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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'm currently flying through Stardew Valley. Played it with daughter in local coop on her farm for almost the whole year and played before on Switch through the whole year, so I know my whereabouts and can kinda half-effectively and half-leisurely enjoy the game. I'm planning on finishing the game this time for the very first time.
I like older games more, so no really new ones on my list. Next will be Fallout 1 (once again).
Oh yeah, Stardew Valley is such a
stressful, I mean, relaxing game.Yeah, it is. It is stressful and relaxing. I don't know how the developer made it that it works both ways.
BG3 -
My fiance and I are 80 hours in and have just started act 3. She's an optimizing loot goblin so that's some of the time, but dear god the insane quality of the content is just non stop. I loved Wrath of the Righteous, and this blows it out of the water. I've yet to have a "ugh I wish this wasn't in the game" moment out side of the occasional bug (while wrath has several areas/mechanics that are a chore). A once in a decade kind of experience.
AC6-
IF YOU ARE PLAYING ON A PAD UP THE CAMERA SENSITIVITY! I think i'm on 9.
With that one glaring flaw/warning out of the way-
I have a larger write up i started to post a topic here on this and just haven't found time to finish. Partly because i'm spending all my free time playing BG3 and AC6. I have been waiting forever for a new AC game (last one i played was FA), and dear god did it deliver. It has managed to gloriously capture everything great about the series, and refine the hell out of it. I'm only in chapter 2, but already just from what little I've played, and the little more i've spoiled (just the weapons) it's such a perfect refinement of everything the series ever was or could be.
Mage Tower 2: Call of Zadeus/Mage Tower, A Tower Defense Card Game-
A roguelite game in EA that i've been following since forever. It's a really neat/unique game that's basically deckbuilder tower defense. It's got a log of bugs and balance stuff still, but it's being actively developed and half the fun is finding all sorts of crazy and wacky combos with the busted cards. There's an older version that's on steam called Mage Tower, A Tower Defense Card Game, which is $0.99c, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's a much more refined experience based on older ideas (the new ideas are still being smoothed out in the new one), so if you like deckbuilders at all, I think it's easily worth $10, let alone $1.
I'm about 60 hours into BG3 and partway through Act II - doubling back to finish the path I didn't take before I do the thing that kicks it over to Act III. I am so impressed with this game. It's got story, the mechanics are fairly balanced, and there's so much flexibility - builds, story lines to follow, ways to define and structure your character, how you influence the NPCs and interactions, the randomness of the dice rolls, it's just amazing. I've been a DnD player for 10+ years but never tried a BG game before this one - jumped in with both feet, I'm loving the play experience.
I started a couple multiplayer games with friends - we're on a DnD break to let our DM prep for the next arc so we're using our regular meeting time to play. My main solo run I'm a frost wizard; in multiplayer I'm a Level 2 Circle of the Moon Druid, and a rogue that I'm planning to multiclass into bard.
I'm also a loot goblin - there are many visits to merchants to sell every torch, shortbow, and bottle that I dig out of a crate. Gold adds up! :D
I'm starting to wrap up things in Act 3, namely finishing up the main quest lines for my favorite companions. And man, these things are great. Just the acting and storytelling is really powerful. So impressive that they pulled this whole thing off.
Guys, could you please tell me just how much freedom the game allows? Obviously it's not anywhere near the pen and paper DnD because it simply cannot be but how much "out there" solutions can you try and are they only limited in combat or does it allow you the freedom to mess around with spells and skills in a creative way in the non-combat part?
I'm asking because the funniest stories and moments in my limited DnD experience have come from using spells creatively (or less so, like my habit of pre-emptively fireballing that 'noise in the woods' that my DM hated).
To get the first thing out of the way: Yes, you can preemptively fireball a noise.
But the game allows you to pick up a shoe from the ground and use it as an improvised weapon, or perhaps you prefer throwing goblin corpses.
What impresses me the most is how they incorporated spells that are considered "useless" outside of combat. Speak With Dead is actually really good and they've added a bunch of ways to speak to corpses to get new hints and information. Similarly they've done things with Detect Thoughts that allow you to have different options during conversations that you would otherwise not have. Speak with Animals is always fun with Larian games, and in a similar vein they've made wildshapes useful for sneaking through backdoors that are otherwise impassable by larger creatures.
Mage Hand lets you manipulate the environment to the point that you can pull down statues or hanging chandeliers to instantly kill what's below, or use it to pull a lever to move a platform that's otherwise too far away for your party to reach.
Even items are incredible, for example: drop a candle next to your ranger and he can dip his arrows for free fire arrows, or throw potions across the battlefield for some... field triage.
Really, too much to mention. They've really done an outstanding job with the 5e ruleset. Some tweaks here and there make some spells incredibly fun and useful (such as Speak With Dead lasting until you long rest rather than being a single cast), and it ends up being a great game with a lot of possibility depending on your build and party. No run is going to be the same.
Ultimately, it's a game so the overarching story doesn't change much (although there's of course a bunch of different outcomes depending on your alignment and choices) but you can see it as one of the campaign guides: The backdrop and general story is the same, but how you interact with it changes what happens. Kill an important NPC and it'll change the story. Tons of things to play with anyway and I'm sure it'll scratch the itch.
You're so right about spells being incorporated in a neat way. In tabletop 5e, I NEVER pick grease. In BG3, it was the lifeblood of battles in the early levels - grease and grease bottles, let's go! I also tend not to pick Thunderwave in TTRPG, it just isn't the first one I'd pick or keep a slot for, but in BG3 - with chasms - it is so useful.
In the story, there are fixed points and flux points. The overarching story is fixed - these are the things that the BBEGs have been plotting/doing since before the story started for our characters, and what they are planning to do until we interact with them. Their motivations, ideals, plans are all as they are and we can decide how to interact/respond to those. Other than those very broad fixed points, everything is in flux - who you align with, how you approach encounters, how you treat your companions - and the story can change a bit depending on your chosen class, heritage, and background, which opens the door for replayability to see how it looks from another perspective or taking a different route. You can do an all-good playthrough, a diplomat playthrough, a murder hobo playthrough, an evil playthrough - lots of options, and many, many ways that the story can end based on those choices. Ahhh I love this game so much :D
Exactly. This is what I was going for but you managed to explain it better than I could.
It's incredible how they've done that too, there's a point in act two where an encounter can kill an important npc, by luck of the dice really, and completely change how the town hub and subsequent quest functions.
I asked my DM if he thought BG3 being a video game with a closed system would lead newer players to be less creative in pen & paper DnD and to play more 'video gamey'.
He told me he thought it would have the opposite effect ; because the solutions offered by the game tend to be much more creative than what the average DnD player tends to come up with, and there's a multitude of them.
So, make of that what you will?
It's tricky to say, but usually if you think a plan will work, it probably will. That being said, it's more about tactical freedom than it is about story freedom. There's only so much that can truly be pre-written and planned and voiced for.
It gives you a wide range of freedom in most things. As far as I can tell, any NPC can be killed, and at any time in mid-conversation you can simply select 'Attack' and go full murder hobo. You can stuff a bunch of wooden crates in your inventory (this game goes full 'fuck encumbrance' mode), stack em together and rain fireballs down at the enemies below while the rest of your party does their thing. Outside of combat, I haven't explored too much spell-wise, but it's so much fun being able to talk to animals as a druid. "Hey pack mule, break free and help me fight these guys screw them." Or simply turn into a cat and see NPCs react to a cat doing cat stuff. So it sure seems like a lot of freedom so far, but nothing crazy that goes beyond the bounds of the narrative.
Good to know! I've been lamenting the lack of gyro-aim (playing on PC with an 8BitDo Pro2 controller, if anyone knows how to get it working with gyro in this game), since I've been so spoiled by it in Tears of the Kingdom on the Switch.
This is my first Armored Core, though I've long-admired the franchise from afar. I grew up playing MechWarrior games on the PC, so I love mech-battling and customization, even though the two are very different in terms of gameplay.
I did play some Daemon X Machina, and while I liked it, it felt a little too "floaty" for my taste. I was worried ACVI would be too similar to DxM, but I'm a couple hours into ACVI and I'm loving it! Glad to hear it's up to the standards of a veteran, too. I've been learning that I can't just spam dodge and jump around erratically, as chaotic as the battlefield gets.
I've been playing Cross Code recently. It's supposed to be a game that was inspired by the the SNES era.
I've been really enjoying it. The combat is super smooth, the puzzles are challenging, and the dialogue is really enjoyable from the NPCs. I think it flew relatively under the radar even during its launch in 2018, but I'm glad I found it.
CrossCode is incredible. Be warned that the skill requirement keeps getting higher, the end fights (and the Apollo fights!) will really test how much you understand the combat.
Double so for the DLC. It is rare that a game truly takes to heart the idea that a boss fight needs to challenge how much you understand the mechanics, like an exam or something. But this game does not shy away from that!
And the story is great too.
Luckily, I'm a fan of difficult games :) I'm not gifted at them but I am extremely stubborn lol.
Palia.
It's a free pc game that's still developing, and so is currently in beta. It's a mix of botw style exploration, animal crossing social interaction, and stardew valley farming and house customization. It's chill and doesn't have monsters or fighting in it. And it's an MMO. Although, as of now, it feels more like a singleplayer with other people as random NPCs. But you can catch and hunt bugs and animals (like the sernuk and chapaa) together, fish together, mine and chop trees together, stuff like that. In fact, there's a certain type of tree you can't chop with just 1 person.
If you want to join me and my group, send a friend request to Luca Piedmont. That's my character. My group is essentially the local farm family's honorary kin. Ranchers and farmers alike. :)
Huh, interesting. Someone on Beehaw mentioned Palia to me and said:
And that got me excited for Palia because I'm looking for something like Eve Online, where working together with other players is highly valued and encouraged.
Maybe I should just jump into the game and see for myself!
Just found my Shepp and finished the Nightsky wall!
The game is pretty good but I went in thinking it would have a lot more player interaction but most of it really is a Stardew Valley clone. I did love multiperson cooking stuff though and I hope they add more systems like that.
Wow, I might send this game around to some friends, it looks interesting!
Still waiting for a beta invite... Is there any release date announced?
Afaik it's currently in open beta, so anyone can download and play.
Thanks for the heads up!
My friends thought it was funny, but I was unironically excited when I realized the more complicated cooking recipes means more people can join in and get the rewards. I had been trying to serve them ramen the entire time but learned the hard way how trading functions, so instead everyone helped cook it together and we all got ramen. It's probably the most "multiplayer" thing we've experienced so far.
The development studio for that game was setup by ex-Blizzard (from when they were good) WoW devs.
Fallout 4. There seems to be a lack of open world 3PS/FPS ARPGs these days. In general single player shooters seem to have given way to looter shooters and anything else that is more receptive to micro transactions and whaling.
This is, I think, why I'm excited for Starfield. I haven't bought into the hype train, but I'm looking forward to a nice, solo, ARPG experience.
The Last Campfire - A small and cozy puzzler with excellent graphics and gameplay, this short but engaging game from the dev house that brought us No Man's Sky is also a meditation of change, trauma, and death. Worth a play through.
A Hat in Time - A cute and fun 3D platformer that employs a variety of gaming mechanics through its extensive and varied world. Though a tiny bit buggy, mostly related to camera, it's fun and worth a playthrough.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps - Sequel that builds up on the excellent gameplay of its predecessor, this game shines an all fronts: Graphics and set pieces, audio, gameplay mechanics, and platforming physics. This one is no-brainer for fans of 2D metroidvanias.
I've played and enjoyed all of these. A Hat In Time is very charming and also a popular speedrun game. I was disappointed by the short-ish length of The Last Campfire.
Late to the party, but I've been playing a lot of Rimworld lately. I have pretty good self control when it comes to moderating my video game time...but this game is testing me on that front!
Hahaha. Yeah, RimWorld is like that, especially if you have a mod pack that is fun to play with or one that expands the playtime of your colony. For people who doesn't play the game it is more or less, you start at 7pm and by the time you look at the clock again it is 12am. The game is like a shitty time machine that only functions of going forward in time.
One time I got into the Rimworld time machine at 6pm and when I came up for air it was accidentally 4:45am and work was supposed to start in threeish hours. Whoops. I love Rimworld.
I've relatively recently been sucked back into Rimworld by way of watching a few YouTube players' campaigns. Except now I keep starting new colonies whenever I see something cool to try. I've got a mountain base colony, a sea ice cannibal colony, and now a Pokemon colony after discovering the PokeWorld mod. In my most recent session I tried to catch a Blaziken and it tore my only colonists head off with an ember attack haha.
Started Mafia: Definitive Edition (2020).
Visually, it's a stunning game. Comparing it to the 2002 original, it's crazy to see how much progress has been made in graphic fidelity. It helps you stay immersed in the engaging stories of the characters.
I played Portal for the first time yesterday! Yes, I'm over fifteen years late.
It was good and the portals were fun, but I think all of the hype around it made it underwhelming. I've seen memes and heard references for 15 years. It's a legendary game so it's hard to NOT hear all about it. I was surprised the Companion Cube was only around for such a short time given how much I hear about it. I was also surprised at how short the overall game is, since again, it's so legendary.
One interesting thing was realizing the influence it's had on other games. I played Turing Test a while ago, and I could see where it followed Portal's blueprints with the whole "AI with sinister intent guiding the player character to solve puzzles in a dark science lab setting and slowly move to their doom".
All that said, the portals were FUN and a little disorienting. Actually had to pause to look around a couple times to figure out which was up xD I honestly wish I could play with it outside a sterile lab setting, it's a really fun mechanic.
On to Portal 2, then?
I don't really care about Starfield, even though I really always enjoy new Bethesda release. I'm just older now and haven't been able to muster much of a care about it, figuring I'd play it at some later date. Generally I play older or indie stuff and have spent about 10 hours with Darkest Dungeon 2 in the last two weeks.
But. I looked at the minimum requirements for Starfield about a week ago and noticed that my main desktop, which I rarely use aside from YouTube, was just a hair below Min Spec. This caused something in my brain to snap and I immediately started looking for upgrades; this seemed like a very stupid idea, given how little I use my gaming PC, but I couldn't help myself for some reason.
At any rate, I am now the owner of a Ryzen 5 5600 (up from 2600x) and a Radeon 6700xt (up from a 970GTX), so I've been going back and playing one of my favorite games of recent memory, Kingdom Come Deliverance. It's just a world I want to live in forever and even though I completed the game about 3 years ago, I've gone back and am running through some of the side quests and the other stuff I didn't finish. Combat is trivial, but I just love being in the world.
Also, I now will be trying out Starfield at the end of the week, since it came with my new video card. Again, I don't really care about it, but I own it now because I had a mental break and spent $450 I barely have to upgrade my computer.
I just really like this journey of not really wanting to own Starfield but owning Starfield in a roundabout way because of Starfield min specs. I hope you enjoy it! I'm planning on getting it at some point - likely not before launch. I've heard people describe it as Skyrim in space, and as a permanent resident of Tamriel I thought it would be neat to try a game by the same studio but in space.
I've taken care to learn as little about Starfield as possible, and am so excited to try it. I pretty much know it's a Bethesda game and that everyone is excited for it. I don't know if there's planetary environments, or if it's all on planets or anything. Can you own and pilot a ship and engage in space combat? I don't know!
I've started trying to learn as little as possible about games I'm interested in, and it's helped me enjoy them so much more.
For TotK, I didn't know there was a construction mechanic or underworld, and it was glorious discovering the core mechanics with zero idea of what they would be
I have been on a similar journey to you, and finding I much prefer if I go in blind with most forms of media lately, but especially games, especially if it's a semi known quantity. I think modern marketing for games (and movies especially) gives wayyy too much away. I have found the discovery of the mechanics and plot far more rewarding than knowing them in anticipation. Gives back some of the childlike wonder I felt playing games as a young kid.
Now that said, I did read a review for Starfield as I have been a little doubtful of Bethesda entries after the last few, and even that spoiled a lot for me, so props to you for staying in the dark. Hope that when you finally get your hands on it, the wait pays off.
now that everything is a digital download, I don't see why you would buy anything before launch. There's not a limited number of disks available or anything.
I'm definitely eager to play it this Friday/Weekend, assuming I have time. Been quite awhile since I've really sunk my teeth into a Bethesda game and I'm excited to have something that can push my new hardware.
I've also finally repaired my office chair that sits at my computer, in anticipation of sitting there for awhile. A silly thing, considering I've spent hundreds of hours sitting in that chair and painting, but never fixed it. Starfield broke my brain.
Terraria. I'm new to the game so there's lots to learn but it seems like a lot of fun. There's a lot to discover as well.
I've just finished Citizen Sleeper with all the free expansions and it was super nice. Refreshing game mechanic, nice stories, multiple endings... I can definitely recommend it.
Another one I've finished couple years back but never really mentioned online is The Longest Journey. It's super dated, but I loved it very much.
I just love games with cool stories.
Did you play the Dreamfall games too?
Yes, but I have mixed feelings about those.
Thanks for that. It's been in my wish-list for ages, might just give it a try next time it's on sale.
Factorio: Nullius mod: Gave up on dropping this game. I'm about 170 hours into this save file, still ways away from red circuits. Nullius is an overhaul mod that feels like angel+bobs in complexity but stars without most materials or biters and you develop them as you go through the tech tree. Started this run after dropping of SE+K2. I'm missing the logistic challenges from SE but I'm overall enjoying this one more.
Shin megame tensei III: Nocturne (ps2, playing on a steam deck): I'm having trouble sticking to an rpg so I'm retrying this one. I played halfway through a long time ago but I forgot most of it. I just killed Matador but got murdered on the first kalpa dungeon. Loving how desolate and minimal it is. I gave up on non using save states but it is still fairly tough.
I'm trying to finish up my Monster Hunter Rise grind with friends before (hopefully) jumping into Starfield later this week! The grind has been super long but I really can't wait till they announce MH6!
Still playing Digaea PC; boy the level design is outrageously unbalanced, sometimes you have an area crammed full of enemies and no empty spots, next there is just one enemy with a crazy high level. I just finished a level where a “geo panel” tripled the power of all enemies and I had to make two towers of four characters each to throw my best two characters to where they could take out the symbol, all 8 were killed and I barely scraped through with just one left alive, Later Disgaea games are nothing like that.. Or any other SRPG and I’ve played a lot.
All the Disgaea games have procedurally generated “item worlds” that not only power up items but can get you even better items by a puzzle mechanic where you can trigger chain reactions that can sometimes take out all your foes.
I can’t get enough of the moe art.
I'm still dying in Elen Ring, although I've managed to beat Margit the Fell Omen so that's some progress.
Although now I'm dying constantly in Stormveil Castle, so not much has changed.
I've started playing a few games again.
Hand Of Fate 2 is a roguelike deckbuilding Arkham-style battler with a emphasis on story.
In other words, you try to complete challenges by building a deck of encounters and equipment specialized for whatever the challenge pits you against and demands (like lots of gold), cards that helps you live (doesn't matter you're richer than the Thieves Guild if you starved to death), while also fitting in any cards with Tokens you can find (Token unlock new cards).
The overworld is a card-based series of "floors" where you go from encounter to encounter, which are small stories with a few paths, while the Dealer comment on the encounter, or your condition.
For example in one you help pick up bodies in a town ravaged by a plague (which means doing 2 Dice Gambits back to back), and then you go back to the captain you volunteered from who'll give a gold coin per body. Good way to get some gold, if unreliable.
This card also has a Token.
The first time you get a lot of corpses, someone will pick them up for you to send them to the captain, of course that's a lie: he's a necromancer who just got away with a small army of corpses, so you go after him... and obtain the card's token, which will pull itself off the card and fly to the other side to fall in a small plate made for them, guided the whole time by the Dealer.Battle is basically Batman: Arkham Kingdom (back then it was starting to wear out, but nowadays I think it's basically non-existant?), enemy factions generally have a gimmick to them that favors a specific weapon type (Thieves dodges heavy weapons while Empire have armor making light weapons weak for example).
I also like HoF2's Endless mode the best since it (attempts to) deal with the fact that past a certain point you're a unkillable death machine (Ordeals got really bad there, solo you legit got unkillable).
Since a single adventure doesn't last that long it's not an issue outside of it unlike other roguelike deckbuilders I played, or the opposite for that matter.
SUPERHOT: Mind Control Delete is MORE Superhot, with a tinge of roguelike(? Kinda feels wrong? More... arcadey?) and some new stuff to keep things interesting (mines and mined enemies that explode into bullets, armored enemies you must hit in a specific location, a knife launcher that feels more like a laser gun, etc).
If you liked SH's gameplay you'll like this too.
I'm also kinda playing Dust: an Elysian Tail, it's an action platformer where you can slingshot yourself around using enemies and where the average battle will have you throw everything (including yourself) all over the place. It's also gorgeous.
I'm only grinding out the last few levels to max out my first file, since I already 100% the game.
I love Dust: AET, especially the soundtrack. We don't get games like that every day.
In theory HoF2 should be right up my alley, but I just could not get into it. The combat was dreadfully repetitive.
Fair, that's a big weakness of that fighting style (and weakest point of the games tbh), if I remember my playthrough of Arkham City right it basically was the backup option and you were heavily pushed into stealth barring a few encounters... which still had the option to quickly move around and use gadgets, plural, neither of which really is an option here.
I wonder if there's any game with HoF's overworld and progression scheme with a different battle style (kinda like Slay the Spire with Fights in Tight Spaces and Across the Obelisk)...
I don't know of any, but if you (or anyone else) thinks of any, I'd be really interested. Inscryption is maybe the closest I can think of which still isn't very close.
I saw xcom 2 was on sale so I bought it on steam. I absolutely love it! Playing the base game and DLC before I dive into modding it.
Recently I’ve been playing battle for middle earth 2, to get my command and conquer but it’s hobbits fix and it has been outstanding. Going through the campaigns and DLC then going to explore the whole game overhaul mods.
War of the chosen felt super perfect to me and is a great game. I'd actually reccomend you take a look at the top qol mods for it and start using those. They do lots of nice things that the base game should be showing you like flanking previews and better gear sceens. You can keep it prerry vanilla bit make it overall better.
Last I looked steam had a few QOL packs to pick and choose from. I also believe there is a 3rd party mod loader/launcher you will want to use as well. It also doesn't hurt to grab some gear mods like the capnbus one that aren't crazy but offer some more reasonable customization too.
There's been so many games released lately! This week I played Stray Gods which is essentially a Telltale game but also a musical. I thought it was pretty good, though the first half grabbed me a lot more than the second half.
I also played Shadow Gambit and it was great as well. Definitely get it if you're a fan of Commandos or the other games by Mimimi (Shadow Tactics/Desperados 3). It's sad to hear that today they announced the studio will close, they had a seriously good run.
Yesterday I started Armored Core and... honestly I don't get the hype. Like, it's ok I guess but I find myself mostly just strafing while holding RT to shoot at the UI. Everything is far away and it makes barely any sound? The helicopter I could barely tell when it was firing the missiles because of it.
Maybe it gets better as you progress, I'll give it a chance..
The hype for the latest a game is weird considering how niche the previous games are. I think people just are like omg fromsoft's next game after elden ring, thinking it of the same quality / type. It's sort of like getting pumpped up for dynasty warriors 52 or whatever they are on now and then discovering that yup, lu bu still coming out the gate on his horse.
Armored Core VI has completely dominated my time since it came out. I'm so impressed. FROM took their entire series, plucked out parts from each entry, and put them all together into a new, fresh setup for doing what AC is meant to do - build a mech, pilot a mech. It feels incredibly good to play, and just about all my prior knowledge felt relevant. I was able to jump in, recreate a build I used in all the old games, and it worked here too. Got to be even better, because of their new framework for combat.
It did that too, without compromising what it is. I'm really glad the game is as difficult as it is. I've been playing these games forever, and what I enjoy most is how they escalate - the more you play, the further you go, the harder it pushes you to execute perfectly. It never demands absolute perfection, but it feels like it gets closer to that than, for example, souls games. Builds are important but what's most important, is your skill as a pilot. Any build can be made to work if you're good enough with it. A setup like this means of course, as happened with every other game, that folks get drawn into endless debates over the "best build" and who is hardest - that all of that is playing out again, at larger scale, tells me this game succeeded.
My build, which I've named the "GT-FKD-01", is a lightweight biped with dual gatlings, and dual back missiles. The share code for it is 0G15BWG8FM74 (PC/Steam). The weapon loadout is simple, because the focus is not on weapon management - it's on mobility. You're meant to be able to just hold the triggers and not think too hard about it, because your frame is so light that you cannot get hit. It's spec'd for quick boost reload and EN recharge, so the idea is you can do up to six quick boosts on command. There is nothing in this game for which you would actually need to do six quick boosts in a row, so it's a very flexible setup. It's derived from a build I started in AC: Nexus, when dual wielding first became a thing. What makes AC VI brilliant, is it actually accommodated me - not only can I recreate an old build, but that old build gets new moves and the new framework means its mobility is that much better. Hammering someone with gatlings and then boost-kicking them is the most badass shit these games have ever done lol. The missiles maintain posture damage, either to let the guns cool down or to dodge out of attacks/close distance.
I mention the build because I feel it helps to illustrate how these games aren't quite what they're made out to be. You are what's most important; the build matters, but how well you pilot it matters a whole lot more. You can clear the game with practically anything, the trade is that doing that with some things will be much, much harder. In that way, it's exactly like Souls - remember ladle runs? - in that the difficulty of the game is tied directly to what you choose to use. That can mean the game comes off insanely difficult at first, because it has to be tuned very tightly to make that work. But it's all doable, it's all knowable, and again nothing in the game is tuned so tightly that you must be absolutely perfect all the time. It definitely pushes you closer to that, but never quite goes there.
I could talk forever about it. There's so much going on with this game that is to me interesting in an artistic way, but I don't wanna ramble at folks. I can't recommend the game enough, there just isn't anything like it. If you're at all a fan of mech games, and want to experience about as "authentic" an experience as you're likely to get, this game is worth the trouble. You will need to practice, but death is meaningless and the game lets you retry things very, very quickly. It gives you everything you could ever need to win, it's just on you to figure out how you're going to do that. You'll have to practice, and the game will test you, sometimes tossing things at you that feel impossible. That's the puzzle; figure out how to build for the problem, or, figure out how to pilot differently to pull it off. It's about you developing a playstyle, not finding the most powerful gun or the sturdiest frame.
Played the 2013 roguelike game Eldritch for my roguelike podcast this week.
Time hasn't really been kind to this game, but I don't think Eldritch was designed to really make waves in the first place. It's super low budget and you can tell, but 10 years ago is like 5 generations worth of game design tech, it feels like. I believe the dev's intentions were mostly to use the game as a tech demo, and I think it generally passes that test, but there isn't a whole lot of challenge outside of punching penguins or shooting flying eyeballs with revolvers.
But people still have fond memories of the game from way back when and is still relatively highly rated. At $15 it's way too pricey for what it is, but it goes on sale for like $2 pretty regularly. That feels like an arguably better permanent price point IMO.
I've gotten a bit addicted to Against the Storm. It's a fantasy roguelite city builder game where you establish several colonies each run by fulfulfilling the Queen's demands and making your different groups of citizens happy. There are a ton of upgrades that add both features and complexity between each colony build. After so many years have elapsed a storm comes and wipes your colonies from the map and you start fresh (but retain your unlocked upgrades).
I'm pretty new to the game but each colony build seems to takes a few hours. There are different difficulty levels you can play with higher rewards for each. The difficulty levels actually add features/complexity to the game and seem really well thought-out.
Each colony build can have a different biome and different environment modifying effects that affect the colony. Also, you have 3 different species that change between colonies and each specie has different needs and specialties.
I especially love how you learn most of the gameplay as you progress.
I got very hooked on this towards the end of last year and got about a hundred hours in. Haven't checked it out in six months though so maybe they've added some things to it since then, but it got to be a bit repetitive at some point after you get the hang of it. Still fun though. I enjoy city builders/colony sim style games.
I got Starfield. I actually cried when I started it up which came out of nowhere and freaked me the fuck out, but I guess I was just that excited. I played it for three hours and became less emotional as I settled into Fallout 4 on the ground, No Man's Sky in space.
If anybody wanted to know, it runs perfectly on Proton Experimental as of August 31st. I'm using mangohud to cap the FPS at 30 on low, as my RX5500xt is underspecced, but I can run it without dynamic resolution just fine. It looks great on Low, like NASApunk Skyrim but 30fps. I believe it could also use some optimization from one review I watched.
It's good. Not "cry because you started it" good, but it throws you right into the story's opening mystery, unlike Skyrim and FO4 which make you slog a bit to find those first beats. Combat is great, but I liked FO4's approach, and this improves on it a lot.
Lockpicking is different, but they have a new system that brought back the puzzle element like Oblivion had, which is interesting and refreshing.
Space combat feels like No Man's Sky a bit, being dog fights with drive-up looting, but it was fun to do.
The only ossie I have, which is minor and not Bethesda's first flirt with this, is the travel system. It's a series of warps over vast distances like Daggerfall. Yeah, you can fly across a system to get there, but it'll take forever to do so, like walking to mission points in Daggerfall.
I'm comparing it to a lot of games, but it seems to at least borrow from Bethesda's history heavily. The NMS comparisons are more of a divergent evolution thing, in that there are only so many ways to do certain things: space flight/combat, mining resources woth technology, etc. At a first glance I'm seeing a fascinating synthesis of ideas in the game that, alone, makes it very interesting to play.
Are the dialog/story options more like FO4 or more like New Vegas? Basically... do we actually have control over the narrative like NV or do choices not matter.
Edit: thanks for the report on how well it worked on Linux with low specs... what CPU do you have?
CPU is a i7 8700K. It ran at maybe 20% CPU.
It's more like FO3/FNV wiith dialog and interactions. I don't know about the bigger details like lasting effects so far because I'm actually in the process of upgrading my graphics card from the 5500 XT and my PC is out of commission because I need a bigger PSU, but it seems to have an FNV style faction system in that you can alienate yourself from other factions, but I don't know the specifics. Some traits in character selection will tie you to a faction and lock others out, but thats as far as I know.
This is fantastic to hear.
Also no worries on the tears. If I bought a major AAA Windows game (from a Microsoft subsidiary nonetheless) prior to release and it ran perfectly on Linux with no fiddling needed, I’d probably cry too. Proton is a legitimately beautiful thing.
There might be some issues, I had a story quest take me to a Mars outpost that crashed on loading, and worked fine on Windows, for example. I'm not sure what to do in those situations to fix it in Linux.
Mostly playing Tactics Ogre: Reborn. I'm enjoying it well enough so far, but it's a little slow. The first few turns if most battles are just inching forward towards the enemy lines. There's also a lot of micro for equipment and abilities across a ton of characters, which can get tedious.
FFTA is one of my favorite games of all time, so I figured this would be a slam dunk. I'll stick with it, but the story hasn't gripped me yet and I maybe don't have the patience for some of these mechanics that I did as a kid.
Just finished FFXIV: Shadowbringers, which is the 3rd expansion of the MMO. I'm in the post-Shadowbringers MSQ line now, but the "meat" of this expansion appears to be over.
Story was great, the dungeons and trials were actually challenging, and the world this particular expansion takes place in is beautiful and interesting. Plus Emet-Selch is just the best. Seriously! I think he's actually a pretty great villain and it's very gratifying to finally learn the motives of the Ascians. Which actually kinda makes sense on some level. It's hard not to empathize with their history and goals, even if what they're trying to do to achieve them is beyond terrible and literally cataclysmic.
There were some parts the felt a little slow and unnecessarily drawn-out, but that's kinda par for the course at this point. Still super enjoyable. So far, it's my favorite expansion (I still have the "Endwalker" expansion to get to, and then a new expansion just got announced that releases next year).
Otherwise, I'm trying to get back into either Octopath Traveler or Triangle Strategy. I'm pretty far in both, it's just that I haven't played either in a year or more. If I do get back into Triangle Strategy, I'm considering starting fresh. We'll see.
I started playing FF14 a few months before patch 5.3 released, by which time I had met some cool folks for raiding who also enjoyed the story. That was an unmatched experience that honestly was only comparable to when Endwalker first released. Not sure if you've gotten there yet (I believe the x.3 patch is where the base expansion truly "wraps up")
I tried ff14 ealier this year and I really couldn't stick with it. Honesrly the realm reborn story was just so drawn out and boring I couldn't get into it. Heavensworn was day and night quality, but it was just 'ok'. I fadeded out in the post expansion stuff, it was just so repetitive and formulaic.
I recognize that the quality of ff14 as a mmo, and the quality of the story within a mmo framework , but it might be at this point in time a mmo framework feels like a burden more than a benafit to me. Even paying the monthly fee just felt archaic and I didn't like the pressure it out on me to play just that game.
I wanted to like it and experience it all, but I can't help but feel that after all I had read aboutthr story, that no, the story wasn't drawing me in. I thought that people might love it for having experienced the story over a few years and within the drama of the game being remade etc. Overall if felt like a standard video game plot in an an mmo format and that is an accomplishment, but ultimately wasn't for me.
For original OP, I did enjoy triangle strategy all the way through and loved the story and look forward to playing though again to see some other outcomes. Def worth a revisit imho.
ARR definitely does that to people. It took me years to get through it. I had played a little during the 1.0 days then eventually came back to try out ARR. I think it took me 2 or 3 character remakes/restarts, starting and stopping and starting and stopping, until I finally decided in 2021 that I was gonna finish the damn thing and get to the expansions, which I heard were much much better.
I did like Heavensward enough, but I can certainly see in retrospect how it's just OK. To me, Stormblood is where it actually gets really interesting. But that's a hell of a long way to get to the good stuff.
I get that FFXIV is still doing very well for a now 10yo game (at least from ARR release), but I wonder how many more people would play the game and stick with it if ARR were re-worked and/or shortened. At this point, it's a QOL thing.
I would be playing BF 1 and Titanfall 2 if the EADon'tPlay app wasn't complete nonfunctional trash.
So I guess my review would have to be: Two of the best games I've ever played backed by the worst publisher in existence.
Book of Hours. It's definitely /different/. I never played Cultist Simulator though, which is supposed to be similar.
It's the kind of game you want to alt-tab to your notes all the time, but I find it fun to slowly figure out how things work, and what's possible ("Aha, that's what I can do with the flowers I harvested last summer"). There's not really a time limit, so you can just mess around as much as you like. It's absolutely not for everyone, but I find it strangely fun.
This week I have mostly been playing the PC release of The Last of Us, and more SnowRunner.
TLOU definitely makes my PC sweat, but I am really enjoying having a good old-fashioned linear narrative game. I only play it in fairly short sessions, as it is a quite grim and unpleasant setting, as one would expect for a game set in a zombie-ish post-civilization dystopia. I mentioned this last week, but I have never played any TLOU game before, but I have seen the TV show, which I enjoyed a lot.
SnowRunner is my Steam Deck couch game of the moment. I have put a silly number of hours into slowly hauling trailers around in the mud while watching TV or whatever, and have still not gotten tired of it. I think I like that it is slow paced and low-stakes.
Slay The Spire: Just unlocked A20 for all characters and discovered all cards and relics on Steam. I had already done so on Android (and got my first A20 Heart kills with each character) and have been "catching up" on my Steam Deck. Next will probably try the Downfall mod. If anyone has other recommended mods let me know. I haven't been using any since I'm used to the mod-less world of Android.
Celeste: Have been chipping away a little bit at the final chapter (9 - Farewell). It's really difficult and I have taken many long breaks from it. Probably dulls my skills a bit to leave it but if I'm not having fun there's no point. I just got to subchapter 7/9. Some parts I haven't even been able to figure out how to do them, and have been using a playthrough video for reference. I have also done that for some of the weird hidden stuff (hearts, strawberries) earlier in the game.
Gravity Circuit: new-ish game that heavily borrows from the aesthetics and gameplay of Mega Man games, except your main weapon is melee and you get 3 extra movement mechanics off the bat - run, slide, and grappling hook (which can also be used as a weapon). Issues I saw raised in reviews of the game, which I now agree with after playing, are 1) it feels a little strange to take damage from touching enemies when you're supposed to be a melee fighter and 2) the grappling hook controls feel a little wonky, which can be fatal when swinging over a pit. Issues I didn't really see mentioned: 3) I'm not a big fan of the story/characters/dialogue - it's a little cheesy/cartoony. 4) (this might be "normal" for a Mega Man game - it's been a long time since I played one without an emulator and save states...) the bosses feel really disproportionately hard compared to the difficulty of their levels on Medium. I've only beat the intro + 2 levels so far, I suspect the other levels will be the same. Otherwise I do think it's pretty fun! And it's pretty inexpensive for a new release.
edit: After getting an armor upgrade, the boss fights are seeming much more reasonable now. I played 2 more levels and beat the bosses in 2 tries each. The previous boss took me a lot of tries. There are little indicators for how hard the map/boss should be and I've been trying to do them in order of easiest to hardest.