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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 playing Baldur's Gate 3. I'm playing a human Paladin who, if there were alignments, would be lawful-good. I'm currently in Act 2 and trying to be a completionist. As someone who plays a D&D campaign every week and has been frequently watching Critical Role, I'm especially enjoying their interpretation of D&D 5e. There are some things they do differently that I rather like (e.g., changing prepared spells out of combat at will for most classes, different martial attacks). There are a few things I miss from the tabletop version (e.g., holding an action, spells like Toll the Dead), but as with Divinity: Original Sin 2, the game is just about as faithful an interpretation of a TTRPG as you could expect to find in a videogame.
Compared to other games, the game is definitely as well-written as the reviews say. The side quests and the voice acting are all consistently very good.
If I have any complaints, and they are all relatively minor, it would be these:
Click to expand spoiler.
For example, I don't know why my Paladin, who is sworn to Torm (hypothetically, anyway — the game doesn't let you pick a specific deity for paladins or clerics to be sworn to), can't ever object to Shadowheart's worship of Shar. He can't comment on the sadistic and violent acts that Shar worshipers are committing nor comment on that to Shadowheart.
Having said all that, I'm definitely enjoying the game quite a lot. I'm very interested in where the story is going.
Additionally, I'm also still playing Destiny 2 from time to time with my wife and, sometimes, my manager from work. Since I have over a thousand hours in the game, I'm a little burned out, but it's still a great shooter as far as gunplay goes and has some accessibility options that I really appreciate (i.e., being able to use semiautomatic weapons as if they were fully automatic and being able to do the same thing with melee attacks). This season's story is also pretty good (for Destiny).
We also can't find a better co-op shooter to play together, so it has that going for it.
Ever try Warframe? I ask because I've played them both, and they have a whole lot of similarities, but Warframe kept my attention far better than either version of Destiny did. The parkour alone makes me happy, but the weaponry and gameplay is pretty fantastic.
I haven't, but I've heard it's even more grindy than Destiny is. I'm also not terribly keen on its aesthetic.
That said, I know there is a lot of overlap between the playerbases of the two games.
Really, at this point, we just want a fun co-op shooter for up to four people. We considered Deep Rock Galactic, but my wife doesn't want to be a space dwarf and I'm not terribly excited by that prospect either.
Deep Rock is amazing. Sure you have to be a dwarf but there's a wild amount of custom paint jobs, hair styles and beard styles that you can have fun with, even cute options.
Every dwarf has the same face model and voice actor pitched up or down. This has steered my headcanon to believe every dwarf is actually a clone produced by the titular galactic mega corporation to invade this alien world and mine it for all it's valuable resources.
It's got great co op play, each class has tools that help themselves, but also every one else on the team. All loot is shared equally amongst teammates and there's very few ways for players to even manifest toxic behaviors.
Rock and Stone!
As someone that played Warframe, years ago (around 2016-17), there is really no point in playing it. From what I understand is that the community had plummeted into toxicity, this is from when I was looking to get back into the game, which is a shame because when I had played it, the community was really fun, and helpful, to interact with, when I did interact with them.
Depending on the type of humor that you like your daughter to hear, the Borderlands series is a fun co-op shooter looter, but without people to play with it is less fun. There is also Left for Dead (zombie) series if you are playing on pc. In the same vein as Left for Dead, Warhammer Vermintide 2 (Skaven (rat people)), which takes place in the Age of Sigmar (fantasy) universe of Warhammer, which mostly does melee weapons, instead of range weapons (there are some but the focus is on the melee weapons). But definitely look at this one before bringing it up with your family to play because it is dark and violent. There is also Payday 2 (there is also Payday 3 but the content is not there yet), co-op shooter game with a focus of robbing banks and the like (there is a heist where you steal nukes for the Ukrainian Mob), but there is also the amount of paid dlc and I don't know if you are on pc or not because the console versions are considered less than stellar (mostly because of the engine that they used), and I don't think that the game is on the newer consoles either.
It's a shame to hear that, though I only co-op and solo, so I really haven't experienced any of it. I mostly appreciate that I can play it without interacting with random people.
Yeah that is what I mostly do, is that I have a set of people that I mainly play with, but with MMOs, not interacting with other people feels like I am missing part of the experience (but something like Genshin Impact, that is a game whose experience is mostly single player, I can get away with not interacting with the player base). But at the same time, I am not going to get back into a game like that of Warframe, which is a shame because I liked it before I dropped it. Or that I won't interact with the community that surrounds it, like Genshin. But communities like that of Stardew Valley, whose only drama stims from who you consider the best marriageable npc (which is Penny by the way), then yeah, that is a lot better experience (which is co-op (up to four players) by the way @RobotOverlord525).
Hah, yeah, DRG hasn't appealed to me either, though I keep looking at it and wondering.
Aesthetic is huge, so if Warframe's doesn't grab you, alas, so it goes-- it does have a huge variety of settings, though. I don't actually find it all that grindy, but that's probably just that I love the gameplay for its own sake and it doesn't really require doing much you don't feel like doing. Destiny felt way more so to me, and its aesthetic wasn't to my taste.
Wish I had other suggestions, but I really don't play co-op shooters otherwise. It's weird enough to me that Warframe caught my attention.
If you just wanna spam emotes and voice lines with some buddies, DRG is hard to beat. It's just a casual good time.
For 8, I find it quite odd too. I didn't know any D&D lore going in. She mentioned "oh I bet you hate me be that you know I worship Shar" when I was still in the first act, and could only say "I don't really care" because I don't know anything about Shar. Then the second act hits and I just keep thinking "Jesus shadowheart, these are your people?".
There's a distinct lack of evil companions too.
Yeah, I don't think my paladin was willing to tell her that he hated her yet at that point. Though, if I were going to RP it right, perhaps he should have refused to ever team up with someone who worships a god as evil as Shar.
Honestly, I think there was a bit of meta-gaming going on for me, too. I didn't have many other companion options and I didn't want to turn down a Cleric just for roleplaying reasons. I also didn't know you could get hirelings that could fulfill the same role (albeit at the cost of having a fully fleshed out companion character in your party).
I'm also playing Baldurs Gate 3, but not so much anymore, since I'm feeling that the enemies are outlevelling me, and I wonder if I missed something big in the beginning, or if they are supposed to do that. I'm still pretty early in the game at act 1. I'm level 3, but everywhere I go the enemies are level 4. Is this normal, or should I do some backtracking?
Regarding camera, imho it's pretty good when playing mouse+keyboard, it's ok-ish when playing with one gamepad, but when playing splitscreen everything feels too cramped. The best thing I learned was to change target with the d-pad when in fights.
Another thing I found odd is that you select your characters voice in the character creation phase - I don't think I've heard my character talk.
Regarding point 6, I would be satisfied if i could switch character when the conversation starts. It's weird having to walk with my squishy sorcerer first just in case someone wants to talk to me.
All in all I'm enjoying the game, especially story and world, but it has it's drawbacks.
Backtracking may be too strong a word because you're still in act 1, but definitely explore a bit more. You should be able to keep pace with the curve, if not outpace it.
Ok, thanks!
If you're stuck where I think you're stuck (a certain goblin camp with three mini-bosses), you're not supposed to be the same level as them. There's some good tips I found on Reddit that makes that go much, much easier.
Beyond that, like u/CptBluebear said, you want to explore everything.
I believe the consensus is that the game gets easier as your level progresses. It's a quirk of D&D—damage outpaces health for a while and makes everything very spiky.
I'd float Remnant (1or 2) for a co-op shooter! I haven't been playing it myself but I've been watching the Nextlander crew play through it and it seems great. Really leans on the WTF nature of some of Destiny's more obscure puzzles.
If those are the games I'm thinking of, I've heard great things about them but they're way too hardcore for me. 😄
My hands are fucked up so I click my mouse with foot pedals. High APM games kill my ankles/feet. Plus, foot pedals are just slower in general compared to mouse clicks. Add to that the fact that I'm over 40 now and it's quite limiting, unfortunately.
Sort by values maybe ? I'm playing with a gamepad: I can then quick-select multiple item by holding R2 and then add all of them by wares.
I often use sorting by type. I'm on PC, so it's not impossible to mass-select items to flag them as junk. It's just tedious.
There's a mod in tempted to get that auto-vendors junk the moment you pick it up. That feels like it's a bit over the top. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't mighty tempted to use it!
I played A Short Hike! I'll leave a short review...
It was great! Very fun characters and art, easy to follow, open gameplay was fun, lots of fun little side quests, and just a great cozy feel.
My only complaint is that it is short... but short but sweet. Definitely pick it up!
Also great if you have kids. I finished it a while back but my 6/10/11 years old kids still pull it out now and then.
I've been absolutely hooked on Moonstone Island. A life sim heavily inspired by Stardew Valley, you'll find yourself farming and meeting people. The landscape is composed of many islands you'll be flying between to explore, finding mines, dungeons, and artifacts of a bygone era. But it also has a creature collecting aspect with battles! Each creature has its own deck with special cards depending on type, then your crew of up to 3 combine those for the deck you pull from during battle. The combat is similar to Slay the Spire in that you pull from your deck for actions each turn. The creatures are cute and fun, I'm delighted to find new ones! It's a breath of fresh air to the genre.
I appreciate that the townsfolk are adults, makes romancing them feel more natural versus the teens that seem more popular in these games. They're also racially diverse with nonbinary representation as well, so that's pretty neat.
I’ve been replaying Outer Wilds for the first time since near launch, in prep for buying the Echos of the Eye DLC that came out a few years ago. It plays great on the Steam deck, though part of that may be that I’m actually using a controller now as opposed to a keyboard which makes things like
Spoilers ahead
Navigating through the anglerfish nest much much easier as you can properly control thrust sensitivity.Overall I’ve enjoyed it almost as much as the first go through, yet still haven’t managed to find any hidden achievements :p. Been pleasantly surprised with how little of the details I remember — a handful of spoilers, but 3 years was enough to make it feel newish.
I got about 15 hours into Outer Wilds and loved it, but it fell into one of my ADHD bins and I can't seem to get it out, so I can finish it. It's such a beautifully crafted world and the story is so compelling, even though you're barely told anything directly. I love the cycle, being on a planet and realizing I got there too late. I love the feeling of just trying something cuz you're gonna learn information one way or another and it'll all just restart.
Just finished the Phantom Liberty campaign of Cyberpunk 2077 and I gotta say, I was not expecting the next Bond flick I saw to be cyberpunk themed, nor featuring Idris Elba. Won't go into any details to avoid spoilers since it's worth experiencing blind, but I really enjoyed the mood and pacing of the campaign throughout, they did a bang-up job of gamifying a super spy noire movie. Very emotionally impactful endings as well, I poked around the subreddit after beating the game to see what other people thought of them and seeing how incredibly divided the community was on what was the "best" and "worst" ending, I'd say CDPR's writing team nailed it there.
I kind of hated one story mission in one of the endings though, again, no specifics, but it removed a lot of player agency for the setpiece and I really wasn't about that. Aside from that, excellent addition to the game, well worth the 30 bucks.
Started playing Rimworld for the first time for my upcoming roguelike podcast episode (close enough?)
I think I've put 100+ hours into pre-steam Dwarf Fortress, and my podcast cohosts rave about it all the time, so it was inevitable for it to show up at some point.
Only about 10 hours in and I am very grateful for the user friendly UI/UX systems. The fact it's actually quite good to play in the Steam Deck as well is kind of mind blowing.
So far I'm just learning the basics and it, like Factorio and Kenshi, feels like a game that could easily stay with you forever. I think the one thing I'm not super crazy about is the theme. I get that it's supposed to be Wild West Space like in Firefly, but I feel like it's prefer it to go harder on the sci-fi aspect. Western style duster jackets, M16s and Uzi's feel a little disjointed from each other, but otherwise the idea is pretty sound.
I haven't looked deep into the mod scene yet but I imagine that's another bottomless pit of content one could get sucked into.
The great thing about RimWorld is the mod-ability that the game has. Don't like the Sci-fi genre, no matter there are mods that can make it into a fantasy game or a horror one or more realistic or a lot harder. Just stay away from the forbidden mod that is on a certain website, which I might get into trouble here if I link it.
For mods I would look at Vanilla Expanded (whose team is making a game of their own (which might be up your alley) and their weapon mods are great), Fluffy's mods (who mostly does QoL mods). And Dubwise (such as Rimefeller (adds oil), Rimatonics (nuclear related stuff), minimap, Dubs Break Mod (changes how mental breaks happen) and Bad Hygiene (adds hygiene and related stuff)).
And I think the reason is that some factions in the game are tribal, some are industrial, and others are space faring.
What a coincidence! I just decided to get back into the game!
I was craving some colony survival game, tried a few on Steam and then it hit me RimWorld was there all along!
For my tastes, RimWorld is special because the game makes an effort to tell a story, it it's just random events and it's not just letting you coast by when you pass a certain threshold. Also having to take care of people's feeling and mental health is a really good mechanic in my opinion that forces you to do work on improving your colony in a way that isn't just having more efficient pawns. But of course you could still play it like that if you wish.
After I'll be done with my current colony I'll probably go onto the DLCs and then maybe modding. We'll see how long I'll stick with it this time, haha
Elden Ring! Finally!
I've actually owned it since last Christmas, but just wasn't ready for another Souls game after beating Dark Souls 3 earlier in 2022, but after spending 120+ hours with Cyberpunk and Starfield together, I was ready for something different.
I'm enjoying myself, but also finding myself maybe getting a little bored. I hit the Lakes region, the second area you go to and I gotta say: I hate swamps. They are so completely bland and boring, I'm really trying to push through so I can see more interesting things; however, I'm also willing to give the game the benefit of the doubt right now, because I also haven't been sleeping well, so I'm tired and I get very bored with gaming when I'm tired.
Also just today I picked-up Transport Fever 2 again, a game I absolutely adore. After reading a bit about Cities Skylines 2, I wanted something similar, but didn't want to go back to the original Skylines, much as I like it. Transport Fever 2 is just a delightful, puzzle solving logic game with trains, trucks, planes and boats. It's almost like a little ant farm that sometimes snarls up and asks you to pick apart the threads to find out where things are getting bound up so that you can get everything going smoothly again. I think I'll pick-up the same map I had been working on over the summer and see if I can take it even further.
I've also bought another Nintendo DSi. I owned a DS Lite many moons ago, but it and my games (As well as my PSP + Games) were stolen when my apartment was broken into somewhere around 2014. I already own a 3DS and have played many DS games on it, but I get frustrated with my 3DS, because the battery life is crap and tertiary to that, some DS games look blurred on it. I also figured, I may as well pick up a system or two while they're still cheap, so I got an original DSi, as well as an XL. I think the DS generally has a much stronger library than the 3DS, which I find generally pretty bland and boring. So, I'm looking forward to picking-up a few games I never touched on it and maybe continuing with a couple that I made solid progress in, such as Retro Game Challenge 2.
TF2 always makes me feel a bit like I’m playing a modern Transport Tycoon. It’s that good in its simplicity.
Figuring out how to get all resources connected on a map is fairly challenging and can, like you said, really feel like a puzzle you need to solve.
I need to learn OpenTTD at some point, speaking of. I have a little laptop that won't run Transport Fever, so it would be damn nice to have something similar that I can play on that machine.
I finally had a bit of time to load up my TF2 save last night and I'm going to have to study for awhile! It's fun how far goods can make it when lines are all interconnected around a map.
Yes! The DSi XL is the only way to play DS games. On a 3DS they look awful no matter what you try, either stretched poorly or with huge borders, but the DSi XL is perfect. I bought my DSi XL to play through the Etrian Odyssey trilogy (again), which I did, but then this year Atlus finally ported / remastered the original DS games to Switch so it's a bit redundant now.
Finally received my regular DSi late yesterday evening and after spending an hour or two getting things hacked and transferring over all my games and saves from my 3DS, I'm very surprised at the screen quality of the DSi.
Not only does the screen seem much brighter and more vivid over my N3DS, but the games look so crispy! My DSi XL should arrive by Friday, but that said I'm not sure I'll actually care for it! I'm really satisfied with the DSi and love the size and weight of it; but I'm also the guy that sold his N3DS XL for the regular N3DS, because I didn't like the size and weight of the thing, so we'll see!
How are the original Etrian games? I've heard they can be kind of rough in light of the later ones, of which I very much enjoyed 4. Made it to the post game in that one, but never finished that stuff and meant to move on to Nexus but never did, because I'm generally kind of over the 3DS as a platform. I wouldn't mind starting one of the older games on my DSi.
And even though things like Ghost Truck (on my list to play someday) and Etrian have been ported over to Steam these days, it just feels right to play them on the DS, as they were all originally intended to be. Sure I could have played The World Ends With You on my phone, but it just doesn't feel right; the DS is such a unique system and it feels like something is lost if you're playing a game designed for it on something else.
I prefer the larger screens on the XL models (3DS, DSi) because a smaller screen taxes my eyes too much. Size-wise they're all much smaller than the Switch so I still take the N3DS XL on the train to work.
Etrian Odyssey... I'm an absolute fanboy of this series so you're asking the wrong person :-) All 3 of the original trilogy have their unique points, and playing on the DSi the 2D pixel-art graphics look lovely, and the mapping aspect was of course made for the DS hardware. The music too is just chef's kiss perfect. They're the ideal DS RPG series. If you've hacked it to play anything, may as well give them a go.
The first game is the toughest to go back to, because it has several things that make it janky: no L/R sidestepping, lack of mapping features (icons/colors), an awkward shop UI with all your gear and items and crap mixed together, and a strange font in the US release at least. Compared to later games, 1 & 2 have a different level design philosophy, but it's quite a subtle difference. In 4 for example, you tend to push on through a level until you reach a shortcut, unlock that and go back to town, then restart in the maze from almost the same point. Levels are split up into nice chunks so you always seem to be making progress. But in 1 and 2, there are fewer shortcuts, so it's more of a battle of attrition to get through a level, mapping out the maze-like dead ends to find the right way through, and going over a fair amount of ground you've already covered. It means that instead of say, using up your "TP" to use skills to quickly get through fights, the first 2 games are more about sustaining your team for as long as possible in the maze. The first game has weird game balance too - it starts out insanely difficult, with hedgehogs that can one-shot you, but once a few skills get to a good level it actually gets easier, and doesn't really get difficult again until the last stratum (save for a few difficulty spikes with boss fights). The 2nd game onwards balance it better, with a kind of step-up in difficulty every few floors. Enemy fights are much simpler than the later games, less enemies using status / binds, and your current level being a big decider in how well you do.
EO2 has several unique features that weren't in other games. The restart system it has, so you can jump into a stratum at the halfway point, isn't in any other EO game. There are secret areas that require certain teams and/or classes to pass, so maybe you need to go solo Troubadour to get to some hidden treasure chests. The items you can buy can be quite overpowered, with a "Nectall" item that revives your whole team that never made a come back. Compared to 1, it nerfs a lot of the old classes, but also buffs Hexer and Ronin into being really good. The new classes are all quite well balanced, with healing and buffing so you don't need a dedicated Medic. There's a class that unlocks later that's pretty useless, but that's common in the series.
EO3 is the best of the original trilogy, and the one most people recommend of the originals. It is very good (there are no bad games in the series!), although does have a lot of trap classes and skills that are fun to use but can't really carry you to the end of the game. Classes like the Farmer (for er farming items, on-field mapping help) or Wildling (status like blind, poison, panic) are good in fights vs mobs, but do bad damage so are deadweight in the boss fights. The only sticking point for this one was it changed all the classes and they aren't quite the typical RPG tropes like a tank, magic user, sword guy, etc, so after playing 1 and 2, I didn't know where to start choosing a good team. This one has the best quality of life, with a nicer shop, quests that give exp, auto-route to make backtracking less tedious, you can re-fight bosses quickly to grind up levels too. It has multiple endings, kind of, although there isn't much difference between them and you're unlikely to stumble upon the so-called "true ending" without using a guide. This introduced a lot of the staples of the series, like New Game Plus, level cap unlock method, having an overworld of some sort, NPC conversations in the Inn....
I could discuss the nuances of different Etrian Odyssey games all day :-P an underrated series.
Well that's exhaustive, thanks! Looks like I'll probably go with 3 for now, as it sounds like it's probably the best of the bunch and with my limited time, seems like the direction I ought to go.
Actually got my DSi XL today, which was a happy surprise! That said, messing about with it, I think I still have the same misgivings I had with the N3DS XL, which is the pixel density and general size. I'm really weird about my handhelds where I really want them to comfortably fit in my pocket, even though I don't generally take them out of the house ever. Even though I'm getting older and I have very large hands, something about the smaller form factor feels right for me.
That said, I'm going to hang on to the XL for awhile and see if I take a liking to it. I do still regret selling my N3DS XL.
Did you play Chained Echoes? I'm in a place where I loved JRPGs growing up but almost never have patience for them nowadays. Chained Echoes worked super well for me though and I actually carried it right through to the end. I think the combination of an interesting but not overly drawn out storyline plus engaging mechanics (both in combat and in exploration, that's important!) kept me interested. I've been playing other stuff so haven't tried out Sea of Stars, but comparisons I've read makes it sound like CE might be the more interesting of the two, at least for my tastes.
Gave into the hype and bought Super Mario Bros: Wonder yesterday and I am absolutely loving it. Just finished the first world and have basically been playing it whenever I get the chance (which is hard since I'm on-call this week). I grew up with New Super Mario Bros on the DS and this game really feels like the whackier, more animated levels from NSMB, except its the whole game. The Wonder Flower is an interesting twist on Mario, the levels change up quite a bit when it's activated. The comparison I've seen online to someone doing acid and coming down from that high is pretty accurate in my opinion lol
I've finally got into Slay the Spire.
I played it for maybe 10 hours on release, when there were only 3 characters, but then life got busy and I forgot about the game.
In the past month I've put in about 40 hours and have all of the characters but Watcher up to ascension 5. (The Watcher is still ascension 3-4, I'll get her there soon enough). No act 4 attempts yet, but maybe I will after getting Watcher up to Ascension 5. I'm not sure which character is my favorite, but Defect has some pretty unique interactions that I enjoy. But maybe I'm fond of them because they were my most recent Asc5 attained.
I suppose there's a reason why the deck -building roguelite genre for so popular, isn't there? What a great time it's been playing.
Everspace2 stole my soul at the start of the week and I think I got to 50 hours. So, yeah.
Enjoying the space explosions and fighting, but the storyline is beyond boring. There's lots of "and suddenly this happened!" moments, where you've handed absolute ass to the enemy..
but then they have won anyway.
Or really stupid narrative scenes that make no sense.
There is a great amount of sass between your on board AI and your main dude though. Screaming through hyperspace with your AI giving you stick is exactly how I suspect my actual time in space would be.
The environments are gorgeous however. There's some serious ominous soundtracks whilst you're ploughing through giant gas clouds looking at ancient civilisation ruins and all sorts.
The games not actually "done" either apparently. There's paid dlc being released to finish stuff off.
It scratches the itch that Freelancers void (and Star Citizens eye roll) has left in my soul. Not perfect, but just enough.
I'm happy to see more Freelancer fans slowly discover how to scratch that itch with Everspace 2.
I totally agree with you though, as it isn't quite there as a replacement. I never finished it, but it was definitely tons of fun getting that itch scratched. I'll probably go back to it some point, as it was most definitely fun, just not something I was able to marathon to finish.
Oh it definitly does scratch it. Though my inner trader wanted to see scanning and cardimine, and frantic arguments at the end of a barrel! The universe doesn't feel alive around you.
It's a decent game. But it just needs a sembelence of taking the story a bit more "If its cool, let the player do it"
It pulled me in completely but then when I realized hyperspace is just a loading screen it suddenly felt empty. Even if it was far too frequent, trade lanes in Freelancer could still be interrupted as if there really was a Lane Hacker faction alive in the universe.
It just missed the mark for me, even though it has a decent atmosphere and alright gunplay.
Totally get what you mean, it's fascinating and really fun. But it isn't freelancer. I just enjoyed the dogfighting as that brought me right back.
But there's only so many giant battleship wrecks you can fly through as well.
I'd kill for Freelancer 2
Just to make it more Freelancery, since it isn’t default make sure you have inertial dampers bound to a hotkey. If you haven’t already done that of course.
Once upon a time I hoped Star Citizen would be that game but it’s so far removed from
Freelancer (or releasing at all for that matter), that we’ll just have to make do with games like Everspace and Rebel Galaxy Outlaw.
I wonder if the mod scene for Freelancer is still active?
I used to really enjoy Asgard back in the day. It's probably only in the hundreds now mind.
A little, yes.
There's this dude that released a full HD mod. In my mind it feels like it was just a couple of months ago but it seems like the last update was in August 2022.
Still, it's worth checking out: https://www.moddb.com/mods/freelancer-hd-edition
And let's be honest, for a game that old, 2022 is still very recent.
And aside from that one I'm sure some RP servers are still running.
Guarantee that some nerds are still RPing.
Thanks mate. I'm on holiday at the moment, but I suspect this will happily eat up some of my time.
Especially as I will inevitably pay Planet Vespus a visit, and stare at how much it unnerves me. Stupid dead planet.
If you've never played the Crossfire mod, that one is a great singleplayer mod to look out for. It massively expands the universe without losing the magic, and it introduces dynamic trade too.
After seeing that 1.6 is coming soon (tm), I've been playing Stardew Valley again! It's already one of my all-time favorites, but now I'm actually trying to get through all of the late game and reach perfection before the update. I'm not usually one to go for that kind of stuff, but despite the grind, I'm still enjoying the game the same as I did before.
Celeste - I had slowly been chipping away at the last chapter. Finally completed it, and got the "moon berry". This chapter is very challenging, and I was feeling more frustration than fun for a lot of it. That's why I did it in little bits. I got a pretty good feeling of satisfaction from completing the chapter. Getting the berry afterwards felt even tougher and, unusually, at the end somehow less rewarding. I'm really impressed with not only the game and level design, but the amount of challenges there are and how those challenges scale. I think it's great that you can stop at a certain point and say "OK, those challenges are not for me". Maybe it's a personality flaw that I kept coming back and saying "actually they are, let's do this." The only thing left are the "golden berries" that you get for beating levels without dying. Given my death count (which I'll decline to share...) those just simply aren't going to happen.
One negative thing I feel compelled to say about the game is the story. Mainly because everywhere I look I see positive comments about it and it just did not land with me. It feels too abstract and the dialogue feels somehow generic, like "I was feeling sad so I acted in a way which was not nice to others. Now I have learned this thing about myself and it will make me stronger."
Control - Played the first hour or so. I really dig the aesthetics, and the story is very interesting so far. Unfortunately the game presented me a skill tree and my desire to play more plummeted. Even though it doesn't look too complicated.
Slay the Spire - I have kinda given up on the Downfall mod. I dunno, it's kinda cool, but I think it just prefer playing the normal way. Maybe I will look for more custom characters that ascend as normal. I've played a bunch of runs recently with the base characters and they haven't been going too well. Bouncing around between games may have dulled my edge. I'm considering dropping down a few Ascension levels just to have more fun with it.
I highly suggest you stick with Control a while longer, if the intro grabbed your attention. Throw your skill points into Launch and Levitate (they're the most fun) whenever you can.
I have started playing a neat, early access game called Exanima
It's a dungeon crawler, and includes an arena mode with some light management aspects. The big schtick with it, is that it is physics based - your positioning and movement matter, and your attacks need to be supported by appropriate mouse movements to deal their best damage. The world is interactable - you can trip on uneven ground or over objects, and enemies can do the same. You can use that to your advantage - lay out a path of obstacles and watch the enemy get hung up on it, then go plant an axe in their face.
It takes a good deal of practice to play well, and the unpredictability of the physics system means lots of spontaneity. For example, I laid a path of some wood planks down a hallway, and led a zombie over to it. I zigzagged through the planks while the zombie just went straight ahead. It tripped on the planks and fell down; I walked back over and clapped him. In a different part of the dungeon, a zombie showed up with a long billhook, which put me at a big disadvantage (I had a dagger). But, because physics counts, getting close to him meant he couldn't accomplish a full swing, which left me open to stab him to death.
The story mode has you waking up in a dungeon and then attempting to descend through it. Use what you find along the way, and slowly build your character with some perks and magic. Combat perks let you do things like parry and execute followup attacks. Magic puts physics in your hands as a tool/weapon, being able to push things around and blow them away. ATM the dungeon is 8, big levels. They are really big, and you aren't given tools for navigating - you gotta find stuff. Finding a compass makes one display in the HUD. Finding a map helps, but you have to infer where you are on it (there are no markers).
The arena mode exists totally separate to this. In it, you begin as an inexperienced character, and slowly grow by participating in matches. You can recruit more characters and build a roster. You can hire mercenaries who fight autonomously. Hire doctors to restore more health between days, hire merchants to locate more gear to purchase. You're given tons of game modes - one on one, three on one, six man elimination, battle royale, tournaments, so on and so forth, divided up into six or seven ranks. It's more robust than it seems at first - there's a good bit of management involved outside of combat.
Overall it's been a really cool experience. Combat is hard and awkward. As you get better at it you see it in how you move and what you do. Leveling helps by way of perks and new abilities; there are no stats to manage. It forces a sort of slow, methodical approach, occasionally taking big risks to get through places or find cool things. I really like it when a dungeon crawler does that, because to me that feels about as realistic as that situation could. You have no idea where you are and it's clearly, very dangerous. You would be looking around, checking out what all is there and keeping track of where you've been. For fifteen dollars it's pretty amazing.
It can also be both, absurdly funny and crazy brutal. Since it matters how you move and what's on the floor, you can totally eat shit running too fast though a bunch of junk. I fell down some stairs and actually hurt myself pretty bad lol. When combat clicks, successful strikes are devastating. Armor is very robust and consists of putting on several layers - you can end up reducing lethal damage down to non-lethal by wearing lots of leather. You can deflect strikes from edged weapons much better with metal armor than leather. You can stack things like a tunic, gambeson, mail, and a jacket. The heavier you are, the more careful you need to be while moving/dodging, because you can lose your balance. A heavy blow from an enemy can knock you down even if you prevent its damage.
I've really been enjoying it. It can be a bit obtuse at first because it doesn't really tutorialize anything. Playing with a controller can feel really good, but takes some getting used to. On the steam deck, it has a controller profile built in. Really my primary complaint is that it needs to explain itself better. If you can overcome that aspect, it's a ton of fun and looks really nice.
I shelved Octopath Traveler 2 since it wasn't doing much for me at the time and picked up Lies of P over the weekend. I've gotta say, it's got me hooked, it feels surprisingly good to play. It's like Demon's Souls in its structure, Sekiro in its combat, and Bloodborne in its aesthetic and tone. It's very polished and while there are clearly many areas for improvement, it isn't really impairing my enjoyment of the game at all.
I haven't even beaten it yet but I'm super excited to see what that studio does next.
I put a few hours into Back 4 Blood since I had it installed on Game Pass (the plan a ways back was to play with some friends but it never worked out so I decided to just forge on myself to see how the game was).
It's... Okay. The cards feel like too much. It's also extremely frustrating to play solo (and yeah, I know it's not really designed for that) but the AI will never do any of the fetch stuff, and they're also not very good at beating the bosses, so I got completely annihilated whenever there was an Ogre and I had to ferry things back and forth. I got to the end of the third campaign and died twice and it felt like I'd seen just about all the game had to offer and I really didn't feel like replaying all of the third campaign, so I called it a day on that game.
Elsewhere, I've been playing the Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection on my PS5 which I got for free a few years ago and haven't played before. I'd always sort of avoided Uncharted cause I'm not a huge fan of third person platformers, and after playing the first game and through half of the second, those frustrations are definitely present (really annoying camera angles primarily where I can't really tell if I'm lined up on what l think I'm jumping toward) but the annoyances are minor enough that I'm still enjoying myself. Except for the section I just finished on 2, with the train corridors and the helicopter chasing me. Did not find that particularly fun.
Trying to decide what I want to put my time into next. Spider-Man 2 is definitely up there but I'm holding off on buying it maybe until Christmas time. I got Ghost of Tsushima on sale recently so that's on the docket. I've also been looking through my Game Pass options and thinking I'm coming close to unsubscribing for the time being. I've gotten a lot of value out of it but there aren't a ton of games there right now piquing my interest that I haven't played. I just installed Tunic and Death's Door but I think once I've beat those, I'll stop paying for it until a new batch of games comes on that grabs me.
Tons of Gran Turismo 7. I've been house sitting for someone and I wasn't able to bring my entire wheel and pedal set with me, so I've mainly been redoing the license tests and going through the circuit experiences for each track. Before house sitting, I was playing tons of Sport mode races, and I am so itching to get back to those, but I feel like going from a wheel and pedal set back to a controller will not make me as competitive online. From a leak I read last week, the next update is supposed to be a big one, supposedly a direct response to Forza Motorsport 8's release, and I'm hoping its the true single player experience people were expecting, not just a couple cars and more menu books. I'm also on the edge about getting a PSVR2... It's looks like tons of fun, and I love the idea of VR racing. I feel like racing in VR is one of the only places where VR truly shines. But on the other hand, its really expensive and I don't like the idea of paying upwards of $500 on a peripheral for one game.
Looking forward to the new Call of Duty, I know lots of people think it's a dead horse but its a franchise that keeps me coming back. I played the beta until I reached max rank, and I had so much fun. I'm glad its a departure from the last game, the new one suits my playstyle more.
Have you ever tried VR racing?
I got a chance to, pre-pandemic. It was my second experience with VR and it very quickly got me motion sick. I hear you can get your "VR legs," so to speak, with practice, but that sounds profoundly miserable to me.
That said, I've heard a lot of great things about it from users on /r/simracing. It definitely made the verticality of Brands Hatch more apparent when I tried it out.
Personally, I'd like to try it again to see if the issues I had just came down to setup. It's just hard to find access to that. But it would be a good idea for you if you're on the fence about it.
I've tried it once, but only on ovals. My ex girlfriends dad did oval racing every Friday night and I got to try it but only for a couple minutes. My little brother has a VR headset and a wheel, I might try his
What worked for me in overcoming VR sickness was to take it slow. At first, I was playing 5m per day - or until I started noticing the first signs of discomfort. I did that for a couple of days, then I increased the playtime gradually. In about 2 weeks I could play for +1 hours without feeling anything.
The trick is to immediately stop playing when you feel even the slightest disconfort, not to push through it.
Chewing fresh ginger also helped.
Yeah, I've heard that the way to go.
I've been playing Spider-Man 2 on PS5 for the last couple of days. It's a pretty fun game. It's basically exactly the same game as the last one but with new story. The story is pretty good so far but the side content is a little lacking in my opinion, the side content was better in the first game and in the DLC. It's a solid 7.5/10. Fun and easy to platinum just like the first one.
I've been playing Bropotato, after having found many similar games. I have a great time, it's relaxing, and it costs less than the coffee I get when I'm out. I'd say I've gotten at least 20-30 hours, so the return on my purchase is long past. I highly recommend it!
I finished Atelier Sophie and just started Fate/Samurai Remnant and so far I am blown away. My Saber is as charming as previous Sabers but is entirely different in character and I can’t wait to find out her true name. The game was developed by Koei Tecmo and has some things in common with Mousou games but it is more of an action RPG, dodging is really important in combat for one thing.
Outside of FGO, Type Moon has been developing increasingly more sophisticated games in the Fate franchise and this is a big step forward.
I've recently upgrade my rig and I've played... in sequence:
Horizon Zero Dawn: I really Really REALLY liked it. I have done everything i could... collected this, that, found hidden corners in the map, etc... the gameplay looks - to me - as a mix of Tomb Raider (the reboot) for the combat system and the Witcher 3 for the openess of the map and the way the quests are treated. I tried to stretch my gameplay time a little bit because i really didn't want it to end. But having killed every kind of machine, collected every dress and done even the most mondane sidequests just to see where they could took me... i moved to...
Wolfstain II: the new colossus: cool story, cool characters, cool design. Finished the main storyline and killed a few high nazi generals, done the DLC. I will keep it there to do all the side quests just to unlock the true ending of the game.. but in the meanwhile i am now playing...
Control: I like the aestethic of the game and i like the lore. I'm still at the beginning so i have more questions than answers. What i didn't like was that the game starts without a real beginning. You're just there and though they explain the reason the protagonist enters in the Federal Bureau of Control something is amiss. For the rest. good shooter, good level design, for now a little repetitive but the story hooks me. I guess i'll finish the main story but i won't go after the sidequests unless i need extra ability points :D
I just recently wrapped up platinum on Lies of P, and was itching for more of the same, so I picked up Lords of the Fallen. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been living up, and I think it goes beyond the technical issues. I’ll give it another fair shot once they iron out the performance, but it just doesn’t have the same level of polish as Lies in every aspect.
Wylde Flowers, the demo was cute enough to get me to buy but unfortunately it got pretty tediously repetitive. I don't think I'll going to bother continuing.
Havendock, it's weird and cute and I obsessively keep restarting and rebuilding even though I just do the same thing all over again. That is how I play all my favorite games though, so it's a good sign. Very relaxing. Also you can pet the dog. Also love the flexibility in the settings to make the game more challenging or more relaxing, depending on your preference. Excellent game. Too early to tell if it will stand the test of time as well as say SV or MC, but I don't worry that I won't get my money's worth out of it.
Outpath, there's not a lot to it (a demo exists if anyone wants to try it) but it hits the spot for me. Crafting, skill advancing, harvesting, exploring, murdering adorable innocent animals who never did anything to me... all alone on my own private set of islands with no competition, no timers, just peace. Graphics are simple but lovely and the background music - something I usually immediately mute in games - is fantastic. Beautiful and calming, perfectly matched. As with Havendock you're given a bit of control over the initial settings.
Armored Core. Lots and lots of Armored Core. Loving it, bunch of replayability added in NG+, and it's so much fun.
I have finished Fallout 1 and I'm olaying Fallout 2 now. Those games hasn't lost any of their qualities in thos 20+ years they are out. Yes, they are dated in some aspects, but they are still great games that shouldn't be forgotten in modern gaming or regarded just as "ancient number 1 and 2 in series".
If you like post-apocalyptic games and can overcome slow turn-based and lots of reading, I highly suggest you try them out. In sale, they will cost like 2€ or whatever. Definitely worth it!