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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.
Rocket League, and pretty much nothing else.
It seemed silly when I first heard about it. 1700+ hours later it's kind of taken over my life. I love that you can play casually (as I did for the first year or so) and have a great time. You can also choose to focus on improving and complete in tournaments at almost any level of skill, and you'll never really master the game as new mechanics are still being discovered, and best practices of game play are always shifting.
I had a very similar initial reaction to the game too. "Rocket powered cars playing soccer? That sounds kinda dumb." ... But 4+ years and 3200+ hours played later, here I am still loving it and still playing it almost daily. I think it's safe to say at this point that it's probably my all-time favorite game, even though it's a bit weird to say that since I generally dislike online multiplayer competitive games, as they tend to stress me out... but for whatever reason RL never has, even when I am playing ranked.
I finally got a Switch and have been playing Breath of the Wild pretty obsessively for a couple weeks now.
It's got a ton of flaws and yet I find it addicting all the same. Just goes to show that you don't need things to be perfect, you just need it to be fun.
I'm curious what you'd say its flaws are. For me, it was one of the most polished games I've played. My only gripes with it were a few balance mechanics that aren't fun, like weapon durability or the inability to climb when it's raining. The former is mostly solved when you get the master sword and hylian shield, and the latter can be overcome with a ton of stamina.
A few thoughts off the dome: I find the combat in general to be just okay, I understand weapon durability balances the game but it's really tiresome, the cooking interface is bad, cooking in general just feels like a chore, I barely get enough rupees to progress (without farming), the story is bland, difficulty progression is all over the place, the loot you get is generally unsatisfying (oh yay, another sword that's gonna break in two hits).
Fallout 76. So glad I didn't pay $60 for this game, it feels as clunky as Gary's Mod, and they've done little-to-nothing to improve the UI, which has only been made worse by the server loading times. That said, I am playing it with friends, and it is fun, just not $60 fun.
Other than that, hauling my ass through Witcher 3... I'm not sure why. I'm not having that much fun, but it passes the time and all of my friends played it/loved it, and I feel obliged to finish it having spent as much time as I have, so I might as well keep going. I'm not sure if my attention span or endurance for big fantasy games has gone out the window as I've gotten older, but it's just boring to me. "you've found the witch/ghost/beast tracks. you've got a witch/ghost/beast problem. you need witch/ghost/beast oil. thanks for killing that witch/beast/ghost!" Repeat for 40+ hours. I wish I liked it as much as everyone else does. I'm not sure what I want from a fantasy game, but this one's just been a bit much.
When I got to that point I maxed out the difficulty (and turned off any assistance like auto-sword unsheathing(?)) and then combat became a lot more fun and engaging, needed some real strategy. Also redoing your stats with a different style and matching gear (e.g. feline, you really have to be more skillful in combat).
My problem with upping the difficulty, especially in a notoriously lengthy game like Witcher 3, is that it will significantly increase the playtime. When I'm having trouble completing a long game due to tedium/boredom, the last thing I want to do is introduce a higher likelihood of dying and needing to replay certain portions, and push the story's resolution even further out of reach. If anything I'd rather lower the difficulty, personally, to focus less on the grind and more on Geralt's journey or whatever.
There are lots of different kinds of gamers though. Some people are all about that challenge, and have the time and patience to embrace it in a way they find satisfying — more power to you! I'm just offering my personal take, which is that I'd rather relax and explore the game world and enjoy the story, than set up opportunities for frustration or repetition.
In my experience, upping the difficulty ended up creating a more immersive and less rote experience. Hunting monsters actually felt like hunting monsters, not fighting a tough enemies. It was necessary to prepare and plan instead of walking in, swinging a sword, and walking out. Between those stages of "go here and figure out what it is" and "fight it", you actually had to plan and prepare yourself. Oil your sword right, drink the right potions, perhaps wait for an opportune time of day.
It winds up working exactly as the experience of being a Witcher in the books is described.
I went through the entire game on Death March out the gate and I don't feel like my playtime was inflated all that much—only when I had the gall to fight Hunts that were 5+ levels beyond myself. Once I got the hang of things, I really didn't have much trouble getting through the game because it wasn't difficult for difficulty's sake. I find Witcher 3's difficulty to instead encourage you to use all the mechanics at your disposal.
Yea I hear you on that, so do the developers! I found it quite apt that the easiest difficulty setting in the game is labelled something like "Just The Story" (whereas higher I think is "Death March").
I'm glad somebody else feels the same about Witcher 3, because for awhile I thought I was insane.
People want to give Skyrim endless grief for repetitive quests that have you breaking into a den of thieves or a exploring a cave filled with monsters to retrieve an important item for someone, but somehow Witcher gets a pass for doing the exact same thing, arguably worse.
That, and the game is....pretty sexist, to be honest. Almost every female character important to the story exists for Geralt to fuck, and virtually the only one that isn't a sex symbol is effectively the protagonist's adopted daughter. I'm aware that the games are pretty faithful to the books, so I don't know if that's the fault of the books or the game, but still....yeesh.
I love the Witcher series and the universe/lore surrounding it, but even as a huge fan of it I have to admit they make me incredibly uncomfortable in regards to Geralt's treatment of women and the sexist views/behavior exemplified (and even outright encouraged) in the games.
Yes, it is a fantasy based world that's basically a fictional representation of medieval Poland and so should probably get a bit of extra leeway for not being entirely progressive, but in the first game all the women you fucked (even the prostitutes) provided the player with collectable cards as mementos of the experience, which is quite literal objectification... so anyone arguing against sexism being an issue in the games are on shaky grounds, IMO.
And yes, there were finally some actual negative consequences from trying to bed both female leads in Witcher 3, and/or being indecisive on which you wanted to actually be in a relationship with, which is a step in the right direction... but you could still fuck a whole bunch of other minor female characters on the down-low without any consequences with the female leads whatsoever, so there is still a lot of room for improvement there IMO. :/
p.s. Geralt as a character is by far the weakest aspect of the games for me, and I kind of hate him and dislike playing him. That's a major part of why I am looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077 so much, since we will actually be able to make our own custom characters in it, instead of having to play an already established, predetermined one, with all the baggage and limitations that entails.
I'm really interested in Cyberpunk 2077 to see if CDPR was trying to be faithful to The Witcher series with all the blatant sexism or if that's just who they are.
Yeah, Cyberpunk 2077 might be a make-or-break game for me with CDPR, depending on how it goes. I try not to be too overly sensitive to these sorts of things in fiction, especially historical and semi-historical/fantasy based ones... but I can't deny that The Witcher series does leave a rather sour taste in my mouth in that regard, and so I am hoping to see much better/fairer representation and exploration of gender/gender issues in 2077.
IMO characters in fiction can and should be free to be sexist, but how that's portrayed and the story consequences of that behavior is still important to me, and if related events are a central part of the story, most major character decisions revolve around them, and the shitty behavior is encouraged and seemingly consequence free, like it is in The Witcher, that doesn't sit particularly well with me. And there really is no excuses this time for that to still be the case in 2077.
Hm, I feel like I missed that. I thought the only women you could sleep with in W3 besides the named and important female characters were prostitutes?
In the base game you can also sleep with Keira Metz and a few other minor character women (e.g. after the Novigrad Gwent tournament), and in the expansions there are even more "romances", all of which have absolutely no consequences on your relationship with Triss or Yennifer.
I CHOSE to seduce Shani in the first expansion, and I was still irritated on behalf of Yen.
Links Awakening DX on gameboy color.
The switch remake reminded me I wanted to play it, but the switch itself is way too bulky [and expensive] for my taste. I'm having a lot of fun with the GBC version though :-)
It's a great game! One of my favourite 2D Zeldas. Enjoy!
Thanks!
I just completed the third main dungeon, and though I admit the game was showing it's age a bit at the beginning, I think now I've started to 'get it'.
It sure doesn't mess around though, I haven't played a zelda game since majora's mask, and I'd totally forgotten that puzzles are a huge element in them. Some of the ones here completely caught me off guard, it's great! I am also frequently reminded that for titles like this back in the day, reading the instruction manual is almost mandatory. Not everything is explained in game like modern titles.
Still, thoroughly enjoying my time playing it!
I just bought Doom (1993) and Doom II for Switch, and I never realized how great they are until now. Considering how old they are, both games really hold up to current FPS games really well. The amount of content is quite good for $5 games, and thoroughly entertained and challenged me throughout my experience. The variety of weapons is what really sticks out to me, as each combat puzzle or room can be solved using any of the weapons, but ammo costs and health management are of utmost importance while traversing each level. Every level and room seems quite well-thought-out, and the overall progression between levels makes the player use what they've learned from the previous levels to combat greater and more complicated threats. I highly recommend both games if you haven't tried them out already.
In complete contrast to those two games, I have also been playing Untitled Goose Game. It is honestly such a fun and simple experience that, although short, was totally worth the $15 the game cost. The puzzles are great and really encourage creative thinking when solving a problem, and the art style and score of the game reinforce the feeling of belligerence I felt just being an irritating goose. Definitely one of my favorite games of 2019.
Regarding the Doom series, apparently the Right Way to Play™ is through one of the FOSS engines like ZDoom, GZDoom, ChocolateDoom, CrispyDoom etc.
Could you elaborate on the Untitled Goose Game? I’m on the fence about that. On one hand it seems like it could be really fun, on the other it seems like just a jerk simulator with an excuse as a game. There’s just so much that can be wrong with this game, or be done really well.
I mean, I really enjoyed UGG, but it's probably not for everyone. Maybe watch the launch trailer, and if you'll think you'll enjoy that, then you'll enjoy the whole game. Personally, I don't really understand your sentiment of "jerk simulator with an excuse as a game". I mean if you think you'll enjoy it, I suggest you to get it.
I’ve seen the trailer and checked some (p)reviews.
With the “jerk simulator” I mean that just playing a goose to be a jerk towards everyone else in the world could either be a really cool and fun mechanic for a broad audience to enjod, or really bland where unless you just take it as an excuse to be a jerk to (virtual) it’s not much of a game.
I’m not sure I get across what I want to say/ask. Basically, I’m concerned that this game could be a huge hit or miss and I guess I’mm trying to get into your mind why you like it.
Personally, I enjoy it because of the artstyle, the soundtrack, and the simplicity of it all. I also like the problem/puzzle -solving aspects of the game. It also encourages creativity in coming up with the solution, which I really enjoy. I just find it really cute and fun, I guess.
That does sound fun. Thank you for bearing with me here.
My answer is going to be VERY different from the rest in this thread, which is Style Savvy: Styling Star for the 3DS. It's a casual fashion game I bought a couple of months ago, and I've played it almost every single day.
I played Overcooked in a friends house with three other people and it was a blast. I got the game for free on PS4, but I didn't have another controller so I bought one to play with my girlfriend. We had a great time! Collaborating is fun. Great game, even if it wasn't free,
I tried to teach her Rocket League, but the 3D mechanics are too much for her. So I played it a bit online and even scored some goals - it was fun!
Maybe I'm not in a position for heavier games now, and this quick experiences are good for my ADHD.i
I barely played anything lately, but fired Shadowrun: Hongkong up for a mission again. I quite like the game, although I do sometimes feel lost a bit, since I'm pretty new to the Shadowrun universe.
I also played another mission in Saints Row IV, a game I enjoy, but have been neglecting for a while now. Struggled with the controls for a few minutes (hadn't played it in something like a year), but it's still a fun game!
Otherwise I'm awaiting the release of Borderlands 3 on something other than the Epic Game Store, but IIRC it will come to Steam in April, which clashes with Cyberpunk 2077, so BL3 will have to wait a while. Maybe it'll get soem performance improvements until then!
Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I skipped Fates and got through about half of Awakening, but this one is holding up better so far for me. I'm with the Blue Lions and haven't hit "the part" yet, I don't know much aside from that there is a time skip, so don't spoil me in the replies please. :)
LIKES:
DISLIKES:
Bayonetta 1 on Lintendo Switch. Switching off in portable mode is a great way to fill small chunks of time while traveling. I've not been travelling lately, and just playing it during breaks of work. Frustrating at first, but getting better as I progress through the story.
Haven't had time to do any more involved game-playing lately, but I do want to play Fire Watch once I can get a dock for my Swotch.
Alright. Here I go.
Danmaku Unlimited 2 is a really... just polished shmup overall. It's accessible, but has a fair bit of difficulty in the last level and on higher difficulties. Also, score optimisation. I was gifted this by @kfwyre :)
Borderlands 2 I'm not deep in it... by any means. But I've played a little and it's fun. Although I die a lot :)
League of Legends is a pretty fun MOBA. I've been playing it a bit - and I'm shite - but it's a lot of fun
when I win.Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is a really solid RPG overall and just fun to play. Don't know how else to word it.
The Messenger is a really, really nice retro platformer. It's price may seem steep, but it's got an absolutely banging soundtrack, authentic game-play, and is just fun. I haven't finished the second half though, and I don't plan to for a while.
Nullpomino is a version of Tetris that I play once every couple of months. I've hit what I think is close to the skill ceiling on STANDARD-FRIENDS-B (I think that's the name), or well, it's more a test of patience for me more than anything else. I still stick to NES strategies of clearing Tetrises instead of going for T-Spin triples, though.
Stepmania 2 is a really fun rhythm game. Free. Enough said. It's just pure joy... when I don't mess up.
That's my list with the Kavi reviews™.
Nullpo: you should try classic, they're good enough emulation of Tetris the Grand Master. The skill ceiling in those game are sky high!
Oh yeah, I've seen some TGM - it gets absolutely insane. I just kind of play it casually, but that's a good option.
Have you got a resource for learning set ups for T-spin Doubles/Triples? Currently I hold onto just clearing lines (same way you play NES Tetris), although it's brutally inefficient point wise. I remember a wiki with a lot of information on set ups and stuff, although I can't seem to find it right now :/
You can also play TGM casually; it just gets more demanding toward the middle of the game.
Resources: I'm
a slave to our Lord and Savior TGMmore of a TGM enthusiast (I've participated in a french TV broadcast about this once; story for another time), but you are probably referring to one of the many Tetris Wiki (another story for another time). Try Tetris.wiki, there's some guide on it. Otherwise there are some official Puyo Puyo Tetris video starring S2LSOFTENER; he's a Puyo Puyo player but has a solid grasp of the mechanics (T-spin method, T-Spin setup ). I'm partial to the Double Triple setup as an opener but it's up to your taste.If you're up for some Google translation, there's an excellent series of interactive tutorial that can show most of what's needed to be a great player.
Thank you!
Glad to hear you're enjoying Danmaku! Also, are you playing Stepmania on a keyboard or a pad?
Keyboard, haha. I would love to get a pad, but they're really expensive and take up too much space :)
Keyboard is still super fun, though. The mashing get's insane.
The only games I've been playing are Minecraft and 0 AD, both on my laptop.
In regards to Minecraft: I friggin love that game, though it does get stale sometimes. I tend to really like games that just let me do my own thing, and don't force me into anything. Plus, I get to raise chickens and build skyscrapers.
As for 0 AD, I'm not decided yet. I like history and antiquity, I figured that I'd like a civ-type game. Ultimately, I am having trouble getting the hang of it and am not sure if I like it or not.
Have you tried playing with mods?
You don't even need to go overboard with it, just add some mods like Quark+Charm and have fun.
I tried optifine once, but it was a hassle to get it to run on Linux. Generally speaking, I've never really considered mods beyond an interest in that one that adds like industrial capacity to the game... I think it's feed the beast or something?
But if I'm being honest here, I think mods are probably a bad idea for me. The staleness that I get from MC kind of helps keep me from playing it too much.
After putting in way too many hours into Starlink: Battle for Atlas last week, I decided to play something less addictive, as I really need to finish some projects.
ARMS – I’m currently 35+ hours into this game and adore it. This Sunday I finally braved up and joined one of Casual ARMS’s online events and had an amaaazing blast playing for 2 hours friendly (unranked) matches against about a good dozen other players from around the world. I can warmly recommend ARMS as a game and Casual ARMS as a community. Sure, there are players there who put in 600+ hours into the game already, but I never felt treated unfairly and the chat on Discord was very encouraging and helpful.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild – with 140+ hours, it’s the Nintendo game I’ve put most time into so far, and I still love it. It brings a great balance and freedom of whether you want to do puzzles, explore, fight, progress in the story, cook, etc. etc. It very much deserves its cult status.
Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse – OK, so this was a mistake, but for all the best reasons. I really liked the Shantae: ½ Genie Hero (have the physical release), so I got this when it was discounted. The mistake I made was that I started it when I wanted to play something less addictive than Starlink. The game immediately pulled me in and if Shantae: ½ Genie Hero is more similar to Wonder Boy, I found Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse to be much more like Metroid. Now, since the game is divided into nice manageable stages, it sounds like a great game to play for a few minutes during the breaks, but in practice it just pulls you into the “just one more stage” want, which soon grows into “just one more island” and suddenly it’s been just three days, but you’re
5+10+ hours into the game (send help!). Comparing the two Shantae games, I don’t know which one I like best – they’re both brilliant and fun to play. I’m looking forward to the next Shantae game coming out soon and how it fares. I’ll probably get it, but when depends on the price and reviews.Tetris 99 – there was a Kirby theme to unlock during the weekend and it’s Tetris against 99 other people – ’nuff said ;)
Ori and the Blind Forest – I was thoroughly hyped that this is coming on the Switch and as soon as the demo was released tried it. The audiovisual presentation is amazing and the prologue is awesome. But for some reason the gameplay mechanic with the "homing missiles" and the controls just didn't leave me wanting more of it. What it did was want me to fire up Yoku's Island Express (already 100% it) and Hollow Knight (still need to finish it) again. That being said, I read that the controls stop being squirrelly later in the game. So I'll probably buy it, but wait for a sale (or sequel).
Astebreed – it has been on my wishlist for some time, and I picked it up because it was discounted. It is highly praised as a hybrid shoot ’em up where you control your mecha both in side-scrolling action (both shooting and sword wielding) which flawlessly transitions into quasi-3D behind-the-back view action and back. So far I only played it for a few minutes, but it seems I will enjoy it quite a bit. It is a bit difficult to follow the story as it unfolds while you are in the middle of the action and English is only in subtitles (where your eyes aren’t), but that‘s a minor gripe.
World of Warcraft: Classic.
It's been out for 1 month and I feel like I'm burned out on it! I have almost 8 days /played so you do the math... It's not very healthy and I can really feel it. I'm level 55 but I have a LOT of AFK time though, and time spent not leveling.
While the age certainly shows, I actually prefer Classic over retail - most of all because it's easier to let go of Classic than it is retail. The grind is much more obvious in Classic, whereas retail has the carrot-on-a-stick to keep you going forward with rewards everywhere, every day. The gameplay is rather boring in Classic, and more engaging in retail - so if they somehow built a game that was a blend between the two, I'm afraid my future would be quite depressing!
One of the best things about Classic WoW to me is the slower pace. I can log in for 30 minutes, do a small there here and there and feel like I've progressed. Retail wow and other MMO's out today make endgame feel like the only thing that's worth while and if I don't have hours to invest then I'm not playing it right.
I have been playing Noita since it was released on early access a few days ago. It's a pretty fun rougelike with a totally destructible environment/physics simulation. Combat feels quite strategic and the spell customisation is surprisingly in depth.
I have been running it on Proton with no complaints; which is frankly impressive for an early access title on release. I usually stay away from early access games, but I'm looking forward to seeing where the devs take it in the coming months.
I would love to hear more about your experience with it. It looks very cool and intriguing, but its mechanic seems like it can either really excell the game or break it.
I'm not super experienced with rougelikes but it seems pretty well balanced to me. I think in theory it would be possible to kit out your character with explosives and blast your way through the levels, but that would come at the cost of missing monster loot (coins), which is essential to become more powerful. It doesn't feel like the whole destructible environment thing is shoved in your face - it's more like the world just reacts to things like you'd expect it to.
It's a pretty refreshing game to me. Enemies are satisfying to kill, especially with the physics. You have to be quite careful about how you handle fire and fluids as they can quickly turn an otherwise manageable situation very hectic.
The only issues I have with it so far are the typical early access things: I've had a couple of crashes and very occasional framerate dips. I'm not sure how much of that is caused by Proton versus running it natively so ymmv.
All in all it's a cool game and I'm looking to put a good chunk of time into it this weekend!
Thanks, that does indeed sound pretty cool. I'll keep an eye on it.
I recently bought the PC version of Final Fantasy XV because it's on a sale on humblebundle. I've already played it before, but I wanted this one because it's the first time it's been so much better on PC than it was on consoles (at least for JRPGs). The fact that it included almost all of the DLC from the console versions definitely made it worth the money, and Sqenix has gone overboard making sure to future-proof the game, with a hefty 4K texture pack available for free and supporting some of today's crazy cutting-edge algorithms (It even has DLSS, surprisingly enough). Playing this game in 4K is amazing, even if my graphics card can't quite keep up with it, but the smoothness of 120FPS makes the game seem so much more realistic than the PS4 version could ever be. This game blew me away when it came out, and thanks to the excellent support from the developers, it continues to amaze me today.
I just played through Journey for the first time.
I've wanted to play it for years, but I never had a PS3. It finally came to PC through the Epic Game Store, but I've sat that out because I run Linux. Nevertheless, the idea that I finally could play it if I wanted to sat with me like an unscratched itch, so I caved and borrowed my husband's Windows machine in order to scratch away.
It's a perfect evening-size game, taking me a little less than two hours from start to finish. I thought the game's visuals were stunning. Gorgeous. Unspeakably great. It wasn't just that the game had good textures and environmental design, but a lot of thought was given to the color palettes for individual scenes, the composition of different moments, and the use of meaningful and beautiful lighting. The whole game was eye candy in the best way.
With that said, I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to participate in Journey's best feature: I never got to meet another player! The credits sequence said I did meet one person, but I question the truth of that, as I never saw or interacted with them in the game. It was still a perfectly playable game solo, but I can't help but feel that I missed out on the very thing that made Journey the icon it is.
The game reminded me a lot of ABZÛ, which I realize is a reference reversal given that Journey came first. Neither is especially fun to play, but each of them are beautiful, interesting, meditative, and thoughtful.
Mostly, I've been doing The Division 2, and reminding myself how much fun that formula is. Leveling, upgrading, finding new gear, using all manner of nifty gadgets... and running around with a belt fed MG and a sniper rifle. Good times.
With Hello Games fixing their Linux compatibility on top of having a huge update I finally decided that it is a good tome to play No Mans Sky, and I really love this game so far, 32 hours in.
Rage 2 and Farcry 5. These are both great for when I'm tired after work and just want mindless violence. Farcry 5 has the added bonus of fishing and hunting when I can't be bothered with missions. I've also been playing The Sinking City - a Lovecraftian horror game. It's pretty good but involves a lot of map reading and running around from one place to the next.
I bought Greedfall yesterday but I've only played it for half an hour or so and haven't yet formed an opinion about it.
Borderlands 3. If you liked the first two and the presequel, this is a worthy successor. I am playing it with my girlfriend who is not at all a gamer, we're still early but the difficulty is a good level. Challenging, but not so much that I can't carry the two of us. We've got about 15 hours of playtime in and I think we are just getting started, so I'm happy with the fun:money ratio.
I got it in my mind to try getting all the platinum trophies for the Project Diva games, so I've been alternating between f, F, X, and Future Tone. I absolutely love all of them -- it's refreshing to play rhythm games that aren't just notes crossing a line on a bland static background, and they feel full of personality. Not really a fan of the progression in X though (to platinum it, you have to beat each song at least nine times, which is... excessive).
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - A solid metroidvania but it is pretty grindy with little replay value and I had some crashes playing on Linux with Proton. If you're nostaligic for Castlevania this may be the game for you. Otherwise look to Hollow Knight for a smooth and focused game or Dead Cells for a more rogue-like experience (both of these recs are have native Linux releases).
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - I've never played Call of Cthulhu, but this isometric turn-based RPG fits that bill. The native Linux build has decent performance and I haven't encountered any bugs during a few hours of gameplay.
I started playing the Cube World beta yesterday. Been a long time since I've played the alpha so I can't remember all of what's new/changed, but it's still super charming.
So far though, I'm dying to most everything. I expect I'll get better gear to compensate (leveling has seemingly been removed). Found a bell artifact which does something unknown and spooky. Saved a guy from a coven of witches.
Difficult to try out multiplayer just yet because most didn't pick up the alpha. Once it's released on Steam I plan to play with friends though.
Is Cube World still being developed? I bought it a while ago and I remember the creators disappeared.
Edit: Apparently it's real! And I'll be getting a Steam key. Feels good.
Edit2: Looks like I already have a key available in my account!
You will, and they're mostly acquired via random drops... but just a heads up, gear is locked to the region you acquire it in, and once you finish that region and move to the next, it will all turn grey and lose all its stats. All the travel skills (glider, boat, mount) work the same way too... once you leave the region you unlocked them in they stop working and you have to acquire them all over again for the next region. The only exception to this resetting effect is artifacts, which as far as I have seen are basically completely useless minor perks like "increased light radius", and + labeled gear, which is seemingly ultra-ultra-rare. The + gear keeps its stats outside the region you acquire it in, but only in the directly surrounding ones to where you found it. Move outside those directly surrounding regions and just like all the other gear it will go grey and lose its stats too.
All in all, from what I have seen watching my buddy who has been streaming the game every day since the beta came out, it seems pretty frustrating, barren, insanely repetitive and way worse than it was in alpha. Every new region you go to resetting everything makes it feel like an endlessly repetitive grind with no real point to it since there is no sense of progression in the game anymore.
Yeah I noticed it had the region name after the item name. Figured it must be something like that.
I'll have to see what progress is like once I get more into it. The idea of restarting isn't a huge turn off for me because I actually really enjoy difficult games. But dropping from a hang glider from high up in the air would be less than ideal.
LOL, yeah, my buddy has already died a few times from that happening. Having your boat or mount disappear from underneath you as you're making your way to another location isn't particularly fun either, but at least you don't die from that. ;)
It's not very "gamey" but I've been hopping onto Kind Words every so often to send out a few nice messages to anonymous strangers. It's cozy and fulfilling.
I also played through The Little Acre, which is a kids' adventure game with fantastic animation and artwork. It plays very much like "my first point-and-click" and is quite short (it took me less than two hours), but it was charming and I think it would be great for younger audiences. I would have loved it as a child.
Not much, but I'm playing Little Alchemy 2 (the web version). It's like the stripped-down platonic ideal of a crafting game. Which combinations work seems arbitrary but that somehow doesn't ruin it.
I've been playing a bunch of Slay the Spire. It's a deck builder with some dungeon crawling; you start by choosing one of three characters. I'm enjoying it quite a bit, especially the Defect. It's fast and easy to get into, and if I have 15 minutes of time to spend, I can do a run (or part of one, or three bad ones) and enjoy myself.
I haven't really spent that much time playing video games lately, though I have been watching a playthrough of Lego City: Undercover, which is basically a PG version of GTA with Lego, which is adorable.
Borderlands 3. Both on OneX and PC. Not too far yet even though I got both pre-release day (legit). It's definitely a Borderlands game, which I like. I'm missing distinct class play types though. Gone is Sniper, Tank, melee, etc. Pretty much all the characters must tank. Yea, I've played all of them to test this out.
Not unhappy though.
The spiders dev rpg games. Mars War Logs is really good and deserves some more praise. It's clearly missing a few plot points but a remaster and update could help it. Currently bouncing back and forth between bound by flame and the technomancer. BbF is great, the technomancer though, they went overboard with the skills and traits, should've been cut back a bit but otherwise excellent gameplay.
We had a boardgame convention, but just one for playing board games on the weekend, which was fun! Played:
Mage Wars - good, I liked it! the rulebook is HELL. The gameplay in fun. we inexplicably own this one but have never played it (bought it at an auction) so I was pleased to try it out.
Just One - this is a pretty fun party game. I think it's best with 6 or 7 people but I always have a pretty good time.
Space Alert - my favourite non-mage knight game. delightful.
Underwater cities - this one was great. I've heard good things, and I like a lot of the mechanics. It kind of felt like a breezier "Terraforming Mars" with way less AP. We'll probably buy it (ie, I'll buy my husband it for christmas)
I've been all about Star Wars Battlefield 2. That and Two Point Hospital.
Cube World. I'm somewhat disappointed by the new leveling mechanism.