14 votes

What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?

What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.

13 comments

  1. [4]
    kfwyre
    Link
    Control I just finished the main story. I think the game is an outstanding not-great game, if that makes sense. The story and lore are interesting; the powers are cool; the visuals are stunning;...

    Control

    I just finished the main story.

    I think the game is an outstanding not-great game, if that makes sense. The story and lore are interesting; the powers are cool; the visuals are stunning; the architecture of the levels is incredible; the atmosphere is phenomenal; but the game also gets really samey and doesn't always fully deliver on its coolest elements. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and would give it a solid recommendation, but I also have a hard time not seeing a lot of its limitations.

    I am going to continue playing though, as I've got some areas to explore, collectibles and missions to clean up, and the story DLC as well. I don't know if I'll tackle the Expeditions one -- maybe if I max out my skill tree.

    9 votes
    1. [3]
      mrbig
      Link Parent
      That makes total sense. Among many similar combinations, there are good good, good bad, bad good, and bad bad. If you catch my drift.

      I think the game is an outstanding not-great game, if that makes sense

      That makes total sense. Among many similar combinations, there are good good, good bad, bad good, and bad bad. If you catch my drift.

      2 votes
      1. [2]
        kfwyre
        Link Parent
        Oh definitely. I would say it falls far more on the good good side of things, only that the first good is way more emphasized than the second one. Like, if I had to put a score on the game (which...

        Oh definitely. I would say it falls far more on the good good side of things, only that the first good is way more emphasized than the second one. Like, if I had to put a score on the game (which I hate doing), it would probably be a 7/10, but the 7 would be bolded, in vibrant color, with exclamation points and confetti cannons, and a triumphant little fanfare that plays when you read it. That’s how good the 7 is! But it’s still a 7 and not an 8, 9, or 10.

        2 votes
        1. mrbig
          Link Parent
          Oh yeah, I get it. I did not play this game myself. I found the beginning a bit scary. Scary stuff is difficult for me. I'm only here to provide valuable theory lol

          Oh yeah, I get it. I did not play this game myself. I found the beginning a bit scary. Scary stuff is difficult for me. I'm only here to provide valuable theory lol

          2 votes
  2. joplin
    Link
    I downloaded Alto's Odyssey, The Lost City. It's a side-scroller where you're snow-boarding (er... sand boarding, if that's a thing) through some desert mountains. You have to do tricks, jump over...

    I downloaded Alto's Odyssey, The Lost City. It's a side-scroller where you're snow-boarding (er... sand boarding, if that's a thing) through some desert mountains. You have to do tricks, jump over chasms, pick up items and avoid lemurs. The artwork is just beautiful. The sun rises and sets, sometimes it rains, etc. It can be somewhat difficult to see your character when playing through the night scenes, though, which is frustrating. The other mildly frustrating thing is that the mountain is generated on the fly, and you have specific tasks you need to complete to get to the next level, such as pick up 50 coins or smash 5 rocks. Unfortunately, sometimes the game doesn't generate the things you need to complete the level very quickly so you're just sand boarding around the level waiting for the things you need to appear. It's not the worst thing in the world, as the game is really fun, just a bit strange. Overall, I really like the game.

    I also tried out Doodle God Universe. The premise is that starting from the "4 elements" (earth, air, fire, and water), you need to create all the things to make a planet inhabited by humans with technology. It's pretty fun to mix things like fire and water to generate steam, for example. There are 138 elements you need to create. It starts out really interesting as you discover combinations that sometimes make complete sense and other times are a bit of a stretch. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, that's the entire game so far. Just combining the elements you have to make new things. It doesn't appear that you ever do anything with them. It generates the planet for you and adds the things you make to it, but I was expecting either something like the Sims, where you direct the plants and animals you make, or something like SimCity where you run things at a higher level. As far as I can tell, that doesn't exist. The game is entirely just combining existing elements to make new elements. It gets tiresome after about 50-75 new elements are created. It basically becomes an exercise in brute-force processing. It appears that there are 2 other game modes which are not yet available and will be unlocked in the future, but it's not clear what they will involve. There will also be more levels available in the future. However, playing through the entire things only took me a few hours, so I'm not sure why they released it in such an unfinished state.

    6 votes
  3. Pistos
    Link
    Out of the Park Baseball 22: Continuing my manager's career in this one. Winning record so far. It's fun and interesting dealing with the decisions and problems a manager has to face, like...

    Out of the Park Baseball 22: Continuing my manager's career in this one. Winning record so far. It's fun and interesting dealing with the decisions and problems a manager has to face, like compensating for injuries, tailoring lineups, shifting fielders, ensuring players are not overtaxed, calling up promising minor leaguers, and sending down underperforming players.

    Kingdom Come: Deliverance: Spending time here and there to advance this last playthrough, where I have all Hardcore negative perks. The negative perks can be annoying from time to time, but they're not as debilitating as I thought they might be.

    Fantasy Strike: There was a recent big update to this game in mid July, though I don't really feel or see a big difference. I'm maintaining my low Gold (Gold E) rating for this season. There seems to be a big difference between Silver level play and Gold level play. I might fall to Silver A after one mini-tourney, but I can quickly climb back up to Gold E in the next mini-tourney. High Gold (and above) players consistently defeat me, but it's interesting to watch their play. I hope to learn from them.

    4 votes
  4. eve
    Link
    My SO and I started playing Grounded with a friend. So far it's been a lot of fun! There's a fair amount to do with the game and I like the spin it took on the survival genre. Game play is pretty...

    My SO and I started playing Grounded with a friend. So far it's been a lot of fun! There's a fair amount to do with the game and I like the spin it took on the survival genre. Game play is pretty good, I keep fucking up the controls, but that's because I'm really bad at learning controls for games.

    The base building is really good! You can set up where you want everything so you have an outline/ghost part as a place holder that you can add to as you collect the parts you need to make it. I spent a good hour just doing that while my SO and friend went off and worked on main quest stuff lol.

    The spiders freak me out but just because they startle me frequently and they're a pain in the ass to kill, especially at first. When we started up the first time, we ran into a wolf spider and all of us died immediately. Overall, I'm excited to play more of it! (especially so I can build up the base more)

    4 votes
  5. stu2b50
    Link
    I bought and started the Skyward Sword remake. So far so good, haven’t had that much time to play it for now but I’m excited to get further into it. This is the only 3D Zelda game I’ve never...

    I bought and started the Skyward Sword remake. So far so good, haven’t had that much time to play it for now but I’m excited to get further into it. This is the only 3D Zelda game I’ve never played, so it’s basically as if a new mainline game just came out for me.

    3 votes
  6. knocklessmonster
    Link
    I got Skyward Sword HD because I never beat the original. I've just started it, and was initially disappointed by the button-only mode requiring the stick for attacks and using L to move the...

    I got Skyward Sword HD because I never beat the original. I've just started it, and was initially disappointed by the button-only mode requiring the stick for attacks and using L to move the camera, but it started to make sense as I played. I intend to try to run through it quickly this week. I also feel exceptionally spoiled by PC gaming and emulation with the dodgy framerates, but it's still totally playable.

    I started a new Skyrim save to test a mod out that'll let me do achievements with mods (SkyUI and USSEP, so I'm not cheating), and decided to do a squishy mage (all magic, no armor). I also cheated in Boots of Muffle, but also "paid" 1500 gold to a blacksmith (reverse pickpocket) to make up for the fact I gave up on rolling the dice to get them legitimately. It's been fun so far, to the point it's distracting me from Morrowind, which I really want to just power through to the end of (I just did the quest "Meet Sul-Matuul")

    3 votes
  7. mrbig
    (edited )
    Link
    Still playing Yakuza Like a Dragon. Still liking it for the most part. An observation, though: my character is a former member of the Yakuza. I get that they're going for an idealistic upbeat...

    Still playing Yakuza Like a Dragon. Still liking it for the most part. An observation, though: my character is a former member of the Yakuza. I get that they're going for an idealistic upbeat hero, but he's a freaking made man. He's not supposed to be so squirmish, his previous life was all about crime! Now he acts surprised and offended, and gets all righteous whenever he encounters any kind of immorality or injustice!?!? Come on dude, I get that you're a good guy, but you've seen that before, you've done that before. Act like it!

    3 votes
  8. SongsStillUnfinished
    Link
    Been playing HyperDash VR for a few months now every few days. I'm a pretty unrefined gamer tbh, but have enjoyed the gameplay quite a bit. The only drawbacks are 1: I'm a not as quick or...

    Been playing HyperDash VR for a few months now every few days. I'm a pretty unrefined gamer tbh, but have enjoyed the gameplay quite a bit. The only drawbacks are 1: I'm a not as quick or experienced as other users, 2: there are way too many children(7-12yrs old) playing; this is quite tiresome when there are kids literally screaming their reactions. 3: users aren't equally matched up. I get my ass kicked by those same kids @ lvl99 .

    All in all though gameplay does outweigh those drawbacks. You can mute individuals or opponents, or everyone entirely. That part is great to just let you play.

    2 votes
  9. BalrogWing
    Link
    I call myself a huge Legend of Zelda fan, Link's Awakening was the first one I ever played and was my favorite game for the longest time. Since then I've played pretty much any and all that were...

    I call myself a huge Legend of Zelda fan, Link's Awakening was the first one I ever played and was my favorite game for the longest time. Since then I've played pretty much any and all that were available on Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, 2/3DS and Switch but never played any of those available on N64, GameCube or Wii. So I'm finally playing Ocarina of Time and I definitely see why it's such a beloved game, it's fabulous so far. I'm going to play Majora's Mask next and am also playing Skyward Sword HD on Switch too.

    2 votes
  10. sky_Pharaoh
    Link
    I’ve been playing Scarlet Nexus for a couple days, and so far I have nothing but positive things to say about it. The art direction is the best I’ve ever seen in a game, the soundtrack is great...

    I’ve been playing Scarlet Nexus for a couple days, and so far I have nothing but positive things to say about it. The art direction is the best I’ve ever seen in a game, the soundtrack is great and I especially like it cause it sounds similar to music that I make. The plot is cool, characters initially came off as bland but as you spend more time with them they have a lot more depth than I thought. And most of all, the gameplay is super fun kind of reminds me of Devil May Cry but with unique super powers. Overall this game is just dripping with style and it’s really fun to play, definitely my game of the year at the moment.

    1 vote