23
votes
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.
Starfield
It rules, I spent hours redesigning my ship yesterday because I could, just lost track of the time fiddling with things I could have ignored. This game is really good about letting you roleplay in your roleplaying game exactly as much as you're interested in. You can get pretty crunchy with weapon and armor mods, ship capabilities, medical buffs, mining and manufacturing, etc. But what's nice is that you can ignore all of it, it's just there if you want to min/max or play super optimally. I'm pretty sure you can just play the entire game by just wandering around and using stuff you find.
I'm playing an explorer through and through, so picking a random planet, setting down, and then learning about the local plants and animals and exploring nearby caves and outposts is a chill experience. I'm excited to try being a space pirate, a big rig space trucker, a scientist/engineer, a bounty hunter/assassin, a wild west gunslinger, but I think I'll save that for other playthroughs with other characters I make. I think I could eventually get related skills in this playthrough but it'll take forever grinding out a jack of all trades.
I'm playing Starfield on the Xbox Series X, and enjoying my time immensely. I diverged from the main questline prety much as soon as I got to New Atlantis, and sunk hours into the UC Vanguard questline, which has been fantastic. I only went back to doing some of the main quest missions again because
spoilers
late in that quest it becomes necessary to do a space battle with a foe who is much better equipped than I was, as I'm still running the ship you get right at the start of the game with almost no upgrades.I caved and subbed to Game pass to try out Starfield. I didn't know if my PC would even run it. It does.. It actually runs really well, just on ultra low settings.
I'm on Mars doing the main quest.. I want to break off of it and go fuck around but it appears that a certain NPC is locked in as your companion until you make so much progress, so I'll stick with this for now.
I did pick up a job to essentially play space taxi for a couple of folks on the way to Mars though. I think I'm going to enioy it the more I play.
Baldur's Gate 3. I was playing Divinity Original Sin 2, but my friend convinced me to board the train before it left the station. Felt really natural to pick up as a DND player and Larian Studios fan. It's really a superb game. I'm playing a githyanki paladin, oath of ancients. I just wanted to be a nice old man going around helping folks and githyanki felt like the "plot race" given the whole mind flayer plot. (I'm still playing DOS2 bc I'm a maniac, playing Fane has been delightful)
Final Fantasy XIV. It's a MMO if that's your cup of tea. I'm mostly just "raid logging" these days, AKA hopping on twice a week just to raid with my static (group of 8). My best friend's wedding was two weekends ago and they all came out, plus a retired member. I love them all so much, I would've dropped this game ages ago if it weren't the game we shared.
Genuinely curious, what did your friend mean by this? Is it simply the multiplayer aspect, or is there another reason why you should play this game early after its release?
Multiplayer was part of it. They're mostly enjoying it multiplayer, but I've never quite found the appeal for this sort of game. Perhaps with a proper dedicated group I could.
Moreso they meant being part of the conversation. Tildes is the most general internet I digest, yet there's still a lot of buzz around me about the game. It's better to be able to join the conversations rather than excuse myself saying "I'm gonna play it right after DOS2."
Like with Tears of the Kingdom, there was something about being there off the bat, talking about the new game you're all playing. I'm usually a patient gamer, but it's hard to deny that aspect increases my enjoyment.
Ah ok, thanks. Gaming is a very solo hobby for me and I only have a couple of friends who are into it, and they like different genres! So I don't really care about being part of any conversation. In fact, I'm trying to avoid as much conversation around BG3 and Starfield as possible so the experience isn't ruined for me. I can't stand all the disappointed posts from people who got far too hyped far too early. At least Larian seems to have pleased almost everyone with the good job they did.
I'm nearly done BG3 - just one last companion quest to dust off and then BBEG time. I'll say that Act 3 has a few more inconsistencies/strange plot and quest choices than Acts 1 and 2. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more updates/changes to Act 3 as they get more feedback from players (e.g. the one companion quest ending they rewrote) and I'm not mad about it. It's got pretty good replayability so I don't mind finishing off this run and then enjoying new plot points towards the end in later playthroughs!
I'm playing a High Elf evocation wizard - same subclass as Gale - and I can't tell you how immensely useful it is having TWO evocation wizards in the party. A bit light on HP perhaps, but having spell sculpting means double the AoEs that don't hurt allies, and there are some fights where you absolutely need as much area damage as possible. Bunch of bad guys grouped up together? Perfect. Fireball. Allies standing in the middle of 6 bad guys? No prob. Fireball. Big bad surrounded by melee allies? Level 5 fireball! Why not! Bunch of bad guys with fire resistance? Awesome: ice storm, have fun being prone. It's fantastic, I'm having such a good time playing this game :D
Hey, you just described my past 2 months, (with the exception of PF'ing raids instead of having a static).
BG3 has really been a fantastic game. The scale is truly mind-blowing and the amount of voice acting makes it feel incredibly immersive.
I recommend the epic encounters mod for dos2 if you haven't tried it. If you've done a few playthroughs and want something fresh, it's a great mod. It's a super in-depth overhaul of both character building and the battle system, as well as some new/tweaked encounters. Some of the changes were a little unintuitive at first but they're super cool once you get the hang of it. The ascension system allows for some really cool character building options. The battered/harried system makes it so that you have to build up damage on your opponent before being able to apply strong crowd control effects. This removes the tendency of fights in dos2 turning into each side just trying to stun-lock the other.
The open source PC port of Perfect Dark.
You will need to provide your own rom as it contains the game's artwork assets. Aside from the alternative ways of doing this, there are now some great and perfectly legal options to dump your own N64 game cartridge (however your old eeprom saves will not be compatible due to some differences in file size and check-summing).
While the story may seem a bit campy, the game is immensely fun. In the near future of 2023, large-scale technology corporations have insidiously weaved their way into every facet of daily life and international politics, prompting the formation of philanthropic organizations that seek to check and balance these powerful firms. One such group, Carrington Institute, has received a distressing message from an engineer looking to defect from manufacturing syndicate dataDyne over widespread ethics violations that go straight to the top.
Motoko KusanagiJoanna Dark is sent in to retrieve the employee who reveals himself to beWintermuteDr. Carroll, and has vital information about the motives behind dataDyne. However, before Carroll is able to reveal much, he is recaptured, prompting Joanna and her team to follow a trail that leads her to dataDyne's Chicago-based subsidiary, G5 Corp.. There, she encountersthe Smoking ManMr. Blond, a shady figure who seeks to dredge up a dark secret from the bottom of the ocean.Utilizing an extension of the engine written for Goldeneye: 007, Perfect Dark's early, unique physics and fluid movement stem from the prior title's initial design as an on-rails shooter. The drop-in raid on dataDyne is an example of stealthy, hard-hitting and fast paced introductions that would inspire plenty of later titles such as Call of Duty 4, while the incorporation of pre-programmed shaders helped push the N64's SGI-inspired hardware to it's very limits.
If you have played the title before, get ready for the return of Daniel, Elvis, Jonathan, and all of your favorite characters, now with modern controls, high resolution, and smooth framerates. If you are new to the series, prepare to get strapped in for late-90's era, paradoxically light-hearted and world-ending action, in a similar vein to The Fifth Element or Independence Day.
My god Perfect Dark was the last FPS i poured time into. The versus mode was SO fun (except for getting punched, that shit sucked and lasted too long).
Ugh, you are so right, haha. It stacked until you practically had smeary Farsight vision. Though, before this became popular in Halo 2, my neighbor and I would set health real low to play rounds of Boxer on Skedar and Felicity. Great times!
With the PC port can you use mouse and keyboard as controls? I have been wanting to replay the game but waited till the decompilation was done to see if anyone had set up mouse controls.
Yes you can! :D There are actually two methods of mouse-aiming implemented: one that is based on joystick impulses, and another that has been partially decoupled from it. Hacking the in-game menu system is still underway, so for now you can toggle this, as well as customize your keyboard controls, in the game's
.iniconfiguration file where you can also set your resolution, cap framerate, etc.Sea of Stars
Sea of Stars felt like a perfect storm. The art is gorgeous and complemented by a well implemented lighting system. And the gameplay is inspired by some of the most adored JRPGs, like Chrono Trigger. I was a big fan of the demo, and I was bullish on how much of good time I was going to have.
Sigh...
I don't think I like Sea of Stars.
Each session I played gradually got shorter. The last time I booted it, I avoided a bunch of combat, got to a new town, and was so unenthused by all the dialogue I knew would follow that I quit the game after 15 minutes of playtime. A reaction provoked after less than five hours of playtime.
This isn't a bad game, but nitpicks progressively built to me not wanting to go back.
Combat
The game has a strong foundation of turn-based combat, augmented by systems for timed hits and interrupting enemy attacks by breaking "spell locks". And it does a fantastic job of addressing players who are typically anxious about using items and skills, by providing constraints and incentives to use them as frequently as possible.
But I found it frustrating that such a strong foundation doesn't seem to be built on. Neither equipment nor level ups seem to appreciably change gameplay. You seldom get new skills, and the ones you do don't expand your ability to express yourself strategically. Unless the game radically changes further along, I've probably already seen the lionshare of what combat has to offer. Which made me start dreading combat, since even the most trivial encounter was a tedious ritual of breaking spell locks and timing hits for essentially no recompense.
Storytelling
Story is usually a tertiary source of enjoyment for me, after gameplay and art. My baseline is "doesn't get in the way of my enjoyment".
The story got in the way.
Every meaningful story beat was buried under so much dialogue that neither advanced plot, expounded on the world, or served as a vehicle to develop the main characters. In fact, the two leads could probaly swap lines and the story would be indistinguishable. The game's humor is self-aware in a way that can feel tonally dissonant. The game would break the 4th wall, then heavily satirize its medium, and then immediately present you with a story looking to be taken seriously.
I've enjoyed JRPGs with significantly worse stories. I got over it by skipping it. You can't skip scenes in this game. The best you can do is mash
Bto advance the dialogue at a pace rivalling the march of a glacier. I started the game knowing I (initially) really liked the gameplay, but spent then first hour stuck in what felt like almost an hour of cutscenes which dove deeply into the backstory of characters I had just met and didn't care about yet.I wrote a lot of words just to say "the combat doesn't feel like it ever changes, and I can't skip dialogue I don't care about".
I'm frustrated because on paper, I should've liked this. Sea of Stars' launch was supposed to be a couple days of respite from work, in a game with a refreshing take on a genre I love. But instead, it was a period of jealousy towards the people who could overlook my nitpicks and enjoy what is otherwise a lovely game.
This generally mirrored my experience.
They really did a remarkable job on the pixel art, but the sluggish pace of the combat definitely works against it outside of the boss fights. It was a breeze to deal with random enemies in Chrono Trigger, so I didn't mind those fights no matter how many I ran into. With Sea of Stars, not only is your damage output relatively low (so you have more of a mental overhead in each battle to trigger the timed attacks / enemy breaks, etc to ensure you fight efficiently), but the combat animations are slow (of necessity so that you can react) which eventually added up to make fighting regular small fries a real chore for me.
I found the story acceptable but not amazing, but the blandness of the protangonists kind of made me wonder if they would have been better off also copying the silent protagonist from Chrono Trigger.
Finally, the English localisation of this game seems to have a weirdly specific issue where if there's meant to be a comma after the first word in the sentence, the comma is missing (so you get a lot of lines like "Thanks I'll do that" where it should be "Thanks, I'll do that"). It's totally fine otherwise, so maybe it's just a quirk of how that specific translator writes.
I started playing Sea of Stars a couple of days ago. They really nailed the old school 16bit RPG vibe, the music is great and the battle system is fresh. I'm not far into it, but I am really enjoying it. After this I'll probably pick up the new Armored Core game as I haven't played one since the PS2, but I loved all the older games in the series.
Based on someone's recommendation here in another thread I've been playing FTL: Multiverse (which is near-complete fan-made overhaul and non-canon sequel to the original FTL game). It's been great seeing all the possible ways a run can go versus the standard "fight the rebel ship at the end." I mean yeah, you still generally fight a big ship at the end of each game, but the context can be quite varied based on what quests you run into midgame. I especially like the ancient biomechanical ancient race whose weapons and ships are incredibly powerful. That most races have two or more factions is a lot of fun since you can usually "side" with one or the other when travelling through a race's sector. I feel like I have more fun making different ship builds than the original game too since the stable of unlockable ships is so huge and varied.
Replaying Factorio again. Vanilla, no mods (never have, base game is a lot to do for me). Still a fantastic game. Still hitting the same "shit I should've thought of this" moments. Replayability 100/10.
I see lots of people talking about Starfield. In review after review, the thing I heard complained about, and even saw news articles about, was how the ships worked. There was a very popular news story about one player taking 7 hours to fly somewhere unsuccessfully that you might've seen. And the one game they kept saying they hoped the game was more like was No Man's Sky. I heard what we've all heard: it's supposedly good now. In Starfield reviews, I saw clips of people in No Man's Sky flying around on a planet with their ship, going to orbit, then flying to other planets seamlessly. I also heard that it had multiplayer too! THAT'S what I wanted from a game like Starfield, so I bought NMS. A buddy and I are currently on the first mission where you fix your ship, build a base, etc. and the tutorial part is grueling, but from what I gather, the game is what I was looking for. I'll need to get a bit farther to really see how much I like it, but I loved using the ship! Seeing that it'd take 3 hours in real time to reach a nearby planet at normal non-boost speeds, but I can if I want, was sick. It made the space travel feel more real.
I know this gets said a lot, but it gets better after a few hours. The game has changed so much over the years that the first part of the tutorial doesn't quite fit in anymore. Once the Artemis Path (probably in your Log as "Awakenings") gets going, though, it should get to be more fun.
Following the Artemis Path will put you off to a great start in terms of your starship, multi-tool, and portal glyphs. Don't hesitate to take a break from it to do whatever you want, though.
I wanted to play Starfield but I can't bring myself to shell out that price and it sounds like it might not be AMAZING so not worth $80 to me.
Someone on youtube who was critical of Starfield (and Bethesda in general) recommended Outer Wilds so I bought that and maybe have 1 hour into it and I'm not sure what I think. Flying the ship is awesome but I'm not sure where to even start with exploring.
My wife busted out SimCity4 again recently so I've been working on 1 city in her region. I still love SC4 even though its 20 years old now but I would love if they remastered it so that it would run better on modern computers. SimCity (2013) was just bad and I haven't put any effort into learning Cities Skylines.
For me the Outer Wilds was truly a one of a kind game experience. I was utterly absorbed in the game and the mystery and exploring these different planets and the way it all fits together. I'd say make sure to really explore that first planet as it has a lot of threads to tug on. After that just fly around look for things that look man made or interesting and bust out that scanner. The clues will come. Also always listen for music.
Outer Wilds is probably the most well-designed game I've ever played. Whatever you do, don't look up anything online. Just patiently explore wherever you want. You'll find yourself immersed in the mystery before you know it.
Yeah... Outer Wilds. Go to literally any planet or moon. Your scope may give you some starting points.
Echoing that it's best to not look up anything at all. Fly anywhere, explore, and do the "connect the dots on the map like a madman" and you'll get there.
One recommendation, there's a fan mod that introduces voice acting. It's a bit shoddy because it's fan made, but it's endearing how much effort they put into it and it helps distinguish and give personality to some of the things you find.
So it's been 8 days, have you continued Outer Wilds?
If you haven't played yet again, the usual starting point (the game gently pushes you towards it) are the water planet, and the structure in its orbit. You see them both right when you wake up near the campfire.
I must have missed the nudges because I started with the sandy one !
But really it's a game where you can start anywhere. It's a puzzle in its structure where all pieces helps building a unique big picture.
I've played it a bit but I was having some pretty serious eyestrain issues over the past week or so, so I played one or maybe 2 loops a night. Its at the top of the gaming list at the moment though.
I just started Graveyard Keeper, got it on sale because I saw it compared to Stardew Valley. Not too far in (a little over one or two weeks), but it's been an interesting game so far. It's admittedly a pain trying to figure out how to do some stuff (still not fully clear on how to get the blue resource points even with guides), and getting money is not that easy. But there aren't any seasons, so there are no deadlines to get stuff done. Just my own patience.
Update one day later: played it more. Oh my gosh it's addicting. I have played... Many days in-game now. Went to bed last night thinking about it and what needed to be done. I think I might have dreamed of it a little bit. Sure, it's kinda convoluted to keep track of what resources you need for each thing, but it doesn't feel particularly tedious. This is well designed.
Bonus: I grabbed it and the DLC on sale earlier this summer when it was a weekend discount. I think it totaled around $10? Funnily enough it was just slightly cheaper to buy the DLC individually than as the bundle, since I didn't want the soundtrack.
Fae Farm.
My wife and I cannot stop playing. It takes the best of features from the farm sim genre but focuses on the player experience. So many quality of life features that just make you question why others games weren't designed the same way.
The multiplayer is also fantastic. Everyone of the players can fully interact with the quests/world like the primary player.
I can appreciate complaints about the price being steep, but for a fan of this type of game I cannot get enough of it. Such a wonderfully whimsical experience.
I rushed Starfield's main story but want to roll a new character for two reasons:
I used noclip and killed my achievements
I like the second run of Bethesda games after I get the hang of one.
It's been the only game I've played all week, and to me is a perfect game. I can't wait to do it again. I actually cried at the end of it which was new, but for some reason this game just hits all my buttons.
Install the achievement enabler mod :)
I thought about it, but it won't bring back the missed achievements in the save. Starting over is as fun as the first time, as well.
Start over, but this time install the mod. You never know when you might want to use the console to remove some of the tedium that comes with a second playthrough.
I'll say Starfield too, and I did enjoy it a lot, but yesterday my graphics card kicked it. No big deal, I wanted to build a new machine anyways - but weirdly, even though I was really hyped and had great fun playing it, I'm not really itching to get back to it. Like, it's not like I desperately want to fix my computer so I can play it again - I'm not exactly at the edge of my seat
Would you mind explaining how you know your graphics card died? I haven’t built a pic for like two decades, and I’m curious how things get diagnosed now because I remember dealing with all kinds of weird behavior when something was going on with my hardware.
Not the GP, but when my last graphics card died, it was during a game. A momentary flash of corrupt graphics and that was it -- never worked again.
Around 10 years ago my graphic card literally made a zapping sound and i saw smoke coming out of it when I had Photoshop, Illustrator, and GTA running all at the same time
Well, the writing was on the wall for a while. Basically, any geometric patterns that shouldn't be there are an indication that something's amiss. They're called artifacts, and they can be caused by any number of reasons. Maybe a solder ball on the GPU chip is cracked and doesn't make proper contact, maybe the chip is getting too little or too much power - all I know is that it had been doing that for a few months, but then when I was playing, it just made the entire screen garbled and threw green and pink static, and when I reset the computer to restart it it never went past the POST screen where the logo shows up and tells you how to enter the BIOS setup. Maybe this is fixable, but I don't care too much since the card is four to five years old anyways
I've been revisiting Monster Hunter World/Iceborne and I'm really enjoying the pace of the game. I had been playing a ton of MH Sunbreak which is also fantastic, but there's something about the meatiness of World that's really scratching an itch for me right now.
Keep meaning to go back and play more of this. I think I put about 10 hours into, but have previously played about 40 hours of 4 Ultimate on 3ds; it definitely scratches a particular itch, but I just don't have that itch right now
I suppose the obvious answer here is Starfield, and I've been enjoying it quite a bit! The performance leaves a little to be desired on my system, but I'm thoroughly enjoying the story. Just waiting for the mod tools to get released so I can get my character some new clothes, really not a fan of most of the outfits in the game
Dark Souls III: Been enjoying just casually exploring the world around Lothric Castle at my own pace until recently. Weirdly, a new friend took me through the Cathedral of the Deep really quickly, showing me all the secrets, and it kinda killed a little of my interest. I think I was just having a good time with the discovery aspect of the game, so I expect I'll try to complete rest on my own if I can. I'm fighting my way to the Cinder Lake crossbow next, then I can try to take out the big worm thing.
Starfield. Unlike Baldur's Gate 3 I'm not feeling compelled to finish it and see where the story goes, but I'm happily enjoying playing it in short bursts where I finish do just the one quest at a time. It feels like Starfield is made for that kind of episodic/anthologic (?) storytelling.
Final Fantasy XIV. I've mostly been playing PvP to get currency for the 10th Anniversary event. I'm awful at it. When I have time to actually focus I've been doing Studium crafting quests and Island Sanctuary progression. I really like that crafting/gathering in this is a big, detailed set of game mechanics unlike any other MMO I've played, even if it's not quite a first class mechanic.
I've just been hammering out alliance raids for the event currency. I've just opened up the Nier-themed alliance raids post-SHB, so I've been trying to learn and practice those raid mechanics so I can stop dying so much. I've gotten at least 150 currency from just the Nier ones alone, not even counting the FF12-themed alliance raids that I was doing before I opened up the Nier stuff.
I do need to give crafting a try again. I did Goldsmithing and Mining, I think, like 4yrs ago on my original character. But I've forgotten how it all works. You're right that it's more involved than crafting in most other games.
Battle bits on steam. Still not great at fps games despite how long that genre has been going. If anyone has tips I'm all ears.
If you're out in the open KEEP MOVING. Reload on the run, heal on the run, just keep moving.
I still like medic with an SMG like the UMP-45 even after the update.
With SMG's or less accurate guns, if you see another player and you can shoot them BUT they're too far to kill quickly with a full auto burst... don't shoot them; if they're a better player they'll turn and kill you.
I'm still trash and FPS's as well... BattleBit is still super fun though. I took a break for a month and now I'm back to it.
What you said about being too far away and shooting always then subsequently getting killed... that's the story of almost every match. You'd think I would learn at some point.
Lol. I still do it though even though I know it screws me. If you can move in a group it helps, but I don't have a gamer group to do squad play with so I just try to hang with whatever group I come across in the game.
The
minimap is one of your greatest tools. It shows which flags are being contested, where teammates are, where they aren't, and places where someone recently died. This information can be used to keep check of dangerous zones, anticipate pushes, plan flanking routes, or too simply look up which flags are "empty". If you want to, then you can change the access button to something more convenient, e.g. I have it on an extra mouse button so I can quickly activate and deactivate the map.In general, pay attention to your surroundings, e.g. if teammates are dying, footsteps, gunshots, explosions... Often times you will already know the enemy is coming before they know you are there.
People's mouse sensitivity tends to be too high, because they want to do a quick 180 to shoot someone, or out of convenience, or impracticability because they have one of these tiny office mouse pads. But chances are if someone is behind shooting you then it's already too late to turn around, or better to run for cover, and if they are in front of you then you have a more difficult time hitting them because of the required higher dexterity. A good rule of thumb is to place your mouse on the middle of your mouse pad, and adjust the sens so that by the time it reaches the end, the character in-game has turned around a bit more than 180 degrees. This way you have still the ability to turn around in most situations, but also more control for the stuff in front of you.
Also one of the absolute fastest ways of becoming frustrated, and therefore starting to play badly overall, is by pursuing players you have already died to a few times. Sometimes it's enough to change your playstyle, but chances are they have a good game, and it's better to spawn somewhere else to try your luck there. Don't get me wrong it's rewarding to finally outplay your nemesis, but if I feel getting frustrated then I simply spawn somewhere else.
Also your k/d doesn't matter if you aren't having fun. Blow shit up, place traps, try different classes, weapons, and playstyles, take breaks...
That is a great tip about using the map. I have always struggled with finding a good sensitivity and will try your method. Truth about not having fun. I don't pay much attention to k/d because if I did I probably would stop playing. Thank you for a good write up!
I picked up Starfield on Friday. I’m not very far into it after 12hrs. Been doing side quests and such around New Atlantis and exploring. So far, it’s fun enough. This is the first Bethesda game I’ve played since Fallout 3 (which I didn’t finish). So I’ve kinda come into this mostly blind, which I think is a good thing. It reminds me a bit of Deus Ex: HR/MD, probably because of all sidequest and explo that I’m doing.
Also restarted Triangle Strategy last week or so, after putting it down for a year or two. Had it for the Switch, but then picked it up for the Steam Deck. Been taking my time with that as well.
In FFXIV, I’m in the post-Shadowbringers DLC content. I’ve taken a bit of a break from the MSQ to get the Nier-themed alliance raids, along with the “Eden” full-party raids. I’ve so far only opened two of the three Nier alliance raids, and god are they difficult. But that difficulty means they’re tons of fun. I think I’ve got the first one down pretty well, though I’ve yet to complete it without dying at least twice due to not paying attention to boss telegraphs. The second one is gonna take me a bit more to get through without dying left and right. Prioritizing these over the “Eden” full-party raids at the moment. Did get my MCH to 90 during all the raiding, which means I now have my second Lvl 90 class, the first being RDM. Think I might try a healer class next, just not sure which one.
Going with the crowd and been playing over of Starfield, which is very much a Bethesda Ass Bethesda Game and I love it for that. Finding myself just wandering around and doing whatever sounds appealing at the moment.
My one complaint is the pirates. I worked with them for a bit and eventually murdered them all, but felt no guilt about it, because they're all just shit people, with maybe one exception. Felt like it was a real missed opportunity to inject some humanity into what were, essentially, moustache twirling villains; why are these people pirates? Oh, they just like being pirates, stealing, pillaging and killing and they'll all stab each other in the back at any opportunity.
I also just recently finished John Romaros memoir and so decided to go back and play some id games from my childhood; specifically, Doom and Quake. I've really never properly beat either of them, but I'd like to see if I can do it, but we'll see how far I get. Currently playing Doom on my PS Vita and if I make it all the way through (would love to try the 4th episode, as well as Sigil), I'll move on to Quake, maybe on the Vita as well.
It is a very Bethesda-y game. I know for the last few years we joked about how it was just going to be space Skyrim, and it essentially is. The very first mission after getting the ship, where you deal with some pirates left me encumbered from looting trash.
Then I talked the pirates out of fighting, and then killed them anyway.
Playing One Way Heroics for my roguelike podcast this week.
I had seen a lot of buzz around OWH so I was excited to try it out a few months ago. It didn't seem to click with me then until I realized there's a ton of co tent in the DLC (effectively a huge expansion to the base game).
Still took me a while to grok what to do and how to navigate the menu systems, but after watching a couple Let's Play videos I finally understood what was happening.
Once you're over the initial learning curve the game is good fun. Each run can he very short, or as long as 45 minutes if you want to push it. The system of banking items across runs is interesting and the general flow of combat, item management, and character creation feels like a very streamlined and polished form of your more esoteric and weird traditional roguelikes.
It's a JRPG that can be beaten in 20 minutes which is a rare combo. This is a solo dev effort (for the most part) so some parts really shine and others don't. Some of the writing is especially cringey and unnecessarily weebish, but is infrequent enough to be swept under a rug I think.
The soundtrack is all arranged midi files from a free Japanese music website, but the pieces selected work so well together, it could be mistaken for an original soundtrack.. I've been listening to it all day and loving every track I hear. It's a shame the music doesn't play natively on the Steam Deck, but I imagine the version on the Switch is quite a good experience to play on the go with the great tunes on hand.
Sniper Elite something or whatever showed up on the PS Plus thing. It’s like a discount Metal Gear Solid. Jury is still out for me. It is weird to me how little sniping I’ve been able to do, and how readily enemies spot me from a mile away.
Sniper Elite series places a heavy emphasis on using sound cover. It's pretty neat, thematically, but it does add a level of complexity to a core loop mechanic. This turns the sound cover sniping mechanic into something of a slog.
A friend and I played through Sniper Elite 4 in co-op and it was a blast. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much playing it alone.
I have been watching SE5 on steam waiting for a steep enough discount. It's been <$20 a few times but I think I might wait until it's between $10-15 and see if that same friend wants to do this one too.
Been replaying Spiderman, which remains one of the only games I've ever 100%d. Very nearly through the full story again (and should wrap up each district's content in the next couple of days, too). I can't get tired of this game haha. I haven't played the DLCs yet (or Miles Morales) but those are up next!
Holy shit, how have you not played Miles Morales?! It is every bit as good as Spiderman (maybe a touch better/more refined in a few areas), keeping a lot of the mechanics while still being it's own fully formed (if a little short) entry. I really encourage you to pick it up!
I didn't want to pay full price for what was essentially a beefy expansion pack when I had a PS4. I bought the ultimate version last month with the remastered PS5 version of Spider-Man which is what I've been playing through. Once I do the DLC, I'll play MM
Valid. Full price felt pretty steep for the length of game. If you can snag it on sale, it's well worth $30.
Not much has changed since the last time I commented on one of these posts. I've been dying in Elden Ring. A lot.
And I have enjoyed the game a lot. I'm just coming to the game after everyone played it last year, but either way it's probably the one game I've played more than others recently.
Ive been alternating Baldurs Gate 3 and Sea of Stars.
BG3 im playing a sassy tiefling bard and ive only just gotten off the squidship.
SoS: Adore this game. Its a love letter to oldschool rpgs like Chrono Trigger.
Jagged Alliance 3
Finally completed it, after taking a brief hiatus after the first patch. All in all, it took me about 60 hours, for a pretty complete and safe play-through, involving most quests and the happy ending.
Love it, exactly what I wanted it to be, had a blast, going in to another play-through already. I'm not a big RPG guy -- albeit I like tactical ones -- I don't play them often, and I don't tend to like big parts of them (i.e. story). JA3 hit the sweet spot with me, where I love the tactical gameplay which drew me in (and makes me want to play over and over again), but the story and setting and plot are pretty cool, and I can care as much or as little as I to about them.
I started a second play-through, choosing different mercenaries this time (but keeping my precious Barry) for a different experience. I also wanted to try one of the gameplay mods, after deciding between Tons of Guns, Rato's Gameplay Balance, and Timmeh's set of mods, I went with Timmeh's: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3017633184 . Pretty fun so far, not sure how much has changed with the mod over vanilla, although it does introduce crossbows and a less cheesy version of stealth, and so far I quite like the stealth crossbow kills.
Baldur's Gate 3: Legitimately the best CRPG I have ever played. I've played it for around 200 hours and I still haven't done everything I wanted to do. Currently doing a run where I play as Shadowheart, I try to make the decisions she would make and it's great fun. 10/10
Starfield: It's a pretty fun game. A typical Bethesda game so there are no surprises when playing it. Not as technologically ambitious as I had hoped it would be so it does kind of feel like I'm playing an older game but it's alright. The story is mediocre at best so I'm not sure if I'll ever finish the main quest. In it's current form I'd give this a decent 7/10. There are some technical issues that need to be sorted out (like the worst HDR implementation I've ever seen, and poor optimization). With mods this will probably become a great game that will keep us busy for the next decade, just like Skyrim.
I'm really curious about Baldur's Gate 3 since everyone seems to love it but it's not my typical game. I wonder if it'll hold my attention for the 50+ hours or whatever it takes to play through.
CRPG's aren't usually my thing either, they're normally way too dry and boring. BG3 is one of the first CRPG's I really enjoy. Everything is voiced (which helps because typically CRPG's are just text) and the dialog is brilliant. The game also doesn't take itself too seriously which is great, there are some wacky things in it and the game fully acknowledges that they are indeed wacky.
The combat is pretty great too, you can really go all out and do all sorts of things impossible in other games. You can play it straight forward (like simple head on attacks) or do full-blown ambushes where you use the environment to kill your enemies. Hell you can even use enemies to kill other enemies, it's great.
You can even talk to animals and the dead, which isn't always useful but it does add a lot of flavor.
I started En Garde yesterday. It's pretty challenging, but also fun. I'm having a bit of trouble with groups and the Bosses at the end of each chapter, but Nothing i couldn't get through so far. I did have to change the Difficulty from medium/normal to easy on the third boss though. The game doesn't take it self to seriously, which i really like.
I got into Roots of Pacha recently, I only bought it after it was properly released. I really enjoyed it and am finishing up some personal goals in my game, even though they aren’t achievements. It’s been a really fun take on the harvest moon/stardew valley style game with a surprisingly good art style (imo).
I’ve also been playing through the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster collection on switch, and I’m just onto number 5 now. It’s been cool playing through these really old games and so far 5 feels like an upgrade on 3 in its job system (and in its silly/less heavy mood) but also a cool upgrade on music and graphics from 4, tough I expect 4 had a more compelling plot.
Today I played through Gorogoa and it was a fascinating short puzzle game. I feel like there’s meaning in it I didn’t grasp but it had a very fun mechanic. On the topic of puzzle games I recently replayed glass masquerade 1 and 2 on switch, awkward interface compared to PC but fun pretty games all the same.
I started Little Dragons Café recently, it’s an odd game but has its interesting parts. Haven’t decided how much I like it yet.
And lastly, I suppose, I’ve really been enjoying Octopath Traveller though aspects of it can be irksome at times. Still, I haven’t played it for a couple of months but I look forward to getting back to it and then playing the sequel.
Ultrakill. I only just started playing this but it's been great, it scratches a very particular itch I have for games that I find oddly hard to satisfy (fast-paced fps with a great movement system. Other games I enjoy are: titanfall, apex, and quake). The game is similar to Doom, except with less emphasis on resource management and more emphasis on movement and style. This games gives a lot of power to the player in terms of controlling the combat and how they want to handle the various situations they are thrown in. The combat system is really cool, so many of your weapons/abilities compliment each other in really satisfying ways that make you feel extremely skillful. While you don't have as many weapons options as you do in Doom, it makes up for it with the very cool interactions that are possible. I have to admit I was put off by the styling when I first saw this game, as I figured that was the main appeal, but I am so glad I picked it up as I have fallen in love with it for it's awesome movement and combat systems.
Baldur's Gate 3. Truly a fantastic game, I have several campaigns going with different groups and have enjoyed playing all of them with different characters. I started playing table top DnD for the first time this year, which I found very helpful for understanding BG3. I find the opportunity to use the level design (especially the verticality) and environmental elements to my advantage to be a huge addition to the DnD combat experience that was missing from my experience with table top DnD. This is the first game I have played in this style, but it has been fantastic.
Wow, it's really hard to avoid Starfield news these days. I'm trying not to read much so I go into it with no preconceived biases other than my own from past Bethesda games.
I'm a patient gamer so it takes me a while to get to the latest games. I'm playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey right now. I think it's a great game but I lost momentum with it over the summer when I went on holiday. It's not easy getting back into it because I've been really busy at work. It's such a massive game and I've definitely reached that point where I just want to finish the main story. With so many other games I want to play and so little time, I often reach that point in a long game where I consider abandoning it and moving on. But I would much prefer to finish the main stories before moving on given the choice.
Looking forward to playing Baldur's Gate and Starfield some time in the future :)
I recently made the mistake of buying a bunch of games while I was away from my desktop, so now I'm back trying to play:
Civilization 6 - I've put in hours and hours in Civ games since 2 so I thought what the hell let's check it out. Didn't have any time to delve into it though because my attention was drawn to
Humankind - A "Civ but different". I'd played a demo that impressed me so when I found a good deal I picked it up. It's very polished and has interesting systems while still feeling familiar to Civ players. Haven't even completed a single game yet but I'm enjoying it.
The combat is miles better than Civ's imho, it has more nuanced options apart from At War - Not At War (skirmishes outside your or your opponents territory do not necessarily trigger a war) and it actually has a teeny tiny bit of tactics which I assume will play a larger role as I move up the tech tree. Also, it takes up map-time! Play 3 (?) rounds of combat and the Map Round will end and you'll have to continue combat in the next Map Round. This means that you can move units up to reinforce the ones in combat, giving it more strategic depth and making it feel more epic. That said I hate hate hate hate just how far units can move in combat. If there's cavalry involved they're pretty much guaranteed to swing around and murder-stomp your archers on the 1st turn.
I also feel like it was made by people who felt too constrained by Civ and am pleasantly surprised by the mechanics I come across. Oh I burned down an opponents outpost that was supporting an Iron Mine? Yay. Oh wait they'd SOLD that resource to an ally of mine, who is now cut of from it and they're pissed and asking for money! Can't figure out how to stop my goddamn heathen citizens from converting to a foreign religion though.
I'm still very early in the game because I can't get into the "just one more turn" 5hour groove those games demand and am distracted by my desire to discover my options in:
Horizon's Gate - bought after someone suggested it in a Tildes thread. Ok first of all I was taken aback by just how ummm pixel-arty it is. It feels like it was made for a tablet screen not a 20"+ ,monitor. Am very intrigued by how deep it goes, it seems to have ship customization, exploration, crafting, multiple skill trees per character and a decent-ish combat. I'm kind of wandering around at the moment and I feel that this too is a game which demands a minimum of 2hrs per sitting and that's why I keep coming back to:
Doom II - Yup. Doom II. The game that would make us congregate in the house of the friend with the PC that could run it, decades ago. Bought on a whim for nostalgia's sake and goddamn, a game with one plane of motion, only vertical surfaces and pixel monsters genuinely holds up. I also enjoy how the Hurt Me Plenty difficulty does just that, the game is like "eh screw, you figure it out". I've been playing it much more than expected and have not yet touched the rest of the pack it came with. Currently on Level30 and shit man either we were really good as kids or we IDDQD'd our way to victory because sheesh it's a struggle.
On my radar are: BG3 obviously and Company of Heroes 3 because CoH2 is a game I keep coming back to, just to throw on a podcast and rain down artillery on everything that as much as blinks.
You probably want to avoid CoH3 then. As an avid player of the first game since release, CoH3 is...not good.
The criticism I've read mostly focused on the multiplayer being a bit crap and there being a lot of filler missions in the dynamic campaign, is the actual combat broken or unsatisfying?
Multiplayer is awful. Forget coop play, the de-sync makes the game unplayable after about half an hour. The dynamic campaign isn't nearly as exciting as it's made out to be, either. It really is just a bunch of filler. Plus they STILL have the super-zoomed in camera Relic was obsessed with in CoH2 and the Dawn of War games where you can only see a single unit on-screen at a time. Combat is wholly unsatisfying; the cover system doesn't work, tanks drive like they're drunk and made of tissue paper, every weapon sounds like a cap gun, and artillery tends to cause the game to slow to a crawl depending on how much else is happening at the time. CoH1 with the older versions of BKmod (before the guy working on it lost his mind and broke all the pathing systems) was my go-to, everything after it is just a shade of what once was.
Second for Humankind. Although I don't understand how I'm so terrible at it. I've been playing Civilization since the original, and while I wouldn't call myself an expert, I reckon I've put 10,000 hours in over decades and honed pretty effective intuitions.
Playing Humankind with the same intuitions on autopilot, building units and improving cities in what feels like "obvious" ways gets me consistently wrecked by the AI on Normal difficulty by the middle ages. It's very humbling and I still can't even work out why I can't manage to balance expansion, development and defence effectively.
Many of the game's systems are either similar to Civ's, or entirely novel. It's the nuances of the former that seem to trip me up in non-obvious ways. I'll have to dedicate some time to learning these in-depth and retraining my instincts.
It's odd but I like it so far.
I managed to stomp out my major enemy and their controlling country through war (still on my 1st run, barely Middle Ages) but the nuances tripped me up as well. Turns out you can't just Civ-like outright conquer all cities you occupy but instead must spend points accrued during the war to satisfy your Demands. So it's more realistic in the sense that wiping out an entire culture doesn't just happen as a matter of convenience, if you're going to go that way you WILL have to have World War levels of conflict.
It also makes war a much more serious proposition and less "arcadey" so to speak. If my opponent has a remote city that's lightly defended I can't just pop in, occupy, take it and then just sit back and defend until we call a truce, all the while reaping all the benefits of my new city and resources. A brief war won't get you enough "credits" to take over the city and will earn you a lot of bad blood and mistrust. A prolonged war is well... a prolonged war with units pouring in from all over. You might be a military powerhouse but run out of War Support and end up losing.
It's pretty cool and I'm not even at the modern age yet.
Heretic's Fork. It's a card-based tower defense game where you're an employee in Hell trying to prevent sinners from escaping. It can take a bit to find a build that works for you, but you can pick different "workers" who have their own card sets and abilities. They also wrapped the whole game in a cute faux computer desktop thing with a little virtual doodle pad and other doodads you can mess around with when not playing the game.