fix. Regardless, it has been fun to get back into to kill some free time.
I started back in SWTOR about a month ago. I'd like to finish the class stories - I'd done four before I moved on. While I enjoy the heck out of it, the repetition of class story quest structure from planet to planet is painfully obvious, at least for the Jedi Knight. I'm looking forward to getting past it and moving onto the expansions that I never originally finished.
Ya, that is currently where I am at right now. I haven’t done any of the expansions and hasn’t played the game since the first year it came out. So I’m just blasting my way through the class story to get to the expansions and check out all of the new content.
Not much of a video gamer, but when I do get into one it occupies all my idle time. Tears of the Kingdom is where I'm spending my cycles these days. I'm really enjoying the changed dynamic from the Breath of the Wild, and trying to break old habits and develop new ones as the new skills make for different solutions to problems.
I still find myself climbing things unnecessarily when I could use Ascend to just transport up through or even ride a fallen rock via Recall.
I was casually browsing the software centre on my linux laptop recently. I found and downloaded a game called AAAAXY just because its description looked interesting.
Basically, it's an open-source puzzle/platformer game based on non-euclidean geometry. It was interesting enough to keep me busy for 24 or 48 hours, and it has a bunch of easter eggs. It's also speedrunable, which is something I'd consider to do in the future.
Other than that... I've been building some important parts of my (IRL) city in Minecraft survival mode recently. It takes a lot of time but it looks quite good.
I reopened pokemon go recently but it seems to be slowly dying as a game.
Sorry, I have to ask: what does this mean? You are trying to make an in-game model of your IRL city?
Sorry for the confusion!
Yeah, I've been using Google Earth/Maps (& my photos) to create a minecraft model of the city centre of my IRL city :)
The past couple weeks I've put in ~65 hours apparently into Torchlight 2 on the Switch. Some may already be familiar with this game, which was originally released on PC in 2012. It was ported to some consoles a few years ago. It's not receiving any content updates since Runic Games went kaput a bunch of years back. Torchlight 2 kind of reminds me of Diablo 2 in some ways (not surprising considering some of the people from Blizzard North worked at Runic Games). It definitely feels simpler / more streamlined and does not approach the complexity of other ARPG's like Path of Exile.
I dunno exactly what it is about this game, but it really hooked me. I'd been playing a bunch of Path of Exile earlier this year and I guess I find it refreshing to get into an ARPG that I can actually understand and reasonably build a character myself. As well, the end game doesn't feel like it's trying to punish me at every turn like Path of Exile does. But content-wise, it's nowhere near Path of Exile, 'nor any other modern ARPG really.
Otherwise, been having some fun with yet another playthrough of Stardew Valley, my ultimate cozy comfort game that always seems to manage to put a smile on my face.
Haha I just came here to post about Stardew Valley too! I’m on my first play through and it’s so much fun.
Been meaning to go back to Torchlight 2 for awhile now.
I'm one of those weirdos that also likes their ARPGs more straightforward and simple; Diablo is still my favorite of the genre and never got into D2 or 3 and an not even going to bother with 4. For me, honestly, I don't care much for killing enemies in droves and really preferred the more survival horror vibes of the original game, where you really don't feel like a murder machine.
Ring Fit Adventure
After watching the thoroughly entertaining speedrun of the game at SGDQ, I ordered a copy and my husband and I have been playing it.
I highly recommend it. Neat game design, good exercises.
I'm sore, but the good kind of sore.
PUNCH FIT
I've been doing a lot of Beat Saber and Synth Riders for a while now as VR workouts, but I've played enough of them that they're getting a little same-y, and I'm on the market to diversify (which is part of why I'm currently liking Ring Fit).
I've tried out a couple of workout-esque games to varying degrees of enjoyment, but this is one that is going to have genuine sticking power. It's got floating outlines for the different types of punches you can do (jabs, hooks, etc.), and the workouts are essentially just Simon Says rounds with different patterns of punches.
I was surprised to discover that the game is fully free and doesn't have any microtransactions. It's very polished and satisfying to play. When I started playing the free version, I thought I was going to have to pay money to unlock the rest, and I was ready and willing. Turns out it's just sort of fully, completely free, which is awesome.
Literally had to catch my breath after watching that. By 5 minute mark was already winded.
I wonder if Ring Fit Adventure, or any of the VR workout games, would be appropriate for someone in an apartment with downstairs neighbors?
On its default settings Ring Fit has a lot of running in place and would definitely bother people below you. They do have a “quiet mode” you can turn on where you do quick mini-squats instead of running, so your feet never leave the floor. That likely wouldn’t bother them.
Also a lot of VR workout stuff has you standing in place with most of the movement coming from your arms. In some games you might step here or there to reposition yourself slightly or brace yourself for a crouch or squat, but likely nothing that would bother people below you.
I currently play quite a lot of games. Terraria, Diablo 4, WH40K: Boltgun, Quake 2 Pro. All of these games are really good in my opinion, especially the nostalgia I get from playing Boltgun and Q2. Railing someone in the face has always been the best distraction for me. I would recommend playing all of them to be honest, even if I don't like to support Activision Blizzard with money, someone gifted me D4 so I felt like I really had not choice in playing it. I do like it quite a lot though.
I recently installed Sifu. I still have these urges to challenge myself in games and while I can still do a pretty good job, I notice that my patience has been wearing a bit thin at times. Having said that, Sifu has been pretty fun and it while it is difficult it does seem fair. It feels like the more time I put into it the better I get and I develop a better idea of the timing and the mechanics behind the game. I am hoping that I can play through all of it before getting too frustrated. I did a pretty good on the first level my first time playing, but the second level completely kicked my butt.
On a different note, I've been reading a bit about the roleplaying game Dialect - has anyone here played that and what are you thoughts on it? It looks fun as an exercise in roleplaying, but is it something that you can get multiple games out of or does it lose its charm?
Assetto Corsa Competizione
Rimworld
Returnal
I had been playing Cassette Beasts on my Steam Deck. I put 10 hours into it then lost interest. The character design is fantastic but it's not enough to carry the mediocre story.
I really fell in love again with EVE online again, which I played last like 10 years or so ago. I play with my partner who never played themselves and we got into a university style corporation and we've been having a blast. The game is so odd and slow, but when it clicks it's one of the best feeling games imo.
Also Street Fighter 6 came out and we've been playing that a bunch, really fun. I just which they had added more customization with having to pay or play the story mode. I'm really just interested in 1v1 :s
Welcome back to New Eden! I take it you're in Eve Uni?
If you both get a chance, try Faction Warfare out in low-sec. CCP revamped the system earlier this year. I hadn't played FW before, but I came back in March after taking a year off.
It's a lot of fun, you're interested in low-stakes PVP. A couple of friends and I just fly around in either T1 or Navy frigates or destroyers looking for fights. So even if we lose our ships, we're never out that much money. The Navy Coercers I sometimes fly are like 40mil, fitted. But usually we just go out in the T1 frigates or dessies and they're like up to10mil each or something.
Plus it's also easy money (Loyalty Points --> Items to sell --> ISK). I run with a small FW SIG in the null bloc I'm in and we make decent money doing the FW sites. Like if I went out with the SIG for a couple hours every night, I could probably make at least the equivalent of a 1billion ISK/wk. And of course you get fights from time to time.
Fly safe o7
yeah it's eve uni. FW is definitely on the menu as I didn't touch that at all when I last played. I think we'll probably fly with the uni for a bit and see how that goes.
we've been having quite some action in nullsec recently and it's really given me a taste for some bigger fleet action again, though. I think ultimately I'd really like to join a null bloc again, but my memories of the "tone" in those is honestly not the most glowing, so we'll definitely do some research first :D
I'm biased so I'm gonna say y'all should join Pandemic Horde! I've been in for like nearly 5yrs now and it's been a good time. At the end of the day though, all the bigger null groups and blocs are basically the same in terms of what they offer.
thanks for the hint, I'll look it up :D
Well I've been playing WoW since the new patch dropped (well I've been playing on and off since 2005 but you know), and I've been really enjoying it. I feel like I'm more or less running out of new content though, so aside from a reputation grind or two I'm not sure how long I'll stay subscribed for - yesterday, I got the achievement for 90 Exalted Reputations, but I don't know just yet if I'll stick around to be trying for 100. It seems very far away
I've played a lot when the expansion dropped until like mid February when I probably burnt myself out a bit on the daily activities. Haven't had a look at the new patch yet, is it a lot of stuff to catch up on?
I only played for about a month on release, so I'm thinking I had more to catch up on than you would. I found it a little confusing at first, because there were (to me) 2 new zones - one from patch 10.0.7 and one from the new patch 10.1. But I think if you just follow the main campaign quest, you will be fine!
nice, thanks for the info! might just sub back in for a bit. I really was quite invested in the story, too - but I kinda monched through what there was until then a bit too quickly :D
really wanted to try the reworked pally, too
I've been putting serious time into The Outlast Trials. Such a fun game with friends and even with randoms it hasn't been that bad!
Found a unit in Arma 3 a little bit ago and have been really loving that when I get a chance to play in their ops. That and League of Legends have taken my time for the past few months now.
Oscillating between TotK and Splatoon 3, as usual, but in about 40 minutes the first of three “Too Many Trizookas” rotations is about to begin. While this is the second “Challenge” released it’s really the first that uses truly unique rules (the first was just Turf War on the new stages and no secondary abilities, so not really that much of a challenge), so I’m looking forward to it and the chaos of all Trizooka weapons with an auto-filling special gauge.
I've been playing through some old Dreamcast games, having never owned the system myself. It's been interesting! A couple of standouts are Giga Wing 1 and 2, particularly the second one. They're not masterpieces, but they are pretty fun shooters with nutso plots. The shield mechanic is a bit clunky in the first game, but I like the laser version in the sequel. I also appreciate the infinite continues allowed by both games, since I'm not particularly good at the game.
I've been kind of intentionally avoiding the bigger titles, so I haven't played too many others that I've enjoyed. The biggest exception is ChuChu Rocket!, which is really fun! I wish I had more of a chance to really get into the multiplayer, since it's absolutely nuts.
Multiplayer ChuChu Rocket! is outright dangerous. I played it with my siblings growing up and we had some… harsh words for each other. It was absolutely a ton of fun though! Frantic, chaotic, and delightful.
Are you emulating or playing on original hardware?
Emulating, mostly with Flycast on RetroArch. I used Redream for ChuChu Rocket! though, due some odd issues with menus and language settings. Both are great overall, and so far they cover each other's blindspots very well. Xbox controller fills its role nicely, as well.
I've been splitting my time between The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and No Man's Sky.
I shared some of my thoughts about TotK earlier but I really enjoy the expansive world along with the new sandbox elements. For the first week or two I had the game I was trying to make progress towards finishing the story but now I'm distracted just exploring the world. Even though its the same basic world as BotW, there's quite a lot different with this new world that I'm having a ton of fun exploring areas I've already seen. The Sky Islands and the Depths are also both pretty fun to explore around.
I got back into No Man's Sky following the recent Apple Silicon release. I preordered the game and remember being massively let down on release day. It was amazing just how far they were from the game they promised back in 2016. However, they've worked relentlessly to bring so many free updates. I gave the game another shot in 2020 when I got at trial for Xbox Game Pass and really enjoyed it. The Apple Silicon release brought the game back to my attention so I bought it on Steam and have been playing it on and off. Really enjoying the relaxed game mode that simplifies a lot of the tedium and grinding involved in regular NMS gameplay and just lets me zoom around in my spaceship and explore solar systems.
League of Legends.
My account is currently sitting at a 48% winrate across roughly 900 Unranked Draft games throughout its history. Put it this way, my MMR is currently so low that I'm basically elohelled and being matched with players who are either smurfing or brand-new to the game. At the moment I am trying to improve my matchmaking rating as an ADC. so I can finally get some good practice in.
The other day I had a chain of very easy wins where I carried as Tristana and Quinn. Today though, it's just been shitty teammates actively throwing my matches.
One of DnD group members was recently telling me about Factorio and how addicted he was to playing it and the more he described it, the more I was thinking, "Ooh man that sounds like a game I want to get sucked into!" There's something about games that scratch the itch of "let's build things and keep improving what you built and collect items to make even more things". I am the kind of Sims player who could (and has) spent hours just on the architecture stage and then as soon as my Sims move in, I save and close the game as I feel fulfilled now haha.
I've recently picked up Trackmania again. I'm very rusty and it's tough, but it really is the perfect game to play while watching something.
Besides that, I've been playing modded Minecraft with a friend, on a modpack called "Stoneblock". I hadn't played Minecraft in a while, and these new mods are pretty cool. Especially one called "Create".
I really want to play FF14 again too. I haven't had enough time to play to justify paying a subscription these past few months.
Final Fantasy II - The Pixel Remaster. I'm playing them all in order before XVI's PC release. The game is good. I wouldn't say better than FFI however. FFI didn't have that deep of a story and focused primarily on the gameplay...which was innovative at the time. I feel like FFII took a similar gameplay formula, added a couple tweaks, but then fired out a crazy fucking story to go along with it. I'm more than halfway through and I'm honestly confused as to who is what and what is who. At this point I'm just following the prompts haha
I installed Emudeck on my Steam Deck recently. I recently finished the "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" original trilogy (Steam) and now I want to replay the rest of the main series. So I found a Nintendo DS ROM for "Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney." I'm in the second case at the moment. I can't remember which specific DS emulator I'm using, but it works amazingly well with the Steam Deck right outta the box. Didn't have to mess around with control schemes for the most part; it just worked.
I did start Live A Live (Steam) last week. This is a remaster of an old SNES JRPG that was never released in the West. It plays like Octopath Traveler, in that there are several main characters and that you play through each of their stories. Except with Live A Live, they take place at different times in history. So far, I've done the story for a character that lived in Prehistoric times. I also did one that took place in "modern times" (which, given the age of the game, is more like the early 90s). Now I'm working on the story for the "Near Future," which feels like the actual modern day, but with some tech that we don't quite have yet. The game has things that remind me of both Earthbound and Chrono Trigger. Which is great, since those are two of my most favorite JRPGs.
Otherwise, still playing Eve and FFXIV. Finally moving through the post-Stormblood content in FFXIV, after taking my sweet time (like 4 months) gaining access to and learning the optional dungeons and raids. Roped another friend into trying FFXIV. Oh, I also visited a player-owned "club" called "Femboy Hooters." It was an experience, to say the least.
Has anyone else been playing Humanity? I've heard other people say it's a lot like a modern lemmings but I never played that (did anyone play pit-droids back in the day? It's similar as well). It's a fantastic puzzle game and I've really been enjoying it. The overall theme is engaging if not a little weird in a fun way, and I am chasing 100% since getting the extra objectives unlocks lots of fun skins for the mob of people you control.
I’ve been playing strictly fortnite with the little guy lately, I started when it had first came out and then fell out of love with it about 2 years in, until the implementation of zero builds. Other than that, I have enjoyed the more popular games, Call of duty, both MP and Zombies, Forza horizon, Mlb the show when it came to Xbox game pass. Lately if I’m not playing fortnite with the little guy I’ve been into mobile games, Subway surfers is my current guilty pleasure phone game.
I've been playing the Strawberry Jam mod for Celeste, which came out a few months ago. It's an incredible mod, with fun levels, beautiful art, and great music. I had held off on getting into modded Celeste for a while, but its such a simple process with Everest, and I'm glad I started.
Been playing a lot of MW2, but I'm starting to give up, I swear theres at least 2 hackers in every single lobby, it's pretty ridiculous. Besides that FFXIV and Tower of Fantasy have my heart.
I beat Horizon Forbidden West and its DLC, Burning Shores, a couple weeks ago. The main game is a big step up from Zero Dawn but the open world is far less interesting to me and lacks a lot of spectacle. Both of those were rectified in Burning Shores though, and safe to say I'm excited for the inevitable Horizon 3.
I've also been replaying Spider-Man PS4 (the PS5 remaster anyway) in preparation for Spider-Man 2 this year and, yeah, I still like this game. I'm doing NG+ converted from my PS4 save. Spider-Man is one of the few open world games I feel can justify having an open world since the web swinging is so fun.
Dwarf Fortress - I picked it up when the Steam version came out and have fallen in love with it, even though I generally prefer pretty graphics in games, the depth of the DF experience won me over very quickly. Only downside is it has killed my interest in most other colony sims as they feel so shallow in comparison.
Satisfactory - I have had it for about 3 years, played it a bit when I bought it, but then put it on the virtual shelf to play when it got out of Early Access. A couple of weeks back I got a hankering for a good factory game and loaded Satisfactory back up and am really enjoying it. I love the relaxed vibe of the game where you progress at your own pace, you aren't forced to make optimal setups unless you want to, it will just take longer to achive the in game goals. It is a beatiful game world to explore.
Elden Ring.
It's a good game I'm sure but I kind of hate it. I hate getting killed and doing corpse runs. I hate the dragons that you can't lock on to their feet. I hate the summon necessity.
It's just not for me. I'm excited to play Uncharted 4(?) for the first time next.
Very similar opinion on Elden Ring, incredible game in so many ways - but also really, really tedious in a lot of others! It's an open world game, go wherever you like! Except, probably best to go back to exactly where you just died or you'll lose a level and a half's worth of runes -_-
And the last dozen bosses are outrageously strong
I'm playing Divinity: Original Sin on Steam Deck. My opinion is that the game is loooooong. But I knew that :-) And while the game is great, and I really mean that, I'm looking forward to finishing it.
I play one big game at a time, so this one kinda blocks.me from playing another. And because it is so good, I don't want to abandon it.
You will do alot of reading anddecision making if you want to play it. Also some battles can be challenging especially if you didn't master the mechanics of the game.
Such a good game, utterly broken in a lot of ways but it's a game where breaking these is just so much fun. One of the only games with a 50+hr campaign that I actually enjoyed all the way to the end! (And the sequel is arguably even better, although playing them back to back is a bit of a time commitment haha)
I wanted to play them back to back. After 70 hours in the first one, I don't want that anymore :-D I'm lookibg forward finising the first one and be done with it! But this shouldn't come out as negative - I love the game, it is the kind that I wanted to play and I enjoy it everytime I hit "play". I have to commit to hit "play" though. Great game it is!
I have the second one too, but wanted to play first one before as I kinda guessed I wouldn't be able afterplaying second (probably hasbetter UI, is more streamlined etc.)
Currently playing Star Wars: Fallen Order... for the PS4. A few months ago I saw the trailer for the new Jedi: Survivor, and it looked AMAZING... and then i found out it's a sequel. I hadn't played a Star Wars game in over 20 years, and this one looked really good... but I managed to find the first game for dirt cheap, and I LOVE it.
Also working on the Kingdom Hearts side story games, right now specifically Dream Drop Distance. Plus I enjoy Pokemon (Shield) every now and then.
SW: Fallen Order was amazing. I have yet to pick up Survivor yet due to all the technical issues people were having with it post launch. I'll probably grab it when it inevitably goes on sale or comes to Gamepass.
I loved Fallen Order and have been playing through Survivor with my son on the PS5. All of the good stuff about the first game is way better in the second one. The Holomap is usable. Cere's eyes have been relocated into her eye sockets where they ought to be. Greez is hilarious and lovable.
We haven't even really noticed that many of the horrible technical problems that the game seems to have such a bad a reputation for. There is occasionally some pretty noticeable slowdown when you get into an area with too many moving pieces, but it doesn't really happen often enough (for me) to start posting about how much the game sucks. Plus it's clear from little notes of dialog (and a couple of boss battles in particular) that the developers had some fun in putting it together. It's really seemed pretty fine all around.
I mean this may just be me, but I never really minded that her eyes were in a different postal code. It's Star Wars, the people can look a little goofy since they are all aliens when you think about it.
DoomRL and Cogmind. They're both roguelikes.
DoomRL I like because it's not as complex as many roguelikes but still has a good few character"builds" you could make for different types of gameplay. It has Crafting better guns, etc too.
Cogmind I've just started but seems more complex. Your character is a robot you can add parts to and you get stronger based on parts, not from levelling and experience.
Since I was away from home the last few days I've been playing Shattered Pixel Dungeon, it's a very good traditional roguelike, it has a good mobile UI, simple but dynamic classes, completely free as well... Probably the best one I've played on mobile, it's just *chef's kiss*.
Now that I have my PC with me I've been meaning to give Slayers X a try, I watched a stream of it a couple days ago and that game looks like a Duke Nukem shitpost, it's beautiful to say the least.
Wow, ShatteredPD is its own thing now. I played the hell out of the OG PD. Don’t think I ever played shattered but remember hearing about it. Looks like it’s not free on iOS but I’m sure it’s worth the small price.
Alright, two games I haven't seen mentioned yet are Age of Wonders 4 and Overwatch 2. AoW4 has honestly been a blast. I've been looking for a game which scratches the Civ itch, but has some complexity around customization of the civilization (in this case, race) that you build. It has magic! The combat system is awesome! The game really needs some improvements around multiplayer, but I've put a crazy number of hours into the game. There's actually a campaign, too.
Not a lot of FPS gamers in the Tildes community, I see... And with the way Blizzard has been going, especially with regards to OW2, I don't have much hope left for OW2. They killed PvE, and seem to be taking the route of prioritizing monetization of cosmetics, versus focusing on improving gameplay. That said, it remains a pretty enjoyable FPS game to play with friends.
I've been hitting the Switch hard lately. In addition to TotK, I finally picked up Mario Kart 8, Mario Maker 2 (after watching the amazing relay race at SGDQ), and Metroid Dread. I'm also playing a bit of Super Mario Bros 3, as I've never played any NES or SNES Mario games besides Super Mario Bros.
Oh, I also beat Haiku, the Robot yesterday. It's a very cute, but tight metroidvania. It was only about 7 hours, but I personally find that a pretty good length for some metroidvania games. It's part of one of Humble's bundles right now, so I recommend picking that up! This is, of course, on top of my weekly Destiny 2 hours that I put in. The new dungeon has been great.
I just got a Switch a few weeks ago to play through BoTW before starting ToTK, and it has been awesome. The Switch versatility is so cool (I've only really played on Wii and PC in the past). I've been playing on the TV, in a hammock, in bed, in tabletop mode... I'll probably grab Mario Kart soon, take a few weeks off after beating BoTW, then jump into ToTK. I'm really really looking forward to it.
Just a reminder that if you pay for switch online (which is like $5 a month if you don't already have it), then you gain the ability to buy 2 game vouchers for $100, which you can redeem on most of their first party games https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/nintendo-switch-game-vouchers/
So when I bought TotK, instead of spending $70, I spent $100 on the two vouchers and got TotK and MK8 for $100 instead of $130. Since Nintendo games basically never go on sale, it's a nice way to save a little bit of money if you know you want at least two games.
And yeah, the Switch is just lovely, it's nice to be able to play on my TV, at my desk, outside, or anywhere else.
That's intriguing, thanks for the tip. I was planning on getting the physical games (and somehow a physical MK8 is also cheaper than digital) and had no need to pay for Online, but I'll have to rethink that.
Marvel's Spider-Man and Hades. I've played both before, but I'm preparing for their sequels and am very excited for them. I know I'll be sobbing tomorrow over SM's ending though lol. Still need to play Miles Morales, and hoping it goes on sale during Steam's Summer Sale whenever that is.
Definitely love both games, extremely well written. Hades, I had already heard its reputation, but was still extremely impressed with. Basically the only roguelike that has held my attention for dozens of hours.
With SM, I was very surprised with just how great its story was. Yes, the MJ/Miles forced stealth missions are tedious in comparison with the rest of the game, but I'm hoping the sequel doesn't completely abandon the storytelling from them and instead tries to build upon the last two MJ missions which were far more fun to play rather than omit them entirely.
Also need to play the DLC for SM as well, but I'm thinking of starting a gaming project that's less action oriented. Maybe the Pathfinder games next.
Not exactly original, but I've been playing Street Fighter 6. It's stellar. The game modes are great, the base gameplay is very well thought out for every skill level, the cast feels balanced right now.
I do wish the UI was better and the monetization was a bit less aggressive, but I'm quite happy.
DID I HEAR A ROCK AND STONE?!
Warframe's circuit steel path needs some improvement. The grind from tiers 1-5 is manageable, but I did 5-10 last week and it was positively miserable grind (public sessions). Wish I had a semi dedicated Warframe group!
Most recently I've been playing Harvest Moon: Skytree Village. I grabbed it from the hshop with low expectations and blitzed through the first spring, and... Well, my expectations were right. It's a pretty "empty" game, the village is very lackluster and the characters are mostly flat. The story is just the standard "revive the town" formula and, well, very child-like. I mostly just mash the A button to get through the text dumps.
That said, there's a lot of depth to the farming mechanics compared to the other games. You can terraform the farm, and they use that to the full extent. There's all sorts of crop mutations that can be impacted by the season, soil quality, elevation, and fertilizer. I have no clue how many fertilizers exist beyond "a lot", I swear there's a fertilizer made with every crop. Meanwhile animals apparently have skills, and also traits or personalities which can be inherited by breeding using different potions...?
Basically, it feels like they put all their effort into the farming mechanics. It's disappointing because the rest of the game is just so lacking, there's no real motivation to fully explore the mechanics unless you're a completionist-type player. Maybe if it wasn't under the Harvest Moon brand it could be successful as a focused farming sim, but the mechanics just feel wasted.
Pokemon Unbound romhack which is based off FireRed. I'm enjoying it a ton as the GBA pokemon games were some of my favorites. Lots of QoL improvements, deep story, and huge amounts of Pokemon to catch. It's the first romhack I've played and I'm super impressed with the quality.
For the past I don't even know how long I've been playing a very limited number of games: Demon's Souls (DeS), RDR2, Psychonauts, Days Gone, Mad Max. I get new stuff, and I just go back to the same ones.
-Demon's Souls
DeS is so gorgeous and desolate. I tend to get tired near end game when I get very far into world tendency and just start over again.
-RDR2
Honestly I think this may be the greatest game ever made, and I've been playing since the only computer game was Trek (played on a printer). It's just so deep and wonderfully written. The only thing I don't like is that it switches characters midway. It arguably breaks a narrative rule regarding main characters that game devs haven't learned yet from fiction. Still, I understand why they did it. And they had a much better reason than Naughty Dog did in TLoU2. They easily could've let us play Arthur until the end, and then brought in John. Anyway, it's a great great game.
-Psychonauts
I have loved Psychonauts since that opening scene. I've played this so many times. It's so sweet and funny and inventive. And filled with so much heart.
-Days Gone/Mad Max
I love both of these games, but they're not that deep. The criticism about Days Gone is warranted, and the main character honestly is kind of a caricature. Plus, his relationship with his scientist girlfriend is trite--the kind of relationship a high school kid might write. Still, riding around on a motorcycle during a zombie apocalypse is kind of irresistible.
Mad Max's mechanics are fabulous, and I love the setting. And, let's face it, blowing up cars is great fun. And the explosions! Ah. But it runs a little long and, like I said, isn't that deep.
Currently flip-flopping between New Pokemon Snap and Splatoon 3. I very much want to purchase Tears of the Kingdom, but I never got around to playing Breath of the Wild and I want to do that first. New Pokemon Snap is so relaxing for me and Splatoon 3 makes me so competitive. I saw Stardew Valley mentioned upthread and while I love Stardew Valley, I put in so many hours that I'm now at the point where it is more stressful for me to play than relaxing because I try to cram in so many activities/farm improvements in one day. The same sort of happened to me with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. :(
I want to also start Factorio after another person described it to me (they were currently addicted to playing it) and I somehow missed the news that Tales of Symphonia was remastered for the Switch!?
With the Nintendo Online subscription plus the availability of virtual titles, I am seriously considering downsizing my physical gaming collection to just Switch and PS4 titles.
Currently playing dragon's dogma, was on a steep sale on steam (probably due to the squal coming out soon.) Never played it before, but man is it difficult. I haven't played to many old school rpgs in a while so I've forgoten how unforgiving the difficulty curve is. Think I've died at least once every hour but been enjoying regardless.
I finally am giving the new rebooted Saints Row a try. I've been a fan since the first, original Saints Row and have everything up until Agents of Mayhem. Was skittish when they announced the new reboot, and the trailer to it broke the SaintsRow sub. Only recently did I decide to give it a shot when it was on sale for $30 (which a week later a different friend let me know it was on sale for $5 at best buy)
Overall, what people said about it at release were right. It feels like a game whose mechanics game straight out of a 2012 game. Nothing new, nothing refreshing, even very janky for a 2022 game.
But, there is still some of the SR spirit in there with a lot of the usual absurdities found in SR titles. The minigames are very hit or miss, collectables are a bit iffy and still seemingly a bit buggy this far after released. There are a lot of pop culture easter eggs that seem a little forced or out of nowhere. If you're a fan of the Saints Row serious or like generally casual gaming you might enjoy it as a time killer. Otherwise it's a pretty forgettable game.
Started up Everspace 2, and it's quite good, as it turns out.
Less than an hour in and I already feel like I'm navigating the UI like I've been playing it for days. Love games that get you comfortable right away. I've been so hungry for good space games, and I think I'm going to really like this one. Glad I'm playing it now before I get into Starfield, too, as from the looks of it, I'm going to get sucked into that one.
Finished 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim a few days ago. Liked the stories for some characters (Natsuno, Tsukasa), really didn't like others (Juro, Iori). I normally don't mind the high school settings ubiquitous in Japanese media, but I got sick of it here. I don't know if my story selection made it worse by front-loading it all, but it definitely soured me on the game a bit. Great story and music otherwise. Hitoshi Sakimoto doesn't miss, as far as I'm concerned.