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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.
Stuff I got recently, mostly due to the Steam summer sale:
Other than CSD3, I haven't really played the others yet, beyond confirm they install and start up (shakes fist at recently-introduced Steam rule that disallows refunds 14 days after purchase, even with zero hours of gameplay).
However, most of my gaming time has been spent replaying Kingdom Come: Deliverance on Hardcore mode with all negative perks. In this playthrough, I'm exploring more of the rogue/brigand quests and playstyle. There are definitely some morally questionable tasks being asked of the main character! Did I mention I love this game? My favourite game of the last decade. I have over 400 hours on it.
I finished Torment: Tides of Numenera for the first time. It's a bit weird because I kickstarted this game, 8 years ago, and it's been out for 5 years, and I just finished it. I also kickstart a lot of stuff I don't actually finish, if the game even comes out.
Detour: I got curious and looked up how many games I've kickstarted. It's 18. I've finished 3. 7 games are unreleased, leaving 8 released unfinished games. I'm a lot less bothered by the idea that I've finished more than a quarter of the games I've kickstarted. That's probably a pretty good percentage compared to games I've purchased.
Back to Torment, I liked it a lot but the game is a lot. The Numenera setting is really cool but it's so far beyond standard fantasy or sci-fi that it can be a bit disorienting. Also, the game is so much more reading than playing that I might've been better served by reading a book.
The gameplay also imperfectly translates the Numenera TTRPG rules to a video game. I'm not an expert on Numenera but I could spot several big discrepancies. That made me go down a bit of a rabbit hole to look around at other TTRPG -> video game conversions. In my mind, The Temple of Elemental Evil is probably still the most accurate conversion. It even implemented the D&D 3E 5 foot step. But I haven't played everything so maybe something is better.
While I was in this rabbit hole, I tried to play Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown only to learn I can't. It was so connected to some online service that even its single player component is unplayable because they shut the servers down in 2018. I got a little bit mad about this because I could still pull up the Steam store page and that used to be an indicator that the game was still for sale. Even worse, I couldn't review it for some reason. The reason turned out to be that it's actually not for sale anymore. I guess Steam just leaves the store page up for reference now. And then I got mad because I thought I bought a game I was unable to play and sat on it for too long to get a refund. But it turns out I bought it ~1 year before the servers shutdown. I had time to play it, I just didn't. Now I have no one to be mad at but myself.
re: Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown, you have every right to be upset. It's a single player game, there is no reason that you shouldn't still be able to play it. If you have no/low playtime you should request a refund for it on the grounds that it doesn't function.
Or try to find a crack that removes the online requirement.
I took the refund route but it turns out that I bought it from some other retailer that gave me a Steam key. Might've got it in a bundle somewhere even. I'm chalking it up to "I'm an idiot and shouldn't buy so many games I don't intend on immediately playing".
I picked up Stellaris since it's on sale, and that's one damn expensive game if you include the mountains of DLC. I like 4x, hadn't played it before, and have heard many good things. I'm in love already. It's deeper than Endless Space 2. Once I've put it through its paces I'll share my thoughts.
I randomly stumbled upon Meridian 157. It's a point and click adventure in the style of Myst and other titles from that era. You're a forensic meteorologist who notices some odd anomalies and goes to investigate them. There's a free chapter you can play called Meridian 157: Prologue to see what it's like. Then they're releasing subsequent chapters for ~$5 each. I played through the Prologue and the 1st chapter over the weekend and really enjoyed it! The second chapter is available now, too.
I've been trying to play some Divinity 2 but I'm not really get into it. I just got off the fort island and I'm just not feeling it.
Divinity 2 or Divinity Original Sin 2?
If the latter I'm with you, just couldn't get into it and found questing with friends to be broken. The most enjoyable part of this game for me was character creation.
I've been playing on my own doing a lone wolf and it's kinda boring. I wish my character actually mattered more but it seems like I can just do whatever and win even on higher levels.
Been burning through backlog....
Phantom Doctrine - Gave it 5 hours to get better, it didn't. I enjoyed Hard West from the same developer, but this was another turn based combat game with extra unnecessary stuff added in that I didn't enjoy.
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak - Excellent game I wish was longer.
Little Misfortune - Entertaining enough walking simulator, got one ending, didn't feel compelled enough to get the others, so watched them on youtube.
Street Heat - Always intrigued by top down/isometric racing games, continually disappointed with new ones though and not sure why. Maybe it's just nostalgia for RC Pro-Am and Super Off Road.
Slay the Spire and Fate Hunters - Both pretty good roguelike deckbuilders. Spire has more story, Fate has more strategy. If I had to choose, I'd go with the latter.
Sherlock Holmes series (Testament, Crimes and Punishments) - While better than the point & click mystery games of yore with more engaging puzzles, it's honestly still just a point & click game in a more time consuming 3D space. I like Holmes stories so gave these a shot, but eventually just watched complete playthroughs on youtube; which are thankfully available where the player doesn't speak at all. I like the story/mystery and way they made the games work, just not enough to actually play it myself. I'm planning to give Devil's Daughter a try soon as it blends some action elements into the game, which was taken even further with the newly announced Chapter One.
Right now I'm playing Wolfenstein New Order with intent to play the rest of the new games (New Order, Old Blood, New Colossus, Youngblood) as I hadn't gotten around to them just yet. I think I'm nearly done with New Order as I just finished the Nazi moon base level. Good old fashioned story-driven nazi killing, what's not to like?
Ohhh, I might be in the mood for this! The original Homeworld games were amazing.
I have never played the original Homeworld games, but after playing Deserts of Kharak I immediately added the remastered collection to my wishlist and purchased it when the steam sale kicked off so now it's in my gaming backlog.
Deserts is just an excellent game through and through.
Speaking of, have you tried the two games Absolute Drift, or Art of Rally? By the same developer. I played through Absolute Drift and enjoyed the heck outta it, waiting for AoR to go on sale.
I tried Absolute Drift on my phone and it was fun enough, I find the controls of nearly every real time game on mobile to be a hindrance and uninstalled it. Which doesn't really mean much as I rarely keep a game on my phone for all that long.
Didn't know it was on PC as well so I might give it a try there, I don't pay too much attention to developers so never made the connection that they also did Art of Rally. Art of Rally is awesome, frustrating when you get it wrong, somehow relaxing when you get it right as your racing line will just be smooth and fluid. Highly recommend it if it's your style of game.
I finished Death Stranding the other day, and it's kind of a mess? Metal Gear is (probably) my favorite series, so I really wanted to see what Kojima could make with full creative control. I would say he did a good job creating a totally new and interesting experience, one that even predicted pandemic and post-pandemic life astonishingly well, although I don't think I'd want to play through the whole thing again for a long while.
I liked but didn't love the literal-walking-simulator gameplay. Once I could use vehicles, the game sort of became finding ways to use them instead of my legs to haul stuff around - the game even encourages this to a degree by letting construct highways that even charge your vehicles and pass right over enemy-inhabited areas, although you can only construct them in certain predefined places. Death Stranding is at its best when it forces you off of vehicles and into the rough terrain, so that you pay more attention to planning around the obstacles in your path and interacting with the systems for maintaining Sam's balance and footing. That being said, the progression from small deliveries on foot to juggling a small fleet of delivery trucks felt earned because of how long it takes to build those roads and how threats like MULEs and BTs (cargo stealers and spooky ghost bois respectively) often force you to take your time off the beaten path/in new areas anyways. Also the vehicles in this game control like microwaved dogshit.
The story takes its sweet damn time getting going, but once it got towards classic Kojima mindfuckery towards the end, I was fully on board; I kinda hated Die-Hardman at the start because he was annoying, but his growth, and the things you learn about BB and Mads Mikkelson's character, were my favorite parts of this whole thing.
I've finally gotten around to playing Hades and I'm loving it. I ended up streaming to my friends in discord and I've got 3 others to start playing.
Great rogue-like with pretty crisp combat, an approachable learning curve, tons of replay-ability, and an amazing story.
...and I just found it that it has cross-saves between steam and the switch. So I might pick it up on the switch so I can play it on the big screen or while traveling. I use a controller when playing on it on the PC anyways.
I've been playing Hades for months now, and I still play it almost daily. Possibly my favourite Supergiant game, and that's a high bar to clear.
How far have you reached?
I've cleared it probably 10-15 times or so. On heat 2-4 depending on the weapon. So done with the "main story" and onto the secondary/later stuff. Just found out that I actually haven't gotten the rewards for 0 heat for most of the weapons, so amusingly my next step for most weapons is to turn off the pact. Should make for some easier/quicker runs to progress story, grind up item levels, and maybe fish for some of the duo/legendary abilities I haven't seen yet.
I can see a whole ton more to do though, which is pretty amazing for having beat the "main story".
I've been playing Valorant for a little while (yes the anti-cheat sucks, but I'm not running it on my main system) and it's pretty fun. I've never been that into FPS games (apart from SUPERHOT, if you count that as one) but Valorant is pretty good.
Been playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R Anomaly again and that's fun as always. If anyone's at all interested, it's a free modpack that comes with the executable file, so you don't have to buy any of the original 3 games, though I highly recommend playing at least Call of Pripyat.
Anomaly's super fun. Started as a merc and am doin the grind until I get an exosuit/nosorog and some kickass weaponry. Been considering doing an iron man run but I need to seriously adjust the way I play or I'll lose every time haha. I've been thinking about disabling the crosshair (usually if you place your crosshair on someone it'll turn red if it's an enemy) but that sounds pretty daunting, having to discern friend or foe solely by the patch they have on their outfit.
Also been playing a good bit of The Binding of Isaac: Repentance for a bit now. Been trying to at least beat The Lamb and ??? on each character but it's been a helluva grind. I'd been struggling with Magdalene for a while but I got the R Key in one run and that all but assured my victory haha.
I've picked up Okami for the Switch. It's one of these beloved classics that has been on my list for ages and I finally got around to it. It's utterly unique and full of charm. With some light exploration, puzzles and combat I'd put it in the "Zelda-like" category, which is surprisingly rare. The brush stroke mechanics and aesthetics plus all the Japanese mythology really set it apart, though. And yet... I can't fully get into it.
Something about the pacing is off. I started playing this game on the PS2 many years ago and never got beyond the intro sequence since it's so damn long. This time, I'm much further in (just found all the canine warriors). It opened up quite a bit and I can see a surprising variety of side-quests and "dungeons" but still, I don't think it will ever fully "click" with me. I also must say that the brush strokes, while very cool, tend to end up on the gimmicky side after you've drawn a circle around a tree for the literal 100th time.
I guess I still like it for the experience. It's a very unique game.
I liked this, back in the day on PS2. I recommend people at least check it out. I did finish the game in just over 40 hours, but I think my main criticism of Okami would be that the combat is not challenging enough. Perhaps that's to be expected if they were aiming more towards a casual gamer audience.
I also picked this up on the Switch recently (after my PS4 controller died, and I had trouble getting a new one). I've seen it featured regularly on best-of lists ever since it was released, so playing it was long overdue.
Combat is definitely too easy, and sometimes lasts too long. The developers were probably aware, since we get bonus money from finishing battles quickly and without taking damage, adding a little challenge.
The game is very beautiful though, and I enjoy the brush mechanic, although it can be very fiddly at times. I got super frustrated during the first boss fight because the vines need to be so precisely drawn. (And even more frustrated with the log in the river immediately after, for the same reason.) Overall, it's a very cool spellcasting system, but drawing precise shapes with an analogue stick is tricky. The Switch version of the game has optional motion controls, but I couldn't figure out how to activate them, so I ended up tucking away the joycons and use a pro controller instead.
Unlike nothis, I got really into the game, but after defeating the third boss I felt closure, and it feels like the game should be over. And yet, the walkthrough I occasionally consult says I'm only about half-way through the game, and I know there's a location I haven't explored yet. I haven't played it for about a week now, and not sure if I will pick it up again at all. Finally got a new PS4 controller, so now I can continue playing Nier Replicant.
Lately, Rimworld.
This time I started with just one pawn, who has zero skills, but who is a fast learning, fast walking psychopath cannibal. I've survived most of the first summer and managed to set up a decent camp. I've been growing rice, but since my character cannot yet build power generation facilities (req. skill level 4), I have no cold room to store the extra food in.
Yesterday I was raided by a person who was also a cannibal. They had a hatchet, I had a pulse rifle.
I tried to save them after they got downed by the single wooden trap I had built while they were preparing for their raid. It was a race against time and sadly, I lost. What a shame... They would've been a fine addition to my colony.
Nothing new! I've been revisiting two games mostly, Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Monster Hunter: Rise.
For AC Odyssey, I'm playing it in New Game Plus mode and tackling some of the stuff I didn't do in the first playthrough. I started out with the intention to do the side quests, special targets, and bosses... my approach with open-world games is often doing things by area, rather than by quest, thinking I'll get the next quest flag when I happen to be in the area for it rather than intentionally setting off to find it. But that got to be a bit of a slog eventually, and I started noticing a lot of repeated structures and textures and little tricks that the game tries to pull with the smaller camps and quests. So I ended up rushing through just about everything towards the end of the game with regards to the Personal Odyssey, didn't get a super great ending due to some choices earlier in the run, and didn't end up finishing out the other two main questlines. I was interested to see the endings of the other two lines, I had just overplayed the game at that point and needed a break from it.
Replaying it, I'm having a bit more fun making "endgame builds" and seeing a lot of stuff that I missed on my first go. The game world is absolutely enormous, so there are entire islands and areas that I never visited. I got to Pephka for the first time recently - the island of the Minotaur - and the quests there were really good. There was a lot to do there, and I can't believe I just completely bypassed it!
One thing I really love about Odyssey though is how nice the world is to just be in! It looks good, and it really does give me a sense of adventure to play sometimes. I could not care less about the whole meta-structure of the animus, but I love the fantasy Greek setting even when it veers into weirdness. Not just being buddy-buddy with Sokrates, but stuff like
spoilers
Pythagoras being a superhuman who is over 150 years old due to a magic staff, he guards the gates of Atlantis and he's your biological fatherI was thinking of picking up Valhalla, but I have more I can squeeze out of Odyssey first and by then I'll probably need another break from that open-world style of game. So I'll grab Valhalla when I can get it cheap.
As for MH: Rise, I've mostly been playing with my younger brother after he got a Switch. He just got to HR 8 last night. He mains Sword and Shield, and I main Gunlance, although we switch off now and then to try new things. (I would say my 2nd favourite is Light Bowgun, and his 2nd is Switch Axe.) He's a lot pickier about gear than me so I spend a lot of time waiting for him to finish up browsing armors so I set up silly shout-outs and stickers and so on. I'm so excited to fight some of the endgame bosses with him, especially
monster spoilers
valstrax!! The ambush is so fun, I love the absolute panic I had the first time it happened.Playing Yakuza Kiwami 2 atm. At chapter 10, just did some substories. I feel like the main stories haven't been as good as 0's since Kiwami, but the substories keep getting better (although the shooreh pippi one from 0 is my favorite still).
Still playing 45x density Diablo II. I've pushed my character through into Hell difficulty now. I have a previous normal-density character that I got to that point and then effectively abandoned due to lightning immunes in the Stony Field (literally the third area of the first act—trap assassins are extremely dependent on lightning damage at higher levels); the 45x density character is only about ten levels ahead at this point, but that gives enough headroom to develop some alternative damage paths and proceed on. I'm not sure if I'll bother finishing Hell, but it seems very doable and a simple matter of patience at this point.
I'm sure this will be sacrilege to a bunch of hardcore fans, but D2 on Hell difficulty just… isn't very fun. It's not really more difficult than Nightmare (you just spend much longer kiting the increasingly hit-spongey and element-resistant enemies around), but everything takes a lot longer. Nearly every monster has an elemental immunity, which forces you to cultivate a variety of damage-dealing methods; but the game badly punishes you on DPS for not specializing.
Mostly been playing the original japanese sfc release of FFVI. I'm surprised how varying and innovative it is for such an old game. And SNES music is so great. Maybe I can finally finish an FF game; I don't have a very good track record with that.. Possibly play IV next. With all these sfc games and my trial of Apple Arcade, I'm very hesitant to buy stuff from the Steam Sale. Still can't buy a new gaming computer, anyway.
Been playing Hearthstone Battlegrounds which is Blizzard's Hearthstone's answer to the "autochess" genre (like DOTA Underlords or League of Legend's TFT).
At first I was skeptic because I barely knew how to play Hearthstone (only for a few weeks on release so I forgot everything); but thankfully everything is described in the cards and the tutorial; and Hearthstone's most annoying component imho (deck building) is gone since everything is more or less randomized.
It's a very addicting game because you can quickly jump into a game which is usually 10-20 minutes and you can play in windowed mode and do something else on the side, it's also fun to play with some friends while chatting.
I've also finished HITMAN and started HITMAN 2 ; so far just doing whatever seems the most obvious way to finish the mission without replaying the same map or doing extra missions; I turned off mission guides, just some slight hints, because I believe the game is just not fun and super easy with the mission guides, it seems almost an interactive adventure, they should be turned off by default imho.
Game is fun; I like the old HITMAN games but this seems slightly easier and shorter so I'm actually advancing faster than what I thought; of course it has a lot of replayability so it's not too much to worry about.
Cyberpunk 2077, I know it has its controversies, but the story so far has been great and I just got through the full intro. I’m also playing on google stadia, and after I had my isp run a new drop to my home my experience has been nothing but flawless. I also picked up a game called judgement on stadia since it was $10 and I heard it’s really good. Seems like an odd game but I feel like it’s gonna be a good time. I also started my first true caster build in dark souls 3 so that’ll be fun. On top of all this I’m also trying to get through final fantasy 14 up through shadowbringers, but I’m only at the heavensward prepatch content and it’s still dragging. I know people say heavensward is where it gets really good so I’m trying to push myself to get there because I love final fantasy and mmos, this game always felt like the perfect match for me.