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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've just lost momentum on Satisfactory. As I've previously shared here, it's become my go-to game over the Christmas period. This year I started over fresh as there has been some new content released since I last played and made it as far as Phase 4 before the thought of building oil infrastructure gave me enough of a repulsion that I realised it was time to stop playing again.
I've simultaneously been playing through Coromon, thanks to a recommendation from @Carrow. I've been really enjoying it and have found it to be one of the better entries in the Monster Tamer genre. This one leans perhaps a little too hard on it's Pokémon roots, but I've found the story to be more engaging than most of it's inspiration's entries, and the difficulty feels about right. As far as creature design goes, I think it's fantastic.
Coromon for me managed to hit that sweet GBA-era nostalgia factor which was really nice since those were some of my first Pokemon Games. Haven't played it in a while but I remember having similar feelings towards it that you described.
Glad you're enjoying the recommendation :)
My next monster tamer (besides digimon net driver, I'm always on that) is probably gonna be Dokimon Quest. I don't expect it'll be on caliber of Cassette Beasts, but the aesthetic appealed to me and it has apparent NGE inspirations from its trailer so glad to try it for the $4 I paid on sale.
So I've finally learned it's better for me to treat hard video games like a marathon and not a sprint. Usually, video game releases are a bit of a social event, so it's always good to be caught up with everyone else. Unfortunately I'm not as good at video games as most people, so trying to keep up is impossible with some games.
All this to say, as of January I'd reached Act 2 in Hollow Knight: Silksong. Choral Chambers started playing, the game opened up a bit and gave you a huge new, pretty beautiful area to explore, and by this point you're decent enough at the game that the boss battles are more "okay, just sit down and lock in" rather than an impenetrable barrier.
I know once I reach an area named Bilewater the pendulum will swing the other way but for now I am okay with these fleeting feelings of bliss I have towards Silksong.
This is probably just the nostalgia blinders talking but reflecting on Bilewater several months after beating the game, I think it's kind of brilliant thematically and also difficulty-wise at the point you discover it (unless you decide you want to explore every inch of map available before fighting Last Judge and end up wandering there by accident while still in Act 1). Bilewater serves as a sort of optional final challenge of Act 2, being a notable increase in combat and platforming difficulty that's reflective lore-wise of how awfully the place was treated and how much the locals want to kill everybody else as a result.
It's also a decent warmup for the absolute CBT that is Act 3, so enjoy those moments of bliss while they last haha. I'm serious though, do as much as you can on the map before Act 3, Team Cherry really makes people earn their true endings and this is no exception.
Oh dear. Yeah I've never beaten the Radiance so I think the "true" ending may be out of reach for me.
I didn't find Bilewater in Act 1 and still can't find it in Act 2 FWIW…
That's not too surprising, Bilewater's pretty out of the way and just getting to it in Act 1 requires going through another rather painful zone that I'm sure is meant to act as a deterrent for most players anyway.
Also minor spoilers of sorts, I found the final boss of Act 2 to be similar to the Radiance in many ways but definitely easier, especially once you get the hang of all the new mobility options Hornet has. You'll see what I mean once you unlock Clawline.
I do have Clawline - I'm well into Act 2 at this point.
Spoilers
I have two pieces of the melody, the one from Cogwork Core and the one from the Vaults. I also reached the gauntlet in High Halls. For side exploration I went back to Far Fields and Deep Docks and finished both of them up, beating the Flintflame Brothers.I am fairly sure Bilewater has something to do with Sinner's Path but I think I cleared that area back in Act 1 with almost nothing to show for it…
If you already cleared Sinner's Road then you clearly didn't remember the most important rule in a Team Cherry game - hit every single wall, ceiling, and floor that even looks remotely suspicious. I recommend you give it a revisit, since that pathway into the Citadel also comes with one of the best fights in the game.
…oh no.
EDIT: wait that thematically owns actually. the regular path we take is the Pilgrim's Path and the one through Bilewater is the Sinner's Road. I respect it
made me spit out my water. thank you for that. i will never beat Nyleth (silk issue), and i'm grateful for the heartbreaking end to Green Prince's story that will allow me to bypass that boss. now if only i could summon calm during Karmelita phase 3…
When I finish a long/time-intensive game, I like to play a few shorter games in a different genre as a kind of palette cleanser.
Right at the start of the year, I hit credits on Dragon Age II, so I've since turned my attention to a few other games: Deliver Us Mars, INDUSTRIA, Medal of Honor (2010) and Blue Prince. Up next will be Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Before I touch on the other games, I want to write a little bit about my experience with DA II and the Dragon Age games in general.
I almost didn't play this game. Early last year, I played Dragon Age: Origins for the first time and honestly, truly did not enjoy it. It had so much of what I love in RPGs (my favorite games of all time are KOTOR and KOTOR 2), and I felt like I could draw a straight line from DA:O to the success of Baldur's Gate 3*, but I struggled to get through this game. The combat system was frustrating as hell to me, and I realized pretty late in the game that my preferred class (Ranger) was just about the least interesting or engaging class of character, and it was too late for me to feel compelled to start over with a new character. I eventually convinced myself to play through Awakenings with a Mage and had a much more enjoyable time, plus I'd read that DA II had a simplified approach to combat, so I finally gave it a shot.
Playing DA II as a mage certainly felt better than playing DA:O as a ranger, but oh my god was I tired of the same cities and same dungeon layouts by the end. It was extremely apparent by the second act that this game was developed on a rushed timeline. I've read that it was initially conceived of as DLC to the first game, and it would've been far more successful that way. It's a short game compared to DA:O, but it felt like one step forward in combat and two steps back in everything else for me. I think it's kind of a miracle this franchise has the reputation that it does.
Moving on to what came after:
Deliver Us Mars: I played Deliver Us the Moon a couple years ago and mostly liked the way it looked more than I enjoyed playing it. It's a simple narrative game with puzzle elements that reminds me of Tacoma but I felt that Tacoma was more successful in executing its narrative. Deliver Us Mars had some technical quirks (the climbing was unbelievably frustrating in some places) and frankly looked quite ugly to me compared to its predecessor. The narrative was way less compelling to me than even DUTM. You play as the daughter of the primary antagonist from the original on a mission (with your sister and two other astronauts) to learn about the fate of your father and potentially return him to earth to face consequences for his actions. The game really wants you to sympathize with the protagonist's desire to reunite with her father, but fails to make even the remotest case for sympathizing with his actions. You are an adult in this game and were a child when he left the moon. You don't seem to have emotionally matured enough for this mission, quite frankly. So, there's kind of a disconnect between what's unfolding and what the game is pushing you to feel. Truthfully, everyone kind of sucked as a person and I was just looking forward to the credits rolling by the midway point.
INDUSTRIA: The setting and early gameplay reminded me a little of Bioshock, with some Atomic Heart's eastern European setting mixed in. The game itself is about two hours. There's the hook of a story that is basically hand waved away in the end, and ultimately this feels like a proof of concept more than anything. Supposedly a sequel is coming, and I assume that will be a fully fleshed out game, but we'll see. There are 5 weapon types and even fewer enemy types, and that's about all of the variation you're gonna get.
Medal of Honor (2010): I'm about halfway through this. It's been a long time since I've played a straight up modern war FPS, and this hits the kind of campaign I like. Short levels, straightforward missions, no open world, no backtracking, very little need to manage ammo consumption. It's just mindless with a little story thrown in, and I appreciate that.
Blue Prince: I'm very early in this game. Like day 3 or 4. I have a couple notes jotted down, but I'm still getting the feel for what I'm supposed to be doing or looking out for. I'm doing my best to avoid looking anything up about this game and want to see how much I can learn and uncover without any outside help.
If I am understanding your complaints about the first two DA games, you'll probably enjoy the combat more on Inquisition at least. It's simplified compared to DA:O but still better than DA2. I hate DA2 and feel like it almost destroyed the series. Inquisition is okay. DA:O is definitely the best game in the series, so you definitely could skip Inquisition and be fine.
If you do play Inquisition, don't make the mistake everyone does and spend too long in the Hinterlands. You can come back, you don't need to full clear it. If you avoid that trap and are still underwhelmed, stop. The game can be pretty long. 30-50 hours for the main story alone.
Good to know, thanks. I am someone who generally feels the need to fully complete an area before moving on, so maybe I'll be able to stop myself with this heads up.
Yeah if you're already struggling with Dragon Age, the Hinterlands will end you. I waited years for Inquisition, loved DA:O and dropped off on my first play after clearing Hinterlands.
Honestly, I wouldn't even bother with Inquisition. If you thought DA2 was one step forward two steps back then Inquisition is just several steps back. But then, Origins is one of my favorite games of all time, but I also played it on release. I can't imagine playing it for the first time now, I think it would feel very dated. But I have nothing good to say at all about Inquisition. The "open worlds" are empty and soulless and the objectives are exactly the same each time, the characters are all unlikeable and there's a mission in the middle of the game that is such a god awful slog it ruins any chance of replayability.
I never intended to play Veilguard at all after what a bad taste Inquisition left, but it was added to gamepass a few months back so I gave it a shot. I don't think I made it more than an hour before uninstalling.
I liked Inquisition, but had little exposure to the other games in the series. Thinking of playing the veilguard eventually.
I won't spoil anything for Blue Prince, but it will test your grasp on the English language. And your ability to play with words. I had a great time diving into it though
I finished Expedition 33, I loved it, and now I don't want to play anything anymore forever.
I was playing some Call of Duty before. After E33, COD seems ugly, gross, and noisy.
I was playing some Dead Cells. Maybe I'll go back, but the motivation is lacking right now and I'd just be grinding to get better and unlock boss cell 4, then 5, and I find 3 to already be very punishing for my skill level.
I tried Cyberpunk 2077 this weekend. I found it overwhelming and too combat-oriented. I was hoping for a more stealthy slower paced game (think Deus Ex).
Should I maybe try a Final Fantasy game? I have not played one since FF 13 on the PS3. Maybe a Persona game? Last one I tried was P3 on PS3.
Any other suggestions are welcomed.
On the other hand, a break from any games is never a bad idea. I am reading a book I quite like so far, and it would just mean more reading and less gaming.
Do you have a netrunner/stealth oriented build? It would definitely help of making a slower paced game.
Persona 5 Remake is a fantastic game that has already been suggested, and fun fact, it's actually one of the main games that inspired the combat system and perhaps Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 overall. I think that both Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and P5R executed their combat systems very well, but with Pictos being sort of an after thought but having excellent unique character set-up.
I don’t get too far in cyberpunk. Yes, aiming for a stealth build. Might have to revisit this one later when I’m over E33.
Good to know about P5! Sounds like a good option. Thanks.
Nothing will fully fill that E33 hole, but there are a few things that will try. P3 Reload and P5 Royal are great Persona games. P4 is solid as well, but they are giving it the P3 Reload treatment so you might as well wait for that. There is also Metaphor by the same team which I did enjoy as well. Very stylish but be careful not to spend the time comparing these titles to E33 and instead give them their own place to shine in their unique way
P5R is a nearly perfect game imo. P3R was good but I was ready for it to be over. Couldn't get into Metaphor at all sadly.
Thanks for the recommendations!
If you're looking for another RPG specifically, I can strongly recommend the FF7 remakes. There's an option to choose between real-time and more turn-based (classic) combat so the pacing doesn't have to be overly intense if you don't want it to be. The maps, characters, music, side quests, minigames (my god there's so many minigames), and story are also all excellent. I personally found Remake to be a bit too linear for my preferences but Rebirth is a lot more open and flexible, so if you want to start from Rebirth that's totally fine, the game provides a recap of past events to catch you up.
Thanks for the recommendation! FF7 has been on my list for a while as I missed the original back in the day / I was not into RPGs back then, nor did I have a platform to play it on.
If you do end up giving Remake or Rebirth a try, come back and let us know what you think. I'm curious what someone without all the nostalgic baggage would think of it.
The story is very much contiguous between the two, so I'd advise starting with Remake. The pacing in that one is a bit odd, as they stretched what was about four hours of the original game into something like 20-30 hours in the remake, depending on your obsessiveness.
Oh, and bear in mind that the dudes in the black cloaks were in the first game, whereas the ghost-y things in black cloaks are original to the remakes. Seems like that should be explained to someone new to the story.
Thank you for the advice. I’ll circle back if I give it a shot. I have not yet gone back to the console since finishing E33. Been organizing and cleaning up my magic the gathering collection and getting some colleagues into the game over lunch breaks.
If you haven't played Tales of Arise, I recommend that.
Thank you, I have not played that before. I'll look it up!
I also just finished Expedition 33 (the main story anyway) and absolutely loved it. The combat felt refreshing, the world building and story were fantastic, I felt completely immersed. I was going to do some of the optional side content as well now (the DLC and explore some areas I missed on the main play through), considering going through NG+ to try out different builds.
While I played, I knew I'd leave some things for NG+, but now that I finished the story, I don't know if I want to do it all over again. Maybe after some time.
Bought the early access of Starrupture which launched last Wednesday and it's probably my first proper factory-style game (not including Minecraft tech modpacks, though I've made some mighty conveyor systems there). So as someone with no experience with Satisfactory, Factorio, etc, I'm having a pretty good time exploring and redesigning my production line to be more efficient while trying to keep it as neat as reasonable.
The most unique feature of the game is the regular ruptures that occur, which is when the star in this system briefly scorches the entire surface of the planet you're on, killing any living creatures not in the safety of a habitat and overheating all the machinery outside the range of a functional cooling tower. There are certain resources available only shortly after a rupture occurs, and vegetation and water quickly regenerates after 10 minutes or so, along with the resources that appear during the planet's lush stage. It's an interesting feature so far, giving a very clear indicator of when resources respawn and adding some tension to exploration while encouraging the construction of little safe houses across the map to ensure you're not totally without nearby shelter. However, it does get annoying when I'm in the middle of just working on my megafactory since it interrupts me for several minutes, usually when I'm in the middle of building or planning.
There's also combat in the game, with the enemy being some crawly aliens of a few different varieties, and currently there's a pistol, AR, shotgun, and machine gun available as self-defense options. The gunplay's fine and doesn't feel jank, the enemies go down pretty easily and usually rely on sheer number to present a threat. It makes exploration a bit more interesting and sometimes a few waves of them will attack your base after you've upgraded your base core once so you need to take a bit of time to set up some basic defenses there too.
Currently the game has a decent level of polish but it is a fresh early access title, so naturally there's some bugs that need fixing and not a huge amount of content in terms of story progression, but the factory building alone should last you a few dozen hours if building bigger, better factories is what you're into. Lots of potential here.
Thanks to @kfwyre and the Christmas Giveaway, I've been enjoying BZZZT, or Celeste in which the self-actualization has been replaced by robot slavery. It's enjoyable precision platforming, but this scrolling adventure story fails to inspire the player motivation needed for this type of grueling genre.
I was in the mood, so I've been playing Resident Evil 6, the one that broke the series. It is fascinating how Capcom spent $50 million+ to have 600 people work on something that could be a topic for a Red Letter Media BOTW video. But it's not all bad. I truly hated Chris' campaign while playing it only to realize it is the best one of the bunch:
Spoilers for an obtusely confusing game
Chris has PSTD from screwing up and getting people killed. It's made clear that he is on a redemptive arc where he needs to correct the sins of his past. But that doesn't happen. You'd think this make for a bad story, but no.
The story concludes Chris' redemption arc by making him responsible for even more deaths. Chris gets paired with a red shirt who sacrifices himself against the big bad so that Chris can continue to star in more Resident Evil games.
Chris learns that to stop being sad, he needs to accept that these deaths are necessary. He is not the kind of hero that saves everyone if for no better reason that his failures are forgivable.
(Let's not bring up all the people he killed with the Racoon City-ization of an entire Hong Kong neighborhood that Chris is responsible for. We want him out of the dive bar and out punching boulders.)
Truly transcendent material for an RE game.
The self-actualization in the story is one of my favorite parts of Celeste. Didn't know 2D platformers could have such touching stories.
And story aside, would you recommend RE6 (or any others for that matter)? I have some fond memories of playing 4 and a bit of 5 when I was younger, and have thought about picking some of them up in recent years, but there's so many of them, and I'm not a big horror fan, so I just didn't know where to even start looking.
I'd recommend RE6 if a) you can pick it up for cheap and b) if you can stomach the excesses of triple A gaming. RE6 is bloated in all the worst ways possible to make it more palatable to mass audiences. Chris' campaign has been justifiably compared to being a Call of Duty copycat. One of the very worst things about it is that it has completely given up on the stop and shoot mechanic that made 4 and 5 so engaging and compelling.
Like, say I told you the milk has spoiled. Do you need to check it for yourself and go, "Yeah, that's spoiled milk alright"? That's me recommending RE6 to you.
Have not tried 7 or 8 yet, but can tell you that the hype for 9 is through the roof. Leon is back, and you can shove zombie heads into walls with your feet, so it looks like this is the version the fanboys have been clamoring for for years. Definitely content to wait it out and enjoy the memes in the interim.
I've been playing Afterimage, another gift from the generous @kfwyre (aka "Background Image" in the giveaway). It's a huge/vast Metroidvania of Chinese origin, with typical mechanics and an art style that combines Ori-like painterly locations and anime-style characters and NPCs (complete with outfits that are very extra). The production feels fairly high budget for this type of game, with most cutscenes voice acted by professional voice talent in chinese, japanese and english. In japanese, protagonist Ree is voiced by Ishikawa Yui (2B, Mikasa, Violet Evergarden). It's expected to last 30-40 hours.
The movement and platforming are fairly snappy and satisfying, especially as you unlock your various typical metrodvania movement skills. The world of the game is crammed with little platforming challenges and many, many hidden chests, items and other rewards for exploring every nook and cranny. There is also a wide variety of monster types with different attack mechanics and behaviors, as well as many bosses and mini-bosses. In general, it's a nice game to play, so much so that two friends who saw me playing it already (separately from each other) picked it up.
I have mixed feelings about the combat. Afterimage features a set of mechanics you might expect from an RPG or Roguelite, without being either of those things. There are lots of different types of items, including consummables, armor parts, accessories and weapons with different attack mechanics. There is a skill tree/grid, too. But for most of the game, Ree has little to defend herself with from the typically very fast and diverse attacks of boss monsters. There is no parry, no dash through, no i-frames, and there tend to be attacks you can't jump over, so the best you can do is mind where you are and try to jump back from attacks (or duck). On the other hand, if you have some care to pick up most of the goodies in the map as you run around, Ree is quite tanky and hard to kill. So even though the game is presented as souls-like, I quickly realized that the best strategy is exactly the opposite - don't fret any hits you take and just beat the shit out of every boss as quickly as you can! This also means that most of the "gameplay" you get out of most of the game's many items is when you decide whether to use them or not. Once I decide an item is just worse than what I'm using, I never touch it again. Very Diablo-esque, I guess! At least nothing here is getting in the way of my enjoyment of the rest of the game.
I also want to rant a bit about the story and the UI. Let's combine these! First red flag: On multiple occasions, there are mismatches between (english) written dialogue/quests, spoken dialogue and map locations. There are also occasional spelling mistakes. Careless translations? Unfortunately Afterimage's plot is complex, rambling and non-linear, so these can get in the way. The game has a map system that explores as you go, but is largely useless on its own as the world is very large and nothing is marked on it except NPCs (which are very few), checkpoints and the odd background feature. You are expected to complete the map yourself with a set of provided unlabeled icons (most of which are of dubious usefulness). Quest item requirements for "cooking" quests are likewise a problem - they are displayed only as an icon, so you have to pore over the long list of enemies in the "bestiary" tab to find out which one drops an item matching that icon (assuming it's even there).
All these little design flaws coalesce into, once again, what I believe is not the outcome the developers desired. Typically you have a dozen quests running at the same time, and with the confusion about what is what and unclear item requirements for doing things or crossing barriers, it's more efficient to ignore all the chaos of icons and quests and just play the game in the expectation to eventually run into most of what you need. And at times, to be at a complete loss regarding where to go next! At one point, a friend who played the game before had to un-stick me by reminding me of a portal I had unlocked several hours earlier (not marked in the map or quest log in any way). Currently I'm fighting a boss that kills me in a cutscene immediately after I beat it (who doesn't love that?) I probably need to go do something else before fighting it (what?)
The game is still plenty entertaining and great value if you're considering buying it. I've never wanted to quit. You can challenge yourself by trying out less than ideal playstyles and loadouts, and the combat does get a lot better in the late game, after finally unlocking the better dash and other combat-relevant skills. And if you're confused, there's always the Internet!
Previous
I had been playing Adventurey/Explory games, but I've been feeling quite mentally overwhelmed recently with how things in life are going and I've pretty much only been playing Civ 6 in the past week or so. I appreciate that it's a game I can just jump into and depending on how much time I have, I can take a lot of turns or a couple and then call it a day. Then, when I come back I find it easy to pick up where I left off from without having to think, "Where was I? What was I doing? What's the story? Who's that dude?" It's been a perfect game for where I'm at mentally.
One recent anecdote from yesterday was that I got surprise attacked by my Northern neighbor while my army was in the South fighting off Barbarians so I could continue to expand. This caught me off guard and the enemy immediately started moving towards my Capital. Luckily I was Suzereine of the nearby City-State which had a pretty enormous military. I had enough money to Levy them and suddenly had half a dozen Warriors and two Archers, which I moved to defend my Capital with. I managed to beat back the invaders and proceeded to their nearest city, ultimately crushing the defenders and taking the city for myself.
Finally the enemy capitulated (they may have tried to buy Peace earlier with token offerings, but I'm nothing if not vindictive) and offered to let me keep the City, as well as pay me off. I still have plenty of grievances since they attacked me first and I'm off scott free with another city, so I'm pretty excited about that.
Looks like your next war will be to the north then, lol. Who were you playing as and who attacked you?
I've still got my troops massed in that city I took, just waiting for an excuse to use them. I tend not to be very warlike, but I'm happy to engage if someone else provokes...
I'm Dido and the enemy was Mabuche? Not exactly sure how to spell it. I'm still pretty novice when it comes to Civ, so I don't expect to win this game (just like my last one as Nubia), but I have fun anyway and enjoy the little interactions and stories that come out of it.
That's awesome. One of the best things about civ is that you don't need to be warlike to win. And you don't even need to win to have fun. Can't remember if Montezuma is in Civ VI, but in V he had a way of making even the most pacifist among us turn warmonger, lol.
Montezuma is definitely in there.
I've only played about 50 or so hours of Civ 6, so I'm not super familiar with everything yet, but the few times I've encoutered him, I've never actually had an issue.
But now in my current game, I've also discovered the Maori and they don't seem to like me much either, not sure why. They were friendly with Mabauche, so maybe that has something to do with it, but they just settled on my continent and so I denounced them, which didn't make them happy.
But yeah, I'm just happy to play! I actually wish the version on Android was a little better, because I hate the fact that it's super low res and the lowest graphics options; would much rather play on my tablet, but I've been using my Steam Deck instead because it's more comfortable than my laptop, yet I can have the graphical options cranked-up.
Man I've never thought to play it on my Steam Deck. Are the buttons and text not too small for the screen? I'll have to give it a try one day. I used to have a Surface Pro back in the day and I loved playing Civ V on it. It would get hot beyond belief, but the touchscreen UI was pretty decent for such a complex game.
Runs great on the deck, it's a little dangerous because one more turn becomes TOO portable...
This is sort of funny, actually.
I have a Surface Go, which won't run Civ 5 or 6 and recently had a Surface Pro 7 i5 that barely played it due to overheating..I just sold the Pro 7 this week with the intent to buy a Pro 7+ i7 with a fan so I could better play Civ 6 on it with touch, because I'm so generally dissatisfied with the Android version of the game.
I don't find the text bad at all on Deck. Everything is definitely smaller, which takes some adjustment after playing on my 16" laptop screen, but after a few minutes it feels natural. I don't find the text too small or unreadable and am not feeling like I'm generally struggling to read anything on it. Take that for what you will, but I'm not young with sharp eyes either. I'd prefer to play it on something bigger (hence the Surface), but it definitely doesn't bother me in the slightest to play on Deck.
Back into Animal Crossing with the latest update. I grabbed the Switch 2 update as well, can't say I notice much of a difference. It has been fun starting with a fresh island and seeing how the introduce mechanics from the new game perspective versus the periodic updates that I experienced the first play through.
All in all, it's been great. I love Animal Crossing in winter, the snow effects make everything so cozy. My son has been really into the game as well.
As for the update content itself, haven't really gotten to any of it yet except for the ability to use your homes inventory for crafting (which is great). Not super excited for the hotel as it seems like the other DLC reskinned. The Lego furniture has been super cool though!
The Switch 2 update is pretty optional by the looks of it, I ended up not picking it up personally because the game ran at 1080p handheld regardless which is really all I wanted.
This game really doesn't hit the same without a virus trying to kill all of us though.
I've been playing it too, and also picked up the Switch 2 update... Mainly so I could get the megaphone to find villagers. I did try using mouse mode on designs... And promptly switched back to regular controls because it felt so weird and hard to control.
I will say, the hotel feels pretty underwhelming overall. It's similar to the DLC, but more limited since you can only design two rooms a day (at least at the beginning? Haven't tried to redesign rooms to see if there's still a limit). The biggest change is seeing the tourists walking around the island, which makes it feel a lot more lively. I feel like I've found someone in the museum or stores every day.
The hotel also has a lot of exclusive furniture you can only buy there that are actually pretty good. Given I am loaded in bells and Poki, it's actually refreshing to run out of tickets, giving me reason to put in extra effort to get items I like.
just wish we had a single plain armchair and a glass partitionThe Case of the Golden Idol / The Rise of the Golden Idol
Point and click deduction puzzlers.
The art style takes a bit of getting used to (all the characters look like they've been microwaved a little), but the story is fun and the gameplay is solid.
The games do feel a fair bit easier than others in the genre as:
in addition to deducing the names of the characters and what happened in each scene, there are usually a couple of other small puzzles to solve which, once solved, become useful references for the more difficult ones; and
it's chapter based, with each scene forming part of a larger narrative. You'll be able to recognise characters who reappear in later scenes, understand what their likely motives are and so on, to the point where by the end, you're relying more on your instinct for where the story is going than the actual visual clues.
Both are quite short and each can be knocked out in a day, which feels about the right pacing for this type of game.
This is definitely one I need to go back to, but I'm slow in solving the puzzles and playing. My biggest issue was that it's not friendly to my lack of memory, often requiring me to remember who people were and what they were doing, so I can deduce who and what is going on in the next scene.
Really do want to get back to it, just wish my memory wasn't so terrible so it was easier for me to play.
I have a bad memory for names and definitely had to jump back to older scenes numerous times to check. I think that's all intended though, especially towards the end as the story and timeline gets complex.
I somehow completely missed that I could go back to previous chapters to refigure things out. Definitely gives me some motivation to give it another go.
If you forget anything you can go back to previous completed chapters to re read your deductions.
That's good to know, I somehow missed that. Thanks.
I have been having great fun bouncing between two games that I'm admittedly not very good at!
Fellowship
This one really brings me back to the glory days of WoW. I have wondered if my fond memories of running dungeons with my guildmates were colored fully by rose-tinted glasses, or if that kind of gameplay is actually just fun. Turns out, the formula is great. I always played a healer in WoW, and Sylvie fits my style. It's been a lot of fun getting geared up and learning new mechanics in various dungeons. I even got a few of my buddies from back home to spend an hour a week playing. It has been wonderful.
Deadlock
I have played a lot of DotA. But not recently. The game is practically unrecognizable to me nowadays, which is quite sad. Anyways, playing this game, the third person shooter is so well suited for the MOBA gameplay that I'm surprised no one else has tried. I am having a blast, and I am absolute garbage at the game. I feel like I'm always low on player damage for my team, so I think I need to stop farming and start fighting. I've been playing a bunch of different heroes and haven't found my favorites yet. They all seem to have so much character, it is wonderful.
They have! And normally they are really fun to play but just end up dying after a year with a few exceptions. Some names from the top of my head are SMITE, Gigantic, Predecessor and, a bit of a stretch, Overwatch Stadium mode.
I was off work last week and have been playing Rune Factory 4 for the Switch. I've been playing farming sims since N64/PSX era and have previously played Rune Factory 3 on the 3DS but never finished that. Rune Factory differs from Harvest Moon in that it has combat and is more combat focused than Stardew Valley.
Overall it's really enjoyable. There's levels for literally everything, walking, sleeping, eating, bathing, farming, as well as the usual suspects like sword, spear, magical elements like fire, water, earth so it's really satisfying to see the levels go up and trying to maximize experience. All of them contribute towards your overall primary stats such as HP, RP (stamina), and strength.
The characters are pretty good and the villagers interact with one another frequently with low-stake sub-plots being triggered causing events amongst certain villagers to happen. They feel more fleshed out than Stardew Valley but the stories in Stardew are a bit more mature from what I've encountered. Characters in Harvest Moon and Stardew felt more siloed than this.
Overall the core gameplay loop has me hooked, winning the festivals, beating up monsters, growing my crops for money and levels, and crafting new equipment is all right up my alley. The game is longer than I anticipated though, I probably have ~80ish hours on it and I'm waiting to enter the last stage of the game. I'd recommend it to any fans of the genre with the caveat it's rather anime which may be a turn-off for people.
Rhythm Doctor
It's a one button rhythm game. Release last month, but I guess it's been in alpha/beta for a few years.
It's seems simple since you just have to hit a button on a specific beat. E.g. Hit on the 7th beat. As you play it gets more complicated as different rhythms are introduced, like swing. Also multiple tracks with different beats to hit on or rhythms. I've had my fair share of frustrations, rage quits, and eventual relief at success.
I won't spoil anything, but some boss levels do some very unique and creative things. Something I would only expect to see in an indie title like this. The game really blew me away at these moments.
Of course the tracks are good. Some of the songs I love! You can also go to the settings and configure the timing of your button presses with the sound and visuals. Which is important because of the timing.
I got it on sale for $16, but it's normally $20. I think both prices are good for the amount of content and quality of the game. Plus it's an indie studio, so it's always nice to support them.
I'd recommend this to fans of rhythm games
Old School RuneScape.
I've had an account since OSRS came out again in 2013, but only about 9-10 days total played in that time. I have also followed the content for years and years, love the Deadman series and Leagues but never really put my own energy into playing properly.
Have just completed base 75 combat stats, finished recipe for disaster and am enjoying sailing now. I have got my other levels to a base 50, but I will work towards base 80 combat and begin bossing properly. There is so much new content and it's a little overwhelming!
I'm still def a noob but that's okay!
I'm taking a bit of a break from Act 3 of Silksong. I've found the locations of two of the main quest bosses and one optional boss fight, and I can tell all three of those are going to require a substantial amount of grinding/practice to get past.
As such, I've started playing Expedition 33. This is the first proper RPG I've played in quite a while. I'm really liking it so far. The music and visual style are beautiful. The story and atmosphere has this tone of sincerity that is really refreshing.
The way each character has their own unique skill system, and those systems interact via status effects makes it kind of feel like deck-building when assigning Pictos to characters. I'm still quite early in the game, but it really strikes a good balance between creating a variety of strategies and being too intimidating. I am struggling quite a bit with the timing of dodging and parrying. It seems the intention is that the player just has to learn the timing for each enemy attack by experience. Really looking forward to playing more.
As I've gotten older, I think I've become reluctant to start any game that seems like it will have too complex of gameplay mechanics, kind of assuming that I won't have the time or energy to properly learn it. Then it will feel like too much of a burden to pick up when I have some free time. I'm glad I overcame that and just jumped in to E33.
I started playing Clare Obscur recently and... I'm going to rant about it. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I bounced off of the game hard. I wanted to like it so much. The art is beautiful. The soundtrack is lovely. But the gameplay is terrible. And the story attempts to be dramatic, but feels hackish in some ways to me. I won't spoil the ending, but after reading spoilers I'm very unimpressed.
I realize that I am at a disadvantage with this game, because I'm not very good at games requiring fast reaction times, and that is the part that made me hate it the most. I don't know how so many people put up with the weird and fast timing on dodge and parry. And on regular difficult it's basically required. On top of that, if you are good at parry it does WAY more damage then makes sense. You could probably go through the whole game basically just parrying and ignore the different systems they made for each character. The combination of long, slow wind-ups with lots of fake-outs makes the gameplay drag out annoyingly and irritates me as well. Not to mention that they are perfectly fine giving very explicit QTE cues for the attack boosts but somehow nothing for dodge or parry? Well, I know that's not true. I know there are sound effects and a screen zoom out, however it seems like a weird design decision.
I even tried going on Story Mode, but then it just got stupidly easy and the dodge/parry timings are barely looser. I'm not sure why they couldn't balance it better or offer some sort of assistance in the way they did with the auto QTE checkbox. Which makes very little sense to me because if you are bad enough on timing that you go into Story mode it's easy enough that you don't need to boost your attacks much. But dodge/parry is practically required in some combat even on easy.
And another petty complaint while I'm at it... why are there maps on the overworld but nothing on the individual areas? So strange.
If that gameplay works for you, I bet it's wonderful. I wanted to like it so much and I pushed through quite a few hours before I just could take the annoying grind-a-thon of the combat even to sit through the rest. Plus some other story related spoiler-y things that bother me but I don't see the point in going in depth on that.
Now on to find a new game!
I've been going through another playthrough of Stationeers, this time a brutal Mimas start with all ices removed from the map. The challenge with Mimas is that the usual power sources of solar and wind are not viable, so your power infrastructure is a lot more involved and active than the rest of the maps. Iceless on a vacuum world means you're initially scrounging for every bit of gas you can save, and it's essential to get a good greenhouse up in order to do oxygen conversion and generate biomass for volatiles. I'm pretty well established now and am enjoying it a lot, I still have a few more advanced bits of gas generation and material processing stuff to set up before I start to call this playthrough complete.
Came back to World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Anniversary yesterday as prepatch went live. Debating whether or not to fork out the money for a level 58 boost, level up a shaman in the three weeks before the Dark Portal finally opens, or to just shelve the idea of playing. TBC is a lot more comp-dependent when it comes to endgame PvE, and since Bloodlust/Heroism would not yet become raid-wide buffs, it would make sense to play a Shaman for the almost-guaranteed raid spots, as each group would need 2 Shamans for Kara/ZA and 5 for every other raid for buff coverage.
On one hand, I never got to experience BC endgame first time around. I was a dumb teenager halfway through secondary school when the expansion originally launched and unfortunately I played on Turalyon EU Horde and had to deal with a lot of really toxic players and guilds who eventually bullied me off that realm by the time I was halfway through Wrath.
But on the other hand, I currently work in a temp job, do karaoke at least two evenings a week and feel like I'm not in a position to treat WoW like a full time job and dedicate 3 - 4 evenings a week to playing. And I don't think Burning Crusade is one of those expansions where the average guild will have content immediately on farm, unlike Vanilla which is practically trivial by comparison. Also, everybody and their mother are playing the two new races (Draenei & Blood Elf), so each of their starting zones are heavily packed with new players and the servers are genuinely lagging.
So I'm going to start this off by saying, I think we're in different camps when it comes to playing WoW. I'm a player who absolutely loves the leveling experience. I'm constantly starting new characters and repeating the same old content again and again. Been doing it for 22 years now since I played in one of the later WoW Betas in like 2003-2004. I did do some raiding in TBC as a Shaman, but hated the idea of being beholden to my guild at a certain time and not being able to play how I wanted to play, so I stopped after a month or so.
I'll get to the point: Why not play on a private server? I used to treat WoW a bit like a job, even if I wasn't raiding. Logging on everyday to play for hours. These days yeah, I've got a lot going on (to keep it short) and so I really only want to play every now and then. I go through periods with some friends where we'll play for a couple of weeks and then we'll all fall off and not play for several months or maybe even I'll dip in here and there just for fun. Private servers really suit this quite well, since you don't feel like your wasting your money or your time on a subscription you aren't using. Not to mention, if you just want to raid, there's tons of servers that have 4x-10x exp and you'll shoot through levels and many even will just offer high level characters so you can jump right in to that experience.
Tangentially, it's also better than giving more money to scumbag Blizzard.
I got into Warhammer 40k: Kill Team! I used to play X-Wing miniatures competitively, but I’ve been out of the war gaming space since 2020. I’ve been missing it and wanted to push plastic dudes around a table again and roll dice.
So, the person that got me into X-Wing, which was a life changing game for me that had me make hundreds of friendships all around the world, he actually plays Kill Team and I asked him to teach me how to play. Not only did he do that, but he gave me some spare space marines and vespids that he wasn’t going to use!
I learned to play and went to a low stakes local tournament this weekend. I went 0-3 as expected, but I kept all three games close, losing 11-12, 11-12, and 12-14. The first two games were definitely winnable, but considering I’ve only played 5 games now, I’m absolutely going to make mistakes.
Ultimately, I think the game is a ton of fun. Even though it plays very differently, it’s pushing the same buttons that X-Wing did and is letting me flex my brain, strategize, and outplay people. I’m loving it!
I’m also excited to get back into the hobby aspect. I have a ton of time on my hands these days, so I’m looking forward to getting back into painting now that I need to in order to play.
The one downside is obviously the cost. Warhammer simply is not cheap. Kill Team is cheaper than Bighammer, but it’s still $70 per team and terrain packs are like $150 or more…
You should checkout Battletech. It's significantly cheaper and generally less sweaty than Kill Team and scratches the Skirmish itch quite nicely.
I actually have some battletech. I was planning to get into it a while ago, but there wasn’t much of a scene here. Some people play, but I did want to get back into something with good organized play support, so kill team seems to fit that right now, but because I’ve already got some BT minis and just got some new painting supplies, I may paint them up and play that too!
Ah yeah, it definitely becomes tough when there's no one to play with! BT really started to take off here in the last year or so, pretty much right after 10th Ed 40k launched.
That said, I'm in a very lucky position to have friends nearby that play pretty much everything, so it's usually not difficult to get a game of whatever.
Have you looked at Warcry? I know it's a little out of date, but the list building aspect really scratched that itch for me as far as that aspect of the game goes. Though admittedly, I've only ever played one game of it.
Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane
It's an Ace Attorney-style game but with fantasy magic, one that I've now replayed as there was an update this month advertising a big rewrite with dialogue changes, more scenes, and completely reworking how Case 3 happened. Previously, I had considered this the most AA-like in tone and execution of the AA-like games I've played. Now I don't know if it's nostalgia (which would be odd considering this came out in 2023 and I bought/played it that November) or having higher standards, but I think I came out of this thinking worse of the game?
Rewrite Characterization - Spoilers
Honestly, I think the update tried to fill in the previous gaps, but that just draws attention when the gaps had been tuned out before and the pavement is still a lot bumpier than it should be. It is mentioned that the original cases will be available as free DLC in the future, so maybe I'll re-verify my opinion when replaying that. The rewrite also had more sequel baiting written in and the application name is Tyrion1 so that's happening. I learned my lesson from the TWEWY anime and A New Day and NEO:TWEWY: if I think the remake material is crap, that should be a big red flag for the sequel.
Of course, AA-style games are in short supply and this game has a demo covering all of case 1 so I dunno, judge the quality for yourself. I think the only AA-style game I can personally rec now is of the Devil.
Dodgeball Academia
This is a dodgeball game with 3 RPG stats (Power, Agility, Technique) and 2 equipment slots with a strong Pokemon influence so far as UI and being challenged to dodgeball matches. I had to force myself to finish it.
Storywise, it's a school where everyone plays dodgeball just like how Pokemon battles and Yugioh card duels solve everything. That's about it: everyone has a one-note personality, adults are useless of course, and everyone comes off as a jerk given all the rampant cheating, selective rule enforcement, aggressive taunting, and petty reasons for dodgeball challenges with the violence being both played for laughs and being clear displays of violence which is kinda uncomfortable in the "anyone can throw a ball at your face at any time for no good reason and bully you and no one will help." Am I overthinking a game meant for children? Probably. But the vibes are just wow there are so many petty bullies here who don't redeem themselves in any way and are never actually punished.
Gameplaywise, there are 6 party members by the endgame and 3 active people to put on the field. You can swap between which character you're controlling, but the other two have no AI and just copy your inputs and follow the leader in a triangle formation which effectively makes the team a stupidly giant hitbox and they just hand over the balls they pick up instead of being capable of syncing ball throws and uggggggh. This is a sports RPG so of course the other team can stack way more people, have inflated stats, read your inputs, and all of their team members can charge their individual special meters the moment they throw a ball to your side of the field so that's fun and not frustrating or annoying to deal with in every single battle. Oh and everytime you knock out an important enemy, they get to stand on your field and catch any stray balls to interrupt and chip you down across battles; your KO'd party members do the same but they're practically useless.
There's also the thing about healing. Initially Balloony heals Otto after every fight to ease a new player into the game and then he stops because... because? I mean I think after-battle healing makes sense for a sports game, but sure, let's stop by the
pokemon centerinfirmary after every battle to save money for equipment and not waste any of the abundant food drops because there's only one place with repeatable battles to grind for money starting in chapter 5. I think it's just bad design; the map isn't that big so the infirmary is both easy enough to backtrack to but also a waste of time and the player is just incentivized to hoard resources because if it.Oh and there's a bunch of locked chests and you're conditioned to be unable to open them and the game doesn't mention that the 5th party member can open them. Very nice.
Party Members