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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 finally started playing Return of the Obra Dinn because I decided I love Shadows of Doubt entirely too much to spend an excessive amount of time playing its Early Access version. I put about 10 hours into that.
Shadows of Doubt is very interesting and surprising for a Proc Gen detective game; I was absolutely shocked with how the game plays and I became kind of obsessive about it. The best way to talk about it is really to just relay a couple of stories about it:
After the intro/tutorial case, which is crafted, I went into a local diner, as they have job postings at their public phones. The work is varied, but I picked what I thought might be something simple, as it didn't pay a whole lot, called Demolition Work. The job posting had me meet at a guy at a particular time, at a particular bench down a particular street, where he handed me a briefcase and told me my job was to find a particular person and trash their apartment. No problem...I thought. The only information provided to me was a phone number for the person, no name, no picture, no workplace, nothing. So, I decided to give them call. They answered, but only gave me their first name, which wasn't anything to go on, so I ended-up wandering the city for awhile, trying to think of a way to track this person down when it finally occurred to me that the various apartment buildings around the city have telephone routing systems in their basements.
I went to the nearest apartment building, sneaked down to the basement and lock picked the door to the telephone room. Avoiding the cameras, I broke into the phone system and started looking for anything that might clue me in to where this person was. Nothing at the first building, so I move onto the second, which also had no clues. Finally, after getting into the third building, I saw a pattern; I had called this number from around the city; from several different restaurants, the city hall, etc. Looking at the incoming calls, I saw a bunch going to one particular apartment, all coming from the various places I had called from, so I went on up and knocked on the door. The person answered and obliged when I asked their name, which was consistent with what they had answered the phone as. I bribed them to leave their apartment, trashed it and finished my job.
Shortly after that, I got a notification that there had been a murder in somewhere in the city. It gave me the location of the body, so I headed on over to the apartment to check it out and see if I could crack the case. I ended-up needing to sneak in, as the cops were guarding the place, but once in, I was able to access the crime scene. The victim had been stabbed to death, but there was no murder weapon that I could find and no obvious prints around the apartment; the only clue I could find was a Postit note left by the killer which suggested the murderer may have worked with the victim. I found the victims place of work and went over there to check it out, but unfortunately, that also turned up nothing, so I really had no clues to go on at this point.
The next day, I got another notification about a murder, so again, I went to check that out. Pretty much the same story here, victim stabbed to death, no murder weapon, but the victim, again, worked at the same place as the previous victim, so at least I have a connection. I figured at this point, the best thing I can do is wait another day and see if the murderer strikes again and this time leaves some clues.
My patience paid off in this instance, because sure enough, there was another murder the next day, which ended-up being a treasure trove. At the victims apartment, I again discovered that they were connected through work and hit the jackpot: a murder weapon (Knife) that had strange prints all over it. I started scanning the apartment for prints and turned-up 3-sets. I was able to rule out the victim, as I fingerprinted their corpse, but I still had two sets AB and AC. Searching around the apartment, I did discover that the deceased had a partner, so I found their place of work by looking through their files and went over to talk to them. They graciously gave me their finger prints and I was able to rule out the set of AC prints as the victims partner.
I was hoping that those AB prints were exactly what I needed to crack the case, so I again went back to the workplace of all three victims. I had to wait for everyone to leave for the night, but after that I was able to break in (yet again) and start poking around. I started with the cubicles, scanning each one for prints. No surprise, everyone's prints were pretty much all over every workstation and I couldn't find anything definitive, even though I did turn up the prints of the various victims, as well as the AB prints I found at the last crime scene. Looking around a little further, I found a group of lockers tucked away in the corner, each one dedicated to an individual employee. I scanned the lockers that were each victims and each locker had solely their prints all over it, so I figured I was on the right track; finally I got to a locker that was absolutely covered in AB prints, so I noted down the name and called it good.
Now that I had a name, I could start doing a little more investigation. I went to a nearby directory, getting excited that I was finally close to nailing the murderer. I found their name and apartment, so I went over to see what I could find. I started by knocking on the door just to see if anyone was home and lucky for me, no answer. So in between sweeps of the camera watching me, I'd take turns at lock picking the door eventually getting it open. Right as I'm about to walk in, the suspect comes walking around the corner, so I play it cool and pretend like I'm just there to ask a few questions. Of course, they won't talk to me, so I back off and head back to my apartment to get my handcuffs, as well as stop at the nearby diner for a bite to eat (You do need to eat and drink, as well as shower (if you get stinky) in this game).
After grabbing my cuffs and eating, I went back to the suspects apartment and again picked the lock and sneaked in. I found the suspect wandering around the house, so I decided now was my chance and I decided to arrest them. I managed to do so and while they were cuffed on the floor, took their prints and got a perfect match for that AB print I had found at the third victims apartment; I'm 99% sure I've got the guy, so I fill out the paperwork (Perps name, Murder Weapon, Perps Home location, Evidence tying the perp to the crime scene, perp arrested) and run down to the precinct to turn it all in. After turning my case in, it takes a minute to examine, but I nailed everything. Got the perpetrator correct, murder victim, prints, etc. Got my payout and now I'm one step closer to buying some furniture for my apartment...
Sorry for the long post; it's just a damn neat game. All this is procedurally generated and I'm just amazed at how well it all works. I put 10-hours into Early Access and would love to play more, but I'm putting it on hold for a little bit, because it only just came out in April. So for now, I'll play Return of the Obra Dinn and see if it satiates that same detective style hunger for me.
If you like Return of the Obra Dinn, I'd also recommend The Case of the Golden Idol. It's not quite as intricate as Obra Dinn, but it's a similar type of game.
Definitely on the list, along with The Excavation of Hobs Barrow.
Obra Dinn is finally starting to click with me a little more, but I'm slowing down on my identifications, so I'm hunting around for more clues.
Shadows of Doubt is one of the few games I've purchased lately after watching some gameplay of it. The game is wonderful but I've got to figure out who designed the HVAC systems in those buildings! I figured out that my suspect had an HVAC duct over his house, so I entered the nearby duct... And found out it only connected to apartments three floors down. So instead I knocked on the door, sucker punched him, and handcuffed him. Searched the place and found the murder weapon then left him in the doorway cuffed for the Corpo police.
But it does take some time to get anything done so it's not really a game for short sessions in my opinion.
The ducts are absolutely atrocious in this game, agreed, I stopped using them entirely after a couple of hours. I feel like they are the real failing of the Proc Gen in SoD, and I'd take some refinement of them, even if it meant they are individual systems to each level of a building.
That said, even for short sessions, I was loving it. For the ten hours I'd played, I became obsessive about figuring out my cases, so much that I sat thinking about them even when I wasn't playing. Though I agree it does help to be able to keep playing to have some continuity in investigations.
Absolutely can't wait to play more and while I've been playing Return of the Obra Dinn in lieu of SoD, I feel it's a poor substitute, even though it's a solid game in its own right.
Baldur's Gate 3.
The game is hitting the spot! It's a great way to finally learn DnD properly. It's beautiful, chill and tense, story is intriguing, it's mature, atmospheric, challenging and just an all around great game for grownups.
However, unlike the rave reviews and all of reddit, the game has flaws.
There's some jank with the characters in terms of collision with the environment, camera issues, dialogue issues that repeat dialogue and so on. Playing with a controller is smooth, until it's not. The tactical camera is both useful and murder when it collides with things and it has an issue with the y axis.
Selecting items in the environment is also brutal with a controller. It feels like there's a massive dead zone which gives the game a sense of weight and it's nice for navigating the world and exploring but damn does it suck for picking up Itty bitty keys and potions in a dark dungeon. Painful.
Speaking of painful, the inventory is murder. I get the old school feeling and immersion but if I didn't use the filters and sorted my shit manually because I'm ocd, I'd be lost and swamped. It definitely took me a minute to get a handle on it. It shouldn't take minutes to find the key item you got handed after a quest got completed.
Last, the relationship dynamic is hilariously wonky. It's such a deeply embedded issue I'm not sure if they can fix it without reworking a core mechanic in the game.
In my experience, I have long rested like 4 times total and I'm about done with act 1. I've partied with people and have made some decisions and I've spoken to them all in camp but nowhere near enough to have romance, love, or sex come into it. Somehow, while still in act 1, my entire party wants to bone me, marry me, or whatever else.
It's very surreal and very hilarious. It makes sense for three horny characters you meet so I didn't mind as one of them I actually was romancing. The others though? Hardly spoke to them and hated the one and she still wanted to bone me.
Reading on this, one defense is you're supposed to spend more time in camp than I did and long rest often. This moves the story along and triggers various story elements with the crew. If that was the intended mechanic, I don't know why they first dissuaded me from long resting by showing me resting requires resources that are either expensive or have to be collected, and then encouraged me by showering me with camp resources. Just confusing overall.
And that's the thing with this game. You definitely have to learn it from mechanics, to synergies, to things the game doesn't tell you like creative interactions with spells, creatures and environments.
This works in its benefit because I love discovery and I feel the game is very much my own now as my creativity is rewarded, but there's a wave of confusion you have to endure first before you're rewarded as things are poorly explained or not explained at all from the UI to hidden menu options to hidden mechanics and triggers.
Reminds me of Super Metroid and tunic how you'll play the game and maybe even beat it but then you watch someone else play it and they're doing 360 kick flip ollies and you're like wtf how are you doing that?? No one told me you could do that.
That being said, the game overall is wonderful, I'm addicted, I can't stop playing it, I'm losing sleep to it, and it's just awesome. I forgive all the mechanical stuff because the meat of it is done well enough to be very very enjoyable.
Hardly perfect though.
I hate reviews and zealous blind fans.
I agree on all points (at least as far as I’ve been in the game, still playing EA on Mac). I haven’t experienced the horniness yet, but I agree about things not being explained. There’s been several points where I’m faced with a choice and have no concept whatsoever of the implications of those choices. I’ve been playing 2 different saves back and forth and trying different choices on some things. Also, I’ve been impressed how your choice of character race changes some of what happens. It seems like they’ve put a lot of effort into the characters/story and so far I’m loving it.
Just a word of warning. BG3 is great for getting the basics of DND 5e, and the vibe correctly. But if you play on the tabletop there’s a lot of subtle differences.
Yes, as someone more familiar with the tabletop rules before going on - a lot of the environmental impact stuff is very different (a Larian-ism imported from the DOS series), and I did find myself quite confused at first by the altered initiative system and not being able to delay turns to sync up actions - I did later figure out that if you had characters on the same initiative you could click around between them to switch which you're controlling, but I'm used to being able to do things like have the Rogue delay their initiative until after the Fighter gets into melee.
On which subject, the flanking system is also different, I believe (I've been playing PF2E more recently than 5E so might be misremembering there). Admittedly it's a difference that's been done quite often in CRPG implementations of tabletop rule sets where doing proper tabletop style flanking is a lot more difficult to pull off in the engine - I can remember it being done the modified way as far back as Neverwinter Nights. That said, it does make Rogues a lot more powerful just having to have two characters in melee instead of actually flanking as there's less you can do with positioning to prevent sneak attacks - in NWN in particular I remember it making one area of the game absolute hell because it was just full of sneak attacking rogues who would just shred you if you let more than one get into range.
Delaying turns isn't possible in 5e either but you can hold an action with a trigger, forfeiting your bonus action and movement in the process (unless you used them during your turn).
In this case flanking is simply "Threatened" by being in melee range of something.
I did notice some mechanics of DnD were dumbed down like flanking. I don't play DnD like that to do advanced moves and I don't play CRPGs enough to have missed it. What this game did teach me about DnD is enough to get started in a DnD campaign and be decent. I'd have to play other CRPGs to get an even better grip on things.
There is a search bar on both the individual and party inventory screens in BG3, at least on the PC version. Though I definitely find myself wishing it was better and did the kind of "fuzzy" search you suggest instead of exact matching. It's almost suprising how bad inventory managment is when they put a lot of effort into being able to filter actions by category.
I found myself looking for such an option, and was surprised it wasn't there. I feel that I'm able to navigate the inventory well enough, but at the same time, damn lol.
I'm also chowing down on BG3 and liking it for the most part. It's a bit odd because, while long ago in the original BG1/2 days I liked this kind of CRPG, I haven't really stuck to one in many years now (including Divinity 2, which came the closest but I still bounced off of). I think it comes down to being extremely dense, well developed, and mostly highly polished. It's a huge game and it's mind-boggling the amount of effort that they put into it. I play these games about 75% for the strategy/mechanics and 25% for roleplaying/story, but they really have both things covered pretty well. The combat is more dynamic and interesting than a lot of similar games have been in the past, which I think is helping to keep me engaged. I've been playing it tons, but also I never really feel like I'm dying to get back to it like I was with TotK. Overall, I think there's a good chance I'll see this one through to the end.
That's spooky.
Playing the remaster of Quake 2.
There's so much nostalgia packed into the Super Shotgun absolutely evicerating anything when you've got Quad Damage on, it's wonderful.
The bonus chapter was really boring. Has some Quake references both overt and less so, but was generally pretty tame. Felt very tacked on for fan service.
I am seriously hoping this means there's a Quake game in the works. I am fine with Strogg meets Lovecraft, both are Cosmic Horror in their own glorious ways, but I'd kill to see some Lovecraft inspired death machines that the Strogg could put together.
Other than that? My addiction to Rimworld remains.
I should give that a go soon. Heard about the announcement but haven't tried it. Would love to see a whole new Quake game come from iD. Give it the same treatment Doom got with the 2016 release. Soft reboot with modern tech and gameplay.
Man, I need to play more. Been a while. It's just such a time sink. I end up playing way too long every time I load it up. lol
Those words would be heaven to me. I adore Quake.
I missed 3, but I fell into UT for the Arena shooter madness in the early 2000s. But 1, 2 and 4 are my jam in a big way. The Strogg are the Borg... but way worse.
Seeing a Stroggification scene with modern graphics? Even without the FPS view? That would be barbaric in a way games haven't touched in a while.
It really is. I've had a day off today because I feel like a bag of smashed arseholes. But it's so easy to pick up, genocide, enslave and generally pilfer your black guts out and STILL be the good guys of a planet.
It's great.
Bummer to hear that. I'm playing the remaster as well, but I'm replaying the base game before playing Call of the Machine. I thought Dimension of the Machine was maybe the best official Quake 1 content ever so I was hoping this would be similar.
It's similar, but it feels a little rushed?
Towards the end of the map pack there's some VERY Quake references, I don't want to spoil it to be honest. But it just fell a little flat.
The original Campaign is still dope. Gunning things down with the machine gun well into the late game makes you realise how much love went into the balance... and how INFURATING the grenade launcher still is.
I'll reserve my opinion for when I get around to it, but I don't think it feeling modern is that much of a crime. Dimension of the Machine felt more modern than the original too. I do think there is a place for maps made in the vein of the original episodes but I don't think a new official episode should necessarily have to follow that ethos.
Been playing Palia for a few weeks now (I got to start at the tail end of Alpha). It's fun, and I really like the idea of a comfy mmo like this.
However, I do feel like they're rushing forward with now open Beta looking for a full release. I understand the drive to want to get monetization going for a company, but the game is still rough around the edges, and it definitely feels its lack of content at the moment. It's not a bad game in this state at all. The gameplay cycle after the first few hours feels grindy and repetitious. I just worry that rushing this to the public so quickly will ultimately negatively impact the longevity of the game. Hope I'm wrong though!
Playing through Planescape Torment Enhanced. There sure are, uh, a lot of traps? Like, not (just) literal traps but random things that seem like a one-way street to plain dying. Talk to the guy in the passage after Ratpicker's Square after already talking him down and that entire passageway turns on you... Go into the catacomb and the dude closes the fence just to be a dick... Oops, you just stepped into the LAND OF THE DEAD! die time. It'd be interesting if the combat was actually restrictive, but you can cheese 90% of it by either running or letting the Restless One die first and then go rest. The option to keep doing it is still there if you just run past everything, so it comes across as annoying and inconvenient to me rather than an actual problem to solve.
Dialogue's real good, though.
Torment is kind of a weird game. It's the same engine as BG1/BG2, but it plays substantially differently - most of the time, if you get into combat, it means something went wrong. It's far more story centered than combat centered.
My favorite game - remember to spend a bit of time exploring the side dialogue, even on seemingly small interactions. Lots of gems hiding in plain sight.
I have time to kill these days, so I've picked No Man's Sky up again, with all the updates that have been released in the last few years.
This time around, the game's self awareness about simulated existence and the resultant nihilism feels somehow "heavier". There's a conceptual note that feels a bit like Westworld.
I've been dying in Elden Ring as of late, months after everyone else but enjoying it nonetheless.
Looking forward to getting Baldur's Gate 3 along with my friend as well, which should be fun. I've never played a Baldur's Gate game or DnD before though.
I'm just about done with my first run of Elden Ring. I've been taking my sweet time so I didn't rush through. It's so good and I'm almost starting to feel sad that it's close to over even though I know there's so much content that I missed.
I finished Rakuen. It was very pretty and very sad. Highly recommended.
I played Oxenfree II: Lost Signals. I have mixed feelings about it. It's not a bad game by any means, and I enjoyed the more expansive world compared to the original, but... even though the first game's lauded time-constrained conversation system is still present, my verdict is that the game failed to capture the magic of the original.
First of all, the cast of characters is more limited. There are only two protagonists, which means a single conversational pairing (plus some people you can chat with over a walkie-talkie, these conversations being only loosely coupled with the main game). For a variety of reasons I found the protagonists less likeable than the first game's, which is saying a lot, as people dislike "horror movie teens" to begin with!
The map is larger but also more boring. There is no reason to go to the vast majority of places twice if you keep your eyes peeled (and even if you don't, the few optional collectibles have very limited appeal). Most paths are very linear. And there is no button for making Riley run faster; in fact, some sections force her to walk veeery slowly.
The mystery is boring and predictable if you have played the first game; there isn't really anything new.
There are a handful of special little moments/achievements throughout the game that are extremely easy to miss, and impossible to go back for, as they are gated behind seemingly unimportant (time limited) conversational options that do not clearly reveal the effect they might have on the plot. You can't even try a different ending using the same save; the game auto-saves after you select the ending. Who is this supposed to help?
I've also recently played We Were Here and We Were Here Too, a couple of short cooperative puzzle solvers in which you and a friend have to help each other get through an assymmetric dungeon with visual and timed puzzled using only walkie-talkie communication. It's a bit like keep talking and nobody explodes meets escape rooms. Unfortunately both games are buggy, but we were able to finish them and to be fair they were very cheap. There are two more in the series which we haven't played yet.
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I count Rakuen as one of my top games, because I think it's the only game to have ever made me feel that emotional, that alone is an experience I'll never forget.
I am playing Metro Exodus right now, was missing the ambience of STALKER. Metro Exodus is another post apocalyptic FPS. It seems polished but I get more of a linear feeling to the storyline, which can be good or bad. I think I prefer STALKER at the end of the day.
I have finally started playing through Spiritfarer.
I don't know how much more I'm going to play of it. I really love the art and animation, and the story is full of emotion which I love, but the actual gameplay has began to annoy me. I seem to get lost very easily, and the pattern of growing renewable resources has made me get seriously off-track growing things that I largely don't need. It's strange that even though the requests system tells you exactly what it is you need that I still seem to be getting lost. It's particularly bad when you're being asked for something you haven't seen before. There is one particular moment where you are asked to find "nebula fabric" but it's not really clear what that is or where it comes from. Right now my biggest blocker is aluminum, which I haven't been able to find anywhere so far except for one or two random ores in a crate. Steam is telling me that I've already spent eight and a half hours on this game, but I've only managed to send one person so far.
It just kind of feels like a waste for so much of this game to be put into "busywork" since there's clearly so much heart put into the making of this game. It feels like it's just getting in the way of the best parts of it.
Pikmin 4. It's fantastic. Great game to just chill with.
I also picked up the Avengers game in the last Steam sale for like $12 or something. It's awful. lol
I went backwards down memory lane and got the original DOOM on Steam. Once I finish, I'm getting DOOM II which was my favorite of the two.
After that, I just heard about the Quake II remaster and I will try that.
And I am still enjoying the Diablo II remaster. I've played Diablo II for many many years, and of all the games I believe it holds up the best.
Highly recommend. Seriously hoping for a full Quake reboot a la Doom.
Scarlet Hollow. It's "IF", so kinda "choose your own adventure", but your choices make the story change an incredible amount. Really nice graphics as well.
Early Access, there are currently 4 episodes out, 3 more to come?
The Quake remaster. I want to finish the game just for street cred, but it's fun. I always liked how quick these early FPSes are, and the fact that they are, generally, pure action.
Quake II Remaster: I feel like there aren't great Q2 source ports, so this was a much-needed update. It looks and feels great, I turned on all the bells and whistles (except the CRT filter) and it honestly feels like the new wave of boomer shooters.
Bloons TD6: I picked this back up to fill time, butblike the strategy. I don't like the longer win conditions of 100 levels only to blow it on lvl 80 on Hard, but I'm starting on Easy to unlock more monkeys to enable advanced defenses. It's fun, and surprisingly deep.
I play Borderlands 1 on Steam Deck for past few weeks. I did the main game and 3 of 4 DLCs. I haven't done arena one yet and currently I'm farming items for achievement in other one which is really really bad/tedious/repetitive/boring. Otherwise a great game!
You can hear and read how Borderlands 2 and others are superior and they are, but Borderlands 1 is not bad, quite the contrary. I highly recommend playing it.
If I haven't played any of them, should I start with 1?
Borderlands 1, while still brimming with zany and humorous writing, doesn't necessarily have a singular character who steals the show as significantly as Borderlands 2's villain does, and while I think that villain is a fantastic performance in BL2 that carries it's story campaign, a little something from BL1 was lost along the way. BL1's cast shares screen time more evenly, putting the focus on the plot's exciting central mystery instead, letting you take it a little more seriously than BL2's pretty much "villain-narrated" comedy tone. It would be sad to hear of someone playing BL2 first and then struggling to get into BL1 because it's more subtle all around. Also the aforementioned mystery would become less mysterious if you knew BL2's plot points in advance, while BL2's plot is better served by a bit of knowledge of the backstory learned in BL1.
In summary, yeah, definitely start with 1. In my opinion do them in release order. The "Pre-sequel" takes place between 1 & 2, but it's still probably better played after 2, since it was written and released afterward anyway so there's also a bit of built-in expectation that you know what is going to happen in 2 anyway. Release order is the way to go.
I recommend it. You would be lacing background info if you started with B2. Not much, actually - as I played 2 before 1, but it is better to start with first game.
Also - the first game lacks in some ways, so it could be harder to get into after playing the newer ones.
I had a friend visiting me over the weekend, but unexpected rain/flooding cancelled a lot of what we had planned... so we ended up playing coop Baldur's Gate 3 all weekend instead. I honestly cannot remember the last time I've had so much fun with a game. He's planning on buying the game on Mac when it's fully released so we can continue our campaign. In the meantime, I'm rolling a different class for my single player run through and already thinking about the next playthrough with yet another class.
Diablo 4 - love the atmosphere, the gameplay, the combat, the various objectives. Could use a bit more excitment in the levelling and the seasonal progression.
Quake 2 (the free remaster)....god knows what # playthrough this is. My teenage years were spent playing Q1 and Q2.
Columns on the Sega MegaDrive - relaxing, nostalgic and a killer song in the background.
Streets of Rage 4 (my favourite game of the last 10 years. Love it to bits and haven’t stopped playing it since release. The perfect beat ‘em up and great mix of nostalgia and modern gameplay design. Amazing for couch coop)
Mostly playing BG3 at the moment - there's other threads about it, so I'll just comment there.
Planning on also hitting up Satisfactory Update 8 soon. The mod system just got updated to work in 8. Currently pending a PC upgrade. My current Satisfactory build is bordering on the absurd and it's bogging my computer down due to memory/CPU constraints (it's a much more memory and CPU bound game than graphics bound game) - I'm between a quarter and a third of the entire game's resource pool being consumed and was hitting the point where I was having to use some cheaty-feeling item teleport mods to replace belts to be able to get the in game entity count down enough to run acceptably. I'm currently using a Ryzen 7 2700X. I have purchased and am currently waiting for a Ryzen 7 7800X3D along with 64GB of 6000 CL30 RAM in an ASRock X670E Steel Legend mobo.
I believe based on current specs the 7800X3D should be the single absolute best CPU for Satisfactory as it's a memory hog and the extra cache is huge, plus the 7800X3D is able to better us that cache than the 7850X3D or 7900X3D - 7800 is single die and the others are dual-die and the 3D cache is only in one of the two dies, so they actually take a bit of a hit on gaming performance if the game tries to use the wrong CPUs for the wrong tasks and gets cache-bound processing on the standard cache die. Otherwise keeping the old components - I've already got 4TB of NVME, a high end modular power supply, and water cooling; the 2060 Super is waiting for the release of the 7700XT/7800XT, as the 7600 is not enough of an upgrade and the 7900XT is a bit pricey for my taste. I will likely end up with one or the other of those depending on their price/performance. The old mobo and memory are going to be used for my media server, which is about ten years old and sporting an E3-1276V3. This will mean losing the current on-board IPMI for remote unlock of the LUKS encryption, but I recently acquired a Dell 1082DS IP KVM and an Avocent PM10 remote power management unit, so I am no longer bound by the limitation of the server having on-board remote management, and I'm already using a NetApp DS4246 shelf with a JBOD card for HDD management, so I don't care too much what the in system SATA port setup is like. Actually, maybe I should pick up a couple of cheap NVME for the boot disk since the old mobo didn't support that...
I guess I'll also be playing Starfield here at some point because the 7X00X3D processors currently come with a coupon for a free copy, at least from Amazon.
And this was our regular crossover of Games and HomeLab :D
League of Legends:
Sometimes I don't know why I put myself through the pain of playing this game. My account is hardstuck low Iron and it truly feels like an inescapable elo hell, this because the league consists of three main player types:
Not to mention that your typical player on EU West is toxic-as-fuck and will deliberately abandon or throw the match after one death, or will tell you to go die of cancer or hang yourself in such a way that it doesn't trip Riot's automated report system.
Things are so absolutely dire that I've genuinely thought of doing a YouTube series to document just how bad the game experience and hopefully shame Riot into finally getting their crap together.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
One game which I don't feel angry about and really want to get into competitively is AOE2. So I bought all the expansions that I didn't own and got back in to cleanse my palate of League.
Return of Rome is a bit shit. I do not understand for the life in me why Forgotten Empires decided to add AOE1 as a separate mode to this game (balance issues and all), along with just three of the campaigns that the OG game had. ESPECIALLY when they released Age of Empires: Definitive Edition six years ago and outright neglected that game's "definitive" release. Literally the only thing this DLC pack has over AOE:DE is the ability to attack-move (which AOE:DE desperately needs) and the Lac Viet civilization. The only other reason to buy Return of Rome is the inclusion of Romans in AOE2, something which historically makes zero sense and opens the floodgates for the series to be bombarded with alternate history civs.
What I will commend Forgotten Empires for is how well they've been balancing AOE2. Compared to how the game was when The Conquerors first came out, things are pretty damn balanced, and that is something that few developers are even able to accomplish.
NGU Idle:
Can we talk for a minute about how 4G may have just dethroned Cookie Clicker and put Orteil in his place, because NGU Idle may just be the best idle game anybody's released on the market. It has pretty much everything and then some.
I've been playing The Wanderer in VR and it is amazing. There are a few minor graphical glitches when picking up and moving objects, but the story is awesome.
I've been playing Dark and Darker since it came back in early access after some months lost in a roller coaster of a legal battle (Nexxon vs. Ironmace).
It's a DnD-ish PvPvE rpg in first person where you end up in a Battle Royale like dungeon exploration. Battle against unforgiving monsters and other players for loot, and extract if you can. Build up your wealth and gear in your stash so you have better chance of survival in the next games and maybe try your luck in the high roller dungeons.
The graphics and combat may feel old-school or sluggish at first, but the skill cap is great and the game has a very unique mood and tends to pump you full of adrenaline!
I've been on a retro kick for a bit and Star Wars: Galaxies MMO has been my go to for the past few weeks. There is a fairly decent community of fan run servers still out there. The players are all pretty chill since, let's face it, if you're still playing an MMO that was shutdown about 20 years ago you're pretty into it.
I'm currently on Restoration 3 which is a blend of CU and NGE. There are a few differences from what I remember being on the live servers but it still is amazing fun to master all the classes I didn't play too much of back in the day.
I took the time to mod my Switch and am 100% back on the Tears of the Kingdom train. I combined a few different mods to make the Master Sword and Hylian Shield unbreakable, remove all shield-surfing damage, make the Champions weapons 10x as durable, and all weapons 4x as durable. For me it is so much more fun to play with these settings. In Breath of the Wild, I fought most monsters with bombs so as to not damage my equipment too quickly, because I've always hated the durability mechanic. Previously in TotK, I simply ran from battles whenever possible. But now I embrace them to some extent (combat in the game remains pretty shallow, so constant fighting isn't great) or at least don't avoid them to preserve my weapons. I use two-handed swords and spears more. Previously, I simply stockpiled one-handed swords so I'd always have my preferred weapon style available.
I'm pretty much through the main story and am exploring the world in detail. Exploring is so fun. It's not as magical as it was for me with BotW, as in that game, it was fresh and new and flooded with nostalgia, but it does have a bit of that. I feel like I have some perspective on that feeling and am able to do a better job of "embracing every moment" after a ~5 year hiatus from Zelda games. I enjoy simply walking around in Hyrule, and that makes it easy to take it slow and investigate whatever piques my interest.
Caves are the main things that do that. They are so interesting and fun. Almost every one is unique, and there are some neat things hidden in them. I'm currently (for the past week or so) exploring the Gerudo desert, and it has so far been my favorite area to explore. Overall it seems like the least formulaic area. This was true of the temple and the caves I've found so far. They fit in with the game's lore very well.
I'm at 170 hours total with the game and have only explored a couple areas in depth. I've also barely done anything in the depths (mostly because they seem pretty empty) and have a few sky islands to get to, too. I'm pretty sure I'll get to 300 hours with the game, which is exciting. I am embracing it and enjoying every minute.
Do you have some guides/references you used for modding?
I used these guides: https://nh-server.github.io/switch-guide/ and https://switch.homebrew.guide/index.html and asked a question to the Discord server connected to the former one. It was fairly simple overall, but also a little tricky, as the guides have some slightly different instructions and lack clarity in a couple areas, which required me to make some decisions I wasn't prepared for. Though maybe it's just that I never quite understood all of the terminology.
Played Brotato and The Last Spell for my roguelike podcast this week.
Brotato - perfectly fine one-stick shooter / bullet heaven game. There's effectively no theme but I like the ideas of how the game plays. It's a solo dev effort and you can kind of tell, but it's reasonably fun to play. It's hard to say if it's better than others like Boneraiser Minions or Halls of Torment, which are at similar price points.
The Last Spell - fascinating mashup of tower defense and rpg mechanics. An incredible heavy metal soundtrack puts a lot of weight into the game along with the gorgeous art design. Don't expect this to be a quick play though. Took me 12 hours to fail the first town you play on out of I'd guess at least 10 or so. I'll be curious to see what DLC the devs add as time goes on.
I finally sat down and got Boneraiser Minions, which friends have hyped to me ever since we all started getting addicted to Vampire Survivors.
So far (having maxed one class and unlocked about 75% of them) I can say that I love it, although it's nearly too much interactivity for me already with it's dodging and manual spell use.
On the downsides, it also has an even worse version of the "constant popup spam" VS and all the other clones has, since it has 3 versions of that popup (minion, relic, spell).
But, on the plusside, the game has a fantastic presentation with it's super-chunky pixel art, looks amazing in motion as your horde wails down on enemies, and never lets up coming up with something even more ludicrous I can raise as a minion, like fusing a hero's soul into a giant skeleton I got from fusing two skeletons in the first place etc etc.
It's awesome. It also has very short runs, at least for a very long time, which makes it the ideal game to pop a round or two between other things.
Highly recommended, tbh. Assuming you don't mind needed two hands for your Vampire Survivors (as I said, manual spell casts and dodging).
Playing Lord of the Rings Online again. I like MMOs, but find myself returning to Middle Earth every once in a while.
Ever tried Guild Wars 2?
Many times. Could never really hold my attention for too long; I just don't care about the world. My wife loves it, though.
Honestly, Pikmin Bloom. It's one of those "get walking" games like Pokémon Go, by the same developer I think, but this one clicks with me. I walked 103K steps last week and had a blast doing it. While it does offer microtransactions, it's quite straightforward to gather sufficient in-game currency through regular play, and there's only one currency, which is refreshing.
My only complaints are that it's slow to load and a battery-gobbler, but not insanely so in either case.
I have been playing the PC version of Red Dead Redemption II on and off for weeks now. Steam says that I am 66 hours in. I'm very much at the end of the game with probably only a couple of main story missions left before the epilogue, and have enjoyed my time immensely, although I have to say that the latter third or so of the game does leave me feeling sad with the way everything went.
I think when I'm done with RDR2 I will pick up Cyberpunk 2077. Both of these games are ones I have played in the past on consoles, but now that I have a beefy enough PC I am really enjoying replaying games on that platform, with all of the bells and whistles turned on.
I have also been playing Snowrunner on my Steam Deck while watching TV with my SO in the evenings. I have 35 hours into that game now and still haven't ventured out of the starter Michigan map areas. There's something zen about just getting stuff done in that game, particularly at the start where you don't have access to all of the upgrades and fancier trucks. There's a sense of achievement when you manage to pull off a job successfully with a vehicle that should have been totally inadequate for it.
I do sometimes wish for a forza-esque rewind function, like last night when I hauled a giant load of logs from one map region to the other, only to roll the trailer and lose the logs within sight of the destination, meaning I basically had to go all the way back to the logging camp in the other map region and find a more navigable route back to the destination with the cargo intact. It sounds frustrating but it is also rewarding as fuck.
I bought this game during the Steam summer sale with a ton of DLC and I have barely scratched the surface, but the fact that I haven't gotten tired of it yet bodes well!
I'm playing Stray right now. It's adorable and everything I'd hoped it would be. The world building is excellent, navigation is intuitive and clever, and the characters are a lot of fun. It definitely isn't AAA, but it's closer to my normal standard for AAA than most large publisher games I've played lately. They really have you use verticality well and it puts me in the cat headspace in a really fun way.
Also playing The Last of Us part 2, and while I understand how a bunch of fans hated what happens to characters from the first game, I feel like it does a good job of describing consequences of the first game while also expanding on the lore of the world and Ellie's story. I really empathize with the playable characters, even though they're directly opposed to each other, and the world is second to none. It's a beautiful game. My one gripe is it feels like all the human enemies have plenty of ammo to shoot me with, but when I kill them they drop 0-2 rounds max. Definitely a bit frustrating and immersion breaking. Still awesome.
I'm excited for Starfield, enough so that I finally shelled out cash for a series x. We'll see how that goes, but my love of skyrim and fallout 4 have me pretty pumped.
So, I know I've already posted in this thread (thanks for the Exemplary!), but just yesterday afternoon I completed Return of the Obra Dinn. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for when I took my sabbatical from Shadows of Doubt and I had some initial frustrations with it, but after about 4-5 hours, it really clicked for me.
I feel like the turning point was the realization that it wasn't simply going to give me the answers, but instead, I would have to go back through the memories I've found, explore them thoroughly and begin making deductions, inferences, educated guess and sometimes just outright guesses based on the process of elimination. Once that happened, I had a hard time putting it down and kept going back for more, finishing it after 11 hours.
My wife isn't a gamer, but she does play games, so I'm thinking about putting a controller in her hands and seeing if the game clicks with her, maybe if only to listen to the music all over again.
Edit: I should also say, I'm trying to pick-up Atari 50th Anniversary Collection. It seems like a very nice, chill thing to do in the evenings, but I'm having some issues with it on my Steam Deck. I keep getting stuttery video and audio, but I'm not sure why. Was thinking about uncapping the framerate from 60FPS next I give it a try and see if that makes a difference, as I have absolutely no problems with it on my laptop.